Progeny (The Progenitor Trilogy, Book Three) (27 page)

              Dawson tapped Haines on the shoulder and pointed at a nearby wall.  There were carvings on its surface depicting ape-like forms in armour.  They were depicted hanging from their muscular arms, weapons gripped between prehensile toes.  Part of the wall was coated with accumulated debris and fungus.  Dawson stepped over and brushed some away to reveal the rest of the relief work.  The figure of an Arkari was clearly visible carved into the stone, its weapon raised against the ape creatures. Dawson ran a hand over the weathered design, the brittle stone crumbling slightly at his touch.

              ‘So, the Dryads built this place,’ said Haines, inspecting the carvings.

              ‘The Dryads?’ said Dawson, incredulously. ‘But they’re just animals, aren’t they?’

              ‘Either them or another species related to them, judging by these carvings.  Something catastrophic must have happened to them in the distant past.  My guess is that the Arkari happened to them,’ said Haines and pointed at the carved figure.

              ‘The Arkari?  But the Arkari would never...’

              ‘Not now they wouldn’t, but they haven’t always been so benign.  There’s a lot you don’t know... hell, there’s a lot most of the Arkari didn’t know about their own past until quite recently.  It’s how this whole mess that we’re in got started.  Do you know much about history, Captain?’

              ‘A little, sir.’

              ‘Sometimes I think we humans are like medieval peasants wandering amidst the ruins of Rome, gawking open mouthed at the remains and wondering who could have built such places.  There are countless ages of galactic history, filled with civilisations that came and went in an eye-blink.  The Dryads built this city, hell they may have terraformed this moon, but they too disappeared from history. We may be one such race, Captain. Perhaps we need to face that.’

              ‘You said the Arkari had a hidden past.’

‘I’ll tell you about it some other time.  We need to keep moving.’

              They moved onwards through the ruins, beneath the silent, dripping trees.  The mist was getting thicker now.  The ruins loomed out of the thick enveloping fog, the overgrown lumps of stone and concrete taking on the ghostly shapes of weird, impossible creatures lurking on the forest floor.  The men were tense.  No-one spoke. Marines fingered their weapons nervously.

              Just for a second Haines spotted the man out on the left flank through a gap in the mists, a shadowy figure beneath the trees.  Something wasn’t right.  Something about the way that the man moved set alarm bells ringing in Haines’s head.  The man walked like an automaton, rather than the natural, fluid movements of a soldier on patrol.  At the back of his mind Haines heard the whispers again.  It was the same voice he had heard in the tunnels, as if someone were uttering words just out of range of his hearing.  He reached for his gun.

              ‘Do you know something Admiral?’ said Dawson, in a matter of fact tone of voice. ‘I’ve been walking on this broken ankle since yesterday.  Now, how do you think that that’s possible?’

              Haines turned and looked at Dawson.  The man’s expression had changed.  Someone else, something other than the Marine captain was looking back at him through Dawson’s eyes, something pitiless and predatory.

              ‘Jesus...’ breathed Haines as monsters exploded out of the forest around them.

Chapter 16

              Chen watched the flotilla of ships as they departed the system from the ward room of the
Trafalgar
and felt a twinge of regret that she was not going with them.  The massive carriers moved in formation with their escorts as they powered away from Earth, the engines of the warships forming a bright constellation against the backdrop of stars.  The first of the carrier battle groups were being deployed to Beta Hydri system to hold the line against any further enemy incursions.  Half of the Nahabe ships belonging to the Order of Void Hunters had already left for these systems to provide support against Shaper vessels.  The other half - including the gunsphere of their commander, the Lord Protector, had remained in the Solar System for the time being.

              The past few days had been quite eventful.  First she had been required to attend the memorial services for the victims of the attacks on Galileo Station and Amazonia Port.  The President’s own personal liner, a heavily customised Stork class vessel, had proceeded first to Jovian space and then back to Earth, flanked by an honour guard of ships that had survived the battle.  Chen had been aboard the liner as an honoured guest.  In full dress uniform amid an audience of dignitaries both civilian and military, she had watched the memorial services at both sites.  The President’s speeches had been moving, heartfelt and defiant, but Chen felt sick to her stomach.  The deaths of so many innocents had been on her watch.  She had tried to tell herself that she had done the best that she could with the ships that she had had available, but it didn’t take away the awful hollow feeling inside her.

              A couple of days later she had again been invited to Naval Headquarters where the President had publicly awarded her the Medal of Valour, the Commonwealth’s highest military honour.  Chen had accepted the medal, and had her hand shaken warmly by the President in front of a legion of press eager to see the heroic defender of Earth.  She had smiled and answered their barrage of questions as best she could, replying that it was a great honour, how she was proud to do her duty and she paid tribute to her crew and those of the other vessels who had fought alongside her, and to those who hadn’t made it.  Her face was all over the news. Apparently she’d become something of an icon.

But deep down, she felt that she didn’t deserve it.  She had failed those people trapped inside Amazonia Port when the Shapers had struck.  All the medals in the world wouldn’t help those who had died amidst the storm of enemy fire or in the cold vacuum of space and it was the Nahabe, not her, who had finally driven the enemy away.  The bright blue ribbon of the Medal of Valour with its stylised Earth symbol stitched at the centre adorned the left breast of her uniform along with the others that she had acquired over the years.  It was everything that she had ever hoped for when she had joined the Navy all those years ago and now she had won the ultimate prize, her achievement felt like a hollow one.

Admiral Cartwright entered the room behind her and followed her gaze out through the thick, armoured windows to the ships now disappearing one by one into hyperspace.

‘Wish you were going with them?’ he said.

‘Yes sir,’ Chen replied, turning to face her superior and saluting.

‘You’ll get your chance soon enough, Admiral Chen.  How are the repairs to the
Churchill
coming along?’

‘The structural damage has been repaired.  The repair crews are in the process of fitting new outer hull sections and we’re waiting on the replacement turrets.  My Chief Engineer estimates another three days if the turrets arrive on schedule.’

‘Excellent.  Well, you’ll be back in the fight soon enough in that case.’

‘Yes sir.  Sir, I’ve seen the lists of replacement crew assigned to my ship to replace the casualties we sustained.  I don’t see a new XO amongst them.’

‘Yes.  I did have a list of possible candidates for you to choose from, however I think I’ve found just the man for you.’

‘Sir, with respect.  I’m tired of having executive officers who have been sent to report on me to others higher up in the chain of command.’

Cartwright looked a little taken aback.  ‘I think you misunderstand me.  You of course reserve the right to choose your own XO. I was merely recommending this man to you as a favour to you, and to him.  Here, I have his records to hand as it happens.’

Cartwright handed her his datapad.  Chen cast her eye over the file he had pulled up for her.  Commander Robert McManus.  The accompanying photo showed a bearded, middle aged man with a scar above his left eye and greying, receding hair.  She looked down his file, at the list of various citations and commendations, and then one final entry.

‘He’s suspended?’ said Chen, in disbelief.

‘Yes, well... 
Captain
McManus was suspended and demoted for drunkenly assaulting a superior officer, Admiral Deuchamp.’

‘I see.’

‘However, Commander McManus is a man of unique talents, immense bravery and has a history of devoted service to the Navy.  He also saved my life on at least one occasion during the K’Soth war.  Of course, we can’t tolerate such a breach of discipline, hence his punishment, but I do believe that everyone deserves a second chance, don’t you, Admiral Chen?  You of all people should understand that much.’  Cartwright looked at her intently as he uttered those last sentences.

‘Yes sir, I do.’

‘Glad to hear it.  You have led a charmed life Admiral, but it seems that Haines was lenient in his treatment of you for good reason.’

‘Sir I was absolved of any...’

Cartwright silenced her with a dismissive wave.

‘It doesn’t matter, not now.  You’ve won.  Now it’s time for you to show the same magnanimity. Commander McManus is an experienced officer.  During the war with the K’Soth he ran a number of deep strike missions against the enemy, attacking convoys and undefended facilities, pulling recon and black ops teams out from under the enemy’s nose, that sort of thing.  He’s tough and used to unconventional warfare and he always ran a tight ship when he was captain.  He deserves a chance to redeem himself.  I think you two will get along like a house on fire, and right now we need all the capable commanders that we can get.’

‘He sounds like the kind of XO that I’m after.’

‘My thoughts exactly. I do hope you give Commander McManus due consideration.  He’s been fully vetted.  We don’t want a repeat of what happened with Commander Haldane, do we?  As soon as your ship is back in one piece and you have a full crew, you’ll be ready to go.’

‘Yes sir.  Go where, sir?’

Cartwright cleared his throat. ‘We need you for a rather special mission.’

‘Sir?’

‘Your time as part of Haines’s private black ops force has given you experience of operating deep in enemy territory with little backup and has made you rather more independent and creative than other commanders.  As you’re aware, we’ve been attempting to modify our Thea class frigates to accommodate the technical modifications recommended by the Nahabe in order that we might attempt to detect the Shaper vessels before they emerge from hyperspace.  Those modifications have been completed on two vessels and we require a field test of both vessels before we proceed with modifying further ships as well as the deep range monitoring arrays scattered throughout the Commonwealth.  Once the repairs to the
Churchill
are complete, you are to accompany the Nahabe command ship
Shadow in the Void
to the Delta Pavonis system where you will rendezvous with the two modified ships.  You will then receive further orders as to your final destination.’

‘Yes sir.  Thank you sir.’

‘Don’t thank me yet.  We’re are talking about the use of unproven technology against an enemy that has, so far, proven itself to be far superior to our own ships.  Recon flights are yet to determine a suitable candidate system. Suffice to say that your mission will be to proceed to said system and test the modified sensor arrays in conjunction with the
Churchill’s
own systems. We want to see how our modifications perform. Engineering teams will be aboard both vessels to make adjustments on the fly if need be. The Nahabe vessel will act as back-up in case you need to make a quick getaway and the
Churchill’s
own spatial distortion cannon ought to be able to deal with Shaper vessels if necessary as a last resort.  Sadly, manufacturing our own weapons of that type will take a little longer.  Furthermore, I’m conserving ships for the time being until we can recall more from the territories liberated from the K’Soth and I’m unwilling to risk any more vessels against the Shapers if they can’t defend themselves.  Four ships, Admiral Chen, that’s all you get.’

‘I’ll attempt to make the best of it, sir.’

‘I should hope that you will.  There is one other thing you might be able to help me with...’

‘Sir?’

‘You are of course aware that Admiral Haines is apparently still alive.  Though the message we received appears genuine we have kept its existence secret due to the fact that we are unable to wholly trust our own people.  We do not wish this information to fall into enemy hands, lest they become aware of his survival and attempt to capture him.  I’m sure you can appreciate the implications were the knowledge held within Admiral Haines’s mind be made available to our foe, not to mention his tactical acumen and years of experience.’

‘To be honest sir, it doesn’t bear thinking about.  I am very glad to hear that he’s alive though.  When I heard that final message from the
Lincoln
...’

‘Yes well.  No-one is immortal, not even Admiral Haines, despite his best efforts to convince everyone otherwise.  However, he has apparently somehow managed to survive.  We need to locate him within the Achernar system and get him out of there. We owe him that much. All we know is that he sent the message from the moon of Orinoco.  Whether he’s still there and still at large is anyone’s guess.  The trouble is, that the CIB can’t even trust its own agents for the time being.  I had hoped, since you spent much of the past two years as part of Special Operations Command, that you might be able to point us in the direction of individuals who might be suitable for a mission to locate and extract the Admiral.  It is my understanding that screening for Shaper agents was undertaken regularly in SOC.’

‘We didn’t spot Haldane.  Who knows how many more misguided fools like him are within our ranks?’

‘Then it has to be people you trust implicitly, people that you know intimately if need be.  We need individuals who can get into Achernar unnoticed, move around the system unnoticed, gather information on the whereabouts of the Admiral and if possible, get him out of the system and back to friendly space.’