Resurrection (The Inherited War) (2 page)

“I humbly apologize to any and all parties I offended with my poor choice of words.  Though, I must continue.  We are currently at or below half strength here at Home Fleet and only have three working human battleships.  We can ill afford to send out any punitive expeditions at this time.  Especially if we are to rely on the ravings of an obviously brainwashed girl.”  The room exploded at that point.  Nixa were on their feet shouting and threatening each other. 

The Master finally had to call in the Master at Arms and his men to get everything settled back down.  “That was your last warning, speak ill of the Prime Administrator’s daughter again and you will be banned from these proceedings.”

“Ahh yes, and how does our esteemed Prime suggest we proceed?”  The Colony Administrator asked.

Her father never hesitated.  He rose to his feet and spoke in a clear calm voice.  “As you are quite aware, what I think has no bearing here.  It is my job to implement and oversee the decisions made by this august body.  I have no authority in this room unless asked to arbitrate by a majority of duly elected Administrators.”  He returned to his seat.

Sky was neither an Administrator nor her father.  She waited for her father to sit before she rose and took center stage once again.  She turned to face the Master.  “I would ask permission to speak again.”

“Granted,” he replied.

“My words here today have been nothing other than the truth.  I have told you of the danger posed by the Esii and their allies, and believe that at this moment they are weak and vulnerable.  Now is the time to strike and strike fast.”  Sky shifted her attention and focused on the Colonial Administrator.  “And you,” she pointed at him, “slander me one more time and I will have my satisfaction on the Field of Sorrows.”   There were a few whistles at that statement. Sky returned to her seat and sat holding onto her father’s hand.

“All threats aside, we shall continue with the matter at hand.”  The Master looked to the Twin Worlds Ambassadors.  “Would our esteemed colleagues from the Worlds like to address this situation, since it involves some of your own people?”

“We would, very much so.”  They both stood as the smaller one spoke.  “As the representative to the Nixa System, I have been in contact with my government and discussed at length with my leadership how we would like to go about handling these new developments.”  He strode to the center of the floor and turned to face the audience.  “As many of you are aware, we were nearly wiped out during the Traitors War twenty thousand years ago.  To this day we hold a great debt to your people for coming to our aid during that dark time.  The Esii had us down and almost beaten until your war ships drove them from our skies.  Since that time, we have worked to end the depravities and depravations the Esii commit on the galaxy.”  He paused for a moment to heighten the tension in the room.  “We agree with the Prime’s daughter.  Now is the time to strike at the Esii.  We should drive them back into that hole they call a planet and wipe them from the face of the galaxy.  We are also willing to aid in the retrieval of the captured human.  It would be our honor to once again fight alongside our allies and drive the scourge that are the Esii away forever.”

Before the audience could react to the vehemence of the Ambassadors speech, the Administrator from the colonies rose to his feet.   “Oh, bravo.”  He shouted.  “Such passion, such dedication.  Now we find the meat of the matter.  I motion to bring a vote to the floor.”  He looked around and nodded to a fellow administrator. 

“I second,” said the Nixa.

“Let us vote on the course of this conflict now.  We seem to have two choices in front of us.  We go to war and annihilate the Esii.  Make them extinct in this galaxy or we do nothing.  Vote.  Choose.  Are we gods that can order the deaths of an entire race of beings?  Evil beings, but living creatures none-the-less.  Or do we fortify our position here?  Do we take this new technology that sits in orbit above us now and use it to defend ourselves and other likeminded peoples of the galaxy?  Let the Esii live, but keep them in check.  Well I for one will not condemn an entire race to death on the actions of a few.  I vote no war.  I vote peace.” With that, he pressed a button on his chair, and the vote count put a 1 in the no war column.

“Bastard,” Sky’s father whispered.  “He positioned the Administrators and forced this vote.  This was a set up all along.”  Sky only half paid attention to her father as she watched the vote tally grow.  As it grew, her heart sank.  Finally, the last member voted.  It was slim, but it was a victory for the Colonial Administrator.  The Nixa’s policy would be to do nothing about the Esii and just sit on their hands.  She openly wept and fled from the room.

CHAPTER 2

             
Approximately 20,000 years ago

Jarrod sat watching the beautiful world slowly spin on the monitor in front of him.  Such a rare find in the galaxy.  The perfect mixture of everything needed to support life.  He heard the door open behind him and the group of beings walk in.  Slowly he spun the view of the camera around and looked at the fleet of ships forming up around the planet.  A few hundred ships.  That was all that was left of his people.  Ten thousand beings.  He had sent to a call as soon as he had regained his composure.  He had summoned them all here.  To this small world on the outskirts of the galaxy.  He told them to prepare.  Convert their ships of science into ships of war.  The Esii would pay dearly for their transgressions.  Their revenge would doom his people, so he had to prepare.

He swiveled his chair around and faced the beings that had entered his cabin.  Four from the Twin Worlds and two from Archones.  “Thank you for coming to meet with me.  I have a favor to ask of each of you, if you are willing.”  The beings felt the seriousness of the moment and refrained from speaking.  They all nodded their heads yes.

“Good.”  He looked to the Archones.  “I need you two to finish the preparations here and deploy the virus within three days.  Get any more DNA samples you need from the newly arriving ships.  I want total coverage of the whole planet.  No one can escape infection.  After you have finished deployment of the agent, you will then immobilize one of the larger settlements of the primitives.  No more than one thousand, no less than five hundred.  Load them into a stasis transport and await orders.  Do you understand?”  They nodded yes.  “Good. Thank you.”  He turned to the Worlders.

“Jax and Gren.”  He looked to the first of the Worlder pairs.  “I have a list here of ten sites I need found somewhere in this half of the galaxy.  They must be found near the fringes and away from known worlds or space lanes.  I also have a survey list that will help you find just the right locations.  The first place you must find is one that can support the natives of this world that will be prepared to be transplanted.  The other nine, you will find after you have brought back the location to the Archones team.”  He looked at Jax, Gren and the Archones.  “You may go and good luck.”

Without a word, the four beings left the room and headed out to begin their missions.  Jarrod was alone in the room with the final two Worlders.   Bellator and Gladio remained silent and watched Jarrod as he pondered his next words carefully.

“For you two, I have the most important job of all.  And the hardest decision you will ever have to make.  I need you two to set up a society within your own to prepare for the return of my people.  It will take tens of thousands of years for our return, but return we will.  I am making sure of that.  You must instill the importance of this job into each group you train.  You must make it the highest honor that any of your people could ever receive.  This war will not be won by us here and now.  But we will endeavor to set the Esii back so far as to render them impotent for hundreds maybe even thousands of years.  Can you do this?”  They both nodded yes.  “I need you to remain alive to ensure this happens.”

The Worlders looked at each other in confusion.  Before they could voice the obvious question, Jarrod waved them to silence.  “It is possible but difficult.  My people can live up to two thousand years before our bodies can no longer be repaired, and we succumb to death.  Yours is about two hundred.  I have discovered a way around this.  Because of your unique bond and how you share so many particles that are bound through space and time, I can help you to live forever.  It requires one of you to sacrifice your mortal body and join physically and mentally with the other.”  It all hung now on the Worlders.  He had either just insulted them or offered them the perfect bond.  It was up to them to choose which.  They never even spoke out loud.

“We will undergo this bonding and thank you for it.”  Bellator, the smaller Worlder, said.

“I will sacrifice my body and join within Bellator.”  Gladio moved forward as he spoke.  “It will be an honor to forever be with my bondmate.”

“Then let us not waste any more time.”  He stood and led the two Worlders from the room and to his laboratory.  All
told, the procedure lasted only a day and the unified Worlders were up and about in two.

“What shall I call you now?”  Asked Jarrod.  “Bellator or Gladio?”

The body that once had solely belonged to Bellator looked up from the recovery bed and gave Jarrod a smile.  “Neither, we prefer to be called Split.”

~

Cole was mentally kicking himself.  All of this time in space and this was the first time he had gotten to experience zero gravity.  He should have done it much sooner, and with a better companion.  He used the small control jets on his Second Skin to rotate him, so he was facing back the way he had come.  God she was beautiful.  The Retribution was all sleek lines and deadly curves.  He was hurtling away from her at a high rate now.  He zoomed his optics in on the upper rear of the ship.  Where was she?  She had to have made it to the pod by now.  Ahh, there it was.  Cole smiled broadly as he watched the last escape pod shoot free of the doomed ship.  Sky was safe.  The Esii could do whatever they wanted to him now.  Sky was free of the ship and safely on her way back to her home.

He refocused his attention onto the massive Esii super ship called the Sun Eater.  His heart ached as his ship smashed into the side of the behemoth.  She didn’t penetrate very far on the initial impact.  Cole counted down in his head.  Ten…five…two, one, bingo.  The retribution’s engines fire to life and thrust the small ship deep into the bowls of the Sun Eater.  Only a few more minutes now and the Retribution’s grav collectors would overcharge and go critical.  He felt a tug on the tether.  He ignored it.  There was a more forceful tug, then he felt himself get jerked around.

Cole was staring into the open maw of an Esii Battle Cruiser.  Damn, they were going to get away before the Sun Eater exploded and took out everything in this part of the system.  He felt a presence invade his mind.

“If you want to survive long amongst the Esii you will not show fear.”  The presence vanished as quickly as it had appeared.  It still made his flesh crawl to have that Esii bitch talking in his head.  He shivered a little as they ghosted through the open bay doors and floated deeper into the ship.  When the doors behind them closed, all the light in the bay went away.

They floated for a little longer before he bumped into his captor’s still form.  He felt gravity grab hold of him, and he fell a foot or so to the floor.  He instantly crouched and went into a fighting stance.  He turned up the gain as far as it would go on his low light optics but could only see varying shades of grey.  He tried his thermos and found it wasn’t much better.  He was scared, more scared than he had been when he had woken up on Captain Feng’s ship all those months ago.

They waited in silence.  Cole didn’t know what they were waiting for, but he was afraid that he would soon find out.  To his front, a faint white line was appearing on the floor.  Light.  It started to move upward and expand.  A door was opening, and Cole tensed for action.  His insides felt all watery, and he was glad to be in his combat skin.   As the door reached its peak, Cole saw the silhouettes of four beings outlined in the soft light.  Their features were hidden to him, but he could guess who they were.

“Why would two creatures come to our ship?”  Esii.  Definitely.  The voice was worse than nails on a chalk board.  Interesting, Cole thought, they don’t know who we are.  The one that spoke looked to the other three.  “Place them in the animal pens.”

As they began to move forward to comply, Cole’s captor stepped forward and placed her hands on her hips.  The three Esii stopped their forward momentum and turned to look back at their leader.  It was silent for a few moments before his captor spoke.  She retracted the helmet and took a deep breath of air.  Cole left his up.

“Now that is settled, let us speak openly so my pet can hear us.  As I was saying, I am Dayja, of the Sjukdomur clan.  I was tasked with possessing this human woman and waiting for the return of the Great Enemies descendant.  I have fulfilled my mission and returned with a Pure prisoner.”  She waited a moment for that to sink in before she continued.  “I will wait here until a proper greeting is prepared for me, by the leader of this clan ship.”  She crossed her arms over her chest and assumed an indifferent pose.

Cole finally retracted his own helmet and nearly gagged at the foul odor in the air.  These things smelled worse than a dump in the summer.  He was about to speak when the Esii Battle Cruiser bucked and shook violently.  They all stumbled a little but remained on their feet.

“Heh, that would be your Sun Eater blowing up I would imagine.  You're welcome.”  Cole was taking shallow breaths and only breathing through his mouth.  “Guess you’re going to have to call your friends to make you a new one.” 

“What do you know of our friend, animal?”  One of the three thugs began to say before he was literally cut off by the leader.  As quick as the words came out of his mouth the leader leapt forward and rammed a small knife into the speakers back.  He must have severed his spine because he collapsed into a heap instantly.

Cole’s captor didn’t twitch as the murder took place.  Cole chuckled again.  “This is going to be easier than I thought.”

The leader of the Esii looked from the dead thug to Cole, a look of hatred on his face.  “What will be easier?”

“Defeating you guys.  If all I have to do is make you look stupid, you will kill each other.”  Dayja whipped her hand backwards and caught Cole in the nose.   The attack startled him and sent him stumbling back a few steps.

“Show no fear, do not be arrogant.”   Dayja’s voice came and went in an instant.

“You dare mock me?”  The Esii leader said.  “I will drain your life in an instant and feed you remains to the other animals.  And you, you are no Sjukdomur, you both will be fed upon and disposed of.  Take them away.”

Dayja’s voice came rushing back.  “Defend us or we are both dead.”

Cole, who was still rubbing at his stinging nose, reacted in an instant.  He took a few steps to gain momentum and leapt upon the Esii leader.   His body kicked in his adrenaline and fed blood and chemicals to his brain.  For Cole, time slowed to a crawl.  He knocked the leader sprawling, taking him out of the fight for a few moments. Cole spun around in time to meet the charge of the remaining two thugs.  They didn’t have a chance. 

Cole’s foot shot out and impacted on the closer ones knee.  His knee buckled and bent back the wrong way, sending him cart wheeling to the ground with a cry of agony.  The second one tried to plunge a knife into Cole’s neck.  Cole’s arm shot up and deflected the attack.  He grabbed the attacker’s hand that was holding the knife and brought it down hard across his knee.  The attackers arm broke like a twig.  Cole tore the knife out of his hand and rammed it up under his chin into his brain.  The knife lodged in its skull.  Not attempting to pry it out, Cole dropped and rolled forward.  The leader had regained his feet and had attempted to decapitate Cole from behind.  Cole had felt the rush of air over his head as he had dropped and rolled.

Cole regained his feet and turned to meet his attacker head on.  Dayja was still standing in the same spot, not moving or helping.  The leader had a long wicked looking dagger out and was moving forward to attack.  To Cole’s heightened senses he looked to be moving in slow-motion.   Cole had to finish him fast.  If he could take this one out then turn on Dayja, he may be able to win his freedom here and now.  Cole struck.  He knocked the Esii’s leading hand out wide and launched a kick at his shoulder.  Cole put
all his weight into that kick and it sent the Esii spinning.  He jumped on the Esii’s back and locked his arms around his neck.  He was trying to break the Esii’s neck and end the fight quickly.

He underestimated his strength and the weakness of the Esii’s ligaments and tendons.  With a mighty jerk, Cole ripped his whole head off.  The unexpected consequences of his action sent Cole stumbling backwards and falling to the ground.  He started to scramble back to his feet when his brain exploded in pain.  His adrenalin and battle rage faded away leaving him shrieking and writhing on the floor in agony.

The pain slowly faded away, but Cole found himself unable to move his arms or legs.  Dayja leaned over him.  “That was showing no fear.  Now lay there and wait.  If you attempt to get up, I will bring the pain back.”  So they waited.  The lights in the bay slowly came up and made the dimensions of the room visible to Cole.  The interior of the ship reminded Cole of the alien hive in the movie Aliens.  Jet black and glistening with reflected light.  He could tell it was made of metal and not secretions.   It still sent a shiver down his spine.

Cole lay on the ground as still as he could and stared up at the ceiling.  So much for escape.  He heard a door open on the other side of the room.  “I apologize for the mess,” Dayja said to the newcomers, “but they needed to be taught a lesson.  I am Dayja of the Sjukdomur Clan, I was ordered to possess this human female's body and find the Great Enemies descendant.  I have accomplished my mission and claim the right of Markmio.”  She finished her speech and waited for a response.

“Yes, I have heard of you and your mission.  As for these,” he waved at the bodies on the floor, “they will be disposed of.”  Cole heard the soft whisper of feet moving across the floor.  He heard them drag out the three bodies of the dead Esii and the meaty thunk of a knife being driven into the body of the one he had wounded.  These guys made Al-Qaida look like clowns at a kid’s birthday party.  After the room had been cleared of the dead, the newcomer spoke again.