Star Alliance (20 page)

“Put it onscreen,” Kladomaor said.

The broadcast header contained the seal of the Nershal Global Congress. After a moment, the vast congressional chambers appeared. Nershal global leaders and representatives crammed into the large octagonal structure. Kladomaor remembered the congressional chambers well. The last time he’d been in them was over sixty cycles ago when the Nershals had decided to break their alliance with the Boxans. At least, that was how it was recorded by the Nershal chroniclers. The ruling caste at the time decided the Boxans hadn’t acted in good faith within their Nershal alliance.
 

A lot of lives had been lost when the alliance broke. What the Global Congress didn’t know was that the Xiiginns had been in contact with the Nershals and had helped orchestrate the whole thing. The Xiiginns even went so far as to take over a Boxan battle cruiser and fire their weapons on Nerva, killing thousands of Nershals. The Boxans had tried to communicate with Congress, but all ties had been severed. The fact that Kladomaor had brought his stealth ship here could be considered an act of war, and it was—just not with the Nershals.
 

The video broadcast panned through the chambers. Tall windows allowed sunlight to stream into the room. The chambers were adorned with gray ornate sculptures that showed a visual display of the cultural history of the Nershals. Kladomaor remembered the depiction of a pre-winged Nershal species from ancient times. They were a proud and beautiful race, and he hoped the Nershals would see the true intent of the Xiiginns before it was too late.
 

The broadcast focused in on the Speaker—a Nershal dressed in robes of an ancient dynasty that had once been a ruling family for generations. “This is an official public hearing regarding the proposed evidence of a violation of interspecies confederation charter section six: illegal genetic testing of a species. First, we’ll show the footage that has been making its way through our networks. Then, we’ll hear from Mar Arden of the Xiiginn Ambassador Office, who will address these charges.”

The broadcast switched to the video message that the Human, Zack, had created for them. It showed the horribly disfigured Nershals being experimented on and forced to live in squalor. Smaller Nershals who could only be children were shown. The last was the Nershal-protokar hybrid that had been kept apart from the others. There were several images of Xiiginns appearing among those being held. Kladomaor had to admit that Zack had done a good job with the message, given the amount of time he’d had to work on it and the fact that they were in the middle of a firefight aboard a Xiiginn cruiser.

The broadcast switched views to Mar Arden. Kladomaor scowled as the pale face of the Xiiginn who had tortured him appeared on the holoscreen.

“My fellow members of the Confederation, we’ve reviewed the video surveillance data that was broadcast from a research facility located on Selebus. It pains me to admit that the video and the beings on it were part of a rogue research initiative at the facility. This was in violation of Confederation charter section six, subsection three. Since the broadcast, we’ve been actively pursuing all involved and have apprehended many who worked at the facility. Based on the testimonies we’ve gathered so far, we now have evidence of our own to present,” Mar Arden said.

“Before you present your evidence, I have a question,” the Speaker said. “What happened to the victims? Did you provide medical treatment?”

“They were all killed in an explosion while the facility was under attack,” Mar Arden said.

The Speaker closed his eyes with a pained expression. “One more question before you continue. Were there, in fact, Xiiginns involved in these atrocious crimes at the facility?” the Speaker asked.

“Yes, there were,” Mar Arden answered.

The Nershals in attendance voiced their outrage, and it took the Speaker a few minutes to regain order.

“We’ve also found evidence that there were Nershal scientists involved in conducting these experiments as well,” Mar Arden continued.

“This is troubling news. There will be a motion for more frequent inspection of all the research facilities on Selebus,” the Speaker said.

“We will cooperate with any action the Nerva Global Congress deems necessary,” Mar Arden said. The Speaker nodded for him to continue. “During our investigation, it was brought to our attention that there was a third species involved,” Mar Arden said.

“Identify this species,” the Speaker said.

“Boxans,” Mar Arden said.

Dead silence swept over those in attendance.

Kladomaor glanced at his tactical officer. “Is this a live feed?”

“Affirmative,” Triflan said.

“How could there be any evidence of our involvement?” Ma’jasalax asked.

“I’m not sure what Mar Arden is playing at. We didn’t know what was at that facility until we were already inside. We were there to get the alpha priority message that had been sent,” Kladomaor said.

The Speaker cleared his throat. “I certainly hope you have compelling evidence of Boxan involvement. The Boxans haven’t been to our star system since we rebelled against their tyrannical rule. There isn’t a Nershal in this room who will believe the Boxans would work with the Xiiginns in any capacity. Your species has been at war with them for some time.”

“I do have evidence of their involvement, and I present it now,” Mar Arden said. The video shifted to more surveillance footage that clearly showed armored Boxans sneaking through the facility. The image on the holoscreen shifted back to the Nershal Global Congress chambers.

“This is hardly proof that they were involved with the experiments going on at the facility,” the Speaker said.

“Awareness of the rogue facility was brought to light during a Boxan-led attack. They were there to clean up evidence of their involvement,” Mar Arden said.

“That is conjecture, but your opinion will be noted. Since this event has taken place on Selebus, we request that you turn over all prisoners and evidence to our military,” the Speaker said.

“We will cooperate in any way we can. The Xiiginns are here to assist in any capacity the Nershals require,” Mar Arden said.

“We appreciate your cooperation,” the Speaker said.

“There is one more thing I would like to say,” Mar Arden said, and the Speaker nodded for him to continue. “We’ve had reports that there is, at this very moment, a Boxan military stealth ship in this star system. We haven’t yet alerted Nerva Space Command because we were hunting for the ship in the outer star system. I’ve just received an update that one of our warships has taken damage from an armed attack beacon. This type of attack has been documented in the past as having been used by the Boxans. We request congressional permission to actively pursue this threat more aggressively.”

Another Nershal in formal attire approached the Speaker.

Kladomaor moved to his command couch. “Navigation, be ready to execute micro-jump. Weapons ready.”

“What’s happening?” Ma’jasalax asked.

“The Xiiginns are preparing for an ion missile sweep of the area. They’re asking for permission to fire their missiles where they think we are,” Kladomaor said.

“Given the range of their missiles and the radius of the detonation, how would they ever find us?” Ma’jasalax asked.

“You’re correct. Range is something they will need to contend with. As for the impact radius of a detonation, it depends on how aggressive they are. What I would do is use broad sweeps with low-level ion intensity until my target was located and then unleash my more powerful weapons,” Kladomaor said.

“Do you think the Nershals would agree to such a thing? These ion sweeps would affect all their equipment as well,” Ma’jasalax said.

Kladomaor didn’t answer but instead turned his attention to the main holoscreen.

The Speaker called for order, and the conversations in the congressional chambers immediately died down. “You are authorized to coordinate your efforts with our military to investigate this threat. Following this hearing, the governing council of the Nershals will meet and inform you of the authorized operating parameters,” the Speaker said.

Mar Arden frowned. “That course of action would normally be extremely wise, but the threat from the Boxans is imminent. Please reconsider allowing our warships to take a broader approach to apprehending the Boxans for you.”

“Denied,” the Speaker said.

The broadcast ceased.

“Commander, we can micro-jump at your command,” Varek said.

“We’re running out of time. Take us to the inner system,” Kladomaor said, and brought up his own tactical display console.

“What are you going to do?” Ma’jasalax asked.

“I’m checking our armament for close-quarters combat,” Kladomaor said.

Ma’jasalax frowned. “You think the Xiiginns will attack anyway?” she said.

“Without a doubt,” Kladomaor said.

“Why would they risk it?” Ma’jasalax asked.

“I’m surprised you’re asking me this. I would have thought a Mardoxian priestess would have seen the outcome of this already,” Kladomaor said.

“Perhaps I just want to know your intentions without them being clouded by outside influences,” Ma’jasalax said.

“They have Zack, so the Xiiginns already know there’s a new species. The footage they showed in the hearing only showed Boxans, but we had the crew of the Athena and Nershals with us, so the Xiiginns don’t want the Nershals to know about the Humans yet. The Xiiginns understood what we were doing with the Nershals all those years ago. They know we’re looking for a way to withstand the Xiiginn influence. I’m willing to bet Mar Arden will figure out that we reached out to another species before destroying the listening station in this star system,” Kladomaor said.

Ma’jasalax’s green eyes widened. “You said ‘we.’ We both know it was I who reached out to the Humans.”

“Doesn’t matter now. The Humans are here, and we must stand together. We can only deal with what happens from here on out,” Kladomaor said. “The other thing is that I truly believe the Nershals are starting to question the Xiiginns more. Their alliance will continue to crumble because it’s built on a stack of lies.”

Ma’jasalax glanced over at the star system chart on the main holoscreen. All the known ships were marked, with one exception. “There are a lot of warships in the system.”

Kladomaor nodded. “And one very outclassed Human vessel in the midst of it all. We have to find them and get them out of there now.”

“Incoming missiles, Commander. Looks like they’re firing blind, but it will be close,” Triflan said.

Kladomaor turned his attention to his own tactical console. The Xiiginn warships were moving into the inner system as well. “Set condition Trident. Battle stations. Keep countermeasures on standby,” he said, and opened a comms line to the entire ship. “Boxans, our enemy knows we’re here. This is what we train for. We’ve bloodied them, and we’ll keep on doing so. Our first priority is to buy as much time as possible for the Athena to retrieve their missing crew member. The Humans are counting on our support. Then we all get out of here.”

Kladomaor closed the ship-wide comms.

“Commander,” Triflan said. “Close-quarters combat will put us in close proximity to Nershal battle cruisers.”

Kladomaor nodded grimly. “My orders stand. We do not engage the Nershal ships. If they detect us, we are to raise them on comms and announce our intentions. If they open fire upon us, we will return fire. That is the protocol,” Kladomaor said, and turned his attention back to the console. The ion missile sweep was spreading out. No detonations were confirmed yet, but it was only a matter of time. Their minimal shielding was not enough. Their ship was a stealth ship and was not designed for trading blows with Xiiginn warships.

C
HAPTER
S
IXTEEN

Z
ACK
AND
E
TANU
had emptied the supply cache of all the canisters. The giant mutant quickly consumed the contents of its prized green canister and then stayed near them. It always kept Zack in its field of vision, and the only outward show of aggression occurred if the approaching mutants became too overzealous in their pursuit of the supplies being distributed. Having witnessed the death and carnage of a previous feeding time, Zack thought this was a marked improvement. The glitch in the plan was that the supply cache was nearly depleted, and there were still so many mutants that hadn’t received anything. The Xiiginn system necessitated the death of some of the mutants in order to control the population.
 

 
Zack stared at the giant mutant. He’d had the vague impression he was being watched earlier but couldn’t think about that at the moment.
 

Etanu came over to him. “What now?” he asked.

Zack frowned and glanced over at the wall behind them. “I don’t know. I wasn’t sure they would all cooperate,” he said.

Zack used his implants to check the passive scan he had running to try to connect to the pit’s network. So far he had nothing.

“Let’s go check out those cables at the wall. Hopefully our big friend will continue to watch our backs,” Zack said, and picked up a couple of the metal canisters, bringing them along.