X-Calibur: The Trial (4 page)

“It's okay,” Lance said, forcing a smile as he looked down at her. “I'm sorry. We're going there to do what we can to help those aboard. I remember seeing it from the drop ship for the first time, as we approached the mining asteroid. It's enormous, immense, why shouldn't you be a little excited to see it? The pain and suffering, it's behind me now. There's nothing more the hive or the Mori aboard it can do to me.”

Triltan smiled back at him, trying to recognise the expressions which crossed his face. The Teleri records had nothing on Dorgans as a species, and though she'd spent her free time reading all that she could about humans, Lance and his people were still a mystery to her. She was infinitely grateful for her capsule, which managed to not only translate the words but some of the tones and inflections too.

“That's true,” she said. “And after seeing you in action, anyone would be foolish to try.”

Lance's smile widened, growing more genuine. “Well, we're here,” he said as they arrived at the door to her cabin.

“Thank you for carrying my bag,” Triltan replied, taking it off him with a grunt of effort.

“I was happy to,” Lance continued, not moving, the silence between them growing a little uncomfortable.

“So, I'll see you in the cockpit shortly?” Triltan said, stepping through the open doorway.

“Oh, yes, you will,” Lance replied. “Shortly!”

Triltan closed the door to her cabin without another word, while Lance returned to the cockpit, a little extra spring in his step.

*****

Four days into the journey, Triltan was sitting on the cot in her room, reading through one of the many books on Earth history which Merlin had translated for her. She was having to use her fingers, scrolling through the pages with a touch of the screen, the computers on the Vanguard unable to interface easily with her capsule. She had found it quaint at first, like experiencing the distant past, but the novelty had quickly worn off. Everything she wanted to do seemed to take so long, and the buttons she thought would produce the desired outcome never seemed to work properly the first time.

“Triltan, are you awake?” Gwen asked from the cockpit.

“I am,” Triltan replied, communicating directly with Gwen through her capsule instead of the ship's communication system.

“I have your father on comms, he was hoping to speak to you?” Gwen continued. “Shall I put him through?”

“Please,” Triltan said, her mood lifting instantly.

Caran Doc's face appeared on the small screen in her hands, his smile matching hers. “Triltan,” he said. “How are you?”

“I'm well,” she replied. “And you? Daltas?”

“All good,” Caran Doc told her. “Daltas tells me you took some of her cooking with you?”

“There's very little left,” Triltan said with a smirk. “The others, they couldn't get enough once they'd tasted it. It's so much better than the food dispensers.”

“And how are they treating you?” Caran Doc continued.

“Okay,” Triltan said after a moment's hesitation. Caran Doc looked at her intently, waiting for her to elaborate.

“They're really nice,” Triltan continued. “Arthur and Gwen spend a lot of time in their room together, but Lance has been really friendly and Merlin has plenty of stories to tell. It's just, sometimes I want to be left alone and I feel like I can't. They've been so good to me, to all of us.”

Caran Doc leant back in his chair, his face taking on a sombre appearance. “I know how you feel,” he said. “Running the Ardent Dawn, the fleet, meeting with the Assembly, I don't feel like I've had any time to reflect on what happened.

“So many lives, our home, all gone forever. We barely had a moment to process all of that before another crisis needed our attention. I try to take a moment here and there, but it's never enough. I don't think it will never be enough.”

The Teleri didn't produce tears, but both Triltan and Caran Doc's eyes took on a milky appearance as their emotions overwhelmed them. “I don't want the people to think that we've forgotten,” Triltan said. “Or that we don't care.”

“They don't think that,” Caran Doc assured her. “Part of honouring the past is building something new, on Earth, with Arthur and the others. Teela may be gone, but while we're alive we carry a piece of it with us, everywhere we go. Camelot will be as much Teleri as human, or Dorgan for that matter. Wherever you look, you'll find gentle reminders of home.”

“Thank you,” Triltan said. “I hadn't thought of it like that.”

“Nothing will ever make up for what we lost,” Caran Doc continued. “But together we'll build a future just as bright as our past. Daltas and Miltren, they're working on something, something wonderful. It won't make up for what we lost, but it's a start.”

“Father?” Triltan asked with surprise.

“I'll tell you more when you get back,” Caran Doc insisted. “Arthur, Gwen, Lance. They're good people, I'm sure they'll understand if you want to spend some time alone. You didn't have to go with them?”

“It's better to be doing something,” Triltan said, as much to herself as her father. Whenever she had a quiet moment, her thoughts went back to the images of her shattered home world and feelings that went along with them. She wanted time to think, to reflect, but worried that having too much time might overwhelm her.

“Besides,” she continued. “They need me.”

“As do I,” Caran Doc told her. “Remember your promise; you don't leave the Vanguard under any circumstances.”

“Triltan?” Gwen said through her capsule. “I'm sorry to interrupt, but the engines have charged for the next jump.” The communications would be lost as the Vanguard jumped and Gwen hadn't wanted to worry either Triltan or Caran Doc if their screens suddenly went blank.

“It's okay,” Triltan replied. “I think we're about finished.”

“Be safe, my daughter,” Caran Doc said soothingly, leaning closer to the screen. “We'll speak again soon.”

“We will,” Triltan said with a smile.

As she shut down the screen and lay back on the cot, she thought about what her father had said. Camelot would be as much Teleri as human or Dorgan, and Silan Daltas was working on something wonderful. She liked that, and for the first time since she had seen the distressing images of her home world, she drifted into a restful sleep.

*****

The wormhole brought them to within one jump of the hive ship. Once the gravity engine had stopped spinning, Triltan pulled her console forwards and made contact with the Teleri probe. It had reached the hive ship eighteen hours before and had completed a detailed scan of its interior.

“Is the probe still transmitting?” Arthur asked.

“It is,” Triltan replied. “The hive hasn't attempted to destroy it.”

“Would their scanners be able to detect it?” Lance asked.

Triltan thought it over for a moment. “It's small,” she said, “but they should have detected the energy signature once it began to scan of the hive.”

“This whole scenario is making me nervous,” Merlin said. “I wish you'd taken Caran Doc up on his offer to bring the Ardent Dawn.”

“We have to defend Earth above all else,” Arthur protested.

“I know, I know,” Merlin agreed. “I just can't help but feel that there's something very wrong here.”

“What's the probe found?” Gwen asked, trying to ignore the same sense of dread which Merlin was describing.

Triltan transferred the readouts to the larger screen at the front of the cockpit. It depicted the hive in its entirety, with a focus of red on the lower levels. “The red areas are life signs,” she explained. “They all seem to be near the bottom of the hive.”

Lance stepped forwards and touched the image, zooming in. “They're all within the birthing chambers?,” he said. “Are you sure this is all of them?”

Triltan tapped further icons and focussed in on various other parts of the image. Everywhere she checked, there were no life signs except those already discovered. “That's all of them,” she said. “Approximately one million, one hundred and twenty-seven thousand individual signatures.”

“What happened to everyone else?” Gwen asked.

“Are they human or Dorgan?” Arthur asked.

Triltan paused for a moment before she spoke, looking up to meet Arthur's gaze. “Neither,” she said sadly. “They're all Mori.”

Arthur sat back down heavily. “We left hundreds of thousands of slaves behind when we escaped,” he said, speaking more to himself than the others. “Is this because of what we did?”

“No,” Gwen insisted. “We freed as many as we could. Whatever happened after that is on the Mori.”

“She's right,” Lance agreed. “Most of the slaves chose to stay behind. We did the best we could.”

Arthur wasn't convinced, but he turned to face the others, his face still full of grief. “There should be millions of Mori too,” he said.

“Tens of millions,” Merlin corrected. “Triltan, are you able to detect any remains?”

Triltan worked at her console, analysing various displays while the others waited for her to speak. It was only a matter of seconds, but to Arthur the time seemed to stretch out in front of him.

“There are a small number of dead within the birthing chambers,” she said at last. “I can't find any others, but look here.” The image moved to highlight various points on the surface of the hive ship. “It looks as though some of the external doors have been opened.”

“They were pulled out into space?” Lance asked. “What about the energy shield? That should have maintained the atmosphere.”

“The shield is active now,” Triltan replied. “Perhaps it wasn't when the doors were opened?”

“Which suggests it was deliberate,” Arthur said. “Someone opened the doors and disabled the shield, killing everyone aboard except those who made it to the birthing chambers. Why were they spared?”

“There's no way of knowing from here,” Merlin said.

“No,” Arthur agreed. He felt sick, his stomach in knots as he thought about all those he'd left behind and how they must have suffered at the hands of the Mori. Whatever he did, however hard he tried, someone else always seemed to suffer for his mistakes. First the slaves and then the Teleri, so many dead because he just wasn't fast enough.

Wasn't good enough.

“Gwen,” he said, once he thought he could speak without his voice breaking. “Can you contact Gar-Wan and Caran Doc? They should know what we've discovered.”

The communicators on the Mori and Teleri vessels used the principle of quantum entanglement  allowing for instantaneous communication between ships regardless of distance. Triltan transmitted the data the probe had discovered and explained what she had found.

“I agree,” Caran Doc said once he'd heard everything his daughter had to say. “If the shield was disabled and then reactivated, it sounds like a deliberate act.”

“But why retreat to the birthing chambers?” Gar-Wan asked. “There are escape vessels throughout the hive, but according to the scans they're all still docked.”

“Whoever triggered the doors to open could have disabled the escape vessels,” Lance suggested.

“But I still don't understand the birthing chambers,” Gar-Wan continued. “Please, Arthur, find out what happened there.”

Arthur looked to the others, who nodded slightly before he spoke. “We're going to,” he replied. “I promise you, Gar-Wan, no matter what, we'll get to the truth of what happened on the hive.”

“I don't doubt it,” Gar-Wan said appreciatively. “Thank you, and good luck.”

“Right,” Arthur said, taking charge. “Get your gear ready. As soon as the engines have recharged, we jump to the hive.”

*****

The eight hours they waited for the gravity engine to recharge were the longest they'd ever experienced. They barely spoke to each other as they watched the countdown timer, willing it to go faster. Lance took some time alone, pushing gelatinous food around a bowl and lying on his cot, failing to sleep. Every time his eyes closed he remembered those on the hive he'd left behind, the slaves who'd chosen to stand beside their masters and resist freedom.

“Lance?” Gwen said quietly through the intercom.

“I'm here,” Lance replied, sitting up quickly. “Is it time?”

“Five minutes,” Gwen told him.

“On my way,” Lance said sombrely, physically and emotionally drained. He forced himself to put one foot in front of the other and join Arthur and the others in the cockpit.

Just before the engines had recharged, Merlin altered the ship's transponder to transmit the identity code of one of the destroyed scout ships. They were the same vessel, and they all hoped it would allow them to get close to the hive without drawing undue attention. Even so, as the gravity engines engaged and the ship slid through the artificial wormhole, they collectively held their breath as they waited for the hive to attack them or surround them with fighters. After what seemed like an eternity of anticipation, they were once more face-to-face with the hive ship, and it didn't seem to have noticed.

“Any activity?” Arthur asked, leaning forwards in his chair to peer through the cockpit window.