Chapter 20

Adrik

The women were stiff. They lay on their beds, limbs straight out. Those who had been stricken while out of their homes had been carefully brought back to the medical lab, where Trutan, the unfortunate medic I had commandeered from one of the warships, was frantically trying to tend to them.

Trutan went from device to device checking the vital signs of the women in the facility. “They can’t speak, although their vitals are stable. They have no control over their bodies right now, but their cortisol levels are high. They’re frightened.”

“Do you know what’s causing it?”

“Not a clue.” Trutan shook his head. “I have called Nakta, the medic from the other battle cruiser, for assistance. He’s on his way, along with a cybot.”

“Here.” I handed over the water samples we had taken. “Test these immediately.”

“With all due respect, Pal-Adrik, I don’t think—”

I loomed over the young medic. “I want eyes on this water. You will put it under the scope and process it immediately. And then compare it to blood samples from the victims.”

Trutan paused, then glanced down at the bottles of what looked like simple water. “Yes, Pal-Adrik,” he said with a hint of reluctance. “I’ll get to it in—”

I placed a finger on the center of the male’s chest. “You will do it now.”

Trutan looked exasperated, but the medic took the bottles and went to a scope that sat on one of the work tables. He carefully extracted a few drops of the water from one bottle and put it into the electronic scope that would magnify it. An image came to life on the screen above us. Trutan’s jaw dropped. A curse fell from his lips as he saw the water magnified.

“What is that?” Lise asked as she looked up at the screen.

“That’s… That’s a big problem,” said the medic.

“Explain, Medic,” I snapped.

“Hold on.” His hands flew over the device, entering commands and running them through the computer system. In my Thrail, it was preferred to do things the traditional way, but when it came to medical issues, and especially since we had human females among us, we could not rely on our traditional methods of healing when more advanced ones were available. It was a matter of practicality. An infected wound could kill a warrior, but a quick swipe of an irradiation wand could not only heal it, but remove any chance of infection as well. This was why our medical lab had the equipment it did. As warlord, I could not allow unnecessary pain and deaths when there was technology to prevent that.

“This is not Mitran or Dessican tech.” Trutan frowned at the screen.

“What do you mean by ‘tech?’” I asked him. “What are we dealing with?”

“These things in the water.” Trutan pointed to the shiny, disklike, floating objects amongst the microorganisms that existed in the water. “They are not natural. These are microparticles that have been purposely put in the water.”

“What do they do?” I wanted to know.

“I’ll look at some blood samples from our victims, like you said, and then get an even closer look at them,” said Trutan. “But my initial theory would be that they are causing the current state of the human females. They’re likely also causing the infertility issues that the Thrail has been experiencing. This isn’t Dessican. They don’t have tech like this. It looks like something that the Paags produce.”

“Why would the Paags have issues with our females?” I asked.

“Absolutely no idea,” said Trutan. His fingers worked over the controls again, beginning to run the isolated microparticles through a deeper scan. “But the Paags are notorious for being willing to sell their tech to anyone with the credits.”

“You’re saying the Dessicans could have purchased this technology from the Paags to use it against us?”

Trutan nodded. “It’s the most logical theory we have right now.” He looked at Lise with concern. “How long have you been here?”

“A few weeks,” said Lise. “I haven’t had any of the symptoms that some of these women have.”

“I’d like a blood sample.” Trutan went to the supply shelf and took a blood extractor. “I’ll start testing each female in the facility after I get yours.”

Lise held out an arm and allowed the medic to place the device over the crease of her elbow. In moments, the sample was taken and all that was left was a small red dot on Lise’s arm.

“Your first priority is to keep these females alive. I don’t care what it takes. Second, find out more about these things and what they are doing to the females.” I spoke calmly, but underneath was a rising panic. If this was inflicted on the humans by a people more technologically advanced than us, it would be that much harder to find a cure.

“Yes, Warlord,” Trutan said immediately. “And any help you can send would be appreciated. Even with the other medic and the cybot, we cannot care for all these patients and do this research.”

“Understood,” I said. “I will get you some assistance and send a message to the captain of the other battle cruiser to send over any scientists and engineers they have on staff to help with the research.”

I had never felt so afraid. Not when faced with some of the more terrifying predators in the Wasting Plains. Not when I was stationed on a warship during the war against the UCP. I turned to my precious Lise. “I want you on the next transport out of here. No discussion.”

“You can’t send me away now,” Lise said.

“I can and I am.”

“Pal-Adrik,” Dikon called from the medic lab door, interrupting what was about to become an argument. “We just received a message from the Dessican leadership. They say they have put a cloak over our communication signals and that they have control over the human females. They have demands.”

“Show me,” I growled as Dikon handed me a handheld device. I read the terms of this siege/invasion with a sick stomach.

“What do they want?” Lise asked.

“All but the warlord and fifty of our fiercest warriors are to vacate the valley, or all the females die,” Dikon answered.

I was afraid of this, but it was actually a better deal than I’d thought we’d be offered. And if they could get ahold of this Paag technology, who knew what else they’d purchased. Advanced surveillance and weaponry were likely.

“I will give myself over, but not my warriors. What do the Dessicans want with them?” I demanded.

Dikon looked grim. “If you read the rest, you’ll see that you and the warriors are to be publicly executed to boost the morale of their fighters. I’m sorry, Warlord. They made it clear it can’t be just you. They want blood.”

“They will have it. We will fight to the death.” I ground my teeth together and resisted the urge to smash the handheld device that glowed with the Dessicans’ demands. “How much time do we have to evacuate the Thrail?”

“Two standard galactic days.”