Conquest ~ Indian Hill 3 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure (70 page)

“They are meant to carry our burden
.
W
e are their masters
,”
Betar spat.

I thought Tantor was going to blow a hole in him. “Hold on
,” I told
him,
“
you do that and we’ll probably have to kill them all and then we won’t have a bargaining chip.”

Somewhere deep inside
,
the words registered with Tantor
,
but he wasn’t happy about it.

Another pilot spoke out. “They cannot fend for themselves
.
T
hey need us to lead them.
T
hat is the way it is, the way it has always been.”

“Only because you have forced us!”
o
ne of the Genogerians in the back spoke.

“Stop!” I yelled, blasting another hole in the ceiling.
“Listen
,
we know the Progerians are not going to get over the biases they have built up their entire lives at this moment. If we stay here and debate, I know how this is going to end up
—
a lot of blood. I will ask again
,
Betar, as a representative of the planet
E
arth
.
M
y name is Michael
Talbot.”

Good
,
that got a murmuring of surprise from them
.

“Will you surrender?” I asked and at that moment at least
fifty
Genogerian
weapons came to bear. I would have loved to have been able to turn around and see the impressive Geno display, but it was echoed in the shocked looks of the Progerians to my front.

Betar was shaking with rage, I could see him rapidly weighing his diminishing options.

“B
etar, your death will accomplish nothing
,” I said
softly. I did not need to speak loudly to be heard, tension was the only thing filling th
e
room
and
of course
aliens
.

“When my superiors crush this
rebellion
, you will be the first one that I hunt down
and kill
,”
Betar
said attempting to salvage some of his pride.

“You’ll probably have to get in line
,” I told
him.

“What…
what do
es that
mean
?” he
asked
, angr
y and confused.

“He is saying there are plenty that want him dead
,
Betar, and if you want to accomplish th
at
you will have to find your place among them
,” Urlack said
.

“I will then
!” he yelled
.

“How have you conquered the star
s
without humor?” I asked. Nobody answered. “So I take it your surrendering?” I asked Betar.

***

I’ll say this,
the Genogerians were efficient. Within an hour
,
all of the pilots were housed in the gladiator cells.

“What now?” Urlack asked as
we leaned against the far wall.
A
Progerian was glaring back at me through the force shield. I had made sure to move away from Betar’s cell
.
H
is glares were beginning to burn holes in my insides.

“Are the men
—
I mean
,
Geno
s
—
in place?” I asked.

“They are
,” he answered
.

“You know this is going to get messy
,
right?” I asked him.

“I did not know from watching the games that your kind were so squeamish
,” Urlack said
. “There is no such thing as a clean rebellion. True change requires a steep price paid in blood.”

“Wisely said, but there’s something different about killing in the heat of battle and then cold assassination.”

“Death is death
,
Michael.”

“I know that too. I know what we need to do. The Mutes are buried in deep as a fat tick
.
T
o attack them head on would be our folly, but that only makes what
we need to do next only marginally easier to swallow.
Have your men linked into the ship’s surveillance system yet?”

Urlack looked down at me with his head cocked to one side. I might have thought he looked somewhat cute like a puppy if he was
maybe
one-eighth
his
present size.

“You must know
,
Michael
,
that it is not I that lead
s
the Genogerians
.
I
t is you
,”
h
e stated without a hint of malice.

It was sort of a shock, I had never really thought about it. I guess it made some sort of weird sense
,
but it still left me a little bit dumbfounded.

“And yes
,
we have tapped into the cameras.
W
e have blocked their ability to watch us
.
Unless we want them to
,”
h
e added at the end.

And we did want them to.
T
hat was the key to our plan.

“Well,
let’s get this show on the road then
,” I told
Urlack, I wanted to hold my head high
,
but right
then
it seemed to weigh a thousand pounds.
“Will this be two way communication?” I asked.

“They will be able to reply over the ship
’
s intercom system.”

Urlack pointed a device at me that looked suspiciously like a toaster oven
,
but I guess
ed was their version of a hand
held
camcorder. Made
sense
.
I
f
theirs
were as small as the ones we were using
,
they wouldn’t be able to operate them.

“You are on
,” Urlack said
.

“It
would be n
ice if you had given me a count
down or something
,”
I told
him angrily.

“You are on
,”
h
e
repeated.

“
Shit
.
H
ello
,
Supreme Commander.” I tried my best to not sneer. “My name is Michael Talbot.”

“I am aware of who you are
,”
b
lared over the speakers.

“Can we get that lowered?” I asked Urlack as I rubbed my left ear.

“Why are you not deceased?”
t
he voice asked again
,
but at a much more pleasant
volume
.

“You could always come out and give it a go
,”
I taunted.

I heard a hiss on the other side
.
G
ood
,
I was pissing him off, my specialty!

“We have your pilots locked up
,” I told
the commander.

“I am well aware of that.”

So he was not going to be forth
coming. “We demand the surrender of those that are resistant to the freedom of the Genogerians and the
h
umans alike.”

“Savages aligning with savages.
I wouldn’t have thought it possible. But your small victory in the feeding hall, at a high price I might add, has done little to alter the course of this vessel or its mission.”

“Oh
,
I’m not so sure
,” I told
him. “These pil
ots will not be able to fly any
more, and right about…” I wait
ed
for Urlack’s signal which was taking longer than it should and
ruining my dramatic build-
up effect. He finally gave me a small bob of his head as he received some communication through his earpiece. “
…n
ow, you’ve lost communication with the planet.”

“It is so
,
” I heard someone telling the Supreme Commander.

“So
,
right now, you’re probably thinking
,
worst case scenario, that you cannot be the first ship in your history to fall into the hands of the Genogerians
.
S
ure
,
maybe a half hour ago you could have flown this ship right into
the E
arth, but since we have disengaged your drive
,
you are really kind of limping along in space right now.”

“That is also so,
”
c
ame the bearer of bad news to the Supreme Commander again.

“This is not possible!”
t
he Supreme Commander bellowed.

“Don’t let your arrogance get the better of you. It
has
happened
,
” I emphasized.
“We are demanding your surrender.”

The power on our deck flickered for a moment and then came back on.

“Life support
,” Urlack said
. “They can shut down wherever they want.”

“We can’t get a hold of that?”

Urlack shook his head.

“Your
pilots will die if you do that
,” I told
the c
ommander.

The
c
ommander eerily echoed my earlier words. “It would be the sacrifice of the few for the many.”

“You cannot!”
c
ame another forceful voice. “The Senate will hang us all!”

“And what will they do if we hand the ship over
!” the
c
ommander said
.
T
here was some rustling
,
but I think it was more of a posturing than a scuffle.

This was not turning out exactly as I had planned. “Captured pilots
,
you have heard the words of your leader
.
H
e has deemed you as expendable
.
O
ne of your own kind has left you to fend for yourselves while he has threatened to shut off the very air you breathe.” I could hear some grumbling
,
but I
thought
the Progerians were probably in a bit of shock as they tried to assimilate th
e
new information. “I will release any of you
that decide to take your chances with us
and fight.” It was truly a long
shot and nobody had quite bitten
,
but my guess was that I’d get a few converts when the air began to thin.

Urlack let the toaster oven drop down. “They are coming
,” he said
with as much inflection as if
he
were
talking about the mailman. Urlack and I ran for the far end of the corridor where the Mutes would most likely hit first.

“We will be free soon
,
hu-man!” Betar shouted as we ran past his cell. “You will be in my stew for dinner.”

I flipped him the
bird
as I went by. I
didn’t
know if he understood the gesture
,
but he howled in anger all the same.

The fire
fight had begun, I could hear mu
ffled explosions all around.

“Grenades?” I asked Urlack.

“They are actually your flash-bangs. One of our first reconnaissance patrols grabbed a box when they overran a police
station
.
T
he Mutes have been making their own version and playing with them since.”

“Playing?”

“They made them stronger and now see how many they can detonate at their feet before they are overwhelmed.”