The Black Planet (24 page)

Chapter 51

The city ship slid into orbit round the Black Planet.  All of the commanders were gathered together watching the large screens in their briefing room.  The silence was oppressive as scene after scene slid by.  The supreme commander was furious and ground his teeth together. He knew there was no going back, their only hope was to reach the distant planet.

‘Has there been any sign of the Modloch fleet?’

His military commander answered, ‘no sir.  None of our probes have been able to get past the giant planet called Saturn.’

‘Send a thousand probes then.’

‘We may not need to sir.  We know there are many moons around that planet.  One has water.  We think they will have set up base out of sight of the human planet on one of those moons.’

He switched pictures and The Burning Wind leapt onto the screen, all its guns were blazing.  The Modloch fleet was tucked in tightly behind it.  The other cruisers and destroyers were all clearly Modloch.  Surprise had been total.  ‘The Modloch fleet doesn’t look too large, I firmly believe it was their surprise tactics that won the day so completely.’

‘We need to hunt them down and commit them to battle and destroy them,’ the supreme commander stated flatly.

The military commander reeled, ‘that would not be wise sir.  I firmly believe we would be better sticking together as a united force.’

‘Do you remember your history commander, I certainly do.  The last city ship that was destroyed was done so by a huge bombardment of rocks.  If I remember correctly the Burro race used the rocks from a planet very similar to Saturn and simply launched millions of them of all sizes at the city ship belonging to the Ouzo’s.  They attacked the city ship while it was undergoing this very intense bombardment with their small fleet.  It over whelmed the city ships shields and the rocks tore through and destroyed it.  Tell me commander, do you see any similarities to what we are facing here. ‘

The military commander’s head dropped, ‘yes sir.’

‘I am quite sure Gairloch has as well.  The emperor’s brother is a master tactician, I cannot think of any other military commander in the whole universe who could have pulled off such an audacious attack, can you?’

‘No sir I can’t, I find it hard to believe that he is still alive.’

‘Don’t you understand the full picture yet commander?’

‘No sir I don’t.’

‘It is obvious to our rulers and myself that the Modloch Emperor has been aware of Earth and what we have been doing for some time now.  They want to claim Earth and its solar system for their own.  They discovered our base and our research.  It could be they already have a serum.  Many of the first fleet were already immunised.  How many of our people did they capture?  We don’t know, we know nothing.   Our own emperor now believes that their last war was a lie.  There was no rebel force.  The battle reports were staged.  What they were in fact doing was building a secret fleet to invade this solar system and that is who we face now.  We believe that they slipped through the barrier a few weeks before we did and made a dash for this planet to set up this attack.’

‘I am forced to point out supreme commander that there was a human on board that ship and he claimed the force was human.’

‘They no doubt resuscitated some of the humans from our facility to aid them in this ruse.  Humans are completely incapable of space travel.  They still use liquid rockets, you know that.  Oh and before you point out that the weapons used in the initial stages of the attack were made from liquid fuel and the dirty nuclear energy the humans use, consider this.  The Modloch have been planning this for a very long time as well.  To prevent a conflict in our universe they need to make it look like the humans attacked us.  The Modloch Emperor has already declared his brother as dead.  Yet the exact details were kept secret, do you understand why commander?’

The commander’s head lifted, ‘because he isn’t dead supreme commander.  That also means that if we do kill his beloved brother there will be no political backlash.’

‘At last,’ the supreme commander sighed.  ‘I firmly believe we still have more numbers than the Modloch.  I need you to take the rest of the fleet and hunt them down.  You won’t need troops so leave them here.’

‘I still believe we would be better off staying together sir.’

‘Of course we would but I have millions of citizens in near panic.  Thousands are dying every week because of this damn sun.  Many of your men are dying too.  By the time we reach Saturn there won’t be enough of you left to fight and if the Modloch already have a serum then we will have lost.  I need you to smash the Modloch fleet and break through to Earth.  We need humans for serum and we need them quickly.  We have already began conversion of one of the hospital ships, it will leave us as soon as you destroy the Modloch fleet.  It will travel with the remaining troopships.  That will give you time to distribute the pathogen and bombard their major cities.  Take the fight to Gairloch, he won’t be expecting that.’

‘Yes sir.’

Chapter 52

Steven was shadowing the enemy fleet as they left the protection of the city ship.  Leaving Ico behind he raced ahead to join up with the unified Earths Defence Force fleet.  Admiral Baxter briefed his men after Steven had given him a brief.  With the order of battle set he found time to talk to Steven alone.

Steven sat down on a couch opposite the admiral, ‘we have been watching the footage of the films you sent us collected from the passive probes around the Black Planet.  It looks like they have been trying to salvage parts of ships.  Did you know that?’

‘No sir I haven’t had time to study the film footage, but it makes sense I suppose.’

‘We are thinking it may well give us a way in.’

‘How so sir?’

‘Trojan Horse scenario.  We drag some hulks into their path and hide your ship inside one part of it, or we let a few slip away and let them run.  Catch them well out of the reach of Saturn and engage them there.’

‘They may make a dash for Earth and Saturn is too close to home sir.  I prefer the first option.’

Baxter thought it over, ‘I don’t think they are coming for Earth.  That may well be their secondary objective.  Have you heard anything from our Modloch ambassador lately?’

Steven smiled, ‘no sir not for a while.’

‘It would seem that the Albany Emperor has taken a hairy fit at the Modloch Emperor, accusing him of planting a secret fleet in our solar system; led by his brother to try and steal it out from under their feet.  They now think the rebel war was a feint in order to syphon off enough ships to thwart the Albany.’

Steven sat forward sharply his mind beginning into race, ‘of course, all our ships are modelled on The Burning Wind and schematics of their destroyers.  So they think they are coming for a Modloch fleet.  What did the Modloch Emperor say to him?’

‘He denied it I believe.’

Steven thought it over for a moment, ‘there’s a good chance that will just affirm his belief.’

Baxter grinned, ‘I think so.  In fact according to our dear ambassador the last words of the Modloch Emperor to his counterpart was, “to the victor the spoils.”’

Steven laughed, ‘then they are coming for the fleet.  Knock out their opposition and make a dash for Earth.  There is no troop transporters with this fleet, just battle ships and destroyers.’

‘Exactly what I think and we are going to give that impression until the last second.  We want you to shadow the enemy fleet to make sure they don’t try and draw us into a feint or split up their forces in an attempt to outflank us.  Apart from that you are not to engage the enemy in anyway, or be seen.  We will need both your ships in the final battle and if the Albany have no idea of their existence the more chance we have of pulling it off.’

‘I understand sir.  Don’t worry, our ships couldn’t survive the onslaught from a destroyer let alone a battle cruiser.  Neither do we have the fire power to take them on.’

‘That’s good but I don’t want you anywhere near the battle zone.  A stray shot could result in you being exposed.’

‘With your permission sir we will return to the moon and stay there until the battle is over.’

‘Good idea, take a few days off if you can.  If they get through you have my permission to do what you have to, to defend the Earth.  Other than that, get some rest, you will have a big part to play in the final battle.’

They both stood and shook hands.

Chapter 53

The commander of the Albany battle fleet stood in front of the screens.  He wasn’t the most imaginative of leaders.  He was bright enough and obedient enough to have been given command of the Blue Veld.  He turned to the executive aid by his side.

‘Do you see it now Orlath, a classical Modloch battle fleet, right to the last ship?  You can stop bleating about your human ships and crews now.’

Orlath Cannies saw the evidence with his own eyes.  ‘I see it sir but as your human expert it is my duty to warn you once more that I believe these ships are crewed by humans and that you are walking into a trap.’

The commander shook his head, ‘you are a fool.  Despite all the evidence you still believe your own drivel.’

‘I am your resident expert on humans’ sir.  I have looked at all the evidence and came to my conclusions based on that.’

The commander sneered, ‘yes we all know just what kind of an expert you are Cannies.  You are dismissed.’

‘I wish for my objections to be recorded and sent to the supreme commander before battle commences sir.’

‘That is your right.’  The commander snarled with frustration and turned to one of his officers, ‘do it.’

It only took a few minutes, ‘that’s his objections recorded, sent and I have a conformation that they have received the message sir.’

The commander snapped back to Orlath, ‘get off my bridge.’

‘Thank you sir,’ he bowed and turned away.

They got back to the business of fighting a battle.  Orlath however never returned to his quarters, instead he wound his way to an aft escape pod and got in.  It reacted to his presence.  ‘Stand by,’ he ordered the pod and it answered with a couple of bleeps.  All he had to do now was wait.

Of course his disgrace was supposed to be kept a secret but it had to be the worst kept secret in the history of the Albany Race.  It had all began when he was a child.  His father had been posted to head up the human research facility on their planet.  He had been an only child and there were no other children on the secret base.  One birthday his father had brought him a pet.  A human girl child about the same age as himself.

At first she had screamed until his father had beat her.  At nights she sobbed in the corner on a blanket and was unresponsive.  After a few days though she began to become curious and seemed to be watching him.  He didn’t really know what to do with it at first.  She was violently sick when she tried to eat grass and it wasn’t until his father began feeding her the worm meal that he fed to the captives that she began to stop being sick and  take more notice of her surroundings.  It had taken only a few hours to house train her and even his father was impressed by that.

He remembered her first winter.  She had been lying on her blanket with her teeth chattering she was so cold.  He had called her up to the bed and she had slid under the warm covers.  They spent hours babbling away at one another in the way children do and the memory brought a smile to his face.  She was able to mimic his sounds quite quickly, but he had a lot of problems with hers.  Still it was fun and whittled away the hours.  He hated bathing but she loved it.  What he did enjoy doing was brushing the tangles out of her long blond hair.

Within a year she could understand most of what he was saying and could make herself understood to him.  His father ignored it and even became violent when she tried to communicate with him.  It was a lesson quickly learned and they hid her growing knowledge.  She could even read a little and memories of her own people faded fast.

His own people became used to the sight of him with his strange pet.  They would take long walks, run through the grass.  Swim in the rivers and climb the hills together.  She grew strong and fast, but he was always faster.  She was more nimble though and her dexterity far outstripped his.

The trouble began when they reached their teens and began to mature.  She began to bleed every month, which caused quite some consternation in the house hold but they soon got used to it.  She always seemed to be in pain at that time and would shy away from him.  Her body also changed and he admired her growing breasts.  He thought they were a work of art compared to the females of his own race.  A few weeks after his fifteenth birthday he experienced his first rut.  A mate would be chosen for him when he reached the age of twenty.  Until then it was up to him to get control of his desires and emotions. 

That first rut wasn’t too bad and he coped with it well.  Between the first and the second six months later his body underwent a drastic change.  At night she would rub his new muscle and croon in his ear.  The second rut took him completely by surprise.  He could not believe the agony.  He had no idea how it happened.  When she had came to her monthly bleed, the smell of her blood had been too much for him to bear.  He had taken her.  Her reaction had shocked him.  She screamed every time he came near and he knew he had hurt her.  A thousand apologies and every titbit that she liked eventually calmed her down, but it was two months before she crawled back into his bed.

When his next rut came he banished her to her blanket on the floor as he dealt with the agonies.  She would lie and watch him, eyes wide with fear.  She knew now what was happening.  Over the period of the first week she lay there and watched him.  On the second she climbed back into his bed.  The look in her eyes was different.  There was still fear yes, but there was more.  Her soft words calmed him a little.  She still cried out when he took her but he was far gentler this time.  By the time the rut was over she could even open her eyes.

His biggest surprise came a few short months later when she reached for him one night under the covers.  The biggest shock was when his body responded.  They became eager lovers and a voyage of discovery began.  The ruts began to pass without him even noticing.  It just made their love all the more intense and enjoyable. 

Home schooled from necessity, he easily passed the entrance exams for university and at eighteen years left home for the first time.  His father promised he wouldn’t remove his pet and he returned home every other weekend.  He had majored in political science and his life was good.  It all began to change during his summer holidays.  By the time he returned to university she was being violently sick day and night.  His father had promised to take her to the vet at the institute.  It was the last time he would ever see her.  A few weeks later his father informed him that she had died of a mysterious illness.  He was devastated and almost flunked his exams.  He rallied enough to pass, but it was a very low pass.

The dynamics at home changed as well.  His parents had become very standoffish.  His mother was also acting strangely.  Every time he returned home it was to find brand new sheets on his new bed.  His old one had disappeared without explanation.  His father took him to work at the facility.  A graduate of political science became a zoo keeper.  His job to clean out the cages of the animals.  His work mates sneered at him and he found himself very much alone.

His mother and father chose a mate for him from well below their social standing.  The first rut went well enough and they mated for the full fortnight.  A few weeks later he was ready to begin mating again. His new wife was shocked and complained.  Over the months his attempts to change her views resulted in her becoming repulsed by his very presence.  When the second rut came she refused him.  His frustration turned to rage and he beat her.  The divorce was swift.  A rarity amongst their race, and also a source of great distress and disgrace to his parents.  He began to become withdrawn.

A small room was found for him at the facility and he began to spend more time there.  Over the months he began to learn about the humans and their purpose.  Rumour told of a new solar system, a deadly one that these creatures came from.  Wealthy beyond belief and a planet inhabited by lowly meat eaters.  For generations they had been trying to devise some kind of serum from these captives and despite generations of research it was only recently that they had had a major breakthrough.

When the serum was perfected the truth slowly became known.  It was a callous worker that informed him of the scandal.  Of a child who had a human as a pet and had mated with her.  The results had been a child, a genetic bridge between the two races.  Of course everyone knew there had only ever been one child with a human pet.

He had marched straight up to his father’s office.  He remembered the cold eyes of his father as he confronted him.  He had sat quietly for a few minutes before answering.

‘Son I love you yet I loath you.  You have brought nothing but shame on our family.  Yet with that shame you have also gave us fame and wealth.  Because of your perversions we were able to build a bridge between the human DNA and ours.  You’re right, she didn’t die of a mysterious illness.  We killed her and the child.  Not that it would have been born anyway.  Six months we were able to keep it alive.  In that six months it gestated enough to provide that solid link between our two races.  We were able to produce an enzyme that when given to a human will bond to their DNA.  When harvested they can produce serum for thousands of our people.  A serum that will enable us to survive in their solar system.’ 

His father got up and walked to a cabinet behind Orlath.  ‘Did you know that your mother burns the sheets you sleep in after you stay?’  His father sighed.  There was a click and then Orlath felt a sting on the back of his neck.  ‘A final gift from your son.  The last of the serum made from him and his mother.’

Orlath bellowed with rage and grief.  For the first and last time in his life his father struck him.  ‘Behave!’  He shouted Orlath down.  ‘The serum will make you violently sick for a few days.  Within a few weeks you muscle density should begin to change.  You will no doubt put on a lot of weight.  Relax.  I have just guaranteed you a job for life.  You will be going with the invasion fleet when it finally leaves.  Maybe once you reach Earth you can find a purpose in life.’

His father sat down again and Orlath shook himself out of it.  ‘Of course once across the great barrier I can never return.  You will finally be rid of me.’

‘And the ongoing embarrassment you have caused our family.  Maybe once you are gone we can remember the times when we felt you were our son.  Go back to your animals.’

That was the last time he had spoken directly to his father.  Ten years later he still hadn’t seen his mother, nor had she ever got in touch with him.  Rumour was they had another child, a daughter.  His father had been wrong, Orlath had never become sick.  His change had been rapid.  Within a few months he didn’t need the protective clothing when working with the humans.  They became wary of his great strength, yet as time passed they became comfortable around him.  He changed their lives.  He quickly learned rudimentary communication.  He fixed problems within the human community.  His biggest success was recognising which humans wished to be with each other.  He brought in fruits that his human mate had enjoyed and their health improved.  As their health improved then so did the birth rate soar.  His methods were so effective he travelled to other facility’s and sorted out problems they had.  Yet no matter what he did his shame followed him like a dark cloud.

Now he was in a life pod waiting.  Mesmerised by a blinking amber coloured light before him.  He had done his duty.  He had seen the recording of the human captain.  The one they all said was a Modloch plant, a trick.  What none had done was to filter out the captain’s voice and listen to those voices in the back ground.  He was able to isolate a dozen voices and listen to them.  They were human voices and he recognised many of the words, he could actually speak some of them.  He had never pointed that out to his commander though.  In fact he had been remiss on that part.  He had objected just enough to do his duty, to be seen to be doing his duty.  His parents couldn’t fault him for that.  Albany history would show that he had at least tried to warn his own people.  He also knew why he hadn’t brought his full findings forward. 

Half a dozen men had held him down as his father had forced him to watch the processing of the humans.  They had all been forced to bathe in a solution that had left them hairless and burned.  Then they had been dragged ten at a time and thrown into a machine that was nothing more than a big blender.  He would never forget the screams or the looks on their faces.  With no companionship other than these people for ten years he had come to regard many as friends.  Now he had nothing.

The ship lurched hard enough to shake him out of his reverie.  He was shaken about inside the capsule as again and again the ship was struck by powerful weapons.  It didn’t take long for the amber lights to turn red and warning claxons to blare.  He reached for the release button.  Her name had been Barbra but he could never pronounce the r.  ‘Babaa,’ he whispered as he pressed the release button and was shot out of the dying battle cruiser in to hell itself.