For Glory, page 10
“Yes, I imagine that made your life much easier. I just hope you don’t forget our goodwill gesture.”
Tallos stared back at Jon from the display, and Jon thought he saw a flash of anger in his unblinking eyes. No sooner had he noticed it than it was gone, however.
“I have not contacted you to discuss such matters,” Tallos said. “There is something of greater importance that we need to speak about.”
“Oh yeah, what’s that?”
Tallos took a breath. “This is not easy for me to speak about, but since the destruction of the Temple and the death of the Great See’er, I have noticed… changes.”
“What kind of changes?”
“In myself, I have noticed a greater propensity toward anger. As you know, this is something that my symbiont should temper. The fact that it is not has me concerned.”
“Is your symbiont sick?”
“I do not believe so, at least not in the literal sense. I believe it has something to do with the destruction of the Temple. I also fear that this problem is shared by other Diakans.”
“Why do you think that is?”
“All Diakan symbionts are inherently linked to the Temple. It was the Great See’er who had introduced the idea of carrying a symbiont in the first place. Before that, we Diakans were an incredibly violent species.”
Jon remembered the artwork he had seen in the Temple depicting the historic Diakan adoption of the symbionts and the era of peaceful coexistence it ushered in. “I remember, Tallos, but I still don’t understand why you think the destruction of the Temple has made the symbionts less effective.”
“I believe there was an inherent connection between all symbionts and the Temple. These lapses in emotional control only began after the Temple’s destruction.”
Jon thought about his own symbiont and tried to remember if the Temple’s destruction caused any adverse effects on him. He didn’t find any. “I haven’t had any problems with my symbiont. If what you’re saying is true, shouldn’t it affect me as well?”
“That is precisely why I have contacted you. I don’t believe you are experiencing any effects because your symbiont is from the Great Pool.”
It was true that his symbiont was special. It had imbued Jon with great physical capabilities that turned him into something of a super-human. “Okay, maybe you’re right. So what?”
Tallos leaned in. “I want to use your symbiont to recreate the Temple.”
“What are you talking about? How can my symbiont do that?”
“Its DNA is from the Great Pool. It is the only thing left that carries the Great Pool’s signature. I want to use your symbiont’s DNA to recreate the Great Pool. If we can do that, then we should be able to recreate the Temple. And if we can recreate the Temple, maybe we can bring back our Great See’er.”
“The Great See’er is dead, Tallos. You know that, right?”
“Yes, of course. I am not talking about bringing her back to life. I am talking about a new Great See’er.”
“You lost me.”
“If we can recreate the Great Pool, the conditions will be present for another Great See’er to emerge.”
Jon thought the idea was crazy, but he sensed that Tallos was emotionally invested in this idea, and he did not want to cause any strife between them. “Okay, I don’t know how any of this is going to work, but I want to help if I can. I’ll agree to your request on one condition. I want Doctor Ellerbeck to be the one who extracts the DNA from my symbiont.”
“I don’t see a problem with that.”
“Then we have a deal.”
“Thank you, Admiral. I sincerely appreciate your help.”
“You’re welcome. It’s the least I can do.”
Chapter fifteen
Captain Taph of the Dvorkan warship, Glorious Path, stood on the bridge gazing at the ship’s main display as another Bane ship tried to come through the jump gate only to be blown apart by the combined fire of his and the other defending warships. The Bane relentlessly sent ship after ship through the jump gate without pause. Every ship that tried to come through ended up destroyed. Taph did not understand such an enemy.
Of course, each ship managed to inflict some damage on the defenders, but not enough to make a difference. Taph had to wonder if these ships had any crews in them. It was possible that they were AI-controlled. That made some sense but did not justify the loss of equipment. He had lost count of how many ships had been destroyed, and yet they kept coming. How long did the Bane expect to keep this up? It was baffling.
“Contact,” said his tactical officer.
As expected, another Bane ship started to emerge from the jump gate. Taph shook his head and said, “Fire at will.”
His ship opened fire on the vessel, sending a barrage of energy bolts at it, as did the other Dvorkan ships guarding the gate. When this first started, they used jump bombs, missiles, and rail guns, but it soon became clear that this would be a battle of attrition, and they were ordered to conserve ammunition and rely on their energy weapons alone.
That had been enough, but Taph quickly realized that this ship was different than the ones that preceded it. First off, it was clearly larger and had more robust shields, which surprisingly withstood the pounding they were getting.
Taph watched as the huge warship bullied its way through the jump gate and returned fire. Concussions rocked his ship as heavy energy bolts raked its shields. The behemoth also launched missiles in all directions.
“Nuclear warheads detected,” the tactical officer said. “Targeting missiles.”
Taph furrowed his brow as he watched the display. The Bane ship had sent nuclear-armed missiles streaking out in all directions, and each ship now fired at those missiles, detonating their warheads. At the same time, the ship’s energy weapons continued firing, diminishing the power of their shields. It was a new strategy from the Bane and might almost have been effective, but Taph noted the telltale signs of failing shields as the Bane shields changed color, becoming progressively darker.
When the ship’s shields were close to failing, Taph knew that the engagement would end as it had previously, with the Bane ship’s destruction. Still, this vessel had managed to clear the jump gate and make it deeper into the system than the ones that came before. But, with Dvorkan warships flanking it on both sides, it had no hope of surviving the Dvorkan gauntlet.
“Bane shields have failed,” said the tactical officer.
Taph allowed himself a small measure of satisfaction. Even this giant warship would fall before Dvorkan might. On the display, Taph noted the hull breaches forming and knew the end was near. When it came, however, Taph was left bewildered.
His ship shook violently as alarms went off around him. The display he had been watching failed, as did the other smaller displays.
“Report!” he said, turning to his bridge crew for answers.
“Shields have failed!” said the tactical officer.
“Why? What just happened?” Taph said.
“Systems indicate a massive anti-matter explosion.”
“Anti-matter?” Taph said, confused. “How is that possible?”
The tactical officer looked back at him, eyes wide. “The Bane ship. It wasn’t just a warship. It was a bomb.”
“I want those shields back online!” Taph said. He knew anti-matter weapons were theoretically possible, but he had never heard of a real one being used.
“Engineering says they will need time for repairs.”
“Sensors, then! We are running blind here.”
Concussions rocked the Glorious Path, and Taph struggled to maintain his balance.
“We are taking fire,” the tactical officer said.
“Return fire!”
“We don’t know where the enemy is.”
More concussions battered the ship, each becoming progressively more powerful.”
“Multiple hull breaches reported,” said the tactical officer.
“Initiate emergency jump,” Taph ordered.
“Jump system is not responding,” the pilot said.
“Evasive maneuvers. Can you return fire yet?”
“I can’t get a target lock,” the tactical officer said. “We’re still blinded from the anti-matter explosion.”
Captain Taph stared back at the tactical officer in disbelief, trying to process what had just happened. When his own ship blew apart, his last thought was that it was not supposed to end this way.
A steady stream of Bane ships raced through the jump gate into the Dvorkan-controlled star system as the Dvorkan forces fired everything they had at the invaders. It worked at first, as the jump bombs gave them a powerful advantage. Yes, the loss of their first line of defense had been a setback, and the Dvorkans were caught flat-footed, but the Bane now experienced the full might of the Dvorkan fleet.
Bane ships were destroyed by the dozen. The Bane had their beachhead, however, and they held onto it with everything they had. The stream of warships flowing through the gate now turned into a torrent, ensuring at least one new Bane ship, though often two, took the place of each ship that had been destroyed.
The Dvorkan commanders watched the events unfold with dismay, worried that if it kept up, they might run out of jump bombs. Then the inconceivable happened, and their jump bombs stopped working. As the Dvorkans scrambled to find out what had happened, the Bane poured into the star system.
The Dvorkans soon discovered that, along with their jump bombs, their jump systems no longer worked. Their main technological advantages over the Bane had failed, and they now found themselves facing an enemy with superior numbers. As such, they were left with no choice but to fall back and regroup.
The Dvorkans fought on, refusing to give up control of the star system. They fortified their positions with space mines and fell back to where their orbital defense systems could support their fleet with added firepower. A battle station would have been a better option, but the Dvorkans had not built one. There were plans for one, but more time was required. Time they no longer had.
The Bane continued to flow into the star system in a seemingly endless stream. Even with the Dvorkan fleet outnumbered, the Bane still came, and their beachhead became an impenetrable wall, the jump gate to their system completely cut off. Then, the Bane advanced on the Dvorkan fleet.
They moved forward steadily. A relentless wall of warships that seemed impossible to defeat. The Dvorkans tried to get their jump systems up and running again. Tried to bring their jump bombs online, but nothing worked. They launched massive missiles at the oncoming horde, each armed with nuclear warheads. Those were shot out of the sky, and while a few managed to reach the Bane line, they did nothing to slow the Bane advance.
As the Bane drew nearer, the Dvorkan fleet abandoned the planet, leaving only the space mines and orbital defenses protecting it. As with everything they had thrown at the Bane before, the mines did little to slow the advance, and the orbital defenses were obliterated in short order.
The Dvorkan fleet retreated back to their jump gate, expecting the Bane to follow, but the Bane stopped at the planet and seemed to consolidate their hold over it. Bane ships took orbital positions around the planet, but the Bane did not bomb the helpless world. Instead, smaller ships entered the atmosphere and raced down to the surface.
The planet and its population had been rendered helpless by the Dvorkan invasion and now had no means of defending themselves against the Bane, and the Bane knew it. The Dvorkan fleet watched, busily gathering as much intelligence as possible before they would inevitably have to retreat through the jump gate. When the pleas for help came from the planetary government, it was enough to chill the blood of even the most ruthless Dvorkan.
The pleas were accompanied by reports of sheer savagery. The Dvorkans quickly learned that the Bane had no interest in letting the planet govern itself as the Dvorkans had done. Instead, the reports were filled with accounts of slaughter and videos of the winged aliens attacking the population with nothing more than claws and teeth. Where inhabitants had defied Dvorkan law and still possessed weapons, they found them useless against the shielded Bane.
The Bane eventually became satisfied with their hold on the planet, and their attention returned to the Dvorkan fleet and the jump gate. They again advanced on the Dvorkans, who needed no more persuasion to abandon the star system. They fled through the jump gate, deciding to use the gate as a choke point again in order to hold the Dvorkans at bay, knowing that without more tools at their disposal, it too would eventually be lost.
Chapter sixteen
Jon lay on his back on the medical bed as Doctor Ellerbeck examined him. He wanted to get the procedure over and done with so that they could move on. With any luck, the DNA would help Tallos return to his former self. Tallos was difficult to get along with at the best of times, but this new version of him was particularly difficult to deal with.
The Diakans had gotten back on their feet and were quickly becoming a galactic power again. They had helped humanity in the past, and Jon wanted to keep them as allies. It wasn’t just about averting a war. Rather, it was about returning to the strong alliance they once shared. Diakan battleships had fought alongside human warships since Sol’s liberation and had helped defeat the Kemmar as well as the Juttari.
Jon thought Tallos’s crusade against the Juttari was a distraction for the Diakans. The Juttari were done and would not pose a threat to anyone in the future. Like the Kemmar, they could easily be managed moving forward. The real problem was that this crusade meant the UHSF had to deal with the Mistraan without the Diakans, and now there was the looming threat of the Bane as well.
Of course, getting the Diakans to fight alongside the Dvorkans would be difficult, if not impossible. The Dvorkans had taken advantage of the Diakans’ misfortune and had tried to take Diakan territory for themselves. They defeated the occupying Juttari to do so, but that did not matter to the Diakans. The Dvorkan Empire was also a theocracy at the time, worshiping the Antikitheri as gods. Emperor Kriss was still in power, but his hand had been increasingly controlled by the zealots around him. Tallos didn’t care about any of that. Nor would he care that Miira was in power now.
He wondered if he could get Miira to offer something to the Diakans to repair their relationship. Considering the animosity the Diakans felt, it would have to be a grand gesture to sway them. Jon didn’t know if that was possible, and even if Miira agreed, he was hesitant to suggest it as it could put Miira in a precarious position.
It was a challenging landscape to navigate. On the one hand, he was allied with an expansionist empire trying to recreate its past glories. His allies on the other hand, were a former galactic powerhouse obsessed with exterminating their enemy. To make matters worse, both allies hated each other. Then there was the wakening Maeficus and all the forces it was amassing against them. And, as if that wasn’t enough, the Dvorkans had to go and pick a fight with the Bane, a species with seemingly infinite resources.
It was quite the puzzle, and Jon had no idea how he was going to put the pieces together. Until a short while ago, it had seemed easy enough. Team up with the Dvorkans and invade the Mistraan. Their combined forces could take the Mistraan out of the fight and buy some time to deal with the Maeficus. With that plan up in flames, he had to find a way to bring the Diakans back on side and avoid alienating them further. The first step to make that happen was giving Tallos his symbiont’s DNA.
“You and your symbiont are both still in exceptional health, Admiral,” Doctor Ellerbeck said.
“Good to know,” Jon said. “So we can move forward with the DNA extraction?”
“Yes. I’m just going to give you something for the pain first.”
“That’s not necessary, Doctor.”
“Well, it’s mostly for your symbiont,” Ellerbeck said.
Jon could feel the creature’s resentment at Jon for making it go through this, and Jon didn’t blame the little monster. It wasn’t like Jon asked it for its permission.
You have no right to inflict this torture on me, the creature said.
Uh-huh, do you remember when you would torture me if I didn’t do what you wanted? Consider this payback.
You were a fool then, and you are a fool now.
“Fine, no point in torturing the little bastard,” Jon said to Ellerbeck. See? I’m not a monster like you, he said to the symbiont.
Ellerbeck gave Jon the painkiller, and the symbiont became noticeably quiet. “The painkiller should take effect immediately. I can begin any time you’re ready.”
“Go ahead, doctor,” Jon said.
Doctor Ellerbeck produced something that looked like a syringe and activated a holodisplay above Jon’s stomach. She inserted the syringe into Jon’s side and secured it there. She then started tapping and swiping the holodisplay. “I have launched a nanobot into your body and am navigating it toward your symbiont. The nanobot will extract the DNA and return.”
Jon could not see what was happening on the holodisplay and chose to stare at the ceiling instead. The procedure lasted a few minutes, and the whole time, Jon felt nothing.
When Ellerbeck pulled the instrument out of Jon’s belly, she smiled and said, “All done.”
“You’ve got the DNA?” Jon said.
“Yes, we can let the Diakans have it whenever they’re ready.”
“No, I’ve decided to deliver this to Diakus personally.”
“Alright, I’ll prepare the sample for travel.”
“Great, I’ll wait here until you’re done.”
Doctor Ellerbeck left and was gone for a while. When she returned, she carried a rectangular device with her and handed it to Jon.
“This is a portable, ultra-low freezer,” Ellerbeck said. “The DNA sample is stored in here at negative ninety degrees Celsius. That will keep it viable for as long as you need.”
Jon took the device and said, “Thank you, Doctor. How is Christopher doing? I haven’t seen him in some time.”
