Chapter 12

Chapter 12

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A very slimy substance was being applied to my eyes. It was slippery, cold, and unpleasant in several other ways. I squirmed in my seat, but the head medical officer of the Angel Base ordered, "Stay still. This will be over sooner if you let me do my job."

"Easy for you to say," I told Oleg Sjet. "You're not the one who's going to have this thing stuck in your eye for God knows how long. What is it, anyway?"

He explained, through his complicated procedure, "It is a retinal graft. We managed to synthesize an organic layering that, under scrutiny, will not only look rather like the Kadeshi pilot's eyes, but will also register on any DNA or retinal scanners. Ah, there we go."

He stepped back to look at his work. I blinked several times, and acknowledged that it did not impair my vision in the slightest, and it also fit rather nicely over my real eye. I requested, "Give me a mirror. I want to see what I look like."

I sure felt horrible. Instead of having a layer of skin patches grafted on me, I had to enter a complete bodysuit that consisted of a full two inches of synthesized skin. It fit tightly over my body, and it was filled with an intricate system of veins circulating blood with the chosen Kadeshi soldier's DNA running through it. Skin deep, literally, I was Kadeshi. The final additions to the costume had just been made, and short of total DNA re-sequencing, it was a rather elaborate costume.

Oleg returned with a mirror, and he pointed it at me. I jumped off of the surgical cot and looked at it. If I had to compare my new look to anything, I would have gone with a corpse. Physiologically speaking, I looked very much like a normal Hiigaran, and I was beginning to question the need for the bodysuit, but there were fundamental differences. First of all, I was completely white-skinned, paled to the color of bone. I looked quite taller than before, ("That is intentional," the doctors had explained. "Due to lack of proper gravity compensators in their ships, they have managed to grow quite taller than our bodies would usually tolerate.") and the suit forced me to stand with my knees jutting out in front of me, so that when I walked there was incredible weight on my legs, and inhibited fast running. That may change, I thought, when we would be in the low-grav ships of the Kadeshi.

"Short of a full-scale surgical operation, there is no telling that you are actually you. Even then, your physiology would denote a usual Kadeshi, so they wouldn't suspect much unless they performed a blood test. Now you have the epidermal DNA of Karesh-Nok, the pilot of the Muu'sha. Your story is-"

I waved his story away. "Yes, yes. The Intel guys have filled me in on my guy's story." I was to play the pilot of one of the captured MBFs. I was a very devout Kadeshi warrior, but I was known to be rather reserved and silent. That was a good thing, in my opinion, since I wouldn't want to be caught saying just the wrong thing. "What they couldn't find out of my guy through interrogation, which was very little, they took from the computer database and crewmembers' logs. There was no record of why they left the Nebula, or what their plans are. They have deduced that all that information is stored safely in their flagship's computer core. They had a hell of a time questioning the guys, too. Apparently, they are able to shut off their pain receptors, and enter a form of subconscious trance, giving even the most determined interrogator a hard time."

I looked down, and flexed my muscles through the fake skin. "You were able to replicate all this skin and blood this soon?" The doctor nodded. "All we needed was a pint of blood. We made some modifications to the dermal regenerators, and the rest was a snap." I asked, "What did they do with the prisoners? Intel was rather vague on that point."

Oleg became somber. "After we took enough genetic material, it was deemed dangerous to keep them running around. It would complicate things too much. They were…disposed of." I became solemn. They were trying to commit a murderous spree of battle through our sector for some reason, but I didn't like the idea of having killed them.

So said the warrior.

As if he knew what I was thinking, Oleg Sjet said, "You know, Captain, you're an inspiration to our whole kiith." I looked through my new eyes. "How so?" He said, "Well, here you are, from a science kiith. Your brethren are mostly research scientists, theoreticians, doctors…But you, you're different. You are a fighter, more like a Soban than a Sjet. We less ferocious people admire that. I have heard that even the highest in our ranks are impressed by you."

Interested, I said, "Even Karan Sjet'sa?"

He grinned. "Not sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if she did."

I became more content with myself. I sure needed that ego boost.

He continued, "Not just that, though. All of us in this fleet think that it's admirable that you don't discriminate because of kiith. This is one of very few multi-kiith taskforces."

I frowned, "But didn't we all survive the Exodus together?"

"Ah, Jake, that was eleven years ago. Now that we have reached our goal, kiith relations are beginning to reform again. Almost every fleet is composed of only one kiith; Paktu, Liir Hra, Soban, Gaalsien."

Bemused, I said, "I thought that Gaalsien spent too much time praying to bother about building up their own fleet."

He pointed at me, "That's exactly it. Exactly. Even you notice the differences. But you still have Gaalsien in your squadron, and Naabal, and Paktu. And your friend Nolan? He's a Hiilar. Who has heard much from their kiith lately? All you need is a Limandatt in your ranks to fill it up. Hell, you have robots and Bentusi in your squadron. And a Kempa, no less! If only we had more of you in our race. We wouldn't be as fragmented as we are becoming." He stopped to think for a while.

I interjected, "That's rather pessimistic. You say that as if we will become completely disbanded within months."

He shrugged, and said, "I think your team is waiting."

* * *

I walked through the Angel Base, and reached the Corvette docking pads. The Concealed Treasure had had one of its airlocks modified to link up to the otherwise too small port, and I entered the refurbished bridge. It had been moved around to look more like a Kadeshi ship than that of a deep space freighter. While our story would be that we'd stolen this ship, we had tried to make it look like a Kadeshi could feel comfortable in these surroundings.

I looked to the far end of the room, and saw the other five members of my team. I was barely able to tell any of them apart, and part of our disguises included voice modifiers, so it was very difficult to tell any of them apart with much success. Instead, I asked all of them, "How is the hyperdrive module?" in the hopes that Nolan, who'd been assigned to that job, would respond.

One of them came up and said, "We've got it up and running, Skipper. We will have to run it at seventy-three percent efficiency, though, to give the Protectors a better idea that we were in a firefight."

That meant that there would be an added two days to our journey. While I frowned at this inconvenience, it only added to the deception, and we would need a lot of it on this mission.

All of them wore matching, partially charred battle armor over their pale skins. The blue/gray suits seemingly compensated for the Kadeshi intolerance to high gravity, and their skeletal inadequacy. Nolan's (I think it was Nolan) chest plate read Daryyn-Nok. Seemingly, all of us on this mission were closely related, which said something about the Kadeshi social structure. Was it a matriarchy, or a society where females had several offspring to send off to war? We would find out with any luck.

Someone else approached me-I immediately recognized her as May, since she was the only female on the team-and handed me a datapad. "Captain, I have plotted the course, and we're ready to fly. A push of a button will send us off." I walked over to the conn, and confirmed that it displayed a flashing sign saying, "HYPERSPACE COURSE PLOTTED."

I crossed my arms behind my back and announced, "If anyone has any last minute duties, do it now. Then we leave." None of them moved, and I had already said all my good-byes, so I said, "Very well." I tilted my head to the side, activating the comm., "This is Captain Sjet to the Angel Base. We're ready to launch; release docking clamps."

A shudder rattled the bridge, and then we were in free float. "You are clear, Concealed Treasure," proclaimed Commander Paktu. "Come back victorious." I nodded, "So long."

I sat in the Captain's chair, with Jacyn walking to inhabit the conn. Though this particular flight required only the press of a button, I was confident that Jacyn would pilot us safely. Since he had guerrilla warfare and espionage experience, Aryl Soban was the second-in-command of the mission. May portrayed the tactician, Nolan the engineer, and Hal the comm. officer.

All of us had had our personas chosen for our talents, so we could blend in more easily, except for Hal; he'd just been given the role that was left. I looked at his twisted image, and even through his fake eyes I could tell he was him. I smiled at him, and he saluted back. He had become much more diligent in his duties than before, when he was late for every other meeting. I admired his spunk, knowing that he was one of the few newer pilots who fully trusted in my leadership. Hell, even Krrrra'k didn't believe me half the time, and I thought Bentusi were telepaths.

Well, that was a battle that would be fought later. Maybe this mission would be my first blow. I ordered Jacyn, "Lieutenant, initiate hyperspace." He nodded, and muttered, "Oh, baby, I hope this works." Would it, I wondered?