Authors: Ronan Frost
"Then were are they now?" Capac found he was fast
losing the thread. Ruefully he wished he had the wit and ingenuity
displayed by Ashian.
"Evolved, or something." Shaun waved his hand as if
to cast aside trivialities. "Evolved into something else - a cloud
of particles free of physical bounds." Shaun stopped his pacing.
"Hell, they may be somewhere now where our minds cannot grasp."
"We are their children."
Shaun and Capac spun at Kiroth's voice.
"The eloprin?" questioned Shaun.
"The eloprin and the currach," nodded Kiroth. "When I
was young I was taught of our history by an old woman with the
Power. I, too, have a little of that power, although until now it
was known to no living soul since my teacher died." Kiroth bowed
his head as if living the memory. "The Ansarii left this world an
uncountable period ago, no longer needing their travel paths
between the stars. They left them, for their children."
"Did...did you destroy them?"
Kiroth laughed. "No, not I. But Riel is the son of
Power, the culmination of all the powers our people have ever had.
He is a window through into the minds of our father race." Kiroth
was silent for a long time as he pieced together what he thought
had happened. "The Ansarii must have realised their mistake; the
Lords of the Sun have not the maturity for such power at their
fingertips."
Shaun rocked back on his heels, slowly, his mind
confoundedly refusing to think straight.
Humanity had seriously underestimated the power of
these simple natives.
* * *
The war was decisive. Without jumptunnels to call for
re-enforcement's there was no continual replenishment of warriors -
simply the same men getting tired and disillusioned. And throughout
the fighting there was no sign that the tunnels would return, and
with every passing day a soldier's valours seemed futile. There was
no longer a 'Critical Point' to fight over...now it was fighting
simply for planet L/Cn-41a.
There was no retreat through the tunnels and no
standoffs as in the past few days both the Federation and Hartrias
suffered heavily. Already the Rplore, the Omnicron and the Berana -
the three largest ships in the galaxy - were now nothing more than
interstellar debris.
Admiral Rinhold sweated in the confines of the
cluttered office. The air-purifier had been malfunctioning for the
past week and had made life inside the complex extremely difficult.
Rinhold switched off the console with a snarl and tossed the device
against the wall. The logbook showing how little of the Federation
forces remained smashed and fell to the floor.
A small insect buzzed about Rinhold's ears and he
snatched futilely at the air, angry that quarantine had been unable
to keep such terran fauna from the complex. The way that things
were going now it was no wonder a disease hadn't spread.
Rinhold forced such thoughts from his mind. He hated
being planetbound, but every single battleship had fallen from
space and all Federation forces had assembled living quarters and
defences. The only consoling thought was that the Hartrias fared no
better, for they too had no battleships at their disposal. The two
sides now fought like rats upon the ground, slowly running out of
fuel and equipment as the war ran to its bitter end. Rinhold stared
listlessly out the window upon the red sand of the planet, no
longer praying for the return of the jumptunnels. It was obvious
they would never return.
His thoughts ran back to his family living on the
colony of New Cydonia awaiting the completion of his tour of duty.
His wife had known and lived with the dangers presented to Rinhold
in the Federation Navy, but always they had never truly expected a
mishap. After all, Rinhold was an Admiral protected by a mass of
warships and forward soldiers; it had been many years since he had
seen fighting first hand. Yet here he was, stranded on a planet
three hundred light-years from New Cydonia with no hope of
return.
Returning to his desk Rinhold ran fingers through his
hair, absently toying with a silver pen stencilled with his name
and rank. The communication links were down again - the technicians
were braving the outside elements to repair the broadcaster -
meaning that contact was lost with the other complex on the far
side of the continent. For the moment Admiral Rinhold had no way to
direct or even know where the remains of the Federation corps lay,
so his duties were forfeit.
A tone woke Rinhold from his musings. It was amazing
the intercom still worked.
"Admiral, sir," came the voice. "Defensive troops
have captured a hostile - claims to be a Federation fighter.
Demands to talk to you personally, sir."
Admiral Rinhold slammed down the silver pen and
pushed back his chair. Nothing better to do, he thought sourly,
stalking from his office. The corridor was narrow and he had to
twist his wide shoulders to allow him passage. The air here was
warmer the closer he grew to the airlock, a sure sign that it was
no longer airtight.
"Sir, there's a small army of them out there!"
Rinhold stopped as the Captain intercepted him.
Dressed in somewhat scratched blue and white armour, the helmet
visor unclasped, the Captain looked as he had just returned from a
period of front line duty. His blaster was loose in his belt clasp,
no longer polished but tarnished with use. Around the Captain's
neck an eyepatch hung, to be used incase the Hartrias employed
blinding lasers in the battlefield.
"An army?"
"Of natives, sir," clarified the Captain. "My guess
is that there is at least three hundred of the buggers appearing
from nowhere. They are standing beyond the alpha marker but I've
got the garrison soldiers on alert and snipers positioned incase
they try a forward attack."
Rinhold's brows furrowed. "I was told somebody
demanded to speak with me."
"Yes, sir, there is a human and two of the natives
who have approached. They seemed weaponless and I allowed them to
proceed. ID was confirmed a second ago..." The Captain flicked up a
protective plastic face and glanced at the small screen upon the
wrist of his armour. "The human's retinal scan checks out - First
Officer Shaun Lowry, code 98 dash 3424002."
"Lowry?" Admiral Rinhold laughed mirthlessly and
shook his head. He vividly recalled the First Officer's antics in
stealing a Minnow and going AWOL, despite the Admiral's own efforts
to stop him.
"Quarantine checks out - he and the natives are in
the containment room."
Rinhold nodded absently and dismissed the Captain,
his mind already working as he strode towards the airlock. He would
personally see Lowry hung drawn and quartered for his actions.
When the door slid open Shaun's blue eyes met
immediately with his own; blue eyes that held an edge that refused
to be downtrodden.
"First Officer Lowry," began Rinhold, finding himself
at a loss of words. The two natives accompanying Shaun were small
in stature with hard skin like that of an insect. The first one's
eyes sparkled in fluorescent light while the other's were milky
white and downcast in obvious blindness. Both looked aged, the
blind one especially so as he leant heavily upon a crudely
fashioned cane. Involuntarily taking a step back in revulsion from
the primitive creatures it took the Admiral a moment to gather his
thoughts. "Why do you return, Lowry?"
Allowing the silence stretch until he saw Rinhold
visibly twitch, Shaun smiled calmly. "It's time we talked,
Admiral." Shaun gestured palm upwards about the interior of the
quarantine containment room. "Although this is hardly the place -
"
"What is it you want? Spit it out quickly for I've
got precious little patience."
Shaun approached the glass between he and the
Admiral. "If that is your wish. But first let me introduce you to
my friends who refused to leave my side...even when I walked into
this hellhole of dog tired Federation troops with big guns and
small minds." Suppressing a smile Shaun saw his scathing comment
had struck home and quickly continued talking before Rinhold
ordered their execution. "This is Capac. He has been with me since
the beginning. And this is Locantar, incalculably old -almost
doubling the life expectancy of a normal eloprin - and although he
may seem blind is guided by something mo-"
"I'm not interested in your insectile pets, Lowry,"
growled Rinhold. "Get them out of my face or I'll blast them at the
same time as I blast you."
"You can't." Shaun shook his head slowly. "There are
more than two thousand currach and eloprin in the forests willing
to join our cause. You and I both know the victor in this war will
not be the Federation or the Hartrias."
Rinhold's brows shot up in surprise. "Are you
proposing war?!"
"Far from it, my battle eager comrade." Breathing
deep it took Shaun a moment to gather his thoughts. "It is not the
way of these people - the two races that have reformed after a
hundred years of separation. They know the meaning of peace and see
that to fight - "
"Don't give me that pacifist crap." Rinhold flicked
his wrist to indicate a nearby solider on the inside of the
containment room. "The race that backs down for your peace gets its
arse kicked off the rim of the universe."
The white and blue armoured solider moved forward and
savagely grasped Shaun's shoulder. Struggling free with an agile
twist Shaun moved aside and snatched at the inside pocket of his
helica-suit. The surrounding guards dropped to their knees
lightning quick, laser rifles snapping into their shoulders and
fingers a hairs-breadth over triggers.
But Shaun did not draw a weapon. He tossed the small
rectangular object to the tiled floor with a thwack.
Rinhold looked on in astonishment. Blinking, he saw
it could only be the Hartrias General's insignia of office.
"How...?"
"We have just returned from the Hartrias base," Shaun
explained in a lofty tone. "It was Locantar's idea and with his aid
we prepared the army you see surrounding this complex now. It seems
the Hartrias General was able to see more sense than you in
agreeing to our truce."
"The Hartrias has surrendered, then?" Rinhold
straightened slightly in arrogant pride. "Then the Federation has
conquered."
"Wrong again, on both counts. One, the Federation has
not won; simply the Hartrias have agreed truce with the currach and
eloprin. Secondly, you have not conquered anything - there are no
longer jump-tunnels to control."
"You know this for sure? The jumptunnels, I
mean."
"They were taken from us like a parent will take a
sharp toy from a child." Shaun grinned, his teeth contrasting to
his dirt blackened face. "Ironic, wouldn't you say?"
"This truce..." Admiral Rinhold swallowed, for he
knew all too well that their forces would not survive long on a
hostile planet with no hope of supplies. "What are the
conditions?"
"Unconditional surrender of offensive weaponry,
deactivation of land mines and termination of battle droids." Shaun
paused as Locantar spoke in a quick fluting language that Rinhold
was unable to understand.
"What did he say?" Rinhold demanded.
Shaun paused, blue eyes seeming to bore directly into
Rinhold's soul "My friend says you have no choice but to abide by
this truce."
Stirred into indignation Rinhold curled back his lip.
"I refuse to be told by a savage what to do!" Rinhold gestured to
the nearest solider. "Kill them. Kill them all."
The solider hesitated, looking back between the
Admiral's eyes and those of Shaun's.
"Dammit, give me that!" Rinhold surged forward,
slamming his fist against the door opening switch. Bursting into
the quarantine room Rinhold snatched the blaster from the shocked
guard's hands and before anyone could blink had fired a brilliant
white shot.
Pain erupting in the back of his eyes Shaun fought to
see through afterimages. Unbalanced, he saw through tunnel vision
Locantar's body smeared over the tiles like a squashed bug.
Fighting the urge to retch Shaun downcast his eyes, seeing in that
dreadful second that the old man's lower body was no more than a
red smudge, his milky white eyes lifeless staring upward.
Shaun could find no words. Casting about futilely he
met Rinhold's gaze, the blaster in the Admiral's shaking hands
pointed directly at Shaun.
"I'm going to win this war, if it's the last thing
I'll do," Rinhold growled. "Don't you understand, man? This is the
final battle of the ten year war - win this and we've won the
universe."
Shaun shook his head slowly. "Final battle? You truly
believe that. You must realise that there will never be a war to
end war."
Rinhold's heavy brows knitted in fury as his fingers
tightened on the trigger. "Yeah?"
A sudden blast of white light illuminated the room
for a second time and a scream rang out. A scream, Shaun realised,
that was not his own but Rinhold's. As images pulled back into
focus it took Shaun long moments to see that a guard standing
directly behind Rinhold with blaster levelled.
"You killed him?" Shaun swallowed, glancing quickly
away from Rinhold's body.
The guard nodded slowly, his voice muffled by the
helmet visor. "It's time to end this."
Epilogue
The flames licked the dry twisted wood, the
night slowly deepening around the campsite. Heavy duty plastic
boots crunched through the undergrowth, bringing Shaun into the
light. Riel glanced up in all the mannerisms inherited from his
father, Ashian.
"You have prepared?" Riel asked.
"Yep." Shaun sunk to the log, his black
helicasuit freshly cleaned and glistening in the firelight. "The
skimship will be here any moment to pick me up."