Emergence: Book One of the Dark Tide Trilogy Read online

  "Images may be stored in the buffer of one or more long-range satellites if they survived the planet being destroyed,” the pilot replied.

  ***

  “You’re dead,” Marine Lieutenant Derek Jamison said as he brought his wooden blunted sword to the throat of a Marine Private. “Move your feet when you fight, Private. This isn’t like standing in a line shooting enemies from a distance - your agility keeps you alive against the Krai’kesh. Understand?”

  “Sir, yes, sir,” the private said.

  “Again.” Derek resumed his fighting stance with his blunted blade.

  The private lunged forward as he had before, but instead of stopping there, he side-stepped and pulled back his blade before striking again from the side.

  Derek parried the blow with his blade and then swung his wooden practice shield toward the private’s head. It slammed into the side of his head.

  He dropped to the ground, rubbing at the spot which would later turn into a welt.

  “Always watch both arms of the enemy. Do not be so confident in a strike that you remain inactive for even a moment.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Again.” Derek readied himself. It will be a long day. He noted the private was improving slowly.

  They fought for a while longer before he called a halt to the practice. “Take a breather, everyone. Be back in twenty.”

  The gathered Marines practicing in a field at the outskirts of the capital city on Eligar II dispersed.

  John Edgerton sat on the ground nearby, a mountain range in the background. “They’re making progress,” he noted as Derek approached him and sat.

  “Not fast enough. They’ve received training in hand-to-hand combat, but not to fight with swords and shields. The first batch of actual swords and shields will be ready soon, but I’m afraid they,” he nodded toward the Marines, “won’t be.”

  John shook his head. “I thought I left the swords and shields behind a few hundred years ago. But I guess it makes sense. The Krai’kesh will not sit in trenches and lob projectiles at us - they get up close and personal.”

  "Swords and shields won't be enough, though, will they?"

  John took on a distant gaze. "Not alone, no. Back during the siege of Tar Ebon, we outnumbered the Krai'kesh fifty to one. They would have prevailed had it not been for our magic."

  “That reminds me. You said the Krai’kesh had a magic dampening crystal with them. I have seen no crystals used by them yet.”

  John shrugged. “I don’t know, man, but what we faced may have only been the beginning.”

  “What gives you that impression?”

  John raised an eyebrow. “The records tell the Founders came from an Earth Federation which spanned much of the Milky Way Galaxy, this galaxy. Yet they got their asses handed to them by the Krai’kesh. It was all they could do to send seven ark ships filled with the remnants of humanity and every species on Earth back in time. If they could be defeated, well…I hope we learn from their mistakes.”

  “For being the Master of Light you’re pessimistic and dark.”

  “I’m a realist, my boy, a realist.”

  Let’s agree to disagree on that. “How are Clemence and Ben?” he asked.

  “They’re adjusting. I think the reality of their situation hit them at last. They crawled into our bed last night. I haven’t had a kid in my bed in a long, long time. We try to make the best of each day and try to show them love, but I can’t help thinking they’re bracing themselves for the day we go through that door and don’t come back.” John stared off toward the distant city for a moment. “It makes me think of my family. I mean, what did my mother think when I went to school that day and never came home? Did she think someone had kidnapped me? Did she think I was dead, what? Jason speculates we were brought to an alternate reality, an alternate history of the world we grew up in, so somewhere out there my mother and father and little brother and sister went on alone, you know? So, these kids, well, they're giving me all the feels, dredging up memories I thought buried long ago.”

  Ashley Edgerton approached Derek and John, her red hair blowing in the wind. “Is he behaving himself, Derek?”

  “He’s a little bleak, ma’am, but otherwise he’s good company.”

  “Good,” she said, sitting down next to her husband and putting her arm around him. “I’ll have you know I’ve been busy.”

  “Oh?” John asked.

  “Yes. While you were sitting here watching grown men play with sticks, I was over in the mountains excavating it to build a shelter.”

  “A shelter?” Derek asked. “Do you think the Krai’kesh will come back to this planet?”

  Ashley shrugged. “I don’t know for sure, but it seems like they might. It’s better to be prepared. A mountain provides good cover and decent defense from their acid, so the governor wanted special shelters built into the mountain for those people unable to evacuate to space.”

  “Great, so the Krai’kesh can just walk into the shelter and slaughter everyone, Ashley?” John began. “That doesn’t sound like a great idea, babe.”

  "There's a wall, you dingle dong. Black stone. It should repel their claws and maybe their acid; we haven't tested it yet. Our men can stand atop with their long range weapons, or their swords," she added, pointing toward where the Marines there for practice sat taking a break, wooden swords often in hand, "and repel them for a time."

  “Oh boy, we’re going full-on medieval now,” John said. “What’s next, should we take away women’s rights to vote? Re-institute stoning? I mean, if we’re taking it back we might as well go way back, right?”

  “Shush you,” Ashley said, pointing at John. She turned her attention back to Derek. “As I was saying, there are now a series of tunnels leading deep inside the mountain. There’s an underground lake and everything.”

  “It sounds as though we are well-prepared, ma’am,” Derek said. “Let us pray we don’t have to defend that facility.”

  ***

  Acting Admiral Martin Rigsby stood on the bridge of the Independence. Outside in the void, the rescue and recovery efforts continued unabated. Thirty-six hours since the final Krai’kesh vessel and still they were cleaning up the mess from the battle.

  He had journeyed down to the planet the day before to reunite with his wife and children, but now duty brought him back to reality. I was so close to having that life forever, he thought. A few short months and I would have retired - now I’m an acting admiral on the front lines with no chance at retirement. He shook his head. “Zigana, how is the analysis of the alien corpses and ships coming?”

  “One moment, I will inquire, sir,” Zigana replied from his station in the center of the bridge. “We’ve dissected a skitterer corpse. Dissection on a bi-pedal commander is almost complete.”

  “I’m going down to see what we’ve got,” Martin said.

  “Of course, sir.”

  Martin exited the bridge and took the lift to the floor containing the science lab. Inside, researchers stood looking into microscopes and running scanners over organic-looking pieces of armor and flesh.

  “Captain, I mean Admiral, good to see you,” the lead researcher, Dr. Jaakan Witbeck said. He bowed.

  “And you, Jaakan,” Martin bowed in return. “What have you found?”

  “I have discovered a great deal. Follow me.” He led Martin to the rear of the science lab and into a private room. The black corpse of a Krai’kesh skitterer occupied the table.

  Dr. Witbeck came to stand on the opposite side of the creature, facing Martin, with the creature between them. “First, we learned these creatures bleed a green substance.”

  Martin nodded. “That is consistent with reports from ground troops who fought the things. Go on.”

  “What their reports would not have told you is the creatures have a binary vascular system.”

  “Two hearts? Interesting. Any speculation why?”

  “One theory is their natural environment is more physically demandi
ng, perhaps because of increased planetary mass which leads to increased gravity. A binary vascular system would allow the creatures to survive greater physical exertion.”

  “What else?”

  "Their eyes are extra sensitive to low levels of light."

  “They have night vision?”

  “In essence, yes.”

  “What about their armor and claws?”

  “Their carapace is a hard, interwoven material of unknown origin. It is woven so closely that there are almost no gaps in the armor, even at the molecular level.”

  “So, like mage-forged armor?”

  “Yes, much like black armor.”

  “Could science produce something like that? Or do the Krai’kesh have mages?” Martin shivered.

  Dr. Witbeck shook his head. “While we do not know for certain, I speculate the armor is grown to fit the creature or perhaps grown on the creature.”

  “What makes you say that?”

  “There are no seams. Even black armor has seams for the soldier to don it and remove it.”

  “And their claws?”

  “Their pincers,” Dr. Witbeck corrected, “are coated with a similar organic material, almost like a cover for the pincer. The cover is dense, as dense as a diamond from what we can determine, and likely protects their pincers from cracking.”

  “And their feet?”

  “A similar covering protects the tip of each of their four legs and the mandibles flanking their mouth.”

  “So, this is their battle suit? The carapace and pincer covers?”

  "It would appear so, sir. When we cut through the carapace, it revealed a secondary skin below, which leads us to believe their carapace is their form of armor.”

  “They’re warriors,” Martin observed. “Perhaps bred for war?”

  "That is our guess. Look at their brain." Dr. Witbeck pulled up a hologram which hovered above the creature's body. "It is smaller than we would expect based on the size of the creature. We expect this would impact its intelligence…making it into a mindless drone. We noticed a section of the brain here which seems foreign although organic."

  “What is it?”

  “Our guess is it’s a control mechanism which allows a commander or leader to control the creatures. They’re drones.”

  “Like a hive mind?”

  Dr. Witbeck snapped his fingers and pointed at the admiral. “Yes, exactly like a hive mind.”

  “Do they have a gender?”

  "They all appear to be male. We guess they hatch from eggs and there is a queen of some sort or multiple queens.”

  “What about the commander? Have you completed your analysis?”

  “Yes! This was the most interesting dissection in a millennium. Come, come!” Dr. Witbeck led Martin out of the examination room housing the skitterer and into a different room the next door over. “I’m about to blow your mind, Admiral.” A white sheet covered a long body on the table. A pile of what looked like armor plates sat on a table to the left. The doctor again walked to the far side of the table holding the body. He grabbed an edge of the sheet and paused for dramatic effect. He whipped it off. A humanoid body lay on the table.

  Derek took a step forward. “It’s…”

  “Human,” Dr. Witbeck finished.

  The body in front of Martin was a tall, disfigured human.

  Martin found himself at a loss for words. “But…that’s…impossible.” He looked up at Dr. Witbeck, eyes wide with shock. “How is this possible, Doctor?”

  Dr. Witbeck grinned with satisfaction. “We are still studying his genetic structure, but he appears to possess all of the organs of a human with one exception. He features a binary vascular system like the skitterers. Whether evolution or genetic engineering is the cause is still at question. We suspect genetic modification causes the increased height and attribute these,” he pointed to several scars all over the corpse’ face and body, “to ritualistic behavior based upon the apparent pattern.”

  “I don’t understand,” Martin said. “Why would humans attack us? Where did they come from? How did they get to another galaxy?”

  “All good questions, Admiral, but alas I do not possess the answers. I apologize.”

  Martin pushed the implications of this revelation out of his mind for a moment and looked at the pile of armor. “And what about the armor?”

  “Ah yes, the armor!” Dr. Witbeck exclaimed. “It too is grown and features the same inter-woven material as the skitterer carapace. The eye-holes in their helmet contain a membrane-like film which we believe grants them enhanced vision, perhaps even night vision.”

  “And their brains. Are they linked like the skitterers?”

  “We identified a mass attached to their brain. The composition is the same organic material as found in the skitterer brain. We believe it allows communication with and control of the skitterers by these ‘commanders.’”

  “You’re sure it’s a male?”

  “Yes, sir. He is endowed compared to normal-sized human males.”

  “Then there may be female commanders?”

  "Perhaps females are not commanders in their society, but there must be females in their society because this specimen has a belly button, which indicates an umbilical cord connection while in a womb.”

  “We don’t know enough about them,” Martin lamented.

  “Unrelated to their physiology, sir, their bladed staffs are interesting.” Dr. Witbeck led the Admiral out of the second examination room and into a large bare room with a table in the center. One of the Krai’kesh staffs lay upon it, while a blue gem floated to the side above a sensor pad.

  Dr. Witbeck picked up the staff. “The same inter-woven material as their carapace armor covers the staffs, while the blades possess an intricacy rivaling that of mage-forged steel. But what is interesting is this,” he pointed to the blue gem floating above a sensor pad. “The gem possesses properties we have never seen before.”

  “What sort of properties?”

  "Step back." They each took several paces back. "Watch!" He tapped on his datapad and a bolt of electricity shot into the gem from the far side of the room. The gem absorbed the electricity and on the opposite side of the lightning emitter, a dark swirling circular pool of darkness formed. "I give you the void shield. The gem translates electrical energy, likely produced by the warriors using nerve connections from the brain to convey the command to activate, into a void shield."

  “Reports I received told of their shields being used as portals. Have you discovered any such property?”

  Dr. Witbeck shook his head. “No, but we believe it is because we are missing a piece of the puzzle. We can replicate the electrical energy required to activate the gem, but we cannot replicate the exact command to expand or move a void shield. We are waiting for for…aha, there he is!" Dr. Witbeck moved to the door where a young man stood. "This is Ralph, he is a shifter. We have a hypothesis which Ralph will test."

  “What would you like me to do, sir?” the shifter asked.

  “Touch the gem in the center of the room and try to,” Dr. Witbeck waved his arms, “activate your shifting powers through the gem. We want to see if it will open a portal or if you can manipulate the result in a different way than we can with mere electrical impulses.”

  The shifter approached the gem, grasped it and removed it from the sensor pad's anti-gravity field. He turned to face Dr. Witbeck and Martin. His eyes took on the customary white glaze of a shifter or image, and the blue gem glowed. Avoid shield obscured both sights moments later. It emitted an electrical hum.

  “Excellent!” Dr. Witbeck shouted. “Now the moment of truth,” Dr. Witbeck said to Martin. “Try to expand it to shift with!” he shouted again.

  The void shield expanded, growing wider and wider. It grew to three times its size and shook violently. “Okay, you can stop now!” the doctor shouted.

  "I'm…trying…" said the young shifter with effort. "Can't…contain…" the void shield collapsed at that moment, and t
he gem fell to the ground in two pieces. Fortunately, the shifter appeared unharmed.

  “Damn it!” Dr. Witbeck cursed, clutching his hair in frustration. “We lost the gem.”

  Martin ran to the young shifter and offered him a hand. “Are you all right, son?”

  "Yes, sir. I have a massive headache, but otherwise, I'm okay."

  “Go straight to the med bay and get yourself checked out, do you understand?”

  The young shifter nodded. “Yes, sir, I will.” He exited the room.

  “So, the gem acts as a focus of natural shifting ability?” Martin asked.

  “Yes, but there must also be an element of skill involved. Or else the Krai'kesh humans are more powerful than our own shifters."

  “Perhaps they’re not shifters. Maybe they possess a different ability which allows them to manipulate the gems,” Martin suggested.

  “Well, we can’t test any further at this point until we get more staffs.”

  Martin smirked. “We have an entire battle zone out there littered with corpses. There’s bound to be more of these things.”

  “Yes, yes, you’re right, Admiral.”

  “I’ll make sure…” Martin paused as a transmission came in from the bridge. “Excuse me a moment.” He stepped away and answered the call. “Yes, Zigana, what is it?”

  “Sir, the reconnaissance team sent to the Serpentis system has returned. You need to see what they found.”

  Although Zigana spoke in an emotionless manner, as was common among tactical commanders due to the high level of neural augmentations, something made the hairs on the back of Martin’s neck stand up. “I’m on my way.” He looked back at the doctor. “I am needed on the bridge. Send me any more findings, especially the genetic analysis. I want to know just how close we are to these monsters.” He refused to call them humans…they were not human in his eyes…only monsters.

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