Resurrection (The Inherited War) (5 page)

Cole saw a Nixa he thought he recognized from his crew in the last pen.  He wished he could help him but Cole didn’t have much faith that he would survive this.  They didn’t stop until they came to, what Cole thought, was the hanger they had arrived in.  This time it held a small ship.  Cole guessed they could probably fit ten to twenty beings on board.

They stopped and waited, for what Cole didn’t know.  After a few minutes the reason for the wait walked in the bay, Dayja.  She was still in the human female’s body and the Esii clothing.  She walked up and stopped in front of Cole.

“Where is your boyfriend?”  Cole asked.

She responded with a fist to his gut and then one to his chin.  “This is the only thing I like about these primitive bodies, they are so very strong.”  She grabbed his hair and pulled his head down to her level.  “Speak when spoken to and answer all questions immediately.  We are to see someone very important today, and if you shame me it will go very badly for you.”

“Shit lady, can it get any worse?”  Cole spat some more blood from his mouth.  This day hadn’t started well at all.  “Broken nose, teeth and a sucker punch, the day only gets better from here.”

“I sometimes forget how little the rest of the galaxy knows about our people.  Even the vaunted Pures,” she spat when she said that name, “knew little of our people.  If you learn one thing amongst us, it will be this.  It will always get worse.   With that said, they loaded Cole onto the shuttle with his four guards and Dayja.  The shuttle’s cargo area was completely enclosed and had no windows or screens to the outside.  Cole felt it when they hit atmosphere, the shuttle jumped and bucked like a bull.  After a few bone jarring minutes the flight finally smoothed out and the ship leveled off.  The total flight time was a little over an hour and Cole, too soon, felt the landing gear redeploy and the ship settle to the ground.  His stomached clenched into a knot and he was sweating profusely.  He had never been this scared before in his life.  He felt like a rabbit with the hawks shadow over him.  Exposed, frozen with nowhere to run.  He wanted to run, badly.

He stopped that thought cold. These days when it came to flight or fight, Cole was a fight man.  This wasn’t going to be the end for him unless he chose it himself.  He fought down the rising panic and used some of the meditative techniques Sky had taught him to slow his heart rate and breathing.  He closed his eyes and found his center.  The world fell away for a few moments until he was jerked out of his seat and the pole thrust back into the cross bar of his manacles.  He was roughly shoved out of the ship and onto the hangar floor.  It was dark, the sounds echoed from everywhere and Cole didn’t see any
stars even though it was nighttime.

Then he remembered
the Esii evolved underground.  Shit, he thought to himself.  Not only do I have to break free, I have to find a way to the surface and commandeer a ship.  Dayja moved to stand in front of Cole and placed her back to him.  Two guards went to her left and one to her right.  The fourth had a hold of the pole in Cole’s back.  They waited.  For a long time.  The hangar was quiet and empty.

Cole leaned a little forward.  “Maybe they forgot you were coming.”  His whisper came out louder than he intended and echoed around the hangar.  He winced a little then shrugged his shoulders.  Dayja turned and hit him in his already broken
nose, which started a new round of bleeding and blurred vision. 

“Silence!”  She snapped at him.  She turned back around and continued to wait.  The five Esii were completely motionless while Cole fidgeted and shuffled his feet nervously.  Movement caught his eye.  He stopped his motions and glanced at motion with his peripheral vision.  Nothing, maybe his eyes were still tearing from the hit to his nose.  There was nothing there now.  Cole’s internal clock was all screwed up thanks to the time in his cell and now no night sky but he was certain they had been there for at least two hours.  Finally, after what seemed like an eternity he heard a noise.  To him it sounded like a big door opening.  No new light sources appeared so Cole couldn’t tell where the door was but he heard the soft tread of Esii feet on the ground.

A small column of Esii, maybe twenty or so, it was hard to tell for sure because they stretched back into the darkness and Cole had a bad vantage point behind Dayja, marched into the hanger and came to a halt in front of her.  She stared at the leader of the column and he stared back.  Cole had a feeling that more than just a staring contest was going on between the two.  This lasted for another twenty minutes or so before the leader of the column nodded his head and bowed to Dayja.

The leader of the troop of Esii made a slight motion with his hand and the two Esii behind him moved to obey.  They marched forward and moved behind Cole.  Cole felt the pole that kept him away from his handler detach and his arms get lifted up in an awkward angle.  The pole was slid under his upraised arms and his arms were lowered.  The two Esii got the pole on their shoulders and lifted Cole off the ground.  New shackles were added to his feet and connected to the ones on his wrists.  He was effectively hog tied.  His shoulders burned with the stress of his entire body weight being held on them as the Esii column moved back the way it had come.  Dayja, its leader in the front, with Cole being carried in the middle of the column.   Cole managed to activate his helmet and ran through the vision modes.  The thermal mode was the best.  They were in a tunnel that was about ten feet wide by ten feet tall.  It was round with a flat bottom and ran perfectly straight.

They marched down the tunnel for a good ways before coming to a stop at a door.  Dayja and the other Esii looked at each other for a moment before proceeding.  The door opened and a small amount of light spilled into the tunnel.  Cole deactivated his helm.  The light wasn’t much but he could see, some.  By this time his nanites had kicked in and were actively blocking the pain from his body so Cole was fairly clearheaded as they entered the room.  There were throngs of Esii on either side of the aisle and, what appeared to be a gallery above, was also full with Esii.  Cole estimated a couple of hundred at least.

This is what took so long, he thought.  They were gathering a crowd.  After all it wasn’t every day the enemy of your people is brought in like a captured animal.  Their little troop got all the way to the other end of the room before coming to a halt in front of a blank wall.  They detached his leg irons from his hands so he could at least stand up on his own.  They left the pole routed through his arms, and enough upwards pressure to keep him slightly off balance.  Cole had never been in a room with so many people before and have it be so deathly quiet.  If he could communicate telepathically, like the Esii, maybe the room would be all a buzz with the floor show about to begin.

There was a low rumbling and the floor began to vibrate.  The wall to Cole’s front slowly rose up into the ceiling.  Cole stopped a whistle before it began.  The wall had to be ten feet thick and it was climbing into the ceiling with almost no sound.  Slowly, light filled the chamber. Not very bright but enough that Cole could make out features on Esii faces and see the ancient looking Esii that sat on a throne newly revealed by the giant sliding wall.

“We shall all speak aloud,” the Esii on the throne said, “so our honored enemy can hear everything.  Welcome, long has it been since one of your kind graced our halls.  Assuming you are who you claim to be.  Now on to business.”  He motioned Dayja forward.  “I have heard your story and I believe you believe it.  We must have confirmation and the honor of Markmio will wait until that confirmation.  Your body has been kept safe and you are allowed to return to it at any time.”

Dayja bowed deeply.  “Thank you Keisarinn, after this audience I will explain my reasons for staying in it if it pleases you."  She bowed again.

“Now, on to the Pure.  I have been informed that you have secrets worth keeping you alive for, share them with me and you may be granted a quick death.”  The Keisarinn sat back and waited for Cole to speak.

Dayja looked at Cole and nodded.  Cole responded, “Yes, that’s right, I do have many secrets.”

“Go on,” Dayja said.

“Before you assholes blew up my world I was given the knowledge of the Colonel and his eleven secret spices.  I also possess the ancient knowledge of Kama sutra and all that entails.  Those and many others can be yours if the price is right.”  Cole tensed himself, waiting for the blows he knew had to be coming.  The Esii on the throne laughed.  It grated down Cole’s spine, and chilled him to the bone. 

“Good, good.  My Pyndingum have been begging me for a chance at breaking you since we found out you were coming.  It seems they shall have their chance.  Know this, if you truly are who you say you are, we Esii have hated and loathed your race since it refused us the stars those many years ago.  You, who would elevate the animals of the galaxy and leave us behind, paid for your transgressions tenfold.  It will never be enough, we will not stop until you have been removed from the galaxy.  Until then, you shall be made to suffer as no other has before.  You will know pain and anguish until you beg to tell me your secrets.  Once those secrets are mine, you will beg to die.  You will live a long time and be in constant pain until the moment I grant you death.”  He looked at the two guards holding Cole up and said, “Take him to the Pyndingum and do not bring him back until he is ready to divulge his secrets.”

“You will pay for what you have done to me and mine,” Cole shouted, “you bastards destroyed everything, twice.  You ruined the galaxy and nearly eradicated my ancestors.  I will see each and every one of you pay.  Today you pronounce my fate, well let me pronounce yours.  Before I die I will see this whole planet in fiery ruins, a fire that will be fueled by your dead bodies.”  Cole spat the fifteen-foot distance between himself and the Keisarinn; he hit the bastard in his face.

The Keisarinn wiped the spittle off of his face.  “Take him away.”  The two guards holding the pole lifted Cole up and slowly dragged him back down the aisle.  The Esii watching remained eerily silent as
he was carried by.  Cole was taken down deep into the bowels of the planet, his shackles were removed and he was placed in a featureless room with no windows and a door that could not be opened from the inside.  There he waited for fate to claim him.

~

Split had followed Cole from the ship down to the planet and had gone undetected.  They had followed Cole down the long hallway to the throne room.  They had walked mere paces behind Cole and heard the conversation with the Esii leader.   They followed Cole into the darkness that was his new home.  They watched as he was locked up in the cell, but they did not go in with him.

“Brother, he is in trouble.”  Split said to himself.  “His rash mouth has gotten him into trouble again.”

“No brother, you miss his intentions.  He was trying to goad the Esii into giving him a quick death by angering them.  He does not fear torture or death, he fears revealing things he should not. He is brave, foolish at times, but brave.  He is the one we were meant to aid.  Aid him we shall.”

“I agree.  Now we must find a place we can rest and eat.  We cannot maintain the stealth indefinitely, and blocking them from our mind is growing more taxing.  We need an out of the way area to let our guard down to rest.”

“Yes, we must rest.  I have a feeling he will be here for a while.  We must explore and find means of escape.”

“Let us go.”  Split headed off into the tunnels in hopes of finding a quiet place to rest and possibly a way to escape this place before too much damage was done
.

CHAPTER 5

Approximately 20,000 years ago

Written excerpt from the journal of Jarrod, the last leader of the Pures.

I am overjoyed at the speed of our progress.  The Archones I tasked with deploying the virus with our DNA encoded in it have finished their job here on the planet and have transported a clan of natives to another habitable planet.  The Worlders located the other nine sites I needed for our preparations and have gone back to their home to form the society that will watch out for our return to the galaxy.  They have been given the code phrases that will unlock certain knowledge in our descendants.  This will prove their lineage to them.  The automatic shipyards are nearing completion, and the new AI’s have been secreted away.  We have set up a colony for the thousand or so of my people that will not be joining us on our final attack.  I made contact with a race of beings that has agreed to be genetically altered in such a way as to be the perfect warriors.  As well as some minor other sites that shall be of use to our descendants.

Those tasked with the fighting of the war until we have finished all of our preparations are reporting successes.  The Esii and Roche believe they are destroying more of our ships than they actually are and are wasting much time on purging any references of my people from the galaxy.  In fact, the name of the conflict, depending who is reporting, is either the Purge War or the Traitors war.

Unfortunately, the beings of the Twin Worlds ignored our efforts to keep them out of the conflict.  They are taking heavy losses against the Esii fleet.  We are unable to aid them at this time.  My people have pushed themselves to the limit and are creating some of the most wondrous machines to ever have been created in the galaxy.  Sentient life inside computers, ships that bond with their crew, nanites that will increase the life span and survivability of their hosts, small deadly hand held weapons that out class anything around today.

It will take thirty to forty thousand years for my plans to come to fruition, but they would bear the fruit of my labors. My people will be reborn and they would drive their enemies out of the galaxy and restore it to its former glory.  We have bought the time we needed with the precious few lives we have left.  We are beginning construction on the ship that will take us to our final meeting with the Esii.  Two months, and the galaxy will be rid of us.  For a few thousand years.

~

Sky had fallen asleep as Thalo piloted their rented shuttle off world and toward the last ships of Cole’s fleet.  She had decided to keep her father out of the loop and not borrow his shuttle.  Deniability.  That was key to any politician and what may be coming down the pipe wouldn’t be good for her father’s career.  She was exhausted and needed the rest, short as it was.

“Wake up Doctor,” Thalo said as he gently shook her awake.  “Change of plans.  This shuttle is big enough to hold Hal’s physical container so we are picking up Jeth and heading to rendezvous with the Savior.  Go freshen up and get ready for whatever is coming our way.”  He turned back to the control console and expertly guided the ship into the hangar bay of the Justice.  It groaned as it settled itself onto the landing struts and hissed as the hydraulics took the shuttles weight in the artificial gravity of the ship.  Sky got up and walked back into the passenger compartment of the ship.

Thalo’s voice came over the com system.  “Flying in those human ships has ruined me.  I hate not having total control at the palm of my hands, be a dear and open the rear ramp for me.”  She could hear his frustration ooze out of the speakers.

“Sure thing,” she mumbled not entirely awake yet.  Sky headed out the back of the compartment and to the rear airlock.  She slapped the release for the ramp and held it until it had fully opened.  There was a small rush of air as the shuttle matched the pressure onboard the giant carrier.  Jeth, as big as ever, was standing on the deck near the bottom of the ramp.

“Permission to come aboard?”  He rumbled.

“Granted, now get on here so we can go.  Hal needs us.”  Sky raised the ramp as soon as Jeth had lumbered aboard.  “Good to see you again,” she said, “what‘s been keeping you onboard the Justice since last I saw you?”

Sky swore that Jeth’s face turned a little red at that question, and he sputtered for a moment not wanting to answer her.  She was a little shocked, she didn’t even know Jeth’s people could blush, or get embarrassed.

“Come now Jeth; tell the good Doctor why you have been hiding up here since the battle.”  The speaker squelched slightly as Thalo spoke.

“Umm… I have been studying Cole’s tactics and running simulations.”  He glanced sheepishly at Sky.  “I know I can never replace him but we need someone to lead us in his absence, and if we want to have any chance of rescuing Cole someone has to issue the orders.”

Sky was speechless.  Without a word, she walked up to Jeth and wrapped her arms as far around him as she could.  She cried quietly into his chest for a few moments as he held her gently in his giant arms.  She slowly released her hug on the giant Worlder and took a step back from him.

“Thank you.  Thank you so very much.  With everything going on down on the planet, it is good to know someone remembers that Cole is a prisoner and is taking steps to help him.  I have every confidence that you will make an excellent commander of our small force and encourage you to keep learning.”  Again it looked to Sky like the big Worlder was blushing.  “Now get ready, we are going to get Hal and I want you to be ready for anything. 

“Yes I came prepared,” Jeth said as he removed the pack from his back that Sky hadn’t even noticed.  It was full of weapons, small pistols, rifles, plasmas and kinetics.  More guns than all three of them could carry at once.  “Too many is better than not enough.”

She patted the Worlder on his shoulder and moved past him back into the passenger area.  She threw some cold water on her face and brushed and secured her hair in a warriors braid before heading back up to the small cockpit. Jeth was too big to squeeze out of the boarding area, so he remained in the back with the weapons.

“How long until we get to the,” she ground her teeth, “Savior?”  She would never like that name and felt sorry for the ship and its captain when Cole returned.

“In this bucket, an hour or so.  Hard to be completely accurate because the Savior is orbiting the planet in the same direction we are headed.”  He fiddled with some of the knobs and buttons as he talked.

“Good,” Sky responded, “can you get me communications with the five ships of the AI fleet?”

“Sure, no problem.  Give me one moment…there we go.  There all yours Doc.”

“Sound off please. I want to know everyone can hear me.”  She got her response immediately.

“Revenge here.”

“Reprisal here.”

“Justice here.”

“Vengeance here.”

“Payback here.”

One by one the ships AI’s, who had adopted the ships names as their own, sounded off.

“Thank you for granting me a few moments.  I know I am not in any official chain of command but I have a request for you.  My people, politically, will not be helping us to finish Cole’s mission or to rescue Cole.  At this time.  So I am asking you and the rest of the AI’s to follow myself, Jeth and Thalo for the
foreseeable future.  Now that we have been exposed to public scrutiny, and the story of Cole’s sudden appearance in the galaxy is common knowledge, there will be beings that will try and take what he fought so hard for.  I pledge to all of you right now, I will keep fighting Cole’s fight, and I will not rest until we have Cole safe and sound in our hands.  Right now as you may already know, the Reckoning, its Captain, and her Nixa crew have gone over to join the Nixa fleet.  That will be a matter for Cole to settle upon his return. For now we must focus on continuing the mission and moving forward.”  She paused for a moment before she continued her speech.  “Cole needs us all.  With or without you I will get him back.”

Silence filled the small cockpit for mere seconds before the com system was bombarded by all five of the ships talking at once.  Finally, Justice got them all quieted down and spoke for the group.

“We are with you.  Commander.”  That was all he said, and it was enough.

“Thank you.  After we retrieve Hal from the Savior, all of you except the Payback will leave with Jeth and head to the Twin World System.  There you will pick up any volunteers from the Worlders home worlds that want to join the fight.  Get them prepped and install the bonding nanites into their systems and start training them on the ships systems and combat drones.  One month.  That’s all you get to make them proficient on your systems.  After that we head to the Esii home world.  I will be joining you in a few days after I take care of some personal business.  One last thing.  Shift your orbits and move closer to the Savior, I want Fury nervous about his chances of pulling a fast one with Hal.”

The ships all acknowledged her orders and began moving closer in system.  They fanned out in a blocking pattern.  Close enough to intercept or attack, but far enough out to not be to menacing. Thalo chuckled as he saw the ships response to Sky’s orders.

“You got yourself a fleet, now you just need a crew.”  He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye as he spoke.

“Sorry I just assumed that your people would help.  Was I wrong?”  Sky returned his sly look with one of confidence.

“Aye, aye Commander.  Our people will fall all over themselves trying to volunteer.  You will get your crew there, I will guarantee that.”  Sky relaxed back into her chair and watched as the Savoir slowly grew in size.  It took them just over one standard hour to reach the former human ship and dock in its landing bay.  Sky steeled herself for this encounter and hoped that Fury had common sense enough to just leave Hal’s container on the deck and keep himself absent.   Once again
, the small rented shuttle landed with a hiss of hydraulics and a groan as the struts took the ships weight.  

Sky and Thalo got up and moved through the passenger compartment
, and joined Jeth in the rear airlock.  “Jeth stay on the ramp and be ready for anything, Thalo with me.”  Again she slapped the release button and held it until the ramp clanged down on the bay floor.  She took a deep breath and settled her nerves.  She strode down the ramp with Thalo in tow.  She hit the bottom and turned to her right, and walked with as much self-confidence as she could muster to where a large box waited in the bay for her.

To her dismay, three other people waited next to the box along with various other Nixa doing routine work in the bay.  It was the three next to what she assumed was Hal’s container that concerned her the most.  One was Fury, the other was Colonial Administrator Fire and a bodyguard.  Sky muttered some choice curse words under her breath as they approached the three Nixa.  She had complete and utter control of herself, her iron will kept her from doing anything rash.  Until she got close and the Administrator turned and looked at her.

In a smarmy, condescending tone, the Administrator started to speak.  “Well if it isn’t the…”

That was all he got out before the sheer weight of the stress and loss Sky had undergone the past few weeks broke her control and flooded her system.  This was the Nixa responsible for her people inaction.  This was the Nixa who tried to malign her in front of her people, and this was the Nixa who turned a good Commander away from his duty to the war.  She never even thought about it.  All those years of
practicing her martial skills, not to mention all those recent training sessions with Cole, boiled to the surface and with a bestial snarl, Sky struck. 

She bent at the knees and dipped down.  She came up like a coiled spring and almost delivered the most powerful uppercut ever.  At the last moment, she adjusted her strike and smashed her open hand into his throat just below his chin.  Her powerful upward momentum lifted the Administrator up a few inches off the floor and nearly collapsed his windpipe.  As quickly as she had grabbed him she reversed her upward movement and flipped him onto his back and slammed him to the floor.  Sky lead with her knee into his gut as she followed him down.  What little air he still had in him whooshed out.  She tightened her hold on his neck and fixed her eyes on his.

“Thalo?” 

“Yea I got ‘em, do your thing.”  Thalo responded.  He had reacted to Sky’s sudden movement instantly.  He had only been a fraction of a second behind her when he drew both pistols on his hips.  He had one jammed into the bodyguard’s neck just below his ear and the other was pointed a few inches away from Fury’s nose.  The whine of his plasma pistols holding a primed charge filled the silence.  “No one here is going to do anything rash, but make it fast.”

Sky never took her eyes off of the Administrators.  “Thanks, I'll just be a minute.”  He started to struggle weakly underneath her.  Sky rose up and dropped her weight back on her knee.  The Administrator choked out his breath again.  “Don’t move.  Just lay there and don’t make a sound.”  She squeezed her hand cut off his air for a second.  “I believe I have all the power in this relationship.”  She shifted her attention slightly by cocking her head to the side.  The cargo bay was deathly silent; everyone had stopped moving and was staring at the tableau-taking place in the hold.

“Reckoning,” she said.  No response.  “Reckoning!” she shouted.