Different Paths (20 page)

Talia was in the process of moving a small crate
when he entered. Setting it down, she turned ever so slightly enough to pull
the fabric of her shirt tight over her breasts.

“It’s not a problem. We Sylvans don’t all live in
the lap of luxury like you Terrans think.”

Swallowing hard at the vision of her loveliness,
Iaido knew he needed to change the subject. Pulling out an old brass whistle,
he cupped it in his hands and blew three notes; low, high, low. The clear sound
echoed through the ship.

Tilting her head slightly Talia asked, “What is
that?”

“It’s a bosun’s pipe,” he said holding the instrument
up for display. “It was used in ancient days to call muster on sailing ships.
This one was a gift from Major McDowell. It was supposedly a gift of
consolation after the loss of my brother.”

“What do you mean supposedly?”

“Hector didn’t die in a starship accident like I
was told ten years ago.”

Jay came rolling in from the infirmary and asked,
“Really? That’s what I was told.”

Iaido sat down at the makeshift table as his
friend rolled up beside him. “Let me ask you a question Jay.”

“Shoot.”

“Do you recall an Operation Lodestone?”

Jay looked off into the distance for a few seconds
before answering. “Not that I remember. Of course, Omega was a long time ago
and we ran so many missions, I’m not sure I even knew all the codenames.”

“It would’ve been the mission where the Major, the
Sgt. Major and the Ten were pulled off for some special mission. Only myself
and the two commanders returned alive.”

Jay nodded his head. “I do recall that mission,
well sort of. I wasn’t involved in any part of it but I do remember how fast it
was organized. The orders came in and in less than an hour later, you guys were
gone.”

“That’s the one. What do you remember about it?”

Pulling out a pinch of snuff, Jay packed his lower
lip. Swirling around the juices for a moment, he spit in his cup before
continuing. “You guys were gone for almost a month. I recall that time well, we
spent it on leave in Hawaii. Damn, surfing was fun.” Jay grinned at the
memories but seeing the serious look on Iaido’s face he came back to the
subject at hand. “When you four returned you were more dead than alive, the Sgt.
Major walked with a limp and the Major always had a haunted look in his eyes.”

“Four? I was told only three of us returned.”

“Only three of you were alive but Aeneas’ body
returned with you. I’ll never forget the look of his body; it was so full of
holes, tiny… like those of a needle and his skin was waxy green. Evidently,
Aeneas shielded the Major from some sort of needle bomb that injected him full
of some sort of alien poison.” Jay paused for a moment. “There was never an
explanation concerning his or the rest of the team’s deaths; just the ‘official
word’ that they died during a starship accident in a remote region of space.”
He paused before adding, “Why?”

Iaido rubbed his neck, “Here’s where it gets
weird. The General told me that everyone associated with Operation Lodestone
has been systematically hunted down and killed over the last few months. Only the
General, the Major and I are left alive.”

Jay glanced over his shoulder as Xerxes entered
the mess deck and sat down on the far end the mess hall. “Okay, so someone has
a vendetta about Operation Lodestone. What was so important about it?”

Iaido shrugged. “I don’t know. Evidently my
memories were erased during the debriefing. I have no recollection of the
mission.” Iaido cocked his head to the side. “Well, not really.”

Talia perked up. “What do you mean by that?”

“It’s just when I was trapped in the gun turret
and it was filling with smoke, I must’ve been knocked unconscious because I had
a dream that I was on that particular mission.”

Talia shook her head. “I bet it wasn’t a dream but
old memories struggling to resurface.”

Iaido furrowed his brow. “But I was told they
wiped my memory. How could I recall them?”

“I am not an expert by any means but the Empire
has been using memory modification for over a millennia.  It is used during the
re-education process.” Pulling out her tarot deck, she absentmindedly played
with the cards, shuffling and cutting the deck at random as she spoke. “You see
memories for Sylvans and Terrans are just a matter of particular neurons
retaining a specific code at a certain time. When we want access a certain
memory, our minds generate a particular code which unlocks that certain memory.
Our minds continually update and maintain a master code for all our memories.
The re-education process erases the master code or at least part of it. The
information is still in your mind but you have no way to access it.”

“If I understand you correctly, the Coalition
didn’t actually erase my memory just my brain’s way of recalling the
information?”

Talia nodded. “Yes. The only way to actually erase
a memory is to destroy the cells which contain it; which in turn would leave
the subject in a coma or dead.”

Iaido stroked his goatee for a moment before
asking, “So that is why when I was stuck in the turret, the conditions must’ve
been similar enough to something I went through during Operation Lodestone that
my mind found the right pattern for those missing memories?”

“Absolutely, that is one of the greatest fears of
the Empire when doing re-educations.”

“Is it possible to rediscover the codes for these
erased memories?”

Talia chewed on her lip for a moment before
answering. “Theoretically, yes; there are forms of regression rituals which
could allow one to remap those codes but it isn’t certain.”

“Is it something you could do?”

Talia shrugged. “I am unsure. I mean that I
understand the rituals involved but it is more than that. Sylvans are a very
mystical race. We are more than just this piece of flesh you see before you. We
are spirit made flesh and it is the spirit which would have to travel the
myriad paths of your psyche to guide you to the correct path.”

“Are you saying that to help me remember, you
would have to enter my mind?”

“Yes. All our powers stem from our spirit.” Talia
formed a triangle with her hands. “The mind and body exist to serve the spirit
but the spirit cannot exist without the mind or body; the perfect trinity.”

Iaido gazed into Talia’s emerald orbs and asked,
“Would it be something you would be willing to attempt?”

Talia felt herself drawn to Iaido’s steel grey
eyes and hesitated for a moment before forcing herself to look away, “Only as a
last resort. The ritual is very intim…demanding.”

Iaido could tell that wasn’t exactly the adjective
she wanted to use to describe the procedure but let it pass…for now. He turned his
attention to Jay. “How’s Pax?”

Jay took a deep breath and said, “Heavily damaged.
Parts of her matrix have been damaged beyond repair…”

Iaido groaned.

“But there’s hope. Diana is also badly damaged but
both matrixes are damaged in different areas. It might be possible to merge the
two and return them both to life.”

“Will it work?”

Jay shrugged. “I don’t know. It should, in theory
at least. The problem is that I will need some parts and equipment that are not
available on the Nemesis to even attempt it.”

“I don’t care how much it cost, when we get to Haven
find what you need. Buy, beg or steal it but get what you need.”

*   *   *   *   *

They were less than an hour out of Haven when Jay
turned the operations chair to face his friend. They were alone for the moment;
Xerxes and Talia were aft doing something which gave the retired Master Chief a
chance to speak his mind. “Okay, I need to ask you something.”

Without taking his eyes off the panel, Iaido
asked, “What is it?”

“Now, don’t get me wrong, I like Talia but why is
she here?”

“She’s Eve’s Aunt and her only living relative as
far as I know.”

Jay shook his head. “There has got to be more than
that. She’s a civilian. She has no idea what we are getting into and that will
make her a liability. You know that and I know that.”

Iaido paused in his reading of the Nemesis’ damage
reports and turned to face his friend. “You’re right. She doesn’t know and in
some ways she will be a burden but somehow I feel that she is connected to all
this. I really can’t explain it more than that but it feels right that she is
along.”

Jay raised one eyebrow. “It has nothing to do that
she’s a real looker?”

Iaido cocked his head to the side. “Really? I
hadn’t noticed.”

“Liar.”

Iaido grinned at the rebuke. “Besides, somehow
she’s connected with all this. I don’t know how and I don’t know why but she’s
connected. Of that I am sure.”

Hearing the sounds of someone coming up the central
passageway to the bridge, the two friends turned back to the task at hand just
as Xerxes and Talia entered the bridge. If she was going to say anything, it
was forgotten as the Nemesis came out of hyperspace and the marvel of Haven was
displayed in front of them.

“Welcome to Haven, my friends,” Iaido said as he
guided the Nemesis to the waiting stardock.

Chapter 17

Haven was once known as Starbase Sigma to the
Coalition and Checkpoint Charlie to the Confederacy. It orbited a remote star
known to the Terrans as Wolf 359. Technically, there was nothing really unique
about that star system, no habitable planets, no spectacular gas giants and
only minimal mining resources but as they say in real estate, location…location…location.

Wolf 359 came to be known as the crossroads of
intergalactic travel during the war. At first the Coalition just anchored
several large supply ships in the area and a floating stardock. Eventually,
since so much traffic flowed through the area, they built Starbase Sigma. It wasn’t
completed until the height of the war and became a highly contested commodity
that actually switched hands several times. After the war, neither the
Coalition nor the Confederacy wanted the starbase due to its dilapidated
condition and the amount of space debris in the immediate area. Enter Leonard
Vetter, entrepreneur and risk-taker.

This young businessman from Texas saw an
opportunity and used the simple logic that if it was such a desirable location
during wartime then it would be a valuable investment during peace time.
Gathering a small group of investors, Vetter bought the salvage rights from the
Coalition for the rock bottom price of a half-million credits and set out to
create a Haven in space.

However at the end of his first year, Vetter had towed
and mated the largest wrecks in the area to the starbase and sent the rest into
the closest star but he was nearly broke. Finding workers willing to risk life
and limb on his dream was proving difficult. The idea of an independent city in
space orbiting a distant star on the edge of adventure sounds romantic when you
are sitting in a bar in New Atlanta but the reality of the hard work, the
dangers and enormous costs were completely different. All of Vetter’s investors
were backing out and his bank had called in his loan. He was taking one last
trip to Starbase Sigma to say good-bye to his dream and to retrieve the few
faithful followers that had stuck with him over the last year.

Vetter answered a distress call while enroute and found
a Mantodea colony ship with a damaged star-drive and major structural damage.
The Mantodeas were swarming along the ship’s hull fixing what they could with
their limited resources. It seems that the mantis-like race could work outside
in the vacuum of space without any type of environmental suits due to their
exoskeleton and physiology. Vetter realized that his luck had changed. After a
lengthy conversation with their queen, he towed the beleaguered ship to Haven
and Vetter was ecstatic; he had found his main workforce. With the assistance
of the Mantodeas, Haven became operational in less than six months and proved
to be a gold mine for Leonard Vetter. Now after eight years, Haven had become
the busiest starport outside of Sol with over a quarter million permanent
residents. Being unaffiliated with any government, Haven drew outcasts from
every society and race.

It became an open port to all, a place where
anything can be purchased or arraigned for the right price, as long as Vetter
and associates got their cut. However, slavery was the only illegal trade
goods. That is not to say it didn’t happen; it just didn’t happen in the open.
Deals of assassinations and slave-trading took place in the dark areas of Haven
and those caught were punished severely. Most intelligent life forms consider
being ejected into space on a trajectory to the nearest star as severe.

As the Nemesis came to rest in the stardock, Iaido
called his friends together for a conference in the galley. “Okay people; Haven
is a dangerous place. Anything can be bought here, including us. I am sure that
news of our bounty has reached here, I would be extremely surprised if it
hadn’t.”

“Do you expect trouble?” Talia asked.

“I always expect trouble,” Iaido replied as he
checked the power settings on his pistols.

Jay pulled out a sawed-off double-barreled
pump-action shotgun and grinned at the look Iaido gave him. “Yes, this is the
same shotgun from Gilese.”

“I thought you got rid of that thing?”

 “Get rid of ol’ reliable? Never,” Jay patted the
ancient ballistic weapon lovingly. “She’s never misfired and at close range she
is more deadly than a blaster.”

Iaido nodded. He had seen the shotgun in action on
Gilese and Jay was right, its blast was devastating. Pulling out a couple of
cred-stix, he handed them to his friend.

“Get whatever parts you need to fix Pax and Diana;
while Xerxes will arrange the repairs of the Nemesis but stay together as much
as possible.”