Shaitan Wars 2: Wrath of the Shaitans (15 page)

First thing to note is that the enemy first transmitted the signals over the exact frequency of laser light that we use for our ship to ship communication as well as to communicate back to our world. This means that they are aware of our exact communication mechanisms and protocol. You should be conscious of this fact throughout this campaign Warmaster. It has dangerous implications for us.”

“How is this possible seer Mystery? Warriors follow strict communications discipline. It should not have been possible to break into our communications.”

“I suspect Warmaster that the enemy got hold of our communications equipment from either the original scout vessel or the nest we had made on the 6
^th
planet’s moon. We are unaware of the fate of both, and it is possible that one or both of them were captured by the enemy, and our communication equipment studied.

I would not have believed that the enemy was capable of replicating our communication technology even if they got hold of a sample equipment, but I cannot deny proof staring at me. This adds strength to the council of seer’s warning that the enemy is far more capable that it lets us believe. We have to be constantly wary of underestimating them. It tells me a lot about their psychological profile, but I will come to that later.

A few milli-cycles later, they repeated the same message over the electromagnetic spectrum, starting with microwave frequency used by us as an alternate means for long distance communication. I believe they would have eavesdropped into Warmaster Scent of Carnage’s last report from the previous campaign.

They would have most probably eavesdropped from their base on the moon, since all the three war vessels of the enemy were dead. This means that their base on the moon must have survived to pass on the information to the rest of the enemy, which means that our nest on the moon must have been destroyed or captured, which is what makes me believe that they learnt our communication protocol from our captured nest.

After transmission on a certain frequency, the enemy waited for some time before changing frequency and transmitting again. Every time, they transmitted the exact same communication. I hypothesize that they are expecting or hoping for a response. So the spawns of Ka are trying open a conversation with us.”

“Why would any being want to open a conversation with their enemy?! What can they expect to gain out of it? Do they expect us to turn back to our world and abandon our holy duty seer Mystery?”

“Deception perhaps Warmaster, we cannot be sure. I will come to that, but first let me highlight the syntax and grammar of their message. You must have noted Warmaster that the structure of the language in the message was incorrect on many counts. It was as bad as a youngling just out of a spawn would communicate. Since we have had no precedent of any spawn of Ka ever having used our holy language, we cannot say with certainty whether this bad language syntax is due to diminished mental abilities of the enemy to learn the complexities of the holy language, or because no one taught them any better.

The reason I have been repeating the message over and over again is to make certain that we have understood correctly what the message means. With such bad grammar and syntax used, it is possible for us to misunderstand what the enemy means to say. However I am now fairly certain Warmaster that the message means what we interpreted it the first time.”

“So seer Mystery, where does that leave us with understanding the true intentions of the enemy, you know their message as well as I?”

“Well Warmaster… other than their obvious intention, the purpose for which they were designed by Ka, that of challenging the survival of our beings, I have no special insights into their tactical intentions. Those are your area of specialty and I will like to hear from you about them.

I can however give you some insights that I have gleaned from the message, on things that may be important to the enemy. Knowledge, which may hold value in our upcoming struggle. I can also speculate how they are likely to behave if we put pressure on certain assets of theirs. And last but not least, I have a suspicion which if possible should be investigated, for it has terrible consequences for our species if they turn out to be true.”

“I would very much like to hear about them seer Mystery, it would influence any change of our battle plans.”

“The fact that the 3
^rd
and their home planet is precious and critical to the enemy is obvious and need not even be discussed. We had however not seen any significant presence of the enemy in any other body in this heart of the Kalshuk system. This is what had led us to believe they are not very void capable species.

If you note however that the enemy has a presence on both the 4
^th
planet of Kalshuk as well as the moon orbiting their own home world. The presence is small from what we can make out from this far, but that could be the failing of our sensors or a deception on part of the enemy.

If you remember, the previous expeditions had reported that they had not detected any enemy presence of the enemy on the 4
^th
planet. They had only detected automated signals from the moon of their home planet but no presence of the enemy there.

It is not possible that the enemy suddenly sprang up on these two places in the intervening two thousand cycles. If these two places were capable of supporting the spawns of Ka, then they would have migrated there long time ago. It would be too much of a coincidence for the enemy to suddenly become migration capable between the time of our last expedition and this expedition.

Becoming migration capable to settle another planet takes millions of cycles to evolve, as we know from the history of our own beings. So the enemy was always there. Either our previous expeditions were mistaken, or they were deceived by the enemy.

So why would they want to hide their presence from the 4
^th
planet and the moon, when they have made no attempt to hide their presence on their home world itself, which presumably is the most precious to them? Even their message is designed to keep up away from these two places.

I think that these two places are far more precious to the enemy than we would have thought earlier. Why would these places be precious to them? We have done analysis on their moon, and as far as we can make out, it is not an easy place for the enemy to live. The 4
^th
planet is only slightly more suitable than the moon.

If habitability was the concern of the enemy, then they would also protect the moon of the 6
^th
planet where they fought a battle with our beings in the last expedition. If you notice they have welcomed us to take that moon. In fact we can confirm the departure of the enemy vessel from that moon, presumably evacuating the moon.

It is possible that these two places hold some religious significance for the enemy. There is however a much more sinister possibility. I wish I had the benefit of access to our archives, but unfortunately this vessel does not carry those records. I am thus recollecting from memory.

My suspicion was aroused when we analyzed the drive signature of their ion plasma drive. As you know our entire planning for this campaign was predicated on the assumption that the enemy only has primitive chemical rockets that we had observed before. We had accordingly chosen our rendezvous point with the fleet from Home world 11 at such a distance, which could not be traversed by a chemical rocket.

You recollect our surprise when we discovered that the enemy was heading towards the rendezvous point in void vessels powered by ion plasma engines. I have taken the time since then to perform detailed analysis on the drive signature of the enemy’s ion plasma engines.

Initially I had suspected that they may have captured our scout vessel or the previous migration vessel 12-09, and reverse engineered the ion plasma engine from one of those vessels. Even with reverse engineering, it should not be possible for a species to have developed such advanced engineering in just two thousand cycles since vessel 12-09 came here, or four thousand cycles since our scout vessel came here, but one never knows with these enemies.

That possibility was ruled out due to detailed analysis of the ion plasma engine of the enemy. It operates on similar principles as ours, but uses a different technology. So they definitely didn’t steal the technology from us. The signature of the ion plasma drive however kept mentally tugging at me.

Unfortunately our security protocol forbids us from carrying any library or technical specifications onboard a vessel which embarks on a campaign into enemy territory. This is a basic precaution to prevent the enemy from getting hold of any of our technologies. This also means I cannot refer back to our curious caste libraries to check where I have seen this signature of an ion plasma drive before.

Then as we approached nearer to the heart of the Kalshuk system, I saw the 4
^th
planet of the system in detail, and the connection fell into place!

The last war with a spawn of Ka – the Ka-let, was fought at the other end of the settled worlds of our beings. I am sure Warmaster that you would have studied that war. What you may not have studied in detail, which I did, was the technology of the Ka-lets. I realized that I had most probably seen this drive signature in the archives as the Ka-let drive signature.

I cannot be 64 out of 64 sure about his fact without the benefit of referring to the library, but I am as sure as one can be from memory. I also wanted to refer to the archives for the exact size and composition of the home planet of the Ka-lets that we had exterminated.

Since I don’t have the benefit of the archives, I am going by my memory. If my memory serves me right, then the 4
^th
planet is almost an exact replica of the Ka-let home planet.

Now suppose for a moment that the Ka-lets were not completely exterminated as we believe. If some of them had managed to escape to try and find a new home. What planet or moon would they choose to make as their new home? Why, a planet that is an exact mirror image of their original home world of course!

If some Ka-lets have managed to make a home on the 4
^th
planet and these new spawns of Ka are trying to hide the fact and protect them, then what does that prove Warmaster?”

“It would prove that the two species are in alliance! It would mean that this primitive looking species has access to technologies of the Ka-let. From my studies of that war seer Mystery, I believe that those spawns of Ka were far more advanced.

As I recollect from the warrior discourse, that was a reasonably difficult war for our beings to win. It would immediately explain seer Mystery how this primitive looking species is being able to resist so effectively, the might of our being’s superior technology!”

“Exactly my thoughts Warmaster. The Ka-let were one of the most advanced spawns of Ka our beings have ever encountered. Their technology was at par with ours, and some aspects even surpassed us. We learnt a few things from their technology. The primary reason the Ka-let were defeated was that they were poor warriors.

I have a further speculation to make. I think the advanced species who have taken refuge in the 4
^th
planet have not shared all their technology with these primitive species. If that were the case, we would have seen all of their technologies in action before, and this current spawns of Ka would have displayed far more void capability.

I think the advanced species only shares as much technology with the primitive species as is necessary to keep our beings at bay. I can guess the reason for that. Perhaps the advanced species does not trust the primitive species completely.

The advanced species thus would want to keep some of the most powerful technologies with itself, just in case the primitive species were to ever turn on them. At the same time the primitive species serves a very useful purpose for the advanced species, acting as their warriors. Thus the advanced species can protect their own beings who may be small in numbers having escaped extermination, without putting any of them at risk. It would be very similar in strategy to our beings spawning warriors in times of a war.”

“If what you say turns out to be true seer Mystery, then the 4
^th
planet might be an even more important target for us than the 3
^rd
planet. We must investigate this issue.”

“Yes Warmaster, this was the investigation I was referring to at the beginning of our conversation. There is an added advantage to this strategy. I am no warrior, but from the tasting records I think that the 4
^th
planet and the moon of their home planet has very little or no defense at all. We should be able to approach these places with little or no resistance.

As far as I can see Warmaster, to investigate the matter, we would most probably have to land warriors and then curious caste on the 4
^th
planet, although that would be your decision. If we control the 4
^th
planet, then it will cut off the source of advanced technologies for the primitive spawns of Ka, in case the advanced species exists out there. Even if they don’t exist, the fact that they have shown so much concern about the 4
^th
planet would mean, that they will be restrained in their response. This should make our task relatively easy and risk free.”

“There is an even bigger advantage and a solution to my current problems in that strategy seer Mystery. You are not aware of the problem since it concerns the warriors, but let me tell you. As you are aware, our plan was to have a coordinated attack on the third planet just after the Ka-ma-khya event.