The Trilisk Revolution (Parker Interstellar Travels) (7 page)

“I
already told you we see most of the people on the list are at Skyhold,” Telisa
said. “So that’s my problem. Of course at the top of my list is finding out if
they are all Trilisks or what. Most likely I expect to find all those on the
list are Trilisk, and a bunch of servants that aren’t. If I can identify
vulnerable innocents and protect them, then I can take out the Trilisks en
masse.”

“Protect
the innocents? Could you really just evacuate them while the Trilisks stand
by?” asked Siobhan.

“Maxsym
is participating indirectly,” Telisa said.
“He’s developed an agent
which can be used to neutralize Trilisk hosts.
Terran
Trilisk hosts, I
mean.”

Everyone
perked up at that one. Telisa continued.

“We’ll
use it on Skyhold.”

“And
what about… the other people?” Caden asked. “Is the poison deadly to normal Terrans?”

Telisa
nodded.

“Less
deadly, for what that’s worth. I’m going to go there and try and get them off
Skyhold. Or failing that, try and get the vulnerable ones, those very old or
very young, into some shuttles or someplace I can isolate their air supply.”

“That’ll
alert the Trilisks,” Siobhan said.

“I’ll
set the trap first. Then I’ll start getting normal people out of there.”

“Maxsym
has contributed greatly to my mission on Skyhold. He will stay here and
continue to build up what we know about alien biology and set up a program in
PIT I intend to expand: analysis of alien biology and its applications to
improve ourselves.”

Telisa
makes it sound like he’ll be the director of an entire division someday,
Jason thought.

“Cilreth
remains in command of
Clacker
, to coordinate for all of us,” Telisa
said. “She’ll be especially focused on the orbital assets which back up Jason’s
network for striking down Trilisks anywhere on Earth we find them. This network
will also destroy Skyhold, and everyone on it, if that’s what it comes to. I’m
calling it right now. If the gas plan fails and we have to kill innocent people
to kill 80 some Trilisks, we will. It’s on me.”

No
one spoke up. Telisa continued.

“We’ll
keep working through details in the next couple of days. Then we’ll be there.
Any questions?”

Cilreth
spoke quietly. “What happened to the idea that not all Trilisks might be, I
don’t want to say evil… that not all Trilisks might be our enemies?”

“These
Trilisks could be living all over the globe, making Terran lives better.
Instead I believe they’re sitting at the top one hundred people of a tyrannical
government. They’re behind this gigantic military build up. I was being naive
before. They’re not our friends.”

After
a moment, Telisa continued.

“It
was too easy to think of a super advanced race as being peaceful and wise and
benevolent. That was a false vision all along I put into my head. I invented
them before I had really learned about them. I had preconceived notions.
Romanticized notions. Now, it’s time to save Earth.”

It
was hard for Telisa to see that. She’s come a long way
, Jason thought.

Everyone
mulled it over.

“Send
me the questions as they occur to you. Poke holes in the plans all you want and
let me know. If we have to make modifications I want to know sooner rather than
later.”

Chapter 9

Telisa
prepared to communicate with the ships she had detained in deep space. She
thought about how angry they must be at her. Right now, they were sure she was
the enemy. The thoughts reminded her of the prisoner she had been keeping:
Krellis.

“Cilreth,
I need a standard Terran space shuttle,” she sent to her friend. “Just an
average shuttle. We need to put the prisoner Krellis onto it and send it over
to the
Bismarck
.”

“Sure
thing,” Cilreth2 answered. Apparently Cilreth’s double had access to link
messages to Cilreth. “I’ll ask Shiny to pray one up for us. Or do you need me
to synthesize one myself?”

“Fastest
way possible. Have some soldier bots escort Krellis onto the shuttle once it’s
ready, please.”

“Got
it covered,” Cilreth2 said.

Telisa
got a link to Admiral Sager on the
Bismarck
. This time, she did not
bother with a visual feed.

“We’re
outside the Sol system and about to begin. I’m sure you hate us very much. Yet
I hope you’ve at least thought about what you’re going to do when we release
you. Some of the most powerful and influential members of society will be
gone.”

“I
actually wish you were from the UED,” Sager said. “Never thought I’d say that
to someone, but at least they would be human.”

“I
am
human, but I know what you mean,” Telisa said. “You’ll have to
declare martial law, I think,” Telisa said.

“My
authority would not extend that far,” Sager said.

“With
these powerful men and women gone, an admiral—especially when acting captain of
a powerful warship—will have as good a say as anyone else.”

“Can
I speak with your father? Is he with you?”

“He
died out past the frontier.” Telisa took a deep breath. “We lost several people
out there. By the way, I have a Space Force man to return to you. He was sent
to spy on us. I’ll be sending him on a shuttle.”

“We
refuse to accept any boarders until we are released,” Sager said.

“Then
I hope he has enough air until we leave,” Telisa said. She cut the connection.
Right now, what was important was cleaning up the Trilisks. Nothing she could
say would be received well by the Space Force ship. They probably suspected her
to be a fake personality created by the aliens that had captured them. The
twist of her relationship to Captain Relachik must be odd to them—wouldn’t it
be more likely for the aliens to have captured Relachik and drawn her from his
memory? Yet Relachik was no longer commanding the
Seeker
when it was
destroyed. They must be wondering if he was a traitor too, or even an alien
android posing as a Terran.

This
is not my main problem.

“We’re
ready Shiny,” Telisa said.

“Proceeding,”
Shiny responded.

Most
of the fleet commenced its last approach on Sol. One of Shiny’s ships stayed
behind to quarantine the
Bismarck
until it was time to release her.

Telisa
watched in her personal view. The rest of the team must have been watching,
too. They gathered at a common mess on the ship. Caden wore a Space Force field
uniform, basically a minimal set of rank insignia over a Veer suit. Siobhan had
a stealth suit on. Imanol carried a rifle as well as his usual collection of
pistols and wore a Veer suit himself. Maxsym did not show, but Cilreth arrived
to see everyone off. Telisa surveyed the PIT team. They looked nervous. She did
not feel it. She was calm.

I
should be nervous. I guess I just don’t care as much now that I’m alone.

The
Clacker
and the other ships neared the belt.
Clacker
was supposed
to go very close to Earth, but the
Thumper
would be staying back at the
asteroid belt, because Shiny wanted to keep the Trilisk AI as far from Trilisks
as he could. The Space Force presence did not react to the incursion.

The
Vovokan technology is still able to hide us. For now.

The
plan called for Shiny to reveal his ships a bit after the teams went into
action. Mass confusion would be good, but only after everyone was in place.
Alerting everyone too soon might tighten security or give the Trilisks time to
act.

“Shiny?
How is it going with the Space Force?” asked Telisa. Her PV had the data, but
so much was happening at once that she wanted his take on it.

“Suppressing
detection successfully, effectively, efficiently,” Shiny said.

The
Vovokan ships scattered across the solar system. The
Clacker
proceeded
smoothly toward Earth. It was the most carefully cloaked of all the ships. If
the PIT team had their way, no one would know it was ever there.

“Shiny
offer, provide, furnish plan enhancement,” Shiny said. Telisa could see he
transmitted the message to everyone.

“What?”
Telisa asked. “Oh, you have some ideas for the attack? It’s a bit late for us
to change our plans now. We’ve allocated everyone, and gone through simulations
to prepare.”

“Fallback,
backup, plan B.”

“Good.
How would you capture or kill the Trilisks in your plan B?”

“Traps
prepared. Trilisk columns moved close to Earth. Upon use, hidden bomb
detonates.”

“Wow!
An exploding Trilisk Motel,” Cilreth said. “They would not see it?”

“Unknown.
Destroy tubes with short, minimal, tiny delay,” Shiny said.

“Good.
If any Trilisks get through the cracks, they might end up in one of those,”
Imanol said. “It doesn’t interfere with our plans.”

Caden
walked up toward Telisa and Cilreth2.

“I
hate to mention this but…” Caden trailed off. He looked at Cilreth2.

“I’m
headed for a Vovokan shuttle,” Cilreth2 said. “Only because
Clacker
will
be one of the ships closest to Earth. I’m going to rendezvous with one of
Shiny’s ships much farther out.”

That
seemed to satisfy Caden. Telisa listened but did not comment.

“Are
you ready?” Telisa asked Caden. “We have a shuttle we made to bring Krellis
over to the
Bismarck
. They took him after all and sent the shuttle back.
I’m surprised it didn’t have a bomb on it. Yes, I checked.”

Caden
nodded. “I have everything on me.”

Telisa
sent him the route to the shuttle. “Good luck,” she said. She offered Caden her
hand, and he shook it solemnly. “Thanks for training with me. Thanks for
everything.” Then he left quickly.

“You
really think the
wunderkind
can take out Trilisks in the middle of Space
Force Command?” Imanol asked. Despite the snarky nickname, Imanol’s voice did
not sound as critical for once.

“Worry
about your own mission,” Telisa said. “You have your Vovokan shuttle picked
out?”

“Yes.”

“Then
I wish you luck,” she said.

“Thanks,
but I think you’re the one that has bitten off the chewiest bite. If you can’t
save those people, get your ass out of there. We need you around to fight
another day.”

“I
will. Thanks.”

He
thinks I’m taking the hardest mission because Magnus is gone. Maybe he’s right.

Imanol
followed the exit route Caden had used.

Siobhan
offered her hand next. Telisa shook it. “Mine’s as good as dead,” she said and
stomped off. Telisa lifted her eyebrow.

“It
was an honor to meet you,” Jason said. Telisa gave his hand a perfunctory shake
too, even though they both knew it was just for following the pattern everyone
else had set.

“I
know today you’ll earn your spot as a top member of the PIT team,” Telisa said.
“I may not see you again. If so, just do whatever you think is right with the
company.”

Jason
nodded, though he looked a bit overwhelmed.

“Status
Shiny?” she asked.

“Terrans
have detected anomalies, oddities, disturbances. Disruption minimal,” Shiny
said.

If
I survive this, I’m going to have to ask him for the number of people we
killed. If I’m lucky, maybe I’ll die and won’t have to ever know.

“Then
I’m headed for Skyhold.”

Cilreth
got up next to her. She approached Telisa and hugged her. “Good luck!” she
said.

Telisa
pointed the way to their ships and started to walk. Jason followed.

***

Kirizzo
went to a chamber deep within one of his giant ships. Three dark columns with
no controls dominated the room.

A
form emerged from the shadow of one of the pillars.

“Shiny!
What the hell is going on?” asked Telisa3.

“Withholding
data,” Kirizzo said.

“How
can I do this mission without knowing what’s happening? Where’s Magnus and the
others? The habitat? Am I a copy or the original?”

Telisa3
held out her arm and flexed, trying to measure her strength.

“Parts
of plan hidden, obfuscated, withheld,” Kirizzo explained. “Trilisks possess,
demonstrate, utilize mind reading talents. Optimal situation: information,
background, details hidden, obfuscated, withheld.”

“By
the Five! You can’t tell me because you don’t want a Trilisk to read my mind
and learn something that could defeat us?”

“Correct.
Trust, believe, obey Shiny for mutual benefit. Telisa absorbed mission
parameters?”

“Yes.
I’m going into Skyhold to take down a Trilisk there. But we were far from
Earth, last I remember!”

“Correct.
Situation fluid, changing, shifting. Optimal course explained, given,
delineated by mission briefing.”

Kirizzo
could tell Telisa3 had doubts. She took a long moment to look at Kirizzo.
Telisa3 seemed to come to a decision after a typically short Terran planning
phase.

“Okay,
I’ll trust you. Show me to my shuttle and I’ll be off. I don’t like working in
the dark, but, I can see it given what you’ve said. If I succeed, I expect a
full debriefing, in the other direction.”

Kirizzo
sent her a route.

“It’s
customary to wish me luck,” Telisa3 prompted.

“Good
luck,” Kirizzo said. He understood that was the expected phrase the Terran had
asked for.

“Say
it like you normally would,” Telisa3 said.

Kirizzo
felt perplexed. He took a guess.

“Shiny
hopes, wishes, bestows luck upon Telisa.”

“Better,”
she said, yet hesitated. “I have so many questions… sounds like the less I
know, the better? I don’t like it. You can’t even tell me where the others are?
Magnus?”