Terra Dawning (15 page)

"This ends this formal entry. It will be recorded into the logs of the Ranger Cruiser Dalphine upon our return to that craft," Jance finished.

Ranger T’Gree stood and bowed to his Commander, then turned to Ben. "Prime Council, at this time, I will be assuming the official collection of your proof of claim to this planet. I feel I should mention to you, that you have the right to request assistance from Commander Halst as she has now officially removed herself from this investigation. "I would also ask that Ranger Hyroan also remove himself from this investigation as well. It is not necessary, however, it will make for a stronger case if there are no humans involved in it."

Hyroan stood, "I will remove myself from the investigation as well, Ranger T’Gree. Your advice is well meant and well taken."

"All statements have been officially recorded," Mother intoned.

"Thank you, AI Mother," Jance replied.

Ben turned to Elrond. "Are you and your folks ready for this?"

"Yeah, really, all we truly wanted was to save our families and loved ones. You've done that and more. Thank you again for everything you've done for us, Ben," Elrond replied.

"Well, like I told you before, we really don't have a way to track you even if 'house arrest' is not a term the Rangers would understand. Gail has told me that she has made the brig as comfortable as she could for you and your people. With luck, you folks won't be in there long," Ben replied.

"You're a good man, Prime Council," the other Captain, Gerent, said as he joined them. "I'm very glad Elrond convinced us to come here. You took a hell of risk for us and our families and made it pay off."

Ben smiled at the gruff older man. "We aren't finished yet, Captain. Now, we just need to clear you and the rest of these folks. Remember, Mother will be monitoring the brig at all times; if you need to speak to me, simply ask her and I'll get back to you as quickly as I can."

Gerent nodded. "You should probably call in your guards, now that we're officially under arrest; the Rangers will want us sequestered as soon as possible."

Ben nodded his agreement and stepped back beside Jance. "General Greenwold, please have our Marines escort the accused to the Brig and see to their needs. Do not separate couples."

"At once, Prime Council," Gail replied, "But I think you and the Commander should check out Mother's report on the abandoned base; there has been some developments," she replied before calling in a platoon of guards.

––––––––

"Mother? What's been going on at the old base?" Ben asked.

"The floaters arrived at the location shortly after Commander Halst began speaking. I would have interrupted but it was official. The floaters arrived, took position, but did not immediately do anything else.

"I could only wait until our probe arrived in the area and examined the base. What it found is very troubling," Mother replied and restored the video feed to the holographic imager.

"T'Gree!" Jance said, and waved him closer since the image was large in scale but small in detail. The Ranger joined them and narrowed his eyes. "Very sneaky! The Duke, knowing we were still in orbit, ordered troop ships to hide under the floaters. Those ships are now docked at the base, no doubt to kill the pirates for failing to kill us," he said quietly. "Mother, is your probe capable of detecting sonic resonance?"

"Yes Ranger T’Gree," Mother said. "Using the imaging system, this is what the probe has detected."

The image showed each of the four ships docking at four different and diverse locks into the base. Large, humanoid troops dressed in armor, burst through each lock and began an assault of the base. It was clear they were looking for the occupants.

"As much as I hate to say it, the Duke could easily claim that he had simply discovered the hidden base via his own investigation, and sent in his troops to capture the pirates," Hyroan offered. He had joined the group to observe more of the interactions with the AI, while the other Rangers quietly spoke to the other attendees.

Jance shook her head. "Negative, given the distance to this location from the closest available port, the floaters had to have been dispatched well before our ship left this world. Add to that the need to hide his troop ships under the floaters themselves indicates he wished them to remain hidden from orbital observation." She looked at the slim Ranger to her left. "T'Gree, did you get the scans from the Dalphine?"

"Yes Commander, although I have not yet had the time to review them," T'Gree replied.

"Please do so, I only wish we could display it here. Not having the ship at our disposal is going to hamper our efforts here," she sighed.

"Perhaps not Commander," Mother intoned. "Prime Council may I have your permission to summon the appropriate personnel to the base to assist the Rangers, while we work to make our systems compatible with theirs? Ranger Hyroan can certify my existence and function?"

"At this point, I feel there is little reason to hide any of our secrets from the Rangers. I intend to allow this, as well as access to the Command and Control section of this base. Please forward your opinions and replies as well as any pertinent questions to Vice-Councilor Bedouin immediately. Councilor Carlyle, would you consider coming here? I am beginning to feel the need for your analytical expertise."

"Indeed, Prime. I have anticipated your request and am in route to you as we speak. Events have prompted me to reconsider my current position. I have tendered my resignation to the Council in favor of applying for the Ministry of Intelligence," Carlyle replied. "With little need for the espionage aspects, I find that I feel far more suited to that office than as a Councilor."

"I understand, Councilor. We will have to discuss this more, later. For the time being, thank you for your wisdom," Ben replied.

Jorga entered and joined them. "Ben, the Council agrees with you and approved your proposed actions, however, I have been asked to let you know they are very uneasy about this situation."

"Commander, Rangers, please allow me to introduce my Vice-Councilor and assistant, as well as my wife, Jorga Bedouin," Ben replied smiling proudly at her. "Jorga, it is my honor and pleasure to make known to you, Ranger Commander Jance Halst, Ranger Officer T'Gree, and Ranger Officer Hyroan of the Hyclarion Rangers," he finished.

Jorga smiled and bowed her head at each being as they were introduced. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Rangers; Commander."

"The honor is ours Vice Council," Jance replied smiling at the young woman.

Ben grinned at the blushing Jorga. "Jorga, could you get with Marcy to have our tech people work with the Rangers so they can use our systems during their investigations. Also Ranger Hyroan will need a guide to take him to Mother's vault. He needs to verify her operations in order for the Empire to trust her data."

"Certainly, Ben. I know just the girl for the job!" Jorga said and was about to see to his orders when Ranger Sc'ellese stopped her. "Please Citizen, abide a moment."

Jorga looked surprised but stayed put. Sc'ellese turned to her Commander. "Commander, this young woman is enhanced."

"Are you certain, Sc'ellese?" Jance asked.

The Ranger nodded. "Engage your Combat enhancement, and you will get a read on her."

Jance seemed to jerk slightly and looked closely at Jorga. "She is not enhanced for combat, but you are correct, she is enhanced. Prime Council, can you explain this?"

"Before the fall of our world, Jorga developed a form of a deadly disease we called cancer. We now know that is no longer a deadly disease, but at that time, it was most often fatal to its victims. Her mother, one of our more promising medical researchers at the time, had been working on a form of bio-cybernetic treatment, as this disease ran in her family. When it was determined that our conventional medical knowledge at the time had been insufficient to save her life, Jorga volunteered to test the devices her mother had developed. The treatment worked, and she has been cancer free for almost two consecutive years. She retains the devices as part of an ongoing experiment. No other individuals here have them," Ben explained. "Is this a problem?"

"The use of biological enhancement has been restricted by the Empire. The enhancement of non-Ranger personnel is illegal. However, Vice Council, in actual time, how long have you had these enhancements?" Jance asked.

"Eight thousand, two hundred and ninety years, Commander. We call them biocytes or nanocytes, I can assure you, this was not an intentional violation as we didn't even know the Empire existed at the time," Jorga replied.

"That much is understood, Vice Council. However, this knowledge is very strictly controlled and regulated by the Empire. The fact that you developed it on your own and began its use well before such knowledge was even available to the Empire prevents me from arresting you and your mother. However, I have to officially request that any knowledge you have of this be very closely regulated if not sealed completely. I am certain that the Empire will insist you either abandon its use completely, or very tightly regulate it."

"At the very least that much," Sc'ellese agreed.

"All information and research on this has already been classified, however, because of the potential medical applications for this, I have allowed Doctor Lowe to continue. Knowledge that Jorga still has the nanocytes in her is also not public knowledge," Ben replied.

"That is also the way it is handled in the Empire, Prime Council. Temporary enhancement for the treatment of medical issues is acceptable as long as the enhancements are removed from the patient prior to leaving the medical facility," Sc'ellese replied, nodding. "I am the unit medical specialist, which is how I detected the enhancements in your Vice Council. I am not yet what you would call a doctor, as I am still in training."

Ben nodded his understanding. "If time permits, perhaps I can arrange for you to meet Doctor Lowe so you may set your mind at ease in this matter."

"I think I would like that, if for no other reason than to meet such an extraordinary sounding being. For her to have developed this technology even ahead of the Empire is fascinating," Sc'ellese replied.

"My mother is an amazing woman; I am very proud of her," Jorga said. "If you will excuse me, I need to get the techs moving. Councilor Carlyle will arrive in an hour, Ben."

"If you knew she was coming, why didn't you warn me?" Ben asked.

"Well, you were kinda busy at the time!" Jorga shot back as she moved away.

––––––––

"Commander, look at this," T’Gree said after Jorga departed. The Ranger was holding a device not unlike a tablet, and he held it out so his commander could see it also. 

"On the surface this does appear to be a safety shelter, however, the Dalphine was able to get a very good scan of the top most parts of this facility. The rock formations Citizen Amrath described are indeed a great many camouflaged ships. They are clearly troop transports, although because of the magnetic fields generated by the camouflage, we cannot accurately identify them as belonging to the Duchy of Cassius, although they certainly match the design.

"Perhaps the more troubling item here is that this sea shack is clearly nothing of the sort. Even with the ships sitting directly over the upper portions of this, we got a good reading down to about a hundred ticks under the bottom of the sea. While there are clearly more levels to this than we could see, the uppermost four are visible.

"The original sea shack has been expanded and is being used for storage. I would assume it was to this that Citizen Amrath took the supposedly stolen cargos. The next level appears to be either offices or officer quarters. There is also a small armory situated here, by the lift.

"The next level is a larger armory and barracks. Depending on the race of the troops, this could easily hold a thousand soldiers. The level below it is the same, although the resolution had begun to fade making it difficult to be certain. The next three or four levels are the same size and shape as the barracks levels so it would be a safe assumption that they too share the same layout.

Based on what we see here, there are at least five thousand house troops in this facility with the strong possibility of many more. It must be close to capacity as the ocean is no longer dissipating the over-all heat signature generated," the thin alien explained.

Jance nodded. "While you two are working with these people, try to find a way to get me a working comm back to Hyclarion. I'm getting a really bad feeling about all of this."

"Only now?" Sc'ellese asked. "I've had a bad feeling about it since our new friends told us what they knew and suspected."

"Rangers, the ducal troops appear to be leaving the base," Mother replied. "Our scan was detected by the troop ships, and they are actively searching for the source. For now they do not appear to have located the drone. The floaters on the surface are flooding the area with sonar pulses."

"Where is the drone, Mother?" Ben asked quickly.

"In order to provide the highest resolution for acoustical imaging, I placed it in contact with the outer hull of one of the base bulkheads. If it is seen, it should be mistaken as a part of the base." A small green dot appeared on the image of the base. "This is the location I placed the drone."

"Does the drone contain a self-destruct device?" T’Gree asked.

"It does Ranger T’Gree. If it is discovered, the power unit will insure the complete destruction of the drone. When used as a weapon the power unit is used as a trigger to detonate the payload," Mother explained.

"Dare I ask what the payload is?" Jance asked.

"This model was used at the end of the last war. While we no long currently stock the more powerful or destructive payloads, it is capable of delivering an antimatter-enhanced nuclear payload equivalent to a standard Empirical anti-ship missile. This is based on the information available on the InfoNet regarding standard Imperial Weapons systems," Mother explained.

"Thank you for clarifying that, Mother," Jance said.

"Mother, have you been able to monitor the communications to and from this facility?" T’Gree asked.