Ilox Saga 1: Eris Monroe: More Than Human (28 page)

She
had been briefed by Arnav Malik during the trip back on the Starlifter. Eris was glad that Arnav and his team had managed to escape – the tale he told of the changed miners matched what she had encountered and it sent shivers up her spine. She was also glad Arnav had survived and not been hurt. She cared for him.

Lia Xinhao had also looked
Eris over to make sure the wound she had suffered was well treated and healing. Synthflesh was just one of many treatments the doctor had available in her advanced med-kit, and it was extremely effective at sealing wounds and stopping blood loss. It was a stroke of pure luck that they had found the Arrasian scientist when and where they did. Eris spent most of the forty-five minute trip back into orbit quietly talking with him. She discovered that he had been investigating Valdren dig sites in the Ekaph system when he heard about the outbreak of sickness that the humans could not explain or control. He told her he had begun an investigation that lasted for weeks and finally determined that the probable cause of the disease was the Valdren device he had named ‘Precursor’. As the Starlifter docked, Eris spoke to Gelkar.

“Professor, I want you and Doctor Xinhao to
collaborate. She has some fascinating information you would love to look at – and I’m sure your expertise on the Valdren will thrill her.” Eris glanced at Lia who was sitting opposite from her. Doctor Xinhao smiled and nodded.

“Yes, Professor Ruz’zel, I’m keen on getting to the bottom of what caused all of those mutations. I think working together we should
be able to positively identify what occurred.”

“I look forward to it,” stated Gelkar with admiration.

During the short trip from planet-side to a far circling orbit, Kyle Arneson never broke radio silence. Eris did not want to offer the possibility of them being detected, but the downside was they didn’t know what had happened to Sparta in their absence. Once the Starlifter docked with Sparta and the ramp at the back of the craft opened, Eris was greeted by Hasephrey Saephan the moment the airlock door fully retracted. The large Orvod was grim faced and his head tattoos were all lit up in divergent colors and moving erratically. That usually meant he was agitated by something. If he was disturbed by the sight of the Arrasian scientist Gelkar Ruz’zel or Sev Tariv being led away in handcuffs by several of the crew he did not show it.

“Captain,
we engaged Alliance cruiser little over two hours ago...disabled their power - but am sure they sent distress signal. Sparta must leave this system at once.” Hasephrey did not become calmer after delivering his news.

“
Casualties?” Eris did not want to hear any bad news. Not after the shit-storm that had just happened on Furnace.

“
None for Sparta…some deaths for them am sure. Stealth system works to specifications, but I am certain that Alliance must now know we exist.” He exhaled loudly. “Or…that technology to cloak a ship from their sensors must exist. All technology advantages are fleeting and brief.”

“Why
did you engage a cruiser?” With one eyebrow raised, she pierced the giant Orvod with her blue eyes. The alien shrugged his shoulders and simply stared at her.

“They were bombarding planet…causing mass death and destruction to outpost that Arnav Malik was sent to investigate…I deemed it wise to make them…stop.”
The logic of his statement was flawless.

“Very well…Chief Engineer
- make sure your full report is sent to me by 1800 tonight.” She paused and looked at T’sell T’savri who had resumed her disguise as Trafelle. Eris nodded to the Zari woman who sent a message which touched her mind.

I will interrogate Sev Tariv and let you know what I find.
Lia Xinhao should help me…her knowledge of pharmaceuticals would be useful in making Tariv more susceptible to my telepathic probing
.

“Doctor, you should go to your lab as we talked about. I’ll catch up with you later,” Eris ordered the diminutive woman.

“Of course, Captain,” returned Lia wearily.

Eris began
walking away from the Starlifter, and all of her team followed except for T’sell, Lia and two marines who were escorting Sev Tariv to the only brig on the ship up on deck two. As she moved, Hasephrey and Arnav walked to her left and Kyle walked to her right in the relatively spacious docking bay of the fifth deck of the Sparta. Gelkar Ruz’zel and Eli Bowman followed close behind. They were attentive to everything Eris said as she addressed them.

“
Even though our mission on Furnace was successful, we still have more work to do,” stated Eris plainly. “Whatever plans the Alliance had concerning that particular piece of Valdren tech – we stopped them.” She continued speaking as she reached the central elevator of the ship. “I want to see all officers in the QC briefing room in ten minutes.” As the doors to the elevator closed, she closed her eyes and imagined Kyle holding her. She could feel his eyes upon her.
She wished she could run away from all of her responsibilities
.
She wished she could just have a normal life – far away from death…destruction…and loss
. The elevator was swift and less than a minute later the doors opened to a busy scene in the command information center of the ship. Personnel were hastily moving back and forth, but all of them paused when Eris stepped onto the bridge and stared at her and the group with her. All of them stopped what they were doing, saluted and waited. Eris pulled herself up and saluted back smartly. She wanted to get out of her combat armor, but that would have to wait.

She whistled using two fingers. A moment later Sif came bounding
down the corridor and across the open space of the CIC and leaped up into Eris Monroe’s arms. The dog licked her face. Eris smiled and scratched behind her ears.

“Home?” said Sif with a low growl. Eris knew what she meant. The keen intelligence of the genetically engineered puppy was astounding and Eris hugged her tight then set her down.

“Yes, I’m home now. Go back to your room,” Eris said and chuckled as Sif raised her left paw and whined, then turned and trotted back the way she had come. “Good girl!” As much as Eris wanted to snuggle with her dog, there was pressing business to attend to.
There was always business
… She turned to Kizzara who had swung her pilot’s chair around to face Eris.

“Kizz, bring the ship about and plot a heading to
HGC-57.”

“Aye, aye Captain,” replied Kizzara. The Evene woman worked at her controls with precision – her clawed fingers moving rapidly
over the holographic keyboard. “Course plotted and ready to execute,” she looked at her Captain with anticipation in her green eyes. “Sparta should reach the system in slightly under thirty-eight hours.”

“Proceed,” ordered Eris.
As the ship began the process of changing course and speed, Kizzara stood and stepped away from the pilot station. Another crewman took her place. Kizzara walked with Eris, purposely slowing her loping stride to match the slower pace of her Captain.

“You wanted me with you in the briefing room?” Kizzara asked
. The Evene was puzzled.

“
As one of my officers, there are things you need to know.” Eris stopped, reached out and put her hand on the Evene woman’s shoulder briefly before moving on.

Ki
zzara smiled and her tail began twitching happily.

Eris and Kizzara
walked together down the nearest gangway to deck three and then along a sparse and empty corridor until she arrived outside of the comm room, also known as the briefing room. An armed guard stood at attention. It was one of the marine’s under Arnav’s command, Matt Sekibo. Eris returned his salute.

“Carry on,” she said as
Sekibo opened the iris door leading to the conference room. She and Kizz entered together and Eris made sure the door behind her was secured. All of her officers as well as Eli Bowman were waiting, seated, in the comm facility.

“Now that
you’ve destroyed the Valdren device, and that mission can be counted as a success, where are we heading?” Arnav was the first to speak as Eris sat down at the head of the large conference table. The black polished surface of the table reflected their images with a dull sheen. Executive officer Arnav Malik was seated just to the right of Eli Bowman. Chief engineer Saephan was seated opposite those two next to Kyle Arneson. Kizzara sat down next to Kyle. With the exception of Lia Xinhao and T’sell T’savri all of her senior people were present. She would have to wait on the interrogation and hope that T’savri could extract useful information from her murderous subordinate Sev Tariv.

“As you all know, Sev Tariv tried to kill me
a few hours ago - just after we discovered the Initiator. Whether he was trying to take the Valdren device or just kill all of Alpha squad I don’t know. He’s being interrogated as we speak.” Eris looked at each sentient being in the room. “It is possible that our enemies know everything about us and our intentions. I’m not going to take the chance that Tariv didn’t expose our plans or our stealth technology. So we are going to a system that is not known by Dominic Gray or anyone at DSD.”

“
Not to be rude, Captain, but what’s the point of that?” asked her XO. He idly scratched the stubble that had appeared on his chin. “Our orders from Mr. Gray were explicit – we’re to find and destroy any weapons or schematics that the Alliance has obtained at the Holdfast. For every day we delay, the Alliance gets closer to discovering some kind of super weapon.” He leaned back in his chair. There were murmurs of assent from the others present. Hasephrey spoke next – his voice booming.

“I disagree. Alliance is evil, yes that is known. Alliance is intent on discovering and reverse engineering Valdren technology
- that is true as well. However, we have many questions that need answering.” The mobile tattoos on his massive bald head had become mauve with patches of red and were very slowly moving in concentric patterns. “Sev Tariv is an adequate engineer, not the best, but decent…he was a difficult sentient to work with, but we do not know what his motivations were. Why did he attempt to kill the Captain? What has he done? Maybe he snapped and is acting on his own…or the Valdren device affected his mind. Who knows? However, if he gave the Alliance technical schematics of the stealth system, Alliance engineers will possibly be able to detect us within a few weeks…and if they can detect the Sparta, they will easily be able to destroy it. We must find out what he knows!”

“Sparta will never be
destroyed!” shouted Kizzara as she leapt to her feet with a feral snarl.

“I don’t think the Alliance is smart enough to figure
these things out. I mean…look, they were searching for the Valdren device on Furnace for months and it only took us a day to find it…” Eli had jumped to voice his thoughts, but it made matters worse. As the room erupted in chaos, Eris closed her eyes momentarily as if to mentally steel her resolve.

“ENOUGH!” she shouted over the bedlam of
strident voices and conflicting opinions. “Control yourselves! We’re a team – act like it!” She took a long look at each member of her crew. When her gaze locked with each officer, they became still and quiet. All of the officers sat down, but Eris remained standing. She let the silence build for a few moments before speaking.

“
Arnav, the threat from the disease or mutation that occurred down on Furnace is real… hundreds…maybe even thousands of sentients have died because of it. I have Professor Ruz’zel and Doctor Xinhao in the lab right now trying to figure out what caused that – and figure out a way to counteract it if possible. They have a theory, but they need to run tests to find conclusive proof of the cause.” She let that sink in for a few seconds. “Additionally, we need to know what Sev Tariv knows.
If
he gave the Alliance access to our null field technology, then we’ve been compromised. I say
if
though, because I find it unlikely. I’ve had him under surveillance for some time and I don’t think he ever had the time or the opportunity to deliver any plans or have contact with any Alliance operatives.” She rested both hands on the black surface of the table in front of her.

“I value
input from all of you…and I want to hear your thoughts on the situation. However – I will not jeopardize this ship or the lives of her crew to make an assault on the Alliance primary military fortress before I have all of the facts.” She glanced at Eli. “Bowman, were you able to learn anything with your
talents
concerning the Valdren device before you helped to destroy it?”

“Yes, Captain. I learned one thing. The moment I switched it off, the headache
I’d been suffering from…stopped. The pains that T’sell suffered from also ceased the moment the Valdren device was destroyed.” Eli flinched just from thinking about how awful that pain had been. “My hunch is that the ancient tech was broadcasting a wide-field signal that reached outward for kilometers, maybe dozens of kilometers and was affecting higher order organic beings.” Eli glanced at Eris Monroe and then at Kyle Arneson. “I also know that many of the miners that suffered from the
sickness
had also complained of headaches for days…perhaps weeks…before they died. I read that in some of the databases I scanned while we were in Platinum City.”