Extinction (39 page)

The captain and his staff were seated at
the conference table with data screens in front of each person. Tredil began, “I
have been reviewing everything we have in our tactical database concerning our
adversaries. We have all been taught the same basic information at the academy
about their tactics, weapons, weaknesses, strengths, and so on. But until now,
there was much information designated as classified that no one but a handful
of bureaucrats has seen for centuries.” He paused as he keyed in a security
code to his datapad, which then unlocked the secret information and sent it to
everyone else’s screens.

He continued, “At first glance, it seems
to be a lot of useless garbage that makes you wonder why it was classified. But
on further inspection, it gets very interesting, and honestly, very scary.”

Tredil had tagged the information he
deemed most important and each officer reviewed that information first.
Lieutenant Morsid had already reviewed the information with Tredil before the
meeting and he continued where his colleague left off. “From an engineering
standpoint, we are more advanced than they are but not by enough to give us a
real tactical advantage. The main advantage we do have is their ships are very
old and probably aren’t maintained that well.

“The classified information also details
how the Detrill and Nortes worked together to free themselves and many other
races from the empire. Apparently, a Nortes doctor developed a virus that wiped
out the entire warrior class in this sector.”

“Now this may be a stupid question,” the
XO started, “but why don’t we just use that virus again? Wouldn’t that be
easier than a stand-up fight?”

“Well, sir,” Morsid continued, “apparently
that doctor had a major moral dilemma with what he had done.”

One Thousand Years Ago –
Nortes Prime Colony

“You did what!” The emperor tried to
keep from yelling at his minister of health but failed.

“I cannot live with what I have done and
I cannot allow anyone else to repeat my mistake”, D’Bath choked out through
tears and the blood already starting to build up in his lungs. “I removed all
information concerning the virus and antidote from my databases and destroyed
all of my research. I have killed children!” he protested through thickening
froth and blood.

The emperor tried to call for assistance
but D’Bath stopped his friend’s hand. “There is nothing anyone can do for me
now. I took ten times the lethal dose to be sure that the only source of
information on the virus left in the galaxy would be eliminated.” As his life
slowly ebbed from his body, he looked into his friend’s eyes. “I had to do
this. I deserve to die in the same manner as all those innocent people I
murdered. Please forgive me.” And with that, his body convulsed rapidly as
spurts of blood and lung tissue issued forth from his mouth and he died in the
emperor’s arms.

T’Leh touched his comlink and requested
a medical team to come and take his friend’s body away for a proper sending
into the next life. As the medics attempted to remove the body, T’Leh clutched
at D’Bath’s tunic for a brief moment before the gentle hand from one of the
medics loosened his grip and proceeded to take the body.

Without D’Bath and the information he
held, T’Leh and his accomplices had to make this succession work. If his empire
ever found out the truth and were able to gain control over the warriors, there
would be no stopping their wrath.

Dig Site One - Journey to
the Core

“Stop monkeying around with that before
you kill yourself!” Wilks yelled at Bloom as he passed over Wilks’ head on the hover
sled that had been found near a loading dock in the hangar.

“I’m just trying to get a feel for how
it moves and what it can do.” Bloom circled the hangar once more and then
stopped in front of Wilks and jumped off the sled. “She’s real maneuverable and
better than any of the prototypes we’re still trying to develop back home. I
still don’t understand exactly how it works but instead of working off the
magnetic force of the planet, like what we’ve been trying to make, this sled
seems to draw in the lightest element in the atmosphere around it. Then it
sends some sort of energy through the elements, linking them together so they
can’t mix with the ambient air again. And because the collected elements are
the lightest in the ambient surroundings, it causes the sled to float on top of
them. Sort of like a hot air balloon. And as the sled weight increases, it adds
more elements to the ‘flotation skirt’ to offset the weight change.”

Davies walked over, carrying two
portable heating elements from their survival gear. He placed each one on the
platform and strapped them down. “So these heating elements will really fool
their sensors?”

“I don’t know”, Bloom said honestly. “I’m
guessing that even with their advanced technology, they still use basic
concepts for detecting intruders. They can use heat sensors, weight sensors in
the floors, acoustic sensors, and motion detectors. We can simulate each of
those stimuli with this sled.

“The heating elements will simulate a
live being, while the sled itself should trip any motion detectors that they
have. And with the two forty-kilo crates the sled will be dragging, it should
be able to trip any weight-bearing and acoustic sensors they might have. As an
added bonus, the way this sled is made,” Bloom nodded back over his shoulder, “I
think you could destroy more than half of it before it would stop functioning.”

“What if the sensors are set to detect
only actual life-forms?” Emily was helping Wilks fasten the crates to the sled.

“Then we’ll find out sooner or later, ma’am.”
Bloom adjusted the quick release device on the sled that would allow him to drop
the crates remotely in case he needed to maneuver the sled more quickly than
they would permit. “But I really don’t think that they would do that. By
setting up defenses that only scanned for life-forms, that would leave a big
security hole for any type of robotic device to get through.

“Again,” Bloom reiterated, “I can’t
guarantee that this will work. But I wouldn’t risk our lives if I didn’t think
that the chances of success drastically outweighed the chances of failure.”

Daria had spent most of the last several
hours trying to memorize the map of the lower levels that Bloom had downloaded
to everyone’s visors. She wanted to be sure that she always knew where an
escape route was and the best places to set up a defensive perimeter. Much of
her planning was dependent on whether or not the rooms lining the corridors on
the route would be open or not, or at least accessible with a minimum of force.

“Are we ready?” Daria had joined the
group from her solitary position inside the hangar bay’s control booth.

“Sure are, Doc.” Snake was stretching a
little bit before the journey began. “I put a mini-cam on each corner of the
sled so we can be anywhere in the complex and still monitor its progress.”

“Great job, guys.” Daria was just
shouldering her rucksack. “I have marked off defensive and offensive fallback
points on the map in case we encounter hostilities on the way.”

“You mean ‘when.’” Bloom completed his
diagnostic of the sled and then looked towards his team leader.

“Yeah, right, ‘when.’” Daria regrettably
agreed. “Let’s move out, guys. I want to be home in time for dinner.” Over her
shoulder, to the rest of the team staying behind, she smiled. “Don’t pop this
lid without us. We don’t want to have to walk home.”

“Don’t worry, Doc,” Emily said from
Wilks’ side. “We all go home together.”

The Truth

Emperor Nogil and Empress Hugany sat
before the president of the Coalition and its military council. Both were
uneasy and it was difficult not to show it. Everyone’s eyes in the room were on
them. Some showed obvious signs of disgust and others were just plain
astonished at what they had heard so far. And all were more than just a little
bit frightened with the new knowledge they possessed.

The president was the first to speak. “Neither
of your worlds are members of the Coalition, so you were not obligated to share
all of your worlds’ history with us as new members are required to do. However,
why have you waited until now to tell us? We could have been preparing for the
day we would have to defend ourselves. And now that day is almost upon us and if
only half of what you’ve told us is accurate, then we will most surely die.
With your warp and space stream travel abilities, we might even have been able
to launch an offensive and take them by surprise. But now we have no advantages
at all.”

Space stream travel was yet another
piece of information that the two worlds had decided to share with the
Coalition now that it seemed inevitable that they would have to work together
to fight their common enemy. The “space stream” theory was developed by a
Detrill admiral almost five hundred years ago. He had found that there were
currents in space that could be tapped into while traveling at warp speed. A
steady stream of tachyon particles projected in front of the ship will disrupt
the surface of the stream. As the stream attempts to repair itself and seal the
rupture, the ship is pulled forward on the wake of space being folded back into
the ruptured portion of the stream. It was analogous with a moving sidewalk
used in almost every city on every planet. These streams were located
throughout subspace and accessible while traveling at warp. They were of
different lengths, traveled in different directions, and varied in speed. There
was one that traveled almost the entire length of the galaxy but ended near the
event horizon of a black hole.

Empress Hugany’s answer was calm and
matter-of-fact. “There are several reasons we did not tell you of our history.
First, we never thought that this would happen. Our soldiers were created in
such a way that we thought they would be dead by now and no more than a bad
memory. It was unthinkable that they would be able to create more of themselves
without the help of our scientists who were taken from the empire for
colonization of this sector.”

“Can they not breed on their own?” the Coalition’s
lead scientist, Dr. Wabash, asked.

“No, they are created in labs under very
specific conditions.” The empress continued, “They once were a species unto
themselves but that was millennia ago. They bare no physical and almost no
genetic resemblance to what they once were. I’m not sure if any information
even exists that could be traced back to what they originally were. They are
genetically coded to be the perfect warriors. We have given your scientists all
of the information we have on them.

“Many of their enhancements were created
to ensure loyalty. One of their enhancements makes it impossible for them to
accept orders from anyone outside the royal family. Once a new member of the
family is born, they are taken to the Supreme Council’s chambers, where they
are touched by the elder warriors who make up the council. They are able to
sense a portion of the infant’s DNA that is unique to the royal family. From
that point on, the infant becomes known to all the warriors as one who can give
orders. Every warrior has this ability to detect the DNA. It is a failsafe in case
someone tries to impersonate a member of the royal family. If a person has not
been touched by the Supreme Council and accepted, that person can never give
orders via the holonet. However, in the unlikely event that a member of the royal
family was never touched as a child, he or she could give orders to a warrior
in person so that the warrior could touch them and verify their lineage. There
is absolutely nothing a warrior won’t do at the order of the family, including
killing a member of the family
IF
the warrior can be made to believe
that that family member is a threat to the Empire.”

The president thought on that for moment
before asking, “Then why don’t you just ask them to stop? Take control of them
and tell them that the Coalition is your ally and we mean you no harm. We could
use an asset such as them for the security of our galaxy. They could be used
for peace instead of destruction.”

“There are two reasons that I cannot do
that.” The empress paused. “As you can tell from what we’ve already told you
and the information I’ve downloaded into your databases, my ancestors were
extremely paranoid. Part of the doctrine that the warriors live by is the
protection of the empire at all costs. It has been encoded into them that if
you’re are not Nortes or a warrior, then you are a slave. If you are none of
the three, then you are an enemy who must be killed. My ancestors did not want
to coexist with any other species in the galaxy. If an emperor gave an order to
stop conquering the galaxy and live in peace with other races, the warriors
wouldn’t be able to do it. The warriors would consider the order an attempt to
hurt the other members of the royal family by subjecting them to the danger of
living with non-slaves. They would then kill the emperor to save the rest of
the royal family and the Empire.