Admiral Olander couldn't believe his ears. They'd created the FRF with the aim of bringing the three civilizations in the galaxy together. But now, both the admiral and the general sitting opposite to him at the Admiralty Chamber's large mahogany table, with the black diamond set into the center, had seemingly forgotten what the FRF was about. Admiral Hatyi sat next to Olander, and fortunately he had a different opinion.

  "You heard Admiral Owandi's words," Hatyi said. "If we wait, we die. If the Tauians can destroy planets within seconds, they will no doubt use their technology to hunt us down. We need to rally our forces, just as Owandi has called us to do."

  "We have no way of knowing what the Tauians can do," Vi said. "Whichever decision we make is a gamble."

  "Then we have to assume the worst." Hatyi said.

  General Orkansit shook his head. "We saw how the Foorint news networks had little faith in the URSA's chances of defeating the Tauians. They would be better retreating into hiding."

  Olander looked up at the viewscreen above the table. It displayed the masses of destroyers, cruisers, and carriers set up, ready to be launched into space. They weren't as modern as the ships in the Foorint navy, much of it belonging to Admiral Fastina's fleet. But the humans needed everything they had. "The URSA are much bigger fish than we are. Hence they can offer us the best chance of protection."

  "But what if we can acquire that cloaking device?" Vi asked. "Perhaps we would be better sending out a small force to sequester it."

  Olander had heard enough. He banged his fist down on the table. He hit it so hard that he sent his glass of water towards the edge, and he caught it just in time before it fell off. "This faction allows applications from all races. We did not create this faction so that we would work against each other."

  "But wasn't that what we always did?" General Orkansit said. "We stole from the humans when they were against us. What difference does it make now? We were always pirates."

  "It's our ideals," Oleander said. "No matter what happens, we should stick behind what we stand for, and we should do so united."

  "My point exactly," General Hatyi said.

  "But that's not what this is about at all," Admiral Vi said. "We can still be the Free Rebel Faction, and we can still have members across all civilizations. The URSA is a separate organization to us, and they stand for separate values. Now their blind stubbornness to stay where they are, instead of separating across the galaxy, will get them killed."

  The argument droned on between the admiral and the two generals, and Olander took a sip of water as he heard the same points made repeatedly. They could argue all day, if they needed to, but he feared they wouldn't have the time. After Earth had been destroyed, Bullast would be the next target. Ambassador Oort had known about it, and so there was no reason to assume the other Tauians didn't.

  "We should ask the people," he said. "We should put it down to a vote between every member of the FRF."

  "You've got to be kidding," Vi said. "We've never done that before in a military organization. What about chain of command?"

  "Screw chain of command," Olander said. "We formed calling the FRF 'free' for a reason, and if we can't make up our mind about something, then we can leave it to every individual to decide."

  Orkansit and Hatyi were both studying Oleander, Orkansit with their hands on their chin. Hatyi seemed to also realize that this was the best way of getting Vi and Orkansit to concede their position. Hatyi also seemed to be interested.

  "I think we should go for it," Admiral Hatyi said.

  "Fine," Orkansit said.

  "Then it is done," Olander said, looking at Admiral Vi, who looked away. "I'll prepare the edict." He stood up and walked out the door, but he wasn't going to go straight to his office. Instead, he headed towards the bunk of his old friend, the brilliant hacker, Agent Larin. If anyone could ensure the results Olander needed, Larin could.

  19

  His Lord Empire Aarsh sat on the steel mesh floor of his chamber of the Kinlysta, his eyes closed as he tried to concentrate on honoring his close relatives. But after listening to Owandi's speech and the news reports, he found it hard to concentrate.

  The speech had come to the Kinlysta when he was stationed above the debris of what had once been Aarsh's homeland of Krsst. He had grown up in the swamps here, swimming each day in the court's pools, breathing the rich humid air and eating the giant spiky swampfish that used to be such a delicacy on this planet.

  Now, none of it remained.

  Aarsh had brought his fleet here so the Arstans could pay homage to their homeland. They wouldn't be able to bury the dead, for obvious reasons. But they could at least embark in the agelong tradition of sitting in a meditative stance on the metal floors of their ships as they visualized the spirits of the dead. Frega was here with the Jigoor as well. The FRF's former fleet admiral had offered to join the Arstan forces in his original position, and Aarsh had gladly accepted.

  Before the destruction of the planet, Aarsh had been cousin second removed to the Arstan Lord Empire himself. Now, Aarsh was the closest living relative to his former excellency, which made him Lord Empire.

  This meant he had to decide what the Arstans should do next.

  He stood up from his position on the floor, unable to concentrate on remembering the dead. Instead, he walked over to the console by his bed, and he flicked once more through the news reports. A soft cooling draught came from the air conditioning unit overhead, as he scanned the various articles for the twelfth time. They talked about the sudden appearance of the Tauians, how Owandi didn't seem convinced they had a chance, how every Arstan should fend for themselves in this new world rather than taking a gamble on joining an alliance. A few publications had, in fact, taken advantage of the moments of the chaos to practice free speech. They had outwardly stated that no one should sign up to Aarsh's military either. Instead, they had called for a final age of anarchy in the last moments of each Arstan's lives.

  Aarsh took a deep breath, and then punched a password into his console, the Arstan symbols coming up in a large font on the screen. His XO answered the call. "Commander Alain, patch me through to Fleet Admiral Frega," Aarsh ordered.

  A moment later, Frega's reptilian face appeared on the screen.

  "Yes, my lord?" Frega asked.

  "Frega, I wanted to know your position on Owandi's speech."

  Frega bowed his head. "We know that the humans' super-dreadnoughts alone cannot defeat the Tauians. We also know that our modular ships would get annihilated within seconds. But if we unite with the humans, then we stand a much better chance."

  "I thought you'd say that," Aarsh said. "So why do I feel so much resistance?"

  "Is this a matter of pride, sir?" Frega asked. "Because every one of us Arstans has it. Still, there are times we might need to accept that there are greater forces out there than ourselves."

  Aarsh grunted. He didn't enjoy having his motives challenged like this, and his instinct was to cut off the channel and order Frega executed. But then, he hadn't become such a revered fleet admiral through being unafraid to speak his point.

  "You're right," he said, suppressing the anger he felt rising inside him. "We need to go to war."

  "Shall I order an immediate transfer to the humans' solar system?"

  "Not yet," Aarsh said. "Let us have another hour of reverence, and then order everyone to fire up their engines to FTL-warp."

  He cut off the channel, and took another deep breath, letting the cool air seep between his exposed gums. He returned to his seated position, and once again returned to visualizing his ancestors.

  Whichever rock they were on out there in space, he hoped they forgave him, and he also hoped that his entire fleet would come with him, because with all the rogue news flying around, he feared a fleet-wide mutiny.

  20

  The Gennethal arrived back at Earth in much better condition than it had gone out in. Olsen stood on its bridge, breathing in the artificial fresh-tasting air, feeling both a sense of fear and remorse.

  All the while, the big question kept repeating itself in his head. Would they come?

  He'd fought the last twenty years of his career, hoping that the three civilizations of the galaxy would unite. Now, he had never expected that they would all be forced to do so because of a common and powerful enemy. But were they really united? It was one thing to swear allegiance, but quite another to turn up with guns primed when the going gets tough.

  Given the recent history, Olsen wouldn't be surprised if the FRF had reservations about defending Earth. Or, they might take hours deciding and come too late when Earth had already been split into debris.

  "Sir," Cadinouche said from his console. "Fleet Admiral Owandi is hailing us." Olsen had been so lost in his thoughts that he hadn't even noticed the pilot's console beeping.

  "Put him on screen," Olsen said.

  "Yes, sir."

  The screen popped up again above the holographic display, and on it Owandi looked much more tired than ever before. Two large purple bags filled the bottom of his eyes, and his gaze seemed somewhat distant.

  "Olsen," he said. "I'm sorry. If I'd even suspected we were sending you into a trap, I wouldn't have given the order."

  "There was no way of knowing, sir," Olsen replied. "But I think we need to be careful what we say. My suspicions are that there's something out there monitoring our feeds."

  "I agree..."

  "Have you searched the station for bugs?"

  "Yes... We performed another scan and, unfortunately, found nothing. If there's bugs on the Transcendence, they're well hidden."

  Olsen nodded. "We need to find that Tauian or whoever is controlling Fastina, before it's too late."

  "Agreed... Meanwhile, we're still waiting to hear from our allies."

  "Do you think they will come, sir?" Olsen asked.

  "I hope so," Fleet Admiral Owandi said, and his features tightened. "Unfortunately, other than Fastina, it seems that the major fleets of the Foorint government have been destroyed or are uncontactable."

  "But any Foorints over at Hastara were mutants," Olsen said. "Meanwhile, what happened to the other colonies?"

  "We guess they've turned mutant too. If it weren't for the large numbers of Foorints in the FRF, we might consider their civilization wiped out."

  "I hope Olander pulls through," Olsen said. "The FRF would be a useful ally to our cause."

  Owandi lowered his head. "I heard from Olander. He says that the FRF leadership is divided on our next course of action."

  "What does that mean?"

  "I don't know. Olander said he's working on a solution, but he didn't seem willing to tell us more."

  "I'm sure he'll work it out," Olsen said. "I just hope he does so in time."

  "Me too."

  "What about the Arstans?" Olsen asked.

  "We're still waiting to hear from them. But it would be an insult to interrupt their tribute to their dead, and could incite greater hostility than we'd bargained for."

  "I understand."

  A spaceman walked over and brought Olsen the cup of coffee he'd ordered. He took a sip and noticed it tasted like the air here-almost like how it would taste if you'd put lemon juice in it.

  "By the way," Owandi said. "I've sent out a transport your way with a shipment of fifty Marines on it."

  Olsen almost spilled his coffee. "Please don't tell me I'm under arrest and about to be court-martialed," he said.

  "No," Owandi said, "but the admiralty here has decided Novak should have extra protection. Remember what we said about her being vital to the war effort."

  Olsen glanced down at the young captain, who was staring at something on the console in front of her. She didn't seem to hear what Owandi had said, or if she did, she paid little heed to it.

  "Very well, sir," Olsen said. "I'll make sure we give them a proper reception and briefing."

  "Good," Owandi said. "Anything you need?"

  "No, sir," Olsen said.

  "Then I'll leave you to it. Once we have a better estimate of when the enemy's Gennethals will arrive, I'll let you know."

  "Thank you, sir," Olsen said.

  The screen went blank, and Olsen scanned the holographic display, looking for the transport. He spotted it--a cuboid-shaped functional thing which reminded him of the Extractor. Redrock, perhaps, would be pleased to have a new human shuttle on board. If, that was, he lived to fly it again.

  "Novak," Olsen said. "How are the shields and beam weapon charging up?"

  "As well as can be expected, sir," Novak said. "I estimate they'll be ready in four hours. The damage, unfortunately, meant that they're slower-charging than before."

  "Let's hope that's long enough." But then, given the time between when the Tauians had attacked Krsst and when they'd attacked Foorint Palliana, they should have ample time.

  Olsen took another sip of his coffee. It tasted a little less tart this time, almost as if leaving the coffee for a while had given it time to return to a more normal state. Chang's voice coming over the speaker system interrupted him.

  "Sir," he said. "I've got bad news, sir."

  "Damn it," Olsen said. "And things were starting to go so well. What is it?"

  "I just swung by the storage module when doing a regular check. It's the cellular modifier. It's missing, sir."

  "What the fuck? How's that possible?"

  "I don't know, sir. I'll conduct a scan immediately."

  Olsen took a deep breath; then he downed the rest of the coffee in one. It went down his throat so hard that it almost caught there. How the hell he was going to explain this one to Owandi, he didn't know. But the bigger question was, if they didn't have the cellular modifier, then who did?

  21

  Inkh still floated in the Overseer above Earth, completely invisible to the fools who were waiting for their enemy to arrive. She had just listened to the conversations between Olsen and Owandi with interest, and had been relieved to hear that reinforcements were delayed in coming. It had already alarmed her that her former superiors had chosen to contact the humans, and ask their ultimate question, "Why do you fight?"

  What were they planning, Inkh wondered, and why would they suddenly ask this now?

  Then another surprise had come when Olsen, Novak, and their crew had escaped a supernova before they roasted to death inside the Gennethal. That Foorint, Kanarlen, had aided them. Yet how had he escaped Inkh's notice, posing as a mutant all this time? The third surprise then came when the engineer, Ensign Boris Chang, had repaired the ship.

  Inkh had introduced a subroutine of her own that she deployed over a protocol through the quantum-spin network. When the droids activated, she'd also activated a hidden compartment underneath the Gennethal that allowed the cellular modifier to float out to space unnoticed. Then, the humans had been in such a rush to get home after Fleet Admiral Owandi's call that they hadn't checked for any missing cargo.

  Anyway, she couldn't focus on those things that might get in her way in the unprecedented future. Rather, she needed to focus on the present moment--on what needed to be done right now. She opened up a channel to Fastina. The Foorint appeared on her viewscreen, looking as oblivious as always.

  "Yes, Ambassador?" he asked.

  "How are you doing retrieving the cellular modifier?" she asked.

  "We've recovered it, and we're awaiting further orders."

  "You didn't think to tell me this?"

  "No, Ambassador. I am loyal, and I obey your commands only. Feel free to ask for any information that you need at any time."

  Inkh felt rage rise in her. Red light filled the cockpit for a moment until she forced it back down again. It never did good to express emotions. She had to focus on the task at hand.

  Besides, Admiral Fastina wasn't exactly in control of his own mind. Everything that he didn't do to standard was a fault of Inkh's for not thinking about it in advance. She would certainly have to work on efficiency if she was going to rule this galaxy with an iron fist. The young Tauian realized she had a lot to learn.

  "Bring the cellular modifier to Earth on your flagship, Fastina," Inkh said. "Then immediately open up your craft so that I can board it. I will activate the secondary function of the cellular modifier from within your craft."

  "Yes, Ambassador. Will there be anything else?" Fastina asked.

  "No. Just get here as fast as possible. Time is of the essence."

  "Yes, Ambassador."

  Inkh cut off the display just as she felt a wave of rage surge up in her again. This time, she let her skin glow bright red for a moment. She felt hot, and if she had sweat glands like the humans in this galaxy did, then she'd be sweating profusely right now.

  After she'd enjoyed that moment of emotion, she pushed it away. She had another call to make, after all, and this time the other party wouldn't appreciate her showing her emotions.

  She swiped the commands across her console, and then she waited patiently, alone with her thoughts as the comms computer connected her with fifty Tauian leaders across the universe. They came up as little heads on the screen, each of them staring straight ahead, their eyes unblinking.

  It was protocol for her to speak in these group calls, and for questions only to be asked at the end if necessary.

  "The universe is almost ready to claim," she said. "We only have only one more homeworld to destroy, and then you shall have a gift of multiple fleets at your disposal. The civilization in the sector of your choice will not need to know of your presence--they can be destroyed by their own kind, turned into mutants, or forced into slavery. It will be your choice how you wish to use them. In approximately fifteen hours, this galaxy will be yours to claim. Are there any questions?"

  Inkh expected at least one of the Tauian leaders to speak out, but no one did. They seemed to trust Inkh and the five Gennethals they'd sent for her to control remotely. Inkh guessed that they'd become so sick of the lies that Anlo, Osta, and Eora had told that they would trust anyone. Either that, or they wanted to promise that Inkh could create a new life for them here, before they took actions of their own and risked being labeled as traitors and war criminals by their superiors. If one of them spoke out now, they'd be remembered and would be made an example of, if things didn't quite go according to plan.

 

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