Knaleg: A Terraneu Novel (Book 3) (10 page)

“
Shut down all power to the port pad immediately
.”
Knaleg yelled in mind frantically to the controllers as soon as they cleared
the threshold. “
Emergency meeting of the council
in the medical unit,
Square of Four...Now
!” He rushed with Asteen still over his shoulder to the
NE-1 medical dome. Catherine, Ailech and Jax were right behind him.

“
I am coming
.” Kniam answered immediately.

Knollig answered after that, “
I will be right
there
.”

“
I am on my way
.” Thian hurried to add.

“
I am in the technology dome
.” Kneus spoke in
mind, but finished out loud when he met them in the medical dome through a
different door. “What do you need me to do?”

“We were ambushed on Antilles. I will re-play as
much as I am able when the others get here.” Knaleg didn’t hesitate to place
Asteen into the medical unit as he talked. “They used some type of concussion
grenade. Ailech and Asteen were at the front and took the brunt of the blast.
Asteen more than Ailech.”

He paused in his recitation when Kneus took over
cataloging Asteen’s injuries. “I don’t see any physical damage. There is some
faint bruising, but no outward injuries. The technology used would have to be
similar to ours.” Knaleg just shook his head over Kneus’ insatiable scientific
curiosity and started the medical unit. He wasn’t sure what damage had been
done internally to his friend, but Asteen hadn’t regained consciousness since
the ambush and that was not a good sign.

Kniam and Knollig both rushed in together. Kniam
explaining, “We were at my domicile when you called for a meeting.” His gaze
took in the ragged group, finally landing on Asteen in the medical unit. “Jax
go to a medical unit in New Haven. I can have Gwen sent for if you require it.”

“I can make my way to New Haven, there is no need to
get Gwen” He bowed quickly and still holding his arm left the medical dome,
passing Thian in the doorway.

After a second of concentration Kniam said, “I have
ordered a lockdown on the square. What happened Knaleg?”

Knaleg found Catherine at his side and pulled her
into his arms. For her comfort or his it didn’t matter at the moment. He just
knew he needed to be holding her. Once he had her firmly against him, he
replayed as much of the incident on Antilles as he could into the minds of the
others. He absently rubbed his fingers against her arm, only stilling for a
moment in his caress when he got to the part when he had been stunned.

“Catherine is the only one who was awake for the
whole of the attack.” Knaleg spoke out loud so she would know that it was time
for her to explain what she had seen.

“After I dove into Knaleg, the man in the middle
used his weapon to stun him anyway.” She began, “After he was incapacitated the
leader had his group take off their headgear, and they were humanoid.”

“Were they Earth humans?” Thian asked.

“No. They were all tall, extremely pale and every
one of them had really dark blue eyes. I found that on Earth that is a rarity
to have a group with
all
the same characteristics.” Catherine shrugged.
“Like all Terraneu males are tan and tall with purple eyes.”

The males in the room stilled at her description of
the alien party, “What happened then?” Kniam asked.

“After they took off their headgear, two men argued
with their leader about wasting time. They had tracked a power source and were
tasked with finding that. If they happened across humanoids they were to
capture them. I tried shooting the stun gun at the two males coming for me, but
they were shielded. After they tried to get their hands on me, I used the knife
to dissuade them of that notion. I was getting tired when the leader suddenly
stopped us.”

She moved to sit on one of the medical beds. Then
resumed talking, “The leader had the two men that were standing with him, kill
the two I was fighting. Then he told me that I had five minutes to get everyone
moving, that he wasn’t the only scouting party, and that if I didn’t move fast
enough I would be front row to what he called a “hellish” experience.” She
shuddered visibly on the medical bed so Knaleg rushed over to rub her
shoulders. She smiled weakly at him then continued, “I believed him so hurried
to get to Knaleg. Before he was gone he did give one last warning. He said to
tell you, ‘we are coming’.”

“Why would the strange leader have his men kill two
of his own party?” Knaleg asked.

“What did he mean by that parting comment?” Knollig
was fretting over the words the leader had said as a final warning.

“What amazing weaponry. To be able to have armor and
shielding is advanced technology to be sure. It’s fascinating.” Kneus mumbled.

“I wouldn’t quite say that.” Kniam snapped, “We have
hostile humanoid aliens scouting Antilles for a power source that we have to
assume was ours. Also we have a council member with sever injures in a medical
unit.” His brother started pacing around the medical bay.

Catherine spoke up again, “The two men I was faced
off with said something about me being a ‘real woman’ and I was a ‘prize’. They
were going to subdue me and take me to a ship they called ‘Elyon’.”

Knaleg froze for a second when Catherine said the
name Elyon. Something in his mind snapped to attention, then the sense of
urgency danced away. Leaving him feeling calm, he couldn’t remember what they
had been talking about a moment before. He noticed the others now had a dazed
looks on their faces and he was sure he looked the same.

“What were we just talking about?” He asked a bit
stunned.

Catherine looked at him, “The ambush on Antilles.”
She was peering into his face with a worried expression, “The strange leader
who killed two of his own men and his warning...?”

It all came back to him then, “Yes, of course.”

Kniam seemed to snap out of it also, “He said that
not everyone was loyal to him, the two that were killed must have been loyal to
another. Which means the man we keep referring to as the “leader” is really
just another soldier.”

Knollig jumped in, “So he killed the other two so
that Knaleg, Catherine and the others could get away. It just doesn’t make
sense.” He continued, “If they are searching for humanoids and found them, why
let them go?”

Ailech filled in this part, “He must have been
trying to keep us from being subjected to what he referred to as ‘Hell’. He
hurried us away from there to keep us from being taken. Whoever this strange
man was, he saved us from being caught.”

The medical unit beeped, informing the group that it
had a diagnosis for Asteen. Kneus rushed over to read the findings. Then with a
sigh of relief he informed the group that Asteen would make a full recovery.

The members of the council kept going over the
details of the ambush on Antilles. Catherine had fallen asleep on one of the
medical beds. Finally when everyone was too tired to talk it over anymore it
came down to one thing.

“We have to prepare.” Kniam stated matter of factly.
“The male let you go and gave us a warning. We can do no less than take his
warning to heart and prepare. We will have to inform the female council and all
the members of the community.” He turned to Kneus. “The priority is still to
make pregnancy and childbirth less hazardous, but I want you to shift your
duties from the swimming pond to weapons and shielding.”

Kneus nodded, “I have almost finished with the
modifications to the stationary medical units. There are some that are portable
now, and can do emergency work on infants and smaller children. Gwen has been
trained in their use.” He glanced around the room, “I will pass the finalizing
of the swimming pond to Fortem. There has to be more extensive information on
weapons and shielding further in the files. We had to have had shielding to
travel in space, if it is there I will find it.”

Kniam put his hand on Kneus’ shoulder, “I know you
will brother. I have complete faith in your abilities.” He moved to stand
before his brothers, Thian and Ailech.

 
“I want one
thing to be certain in all of our minds as this information is passed to the
community.” He paused making eye contact with all of them in turn, “We are
going to keep our families safe! There is no outside threat that we will not
defend against. We have found our happiness here on Terraneu, and we will not
give it up!”

All the council members formed a ring, each with
their arm on the shoulder of the male next to him.

“
We will not give up
!” They all vowed
fervently.

After a moment all of the males separated. Ailech
made to go to his dome for some much needed rest. Kniam, Knollig and Thian went
to their homes to speak with their mates. The full telling would come at a
joint council meeting as soon as Asteen was able to attend. For now the males
would tell their mates the minimum details of the attack.

Knaleg gently gathered Catherine into his arms. He
could have lost her today. When the explosion had knocked him back and away
from her his heart had almost stopped. His only thought had been to get to her
side. When he had started toward her, and she had shouted that there was a
threat behind him he almost hadn’t cared. He had wanted to reach her, but knew
that he had to protect the party if he could. Turning and seeing those figures
coming through the smoke, one with his weapon pointed at him. There was no way
to avoid the shot that was coming. Instead of regret or panic, he had felt a
calm sweep over him. He had found love with Catherine and if it ended at that
moment, there on Antilles he would be at peace. Then she had thrown herself
against him to prevent him from getting shot. Even though the leader had ended
up stunning him anyway, she had shown true bravery in fighting today. He knew
she was a brilliant fighter when it came to the practicing they did in the training
dome. He had even more respect for her now. She had kept her cool, and fought
bravely. Whatever was coming in their future, he knew they would face it
together.

The joint council meeting was held as soon as Asteen
was able to attend the next day. All of the males and females of both councils
were in attendance. Catherine had gone over the attack again, with the help of
a holographic representation of events. Kneus had helped her piece together and
project the events she remembered. It was eerie to watch her avatar fighting
faceless opponents.

“After he had his men kill the two I was fighting,
he gave the final warning and disappeared into the trees.” Catherine finished
her accounting and paused the hologram.

“Why would he kill his own men?” Amber bit out
tensely, her normal happy demeanor taking a hit.

“We figure the two that did the killing are loyal to
him, the two he killed are loyal to an unknown leader.” Kniam replied. “He
wanted our people to get away for some unknown reason.”

“So there is someone tracking a power source that is
almost certainly from Terraneu, either the port pad or the cloning facility.”
Mairi clarified, “Also that these humanoids have shielding and superior fire
power?”

“I wouldn’t say ‘superior’ fire power.” Kneus
protested, “Just different, and advanced. I haven’t gotten very far into our
database yet, but I am confident we will find similar technology was used
sometime in our past.”

“What about the description of the males.” Gwen
picked up the conversation drawing everyone’s attention to her, “All of them
were extremely pale, with dark hair and cobalt blue eye color.” She paused to
glance at Kneus, “Are you thinking what I am thinking?” She asked.

“Probably. You have a keen mind Gwen.” Kneus didn’t
notice the happy flush of color at his compliment but Catherine did. She raised
her eyebrow at Gwen, who just averted her eyes. “We need to do more research,
but I am assuming we are on thinking the same thing.”

“Which is?” Thian asked irritably.

When Gwen went to say what she thought was the
reason, Kneus stopped her with a wave of his hand.

“I would prefer to do research and have a definitive
answer before we speculate.” He stalled them from asking further questions, “I
would rather deal with certainties for now, if we could.”

“All right, here is one thing for certain.” Kniam
took the floor, “We will not be using the port pad to Antilles in the
foreseeable future. We may be able to do a one-way transport of sugar cane to
Zerxix once or twice a year to maintain our alliance. However our travel
through the port pad is finished.”

“I agree.” Catherine wasn’t about to justify the use
of the port pad when they had been warned by Marcael. They needed to work on
fortifying Terraneu. “Are we able to clone the things we usually trade for on
Antilles?”

“We don’t have to clone the animal life.” Kneus
stated, “We just have to allow for the breeding.”

“Gnowlers don’t require any medical fix. They will
reproduce to the optimum number allowed by their food source. Which here on
Terraneu is the grass.” Amber knew this much about gnowlers.

“We can put the sacath through medical to allow for
reproduction...” Ailech started to say but was interrupted by Amber.

“You mean Cebat and Tabec can have babies?” She
almost squealed in her excitement.

Kniam had moved to her side, “Yes Amber. We can
allow for the limited reproduction of the sacath we have here since Antilles is
to be cut off from us.”

Catherine was impatient to talk about security, and
so it would seem was Knaleg.

“What about security?” He broke in. “Not that I
don’t love the sacath Amber so don’t give me that look. We need to worry about
the safety of the community.”

“I agree with Knaleg.” Catherine went to his side,
“When Marcael warned us it was for a reason.”

All of the males suddenly lost the focused look in
their eyes.

 
“What were
we talking about?” Asteen asked into the stunned silence.

The females just looked baffled at each other.

“We are making plans for Terraneu because of the
attack on Antilles.” Jen answered distractedly, eyeing a silent Thian with a
worried expression on her face.

Ailech shook his head, “Oh yes...now I remember. We
were talking about security measures to be taken.”

“Yes. Marcael told us they are coming, we have to
prepare.” Catherine started to say only to have the males go blank again.

Gwen jumped up and ran over to check the eyes of the
nearest male, which happened to be Kneus. “Did this happen when you were
talking with them yesterday?” She asked Catherine.

“Yes, but only once. I said the name ‘Elyon’ I think,
and they went blank.” Catherine was shocked when the males went slack in their
seats. “What is going on Gwen!?”

“I’m not sure but when you say those two names, the
males have some kind of hypnotic block. They seem to lose their train of
thought every time you say them!” Gwen snapped her fingers in front of Kneus’
face. “Kneus? Are you okay?”

Kneus shook his head, then saw Gwen right in front
of him, “What is it Gwen? Are you okay?”

“Am I okay?” Gwen almost laughed, “You males are the
ones that keep going lights off on us.”

“What is she talking about?” Kniam was rubbing his
head.

“Every time Cat says the name ‘Marcael’ you men...oh
shit!” Amber blushed, “Sorry about that.” All of the females took a male and
started snapping their fingers, and shaking them awake.

“Nobody say the name!” Gwen yelled out.

“What is going on?” The men almost all said at once.

“We can’t say the name of the leader on the Antilles
attack. You men all go blank when we try.”

“That is something that will need to be fixed!”
Kniam snapped swinging his gaze to Kneus.

“Agreed.” Kneus seemed deep in thought. “There is
only one way I can think this could have been done, and again I want to wait
until I have definitive answers to tell you.” He looked to Gwen. ”I am going to
need your help.”

Catherine thought Gwen looked as if she had been
given an early Christmas present. “Of course. I would be more than happy to
help you in any way possible.” Gwen smiled a radiant smile at Kneus that had
him looking at her funny.

“So we have decided that Kneus is going to work on
the technology end of this whole puzzle with the help of Gwen.” Kniam broke in,
“finding weaponry, shielding and whatever is making us go blank at the mystery
soldier’s name.”

“Don’t forget the name of the ship. That makes you
go blank also!” Catherine thought it would helpful to point out.

“Yes.” Knaleg frowned, “I will work with our
existing military force, train them harder if need be to get prepared.”
Everyone groaned at the thought of Knaleg training the men even harder, well everyone
but Catherine who just smiled.

They went around the room, everyone taking tasks or
agreeing to help others. Soon enough the meeting was adjourned and everyone
scattered to start on their new responsibilities. It was decided that Kniam
would let the rest of the community know about the new threat, and the
decisions made to ensure the safety of Terraneu.