Inherited War 3: Retaliation (17 page)

“Follow me,” Snow said as she walked past him. Thalo did just that and wondered what he was missing as they passed by Nixa moving up and down the hallway. They walked for a short way before coming to a door on their left. Snow placed her open palm over the reader and the door obediently raised up into the ceiling, allowing them access.

They stepped into a hub of frenzied activity.

They were on a small balcony overlooking a large room. Stairs ran down from both the right and the left to the floor of the room below. Banks of computers formed orderly rows, and large flat screens hung the length of the walls. Nixa sat at every station and hovered in front of the screens. There were Nixa moving up and down the aisles, carrying trays loaded with steaming cups of stim drinks, data chips, food and other necessities. A low murmur of voices was the undertone of the whole room. No one was silent, but no one was overly loud either.

Thalo was caught off guard. Frankly, he was speechless. Then he saw the cleared space at the end of the cavernous room. He couldn’t see it clearly but there was a large wire frame holograph floating in the air. It was surrounded by important looking Nixa and a few other races. Snow pointed to that end of the room.

“Look,” she said. “There is father. He wants to see you.” She trotted briskly down the stairs to the floor and wove her way in and out of the press of bodies. Thalo and Ghost followed easily enough, Jeth had a harder time. The aisles between the computer stations were too narrow, so he had to move near the walls. There were a few muttered grumbles as Jeth forced his bulk through the milling watchers, but upon seeing who was forcing them to move they quieted down.

Walking the length of the room, the four came to a halt at the giant hologram. It was a wire frame of a building. No, Thalo thought. Building was an understatement. It was massive, bigger than anything he had seen. Snow’s father was talking to the others gathered around the image.

“All of the catacomb shelters are up and running at full capacity. We ensured that any of your people who were outside of the capitol made it into the nearest facility. I assure you, with the Sun Eater destroyed, we can survive indefinitely down here. Emergency messages have been sent to our allies and we expect responses soon. It may take some time as all transmissions are being scrambled. We had to send out shadow probes to each of your home worlds and a few others.” Heads were nodding in appreciation for what the Prime was saying.

Thalo took stock of the beings gathered around the Prime. There were Nixa, of course, but there were others as well. A Thrashodon and his aide were attentively watching the Prime as well as an Archon and a Yvern. Those were the only races of note; ones who actually had weapons and ships to contribute. The Archones system had a good size fleet that they routinely hired out and so did the Yvern’s.  Both races were friendly to the Nixa and would be troubled by the combined Roche and Esii attack on a friendly nation. Worried, as well.
Could we be next,
was usually the next thought anyone had in times like these, followed closely by
better to fight here than at home.

The Yvern’s were renowned for their dog fighting capabilities. Their small nimble crafts loaded with the right munitions can devastate larger fleets. Their strong scaly skin, in combination with dual hearts, makes them able to withstand faster acceleration and tighter turns than any other creature. The Archones, on the other hand, were consummate tacticians. They preferred organized assaults with the whole shebang. Screening fighters with fast attack craft. Large capitol ships that hung back and fired from a distance. Bulky defense ships that could act as shields for the larger ones. Anything that they thought would minimize damage and maximize offense was what they preferred. It usually served them well, but this fleet was massive. Larger than the one that had just besieged Thalo’s home. Thalo interrupted the Prime.

“Wait, are you saying there are more of these bunkers on this world?”

The Prime turned to regard the Worlder before speaking. “Yes, each city has one underneath it. Each one holds one million beings. There are one thousand of these sites around the planet.”

“How many beings are currently on the planet?” Thalo asked.

“Ten times the number we can save. But those on the surface will not be alone. Mass evacuations have been ordered and the populace is moving into the countryside. From what our up looking sensors are showing, the Roche are planning to launch a ground assault, not planetary bombardment. We can supply the forces we have top side from these catacombs with weapons, food, and medical aide. From rooms like this one in all the sites, we have access to what’s left of the sensor grids and can direct the fighting or warn groups if they are about to be discovered.” Everyone was quiet while Thalo absorbed all of this.

“What happened to the planetary shield?” Was Thalo’s next query.

“Sabotage,” the Prime said quietly. “Possessed, we assume, Nixa destroyed them just as the Roche moved into our system.”

“You know what that means then?” Thalo asked. The Prime gave him a quizzical look.

“Damn it, that means that there are saboteurs in here as well.” Thalo’s words sunk in fast to the Prime.

“Oh no,” he whispered. “I…I don’t know what to do.”

“Is Uriel still alive?” The Prime nodded yes. “Let him go. Give him free reign, and he will clear them out in no time. Tell your people to leave him alone and to stay out of his way. He won’t kill anyone who isn’t possessed or stays out from under foot. This is what he does. This is what he lives for.” Thalo finished speaking.

“He is right, Poppa; Uriel can find the possessed and deal with them. With the fate of our people in the balance, we can’t afford to let these bases become compromised,” Snow said.

“Do it,” he ordered the Nixa standing at his elbow. The Nixa nodded and ran away with his orders.

“Fire?” Thalo asked.

“Under lock and key,” the Prime said.

“Good, I guess. Onto other matters, can we see the image of the Roche that tried to talk to you before the Esii interrupted?” Thalo said

“No, Thalo, don’t.” The rumbled statement came from Jeth.

“What’s going on?” Snow asked.

“Just let me see the image, please.”

“Thalo, you know who it is as well as me. Don’t push it.” Jeth was actually beginning to sound irritated.                       

Jeth’s objections were overruled as a giant image of the Roche leader appeared where the wire frame holo had been moments before.

“Here it is, sir,” a Nixa tech said. “Though, they all look the same to me. Who is he?”

“It is him, isn’t it, Jeth?” Thalo asked in a low voice.

“I told you, yes.”

“What?” Snow asked. “Who is who?”

“Is she here you think?” Thalo asked and the looks of confusion grew.

“I would assume, I asked you not to go into this,” Jeth stated.

“I know, but you know why I have to ask—why we have to find out?” Thalo said, turning from the image to look at his bond mate.

“I will do it, if she is here. But this is on your head. If I die it will be you that goes crazy, more crazy,” Jeth said with reassignment heavy in his voice.

“May I ask what you are talking about, please? I don’t want anyone to die, let alone Jeth,” Snow said.

“Death is easy, anyone can do it. Losing a bond mate is a fate worse than death,” Thalo said as he turned back to the image. “Okay, you can get rid of it.” The image disappeared and the wire frame of the base popped back in its original place. “Do you want to tell or should I?” Jeth only grunted then remained silent.

“Well, let’s see. It was, what, fifteen years ago, I think. We, me and Jeth, had just really settled into our rolls as watchers on the Pitt. We had our aliases built and our income secured. We had made some inroads with the local cartels and with the embassy missions on the moon. Things were going great when the damn Roche threw in a wrench. It seems that a certain Roche clan leader decided that he wanted not just a piece of the action on Pitt, but the whole thing. This Clan Leader was a bit different than the normal everyday heads of the Clans. He liked to kidnap scientists and make them work on his special projects. He probably had the most advanced Clan in the Roche system.” Thalo walked over, grabbed a chair, and wheeled it over to his attentive audience. Jeth let out a big sigh.

“This Leader had the big idea of coming in full force and ousting the local crime bosses. He and his troops were outfitted in above average weapons and armor created by his team of captive scientists. He also had a few paid tactical advisors who came up with the plan of attack. Normally the Roche go in full bore and destroy everything in their paths. That wouldn’t work on Pitt because they needed the basic economy intact; they needed the bosses gone and their goons.  Of course, we were nervous because a Roche controlled Pitt would be bad for our mission, but what could we do. There were only two of us, after all. We figured we would dig in and wait it out. Hopefully the humans wouldn’t pick that moment to return, and we would find a work around to a Roche dictatorship. Then the solution to our problem fell right into our laps.” Thalo checked to make sure he had everyone’s attention. He smiled a bit; he loved a good story, especially when he got to tell it.

“As we were making our way to our underground lair, we were accosted by one of our own. He was dirty, skinny and clearly deranged. He had lost his bond mate years before and had never recovered.”

“Accosted is too light of a word, he attacked us,” Jeth rumbled, interrupting Thalo.

“Yes, well, to the point, after we calmed him down—by that I mean Jeth knocked him out, we took him to our warehouse and restrained him. We woke him up and then he started to blabber. He went on and on about how he was a prisoner on the Roche homeworld and how he had been forced into many medical tests. That’s when we found out about the kidnapped scientists. Then his story got interesting. He started to talk about some code of honor the Roche had. He said that no one outside of the Roche knew about it, that he had found out by accident. He claimed that when the Roche attacked, they always pause for a few moments right before they launch, a mere few seconds, but that time was the key. Once they had passed the momentary lull of action and before they actually engaged their enemy, you could challenge them to single combat.” Thalo watched as surprise lit up the faces of his audience, which had grown by the way.

“We didn’t believe him, of course, until…” Thalo paused for a dramatic effect.

“Until what?” Snow said, asking aloud what everyone was thinking.

“Until the fleet moved to attack and paused, for only a few seconds at the most. Jeth acted faster than me. He opened all frequencies and issued a challenge to the incoming fleet. Single combat against their strongest fighter. To our utter shock the fleet stopped, cold. Then we got our response. The clan leader was forced to accept though he was clearly mad that an outsider had knowledge of their customs. He demanded to know who had told us about the Code of Battle, and when we refused, he cursed at us for a bit then sent his champion. Our new friend then proceeded to explain the process as far as he understood it. The first party challenges, the second accepts, then the first party sets victory conditions and finally the second chooses the stakes. One hour after the challenge is finalized; the two champions meet in a large open area to fight. Both sides have seconds and a cadre of guards to ensure there is no interference.” Thalo took a breath and waited for questions. Hearing none, he continued. Thalo liked smart audiences, fewer interruptions.

“Now, the part our new friend neglected to tell us about was how his bond mate died. He was used in an experiment to alter Roche genetics. He didn’t live through the procedure, but they did accomplish what they set out for. They managed to transplant the genes that give Worlders like Jeth their size and strength to a Roche embryo. We were surprised when their ship landed and a Roche walked off almost as big as Jeth. It was just me and Jeth there, though there was heavy betting taking place around the city and a few enterprising individuals were broadcasting the fight around the city for a fee. The Roche had their champion, the Clan Leader, and his escort. I will skip the blow by blow but sufficed to say, Jeth won and received a beating to boot.”

Jeth grunted in amusement. “I was down for three weeks. I had broken bones, torn muscles, and a few ruptured organs. I only won because my neck muscles were stronger and when we both got locks on each other’s necks, I held my breath longer.” Snow lay a soothing hand on Jeth’s arm and looked on with compassion.

“Be that as it may,” Thalo continued, “Jeth won and banned the Roche from Pitt for a year. That Clan Leader was upset but he never came back.”

“You don’t think that would work again do you?” Snow asked.

“No, I don’t. The Esii will not let the Roche back off, but it may buy us time,” Thalo said.