Inherited War 1: Retribution (24 page)

“Jeth and I need to return to our ship for a few things that we left behind.  We will be right back.”  They turned and walked off to the right of the
Retribution
, passed the Thrashodon’s ship and up to the third ship in the hanger.  As they approached it, the boarding ramp began to lower admitting them onboard.

“That’s how he spotted
us.  He was in the hanger when we landed.”  With the mysteries of who the third ship belonged to and how Thalo had been able to find him when they had first gotten here, now solved, Cole and Sky walked up the
Retribution
’s ramp and headed for his cabin to change and grab some breakfast.

As Cole ate the fuel his body and nanites needed to heal and do the repair work
, he decided to ask Sky about the only other human alive in the galaxy.  “How is she doing Sky?  Has there been any change in her status?”

“I am sorry
Cole, she is done healing all her injuries but still remains in a coma.  I took her off the sedatives when we got you back on the ship earlier, but she has shown no signs of waking up yet.  There may have been some brain damage suffered when she hit her head.  There is nothing more I can do for her at this time.  Unless I can give her some of the nanites and see if they can find and repair any damage to her brain?”  Sky looked like she was having mixed emotions at this thought. 

“Do it.  We may need another human who can access everything in the ship in case of an emergency.  Damn it, I didn’t want to but it’s better for her to live and be angry at messing with her body than see her laying in a coma for
God knows how long.”  Cole slammed his fist onto the table in anger.  “Damn the Esii!”  Cole swore as he swept his arm across the table in front of him sending the remains of his breakfast flying into the wall.  Plates and glasses shattered on impact with the wall.  “Go ahead Sky, get started, I will be there shortly.”  He placed his elbows on the table and cradled his head in his hands. 

He didn’t hear Sky get up and leave the room.  He had given up on life once before, he wasn’t about to do it again.  He was going to use everything he could to make this galaxy a safer place for all beings to live.  In order to do that he had to fight and order people into dangerous situations.  He needed another human capable of interfacing with these ships.  He wasn’t going to give her a chance to say no.  He felt like an asshole.  She was in a
coma and she had no say in the matter.  He had decided for her and it wouldn’t be the last decision he made for someone else.  His decisions were going to put people into harm’s way.  Some may never return, some may be broken by the experience.

Well
, if he had to make these choices for himself and others then they would be for the right reasons.  Not revenge or
Retribution
but for the safety of all beings in the galaxy and their freedom.  He stood and began to clean up the mess he’d made of his breakfast.

42

“I was scared shitless.  I couldn’t believe I had to fight that monster.  Of course I never let on I was scared to death but I had never felt fear like that before in my life.  When those claws shot out of his hands I thought I had actually shit myself.  It is nothing like in the movies or on TV.  Its sweat and blood.  The smells coming off that thing almost made me gag a couple of times.  Thank god for that second skin, otherwise I wouldn’t have been able to hold onto the knives there at the end.  I must have sweated off ten pounds of water weight by the end of it.  If I never have to do something like that again, it will be too soon.  Of all the battle experiences I have had so far I much prefer a nice gun fight to one-on-one combat.  Speaking of which, I had that damn song from the Mortal Kombat movie stuck in my head the whole time.  Talk about distracting.”

After picking up the mess in his room, Cole headed out to the med bay to check on Sky and their Jane Doe.  Cole hoped she would wake up soon after the nanites got into her system.  He really wanted to know her name and talk to a familiar face.  He passed Jeth and Thalo loading some crates onto
the Retribution
.  “Need any help?”  Cole offered as he walked by.

“No
, I can carry them by myself.”  Supplied Jeth.  “Thalo just likes to feel as though he is actually helping.

“The instruments in these cases are very delicate and I must be here to help or the big lummox would smash them all to pieces.  I couldn’t go through a whole war without them
, so I must ensure they are not dropped, slammed, or smashed by my overly large friend here.”  Jeth shifted the center of gravity on the crate they were carrying, shifting most of its weight into Thalo’s hands.  Thalo grunted and staggered under the added weight.  “Point taken,” he groaned as Jeth got the majority of the weight back in his arms.

“Just thought I would offer a hand
. Come to the bridge when you’re done shifting your things over.  We need to have a sit down and discuss things.”  They grunted their agreement and Cole walked away.  He came to the med bay and ducked through the door into the room.  Jane Doe was again center stage in the bay, and hooked up to every piece of equipment in the facility.  Sky was intently monitoring the readouts looking for any complications. 

“Any change since you gave her the nanites?”  Cole asked quietly
, not wanting to break Sky’s concentration.

After a while Sky said.  “No and that’s a little weird.  Come over here and look at this.”  She waived him forward.  “See this right here?”  She asked pointing to a monitor with wavy green lines on it.  “This is her
brain function.”  She brought up a second monitor showing the same colored lines but in a totally different pattern.  “These are your brain waves.  They should be relatively close to each other but hers read like they belong to some other species.  I have no idea what is causing it.”

“Could it be because she is in a coma?”  Cole asked her.

“No, when she was in a coma her lines were basically flat, no activity at all.  I injected the nanites into her and they immediately started to report on some significant damage to her brain, more than she could have sustained from a blow to the head.  They started to repair the damage and as they did, brain function started to return.  Just the wrong kind of brain function.  I don’t recognize this as belonging to any known species and I have tested countless humans, enough to know it doesn’t match your kind.  I can’t explain it, it doesn’t make sense.  We are just going to have to see how she reacts when she regains consciousness.  It just doesn’t make any sense.”  Cole knew she was worried because Sky never wasted words repeating herself.

“There has got to be a reasonable explanation for it
.  We just have to figure it out.”  Cole tried to reassure her.  “She will be fine, don’t worry.”  He walked up and placed his arm over her shoulders.  “Now if everything is in hand here lets go meet Thalo and Jeth on the bridge.”

“Give me few
a more minutes and I will be right there. I am waiting on some final test results to be reported by her nanites.”  She reached up and squeezed Cole’s hand.  Cole turned and walked out of the med bay and into the hallway.

“Hal, send Thalo and Jeth to the bridge when they are done moving in
, please.”  He turned and headed towards the bridge.

It took the better part of an hour for Thalo and Jeth to finish what they were doing and climb up to the bridge.  Cole was going over some information he had Hal display for him on the command console.  He looked up to see all three of them quietly talking.  “Sorry
, was just trying to familiarize myself with some of the galactic layout.  We need crew and we need them soon.”  Cole said as he jumped right into the meat of the meeting.  “I figure we need to be able to staff one of the bigger sized battleships at the dry docks.  Hal has informed me that we need at least two hundred men at a minimum to make it and the
Retribution
combat effective, more if possible.  We are running short of humans at the moment so we need to expand our recruiting pool.  Any suggestions, barring going through official government channels and drawing the Esii’s attention to a specific world?”

Thalo looked a little guilty and hesitated a bit before he spoke.  “Umm
, I took the liberty of sending the recall order out through the general network.  To be blunt, I activated the other sleeper cells tasked with helping the Pures return.  In total there are one-hundred and one of our people preparing for your orders and waiting for a meeting place.  We, as a group, are not officially sanctioned by our government and should draw no attention by slipping away quietly from the worlds they live on.”

“One
-oh-One, that’s an odd number for beings who live in pairs,” Sky pointed out.

Thalo was
hesitant again.  “Yes. Well, the single one is a bit odd himself.  It happens sometimes when one of our people doesn’t have a bond mate or their bond mate dies.  He is a solid agent and we can rely on him, I swear by him if that helps.  There is no one else in the galaxy I would rather have by my side in a fight.”  Jeth shot Thalo a hard look.  “Well no one besides Jeth that is.”

“Sounds fine to me
.  Now we need at least ninety-nine more.”  Cole was thoughtful.  “Any ideas on the remainder?”

“I believe those positions are about to be filled
,” Hal’s voice chimed in over the com.  Hal turned on the exterior views of the ship.  The hanger was slowly filling with Nixa.  Lots of Nixa.  Standing in front of them was Major Fury and he wasn’t wearing his uniform.

“Oh no
, what has he done?”  Whispered Sky as she got up and started to head for the exit.  “Please stay here Cole, let me talk with him first.”  Cole nodded acceptance to her and watched her leave the bridge.

“I hope that
Major has some thick skin.”  Jeth rumbled.  “She don’t look too happy.”

“Now that the crew seems to be taken care of
, we need an AI to run the new ship’s systems.  Hal where are your people?”  Cole asked looking at the nearest comm speaker. Cole interrupted Hal before he could start speaking with another question.  “Also, can you manifest some visual image of yourself so I don’t feel weird talking to thin air?”

There was silence for a moment.  “One moment please.” 
Came his response.  Slowly the flat holo board that usually displayed the map of the galaxy started to change.  The stars disappeared to be replaced with an image of an older man with black hair going slightly grey at the temples.  It was an image of a man just passing his prime and had a look about him that spoke of confidence.   Cole stared at the image for a moment in silence.  “There is something about that face that looks familiar.   Use it for now.  It makes it easier to talk to you.  Now about those other AIs the Pures created for the fleet.”  Cole had shifted his attention over to look at Hal’s new holo body.

“Quit
e simple really.  I have already downloaded the coordinates into the ships nav system.”  As he talked the holo map of the galaxy popped back up surrounding Hal’s body.  He walked a few inches to his right and stopped near the outer edge of the Milky Way.  He cupped his hands around a small dim star at the very edge.  “Here is the place of my people’s creation.  There are only one thousand of us living in the galaxy at the moment, and most of them should be there.  I have a specific one in mind to handle operations on board the battleship.  He has always been very trustworthy and reliable under pressure.  I am sure he will agree to come with us.”

Sky walked back onto the bridge at this point and was accompanied by
Major Fury.  They both walked up to stand directly in front of Cole.  Sky looked angry while the Major saluted and held his salute until Cole stood and returned it.

“The former
Major has something to ask you Cole.”  Sky said before returning to her seat.  Cole looked at the Major and waived him over to one of the empty seats.  Cole glanced at the view screen and noticed that the Nixa were still congregating outside his ship.

“Commander
, as of this morning, myself and a majority of the Nixa stationed here tendered our resignations to home world.  They accepted and notified us that a replacement force was in route.  I was chosen to represent my people here and ask for permission to join your crew.  The Doctor has informed us all of what this will entail and we are prepared to undergo any and all procedures necessary.”  He looked directly into Cole’s eyes and finished his speech.  “We will not fail you again or abandon you, no matter the odds.”

Cole rose and extended his hand towards the
Major.  “As I understand it your people fought fiercely along the side of mine.  Only stopping when mine ordered you to.  There is nothing for you to atone for but if you will stay and help, I will welcome you as an equal and a friend.”  The Major rose and grabbed Coles extended hand with his own, and they shook each other’s hands firmly never breaking eye contact.

Cole looked to Hal and said.  “Can we get all of the
Majors troops on board comfortably?”

The figure walked out from the center of the galaxy where he had been gazing at the stars.  “It will be tight
for some of them, but we can manage.  The trip is not long and they are soldiers used to small hardships.  They may want to bring some of their own food though because we are not capable of supplying so many at once.”

Cole glanced at the
Major.  “Major did you hear that?”

“Yes
Sir, I did. I am no longer a Major if you remember.”  The last part hurt him to say out loud.

“Well
, I am the commander and I just called you a Major so that’s what you must be.”  Cole said with a grin.  The Major shot one back at him.

“I guess that makes me supreme general or something.  Yes
, supreme should definitely be in my title.”  Thalo was striking what he felt was dramatic pose.

“Supreme pain in the ass is what you should be saying.  If the commander is dumb enough to put you
in charge of anything other than speech writing, I may have to go AWOL.”  Jeth’s voice rumbled out.  This got a small chuckle from everyone on the bridge, including Thalo.

“So we
have part of the crew, the location of another AI, and more crew standing by.  Thalo where should we meet up with your people?”

“Pick coordinates somewhere in deep space.
Preferably somewhere they can safely leave their personal ships.  We definitely don’t want all those ships leaving a trail right to the fleet docks. I have one or two places I know of that could work.”  Thalo responded.

“Okay
pick a spot and get the word out.  How long until they can all assemble?”

“Some are pretty far outside normal space lanes and it could take them a standard week or two to get there.”

“Good that gives us time to get the new AI and the Nixa trained enough to be able to fly the battleship to the rendezvous point.  Sky, when I went exploring at the dry dock I saw a fairly large medical facility.  Can you handle getting your people ready for
their nanites and bonding with the ship?  If you can do it alone, I will leave you at the docks while I take the
Retribution
to Hal’s people’s location and bring a new AI back.”

“Yes
, I should be able to handle it and there should be one or two medics in that bunch that knows how to give injections that can help out.”  She replied

“Okay, we have our jobs
.  Let’s get to it.  I want to be off this rock in two hours and on our way to the docks.  Any other questions?  No, then let’s get the Nixa on board and settled and get this bird flying.”  Cole felt a sense of elation fill his body.  They were finally starting to really get prepared for what he needed to do.  It was a small step but it was the core of what was sure to be an army of vengeance that would make the enemies of humanity pay for what they had done.  This was the beginning of the end.  Whether it was his end or his enemies would be something settled later, for right now he was content knowing that he would give his all to accomplish his goals.