SHU'KAN Read online

  As if on cue, two more people walked through the main entrance. One was human, the other was Bro’na, the Shu’kan Supreme Leader. They walked together to an elevated platform centered on the bleachers. The human was extremely dark skinned. In fact, he looked Shu’kan except for the long mane on his head, his white eyes, and the extra fingers on his hands. The variety of humans was amazing.

  The Supreme Leader walked forward and prepared to speak. From the opposite side of the platform, a group of humans with bright lights converged in front of them. After a few moments, everyone was silent. The human walked forward and clipped something small and shiny to his tunic. It contrasted against the white material.

  ‘My friends,’ he began, ‘today is a historical event. For the first time, Humans and Shu’kan, two separate intelligent species, will co-habit. We are most grateful to our new friends for allowing us to live here, on this beautiful planet of theirs, as equals. In addition, through the spirit of cooperation, we will work together to save both our species from the Hiver’s. Around this structure, which will serve as the center of our small society and government, hundreds of shelters have been built to serve as our homes. Here we will live as we work toward a common goal of survival.’

  ‘With me here, is the Prime Minister of the United Nations; the Supreme Leader of all humans. He has come to say a few words to each of us and to welcome us to Earth. –Prime Minister?’

  Supreme Leader Bro’na waved the Prime Minister forward.

  ‘Thank you Leader Bro’na. Welcome to Earth. As you can imagine, we were nervous about another species coming to our planet. But today, we welcome you as a new friends and allies. In time, we hope that our two species can again grow and prosper together as we build a new future on Earth together.’

  A thunderous applause erupted from the bleachers. The Prime Minister waved and smiled in response.

  ‘And now,’ he continued, ‘I’ll give you back to Leader Bro’na. Again, welcome.’

  The Prime Minister returned to where he was standing and Leader Bro’na stepped forward.

  ‘Now, if you’ll look at this display, you’ll see where each caste is assigned in the settlement. Centered….’

  Tr’al turned back to her friends and tuned out Leader Bro’na. ‘-C’mon Li’el,’ she whispered excitedly. ‘Let’s go look around!’

  ‘But we need to find our family’s assigned shelter,’ he protested.

  She grabbed his arm and pulled him out the rear entrance. The fresh air felt good again.

  ‘Don’t be a bore. Let’s explore the forest!’

  The y could see the thick plants and tall trees at the edge of the settlement behind the shelters. They excitedly ran towards them. Weaving through the maze of buildings, they finally cleared the last shelter. Tr’al slowed her pace and stopped to gaze at the scene in front of her. Li’el almost slammed into her. Fifty feet in front of them at the edge of the forest dozens of humans were constructing a barrier. One of the workmen noticed them and approached.

  ‘-Hi there. What’re you two young’ins doing here? Looking for something?’

  He smelled of sweat and was chewing a burning stick in his mouth. It had an extremely strong odor.

  ‘I … we … were just looking around,’ she stammered.

  ‘Well, no reason to be nervous,’ he smiled. ‘Your English is pretty good! Are you lost?’

  ‘No,’ she replied. ‘We were just going to explore the forest.’

  ‘Well, head that way a little,’ he said pointing further down the settlement. ‘It’s dangerous around this machinery.’

  ‘-Why the barrier?’ Li’el asked.

  ‘It’s for your protection.’ The worker puffed hard on his burning stick. ‘This will keep the boogey man out of your settlement.’ He laughed making his stomach wiggle.

  ‘The … boogey … man?’ Tr’al questioned.

  He didn’t answer, and returned to his work. Tr’al and Li’el walked toward the forest. Suddenly, she was more nervous than excited. She looked at Li’el who was looking at her.

  ‘If that keeps the boogeyman from getting in,’ she asked, ‘will it keep us from getting out?’

  He didn’t reply as they walked on. She was hoped she was just over reacting.

  Admiral Benjamin Cook sat in his command chair on the Bridge looking at the stars. Out there was Mars, but at this distance, it wasn’t visible. Just as well. It’d be a long time before Earth was ready to try a settlement there again. Besides, they’d be there soon enough. Earth Fleet finally got approval to send a reconnaissance ship.

  He was in a broody mood. Things were moving well enough with the Shu’kan on the surface. Maybe he was just restless. After he turned the Shu’kan over to Earth Fleet Command, things slowed down significantly. Operations had resumed the slow rhythm of patrolling Earth space. His crew was down twenty percent for leave rotations, the ship was fully operational with no major maintenance issues, and the Hiver’s were off doing … whatever it was the Hiver’s did. Even soldier issues were at a minimum and morale was high. The basics: beans, bullets, and bull crap were covered. So why did he still feel restless? The past several weeks had been pandemonium shuffling the Shu’kan here and there. He should be welcoming the break.

  He stood and walked the Bridge.

  The ship’s Bridge has looked the same since the first modern space faring military vessels at the end of the twenty-first century. To his right was his tactical officer’s station. From here all command decisions were received from him and executed. Any tactical officer had to be trained to react instantly to his commanding officer’s order. Hesitation got people killed. Directly to his front were his navigational and communications officers, and to his left was the executive officer’s station. The XO was the most important officer on the Bridge besides the Captain. He, of course, was an Admiral, but this was the Carthaginian; the mighty flagship of Earth Fleet. –His ship. He was proud of her. She survived and repelled the onslaught of the last Hiver invasion.

  That day was forever burned in his mind. Two full armadas held the line against the Hiver’s. Two hundred fifty ships –Carriers, battle cruisers, destroyers, and frigates –all fell one by one as the Hiver’s picked them off. –Their FTL drives far out performing Earths Negrav ships. Their weapon systems were comparable, but Negrav only functioned as a counter to gravimetric fields. Once free from these fields, ship propulsion was dependent on nuclear reaction drives. Nearly half the speed of light could be achieved, but, like the Shu’kan, distance was needed for acceleration as well as deceleration. Calculations had to be completed for each forward movement, while chemical thrusters allowed for pitch and yaw. But, even with the ship’s computers performing the necessary calculations within nanoseconds for each movement, we still crawled through space as the Hiver’s appeared and disappeared all around us like a swarm of hornets. They were visible just long enough to launch a volley of fire before disappearing again. We were out-maneuvered.

  He stopped in front of the com screen. Space was beautiful. He’d been fortunate to spend most of his career at the helm. When he was promoted to Admiral, HQ gave him a desk job as Commander of the training division. He hated it. So when the Hiver’s came, he petitioned to assume command of First Fleet after Admiral Tente refused to join his ships. Earth Fleet Command didn’t have time for debate and granted his request. Oh they’d tried giving him his desk back a couple times since; but now, with the Hiver’s one star system away on Alpha Centauri, they quit pushing the issue. This was his ship. And if the Hiver’s decided to come back, he’d be here to say hello.

  He rubbed the weariness from his eyes. His shift was due to end soon, but he was feeling it more than usual today. The past few weeks took a toll on him. There just didn’t seem to be time for rest and relaxation. Maybe he’d take a day off since things were getting back to a more normal routine.

  He walked over to communications.

  ‘Ensign Baker, why the perplexed look?’ He noticed the young man had a fur
rowed brow.

  ‘-Not sure, Sir. My console says we’re sending an encrypted transmission, but it’s not coming from the Bridge.’

  ‘What? Can you track the source?’ This was highly irregular. No secure transmissions are authorized unless they are sent from the Bridge.

  ‘-Looks like somewhere aft of the mess, Sir. That’s the best I can do.’

  ‘Have a security detail meet me at the mess.’ He sprinted to the deck ladder. ‘Whatever’s being transmitted off this ship without authorization can’t be good.’

  Admiral Cook shuffled down the deck ladder as fast as safely possible. He knew it was too quiet. Who was transmitting a message and what were they sending? Did he have a mole on board? If so, who were they working for? The more he thought, the more questions he had.

  He hit the deck plate running. –No way this guy was getting away. He had his suspicions about some senior officers in the Fleet that he made enemies of, but this was to brazen for someone in house. He grabbed the hand rails to the next deck ladder and slid down this time. He double timed down to the next corridor. He could see four armed men standing outside the mess waiting. He stopped short and chipped into the ships com system. He spoke out loud for the benefit of his detail.

  ‘Ensign, lock onto my chip signal and guide me in.’

  ‘Yes Sir,’ he heard. –Heard being a relative term. The response was applied to his hearing nerves which gave the same perception.

  ‘Ok. Let’s go.’

  He signaled for his men to fall in two on each side. They moved slowly through the corridor.

  ‘Signals getting stronger, Sir,’ Ensign Baker chipped. ‘Keep moving in that direction.’ They moved silently so they wouldn’t spook the perp.

  They were almost to the engine room when Ensign Baker chipped again.

  ‘Take the next right, Sir.’

  -Looked like they were going to the engine room after all.

  They entered and the compartment door slid shut behind them. He chipped in a security override to the ships computer to lock it. No one was going in or out without him knowing it. There were four reactors housed in here. –Because so, it was the largest compartment on the entire ship. Without the Bridge guiding them, it would take hours to search.

  ‘Which way, Ensign?’ he chipped.

  ‘The signal is broadcasting one hundred ten meters straight and fifty-seven meters right of your position.’

  Well, that was certainly helpful, he thought. He paused to look at the layout of the engine room. The only possible way in that direction was inside one of the reactor control rooms.

  ‘This way,’ he whispered.

  They moved silently to the reactors control room. He signaled for his men to take positions outside the room, and drew his own hand gun. He silently counted to three. Charging in, he pointed his weapon at … nobody. The room was empty.

  ‘What the hell? Ensign,’ he chipped, ‘you sure it’s coming from here?’

  ‘Yes, Sir. It’s definitely coming from there.’

  Admiral Cook looked around again. To the right, wired into the control rooms diagnostics board was a small transmitter and receiver. It was using the ships power to boost its signal. Whoever put it here left it transmitting.

  Admiral Cook turned to his security team. ‘I want you to search this deck and one up and one down in two man teams. Detain anyone you find in the corridors.’

  ‘Yes, Sir,’ they sounded in unison.

  As they left, he turned to examine the device more closely. It was high end communication equipment. -Small, but able to augment its strength by tapping into a local power supply. It was obviously encryption capable, but whoever was using it to communicate left in a hurry and left it running. It was still transmitting, but no one was talking. Devices like these weren’t needed on the surface. Everyone just chipped into the Teranet. But in space, you had to send data streams through the ships communications systems; or find an alternative method.

  He turned it off and pulled the power tap from the diagnostic board. A cranial chip relay hung from the other side. All you had to do was attach it to the area of your chip and you were in business.

  This didn’t make any sense. What kind of spy crap was this? -And why on his ship? It looked like he wasn’t getting any answers today. He holstered his hand gun and rolled the wires around the device. He needed answers. He chipped into the ships com’s. ‘Ensign Baker, this is Admiral Cook.’

  ‘Yes, Sir.’

  ‘Have security send a two man guard down to the engine room. Also, tell them to bring a DNA sweeper. I want this whole room checked.’

  ‘Roger, Sir.’

  Admiral Cook didn’t really expect to find anything. This was pro work not a usual ship incident, but he wanted to be thorough. In the morning he’d make a few calls. He still had some buddy’s rock side. Everyone on this ship was crew. –And now one of them was a conspirator.

  He was tired and ready for some shut eye. He’d deal with this in the morning. As he made his way back to his quarters, he knew it was going to be a restless night.

  It wasn’t every day Lieutenant Stone felt fear, but right now, he was crapping his pants. There was a barrel of a gun about four inches from his face, and the Stewardess holding it didn’t look happy.

  ‘-Hey, I was just wondering where we’re going.’ He raised his hands slowly. ‘Can you lower that a little before it accidently goes off?’

  ‘What you need to do,’ she replied, ‘is go sit down.’ She had a smirk of pleasure on her face. ‘You’re not going to Iceland. In fact, you’ll be disembarking in about ten minutes.’

  She waved the pistol to indicate she wanted him to move. He walked back to his seat and sat down.

  Shi’la and To’il gave him a nervous look.

  ‘What’s happening?’ To’il asked.

  ‘You and your alien friend don’t need to worry about it,’ the Stewardess said. ‘Now, shut up!’

  ‘You have no authorization to detain us!’ To’il exclaimed.

  ‘You know what leather-face? You’re not even the one we want. Your services are no longer required.’ A blinding hot flash erupted from her heat pistol. To’il slammed backwards against his seat. His abdomen was bloody and charred. The aroma of burnt flesh was sickening.

  ‘To’il!’ Shi’la screamed. ‘What have you done?!’

  She was holding To’il’s hand trying to comfort him. The wound was center mass in the gut. –A fatal shot. To’il was grimacing in pain. –His breathing short and haggard.

  Stone felt anger welling up inside. He stood and moved to grab the Stewardess.

  ‘-Ah, Ah, Lieutenant. Sit down or you’re next!’

  ‘You idiot! Do you even know what you’ve done?!’ He clenched his fists in anger. ‘We’ll be lucky if this doesn’t cause a retaliation! They’re here to help us!’

  ‘-Oh, they’re going to help, but not the way you want. Now, sit down and shut up or you’re next!’

  He glared hard at her for a few moments before slowly sitting down. Shi’la was covered in blood. To’il was no longer breathing and slumped dead in his chair. Shi’la was still holding his hand and sobbing.

  He gently laid a hand on her shoulder. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said softly.

  The Stewardess was leaning against the compartment wall still pointing her gun at him.

  He should have been on his guard. He felt stupid. But, whoever was behind this was well connected. His rendezvous with Shi’la and To’il was highly classified. –Which meant there was probably an informant in Earth Fleet.

  He felt the Negrav Capsule slow down; and within a few seconds it came to a full stop.

  ‘All right,’ the Stewardess said, ‘both of you get up. –Move to the door. We’re getting off.’

  ‘What? Are you kidding? We’re at least thirty thousand feet up! –Hope you got parachutes.’

  He looked at Shi’la. Her long white hair had small spots of blood in it. Long streaks of blood ran down her thighs where she’d wip
ed her hands clean. He looked at her and was startled at the hatred in her eyes. She was angry. She wanted to kill.

  She walked over and stood in front of the door. ‘-Know that the Shu’kan will not stand for this! You will face justice!’ She didn’t even look at the Stewardess, but from the cold even sound of her voice, he knew she meant every word of it.

  ‘-Whatever,’ the Stewardess replied. ‘Just shut up.’

  He quietly moved to stand beside her. He couldn’t help but notice that she was slightly shorter than him.

  ‘-Alright. This is it.’ She waved her pistol toward the door. ‘Open it.’

  Stone grabbed the locking latch with both hands and turned.

  ‘You realize there is a pressure difference?’ he said. ‘We just can’t pull this open.’

  ‘Open it!’

  Stone braced himself expecting to be sucked toward the door. He turned the latch the rest of the way and pushed. The door moved out and up sliding into the open position. A little hiss was all he heard. He immediately heard the sound of water. They were hovering about twenty feet above the surface of the ocean, and right beside them was another Negrav Capsule. Its door was open and a man was pushing a plank over to their door. It slapped down on the door frame and bounced up and down before resting.

  ‘Go!’ the Stewardess ordered.

  He steadied himself then briskly walked across.

  ‘Sit over there.’ He was ordered by a bearded man holding a gun.

  A few seconds later Shi’la appeared in the doorway and was ordered to sit. Immediately behind her came the Stewardess and the pilot. He turned and kicked out the plank then closed the door. Strong biting wind threatened to blow each of them from the plank, but everyone managed to cross without incident.

  ‘The charge is set to go off in five minutes, Brianna. Let’s go!’

  Stone felt the Negrav Capsule accelerate. The pilot moved forward to join the other while the bearded man stayed with the Stewardess. ‘Where are we?’ Stone probed. ‘Somewhere in the North Atlantic, I’d guess! Earth Fleet will be here in minutes. The moment this Pod dropped off the grid, Attack Pods were scrambled to intercept! –Or, didn’t you think of that?’