Annals of the Keepers - Rage Page 9

  “We’re lucky there, Jesan. There are three dark matter strands connected to this galaxy and they are all in this quadrant, the original homeworlds of the Gashnee. One of those has been closed with our help. We are now looking for the other two. We are also working on a contingency plan regarding the Gashnee’s return. We will brief you all as soon we complete it.”

  “Sir,” Kason pitched in. “We can learn a great deal from the remaining body and the wreckage we recovered.”

  “Doctor Solome is working on the biopsy of the Gashnee body now and we have the wreckage being searched through,” Parejas responded. “We also have Rels Sentel tracking down the Gashnee Ancients for any information; but, what we need to do is continue to stay focused and vigilant against the Kryth, as they are more of an immediate threat. We’ll continue to work on this Gashnee enigma and plan from the information Captain Strathin has provided. Gentlemen, that will be all.”

  Everyone began to leave the room.

  Jesan Takkar approached the Commander. “Could I have a word with you, Shenta?”

  “What is it?”

  The captain waited until the last man exited the chamber. “Can Strathin be trusted?”

  “I’ve asked myself that question.”

  “This Gashnee mystery is getting worse by the minute.”

  “Continue,” Parejas said.

  “Our own history shows them to be emissaries to Earth. We know their technology helped us escape the Kryth and rebuild; then, out of nowhere, the captain of the First Fleet appears through the same wormhole he vanished from. We now hear that this ancient race is hellbent on a reconquest of the galaxy and the annihilation of anyone who gets in their way, even children? Have I summed up all this madness so far?”

  “That sounds about right, old friend.”

  “Can we lock him and his crew up until we know for certain or put them back into the wormhole where you found them?”

  Shenta smiled at the idea. “I would agree with your assessment about the situation we face, Jesan. I’m not taking anything lightly here. We’ve ran tests on the crew and the ship. They’re still in quarantine until further notice, Strathin being the exception.” Shenta took a step closer to his friend. “We’ll do whatever it takes to ensure the safety of the colony.”

  “I know, but I just had three scout ships hand the fastest battleship in the fleet its reactor.”

  Shenta smirked. “Scout ships, huh?”

  The two men began walking towards the exit.

  Captain Takkar’s face turned serious with the commander’s last comment. “Don’t start with me, Shenta.”

  “You’re the one that said scout ships. I was just being inquisitive.”

  “Sure, you were. Inquisitive my a–”

  The chamber door shut behind the two men.

  Data Cell 14

  Dark billowing plumes of smoke filled the skyline of the Cuukzen city, Tormuun-Sen.

  Fire blazed in parts of the capital as the hot ash of darted smoldering columns within the cityscape reached up to meet the storm clouds passing above.

  The light from the setting sun ignited the horizon in tones of oranges and bright reds, giving a dreadful scene over the Cuukzen homeworld which now lay ablaze.

  Several Kryth troops dragged a Cuukzen figure along the ground outside of the city wall and toward an open field.

  The Domain soldiers threw the tiny figure to the dirt like a disguarded twig before they backed away, taking a guarded position a few feet beyond their now prone captive.

  The Cuukzen was adorned in a colorful robed jacket that was now stained with his own blood. The sleeves had once-ornate symbols from the wrist to the shoulder.

  His outfit was finished with pants and boots.

  The wee Cuukzen wiped away the bloodied grime that clumped on his bruised face.

  His long ears were folded back behind his head and held together by a decorative pendant.

  He heaved heavy labored breaths as he tried to hold himself up.

  Two knee-high black-armored boots stepped up in front of the fallen Cuukzen.

  A long handle attached to a leather whip rested alongside the towering Kryth commander which now stood before his victim.

  An amused chuckle issued from this Kryth. “Oh, how you Cuukzen test me. Do you think we would not find out, Uutsaa?” he asked of the tiny robed figure below him.

  Neither answer nor expression came from the wounded Cuukzen.

  The leather snapped the air when it met the face of the tiny alien as the Kryth overlord drove it across his silent slave.

  Uutsaa rolled over in pain holding his slashed-open cheek.

  The Kryth placed the frayed end of the whip in his other hand, slapping it against his gauntleted glove. “Answer when you are asked a question, Uutsaa.”

  A shallow voice grumbled out of the Cuukzen, “Find out about what, Salin Ma?”

  Another lash cracked along the side of Uutsaa’s ribs.

  “Let us not play these games, Uutsaa. You do not have many breaths left.” The commander knelt next to his gasping prey. “Now, tell me why you of all people would sign an alliance with these Humans? Why put your seated position amongst your people at risk? Did you have it so severe under our governance, Uutsaa?”

  The armored Kryth commander began walking around his Cuukzen puppet, tapping his whip against his booted leg. “These Humans will not help you. They stay hidden now. They have not taken any more systems besides the useless one called Sol. You forget who holds the balance of life within these sectors. The Cuukzen will pay a heavy price for your treason, Uutsaa. They will pay while you look on from your governed palace in your walled city which, if you’ve forgotten, was given to you by our hand and by our constant clemency towards all who serve under the Domain.”

  The Cuukzen rolled over, getting up on his knees.

  His eyes wide, he glared at his Kryth master before him. “I will not yield to you any longer. The Kryth reign has come to an end. There will be many more races that will break from your grasp. The Human alliance was just the beginning. Do what you want with me.”

  A wide smile creased the commander’s face. “I was hoping you would say that, Uutsaa.” He bent down to get close to the battered face of the Cuukzen. “I was so hoping you would say that. Your anguish has begun.”

  ∞∞∞

  The bridge inside the Sol’s Edge was active as the crew readied their arrival into the Cuukzen system.

  Droe Temin walked onto the bridge from the lift.

  She was monitoring the readouts above her on the holo-screen as she made her way to the command chair in the center. “What’s the status, ensign?”

  A male ensign sat in the position below the command chair Droe once occupied on the Rage.

  It wasn’t lost on her with her recent promotion to captaining a Rage class command cruiser.

  “We have one Kryth destroyer above the planet. We also have a small contingent of Kryth troops along with a Drovage assault ship on the outer edge of the city, captain.”

  “Pull up tech on the destroyer and the dossier on the captain,” Droe ordered.

  “Yes, ma’am.”

  The holo-field flashed with the image of the Kryth ship and that of its captain.

  Droe looked over the information in holo-light before her. “Looks like we have an older destroyer called the Narlok. Her captain for this area is one Salin Ma. That’s this sector’s magistrate. It seems the Kryth bring in their local thugs to deal with any insurrection amongst their subjugated people. This captain’s a real winner.”

  “How so?” the ensign inquired.

  Droe scrolled through the information by moving her hand through the air before it. “He does all the dirty work for the Kryth: kidnappings, torture, blackmail, extortion, you name it.”

  “Orders, ma’am?”

  “Let’s do the Kryth the favor of mothballing their aging destroyer, then head down to the surface to show our support to our new Cuukzen allies.”

 
“Atmospheric running, captain?”

  Droe gazed at the ensign. “We might as well put all the systems through their test runs. Wouldn’t you agree?”

  “Aye, aye.”

  “Prepare all weapons, continue constellation camouflage screen, and move within a kilometer of the enemy.”

  ∞∞∞

  Two Kryth soldiers moved from their large assault vessel on the open plains to the outskirts of the Cuukzen walled city.

  Walking along their sides were two aythras, their bristled hair arched up from around the beasts’ necks and along their backs.

  Uutsaa noticed the lumbering creatures approaching his way.

  “At least something gets your attention, Uutsaa,” The towering Kryth commander said to his unwilling victim.

  A hard lash cracked against the back of the downed Cuukzen.

  Uutsaa fell to the ground once more.

  The commander brought his whip up to get a closer look at the red stain on it. “Blood is marvelous isn’t it, Uutsaa? It’s life. Spilt blood can tell us of our follies and mistakes and, if not careful, can bring lasting scars or forever peace within this thin edge we call life.”

  The two aythras were on invisible electronic leashes. Their green collars glowed from the control of their handlers behind them.

  Snarling and panting, the wiry-haired beasts stopped a few feet away from the tiny Cuukzen before them.

  The Kryth commander walked over and placed the whip near the noses of the aythras.

  The huge creatures sniffed the blood-coated whip and began snarling louder and drooling, following the scent and looking at the Cuukzen.

  “So what are we going to do with your little revolt here, Uutsaa?” The commander walked around the downed Cuukzen leader. “We could have wiped your capital off the planet’s surface, but thought a reminder for your people would better drive the point. The alliance with the Humans will not go unpunished. And what will that punishment be? What shall we do with you?”

  The commander knelt next to the Cuukzen once more. “Should we give you to the aythras? No. That would be too quick. However, you did sign the Human agreement with your own hand…” The Kryth reached down and grabbed a hold of Uutsaa’s wrist. “We could take one of them.”

  The Kryth stood and, with his whip under Uutsaa’s chin, raised the Cuukzen’s head up to look at him. “We could also take an eye.” The commander contemplated before coming to his exact punishment. “Maybe I am not the one to choose what you will lose due to your insubordination. Maybe someone else should. Someone…closer to you.”

  The commander tucked his whip under his arm and pulled out his Keslar blade from its hip holster.

  He waived a Kryth guard over to him.

  Leaning into the guard who approached he whispered, “Bring several prisoners over to me.”

  The Kryth soldier nodded at the command and left.

  He placed the blade near the base of the ear near the back of the Cuukzen’s head. “Let’s see what piece will be taken, Uutsaa.”

  The Kryth guard came back with several Cuukzen prisoners.

  “Bring me the first one,” the commander said.

  The prisoner was brought to him.

  The commander approached the civilian before him. “Now, Cuukzen citizen, your leader has sided with an enemy of the Domain. What shall his punishment be? He must lose a body part for his betrayal. You will choose what he will lose. Will it be an eye? An ear? You could make it easy and choose a finger perhaps. What say you?”

  The citizen was nervous before the towering Kryth commander.

  “Now.”

  The smaller Cuukzen started to tremble. “I cannot choose.”

  The commander’s blade slashed across the throat of his civilian prisoner.

  Blood poured from the opening and the body crumpled to the floor, forming a red pool around the innocent citizen.

  “Next,” the commander ordered in a tiresome voice.

  The Kryth guard lifted the Cuukzen corpse and tossed it to the ground.

  The next prisoner was brought up.

  “Your turn. Which part of his body shall Uutsaa lose? Choose now.”

  This Cuukzen looked the commander in the eye as he trembled and spoke, “I won’t.”

  Another slash to the throat and the guard tossed the body on top of the other dead citizen.

  “I can do this all day,” the commander looked at Uutsaa with a bored expression.

  Uutsaa crawled to the commander’s boot. “Please, please. Take my life. It’s me that needs to be punished. Please.”

  The Kryth commander smiled.

  His whip’s long handle cracked against the side of the small Cuukzen’s head, sending him to the ground.

  “Weak. All weak.” He squatted down next to Uutsaa. “I tire of the weakness of your race. You Cuukzen are pathetic. Just the sight of your little weak bodies makes me want to erase your kind.”

  He pulled his blade close to the prone Cuukzen.

  “If it was up to me, I would slaughter all of you like cattle and be done with your lack of gratitude towards the merciful generosity we show your people; but, it is not my decision. Such a pity.”

  The commander’s face wrinkled as if he had caught a foul stench in the air. “You Cuukzen repulse me.”

  Before the commander could make the cut on the next Cuukzen, a Kryth soldier ran from the assault craft in the distance.

  “Commander! We have a problem!”

  The commander gave a heavy sigh and stopped what he was about to do. “What is it?”

  “We have a Human warship in orbit. They’ve engaged the Narlok.”

  The bewildered commander almost gaped at his soldier. “How can that be?”

  Before the dumbfounded Kryth commander could make any sense of the situation and give an order, the clouds above him lit up in a flash of light.

  Two massive energy bolts creased the layers of white floating mist, slamming the Kryth assault craft on the ground and sending metal shards flying.

  A fireball rose and illuminated the area in a magnificent explosion, sending spinning and whistling scraps of what was once a shuttle skittering along the open field.

  While looking at the destruction, the two Kryth fell silent in their shock as an object appeared above them. This time, the Kryth commander’s mouth did gape at what he saw.

  Breaking out of the low clouds was a massive Human warship.

  The vessel cleared the lower rung of clouds and pitched up, coming towards the bluff the Kryth viewed it from.

  The Human warship stopped, turning broadside, showing all of its three-thousand-meter hull.

  Even Uutsaa looked up in awe.

  A much smaller craft could be viewed leaving a hangar along the side of the great ship, approaching the group who stood out in the open.

  All the Kryth and Cuukzen watched in stunned silence what was transpiring before them.

  The roar of the craft’s engines deepened and slowed as it swung in near the smoldering Kryth vessel, still burning from its fate.

  A forward ramp dropped down and assault troops exited the craft, running toward the Kryth soldiers and the battered Cuukzen citizens.

  ∞∞∞

  The Human troopers zeroed their weapons on the Kryth soldiers, minus the Kryth magistrate and Cuukzen, opening fire.

  The stunned Kryth soldiers fell where they stood.

  The two now untethered aythras bolted straight for the armored Humans.

  They too were cut down in a blaze of plasma rounds from the sixteen Human troops.

  The Humans encircled the Kryth commander, separated him from his blade, and cuffed his wrists to his front.

  It all happened within a few minutes.

  The Kryth magistrate blinked, trying to make sense of what had just transpired.

  Coming up from the Mercador assault ship was Lieutenant Commander Droe Temin.

  She approached the Cuukzen first.

  She activated the translator on her wrist. �
��Cuukzen Leader Uutsaa Gen, I am Lieutenant Commander Droe Temin. I represent the Human delegation known as the Ordinance. Sorry we’re late. We received your urgent communique and came as soon as we could.”

  The Kryth commander’s face raged with abhorrence to this situation. “You will pay for your actions, Human. Your cities will burn under the banner of the Domain.”

  Droe turned to face the Kryth magistrate, switching off her wrist comms translator.

  Her Krythtinian was a little rusty but she spoke clearly in her enemy’s own language. “I wasn’t speaking to you, Kryth. Know your place. I’ll be with you when I’m ready.”

  Turning her translator back on, she continued her conversation with the Cuukzen, “We have sent the Kryth a warning about entering your space and cities again. We can assist where we can with supplies.”

  Uutsaa got up to his feet with a labored breath. “Your timing is ideal, Huma—… I mean, Droe. We thank you for your response. I know one of our own, Mistuuk, is in your race’s company.”

  Droe nodded. “Yes, that’s correct.”

  “We thank you for your alliance with the Cuukzen. We are here at your disposal, lieutenant commander.”

  Approaching from the city walls were a dozen Cuukzen guards.

  “I think we can handle it from here, Droe,” Uutsaa said upon seeing his own troops.

  “Good to hear. We will be in contact with further diplomatic protocols soon. Sorry for the dramatic entrance, Uutsaa.” Droe smiled at her smaller friend.

  Uutsaa Gen bowed just with his head and eyes closed. “Your timing couldn’t be better. On my behalf and that of the Cuukzen, we thank you for your assistance.”

  Droe spoke to the Cuukzen guards behind the Human troops. “The Kryth commander is yours.”

  She withdrew with Human troopers, dropping their poised weapons, heading back towards the Mercador.

  The Kryth magistrate was incensed. “You cannot leave me with them! I demand to speak to your superior! It is my right! You must recognize that, Human. It is my Domain right and my position that I… that I…”

  Droe stopped and glanced back at the irate Kryth who now kneeled surrounded by armed Cuukzen. “We have an old saying amongst my people, Kryth.” She looked on at the seething commander. “Woe to the conquered.”