Resurrection (The Inherited War) (32 page)

“This is on you Doc; I won’t be a part of it.”  The medic said as he handed her the case and walked away to begin helping the slowly recovering beings on the ship.

“What does that mean?”  Thalo asked.

“He needs air to his brain and heart, and he needs it fast.”  She didn’t bother explaining it any further.  Sky grabbed out two deep core injectors and readied them.  Without pause she slammed the first one into Jeth's temple and the second into his chest over his heart.

Thalo shouted a startled curse and lunged for Sky.  Before he could speak Sky rounded on him.  “Are you going to question my medical knowledge as well?”

Thalo hesitated as he saw the look in her eye.  “No, if this is what he needs then this is what he needs.”

“Good,” Sky turned back to monitor her patient.  “The nanites we have in us protected him from the injections, and the oxy goes right to where it’s needed most.  It was the best way to get him what he needed the fastest.”

Thalo released a deep sigh.  “Stay with him, please.  I have to go find out what is going on.”  He looked back at his bondmate and patted him on his leg.  “Don’t let him die on me okay, Sky?”

Sky nodded at Thalo as he was standing and watched him as he turned and headed for the nearest exit from the hanger.  She watched as he approached the command group that was overseeing the landing bay and begin to talk to the commander.  She looked down at her sister as she lay listless on the floor.  Jeth wasn’t the only one having a hard time coming out of this.

~

The Worlder ship Fast Cutter slowly docked with the Justice and made ready to transport the two hundred Kin, Thalo and his party over to the human ship.  The journey back behind the front lines had taken longer than it had from them to get out to affect a rescue.  But then again this was a Worlder ship and not a human one.  The total tonnage of the dead transport put a heavy load on their rescuers engines.  Thalo had found out from talking to her captain that she had been put back together from spare parts after the Esii had shown up and attacked.  Thalo was mad; no one would tell him what was going on.  Even the fact that Jeth had woken up and seemed to be suffering no worse than a bad headache could cool his temper.

So he waited at the head of the line of Kin, Nixa and Worlders for the ships to dock and to find out what had happened.  He tapped his foot impatiently as he heard the airlocks line up and connect.  He watched the red warning light and tried willing it to change to green.  After an eternity of waiting the light changed and the door began to cycle open.  A small hiss of air was the only sound as the two ships pressures equalized.  Thalo didn’t even wait for the door to open all the way.  As soon as he had room he wedged himself through the door and onto the Justice.  Thalo ran into Admiral Suns himself.

Thalo stopped and offered him a quick salute before blurting out his question.  “What the hell happened?  We weren’t gone that long.” 

Suns held up his hands and waited for Thalo to stop.  “It's good to see you too.”  He said.  “And we can discuss the situation here in private.  Now would you,” he pointed to Thalo and Jeth, “and the ladies please follow me?”

“And Gavreal.”  Thalo interjected, which got him a confused look from Suns.  “He is the leader of the Kin detachment.  What?  You didn’t think we were going to find them or something?”

“I bow to your determination and your wisdom.  Please all,” he bowed his head and extended his arm, “follow me.”  Suns turned and walked down the corridor leading the way.  It was only a few moments before they arrived at doorway that was under heavy guard.  The Admiral stopped and spoke briefly to the guards before continuing through the door and into the briefing room beyond.  As the six beings settled into their chairs around the table Suns opened his mouth to start but was interrupted by Gavreal.

“The guards are no longer necessary Admiral.”  Gavreal stated.

“And why is that?”  The Admiral responded.

“I am assuming that since the Esii have arrived you have had problems with seemingly loyal men attacking high ranking men for no reason?”  Gavreal asked Suns.

“Possibly.”  His response was deliberately evasive.

“Admiral, we are your allies we must trust each other.”  He responded

Suns looked at the winged being, the legend come to life.  The second legend come to life and sighed.  “I guess Thalo wouldn’t have brought you back if he didn’t trust you, so yes, there have been some problems with assassinations and sabotage.  How did you know?”

“Because during the last war we aided humans and their allies in blocking the penetrating thoughts of the Esii.  In deep space battles where ships are too far apart their mental powers are useless, but here, up close, they can worm their way into your minds and take them over.  It was for this that we served on your ships in the last great war.  At a distance we keep the Esii from invading the thoughts of those around us.  Up close we disrupt their feeding mechanisms.  If you spread my people out amongst your fleet we can protect you from those that have been taken over and find the Esii that are doing it.”

Suns stared at the Kin for a moment before slapping his hands down on the table and letting out a laugh of pure joy.  “Good goddamn boy, that’s the best news I have heard in a while.  After we are done here, I will dispatch transports to spread you around the fleet.  Thank you, thank you, very much.”  The Kin bowed his head towards the Admiral in acceptance of his praise.

“Damn it Suns, what the hell happened here.  I don’t want to have to ask again.”  Thalo let a small amount of the frustration he was feeling creep into his voice.

“I will get straight to the point.  The Admiral clasped his hands in front of him and lay his arms on the table.  He looked at each of them and then dropped the bomb.  “Minutes after you left on your mission to find the Kin, an Esii armada dropped in system as close as they could.  They got the jump on us.  No one thought they would ever come here in force, especially after you destroyed their biggest fleet and that Sun Eater ship.  To put it plainly, we were taken by surprise.  The only reason you came back to find them out there and us in here is because of these marvelous ships.  Two of them jumped out immediately to the other world and three stayed here and engaged the armada.  Worlder ships launched to help but they were overwhelmed.  The battle lasted six hours and it took a toll.  We haven’t lost any of Cole’s ships, though they took a pounding that first day.  But we lost half of the Worlder defense fleet.  Two more fleets got chewed up trying to run the blockade.  We finally coordinated with the last three fleets that were out of the system and had all five of the human ships launch an attack simultaneously and distracted the Esii enough to get the remainder of the Worlders fleets’ safe behind our lines.  I won’t lie to you, it’s bad but not as bad as it could be.  The Justice, Vengeance, and Revenge have stayed online here at your world, Thalo, while the Worlder 5th, 6th and 7th fleet have joined Payback and Reprisal protecting your homeworld Jeth.  The remains of Home Fleet are here with us.  They have the numbers but we have the weapons edge.  The human ships have a much greater range than theirs, and since they can’t jump into us to close the distance, we pick them off if they get too close.  We have destroyed more of their ships than they have of ours but it’s basically a stalemate.  We don’t have the numbers to attack and they can’t get close enough to finish us off.  Their jamming every com we send and destroying any hapless traders that fly too close.  Were stuck and barring a miracle, were going to be here a while.”  Suns watched the reactions of the small group as he told them the story.  He saw fierce determination steal over each of their faces.

“There is also no way we can abandon the Twin World System to rescue Cole.  I am sorry Sky.  We don’t have the ships.”  Suns felt genuinely bad having to tell her this but the fate of a whole star system was more important than even the last human in the galaxy.

“You’re leaving something out.”  Jeth rumbled from his seat.

“Astute.  Yes there is one final bit of news.  I don’t know what it means so I will just lay it out for you.  Hal has apparently gone crazy.  He fled his core module as if it was a prison, snuck onto a long range transport and managed to make it far enough to enter warped space.  He also left a message.”  Suns cleared his throat, “You fools, this was planned for.”

“That’s the message?”  Thalo asked.

“Yes, do any of you know what it means?”

“Not a clue.”  Thalo responded wearily.  The rest shook their heads no as well.  “So our backs are against the wall, we’re outnumbered, we can’t rescue Cole, and Hal went bonkers and deserted us.”  Thalo looked around the room.  “We’re fucked.”  

CHAPTER 24

Cole was silent as he watched the joyous reunion taking place in front of him.  Two groups that thought they had been alone on an alien world had been reunited.  Human males and females.  Though they didn’t know each other personally, they still embraced one another fiercely and cried.  Tears of joy and of sorrow as they learned they were the last of humanity.  Well, Cole thought to himself, “I thought I was the last, then the men and now the women.  Hell there may be more of us out there than we know.”

Cole stood there motionless for a few moments lost in the importance of this moment.  He felt a small hand slip into his own and looked down at Anastacia.

“I guess this means we don’t have to repopulate the species anymore.”  She flashed a smile at him and Cole let out a low chuckle.

“Guess not, and by the looks of things we are well on our way back.”  Cole nodded to the obvious state of all of the women in the room.  “We need to get off this rock before they start popping.”

Anastacia punched him in the shoulder, “Be a little more sympathetic will ya.”   Cole chuckled again.  He continued to watch as the tearful hugs and answered questions slowed down.  He felt another presence behind him.

“Cole,” Splits baritone rumbled from behind him, “we can’t stop here.”

“Right.  Collapse the tunnel we just came down while we push forward.  Capturing the next room is vital and we need to do it quickly.”  Cole turned strode back to the doorway they had just come through while Cole vaulted up onto the nearest cot.  From his new vantage point he could see the tops of everyone’s heads from one end of the room to the other. He took it all in before he spoke.  Cole activated his suits external speaker system and cranked up the output.  He whistled into the mic. The sound echoed out from his suit and caught the attention of everyone in the room.  Thousands of pairs of eyes turned to focus on him.

Cole cleared his throat and began.  “I don’t mean to be rude, but we are still in the middle of an ongoing battle.” At that point a low rumbling started, and the room shook for a few seconds.  “Also the fact that being underground has become a danger unto itself, we need to keep moving.  Don’t get me wrong, I am glad to have found all of you, hell just a few days ago I thought I was the last human in the galaxy.  But we can’t stop here.  I need my team in the suits to move out to the far side of this room and get ready to assault the next area. The rest of you, I need you to grab whatever you can carry and get ready to move out.  I don’t have time to explain everything so for now, know we have to keep moving.”  With that he hopped back onto the floor and turned just as Split detonated the charge that brought down the ceiling in the hallway.  Cole waved at West to follow him, turned and began to weave his way through the milling groups of men and women.

In a few moments Cole was formed up with Split, West, and the rest of their team.  “Helmets on.”  He ordered.  “Okay, same as the last time.  I open the door and go through first.  Me and Split go right.  West, take your team left.  Keep an eye on your position and where we are.  I don’t want to waste ammo or suit power on friendly fire.  This area will be crowded so search everywhere.  West pick one man to stay and hold the door.  No one comes through until I give the all clear.  Got me?”

Cole heard the affirmative from the man chosen to pull rear guard.  “Follow me.”  Cole slapped his hand on the doorplate and unlocked the mechanism.  The door shot up into the roof, and he charged through with Split hot on his heels.  Cole and Split broke right while the others went left.

“We are heading over to the only other entrance to this room.  We will shut it down while you sweep the area.  I want every isle, and nook and cranny checked.  Do life signs sweeps to make sure no one is hiding in these crates.”  The crates Cole was talking about were giant shipping containers.  Deep space shipping containers to be exact.  Cole had been counting on that fact when he had made his plan.  The Esii had no currency and refused to trade their own tech, so the only way they could operate outside of their system was bartering other goods.  They had only one way to get those goods.  They had turned pirate.  This room should be crammed with the cream of the booty crop.  This was the storage area for the Pyndingum.  Containers were stacked two and three high in places.  The room extended off into the darkness.  Cole had banked on something being in here to help them survive until his ships came to rescue them.  But first they had to clear this mess of a room and keep anyone from coming in.

He and Split raced down rows of containers to the only other entrance into the room.  Cole was panting heavily as they drew close.  They both slowed a few rows away from the door and Cole took a few to catch his breath.  They crept the final distance and stopped when they came to the end of the row.  Without asking if he was ready, Cole turned the final corner and raced to the closed door.

There was no one there.  The door was closed and tightly sealed.  “At the door.  No contacts.  About to seal it.”  Cole reported to his buddy leading the clearing teams.

“Same here, Nada. No one is home.”  West reported.  “What do you think is in all of these containers anyway?” he asked.

“Something that will keep us alive until we leave.  I hope.”  Cole responded just as Split was welding the door into its frame.  “Okay, well we’re done here.  Send someone over to keep an eye on the door.  We are going to look at the lift system.”

“Roger, sending a man to you now.  Have fun” West replied.

Cole snorted out a laugh and waited for the guard to show.  It wasn’t long before the man arrived and relieved the two who promptly headed out in the opposite direction from the door they had secured.  Shortly before arriving at the lift system, the containers fell away and were replaced by heavy equipment.  Giant trucks that had forklifts on them for moving containers were parked in a long row.  Across the aisle from them were the antigravity lifts that attached to the containers and lifted and lowered them into the room.

Here Split and Cole moved out separately.  Cole checked the lifts, Split checked the forks.  All the vehicles and lifts were fully charged and ready to go.  Cole stood at the end of the row and looked up into the narrow shaft that led to the surface of the planet.  It was just big enough for a container with a lift hooked up to it.  The shaft door would open automatically when a container tripped its motion sensor. 

“Hey boss, I think we are alone in here.  We haven’t found as much as a cockroach living down here.  If I’m reading this life signs monitor right, the only living thing down here is us.  We are going to keep it up but I doubt we will find anything.”  West’s voice crackled over the com.

“Keep it up,” Cole replied, “once it’s clear get everyone in here and get them opening these crates.  I’m sending Split back to help out.  I need to know what’s in each one and we need to get ready to start moving them.  I don’t know how long we have so double time it.”  Split was already moving back to the entrance and Cole was heading for a fork.  He climbed in the first one and fired it up.  Cole scanned the stacks of containers and picked the best candidate.  He drove over to the stack and positioned the truck as best he could.  He manipulated the controls until he had a firm hold of the container.  Slowly he lifted it off the stack of containers and backed it into the open.  Turning it slowly he trundled to the base of the shaft that led out.  He placed the container on the ground and backed the fork off.  He jumped out of the cab and activated the nearest antigravity lifts.  He locked them onto the container and pulled the control box out of its housing.  Cole jumped up and grabbed the top edge of the container and levered himself onto its roof.

“Here goes nothing.”  He whispered under his breath as he activated the lift.  It hummed to life as it was fed power.  Smoother than he would have thought possible the container lifted into the air.  The antigravity lift auto adjusted and fit perfectly into the shaft.  As the container approached the external door Cole had a moment of doubt with regards to the door actually opening for him but as he got closer, it opened and let the container soar up the last few feet and into the open air of the Esii homeworld.  Cole sucked in a breath as he saw it for the first time.

As far as the eye could see molten hot lava flowed to the surface of the planet.  Volcanoes spewed thick clouds of ash into the sky and ships by the hundreds could be seen fleeing for their lives.

“That’s right run you assholes.  I finished your whole species.”  The Esii needed the being that had inhabited the core of the planet.  They could feed off the life force of any living thing but without their prime source of energy they would slowly wither and die.  Cole watched for a long time as lava boiled to the surface.  He hiked around for a bit and let his suit’s mapping function get the lay of the plateau he was on.  It was almost a whole square mile of flat mesa table top.  Plenty of room, he hoped, for what he had planned.  As he watched, more lava flows punched their way to the surface.  It was coming closer to their location.  They didn’t have much time at all.  Running back to the container he had ridden up on Cole disengaged the lift and made it ready to send back down. In a few moments he was back below ground and talking to Split.

“We only have few hours, at most.  We need certain items were going to have to start popping containers and marking them somehow by order of importance.  We need everyone in on it.  It’s the only way we can go through all of this stuff and get it moved to the surface.”

“I understand, and am training them as fast as I can on opening the containers.”   Split replied.

“Good I’m on my way back.”  Cole began to sprint as he made his way back to the room full of anxious humans.  Running as fast as he could, he made good time back to the guarded door.  Split had a small group of men huddled around an open container and was showing them how to open the sealed door.  He slowed to a walk and retracted his helmet as he entered the door and walked into the gigantic room used to house the pregnant women.

Hopping up onto a cot once again he grabbed the attention of everyone in the room and began to lay out his plan.  Cole asked for everyone who was able, to help in the massive amount of work that lay ahead of them, but he didn’t want anyone to endanger themselves or their unborn children.  The men he gave no choice, work or leave.  All chose work.  He spent a few minutes organizing and delegating the responsibilities to those who wanted them and forced it upon others.  Nearly all the women came forward to help but some were physically unable and stayed behind resting on a cot while the rest split into teams and headed into the massive storage room.

Cole watched as the last of humanity filed through the door and began fighting to save what was left of the human race.  Cole joined them and walked through the door and over to where Split was hunkered down.

“This plan of yours, is it doable?”  Split asked as Cole approached.

“If we can find what we need down here.  Otherwise, no we are all dead.  It’s bad out there.  The air is toxic, the temperature is rising, and the Esii are fleeing with anything that can fly.  Unless Thalo shows up with the cavalry, we may not make it off this rock.”  Cole slapped him on the shoulder.  “Buck up, I can literally say I have been through worse and survived.”  Cole shot him a smile and headed off to join the ranks of men and women learning how to operate the alien tech.

~

The work at first was slow.  No one had any experience with the machines or the ability to distinguish what was valuable and what wasn’t.  Cole and Split working together went to the other end of the room and started to work their way back.  They had an easier time of it since they could more readily identify the contents of the containers.  All they were finding was high end junk.  Stuff that could have been sold for a fortune on the black-markets of the galaxy but was worthless to them.  Trade minerals, gem processors, data crystals.  Nothing essential to survival.  They stopped after an hour or so and headed back to the beginning point of the others search.  They ran into West along the way.  He was out of breath.

“Good….news…”  He started.

“Slow down bubba, catch your breath.”  Cole said

“Screw you.”  West forced out through clenched teeth.  “Like I was saying, good news.  Follow me.”  He turned and started to run back the way he had come.  Cole smiled and shook his head.  West hadn’t changed a bit.  He followed after the excited man and came to a stop by four open containers.

“I hope these are what I think they are.”  He said as he grabbed out something wrapped in shrink wrap.  He tore the plastic open with his teeth and shook out the contents.

“How many?”  Cole asked

“About three thousand in each container.  So twelve total.”  West said.

Cole grabbed the Second Skin and inspected it.  “It’s not combat grade but it is spacer grade so it will do nicely.  Water and solid waste recycling.  Movement powered and air filtration and scrubbing.  Also keeps the skin clean and protects from heat and cold.  You can live in one of these for a long time, this was a good find.  Start pulling teams in and get everyone suited up.  Have Anastacia show ten women how to put it on then they show ten and so on.  West you show the guys and I want it done orderly and fast.  Once these four containers are empty pull two teams off of search and have them start loading cots into these four.  We’re gonna want something to sleep on.”

West grinned a slightly lopsided grin and gave a half-assed salute before turning and yelling for his team leaders to spread the word.  All total, it took three hours to get everyone suited up but it was done in an orderly fashion and no real bottle necks developed and everyone kept working.  Finally almost twelve hours into their search, they found the two things they needed the most.  They were stacked on top of each other.