Sacrifice:The Shenkar War (45 page)

             
As soon as they exited the hangar, Evan saw the carnage. Shenkar lay dead everywhere. Most looked to be horribly burned, with large holes through various parts of the bodies revealing the burnt organs beneath. Here and there, several sections of the bulkhead were dented in with a Shenkar body below it, showing all signs of having been thrown with extreme force. Everywhere were the limbs of the warriors, cauterized at the end where they had been severed. For all the limbs, there was surprisingly little blood. If Evan were to guess, he would say the weapon had been a plasma sword.

             
No one spoke as they all took in the scene. After several minutes, the Admiral turned to Liam.
“
Well, Mr. Brennan, it seems you weren’t exaggerating. What should we expect to find?”

             
Then seeing the sick look on Liam’s face, the Admiral stepped forward and, in a low voice, said,
“
It’s okay, son. You had been under torture and gone through an incredible ordeal. I don’t expect someone to be in total control of their faculties when they undergo what you went through. What we see from here on will not change my opinion of what a fine young man and excellent soldier you are.”

             
Liam seemed to look a little better at the Admiral’s words and nodded his head slightly.

             
Turning back to the men, he addressed two of the marine squads and Callen’s squad.
“
We need to secure this ship as fast as possible so we can bring the engineering crews aboard. I want you men to search this ship for any possible survivors. Report immediately if you find anyone.”

             
Saluting, the three squads moved off in the opposite direction from where Liam had said the bridge would be. After briefly watching them go, the Admiral signaled for everyone to move out.

             
Slowly, they moved through the ship toward the bridge. As they went, Evan couldn’t help but notice that the closer they got to the bridge, the more intense the carnage became. More and more blood became evident, as if Liam had no longer fought with his sword. It seemed as if he had purposely made his attacks more grisly. Evan could only imagine what Liam must have gone through to have resorted to such savagery in his attack upon the ship’s crew.

             
After what felt an eternity of maneuvering their way through the seemingly endless trail of bodies, they finally arrived at the bridge. The doors hung limply to either side as if they had been torn free by some tremendous force. Marines rushed forward through the door and onto the bridge. Not waiting for the all clear, the Admiral stepped through the doorway, the rest following. No one spoke as they all surveyed the gruesome scene; the only sound was retching from one of the marines who was bent over, expelling his last meal. The Admiral wasted no time as he spoke up.

             
“
All right, let’s get this tub up and running. Contact the engineering crews and have one of them come here. Send the other one to get vitals systems back online throughout the ship. Have a marine squad accompany each of the engineering crews and leave two squads with the shuttles. Each of the crews is to be accompanied by a Meshtrell; I do not want the Meshtrell wandering about alone. Inform them that this is not a request. As soon as we are online and we can move this ship, I want to start bringing over the rest of the pilots. We don’t have a lot of time, and I want to get this ship hidden before the Shenkar come looking for her.”

             
Then, as if an afterthought, he waved a hand about the bridge as he spoke.
“
And get someone up here to clean all this up.”

             
Evan turned and looked at Liam. Liam just stood there, a hollow look on his face. Reaching out, he placed a hand upon his friend’s shoulder. Liam turned his head slowly and looked over at Evan.

             
“
Liam, you can’t let this get to you. You technically died and came back. Your mind was shattered from the trauma your body went through,” Evan said softly.

             
Liam shook his head slightly before he spoke.
“
Evan, you don’t understand. I was fully aware of what I was doing . . . at least, for the most part. I was so full of hate and anger for what the Shenkar did to me and to the people I had come to think of friends and family. After the torture, sure, I was a little out of it, but I still could have stopped myself. The thing is, I didn’t want to. I wanted to tear them all apart, and as you can see, I did just that.” Liam waved a hand to indicate the room.

             
“
Oh, I don’t see a problem in what you did . . . it’s just a shame the Shenkar didn’t see the result of pissing off one Templar Knight,” came the deep voice of Admiral Kelvin from behind.

             
He smiled when they both turned to face him before his face turned serious as he looked upon Liam.
“
Son, I said it before, and I will say it again. You are an excellent pilot and a fine young man. So you got creative in killing your captors . . . so what? Like I said, it was the last mistake they made by capturing you. Hell, if anything I feel more confident in you boys and girls. Just one of you was let loose on a Shenkar battlecruiser, and the result was several thousand dead Shenkar. I’m going to recommend a medal for you if we ever make it home.”

             
“
Thank you, sir,” said Liam, sounding a little surprised.

Battlecruiser
Tryliene

              It took just over a half hour for the engineering crews to bring the systems online with the help of the Meshtrell. With the ship secured, several more shuttles arrived with personnel. As everyone worked to clean up the ship by disposing of the Shenkar remains, Liam, Evan, and the rest of Necro Squadron decided to investigate the lab in which Liam had been held.

             
It didn’t take them long to locate the lab, and when they arrived, they found that none of the cleanup crews had made it this far. Evan looked down at the body of Scyren.

             
“
That’s him,” was all Liam said.

             
Without saying anything, Evan nodded and then stepped through the door.

             
“
What are you doing here?” Liam heard Evan demand of someone.

             
Looking past Evan, Liam spotted one of the Meshtrell on the opposite side of the room--Jaera, he thought--holding the handheld computer that once belonged to Scyren. Something wasn’t right, and Liam didn’t hesitate. Without thinking, his hand came up as he focused his mind upon the computer. Feeling the electrical field that surrounded it, he concentrated and directed the flow toward himself. The computer flew from the surprised Meshtrell’s hand across the room to land in Liam’s hand.

             
No one spoke as Liam stood there, his hand outstretched before him. Evan’s mouth was slightly open in an expression of surprise as he looked from the Meshtrell to Liam and back again. Liam was just as surprised as anyone at what he had just done.

             
“
How did you do that?” asked Jaera in its melodious mechanical voice.

             
“
Yeah, how did you do that?” asked Tim from behind him.

             
Glancing over his shoulder, he looked at Tim, his mouth working, but no sound came out. After several seconds, he finally found his voice.

             
“
I can’t really explain it. I saw that Jaera was holding Scyren’s personal computer, and for some reason, I didn’t want him to have it. All I did was think of it in my hand and suddenly it was there . . . well, no, not just that . . .” Liam trailed off as he seemed to think of something.

             
“
Liam?” asked Crystal.

             
Turning, he looked at Crystal and then Evan before speaking again.

             
“
Well, it’s hard to explain, but ever since I was captured, when they injected that chemical into me, if I concentrate slightly, I see a sort of blue aura around whatever I am looking at. When I saw the computer, I saw the same thing, and when I thought of how I wanted it, well then I could see the blue glow extend out from my hand and merge with the computer’s. Then it was just a matter of retracting the blue back to me . . . understand?”

             
It looked as if neither Crystal nor Evan did understand. Tim, on the other hand, seemed to be thinking it over, his hand holding his chin as his head cocked slightly sideways. However, before Tim could voice his opinion, it was Jaera who spoke.

             
“
You have somehow learned to control the energies that surround all things. That is also, I believe, why you can kill with electricity. You have learned to focus the electrical current that flows in your body and through your nanites. You intensify its strength and send it at any target you wish . . . very interesting. We must study this more when we have the time.”

             
Liam looked annoyed at the prospect of being studied by the Meshtrell but said nothing. Then finally remembering what had caused all of this, he looked down at the small, palm-sized computer.

             
“
See what you can make of this,” Liam said as he handed it to Steve.

             
Steve took the computer and began to cycle through the contents. As Steve examined the computer, Liam turned back to Jaera.

             
“
You didn’t answer the question . . . what are you doing here? You were supposed to stay with the engineering crews.”

             
“
I wished to see what information they had recovered--anything that could have damaged you permanently or could be used in their assault on Earth.”

             
“
Get back to your team,” was all Liam said.

             
After Jaera left, Liam turned to Steve.
“
Stay here while you go over that computer and also search the room for anything. Tim, stay here as well.”

             
Both nodded an affirmative before Liam turned and headed out of the room. Evan, Crystal, and Dimitri quietly fell in behind as they headed down the passageway.

             
“
Liam, where are we going?” Evan asked after they had been walking in silence for several minutes.

             
“
You’ll see,” was all Liam said.

             
After another fifteen minutes, Liam stopped at a door, reached up, and pressed the door’s activation switch. Slowly, the door opened and they stepped through.

             
“
Whoa!” said Crystal.

             
All looked with open mouths upon ten exact duplicates of the white crescent fighter that Liam now flew.

             
“
They are called Shrike heavy fighters. I would say there are enough to refit Necro Squadron. It is up to you, but these fighters are more maneuverable than our Scorpions, as we all know. I would have told you all sooner, but I wanted to keep these as a surprise. So what do you think? Shall you keep your Scorpions, or would you prefer one of these?” asked Liam.

             
“
You have to ask? Of course, I want one,” said Evan excitedly.

             
Crystal and Dimitri as well said they also wanted one.

             
“
Well, then, let’s check them out.”

             
All four walked about the pristine fighters as Liam went over the different systems and weapon systems of the vehicles. After nearly an hour, the others knew the systems, and Liam was confident they would have no problems. As they sat talking on one of the fighters--with Crystal sitting in the cockpit--Liam’s headset chimed and Tim’s voice emitted from it.

             
“
Commander Brennan, please acknowledge.”

             
“
This is Brennan, go ahead,” acknowledged Liam.

             
“
Sir, you need to get down here . . . Steve and I found something rather disturbing,” said Tim, his voice sounding severely troubled.

             
“
What is it?” asked Liam, his attention now fully on the conversation.

             
“
I don’t think we should discuss this over an open frequency,” said Tim.

             
“
Okay, on my way,” replied Liam.

             
Closing the channel, Liam lightly hopped off the Shrike’s wing upon which he had been sitting and immediately headed for the door. Evan, Crystal, and Dimitri had to rush to catch up to him.