Warrior Chronicles 2: Warrior's Blood (19 page)

The spines on Speral’s back rose again. “Cort Addison, you killed many of my people, including my mate. I came as I did because I knew I could not approach you unless you felt that I was not a threat to you.” She walked forward, her dorsal spines now fully erect. The CONDORs which were armed stepped forward. Cort stood to his full height and stepped in front of Kim Point. As he moved, he also drew the massive sidearm from the holster attached to the outside of his right thigh.

“Speral, you do not want this.” Cort stopped in front of the tiny alien. His weapon was drawn, but hung at his side. “If you push me, I will kill you. And every time more ships arrive here, I will destroy them as well.” He spoke emphatically as he repeated, “You do not want this, Speral.”

“Cort Addison, I want this very much.” Drops of fluid formed at the tips of her dorsal spines, and her lips became even thinner as her mouth widened, exposing rows of teeth that reminded Cort of a shark. As she continued to speak, Cort also realized those teeth were the reason that Speral’s voice inflected the way it did. “I want to destroy you more than you possibly comprehend. You destroyed Glydnal, my mate. Were it in my power to do so and were I solely considerate of myself, I would destroy your planet. If I possessed your ability to kill, I would wipe your species from existence. You are a petty, warlike race that has used hatred and combat to evolve beyond your station in the galaxy.” Her dorsal spines relaxed again. “But I am not you. And I am not allowed to seek retribution for your actions against my mate. I am here to negotiate a peace. I am here to ask for your help.”

“Peace is easy, Speral,” Cort said as he holstered his weapon. The CONDORs remained in place until he waved them back. “For peace you need only leave our solar system and not return.”

“Cort Addison, it is not as simple as you would imply. Your actions have brought you to the attention of the Collaborative Government.”

“The Collaborative Government?”

“Cort Addison, it is the guiding body of this arm.”

“This arm?”

“Cort Addison, this arm of the galaxy. Do you understand?”

“To some extent. We will revisit that. Why do you need our help?”

“Cort Addison, we only need your help. Not that of this system.”

Kim privately commed Cort, “This is going to take a long time.” Cort agreed, so Kim spoke to Speral, “Speral, you are limited in the amount of time you can remain in our atmosphere. Perhaps we should just listen to you as you tell us why your
collaborative
needs Cort’s help.”

An hour later, Speral returned to her ship. She would spend the next few hours recovering there while Cort and the other administrators talked about what she had told them.

--

“Did not see that coming,” Cort said to the others.

“If we take what she said at face value, we are the most powerful planet in the galaxy. That’s something,” Rand said.

“We don’t know that, Rand. We are more powerful than Speral’s
Collaboration
, but there is something else moving in,” Cort said.

“Couldn’t we just tell them how to make the railguns?” Rhodes asked.

“It’s not that simple Chief, and you know it.” Cort was in his own quarters, having exited the HAWC to have a shower and eat. “At this point, they would be hard stressed to deploy them. If, and it’s a big ‘IF’, what Speral says is true, they spent nearly half of their military collateral in the third attack on us. They clearly aren’t military minded.”

Doctor Verne said, “That’s not surprising. Some evolutionary models indicate that as a species’ technical ability to defend themselves increases, its ability to think creatively about tactics decreases.”

Cort put his coffee down and chuckled. “Doc, I think you just called me ‘unevolved’.”

“I did, Mr. Addison. Even by our standards, you are unevolved. I’m not saying you are a barbarian, but you are less advanced than modern humans.”

Cort remembered Clare calling him a barbarian. Pushing that hurt from his mind, he said, “Doc, let’s get something straight. You’re one of us now. Hopefully you will be a part of this group for a long time to come. So call me Cort.”

Before Verne could respond, Kim asked what had been on everyone’s mind since Speral had finished her plea. “Will you be a part of this group for a long time, Cort?”

With the others listening, Cort couldn’t answer the question Kim had really asked, but he said, “We are a long way from thinking in those terms. We don’t even know if Speral is being honest with us at this point. We need a lot more information before I will decide if we are going to help her, much less what form that help might take.”

“Shouldn’t we all be a part of that discussion, uh, Cort?” Doctor Verne asked.

Rhodes spoke. “No. One tenet of our government is that all military decisions are kept completely separate from civil ones.”

“What if we disagree with the direction Cort steers us militarily, then?”

“Then you come to me, and I consider your input, Doc. But ultimately, the military leader of the federation, currently me, makes all military decisions.”

“That has not worked historically, Cort. In fact, it led to some serious consequences in your time,” Verne argued.

“I agree. It did lead to consequences for societies that were fully established. However, in the cases of exploration and expansion, military leadership was necessary to ensure safety. I do recognize your concern though, Dr. Verne, and that is part of the reason I put you in the military chain of command. That being said, I think we need to stick to the topic at hand.”

“If I am truly a member of this administration I would like to revisit this at a later date, but I agree that we have a more pressing matter at hand,” Verne replied.

Cort messaged Chief, Kim, and Rand that Verne was going to be a good addition to the group. Then he said, “Of course, Doctor.”

“So what do we do?” Kim asked.

“It seems to me we have three options,” Rand said. “One, we help her. Two, we do not help her. Three, we get more information.”

“There is a fourth option, Rand. We kill her,” Kim added.

Rhodes spoke next. “If what she says is true, we’ve wiped out a significant part of their defensive ability.”

“No we didn’t, Chief. That’s their problem,” Cort said. “If they didn’t want to risk those ships, they shouldn’t have sent them. Further, if they underestimated our abilities, then extinction may be the next step in their evolutionary process. Throughout history, empires have fallen. It may be their turn if they can’t defend themselves. Just as it was Atlantica’s. And it is not our duty to avenge the deaths on Earth, either.”

Doctor Verne asked, “Mr., er, Cort. If this is your decision, why are we discussing it as a group?”

“Doc, you haven’t had the chance to get to know me. I do my best to listen to everyone’s opinions. That doesn’t mean I will agree, but I will consider them. Knowledge, especially alternate perspectives, is vital to good decision making. But again, let’s stay on point.”

Cort’s screen blinked with message from Kim. ‘So Cort, do you like staying
on Point?
’ His scarred and weathered skin did little to hide his blush from the others. He faked a cough and took a sip of coffee. “If I had to decide right now, I would say ‘no’ to Speral. But if what she claims is even partly true, we need more information. Throughout history the people and societies that stood by and did nothing in the face of tyranny have fallen themselves. If we can stop or limit the potential threat now, before it becomes too powerful, we may be able to avoid it among our own people.”

Chief Rhodes said, “One of the reasons the old United States did so well until The Cull was that it fought its wars on foreign soil, rather than its own.”

“I agree with that to some extent, but for the purpose of this conversation it is correct. I would rather wreak havoc on another planet. Especially with our atmosphere situation. If our structures are destroyed, we die.”

Black, the geologist who was now in charge of sciences for the federation said, “We should consider subsurface shelters. For several reasons. They wou…”

Cort interrupted with, “Agreed, but that is something the civilians need to discuss later.”

This time Mike Rage spoke. “Cort, you can’t make a decision without more information than we have at hand. I think you need to get more information from Speral.”

“Agreed. I’m going to talk her some more. In the mean time, Doctor Black, what have your people come up with about the drone that we recovered from the first attack?”

“We’re still working on it. I’ve kept some people studying it, but Kim asked me to divert some of the people I had on the team to help with getting more CONDOR Twos combat ready. I can say that it uses ion thrusters, much like their larger ships. We have been able to adjust its gravity settings and we have been able steer it. I won’t go so far as to say that we are ready to operate it, but we will get there.”

“Weapons?” Cort asked.

“Nothing to speak of, Cort. The robot has a cutting laser, but it is low range. The craft does have magnetic shielding, but they are of limited use. That’s it, so far. I’m sorry.”

“That’s actually more than I expected, and it’s helpful. If the drone had its own weapons systems, I would have to question Speral’s account. Could the magnetic shielding be used to manipulate incoming weaponry, like the missiles Atlantica tried to use against them?”

“Interesting,” Black said. “Possibly. I will have to talk to the physicists about it, but I see where you are going. If they are of a defensive in nature as Speral claims, it would stand to reason they use them to redirect weapons. They certainly don’t seem powerful enough to actually block things.”

The others saw Black’s expression become more distant as he stopped speaking and began to make notes. Finally, he looked up and said, “I don’t mean to go off topic, but if we could scale the magnetic shielding they use, it would certainly be enough to reinforce our own magnetosphere.”

“Excellent. That gives me a bargaining chip. Okay, I’m going to comm Speral to set up our next communication, then I’m going to try to get a little rest. Thanks everyone, I’ll talk to you soon.”

Kim Point walked into Cort’s quarters as he finished his conversation with Speral. “Very well, Speral. I will communicate with you sometime after sunrise.” Turning to Kim he said, “You are an evil woman.”

As her clothes fell to the floor next to Coke, Kim smiled.

At noon the next day, Speral walked back to her ship. Cort immediately opened another administrative conference. “Okay people, talk me out of going with her.”

“Can’t be done, Grandpa,” Rand said. “You are going regardless of what we say. So why bother?”

“You’re right, Rand. I’m going with her provided she meets my requirements. I’m going to make her take me to one of the systems currently under attack. Then I’m going to this ‘Collaborative’ conference with her. After that, I’m coming back here. I’ll update you all, then we will decide what to do next.”

“We?” Doctor Verne asked. “I thought those decisions were yours.”

“They are, Doc. But I won’t compromise our security without us all having a say in it.”

The other watched as the doctor shook his head subtly. “I don’t understand you, Cort.”

“No one understands him, Doctor,” Rhodes said.

I do.
Kim Point thought to herself.

“Until I return, Kim Point is in sole charge of the military. All decisions regarding the safety of the Ares Federation are hers alone to make. Are you all clear on that?”

Everyone agreed and Cort continued. “Her ship won’t accommodate the HAWC, so I have to go in one of my CONDORs. The problem is I don’t want her to see me, yet. I’m still an unknown to Speral.”