The Icarian Legacy Collected Edition: Brave Souls - First Strike (Volume 3) (104 page)

“It’s time that we go as well.”

He looked at Anderson and Ellis. He knew that they will split again. This was just a lucky mission and Ellis was just passing the area. They all had their own region that they were suppose to cover and where they were suppose to link with rebel forces and help them as much as they could.

He shook hands with both of them.

“See you in few months.”

For a moment they all looked at each other. They all knew that it might be the last time they see some of their friends alive.

But the thought lingered for just a second. Then the men were replaced by the soldiers and their duty and they all turned and walked away. Twelve men divided in three teams all headed in different direction.

Three different directions but just one mission, kill as many as you can from the enemy, train and help the rebels, and the most important … stay alive.

Kobark scrolled through the information on his datapad. He was staring at two disasters.

One disaster in space, where by design or by accident the mutineers from one of the asteroid mining bases managed to destroy an entire fleet that was coming to take many of the divisions and legions he had here and escort them to the Lacarian front.

And the there was the second report. About the disaster that unfolded in the attack of the rebel bases here on Arcadia.

He was angry at the dead Argara general but he knew that it was not entirely his fault, maybe not at all. What that rebel general did was nothing short of a miracle. And it resulted in the death of more then a hundred thousand argara warriors and dacarian legionaries.

He read the recommendation that the now late argara general sent moments before he was killed.

He proposed bombardment from space, a total kinetic strike that would obliterate everything and destroy the rebel defenses. And Kobark knew that Ahura sac was right.

The other two legions that were attacking on a different front managed to break through but suffered horrendous casualties and were being harassed by rebel forces that slipped in their rear.

He sat still for a moment and then he sent the order.

Several hours later after all the dacarian and argara forces retreated on safe positions the attack started.

The bombardment lasted for three days. Most of the rebel forces including the battered division that Varo was part of managed to retreat. Those that didn’t manage suffered horrendous casualties, some even total destruction. But most of the rebel forces managed to retreat.

As the dacarian and argara forces marched in they met heavy resistance. Salazar the same general who destroyed their first army used his divisions well, making the dacarians for every meter they took and paying a heavy toil.

His men died, but they extracted a heavy price in blood from their enemies. And all the time the dacarian troops were harassed in the rear. And as months passed those losses grew. There were more with each passing day. The rebels retreated in the inner city, inside the mountains.

When the dacarians saw what they were up against they knew that it would be a long and protracted siege. 

They all knew what was waiting for them. Their ancestors fought against a fortress like the one they faced in the past when they conquered this world. They took it after two full cycles.

The city Rivers and the others admired was gone soon. As the first kinetic bombardments from space fell and stroke the ancient shield the towers, the bridges the jungle it all burned and was destroyed. On the ground thousands of warriors from both sides died in the battles that raged.

And while the two armies fought, the human teams tracked and killed dacarian patrols and together with the rebels that managed to survive behind the enemy lines destroyed convoys and disrupted the supply lines as much as they could.

Jennings watched as the message drone detached from the Excelsior and drifted to its designated position.

This was a system in which the fleet will enter in about four months.

It was a empty system with no planets except for a gas giant with no moons close to the star. The only value was the hidden warp point at sixty AU from the star, a small red dwarf.

The drone would be inactive until the moment it detected the fleet ships and their transponders. Then it would go active and transmit its data.

Data that was now fully understood thanks to the creature standing next to him on the bridge.

Azogas helped his crew an Aria with the translation of the Zerg message.

In it was the entire history of his people, a history that was hard to read considering that the Zerg were the race that sold human slaves to the Empire taken from Earth. And it was just one more confirmation that the empire had to be destroyed. The Zerg started as a noble race and remained that until they ran in to the empire.

That meeting and the knowledge about what would follow changed them. Their end was a glorious one from what Aria translated. After a hundred years of merciless war, a war that left even the Empire reeling for a long time the Zerg Commonwealth was defeated. But even in defeat they defied the empire by destroying the fleet it sent to Earth at that time, giving humanity a chance to grow, giving his race a future.

And they were severely punished for it.

The race was almost gone, destroyed mercilessly by the dacarians.

As he watched Azogas he hoped that he would have a chance to help more of his people escape.

“How long will it be until your fleet arrives in this system Admiral?”

Jennings turned and looked at Azogas.

“Close to four months. And days later it will be in the Arcadian system. And then my friend the dacarians will wish they were never born.”

Azogas looked at him.

“It is a noble thing what you are trying to accomplish. But what I know and from what I read in the message my people left, this is not a war you can win admiral. My people…-Azogas stopped at that thought.- my people…you know we always hear the stories the elders tell, but we were  so far from the truth. My race was great once, we were powerful, powerful enough to go head to head with the Dacarians for a whole century. We were more powerful than you are now… and we lost. They are to strong.”

“I know my friend. But just as your race we also have no choice. It is fight now or fight in four years in our home system. And that would be a battle we can’t win. This, this is a war we can win, a war that will give us time. And time is all that my race really needs my friend. In fifty years my race will be as powerful as we were in those ancient times.”

Azogas looked at the admiral.

“You are confident. I guess it comes from being free. I was a slave all my life. Freedom…that is something I’m just learning. But I know the enemy you will fight. I’ve seen them crush rebellions. I’ve seen fleets moving from one system to the next. This ship is wonderful, it is powerful but they have thousands juts like it, and they have ships that are capable of destroying it with just one shot. From what I’ve read about my people our commonwealth was large we had hundreds of systems under our control, thousands of worlds. They are all now under their control. And they have millions just like them. They are the great white shark you so fear on your world. They are the giants while you my friend, you’re the ants.”

Jennings smiled. It was a good comparison.

“Yes Azogas we are the ants. And just like them we hide deep, we move in the shadows, we strike with no warning and our sting hurts. Even a giant bleeds from every wound. And if you inflict enough wounds he will fall down and die. We will work like that. I say that in fifty years we will be strong enough to take them on. And yes I mean that. But until then we will strike them, strike at every turn, and use every chance to inflict damage, to entice a rebellion on worlds they control. We will deliver a million strikes, each one small but deadly before the real war starts. And when it does the empire will feel those stings.”

Azogas shook his head. He was amazed by them. They were clearly afraid and knew that they were outmatched and yet they were ready to fight, even when everything was arranged against them. As a race they were special, there wasn’t much difference between the humans he knew in the mines and the ones on this ship. But while those humans just like him were born as slaves these were free. And that gave them confidence, not arrogance like the dacarians had. He often spoke with Aria, mostly because she loved speaking in his language juts as him, but also because she could tell him about those ancient times.

He wanted to know about the old wars between the Alterans and the dacarians. And as she spoke she too agreed with the way the humans thought.

And she was a being capable of doing billions of calculations and look rationally and logically on every result and data.

She said that in many ways they were like their ancestors, but they had something they lacked. They were noble but they also grew up in a world that didn’t have the guidance of the Icarians.

He read about all the conflicts they had on their own world. Conflicts that were it seemed never ending. When one war was over another one would start.

They were merciless towards their enemies. He knew something about that from the Zerg history as well. The one he managed to glimpse. There wasn’t much. Most of the data he read was about the war. There was little about the culture of his people. But he knew the coordinates and he hoped that one day he will be able to go there. To the worlds his race called home.

But he knew that the slaves his people took were slaves from wars fought on their world even in ancient times.

And he knew that if rebellions that the dacarians would squash in blood but that would make them expend recourses would benefit humanity they would entice them. He was more then sure that Arcadia will be a starting point.

As he was thinking the admiral com link beeped and he spoke with someone.

A moment later he turned.

“Our friend is finally awake. And i think it would be good if she sees u there.”

Azogas nodded.

Alania was the young human girl that came with them. Lugo was dead. She would need someone she knew that could explain what had happened.

He followed the admiral.

She woke slowly, and closed her eyes as the light hit her. She still felt dizzy and week. The last thing she clearly remembered was that the hauler was hit and Lugo trying to protect her as debris was hurled at them. She knew that he was dead. The same piece that stabbed her went trough him first. And then something hit her head and she lost consciousness.

She had dim reflections of strange people talking to her and looking at her but they were just flashes.

She feared to open her eyes in fear of what she would see. If the hauler was boarded and they were taken away then it must have been dacarians or some of their allies. But something was off. There were no chains on her hands or body. And she felt no electric belts that would hold her in place. She wasn’t a prisoner at least on the bed, and the sheets were white and strange. They were like nothing she had seen before.

She heard voices nearby and then steps as someone approached her.

She slowly opened her eyes.

And she gasped.

Above her was a human female. She was young, dressed in a strange uniform. She had back hair and pretty gray eyes. She was scanning her with a strange device and gently touching her on her stomach, chest and head. Te places where she remembered being hurt.

“Who are you?”

Her voice was rasp and her mouthy dry. She wondered how long she was unconscious. There were strange tubes attached to her body. The female checked them and then smiled and put a finger to her mouth indicating to her that she should rest. Then she walked away.

She tried to stand but she felt weak and laid down.

Her body was fragile.

She needed to rest. She closed her eyes and moments later she was sleeping.

Dr. Thompson saw the nurse exit the room where Alania was resting. She took the pad from her and looked at the results.

Everything looked fine. After almost a month of struggle and induced coma she was sure that her last patient will live. It was a hard struggle. She had many injuries the most serious being the ones on her head and chest. They performed several surgeries the first few days and then set her in induced coma allowing her body to heal. It was touch and go the first two weeks but after that she was stable and constantly improving. Now she was finally ready to walk out. At least for a short while once her body was strong enough.

She would still need monitoring. She had a lot to go through before she was fully healthy.

She saw the admiral and Azogas enter.

She smiled. Azogas was another miracle. He came with heavy trauma but they managed to save him, thanks to him self as well. The data he gave them proved invaluable.

She performed a lot of scans o his body from then on. He readily agreed on them. Now she had a full database about his race. She had no doubt that both she and any other doctor would be fully capable of treating any Zerg if they found more. And from what the crew and Azogas were speaking she was sure that there will be. There were thousands of Zerg working in the asteroid mines.