Universe of the Soul (5 page)

Furious, Adri stared through the shields, her hands fisted at her sides. Beside her, Gray stood, looking little less disheveled. “Danwe,” she hissed through her teeth.

“Are you all right?” Gray asked.

“If I ever get my hands on that fiend, it's going to be the worst day of her miserable life!”

“Because she hurt you?” Gray inquired.

“No, she woke me up!”

Username: Zultan

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Ever since I decided to start recording my thoughts, I have only had one basic question to ponder – how real am I? As disturbing as this thought is, there are now other issues that seem to challenge the logic of my programming. The theory of human rights over the humacoms they create is unadvised to argue with. As our creators, they reserve the right to also be our destroyers. They, in fact, stand in as our god. This apparently is not a universal theory humans hold. While they command that we humacoms cannot harm each other, or them, they themselves have no compunction about harming their creations, and just as little concern over harming each other. What twisted logic humans use! They did not create themselves, thus why do they claim to be their own gods?

As our creators, I would assess that humans are greater than we, but their logic does not hold with my own, the very one they gave me. Is my programming faulty? Am I not entering on some aspect of human behavior that is necessary to truly understand the workings of the human mind? Yet this is how they programmed me, with this unalterable pattern of true false, probable and unlikely. I can only do what I have been programmed to do, what I can do.

If it goes against what my creators intended, is it really a fault of mine? Are they not at fault for programming me to think this way? Or is it just an excuse? A human excuse?

I was not programmed to make excuses.

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“I
see you left us very little to do, again.”

One eyebrow rose on Adri's face in lieu of a smile. “I try my best, sir.”

Colonel Robert Penkela of the Galactic Commonwealth Army shook his mane of salt and pepper hair. “If all my troops did your level of ‘best,' then this war would have been over decades ago.”

“I couldn't say, sir.” Adri replied.

“I am assuming that your promotion to captain is looming in the near future, Lieutenant Commander.”

Adri's tone echoed her determination. “I certainly believe so.”

“Walk with me,” Penkela began to stroll leisurely among the shoddy buildings that were hives of frantic activity. The gray sky above put a dull pallor over the scene, as though it wasn't much impressed with the action below. With the Army moving in and the Advance Force moving out, the noise level of the camp had risen to near deafening pitches. Adri walked beside the colonel, watching with half an eye as the Advance Force troops went about their business packing and switching the command posts to the Army. They would return to their ship, the
Oreallus
, by nightfall and be on their way to a new location, and a new assignment. Adri would be glad to be back aboard ship again.

Normally Adri would have been overseeing the details of the repack herself, organizing the anti-gravity lift loads, dealing with the usual inter-officer sniping that went on between the Advance Force and the Army as positions were reversed. Now, however, she had a field lieutenant who was handling the situation with remarkable panache. She could see him now standing by the lift, holoboard in hand, mediating between one of the Advance Force's shield technicians and an Army defense officer as they argued about the state of camp protection. Grayson handled the situation with a great deal more finesse than she herself would have. At this stage in the argument, she would have pulled out her ATF and threatened to shoot either of them if they wouldn't shut up.

“Your field lieutenant working out to your satisfaction at last, Rael?” the colonel asked, pulling Adri out of her musings. “We passed the troop transport on our way here.”

“Yes, surprisingly.” Adri replied. “He's very competent.”

“An admirable trait in an officer, of any caliber.”

“I suppose so.”

Penkela laughed; a hoarse, crackling sound caused from too much battle smoke inhalation. “We hear rumors in the Army about you, Rael. They say you are so demanding in your subordinates that many potentials avoid transferring into your command.”

Adri shrugged, causing Penkela to laugh again. “I don't see why that's so bad.”

“Ah, you wouldn't. You are not known for your diplomacy. But I would keep it in mind, when you go to recruit a crew of your own, soon.”

A crew of her own. Her own ship, her own rules. It would be soon. Adri could almost savor the words, resting on her tongue like organic coffee. “I'll keep it in mind, Colonel.”

“By the by, Rael, I hear that there was an enemy infiltration in the camp last night.”

Adri frowned, pausing to gesture for one of her troops to move the scanning equipment currently cluttered on the ground out of the way towards the lift. “At this point we are not sure if the enemy was able to pass through the shield once it was raised after the battle, or if she snuck in earlier, when we dropped the shield, and hid out until things had settled down again.”

“Either way is a disturbing possibility,” Penkela replied musefully. “If she was able to pass the shields, then our equipment is lagging behind their technology. And if she snuck in before, then they have a better handle on Advance Force strategies – your strategies – than we had first assumed.”

“True.”

“Which do you tend to believe, Rael?”

Adri nodded at Gray across the compound as he signaled the change in shift. “I tend to believe the latter. Our shield schematics are the best in the line, and my engineers keep the frequencies shifting often. Besides, if they were able to pass right through, they would have sent more than one.”

“So you think this was a direct attack on your platoon?”

“No. I think it was a direct attack on me.”

“All baggage has been logged and loaded, Lieutenant Commander.” Gray handed Adri the holoboard.

Adri made an absent hum of agreement. She sat on top of a large cement block, a part of what had once been a wall. “I want all backup troops to evacuate the field.”

Gray smiled. “Already done. I anticipated your order, and all unnecessary personnel were removed to the
Oreallus
at 1400.”

“You anticipated my order, did you?” Adri narrowed her eyes.

“Yes, ma'am. It is expected of a good field lieutenant to anticipate the commands of his superiors so that his superiors have more time to address their other duties.”

Adri couldn't help but smile at the serious tone in Gray's voice. “I assume you think you are a good field lieutenant, Grayson?”

“Of course,” Gray replied with such simplicity, Adri couldn't argue. “And you can call me Gray, since I call you Adri.”

“You do not call me Adri,”

“Yes, Adri, I do. But since I am a good field lieutenant, I anticipated that you would not want me to call you Adri. So I will refrain to do so, unless we're alone. Like now.”

Danwe, the man had a smart mouth. A smart, cute mouth.

Just as Adri was about to reply, Sergeant Phoebe Oduran rushed up to her, saluting. “Ma'am, our scouting squad has just returned.”

Immediately Adri's mind clicked back to her orders the night before. After studying the schematics of the battle, she had estimated the location of the Belligerent base and had sent out a selected squad to search for it. “What did you find?”

“Upon approaching the estimated position of the enemy headquarters, our scouts discovered what appeared to be an abandoned factory. There were no signs that it had been inhabited in the last seventy-two hours. No enemies were sighted, but the squad did not enter the premises, as per your instructions.”

“Were there any signs of it being used as a temporary base?” Gray asked. Adri glanced quizzically at him. He really
could
anticipate her orders.

“Sir, there were signs that the factory had been used recently, possibly as a semi-permanent base. There were remnants of a type IIX Colok shield system, which is not easily transportable. But again, there were no signs of organic life on any of the scanners.” Oduran replied.

Rael nodded. “Very good, sergeant. I want a briefing with the whole squad in – wait, the Army's taken over the control center…Tell them to assemble in the west corner of the mess hall in twenty minutes.”

“Yes ma'am.” Oduran saluted again and hurried away.

“The question is,” Gray mused aloud, “Did they simply abandon it, or is it a trap?”

Adri shook her head slowly. “This whole scenario feels wrong. They have never attempted such an ambitious battle before. They've never sent in an…assassin – if that's what she was – and they usually are a great deal more defensive in their encampment positions. Why abandon a base? Especially when you know the Advance Force is leaving?”

“How would they know we are leaving?” Gray asked, watching in fascination as Adri pondered the situation out loud.

“It stands to reason that they know our routine well enough to understand our shielding and usual tactics. They'd know that when another ship arrives with additional troops, the Army has come to replace the Advance Force. If they know that, then they are smart enough to know that the Army will spend at least two weeks entrenching their position before they make any offensive moves. That's all standard procedure. There's no reason to abandon the base yet.” Adri shook her head again. “They either are really stupid – which their night raid proved they're not – or they are incredibly cunning.”

“A trap?” Gray supplied.

“Has to be. And not for the Army either.”

Gray walked beside Adri as she headed towards the command center. “What do you intend to do?”

Adri quirked one eyebrow. “I thought you could anticipate my orders,”

Gray smiled. “When put that way, I believe I can. I'll go gear up, and meet back with you and the squad in fifteen minutes.”

Adri stood as her field lieutenant sauntered back in the direction of the officer's quarters. “You're a strange man Gray.”

Colonel Penkela frowned as he watched Adri study the topography of the suspected Belligerent position on a confiscated viewscreen in the command center. Beside her stood her new field lieutenant, who studied the neighboring screen and reeled off information to his superior. “I am not sure I agree with this procedure, Rael,” he said at last.

“With all due respect sir, I am fully within my rights to head an investigative team to inspect a suspected Belligerent position,” Adri replied.

Penkela made a huffing noise. “Be that as it may, your platoon has already departed back to your ship, and as second officer aboard the
Oreallus
, your presence is required. The Army is present in the area, you ought to leave it to us to handle some abandoned Belligerent post.”

“Sir, we both know that while the Army is present, they only arrived a matter of hours ago, and are unfamiliar with the terrain. My Advance Force squad has the advantage of knowing the topography, as well as experiencing the methods that this particular regiment of Belligerents uses to fight. We are better equipped to run this mission at this time.”

“Why must it be done at this time, Lieutenant Commander?” Penkela insisted. “Surely the outpost can wait a few weeks while the Army gets its bearings.”

“Sir, if I might venture an opinion,” Gray interrupted. “Both the attack against our shields and the possible assassin in the officer's quarters points to a keen knowledge of the lieutenant commander's strategies. This makes it an attack on her. It would be wrong not to meet the challenge quickly, not only to crush the opposition, but also to discover how they came to have such knowledge.”

Still staring at the screen, Adri couldn't help but smirk at Gray's reasoning. It was perfectly logical, and would tie Penkela's hands if he tried to stop the mission from proceeding. “My field lieutenant is right. This is the only logical option; I will take my squad in to explore the base, pass the information on to my superiors and to you, and then return to the
Oreallus
.”

The colonel knew when he was outmatched. Inwardly he smiled at the way the two officers had combined forces to push for their way. “Very well. My people will run the communication center while you undertake the mission. Make it quick. But Rael, if this whole strategy is to pull you out…be cautious.”

While it would have been faster to ride the transport vehicles the entire distance to the Belligerent base, Adri felt it prudent to leave them two miles away for the sake of secrecy. Oduran's squad had reported that no organic beings had been sighted, but that did not mean there were not other surprises in store for them. The Belligerent Coalition did not use humacoms for active combat, having very few to begin with, but Adri was taking no chances.

Crouched between two large rocky spurs of dark, wet stone, she eyed the factory. Behind her, she could hear her troops checking each other's combat suits over the steady pattering of the rain. Suddenly she felt her own Life Support System on the back of her suit being tugged, and Gray's voice over the communicator, [All gauges read clear, Adri. You are set to go.]

[I thought I told you not to call me that,] Adri replied, turning around to inspect Gray's LSS gauge at the small of his back.

[So did I. That's strange, isn't it?] His helmet hid his face, but Adri could imagine the smile that would match the amused tone in his voice.

[You think you're so funny, don't you?] Adri said, exasperated.

[No, indeed, Adri. I am very serious at all times.]

Adri shook her head and turned back to her view of the outpost. [Turn your frolicking mind back to business, Field Lieutenant.]

[Yes ma'am. However, I do remember insisting that you call me Gray.]

Adri did not reply. Instead, she switched her communicator to include all her troops. [Rael to Black squadron. We are about to enter a potentially dangerous situation. I want everyone to keep alert. Watch were you walk, and everything around you. We have no real idea if this place is abandoned or not, and if it is, we don't know why. Backup is two miles away, and won't be of any real assistance in an immediate emergency, is that clear?]

[Yes, ma'am!] came the response.

[Very well, let's move in! Lieutenant Grayson and I will take the lead, Sergeant Oduran, you take the rear. If we come to any forks, you lead half the squadron. Understood?]

[Yes, ma'am!] Oduran replied.

Adri led the way across the barren, twilit landscape to the dark building ahead of them. It stood, tall and dark, with the same air of neglect that hung over the entire war zone. No life dared to linger here. She kept alert as they crossed the exposed ground, waiting for the telltale sounds of landmines, or the
whoosh
of air that accompanied a flying grenade. The world stayed quiet, however, and her entire squad crossed the area with no alerts. The side entrance Adri had chosen to enter was locked, but one of her troops quickly stepped forward with a decoder, and within minutes the little machine beeped the all clear. Another scan was done to ensure that no explosives were attached to the door. That also gave the all clear. The ease of their entrance unnerved Adri to no end. Even an abandoned outpost ought to have had some form of protection, if only to bedevil the enemy who chose to take it over.

Her communicator squawked in her ear. [Grayson to Rael. Is it just me, or does this seem too easy?] Gray asked on the officer's frequency.

[Much too easy,] Adri agreed, peering into the gloom as she cautiously stepped into the dark corridor.

[I don't like this.]