Storm' Fury: The Shenkar War (38 page)

              Once again Petiot adopted a fighting stance, this one more of a defensive stance, his face showing no emotion. Cryta nodded slightly to Petiot, an acknowledgement of his skill and that he would not underestimate him again.

              Cryta once again moved in close, coming in high but quickly dropping when Petiot brought his sword up to block. As he dropped he pivoted on one foot and kicked out with his other foot, driving his foot into Petiot’s midsection. Petiot flew backward landing onto his back, but instead of remaining on his back he used the momentum to continue his backward movement to continue to roll bring his legs up and over himself in a backward somersault. The completed maneuver leaving him in a half crouched position, his face betraying the pain he felt from the kick. When Cryta did not press his attack he slowly stood, bringing the sword up so the hilt was positioned vertically over his heart, a form of salute to Cryta.

              The pair once again began to circle each other but this time it was Petiot who attacked first. His sword was a blur as it arced in but Cryta was able to block the attack and in turn lashed out with his own sword which Petiot blocked. This continued without pause for a solid fifteen minutes, neither combatant relenting from their assault. The two clearly showed fatigue as sweat dripped down their faces, soaking their shirts. In the end, it was fatigue that determined the winner of the contest with one of Petiot’s attacks coming a bit too quickly for Cryta to defend. Petiot’s sword made contact with Cryta’s size, sending a small jolt of energy into him.

              With the contest over many of the audience clapped their appreciation of the contest.

              “Excellent contest, Lieutenant Petiot, I commend you on your skill,” Cryta said, as he deactivated his blade and pressed it to his heart in salute.              “You as well, you almost had me a couple times there,” Petiot acknowledged as he returned the same salute with his deactivated sword.              Petiot left the mat and headed towards the crowd, only pausing long enough to retrieve his jacket. Many of the audience clapped him on the back and congratulated him on the win as he entered the crowd. The attention was clearly something new for the young Frenchman but he seemed to enjoy it as he wore a large, although tired, smile upon his face.              “He is a very skilled opponent,” Cryta stated to Liam as he stepped up next to him.

              “Yes, he is, but you had also already partaken in three previous contests. If you had been fresh the result might not have been the same.”              Cryta seemed to think this over before he spoke.

              “Perhaps, but he is still very skilled.”

              Liam thought this over, weighing what he knew of Petiot and his skill.

              “How do you rank among the elites?”

              Cryta seemed to think this over for a few moments before responding.

              “I am not the top ranked warrior with the sword but I would say I am better than most.”

              “Then it is safe to say the battle was close to equal in ranks then. Petiot is skilled better than most with the plasma sword. I would be interested to see who is the best among you and how he ranks against our top ranked. Either way we have a good idea of how we rank if we need to go up against the elite,” Liam stated as his attention once again focused on the men and woman training before him.

              “It is said that the Shelecore is the best among us but I have often wondered if this is just propaganda spread to raise him in the eyes of the people. I have heard that Overlord Threta is the best but he is part of the Crimson fleet which is stationed out on the fringe guarding against the brood.”

              At the sound of the latter part Liam’s head whipped around to look at Cryta.

              “That is the second time I have heard mention of the brood, who are they?”

              “Your question should be more like what they are,” Cryta said, his face taking on a grim expression. “They are a nightmare I hope I never encounter in my lifetime.”

              “Have you never seen them?” Liam inquired. “I heard the Meshtrell mention them once before but I was unable to inquire further before they disappeared.”

              At this last part it was Cryta’s turn to look up quickly, his face showing concern.

              “What do you mean the Meshtrell disappeared? They are no longer on Earth?”

              “Yes, they left shortly after our last battle with your fleet. Shizta had mentioned the Crimson fleet and the brood then, of which the Meshtrell overheard. That very night they stole one of our warships and left…to where we have no idea.”

              Cryta seemed to weigh this over for several moments before he spoke again.

              “I think we should find Shizta and talk this over.”                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

January 23
rd
, 2014 2:02pm EST

EDF
Kraken
, En-route to Shenkar space

                            The door to Shizta’s quarters slid open to reveal Shizta standing there holding a drink in his hand that looked a lot like some sort of cola. Surprise registered upon his face at seeing Liam and Cryta standing outside. Beckoning them to come in, Shizta stepped aside.

              “I apologize if I have forgotten but were we scheduled to meet at this time?” Shizta inquired to Liam.

              “No, Cryta and I were talking and a particular subject arose that he felt you should be involved in,” Liam explained as he looked around the room.

              Shizta had agreed to the neural inhibitor implant which granted him access to the new quarters and certain freedoms. The quarters were exactly the same as Cryta’s which allowed Shizta to see to all his needs without having to venture out among the crew, something he still found himself uncomfortable unless in the presence of Liam. Liam noted Shizta, like Cryta, had discovered the entertainment network; a movie currently paused upon the screen. The movie was a remade version of
The Count of Monte Cristo
, starring Jim Cavieze, was almost three quarters of the way completed.

              “I see you are watching the movie I told you about, what do you think so far?” Liam inquired.

              Shizta looked to the screen before turning back to Liam.

              “I actually find it very interesting; this man imprisoned all those years by his best friend out of jealously. I look forward to seeing how he enacts his final revenge but I get the feeling you did not come to discuss the movie.”

              Liam smiled but it was Cryta who responded.

              “We are here to discuss the
Brood
.”

              Shizta’s demeanor immediately changed as the smile from his face slipped and concern quickly became apparent.

              “They have not been spotted, have they?”

              “No but the Meshtrell have left Earth when you mentioned them back when you were first captured. I felt it is something we better discuss with the commander,” Cryta explained.

              Shizta nodded and waved a hand to a table nearby. The three took their seats before anyone spoke.

              “So who are the
Brood
? And why all the concern about them?” Liam inquired.

              Shizta’s face showed a grim expression as he spoke.

              “They are a darkness I hope you never encounter. We encountered a scout ship of theirs several decades ago and the result was several thousand dead cloned warriors but let’s start at the beginning. Are you aware that the Meshtrell created the Shenkar as a military force to protect them against attacks from any potential enemies?”

              “It has been speculated by our scientists that was the reason once we had discovered the Meshtrell were the reason for your creation.”

              “They were correct in their assumption then. The Meshtrell are not warriors and while their technology is rated for combat they are not adept at using the equipment. While we have very little information on who the Meshtrell were afraid of we did find a couple records mentioning the
Brood
. They do not go into any details but mention a darkness that had once threatened the very existence of all life throughout the known galaxy. It is said they cannot be reasoned with and incredibly hard to eliminate. This same record indicates once roughly eight hundred years ago the Meshtrell and their allies encountered the
Brood
. The
Brood
almost wiped out the Meshtrell and their allies: in fact, only the Meshtrell survived the encounter. We do not have a record of who their allies were, only references of dead races that once thrived alongside the Meshtrell. There is also no record of how the
Brood
was defeated, only that they were. We also had general coordinates of where the
Brood
had come from, out along the fringe of deep space.

              Several decades ago a scout ship roughly the size of one of your heavy cruisers appeared on the outer edges of our space. The Battlecruiser that made first contact was destroyed when they attempted to make contact. Only by sheer luck did we happen to have several other Battlecruisers nearby conducting war games that were able to intercept and engage the scout ship. The battle is said to have been fierce but they were able to disable the scout ship and attempted to board the ship. Historical records show that the
Brood
must have activated a self-destruct sequence because the ship exploded, obliterating everything within the blast radius. Only one battlecruiser made it back with information of the encounter. Since then, we have also stationed the
Crimson fleet
out on the fringes of space, where the scout ship had arrived from. The
Crimson fleet
is the best of the best, no cloned warriors make up any part of it,” Shizta explained.

              Liam sat back at hearing this information, many questions spun throughout his head but he only voiced one to Shizta and Cryta.

              “Why do you think the Meshtrell stole one of our warships only at the mere mention of the
Brood
?”

              “I do not believe the Meshtrell believed the
Brood
would return. Whatever they did they must have felt they had destroyed them or permanently stopped them from returning. This all occurred before they had created the Shenkar therefore we would have no real knowledge of the
Brood
nor understand their threat unless we had encountered them. When Shizta mentioned them by name the Meshtrell must have concluded we had encountered them and decided to go look for themselves,” Cryta explained.

              Liam thought this over for several moments, wondering if this was something he should bring to the captain. Finally deciding it was something that could wait he wanted to address something else he had thought of.

              “You mentioned the
Crimson fleet
contain no cloned warriors, does this mean it is comprised entirely of elites?”

              Both Shizta and Cryta nodded in confirmation as Cryta spoke.

              “Technically, yes, although a lot never had proper training to be consider an elite.”

              “How big is the size of this fleet?”

              “Roughly fifty warships comprised mostly of battlecruisers and heavy cruisers, although they have another twenty or so supplemental ships. The latter ships are used for maintaining the fleet and their crews,”

Shizta explained.

              “How often does the
Crimson fleet
get resupplied?”

              “They don’t, part of the fleet includes a large hydroponics facility as well as livestock. They provided their crews with all the food they need as well as any other supplies. There used to be regular transmissions between the fleet and homeworld but that stopped several years ago. Also I must tell you that I did not factor this fleet into my equation of numbers of warships the Shelecore could bring against you as their orders are not to leave the area they area guarding. Rumor has it there was a falling out between the Shelecore and Overlord Threta,” Cryta explained.

              At hearing this Liam’s interest was piqued, could this be something they could use to their advantage?

              “Do you know the reason for the falling out?”

              “It is no big secret but many years ago Threta’s popularity was quickly growing. Growing so high that many felt he would make a better Shelecore. He was then reassigned as fleet commander of the
Crimson fleet
under the guise of that the existing fleet overlord had been lacking in his duties, although it was plain this was false as the overlord was Gyliene, the very same overlord to lead the second attack against Earth.”