Chapter 3, part 1
Torrai Lashret Stillstorm frowned as she watched the video feed of the alien being escorted to the Mizol’s quarters. She didn’t like having aliens on her ship, with the possible exception of useful prisoners of war, but there it was; a damnable alien that looked almost exactly like a male but taller, with pink skin, facial hair and round ears. It was also a telepath, a telekinetic and had some form of an impregnable Lotai up at all times.
Its claims of being a Senator of a ‘Terran Confederation’, sounded ridiculous at first making her and almost everyone else believe that it was either a construct of the enemy or it worked directly with them both sound theories and both of them disproven when they found its ship soon after they put it in the brig. What was worse, for her pride at least, was the near certainty that this was the very same ship that the Shells fired upon when they broke cover in the opening stages of the battle which meant that the overwhelming Loroi victory was owed to the same alien she had wanted the Teidar to interrogate.
Now the 51st surrounded the derelict and she was at a complete loss on how to proceed. Salvaging as much as they could from the alien ship was the obvious course of action and thankfully the Mizol made it clear to the Barsam courier that everything recovered from the wreck was now a military secret. The ship’s technology was just too advanced to risk information about it leaking to anyone but what would she do when the Shells would come to claim it?
The derelict was still in one piece despite the monstrous damage it had taken earlier, a fact which meant that the combined firepower of the 51st would not be able to guarantee that nothing would be left of it when they would have to abandon their position to the Shells. Tempest’s Wave Loom was an additional option but the weapon had its issues and there was still no guarantee that even it would completely annihilate the derelict.
There was of course the possibility that the Shells had already withdrawn from the system, their losses so far would make such a course of action prudent but only a scant few of their commanders were smart enough to do that and those who were would certainly want to know what happened to the advanced ship that cost them the battle.
She looked up from her console and unwillingly marveled at the derelict through the bridge’s holographic display system. It’s still discernible lines made it pleasing to look at, its shape reminding her of the fishes she caught during her diral days back on Taben; fully symmetrical and seemingly aerodynamic the alien ship gave the impression that it used to swim in the vastness of space in the same way that those fishes swam at the vast Tabenese oceans.
She felt conflicted when she caught herself thinking like that, before the war she would certainly believe that the discovery of such a ship and the telepathic alien would be the greatest achievement of her life but now she couldn’t help but feel stupid for once having such an outlook. They were all complacent back then, fully believing themselves superior to any possible enemy and they all paid the price for it. They were all proud in their telepathy and martial traditions and that pride was the very reason they forgot the real horrors of war. The Shells reminded them these horrors in every battle they fought and every such reminder cost them dearly. They all thought that they had learned from their mistakes after so many defeats; they certainly remembered how duplicitous and treacherous aliens really were, they remembered how to kill and leave nothing to the enemy. They even remembered how victory tasted like, yet it wasn’t enough for an enemy of such caliber. In the brief time of continuous success they thought themselves as warriors again and all Loroi warriors paid the price of this folly and Stillstorm was not an exception.
They were all fools to believe that the war would be over so easily, they were fools to believe themselves as warriors again just because of a mere handful of victories. A true warrior does not consider herself a victor until every last of her enemies lies dead. A true warrior should never listen to an alien on how to fight and when to show mercy. A true warrior should never forget that aliens were the ones who started all of the wars but a Loroi warrior was the one who finished them. They suffered in this war and they had to suffer to the last warrior; that was the only way for them to become true warriors again. If that meant a few extra dead warriors then so be it, at least their death would have a meaning; unlike the deaths of the billions of fools that had pampered themselves during the false long peace.
She has no illusions on the matter, the alien may look like a male but she held no doubt that it and its ilk would just bring more war and destruction upon all of them. The Loroi as a whole had to prepare themselves to fight this new foe no matter how outmatched the Union was at the time being.
Stillstorm’s curiosity was picked when she saw the alien greet the two Tenoins as they passed by him. She remembered that Tenoin Arrir Talon was the one who brought the alien in and wondered if perhaps the young Tenoin noticed something that everyone else missed; for a moment she wondered why she didn’t thought of this earlier but just shrugged the thought away and used her commander’s authority to open a channel with the Tenoin’s armor communicator.
“Tenoin Arrir Talon, I want to ask you a few questions while you are still able.”
“Yes my Lashret?” She saw the Tenoin tense at the secondary video feed and couldn’t help but smile, the young ones were always tense when her gaze was set upon them; perhaps she was still able to turn some of them into proper warriors.
“Did you notice anything weird on the alien when you brought it aboard and when you passed by it now?”
“He seemed friendly and greeted us on his own.” Stillstorm couldn’t help but frown at the warrior’s use of ‘he’ instead of ‘it’; she didn’t want her warriors to start getting overly friendly with an alien especially one who could end up being an enemy. “But I didn’t bring him aboard, Spiral did.”
“I am certain that it was you Tenoin, I personally gave the order.” She saw both Tenoins becoming perplexed as they communicated through Sanzai for a few moments.
“I didn’t bring him in… but Spiral also says that she wasn’t the one either.” Her anger rose at that but she managed to keep it in check.
“This is not a diral game for you two to play games Tenoins.” Stillstorm chastised them.
“I… we weren’t the ones who brought the alien in my Lashret. We are not lying.”
“Then who did?”
“I don’t know my Lashret. I was certain that it was Spiral but neither of us did.”
“I will check who did personally and I hope that you are not playing a stupid game with me Tenoins.” Stillstorm replied and closed the channel before she could say something unnecessary, the two Tenoins has been exemplar up to that point and perhaps she was the one who remembered wrong. She immediately searched for the electronic records but she couldn’t find what she was looking for and resigned to ask this shift’s Listel.
“Listel Tozet Antimony, did Listel Tozet Beryl send you her shift’s memories before you relieved her?”
“Yes my Lashret.”
“Did she by any chance forget to write down the report about the alien's retrieval?”
“No she did that.”
“Then where is it? I cannot find it.”
“It should be…” The Listel sent as she in turn searched for the report.
“It’s not here, the system must be glitched as Beryl’s memories are quite clear that she did write it and save it.”
“I should have asked you first. Who was the one who brought the alien onboard after we found it?”
“Tenoins Talon and Spiral.” Antimony reported.
“Both of them?”
“Yes my Lashret, you had insisted in not splitting them up in order not to demoralize them despite the fact that they are the last two survivors of their squadron.”
“Yes but I remember that only Talon went to retrieve the alien and both of them now insist that neither of them went.”
“Beryl’s memories are clear: both of them went, pilot and co-pilot and one of them would do the necessary EVA to retrieve the alien.” Antimony replied.
Stillstorm frowned in thought at that, Listel Tozet Beryl was a lot of things but a careless and mentally unstable Listel wasn’t one of them. She reached for her comms in order to ask the Tenoins again but she saw that both of them had been already suited up and were in the process of filling their lungs with the liquid breathing medium so she refrained from doing that. After a moment of hesitation she decided to just ask the Gallen who was in charge of maintaining the shuttles.
“Gallen Wildkey!”
“Yes my Lashret?” The Gallen replied with an obvious startled tone.
“Do you remember the shuttle sortie that brought the alien onboard?”
“Of course my Lashret.”
“Who were its pilot and co-pilot?”
“I… I think… I am not sure my Lashret.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t remember who it was. I think that it was Tenoin Talon and a Soroin assistant for the EVA.”
“A Soroin? Not Tenoin Spiral?”
“Yes my Lashret.”
“Don’t you remembered who signed the shuttle back in when you run the after flight check?”
“I…wait a moment my Lashret…” She saw the Gallen check something on her console for a few moments. “I remember inspecting the shuttle right after Teidar Pallan Fireblade and the Doranzers took the alien away. Whoever flew wasn’t there to sign it in… The Tenoins are all young and stressed so they must have forgotten about the after flight check.” Stillstorm frowned deeply at that, had she really misjudged the state of mind of the two Tenoin’s so much?
“Was there anything wrong with the shuttle?”
“It was in excellent condition and… that’s odd… I must have mistyped that the fuel reserve was still 100% after the flight.”
“Thank you Gallen, that will be all.” Stillstorm closed the channel and frowned. For some reason she clearly remember that Talon alone had gone to retrieve the alien despite protocol and now that she thought about it she wondered why she didn’t send an armed escort as well since the alien could have been an enemy combatant; a serious lapse of judgment from her part that completely evaded her attention but that wasn’t the most perplexing thing. The Listels remembered that both Talon and Spiral went to retrieve the alien but the two Tenoins were certain that they weren’t the ones who did so. Even the Gallen who signed the shuttle back in wasn’t certain about who was the pilot and then there was the issue with the two reports.
“Something isn’t right…” She thought before turning to Rune-Laurel
“Do you have any reports about weird behavior from the crew or malfunctions from the ship’s systems?” Stillstorm asked her executive officer.
“Crew morale is normal, no reports of abnormal behavior. Engineering has reported that they had to boost the ship’s life support systems by 10% after the systems reported diminishing oxygen levels. They are currently trying to find the cause.”
“Why wasn’t I informed?” She asked angrily.
“I didn’t want to bother you my Lashret, such issues are to be expected since Tempest hasn’t undergone a proper dockyard maintenance for some time now and we have been pushing it beyond its specifications.”
“That’s…” Stillstorm stopped herself from chastising her Mallas, Rune-Laurel had done an exemplar job of running the ship and she knew that Tempest had been through a lot without proper support and maintenance. That fact that the ship still run without a hitch could only be attributed to the Mallas’s efforts in directing the crew.
“Nevermind, when did the oxygen deficiency start?” Stillstorm felt the relief from her Mallas as the Soroin looked through the reports.
“It started right before we jumped in system.”
“So it isn’t stress damage from the battle nor related to the alien.” Stillstorm thought.
“No one in Engineering has been able to find a cause, they say that it is as if the ship suddenly had its crew increase by 10%.”
Stillstorm leaned back to her chair in thought. Too many things were simply wrong, all of them could be explained one way or the other; from personnel fatigue and stress to a lack of proper maintenance but for some reason she couldn’t stop thinking that the alien was responsible for everything. An idea came to her and she begun to search for proof in the ship’s database.
“Rune-Laurel, check the logs from engineering and see if the med-bay’s energy demands were enough to power the regenerator when the alien was healed.”
“Yes my Lashret.” The Mallas acknowledged while Stillstorm begun watching the recording from the moment the alien was brought into the med-bay. It was plainly obvious that its limp body was dead and it did look like Doranzer Mazil-Toza Patience saved its life but for some reason she couldn’t accept what she was seeing. Everything just went too smoothly and too quickly. It was an alien with a completely unknown biochemistry, it may have looked like a Loroi but the Doranzer seemed to be on point without making a single mistake. It was as if she had saved a countless number of such aliens before.
“My Lashret it is odd, the logs from engineering don’t show a power draw from the med-bay’s regenerator but the med-bay’s logs do show that the regenerator was active and running the whole time."
“The machine cannot work without power!” Stillstorm pointed out.
“I know but the logs indicate that the regenerator didn’t draw any power.”
“But that’s impossible the Doranzer used the regenerator to heal the…”
“My Lashret…” She turned instantly to see who bothered her despite the fact that the sending itself betrayed a deep level of awe and respect towards her.
“What is it Soroin Passet Cloud?” Her annoyance immediately shifted from the young Passet to the damnable Mizol who used her as her personal aide. The Mizol swore that she needed help to fulfill her duties to the fullest extent but Stillstorm knew that it was a lie and the true reason was to spite her. Stillstorm had been a Soroin before becoming a Torrai and to see even a Passet be reduced to a Mizol’s servant infuriated her beyond measure. Yet another constant reminder that the damnable caste now run the Union.
“Mizol Parat Tempo ordered me to tell you in person that you were right but she doesn’t want any trouble.”
“Right about what?”
“She didn’t say my Lashret.” The Passet replied before remembering something.
”She did ask about Listel Tozet Beryl and Teidar Pallan Fireblade before ordering me to do so. I told her that Teidar Pallan Fireblade wasn’t as she usually is.”
“What do you mean?”
“The Teidar felt as if she was at peace my Lashret.”
“The alien!” Stillstorm finally realized. The alien was at the center of everything and the Mizol was trying to warn her. She didn’t know how it did it but the alien had tricked them all. Everything about it must have been a lie. The shuttle didn’t consume any fuel, there was no report of the alien’s retrieval and the Tenoins didn’t remember anything because the shuttle never actually left Tempest. The Doranzer didn’t heal the alien because the regenerator didn’t draw any power in order to do so and worse of all the life support systems didn’t malfunction; it was just that the alien wasn’t the only one on the ship!
But she remembered everything else clearly, everyone did including the Listels. It was insane but there was no other explanation, they had been all trapped in an alien ploy and Tempest had tried to warn them yet they didn’t pay any attention. The aliens tricked them all in a way they thought impossible and now Tempest was undoubtedly teeming with them and they couldn’t even sense or see them! She didn’t care if the aliens were working with the Shells or not, they would pay dearly for all this trickery.
“Alert, Fifty-One. This is Winter Tide reporting from forward six-one-seven. We have enemy vessels emerging from the dust clouds.” Soroin Torret Nova of Winter Tide reported. “Division sized formation on intercept… No two division sized formations on interc… Correction three division sized formations on intercept vector. The second and third formations have a core of Superheavies.”
Stillstorm nearly gasped when she saw the three Shell formations which were clearly arranged to hit them one after the other without allowing her task-group any chance of regrouping between strikes. The Superheavies meant that the Shells were intent on annihilating the. There was no chance of survival if they fought, they had to run then and there and even running had its risks as the Shells already had a speed advantage. Worst of all the aliens aboard were certainly in league with the Shells, there was no way this whole thing was a coincidence which meant that Tempest was doomed.
It was at that moment that she noticed that the holographic images had frozen in place, in fact the whole bridge had just stopped moving as if time itself had stopped.
“It takes a lot of effort to keep you fully lucid and in control Torrai Lashret Stillstorm so please don’t try anything stupid.” The sender was right beside her, it was another alien drabbed in some short of silver full body armor.
“Please stay calm and the senator will explain everything.” The sending was impossibly precise and nearly emotionless, only passing along the fact that the alien meant her no harm. Despite this realization she contemplated for a splitting moment if she should lounge at it with her knife.
“It wouldn’t be prudent from your part and you won’t accomplish anything other than humiliating yourself. Please stay calm and wait for the Senator.” She looked around in near panic only to see five more such aliens surrounding her while several more were spread out throughout the bridge.
“Thank you for going along with my request marines.” An other alien broadcasted right after it suddenly appeared at the middle of the bridge, it was the Senator; the alien they had supposedly rescued earlier that day.
“I apologize for keeping you waiting Lashret Stillstorm, the second crossfire game dragged on for longer than I expected.”
“What do you want and what are you doing to my crew and my ship?”
“Straight to the point? I like that and it saves me some time.” The alien sent and smiled annoyingly.
“To put it as plainly as possible we have simply stopped time, everything in this and the surrounding star systems is currently subjected to this effect."
“You have stopped time?” Stillstorm asked in complete disbelief.
“It is the simplest explanation, the slightly more complicated one is that we have caused time to run slower by a few million times. The workings of the temporal subdimensions being what they are I doubt that you can even begin to comprehend anything more complicated than this.”
“What do you want?”
“Mizol Parat Tempo asked me that as well…” The alien replied and smiled again.
“First I would like to properly introduce myself. I am Fleet Admiral Alexander Jardin, retired. Senator of the Terran Confederation, member of the Senatorial council holding the seat of the department of defence.”
“An obvious lie.”
“No it isn’t and you know it.” It was true, it had its mind guarded and its sending was impossibly precise but there was no deception in its sending.
“As for what I want? First I want you to start considering me a He, for your sanity at least.” She didn’t reply at that.
“I will give you some time to ponder on it but for now lets see what your command is up against shall we?” The alien continued and looked at the still images of the Shell armada that was bearing down on the 51st.
“We both know that you are going to direct your puppets to kill us so don’t play any games with me.”
“Our puppets? The Shells?” The alien laughed at that.
“Your kind will be the only puppets we will ever need and that’s only up to a point, the only purpose that these empty husks will serve will be in providing target practice for your gunners.”
“Why all this then?”
“Because we want you Loroi to play an important part in a grant scheme we are going to play and this scheme requires quite a great deal of misdirection and lying.” He turned to look at her before continuing.
“You Torrai Lashret Stillstorm will play a central role in it.”
“I won’t be a part of your games!”
“You mean that you don’t want to kill all these Shells? He sent as he waved towards the holographic display.
That you don’t want to lead the Union’s fleets deep into Hierarchy space in order to avenge your daughters and every last Loroi that the Shells have murdered?”
“That’s…”
“That is what I am offering and I guarantee to you that Loroi lives matter more to us humans than the lives of all other aliens in existence, this despite the fact that you are all still a little bit more than animals to us.” She knew that the alien was sincere in everything it sent to her and she knew that there was a lot more that it, he, hadn’t told her yet. For some reason she knew that the alien could easily provide everything he told her and more and yet she couldn’t accept it at all.
“I won’t take part in a lie!”
“I expected as much which is why I will keep the offer standing for now.” The alien then turned and started to walk away from her.
“Come with me, you and three of your subordinates have been chosen to be made privy of certain facts that will change your point of view.”
Chapter 3, part 2:
http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 932#p24932