“Exactly, we can’t be sure what the Gorvian did, if anything, to cause this. But it is imperative that we find out and if at all possible stop it.”

  Blazer looked down the table to Marda, her eyes wide as she stared at the display. He wished he could take her hand, to reassure her.

  “I have cancelled final examinations for all senior level cadets assigned to frontline combat duty or to the Monitoring Fleet. You’re graduation has been moved up as well, and you will be moving out for your assignments on 1003.230. Dismissed.”

  Observation Dome, Gorvian Cruiser-2015, Sog’Reuv System

  Lord Gondish looked out upon the destruction fas parent’s latest creation had wrought. Fae wiped at fas slick skin, splashing a torrent of sweat onto the deck. The cruiser’s crew were mostly amphibious Gorvian and they kept the humidity at an oppressive level. a voice asked, vibrating fas brain tails.

  Gondish thought sent back to fas parent. Of all the Gorvian only Gondral and fas offspring Gondish could communicate through direct telepathy. None of Gondish’s young seemed able to do so yet, but fae could not be certain until they came of age.

  Gondral replied as something began to eclipse the local star.

  Gondish looked up, as if he was looking upon a negative image of a world in shadow.

 

  Gondish sent, balling fas fists together.

 

  Gondish looked back to the debris field, and sneered.

  UCSB DATE: 1003.222

  Medical Lab 5, UCSBA-13, System: Classified

  Marda looked at the latest test results in frustration. She’d graduating and shipping out in less than a decle. There was no way she could complete the experiments in that time. She looked over at the cages of genetically engineer Sceareth and grimaced. The entire time she was on the transports she had to conduct her field organ cloner experiments using computer models. She’d hit a dead end there, one that she could only solve with live experimentation.

  The Sceareth had been bio-engineered to be perfect lab specimens. Their internal organs could be tailored to match those of the race that the experimental drug, technique or technology would be used on. They were also ugly by every standard, limiting anyone’s desire to keep one as a pet.

  Marda held a small root vegetable up to one of the cages. The horrid long-eared creature within backed away. It hadn’t eaten in two cycles. “Come on Rimdis. You have to eat something. That’s a good girl.”

  The creature skipped up, snatched away the purple root and began nibbling on it.

  “So how’s the little patient doing?” Dr Sares asked from behind Marda.

  Marda turned to face Dr Sares, relieved. “Good sir. She’s being a fussy eater, but the organs appear to be holding together. There’s no sign of degradation at this time.”

  Dr Sares smiled, checking the monitor. “Impressive work. Going on, what is it now, six cycles with the cloned organs?”

  Marda smiled and turned back to the creature. “I just wish I had more time to study her and work on this, but…”

  “That’s one of the things I wanted to talk to you about actually. I just received a stitch from Dr Folain aboard the Mercy. She’s looked over your data and has agreed to let you continue your research there while undergoing your residency.”

  Marda had to resist the urge to hug Dr Sares. “You’re kidding! She agreed! That’s fantastic!”

  “I thought you’d like that news. She likes the way you created a genetically neutral scaffold first and then layered the rest of the organ onto it. It’s an old technique, but it appears to be working,” he said waving to the creature in the cage.

  Marda nodded and placed her hand on a flat box on her desk. “I know it’s an old technique, but it makes the process so much faster. It also significantly reduces the data storage requirements.”

  Dr Sares eyed the case under her hand. “What’s that?”

  Marda opened the case to reveal a selection of wafer thin data cards. “They’re the Blade Force,” she explained pulling them out. “I’ve modeled all of their major organs complete with gene maps. According to the simulations, the replicants should last for nearly a tridec. That’s more than enough time to get them to a proper medical facility, or if necessary cook up a new one.

  “I just wish the autocooks were precise enough to create more viable organs. I’m still having issues with creating nervous system tissue and straight up nerves. Gokhead is working on an idea to try and use the donor organ’s nerves. He’s putting together a device to strip them from the donor tissue. The problem is transporting it back into the autocook and onto the framework.”

  “Not having a donor organ available may be a limitation of the equipment that we’ll never get past. Not unless you want to lug around a much more massive device. Still, your results so far are quite impressive.”

  “Oh, that’s not all,” Marda commented, picking up another case. “These are generic organ templates for universal donors from the twenty-six most commonly encountered races in Confed Space. We can take a genetic sample from the patient and we should be able to make an organ able to hold coherence for at least a decle, maybe more.”

  “Another step in the right direction, good work.”

  “Thank you sir.”

  UCSB DATE: 1003.225

  Dorm Room 612, UCSBA-13, System: Classified

  Blazer collapsed back into the couch, still stinking of hangar fumes. The last few cycles had been beyond hectic as they’d prepared to graduate and ship out. Ever since they’d received their assignments they’d been busy: packing their gear, loading it into their fighters’ cargo pods and adding new equipment to their fighters. Blazer stretched and looked over at a poster of a Splicer-5000 on the wall. It was a stock craft, straight from the factory.

  Keeping within the limits of what the regulations allowed, all of the squadrons had modified their craft. The Monstero Nach focused their modifications on the engines and shield systems. Some craft had even received specialized communications, weapons, and sensor packages. Blazer had to break up a heated disagreement the cycle before when Zithe insisted on changing out his bio-cannons with Mass-Drivers. The Marine cadets had done it and he liked the idea. Chief Flind was opposed to the modification and neither one would budge. Blazer settled the dispute by reminding Zirhe that the Mercy wouldn’t have spares or ammo for the Mass-Drivers.

  With their work completed and their finals canceled, Blazer found himself doing something he couldn’t remember doing in a long while: relaxing. With nothing better to do, he pulled out his macomm and brought up a data file on the Mercy. Though he’d never told the rest of the team, Blazer had hoped for an assignment to one of the Cathedral stations, or other safe zone installations. Hyperspace travel would make it possible for them to still engage in frontline rescue missions. Then if he and Marda started a family, their children would be back somewhere safe. The Mercy was a mid-line frigate. If things heated up with the Gorvian it could soon find itself on the new frontline.

  An image of the Mercy’s interior appeared and Blazer highlighted the central core of the ship. At the heart of the ship was the Egg, a hardened shelter with its own independent life-support and power system. It was encased within a ten metra thick shell of nano-fused carbon-wurtzite boron nitride composite armor. That armored shell held the ship’s numerous medical bays and cost more than the rest of the ship combined but it would survive even if the ship were destroyed around it. That at least gave Blazer some peace of mind.

  “Checking out the Egg again?” Marda asked as she approached the couch.

  Blazer nodded. “Yeah, I almost wish we could just ship out now. The waiting is driving me out of my head. How about you?”

  Marda smiled. “Three points past. It’s giving everyone too much time to think and imagine the worst. After all this time, continuously working and studying, it’s enough to drive you crazy.”

  “Yeah, we should find Arion. I haven’t spoken to him much, outside of work. Gavit tells me that he’s been spending a lot of time down in that observation bubble of his working out. Gavit and Matt even had to drag him back last cycle, he was too exhausted to move.”

  “He’s still blaming himself for what happened to Alieha. I can understand, the guilt must be…”

  Blazer’s macomm display shifted without his input and Tadeh Qudas’ helmeted face appeared, startling both of them. This only happened during emergency calls and Blazer sat up. Marda zipped up her uniform the rest of the way. “Good, you’re both there. Round up the troops. You have an op.”

  Blazer nodded, setting his game face, but stopped short. “I thought all the finals were cancelled.”

  “Academic finals were, yes, but not real world mission ops.”

  Marda tapped her temple and sent out the call to the rest of the team through her micomm.

  “We have a Fac-Demo team whose mission was compromised. We need you to pull them out. Report to the hangar for immediate launch.”

  Marda nodded to Blazer. “Sir, the squad has been informed and is en route.”

  “Good,” Tadeh Qudas replied. “Your dropship is prepped, grab your ACHES and get moving.”

  Dropship RP-365, en-route to Flamgle System, Hyperspace

  Cramped in the hold one of the academy’s old Doric class high-speed tactical dropships Blazer couldn’t help but notice the craft’s engines out of tune cycling. When was the last time they even sortied this relic? he wonder as he looked past the hologram of Tadeh Qudas at the unfamiliar crew. Mikle and Acknit weren’t even qualified to fly the antiquated craft.

  “There’s precious little time. Last cycle we deployed a Facilities Demolition and Sabotage team into the Flamgle System. It’s situated just outside Gorvian territory and has an opportune jump point into Federation space. Their mission was to deny the Gorvians or the Geffers access to the mines and power facilities on the primary colony. We evacuated the colony several tridecs ago due to the increased activity by the Gorvian and because it also looked like the Geffers were putting together a large force to take it.”

  “Why aren’t we fighting for it?” Blazer asked, as he snapped the last piece of his armor into place.

  “The Chret have already mined out all the most readily available resources. We don’t want the Geffers to have it though because there are rich deposits of naturally-occurring hexagonal carbon diamond deep in the crust.”

  Rudjick let out a low whistle. “Dag, that stuff is serious business. Why give it up?”

  “The world has a chlorine atmosphere and the Chret are one of the few races that can live there without breathers. But the deposits are too deep for the Chret, so they refuse to go down there. Confed hopes that the Geffers will expend more resources trying to acquire the deposits then they’re worth, especially if they have to reestablish the mine and install a new power plant. Additionally, if the Gorvian do decide to move on the system after the Geffers take it, it will put the Gorvian into a two-front war. It may even force the Galactic Federation to pull forces from other sectors to reinforce it.”

  “So what went wrong?” Marda asked, double-checking her suit seals.

  “We received a signal from the Fac-Demo squad’s dropship. A Galactic Federation assault lander set down on the outskirts of the primary colony and sent in troops. They’re jamming the whole area so we have no idea how far along the Fac-Demo squad was before their mission was compromised. We ordered the dropship back and now we need you to retrieve them. You’ll need to act fast. Hold on, the priority on this mission just went up! Fleet command is debating sending in a task force to bombard the area from orbit instead.”

  Gavit shook his head; he looked out of place sitting in the back in his ACHES. “Commander. In case you hadn’t noticed, this old drop can barely hold us, let alone another squad.”

  “Speed is of the essence here Markus. The dropship will make a high speed pass of the main city, inserting you via its shock-gel tubes.”

  Blazer looked up at the shock-gel launch cradle above his seat. He hated shock-gel deployments. Nothing felt less secure than getting shot out of a dropship into a glob of goo. If the system was off by even a fraction of a degree, one could end up a smear on the dirt.

  “After you’re deployed, the dropship will create a diversion and head back out of the system. Once you’ve secured the Fac-Demo team, you’ll need to secure transport off planet. The colony has numerous small airfields, and records indicate that they will have craft capable of getting you at least offworld until we can send in a retrieval group.”

  Blazer didn’t like the sound of that. Well, if we can get off planet we’ll be in good shape if the fleet decides on a bombardment. “Do we have solid intel on how many craft might be hyperspace capable?”

  “Not at this time. We’ve uploaded the Fac-Demo teams fallback rally points to your computers. Good luck.”

  Room 1215, Flamgle Hilriot, Parwek City, Flamgle 3, Flamgle System

  Peeking out the window of the hotel room into the yellowed atmosphere of the capital the second-in-command of the Fac-Demo team assessed their situation. The scene looked much the same as it had since his half of the team had retreated to this safehouse. The massive hotel featured atmosphere processors which provided a breathable oxygenated atmosphere. Looking out he could see several squads of Geffers searching the city. It was a standard search pattern, moving in from the outer edge of the city, clearing one building at a time. He checked the thermal readings on his suit and for once felt grateful for the oppressive heat that the Chret preferred. It would mask their presence, from a distance at least.

  A commotion out past the edge of the city drew his and one of the squad’s attentions. He looked towards the open landscape and a grove of massive mushroom like plants. He spotted a solitary object racing towards the city at high-speed. At first he couldn’t make out the shape as it sped over the giant mushrooms. The shockwave it generated caused the mushrooms in its wake to shoot geysers of concentrated chlorine into the air. As it neared the edge of the city however, the shape jumped out at him, an old Doric light dropship.

  Plaser fire erupted from the city below. The handheld weapons would have little effect against the shielded craft. Unguided rockets pierced the sky a moment before the intruder pulled up to clear the towers at the center of town.

  “Incoming,” he called out pulling away from the window moments before the dropship raced past, a sonic boom shaking the building in its wake.

  “They dropped something,” the team leader called out after the dropship raced past, the sound of its plasma drives roaring all around them as it made for orbit.

  The second in command felt grateful for the face-concealing helmet. At least then his squad leader wouldn’t see the perplexed look twisting his features.

  “I distinctly felt at least three thumps in addition to the sonic boom as that thing buzzed us.”

  “What do you think they be dropping?” one of his men asked.

  “Hopefully some heavy weapons so we can fight our way out,” he replied. “On your feet!”

  The second-in-command’s tactical display showed three new blips and he held up a hand. “Hold, I be reading movement out there, three contacts.”

  The leader brought up his weapon, steadying it on the door. “Vector!”

  “End of the hall. Looks like whatever it is be coming down the stairs.”

  Everyone else brought their weapons to bear, tracking the moving objects through the walls.

  “Can’t be making identifications. No thermal source. Must be camouflaged.”

  “Treat as hostile until told otherwise,” the leader ordered. “They’re headed this way.”

  Their guns trained on the doorway, the team waited as the three contacts bounded down the hallway. The distinct shape of armed hominid forms became apparent as they neared. The trio reached the portal and took up breaching positions around it before their communicators buzzed. “Papa was a Dragon Rider,” a voice called in over the voice link, quoting a song that had been popular three annura earlier.

  “Mama rode the tail,” the leader returned giving the countersign. “Stand down,” he ordered and motioned his trooper nearest the door to open it.

  With a whoosh, the door disappeared into the wall. A light orchid-colored energy barrier sprang to life in response. The color of the energy barrier obscured the trio beyond before they stepped through, their weapons lowered halfway. Clad in ACHES armor in a distinct Midnight Blue and Silver White scheme, the three members of the Blade Force hurried into the chamber and sealed the door in their wake. Looking around the room at the unique Green and Gold-colored squad around them, they brought their weapons back to the ready.

  “You have to be kidding me,” the Fac-Demo team leader barked, recognizing the trio before them.

  “Just wash me out now,” Blazer groaned as he looked at the other team’s leader. His visor then retracted into the helmet and the face mask split open to reveal his visage.

  “What in Drig’s name are you doing here,” Chertsin barked back as he mimicked Blazer’s own gesture. His nose crinkled in disgust as he caught a whiff of the chlorine the barrier had failed to remove.