Child of Time (28 page)

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Corban would have rather been the one on the mission
exploring the asteroid system but he had commanded the last mission
exploring a nebula. It was only fair that someone else get to go on
this mission. As Kiyan had left the ship Corban was the highest
ranking officer aboard so the task of manning the bridge fell to
him. He was not alone as he was training Savos and Jeremy in the
finer points of bridge operations. Fred was busy training with Ray
in some form of martial art. Corban got Jeremy settled pouring over
some sensor readings and began instructing Savos in how to manually
control the Avenger's navigational systems. Alec wasn't offering
much assistance as he seemed to be focusing on maintaining a data
link with the drop ship.

“This is boring, there is nothing here.” Jeremy
voiced his professional opinion of the sector.

“Try out the long range scanners. See if you can find
Kiyan.” Corban smiled as he silently agreed with Jeremy's
sentiment.

“Are you sure Alec won't mind if I do that?” Savos
had a measure of fear for the AI.

“No I won't mind. As it is I would rather someone
took over the helm for me so I could focus on keeping track of
Kiyan.” Alec's voice made Savos jump like usual.

“Ha, Savos if you don't stop jumping at Alec's every
word you will have a heart attack.” Corban couldn't help but
laugh.

“I can't help it, he is like everywhere and he pops
out when you least expect it.” Savos glanced around with an
apprehensive expression.

“It’s a good thing you have two hearts and can spare
one then.” Corban smiled as Savos laughed nervously.

“What does an energy spike in the high energy bands
mean?” Jeremy interrupted the conversation about how inertial
dampers and artificial gravity affected space travel. Corban
frowned when he heard Jeremy and went over to look at the panel
with him.

“Alec, this is consistent with the radiation release
from a drop ship drive going critical.” Corban had not yet finished
speaking before the panels leaped to life. The analysis that Alec
showed on the view screen confirmed Corban's suspicions. Jeremy
held his hands up as his console showed the results of a high
intensity sensor sweep of the origin of the energy spike.

“There are sensor discrepancies that could be drakken
vessels. I should never have let him go on that mission.” Alec
appeared to be blaming himself for whatever might have happened. A
warp frame appeared and sensors went dark for a moment before they
dropped back into normal space. They were still a fair distance
away from the asteroid field but out of range of any drakken ships.
Sub warp drives kicked in as the cloak engaged. It was still
several minutes before they would be within range.

“I have several sensor anomaly in the outer asteroid
field. I can't see anything farther in.” Jeremy was doing the best
he could with his limited experience.

“Confirming residual radiation from a drop ship
explosion.” Alec took control of the ship and uncloaked. Corban,
Savos and Jeremy watched as Alec began releasing charged particles
waves into space. They could see shadows from ships as the
particles began to compromise the cloaks. There was a hesitation
for a moment before the drakken realized what was happening. Savos
gasped as the swarm of fighters uncloaked and opened fire. The
carriers and a few dozen frigates rounded out the drakken fleet.
Alec loosed a couple forced point singularities into the fighter
swarm leaving a cloud of devastation. The twisted fighters that
remained after the collapse and resulting gravity wave were in no
condition to make an offensive. One of the carriers made an attempt
to flee but surprisingly one of the frigates began to dance around
it raining down a hail of fire into it from all sides. Alec took
the opportunity to meet the remaining oncoming ships with a storm
of plasma. The first ship's shields collapse under the gale and the
ship melted before exploding. Two of the frigates must have
discovered the treachery of their companion because they turned
aside and opened fire on the traitor. Corban tried to interface
with a combat console and was able to direct a torrent of
devastation at the frigates attacking the frigate crippling the
fleeing carrier. One of the frigates spun out of control after
losing shields but the other one was locked on a collision course.
A series of three forced point singularities crashed into the
approaching vessels leaving only a couple capable of offering any
resistance. Surprisingly they still came on in the face of
insurmountable odds. A few well-placed shots reduced them to
rubble.

Corban watched helplessly as the second frigate
collided with the traitor. The collision destroyed the one but left
the first floating crippled through space. The carrier took the
opportunity to fire at a predictable target and soon was pouring
everything it had into the helpless frigate. Corban watched as a
glowing orb sped through the space separating them and slammed into
the carrier. The distorted ripples of light then the flash left
little that could be recognized as a fighting ship.

Alec transferred a hail from the last frigate to the
view screen. “He was........ I tried but...... Save him........
Failed..... losing control...... asylum..... All is lost.” The deep
growling voice on the other end of the transmission was broken off
by snarls and screams moments before the frigate's drive generators
began to glow like a star for a few seconds before exploding.

“Is... Is Kiyan gone?” Savos asked as he stared at
the devastation surrounding them.

Alec was silent for a minute while he scanned the
surrounding space. I can't find any life signs.

There was silence in the bridge as the information
sunk in. Corban glanced around at those present trying to gauge the
reaction. He stopped when he reached Jeremy and saw the glowing
blue eyes. “The pain is gone, cold glorious cold. Space is empty
but for the cold.” Corban watched as fingers of frost crept over
Jeremy's features. “When the star dies and the ocean is in a drop,
but one is not, the star was not.” Jeremy began to shake and sank
to his knees. “It’s so cold, glorious cold.” Corban touched
Jeremy's shoulder and tried to wake him from the trance but
snatched his hand back as the flames engulfed his frozen fingers.
Jeremy's white breath twisted and twirled around his face.
“Glorious cold, the star was not.” Corban's hand was healed when he
bent as much heat into it as he could bear in order to open a
telepathic connection with Jeremy. He felt the ice advancing up his
arm as he caught glimpses of light and darkness. He began to feel
the bite of the cold melting into a comfortable almost euphoric
feeling when he saw the Avenger looming in the dark. Stumbling back
he collapsed onto the floor as a raging inferno enveloped his
side.

“He is out there, look for ice off the starboard
side.” Corban was finally able to speak when the flames subsided.
He was aware of Alec launching drones to collect Kiyan but he was
watching Jeremy. The blue flames that danced across Jeremy
radiating from the shoulder that Corban had been touching were like
nothing he had ever seen. He could feel the coldness against his
face from the flames. Cold fire, ice fire. “I need to go to the med
bay, send Kiyan and Jeremy directly there.” Corban collected
himself and teleported to the med bay. A couple of Alec's androids
were already there prepping a couple of the beds. What seemed like
hours might have been a couple minutes before the icy form of Kiyan
materialized on the bed. Corban hardly felt the wave of cold that
struck him before the containment field rose. He had trouble
believing the console when it indicated that Kiyan's core
temperatures were near absolute zero. Little to no atomic movement
could be detected at Kiyan's core. The cybernetic implants were
visible under Kiyan's icy skin. Not knowing what to do Corban
waited. One of the androids attempting to enter the containment
field stopped moving then began to fall. Corban jumped when the
android shattered into a thousand pieces when it crashed into the
floor.

“It’s too cold to do anything near him.” Alec spoke
from the other android. “There isn't anything we can do.”

Jeremy lay on a nearby bed recovering. The strange
effect had disappeared when Kiyan had come aboard the Avenger. He
sat up after a few minutes of watching. “He isn't dead. I can feel
him. He is sleeping, I felt the cold like he does. He doesn't want
to wake up.” Jeremy climbed of the bed to the tune of Corban's
demands to rest. When he approached the containment field Corban
barred his path.

“It’s too cold in there, it will freeze you.” Corban
remembered the sensation of ice crawling up his arm.

“I know how to wake him up. You felt the cold too.
Like he does, it can't hurt us.” Corban was about to argue with
Jeremy when he remembered the feeling of euphoria that he had felt.
Still not convinced he held out his had to stop Jeremy. He stopped
when he saw the energy emanating from Jeremy like frosty air
sinking to the ground. Corban stepped aside and let Jeremy pass.
Upon entering the containment field Jeremy water formed and began
to glow with a deep blue light. Holding what appeared to be his
hands over Kiyan the blue light grew in intensity until he looked
like a star. When the light died down enough for Corban to look
again he saw Jeremy back in his human form collapsing to the floor.
Not pausing to think Corban darted into the containment field and
grabbed Jeremy. He realized that he hardly felt the cold as he
lunged back out of the field. Looking back at Kiyan he saw a dim
blue glow emanating from Kiyan's body growing steadily in intensity
before subsiding. The spikes and blades began to retract until
Kiyan transformed back into a human. Alec dropped the containment
field as the temperatures returned to normal. Kiyan began to stir.
Sitting up and rubbing his eyes he opened his hand to expose a
small metal cylinder. Holding it up to the light he looked at the
greenish liquid through the clear metal.

“It's a drakken clone sequence.” Alec identified it
as he stared at the cylinder that Kiyan held. “How did you get
that?”

The star that was not. “
He could have killed
me but he didn't.” Kiyan seemed lost in thought as he spoke.

“Is that the clone sequence for the drakken that
helped us?” Jeremy asked.

“Drovak, his name is Drovak. His memories linger in
spite of his death. Kiyan seemed to return to the present. “Alec
can we activate this sequence and grow a clone from it?”

“Yes but I don't know what good that would do. All
drakken clones are blank when they are cloned so to say. We don't
even have the equipment to imprint language skills on a new clone
but we can try if you want.” Alec finally seemed to be relaxing
after the past ordeal.

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Corban had returned to his rooms to relax after the
day. Sipping a cup of tea and relaxing in a comfortably warm room
had just about put him to sleep. Reviewing the day and thinking
about what had happened kept him mostly awake but when he took
another sip of tea he realized that it had grown cold. Snapping his
finger under the cup he nearly jumped when instead of a golden
flame, a pale blue flame flashed from his fingers. Corban watched
at frost leaves grew on the cup where the flames kissed the glass.
It felt like fire bending but instead of pouring energy into the
flame he felt himself drawing energy from the flames. Letting the
flames die out he snapped his fingers again and watched as the
golden flames danced around the cup and melted the frost. Thoughts
of the potential for ice fire tumbled through his head as he
drifted off to sleep after finishing his tea.

Chapter Thirteen: Second Chances

Light in the darkness.
Why wake me again?
The
interrogation and resulting execution still burned fresh in
Drovak's memory. The dark lords had found a seed of doubt and
betrayal in his gene line. He could never again be trusted, his
gene line was to be erased from the archives. They had not learned
Drovak's true secret but the chances of his plan succeeding were so
small that death seemed an acceptable second choice. Drovak waited
for the imprint like every other memory had begun with. The imprint
didn't come so he began to expect the worst. Perhaps his cloning
had been a mistake. Of even worse he was being cloned to feed the
dark one.

“It doesn't have any imprint, I'm surprised it is
even conscious.” A distant voice broke into Drovak's mind.

“No, there is something else there, I can sense it
but not clearly.” Another feminine voice sounded. Drovak realized
that these voices didn't have the characteristic snarl or growl of
a drakken. Opening his eyes he flickered his eyelids for a moment
before realizing that he was submerged in a fluid. Attempts at
breathing resulted in strangling chokes. Putting all his weight
into a last ditch effort he punched the side of the cylinder as he
thrashed. Seeing a crack appear he slammed his body into the wall
with all the returning strength he had. The side gave way and
Drovak flowed with the fluid across the room. He lay choking and
gasping for breath where he stopped. Rolling over he felt the icy
cold blade at his throat. Gazing up into the crystal blue eyes of
the boyish figure holding the blade and the familiar face of the
woman Drovak choked out a few words.

“Don't kill me again, I want to fight them.” The
effort was too much for his weakened state and the darkness
reclaimed him.

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After securing the limp body of Drovak on one of the
med beds with a force field around it Theo turned to Kendra. “I
don't know how he even knew how to talk let alone recognize
anything.”

“Genetic memories. I once encountered a race that
passed memories through their gene codes. These memories would be
lost in a couple generations but in theory if the gene code
remained the same like in a clone the memories could last
indefinitely. It is even possible that whole consciousness could be
passed along intact.” Kendra gave the only explanation that came to
mind.