Intruder

  Rogue Hunter

  Gaia #2

  Intruder

  by

  Kevis Hendrickson

  This is a work of fiction. The events and characters described herein are imaginary and are not intended to refer to specific places or living persons. The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or any third-party publishers.

  Rogue Hunter: Gaia: Intruder

  All Rights Reserved.

  Copyright © 2010 Kevis Hendrickson

  Smashwords Edition

  Cover illustration © Morgan Bishop. All rights reserved – used with permission.

  Rogue Hunter Logo © Ryan Hawkins. All rights reserved – used with permission.

  The Legend of Witch Bane Cover illustration © Michael Graham. All rights reserved – used with permission.

  This book may not be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in whole or in part by any

  means, including graphic, electronic, or mechanical without the express written consent

  of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and

  reviews.

  Smashwords Edition, License Notes

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each person you share it with. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then you should return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

  Intruder

  Chapter One

  With stiff, lumbering steps, Zyra Zanr entered her makeshift office aboard Helship-IIand sat down tenderly at her desk, her frown nearly as wide as the large bruise on her swollen cheek. She removed an icepack from her face with a groan and set it aside. She picked up an injection capsule, carefully placed the dispenser to her neck, and gave a soft press. Zyra winced as she felt the injection capsule’s sharp needle pierce her skin to deliver its potent dose of painkillers. Zyra allowed her head to loll to the side and placed the capsule back on her desk.

  Did anyone get the ID number of that jumbo sized star cruiser that landed on me?

  Zyra stifled a laugh, dreading that her movements would excite her injuries. Instead, she picked up the icepack, arched her back so that she could place it in her chair, and carefully sat on it. Zyra had to force herself from crying out as the deep cold of the icepack sent a sharp pain up the length of her spine.

  Don’t think this is working either.

  Realizing that she was going to hurt no matter what she did, Zyra forced herself to sit upright and flicked her finger through the sliver of blue light coming from her desk. A holographic computer screen appeared before her.

  Zyra caught her reflection in the electro-mirror on her desk and frowned. She didn’t know what bothered her more, the puffy, discolored flesh around her eyes, or the freshly cropped shag of golden hair that hung on both sides of her head. Zyra was a woman who spent very little time attending to her looks. Chasing through the stars after the galaxy’s worst felons didn’t allow her the opportunity. But her one vice was her long golden hair which she adored greatly.

  Unfortunately, getting her teeth kicked in on Taklaylon Alpha reminded her why it was a bad idea to go to a fight without being properly accessorized. Her hair, as well as the ability to chew solid food, was the casualty of foolishly rejecting common sense rules of bounty hunting. It would take some time for Zyra to get used to her shoulder-length hair.

  Zyra ignored the throbbing in her head while she toggled the holographic icons in front of her, sliding them in a crisscross fashion as she accessed her computer’s security de-encryption programs. With a circular motion, she manipulated the three-dimensional image of a multi-colored cube that appeared on her screen, bypassing a chain of encoded buffer programs designed to safeguard private computer networks from unauthorized eyes. Zyra grimaced at the data stream that flowed down the right column of her multiple screens. She shuddered a little as she ran her fingers over the screen with as much of a wily smile as the swollen bruises on her face would permit. The throbbing in her head only increased as she hacked into the first few defensive programs. Molly Black would pay for this headache.

  “What a fool you are. Coming all this way to find me and not even knowing why.”

  Zyra’s mood darkened when she recalled Molly Black’s harsh words. She had fully expected Molly to put up a vicious fight to protect the mysterious cylinder that Zyra had been sent halfway across the galaxy to retrieve. However, Zyra did not anticipate being caught up in the intrigue surrounding the cylinder. Normally, Zyra would have kept her nose out of the Intergalactic Alliance’s affairs. But something about the contents of the cylinder disturbed her. Having barely escaped Captain Rador’s undersea base alive, she was determined to understand the nature of what it was she had been sent to capture.

  Zyra’s excitement brought on another dizzy spell. Immediately, the image of Molly slamming her head into the floor sent her mind reeling. Zyra remembered waking up suddenly to the raucous sound of the undersea base computer’s self destruction sequence countdown. Her enemies had escaped and left her to die. Zyra’s battered body punished her as she made a hasty retreat from the exploding base. Commandeering one of the leftover deep sea subs, she was able to return safely to the surface of the Mantikaas Ocean, afterwards using the sub’s computer to summon her ship which was hiding in orbit within one of the planetary rings. Zyra was disappointed by Molly’s escape. But the way she saw it, Molly was only prolonging the inevitable.

  When the left holo-screen suddenly appeared before Zyra, she glanced over to see the portly face of a man who wore the traditional garb of a high-ranking military commander. With hardly any indication that she had acknowledged the man’s presence, she nonchalantly touched the screen to transfer the man’s image to her center screen.

  “Hi there,” Zyra said, not trying to hide the apathy in her voice.

  “Ms. Zanr, I presume,” the man replied, the large folds in his chin making him look like a walrus with a large mustache.

  “The one and only. And you are?”

  “I am Henry Forsythe, Grand Admiral of the InterGalactic Alliance Military Command.”

  “What can I do for you, Admiral?”

  “Perhaps I should be the one asking that question, considering it is you who instigated this conversation.”

  “Then I hope it wouldn’t surprise you to know that I am in the market for some prime gossip concerning the details of my mission.”

  “Hardly surprising. Even so, I would be irresponsible not to ask you if you have recovered ‘our’ property.”

  “You have to give to get, Admiral,” Zyra said with a smirk.

  “According to my charts, you are currently aboard your starship heading deep into the Skaaris system. That was not the plan. Am I right to assume that you have failed your mission?”

  “I’m still pursuing the target, if that’s what you want to know. Now, about my inform—”

  “Lets cut to the chase, shall we, Ms. Zanr? You have been caught red handed breaking into a secured military network. I presume you know the penalty for such a crime. Or does 30 years of hard labor working at the rock quarry of Ororos Major mean nothing to you? I imagine you’d be something of a celebrity among the inmate population considering the large number of them you sent there.”

  “I’m shaking, Admiral.”

  “The threat stands.”

  “Look,” Zyra rebuffed, matching the Admiral’s glower. “I need some information about that cylinder Molly Black is carrying. I have already asked General Devl
in, but he told me that the information I am seeking is classified and that I am on a need-to-know-only basis.”

  “The general is correct. The information about that cylinder is classified. Beside, I don’t see how it matters to you. You’re a bounty hunter. The only reason you accepted this mission is to collect on the reward. Do I have it right?”

  “You obviously didn’t read the fine print. I’m not any ol’ bounty hunter. I’m a Rogue Hunter. You do know what that means?”

  “Enlighten me, Ms. Zanr.”

  “It means I’m in it for the blood.”

  “And?”

  “It means I’ve got an itchy trigger finger and really good aim. Things could end badly for you if you don’t give me what I want.”

  “Are you threatening me, Ms. Zanr? I don’t think you’d want me as your enemy.”

  “Let me put it this way. I’m the only person who can give you what you need. So it would be in your interest to keep me happy. Then again, it would be a shame if Molly Black were to suddenly disappear without leaving any trace of your ‘precious’ cylinder.”

  “You wouldn’t dare.”

  “Last time I checked. This was the dark side of the galaxy. People go missing all the time.”

  “You will find Commander Black and return the cylinder to us.”

  “What cylinder?”

  “You are playing a very dangerous game, Ms. Zanr,” Admiral Forsythe warned, the lines in his aged face growing harsh. “Considering what is at stake, to say nothing of the fact that you apparently lack the proper motivation to complete this assignment, I will tell you what it is Commander Black has in her possession. This is assuming that you will tell no one else what you are about to hear.”

  “Scout’s honor,” Zyra said, noticing Admiral Forsythe’s darkening complexion. Forsythe didn’t seem the type to have someone threaten him without retaliating. But she knew he had no choice but to offer Zyra the information she sought.

  “Tell me, Ms. Zanr. What do you know of the Battle of Corus Ni?” the Admiral inquired through gritted teeth.

  “News-vids say there was a battle last year between Alliance ships and pirates near the Corus Ni Nebula. Heard it was real nasty business. Afterwards, President Upshaw declared it an off-zone.”

  “Yes, but not entirely true. There was a battle at Corus Ni. But it didn’t involve pirates.”

  “Let me guess. Another government cover up?”

  “There is a reason why the President deemed this information classified,” Forsythe said, ignoring Zyra’s taunt. “If word had got out to the public about what really happened, there would have been chaos throughout the Alliance. We have enough trouble with the Xorghkans. We cannot afford more mass hysteria. Certainly you can understand the need for discretion?”

  “Nothing worse than upsetting the status quo, right? Wouldn’t want to make the sheep restless.”

  Admiral Forsythe scowled at Zyra as he rolled on with his explanation: “Exactly one year prior to the day we sent you off to Taklaylon Alpha, we received an emergency distress signal from the High Chancellor of the Prima Legion of Worlds. An unidentified vessel had entered their space. This vessel, which we unaffectionately refer to as Intruder, destroyed six of their largest planets.”

  “What kind of starship can destroy a planet?”

  “With the exception of Intruder, none we presently know. As you may have guessed, Intruderwasn’t of the human variety. Hence, the mystery. But make no mistake. Intruderwas a scourge unlike any we have ever known before. Wherever it went, it left a path of destruction and carnage. Whole planets reduced to cosmic dust. Entire races wiped out in a single incendiary blast. Everywhere Intruderwent, death followed.”

  Admiral Forsythe drew a large breath and gathered himself before continuing. “After Intruderdestroyed the Chancellor’s home world of Orn, it entered Alliance space and attacked several outlying colonies on the galactic rim leaving no survivors behind. We estimate that within the first few days of Intruder’s invasion of our space, some 30 million souls had been lost. The decision was thereafter made by our government and the Prima Legion of Worlds to stifle any attempt to make this information public. Like the High Chancellor, our president understands the wisdom of keeping the peace.”

  “If millions of people were killed by this alien ship, why was this kept a secret?”

  “Because of fifty-two seconds, Ms Zanr.”

  “Fifty-two seconds?”

  “Intruderwas on its way to attack Earth-3 when we sent an armada of our most powerful ships to form a military blockade, the largest fleet we have ever dispatched into battle. Even the Prima Legion of Worlds supplied over 2000 ships to the fight. We waged battle just beyond the rim of the Corus Ni Nebula. Fifty-two seconds, Ms Zanr. That was all it took for Intruderto obliterate an armada comprised of over 100,000 ships.”

  “How can one ship posses the firepower to take out an armada?”

  “This was no ordinary ship, Ms. Zanr. What you should know is that it was Commander Black who stopped Intruder.”

  “Molly?”

  “Yes. Puzzling isn’t it? An armada of more than 100,000 ships destroyed in only fifty-two seconds by this alien vessel. But it takes only a single fighter pilot to destroy this enemy.”

  “How did she do it?”

  “Precisely the question we asked Commander Black. She was the only survivor of the Battle of Corus Ni. Yet, she claimed to be unable to remember the events that led to Intruder’sdefeat. Commander Black was diagnosed by our medics as having amnesia brought on by a case of severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

  “Granted, Commander Black suffered dearly during the battle. Her entire squad was wiped out. When we found her ship floating among all the wreckage in space, her life-support system had failed and she had slipped into a coma. Several months passed before we could revive her. Even that seemed a miracle,” Forsythe said, his voice drifting off as he stopped to consider his next words. Zyra could only imagine the horror of losing an entire squad in battle. Yet, Molly was a seasoned pilot who had suffered the deaths of many of her comrades. If Molly had truly lost her memory, she hadn’t shown any signs during their encounter on Taklaylon Alpha.

  “Molly was always a great pilot,” Zyra said. “But I can’t believe that she single-handedly destroyed that ship. Not if it was as powerful as you say.”

  “Now you are getting to the heart of the matter, Ms. Zanr. Many in the Military High Command, including myself, wondered about her story. We were determined to find out the truth. But the search for the truth uncovered a great mystery. Something happened to Commander Black during the Battle of Corus Ni, something that changed her.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Let me just say that Commander Black is full of surprises.”

  Zyra noticed a flicker of emotion in the Admiral’s stern eyes, but she was unsure whether the Admiral admired Molly or feared her. Zyra shook away the thought with a twist of her head that made her migraine worse.

  “What does all of this have to do with the cylinder?” Zyra asked, trying to conceal her discomfort.

  “Surely you have heard the term, retro-engineering?”

  “I have.”

  “As you would expect, Intruderintrigued Military High Command. We wanted to study it and learn its origins. More importantly, we wanted to know who had sent it to attack us. So we quarantined all space around Corus Ni and declared it a military off-zone. Any ship not cleared for entry would be shot down on approach of the nebula.

  “We built a space station around the wreckage of Intruderand sent our top engineers and scientists to analyze every inch of it. Nothing could have prepared us for what we discovered. For starters, Intruder’s age exceeds 10 million years. We believe it was built by an ancient race who had created Intruderto perform the function of a sentinel meant to defend this quadrant against an unknown enemy. What we never learned is who created Intruderor the identity of their enemy.”

  “So we were taken out by a dead ci
vilization’s leftover defenses?”

  “Exactly. Often weapons used in a war continue to afflict a population long after the war ceases. Intruderis no different than a land mine left on a battlefield which claims the life of an unsuspecting child.

  “Even in its defunct state, Intruderhad its uses. Retro-engineering enabled us to advance our own technology to new heights allowing us to discover even more about the ship. The engineers and scientists discovered the most advanced technology in the Power Room. They named it Gaia. Just enough of this strange energy remained in Intruder’spower reserves for us to retrieve a sample.”

  “What is Gaia?” Zyra asked, a sickening dread filling her when she recalled the strange effect Molly’s cylinder had on her when she encountered it on Taklaylon Alpha.

  “Gaia is a self-replicating form of energy more advanced than anything we knew before. One micron of Gaia equals the power of a small star. But that is the tip of the iceberg. Our scientists used Gaia to heal decomposed flesh and even revive dead rodents several days after they had expired. With time, we were certain we would find a medical use for Gaia. Imagine being able to save a loved one from a mortal wound.”

  “Or bring them back from the dead?” asked Zyra, immediately noticing the lines in the admiral’s brow growing more pronounced.

  “Perhaps.”

  “Is there a military application for Gaia?”

  “That’s also classified information, Ms. Zanr. But I would think you are smart enough to answer your own question,” the Admiral chided, starting to turn a deep pink.

  “So why all the fuss? Molly took a big risk stealing Gaia from you. But if Gaia is self-replicating, you can always make more.”

  “No. Commander Black destroyed the science station along with all of the scientists and their research. There isn’t enough left of the station or Intruderfor us to recover the information lost. Right now, Commander Black has the only remaining sample of Gaia energy in existence.”