SODIUM:5 Assault (15 page)

I ordered three more fleets to the scene with science and engineering teams. Their purpose would be to gather any information they could from the abandoned system. There was sure to be technology that was new to us and that we could possibly deploy in our fight with the Frekkin. Perhaps we could even discover the exact methods they used to create the pea sized black holes of the Black Pearl ships. It was a powerful technology that our scientists wanted badly.

As the recon missions continued our teams came across a number of immense warehouses that had stacks of 55 gallon drum sized containers. Estimates soon placed the number of warehouses in the thousands making the number of drums they contained in the billions. Quick scans revealed that they appeared to be full of metal parts. We reasoned that they were possibly used in the construction of the globe ships although without any evidence of proof.

The drums were quickly forgotten and data streamed in about the Por Hollis, their lives, their culture and their history. They had been subjects of the Frekkin Empire for nearly 6,000 years. Their historical records revealed a culture that believed the Frekkin were Gods who had created them. Another tight hierarchical system had ruled their worlds with their equivalent of Priests and Bishops holding the highest offices.

The records revealed a race obsessed with worship of their makers. Any question of their religion was met with a quick trip to a rebirth chamber. The rebirth chamber was a long cylindrical fusion reactor. When a believer of question entered the chamber and the reaction began, their bodies were incinerated and their elements were said to have been returned to the cosmic pool of life, waiting to be reborn into a more perfect being.

As with the other Frekkin worlds, the births were not of a natural nature. Large birthing factories were located on each planet. Further records revealed that a chamber similar to the rebirth chamber was also used as a means of population control.

When a powerful religious family reached its maximum allowable family members a random selection of nearly half the family was made with those selected being sent to another chamber that was referred to as an "elevation" chamber. Those who entered were said to be elevated to a new existence that was closer to their Frekkin Gods. Again, the chamber was nothing more than a long cylindrical fusion chamber that was used to incinerate those who were so blessed by the random selection.

I had a deep faith of my own, but it was not based on being rushed to an early grave or conforming strictly to the current interpretation of historical writings as given by those in control. I had freely come to my own conclusions and my own reasons for what I believed. To believe anything else was to be led around by other beings who were not the creator.

For me it was a constant struggle to determine exactly what was right or wrong. I could hardly imagine gladly walking to my death with a smile on my face. But I would do so willingly if told I had to deny my beliefs. Death was not something I feared as I believed I would indeed be taken to a better place. But it was a place that I did not wish to go to early. I would kick and scream and fight for my current existence.

As our studies of the Por Hollis continued we soon got our first interpretation of what a Frekkin looked like. It was certainly not the strong and intelligent looking creature that we had imagined. It was much closer in appearance to a Chihuahua, sitting on its hind quarters, with little arms and hands like a T-Rex. I almost burst out laughing when I first saw it.

But it was only a statue and from all the records we had searched there were only two that existed. Each was housed in an immense shrine on each of the two planets. The shrines were highly ornate and had a number of wide walkways that led outward from the statues in a spiral shape.

The Por Hollis used binary math and as such their year was broken into 16 of what they termed "Krims". On the 14th Krim of each year everyone on each planet would do a pilgrimage to the shrine and the statue. It was all highly organized, lasting for a period that was the equivalent of 42 Earth days.

A recording showing the masses of maroon people moving in unison through the spirals to the statue where they bowed their heads and raised a hand as they moved quickly past. It was an impressive ritual that included young Por Hollis children. There were no signs of bored or irritated children causing a fuss with their attentions turned elsewhere. The Por Hollis were devout.

Medical records revealed that they were dense and muscular as compared to Humans. At a meter and a half tall they stood nearly as tall as Man, but their average weight was 30% more, with very little indication of that weight being fat. We soon found it out firsthand as one of the Marine scout units stumbled upon a dozen Por Hollis who were in a state of suspended animation inside a cryogenics chamber. It was the only location on either planet where we found something still under power.

A top science team was quickly dispatched to study the new find. Within hours they returned with the news that the cryogenic chamber would be running out of fuel within an month’s time. I pushed to see if there was a way to re-active them beforehand. Our engineers were fast at work.

As we continued to explore and learn about the Por Hollis people I could not help but wonder about what happened to the matrix. I found it odd that it would just disappear from the red planet system without any continued attempt at our destruction. And then to discover the twin planets abandoned, I was not a fan of mysteries and worried that the two strange happenings would somehow lead to our demise.

I sat back in my command chair and looked up at Hershen standing beside me. I asked what he made of what we had discovered. His reply was little more than shrugged shoulders. I then noticed a blink by one of his six eyes. I asked if he had just winked at me to which he replied that he indeed had.

He had been attempting to learn more about our earlier culture. He thought it would make for better communications between our peoples. It was a distraction that I was in need of from the almost hourly events of the Por Hollis. It reminded me that even though things were changing at a rapid pace as compared to Human history, we still needed that history to know if where we were going was in the right direction. I returned Hershen's wink and then turned back towards my holo-screen.

A week after the engineers had begun their study of the Por Hollis cryogenics system they had an answer as to how to bring the dozen beings back from their suspended state. The order was given and the process was begun to bring back one individual at a time. Eight hours later the first of the Por Hollis to be returned was awake and looking around.

It was a male and he was immediately restrained so that he would not harm anyone. Interrogations began. For several hours he was in a state of confusion before finally coming to the realization that another species was holding him captive. He soon became distraught.

From what he believed, he and his family had gone into stasis and were to be taken aboard a ship and taken to a new world. Several years before a messenger had arrived with word that there would one day be a great war and that the ever benevolent Frekkin would be moving them to safety. It had at first been denied by the ruling Religious Council but the messenger supposedly had proof that their information was authentic.

The Por Hollis only had to follow instruction when the time came and they would be taken aboard the ships that would be coming for them. At first the council had everyone persuaded that the Frekkin had ordered it. But rumors soon leaked out about the messenger not being Frekkin and if the Frekkin were gods, why would they need to run. It was a time of great angst for the Por Hollis as their most sacred beliefs were being called into question.

Our linguistics personnel were doing an outstanding job of asking questions and interpreting the results. The Por Hollis language was based on the same principles as their binary math making for efficient and effective conversation. For a moment I wondered if it might one day be useful as a common language for the AMP.

As our interrogators continued to press we learned that the common Holliser was not aware of the red planet and the Black Pearl ships. He then offered up that perhaps those were the ships that were being sent for their rescue. I suddenly had a clue to the mysteries that had been plaguing me. Perhaps the Por Hollis had been loaded upon the Black Pearls.

If that was so, the Black Pearls had only attacked in an attempt at preservation of the species they had been entrusted with. But I was confused as to why the Por Hollis had constructed the giant globe ships that had been sent to aid the Borten. The young Holliser was not aware of any Borten, but he had heard rumor that other planets in the empire had not paid their Sodium tithes and that they were being dealt with accordingly.

It was reasoned that perhaps as a hedge against the messenger being wrong the Por Hollis had constructed the globe ships to do battle with the Borten. If no messenger ships returned there would still be an empire that needed to be maintained and tithes that needed to be sent forward to the Frekkin.

As each new Holliser was awakened they were immediately isolated so that they thought they had been left alone. Our interrogators had determined that if you took away their feeling of a need to protect others they would be more open and truthful in their responses. It was an age old interrogation technique that had been practiced on Earth for centuries. In that instance, it appeared to still have validity.

Each of the Hollisers told a similar story with what they had been informed of and what things had recently transpired. The cryo-chambers had been manufactured and placed in everyone's homes and when the word finally came, they had each followed orders and initiated what they thought was the final step of their rescue plan.

Word soon came in that other homes were found to still have Hollisers in a state of stasis. My staff then put forth the theory that perhaps the Black Pearls had returned to the Por Hollis system to collect the people and that those ships that we had destroyed had been designated for the ones who were left behind.

It was a completely plausible conclusion that was soon confirmed with cross checked data that had been taken from the great factory by the red planet. Each ship produced had been given a designation and the cryogenics chambers that had been found had a similar designation on them as the ships that had been destroyed. The Black Pearl matrix had been constructed to evacuate the Por Hollis from a coming threat.

Our teams continued the searching of records on the Hollis worlds and soon had an obscure reference to the positioning of the missing Transit Pulls. It only gave a limited direction for the Pull and from it we had a new list of star systems to investigate. From the information gathered we had narrowed our search to 162 star systems within a 500 light year distance. With the possible angles of direction those 162 stars turned into 4,122 star systems at 1,000 light years distance. We began with the 18 systems within 200 light years.

Destroyers were dispatched to recon the first 18 systems in question. They would only take a matter of weeks to scan so time was not a major concern. Of bigger concern was what we would do with the handful of Por Hollis that were in our care. Once full recons of the planets were complete, we were left with more than 30,000 inhabitants that had been left behind.

Wherever their people had gone they had intentionally not left any clues. They did not want to be followed. I called in the Council of Governance to decide what to do. Their decision was to move them all to a single compound and to give them access to whatever they needed in order to sustain themselves.

Their own system of governance had not left them with the skills they would need to survive on their own. They were shopkeepers, teachers and maintenance workers, just your common folk. They had each grown up in a society where free thinking and self-reliance was not encouraged. They were educated in their particular skill and the remainder of their needs had always been provided for by someone else.

I felt bad for these individuals, perhaps abandoned by their people for the remainder of their lives. I wondered how I might react given a similar situation. As a Human you grew up being exposed to more than a simple single skill. The freedoms we enjoyed were largely based on our ability to learn and grow into whatever our pursuits in life were. Here those pursuits were well defined with little deviation.

As I contemplated their existence further I came to the realization that they were not even aware of what it took to give natural child birth. It had been millennia since the last Por Hollis had been born of natural means. While records indicated that they were fully aware of how it got started they were unaware of what happened next. Each of the Por Hollis men and women had been sterilized at birth. Until and unless these remaining few were artificially inseminated, their abandoned family lines would end with them. Theirs was an existence I did not envy.

It took three months before the first of the Frekkin worlds was located. Sensors soon told of the same story as the Por Hollis... an abandoned planet. I headed the fleet to go out and inspect the abandoned gateway world of an empire that was supposedly made up of 46 planetary systems. I was beginning to wonder if that was at all true.

We arrived on an Earth Tuesday. The Frekkin planet was the fourth planet from their sun. It was slightly larger than Earth, but had a core that was less dense making for a slightly lower gravity. When my transport touched down we were smack in the middle of what appeared to be their largest city. The buildings were sleek and glossy white and adorned with tall spires. The city was clean with streets that were organized for efficient movement of people.

Their transit system appeared to be a limitless supply of public transports that ranged in passenger size from four to ten. I felt as though I was a giant as the doorways as well as the transports were all built for a species that was about the height of a medium sized dog. The statue image on the Hollis worlds had been an accurate depiction.

As I pictured thousands of them walking about with the dog like legs, fat bellies, small arms and long snouts I wanted to laugh. It did not bring to mind the image of a threatening species with the might to control an empire. But they had done so successfully for thousands of years.

I stooped and made my way into the entrance of an extravagant building. I was only just able to stand with the vaulted ceilings of its lobby. The walls were adorned with holo-images of a number of Frekkin who must have been of some importance in that particular building.

From the seating areas in front of me, to the long desk at the end of the room, to the doorways leading away from the room, I could only guess that I was standing in the lobby of a hotel. It was fascinating to see everything reduced in size, but to still be able to guess its use due to its form.

It seemed each new world offered more of the same with a slightly different twist. I could only reason that as a species grew in education they would inevitably come to many of the same conclusions when it came to design and functionality. We did after all, all live with the same laws of physics governing our existences.

I spent most of a month touring around the Frekkin world of Hale. It was a beautiful planet with its clean, white cities and well-manicured countryside. Our linguistics personnel quickly mastered the Frekkin alphabet and numerical system as it was again based on the binary system. We were soon poring over the data left behind in their still functioning computer systems. There were many new technologies to be studied and used.

Our engineers were giddy with the discovery of another 20% of efficiency that could be had from our Sodium fusion reactors. During their investigation they stumbled upon a functioning Potassium reactor. It was experimental in nature, but offered the potential for a several orders of magnitude increase in power. The drawback being that Potassium was not as plentiful in the universe as Sodium.

The biggest potential of the Potassium discovery was not from the reactor itself, but from the data yielded from the experiment. There was talk of a new Potassium skin for our ships that would increase our shielding a hundred-fold. It was a discovery that I asked our engineers to put on a fast track.

The Frekkin countryside was dotted with large corporate-like farms and ranches with animals that resembled cows, but were closer to the size of a mouse. Millions of the tiny creatures would be grazing in a pasture beside the Frekkin roadways. Each farm or ranch was bordered by a processing plant that would prepare and package the foods for transportation elsewhere. The processing plants were automated and relied on small utility robots for their maintenance and operation.

I began to wonder what a people would do if all of their daily needs were met. Would they drink to excess out of boredom, eventually ruining their health? Would they seek out new adventures that were ever more dangerous and deadly? Or, would their time be occupied like ours in the defense of our planet and expansion of our new empire? It would take time to go through their records as it did the Por Hollis'. It seemed that time was something that we had.

Our war with the Frekkin and our expansion of the AMP had seemingly come to an anticlimactic end. We had been on planet for a month, digging into their records, plowing through their history in an attempt to determine why they had left. As we talked out the possibilities one day in a staff meeting one of my senior planners put forth a theory.

It was not the AMP that the Frekkin had fled from, but some other more powerful species. In less than a century our own people had seen that there were other inhabited planets in the galaxy, and that those inhabitants were not always friendly. Why was it that we limited our thinking to the Frekkin being the most powerful of species out there? It seemed life was plentiful once we had achieved faster than light travel.

As I thought further of his statements a cold chill ran down my spine. What if an enemy, an enemy that would make the Frekkin abandon their planet, what if they were on their way towards the planet right then? What if we were overwhelmed and some of us captured? Every human knew of the existence of Earth and I had no doubt that most knew where in the night sky it could be found. I had the sudden urge to burn the Frekkin planet and all its records and to head for home.

Word soon came in of two other Frekkin worlds that were known to have existed. Both had been destroyed in a violent way, by a species whose description translated into something similar to "pure evil". A plan for withdrawal was immediately formulated.

We would begin to pull all of our personnel off the planet by the end of an Earth week. Our science and engineering teams deemed the extra time as necessary for the extraction of the technologies we had found. The teams would then be replaced by a robotic army of sorts that would continue their work over a number of QE comm channels while we slipped safely away from the planet.

We would also wire the planet with nukes with the hopes of turning it into one gigantic cinder should the evil species appear. The same fate would befall the Por Hollis planets in that event. If two other Frekkin worlds had been overrun and destroyed we had to assume that the information on the rest of the Frekkin empire had been compromised. I could foresee a difficult discussion was coming with the Borten.

As I continued to explore the Frekkin planet my small entourage of staff and bodyguards came across a strange building sitting in the middle of a small valley. Instead of the normal spires that topped almost every structure, the roof of the building was round and appeared to be transparent. I had the transport stop so that we could take a closer look.

My staff piled out and mostly stretched while Hershen followed me to the door of the structure. Before I could stoop to enter the building one of my guards stepped in front of me and dialed up his suit. As he stepped inside the door he was met with weapons fire which knocked him backwards. Hershen quickly reached out and pulled him away from the doorway. An alert was immediately sent out to the closest Marine squad with a request for backup.

Out of instinct I blinked out and for the first time since the Borten war I used my BHD glove to maneuver. Hershen was immediately upset with me when I performed a micro-burst and floated through the front wall of the building. Hershen came soon after.