Chapter 17 – The Secrets
The room set aside for the new project smelt sharp to Ladon's nose, as every surface was being thoroughly cleaned ready for the space to be used to build Cowen's new military satellite.
Ladon had selected a small team for the work, selecting some of the very best of technicians and engineers from his staff. They would do excellent work, but also at a pace that would ensure precision and thereby allow him to delay the satellite's launch for as long as possible.
Well, that had been his thought until the alert from Atreus had been spread across the Alliance. Now, the satellite he was designing with his team seemed to take on a new important role. Ironically though, the events on Atreus had provided him with an instant cover story for why he was building the military orbital satellite, and already he had heard his team whispering about how important their work was to defend the homeworld. He felt a touch of shame to know the true nature of the satellite; that Cowen intended to use it on Second City if the riots and civic uprising did not die down. Hopefully though, by the time the satellite was constructed, Cowen would be removed and Kolya with him, and the satellite would be purely for defence.
Not to target the Genii population.
Stood with his back to the room, Ladon was making an inventory of some supplies he had found in the room, while his team worked on scrubbing the room clean. There would be several more cleans before the room would be ready for the more delicate electronics to be installed later, and, once that stage was reached, only his team would be able to enter while dressed in protective clothing. For now though, the door into the room was open and technicians were moving in and out, carrying out dirty buckets and bringing in fresh water for the clean, while others were measuring the dimensions of the room and discussing how best to lay out the construction.
All were busy and working efficiently, which allowed Ladon to stand alone as he worked while watching the constantly flowing details from Atreus. The news links were filled with every civilian level detail coming out of Atreus, and the released footage of the attack was replaying almost constantly.
Ladon was old enough to remember the days of cullings on the Genii homeworld, and he had been part of several strike teams working outside Alliance space at various points in his military years, so he had seen Wraith before. He knew the teeth-aching buzz of the Wraith's fighters and the rushing cry of their sweeper beams. But, to see such things over Atreus...
It brought a fear up into his gullet the like of which he had not felt in a long time.
He had visited Atreus' portal city only a few months ago when attending a scientific forum; he had walked through the open public squares that he saw on the recordings, but in them there were Wraith fighters overhead, people screaming, and energy blasts shaking the camera operators' hands as pieces of buildings fell into the squares.
Atreus had comparable defence forces as here on the Genii homeworld. If Atreus could be attacked so easily, then so could his own people.
The announcer on the news link reported a new series of captured imagery, released by the Atreus Government from their street camera systems. The recordings played showing the Alliance Military shepherding civilians from buildings out to hatchways down into Atreus portal city's underground network system. On the edge of the images, several Elite warriors could be seen moving through the frame, giving commands to the Military forces and firing up into the sky above them.
Clearly the response by Atreus, the Military, and the Elite had been effective, but, as part of the Genii Government, Ladon knew the truth released by the Military; the Hive in question was using some new form of technology that had allowed them to appear above Atreus completely undetected.
The same, then, could very easily happen here.
Outside of the pure fear of such an attack, Ladon worried that Kolya's manipulations, which were destabilising the populace's coherence and seeding defiance, might reduce the Genii' ability to respond effectively if the Wraith attacked here. Or would this new threat instead unify the people back under Cowen's leadership?
Both instances could be fatal for the cause and for the Genii. As much as Ladon struggled with Kolya's increasingly irrational decisions to damage the Genii people in order to defeat Cowen, the chances that Cowen might overcome and return his iron-will over the populace was just as worrying. As long as Kolya was able to overthrow Cowen, then Ladon and his closest co-conspirators could ensure that Kolya did not become Supreme Leader himself; replacing one brutal dictator with another would achieve nothing for the Genii people.
Much of this regularly played on Ladon's mind each night anyway, but now, to have a new very real threat from the Wraith again...it brought all of it into a worryingly new uncertainty. There was no point in defeating Cowen only for the Genii people to fall.
On the edge of Ladon's view, he saw Sora shift in her sentry point leant against the nearby wall; someone had entered the room and had caught her attention. Her subtle shift of body weight communicated to him that the footsteps approaching Ladon's back were friendly, but belonged to someone that Sora did not trust entirely.
Ladon looked round just as the boots arrived and Hulte stepped up next to him.
"Radim," Hulte nodded faintly. "I see the work is progressing apace already."
The question was filled with subtle extra questions. Ladon had made his co-conspirators aware of the true nature of the satellite build, and no doubt that information would reach Kolya's ears in no time.
"It will take plenty of time to prepare the room, let alone construct the satellite," Ladon replied, shifting his attention back to the small screen on which was replaying the recordings from Atreus. They were many hours old now, but as more recordings were released, it seemed as if the event were still ongoing. Where was the Hive now? That was the real question.
"You have seen the latest footage?" Hulte asked, shifting subtly closer; to the rest of the room behind them, they were simply watching the news links together and discussing how best to protect their people.
"Yes," Ladon replied indicating the screen with a large wingnut he had fished out of a mixed box of components. "Is there anything new from Atreus Government channels?"
"No," Hulte replied, his voice lowering. "The new tech is still unknown, but the Elite and Battle Station have plans in place if the Wraith attack again."
Ladon nodded. "We have implemented all their instructions; the sentry satellites have been updated with the new radiation readings so will pick up even the faintest trace above and beyond our orbit. The military link frequencies suggested have all been cleared and are reserved ready for use."
Hulte nodded. "The Genii will hold," he said with a determined tone. "Though, this situation is, perhaps, very well timed for us."
Ladon shifted his gaze from the screen to Hulte, uncertain what he meant.
"If our friend is able to implement his plan soon, the capture may be well timed. The Elite will be distracted with this," Hulte all but whispered as he indicated the news links and a new recording playing."
Ladon still had his serious doubts about the wisdom of Kolya's plan – the plan to capture Major Sheppard was one thing before, but now the man was the Political Husband of an Elite warrior...
"Elite Emmagan will be battling Wraith rather than looking for her Political partner," Hulte concluded.
"Except our intention is to assist Atlantis," Ladon whispered back.
"To give them information yes," Hulte responded, "but the longer our friend keeps the captive the more likely it will be that the Elite will help in the hunt. This development could help-"
Sora coughed loudly, cutting through the rest of Hulte's words, and she straightened her back sharply.
Ladon looked round quickly towards the door behind him and Hulte, to see Cowen coming to a halt just inside the room. All of Ladon's team paused in their work, thrown for a moment by the sudden arrival of the Supreme Leader.
"Cowen," Ladon smiled at the man, making sure to school his features to hide all he could. Cowen was far across the room – there was no way he could have overheard what Hulte and he were talking about.
Hulte turned as well, a grim look sent towards Cowen. "Have you seen these latest images, Cowen?" He asked as he indicated Ladon's display screen. They were just two concerned members of Cowen's Government.
"I have," Cowen replied, but his eyes fixed on Ladon. "Ladon, outside now," he commanded and turned away, marching back out of the room, his two bodyguards following in his wake.
Ladon's heart caught a little in his chest. Cowen couldn't suspect anything, could he?
Ladon met Hulte's slightly worried eyes, and moved forward towards the door. As he did, Ladon smiled across the room to his team, all of whom looked quite concerned. Perhaps they thought something was happening overhead in orbit, or that a new riot was raging somewhere.
"Return to your work, everyone," Ladon reassured them. "I shall return in a moment."
All being well.
The corridor outside was quiet, with only Cowen stood off to the left and several more bodyguards stood close by.
Ladon moved towards Cowen, acutely aware of the number of weapons carried by the bodyguards and that, should he need a way to escape, that there were few options here.
Cowen turned to face Ladon, the Leader's hands held together behind his back, which served to make the man's wide shoulders seem even bigger.
Ladon worked to look curious and subservient. Surely Cowen could not suspect him, could he?
"Explain to me, Ladon," Cowen began, his tone full of judgement and superiority, "why the sentry satellite we discussed has been turned back around."
Relief washed over Ladon – this was just about the sentry satellite over Second City.
"The Military Council orders stated that all satellites needed to be aligned and updated with the radiation data they provided-" Ladon began to explain.
"Surely we have enough satellites to cover the area around our world, Ladon," Cowen interrupted, the sarcastic tone hardly new from the Supreme Leader, but Ladon sensed a new element of danger in it today.
"Of course," Ladon agreed. "I just simply followed the commands of the Military Council-." Why would anyone argue otherwise considering the situation?
"The Military Council do not rule here, Ladon," Cowen replied. "I do."
"Of course," Ladon lowered his eyes slightly, playing the role he needed to. He realised that he had inadvertently brought the wingnut with him and he was turning it nervously in his fingertips. The tiny movement felt helpful somehow though. "I should have checked with you, I apologise, Cowen. I did not think."
"No, you did not," Cowen returned, but his tone was faintly softer now; his anger sliding away. "I suggest that you use that big brain of yours to focus on your scientific work and get that new satellite built quickly."
"Yes, Cowen," Ladon replied, bowing his head. "I apologise again." He gripped the wingnut tightly in one hand, holding in the more logical arguments. Surely watching Second City was hardly as important as having as many sensors as possible watching for the Wraith.
"Get the satellite turned back around. Now," Cowen ordered.
"Yes, Cowen," Ladon agreed.
"And I want an update on the surveillance before nightfall over Second City," Cowen added.
"Yes, Cowen," Ladon repeated again.
Cowen let out a light grunt of satisfaction as he turned away.
"Focus yourself on your work, Ladon," Cowen stated as he marched away down the stone hallway, his loyal bodyguards close on his heels. "Leave the defence of our people to me."
00000
Long Sleep's hands had finally stopped shaking a short while ago, which was fortunate because there were significant repairs required for the Hive. The work was helping him, as it had been giving him focus outside of the turning fearful thoughts he worked hard to keep concealed.
A Skerti Queen was at the heart of the Hive! And it was a broken and damaged Hive full of half asleep sickly warriors and drones.
He was the only one, presumably, that knew the truth, but he had to keep that hidden within the walls of his mind. He could not let the Queen's vast mind focus on him again, for if she knew that he knew what she was, then she would kill him quickly. Though, even if he kept out of her attention, that did not resolve the problem. If something was not done, the Hive and all onboard were doomed.
But what to do?
What could he do, a warrior alone? He doubted that any of the others around him could help, for it was clear that their mental and physical health was deteriorating further. The Keepers around him were working hard, but he could see them blinking repeatedly, struggling to keep their minds alert and their eyes focused well enough to complete the vital repairs. And all of them kept asking him for assistance, needing guidance on how to undertake even basic work. None of them could think clearly enough on their own now, so they would be no help at all against the powerful alien will of the Skerti Queen's mind.
But, it wasn't just the others that were weakening – he could feel that he was struggling too. Perhaps it was the frightening revelation and the desperate battle to keep his thoughts walled up from the Queen's attention, but he had begun to realise that his own mind wasn't able to quite focus as before.
His body felt tired and heavy too, and it was noticeably getting worse. He had not had any time to rise up into the network either, which would allow him a tiny respite and give his body small moments to heal from the affects of the radiation. There was no time for that, but he needed it. The tension and the strain of keeping his deeper thoughts concealed was battling with the focus he needed to guide all the other Keepers around him, and it was all sucking the last of his energies.
If he became too tired, would the Queen hear his fears? Would the name of Skerti leak out?
Her mind was so strong, so powerful, he knew he would not hold against her if she focused on him again. He was too weak now.
But the Hive needed him. Those around him, unaware and sickly, had no chance without him.
He had to keep going.
He had to be strong.
"Will it hold?" A Keeper asked from behind Long Sleep's right shoulder. There were so many questions.
But it was an important question.
"Maybe," Long Sleep answered as he slid his fingers round the latest patch to a large tubule that fed into the main air filtration system. The fracture lines through the Hive's interior, of which he had been so worried about before the culling, had grown more apparent now. One, which ran partway through the central air filtration and circulation system, had fractured open consoles, power tubes, and structural membranes due to the overpowering internal stresses from the battle and the new drive. If the air systems failed, there would be no hope for anything living on the Hive.
"Can we grow a new tubule?" The Keeper asked with clear worry in his weakened voice.
The solution was so obvious, and it was a frightening shock for Long Sleep that he had not thought of it already. Of course it was better to grow a simple offshoot of the tubule – they were designed to do that. Why had he not thought of that?
His mind was failing him.
He shut his eyes and made himself breathe. "Yes, get it started," he ordered the Keeper.
He could not lose his focus or it would be the end.
Perhaps he should just escape now. Go to a fighter and launch it out into space. Of course that would not work, for he would be instantly detected and no doubt the Queen would order his destruction.
If he was able to deactivate the sensor systems, make it look like a failure from the internal damage...
But would the Skerti Queen be able to sense him leaving the Hive even if the sensors could not? One energy blast from the Hive would be all it would take to destroy a fighter.
So, he would need to escape during the next culling, when all the fighters were launched, then he could redirect his fighter and the Queen would hopefully not notice during the battle. Except, the Hive Primary would not allow him to volunteer as a pilot, as he was clearly needed here as a Keeper to keep the Hive working. He would need to sneak off to the fighter bay then and find a fighter. There were often a few fighters in repair bays, so hopefully one would have only minor issues that he could fix quickly. That would likely work as all the Keepers were focused on repairing the Hive and not on repairing a handful of damaged fighters.
He would need to choose his moment carefully.
Would his mind survive until then though?
Would his body hold? He could feel the physical weakness growing in him. His body felt cold, his feet almost numb, and his focus was slipping far too easily.
"Long Sleep," one of the Keepers called from across the small maintenance chamber, the warrior's voice full of nervous fear. Long Sleep could not remember hearing so much fear in the voice of Wraith in a long time. Perhaps they sensed, on some deep level of their minds, that there was more poison onboard than just the new drive.
Long Sleep turned from the tubule to find the Hive Primary filling the chamber's entranceway. Usually only Keepers visited these maintenance rooms, for there was nothing for drone or warrior to do in these vitally important sections.
The other Keepers all but scurried away from the Hive Primary as the big warrior bared his teeth and fixed his bright eyes on Long Sleep.
It was obvious that the Primary had fed recently, likely from some of the herd that had been swept up in the culling. Long Sleep felt a burst of angry resentment for the large powerful warrior who was free to eat while all around Long Sleep were not.
For the Skerti Queen did not want them strong and able to fight her.
Long Sleep wondered, perhaps irrationally, if the Hive Primary knew what he served.
The Hive Primary growled and strode directly towards Long Sleep, but Long Sleep held his ground. Even in his weakened state, he could stand up to this stupid, and perhaps traitorous, Primary.
"What is taking so long?" The Primary demanded loudly as he leant in right up close to Long Sleep's face.
"The damage has been extensive here," Long Sleep replied, aware of his body's burst of adrenaline and the natural instinct to growl back at the Primary. He had to resist that urge though, despite the ongoing stupidity of this thick-headed warrior. The last time Long Sleep had argued with the Hive Primary, he had drawn the Queen's mind upon him. He could not risk that happening again.
The Hive Primary's narrow pupils lowering to the pool of escaped nutrition fluid on the floor and then up to the large tubule behind Long Sleep. "It looks repaired to me," he snarled.
Long Sleep bit into the inside of his lip to stop himself from losing his temper, feeling his teeth cutting flesh. He needed to focus, to stay calm in the face of this stupid creature questioning him. The Primary knew nothing except how to beat his chest and growl at everything.
No, Long Sleep needed to stay calm, keep his mind focused and strong.
"We are working as fast as we can," he explained as he made sure to breathe.
The Primary's eyes narrowed and he leant even closer. He angled his head, sniffing at Long Sleep like an animal. "What is wrong with you?" The Hive Primary asked.
Fear made Long Sleep's spine threaten to slump to the floor, but he held strong and slammed his mind tightly shut with another burst of adrenaline.
"You smell weak," the Hive Primary hissed.
Weak?! He was the only one keeping this Hive together, only one able to know the truth, only able to keep standing upright because of his 'mutated' mind!
Long Sleep's temper snapped without his permission.
"We have been working constantly to keep this Hive alive and running," he snarled back at the Primary. "None of us have fed for weeks!"
The Hive Primary growled as he pulled back, his eyes widening and nostrils flaring, and Long Sleep realised what he had done. But his body was too slow and sick to respond quickly enough as the Primary moved. It was so fast and aggressive that Long Sleep barely registered the Primary's arm moving until the feeding hand slammed into him, digging in just under the base of his throat.
Every part of Long Sleep woke up from its sickness then, the pure urge for survival raging up through him to fight until the very end.
Only then he felt it, the rush of warm life-force flowing into him. He surrendered to it instantly, drinking it in with blissful relief as it spread out from this throat, down through his middle, out into his limbs, seeping down to fingertips and toes, until he felt as if every part of him glowed and grew larger, stronger again.
Only then the Hive Primary pulled back, withdrawing his hand from Long Sleep with a sharp rip. The loss of support almost dropped Long Sleep to the floor, but his legs held him upright, for they felt strong again.
He could tell that the life-force the Primary had given him had been very freshly drawn from a human, and that the Primary had fed on far more than one single life. The given nourishment was enough for Long Sleep though, for he could feel it working through him still, repairing and restoring his former panicked, starved, and irradiated body.
And with it all came a newly returned clarity of mind. He felt as if he were waking from a deep hibernation and looked up and around as if in a new clearer and brighter world. That the difference was so great told him how weak he had been before. Now the chamber around him was full of smells, lights, and more Keepers than he had been aware of before. A cloud had been lifted and he could think so much clearer, so much faster again.
He let out a loud and full breath, relief flowing through every part of him. He could think again.
"Now," the Primary intoned above Long Sleep's still bent head. "Finish the repairs. We will be initiating the new drive again. The Queen will not be kept waiting!"
"Yes, Primary," Long Sleep agreed quickly, once again able to play the subservient role he needed. Whereas before he had been struggling to wrap up his thoughts behind their protective walls, now it was easy again. The strength had returned him to himself.
"Focus on your task and perhaps you and your Keepers will be properly fed on the next culling."
"Yes, Primary."
Long Sleep did not bother to repeat his warnings about the ongoing damage to the Hive if they used the drive again, for the Hive Primary would not hear them. The warnings had not been heard before, so they would not be heard now.
Instead, Long Sleep could now return his rebuilt focus to helping the Hive as best he could and, perhaps, find a way to save all onboard without having to escape in a lone fighter. If he could find a way to shutdown the new drive, perhaps during the next culling... If he could turn off the radiation and help the others regain their strength, perhaps they could help him defeat the Skerti Queen.
For, even if he was able to successfully escape this Hive, she would still be a threat.
Perhaps there were more of her kind out among the stars and, if so, the other Wraith needed to be warned and be ready to fight back.
00000
Seeal had given up watching the news links about Atreus after her first meal, but the images still played in her mind.
It had become pretty clear last night what had caused Oneakka to leg it out of Myrtle's with the most shocked look she'd ever seen cross his face. But then it was the first time that she'd heard that the Wraith had attacked deep inside Alliance territory. The news links had been full of updates on the attack since, the recordings from Atreus playing almost constantly. Some were civilian recordings captured by shaky hands, while others were more official recordings from Atreus' portal city's camera system, and even a few short sequences from the Alliance's fighters engaging the Wraith in the sky above the city.
She knew that Oneakka had been on Atreus, because she had spied him moving briefly through the edge of one piece of footage that played a lot on the news links. He had been wearing unusual armour, but she guessed it was probably borrowed as he had made his way to Atreus from Myrtle's.
But he hadn't appeared on any other recordings and the list of Elite in the Facility remained devoid of his name.
Maybe he was stationed on Atreus still, or had been sent on to another planet?
The list of missing and dead on Atreus hadn't included any Elite, but then would they? Surely such news would be announced here in the Facility at least.
She hadn't gotten a great deal of sleep last night and, after her first meal taken in an almost entirely empty canteen, she'd decided to go visit the goat in the Hydroponics Bay before she went to work in the project room.
It kind of helped take her mind of things to walk through the plants and trees of the Hydroponics Bay in search of the pregnant goat. It had taken her longer than expected to find it, but she'd finally found the big-bellied creature munching on a large area of grass. Nearby there was newly built stable, presumably for the goat, with a wooden fence encircling it. Seeal guessed the fence was designed to keep in the baby goats once they arrived, because nothing so simple had contained the goat on the Sythus. For now though, a small gate in the fence was open and the goat was happily eating close by.
The goat had appeared happy to see her, and Seeal had settled down on the noticeably half trimmed lawn and stroked the familiar goat's fluffy coat as it worked on its lawn maintenance. It had been quite relaxing at first, except she had caught herself telling the goat about the culling and reassuring it that Oneakka was fine. So, clearly the distraction hadn't worked all that well.
As she had been about to leave, one of the Bay's gardeners had approached her and had been strangely talkative. The man was apparently the one who had built the stable for the goat and it seemed that the gardeners were now fans of the new resident. Apparently they hadn't been keen on the goat's presence yesterday morning, but by the end of the day the goat had trimmed two lawns for them and eaten some weeds that had formerly been a determined annoyance for them.
The gardener had also provided some interesting gossip in his excessive talkativeness. Apparently the Recruits in the Facility were put on lockdown during high alerts and that half the Facility's staff had been recruited to work on data from Atreus, which explained why the canteen had been practically deserted.
It also explained why she was only one of three members of the project who had turned up for work today. No one had told her to stay in her quarters, so she settled down at her workstation and gotten on with things as normal.
Since the place was so quiet, she had reserved one of her work-screens to display the ongoing list of Elite currently in the Facility. Oneakka's name stubbornly refused to appear among them. A hell of a lot of other Elite were moving through the Facility though, including a large number that were listed as "non-active" Elite. She guessed they probably worked elsewhere for the Elite and in a crisis headed here so that the fight-able Elite could be deployed where needed off-world.
That was probably where Oneakka was – off on some planet or ship chasing the Wraith.
Giving in to temptation, she filled another half screen with the latest news links. The same recordings were playing and there were plenty of discussions between 'experts' on the attack, but basically there was nothing new. The numbers of those missing in the attack had shifted slightly, presumably as Atreus had updated their registry with all those hiding in their underground tunnel network. Fortunately, the number of missing had dropped, though the casualty numbers had stayed the same.
The culling had been pretty short by her reckoning. It was hardly the first time the Alliance and the Wraith had fought over a planet, though usually it was part of the Alliance pushing out their border. Therefore, it seemed odd that the culling had been so fast, and there were plenty of unanswered questions about how the Wraith had actually gotten to Atreus without being detected. Using hyperspace would have involved at least several jumps for the Wraith to reach Atreus from even the closest border, so why hadn't the Alliance detected the Hive earlier?
The news links said the Alliance military had chased off the Hive, so where was it now?
It made her think of all those stellar scans Oneakka had been looking at recently. He had been worried about something, was this it? Did the Wraith have some new cloaking tech or way to conceal their hyperspace windows from Alliance detection?
And, if so, did that mean that the Wraith could attack anywhere in the Alliance? Even here?
Annoyingly, she had no way of finding out. She wasn't important enough here in the Facility, having no access to anything truly confidential outside of what was needed for this project. There was nothing she could do and it wasn't her responsibility to help anymore.
She didn't like not knowing what was going on.
With a frustrated sigh she jabbed off the news link display and picked up her portable music player. She pushed the earphone pieces into her ears, cutting off the annoying silence of the almost entirely empty project room, and selected a song that was fast and upbeat.
She could at least focus on her project work
The music helped her focus reasonably quickly. The tune was pretty catchy and she tapped one foot against the floor along with the beat as she ran her eyes over lines of coding across two screens. After the successful completion of the project's review, she had been assigned a few new areas of the project to work on, so there was plenty to keep her distracted.
Excluding the occasional glimpse towards the constantly updating list of Elite currently in the Facility.
The tune finished and another started up. This one was a Litan piece with the high electronic tones and high singing voices that she could now recognise as distinctly Litan. The female singer's voice was strong even with such high notes, but the words formed in Seeal's mind slightly out of time with the song thanks to the weird translation ability given to all by the Portal system. She'd found that the more times that she listened to one song the more the words would synch-in with the translation in her head until she could no longer sense any delay. She wondered if that meant that her brain was learning Litan without her knowing it?
A new line appeared in the list of Elite names on the side screen. Seeal switched her eyes from coding to the list.
He was back!
She shot up from her seat, pausing to lock her computer systems, and quickly headed out of the project room and into the hallways of the Facility. If his personal beacon had only just registered in the Facility that meant he'd just stepped off one of the transports from the Portal, which meant he was still walking through the hallways. If she could predict his path, she could catch up with him and find out what was really going on.
It was only after she turned down a third hallway did she register that the music was still playing in her ears. The song added a strange extra atmosphere to the mostly empty hallways.
As she reached the first intersecting lobby, she pulled the earphones from her ears and considered which path he might take into the Facility.
From her experience, when returning from battle, people did one of two things. Well, three if they needed to go to a medical bay, but she was assuming that he was intact. So, he was either going to check in with the Elite security headquarters within the Facility, or he was going to go wash, change and maybe rest. From what she'd seen of Elite in battle, they were always in good communication with each other, so she was betting that he didn't need to check in with anyone physically that he couldn't do over link. So, he was probably heading towards his quarters within the Facility.
She didn't know exactly where his quarters were here, but she knew the general area of the habitation sector of the Facility that was reserved for Elite. She took the appropriate corridor and hurried through another lobby and then down another corridor. She kept her pace quick but didn't run. There were staff members on bored looking guard duty in each lobby, presumably because of the high alert status, and she didn't want to draw attention to herself that might slow her down.
She considered asking one of the guards if Oneakka had passed through, but decided that that might spark off some gossip. Plus, if she didn't find Oneakka, she didn't want him finding out that she had been running through the Facility looking for him. He might get the wrong idea about that.
She paused to pick one of two corridors, uncertain which end of the habitation sector to go, but as she leant her head round one entranceway, she spied a familiar back disappearing around the far corridor.
She scurried after him, moving as quickly as she could without her footsteps sounding desperate.
As she turned the corner he'd just gone around, he had already paused and was waiting to see who was following him.
She slid to a stop around the bend and attempted to look casual. "You're back," she panted. The faint pain in her side told her that she needed to work on her cardio.
"You need to increase your cardio workouts," Oneakka told her, annoyingly somehow reaching the exact same conclusion.
"There's a lot of corridor in this place and you move fast," she pointed out. "What happened on Atreus?" She asked, still faintly out of breath.
He had all his limbs and didn't appear to be injured.
"Wraith," he repeated his same summary as last night in Myrtle's, and he started forward again. She hurried forward to fall into step with him.
He was wearing the same unusual body armour from the Atreus footage, which, now she saw it up close on him, clearly didn't fit him right. To her eye, the armour was shifting slightly as he walked, which couldn't be comfortable after fighting in it and wearing it all night. There were smears of dried mud and what looked like brick dust caked all over the silver grey sculpted breastplate. It definitely wasn't his own armour, which normally fitted him perfectly.
She lifted her eyes from examining his middle. "Yes, the whole Alliance knows about the Wraith attack on Atreus. Was the Hive cloaked?" She asked, getting straight to the point.
Oneakka gave her one of his looks that was supposed to tell her leave the subject alone. "Shouldn't you be working on the project?"
"There are only three of us in there, the rest are...somewhere," she replied. "I'm guessing analysing whatever allowed the Hive to sneak up on you."
"There was no 'sneaking up'," Oneakka objected, which told her a great deal.
"How else did it get there?" She asked. "Did you detect any hyperspace windows between the border and Atreus?"
"Any hyperspace windows are instantly detected by the Alliance observation network," Oneakka replied as he took a left turn, the corridors a little larger in this section of the Facility.
"Yes, I am aware of that considering the number of smugglers that passed through Dreamstation," she pointed out sarcastically. "Have the Wraith found a way to conceal their windows from Alliance sensors?" She asked.
The corridor turned sharply to the right now, but Oneakka paused by the last door on the left. He waved his inner wrist over the door's sensor and the door slid open and he walked inside.
"If the Wraith can hide their hyperspace windows then that changes everything," Seeal pointed out as she followed him through the door.
"We have plenty of experts working on the problem," Oneakka answered her as he moved into the white-walled room. "Don't let it worry you, Raven."
"Don't worry about it?" She objected as the door slid shut behind her. "I live here too now, so it worries..."
She realised that she was in his quarters.
She got that from the large number of books and scrolls lining several long white shelves along the left wall and the large bed in the middle of the room. She hadn't been a Security Lead for nothing.
"You really are obsessed with reading," she told him, feeling a little thrown at suddenly being in his space, but couldn't stop taking in all the details.
The room was far larger than her tiny quarters and was probably slightly larger than his quarters on the Sythus. There was one doorway in the left wall, into which he'd already disappeared, the door closing. She guessed that was a bathroom. The wall continued on after the bathroom door, holding up more shelves of books and artefacts, which she guessed would all be from Ugun. The far wall behind the bed was rock. She hadn't seen that before in the Facility, despite knowing that the place was carved out of the moon's bedrock. She guessed his room must be at the furthest corner of the Facility, which would also explain the window in the right wall. Its sill was at waist height and it went right up to the ceiling. The view through it was simply rock but there was some sunlight coming down from high above it to glow through the window and over a large plant sat in a ceramic pot next to a freestanding waist-high bookshelf.
She frowned at the clearly living plant, wondering idly how it was watered with Oneakka away most of the time.
She headed towards the window, moving around the foot of his wide bed to get there, and set her fingers on the very thick glass. Up close, she could see that the window was actually more like a pothole on a ship, with double layers of reinforced glass. Outside it, the wall of rock opposite was only several feet away, but the slice of space between the Facility's outer walls and the rock allowed enough room for people to walk along it. She recalled that there were escape routes outside the Facility if it had to be evacuated as a last resort. She guessed this tiny space was part of that escape route.
She leant her cheek against the glass to try to peer up through the limited sunlight up towards the very high and distant moon's sky. The bedrock here was supposed to naturally create a small amount of oxygen, so presumably the thin escape space had some atmosphere.
The bathroom door across the room opened up behind her and she looked over her shoulder to see that Oneakka had changed into his own brown body armour and fresh dark trousers. His hair was faintly damp as well.
"These are big quarters for this Facility," she told him. "Or do all the Elite have bigger quarters?"
He set the dust-caked silver breastplate down on the floor by a desk space that was part of one of the low long shelves. "This room is one of the escape points out of the Facility," he replied as he straightened and pointed to the low freestanding bookcase just to her right beside the window. "The escape hatch is behind there."
She moved around the potted plant and peered down behind the bookcase to see the hatchway clear enough. These escape hatches were part of the Facility evacuation procedure, allowing access out of the Facility to that limited narrow space outside, which must then lead to one of the congregation sites. She knew that because she had to take a weekly mandatory test on the Facility's emergency and evacuation protocols since she'd been here. It hadn't occurred to her before that some of these hatchways were in people's quarters. The only couple that she'd seen in passing had been one out of the canteen and one at the back of the Hydroponics Bay. In an evacuation alarm, you were supposed to follow red leading lights to take you towards the closest hatchway outside.
"Where are the emergency oxygen breathers to take out through the hatch?" She asked, remembering that part of the weekly tests.
He pointed to a cupboard near the end of the bookcase which, now she was looking, clearly displayed the emergency equipment symbol used by the Alliance military. She wished she hadn't asked now, she was just still a bit thrown by the very nice quarters.
"So you get a bigger room so long as you don't mind people storming in here in the middle of the night to escape the Facility?" She asked.
"Happens all the time," Oneakka replied.
She blinked. Had that been a joke?
"What was it you wanted?" He asked, serious again.
She blinked again, trying to remember.
His big bed stood between them. It had nice colourful patterned covers.
She decided to move away from the bed, so returned to her inspection of the emergency cupboard.
"I was making the valid point that if the Wraith can hide their hyperspace windows, then it's a problem for all of us," she replied as she pulled open the emergency cupboard and glanced over the breathers and medical kits inside. Everything was very orderly and no doubt well maintained. She closed the cupboard, only her attention was drawn to the cabinet next to it, set beside the doorway into his quarters. It was a glass-fronted cabinet and held a series of shelves inside.
"I have plenty of experience in how smugglers and general scum avoid Alliance detection," she reminded him as she peered in through the glass front of the cabinet. "I could help."
There were more artefacts inside, all far smaller and more delicate looking than the others he displayed on the shelves here and in his Sythus quarters. She guessed all of them were Ugun, remnants of his lost people. On the shelf at her eye level were displayed several pieces of beautiful jewellery; there was a broach in the shape of a bird, a small golden teardrop that looked like it might have been a button, a tiny child's bracelet and a broken long beaded necklace.
She stepped back from the cabinet, feeling a little uncomfortable to know how carefully he kept these things. How little there was left of his world and culture.
She turned away, taking in the rest of his quarters again. They were far brighter and lighter than she would have expected, with everything white except for the books, artefacts, and his bed. She glanced quickly over the bed, though her eye was drawn up to the top of the high headboard over it. There was a carved figure sat on top of the wide headboard, which was a duplicate of the one she had seen in his Sythus quarters. He had hung a small string of red beads under the figure's calmly smiling chin.
"You've already told us how the smugglers avoid our detection, and there are more than enough experts here to help with analysing the Atreus attack," Oneakka told her, drawing her full attention back to him.
"Meaning, I should keep my nose out of it?" She translated.
He inclined his head to one side, confirming it without agreeing out loud. He seemed in a slightly strange mood today, but then he had been helping save a planet last night.
"Fine," she agreed with a shrug, wishing it didn't feel like a rejection for him to tell her that they didn't need her expertise. "I was just trying to be helpful."
"Like you were in Myrtle's last night?" He asked.
She narrowed her eyes at him, recalling a few significant details from last night. "What was that thing between you and Myrtle?"
Oneakka's expression blanked and he looked away, picking up one of his stunners and he slid it into his holster – which he must have put on whilst she had been examining his room. "What thing?" He asked dismissively.
She rolled her eyes at his deliberate attempt to be obtuse. "I take it you two don't get along?"
She hadn't really seen enough to be certain last night, but Oneakka's scowl and Myrtle's rather challenging look from the second floor railing above them, suggested that the two didn't like each other. She wasn't overly surprised, they weren't alike at all.
Well, apart from being Elite, and the whole being tall and handsome thing.
"We grew up together; trained together," Oneakka supplied as he slid another stunner into place on his other hip and then reached for his two forearm long knives. He slid the first blade into its scabbard across his lower back. He looked better in his own weapons and armour.
"Friends?" She tested.
He slid the second knife into place and turned back to look at her.
She lifted her eyebrows.
"You're not a Security Lead anymore, Raven," he told her, which annoyed her a little, considering that she had only been trying to be helpful by pointing out that criminal to Myrtle's security.
"Meaning I should just ignore a criminal when I see one in a club?" She challenged.
"I meant in assessing everyone's motivations about every little thing," he replied.
She was a little surprised at his point.
He might be right, but surely everyone noticed how people interacted around them. Some used what they saw for gossip and social interactions, while some for security purposes, which seemed more inherently useful in her opinion.
"I was just asking in case you were there to warn me to keep away from Myrtle," she told him.
"Is there a reason why you plan to be around Myrtle more?" He asked in turn.
She held still. Had Myrtle told Oneakka about his little seductive offer?
"I hadn't planned on being around him more, no," she replied, watching Oneakka carefully.
"Then why ask me about him?"
"If you don't want to talk about Myrtle, just say so," she told him, getting annoyed with his rather furtive attitude about Myrtle. He was normally far more direct about things.
"I thought I just did," he concluded. He was definitely in an odd irritating disposition today.
She sighed heavily and looked up at the ceiling. "You can be so annoying."
"You started the conversation," he replied, only confirming his annoyingness.
She should probably leave, because clearly he, and the Elite, didn't want her help. She had no idea why he had let her in here if he didn't want to have a normal proper conversation with her, but clearly he was in some sort of defensive mood today.
The exit out back into the hallways was behind her left shoulder, so she turned away towards it, only for another detail of his quarters to catch her attention.
Above the doorway there was a large frame holding some artwork. It stood out because she'd never seen anything like artwork elsewhere in here or in his Sythus quarters. She took a step forward and to her right to peer up into the frame, only to discover that it was a self-regulating display case. She'd seen them before, but only in museums and holding expensive paintings, as the cases could maintain a set temperature and humidity inside in order to preserve what they held. Creass had 'acquired' a couple of expensive paintings in the past and they had always arrived in cases like this one. Only, this one didn't hold a painting, but a tapestry. It was only a foot or two long, but a good metre wide, and, though it was probably old, the colours were still quite vivid.
It seemed unusual and out of place for him.
She turned and glanced round at the other walls, confirming that there was space elsewhere for the case, but he'd chosen to hang it above the doorway. It meant that he could see it from anywhere in the room, that it was across from his bed and close to his desk area. And that he passed directly under it each time he came in or left his quarters.
This was clearly something very important to him.
"What's this?" She asked as she pointed up to the tapestry. "It's Ugun?" She guessed as she studied it more closely, recognising the Ugun glyphs making up most of the design. She'd seen enough of the Ugun language from all the spines of his books, and from the tattoo on his chest, to be able to recognise the distinct writing style.
She looked back at him over her shoulder, only to find that he was stood very still, his jaw flexing slightly. She should have realised that it was a completely insensitive question, considering the subject matter and that he'd placed it so prominently. His eyes were directed up at the tapestry.
She debated for a second as to whether she should just apologise and leave, but there was something almost like a deciding pause in the air, like he was considering answering her question. She waited, in case he would.
"It represents my lineage," he said.
She felt a strange wave of relief that he'd told her, like a little doorway had opened up.
"Your lineage?" She asked, measuring her tone to be gently curious.
His blue eyes moved back to her from the tapestry. "You mean you didn't go poking around the database to learn about Ugun names?" He asked, but the light-hearted comment felt slightly false. He wasn't comfortable talking about the tapestry.
She should let it go.
"I took your word that your name wasn't translated anywhere in the database," she told him honestly, for the most part. She had read up a little on the Ugun planet in general.
He gave her a doubtful look.
"I swear," she smiled at him. "I'll just going to wait until you tell me of your own free will."
He shook his head and glanced away, but his eyes almost immediately went back up to the tapestry.
Maybe he did want to talk about it.
A thought occurred to her. "Unless," she looked back up to the tapestry, "this spells out your name. Is Oneakka actually your family's name?"
She had never thought that perhaps he had more than one name, since only 'Oneakka' came up on the Facility's registry. It was common enough across the Alliance for people to have only one name, two or more, depending upon their planet of origin and culture.
"No, it's my personal name," he answered though. "That," he indicated the tapestry with a tilt of his head, "is my family lineage, so would be considered a family name of sorts."
She debated with herself whether she should ask any more. He had answered a couple of questions, but he was still stood unnaturally still, unmoving except for his eyes. That he had shared this much was probably something of a real compliment from him, and asking more would probably be considered rude.
Maybe just one more question.
"What does it say, or am I not allowed to ask?" She tried to keep the question light in tone.
His one-tone blue eyes lifted back to the tapestry. "Akireu"
"Oneakka Akireu," she tried the name.
"Oneakka of the lineage of Akireu," he corrected.
He had pronounced his name a little differently than she normally heard everyone else use it, but then she had rarely heard him say his own name. He'd split 'Oneakka' into three syllables with a strong emphasis on the first sound, the second short and soft, and the last sound longer.
"On-ne-akka," she repeated his pronunciation and he nodded that she had gotten it right. She promised herself that she'd say his name correctly from now onwards, after all she understood the importance of a name more than most. If she only knew what his name actually meant...
She looked back up at the tapestry, understanding why he had displayed it so prominently. It was his last link to his lineage. She guessed, but decided not to ask, that most of what he had saved from his lost world had been recovered from the debris after the Wraith bombardment, or traded from those who had purchased items from Ugun directly – so there probably wasn't much that he could trace directly from his own family. But, the tapestry was clearly related to his family, so it was a direct link for him.
"Akireu was considered our people's greatest warrior," Oneakka added into her silent contemplation of his family's name. She glanced back round at him, a little surprised that he'd added the extra information. His eyes were focused back up at the tapestry, but his gaze seemed distant.
"Was he a King or leader of your people?" She asked, unsure if she should follow the interesting trail of information.
"No, just a farmer and a warrior," Oneakka answered. "It was said that he singlehandedly held back the Wraith during a culling and saved an entire generation of our people. He was seen as being gifted by the gods, which, as far as I've read, probably just means that he was stronger and taller than the average male."
"Height and strength doesn't automatically make you a hero," Seeal pointed out, "The Glisi can attest to that," she reminded him of her own giant people.
He nodded, his gaze lowering back down to her.
"Was he real, or a legend?" She asked carefully, not wanting to insult him with the question, but his comment about his people's judgement of strength made her wonder.
"No, he was real. He was my Grandfather five generations back on my Mother's side of my lineage."
"Did that make your lineage special?"
He smiled slightly at that. "No, there were a lot of us. Uguns had big families through all the generations."
"You were one of nine siblings," she remembered.
He nodded.
His eyes rose up to the tapestry again. "My people made that for me when I left to start my Elite training."
A rush of sadness and pity for him hit her in a throat tightening rush. He had mentioned before that he was a small boy when he had left his people, passed to the Elite to be trained and knowing that he was unlikely to ever see his family again. A fact that would turn out to be far more literal for him than it was for other Elite Recruits.
"They made it for you to remind you of your lineage," she concluded.
"No," he said though. "They thought I was Akireu reborn."
She blinked at that.
He looked down from the display case. "I grew faster than most children. By the time I was five yearly cycles, I was taller and stronger than the other children my age. Including my next brother up, who was almost two cycles older than me."
"I bet he wasn't happy with that," she guessed.
He smiled. "No, he wasn't." Despite all the weaponry and armour he wore, he wasn't talking like an Elite warrior now. She felt as if he had broken open some shell around himself and allowed the man inside to show through.
"What was his name?"
And with that, the shell snapped shut again and he turned away towards his desk and reached for an electronic pad. She had pushed things too far, opened too much hurt, and she quietly cursed herself for it.
"He was called Zopi," Oneakka answered her though as he pushed the pad into the back pocket of his trousers.
She nodded as she turned back round to the tapestry overhead and studied it with more appreciation now. Every stitch had been made by his people, full of celebration and sadness at his leaving, but making something for him to take with him.
"I guess they were partly right," she considered as she looked back towards him, not wanting to end the conversation with the sad echo of his brother's name. "You did turn into a great warrior, stronger and more powerful than most."
"But, whereas Akireu saved an entire generation of our people, I am the last generation of my people."
The words felt like a hard hit, full of more raw emotion than she'd ever heard from him, and she'd certainly never before seen the flash of real pain across his face as he said the words. She felt the sudden abrupt urge to cry for him.
And she remembered Myrtle's warning of the heartbroken warrior before her.
"That's not true though," she found herself telling Oneakka sternly.
His answer was a silent questioning frown, his strong blue eyes fixed on her.
"If you have children, your lineage, and the Ugun people, will continue," she pointed out the obvious.
He shrugged at that and turned away, returning his attention to his desk and clearly ending the emotional conversation. A sharp sense of vulnerability seemed to hold over him as he tided his desk and decidedly did not make eye contact with her. He'd shared deeply painful personal things for him, which she suspected he rarely did, and they were life events that would make most people curl up into a ball and sob at the unfairness of the universe. But not this man, instead he, like his famous ancestor, held tall and strong in the face of such horrors.
Except, he was still a man, as stubborn and difficult as he could be, but she felt that she kind of understood him a little bit better now.
"Which reminds me," she said, moving onto another subject of conversation to fill the silence, "is there some Elite warrior breeding programme? Because, there are some Recruits here that look awfully alike."
"You've noticed them," Oneakka glanced briefly over his shoulder as he continued to move things around his desk. There had been a slight, but strained, smile in his expression, and she got the impression that he was grateful for the new subject matter.
"What?" She asked, surprised at his comment though. "There isn't really a breeding programme is there?"
"No," Oneakka answered while he stacked several pads up into small towers; those pads of data he'd been reading so much of late. "Only one man's version of it," he added.
"Let me guess, one Elite warrior who spread his seed around to breed a new generation of himself?" She guessed; she'd met some criminal minds with a similar theory – to breed their own army.
Oneakka nodded and started to answer further, except a light started flashing from the ceiling and an abrupt loud alarm sounded. Flashing blue light meant it was the high alert Elite alarm call. That would probably only mean one thing right now – the Hive was back somewhere in Alliance space.
"Wraith shit!" Oneakka cursed into the flashing light and rushed towards the door behind her.
"Not again!" She exclaimed as she stepped aside just enough to let him run past her and she followed him out into the flashing corridor outside.
As they did, she couldn't help but be acutely aware of the tapestry they had both passed under.
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TBC