Resurrection (The Inherited War) (8 page)

             
They had forced the Esii forces back and almost had them bottled up in their home system.  For a brief moment, Jarrod had hoped that he wouldn’t even need his well laid plan for the rebirth of his people.  Then two things happened that sent his forces reeling.  The Sun Eater had made its first appearance and the Esii mental powers increased exponentially.

             
Jarrod was convinced that they were receiving outside help from somewhere.  Where, he didn’t know, but the technological advancements that the Esii had made in the last few months were beyond their previous capabilities.

             
So, he found himself on the way to the last beings he wanted to get involved in this war, The Kin.  Such a beautiful people shouldn’t be subjected to the horrors of war.  But this is what they had been built to do, and do they must.  Without their help he feared for the completion of his plans and the survival of his race.  This would be one of his final moves in this galactic game of survival.

~

              The rented shuttle landed smoothly in the Justice’s docking bay.  Sky and Thalo exited first and waited for Jeth to bring out Hal.  Jeth carried his core out and placed it on a grav sled.

             
“Where do you need us to take Hal?”  Sky asked the AI that inhabited the Justice.

             
“Take his core to the forward maintenance bay, I will control the repair drones from there.  I have been in constant contact with the AIs back home and am confident that I can finish bringing Hal back online.”  Came the response from the ships com system.

             
Sky looked at Thalo.  “Please take care of Hal for me Thalo, I need to refresh myself.”

             
“Already on it, Doctor,” he said with a grin.

             
Thalo took control of the grav sled and Jeth moved out to the bridge.  Sky went to the nearest lift and wearily hit the button for the deck that her quarters were on.  She let out a deep sigh and triggered the ships com.  “Jeth, where are my quarters?”  She asked.

             
“Fleet commanders quarters are on the command deck level, the door marked FC.”  Jeth voice managed to rumble even over the com system.

             
“Thanks.”  Sky hit the key for the command deck and waited for the lift to arrive.  The lift stopped on the proper deck and she got out and started to walk down the hall toward her cabin.

             
“Commander Sky, please report to the bridge.”  An unknown voice sounded over the com system.

             
Sky let out an exasperated groan, and changed directions heading back down the hallway towards the bridge.  Within moments, she was on the bridge and seated in a command chair.  She placed her hand over the connecting plates built into the chairs armrest and found herself one with the ship.  To the casual observer the bridge of one of the human ships looks like a white room filled with chairs.  In those chairs beings sit unmoving, talking or apparently not doing much of anything.  To someone who knows how these ships actually operate, they know that the real running of the ship takes place on a virtual bridge and all of the ships functions are controlled by the minds connected to it.

             
There were two ways to set up a virtual bridge.  The first, the way Cole did it, was to take the perspective of actually being the ship.  Where the ships sensors could see, you could see.  Any information being provided by the crew was background noise that could be fed into the commanders senses.  Sensors and targeting used the visual cortex; damage control was sent to the nervous system and was felt as slight pressure all the way to mild pain depending on the damage.  Only someone supremely confident in their ability could control a ship in this manner.

             
The second was the way Jeth preferred it.  He actually created a virtual bridge.  It was a room full of computer consoles, screens and readouts.  Each of the Worlders attached to the ship via the bridge chairs was represented by an avatar of the real bodies.  Jeth ran the ship like any other captain would, relying on his people to watch their sections and relay the information to him where he would make a decision and give an order.  Even though this was the slower of the two ways it was still faster than an actual bridge that relied on its crew’s reactions.  The biggest advantage this virtual system had over the more traditional bridge setup was speed, mainly the speed of thought which is the speed of light.  Even though it appears to those beings on the virtual bridge like time is running normal it is actually running as fast as their thoughts.  Since they didn’t have bodies to move or words to form, the information moves at incredible speeds.  Captains on these ships can make decisions with all the pertinent information in milliseconds where even a highly trained crew could take minutes to relay and act on information.

             
Sky found herself on Jeth’s virtual bridge and was looking for the reason why she had been summoned.  She found it right away.  “What is that,” she asked?

             
“We picked it up as it left the planet.  Our telemetry suggests that it’s a LUX Mark 1-01.”  That came from one of the sensor techs.  “That is one hell of an expensive yacht and its course will intercept us in about two minutes.  Wait.  Her captain is hailing us.”

             
“Let’s see what she wants.  Put it on the screen.”  Jeth ordered his com chief. 

             
The big forward screen flickered as the chief engaged the external com system.  Then, in a flash and bigger than life, Sky’s sister was on the big screen.  Sky’s mouth dropped open.  She was speechless; her little sister was rapidly approaching her fleet in one of the most expensive private space craft available to the public.

             
“Sky’s Revenge calling the Justice, come in, over.”  Her sister was repeating the call over and over.

             
“Snow, what are you doing in that ship and where did you get it?  Never mind, turn around and go home.  This doesn't involve you.”  Sky snapped at her little sister.

             
“Negative, request permission to approach and dock.”  Her sister responded, completely ignoring Sky’s order.

             
Sky growled an inarticulate curse under her breath and looked at Jeth.  “”Fine, send her to the captain’s hangar and escort her to my room.”  Sky looked back to her sister.  “There better be a damn good reason for you being out here.”  She didn’t give her sister a chance to respond before Sky severed her connection to the ship and left the bridge.

             
She headed back down the hallway to her room.  Sky figured she had a few moments before her sister arrived and she was going to put them to good use.  She entered her cabin and was impressed.  It was good to be the Fleet Commander.  It was a spacious room with an attached office for official business.  She had her own bathroom with a full shower and bath.  She had a smaller room off of the main room that held a large bed and a closet.  The main room had the kitchen unit and a large couch and a couple of chairs. 

             
Sky decided not to let her sister ruin her chance to get cleaned up so she left a message to whoever brought Snow to her room to put her in the office and tell her to wait until Sky was ready to see her.  Sky went to the shower and deactivated her Second Skin.  It pooled at her feet, and as she turned on the water it began its self-clean cycle.  Sky spent a few moments luxuriating in the high pressure heat of the shower.  She let it pound her muscles into submission and ease the tension from her shoulders.  After finishing her shower, she dried off and reactivated her now clean Second Skin.  Feeling slightly better about herself, she left bedroom and went to the food unit.  She got a light snack and sat on the couch to eat and compose herself.

             
She felt the energy from the food beginning to revitalize her as she ate.  She finished it all and cleaned up the mess.  Sky took a deep breath and promised herself to not get too angry at her sister.  After all she had been gone for so long already and had only just returned.  Now she was leaving again, and she didn’t even know for how long.  She opened the door to her office.

             
Pacing the floor was her sister.  Her name was Snow and she was the most beautiful creature in the galaxy, according to the Nixa that is.  Sky was considered beautiful in most circles, until her sister showed up.  Snow was the result of genetic mixing that took place thousands of years ago.  Back when the Nixa had been evolving not all the species of felines on their world had adapted to the change.  One such species was the great snow cats of the north.  They never fully evolved into sentient beings and as a result died out rather suddenly.  Very few of their genetic traits survived to modern day.  One trait that did survive was their coloring and there was never more than one or two Nixa alive at a time with it.

             
Sky was darkly beautiful.  She had honey golden skin and dark thick tresses.  Her eyes were dark brown and would have been described by Cole as Mediterranean looking.  Snow, on the other hand, would have been at home in any of the northern European countries.

             
Her skin was milky white and vibrant with life.  Her hair was a golden blonde that you had to have naturally, no dye could even come close.  Her eyes were the color of the bright blue sky, and where Sky would have been called dark and mysterious, Snow would be called statuesque and angelic. They didn’t know which parent carried the recessive gene but it was highly sought after by many wealth Nixa families.  The trait was so rare that it was coveted as the most sought after genetic material in the galaxy.  Anyone who had a child with the gene could ask any price for a dowry if it was a daughter, or a sample if it was a son.  Everyone Sky knew was jealous of her family and of Snow, at the moment Sky was just irritated.

             
“Please stop pacing and have a seat.”  Sky pointed to one of the chairs on the opposite side of her desk.  Sky moved behind the desk and sat in her chair while her sister found her seat.  “Now, why are you here and where did you steal that ship?  I want the truth or I will send you back home with a Worlder escort.”  She crossed her arms and waited for an answer.

             
“First of all, I am a grown woman.  Second, I came here to say something I am not leaving until I do.”  Snow crossed her own arms and stared right back at her sister.  They locked eyes for a few moments before Sky relented.

“Fine, say what you came to say.”

              Snow paused for a moment; she clearly hadn’t been expecting her sister to give in so rapidly.  “Okay, umm, well I came here to join you.  You need someone you know you can trust to watch your back and I have seen how you talk about Cole.  I know you love him deeply and I want to help you get him back.  I am not the little girl you left behind all those years ago to pursue medicine.  I have grown up since we thought you were killed.  Losing your sister has that effect on you.”

             
“Of all the irresponsible ideas, this isn’t a game Snow.  I am gearing up to go to war with the Esii and probably the Roche.  There is no guarantee that we will live through this.  Besides, I have had to cut ties with Mom and Dad to protect them from any negative fallout my actions might bring.  I couldn’t ask that of you.  UI couldn’t stand knowing that my actions hurt you in any way.”  Sky got up and moved around to take the seat next to her sister.  She reached out and took her hand.  “I missed you, probably almost as much as you mourned me, and I couldn’t bear to lose you again.  You are too important to Mom and Dad to risk yourself for me.”

             
“No, I am grown and I make my own decisions.  I have since the day we heard your ship was destroyed.  I am not some pretty, fragile thing that shouldn’t be touched for fear of breaking.  I don’t give a damn if I am some freak of nature that all the other wealthy families want for their own.  You don’t know Sky.   You were grown when I was little, I looked up to you and wanted to be you.  I hated my blonde hair or that I got burned in the sun.  I hated the way the other parents looked at me, I felt like I was on display at some store.  When you died I had my chance.  I didn’t let dad put me in any more of his campaign holos or date any of the boys that came around.  I used your death as an excuse to live my own life.”  Snow had a fierce and determined look in her eye as she spoke.  “They brought the wreckage of your ship home one day.  Mom and Dad couldn’t bear to look at it.  I went through it with a fine tooth comb.  I found your work, well a copy of it.”

             
Sky leaned forward.  “What do you mean?”

             
Snow’s cheeks reddened a bit with embarrassment.  “I found the backup file of your completed work with genetic manipulation using viruses and bacteria.  I held onto it for months and didn’t give it a thought.  Until the day I decided to find the bastards who killed you.”

             
“What did you do Snow?”  Sky was leery of the answer she had a feeling her sister was about to give her.

             
“I sold it.  Well, I leased it to MedCorp.  I got a lump sum payment and a piece of the back end from every procedure they used it on.  It’s called Skyscure.  Suddenly I had billions of dollars at my fingertips.  I used it to prepare myself to begin my search.  I spent a year training with a retired detective and a martial arts instructor.  I learned about weapons and tactics, and how to fly, maintain, and repair spaceships.  It took me two years to feel like I was ready to begin.  I bought this ship and hired a small crew and started my search.  I have been to Pitt and any number of shady planets looking for information on your attack.  I have been in gun fights, fist fights, and after I got the yacht upgraded we were even in one space fight with some pirates we ran into.  Mom and Dad knew about my choice and they supported me in it as they will support me now.”  She looked confident to Sky.   In fact, Sky was seeing her in a whole new light.  There wasn’t a scared little girl sitting in front of her begging to tag along with her big sister, there was a beautiful, confident young woman looking her in the eye and demanding to be accepted by her sister as an equal.