Different Paths (26 page)

Jay chuckled. “They are a bit primitive but they
seem to do the trick. I forgot how difficult it was moving around a starship
without legs. In my lab, everything was flat; aisles were wide and easy to
maneuver, but up here…”  He shrugged. “But functionality wins over appearance
any day.”

Talia moved forward and gently hugged him. “I
think they’re lovely.”

Jay smiled briefly and moved up to Athena, laying a
gentle hand on her shoulder he asked, “How are you faring my dear?”

“I’m fine. Pax and I were having a disagreement
about a certain course of actions concerning some fragmented memories.”

Jay glanced up at the ceiling and said, “Pax. You
are not authorized to delete any files that were part of Diana’s memories, no
matter how small or insignificant.”

“Command acknowledged.”

“If they are causing you concern, set up a
partition and move all related memories to that area.”

“Affirmative.”

“Any other complaints? Headaches? Nausea?”

“Headaches? Nausea?” Talia asked, “From an
android?”

“Just because her systems are manmade, that
doesn’t mean they do not have the ability to feel pain.” Jay turned to regard
the sylvan. “Pain and discomfort are the body’s way of telling us that
something isn’t right. It has been effective for nearly five millennia, why
shouldn’t I copy it?”

Talia shook her head in disbelief.  “I…I don’t
know. I’m sorry. This is completely new to me. In the Empire, androids are
bulky things, much like your new legs. They are created to serve a function.
Period. Nothing more, nothing less.”

Jay rolled his eyes. “And your race calls yourself
enlightened.”

Before Talia could say anything else, Iaido and DJ
entered the galley. Athena immediately snapped to attention and called,
“Attention on deck!”

Old instincts and habits seized the ex-military
men; DJ and Jay snapped to attention while Talia just glanced around unsure of
what was happening. Iaido had paused in mid-stride at the command before he
realized Athena was calling attention for him. With a wave of his hand he said,
“At ease.”

Athena and the two ex-military men relaxed.

“Athena, let that be the first and last time you
call attention for me. Formal military discipline and doctrine has no place on
this vessel.”

Athena’s stance was still rigid but the more
relaxed ‘parade rest’ with feet shoulder wide, hands clasped behind her back.
“Aye, aye sir!”

DJ was laughing so hard tears streamed down his
face. “Oh my god! I haven’t been called to attention in over ten years! Hell, I
didn’t even know I could still do that!”

Moving up to the table, Iaido pulled the chair
out, reversed it and sat down with his arms resting on the back of the chair.
“Judging from your shape Marine, you need more exercise and less drinking.”

“Hey! I ain’t out of shape!” DJ leaned back in his
chair and slapped his beer gut. “Round is a shape!”

Everyone except Athena shared a laugh at DJ’s
comment. A moment later, Xerxes entered the room. Moving up to the table, the
large Mantodea gently lifted a chair out of the way and set it near the
bulkhead before kneeling at the table.

“Alright, now that we’re all here and we’ve had
our laugh, I need a sit-rep,” Iaido said. “Engineering?”

“All systems are go,” replied Jay. Pulling out a
data-pad, he tapped a few controls. “The damage to our starboard shield
emitters has been repaired and all holes in our armor patched by Haven’s
maintenance crews. Engines are in excellent shape and are capable of running
twenty percent hotter than original specs which should give us a bit more
speed.” Jay tapped a few other controls. “My cloaking device seems to be
functioning normally but will it actually work or not,” he shrugged, “we won’t
know until we try. It should work… in theory at least.”

Iaido tapped a few notes into his own data-pad.
“Medical?”

Talia sat up a bit straighter and folded her hands
in her lap. “The med bay seems to be fully functional. We are a might low on
pain meds and sterile bandages but I believe we can manage.”

Iaido nodded and continued down his list. “Fire
Control?”

Setting his chair down, DJ pulled a dirty
handkerchief out of his pocket and blew his nose nosily. Talia looked on with
disgust, while everyone else seemed unfazed by the ex-soldier’s manners.

“For a ship this old, she’s in extremely good
shape. Even with the damage from your encounter en route to Haven. She seems
solid. We are fully armed with plenty of spare ammunition in the cargo hold;
securely fastened I might add.”

“Navigation?”

Pax answered. “Course laid in and we have been
cleared for departure at 0100 hours, as per your request.”

“Operations?”

Athena said, “We are fully functional and ready
for battle, sir.”

“Okay people, I have been going over all the data
we have on the Major and his ship the Agamemnon. She is a fully equipped ship
of the line and has us outgunned ten to one. In a straight up battle, we don’t
stand a chance.” Iaido let that sink in before continuing, “But I don’t want to
meet the Agamemnon in a pitched battle, therefore I have a plan. DJ…I need you
to go back to Haven, on sub-level three you will find some bodies in the old
cafeteria. If they’re still there, I want you to bring them on board. If not,
find me some bodies, three at the minimum but six or more would be better.”

“You want me to bring dead bodies on board? What
the hell for?”

“A diversion,” Iaido replied with a smile. “Trust
me.”

DJ shrugged his shoulders. “Sure. Why not? You
always were a bit daft but you never led us astray in the past.”

“It might seem strange but we will need those
bodies to survive.” Iaido turned his attention to Jay. “I need you to rig the
rear turrets so Pax can fire them automatically. We are short on crew and they
are the hardest to hit anything with anyway.”

“Gotcha.”

“Xerxes and Athena, I need you two to load the
cargo hold with scrap metal, spare parts, broken gaskets, anything.”

Athena nearly snapped to attention in her seat.
“Aye, aye, sir.”

The large black mantis just shook his head before
pointing at Talia. 

Talia took that as her cue and stood up. “I think
we have a problem. I have been going over the data Diana was able to acquire
from the Feds’ database including the autopsy reports on Sgt. Major Spenton and
his wife Amy. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary, in fact I missed it
completely.”

“Missed what?” Iaido asked.

“The twin punctures marks on the base of Amy’s
neck.”

“I recall those,” Athena said. “The coroner’s
report stated that there were no known chemical, biological or toxins in the
wound.”

“Twin punctures…” Iaido said. “I remember seeing a
similar mark on the Sensei’s neck. What are they?”

Talia chewed her lip momentarily before answering.
“Here’s where it gets weird.” Talia began to pace around the room slowly. “I am
not sure how much you know about the history of my race but the Sylvan Empire
is over ten millennia old and we span many regions of space but that was only
after the Shadow Wars drove them from Terra.”

“Shadow Wars?” Iaido asked.

“About seven millennia ago, the Sylvan Empire
shared Terra, or Earth as you call it, with another humanoid race that you know
as the Lemurians. As a reptilian race that lives to fight, they crafted their
whole culture based on the simple philosophy that only the strong survive. And
although we Sylvans do not like to fight, we are very capable at it but our
enmity with the Lemurians is not the story I need to impart; they have their
part in this story, but I digress. It was during this time, that the Nosferatu
first appeared.”

“The what?” Jay asked.

“The Nosferatu. Essentially they are a creature of
dark legend, even for my people. They are vile creatures that inhabit a host
body granting them the power of shadows but at a grave cost.”

“You mean like a parasite?”

Talia shook her head. “No. More like a symbiotic
once joined they cannot be separated without killing the host body. Legends and
ancient texts describe the Nosferatu in their natural state as serpent or
worm-like. No one that I know of has actually seen one. However according to the
same literature, a Nosferatu enters the host and attaches itself to the brain
stem and becomes one with the host. This pairing imparts enhanced speed and
strength and a great resilience when it comes to injuries.”

“Interesting legend,” Iaido said. “But what does
it have to do with our situation?”

“I am getting to that.” Talia stopped her pacing
for a moment. “There is no easy way to explain this but humans were originally bred
to be the slaves of the Empire in ancient days. However, when the Nosferatu
arrived your race seemed to be more susceptible to the infestation than the Sylvans
or the Lemurians. At first, whole colonies of humans were wiped out in
precaution of the infestation but still the Nosferatu seem to spread. So, the
Sylvans and the Lemurians joined forces to exterminate the infestation.
Unfortunately, they couldn’t tell which humans were infected or not.”

Talia moved over to stand next to Xerxes. “So the Ancients
genetically altered a native insect from your world and created the Mantodea
with their sole purpose to hunt the Nosferatu.”

“Okay…for argument sake, let’s accept what you say
to be the truth,” said Iaido. “Again I ask, what has this legend to do with our
current situation?”

“According to the legends, the twin puncture marks
are the sign a Nosferatu has fed,” said Talia.

The huge Mantodea nodded his agreement.

“Wait!” Jay shouted. “When you said fed, you mean
this Nosferatu-thingy has drunk their blood?! You’re talking about a freakin’
vampire!”

Talia cocked her head slightly. “A what?”

Iaido also looked that his old friend. “I agree
with Talia, a what?”

“Come on! Don’t you two ever watch movies?”

Iaido looked and Talia then back at his friend.
“No. What’s a movie?”

Throwing his hands up in disgust, Jay explained.
“Movies are stories acted out on film. Think of them as a one dimensional holo-vid.
They were very popular in the twenty-first century and vampires were a common
theme in many movies. According to earth legends, the first vampire was Vlad Tepes.
He was sometimes known as the Impaler due to the fact that he used to impale
the heads of fallen enemies on pikes as a warning. His reputation for excessive
cruelty spread across ancient Europe. He was also known as Dracula, which meant
son of the dragon.”

DJ slammed his beer on the table. “Dracula! I’ve
seen that holo-disk. It was…strange but very entertaining.”

Iaido nodded. “I have read accounts of his battle
strategies. He was a leader who truly understood the many paths of war.” He turned
to Talia and asked, “Could our legends of vampires and your Nosferatu be the
same creature?”

She shrugged. “They could be. The Shadow Wars
continued for nearly five centuries with neither side gaining an advantage,
until a fateful decision was made. It was known that Nosferatu had a difficult
time surviving the cold, so the Ancients used their weapons to shatter the
fragile eco-system of Terra causing the world to be covered in ice. The
remnants of the two ancient races fled Terra, the Lemurians disappeared and the
Sylvans took to the stars. Both races took Mantodea with them as their new
slaves and left the humans to die from the cold.”

“But we survived,” Jay said. Rubbing his chin,
“Why isn’t any of this history known to my people?”

Talia snickered. “Some of it still is. You have
many fairy tales of trolls and elves. Not to mention the legends of Lemuria and
Atlantis.”

Jay started to say something else but Iaido
silenced him with a wave of his hand. “You seem to know a lot about an ancient
legend and much about the history of Earth. Why?”

Talia moved back to her seat and pulled forth her
tarot cards. “It is all part of our training at the Seminary.”

She absentmindedly shuffled her cards.

“Every Sylvan must attend one of five government
sanctioned institutions before taking their place in society. I was chosen to
be a mystic, so history was one of our primary lessons.”

“Okay. I’ll buy that. But I still don’t understand
what this shadow-drinker thing has to do with us?”

Drawing forth a card, Talia laid it flat on the
table. “Here is your answer.”

The image of the Grim Reaper confronted the
companions. The Death card…a universal sign that even the android Athena could
interpret.

Chapter 22

“Captain, sorry to disturb your rest but a priority
one message just came in for you.”

“Dammit!” Captain Dixon slammed his fist onto the
bulkhead. “I told you I was not to be disturbed!”

The young cadet stammered before continuing, “I…I
know that sir but this individual has information about Spartan.”

Bolting upright, Captain Dixon leapt to the comm
unit. “This is Captain Dixon of the JDL. Who are you?”

DJ’s image filled the screen. “Just an interested
party with information about a bounty hunter named Spartan. The word is that
you are paying handsomely for reliable information.”

“Only if it is good information and pertinent to
the JDL,” said Captain Dixon. “If you are calling just to tell me he’s located
in Haven at the moment, you are wasting your time and mine.”

“What if I could give you the location and time
Spartan will be within range of your fleet?” DJ looked over his shoulder
quickly, his eyes darting to the shadows. “Would that be worth something to
you?”

Captain Dixon leaned back in his chair. “How
much?”

“Since I know the time and location, how about
seventy percent of the bounty?”