Star Alliance (2 page)

“We’ll get you home, Michael. You’ve got my word on that. We have a lot of people working on this.”

“The Athena is still out there. We can’t forget about Kaylan and the others,” Hunsicker said.

“We’re not, and the fact that Chazen believes the wormhole took them to another habitable system of planets is very reassuring,” Gary said. “We’d like to schedule a call so the president could speak with Chazen.”

“I’ll let him know,” Hunsicker said.
 

Hunsicker spoke with Gary Hunter for the next hour, answering his questions. He knew there was frustration about the Boxan communication device only being able to be activated from Pluto. He suspected Zack could have figured something out about that. The former hacker was absolutely brilliant and could run circles around the best of them. Chazen had insisted that only the receiver designs could be sent back to Earth, and he was violating certain protocols by doing that much. Hunsicker had no doubt there were efforts to reverse engineer the designs, and he suspected Chazen thought the same.

After the call ended, he left the control room and headed toward the power station. Most of the wreckage from Redford’s attempt at restoring power to the Boxan monitoring station had been cleared. The artificial intelligence had been designed to function autonomously and had engaged First Contact Protocols when the Athena crew entered the station and started turning things on. Chazen later explained that the botched startup protocols used in the power station had led to the seismic activity they’d experienced. When the Boxans had built the monitoring station, they had calculated Pluto’s orbit and its effects on the planetary surface. The AI running the station had been attempting to compensate for fifty Earth years’ worth of planetary shifts, which had led to their frightening experience. While the seismic activity hadn’t seemed to worry Chazen all that much, what did have the Boxan concerned was the fact that a wormhole had opened in the first place.
 

Hunsicker entered the power station and found Chazen working at one of the interfaces.

“The president of my country would like to speak with you,” Hunsicker said.

Chazen glanced down at him. “As I’ve said before, I will speak with your world leaders, but I’m not authorized to speak on behalf of my species.”

“I don’t think it’s anything that formal. Many of my people are eager to learn about you. They know you are stranded here and are working on a way to get us safely back to Earth. Perhaps from there we can help you make contact with your home world,” Hunsicker said.

Chazen closed the console he’d been working on and turned away. “The last communication from my home world was clear. No further contact should be attempted. All Star Shroud networks are to go on permanent standby until reactivation is authorized from Sethion High Command.”

“Those orders left you stranded here. Don’t you want to try and get home?” Hunsicker asked.

Chazen turned back toward Hunsicker. “The only reason for that last communication was because of the Xiiginn attack.”

“Right, and the shutting down of the Star Shroud networks prevented the Xiiginn from gaining access to worlds with intelligent species to exploit,” Hunsicker said.

Chazen remained quiet.

“I think it’s important that you at least consider coming to Earth,” Hunsicker continued, “to help quantify the threat of the Xiiginn. I’m here with you, and I’m not sure I fully understand the threat they represent.”

“The AI correctly surmised that the Mardoxian potential exists in humans,” Chazen said.

“Because Kaylan was able to use the chamber.”

“Yes,” Chazen said. “This will bring the Xiiginn here.”

Hunsicker swallowed. He wasn’t sure how much he should push Chazen. The Boxan had gone silent for long periods of time before while they repaired the station. “Look, Kaylan is exceptional. She’s the only person I’ve ever known who could do what she can do. We’re not a planet full of people who have this Mardoxian potential.”

“That won’t matter to the Xiiginn,” Chazen said.

“All the more reason for us to work together and perhaps return to Earth. They just want to speak with you,” Hunsicker said.

Chazen sucked in a deep breath and remained silent.

“What would you do if you were in our position?” Hunsicker asked.

Chazen glanced over at the reactor chamber, his eyes growing distant for a few moments. “I will speak with your president,” Chazen said, and walked away.

Sensing that the Boxan wanted to be alone, Hunsicker didn’t follow. The Boxans adhered to well-defined protocols to deal with a number of situations, but Hunsicker guessed that being stranded in an alien star system wasn’t among them. He needed Chazen if he was going to survive, and Chazen needed Humans if
he
was going to survive. And survival meant not spending an eternity on this lifeless planet.

C
HAPTER
T
WO

K
AYLAN
STOOD
ON
the bridge of the Boxan stealth ship. She’d much rather have been working from the Athena’s bridge, but the Boxan scanners were way better than anything they had. They’d spent much of the last few days looking through the wreckage of the Xiiginn cruiser. Initially she’d hoped they would detect Zack’s suit computer, but they hadn’t found a trace. The cruiser wreckage had spewed out into space, with large chunks being drawn into the gas giant Selebus orbited. The ship hadn’t been vaporized in the explosion but had blown apart into pieces. Some of those pieces were as big as the Athena. The escape pods that jettisoned from the cruiser had gathered at a safe distance and were later picked up by Nershal ships from their home world. Those ships had entered into orbit around Selebus, and salvage vessels had arrived to collect the remaining wreckage. Kladomaor wanted to leave, but Kaylan wouldn’t leave without Zack. She couldn’t leave him behind.
 

“I don’t think there is anything more we can learn by scanning the wreckage,” Gaarokk said. “They must have taken Zack somewhere else.”

Kladomaor was hunched over, looking over the shoulder of another Boxan. He turned in Gaarokk’s direction and stood up straight. Boxans were eight-to-ten feet tall on average, but their battle armor made them taller still.

“If he’s still alive,” Kladomaor said.

Kaylan met the Boxan’s challenging gaze. “He is still alive.”

The Boxan’s flaxen-colored eyes softened as he drew in a patient breath. “You haven’t been able to detect his location since the cruiser was destroyed.”

“I need to have some idea where he is in order to be able to find him. You have us so far from anything it’s no wonder I can’t find him,” Kaylan said. She hated the desperation in her voice, but her frustration had been mounting. She hardly ate and only slept a few hours at a time.

“You might need to accept that he’s gone,” Kladomaor said.

Kaylan clutched her arms in front of her chest. “I won’t leave here without him,” she said, and left the bridge.

Kladomaor shook his head, and after a few moments, Gaarokk cleared his throat. Kladomaor looked up and waited for the scientist to speak.

“Nicely done,” Gaarokk said.

“Someone needed to say it,” Kladomaor said. “If Zack isn’t dead, you and I both know he’s being used by the Xiiginns, which is a fate much worse.”

“We don’t even know if the Xiiginns can affect them the way they do us,” Gaarokk said.

“There are other ways to make someone do what you want.
We
may not practice it, but the Xiiginns have no issues with torture and genetic experimentation,” Kladomaor said.

“All the more reason to try and find him,” Gaarokk said.

“We have been. I’ve been in contact with Udonzari, but with the growing Nershal unrest, the Xiiginns have been on high alert. He doesn’t even know where the survivors have been taken. He has his agents scouting all the known facilities on Selebus, and so far—nothing,” Kladomaor said.

“If they moved the survivors, wouldn’t it make more sense for us to start searching the Nershal home world?” Gaarokk asked.

Kladomaor blew out a breath. “Where would you suggest we start? We’re one ship restricted to stealth, which means we can only use passive scans to avoid detection.”

“The Humans won’t leave here until they find out what happened to Zack,” Gaarokk warned.

“Don’t you mean Kaylan won’t? Hicks has the bearing of a soldier and is someone I think won’t shy away from making the tough decisions,” Kladomaor said.

Gaarokk pressed his lips together, his eyes drifting downward in thought. “They are an interesting species. There is a strong bond between them. It’s almost instinctual that they shove aside differences when one of them is in danger. While some of the others don’t quite have Kaylan’s conviction and aren’t so vocal about it, they are working feverishly hard to try and figure out a way to find him.”

“Agreed, their camaraderie is admirable, but they don’t realize what’s at stake. The Humans are out of their depth. We need to get them out of here and return to the High Council. Only then can we get the support we need to help the Humans safeguard against the Xiiginns,” Kladomaor said.

“You would sacrifice one of them, leaving him to his own fate at the hands of the Xiiginns?” Gaarokk asked.

“If it means saving more of them in the long run, then yes, I would,” Kladomaor said.

“They won’t see it that way—” Gaarokk began.

The door to the bridge opened and Ma’jasalax walked in. The Mardoxian priestess had slowly been recovering from her time spent as a prisoner of the Xiiginns. Her loose-fitting robes covered the wounds from where she’d been connected to the machine on board the Xiiginn cruiser. There hadn’t been time to figure out exactly what the machine had been doing, but Gaarokk believed the tubes were feeding biological compounds into Ma’jasalax. The question remained as to whether there were any long-term effects and whether any of them would be affected by whatever Ma’jasalax had been exposed to.
 

Kladomaor gave her a slight nod in greeting.

Ma’jasalax leveled a knowing gaze at Kladomaor. “Gaarokk is right.”

“About what?” Kladomaor asked.

“If we force the Humans to leave the Nershal star system, they won’t see it as the benevolent act you believe it to be.”

“Then they are shortsighted and have much to learn,” Kladomaor said, and looked away to examine one of the consoles nearest him.

Ma’jasalax didn’t answer right away, and for some reason that grated on his nerves more than he would like to admit. Kladomaor returned his gaze to Ma’jasalax.

“Perhaps,” Ma’jasalax said. “Or it could be quite the opposite.
We’re
being too
farsighted
. So much of our time is spent accounting for the longevity of our actions that we fail to see the things that are right in front of us.”

“Fine. What do you think I’m missing?” Kladomaor asked.

“You’ve lost soldiers in this war, friends who are gone now and whom you carry within you. The pain of their loss has served you well when facing the Xiiginns; however, that same strength is becoming a hindrance when giving aid to the Humans,” Ma’jasalax said.

“I’ve been trying to help them,” Kladomaor said.

“You think because they haven’t had your experience with the Xiiginns, you know what’s best. It was our arrogance that blinded us to the threat of the Xiiginns in the first place, and now it’s our fear of them that will lead us to alienating an intelligent species that needs our help,” Ma’jasalax said.

The silence on the bridge became apparent to Kladomaor as he realized the Boxan crew had stopped what they were doing and turned to listen.

Kladomaor’s brain raced to oblivion in the blink of an eye. He wanted to lash out at the Mardoxian priestess because her words cut deeper than he thought they could, and he wanted to blame her for sending the initial message to the Humans that had brought them here in the first place.
 

“I make my decisions based on experience, and my experience tells me the Humans are being irrational and will not listen to reason,” Kladomaor said.

“They listen just fine,” Ma’jasalax said. “They just don’t agree with your reasoning.”

Kladomaor’s shoulders stiffened, and he resisted the urge to step away. “Then they disagree to their own detriment.” Kladomaor glanced around at the Boxans on the bridge, who quickly turned their attention back to the consoles in front of them.

Ma’jasalax stepped closer to him and spoke softly. “If you persist in this line of action, you will drive the Humans away. We need to work with them.”

“They need us in order to get back to their star system,” Kladomaor said.

Ma’jasalax gave him a patient look. “I know you wouldn’t hold that over them.”

“If the Xiiginns reach Earth, it could be Sethion all over again,” Kladomaor said.

“Our home world is still there,” Ma’jasalax said.

“With half the population having gone mad.”

“You are living proof that the effects of the Xiiginn influence can be counteracted,” Ma’jasalax said. “And you discount the Humans because they aren’t as technologically advanced as we are, but perhaps there are other things we can learn from them.”