Resolution (3 page)

"Mark, what about Mary?" John asked.

"The Center was evacuated and destroyed before I left the planet. Mary's here working in the Hospital unit closest to the Command complex. Gloria and her parents are also here with us. The Bethel system fell a few hours after the main assault began. I'm sorry John," Mark replied.

"That's okay, Mark. We'll get it back," John replied, calmly.

"Have you discovered anything that will help us?" Mark asked.

"I think so, but I don't think you're going to like what it's gonna take for us to use it," John said.

"That sounds ominous. Care to elaborate?" Mark asked.

"Actually, If it's okay, I think if you listen to this without my opinions, you'll be more likely to draw your own conclusions from it," John said.

"Don't want to bias me either way?" Mark asked, and shrugged mentally. "It's probably a good thing."

"Dare I ask how we're even able to speak? You should be way out of range for this," Mark asked.

"Let's just say that our current hosts know a few tricks and leave it at that. Yes, we are very much out of range," John replied.

"Okay, we're back at my office. I'll activate the holosuite and link it to the internal comm and..." Mark paused while his holographic form took shape on the bridge next to Malthis.

All the Marines on the bridge knelt when Mark appeared.

"Please rise my friends," Mark asked.

"Your Majesty, Marcus Candlewood, May I present Malthis, leader of the Promethean people," John said making introductions.

Malthis bowed to Mark, and Mark returned the bow.

"It is a pleasure to meet you, Your Highness," Malthis said in greeting.

"The honor is mine, Malthis. Please, call me Mark," Mark replied.

Malthis dipped his head in acceptance. "As you wish. Mark, I have asked your Guardians to undertake a very important mission on behalf of all beings in our universe. They tell me that in order to do so you must first release them from their previous oaths. They also asked me to explain our situation to you, so you understand the entire situation."

"I would appreciate that, Malthis; not only are these people my Guardians, they are also my friends," Mark replied.

"As I understand things, that aspect of our relationship wouldn't need to change, Mark. We'll still be friends, we just won't be able to share some of our knowledge with you," Chloe replied.

"Folks, I wouldn't tell Mark anything about our current situation, so he can make a decision free of our influence," John said. "I'll leave it to Malthis to make his case to Mark."

"I appreciate that opportunity, General. Thank you for giving it to me," Malthis said, then turned to Mark, and told their story. There was much more in the tale this time, and the Guardians learned more of their history than they had previously. When he had finished with the tale, Malthis outlined, in detail exactly what he had offered.

"I do understand the situation much better now, thank you Malthis. I do have some concerns, may I express them without offending you?" Mark asked.

"You may, General Aster has told me that, by definition you would be a Guardian as well if you were not the leader of your nation. I take that to mean that if your situation were to ever change, he would accept you into their ranks. In which case, this oath and the responsibility that comes with it would become yours as well," Malthis replied.

"I'm honored that he feels that way. I feel I should mention that currently, he is also my heir apparent since we are not able to reproduce. Although, I'm not certain the title should be hereditary, but that is a discussion for another time and place," Mark said thoughtfully.

"Mark, I feel it only fair to inform you we are fully aware of all of your advancements and discoveries. You may see it as spying, but we would not and will not interfere unless something you wish to pursue would be so dangerous as to destroy your race. Our interest is academic, and to this point has been protective. We are aware of Doctor St. Andre's work. Very soon the Guardians, by which I include you in that group, will be able to once again have families. If the General and his team accept our offer, some of the knowledge released to them will be medical in nature, and will confirm her findings. But I believe you have concerns?" Malthis asked.

Mark nodded. "I do, and again, please do not be offended, as that is not my intent here. Although, as you say, you have been monitoring us, we do not know you or your people at all. I will admit my instinct is to trust you, but logically, there is no basis for it. "I am not asking as the leader of a nation, but as a man who has sworn to protect and defend the people in question, these Guardians are the only true friends I have, that I know I can trust without question. That is something of a rare thing for a leader to be blessed with, and I am loath to risk it."

Malthis nodded. "This has been our concern, and one that we have long debated on how to overcome. We have decided that to make any concession to the oath would weaken it too far to be affective. Once the oath has been taken it must be binding or other would suffer. We have little to no council to offer on this. We agree and feel it is very unfortunate that the galactic situation is such that trust cannot be easier in coming. We can only ask that you consider our offer; we hope that you can find it in your hearts to trust us in this. Our goal is only the stability of the worlds of our children, and of those races that have developed on their own in our galaxy."

Mark nodded. "Will you be offering this to any other races?"

"Although we would like to see a culturally diverse agency, we have decided to let General Aster be in charge of it. We will recommend beings for his consideration, but we will not force any on him," Malthis replied calmly.

"The agency will require support, ships supplies, manufacturing and the like. Have you any idea's how to handle this?" Mark asked.

"Arrangements to that affect have been made. Although it wouldn't be required, it is hoped that those so protected will wish to contribute in some fashion. Such offers of aid should be encouraged and accepted. I would mention that these Guardians would have access to most of our technology, as well as our support. There are many of what you call artifacts spread throughout the galaxy, hidden, awaiting our reactivation. If the General and his people accept our offer, they will have access to, and control over, those artifacts," Malthis explained. "All of those artifacts are capable of supporting the Guardians."

Mark nodded. "So although they shouldn't need external support, any offers would be accepted. This is going to be a massive undertaking, requiring a large amount of beings."

Malthis nodded. "Eventually, yes it will. But all such endeavors must start small or be doomed to failure of collapse under its own weight. To begin, the Guardians will be charged with ending the conflict in your Alpha Quadrant, by freeing the Empire of Tammerain and fostering peace in the area. Our former brethren will not be pleased with these developments, and will continue to seek the destruction of the Human race. That cannot be allowed, nor do we wish the destruction of their race.

"We understand that warfare is sometimes required, and the Guardians will be capable of horrendous damage and acts of extreme violence, but we pray that such strength will be seen more as a deterrent to warfare, than a statement of intent. As for our former Brethren, I doubt they will see our actions as anything more than an insult to them. They believe themselves to be our rightful heirs, and have unilaterally laid claim to all of our facilities, some of which they have seized control of, and are being used against you."

Mark nodded. "We discovered the artifact they are using as the Imperial Palace, though we don't know much about it."

"It is a sad thing. I am afraid that after such a long subjugation, Selnia will have to be allowed to pass," Malthis replied. "Although she is no longer in control of the facility, she has had to witness the many atrocities that have been ordered through her by our former Brethren."

"Malthis, many thousands of years ago, my grandmother told me about people that had claimed to have either seen or been taken by 'Aliens'. This was well before first contact, and the later fall of the planet. She described your race as one of those the 'crazy alien people' claimed to have seen. Although the shorter version was the most prevalent, are those myths true then?" John asked.

"Unfortunately, they are. The beings called 'Greys' by your people did all manner of horrible things to your people then. They worked behind the scenes to ensure that your people would not be able to defend yourselves when they finally directed their minions towards you. We tried to warn your people, but they managed to either scramble or discredit all our attempts.

"We do not know how you will make peace with these 'Greys', but we prey you do. There is no reason or basis we can find for their hated of your species. However, that hatred seems absolute. We are still debating ways to reach them in their madness, if a way cannot be found, their insanity will be their doom,"

––––––––

"I
feel I must make mention of one more thing before you make a decision, and that has to do with the nature of our current existence. We have waited a long time for a suitable candidate. More time than we actually have remaining to us. Myself and those of our race that remain here are encapsulated," Malthis explained. "That is to say, our bodies are near death, but being held in stasis. I am speaking to you through one of our living computers. Although, in fairness, we - ourselves, could be classified as such at this point."

"Encapsulated. You're in a cryo-unit and you're still able to interact with the world around you?" Chloe asked.

"Not in the way in which you are probably thinking, Commander. Before death we uploaded our consciousness into a specially built containment facility, and our physical body was placed into a stasis unit. The stasis unit is a pocket of distorted space-time that has a very high differential to this dimension. The goal of this desperate action was to await the arrival of a being we could trust. General Aster, yourself, and those like you meet our definition of 'trust'."

"What will happen if we decline, Malthis?" John asked.

Malthis smiled slightly, "In that instance we will continue to wait. However, we have calculated a very high probability that you will accept. We do not have a hidden agenda, for us, there would be no point in it. All we can do is to try to safeguard the lives we have brought into the universe, as well as those of our fellow citizens before we pass. This will be the last undertaking of our race. Once you have settled into the duties, we will remove our bodies from stasis, delete our 'virtual' existence and let nature take its course."

"Don't you have more to offer the universe? Why do you have to let yourselves die out?" Tami asked.

"A long time ago, on your home world of Earth, one of your musicians said it best; 'for everything there is a season'. Our season has past; this one belongs to you and your brothers," Malthis explained.

"With your permission, Malthis, I would like to talk it over with my friends before making a decision. Is there a way we may contact you again?" John asked.

Malthis bowed his head. "Simply call. We are currently using your sensor drone as a relay. You may continue to use that, or you can simply open a comm channel. We will respond in either case."

"No matter what is decided I would like to thank you for the offer and the information you have given us," John replied.

"You are most welcome General Aster. We will await your reply," Malthis said as he faded out.

"Wow, what a choice!" Chloe said, shaking her head.

"It does seem that way," Mark replied. "But it isn't. Not really."

"How do you see this, Mark?" John asked.

Mark smiled slightly. "The Prometheans aren't asking you to do anything you're not already doing. They're only offering you better toys and a bigger sandbox."

"Actually, it sounds like a lot more responsibility. Before you sent us on this mission, Mark, I was trying to figure out how to stretch out the Guardian force to cover the territory we would be responsible for. Even adding the people I asked for it would have been difficult. The entire galaxy is a much, much bigger place," John explained.

"John, you can't look at it that way. Not yet. Right now, the Kingdom and the Empire both need you. We need you to stop this pointless war that is killing people on both sides by the millions. The Empire needs you to help them accept and adjust to the fact that another race has been exploiting their religious beliefs in order to control them." Mark 'sat' down on a console. "I release the four of you from your oaths, provided you accept the offer from the Prometheans. At this point, I believe the oaths you took are probably redundant anyway. I know you wouldn't act against our people." He grinned. "I also know that doesn't mean you wouldn't act against the government. Even now, bound by your oaths, I would still expect you to act against me if I were making a mistake. No government is perfect and mistakes do get made. Sometimes those mistakes can be pretty major. In that event I would hope that there would be someone out there that would stop it."

"Are you telling us that you want us to accept their offer, Mark?" Alice asked.

Mark looked thoughtful. "Actually, I'm trying to not let my desires color your decision. If it were me, yes, I would accept. However, no one - that includes me - should have a say in your decision. I am simply trying to make sure you are free to do so. As a ruler, and as a person I hold no animosity towards the Tammerain. Now that I know the truth, I can't hold this against them, at least not directly. These 'greys' are a different matter. Millions, if not billions of our people are dead. You know our people are not going to just forgive and forget."

"No, they won't. But vengeance is also not going to be an option for them. If we can get this war stopped, we will need to focus on picking up the pieces and caring for those that have survived. After all, it's not like you can declare war on a race that's on the far side of the galaxy. We will also need to focus our efforts on showing our people that the Tammerain are not the real enemy, and never have been. After the last war, it took centuries for trust to even begin to form. After what's happened between the two nations, it may not ever return," John said. "That will be the hard battle."