Progeny (The Progenitor Trilogy, Book Three) (11 page)

‘Messy,’ Anderton commented as he started to clean the wound.  ‘If he’d used a laser weapon it would have cauterised it. Still, I doubt that was uppermost in his mind.’

‘What’s Haldane’s condition?  Did he survive?’ said Chen, suddenly alert.

‘Despite two gunshot wounds to his upper abdomen, yes he did.  He had a collapsed lung and I had to pick a lot of bone fragments out of him from a shattered ribcage, but he should pull through.’

‘Is he human?’

‘I could find no evidence to suggest that he isn’t.  There’s no sign of parasitic infection anywhere in his body and from what we’ve seen lately, I doubt a couple of bullets would have brought him down if this weren’t the case.’

‘I need to talk to him,’ said Chen and winced as Anderton began to clean the wound with an antiseptic spray which stung as he applied it.

‘You can try,’ said Anderton.  ‘He slips in and out of consciousness.  Commander Blackman has posted a couple of armed marines outside his room and has tried talking to Commander Haldane a couple of times but he didn’t get very far and I ordered him to stop when it was clear it was becoming too much for my patient.  So yes, you can talk to him, but no interrogations.’

‘Doctor, he’s a traitor and he tried to kill me.’

‘True enough, but he’s my patient.  Besides, I imagine he’ll be far more use to you alive than dead, so go easy on him.  Now, hold still,’ said Anderton and began to close and seal the wound in her arm. ‘You’ve lost quite a bit of blood and this is a nasty hole you’ve got in your arm.  A centimetre or so to the left and I doubt you’d have got up again so quickly.  You were damn lucky.  You need to take it easy, at least for a few hours. Get something to eat and get some rest.’  He began fixing a surgical dressing over the wound.

‘Not yet,’ Chen replied.  ‘I have to talk to Haldane. I have to know whether he was telling the truth about his motives, and about Admiral Morgan.’

‘You just don’t know when to quit, do you?’ said Anderton, shaking his head despairingly.

‘Maybe not,’ replied Chen.  ‘But it goes with the job, sorry.’

‘Alright,’ Anderton replied.  ‘But I insist that I sit in on any questioning of my patient.’

‘Agreed,’ said Chen. ‘We’re finished here.  If you’d care to take me to him, Doctor?’

‘Yes ma’am,’ said Anderton, then muttered: ‘This should be fun.’

Chen still felt a little woozy, but determination was driving her on.  Anderton led her to a side room usually reserved for patients who required isolation and knocked on the door.  A Marine Corps sergeant peered through the door’s glass panel, saw Anderton and Chen and opened it, saluting as his commanding officer entered the room.  Another marine stood at the far side of the room along with Commander Blackman.  All three men were armed, though the figure lying slumped in the room’s only bed didn’t seem to pose much of a threat.

Haldane lay at the centre of a web of sensors and drips from the medical machines that surrounded his bed.  His upper body was swathed in bandages and his skin was pale and wore a sheen of sweat.  However, despite being badly injured and pumped full of drugs, he was awake and aware of his surroundings.  Chen saw her former XO focus on her as she entered the room.  Her arrival caused Blackman and the two marines to salute smartly.  Blackman pulled over a small chair to the side of the bed for her to sit on.

‘I’ve tried talking to the son of a bitch,’ said Blackman.  ‘But he hasn’t given me anything so far.  Says he’ll only talk to you.  I’d have pressed him harder but...’

‘But you’ll risk killing him,’ said Anderton sternly.  ‘Commander Haldane is a prisoner of war and he’s my patient.  There are rules.’

‘Indeed there are, Doctor,’ said Chen.  ‘So, Commander Haldane:  give me one good reason why I shouldn’t instruct these men here to toss you out of the nearest airlock?’

‘I told you,’ Haldane said weakly. ‘I’m not one of them. I’m not a Shaper agent.’

‘Yes, Dr Anderton has confirmed that for us,’ Chen replied.  ‘But you were working for them all along, weren’t you?  You and Admiral Morgan and god knows who else.’

‘No!’ Haldane rasped.  ‘No we never intended to be...  Things... things got out of hand.  We were only trying to protect humanity.’

‘Well you’ve got a funny way of showing it, taking a shot at your commanding officer right at the point when the Shapers attacked Earth.  You fucking worthless traitor!  You were supposed to be my right hand on this ship...’ Chen struggled to contain her rage, fighting the urge to strike her former XO.  ‘You’ll be handed over to Commonwealth Intelligence for interrogation, once you’re fit enough to withstand it.  You’ll be tried by a military court for your actions as well.  I’d start talking now, Commander.  Anything you can tell us will maybe make them look more favourably on you.’

‘Yes, yes of course,’ replied Haldane and nodded.

‘Commander Blackman, make sure you record all of this,’ said Chen to her security chief, who produced a small device from his webbing and set it on the bedside table.

‘Okay, talk,’ ordered Chen.

‘Originally I was posted aboard this ship to keep an eye on you,’ said Haldane.  ‘Admiral Morgan didn’t like the fact that Admiral Haines was essentially running his own secret army along with the Arkari.  It was very irregular and unofficial.  Haines’ reputation seems to have allowed him to get away with things that others would not.  He certainly had the ear of President Rheinhold and this may have allowed him to appropriate some of the Navy’s black budget for his own use without going through his superiors.  Morgan wanted to know what he was up to.  Our families go way back so...’  Haldane started wheezing from the effort of talking.

‘I get the picture,’ said Chen.  ‘So why had Morgan allied himself with the Shapers?’

Haldane took a moment to recover before continuing.

‘He was forced into it.  Command has known, or suspected for years, that there were highly advanced races out there in the unexplored parts of the galaxy.  A number of deep space exploration missions had come across things that they couldn’t explain - phantom ships, mysterious ruins and so on, and there were always the usual stories amongst the civilian space communities, particularly along our borders.  The Maranos Incident at the start of the Second K’Soth War confirmed this, and of course it made it plain that at least one of these ancient races was hostile to humanity and may have pushed us towards war in the first place.  Of course now we know all about the Shapers.’  Haldane sank back further into the bed, gasping for air.

‘It's alright, Commander,’ said Anderton.  ‘You take your time.’

Haldane nodded, wheezing and seemed to wince in pain.  He asked for water and Blackman poured him a cup from the jug on the bedside table.  Sipping it, Haldane continued.

‘Okay, so now Command are on the lookout for any signs of Shaper activity, technology whatever, anything that would give us an edge if we needed to fight them, plus there’s always been some resentment among the upper echelons, Morgan particularly, that the Arkari are unwilling to share technology.  We were still fighting the K’Soth when that ship was found in the Hadar system.  Morgan knew what it was, I think.  In any case, any ancient advanced alien technology would be a prize worth having and Morgan has always been an ambitious man.  He can’t go any further up in the military, but there have been rumours for a while that he was thinking of entering politics, even running for President.  A prize like this would have allowed him to leave the military and begin his new career in a blaze of glory.  He used Cox, I think...’

‘Seems about right,’ said Chen. ‘Admiral Cox always struck me as an insecure and bitter man.  This would have boosted his career as well.’

‘Except it all backfired,’ said Haldane.  ‘The damn ship was bait laid by the Shapers.  Cox and his fleet were enslaved.  I think the plan was to enslave Morgan as well, but it didn’t work out like that.’

‘What happened?’

‘Morgan went to the Spica system to meet Cox who was arriving with his prize.  I’m not sure, but from what Morgan told me it seems that he was initially captured by Cox and his men when he first boarded the
Germanicus.
  They revealed what they now were and what the Shapers’ plans for the Commonwealth were and they were prepared to implant him also, but it seems that Morgan begged for his life and cut a deal: that if he helped the Shapers overthrow the current administration and form a puppet government in its place then humanity would be spared mass enslavement.  All we had to do was submit, and life within the Commonwealth would continue much as before.’

‘Except without any form of democracy, or freedom and being essentially the proxy soldiers of a malevolent alien empire,’ spat Chen.

‘It’s preferable to the alternatives!  Your actions may have doomed us all!  Do you think that the Shapers will take this defeat lying down?  Morgan convinced them that he could deliver the Commonwealth to them on a plate.  All you’ve done is make him look like he was lying to them.  The Shapers will return in greater force and this time, humanity will not be spared!  They have vast fleets of warships at their disposal, millions upon millions of troops all drawn from the races that they have enslaved.  Do you think that the Commonwealth can possibly stand against that?  When I tried to stop you, I was trying to save you, save us all, Michelle!’ Haldane cried and subsided into a fit of coughing.

‘I’d rather die on my feet, than live on my knees, thank you very much.  Okay, we’re done here,’ said Chen, turning away from her former XO and addressing Blackman. ‘I’ll need to pass the recording of this conversation up the chain of command.  Navy Command, Commonwealth Intelligence and the President need to hear this.’  Chen stood up carefully and without a further glance at Haldane, made for the door.

‘I tried to save you!’ Haldane cried at her retreating back. ‘I tried to save us all! We’re all dead, do you hear me? We’re all dead because of you!’

Ignoring Haldane’s cries, Chen strode from the room.

After checking in with the bridge, Chen retired to her office and fired off a report on Haldane’s confession to Naval Command, attaching a copy of Blackman’s recording and encrypting the message.  She then despatched Blackman to Naval Command in London on board one of the
Churchill’s
shuttles to hand deliver the data.  It was too important to risk transmission over the data networks.

Finally, she took Dr. Anderton’s advice and got herself a meal from the galley before retiring to her quarters for some much needed sleep.  However, she was awoken a couple of hours later by the chiming of the internal comm.  Groggily, she reached for the controls with her good arm.  It was Lieutenant Commander Singh, still in command up on the bridge.

‘Sorry to wake you, ma’am, but the Nahabe command ship
Shadow in the Void
has been in contact.  Their leader, the one who calls himself the Lord Protector, wishes to come aboard and meet you in person.’

Chen used one hand to rub the sleep from her eyes.  The brief nap had done her some good, but she was still exhausted.

‘Permission granted.  I’ll meet him in the hangar bay in ten minutes, just as soon as I’ve found a fresh uniform... preferably one that doesn’t have bullet holes in it.  How goes the relief operation, Mr Singh?’

‘Everything seems to be going smoothly. The medical frigates
Hippocrates
and
Mary Seacole
have arrived in Earth orbit and are taking on casualties... but there are a lot of casualties, Admiral.’

‘How many so far?’ asked Chen, with a sense of foreboding.

‘Around ten thousand dead, twenty five thousand injured.  The rescue teams are still pulling bodies from inside the port... there’s a lot of people still unaccounted for.  Ships have also arrived in orbit around Io and are probing the wreckage of Galileo Station for any survivors.  So far they haven’t had much success, but there are lot of frozen bodies out there. No casualty figures as yet, but they’re expected to be high.’

‘Jesus... okay.  Thank you Mr Singh, Chen out.’

She sat for a moment, trying to digest the true horror of the information Lieutenant Commander Singh had just given her.  Tens of thousands of dead or injured.  She consoled herself with the knowledge that she had done what she could.

Hampered by the pain and stiffness in her left arm, she changed into a fresh uniform and then made her way down to the hangar deck to greet the new arrivals.

The strange, boxy Nahabe craft moved smoothly into the
Churchill’s
busy docking bay.  Chen watched as it slotted itself between the rows of parked ships and came to rest almost silently.  Chen walked over to the craft as its front cracked open and hinged downwards to form a ramp, from which large, armoured forms began to emerge.  There were three of the bulky, tank-like figures, each of which were heavily armed with a variety of ranged and close combat weapons.  The plates of their armoured suits were richly adorned with alien scripture and scenes of war.  The largest, sporting an enormous, complicated looking shoulder mounted cannon and a massive, pistoned arm with a scythe like blade approached Chen on AG fields and hovered before her.

‘I am Admiral Michelle Chen of the Commonwealth Navy, welcome aboard,’ said Chen. ‘On behalf of everyone in the Commonwealth I would like to thank you for your timely intervention.’ She had to raise her voice above the noise of the comings and goings in the bay and the sounds of repair work being carried out on the scores of damaged craft recovered from the battle.

‘I am The Lord Protector of the Order of Void Hunters,’ rumbled the largest of the three figures. ‘These others who accompany me are the captains of the
Shattered Star
and the
Eternal Silence,
two of my finest gunspheres.  I thank you for your gracious welcome, Admiral, and your gratitude is appreciated. I wanted to meet you in person, Admiral, warrior to warrior.  You showed considerable bravery and skill in facing down the Shapers and their slaves.  We have learned of your use of anti-matter warheads against their first wave of attackers. Such ruthlessness in the face of the Shaper threat is to be applauded and it seemed you were quite successful in destroying their ships.’