Hybrid Saga 01 - Hybrid (38 page)

Trycon's airways were uncharacteristically void of all civilian traffic, as they had remained since the Dominion ordered airspace closure and city wide ground curfew was put in place less than twenty four hours earlier. A steadily increasing number of military patrol craft were all that remained, creeping ominously across the skylanes, the TrySec patrollers that had initially been utilized during the terror alert, now grounded as well.

From his room wide office viewport, Governor Jonas Falin could only watch in impotence as control of his city was stripped away from him layer by layer. At the initial onset of the supposed terrorist incident, he had obligingly cooperated with High Commander Durak and his forces, committing Trycon’s security and law enforcement personnel to aid in extinguishing the threat.

As a satellite based colony, they had minimal first hand contact with the Dominion, thus there was very little interference in how they governed their populace. When an opportunity arose, such as the one they were in now, it was in Trycon’s best interest to show its willingness to cooperate fully with the system’s supreme governing body, and to have them leaving satisfied enough to not feel that a permanent military presence was necessary. They had managed to do so thus far.

Yet this time was different. In only a few short hours, what had appeared to be a contained terrorist threat had escalated into a full scale emergency and city wide lockdown. The Dominion had originally arrived with a small contingent of troops, relying heavily on Trycon’s own security forces for support. That collaboration had deteriorated very quickly as a seemingly endless flood of Sect reinforcements arrived to replace the majority of his own personnel, leaving them to stand on the sidelines. The open dialogue between his own forces and Durak’s had now dwindled to the point of nonexistence. The last status reports, as limited and uninformative as they were, had come nearly twelve hours ago, some time after the last known contact with the suspected terrorists, and he did not anticipate he would be receiving any more.

Truthfully, Jonas was no longer interested in status reports or whether or not he was being kept in the loop. For all intensive purposes, the Sect had assumed control of Trycon and as their grip continued to tighten on the city, his primary concern had become ensuring that it did not stay that way. Upon receiving the communique that the High Commander desired a meeting with him, he saw his opportunity to do just that.

Though the message had come through as a request, he knew that it was anything but. Durak did not make requests and he had his own agenda, the goals of which, Jonas didn’t entirely know. He could only hope that whatever that objective was, its resolution would also result in an end to the military’s siege of Trycon.

The comm chimed to alert him of his guests’ arrival and he glanced back over his shoulder at the closed double door hatchway. More nervous than he would have liked to admit, he took a steadying breath and straightened the front of his suit before turning to walk across the room. He nodded to one of the two security-mechs standing guard on either side of the hatchway and both turned to face the large set of double doors. The doors slid open, remotely activated by one of his personal security units, revealing Durak and his own military entourage, being escorted by more TrySec personnel, as they crossed the floor of his outer office reception area. His eyes were quickly drawn to a handful of fierce, and somewhat primitive, looking humanoids, of a race he was not familiar with, two of which were very closely trailing the High Commander.

Doing his best to keep the dread from showing on his face, he greeted Durak at the doorway and turned to walk alongside him as he and the two fierce beings entered his office, the remainder of the detail and his own security remaining outside in the antechamber. “High Commander, it is a pleasure to finally meet you in person.”

Durak nodded. “Unfortunately, the situation is one that has called for some urgency, Governor, so I hope you will understand if I dispense with the usual pleasantries.”

“Of course.” As they came to a stop in the center of the room, he turned and found himself staring into the face of one of the fierce looking humanoids. Startled, he took a step back before continuing. “How is the search proceeding? Have the terrorists been apprehended?”

Durak looked past Jonas as he answered, glaring out through the office viewport. “No, they have not.”

“That is unfortunate. Trycon is a large city, which I’m sure makes the search more challenging for your troops. My forces are, of course, at your disposal if you should require them. Their first hand knowledge of the city would greatly benefit your search efforts.”

“I appreciate your offer, Governor, but it is our belief that the terrorists may have escaped the boundaries of this city.”

Jonas didn’t succeed in masking his surprise. If it were true, the terrorists’ escape could mean that Durak and his troops would be pulling out of Trycon, sooner rather than later. “Really? Have they gone off world?”

Durak continued to gaze out through the viewport. “That has not been confirmed.”

Seeing his opportunity to possibly end the military occupation, Jonas chose his words carefully. “Seeing as it is your belief, High Commander, that these terrorists may no longer pose a threat to the citizens of this city, when might we begin to consider lifting the ground and air space closures?”

Durak did turn to face him now. “I am afraid that will not be happening, Governor. The current security measures will stay in place.”

“For how long?”

“Indefinitely.”

Jonas felt a sudden chill run down his spine. “I don’t understand. If the terrorists are no longer thought to be in Trycon, why must the lockdowns stay in place?”

“That is a military matter, Governor. I am afraid that is all that can be disclosed to you on the subject.”

“All that can be disclosed to me?” Jonas returned, outraged. The look from Durak quickly reminded Jonas of who he was questioning and he softened his tone before continuing. “High Commander, I apologize for my outburst, but I simply do not understand the reasoning behind this decision. As Governor to Trycon, it is my responsibility to object to these continued measures and humbly request that you reconsider or, at the very least, allow me some kind of explanation as to the reasons for their prolonged implementation. What am I to tell the public?”

“Your objection is understandable. Unfortunately, it no longer holds any bearing. It is my duty to inform you that for all intensive purposes, Trycon is now under military control and will be used as a local base of operations during this . . . terrorist threat. As for the public, as long as they adhere to the security measures we have put in place, their safety will not be jeopardized. It is my hope that you will stay on as a public voice for maintaining calm in the populace, but as a formal Governor to this city, your services will no longer be required.”

Jonas was actually shocked into speechlessness for a moment before finding his voice again. “High Commander, this is . . . this is outrageous! It’s unprecedented! No legitimately elected government can simply be removed. Even the Dominion has laws. You cannot simply walk in here, strip me of my position and . . .”

Durak cut him off, sharply. “Actually, Governor, I can.” His attention had moved away from Jonas briefly, his gaze drifting towards the two primitive looking beings standing close by. Strangely, it seemed almost as though the High Commander was being observed by them, something that did not appear to sit well with him. He turned back to Jonas. “In such times of crisis, laws are expendable . . . as are politicians.”

Jonas had no doubt that the threat was a real one. He cast a quick glance towards his security team standing opposite Durak’s troops in the outer office area, who appeared to be growing tense. No more so than himself. His options had all but slipped away, the situation moving from bad to worse in the span of their short conversation. His worst fears were being realized. The military was indeed taking over. He couldn’t allow this to happen.

“High Commander,” he said, a little bit more unsteadily than he would have liked. “A direct threat against an elected official of the
Dominion
government, even from its highest ranking officer, is a threat against the state itself, and in so . . . an act of treason. Under the circumstances, I have no choice but to contact the High Council and inform them of your actions here.”

Durak appeared to smirk. “Now who is making threats, Governor.” After a moment’s pause, he continued. “Tell me, Governor Falin, how do you intend to contact the High Council . . . with your communications web deactivated?”

Jonas felt his stomach tighten into a sickening knot and he glanced back at the personal comm station on his desk. Cautiously, he took a step towards it, no one attempting to stop him. A quick check showed nothing but static across all web frequencies and off world comm channels.

“You’ve blacked out off world communications,” he stated, not turning around.

“A consequence of the terrorist attack on your city,” Durak answered. “One of many.”

“What do you mean?” Jonas asked cautiously, glancing back at Durak.

“There is no longer any need for you to concern yourself with it, Governor.”

Suddenly, Jonas found that he was unable to keep himself from trembling. He had no doubt of what was happening. Durak was about to have him killed. His eyes darted to his security team still in the outer office, which sprung into immediate action. Rifle blasts shot out and two of Durak’s troops fell. More shots followed and three of his own collapsed. His security-mechs, still standing guard, immediately remote sealed the office doors, as was their emergency security protocol, and took aim at Durak and the two humanoids with their arm mounted weaponry.

Jonas crouched to the ground, expecting a barrage of laser fire to cut the High Commander and his minions down, but no such barrage came. Instead, he watched in astonishment as the two humanoids, moving with unbelievable speed, disarmed and systematically disabled the two security units.

The scarred humanoid withdrew some kind of bladed weapon and threw it spinning through the gun emplacement on one of the mech’s arms, its barrel falling to the floor before a single shot was fired. At the same time, he glimpsed the second humanoid holding a long staff-like weapon he had not seen in his possession before, dancing across the floor to drive its end into the eye socket of the other mech. An energy projectile then fired free of the staff’s opposite end, flying into the face of the disarmed mech. It shook in place for a moment as tendrils of electricity shot out from the hole in its face plate before finally collapsing on the ground in a heap.

Jonas kneeled on the ground, frozen with fear as the two humanoids casually returned to stand next to Durak, all of their eyes locked on him. Behind them, the office doors slid open and a number of troops along with the contingent of fierce humanoids, poured into the office. What remained of his security detail lay in smoking heaps on the floor.

As the doors slid shut again, he knew that he would be joining them in their fate, and far worse, he feared Trycon would soon follow.

RYZA

Jolted from his sleep by the loud wailing tone coming from the overhead amplifier system, Ethan sat up in his bunk and stared blindly out into the darkness of his cell.

He had been dreaming, of some place much better than this no doubt, though he couldn’t quite remember where or of what now. It couldn’t have been any worse than his current reality, of that he was certain. The images had been startled from his consciousness by the blasted siren ringing in his ears. He buried his head in his pillow, trying to drown the noise out and hopefully doze back off to return to whatever place he had been before waking. As the lights in the room began to flicker on, he knew that would not be happening.

After a few moments, the wake up tone finally and mercifully ended, only to be replaced by the usual chorus of moans and whimpers from a handful of his more pitiful cell mates. He wasn’t sure which of the two he despised more. At least the tone ended. Sure, they were in a lousy situation, but crying about it all day and night didn’t help anything.

The cell door slid open and immediately his wrist bracelet began to chime. The tone sounded repeatedly, the lengthy time between beeps slowly decreasing. The bracelet chime activated whenever the wearer entered a zone they shouldn’t be in, or when they were required to leave any particular area. Now it and everyone else’s were indicating they had to leave the sleeping quarters. When in a restricted area, the tone sequence commenced at an accelerated rate and the intervals counted down much more quickly, as he had learned his first day after stepping down a wrong corridor. He wasn’t sure what the tones meant exactly, but everyone who heard them moved when they sounded.

Ethan climbed out of his bunk, dressing quickly before heading out into the cell corridor where the repeating chime immediately ended. He had learned the previous morning that rising early paid off in the breakfast lines. The mess hall itself was a plain, stale room, much like every other room he had seen in the slave living area, void of any color or texture. Cold and lifeless, like the machines that oversaw them. There were actually very few mechs present, he had noticed. The facility ran almost entirely on automation, only a few tech units in the work areas and security mechs here and there, guarding what he assumed were the more sensitive areas of the compound.