Storm' Fury: The Shenkar War (27 page)

January 6
th
, 2014 7:02pm

Olympus

                            Captain Dunklin studied the men and woman in the room. All the members of the
Council of Earth
were in attendance as well as Admiral Kelvin, General Maks Leonid, and himself.

                            Three days ago, one of the Shenkar captives had produced a data card. The card possessed valuable information regarding the Shenkar.  From what he had heard it had provided them with a list of contacts of a resistance group within the Shenkar Federation. Through this group the Earth forces could infiltrate the Shenkar’s military. If given the opportunity they could disrupt critical areas more effectively than simple hit and run attacks on supply lines and outlying installations.

                    So what was the problem now? The problem was that the
Council of Earth
could not agree whether this opportunity was legitimate or some sort of ruse. As always the president of France was at the head of opposition with the prime minister of England arguing against him.

“It is too great an opportunity to pass up, I say we work with Cryta and take the fight to the Shenkar through him. With the information he provided we could deal some severe damage to the Shenkar federation.”

“Do not be so naïve, do you not see that this could be a ploy to lure our depleted fleet into a trap? We just handed the Shenkar another devastating victory, do you not think they might change their tactics?” Jacque Lecroix said snidely.

“Like the trap that you so obviously walked into that led to the current situation our fleet is in now? If you had followed protocols then maybe we would have better options available,” retorted the prime minister of Australia.

The argument looked to be about to escalate when the president of the United States interrupted.

“Enough! Arguing will not get us anywhere. The situation is what it is and we are not here to talk about what we can’t change. What we need to do is decide whether the information is worth taking the risk on. I have seen the security footage and I believe this Shenkar is telling the truth. We have to believe that not all Shenkar are what the Meshtrell have portrayed them to be. We have already found genetic evidence that clearly shows these two Shenkar are not clones but from an origin line. Cryta has been very cooperative over the past few days, answering any questions we have asked. I say we use this information to connect with the resistance group.”

“And if this Shenkar betrays us we will lose the most powerful weapon in the defense fleet. I say we keep the
Kraken
here until we have repaired and rebuilt our fleet,” stated Jacque Lecroix.

“This will not happen….can’t you open your eyes?!?” argued Colin Denshire.

“What it boils down to is we cannot afford not to take this chance,” Adam quickly said before Jacque could retort.

Seeing that this got the president of France’s attention, Adam waved Admiral Kelvin over from a nearby seat.

“President Sheehan is correct; we cannot afford to pass this up.”

Pausing long enough to type something on his personal datapad, Frank then continued as all of the council member’s datapads chimed in unison of a file received.

“As you can see by my report, under the best circumstances, the length of time needed to repair and refit the fleet is roughly four months. This does not include the time we will need to train new personnel needed to crew the fleet. At best we are looking at another six to eight months to return the fleet to its prior strength.

As we know the Shenkar were able to construct a new fleet in roughly the six months. We might be able to fight off one maybe two more assaults against Earth but the fact of the matter is the Shenkar could eventually bleed us dry. We simply cannot continue building and training men and women. The Shenkar have the edge with cloning that we cannot compete with. Our only option is to gamble on the information this Cryta provided.

January 10
th
, 2014 4:14 pm

             EDF
Kraken
, Terran system, high Earth orbit

              A beep from Liam’s headset paused the conversation he had been having with Shizta. Reaching up, he tapped the button on the earpiece to open the link.

“Yes?”

Shizta watched him for a few moments as Liam listened to what the other person was saying until finally Liam spoke.

“Excellent, you can bring it in now.”

Liam smiled as he lowered his hand back down to rest upon the table before him that divided him and Shizta.

              “Bring it in?” Shizta queried.

              “Yes, do you remember one of our conversations we had recently regarding cuisine upon our worlds? Well, after learning that our physiology was so close, I inquired if there would be any foods that could possibly be dangerous for you to eat. I was happy to learn that you can pretty much eat anything so I have arranged for you to try one of my favorite dishes.”

              At that moment the cell door behind Liam open and two men entered carrying two large covered trays. Setting a tray before each of them they then retreated from the cell.

              Liam didn’t move to uncover his tray but instead gestured for Shizta to do so. Lifting the cover off his tray, Shizta looked at what was underneath. There was a several bowls of various sizes arranged about the tray. A medium sized bowl in the upper left corner of the tray was empty and a small bowl in the upper right corner held a cloudy greasy liquid. The most interesting bowl was the large one in the center of the tray. In it was what Shizta could only describe as some sort of spiny insects. There were four of them, bright red and roughly the length of Shizta’s forearm. Each had long antennae with two large pincers followed by eight small pincer legs with a tail that measured the same length as its body.

              “You eat insects?”

              Liam laughed as he removed his own trays cover to reveal his tray held the same items.

              “They are not insects but crustaceans from our oceans…namely the Atlantic ocean. These little creatures are known as lobsters, they are found off the northeast corner of the country known as the United States. The small bowl with the yellow substance is melted butter. You dip pieces of the lobster in it.”

              Shizta grabbed one of the front pincers and tore it free of the body. While it was rather hot, he didn’t drop it. As he reached to dip the pincer in the butter Liam spoke.

              “Wait, I didn’t clarify, you need to remove the shell first.”

              To demonstrate Liam pulled off a pincer from his own lobster then began to break the shell and remove the meaty contents. The meat looked to be slightly stringy in nature.

              Each time Liam pulled a piece of meat from the shell; he didn’t eat it, instead, he dropped it into the bowl of butter. Only when he had completely shelled the pincer and the appendage that it had been attached to, did he then pick up a utensil and stabbed one of the pieces that had been soaking in the butter. Putting the meat into his mouth, he chewed slowly looking as if he was savoring every second.

              Shizta broke the shell apart, copying what Liam had done, until he too had completed his task. Picking up a utensil he stabbed one of the floating pieces of lobster. The taste was not what Shizta had expected. In truth he hadn’t known what to expect but the flavor exploded within his mouth. As he slowly chewed the lobster, he too savored the taste. It was like nothing he had ever tasted and for the first time since he had been captured, actually for the first time in a long time, he genuinely smiled.

              “Good huh?” Liam asked.

              “Yes, this is excellent.”

              They spent the next couple of hours eating the lobster and talking. He was also introduced to a drink Liam referred to as beer or how he liked to call it…“Nectar of the gods”.  Whatever it was called, Shizta rather enjoyed it as well.

              Most of the evening conversation had been nothing of serious importance but more of Liam telling Shizta of humans.  The hope of showing that humans were so much more that what Shizta perceived them to be. They also spoke of the Shenkar and the civilian populace, both races trying to make the other understand the nature of each other. At one point the conversation lulled and something occurred to Liam.

              “Krailsha wasn’t an elite, was he?”

              The question seemed to have taken Shizta off guard and it took him a moment to respond.

              “Yes, you would be correct in this, why do you ask?”

              “Were you aware I was the one who killed Krailsha?”

              Shizta didn’t answer immediately but instead took a long sip from his beer, finally, he set the bottle down and spoke.

              “I wasn’t one hundred percent sure but I suspected you did, it would have taken someone of great skill to defeat him in hand to hand combat.”

              “If he was a clone, and not an elite, then what made him so skilled in combat and tactics? I was led to believe clones did not possess the knowledge or skills.”

              “Under most circumstances you would be correct but on occasion some clones rise above their limits. Krailsha was one of those particular cases. He was probably the strongest most skilled clone ever made. Several elites could have beaten him but not all.”

              After several hours, and several beers later, Liam stood and bid Shizta a goodnight. Shizta didn’t move but instead just watched the door for a while. He found himself wishing the night hadn’t ended as he had been enjoying himself. This disturbed him as he eyed the beer in his hand, wondering if he had been drugged. This, he quickly dismissed, knowing this notion would not to be the case.

So here he sat again, after another of several meetings, finding himself doubting what he had been told of these humans. Sure, Liam could be playing some sort of game of deceit, but he had a feeling deep down in his gut that said that was not the case. What he did know is he genuinely liked Liam and could see what Liam had meant when he said while the humans were capable of war they were also capable of so much more. Could these humans be the answer to saving the Shenkar from its Shelecore like Cryta had said? Liam also made him aware of the person he wanted to be more like, making him aware of just how cowardly he had been up until now. He found himself wanting to believe in these humans and wanting to help. Yet at the same time he had his lifetime of indoctrination of Shenkar law.

Shizta sighed as he knew this would be yet another troubled night of sleep.

January 14
th
, 2014 12:33pm

EDF
Kraken
, Terran system, high Earth orbit

Liam, cycled down his fighter’s systems, thought about the meetings he had been having with Shizta over the past few days. He had felt he had really gained some sort of bond with Shizta that might prove worthy. Shizta had begun to open more of issues within the Shenkar Federation that he did not agree with. He also believed this was not an act and that Shizta was being honest with him.

Today was another day he was scheduled to meet with Shizta and Liam had to admit, he was looking forward to it.

As Liam climbed down from his fighter he was met by a flustered Warrant officer. Pausing long enough to salute Liam he then began speaking quickly.

“Commander, I have been supervising the unloading of equipment for the coming mission and I came across some rather odd items.”