“You are human yes? By your physical appearance I take it you’re no more than sixteen earth years?” Aren wanted to know why a human child was the only individual that they were being presented with.
Kiyan smiled at the question. He could sense how worried Aren was. “I am Kiyan, a nearly thirteen earth year old human.”
Stunned at the new information Aren could hardly ask his next question. “Why are you here then?”
“As the commander of the vessel that discovered your planet and as one of the three that agreed to your terms for the rescue operation I am obliged to be present. I am glad to tell you that Savos, Fred and Addy are expected to be fine. I met several rebel groups with my team while on the planet but nothing we couldn't handle.” Kiyan watched Aren's expression as the information sunk in.
Aren was finding the foundation for everything he knew about humans crumbling. A thirteen year old, commander of a battle cruiser, destroyed a formation of drakken ships and talked about walking around rebel caves like it was nothing. He looked at Kiyan with new respect. He was about to apologize when the three new arrivals beamed in. Looking at the first two who appeared to be older humans and the third. Aren was speechless when he recognized a thoran wearing the protectorate uniform.
Greetings brother earth people. “I am Draxos of clan Zorrel.”
“Impossible, clan Zorrel was lost when their colony ship was destroyed by the rebels.” Aren lost what little composure he had remaining.
“Those of us that survived the attack on the home world left on a colony ship. These ascended”, as Draxos pointed to Theo and Kendra, “Saved us and took us to their world to live in peace.” Draxos took a seat before continuing. “Shall we discuss the alliance terms? As there are members of the thoran race in the protectorate we are inclined to grant your request for protection but we need to find out why we should help you instead of the rebels. We don't agree with the rebels but you need to make a case for yourself in any case.”
Tapping his wrist then looking distant for a moment Theo joined the discussion. “Our scans of the timeline here would indicate that the rebels have drakken involvement. I was able to find that the rebel leader might be a drakken plant. If we grant your request for protection from the drakken then we would be bound to help you with the rebels. Is there anything we should know? Fred found that the rebels were not very hospitable but then again your people weren't either.”
Aren began to collect himself. All the revelations of the last few hours had rattled him yet he had not reached his limits. Recognizing that he was in a precarious position diplomatically he decided to take a leap of faith. “Fifteen years ago the rebels started the war with an attack on our central city. The supports of the cavern were bombed and the resulting collapse killed millions of people. The outrage that followed didn't stop people from joining them. The rebels that we captured showed signs of brainwashing and a fanatic desire to protect the cause as it is known. Our planet is being strangled by the war. Our defenses have been sabotaged and we have been forced to defend our populated centers without being able to make any offensives.”
We appreciate the gravity of your situation. “Before we proceed we need to know why you attacked my son instead of using a more "diplomatic" solution at that point.” Kendra made a pointed query that made Aren squirm.
“We had been detecting subspace communications into space from the rebels. We feared that they had been communicating with you. I apologize for the misunderstanding.” Aren tried to explain, Kendra scanned his emotions and found he was telling the truth. “I know that you have no reason to believe me.”
“Aren, we are not having trouble believing you. From what we know, we are offering orbital protection and if you lower your interference field we can assist in your battle with the rebels.” Draxos made an offer.
Aren thought for a moment before answering. “The interference field has protected us for the last six years. Without it the rebels will be able to send subspace communications unrestricted. They will be able to make scans and track our people. We might be able to do the same but we have been running a defensive for over three years. It is our last line of defense.”
Theo responded next. “Clearly you underestimate how advanced Assurian technology is. The four ships in orbit of your planet are each fully integrated with AI so we should be able to render their computer systems inoperative. There will be at least one protectorate ship in orbit maintaining complete scans. You will have a better idea of what the rebels are doing then they will. I am not sure I need to remind you that my son with three crew members engaged several rebel detachments in combat and as you can see is unscathed.” Glancing at Kiyan, Draxos and Kendra he continued. “The reason we are offering this much support to your cause is that the thoran rebel we captured on the surface wasn't even thoran.”
Aren wasn't sure what Theo meant. “What do you mean "not thoran"? We haven't had any reports of alien fighters before your arrival.”
“While we were searching for our crew member we met and were attacked by a dozen rebels. We rendered them unconscious and were about to move on when we noticed that two of them were identical.” Kendra paused for a moment
“It isn't uncommon for our race to have twins, two children born at the same time looking nearly identical.” Aren offered
“Most races have twins but these were not twins. They were clones. Complete cellular replicas of each other. The only race that has and uses technology like that are the drakken. This would explain why they were so fanatical in their devotion to the cause.” Draxos offer this final piece of information.
Chapter Ten: Allies
Savos became aware of his surrounding slowly. The events leading up to the where he had to be were muddled but only led to one conclusion. He had expected to be killed after he, Fred and Addy had been discovered in their hiding place. The rebels were not known for leaving survivors. Opening his eyes, it took a minute to adjust for the bright light in the room. Finally able to see he sat up slowly and glanced around seeing a room with beds and shining white surfaces. He felt better when saw Fred watching him. At least one friendly face in the strange surroundings.
“You were sleeping for two days.” Fred informed Savos.
Standing up Savos found that he didn't have a single injury after a quick inventory. The fight had been heated right before he had taken his involuntary hibernation. “Where are we?”
“We are on the Avenger, Kiyan's ship, he is the one that found us. He was cloaked so I didn't recognize him.” Fred sounded annoyed at the misunderstanding.
“One person did all that?” Savos shook his head trying to clear the cobwebs. Hearing the sound of a door sliding open he looked up in time to see a young human enter the room escorted by an older person with dark scales faintly visible.
“Savos, it is good that you are awake. We had to keep you sedated until your injury had healed. By the way, my name is Kiyan. Welcome aboard the Avenger.”
Savos took a minute to understand what he heard. “You were the one that attacked us? Single handedly?”
“I'm sorry for hurting you but I didn't recognize that you were a friendly. You introduced yourself with a left hook. Also Ray, Alec and Corban were there so it wasn't single handed.” Kiyan felt bad for having hurt Savos after all he had done for Fred.
“I don't know much about humans but from what I can tell there is no need for them to be a protected race. You seem to be able to take care of yourselves.” Savos looked uncomfortable.
“Long story, most of us are not so, shall we say, capable. Only a few humans were taken to the refuge. Those that were taken there got stronger. Anyway the reason that I am here is I wanted to ask you a question.” Kiyan surprised Savos even more. “The terms of our alliance with your people dictate that a member of each of our respective organizations stand as a representative. Draxos has volunteered to represent the protectorate interests. We stipulated that we get to choose who will represent your people. We chose you with Fred'
s recommendation.”
Savos rubbed his head. There was a lot of information to process. “So this is a protectorate ship? I'm on a ship in orbit of my planet and you want me to be a representative of my people. Why me?”
“I hope you don't mind but one of us is a telepath. He scanned all the people that the diplomats presented and found that they all seemed to have ulterior motives. You however only want to serve your people in the best way possible. Take your time before you decide, this is a big decision.” Kiyan smiled then turned to leave.
“Wait please, what would you want me to do if I say yes?” Savos light headed. The shock of events was catching up.
“It is primarily a figurative diplomatic situation. You would be a member of the crew on any protectorate ship that you want. After training you would be offered an officer's position.” Kiyan explained.
“My people, they are losing the war with the rebels.” Savos looked like his legs were about to collapse.
“Don't worry, we have agreed to protect your people from all space borne threats. We found that the drakken were behind the rebels so the plans for planet side involvement are in the works. The drakken are our enemies. You need more rest, we can talk later. Kiyan left a shaken Savos wondering what had happened.
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Tessa had scanned a rebel that she had incapacitated. Using the scan she altered her physical form and holographic parameters to match. Leaving the side cave she deactivated her stealth system and joined a group of rebels as they moved past. Taking passive scans as she moved she gathered what information she could. The caves had mostly sedentary alarm systems so Tessa wasn’t very worried about detection.
Things were going as planned until the thoran beside Tessa became enamored with the Thoran that she had created her disguise from. Fortunately one of the protectorate ships in orbit had been able to build a language database so Tessa wasn’t having difficulty understanding what the thoran meant. Tessa decided to deal with the annoying Thoran before his advances compromised her holograms. When the man tried draping an arm over her shoulders, Tessa seized his hand and spun. There was a satisfying crunch and the thoran was flipped over backwards by the force of the attack. Tessa brushed herself off as the other thorans in the group looked between her and their moaning college.
“What is the color of the sky?” Tessa didn’t need her telepathic relays to detect the suspicion that was in the challenging thoran’s tone. This was obviously not a simple question about the weather.
“Blue?”
“Spy! Kill her.” Tessa rolled her eyes at the order. Fortunately this altercation had taken place in a rather private location.
“You shot first.” Tessa weathered the storm of weapon fire only as long as it took to activate her weapon systems. Using her integrated blasters there was soon none left to raise the alarm. Hoping that the incident hadn't made her job more difficult she moved on. Soon entering the main quarters she slipped past the security guards and made her way towards the command center.
The command center was heavily guarded at its position in the center of the cavern. Guards were posted at every entrance. Tessa contemplated storming the front door and fighting her way to the mainframe. The idea was discarded as Tessa considered the amount of energy she had left. The squad in the caves had been trying.
Finding a balcony on one of the upper floors Tessa noticed that a guard was standing just outside the door. Activating her stealth module Tessa made her way to the wall below the balcony. She levitated up the three floors quickly. The guard only noticed the intruder standing in front of him an instant before he was lying unconscious on the floor. Taking the guard's security card Tessa soon found herself inside.
The computer mainframe was five stories down. Tessa worked her way onward without much difficulty. The security inside the building was refreshingly lacking. One more story to go and Tessa walked through a door and stopped short. Stretching out in front of her were long rows of pods. Looking closer she thought that these might be the cloning machine. Wiping the condensation from the glass she found herself staring into the face of a sleeping drakken. Kendra noticed the distinct similarities the thorans she had met and the drakken clone in front of her. They must be a hybrid of some sort. The discovery did not bode well.
Deciding to try the mainframe for more information Tessa looked for a route down. Dispatching the guards stationed by the mainframe she found a data port. Tessa was soon in her natural element. The firewalls were impressive but she was one of the latest generation AIs so they were more of an annoyance. They were defective on the basic levels and utilized a predictable algorithm. Doing a quick scan of the data files she found plans for the construction of a central cloning facility based off those of drakkos prime. The drakken were planning on setting up cloning sites throughout the galaxy. There was nothing more that could be gathered from this mainframe. It seemed that the data files were physically separated by keeping them in different bases. Finding that the other bases computers were linked with a basic com link, Tessa managed to exploit it and upgrade it to a data link. With the new data link, Tessa was able to spread her viruses unimpeded.
Unfortunately by Tessa's calculations there were more than a couple thousand automated cloning pods in cooperation and more being built. The gestation cycle of a drakken clone was less than five days. If that many drakken invaded the remaining free thoran cities the protectorate would not be able to fend off the unending flow of clones. They could easily track down and destroy each cloning site on the planet but by then there would be no more thorans remaining on the planet. The battles could all be won but the war would be lost.
There was only one thing that could be done. Rewriting the code of the connected mainframes took a few minutes and soon they all had viruses sabotaging rebel activity and routinely reporting intel to a protectorate satellite in orbit. Now it was possible to alter the cloning parameters. Not enough to shut them down but to cause the hybrid clones to become a failure. If one of the steps was to malfunction the alien antibodies would destroy each other. By the time the mistake was uncovered, it would be too late. Disconnecting from the computer Tessa turned at the sound of footsteps.
“Filthy dirt woman.” The drakken sneered as it approached. “Your pathetic resistance will soon be crushed by our superior soldiers.” Seeing Tessa prepare to defend herself, he laughed harshly. “I could snap your under developed spine with one hand.” The drakken lunged forward to act on his threat and found empty air when he clawed at Tessa. Using his momentum against him she gave him a shove as he passed. Losing his balance the drakken fell flat on his face. Brushing himself off the drakken uttered a few more insults.
Tessa knew that there would be more guards coming soon. If her work was uncovered it could undo every advantage that her work had gained. It was time to end the drakken. Tessa charged at the surprised drakken. Meeting her charge head on the drakken was thrown backwards like a rag doll. A computer console abruptly ended his ungraceful flight. The drakken climbed to his feet and uttered a blood curdling screech. This time Tessa seized him by the scruff of his neck and hurdled the drakken against the far wall. There was no movement from the broken mass.
“Then it is a good thing I don't have a spine.” Hearing the heavy footsteps of approaching reinforcements Tessa sighed. “I liked this chassis, too bad but hey it will go out with a bang.” The self-destruct countdown started and Tessa waited until she was sure it couldn't be stopped before disconnecting her data link from the android. Activating the scanners of the Athena Tessa watched as a portion of the planet surface spewed dust before collapsing leaving a crater. The traces of what she had done were now an atomized dust. The virus was propagated and some of the data centers were already uploading. Tessa informed Kendra of her success and began analyzing the data retrieved.
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Aren started at the tremors that made his table quiver. Without the interference field he felt exposed. The rebels could be hatching all sorts of plans. The
protectorate claimed that they were doing anything about it was not convincing. He felt that the protectors wanted something from his planet. Soldiers, workers, slaves or resources, the dismal list of possible exploitations was endless. They had practically forced him to sign the treaty. No race as powerful as the protectors would ever offer to protect a single world from attack and help them quell a rebellion without demanding something in return. He had recommended several of his staff as liaisons yet they had turned every one down finally telling him that they would choose one. He had never felt so powerless in a negotiation before. The fact that he had nothing to hold as a bargaining chip was even more depressing. Saying no could doom his people and saying yes could condemn his people to a different fate. Aren's assistant interrupted his eternal brooding with a request for a meeting from Draxos. A "request" he thought to himself. There really is no need for being polite when you hold a blaster to someone's head.
“I'm glad you could make it.” Draxos started the meeting as soon as Aren arrived. “We made our selection of the liaison and we hope that you will be happy with our choice. Savos of the thoran defense force meets our requirements.” Aren had to swallow his words of protest as Draxos continued. “We just received Intel that the drakken do indeed have cloning facilities on New Thoros and that they have begun cloning drakken troops. Our operative was able to destroy one of these primary facilities and you may have felt the explosion a few minutes ago. We believe that there are other cloning facilities and that the drakken will be making an attempt to break your defenses soon. We recommend that you withdraw troops into your cities and fortify yourselves. Prepare for a siege until we can eliminate cloning facilities. We will provide as much support as we can until this is settled.