Inherited War 3: Retaliation (5 page)

The former senator and current pain in Cole’s ass stood and demanded to be heard first. Of all the humans Cole had rescued from imprisonment on the Esii home world, this guy was one Cole wished he would have left. Shit, the guy had tried to pull off a coup in the middle of a holding action when the Esii were constantly attacking their position. Split and West held him off long enough for Cole to awake from a coma and knock some perspective into his brain. The man grated on his nerves and constantly plotted his fall. He was the epitome of a U.S. politician.

                        “If I may, Commander,” he politely asked. Everything was always polite and nice to your face but alone and in small groups, he was always spewing his poison. Cole nodded in his direction. “As most of you know, I was a Senator back on Earth. I have no small experience dealing with just the type of things we are talking about here today. Order, governments, and the setting up of committees and groups to oversee tasks. Please keep me in mind as you choose your section liaison to the Commander. Secondly, as Senator from the great State of California, I am a firm believer in equality and fairness, and as such, believe we are due some answers from our leadership.”

“Out with it,” Cole stated.

“Yes, yes, but of course.” He turned to face the majority of the crowd. He linked his hands and rested them on his chin for a moment before he began. “As many of you know and some of you have experienced, Earth was not always a kind place. Especially to those of a different,” he paused as if he was thinking and hadn’t planned this speech out in advance, “race, religion or whatever certain people said was different than the norm. As our Commander has pointed out, we are vulnerable and need all the protection we can get.” He was just getting worked up and was about to let loose when Cole interrupted him.

“This ends right now. No more bloviating, no more mealy mouthed accusations, no more passive aggressive attacks. Frankly, we don’t have time, and I don’t have the patience. Playing the middle and making statements that you cannot be held accountable for do not fly in this room. If you come in this room and want to accuse someone of something, then do it. If you want to support an idea, do it. So, be a man for once in your pathetic life and spit it out.” Cole had leaned forward in his chair to deliver the tongue lashing to the former senator.

The senator blanched at being interrupted and called out in front of every last living human. He flushed and tried to swallow to clear his throat.

“Rumors,” he squeaked out. “Rumors abound that there was a firefight in the Worlder section before they left, and that you were involved. Also that they left to cover up your involvement.” There he had said it; it was out in the open now.

“Liberating, isn’t it?” Cole asked. “Easy enough answered. I had some issues with the Worlders and lives were lost. They had come to the end of their mission and it was time for them to go. The Nixa left to deliver a message to their leaders and the Kin was allowed to stay behind. Does anyone else need clarification on the matter? No, ok move on then.” The former senator was stunned by the lack of reaction by the crowd. He sputtered something unintelligible and sat back down. Cole gave him a victory smile and settled in for the rest of the discussion. He felt good. Well it always felt good to put that a-hole in his place, but in general, here with his people, discussing the future calmed him and settled his mind. The rest of the day was filled with questions and suggestions from the benign to the esoteric, but it was filled with the voices of hope. Cole glanced at the back wall where Gavreal had been patiently watching the proceedings. The Kin was gone. Giving it no more thought, Cole turned his attention back to his people.

Sky looked around her new home. It was dark, damp, and noisy. She had moved into the maintenance passages shortly after discussing the plan with Bain. Luckily for her, Cole had not been in the hanger when the Worlders and her sister had left. The image of her walking from her room and boarding the ship had been a created image by Bain. The Worlders were in on it and acted like she was there, knowing the whole time she wasn’t. Bain was pretty pleased with himself at coming up with the idea in the first place. Packing up her few belongings, Sky had slipped quietly into a maintenance hatch located down the hall from her room. Bain had guided her to one of the bigger areas located in the passages. Unfortunately, since the only ones ever supposed to use the passages were repair and service bots, the passages were cold and cramped.    Bain had suggested the connecting tunnels where the hot water and power cables branched from their main line to the entirety of the base. It was warmer there than anywhere else and had more room, as well. The constant hum of power and gurgle of water would take some getting used to, but Sky could cope. She lay out the field gear she and Bain had retrieved from storage. She had a small camp chair, auto inflate/deflate mattress, and a sleeping bag. She kept it all packed up when not in use in case she had to move in a hurry. No one could know she was in here or it could cost her life. She had enough food and water for a few days and nearby access to a terminal. Now she just needed to figure out her first move. She had no idea where to start. Carrying her things with her in the backpack, she headed the hundred feet or so to the secure terminal. Bain was redirecting the repair bots to turn the terminal into a link computer but it was taking time.

“Hi, Bain, you there?” she asked as she arrived at the terminal.

“Yes, Sky, I am here and everything is secure,” the AI responded.

“Good. Have any luck searching the mainframe and storage for info?”

“No, unfortunately not. I have looked everywhere, but haven’t found anything that looks promising. Sorry, Sky.”

“Don’t start that now. We are just at the beginning of our search. Can’t get down on ourselves yet. Keep it up and cross-reference new things as we find them.  I just wish I knew where to begin.” Sky pulled out the folding camp chair and sat down in front of the terminal. She rested her elbows on her knees and held her head in her hands.

“Let’s start from the beginning. When Cole came here after escaping the Esii and got the ships, he had to have spent a few days here, right? Did you notice anything then?” she asked Bain.

“As you know, Cole left strict orders about monitoring him in his room, but I have all of the rest of the footage from public places. Let me go through it real fast.” Sky waited as Bain watched the hours of footage. “Nothing on the public feeds. Wait, here this may be something.” The screen on the terminal lit up with an image of a hallway. The time stamp was two in the morning, and it was the feed from outside Cole’s room on the base. Sky didn’t see anything but she heard something.

“It sounds like shouting and then banging around. Was there someone in there with him?”

“No, I checked. He goes in by himself and comes out again alone the next morning. There are no other points of entry to the room.” The recorded feed disappears and Bain’s face fills the screen.

Sky thought a moment before responding. “I spent my first night in his room when we arrived. I remember seeing a few dents in the wall. I never thought to ask him about it.” Sky grew quiet, and the AI took his queues from her. “So,” she began again, “it started here. He didn’t seem to have any problems while he was in space. I know he said he needed time to decompress, but I slept with him every night and he never got violent or had the kind of outbursts he has had here. That’s it then, something here has triggered it in him.

“I saw as much when I connected with him in the hanger the other night,” Gavreal said from behind her.

Sky screamed in horror as she spun around to face the Kin. Not even a full day in hiding and she was discovered. Unless, she could stop the Kin from reporting his discovery to Cole. Rolling over backwards in her chair, she crammed her hand into her backpack and came out fumbling with a small pistol. She brought it up to aim at the Kin but suddenly found herself motionless as he wrapped his arms around her and pinned them in close to her body. She hadn’t even seen him move.

“No,” she shouted at him. “I have to save him, please let me go. Please.”

“Sorry Sky,” Bain said. “I should have told you. He is here to help.”

Sky was hysterical though, and his words didn’t penetrate her fear and disappointment. Gavreal held her tight and whispered in her ear. Finally he got through to her and sensing her body relaxing, he released his grip and removed the pistol from her hands.

“I am sorry to have surprised you, Sky. Truly, I am sorry. I would have thought Bain would have mentioned me before now.” He helped the Nixa to her feet and returned her chair to its upright position. Sky flopped into it and held open the backpack for Gavreal to deposit the pistol. Cinching the now full backpack, she leaned it against the terminal within easy reach.

“Now, what were you saying?” she asked.

“I was agreeing with you. Something on this base is triggering the sudden change in the Creator Cole. I felt it when I connected to him earlier. He was filled with such rage and pain; I couldn’t get by the emotional walls he had up to find the source. Whatever it was, it was malevolent and evil. There was a familiar feel to it, but what it was exactly, I cannot place my fingers on.” Gavreal stood motionless as he spoke, his radiant clothing shimmering in the dim light. Powerful muscles pressed against the almost too tight clothes. After losing Cole and finding the Kin, Sky had nearly broken down. Gavreal had spent many hours helping her cope with her pain, loss, and despair over loosing Cole. She knew the big Kin well but was still slightly uncomfortable around him.

His face was neither human nor anything else she had seen before in the galaxy. Granted it had the same features as humanity, but there was something slightly different, haughty without arrogance. That the being was attractive went without saying. That he stirred something deep within her that usually only came out when she was with Cole, was definitely the case. He had never attempted or suggested anything inappropriate and Sky was grateful for that, he would be hard to resist.  She shuddered a little at the thought and then pushed it away.

“That is another reason we prefer to live apart from other races, we bring out a certain longing in others.” Gavreal said it off the cuff, but it still made Sky blush.

“Mind reading now?” she asked.

“No, simple observation. Elevated hear rate, blush to the cheeks, and slight perspiration, all signs of arousal. It is normal and to be expected. Also, it should be ignored and dealt with. We do not reproduce in exactly the same way as most bipedal humanoids do, so do not expect the normal reactions from me that most males give you,” he said.

“So what do we do? Start searching the base? Local space, what?” Sky asked him, trying her best to focus back on the issue.

“Nether, for now. First, we need to get Cole away from the base in order to disconnect him from whatever triggered his current mental state. He must be taken away from here and kept away for a few days, at least.”

“Ok, then what?” she asked him.

“Then, with my help, you enter his mind and confront him. You will either succeed and drive out whatever is confusing him, or lose your own mind forever.” Gavreal looked at Sky with a piercing gaze. “All or nothing, it is the only way.”

“Why just me? I know from experience you can enter a person’s mind. Can’t you help?” Sky asked.

“I will be facilitating your link to Cole. I will be the conduit through which you connect with his mind and enter it. I will lend you my strength and what aid I can, but will be unable to travel there with you. It will take most of my concentration and will to break into Cole’s mind and protect your conscious while you are there. I shall work with you over the next few days to prepare your mind.”

Sky asked the obvious question. “How do we get him away?”

“That’s my job,” a new voice had Sky grabbing for her pistol again. She was up in a flash and had a bead drawn on the human who stepped out of the shadows. West had his hands up and had stopped when he saw Sky’s piece trained on him.

“Whoa, don’t shoot,” he said in a calm level voice. “I am a friend.” He did a slow turn to show that he was unarmed. Sky never wavered.

“Didn’t seem too friendly when Cole was pounding on my sister and you kept us from stopping him.” Sky was angry, and getting angrier.

“Listen lady, we got a message from the computer that Cole needed us, and to come armed. Look at it from our point of view. We get a call to come as fast as possible, armed and ready to fight. We showed up and you guys had guns drawn. Cole saved us, and we were not taking chances. Frankly, we didn’t know you from a hole in the ground.” West crossed his arms over his chest and leaned on a power conduit. He locked eyes with Sky, then gave a big sigh. “Unfortunately, I don’t think that us showing up when we did was an accident. I think something is wrong with Cole, and we don’t have long to fix it. If anyone figures out that Cole has lost it, someone is going to call for his permanent removal. I can’t let that happen. I have also heard some stories of what you two have been through. I can’t believe that Cole would treat you like he has been, even if it was PTSD. So I am here to help. More importantly, here to get Cole off the base for a while.”