Virus and earth ii boxse.., p.141
Virus & Earth II Boxset, page 141
part #1 of Virus Series
Iknot and Tilot had been in the room a few times, and she knew there was a lockable door and defensive barriers for the occupants to seek cover behind. At the rear of the room was an additional weapons storage with ammunition and other weapons. Tilot moved quickly to position her children behind the last barrier, and she went to the front where she would present her last defense. The children were children, but they had been brought up in a warring culture. They were stoical, with no crying or bickering, no "Mommy, what is happening?" Notl and Itor took weapons out of the weapons locker and were preparing the best they could.
The weapons were as big as they were. They balanced them on the barriers in front of them. The image saddened Tilot, but it also made her proud. In spite of the threat, they were Rallock.
All Tilot could do now was wait. She knew the onslaught was coming, and she knew her house staff would defend her and the children with their lives. She knew that Iknot would be outside leading the defense and he would do everything that he could to protect her and his heirs. For a few moments there was only silence then Tilot could hear the faraway sounds of weapons fire, it continued for a few moments, and she hoped that her defenders were successful. Slowly the faraway shots diminished in frequency, and she realized that it meant one of two outcomes. Either the defenders had won, and they were safe, or they had lost, and she would be next. Her uncertainty was resolved quickly. The next round of gunfire was close, and it echoed down the hallways of the lower level of the palace.
A feeling of dread swept over Tilot. The fact that the attackers were in the lower level could only mean one thing, Iknot was dead. Now it was time for her to defend their children. She had spent years training as part of the military. It was custom for Iknot and his family to serve roles contributing to their defense. They never thought that they would actually be on the front lines putting their lives at risk, but they went through the rigorous training to show the troops their support. Tilot and Iknot were proud of the struggles their people had endured and if giving their lives for the good of the people was necessary, then they would do so willingly. Tilot was well-versed in using a weapon, and she was confident that she could do considerable damage before the inevitable end came.
To her surprise, the loud reports of weapons firing lasted only a few moments. She heard it stop from one end of the corridor meaning that those defenders had lost their lives. It lasted only a few seconds longer for the other end of the corridor as those defenders fell. Now it would be her turn. She took a deep breath, placed her weapon on a defensive barrier in the front of the room and waited. She began hearing a subtle sound which sounded like machinery or metal on the tile in her hallway. At first, it confused her, were the attackers wearing some kind of armor plating or do they have some kind of motorized weapon with them? She didn’t know what she was going to be faced with, but she was prepared to do anything necessary to protect her children.
The odd sounds stopped for a moment when the door in front of the room was ripped off its hinges. The sound and dust were overwhelming for an instant, but Tilot began firing. She couldn’t see what she was firing at, but she knew there were attackers and she knew that she was fighting for her life and the lives of her children. She had a very powerful weapon, and she didn’t know how effective it was until the dust cleared a little. Then she faced a large mechanical creature that had six limbs and was standing in the doorway that it had just ripped the door off. Tilot was an expert marksman, and she realized quickly that firing randomly would not be effective. She focused on the heart of the beast and poured hundreds of shells into its form. It seemed to waver for a moment then it collapsed on the floor. Immediately there was a second beast in the doorway, and it began its entry into the room. Tilot followed the same process. She focused on a potentially vulnerable point and fired hundreds of shells, and the creature fell as before. Each time Tilot defended her children the creatures got closer. Tilot fired some shells in the last and final creature, his body fell forward and wrapped its two front limbs around her before it collapsed. She was held by strong metal hands that prevented her from moving. The next creature entering the room was on top of her quickly and disarmed her. She expected immediate death, after all, attackers don’t take hostages.
Other creatures moved into the room, and she could hear Notl and Itor firing weapons from the rear. They weren’t as accurate as she was, and their shots were less effective against the attackers. Relatively quickly they were subdued and held motionlessly. To her surprise, none of her children or herself were killed.
Why aren’t they killing us, Tilot asked herself.
Through the optical devices on his cow-robots, Julius knew that he had finally reached Iknot’s family. He knew that he had captured what would become Iknot’s weak point. Now that he had the family, he had Iknot as well.
Tilot was held securely by the metal creature as it moved down the hallway. Behind her, a mechanical creature carrying each of her children. Her children weren’t screaming, yelling or crying. They were Rallock. From what she could see they were beating on the creatures with their hands and feet, fighting with all their strength regardless of their age. The movement from the lower level to the upper levels and out of the palace was rapid, and Tilot saw the carnage that had occurred to her household servants and the troops around the palace. She felt pain for each of the bodies that the mechanical beast stepped over. She knew them all; she knew their families, she felt the loss of each of them as she looked into their faces. But the mechanical beasts showed no reverence for the fallen soldiers and moved quickly towards one of the ships that had landed on the periphery of the palace grounds.
Tilot and her children found themselves in a line of mechanical creatures moving towards one of the craft. It was apparent to Tilot that death wasn’t going to be immediate for her or her children. She wondered if they were to be tortured or experience with some other horrible end. She had resigned herself to those possible outcomes and decided that she would watch, learn, and listen. Information would be her only weapon from that point on.
The creatures moved efficiently into the ships, and Tilot was placed on a bench. Her six children were placed on the bench next to her. Each of them was angry and wanted to continue fighting, but Tilot told them to quiet down. She knew that fighting would provide no positive result and their only option was to prepare for the next steps.
Iknot didn’t know that Tilot and his children were taken, hostage. Tilot didn’t know that Iknot was on another ship. They were on separate ships, and each feared they were alone and it would be up to them to continue living. The remaining cow-robots boarded their respective ships, and the doors were closed. They began the ascent into space and Iknot suspected that he would be held captive and used as some kind of bartering tool for some reason. Recently his troops had been successful in their campaigns against the continents and held off the latest attacks. So it wasn’t clear what he could be used to bargain for. The other continent leaders wouldn’t care if he lived or died, there was no value to them to worry about his fate and the fate of his family. Iknot suspected he must be destined for some other purpose that wasn’t evident to him. All he could do was wait, watch, and listen.
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Julius was satisfied, the losses in this expedition were minor compared to the thousands of cow-robots that he had on the Vakeel ship. All that he focused on now were his prizes. He had the leader of a good-sized army that was well-equipped with aggressive fighters. He suspected their allegiance to their leader would enable him to use all of them for his purposes. He didn’t care about the conflict with the other continents; he didn’t care if any of them won or lost. He didn’t care about the outcome of their minor issues. What he had now was the opportunity to gather up all the troops that he needed. They would do his bidding, for his conflicts, the only conflicts that mattered
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Tilot was frightened and worried. Not knowing why they were kidnapped and whether Iknot was still alive made it difficult for her. There was no reason, in her mind, for her and the children to be held captive. If Iknot was dead, they had limited value except for the bloodline of succession for control of Momort. It was possible that one of the other continents had done this, but she wasn’t aware that any of them had the technology.
If it wasn’t one of the other continents, then who was responsible? Perhaps it wasn’t about kidnapping her and the family, maybe Iknot had been kidnapped too. If that happened, the questions remained; who and why? Neither of which she had answers to.
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The flight through the atmosphere was relatively short, and Iknot suspected that they were heading for a ship in orbit. Generally, his opponents on the planet had resisted taking the battle into space. In the past, there were some minor skirmishes, but none of them wanted to take the conflicts into space. Each time a conflict was taken to that level all of the other continents jumped on the aggressor and wiped out the resources. There was honor in fighting, honor in facing your opponents and honor in winning or losing. There was no honor in fighting from space when the opponents were just insignificant specks on the ground. The Rallock people recognized that if a battle was to be won or lost, it needed to be done face to face. Each side deserved that.
They were satisfied to fight their battles and conquests on the planet’s surface, but there were still satellites and ships in space that were used for transport and resupply. Iknot had four of those ships, but they had a relatively low orbit, and none of them were offensive and couldn’t come to his defense. He suspected that he was being taken to a ship in a higher orbit, one that was strategically placed. That explained the longer flight time in space.
Finally, he could feel the ship maneuvering, and he suspected that it was docking or joining with its target ship. Within a short period, the door at the rear of his ship opened, and he was abruptly picked up by one of the cow-robots and carried out of the ship. The other cow-robots remained in place on the ship and showed no sign of leaving their vessel.
The creature moved Iknot down some hallways through the ship to a room where he was placed. He suspected that the ship was immense, and he was impressed by its structure, artificial gravity, and life-support. The sheer size of it showed the level of technology and capabilities that the attackers had. He and the other Rallock had none of that. The differences didn’t cause Iknot to feel overpowered, but it just hardened his resolve.
Once he was isolated, he suspected that he would meet someone or something that would explain why he was there. He had to wait only a short time before the door to his restraint area opened. What stood in the doorway didn’t surprise him, it was similar to the creatures that attacked him, but it was different. It was larger and appeared to be made by different processes. The surface and the mechanical arms were different. It had eyes or optic devices that appeared to have intelligence behind them.
The creature stood in the doorway looking at Iknot as if appraising him, sizing him up, checking him out. Iknot knew immediately this must be the leader of the attackers. He stood and stared back at the mechanical creature, trying to project his force and his determination not to be beaten. The mechanical creature moved into the room and moved to one side while keeping its optical devices on Iknot. Then to Iknot’s surprise, he heard it talk, it spoke in his language.
“Your name is Iknot,” the mechanical creature said.
Iknot elected not to respond and ignored the creature in front of him.
“You do what I tell you,” the creature said with a broken cadence to its speech.
Again, Iknot ignored it and refused to respond.
“You do as I tell you,” the creature said. Then suddenly projected images appeared on the wall of Iknot’s confinement room. At first, Iknot didn’t want to look at the images; then out of the corner of his eye, something forced him to turn his head. It was clear what he is being shown. His wife Tilot and his children were being held in a room very similar to what Iknot was held captive in. There were two mechanical creatures similar to the attackers that were within the image also; likely guarding his family. It was immediately clear what the message was, Iknot was to do as he was told or his family would pay the price.
Iknot turned his head from the images and glared at the mechanical beast in front of him. “What do you want?” Iknot said with as much disgust in his voice as he could muster.
“Bring 100 of your troops to do as I want,” the beast said in a monotone voice.
“And what happens if I don’t?” Said Iknot with some drool leaking from the corner of his mouth.
“They die, you die.”
Iknot new that he had to comply, at least for the short term. Once he had 100 of his best troops on board, perhaps he would have other options
“You will not know where your family is; if you or your troops don’t obey my orders, they die.”
Iknot was startled for a second; it seemed as if the mechanical monstrosity was reading his mind. He realized that was the logical thought that a person in his position would have but regardless he would be in a stronger position with his troops at his side then he was now.
“I accept,” Iknot said.
“You will indicate to me how you will gather the 100 troops. I will transmit your image to them directing them to be picked up and transported to this ship. I will monitor your transmission. I will monitor all communication you have with them while they are on this ship, you will do as I direct you. If you don’t do as I tell you, all will die. If you comply, your family will live.”
It might not be the best bargain that Iknot ever struck, but it was all he had. He had to find a way to work with it.
Iknot thought for a moment about which troops he would direct to support him. The first and most obvious option was a brigade of his personal troops that were housed near the capital. The leader of that brigade was a personal and longtime friend who would willingly do anything to protect Iknot and his family. They were also the best troops that he had; they were exceptional in their fighting capabilities. They would do anything that he asked them, including attacking these mechanical beasts that captured him.
“Can you contact my 12th Brigade?” Iknot asked.
“I am familiar with your organizational structure; I have the primary method to communicate with the 12 brigade available. Standby.”
Iknot wasn’t sure what was happening, but the prudent thing to do was to wait and see what developed.
“I have contacted the 12th Brigade, and they are receiving a visual image of you. You may now speak to their leader.”
Iknot wasn’t sure what all that meant, but he could only trust that his brigade leader General Mitom would listen to him and follow his direction.
“General Mitom, this is Iknot, can you hear me?”
“Yes sir, I can hear you. What happened at the palace?”
“The palace was attacked, myself, Tilot and my children have been taken captive. I have been directed to use you and your brigade to accomplish some goals that haven’t yet been given. I am being held in a spaceship in high orbit, and I am dealing with a mechanical creature that commanded other mechanical creatures to kidnap my family and me. This creature has directed me to bring 100 troops on board to follow its orders to accomplish some goal. If I fail to do this, this creature will kill me, Tilot and my children.”
“Sir,” General Mitom said formally, “I will do anything that you direct me.”
“Some spaceships will land in your compound, and you will board them, and you will be transported to my location in space. Bring all the weaponry and food and supplies that you can; I don’t know how long this will last or what the outcome will be.
“Yes sir, we will be ready,” said General Mitom.
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Alpha was well hidden next to one of the communication nodes in the ship. Typical of any design of a large vessel, many of the systems passed through common areas. Those junctions were ideal for Alpha to monitor the subtle electronic emissions from the computer traffic. Luckily, it was a trait that SIMPOC had developed and it was passed onto Alpha.
Once SIMPOC and Alpha had absorbed material from the organic processor of the Vakeel ship, deciphering the electronic emissions from the computer activity was easier.
Alpha monitored all of the actions when Iknot and his family were captured. He monitored Julius and his algorithms which monitored Iknot. They were all running at a low priority which indicated to Alpha that Julius thought that he had Iknot under his control.
Chapter Six
When Captain Pardold left Fleet Commander Morot’s office, he was escorted to one of the Fleet Commander’s private shuttles. Pardold hoped the Fleet Commander would follow up on his promise, but he didn’t expect things to happen that fast. He wasn’t told where the vehicle was going, and it was plain that he wasn’t supposed to ask.
What few indications Pardold deduced from the communications traffic suggested they were headed towards a sector of the Borram system next to Pardold normal patrol area. That sector wasn’t talked about. Things went on in that sector that were important to the Borram Leadership. The few trips that Pardold had made into the sector were quick, and for a specific purpose, then his job was to leave.
