Chapter 9:

"Hi, my name is Ral." The man said, "I am assuming you are Michell."
"HA!" Michell took a step forward, jabbing her knife, "You wouldn't know
that unless you were spying on us!"
"Or if my mechanical eyes could read minds." Ral said.
"Your eyes can read minds?" Michell asked.
"No, I am trying to learn what your crew calls humor." Ral said, "I'm afraid
my people are rather boring."
"You were spying on use because you were board?" Michell asked.
"In a manner of speaking, yes." Ral replied.
"Isn't that like joke porn or something?" Michell asked.
"I'm not sure what you mean?" Ral looked puzzled.
"That was a joke." Michell said.
"I see," Ral said, "So, are you going to kill me? Or can we be friends?"
"I'm supposed to ask you some questions." Michell said. She reached
inside her coat and pulled out her PDA. "The crew is monitoring this and
sending me questions to ask you."
"Ok, I'll take a stab at it, I mean shoot, I mean as the first question." Ral
looked rather worried that Michell would take his words literally.
Michell smiled, "Ok, what are you?"
"Honestly, I just found out." Ral said.
"What do you mean?" Michell asked.
"I was monitoring you when you discussed the Aurora convoy." Ral said,
"We have many races with nearly identical genetic codes on many planets." All
evidence we have says that they did not originate on any of the planets we know
of. I just now realized that we must all be descendants of the Aurora convoy."
"What about the people of your planet?" Michell asked.
"I have renounced my heritage, but I am a cyborg by birth." Ral said.
 "What does that mean?" Michell asked.
"These implants," Ral gestured at his six artificial eyes and the places on
his body where small glowing purple tubes could be see under the skin, "I was
born with, they are part of my species, not an addition after birth."
Michell's PDA beeped and she glanced down at it. "Mikal just asked a
rather disgusting question involving the anatomy of the females of your species
and the implants, but I won't ask that."
"Thanks." Ral said.
"Ok, Terris wants to know what you do? As in are you a scientist, soldier,
what?" Diana continued with questioning.
Ral thought for a moment, "I think I could best be described as a
mercenary but that is not quite the correct word. I am like Terris, I fly around,
try to average out as a positive influence in the galaxy. I do good but try and get
something for me and mine as well."
"Hmm... I cannot figure out if you are greedy or some sort of inter-planitary
do-gooder." Michell remarked.
"Neither, most people distrust my species. Most of us keep to ourselves,
and refuse to help in the battle with the Swarm." Ral looked slightly
embarrassed.
"I am assuming by swarm you mean the Bio-Tech using aliens." Michell
said, "So there is some sort of unified resistance against them?"
"Organized? No, but the system you are heading to is defended by ships
of many planets and species, except for my world, and a few fringe species."
Ral paused for a moment, "And of course there are none from your part of the
galaxy, we've never had contact with you before, even my people are unable to
spare their mighty warships."
"No offense," Michell glanced around Ral's ship, "but I wouldn't call your
ship mighty, no computer screens, no holographic displays, I don't even see any
sensors."
"While I do have some of things you listed, but it is true that your
technology far outstrips anything we have." Ral said, "Your people could be our
hope for victory."
Michell shifted uncomfortably, "Ya, I am not sure you should expect help
from our people."
Ral's brow, or the part of it not covered by metal, wrinkled. "Why? Surely
they would realize that once the Swarm overruns us, it will come for them."
"That is the problem, we don't risk our own for others, your species might
be lacking in emotion, but my species is arrogant." Michell said, "We have
emotions, but we choose to not let them apply to anyone but ourselves."
"You obviously don't." Ral said.
"Not all of us, but that is our other flaw, we are very leadership oriented,
and power corrupts us." Michell replied slightly subdued.
"I see." Ral said.
The two remained silent. Michell's PDA buzzed and she tapped it's
screen.
<It's Will, I am bringing you back.>
Michell tapped the PDA's screen again and replied, <Understood.>
"What is––" Ral was cut off as the distortion on the controls of his ship
flashed blue once again. This time the light completely enveloped the ship.
Ral recovered from the shock and glanced at Michell, "What was that?"
"We routed a boarding beam through the distortion."
Ral remained confused, "That didn't help."
Michell pointed towards the front window of the ship. Ral turned his head
and gasped. Michell grinned, "Welcome to the Revenant December's fighter
bay."
"Nice place you've got here, but how are we here?" Ral asked, continuing
to stare out the view screen.
"The fighter bay has tons of cool gadgets, including a specialized boarding
beam for disassembling fighters. We used it to transport through the distortion."
Michell said.
"Amazing." Ral stood up, "Mind if we go outside?"
Michell raised her hand, "We haven't decided if you are a friend yet."
Ral picked a cylindrical handle out of his belt pouch. He tapped a button
on the device and it hummed to life. A ripple flew through the air from the end of
the cylinder, in its wake a long slender glowing blue blade formed. The air
around the blade rippled as if by heat, but the blade emitted none. "I have
dimensional energy swords."
"Friend." Michell grabbed the cylindrical handle and led Ral into the fighter
bay. She proceeded to twirl the newly acquired blade in a series of offensive
moves while Ral examined the nearest fighter craft.
"Hey are you sure we should trust him?" Will called from the boarding
beam controls.
"Yep, he's totally on our side." Michell said, without looking up from the
blade.
"I think he just bribed you with a glowing sword." Will said.
"Hmm, that too." Michell swung the sword over her head, slamming it into
the side of an empty supply box. The space around the box and part of the box
itself seemed to ripple, and fold back on itself. The distortion flew the box
across the fighter bay, shattering the carbon-fiber frame against the far wall.
Michell was frozen staring in wonder at the blade, Will just stared with his
mouth open. Mikal, who had just walked in, was the first to speak, "Ok, that
was cool, I want one."
"It appears to be able to fold space and multiply force." Will said,
recovering from his shock.
 "Like I said, a dimensional energy blade." Ral spoke up from his
examinations.
"Like I said, thats cool." Mikal said.
"There are a few more in my ship, the Dawn Shadow." Ral said.
As Mikal jogged to Ral's ship he remarked, "Nice name, Dawn Shadow.
Better than having your ship named after a month."
"I think Revenant December is a nice name." Ral said, "But I have no
idea what a december is"
"Its a month." Will said.
"You name your months?" Ral asked, "Wierd."
"I think you should go see Terna, Diana, and Terris. They aren't as sold
on you as Michell is." Will said.
"And what about you?" Ral turned to Will.
"I trust Diana, if she trusts you I will trust you, but not before." Will
gestured to a small conference room door in the forward hanger wall.
"I've noticed you seem to have a respect for her that goes beyond rank."
Ral looked at Will for a moment, and then walked into the conference room.
Will considered what Ral had said. He had spent most of his life following
Diana, you don't survive in the military as long as he had without having
somebody covering your back. His mind strayed once again to the years past in
special operations.
* * *
Will, Diana, and Mikal slowly crouch-walked through a lunar jungle. Their
hardened fiber-optic armor blended with the shadows as they made their way to
a massive twisted hulk. The twisted bones of an ancient battle-cruiser rose from
the canopy like many ribs out of a rotting carcass. Rust flowed from them like
blood, coating the stealth armor in a fine layer of dust.
As Diana sighted down the length of her A-2 Energy Carbine she swept
her eyes from side to side. Maintaining com silence she raised her fist, bringing
Will and Mikal to a halt behind her. She pointed to a torn engine, over 200 feet
tall. Under the rust and twisted armor plates, the glint of new metal could be
seen. Diana pointed to the engine once with two fingers, and then repeated the
gesture twice quickly towards a mostly intact titanium cross-brace that had
fallen to the ground. They moved silently to the brace, crouching behind it.
They made their way as silently and as low as possible along the length of the
brace. It gave them a covered rout to the engine pod.
Mikal moved to the front of the trio as they reached the pod and pressed
his helmet against the corroded alloy. After a few silent minutes of searching he
heard the faint hum of electronics. It took mikal mere moments to find a
concealed key pad in one of the coolant lines. Mikal set down his carbine and
signaled for Dian and WIll to cover him. The two moved into position, sweeping
the surroundings with their sights.
Five minutes later Mikal had hot-wired the key pad. The casing of the
engine pod glowed as an internal boarding beam kicked in. All three soldiers
held their breath, waiting for an alarm to sound, or for guards to come rushing to
the light.
When lunar night remained still and quiet Diana risked breaking com
silence, <This is too easy, something went wrong.>
<I agree, suggest pull back and re-assess.> Will whispered into his mike.
<Negative.> The commander's voice relayed from the stealth Infiltrator in
orbit, <Proceed to objective.>
<There should have been guards, even in a hidden facility like this.>
Diana said.
<Proceed, thats an order.>
<Understood.> Diana pointed to the boarding beam.
Will and Mikal stepped into the blue glow. Diana took one last survey to
make sure they had not been followed, and stepped into the beam.
Diana experienced momentary blindness as she passed through solid
metal, and then was blinking in intense light on the other side of the wall. Will
and Mikal stood with their hands up, their weapons on the ground. Six heavily
armed withdrawal soldiers had their guns trained on the captives.
Diana's mind raced as she lowered he weapon. She wrenched the clip
from her carbine and set both the weapon and the plasma battery on the floor.
Diana slowly raised her hands, placing them on her head while keeping her
attention on the guards. The guards, four men and to women, motioned for
Diana, Will, and Mikal to move to the back of the engine pod. The three backed
into the far corner of the pod, never turning their backs on the guards.
One of the guards, obviously the leader, strode forward, "Tell me, how
long until the Council fleet comes to blast us into oblivion for wanting to be
free?"
Mikal and Will each glanced at Diana, but she remained silent.
"Not talkative? The pipes you are standing on are filled with liquid
nitrogen, if I shoot them they will freeze you, causing your flesh to crack and fall
off, your eyes to explode, and other things I would rather not get into." The
leader said, so I ask again, how many days do we have?"
"If those have liquid nitrogen then I should probably tell you that things will
be getting hot in here in about five." Diana said.
"Days?" The leader asked.
Will caught on faster, counting down in his head. 5... 4... 3... he located a
seam in one of the pipes below his feet that looked fragile 2... he noticed the clip
that Diana had wrenched out of her gun begin to leak plasma out of a crack
caused by her rough handling 1... Will dropped into a crouch, bringing his elbow
into the seam he had selected. Diana and Mikal performed the same
maneuvers, ripping the seams of the pipes that made up the makeshift flooring
of the pod. Fans of liquid nitrogen shot in front of each of the council soldiers,
flash-freezing the capillaries in their faces. A millisecond later the plasma clip
sitting on the ground by the six enemy guards exploded. The guards and pod
walls were vaporized instantly. The heat from the explosion evaporated the
liquid nitrogen, thawing the flesh of the council soldiers and fusing the optic
fibers of their suits. The freeze from the nitrogen protected their flesh from the
worst of the heat.
Mikal shook off the shock of being frozen and then burned in a few
milliseconds. He stood up, and faced Diana and Will who were already on their
feet.
"You mustache has been burnt off." Will said, pointing at Mikal's face.
"Dam, you have no idea how long it took me to grow that." Mikal said.
"You have no idea how stupid it was." Will said.
"That blast will show up on every sensor within five hundred kilometers."
Diana said, "We need to move, now." Diana glanced around and pointed to a
dense patch of jungle.
The three dashed through the wreckage. As they ran a pair of
atmospheric patrol craft roared overhead. Dian glanced over her shoulder as she
ran, in the distance she could see the glowing exhaust trails from the patrol craft
as they turned for another pass. Diana ducked as she turned back, narrowly
avoiding a plasma complex manifold. The sound of the patrol craft grew closer.
Red bolts of plasma slammed into the wreckage, peppering the three with
fragments of metal and sending larger shrapnel flying in all directions. The
patrollers passed once again, disappearing into the distance. Will, Mikal, and
Diana were almost to the foliage when the craft returned. They fired their
weapons full spread. Will and Mikal got away cleanly, but a bolt hit a rusting
centrifugal power converter directly in front of Diana. It detonated, flinging
titanium shards in all directions. A large spinning piece of plating flew straight
for Diana. She began to more to the left as she ran, raising her right arm.
Before she could completely get out of the way, the metal sliced through where
she had been a moment before. The edges of the plating cut gashes on the
underside of her right arm and along her breast. She stumbled, breaking her fall
with a roll. She pressed her right arm to her side, and stumbled into the jungle
before the patrollers could return.
Will helped Diana deeper into the jungle where the Patrol Vessels would be
unable to target them. She sat down, wincing as her wounds brushed each
other. Will helped her remove her upper armor, cleaned, and bandaged the
gashes.
"Those are pretty deep, you might want to let Mikal pilot our exit ship."
Will said.
"I know their deep, I can feel it just fine. I'll be fine once we get to the
cellular regenerator I'll be fine." Diana said, putting her armor back on.
"You know using those things on non-lethal wounds can cause serious
side-effects." Will said.
"Ya, I know, residual healing energy messes with the brain chemicals, but
its better than being condemned to Mikal's flying." Diana said, chuckling, and
then wincing as her armor chafed the bandages.
"You're probably right, lets go." Will said, standing up. The three
continued, Mikal in front, and Will and Diana taking up the rear. They made their
way to a concealed stealth craft, their ticket off the jungle moon.
Once inside the ship Diana removed her armor again, and used a glowing
purple device to artificially heal her wounds. Once fully recovered Diana re-
assembled her armor and proceeded to pilot the ship into the upper atmosphere.