Nemesis 1: Revenge Is Best Served Hot (11 page)

“Sire, I detected three jump drives.”

The Commander slammed his hand on his console and watched the city burn below him. The combined fleet attacked and he ordered the six battleships back down to retrieve the warriors that had jumped out of the city. He lost five ships before they were all on board and he ordered the fleet to jump away. He left the bridge and went to his quarters to view the recording of the battle in the streets. He watched as the three fugitives blasted their way through thousands of his warriors. The speed they moved with was just not believable. He had to slow the recording down ten times to fully see what was happening.

The Principal appeared on his display and he said, “Sire, I’m sending you a recording of what just happened on the planet. Would you please view it and give me your opinion.”

The Principal was going to execute the Commander but he was immediately interested in what he had to show. He looked at the Commander, “Send it!”

The Commander sat in his chair with the ships in his fleet maintaining stations a long distance from his vessel. He had his chair swiveled around and kept his eye on the self-destruct circuit. His crew was frightened and they were contacting their families telling them to expect the worst. Finally, the wall display activated and the Principal appeared with six other members of the High Echelon with him. “It appears you were right about them being on that planet.”

“We didn’t have any certainty about it but it’s unusual for a Werstag to be keeping the company of another species. The fact there were two others made me suspicious.”

“Why did you wait for the battleships to escape?”

“I thought you would execute me if I blew them up with the city.”

“I’ll execute you next time if you don’t. It appears they managed to escape.”

“Yes, Sire.”

“We’ve viewed the recording you sent us and it appears the warning we received about the highly advanced technology developed by the Humans was accurate. Their speed was impossible.” The Commander nodded. “The Lovely Quadrant has issued a Declaration of War against us and says they will attack any of our ships on site and it won’t matter if they’re commercial or warships. They also told us that all of our citizens in their quadrant will be arrested and executed.” The Principal paused and said, “It appears those Humans know about this and are using this area to hide.”

“What are your orders, Sire?”

“You will continue to search for them and I will be reinforcing your fleet with three others. Next time you suspect they’re on a planet, don’t wait for confirmation, just destroy the planet.”

The crew was shocked by the statement. The Commander bowed and nodded, “I will follow your orders.” The video went dark and the Commander sat back in his chair. He had missed his target and he suspected the next place the fugitives showed up would not be at a planet in this sector. He lowered his head and was thankful his family had left to stay with his in-laws. He wondered if the Principal would blast one of his own planets. He took a deep breath and somehow knew he would.

• • •

Grant sat on the bridge and stared out of the forward viewport at a spiral galaxy spinning in the distance. His expression was blank and he remained motionless for a long time. Whippet entered the bridge, saw him, and quietly went and sat in the chair beside him. He looked at the galaxy in the distance and waited for Grant to recognize his presence. After half an hour, Cinnamon entered and went to the third chair. The three of them looked out of the view port at the distant galaxy.

Finally, Grant said without taking his eyes off the galaxy, “The people in that city were killed because of my arrogance. I was so incredibly stupid.”

Cinny started to speak but Whippet beat her to it, “Yes, you were.”

Cinny looked at Whippet, “How could he have known the Raiders would return to that galaxy?”

Grant sighed heavily, “How did I know they wouldn’t? I took a risk and didn’t really consider what the consequences might be. The first city was a surprise. This last one was my gambling with their lives and they lost.” He paused, “We should have died as well.”

Cinny really didn’t know what to say but Whippet did, “If you intend to take these sort of risks, I am going to leave the team.”

Grant nodded “I don’t blame you.”

Cinny stood up and put her hands on her hips, “You think you could have done better?”

Whippet looked at her, “Sit down, Cinny and act your age.” Cinny’s face turned red but she sat back down. Whippet slowly shook his head, “We went to that planet to have a meal. We didn’t have to do that. We could have eaten here on the ship. Or do you see it differently, Cinny?” Cinny stared at him but, after a moment, shook her head. “If we go to any planet, there is a risk that planet will be attacked by the Raiders. We should have gone and picked up Iggy and Slick and stayed in the Raider’s Domain.” Whippet paused, looked at Grant and said, “What’s the limit on getting your revenge against the Raiders?”

Grant turned and looked at him, “Limit?”

“How many planets are you willing to see die in order for your appetite for revenge to be met?”

Grant’s eyes narrowed and Whippet wondered if he had gone too far. He knew both humans were far beyond his skills now and he didn’t really know their hearts. He held Grant’s gaze and, after a moment that seemed to last forever, Grant turned back and stared at the beautiful galaxy in the distance. “Whippet, I confess that I wasn’t really excited about including you in our quest originally. However, over the months, I’ve come to value you as a friend. You have the right to confront me on any issue that bothers you. You will never be in danger from me. I saw your fear a moment ago; you should know that I would die to defend you.”

Whippet lowered his head, “Thank you for saying that, Grant.”

“However, there is no limit to the number of planets that might die during our quest to bring the Raiders down.”

Cinny stood up, “But Grant!”

Grant held up his hand, “We will not be the ones that kill them.” He looked at Whippet, “What if the Raiders send us a message telling us that they will start blasting any planet they suspect we land on; will that make us give up?” Whippet stared at Grant and after a moment shook his head. “Why wouldn’t it, Whippet?”

“Because they could use that strategy against anyone that confronts them; they have to be stopped. However…”

“I know what you’re going to say. We shouldn’t place innocent species in danger if we can avoid it.” Whippet nodded. Grant looked back out of the view port, “Only one of us will go down to a planet in the future if we need to purchase supplies. We will go heavily disguised and that should prevent us being discovered.”

Whippet tilted his head, “I suspect most of the people who might suspect who we are will not report us in the future.”

Grant and Cinny turned and looked at Whippet. Cinny said, “Why not?”

“What happened to the last two that called them in? That Head Server died in the nuclear blast that vaporized his city and I’m reasonably certain that whoever saw us on the last planet died with the city as well. There will be great reluctance to report us in the future once word gets out what happened.”

Grant nodded, “You’re probably right, however, we will not take chances with others’ lives if we can avoid it.” Grant paused and said, “This ship of ours doesn’t have a name. I’ve chosen one for it.”

Cinny frowned, “What?”

“We will name her Nemesis.”

Whippet’s eyes narrowed, “What’s a Nemesis?”

“In one of Earth’s ancient societies that worshiped numerous gods, one of the gods was named Nemesis. She was the God of Divine Retribution that brought justice to those that succumbed to arrogance. The word later came to mean an inescapable agent of someone’s downfall.” Grant looked at Cinny and Whippet, “We are the inescapable agent that will bring the Raiders to their knees. After seeing them callously blast those two innocent cities, the dead scream for justice. We are going to answer their call.”

Cinny tilted her head, “Where did you learn about this?”

“I plug into Ana’s databanks when I can’t sleep. There’s a huge cache of information we didn’t see in the initial hologram.”

Whippet looked Grant in the eyes and smiled, “I just needed to know where your heart is, Grant. I had to know that you aren’t like them.”

“I wish I could say I’m nothing like them…but if you ask them in a few months, they’ll see me as we see them.”

“That’s fair. I’m in this until the end.”

“Thanks, Whippet.” The three looked out at the galaxy and thought about what was coming.

• • •

Grant stepped out of the small shuttle he had taken down from the Nemesis and saw Iggy and Slick waiting close by. Iggy crawled forward and said, “We need you to bring that small creature down that was here last time.”

Grant’s head went back, “Why?”

Slick said, “Neither one of us like the idea that we will be controlled by our emotions causing our children to be in danger. We think we’ve found the area in our minds where that particular programming was done. We think we’ve been able to eliminate it.”

“I’m not sure I understand.”

“I think those that created us didn’t really understand what they had done either. In order for our minds to grow and shrink, it has to be in touch with an area that looks like a dark ball inside us. We’ve determined that there are nerves that connect to that area and run to our endocrine glans. We think it is those nerves that caused us to go into a rage.”

Iggy snorted, “We’ve been able to manipulate that dark ball so quickly that those nerves were severed. Our offspring have been able to do it as well but we need a species from a different planet to see if we’re correct.”

Grant touched behind his left ear and said, “Whippet, I need you to come down here on a scooter.”

“For God’s sake, why?”

“Stay above the trees but I need you to do it now.”

Grant heard Whippet muttering to himself, “Come down here and act like a meal. Maybe I should bathe myself in butter and sauce before I leave…”

“Whippet, your communicator is still on.” The channel went quiet and Grant looked around, “Where are your children?”

“They’re at their smallest size hiding at the moment. Can you detect them?”

Grant activated his combat helmet and he scanned the surrounding area and didn’t see anything. He looked out in the lagoon and still didn’t detect anything, “I don’t see them.”

Slick looked at Iggy, “You’re right.”

Grant said, “Right about what?”

Iggy looked at Grant, “I wondered why you always saw me coming and one time I snuck up on you at my smallest size. You didn’t seem to notice my presence. As soon as I grew, you did.”

“Your bodies don’t give off heat.”

“It appears they don’t when we’re miniature.”

Grant heard the scooter come in above the trees and saw Whippet looking down at them. He looked at Iggy and Slick, “Well?”

Slick bobbed up once and said, “Nothing.”

Iggy nodded his huge head, “Nothing on me as well.” Iggy looked down from the scooter and said, “Go to your full size.”

Ten huge reptiles suddenly appeared surrounding Grant and six giant Spiders were sitting on half of them. Iggy said, “Look at the being on the device above us and tell us what you feel.”

One of the giants said, “I’m curious about what it is, Father.”

Grant smiled, “It appears you are now in control of your minds. Do you still want to go?”

Iggy looked at Slick and shook his head, “There has been a change in plans.”

Grant’s eyes narrowed, “What change?”

“Slick and I really want to go on this first mission but we assume that you are going to send us to other planets if this works; are we right?” Grant nodded. “Well, it will take more than sixteen months before our children will mature enough to lay eggs. If we go on the first mission and we’re lost in the effort. You’ll be delayed more than a year before you could send any more out.”

Slick went up and down, “You were right about our children knowing everything we do. They know about the death of our home world and are highly motivated to teach those that did it a lesson. We think that until one of each of our children is old enough to lay eggs, we need to stay here. We have agreed that we will follow your lead in this but we think you will agree that it is the best strategy.”

Grant nodded and smiled, “You are wise. You’ve thought this through and I agree that you should wait until you can be replaced here.” Grant looked at Slick, “That means we can only take five of your children.”

“No, I went and had a discussion with the Mother of the Ants and she agreed to allow me to lay thirteen eggs. Twelve spiders and twelve crocs will go with you. One of our children will remain behind with us.”

Grant nodded and said, “Once we drop them off at the planet we’ve found, I’ll be following one of their commercial ships to another of their planets. You should go ahead and lay new eggs when we leave. By the way, I’m surprised the Mother allowed you to do that.” Iggy and Slick both twitched. Grant said, “What?”

Slick tilted his head, “She wants to hurt them more than we do. She’ll work with us in making this happen as smoothly as possible. We just have to not do anything to cause her to lose trust in us.”

Grant thought a moment and said, “I have an idea I’d like to run by you.”

“What is that?”

“Since your children know everything in your minds, wouldn’t it be a good idea to try and bring one of those we take to the first planet back to lay eggs.”

The two huge creatures looked at each other and Iggy actually smiled, “Now that is a good idea. If all of them are lost, we still have one here. If you bring one back, the one that stayed here will go out with the next group. They can also teach the new hatchlings what they learned before they leave.”

“I’ll see if we can send a communicator with each of them that they can hide and use if they’re needed.” Grant looked around and said, “Alright, all aboard. Go to your mini-size and get on the shuttle.”

The twenty-four animals shrunk faster than Grant could see. In an instant, all of them were on the shuttle. Grant looked up and Whippet and touched his ear, “You can go now. They no longer see you as a meal.” Whippet disappeared at an even faster speed. Grant smiled.