The Morcai Battalion (28 page)

“Strick! Oh, Strick!” Madeline sobbed against the physician’s broad shoulder.

“You son of a…!” Stern growled affectionately.

Dr. Strick Hahnson’s clone chuckled as his big arms clasped his two friends to his side. “God, it’s good to see you two reprobates again!” he said. “Komak brought me back from a couple of cells while the rest of you were liberating the camp. The C.O. hid me out with Muldoon in the hold on the way back. He said he was going to need a surprise to keep Maddie from landing in the brig. I guess I see what he meant, now.” He smiled at her. “And I thought I was going to end up alone with the Holconcom and the rest of our crew. It just wouldn’t have been the same, without you two!”

Madeline turned a red-eyed, tear-streaked face up to Dtimun’s, and everything she felt was there, naked, in her mind for him to read. She
was the only one of the three who knew about his psychic abilities, a secret she would gladly carry to her grave after this joyful reunion.

He read that, all of it, in her eyes. And he smiled. “Come,” he said to the three humans. “We have just enough time for an intoxicating beverage before we lift.”

Komak came to join them. “Am I not the best keeper of secrets in the three galaxies?” he bragged. “And I said nothing!”

“You’re a prince,” Stern told him.

Komak looked warily at Dtimun, whose raised eyebrows and hard glare made him shake himself mentally.

“It’s a human expression,” Madeline told Komak. “You’ll get used to them.”

“You know, I think I will,” Komak agreed.

“Now, about Muldoon,” Madeline began.

Dtimun held up his hand. “I refuse to divulge any more command secrets in an unsecured location,” he said. “I must try to find a new
kelekom
operator before we lift.”

“That will take skill,” Komak remarked. “They are rare, minds that can endure the joining.”

The three humans burst ahead of them into the officer’s club, to be greeted with waves and cheers and, then, catcalls. Nobody knew that Stern and Hahnson were clones. Madeline was certain that nobody would ever know, except Dtimun, Komak and Stern and herself. It would be the best-kept secret of the war. And, she had to admit, getting Strick back in any form was worth the sacrifice of her career advancement. She wouldn’t admit that serving aboard Dtimun’s ship was going to be invigorating, dangerous and exciting. But he probably knew, just the same.

“Ruszel, you fractured my wrist last time. Now it’s my turn!” an SSC pilot from another unit was yelling.

“Oh, yeah?” she replied. “Come here, you second-cousin to a space fungus, and I’ll fracture the other one for you!”

Dtimun glanced past Komak at the humans and smiled softly. “It will be a challenge, combining these crews.”

Komak chuckled. “She is everything I expected her to be,” he began.

Dtimun held up a hand and his eyes darkened. “Careful!”

“Very well. But she may sustain a fracture. I should assist her,” Komak remarked.

Dtimun’s eyes narrowed. “You have twice the strength of the humans,” he pointed out.

Komak took a small device, lifted it through his jet-black hair and handed it to the Holconcom commander. “There. All my microcyborgs are in your keeping. Madelineruszel, I will save you!” he yelled as he darted through the open sliding door into the officer’s club.

Dtimun stared down at the glowing microcyborgs in his golden palm, looked around him, sighed and walked into the building. The humans weren’t the only problem he was going to face in the months ahead, he considered, watching Komak bound above and into a group of spacers from a rival SSC ship.

But then, he assured himself, the
Morcai
Battalion was going to be the pride of the fleet one day. He glanced at the communidisc in his hand and scowled. This was something he didn’t want to have to share with his officers just yet. After their ordeal, they did deserve a night of fun. This new problem could wait, at least until the next day.

He walked through the open door into the boisterous club, looking for his officers, his eyes twinkling with green lights as he spotted them.

“Hey, Commander,” Stern yelled happily. “Catch!”

A tall, thin crewman from the rival ship came flying through the air, directly at Dtimun’s nose.

The startled crewman was hanging from one large golden hand as the sliding door closed.

Ahkmau: The Rojok prison complex to which enemy soldiers are transported. It is located on one of the moons of the Rojok home world, Enmehkmehk, and features some of the most diabolical tortures known to sentient beings. No one who enters its gates ever leaves. It is the pet project of the Rojok emperor, Mangus Lo, a madman who uses terror to control the populace and advance his conquest of new planetal resources for his overpopulated home world.

Altairian: A blue-skinned race noted for its stoicism, allied to the Tri-Galaxy Federation.

Ambutubes: Cylinders in which wounded and dead are placed for transport; operates on zero-point energy and can be floated to a ship through remote control.

AVBD: Audio visual bio detectors, placed in corridors and individual units aboard the
Morcai
to monitor the interior of the ship against sabotage.

The
Bellatrix
: One ship of a fleet of SSC ships, this one captained by Holt Stern, a Terravegan national. The ship’s medical chief of staff is Lieutenant. Commander Madeline Ruszel, who specializes in Cularian medicine. Her colleague, Dr. Strick Hahnson, is a specialist in human physiology and pharmacology. Both Ruszel and Hahnson, like Stern, are Terravegans, born on far-flung colonies whose settlers originated hundreds of years ago in the Sol system, on planet Earth. A planetal catastrophe reduced the human population to less than ten thousand souls; but just before it occurred, the colony ships had embarked from the international space station in orbit above Earth and were weeks away by the time the disaster occurred.

Benaski Port: The only neutral port in the vicinity of the Tri-Galaxy Fleet headquarters planet, Trimerius; listed on star charts as a favorite haunt of renegades, outcasts and deserters, with many pleasure domes, bars, gambling emporiums and a small unit of ship outfitters who can make minor repairs on space-going vessels. Notorious for trafficking in Dacerian women and various hallucinogenic substances. No extradition treaties with any outworlders, thus a haven for those fleeing law enforcement.

Berdache: A third sex of Terravegans who prefer their own gender as mates. They may marry at the pleasure of the state. They are also permitted to serve in the military. The term berdache is reportedly rooted in Native American language on ancient Earth.

Breeders: The Terravegan state has evolved into two classes of citizens. One class is assigned to the military, another is assigned to breeding camps. Breeders are males and females considered ineffectual for military service. They are allowed to marry. They are placed on farms, where they are given every comfort and luxury so long as they produce eggs and sperm for artificial breeding. They are not allowed to know their children or have contact with them. They are not permitted to have children in the natural manner, but can cohabit and bond for life. Other than the duty of aiding procreation, they are permitted to work in factories or agricultural communities or in support industries. They may also opt for political service. Another class of citizens allied to breeders is charged with the training and education of the children up until age nine, at which time they are given over to their military units. Children are taught to bear allegiance only to the state, and that military service is the greatest honor available to a Terravegan. They are not clones, but they are discouraged from any fraternization with other children, especially children who will be selected as breeders. Their education begins at birth, with implanted technology and physical conditioning a daily chore.

Centaurian: A misnomer deriving from first contact between humans and people of the Cehn-Tahr system near the Eridani solar system. They were at first believed to be natives of the Centauri system 4.3 light-years from earth. A fleet of colony ships from ancient Earth went off course due to a glitch in the programming that went undiscovered since the crew and complement were in cryosleep. The ships entered an unstable area of space, which “folded” into a system many parsecs from the Sol system. When they woke, it was to the sight of an alien vessel approaching them. The Cehn-Tahr boarded the lead colony ship and the captain assumed that they had reached their destination of the Centauri system. By the time the mistake was discovered, humans were used to calling these natives Centaurians and the name stuck. The Centaurians guided them to a planet in a nearby system that had the basic necessities of life—light, heat, water, breathable air—and introduced them to the natives who lived on the planet. They were accepted easily and blended into the existing human colony, all of whom were vegetarians, since there were no animals on the planet. They intermarried with the locals. In time, they colonized other systems, and the race as a whole became known as Terravegan.

The Centaurians are humanoid, but their race traces its evolutionary roots to a species of giant cat, the galot, which was found on Memcache, the home planet of the Cehn-Tahr. They are one race only, and their features include golden skin, jet-black hair and elongated cat’s eyes that change color to mirror mood. Their ears, nose, mouth, etcetera are exactly like any human’s, and they do not have either tails or fur. There is a narrow ribbon of fur that lies along the length of the spinal cord, a vestigial racial trait that is not visible, and that is never shown to outworlders.

Cehn-Tahr have two system-wide military units: the regular space navy and the elite Holconcom, which is the commando force, feared by other races. Women do not serve in their military, preferring to use their talents in the political and social arenas. Each Centaurian comes from a specific Clan, which is part of the individual’s social status. The commander of the Holconcom, Dtimun, has never given the name of his Clan. He is the only member of the Holconcom who is not a clone. Among the Cehn-Tahr, clones have the same status as any normally born member of the society.

Chacon: Field Marshal and commander of the Rojok military, and one of the most famous of warriors in his own right. Unlike his
emperor, he is an honorable and compassionate being, respected even by his enemies. He will have no part of terrorism and is openly critical of the death camp
Ahkmau
. He believes in the war, because the Rojoks are so overpopulated that they have no more room in their dynasty to search for natural resources. Tri-Galaxy politics made it impossible for them to petition for the right to colonize in the New Territory, so war was the only recourse. But he hates Mangus Lo’s policies and refuses to send prisoners to the death camps. He is so popular with the Rojok population that the Rojok tyrant is afraid to openly oppose or criticize him.

Clones: They can be created in less than a solar day among the Rojok. The process takes longer for Terravegans and Centaurians. However, in the human colonies, clones have no official status and are used for spare parts. They are treated as subhuman. Not so among Centaurians, where they are given full official status.

Cularian medicine: A specialty of exobiology that deals with Centaurian and Rojok physiology and pharmacology. Until Ruszel began serving with the Holconcom, it was largely theoretical, because few humans had ever seen either a Centaurian or a Rojok, since the Terravegan forces were headquartered on Trimerius, in the human colonies. Not until the Rojoks invaded neutral planetary systems and then destroyed a trial colony did the Rojoks and Centaurians come into contact with humans.

Dacerius: A desert planet famous for its yomuth races, silver work and exotic women, many of whom are captured and sold by slavers. Famous, also, for its bureaucracy, which deals in doublespeak and exasperation. Many nomadic tribes, most of whom have no affiliation
with the central government. Tribal leaders are still chosen by combat.

Dtimun: Commander in Chief of the Holconcom, the galaxy’s most elite commando unit. Except for its leader, the entire unit is made up of clones. The commander has led the unit for many years and is greatly respected not only by his own men, but by allied commands, as well. He and the Centaurian emperor, Tnurat Alamantimichar, are enemies; no one knows why. He has never revealed to which Clan his family claimed kinship, in a world where Clan affiliation was honor itself. He does not like humans, especially the Terravegan doctor Ruszel, who thinks of him as a barbarian because he objects to having a woman in a combat unit. Ruszel was once the captain of an elite SSC Amazon squad, the Amazons (all female) being one of the most respected and courageous of the combat elite.

Dylete: Centaurians have two hearts. There is only one heart at birth. Over a period of years approaching middle age, a new heart begins to form in concert with the original organ. At the time of half-life, approximately eighty-four to eighty-eight years of age, the first heart stops functioning and the new heart accepts the burden from the old one. The old heart is then reabsorbed into the body. Sometimes this process of changeover fails, and the patient dies. A Centaurian in his eighties is comparable to a thirty-four-year-old human male.

Emerillium: A crystal that, in its refined form, has electrical and magnetic properties, first used as a power source by the Cehn-Tahr, the technology was subsequently shared with the human military under treaty.

Enmehkmehk: The home planet of the Rojok dynasty. One of its moons contains the notorious prison complex
Ahkmau
, which translates as “place of tortures.”

Galot: A huge feral cat found originally on Memcache. Reports of them have been noted on a few colony planets, probably from kittens illegally transported as pets.

Great Galaxy War: Decades ago, a group of arms smugglers, tech producers and anarchists formed an alliance and secretly induced various governments to attack other governments after “incidents of terror” provoked public opinion against former allies. The Centaurians and the Terravegans joined forces, along with the Altairians and Jebobs, to combat the growing totalitarian states that were replacing republics. Eventually, alliances would be formed with governments throughout the galaxy and, when the war inevitably spread to two adjacent galaxies through the time-warp technological advances, other races joined the proponents of freedom and formed the Tri-Galaxy Federation and the Tri-Galaxy Fleet. A good portion of the original aggressors were captured and their ships confiscated. The rest fled into exile. The political wing of the Federation is the Tri-Galaxy Council, headquartered on Trimerius.

Gresham: A weapon powered by
emerillium
technology that uses a cartridge to shoot a cutting beam of high-intensity modulated energy at an enemy. Standard issue in the SSC.

Holconcom: The most elite, and feared, commando force in the three civilized galaxies. Created by the Centaurian emperor, Tnurat Ala
mantimichar, and strengthened by secret nanotechnology called microcyborgs, the Holconcom is the vanguard in any battle. It is under the sole command of its leader—at present, Dtimun—and even the emperor himself may not command it. The Centaurians who serve in the unit are all clones, except for the commander, and their strength and method of combat are legendary. Few humans have ever seen them fight. They sport high-collared red uniforms. They can be attached to an ally military only with the consent of their leader, and they are difficult to command. Their leader’s contempt for protocol and chain of command is well-known, as well as his refusal to follow orders. The Holconcom operate behind enemy lines, creating havoc and cutting lines of communication, as well as seeking out supply and communications networks, which are then targeted for attack. They are allowed forbidden technology that enhances speed and weaponry and is unknown to outworlders.

Hyperglas: A synthetic material that resembles glass but has the strength of steel, widely used in terraforming projects and architecture.

Jaakob Spheres: An orb containing many smaller orbs that preserve in stasis the DNA of all member Tri-Galaxy Federation races, as well as cellular specifications for exotic weaponry native to those cultures. A true prize for the Rojoks who capture them, except that the orbs are transcribed in Old High Martian, an ancient human tongue, of which the Rojoks know nothing. The orbs were in transit on a diplomatic observation tour to the Peace Planet, Terramer, just before the Rojoks attacked the planet, killed many of the colonists and one of the Centaurian observers (a young son of the Centaurian emperor) and kidnapped both the diplomatic observers and the Spheres. Among their captives is Lyceria, daughter of the Centaurian emperor.

Jebob: A member race of the Tri-Galaxy Federation. Offshoots of the Altairian race, they are also blue-skinned.

Kelekoms: A sentient race of energy beings who can attach themselves to host bodies and share information psychically. Through an ancient treaty with the Cehn-Tahr, they send emissaries to the Holconcom and host Centaurian diplomats on their home world. Only four emissaries are allowed to serve with the Holconcom. They bond with their hosts until death. Usually, due to their longevity, the hosts die long before they do—so a new host is offered in place of one who is killed in combat or dies of natural causes. The
kelekoms
are extremely susceptible to alien bacteria and have to be kept in sterile fields aboard the Holconcom ship,
Morcai
.