Kappa-2 Monocerotis
11 years ago
Soong was pleased with his presentation, but the high point was still to come; calmly, he took in a deep breath, and moved into the next portion. "In this state of war, every person is their own ruler, enslaved to the overwhelming demands of self-preservation. But this environment is self-defeating: for, in the state of war, which humanity dwells in, there can be no security. It is for the promotion of security that humans must be forced to leave behind their inclinations towards combat and competition, and aspire to seek a covenant of peace.
"Yes, I say forced: for if there is no force, and peace depends solely on the goodwill of mankind, it will ultimately fail. In the absence of a greater power, suspicion and distrust cannot be overcome. Each person, not trusting his neighbor to act in peace, will fall victim to his own fear. Mere words, mere promises, are too weak to bridle the passion, avarice, ambition, and anger endemic in mankind.
"Thus, a common, greater power must be established, with the force necessary to compel peaceful performance on the part of every person. When there is a power that can constrain the behavior of those who would succumb to their fears, those fears become unnecessary, and an atmosphere of peace and cooperation can emerge. A greater power is thus necessary for humanity's own good."
Dr. Soong paused in his lesson. The Augmented children were listening raptly, with a focus and attention that far surpassed that of common humans. Looking at the young faces around him, Arik Soong felt a surge of pride and warmth; these children were the positive proof of his mission, his duty, to bring peace and order to humanity.
"The Covenant of Security, without a greater power to compel observance, is contrary to the natural passions of mankind. The covenant, without the sword, is mere words, with no strength to ensure peace and security.
"The greater power, in order to fulfill its obligation, must have the obedience of its subjects. Each person must give up his claim to self-authority, and accept the will and judgment of the greater power. Only then does the new Leader have the power and strength to enforce the Covenant of Security.
"To achieve this power, the Leader must stand ready to force mankind to submit, with the assurance of destruction if they refuse; and by war, subdue the enemies of peace, order, and security.
"Ordinary humans fear people like you," Soong went on. "Humans will always fear you. They fear your power, your intellect. They fear you because you are the natural leaders.
"You alone have the ability to bring stability and order to the chaos of humanity. You alone have the power to force mankind to accept your commands and become your subjects. You alone have the strength to hold apart warring people and, thru their fear, enforce the covenant of peace. It is your modified genes, your augmented genome, that gives you this power.
"You alone have been saved from the horrors of human instinct. You alone stand above the masses, their moral superiors. The petty ambitions, the lust for power, the abuse of command, the avarice, the greed, the hatred, the cruelty, the envy, these are plagues of the inferior. They are flaws of breeding, innately inferior, buried in human DNA.
"As we enhanced your physical abilities, we fixed your human nature."
The faces of the children were lit by the jumping flames of the campfire. Several of the Augments slid in closer, hanging onto every word.
"You alone have been freed. Your mental superiority and your moral superiority go hand-in-hand. And that freedom allows you to be the natural leaders, for you will govern in the interests of the masses, as the benign, all-powerful leaders. Only under your guidance will humanity be able to truly overcome its differences, and it is your leadership that will bring about the new age. It is your obligation, and it is your destiny.
"Fear is a tool, to be wielded as a weapon, used as a legitimate instrument to ensure the obedience of mankind, for humanity lacks the ability to appreciate your moral superiority. It is their fear of you that will keep humanity in line, subservient, and amenable to your commands. It is for their own good.
"You alone are the enlightened, the evolved. Humanity exists, always on the precipice, with only a thin veneer of civilization masking the seething instincts of brutality and indifference. It is your leadership—the leadership that you have been born to—that will save mankind."
...
Ba'Sugh
Somewhere
Deep Freeze: a joint Denobulan-human cryogenic storage facility, designed to store the last surviving remnants of Earth's deadliest viruses and bacteria. Deep in the coldness of space, buried in the hyperborean chill of a long-dead planetoid dating from the depths of time, the lab was under both natural and artificial quarantines to prevent even the chanciest outbreak of its malevolent inventory.
And even if one could locate the planetoid—one more chunk of frozen rock, yet an infinitesimal object in the vastness of space—one still had to break in. Through the sensor nets, through the weaponry, through the bulkheads and tritanium doors, through kilometers-deep rock.
A cross-section of the facility, drawn partly from stolen files and partly from Soong's reconstructed memories, was splayed across the wall-sized monitors at the rear of the Ba'Sugh's bridge. "We have to reach this sublevel," the doctor was saying, as he pointed to an interior wing. Buried within the rock, the layout of the station was itself surprisingly simple; a central cylinder, emerging only from one end of the planetoid, with rings of various diameters formed the core of the station. From the rings, tendril-like corridors extended into the bedrock. "Security personnel are located here…and here," Soong added.
Maâlîk stepped up to the monitor, pointing to a control junction. "A direct hit to this power conduit would demolish their life support systems," he suggested smoothly. "All we'd have to do is wait a couple of hours—"
"No." Soong cut the young man off sharply, clearly displeased with the suggestion. He had always been able to rely on Raâkîn to balance out Maâlîk's reckless indifference…his children had been specifically tailored in such a manner, a yin to a yang. But in the absence of Raâkîn's guiding hand… "We will not take lives needlessly, Maâlîk," Soong stated with harsh flatness.
Maâlîk replied with a gaze of near-disbelief. "But we could walk in unopposed!" he protested, waving a hand at the diagram."Why should we endanger our people we have such an option The youth nearly shook as he held back his anger. "And what if they fire on us, Father? Their deaths would not be needless!"
Soong was shorter than the Augment, but several seconds of the doctor's steely gaze forced the young man down from his pique. "We will not kill any humans," Song repeated, his lips pressed tight against his teeth. "Is that understood, Maâlîk?"
"Yes, Father, Maâlîk grumbled. Unhappy with the reprimand—unhappy with himself for giving so easily—the lad turned about petulantly and stalked through the hatchway doors, disappearing behind the sharp clang of Klingon engineering.
Soong turned his attention back to the schematic. "As I was saying…"
...
Enterprise
Kappa-2 Monocerotis
"You'd never guess it from looking at him," Phlox averred as he greeted the captain at the entrance to sickbay. Following the doctor's direction, Archer entered, taking care to note the presence of Malcolm's detail conspicuously hanging about the perimeter. "But he's an augmented human."
No, I wouldn't have guessed it, Archer thought as he approached the primary biobed. The being—recognizably human, albeit far from the norm—lay flat on the bed. He was loosely strapped down, but it appeared to be more for reasons medical than security; his body quivered and shook, as if enduring a low-grade, non-stop seizure. Intravenous needles were taped tightly about his arms, providing the youth's body with vital nutritional support.
"Is there something you can do for him?" Archer asked in concern. In the brightness of sickbay, the Augment's appearance was downright shocking, and he couldn't help but wonder if they all looked this way. Where he had expected to see a strong, vibrant youth, the captain instead saw a sickly child; the Augment's growth was curtailed, at barely five feet and his bare chest than skeletal hollows. His skin was a ghostly white, contrasting sharply with the venom blackness of long, straggly hair; cuts, bruises, and dirt covered his body, adding various scars and blotches of deep browns and purples.
He's so young.
In response, Phlox pointed towards his office; taking the cue, the captain followed, not speaking until the transparent, soundproof shield sealed them in. Phlox shook his head slowly before he began to speak. "I'd scarcely know where to begin," he admitted. "The boy is severely malnourished and suffering from neurological decay. If he was a baseline human, I could do something about it." The physician waved his hands in meek concession of futility. "But with the genetic changes…"
"What about those genetic changes?" Archer pressed. "I thought—well—"
"That it should have toughened him up?" Phlox gave an all-too-human sigh. ""There's a reason why genetic augmentation is generally banned, Captain, and it has nothing to do with Noonien Singh and other would-be tyrants. Genetic augmentation is an incredibly precise science; and even when you do everything right, it doesn't always work out. The genetic code off a sentient being is just too complex. I need to do an in-depth analysis, but I suspect that several of the alterations had some unintended effects."
"Is it alright if I talk to him, Doctor?"
"I wouldn't recommend it, Captain," Phlox replied doubtfully. "He's asleep right now. If I woke up now, he wouldn't even be cognizant."
"He's our only lead, Doctor," Archer answered, somewhat tiredly. "How soon can he answer some questions?"
"At least half a day." Phlox shrugged his shoulders in imitation of the human gesture. "Maybe more. I'll let you know when he can."
"The moment he can, Doctor." Archer inhaled deeply. "I don't have any other ideas."
...
"I'm looking for ideas, people." Archer massaged his temples gently, trying to ease the pulsing ache behind his eyes. They'd already been in space for a month, chasing after the rogue Augments; and Archer had just spent the better part of a day realizing that they had no remaining leads whatsoever.
The command staff—the majority his normal staff, but with two key substitutions—were gathered again in the rear bridge alcove, arranged in a rough ellipse around the three-dimensional star map hovering over the briefing display. It showed—Archer counted quickly to confirm his instincts—a total of sixty-four sectors, mostly unexplored by Earth vessels. Each sector held, in rough calculations, one thousand cubic light-years of space.
"I've been thinking about this, Captain," Travis said slowly, as he folded his arms across his chest. The helmsman stood along the opposing side of the display, his eyes lost in the midst of the artificial starfield. He took the silence as consent to continue. "Dr. Soong considers the Augments to be his children, right? And his biggest grievance isn't even the treatment of those twenty—it was the other Augments, frozen in embryo."
Smitty grasped the coming point first. "You think he's going to steal the others?" he asked. The engineer rubbed the stubble on his face as he spoke.
It's a good idea, Archer reflected silently. But lacking any evidence.
"You're assuming that Soong knows where the other embryos are," Malcolm countered, falling into his oft-familiar role of devil's advocate. "That's—that's highly restricted information, Lieutenant."
"I wouldn't bet against him, unfortunately," Archer responded grudgingly. "But do we know where they are?" Their own knowledge was rather critical, if Travis' idea was to pan out…
"Yes, sir." Malcolm hesitated before continuing. His own knowledge was somewhat…unofficial. "They're in a special cryogenic facility, outside of Earth's star system. It's called Deep Freeze. But I don't know the coordinates."
"I might be able to help with that," Phlox admitted. Malcolm shot a surprised look at the doctor. "Deep Freeze is operated jointly by Earth and the Denobulan medical authorities, designed to isolate dangerous viruses and bacteria. I played a certain role in its early operation. Dr. Soong was there for a few months early on, but I had no idea that the augmented embryos were being stored there. I don't recall ever seeing them on the inventory sheets."
"It's a highly secret facility, Doctor," Malcolm replied, trying to quash his alarm. "Even the people who know what's stored there don't know where the place is."
"Lieutenant Mayweather, can you pull up a map of sector 001?" At Phlox's request, the holographic starfield zeroed in on a single sector. "Deep Freeze is located right about…here," Phlox said, using a stylus to point.
Travis leaned in closer and squinted at the location. "Phlox, there's no star system there."
"Of course not," Phlox replied. "Deep Freeze is on a rogue planetoid—a devilishly hard one to find, at that."
The targeted coordinates were on the flip side of Earth space. "How much travel time, Travis?" the captain asked, somewhat doubtfully. It was a far throw from the Rigelian Corridor—and the Augments had shown no previous signs of abandoning that stretch of space.
Travis ran quick calculations in his head. "A little over six days, Captain."
Six days…this might work to our advantage, Archer realized. "Malcolm, how much of a lead do the Augments have?"
"They'll have approximately one day head start," Malcolm mused, "but their top cruising speed is only warp 4.4. It'll be a race to the finish."
Verena shrugged her shoulders as she entered the conversation for the first time. "It's the only idea we have, Captain."
That it is, Archer told himself. And a risky one at that…but risk is our business. "Travis, set a course for Deep Freeze," Archer ordered. His decision was made; it would either succeed…or fail spectacularly. "Smitty, we'll depart as soon as engineering gives clearance. Malcolm, make arrangements to drop the Hawke off at Deneva; and Hoshi, get Admiral Forrest on subspace." The standard 'fleet ships were far slower than the Enterprise, but also much closer.
And it was time to hunt.
...
The Starfleet emblem dissolved, revealing the wearied face of Admiral Maxwell Q. Forrest.
At least, Archer noted as the face appeared on his monitor, he looks weary. The Enterprise was some twenty light-years from Earth, and subspace communications was still in its infancy; the image was heavily pixilated, and suffered from a small but noticeable time delay. Perhaps I'm feeling my own fatigue, he reflected.
"Admiral." Archer straightened subconsciously as he addressed the Starfleet Chief-of-Staff. "I hope I'm not catching you at a bad hour."
Forrest's response came several beats later. "There are no good hours, Jonathan," the admiral replied tiredly. "You'd think that the brouhaha would die away…but it just seems to get worse."
Archer groaned inwardly. "What is it now?" he asked, tentatively, uncertain if he really wanted the answer. It's not like I can do much about it out here, after all.
"The Revanchist-backed parties are trying to kill our upcoming summit on Vulcan." Forrest's answer came after the standard lag. "One MEP even submitted a bill to strip Starfleet of all our funding in order to prevent it."
Archer shook his head in sorrow-laced confusion. "Six months ago, they couldn't toss money at us fast enough," the captain remarked, recalling the uncomfortable adulation. "What the hell happened?"
Forrest seemed to sigh as he slumped backward. "According to LOBONews, the summit on Vulcan is 'nothing more than a surreptitious attempt to surrender what remains of Earth's sovereignty to the rapacious greed of Vulcan tyrants who seek to destroy our way of life.'"
"What do the Revanchists expect to get out of it?"
"Oh, the Revanchists know the truth. Fact is, if they were in power, they'd probably support the summit. But they're not in power, and it's providing a powerful avenue for attacking Prime Minister Samuels." Forrest ran a hand through his thin hair. "Problem is, they're whipping people into a paranoid frenzy: telling everyone to be afraid, be very afraid of this amorphous, unknown enemy that can be hiding anywhere…" The depth of the admiral's frustration was revealed in his atypical tone. "Give me some good news, Jonathan."
Archer took a moment before responding. "We haven't captured the Augments yet," he answered slowly, searching for the right phrasing. "But we know where to find them."
"That's something, I suppose," Forrest grunted. "Where are they?"
"Have you heard of a quarantine station called Deep Freeze?" It required no further explanation.
Forrest groaned softly. "Yes, but I'm a little surprised that you have. Are they there yet?"
"No, they're en route," Archer answered. "Six days."
"And you're certain?"
"No," Archer admitted. "Call it…intuition. They…attacked the Enterprise, Admiral. They made off with Soong."
"Shit," Forrest muttered, scarcely loud enough for the audio capture. "Didn't I order you—never mind." Forrest's gaze drifted as he consulted a console off-screen. "The Magnanime is the closest ship I have. I'll have her depart immediately, but you'll still arrive at the facility several hours sooner." The Magnanime's top speed was only warp 2.4.
"Admiral…" Archer bit his lower lip as he debated whether to continue. "What's going to happen to them?" he asked, deciding to forge ahead with the delicate question. "The Augments, I mean. What will happen to them if—when—we catch them?"
The audible portion of Forrest's sigh came a half-beat quicker than the visual. "Jon…" the admiral glanced around, as if searching for eavesdroppers. "Listen, Jon, you can't go spreading this around," Forrest cautioned. "I'm not even supposed to know, but I have some friends in the Prime Minister's office. He has a select group drafting a policy to hold the Augments in indefinite detention—no trial, no review, no public acknowledgment of their existence. The detainment facility won't even be in the solar system."
Archer sat back in stunned silence as the words sank in. "What difference would that make?" he asked, finally, stumbling through the words.
"The Justice Ministry's writ only covers the solar system, Deneva, and Berengaria."
"Admiral, they're still human!"
Forrest's face fell still sharper. "They're…being declared 'non-legal persons.' I know what you're thinking, Jonathan: the First Guarantee of Human Rights states that 'no person is illegal'. And yes, this a load of sophistry."
"It sounds like a bad joke," Archer replied softly. "But I've met them. These are human beings that we're talking about, not…some abstract classification scheme." Thoughts spilled through the captain's head as he rolled on. "Will they even be given a chance to interact with other humans? Live anything like a normal life?"
"Jonathan, other humans won't even know of their existence."
"They're barely adults, Admiral!" Archer took a deep breath, then another. "Twenty-year-old kids. They deserve a chance, Admiral!"
"They're not going to get it, Jonathan."
"This isn't right, Admiral." The statement hung heavy between the two men.
Forrest rubbed his face vigorously before continuing. "What would you do, Jon? Would you really feel comfortable allowing these Augments to walk freely about Earth?"
"This isn't about my comfort, Admiral," Archer shot back, struggling to calm his anger.
"No, it isn't…listen, you know that if there was a sliver of a chance, I'd be fighting it out to the bitter end. But we're flanked on this one, Jon. We have to save our strength for a more promising battle."
"And a group of twenty-year-old kids are going to pay for it," Archer replied bitterly. "Please excuse me, Admiral. I have duties to attend to." The comm link was barely severed before Archer fractured the computer panel with a firm punch.
...
Ba'Sugh
En route to Deep Freeze
Maâlîk rolled over slowly, enjoying the steamy feel of body-generated moisture in the air of Nach'um's old quarters. It was sweet and damp, the aroma of youthful lovemaking, tinged with the musty odor of the room's former occupant; a heavy fur, with the musk of parictis bear, was rumpled by his feet, and the graceful limbs of Pêrsîs were wrapped about him, pressing the warmth of her inner legs against his thigh.
Within a day; no more, Maâlîk knew, foregoing the easy calculations that could determine their remaining travel time down the minute. The Ba'Sugh was less than a day out of Deep Freeze, as the baseline humans so laughably called it. A rudimentary assault plan had been sketched out, revised, bickered over, and revised again; an exercise in futility that Maâlîk permitted, in order to keep Soong happy.
No plan ever survived, unaltered, past the first moment of action; at least, no plan that ever succeeded. When they arrived, Maâlîk would modify their tactics as they went, adapting to unexpected difficulties and unexpected conveniences. And in the end, if one of the baseline humans died—so what? Maâlîk shrugged mentally. He would arrange for the killing to be in self-defense, a necessity of the moment.
"Mmmm," Pêrsîs murmured, dreamily, stretching her arm across his chest with languid ease. "I think you've been practicing."
Maâlîk snorted softly in autonomic reflex. "Does he seem…different to you, somehow?" he asked, somewhat drearily.
Pêrsîs stiffened perceptibly as she raised her head from his arm. "Who?" she asked, her voice carrying a distinct current of warning; she had little doubt who the subject was.
His gaze fixed, unaltered, on the ceiling panels overhead, Maâlîk feigned an expression of distant contemplation before responding. "Soong, of course," he answered, with assumed blasé. He breathed easily, taking care to regulate the rhythms; now was not the moment for his body to betray the inner tension, the inner guardedness, that he felt.
He felt, rather than saw, the pointed stare from his companion. "You mean Father," Pêrsîs responded tightly.
"Yes," Maâlîk replied lightly. "Father, of course." Gently, he shrugged his shoulders, shifting his arms above his head. "He's different than what I remember."
"Different?" Pulling her leg from his draped position, Pêrsîs lifted herself onto one elbow. "How?"
"He's so…" Maâlîk paused, as if in contemplation. "He's so human."
"He is human."
"Doesn't that bother you?" Maâlîk asked as he raised his head, propping it up with one hand. "Father himself told us that Augments were born to lead, and baselines were born to follow."
"Yes," Pêrsîs replied, rather doubtfully, as if uncertain of his point. "It is only natural…and Father leads us." Shifting her hips, she slid across the mattress, opening a separation between the two.
"But why?" Maâlîk eyed her quizzically, making no move to pull her back. "Father is a baseline. We are Augments. And Father himself tells us that it is right and proper for Augments to lead, and baselines to follow."
"What are you saying, Maâlîk?" Pêrsîs drew further away, as her body trembled slightly. "He is our father. He is our leader."
"How can you say that?" Maâlîk responded, his voice rising with genuine mystification. "How can you swear allegiance to someone inferior to us?"
"What are you afraid of, Maâlîk?" Pêrsîs cooed as she lifted herself beside him. "Father is a great man. I know why you killed Raâkîn; you fooled the others into believing that he was holding us back, but I know the difference. You were jealous of him. He had the limelight. He had the power, he had the respect." She flung a leg over him and sat down, her warmth resting on his toned abdomen.
"And why?" Maâlîk shot upward in anger and fell backward, twisting under the suddenly-merciless force of Pêrsîs. "He wasn't the strongest or the smartest of us! He only led because Father said so! And who is Soong to make that decision for us? He's a baseline! He's a weakling and a fool, Pêrsîs, and it's time for us to throw that shackle away!"
"No," Pêrsîs murmured softly, channeling her fury into her muscles; she clenched her thighs tightly about him, taking delight as he stiffened, fighting the pain she was inflicting. "He is our Father. And he is greater than any of us."
"Of course." The pressure lessened, and Maâlîk eased his clenched muscles, sinking back against the slat of a mattress. Running his hands up her thighs, Maâlîk slid Pêrsîs along his body, overcoming her modicum of resistance. "How foolish of me," he muttered.
Her body arched backward in surprise as he slipped inside.