Child of Time (43 page)

Kiyan didn't even have time to respond before Luke
had adjusted the holographic uniform to a dark grey matching the
other soldiers in the group. “I've spent the last few hundred years
on this planet, I promise I won't be in the way.”

“As you wish, you might be better off with the next
group on the other side. It’s nearer your insertion point.” With
that the man stepped into the dark as he snapped a black face
shield over his face. A few more men joined him before the door
closed and they lifted off again. They slowly snaked through the
dunes and valleys as they made their way around their target. This
time no one confronted him when he stood up. He closed his eyes and
reached out with his mind getting a feel for his surroundings. He
sensed the four men that followed him off the drop ship trying to
settle butterflies in their stomach as they prepared for the
assault. Kiyan followed the lead of one of the men who appeared in
charge. Once on the outside Kiyan realized that there wasn't a
single glimmer of light visible from the ship. It seemed to melt
into the dark and was gone when he looked back. He could still
sense the metals in its construction for a while as they trudged
through the dark. One of the reborn tapped Kiyan on the shoulder to
give him an earpiece communicator as they neared the outpost.

“Make sure you find the code they are using for
reports before you neutralize the imprints.” Kiyan heard the voice
of the commander on the earpiece giving final instructions before
they began. They crawled through the grey dust for hours before
they were near enough to hear what was happening in the outpost.
They buried themselves in the dust for camouflage when they saw the
spotlights periodically stabbing at the dark. The time passed
slowly before they heard the imprint guards on duty make a report
of all clear followed by a string of numbers and the time.

“Wait for another transmission to confirm the code.”
The commander's voice crackled on the earpiece when the imprints
had finished reporting. After another eternity passed before
another report was made. This time another string of numbers
followed the report with the time. “They've upgraded their
security, they are using a different code system than they used
last time. We don't have the equipment to break a more advanced
code.” There was a hint of desperation in the commander's voice
this time. “Wait for another transmission and see if you can make
out a pattern.” Kiyan knew how much time was in between
transmissions but it still felt like a long time before the next
one. Another report of all clear and a new number sequence
followed.

“Standby, we are going to have to revise our plan.”
The commander's voice again came over the earpiece.

“
The code is 3614 times the current time minus the
outpost number multiplied by 2 times the time.”
Luke spoke in
Kiyan's head nearly making him jump as a spotlight passed
nearby.

“
You are sure?”
Kiyan didn't want to make a
mistake.

“
I knew after the second transmission and
confirmed it after the third one.”
Luke was matter of fact in
the way he said it.

Kiyan opened his mind and connected with the four
other people in his group.
“I know the code, let's move in.”
There was a slight rustle on one side as a soldier uncovered his
rifle and drew a bead. The sound must have drawn the attention of
the guards as they all came to the rail and began turning the
spotlight to pan the landscape. There was a flash as the rifles
spoke death and the guards tumbled over the side. The men scrambled
up the embankment into the shelter as fast as they could. Kiyan
surveyed the equipment and saw a display with what looked like a
clock and calculator. He noticed there was a countdown timer on one
side for the next transmission. One of the reborn was set up with
the transmitter by the time the next transmission came around. The
report was made followed by the new code and accepted when the time
came around without any difficulty much to their collective
relief.

“We have the code, make your move.” Kiyan broadcast
from his earpiece to the other groups at the guard posts.

“What is the code?” The commander's voice responded
to Kiyan's transmission. There was a pause after Kiyan transmitted
the code sequences to the commander. “The math works for the other
outpost's transmissions. You heard the man, make your move.”

The rest of the outposts were taken without incident
in the next few minutes as Kiyan waited. A couple more snipers and
Rinald showed up shortly after the other stations had been secured.
Kiyan carefully made his way around the rim the short distance to
his attack point with Rinald. It was a while before they heard the
command to begin the assault. Kiyan watched the glowing arch of the
missiles followed by the blue flashes illuminating the hulking ship
in the dark valley. Kiyan's first leap landed him half way down the
steep valley wall as the unprepared imprints raced to trenches.
Rinald slid to a stop beside Kiyan as the artillery blasts flashed
against them. Kiyan noticed the glyphs on the mech suit had gone
dark as he launched himself into the air again. Force fields
rippled beyond Kiyan's fingers as he fell causing him to glide much
farther past his original target. It took a minute longer for
Rinald to catch up. Kiyan looked at the Drakken lines as they began
forming an offensive with their own artillery. Fortunately they
weren't completely sure where their attackers were besides the
reborn were sheltered by the rock ledge that they were attacking
from.

Kiyan felt his shields tested as they rounded a
corner. They had surprised a couple drakken that had been hiding
beside the ship. Kiyan was about to retaliate when the snipers
around the rim of the valley found their target. The drakken
collapsed as a half dozen charged shells blasted into them. Kiyan
glanced up at the rim where he knew the shots came from and waved a
thumbs up at his allies. He was sure that at least some of them
could still see him in their scopes. The unguarded hanger deck
opened ahead of them giving them an opportunity to slip inside but
there were a few drakken trying to take shelter from the deadly
hail outside. Kiyan bent cold fire at the first drakken that
charged him. Kiyan found cold fire acted strange in this atmosphere
but it still did the job. The normal blue was interlaced with
purples and greens. Inspire of that the frosted drakken was frozen
as hard as a statue. Rinald took care of the next couple with the
suit's weapons. The next one fell to an ice dart embedded in his
chest. It only took a few minutes to fight their way through the
hanger deck on their way to the computer. When they finally reached
the hallway off of the deck, Rinald took a defensive stance and
prepared to defend the door.

Kiyan paused a few paces down the hall as he heard
the sound of plasma impacting flesh behind him. There was the sound
of artillery in the muffled distance broken by the clang of the
suit smashing into the metal of the ship. Kiyan ice formed and
clenched his fists as he proceeded down the hall. Frost grew ahead
of him giving the few drakken he met little warning before the icy
flames enveloped them. Luke gave Kiyan directions as he navigated
through several decks. When he finally reached the computer deck he
found his way barred by a solid metal door reinforced by a force
field. Luke took over at that point and began bending ice fire
against the force field draining it faster than the shield
capacitors could recharged. The shield failed with a spray of
sparks when the system had reached its limits. The door melted and
reformed as Kiyan passed through it. On the other side only Kiyan's
ice fire lit the room. Luke interfaced with the computer core as
Kiyan waited.

“
It's the wrong ship
.” Luke made the statement
in Kiyan's head.

“What!” Kiyan hadn't been expecting that
responds.

“
Your tone doesn't suggest the predicted humor
expected from a joke.”
Kiyan detected what he thought was
confusion coming from the AI and understood.

“So this is the right ship?” There was a pause before
Luke responded to Kiyan's query.

“
Indeed this ship is the right one. There is an
auto destruct protocol in the database for the minefield.”
Luke
was still confused about Kiyan's response to his joke. “
What was
wrong?”

“For one, the timing was wrong. Also don't joke about
things like that. It might have been funny if used in the right
application.” Kiyan almost laughed before continuing. “It was more
like sarcasms instead of humor really.”

“
Ah, I was having trouble discerning the
difference.”
Luke interfaced with the ship and activated the
transmitters and began sending out the auto destruct protocol. Luke
brought up a hologram of the sky and they watched expectantly.
Their efforts were rewarded by the scattered flashes of light as
the minefields began to explode. Soon the sky was filled with the
exploding remnants and the burning pieces that were falling through
the atmosphere left streamers of light.

Kiyan sensed the strange feeling of time warping
around him as the timelines began to reset. There was a bright
flash and Kiyan found himself surrounded by the countless rows of
identical faces. He recognized his surroundings as being in the AI
council chamber.

“Prime, we owe you our future and past.” Alpha's
familiar face and voice greeted Kiyan as he shifted back out of his
ice form.

“Prime?” Kiyan was confused by the title Alpha
used.

“The one you call Luke is a prime. His coding came
from the same seed that I also came from. He is a new order of AI.
His existence is tied to yours and as such you are prime also.”
Alpha explained briefly what the title meant.

“So Luke is going to be in my head forever?” Kiyan
wasn't sure what to think about sharing his mind.

“Indeed, your destinies are linked forever.” Alpha
confirmed Kiyan's suspicion. Surprisingly Kiyan decided he didn't
mind it that much. “We detected an aberration in the timeline, they
call themselves reborn drakken. The aberration has been isolated
and contained. We believe it came from the timeline when we didn't
exist. Have you any advice?”

“They helped me destroy the minefield so your probe
could land in the future.” Kiyan tried to explain. “Can they be
saved?”

“Prime has spoken. Their timeline will be integrated
with ours.” Alpha paused and the blinding white light filled
Kiyan's senses. The Avenger's familiar surroundings welcomed
Kiyan's senses as he reappeared on the control deck as the draconic
vessel warped into the system. The ship streaked into the
holographic representation of the system they were gathered in.

“Kiyan nice of you to join us.” Alec paused and
furrowed his holographic brow. “I have you on my sensors twice,
once here and another time near the simulator.” Alec smiled a
second later. “Must be a glitch, only have you here now. I will run
some diagnostics. Anyway, there are twenty ships in the fleet now
with the addition of the draconic vessel.”

“Twenty? I thought we only had seventeen with the
draconic vessel.” Kiyan tried to remember what had happened before
the timeline alteration. It seemed like so long ago but only
moments ago at the same time.

“We had fifteen yesterday before the four reborn
drakken ships arrived. Kiyan you knew this. You and Drovak weren't
sure they could be trusted being a free drakken fraction. What is
going on?” Alec made Kiyan uncomfortable with his pointed
question.

“Long story.” Kiyan began to realize that things had
changed because of what he had done.

“I would say I have the time but you have a meeting
with one of the reborn commanders.” Alec sent a prompt through
Kiyan's HUD about his schedule. Kiyan sensed a split second
confrontation between Luke and Alec during the connection and
decided to go to the conference room where the reborn commander
waited before more questions arose. Alec must have sensed Kiyan's
thoughts because he didn't pursue the issue.

Kiyan activated the teleporter and materialized in
the room with the reborn commander. “Hi my name is Kiyan commander
of the Avenger.” He stopped when he saw the reborn that looked
identical to Rinald. “The reborn had a confused expression on his
face as well.”

“Kiyan, is it really you?” You look exactly the same
as you do in twelve thousand years!

Rinald seemed to remember himself and clenched an arm
across his chest and took a deep bow.” It will be an honor to serve
with a prime. I am Rinald commander of the Assurian vessel Dark
Star.” Rinald stood back up and looked Kiyan in the eye. “I
understand there is some misunderstanding as to our intentions. How
is this if a prime is a commander among the protectorate?”

“There was indeed a misunderstanding but in this
timeline I have only been a prime for the last ten minutes. I will
take care of any problems that might remain.” Kiyan was glad his
actions had not resulted in the loss of the reborn. “How are you so
far in the past?”

“I could ask you the same thing Kiyan. The Assurians
extracted us from the erased timeline at the instant you changed
time. For me it’s been three generations since I last saw you in
the future.” Rinald explained how the Assurians inserted them into
their timeline in the past. They had been brought back into time
and lived on the surface while the Assurians built underground. The
two races had existed in a balance.

“Well, after informing me I was a prime they sent me
here and now. I am still trying to catch up.” Kiyan leaned back in
his chair. This was a lot to take in.

“I would love to talk more but I have many things to
take care of on my ship.” Rinald stood and saluted again. “I will
enjoy fighting by your side again.”