Six
The route sirens wailed thunderously through the
command pavilion, the nerve center of the colony. As the ten cities
scattered over the face of Covonia sealed themselves and prepared for the
ascent, Overlord Khalin Nome roared for his second-in-command. His voice
traveled audibly through the security command center itself and
electronically throughout the panic-engulfed colony.
Executor General Gorlon Hague entered the pavilion
from his adjacent security command center and announced his presence in an
amplified voice that cut through the noise and confusion.
"My Lord."
Overlord Nome's massive avatar swung around to face
the man buried within his mechanical prosthetics. Little emotion showed
on facial features engineered to not communicate unintended information of
that kind.
"Myla has fled into the forest," Khalin said.
Gorlon suspected Khalin had probably sent the hapless
girl to her death in the wilderness in defiance of his constant meddling.
"My Lord," he said, and waited glumly for his
instructions.
"You will arrange for her rescue immediately."
Gorlon mulled over the challenge. So be it. The
Council could not fail to take notice of Khalin's misuse of resources.
Perhaps now they would allow him the interim authority he needed to tuck
safely away anything incriminating Khalin had left lying about after
centuries of rule.
"Immediately, my Lord."
"Myla may not come willingly," Khalin added. "Employ
a young Tech named Jeremy Kael. The boy will help, regardless of risk,
and Myla will accompany him, I am certain."
"Yes, my Lord."
Khalin stared at him in displeasure. "Stay behind
within the system with what military forces you need. All of them, if
necessary. See to Myla's safety at any cost, your own life included."
Gorlon bristled with indignation, but said nothing.
Khalin had severely overstepped his authority.
"Boris will accompany you as a liaison and to ensure
compliance."
At mention of his name, Boris detached himself from a
thirty meter wide by ten meter tall wall of complex engineering detail and
floated closer with a barely audible hum and an almost imperceptible
vibration of powerful defensive fields. There had been no need to give
Boris a stylized human exterior. Khalin's perverse need to exert his
authority over the Covonian populace hadn’t extended that far. Had it
done so, it wasn’t as if the intimidated public could not remove in an
instant a deranged leader spiraling ever swifter into the madness of
simple senility.
Gorlon eyed Boris and transmitted a quick message
using a direct neurological link, bypassing Nome's ability to monitor
their communications. "We will work hand in hand at long last, my old
friend."
"An ironic twist of fate," Boris replied in the same
manner.
Khalin had no suspicion of a conspiracy between the
two, but had always sensed their affinity for one another. "You will not
allow the girl to die!" he roared helplessly, then swung to face Boris.
"It is my command!"
Gorlon bowed slightly at the waist, an archaic
gesture of supplication that Khalin, if no one else, recognized. Boris
had no need to acknowledge his master's order. Khalin's word was, indeed,
absolute law for a machine whose executive program was tuned to his
subconscious needs and desires.
The human cry that sounded from across the deck of
the pavilion was a shocking violation of protocol in its intensity.
"My Lord!"
The flood of information that followed on the
neurological channels rendered it moot. Gorlon closed his electronic eyes
to view the information internally. An unidentified craft approaching
Covonia had somehow skipped across the intervening light-years,
decelerated, and had already struck the atmosphere at a velocity that was
sending shock waves around the planet. The pursuing armada of Chineen
Hive warcraft had positioned itself in the path of alien vessels several
light-years away and had evaporated like snowflakes in a summer breeze
under their firepower. The pursuing craft like glittering emeralds were
holding their distance, but they had spread themselves across a vast arc
in interstellar space with Covonia at its center.
The route alarms sounding throughout the colony rose
in pitch by one octave of intensified desperation.
Gorlon looked up at Khalin in surprise. "The
Alliance will surely investigate, my Lord. Are we secure?"
Khalin looked panicky. Time and time again he had
refused Gorlon the opportunity to conduct his own security audit of files
that would garner the wrath of the Alliance. "It's too late now to worry
about that."
"My Lord..."
"Bring Myla back," Khalin rumbled in a barely
controlled panic. "You don't know what's at stake."
