Chroniech! (24 page)

"My original question," Stricklen said, ignoring Doug's anger, "was why are the Chroniech attacking us in such an all out manner? They've known about us for a long time — long enough to learn our language — and they did not attack us with such force until just recently. Why?"

Still angry, Doug picked up his glass of rum and finished it off. Setting the glass back down with deliberate care he replied, "Perhaps they've been gathering their forces, waiting until all their ships were in position to begin their assault. I suspect you might have another theory though."

"It's just a theory, but it makes perfect sense to me," Stricklen began marking off each point by grasping a finger of his left hand with his right. "The Chroniech have observed us long enough to learn our language. Why we have not detected them until now is another mystery. They are also descendants of the slavers. We know from the Kyrra that the slaver empire collapsed and they became a hunted species.”

"The first time the Chroniech ever contacted us was when we discovered the old slaver transport. Their only interest was in gaining custody of the transport and its contents. When we refused to give them the stasis chamber they attacked and they have continued to attack ever since."

Doug had turned to face his captain. A look of understanding appeared on his face. Interrupting Stricklen, Doug continued the thought process. "That's right! The Chroniech mentioned that the ship belonged to them. In other words, they remember their past of forty thousand years ago. You think, they think, we have obtained some sort of weapon from their past glory and once we unlock its secrets we will use it against them. They are trying to wipe us out before we can figure out how to use it!"

"Exactly!" Stricklen almost shouted. Pouring his XO another small drink he continued. "The Chroniech have obviously passed down from generation to generation the story of their past and how they were once a mighty and feared people. The story probably goes on to tell how the inferior races rose up to destroy them.”

"Today, instead of enslaving other races, the Chroniech simply wipe them out. Their entire culture must be infused with stories of revenge and hatred. If that's true, then there can never be peace with them, they will fight until one of us is eliminated."

"I'm not too sure I like the sound of that," Doug said sitting back down.

Stricklen walked over to the porthole, a rare luxury on a warship and something only found in the captain's cabin. Staring down at the planet below he said, "It appears as if our only hope is with Sorbith and his negotiations with the Hess."

"I wouldn't lose trust in the Alliance," Doug said moving to stand next to his captain. "Ever since its creation following the Human — Tholtaran war the Alliance has been at peace showing that we can all work together. It won't take us long to gear up our military machine to fight off the Chroniech. Right now, people are scared and they see Kyrra technology as a quick solution to a new problem."

Ken let out a long sigh. "I hope you're right Doug. Maybe the arrival of the AOH and the Tholtaran battle fleet has me wondering about our own future. We need to stick together and if we don't we're not going to survive this or any other challenge."

"That reminds me," Doug changed the subject. "Where the hell did those AOH ships come from?"

"I took a few minutes to look them up," Ken replied. "They're a radical group that formed not long after Earth joined the Consortium. The newly formed Earth government eventually banned them and the group took off to form a Human colony free from non-Human contamination."

"I remember that part," Doug said, "I want to know how they got their hands on heavily armed warships."

Ken watched as the planet spun below them. "Their colony is now a separate world protected under the Alliance treaty. Although not a member of the Alliance, the population is Human and they can easily move about the Alliance without revealing where they came from. Alliance members, however, are banned from their planet. They could easily have built a large warship fleet using Alliance technology without anyone knowing about it."

"Perhaps we should check in on them from time to time to see what they're up to," Doug commented.

"Perhaps," Ken replied. "It's against Alliance law but maybe that law should be changed. For now though, we have other problems."

The two officers stood at the porthole in silence for several long minutes immersed in their own thoughts. On the planet below the negotiations continued.

14 - The Agreement

The negotiations with the Hess continued for three long days. During that time the Tholtaran fleet sat unmoving just outside the line beyond which the Hess had promised to act. A single super destroyer had crept across that line a day after the fleet had arrived. A Hess weapon had burned through its shield and with breathtaking precision shaved off the outer layer of the ship's hull opening an unoccupied section of the ship to space. The super destroyer quickly retreated.

Sorbith ignored Stricklen's repeated attempts at communications. Instead, his ship replied that Sorbith was not to be disturbed while the negotiations were underway. Frustrated, Ken spent hours pacing the bridge while keeping a nervous watch on the Tholtarans. Instead of his usual good humor he seemed moody and withdrawn.

Concerned, Scarboro alerted the ship's psychologist. Ken was in the mess hall grabbing a quick lunch when Tasharra, tray full of food, abruptly sat down at his table. "Any word from the surface?" she asked.

Stricklen swallowed a mouthful of spaghetti before replying, "Nope! The Hess aren't responding and Sorbith's ship has apparently been given instructions not to forward any messages until after the negotiations have been concluded."

Tasha buttered a roll and said, "I was beginning to wonder if I'd been kept out of the loop. I've heard the Tholtarans are just sitting out there. Any idea what they're planning?"

Stricklen had always liked Tasha. Her Kentucky accent gave her voice a quality that caused him to always listen to what she had to say and her green eyes seemed to captivate him.

He concentrated on rolling up another forkful of spaghetti as he answered, "They've refused to answer my calls. So far, they've just been sitting out there making us nervous. After the little demonstration of Hess weaponry the Tholtarans haven't dared cross the line. As for what they're up to — beats me."

Tasha chewed on a chunk of roll then turned to her own plate of food. "Frustrating, isn't it?"

Stricklen set his fork down. "Frustrating! I have no idea what the hell is going on down on the surface. I'm stuck in orbit with a Tholtaran fleet ready to pounce on us, the Alliance is under attack, and the most important negotiation in Alliance history is taking place in total silence only 400 kilometers from me. I need to be doing something — anything, except just sitting here."

Tasha leaned back in her chair and gave the captain a stern look of disapproval. "So you think pacing the bridge and getting the entire crew on edge by your attitude is going to help matters? You're the commanding officer of this ship and you should know better than that."

Stricklen stopped in mid-chew and chuckled. He finished chewing, swallowed, and replied, "Doug ratted me out did he? Can't say I blame him."

Tasha grabbed a fork and speared several green beans and said, "He is the XO and it's his job to look after the welfare of the ship and its captain. Ken, as much as you would like, you can't always be on the front lines. Everyone in the military knows that frustration and boredom can be as great a threat as a direct attack by the enemy. Patience, however, can be a powerful ally."

Stricklen was amazed. "Tash! You are full of surprises. I never took you to be a military philosopher."

After swallowing a bite of her fish Tasha replied, "I have a brother in the army. Both my parents were career military working for naval intelligence. Most of the books and magazines in our house were military. I guess I learned quite a bit about military doctrine while growing up."

At that moment Stricklen's earpiece softly begged for his attention. Stricklen took out his hand-held communicator, flipped it open, and said, "Stricklen, what is it?"

"This is the communications watch on the bridge sir," a voice replied. "Sorbith is on his way back. He has ordered a meeting of all senior officers from both the Dragon and the General Patton in the GP's conference room in one hour."

Ken glanced at Tashara then replied, "Very well. The senior staff will shuttle over to the Patton as soon as possible. Have the duty crew prepare a shuttle for immediate departure and inform the rest of the senior staff."

Ken closed the communicator terminating the link. Tasha looked at him and said, "Looks like your patience is about to pay off."

Stricklen stood up and grabbed his half eaten tray of food. "Patience my ass!" he chided. "Thanks for bringing me back to reality though. I owe you one. I guess I should go see if the peacekeeper has found a way out of this mess."

Stricklen transferred his food into a container and headed for the shuttle bay. He wasn't about to waste a good meal.

The air inside the General Patton carried the distinct smell of welding from the still ongoing repairs. The route they took to the conference room showed little damage but Ken knew there were sections of the ship which were still at a vacuum.

Sorbith was already in the conference room speaking to Captain Mulgany. Stricklen approached and shook hands with the captain. "How are the repairs coming?" he asked.

Mulgany was a small man, standing only 163 centimeters from the bottom of his shoes to the top of his short cropped hair. His features were almost boyish and anyone meeting him for the first time found it hard to believe he was the captain of a warship. Behind the boyish face and blond colored hair, however, lay a finely trained, highly respected Alliance officer.

Returning the shake with a firm grip Mulgany replied, "Very well. We'll have her patched up in no time. Those old LA class ships have had some serious enhancements done on them. If they had been original we wouldn't have received a scratch."

"That opens up a whole series of questions," Ken said. "Such as where did they get their upgrades?"

"Excuse me!" Sorbith interrupted in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear. "I would like to get this meeting started — everyone please take a seat."

After a few seconds of shuffling, the crowd was soon seated around the conference table. "I have some late-breaking news," Sorbith, who had remained standing, began. "On the way up from the surface, I received a transmission from Almaranus. In anticipation of the Council's approval of the Hess / Kyrra request, they are outfitting a military transport with sufficient supplies and spare parts for an extended duration voyage. This ship will leave Almaranus in eight days and should arrive here in about four weeks.

"Included in the message was a stern warning from the Grand Council to the Tholtarans. If the Tholtaran's carry out their threat and attempt to take the Kyrra stasis chamber by force they will be considered to be in violation of the Alliance charter. The Tholtaran battle fleet has been given three hours to leave Hess space. If the Tholtaran's ignore this warning and attack, all Alliance governments will be informed of this action and have agreed to immediately remove all Tholtaran citizens from sensitive areas and positions throughout the Alliance."

Stricklen and Doug looked at each other with concern in their eyes. Their worst fears had just become reality. Stricklen had this sinking feeling that the Alliance was not going to be destroyed by the Chroniech, but would self destruct from within because of the overwhelming desire of some races to possess more power than their neighbors. Silence fell about the room.

Sorbith continued. "I have been in discussion with the Hess and the Kyrra for the past three days and an agreement has been reached. The implementation of this agreement will commence as soon as this meeting adjourns. The purpose of this meeting will be to hammer out the details of how we are going to accomplish what we need to do."

Sorbith walked over to a wall-sized display and activated it. As he talked, a list of items appeared on the display to highlight what he had to say. "The Hess have agreed to the following: They will provide us with the technical plans for a communications system which will allow us to send transmissions over a distance of 300 light years at a speed of three million cee. They will also provide us with the technical plans for an enhanced stardrive with a top speed of nearly 4,000c. Since the central field emitters of a stardrive are very similar to those used to generate a ship's defense screen, these plans will also allow us to produce a more effective shield.”

"The final item to be provided to us required a considerable amount of negotiation. The Hess, as you now know, is actually a creation of the ancient Kyrra. It is an artificial intelligence originally designed to function as a sophisticated, self-directing probe. Its original core programming should have prevented it from ever interacting with us. Instead of responding as it did to the intrusion into its system the Hess should have wiped its memory and self destructed. For reasons only it knows, the Hess somehow managed to override this programming.”

"The Hess has since been reprogrammed by the Kyrra to allow it to do what now must be done in order to improve the chances of successfully returning the Kyrra to their people. After learning that the route we must take to reach the suspected location of the Kyrra is through Chroniech space, I insisted the Hess provide us with a means of defense and also to provide us with some advanced weaponry for our own use against the Chroniech.”

"After a great deal of discussion, the Hess, after consulting with the Kyrra, has agreed to equip the return ship with an advanced weapon system of their own construction. They will also provide us with the technical plans for an advanced weapon system for our own use. I have not yet seen the specifications for this weapon but the Hess assures me it is far beyond anything we currently possess and it is within our means to build."