Resurrection (The Inherited War) (35 page)

The container was dark until the point when the door stopped swinging up.  A bank of lights flooded the container with nearly blinding light.  Cole blinked away the spots forming in front of him and sucked in his breath.

It couldn’t be he thought, that was a hallucination forced into his mind by the Esii.  He blinked and rubbed at his eyes not believing what he was seeing.   Cole stared at the face of his father.  This man may have claimed to be his father, but was that who he really was?  There was only one way to find out.

“Help me get him out of there.”  Cole said in a quiet voice.  Cole and two others moved forward into the container.  A quick glance at the controls told everything Cole needed to operate the stasis machine.  With a few deft moves of his fingers, the machine was powering down and releasing its captive.  The man gave a soft groan as he fell into the waiting arms of Cole’s helpers.  “Quick get him to the med station.” 

Cole moved out of the way as they hustled the limp body out into the open and moved in the direction of one of the two medical stations.  Cole stepped out and watched the retreating backs of the men as they moved out.

“Did you know him?”  The soft voice of Anastacia came from over his right shoulder.

“Yes.  No.  I don’t know, maybe.  It was, I saw him when I was being tortured.”  There was a slight hitch in Cole’s voice as he spoke.  “They hit me hard.  Gave me what I wanted the most my whole life.  That man played the part of my dad.  Whether he actually is, is something else entirely.”

“I am sorry Cole,” She said, “Split has told me some of what they put you through.  It must be a great pain to have it all brought back.  If there is anything I can do, do not hesitate to ask.”  She reached up and placed her hand on the middle of his back and let it linger for a moment.

“I, I don’t know.”  Cole’s hands clenched into fists.  “Damn it.  Just when I was starting to get into a routine and deal with everything, this happens.  Ana, go with them and wait, come get me when, if he wakes up.  I need some time.”  With that he turned and walked away.

~

Cole cursed the smallness of the plateau.  There wasn’t anywhere on this damn rock he could get away.  Hell he had even tried going back down inside but all the remaining containers just reminded him of what was waiting for him up top.  He had finally given up trying to get away and had settled for just being left alone.

Cole had thought himself lucky, in a way.  Lucky in a few ways that is.  Since his escape from captivity, well relative escape, he had first been busy fighting his way out.  Then he found the men and fought to the women.  Then they had to make ready for their ascent to the surface and finally all the mundane chores of organizing and surviving filled his time and distracted his brain.

Now he was forced to think.  That made him sweat.  Once again he could feel the crushing weight of the sand as it filled the small box he was in.  Unable to move, barely able to breathe.  The overwhelming feeling of suffocating, without dying.    Hours, days maybe.  It had been too much for him, he remembered that clearly.  His nanites had shut down his brain when he couldn’t take it anymore.

Cole suddenly felt trapped on the small plateau.  His suit was tightening in around him.  He began gasping for air.  His hands tore feebly at the clothing that may have well been painted on.  His mind lost focus and he forgot that all it took was a simple command and the suit would pool limply at his feet.  Cole collapsed on the ground.  He stared up into the foul sky.  Smoke and ash clogged the atmosphere.  Static lightning tore across the heavens.   His mind began to replay the heinous things they had done to him.

A scream, so primal and full of pain, ripped from his throat.  His hands clutched at the ground around him.  He writhed as his body remembered the phantom pains the Pyndingum had convinced his mind were real.  He heard voices, their voices.  They were in his head, taunting him.  He realized his arms and legs were free.  Cole lashed out at his hated enemies.  More voices, all around him.  Hazy outlines against the hellish sky.  Cole tried to roll away, gain his feet and fight.  Not this time he yelled.  Not without a fight.

Suddenly a massive weight smothered him from behind.  “NO!”  He howled as he realized his doom.  He fought on, to no avail.  As consciousness faded he willed himself to die.  He couldn’t go through it again.  No more.  Darkness.

~

Split gently loaded Cole into the empty medical unit.  Split fastened the restraints around Cole’s arms and legs.  Wisely he left the coffin like lid open.  Adjusting the controls of the unit, Split put Cole to sleep for the next twenty-four hours.   Satisfied, Split turned to look at the worried crowed that had gathered behind him.

They looked scared.  Also worried.  Split glanced across and saw Anastacia sitting faithfully by the man that might be Cole’s father.  She offered him a weak smile.  Split looked back at the crowd.  He was sure that everyone who could, was here.  Split stood at his full height.  He towered over the humans by a foot or two.  Someone spoke.

“What happened?”  The first question started the avalanche.

“Is he okay?”

              “Was he attacked?”

“I heard
              they can get into our minds, did they get into his?”

             
Split held up his massive arms and waited for silence.  After a few more muttered questions the crowd fell still.  Split wished his brother was the one here.  Like most of his race Split was a being of few words.  He preferred action, not speech.

             
“Please, calm down.  Cole will be alright.  He suffered greatly under the tortures of the Esii.  The man,” Split pointed to the other medical unit, “we found in stasis may be Cole’s father.  He was used against Cole while he was tortured.  I believe Cole has been so focused on keeping us alive that he has never dealt with what happened to him.  No being, none, should have to go through what Cole went through.  The Esii mastered the art of torture and have been practicing it for thousands of years.  One in a billion beings could have survived what they did to Cole.  We are safe, well fed, and have water and breathable air.  Cole needs time to deal with what happened to him. He has proven himself strong time and time again.  He will come out of this.”  As Split finished his short speech he saw, minutely, the level of stress and some of the fear ease off the humans faces.  The worry remained.

             
A woman stepped forward.  “Can we stay here and help him?”  She glanced around.  “I mean we owe him our lives.  Can we stay near him and pray or talk to him?  Try to offer support?”

             
“Yes.  Words of comfort might do him good.”  Split chuckled inside as he said those words.  The sedative coursing through his veins had him dead to the world.  But if it helped these people cope then so be it.

“Brother mine, I worry.”  Split said in his mind.

“Why?”  Came the mental response.

“I fear this may be my fault.”

“How could it possibly be your fault?”

“I have spent much effort distracting Cole’s mind from what troubles him.  There was no time for him to deal with this here.  I was hoping to get him somewhere safe before encouraging him to deal with his troubles.”

“The fault is mine.  I should have opened the container down below.  I recognized the man from Cole’s torture as well.  He was the one in the room trying to convince Cole to surrender.  I should have realized this would happen.  I would have killed the man and destroyed his body.”

             
“We share the blame.  Once the sedative begins to wear off, I will endeavor to aid his mind in the healing process.  For now I am off to wreak havoc where I can.”

             
“Time is ending for us.  I don’t want it to end for me alone.”

             
“Have no fear brother.  We are, as always, together.”

             
His brother was gone.  Split moved away from the crowd as a few women and men came forward to offer their prayers and words of thanks and encouragement to their beleaguered leader.

~

              Awareness came to Cole like a splash of cold water.  He didn’t react.  He remained still with his eyes closed and body relaxed.  His mind was a haze mess of half remembered actions and hastily shouted words.  After a moment of struggle he let go and let his mind organize itself.  Slowly things began to focus.  Then it all came crashing back.  They had found his father.  Cole knew it was his father because it looked just like the holo Hal chose for his appearance.  More haggard and drawn, but the same. 

             
Cole was not captive again, that much he knew.  But he was restrained.  The shapes he saw and voices he had heard when he breaking down must have been his people trying to stop him from hurting himself or someone else.  He felt a soft feminine hand holding onto his and quiet words nearby.

             
Cole listened for a minute, slowly his brain un-fogged and he could make out her words.  She appeared to be whispering a prayer of some kind.  Asking god to heal him and return him to them.  Slightly he returned pressure on her hand.  It took her a moment to realize what had just happened.  Her words suddenly choked off and she sucked in a little breath of air.

             
“Thank you for your prayers.”  Cole opened his eyes and turned his head.  There was a large crowd of his people milling around the medical unit he was strapped into.  He spoke again, in a louder voice.

             
“Thank all of you for sticking by me.  I am sorry if I have disturbed anyone or physically hurt any of you.  I lost myself for a moment, but I think I'm fine now.”  Cole flexed his arms as much as he could.  “Could you please take these off?”

             
The women looked back at the crowd before shrugging and unstrapping Cole.  She stood and backed away as Cole removed the restraints on his legs.  Sitting up he stretched his upper body and rose to his feet.

             
The crowed looked at him expectantly.  “I am fine, thanks folks.”  Cole glanced over to the other medical station.  He saw his father still reclined in the other medical station.  Good not awake yet, something he could put off for another day.

             
“Are we done going through the containers downstairs?”  Cole asked someone, anyone in the crowd who knew the answer.

             
“No,” came the response.

             
“Let’s stop wasting time hanging around here and get to it.”  Cole looked at the women who had been sitting and holding his hand.  He reached out and placed a firm hand on her shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.  “Thanks again.”  She nodded her head in acceptance.  Cole turned and headed back to the gaping maw.

INTERLUDE III

             
Repairs had gone better than expected.  The Savior was at nearly one-hundred percent.  Fury eased back in his chair and enjoyed the silence of the bridge.  He had, in accordance with tradition, released his crew to shore leave on the Homeworld while the ship was under repair.  All that was left was a skeleton crew and the dock workers aiding in the repair of the ship.

             
Fury snickered as he thought back to the day they had returned to Nixa.  The Prime Administrator had not been happy, not in the least.  There were very few matters the Prime could directly involve himself in and this was one of them.  The government gave the military their orders from the capitol, not on the bridge of a starship.  Especially when the most prized vessel in the fleet had been removed from its protective orbit of the system for a few days without warning.  To add injury to insult it was brought back in worse shape than when it left.

             
Fury had reported to his superiors, and Fire had taken the brunt of the blame.  Fury, after all, was just a soldier following orders.  Fire had been sanctioned by the Prime and was banned from military craft for the foreseeable future.  Since every craft the government owned was technically a naval ship, Fire found himself hopping rides on commercials.  Fury’s grin widened even more at that thought.  Commercial frigates and transports moved at half the speed of the slowest military ride.

             
A com chime sounded over the internal speakers.  Fury placed his hand over the bonding device on his chair and felt himself fall into the ship.  The VR Bridge was as empty as the real one.  Fury answered the incoming call.

             
“Sir, first transport is en route.  ETA of all officers and enlisted, two hours.”  The spaceport deck officer finished his report.

             
Thanks SP1; you have my thanks for returning my men to me.”  Fury replied.

             
“Not a problem Admiral.  I hope you guys figure out what is going on out there.”  That was a highly irregular response from a subordinate.

             
“You and me both SP1.”  Fury switched off the link and settled back to wait.  Good to his word, it took just under two hours to ship all of his personnel from the planet below to their duty assignment.  He had lost some men to retirement and transfers but they had all been replaced with equally competent officers and enlisted.  After confirming all personnel were aboard and accounted for he gave orders to his first watch bridge crew.

             
He disconnected with the ship and sat back to wait their jump to warped space.  The wait was shorter than the trip.  One moment they were inside the Nixa home system, the next they were hundreds of light years away in an empty spot in the galaxy.  Fury quickly reestablished his link with the ship and ordered his men to put full power to the sensors.  He sounded the alarm for non-engagement general quarters and settled in to wait.

             
Two hours and thirty minutes later the ship picked up the power spike of a ship reentering normal space from warped space.  Fury brought the sensor data to his position and looked it over carefully.  That was it.  This was the ship they had been sent out to meet.

             
“Bridge to cargo hold one,” he waited for acknowledgement from the crew in that cargo hold.  “Make ready for acceptance of one heavy class freighter.  Quarantine protocol.  No one comes off, no one goes on.  Do a full sweep for anything.  Trackers, radiation, bio or chem.  No one, I repeat, no one goes near that ship or talks to anyone on it am I understood?”  Fury finished his orders.

             
“Yes sir.”  The response came back over his com.

             
“Thank you.”  He cut the channel.  Turning to his XO Fury said.  “XO you have the com.”  The Xo acknowledged the order and moved into Fury’s seat as fury disconnected from the ship.  Walking slowly he headed out into the ship and towards the cargo hold about to become occupied by the new ship.

             
It only took a few minutes for Fury to reach his destination and he saw the flurry of activity around the consoles outside of the cargo bay.

“Chief,” Fury said to the enlisted man in charge.

“Sir, she is pretty banged up.  Frankly I'm surprised she made it here in one piece.  She has got one hell of a Captain that’s for sure.”

             
“She should, we put our best on her.  Once she has been cleared, order her crew to disembark and open a path for them to go to the med lab.  Once they are done there I want to see them in my office.  No one here is to talk to them, understand? And make sure the medical team only asks questions pertaining to their health.”

             
“Yes, sir.”  The chief replied.

             
Fury turned and headed back up to his office.  He waited with anticipation while the ship and crew were cleared.  They were taking no chances.  Nothing they had sent out before had returned.  This ship was the first and hopefully the last.

             
Finally after another hour of waiting his office door chimed.  He waved it open and two Nixa walked in and saluted.  Fury stood and returned their salutes.

             
“Gentlemen, welcome home.  Please have a seat and your planets thanks.”  Fury said with a genuine smile.

             
“Don’t thank us yet, Sir.  I am afraid you’re not going to like what we have to say.”  One of the Nixa started.

             
“Do not mince words please; all I want is the truth.  If we are to act, it must be based on the truth and not what I want to hear.”  Fury stated matter-of-factly.

             
“Yes sir, we understand.  To be blunt there are two problems and they are both related.  First is the Twin Worlder problem.  We found out why no one has had any word or been able to contact our allies.”  He hesitated for a moment. 

             
“Tell me.”  Fury snapped.

             
“Sir, it’s the Esii.  They have blockaded the system and destroy everything coming in or trying to get out.  We only survived because we came out so far away from the system they never saw us until it was too late.”

             
“How many? Was it a fleet? Two?  More?”  Fury asked.

             
“You misunderstand Sir.  I don’t just mean Esii forces, I mean the Esii.  All of them.  There are thousands of ships, tens of thousands.  Not just military or pirate, but freighters and other nonessential craft.  They have abandoned their homeworld.”

             
“Impossible,” Fury roared at them.  This couldn’t be.

             
“You wanted the truth, check our scans.  They will back all of this up.”  The other Nixa said.

             
“It couldn’t possibly have been them all.”  Fury retorted.

             
“That’s our other piece of news.  We didn't get our damage at the Worlders system.  We got it at the Esii system.”

             
“You what?”  Fury was stunned by the Nixa’s admission.

             
“We went to Esii to verify our suspicions.  We made it all the way to their homeworld and got a good view before we were attacked by a defense fleet in orbit around the planet.”  Fury just stared at the two Nixa in front of him.  He couldn’t possibly be hearing what they were saying.  No one makes it out of the Esii system alive.  The two Nixa took his silence as a cue for them to continue.  “We got real close to the planet before we got attacked.  There is still a significant force present at the planet but the planet itself is a loss.  From what we saw and got recorded on our sensors, it was grim to say the least.  It was almost like the planet was destroying itself.  The surface temp was off the charts and the air quality was unbreathable.  Most of the surface is covered with lava flows and volcanoes.  You can see the data for yourself, Sir.”

             
The Nixa quieted.  “I believe you Captain.”  Fury said quietly.  Damn it.  If the planet was dead, then the Esii were really all at the Worlder system.  That truly did explain why nothing was coming in or out of the system.  It also meant that Cole was likely dead.  Fury slammed his fist into his desk.  “XO!”  He shouted into the com.

             
“Sir,” came the quick response.

             
“Get us home ASAP.”

             
“Sir, yes Sir.”  The XO responded.

             
“NOW! XO.”  Fury snarled into the com.  Within seconds the ship jumped into warped space and journeyed home. “Gentlemen, please enjoy the hospitality of my ship.  I have no time to transfer you off, but don’t worry we will find a use for your talents.”  The Nixa gave each other confused looks before rising and saluting the Admiral.  Fury had already shifted his attention away from the men and was dialing up a new com frequency.

             
“Attention, Home Fleet.  Attention.  Assemble on The Reckoning.  Prepare for movement to combat.  All ships able to muster enough strength to join the armada have three hours to do so.  Authentication code one Alpha Zulu six. Admiral Fury out.”  He cut off the questions being hurled at him from his ships Captains and got a direct link to the Prime Administrator.

             
“Fury what the hell is going on up there?”  Sky’s father nearly shouted at him.

             
“Sir, our allies are in trouble and need our help.”  He quickly sketched out the findings of the scout team to the Prime.

             
“Do you trust their report?”

             
“Yes, Sir.  I do and furthermore, we missed an opportunity to aid them before.  I will not do so again.  Our strength added to theirs should shore up their defenses, and I have issued a recall notice to the exploratory fleet.  They should arrive when we are ready to leave.  I am not leaving Homeworld unguarded.  I will not be stood down Sir.  I failed them once and will not do so again.  I believe the Captains of Home Fleet will follow me regardless if the government sanctions us or not.”  Fury finished and waited in silence for a response from the Prime.

             
“Then one of two things will happen.  Either you will get sanctioned or I will delay them long enough to allow you to leave.  Admiral, my daughters are somewhere in that part of the galaxy.  I would dearly love to see them again.”

             
“Yes Sir, I understand.”  Fury cut the link.  He exited his office and resumed his command of the bridge.  Orders were issued and travel plotted.  All the details were handled in an orderly fashion.  Finally, three hours later the power surge of Expeditionary Fleet reverting to normal space registered on their sensors.  Fury looked at his plot and saw nearly five-hundred dots representing the ships of Home Fleet gather around their flagship.

             
Fury double checked the order of movement and prepared to do something no one had ever done before.  Every single ship about to make this jump had removed the safeties from their engines.  They were all about to jump as close to the central star of the Twin World System as they could.  They had to bypass the Esii armada and join with the Worlder Defense force.  Fury wasn’t worried about his ship but he was for the others.  Some, he knew wouldn’t make it.  Some would be forcibly pulled out of warp while others would never return.  Those who did might suffer mortal damage.  They all knew the risks and had volunteered to come along.  Some crews, the rumors said, mutinied against Captains who wouldn’t volunteer for the mission.  Those Captains were sent planet side while XO’s and First Mates took over the ships.  Finally, after not receiving word one way or the other from the Prime, Fury ordered the jump.

             
Five hundred ships disappeared into warped space that day.  The Reckoning and two hundred more made the conversion back to normal space in fighting trim and on target.  One hundred and fifty more suffered mild to catastrophic damage.  One hundred simply never reverted to normal space while the final fifty came out too soon.  Of those fifty, forty-five were within range of the Esii guns and went down fighting.  The five that survived ran for the Worlder fleet.  Two-hundred and six ships were all that made it ready to fight.  They hoped it was enough to help while Fury hoped his message made it to sympathetic ears.