Consortium of Planets: Alien Test (15 page)

“Well, actually, the traitors that attacked me are now a part of a black hole a few light hours away.”

Reggiald raised his eyebrows in surprise at Alont’s revelation.

“I guess it doesn’t matter how you did that, but it’s all right. We’ll still know who they were from the record and we’ll be able to find out who they associated with. If their associates aren’t terrorists, they’ll lead us to who is.”              

Alien Lunar Base:

Wystl’s smile quickly faded as she considered how she would deal with Aydr’n. “Humans, I would rather not attack him directly at this time, unless I have no choice. Generally, dueling Dimensional Shifter control pads cancel each other out and become useless; however, in this particular situation, I believe my expertise in its use gives me the advantage when I go up against the captain. That is in no way to guarantee of success, and I would prefer to get you out of here before I take him on.”

Dean exchanged glances with Sasha, Beth, and Amy. “Well, ladies, I think we have to trust her, at least for now. Wystl, Beth and I have a craft to escape in. It holds four – maybe five if we get cozy.”

“And, if necessary, I can escape in my fighter. It’s located just behind that cone-shaped hill over there,” Sasha chimed in, pointing to her left.

“Actually, your fighter is that way,” Wystl corrected, pointing to her right.

Sasha wasn’t used to being corrected. She gave Dean an exasperated look. “Is she always right?”

He nodded. “Tell me about it.”

“Great, she’s an omnipotent alien,” Amy surmised sarcastically. “But she doesn’t need to be omnipotent to know about my fighter, since her Warriors have been all over it the whole time I’ve been crashing their party.”

Beth was getting impatient. As Amy finished speaking, she looked at Wystl. “Okay, I guess it’s time for you to break us out of here.”

“Wait!” Dean wanted to be certain of the plan. “Does that mean everyone goes in a different direction?”

“Yes,” Wystl responded. “I think it will be harder for Aydr’n to react to so many different targets. He may get one or two of you, but the rest will have a better chance of getting away.” 

                   “By the way,” Amy asked. “Where is my fighter?”

“It’s over there.” Wystl pointed at the blank wall to her left.

Amy hoped she was right. It didn’t look like they would get a second chance.

“What about our suits?” Beth asked, realizing that they were just about to step onto the airless lunar surface.

“I will create voids around you,” Wystl reassured her. “They will hold oxygen for you to breath against the pressure less atmosphere.” Then she turned toward the bare walls to determine where she wanted to make the opening and studied the small control pad in her hand.

Dean had a nagging feeling that led to another question. “Wystl, who are you going to go with?”

She kept her eyes on the pad and didn’t look up. “Well, Colonel, I think it’s customary for the ‘captain’ to stay with her ship.”

In perfect unison all four Humans yelled, “What?!”

Wystl tried to explain her logic. “Obviously, I need to stay and try to stop him from doing something stupid.”

Dean knew that it was a bad idea for her to remain behind and try to take on Aydr’n by herself. “Wystl, you need help from your people to fight him.” He knew that she wasn’t convinced when she didn’t respond, so he offered her an alternative. “For now, I think you should make a strategic retreat. That will give you time to let Consortia know what’s happening and give them time to get here. You said yourself that you can’t be certain of the outcome. If you go up against him and fail, the Consortium may never know what happened.”

Her solid black eyes bore into him as she considered his words. “You make a strong case, Human. I will go with you,” she said, surprised by her change of heart. “But, first I’ll send an information probe to alert the University to our problem.”

The air grew darker around Wystl until it completely enveloped her. When the air cleared, she was gone. Amy was first to react. “Was that some kind of magic trick?”

Beth had seen it so many times; she was matter-of-fact in her response while Dean quietly peered out the cell door’s small window. “That’s how they get around via that Shifter thing.”

Dean gave up his effort to see something and joined the conversation. “Ladies, we got used to that a long time ago. At least it feels like it was a long time ago, but don’t worry – she’ll be back. Then we’ll all disappear in a puff of black smoke, too.”

“And that’s supposed to be a good thing?” Sasha asked with concern.                                                             

Washington D.C.:

Now that the immediate threat to Earth was over, Martle watched Visen disappear to his lavish penthouse office. That was bad news, since he couldn’t keep an eye on the chancellor from that location. Fortunately, the doctor had some good news: in just a few hours, he had discovered the identity of Interpol’s deadly agent.

“General, her name is Svetlana. For the last ten years, she has competed in numerous international extreme martial arts events. Her weapon of choice is the rope dart, and she has never been beaten.” The doctor paused, but the general remained stoic, apparently deep in thought. “To never lose is amazing,” the doctor emphasized, then he continued. “Apparently, she got bored with winning and decided to start getting paid for her abilities as an assassin. At a young age, she was orphaned. She grew up and trained at Master Sung’s legendary martial arts school in China.”

“Yes,” Martel broke his concentration and finally spoke. “I have heard of an extraordinary competitor that abruptly retired, seemingly at the top of her game. She was a bit of a legend herself. Do we know who her parents were?”

“We don’t have a lot on them, but we do know that they were Chinese Secrete Service. Some of Visen’s henchmen killed them to shake up the Chinese government as part of his world consolidation plan.”

Martle couldn’t believe his ears. “Doctor, you’re telling me that Visen had her parents killed, and now she is working for him? That doesn’t make any sense!” 

                   “General, what if she doesn’t know?”

“You’re right, doctor. I bet she has no idea. Somehow, I must find a way to tell her before she kills me.”         

Consortia:

Dev’kall stood in the richly adorned meeting room. He looked over the podium at the Warriors for Change’s top leadership. They were seated in comfortable high-back chairs around a large oval table. They were a diverse movement of high-ranking active and retired Warriors. Like De’kall, a few of them were very influential Consortians from the private sector.

Although the movement had a single mission statement, Dev’kall was well aware that nearly everyone staring back at him had his own agenda. Those from the private sector wanted a bigger share of the profit. The Warriors tended to be more aggressive and want revenge, power, or more weapons to fight a nonexistent foe.

Ironically, even though retired Consul Dev’kall was a civilian, he was given the leadership position because of his ability to negotiate very complex issues. He was exceptional at finding common ground between even among the worst of enemies. So far, most of his effort had been needed to hold the W.F.C. to its original mission. He knew that he had his hands full, but the risks were worth taking when he considered everything that he stood to gain.

It was time for him to close the meeting. “You have your assignments. Once you complete them, the cycle of implementation will begin. Thank you for coming.”

As they stood to go, Dev’kall moved among them, making small talk and judging how each individual was holding up under the pressure of what was about to happen. He stopped at Ban’yr, the most influential Warrior, who was still on active service. If the chairman of the Consortium or Grand Senate found out about Ban’yr’s connection to the W.F.C., he would be found guilty as a traitor and beheaded. Dev’kall absentmindedly rubbed his neck at the thought and tried to smile at the Warrior Caste’s commandant.

“Dev’kall, I admire the way you keep us groutin flurry pulling in one direction.”

“Well, Commandant, I appreciate your candor, but I would hardly call you a groutin. As to the ‘flurry’ reference, we at least appear to be going in a single direction. Other than that, everything is fine.”

Bany’r smiled politely at the consul’s stab at humor and then grew serious. “I know you don’t trust the Chn-maa, Dev’kall, but we must at least flash them in front of the Senate or the dullards will continue to debate and never react.”

“After what the Chn-maa did to the Warrior Caste, Commandant, you are the last Consortian I would expect to trust them with anything.”

As leader of the Warrior Caste, Ban’yr was well aware of the Chn-maa’s deception and the Warriors’ costly victory at the Battle of Trinity. If anyone else but the consul had insinuated that he trusted them, he would have killed him on the spot. “Consul, believe me, I
don’t
trust them. I only want to use them, not actually give them any warships.”

Dev’kall listened to his argument once again and realized that he had a point. They were running out of time and needed something significant to start the process. The Senate also had a frustrating history of much more debate than making actual decisions. In the past, they could get away with business as usual and took care of minor issues well. The Warrior Caste and the University had traditionally worked together to handle all serious threats going all the way back to the Battle of Trinity. Since that battle, the University had overshadowed the Warrior Caste and the balance of power had shifted in favor of the University. That was Dev’kall’s reason for leading what was quickly beginning to look like a civil war. The balance had to be restored so that no single entity became too strong.

“Commandant, if you can guarantee that there won’t be enough Chn-maa on a ship to take control of it, you have my support.”

“You can trust me, Dev’kall. We will only make it
look
to the Senate like the Chn-maa is in command.”

Alien Lunar Base:

Wystl returned about an hour later the same way she had left – surrounded in dark smoke.

Amy reacted nonchalantly. “Yes, I guess you do get used to it.”

Dean listened to Amy’s digression and gave Sasha a look that asked her to control her subordinate’s comments.

Sasha didn’t agree with Dean’s reaction. “Colonel, she isn’t hurting anything.” Then she looked at Wystl. “What took you so long?”

“Aydr’n had the probes well-guarded, but I only needed one. Now he has fewer guards.”

Beth sounded somewhere between begging and whining. “Can we just go now?”

“Of course,” Wystl reassured her. “First, I will surround you with the clear membrane I mentioned. It will hold in oxygen and protect you from space. The air won’t last forever. You need to move quickly to your escape craft. From the outside, your fellow Humans will see you as a round, empty void. It will be even harder for Aydr’n to see you from a distance, but not impossible. He only needs to know
where
to look, so try to stay behind cover whenever possible. You are now protected. The cell wall has opened and you are free to leave.”

Beth looked out of the hole in the side of the large spacecraft and down at the Moon’s rocky surface. It was surprisingly high, and she was immediately glad that the Moon’s pull of gravity was not nearly as great as Earth’s. Without another thought, she jumped with everyone else and landed softly in a puff of gray dust.

Before they could split up, Wystl stepped to the center of the group and touched her void to theirs. All five membranes joined into a larger single bubble. She began to speak to them. “Connecting our membranes is the only way that we can talk while we’re in these voids. I just wanted to say that I’m sorry for what Aydr’n has done to you and I wish you good luck in your efforts to get away from him. Now you must hurry to your craft!”

She didn’t want to waste time with more discussion and pulled her void away from theirs before they could respond. As soon as she stepped away from the middle of the group, all five individual voids reestablished.

Three of the black voids moved quickly in a group toward the crater’s high wall; the other two went in opposite directions. Amy was closest to her fighter. When she reached it, her membrane sealed itself tightly over the canopy so that it could be opened safely. She was strapped into her fighter and ready to go just minutes after she leaped out of the alien ship. Sasha arrived at her fighter soon after and began an abbreviated launch sequence. Dean, Wystl, and Beth had farther to go but were making good time.

Aydr’n sat anxiously in his quarters. He stared past the pictures of dignitaries and numerous awards at the silvery walls behind them. Why did he send such an important message with such an inexperienced courier? The Warriors for Change hadn’t responded to his message and he began to argue with himself.
The most important message of your life and you send it with a Warrior barely fifty-cycles old. What were you thinking?
A knock at the door cut the self-loathing short.

“What do you want?!” Aydr’n screamed at the shaking Warrior, who was only slightly older than Yeoman Alont.