Sacrifice:The Shenkar War (35 page)

             
“
Sir, are we done here? I promised Liam I would send someone he cared about a message and notice of his death.”

             
“
Yes, go ahead.”

             
Evan saluted the Admiral and then headed off to his quarters. He thought the whole way of what he was going to send to Leah. He had known Leah, but that wasn’t going to make this any easier.

Carl’s Electronics

              “
Thank you, enjoy your day and come again,” said Leah to her customer.

             
As the customer headed toward the door, Leah spotted a black Humvee pulling up in front of store. Two men in black suits exited the vehicle, escorting a third older man in a gray suit. The man in the gray suit looked familiar, somehow yet Leah couldn’t place the face. The three men entered the store and walked directly up to Leah.

             
“
Ms. Aecrin, perhaps you remember me? I am Milton Johansin. I delivered a message to you awhile back from Mr. Brennan,” he reminded her.

             
“
Yes, I do remember. What brings you here? Is Liam all right?” she asked in a worried yet cautious voice. A terrible feeling began to grow deep inside her.

             
The older man didn’t say a word, only removed a thumb drive from within his jacket and handed it to her. He looked at her for a few seconds, then turned and walked from the store. Leah stared after him as she held the thumb drive. When he had handed her the drive, she couldn’t help but notice the look of sadness in the old man’s eyes. She looked at the drive in her hand, and fear welled up in her like an explosion--fear of what could be on the drive. Her hand trembled. Turning, she walked out back to the
office.

S
itting down at the computer, Leah inserted the thumb drive. After a few seconds, the computer recognized the thumb drive and revealed a video file. Once again, Leah used the mouse to activate the file.
Evan’s face appeared on the screen. Leah notice how tired he looked.

             
“
Hello, Leah, I hope you are doing well. We have been dealing the Shenkar quite the nosebleed. Liam has been a great leader; he really has led us through some spectacular victories.”

             
Pride at these words filled Leah’s heart, driving down some of the fear. But then, Evan’s face filled with a sadness and the pride was replaced by dread.

             
“
In our last mission, he saved my life and the lives of fourteen other pilots. He is a true hero. I am sorry, Leah, but he gave his life to save ours. He was a true Knight and a good friend.”

             
Leah started to tremble as hot tears splashed down her face, and she began to cry uncontrollably. She collapsed to her knees as she shook.

             
“
He wanted me to give you the news personally and to let you know once again that he loved you with all his heart and you were in his thoughts right up until the end. Take care of yourself and remember Liam.”

             
Leah had always known Liam wasn’t supposed to come back, but she had believed in her heart that he would go against all odds and find a way back to her. She believed they were supposed to have the fairy-tale ending. So how could it have ended this way? Pulling her legs up against her chest, she folded her arms around them, burying her face into her legs, and cried.

Battlecruiser
Tryliene
, Stationed Far Outside System 238

              The
Drelai
gunship came to a smooth landing upon the deck of the battlecruiser and the hatch slowly lowered to the deck floor. Scyren walked down the ramp and looked about. After a few moments, he set off toward the bridge. As he reached a cross section of corridors, a thin Shenkar approached him.

             
“
Master Scyren, welcome aboard the
Tryliene
. We have your quarters ready. If you wish to follow me, I will--”

He held up a hand to silence the thin Shenkar.
“
I don’t care about my quarters. I can see them later. I wish to see the subject now.”

             
“
Yes, sir, follow me.”

             
The thin Shenkar hurried off down the corridor with Scyren in tow. After walking for what seemed a long time, the thin Shenkar stopped at a door guarded by two Shenkar warriors. After punching in a code at a security panel to the right of the door, the door slid open and he stepped through.

             
The room was clearly designed for scientific study. Surgical instruments were spread all about the room within reach of a large, waist-high rectangular table. But what instruments and tools were present did not concern Scyren at the moment. The main focus of his mission to the
Tryliene
had been laid upon the table: a bound blackened husk of a body. The figure was about a head shorter than that of a Shenkar warrior. Stepping closer, he examined the body. The body was burned rather badly, and it was hard to tell what had been the original color pigmentation.

             
“
So this is a human?”

             
“
Yes, male from what I have been able to establish.”

             
“
How do you know it is a male?”

             
“
Well it seems this one is of the same race whose planet we are preparing to assault.”

             
Turning quickly, he looked at the thin Shenkar.
“
How is that possible? The transmissions we intercepted showed them to be far from the technology they are currently wielding.”

             
“
I do not know, sir. Perhaps they stumbled across a Meshtrell expeditionary fleet and that is how they came by the technology.”

             
“
Do not tell anyone of your discovery. I will inform the Supreme Overlord myself. Now tell me why we need Shenkar warriors guarding a dead body and why the body is bound. Is there fear that some might steal the body? If so, it might be necessary to discipline the crew.”

             
“
You do not know? My apologies, but the subject is not dead.”

             
“
Not dead?” Turning, he looked closely at the husk and soon he noticed the slow rhythmic rise and fall of the subject’s chest.

             
“
I had been informed that the subject had been found dead within his burned-out cockpit. So how is it that he seems to be alive?”

             
“
Unknown. When we pulled the body in, he was dead, or so we thought. Earlier this morning, I was running some preliminary studies when I noticed the subject was breathing. I tried running some deep scans, but every time I would attach the scanners, I received an electrical feedback that would overload and destroy them.”

             
Reaching forward, he placed a hand upon the chest. The body felt cool to the touch at first, but then he realized the subject was wearing personal body armor.

             
“
First thing we need to do is remove the body armor. It could be the reason for the electrical feedback.”

             
Scyren and his assistant slowly worked at removing the remains of the body armor. It was a very slow process, as the body armor was extremely tough to penetrate. After several hours, they finally were able to remove all the pieces of the chest region. They could see that the body hadn’t been a charred husk; it had only been the outer armor that gave it that appearance. Below the armor was raw pink flesh, still burned in several areas but otherwise intact.

             
Taking a piece of the body armor, Scyren took it over to a working scanner. Attaching the armor to the scanner, he proceeded to run tests.
“
It is not the armor that is causing the feedback. It must be something within the body,” he said.

             
Picking up a syringe, he attempted to penetrate the skin of the subject. When the needle was about to puncture the skin, a sudden force field appeared and pushed the needle slightly away from the skin. Pressing harder, Scyren noticed the force field bend in slightly. Pushing even harder, he finally was able to push through and into the body. After taking a small amount of blood, he withdrew the needle and walked to high-powered microscope. Placing the blood on a template, he then placed the template in the microscope and, bending over, examined the blood through the microscope. After enhancing it to maximum magnification, he smiled at his findings. Standing, he turned back toward the body.

             
“
The body is filled with a nanite technology. That is the reason for the electrical feedback. The nanites provide a natural defense against any attempts to invade the body. That is the reason a force field erected itself when I first attempted to take a blood sample. I believe I wouldn’t have been able to get that sample if the body hadn’t suffered so much damage. Stay here and monitor the body; inform me of any changes.”

Turning, Scyren left the room and headed to the bridge. Upon reaching the bridge, he went to the communication station.
“
Get me Supreme Overlord Krailsha,” he ordered the comm officer.

             
After some time, the Supreme Overlord spoke.
“
Scyren, I am assuming you have something worthy to report?”

             
“
Yes, Supreme Overlord. Preliminary studies of the body have resulted in several disturbing discoveries. The first is that this human is of the race belonging to the world we are currently preparing to assault,” said Scyren.

             
“
Well, that will make my job easier. I won’t have to hunt down these humans later. But how is it they possess the Meshtrell technology? I was under the assumption these humans were not technologically advanced,” asked Krailsha.

             
“
They aren’t, Supreme Overlord; they have rudimentary space-worthy ships. Since entering the system, we have been constantly receiving old transmissions from the planet. From what we have ascertained, they haven’t traveled farther than their own moon. It is my thought that they found the remnants of a Meshtrell expeditionary fleet and learned how to use it. Why they are in this sector of space is unknown to me as of yet. It could be they were exploring when we encountered them, but I somehow doubt this. They seem to be a curious race and not prone to violence, so their behavior of aggression toward us does not fit. It may be that the expeditionary fleet possessed information on the Shenkar race. If this was the case, it would explain why they attacked us immediately, as they would know we would have done the same. I will puzzle this out soon.

             
“The second disturbing thing I have to report to you is that the body we recovered is not dead--or at least not anymore.”

             
“
Not dead? How is this possible?”

             
“
We are unsure as of yet. We cannot run any deep scans. The body is infused with a nanite technology that seems to provide a natural defense. Any time we have tried to run a deep scan, the nanites send out an electrical burst that overloads the scanners. We need to find a way to neutralize the nanites.”

             
“
Very well . . . conduct your experiments. If possible, see if we can communicate with this human. It may be possible we could learn something useful, like why these beings are out here or what the defenses are of their home world. Until you have anything useful, keep the
Tryliene
where it is. I do not want to take a chance the humans know we have one of their own.”

             
“
Yes, Supreme Overlord. As soon as I receive anything new, I will inform you.”

             
As soon as Scyren cut the transmission and turned away, the thin Shenkar assistant appeared next to him and started to speak in an excited voice. Scyren couldn’t help notice the severe looks of distaste on the faces of the bridge crew as they looked at the pair.

             
“
Master Scyren, I have made some intriguing discovery of the human. You must see it to believe it.”

             
The two set off together toward the examination room.

             
“
What is it you discovered?” asked Scyren.

             
“
I think I have discovered why the human was dead before yet now lives. It seems the nanites are for more than just defense. It seems the nanites also repair damaged parts of the body. The body is slowly rejuvenating as we speak.”