Authors: M.D. Hall
Narol shook her head and smiled, but it was not a triumphant smile, born of discovery rather, a sympathetic smile, the kind given to a guileless, innocent child. ‘He was far more than that. He, together with Bakir, and another…’
‘Bakir!’ Gorn feigned incredulity, he never said anything.’
‘From what your mother told me, that’s hardly surprising. Does it affect how you feel about Bakir?’
Gorn shook his head. ‘No,’ he was right about his mother, she had kept her friends safe.
Narol continued. ‘Just like his fellow commanders at Gallsor, and most of the military, Jaron has always been ignorant of what’s done in their name.’
Gorn was incredulous, and this time it was not feigned. ‘That’s impossible!’
‘You only think that, because you don’t have all the information. It’s actually quite elegant in its simplicity. Let’s use an example you know about, Gallsor. Had we been victorious in that war, our warships wouldn’t have been permitted to approach the Balg home world, or any of their colonies, they would have been replaced by sweepers.’
‘Sweepers?’
‘The Agency’s best kept secret. They move in, once the military conflict is over, and carry out the unpleasant work of eradicating, or enslaving the native population. The commanders and crews of the naval ships remain in complete ignorance. Jaron, and the others at Gallsor, were fighting what they perceived to be a real war. They weren't part of our act of aggression that precipitated the conflict,’ even Zaran, who had remained inscrutable throughout the discussion, could not prevent his face displaying a flicker of interest.
‘As I told you, it was decided long ago, that in order to keep our people content, no vestige of the truth could filter into our society. Cue the Shock Troop Corps. They came into being as the military arm of the Agency, commanded by a carefully selected and screened group of naval officers, fully aware of the truth.
‘Surely,’ Gorn cut in, ‘they would tell someone, a wife, husband or
friend. Something like that can't be kept secret for thousands of years?’
‘Oh, but it can. First of all, only the most dedicated cadets are chosen. I can see from your face, you're wondering why that doesn’t include you?’
‘Now you mention it, yes.’ Gorn replied.
‘Because Nephew, your kind of dedication isn't what the Agency, are looking for. They need a blind, unwavering commitment to our race, above all else. Thankfully, your dedication was too esoteric for their tastes. Recruited candidates agree to an enhancement of their implant, which has been fine tuned to monitor everything they say and hear. A corps exists, dedicated to the monitoring of the implants, as well as data feeds from their homes. Did you know that every public area is monitored, constantly?’
Gorn shook his head, and the uneasy feeing they were being watched returned. He resisted the impulse to turn around.
‘Finally, before induction, they learn that divulging the nature of their work to anyone, for any reason, will result in their entire family being killed. If they ignore the warning, there will be no hearing or appeal, and the news of their punishment will be the last thing they hear, before they too are killed. The process is simple, brutal and compelling. Once they have been inducted, they are informed of our expansionist policy, by which time it’s too late to have second thoughts. The vast majority don’t have a problem with it, the initial screening is very effective.’
‘Shock troops are little more than automatons,’ Narol straightened at the bluntness of Gorn's response.
‘Not all of them!’
‘You know what I mean, they need to be controlled.’
‘You're right, of course, and you’ve met one of the few who exercise control.’
For split second Gorn was at a loss, then it hit him. ‘Darl!’
‘He used to command a sweeper, but the Council knew the old ways wouldn’t work in the mission against Telluria.’
‘And you're about to tell me why that is?’
‘They have been afraid of the Custodians for almost three thousand years, and for a good part of that time they’ve had unlimited resources to develop a weapon which would stop our would be nemesis, should they interfere. They’ve found it: The Alpha Wave, which can’t be operated by sweepers.’
‘Alpha Wave?’
She shook her head. ‘No one outside a tiny group knows what it is, or does. All we do know is that not even the Custodians can withstand its destructive power.’ Narol fell silent.
Gorn knew there was something missing. ‘As the plan for Telluria results in circumventing the Accords, the Custodians don’t come into play, unless the plan fails, and we take Telluria anyway, but that isn’t everything, there’s something you haven’t told me, what are you leading up to?’
‘You’re right, there is more,’ replied Narol, ‘care to speculate on what it is?’
‘I try not to speculate, but let’s see if my reasoning holds out. You’re planning for a breach, in the hope that the Custodians, knowing some of us tried to stop the carnage, will be so impressed, they pull up short of their threat?’ He frowned at the sheer horror of his realisation. ‘You’re risking all our lives on a guess?’
‘Not a guess,’ Narol replied, ‘we’ve taken every factor into account, and believe we will survive, and move into a better reality than we’ve known for millennia. The Custodians could have destroyed us at Khitaa, so why didn’t they?’ She answered her own question immediately. ‘Because, despite all we’ve done, they think there’s hope for us.’
‘And if you’re wrong?’
‘Then it all hinges on the Alpha Wave. If it destroys the Custodians, we hope some vestige of what happens gets back to Te’ath, but if you disable the weapon, that might convince them.’
‘Might?’
‘If it doesn't, and they destroy us, we’re no longer a threat.’
‘Your
us
includes the innocent!’
‘Some may say, by association, none of us are innocent, not that I agree with that sentiment, but tell me which is the lesser of two evils: to allow us to continue for what may be millions of years, taking countless billions of lives or, to spare all those lives, albeit at the cost of our own? Do you think I’m mad?’
‘I think you’ve reasoned it out, down to the last detail. I can’t comment on your mental state.’
Zaron smiled, for the first time since the conversation began.
Narol was now looking deadly serious. ‘There is a madness, and this the first opportunity we’ve had to put a stop to it. If I had my way I would want the Tellurians to see the danger, and tell us to leave. I would want caution to intervene, with us backing away from confrontation with the Custodians, but if that doesn’t happen, and the other scenarios become real, one of them will come to pass. Because the ships can't be crewed by shock troops alone, anything short of our complete destruction will have word leaking out back home, and the changes can begin. What you need to decide, is whether you are prepared to help us create the undesirable scenarios, while trying to achieve our desired objective.’
Gorn stood up. ‘I need time to think.’
‘How long do you need?’
‘I’ve no idea,’ and with that, he said nothing more to either his father, or his aunt. He made his way into the villa, and the room he considered his own.
Brother and sister, left alone, simply looked at each other.
Gorn’s action was unexpected, but did not concern Narol, she would prefer her nephew’s decision to be based on sound logic, not reactive and based on emotion. If she had any qualms over his inclusion, they had dissipated.
Nothing he had heard, convinced Zaran that he was wrong about the outcome of this meeting, and nothing he had heard persuaded him to divert from the only course of action available to him.
An hour later, when Gorn returned, Zaran and Narol were exactly where he had left them, with nothing to indicate they had exchanged a single word during his absence. ‘Tell me what you can about this Alpha Wave, how will it be deployed, and why sweepers can’t be used?’
‘The sweepers don’t have the necessary power…’ Narol began to reply.
‘…and they can't build a new sweeper with that kind of power without questions being asked.’ Gorn completed her sentence.
Narol was impressed. ‘Correct, and it’s three ships, not just one. As they couldn’t afford to draw attention to themselves, they needed to infiltrate three ships of the line with sweeper commanders. Only three of our most powerful ships, acting together, can power the weapon.’
‘So why choose me, there must be others?’
‘There are, but none with your unique talents. The flagship is pivotal to the mission’s success. Its systems need to be accessed and controlled, without anyone knowing, and there is no one but you who can achieve that, and believe me when I say, we looked. I need your decision, Nephew.
‘I’ll go as far as to check your facts,’ Gorn replied.
Narol was evidently satisfied. ‘We need to get you into a position of trust on the Eclipse bridge. That will only be cemented once you’ve played your part in the forthcoming zagball match involving your new ship.’
She cast her eyes in the direction of Zaran. ‘You’ve had very little to say, Brother?’
‘This is between you and Gorn. He has to live with his decision, but as you’ve asked, I don’t like the way you went about it, and I include his mother in that. The boy’s been backed into a corner, left with no escape,’ this was a conversation between brother and sister, and Gorn knew he was to stay out of it. ‘You’ve watched him, and so have I, we both know he couldn’t refuse you’
‘As ever, Zaran, you’re right. Don’t think I'm comfortable with it. If there were any other way, I would have taken it.’
I wonder
, her brother thought.
Ω
Could it be that Narol was actually enjoying herself? She might well have an overwhelming desire to restore, if it had ever existed, a decency of purpose to their people, but there was something Gorn could not put his finger on, something about his aunt that did not sit well with him. He was not the most intuitive of people, outside the cuboid, preferring to rely on evidence and logic, but even his senses were on edge. He decided to revisit these feelings later and, for the moment, set his misgivings to one side. ‘You want me to sabotage the Tellurian mission, and disable the Alpha Wave device, but you haven’t told me how I go about achieving any of that.’
‘Because I don’t know how, no one does, and that’s why we chose you. All we know is that the task can only be accomplished by someone with access to the all of the ship’s systems and, as science officer, you fit that role, perfectly.’
He went quiet for a while, before warning her. ‘If the Eclipse database exposes you as a liar, I’ll pull out, otherwise, I’ll do as you ask.’
‘How will I know you're finally committed?’
‘I should have what I need within a few days of boarding. I’ll cause a brief communications malfunction, throughout the ship. For a few seconds all systems will produce garbled data. That will by my message to you that I’ll carry on.’
‘Very well. There are some things you will need to know about your new commander and remember, no matter how he might seem, Darl is not a stupid man,’ Narol then proceeded to provide her nephew, and new confederate, with details of the likes, and dislikes of the Eclipse commander.
Finished, Narol visibly relaxed, in stark contrast to her brother, whose face had drained of all colour. It was then that Gorn realised his father had known, before the meeting, what his sister was going to ask. He had carried the secret with him since hearing the recorded message the previous night.
Ω
Gorn’s reaction was more than Narol could possibly have hoped, from everything she knew of him, more resistance was expected. The one person she needed, to bring her plan to fruition was ready and, with a little persuasion, would be willing and able to help. Of course, he would uncover the evidence to validate his choice. If he failed in that task he was of no use to her, but she had no fears in that regard, even he did not fully understand his potential.
It was inevitable he would be found out, with only one possible consequence. It would be regrettable, as was the death of his mother, but sacrifices were unavoidable. The group could not take the chance of him betraying their existence. Her expression did not betray any of this to Gorn, as the certainty of his demise, following the successful outcome of the mission, was not something that troubled her. His role was at an end when the invasion failed, and the cold truth was, that as she had no emotional investment in his fate, there was nothing to be portrayed on her face. She had felt a genuine attachment to his mother, which made lying to her so much more difficult.
How this would end was not something her nephew needed to know, hopefully not even at the end. Then there was her brother, the same brother she battled to save so many years ago; he could not be allowed to seek vengeance for his son. She would genuinely be saddened by his loss.
Ω
Zaran had lapsed back into silence and simply looked at his sister. Just as Gorn had no idea what his aunt was thinking, so Zaran’s face was a blank canvas.
The three of them ate supper, then Narol took her leave, giving each of them a hug before making her way towards her flyer. She emphasised that Gorn must not, under any circumstances, try to contact her. As far as Darl was concerned, they were strangers.
As she approached her flyer she turned and smiled at her nephew. ‘Remember to take the capsule. Oh, and try to smile when you see him, however difficult that might be.’ She then resumed her short walk, and did not look back.
Once the flyer was gone, father and son returned to the villa. ‘You were right, Narol didn’t leave me with much of a choice,’ Gorn said.
‘Despite what I said to your aunt, you always have a choice,’ his father replied, ‘even if it’s not much of a choice.’ This last admission put a weary smile on Zaran’s face. ‘Visit me before your ship departs, after your zagball match would be a good time,’ he noticed a wry look appearing on his son’s face. ‘You don’t seem too keen on playing.’