Child of Time (20 page)

Kiyan had forgot about Addy! Her vines began
encircling him even as he realized that his stealth camo was still
on. Disengaging the camo, Kiyan braced for the next blow as he
struggled against the vines. After a moment he realized that the
creature had stopped and Addy was no longer constricting him.

“I didn't think that you guys would ever find me.”
Kiyan watched as the creature began to soften and shift into the
form Kiyan recognized as Fred. “They killed them all.” Fred began
to collapse from the pressure of the last day. Relief overcame him
as Kiyan contacted the other search teams and activated the
Avenger's teleporters beaming everyone back onboard.

Opening a channel to the planet Kiyan informed them
that Fred had been rescued and that a member of the thoran security
force was onboard the Avenger receiving medical attention. They
should assemble a delegation to discuss terms of the alliance and
prepare for teleportation.

When the signal and coordinates of the delegation
were assembled Kiyan locked onto the life signs of the six thorans
at the coordinates and teleported them to the conference room.
Theo, Kendra and Draxos messaged Kiyan telling him that they would
beam over momentarily.

---------

Aren of the thoran people of New Thoros was rather
uncomfortable with the idea of being transported to a ship that he
was not entirely certain was friendly. He would have wanted a more
neutral location but there seemed to be none. Finding himself in a
spacious room with a table in the center his group moved towards
the table. He was even more discomforted when he saw what appeared
to be a human child appear out of thin air and proceed to seat
himself at the table. From what he knew of the protected races,
humans were the least advanced and were not capable of interstellar
travel. Knowing about the protected races was something that most
thorans knew about. Accidently declaring war on the protectors was
not in anyone's best interests. But then again they had fired on a
protectorate ship that very day.

“You are human yes? By your physical appearance I
take it you’re no more than sixteen earth years?” Aren wanted to
know why a human child was the only individual that they were being
presented with.

Kiyan smiled at the question. He could sense how
worried Aren was. “I am Kiyan, a nearly thirteen earth year old
human.”

Stunned at the new information Aren could hardly ask
his next question. “Why are you here then?”

“As the commander of the vessel that discovered your
planet and as one of the three that agreed to your terms for the
rescue operation I am obliged to be present. I am glad to tell you
that Savos, Fred and Addy are expected to be fine. I met several
rebel groups with my team while on the planet but nothing we
couldn't handle.” Kiyan watched Aren's expression as the
information sunk in.

Aren was finding the foundation for everything he
knew about humans crumbling. A thirteen year old, commander of a
battle cruiser, destroyed a formation of drakken ships and talked
about walking around rebel caves like it was nothing. He looked at
Kiyan with new respect. He was about to apologize when the three
new arrivals beamed in. Looking at the first two who appeared to be
older humans and the third. Aren was speechless when he recognized
a thoran wearing the protectorate uniform.

Greetings brother earth people. “I am Draxos of clan
Zorrel.”

“Impossible, clan Zorrel was lost when their colony
ship was destroyed by the rebels.” Aren lost what little composure
he had remaining.

“Those of us that survived the attack on the home
world left on a colony ship. These ascended”, as Draxos pointed to
Theo and Kendra, “Saved us and took us to their world to live in
peace.” Draxos took a seat before continuing. “Shall we discuss the
alliance terms? As there are members of the thoran race in the
protectorate we are inclined to grant your request for protection
but we need to find out why we should help you instead of the
rebels. We don't agree with the rebels but you need to make a case
for yourself in any case.”

Tapping his wrist then looking distant for a moment
Theo joined the discussion. “Our scans of the timeline here would
indicate that the rebels have drakken involvement. I was able to
find that the rebel leader might be a drakken plant. If we grant
your request for protection from the drakken then we would be bound
to help you with the rebels. Is there anything we should know? Fred
found that the rebels were not very hospitable but then again your
people weren't either.”

Aren began to collect himself. All the revelations of
the last few hours had rattled him yet he had not reached his
limits. Recognizing that he was in a precarious position
diplomatically he decided to take a leap of faith. “Fifteen years
ago the rebels started the war with an attack on our central city.
The supports of the cavern were bombed and the resulting collapse
killed millions of people. The outrage that followed didn't stop
people from joining them. The rebels that we captured showed signs
of brainwashing and a fanatic desire to protect the cause as it is
known. Our planet is being strangled by the war. Our defenses have
been sabotaged and we have been forced to defend our populated
centers without being able to make any offensives.”

We appreciate the gravity of your situation. “Before
we proceed we need to know why you attacked my son instead of using
a more "diplomatic" solution at that point.” Kendra made a pointed
query that made Aren squirm.

“We had been detecting subspace communications into
space from the rebels. We feared that they had been communicating
with you. I apologize for the misunderstanding.” Aren tried to
explain, Kendra scanned his emotions and found he was telling the
truth. “I know that you have no reason to believe me.”

“Aren, we are not having trouble believing you. From
what we know, we are offering orbital protection and if you lower
your interference field we can assist in your battle with the
rebels.” Draxos made an offer.

Aren thought for a moment before answering. “The
interference field has protected us for the last six years. Without
it the rebels will be able to send subspace communications
unrestricted. They will be able to make scans and track our people.
We might be able to do the same but we have been running a
defensive for over three years. It is our last line of
defense.”

Theo responded next. “Clearly you underestimate how
advanced Assurian technology is. The four ships in orbit of your
planet are each fully integrated with AI so we should be able to
render their computer systems inoperative. There will be at least
one protectorate ship in orbit maintaining complete scans. You will
have a better idea of what the rebels are doing then they will. I
am not sure I need to remind you that my son with three crew
members engaged several rebel detachments in combat and as you can
see is unscathed.” Glancing at Kiyan, Draxos and Kendra he
continued. “The reason we are offering this much support to your
cause is that the thoran rebel we captured on the surface wasn't
even thoran.”

Aren wasn't sure what Theo meant. “What do you mean
"not thoran"? We haven't had any reports of alien fighters before
your arrival.”

“While we were searching for our crew member we met
and were attacked by a dozen rebels. We rendered them unconscious
and were about to move on when we noticed that two of them were
identical.” Kendra paused for a moment

“It isn't uncommon for our race to have twins, two
children born at the same time looking nearly identical.” Aren
offered

“Most races have twins but these were not twins. They
were clones. Complete cellular replicas of each other. The only
race that has and uses technology like that are the drakken. This
would explain why they were so fanatical in their devotion to the
cause.” Draxos offer this final piece of information.

Chapter Ten: Allies

Savos became aware of his surrounding slowly. The
events leading up to the where he had to be were muddled but only
led to one conclusion. He had expected to be killed after he, Fred
and Addy had been discovered in their hiding place. The rebels were
not known for leaving survivors. Opening his eyes, it took a minute
to adjust for the bright light in the room. Finally able to see he
sat up slowly and glanced around seeing a room with beds and
shining white surfaces. He felt better when saw Fred watching him.
At least one friendly face in the strange surroundings.

“You were sleeping for two days.” Fred informed
Savos.

Standing up Savos found that he didn't have a single
injury after a quick inventory. The fight had been heated right
before he had taken his involuntary hibernation. “Where are
we?”

“We are on the Avenger, Kiyan's ship, he is the one
that found us. He was cloaked so I didn't recognize him.” Fred
sounded annoyed at the misunderstanding.

“One person did all that?” Savos shook his head
trying to clear the cobwebs. Hearing the sound of a door sliding
open he looked up in time to see a young human enter the room
escorted by an older person with dark scales faintly visible.

“Savos, it is good that you are awake. We had to keep
you sedated until your injury had healed. By the way, my name is
Kiyan. Welcome aboard the Avenger.”

Savos took a minute to understand what he heard. “You
were the one that attacked us? Single handedly?”

“I'm sorry for hurting you but I didn't recognize
that you were a friendly. You introduced yourself with a left hook.
Also Ray, Alec and Corban were there so it wasn't single handed.”
Kiyan felt bad for having hurt Savos after all he had done for
Fred.

“I don't know much about humans but from what I can
tell there is no need for them to be a protected race. You seem to
be able to take care of yourselves.” Savos looked
uncomfortable.

“Long story, most of us are not so, shall we say,
capable. Only a few humans were taken to the refuge. Those that
were taken there got stronger. Anyway the reason that I am here is
I wanted to ask you a question.” Kiyan surprised Savos even more.
“The terms of our alliance with your people dictate that a member
of each of our respective organizations stand as a representative.
Draxos has volunteered to represent the protectorate interests. We
stipulated that we get to choose who will represent your people. We
chose you with Fred's recommendation.”

Savos rubbed his head. There was a lot of information
to process. “So this is a protectorate ship? I'm on a ship in orbit
of my planet and you want me to be a representative of my people.
Why me?”

“I hope you don't mind but one of us is a telepath.
He scanned all the people that the diplomats presented and found
that they all seemed to have ulterior motives. You however only
want to serve your people in the best way possible. Take your time
before you decide, this is a big decision.” Kiyan smiled then
turned to leave.

“Wait please, what would you want me to do if I say
yes?” Savos light headed. The shock of events was catching up.

“It is primarily a figurative diplomatic situation.
You would be a member of the crew on any protectorate ship that you
want. After training you would be offered an officer's position.”
Kiyan explained.

“My people, they are losing the war with the rebels.”
Savos looked like his legs were about to collapse.

“Don't worry, we have agreed to protect your people
from all space borne threats. We found that the drakken were behind
the rebels so the plans for planet side involvement are in the
works. The drakken are our enemies. You need more rest, we can talk
later. Kiyan left a shaken Savos wondering what had happened.

-----------

Tessa had scanned a rebel that she had incapacitated.
Using the scan she altered her physical form and holographic
parameters to match. Leaving the side cave she deactivated her
stealth system and joined a group of rebels as they moved past.
Taking passive scans as she moved she gathered what information she
could. The caves had mostly sedentary alarm systems so Tessa wasn’t
very worried about detection.

Things were going as planned until the thoran beside
Tessa became enamored with the Thoran that she had created her
disguise from. Fortunately one of the protectorate ships in orbit
had been able to build a language database so Tessa wasn’t having
difficulty understanding what the thoran meant. Tessa decided to
deal with the annoying Thoran before his advances compromised her
holograms. When the man tried draping an arm over her shoulders,
Tessa seized his hand and spun. There was a satisfying crunch and
the thoran was flipped over backwards by the force of the attack.
Tessa brushed herself off as the other thorans in the group looked
between her and their moaning college.

“What is the color of the sky?” Tessa didn’t need her
telepathic relays to detect the suspicion that was in the
challenging thoran’s tone. This was obviously not a simple question
about the weather.

“Blue?”

“Spy! Kill her.” Tessa rolled her eyes at the order.
Fortunately this altercation had taken place in a rather private
location.

“You shot first.” Tessa weathered the storm of weapon
fire only as long as it took to activate her weapon systems. Using
her integrated blasters there was soon none left to raise the
alarm. Hoping that the incident hadn't made her job more difficult
she moved on. Soon entering the main quarters she slipped past the
security guards and made her way towards the command center.

The command center was heavily guarded at its
position in the center of the cavern. Guards were posted at every
entrance. Tessa contemplated storming the front door and fighting
her way to the mainframe. The idea was discarded as Tessa
considered the amount of energy she had left. The squad in the
caves had been trying.