Conquest ~ Indian Hill 3 ~ A Michael Talbot Adventure (76 page)

“We cannot
.
T
his ship is not designed for atmospheric travel
,
it will crush under the stresses
.
I
t was built in space and is meant to always reside there.
”

“Have you contacted all the landings?” I asked.

“We have
.
M
ost have acquiesced
,
some will need a stronger show of force.”

“Iserwan is on board with that?” I asked.

“As long as he doesn’t need to fire upon his own kind, yes.”

“Are this ship’s defenses restored and manned?”

“The Genogerians are learning quickly
.
I am unsure if they could repel a determined attack quite yet
,
though.
You have Iserwan’s word, he is not human
,
you have nothing to fear.
”

“Old habits die hard. I’m glad you are up and about.”

“As am I.”

“Are you going to run this ship?” I asked him.

“It is yours
,
Michael.”

“I don’t want it
.
I could never afford the payments, the gas alone must be monstrous, and who the hell is going to insure this thing?”

“I know not what you speak of
,
Michael
,” Urlack said
with unease.

“Relax
,
my friend
.
I’m telling you
,
you would be much better suited to running this contraption than I would.”

“What would you have me do with it?”

“I’d rather you put it on autopilot and crash it into the moon.”

“We could do that.”

I stopped to look at him, I was completely unsure as to his true intention.

“My people are going to want to go over this thing. Will you have a problem with that?”

“Again
,
Michael
,
this ship is yours to do with as you please
.
I will merely monitor it for you if that is what you desire.”

“What else
,
Urlack
?
I really feel like you’re holding out on me.”

“I do not think crashing this ship to be a good idea.”

“I was mostly kidding about the crashing part.”

“There are more to fear in the universe than the
Progerians
.
O
nly your remoteness in space has allowed you to stay relatively undiscovered.”

“Relatively?”

“We had conquered a species that had been monit
oring your planet for centuries.
T
hey were more interested in your evolutionary development than the Progerians were. At first
,
it had to be decided if we would spend the resources to send a ship this far out. It was quite possible the aliens we had captured were trying to send us off on a fruitless endeavor.
We are not the only ones that know of your existence in addition to that. Conquering ships will be dispatched here.”

That sounded far from good. “Ships?” I asked holding up my fingers.

“
It is usually two, but early reports had you as a highly intelligent
,
war capable species. They will send three.”

“Lucky us.”

“That is not
fortuitous
.”

“Sorry, I forget it’s Dee that understands the sarcasm. Can this ship stop them?”

“I will try my best at one of your Earth analogies
, th
is ship would be equal to an aircraft carrier and the Conquering ships would be equal to your heavy destroyers.”

“So head-to-
head not a chance but
,
the fighters give us an edge.”

“Any
d
estroyer is more than a match for a
thousand
fighters.”

I was wondering with the infrastructure of the world below in shambles would we be able to rebound quickly enough to manufacture more fighters and possibly our own
h
eavy destroyer. People have a tendency to do the miraculous with their lives on the line.

“How much time do we have
?
”

“
If we are able to hold off the initial Battle Fleet, they will surely send reinforcement, t
hree to five years
,
depending on what else is happening in the
Regime.”

“That sounds like a lot
,
but I know it’s not.”
I answered.

"
There is one more thing you should know Michael." Urlack said solemnly.

"Urlack I'm going to need some antacid soon."

"As we were going through the cells we came upon Supreme Commander Valletz."

"He was the original Supreme Commander? Why would he be in a cell?"

"It appears that Kuvlar was going to use him for his own purposes. Would you like me to have him brought to you?"

"How does your kind feel about public execution? Forget it sorry, no let him rot where he lay. On second thought why not stick Kuvlar in with him, I'm sure they will get along fabulously."

CHAPTER SIXTY-
S
E
VEN

While the rest of the Hill stayed glued to their monitors for early news of the Genogerian rebellion, Beth was busy rifling through medical files.

"
Shit,
I thought the bitch was lying." Beth
sighed
as she held up a sonogram of Tracy's baby. She felt her grip on Mike slipping with every developmental cell split of the unborn fetus. "Dammit." She uttered as she hastily tossed the file back into the cabinet at the sound of footsteps coming back down the hallway.

"What are you doing?" A nurse asked as Beth stepped out of the medical room and quickly departed down the hallway.

"Lost." was all she uttered before she turned the corner and was out of sight.
She headed toward the cafeteria, where a large gathering had assembled to listen for news. Nobody said anything as they waited but there was a calming affect being around so many others.

The majority of her hoped for Mike's victory but there was a darker part that hoped for his defeat. If he were to
die or be defeated she could be done with him. It hurt her more than she could ever have imagined to want something so bad and not be able to have it. She knew her weakness for what it was and even laughed at herself. When he was falling all over himself for her, her interest hadn't been a tenth of what it was now.

When Mike's voice had boomed across the speakers from aboard the helm of the Julipion
,
the Hill had gone ecstatic, it was not something Beth felt that she could share in. Victory did not bring back her loved ones, she was to be alone in this new world and pretty would only get you so far. She purposefully strode out of the cafeteria and towards the only destination she could think of that did not stop in a dead end.

"What can I do for you Beth?" Paul asked jubilantly as he sat a
t
his desk a large decanter of brown liquid being poured liberally amongst his senior officers.

"Is there any chance we could talk privately?" She nearly had to yell to be heard on top of the cacophony.

"Absolutely." He said getting up and grabbing her in friendly way to steer her back out to the empty waiting area. "Glorious day." Paul said beaming, as he looked at a picture that was mimicking a window.

Beth only shared some of his enthusiasm. "I'm going to leave here Paul."

"What?" He asked coming back from his reverie.

"There's nothing for me here anymore."

Paul almost said 'What about Mike
?' But he knew that wasn't what she was looking for.

"I can tell by your face Paul, you're wondering what I'm doing here."

"It's that obvious?"

"Yes, as friends I just wanted to say goodbye."

Paul stared long and hard. "Beth just because Mike won today, the war is far from over, and you know as well as I do that it will be years before there is law and order established outside these walls."

"I know that." She answered but in reality she hadn't even thought about it, she figured as soon as Mike was victorious everything would revert back to the way it had been, why wouldn't people want that? 

"I could have you detained."

"For what reason?" She asked haughtily.

"Personal safety, and this facility is still a closely guarded secret.

"And?"

"And what else?" Paul asked, "W
hat more do I need?"

"I know once long ago Paul you wanted something more."

"Hold on Beth, we were kids a lot ha
s
happened since then. And since you've gone out with my best friend you are pretty much off limits anyway."

"Oh don't pull that man-code bullshit on me, if you think there's a chance between you and me I'll stay for a while, if not I'm grabbing my stuff and heading out no matter the consequences."

Paul was stuck he didn't know what to say.

Beth waited a moment longer before she walked past him heading towards her room.

"Beth." Paul began.

A smile spread across her lips as she kept walking, she was careful to not let him see
.

"Beth wait, give me a chance to talk to Mike."

"I'll wait for a little while." She answered as she kept on walking.

CHAPTER SIXT
Y
-
EIGHT

Within a week
,
the fighting on the planet was over
.
T
o a being
,
the Genogerians
desired freedom
, there were a few hold outs. Some that had never known freedom and did not yet know how to wield it they were of the vast minor
i
ty
. The Progerians were another
matter
,
completely
.
V
ery few took the offer of peace. Most were still in shock from the rapid turn of events. They had gone from colonizing a planet to prisoners in their own holds. Some would come around, but I wasn’t holding hope out for most of them.

A small colony of Genogerians set up homesteads right outside what was once Atlanta
.
A
militia had to be hastily put together to keep them safe. For a very long time
,
there would be people that wanted to exact some measure of revenge against the invaders. It was going to take time and knowledge to let people know  Genogerians were as much a victim as they were.