:: 16.10.2003 ::
Chapter Thirteen
Terr'niet pointed to the large planet hanging in the center of the room. The holographic sphere was covered in industrial areas, heavily polluted and very little remaining surface plant life. One would think the planet was already dead. Well, he thought, even if it isn't, it soon will be.
He cleared his throat. "Turan."
The one word sent a ripple of nervous mutterings through his entire board of lieutenants. It had taken him nine days to gather all his forces to their designated waypoint, for most of his ships had only Layer One hyperdrives. The 600 odd ships lay within the bowels of a nebula, the intense energies of the gases masking any trace of their existence. Even a passive scan would red-flag such a large concentration of starships, whether or not they were transmitting their IFF codes.
The war room consisted of a circular bank of chairs, at the center of which was a large holopit for displaying tactical scenarios. The hologram of Turan remained displayed as Terr'niet continued with his speech.
"Our options over these last few months of our campaign have become increasingly difficult. Not only are we running from the Bentusi, but also the Turanic stole technology that we should have received. Our contacts on Turan have acknowledged that Jai'mar and his allies have not yet returned with their stolen merchandise, but there has been a most interesting new event that has arisen.
"It appears that all Turanic throughout the galaxy have been recently ordered to return to the Homeworld immediately, and at any cost. Berv'zudge, my double agent, has been reluctant to divulge the nature of this order even after I've promised him more money than he can possibly imagine. Fortunately," he grinned, "I've come up with a most obvious explanation to all this.
"It appears that the Turanic, much sooner than expected, have begun to Unbind. Naturally."
One of his chief lieutenants, General Mervol, stood up. "That's impossible!" he exclaimed. "The Turanic couldn't possibly have begun to Unbind before us, and especially not before the Hiigarans."
Buntaro nodded. "I agree with the General, this is difficult to digest."
"I don't care how it sounds," Terr'niet chided. "The fact remains. It is so clear now: the Turanic have already begun to feel the change. And now they've requested all of their people to return home to complete the task. Why else would a mass meeting on Turan be held at such an opportune time? I considered that, like us, they were trying to force the Unbinding, but that did not make sense. Obviously they are planning on converting their entire race, and to accomplish that with the artificial means we have in mind would be impossible. Our plan was to convert a small group of people-not many more than the people in this room-and that alone would be time straining. But to Unbind a population of billions before their time, and with the Bentusi against them no less, is impossible. Wherever the Tradeship is now, it is being used to convert as large of a military force to head for Turan and protect it from harm only as long as it takes for the entire population to Unbind. And with the Turanic-far more warlike than any other Unbound race, and likely to remain that way for several generations-in that position of military force, our plans to conquer the galaxy would be ruined.
"My plan is simple: we know that the newly Unbound Turanic fleet hasn't returned to Turan yet, so all we have to do is head for Turan, blockade the planet with our entire fleet, and ransom it off for all the Unbound technology they have."
He turned to one of the generals in the room, "General Nakamgali, do you have the schematics for the Atmosphere Evaporation Missile?"
Nakamgali nodded silently. "I've been safeguarding the technology for decades, just for this sort of contingency."
Terr'niet said, "Yes, good. If the weapon worked on Kharak, there's no reason why it shouldn't work on Turan. The plan couldn't be more simple than it already is." He clapped his hands together. "Who's with me?"
The response was a bit more sedate than he'd hoped; the officers merely muttered to each other nervously. One of the braver generals stood up shakily and said, "I do not believe that would be a wise course of action, Admiral."
"What?" he almost yelled. "Why?"
"Because," the man said meekly, "it is just too…risky…to pull off such a-"
The small man was pushed aside by a bumptious, large man with his cheeks red with anger. "What my quiet friend is failingly attempting to submit," the man said, "is that such an attack is perhaps the stupidest idea you've ever come up with. It could never work."
Terr'niet gripped the cane he'd been using to point at the holopit so hard that it snapped in two. "How dare you-"
The man was not to waver under Terr'niet's molten stare. "How many ships did you lose to the Bentusi Terr'niet? Hmm? By my count it was one hundred, give or take, every ship packed with some of the best minds in the Imperialist faction. And that was against only three Tradeships, and in only one skirmish. A full seventh of our fleet destroyed in only an hour. And who knows how large of a Turanic military force is already Unbound? The Turanic know how to fight; our ancestors have bred them exactly for that purpose, and the fact that they're mostly merchants and traders now hasn't destroyed that killer instinct. They could destroy more of our ships with less of theirs, and we know they won't arrive in a small wave. I'm certain they've anticipated such desperation on our part. And even if we do threaten to destroy Turan, do you think they'll simply buckle down and surrender? No, we'll have two Unbound races to deal with-the Bentusi and Turanic-and we could never survive that. Currently we're neutral with the Turanic and I say we remain that way."
"You mean you want to give up on all our work here?" Terr'niet asked. "All these years, for nothing? Is that it?"
The other man looked right back at him. He spread his arms to indicate the other men in the room. "Look around you, 'Ádmiral.' Are these the faces of determined men? Men who would gladly risk their lives and the lives of thousands of their people just for a slim chance to live as an Unbound?" The man's lips twisted into a grimace. "You've condemned yourself and all who serve you."
All eyes turned to Terr'niet. Ashen-faced, he walked, step by step, towards the outspoken man, shoulders stiff, gait wooden, like a robot. He walked right into the man's face and very quietly said, "We're going to Turan."
Then, loudly, he repeated, "WE'RE GOING TO TURAN!!!"
The large man seemed to shrink before the Admiral's anger. Terr'niet dismissed him with a wave of the hand, and turned to Buntaro. "Buntaro, how long would it take for us to reach Turan at maximum velocity?"
Buntaro stammered, "Ab-about three days, sir."
"Good. Set a course, and slave all the ships in the fleet to the Ruthless Punisher's navicomp."
He then walked in a most regal fashion out of the room. The man with whom he'd been arguing looked over at Buntaro. Quizzically, he asked, "So this is the leader we've chosen?"
Neither Buntaro nor any of the others answered; they merely shrugged at each other.
The initial pain was intense, so intense that Kersin Naabal started to have second thoughts about the whole idea. They'd reassured him that the pain would last only for the barest of microseconds, but his highly enhanced brain seemed to drag out the tiniest moments into eternity.
And then it was over, and he felt more serene than he'd ever felt before in his life. Numbers flowed through his head, stellar and physical equations that had baffled Hiigara's greatest minds for centuries were as clear to him as seeing colors. And yet his mind was forced to work to solve the mysteries of the hyperdrive device he was attached to, whose complexity went far beyond anything anyone could imagine.
The Cloak Frigate had only one living member onboard, to minimize the threat of sabotage or treason. It lay out several hundred clicks away from Hiigara's proximity grid, so that, even as it was uncloaked, it was almost undetectable to prying eyes. The neural trunk attached to his skull forbade him from any possible movement, but as he projected himself, he found that he had eyes all over the ship, to exploit to the fullest potential.
This was the reason why he'd started the project in the first place. This was why he'd broken some of the most revered laws of the Council, why he'd been forced to destroy some of the most loyal Naval officers of his people.
All was worth it now. He was beyond Unbound, a post-Unbound, to be most accurate. Using the ship's long-range sensors, he saw every Bentusi and T-Mat vessel in the galaxy, saw their fleets moving through hyperspace (oh, the joy of the song of hyperspace!) and extrapolated billions of possible plans the Unbound could be devising at this very second. It was not very ethical to calculate the best way of attacking one's allies, but should the Bentusi have a change of heart in the near future he'd know exactly where and when to hit them.
Once the Unbinding took place throughout the populace, he knew, there would be no stopping them from dominating the galaxy.
A voice, now sounding so small in comparison to his massive consciousness, spoke to him through the ship's comm. "Director?" It was Sari Paktu. "Have we succeeded?"
Were he still capable of smiling, the Director would have been grinning so widely that his mouth would end at the back of his head. Yes, Doctor. Everything is a success.
"Perfect." Sari sounded genuinely glad; after all, this was her project as much as his. "Shall we begin testing the ship's functions?"
No, not here, in any case. Too many witnesses. Using the ship's navicomp, he calculated hundreds of possible systems where he could test the ship uninhibited: Coruc-Tel, Gozan, Harrakim…
Then he saw something even more interesting. At a remote part of the galaxy, perfect location for a military installation, he saw a massed concentration of Turanic vessels. Several were ship types he'd never seen before, and at the center of the mass was an almost unrecognizable (the engine harmonics from the trans-hyperdrive engine gave it away) Bentusi Tradeship, heavily upgraded for battle. He calculated the likelihood of their preparedness for battle, and deduced that they were mobilizing an attack force. Why, he didn't know, but he knew that the Tradeship he saw was the one recently stolen by the Turanic mercenary Jai'mar. He began wondering how such information could benefit him…
And then he saw something else: tarnishing the song of hyperspace with their dilapidated hulls and graceless numbers, he spotted an unbelievable amount of obsolete Taiidan vessels on an intercept course for…Turan!
Of course! In the barest of milliseconds, he understood all, what his feeble Bound mind couldn't possibly have guessed on its own. The Taiidan fleet-obviously under the leash of that renegade Terr'niet character-was prepared to attack Turan to threaten the Raiders to surrender their technology that they'd "stolen" from them. The Unbound Turanic would certainly retaliate with such an advanced new fleet, and carnage would ensue.
And here was where his devious mind kicked in; he knew what must be done. He would assemble a covert group of Cloak Frigates, all staffed by the most loyal of the Invisibles Corps, and defend Turan. And considering the opposition he was up against-Imperialist starships that were worth as much as a modern-day Corvette-he had little doubt he could stand a chance against them. Either way, victory would bolster the relationship between the Hiigarans and the Turanic, an even more profitable venture considering that the latter would be Unbound. From there, he calculated two further outcomes: either the Council would look upon their benevolent act of defense by imposing leniency on the Hiigaran Unbinding program, or the Turanic would be so grateful that an alliance would give the Hiigarans both advanced Unbound technology and protection from the mistrusting Council Judicators.
All the pieces were finally starting to make sense.
The time it took for his mind to devise this entire scheme was negligible to a Bound, so Sari was taken aback when the Director blurted out suddenly, Tell my chief liaison in the Invisibles Corps to contact me privately. The final steps must be taken to cement the success of Project Tasiin.
The Taiidan!
Yes…they are heading for Turan. They should arrive within one Hiigaran week.
And the Turanic? What are they planning?
The Turanic don't yet know; Terr'niet hasn't yet breached their proximity alert grid. They won't be aware of his intentions until a few hours before his jump ends.
But it should take them only a few more hours to complete their Unbinding and reach the planet after that happens.
Yes. I feel their minds; they imprint on our own. Thousands of new voices…they haven't completely learned how to block their minds from us yet. But their fleet is building; three-fourths of the Outpost's personnel have Unbinded, and the new vessels are being produced like mad.
They are a formidable force.
They could easily fight the Bentusi off now, yes. The Council might censure some of their new arms, but for the moment our distant cousins will be unable to complete their vendetta.
It was unexpected that Terr'niet should survive…
I was hoping our knowledge of his location would be the end of him.
Bah, the Bentusi have never been able to fight.
True, they would have been killed off had they not been the first to Unbind.
By the way…how go the Hiigarans?
I don't know…I can't find the one called "Kersin Naabal" anymore.
Perhaps he is in a cloaked vessel?
Maybe…but before he disappeared I felt something…strong. It reminded me of the Tasiin, Destroyer of Outside.
You mean, beyond Unbound?
Yes. The Devourer is gone, and so is Outside, but…
The "Naagarokers"?
No…ah, well, it was fleeting, I assure you. But what to do of the Taiidan and Turanic? The Bentusi are too clever to enter the inevitable battle over Turan…no, let me rephrase. They won't attack both of them. They will have to choose a side.
But who?
That will be the most intriguing part.
Indeed.
Either the Taiidan, who haven't a scrap of Bentusi technology, but have already been attacked by the Bentusi…or the Turanic, who actually have Bentusi technology-an entire Tradeship, no less-but are using the technology legitimately, Unbinding naturally.
A conundrum, to be certain…wait, what was that?
What was what?
I feel…ships! Ships have just left hyperspace off our port bow!
Impossible! I cannot find them!
They are very small…too small. Both of them are of the starfighter class…and they're Hiigaran!
The ones responsible for the Unbinding?
No…those renegades, the two officers trying to uncover the conspiracy laid by their own race.
How did they find us? We're cloaked?
Uncertain…but they're not leaving.
"Where is it?"
Damar checked his sensors for the fifteenth time. "I…I don't know. I saw T-Mat energy signatures here a minute ago. Massive ones."
Krenneg looked out into space and shivered. "Why you decided to flag a T-Mat warship is beyond me."
"Because, Admiral," Damar explained. "We know of their involvement now. We know they destroyed the Mothership, but we don't know why. And I doubt it was to kill off several thousand sick people. No, we're missing something, and they know what it is."
"This is still crazy, you know. I can't believe we're even doing this; giving a gun to that Director and telling him to use it would be a safer situation."
Damar scoffed. "Whatever. We're marked men anyway, and cloaked or not I'm certain we'll be found if we go to within even a light-year of Hiigara. The T-Mat are our only hope, you know that."
"But no one's here. Occasionally it's helpful for a second party to be present before negotiations can occur."
"Oh, they're here alright. Using some kind of cloaking shield that I've never heard of before, but they're here."
"And how do we know that?"
Damar thought for a second. "Switch on your targeting laser."
"What? Why the-"
"Do it." With belated formality, he then added, "Uh…sir."
Confused but ready to try anything, Krenneg activated his ship's targeting laser, following Damar's suit. Used rarely by beginner pilots, the laser was made to indicate the aim of a starfighter's energy cannons. It was a flawed device since the light-speed laser could track a moving target faster than sub-sonic weaponry, but the lasers remained as a secondary ship function.
Another reason for the lasers was that they were a perfect give-away for large cloaked vessels. While a fighter could speedily evade a laser's tracking, a Destroyer-class or Carrier-class vessel would be betrayed by the laser stopping in its tracks in space, blocked by the invisible mass of the ship.
So, slowly, the two Cloak Fighters rotated slowly in their places, waiting for something to trip the projected beams. The space was a large place, and for the longest time they tagged nothing. Krenneg grew tired of this game, and called over to Damar, "This isn't working, son. Let's just go."
Downtrodden, Damar acquiesced. "Alright, I guess this wasn't as good a plan as-"
Then an alarm went off in the cockpit, an angry buzzing that had been programmed to alert them to a tripping of the lasers. Damar and Krenneg both stopped moving their ships, and peered out into space. Spaced out by about a kilometer, their lasers had frozen in their place about fifty kilometers from their position.
Slowly, they engaged thrusters to zero in on the two dots, while Krenneg announced, "This is Admiral Krenneg Naabal from the Hiigaran Naval Forces to cloaked T-Mat vessels. We know you're out there, and we know of your involvement with our Mothership some sixty years ago. Come clean now."
No response.
"We wish no conflict; we will not attack your vessels."
We were not exactly fearing such an outcome. As you can see, you are far outmatched.
The T-Mat ship that de-cloaked in front of them filled their entire canopies. It eclipsed all stars behind them, and were as imposing a vessel as one could find anywhere in the known galaxy.
Damar and Krenneg knew that no creatures beyond the T-Mat had seen the ship and were allowed to survive, not that the sight of the ship wouldn't have left them crazy.
For the ship in front of them was the largest ship ever built, and it was known infamously across the galaxy as the "Starfish Mothership."
