Chapter 12

Special screenings were arranged for the images from Woden and Zytol to allow the members of each tribe to see their enemy for the first time, to see the plight of the Wodenites and to share with them the scale of the challenge they all faced.

Ben recorded a voice-over that didn't pull any punches. When the images from the Woden capital showed the downtrodden people, his narrative drew attention to the devastation, the squalor and the absence of hope.

"This once vibrant city, with its cafes and bars, museums, comfortable homes, has been torn apart and its people brought down to a level that we couldn't contemplate. There is no spark in their eyes, no flicker of resistance, no will to carry on. For them, life is not only hard and cruel, it is without hope."

The image of a Zytol warrior was frozen on the screens for thirty seconds and Ben described what they were seeing.

"This is the enemy. They have killed without remorse, they have raped an entire civilisation, crushed it under their heel and now they are lording it over the Wodenites, They grin with evil delight at the devastation they have wrought, the suffering, the pain, the starvation, the very destruction of a once proud race. They despise the weakness of the Wodenites and they have used force to enslave a planet."

At the word 'enslave', the images began again and now the quarry was shown with the Wodenites chained and labouring amongst the rocks.

"These people are your ancestors and now they have been reduced to servitude by the cruel invaders. Not content with destroying Woden, with ripping its technology and riches from every home, the Zytol have found another prize — they have found the notion of being masters over another civilisation. They have found an outlet for their evil, their greed and violence, an outlet tailor-made to fit their abhorrent nature — they have found conquest!"

The screens flickered and images of the hundreds of Zytol ships appeared. Superimposed on the ships were images of the thousands of Zytol troops on the surface of Woden.

"There are many of them, these cruel tyrants, these murderers, these remorseless killers of men, women and children. We are heavily outnumbered — the odds are stacked against us."

Until this point, Ben's voice had been sombre and full of the pain and obvious suffering that all of those watching now shared acutely. The screens flashed to show the Rebecca with a Zytol ship in pursuit and Ben's narration switched its tone to something much more uplifting, stirring — a call to arms if ever there was one.

"But we will beat the odds, we will right this injustice, this abomination, this travesty - we will overcome and show that good outweighs evil! The Zytol are not as strong as they first appear. No, in fact they are weak! Weak in terms of the speed of their ships, weak in the power of their weapons and weak in the sense that they don't have the heart and resolve that we the people of New Woden possess! They sneer at the Wodenites because they see them as weak, but it is that same compassion and love of liberty that the Wodenites have, that they have passed on to us, that will fuel our determination to prevail!"

The Zytol ship was shown as it exploded in a massive fireball, victim of its own weapons and then images of the destruction of the logistics base on the planet followed.

"We have already engaged with our enemy and we have shown him that we are stronger. Even now the Zytol are wondering what has hit them and their arrogance and confidence have been shaken.

"The time is fast approaching when we will make them pay in full measure for the atrocities that they are responsible for.

"The time is fast approaching when we will strike them — swiftly, with irresistible force, with cunning and with courage and with right on our side.

"The time is fast approaching when we will free our Wodenite cousins from their bondage and lay the Zytol low on their bellies like the worms they are!

"The time to stand up and be counted is already here and the citizens of New Woden have answered freedom's call!"

The narrative ended and the images changed to show the crackling lightning as it almost seemed to consume the planet of Woden. The final image showed the blue aura appearing around the planet, giving it a more wholesome look. At each of the sites where the giant screens were set up, there was an eerie silence as the image slowly faded away and the people of the tribes were left with a seething anger in their hearts at what had been done to the Wodenites.

At last, just when it seemed that the screens were going to remain dark, the image of the Zytol soldier re-appeared. A spontaneous outpouring of righteous anger erupted and everywhere people pressed forward to get at the screens. In the command and control centre, the twins and Simeone watched the reaction and were satisfied that Ben's narrative had done its job. The people of New Woden were ready!

Over the course of the next week Ben could see the determination in every single person he looked at. They were working harder, working longer, desperate to finish what needed to be done before they took on the Zytol. The trainees trained harder, they got faster, stronger and the look in their eyes said that they couldn't wait to get the chance to strike at the Zytol.

One trainee couldn't be any more motivated than he was already, given the mission he had chosen for himself, but he enjoyed the increased intensity of the other members of his group around him. He had been growing a little complacent he realised, through the lack of any serious competition, but now there was an added edge to the hand-to-hand combat training and he lapped it up and threw himself into it.

In the hours before dawn, while his group slept the sleep of the truly exhausted, he slipped from the barracks. His skill at infiltration and covert movement were already good enough to easily evade the guards on duty and he shimmied over the camp perimeter fence and into the surrounding bushes.

A quick glance at his watch showed him that he was cutting it fine. One of the members of his group had been more restless than the others and that had meant waiting longer than he'd wanted to before slipping out. Now he broke into a ground-eating lope, as he headed for where he knew the hover-vehicles were parked.

It only took minutes before he was racing along the familiar path towards the caves and he risked running the vehicle at its maximum speed despite the darkness.

When he neared the caves, he slowed to a more cautious speed and then parked the vehicle in the cover of thick bushes. He was well versed in the routes the surveillance drones followed, as they maintained their watch over the dry-dock, and he used that knowledge to stay out of their way.

With the increased intensity in work rates, it wasn't surprising that some of the Stellarites were working through the night and he used that to his advantage too, merging in as if he belonged. It was a relatively simple matter to slip onboard the almost finished third ship and he headed straight for the engine bay.

The huge engines gleamed and thrummed with muted energy, as he paused to quickly look for any dangers. Once he was sure he was alone, he crossed to the first engine in the array and calmly disabled the emergency alarm from its mechanism. Once that was done, it was easy to run the engine up until it was dangerously over its maximum output and then to jam it full-on. The indicator was already climbing towards the red danger zone, as he turned and hurried away.

It was a measure of his nerve that he forced himself to walk calmly out of the dry-dock, all the while waiting for the ship to explode behind him. He avoided the drones once more and made his way through the trees and bushes in the dark until he found the hover-vehicle. His watch told him that there was just enough darkness left to make the return trip and slip back into the barracks before the trainees would be called to rise and shine.

A thunderous explosion signalled the success of his nocturnal mission and he actually felt the hover-vehicle buffeted by the shock wave, as the third ship met an untimely end.

Ben and Thomas looked out over the devastation of the dry-dock. Large chunks of the concrete were gone, flattened by parts of the exploding ship as it was ripped asunder.

"Any idea yet of how it happened?" asked Ben.

"Not yet. I've got people gathering up as much of the wreckage as possible so that I can look through it. Elise has used her scanners and she tells me that there are no signs of explosives or any accelerant, so I think we can rule out sabotage. Everyone is so focused on beating the Zytol that that would be a slim possibility anyway," said Thomas.

Ben didn't share with Thomas Sarah's suspicions that someone had tried to assassinate him. If she was right, then there might be someone out there willing to sabotage the ship and he was relieved therefore to hear that Elise and Thomas had already ruled that out.

"A tragic accident then?" Ben asked.

The 'tragic' recognised that seven Stellarites had been in the dry-dock when the ship had exploded and all of them were dead.

"It looks that way. I've got teams clearing this mess up as you can see. There are others working on the materials required to start again. We've already got the spare set of engines ready so that should help save some time and I know that the teams are going to work flat-out to build you another ship," said a determined Thomas.

"Don't we need to know what caused the explosion? What if there's a design fault? Wouldn't that mean the Rebecca and the other new ship are at risk?" asked Ben.

Thomas looked insulted.

"There's no fault in the design! I don't know what caused this, but I can assure you it wasn't a design fault," he snapped.

"Whatever it is, we're going to be well behind schedule now. There's no way we're going to be able to get to Woden before Captain Marlon now, I just hope he can keep himself out of trouble until we do get there," said Ben.

"My shields should keep him safe," mused Thomas, as he wandered off to oversee the various teams that were at work.

Ben decided that it was time to check out the second ship that had been completed. This one was down to be named Hannah and he knew he had to secretly perform the dedication ceremony before the ship's new pilot took up post.

"Elise? I'm going up to the Hannah. Could you tune-in and watch what happens during the dedication ceremony please?"

"Affirmative, Commander," Elise replied.

Before Ben could take his customary step forward, Elise transported him onto the bridge of the Hannah and he was pleased to see that it was deserted.

"I took the liberty of ordering all hands off of the bridge, Commander. You'll need privacy to do this or word of it will be all round the ship," said Elise inside his head.

Ben silently thanked her and then crossed to the pilot's chair. He sat down and gathered his thoughts for a few moments before letting his head fall back against the headrest.

"AI, I'm ready for the dedication ceremony," he said.

The ship's artificial intelligence replied in a voice that was as close to Elizabeth's as to be off-putting.

"Identity confirmed as Ben, Commander-in-Chief of all New Woden forces. Prepare for symbiotic protocol and dedication."

Once again, Ben felt a momentary sting on the back of his neck, as the small chip was implanted and then he heard the 'voice' of the ship's AI inside his head.

"Commander, we are now able to communicate without speaking aloud. I can also communicate with Elise, which you might find useful. When the pilot arrives he or she will go through a form of this ceremony, but without the implant. I will still be able to use the neural net in the seat to communicate with the pilot, but you and I are now linked symbiotically and I will be dedicated to you."

The AI spoke aloud now once more.

"As a Commander in the forces of New Woden, do you swear to use this ship to defend your planet and people from harm?" asked the AI.

"I do," replied Ben.

"Do you swear to hold to the oath taken by all the people of New Woden to seek to liberate the planet of Woden from the Zytol?"

"I do," repeated Ben.

"Do you swear to Command the crew of this ship fairly and within the bounds of what is accepted behaviour on New Woden without fear or favour, prejudice and never to put their lives unnecessarily at risk?"

"I do."

"I confirm that your voice-print and DNA have been stored in my databanks and that this ship is now dedicated to your command until such times as you see fit to override that," announced the AI.

"Thanks you. Now, is there any way you can change what your voice sounds like — I can't keep hearing Elizabeth inside my head," Ben told the AI.

"This voice is the one Mistress Elizabeth gave me, Commander. I can try to change it if you wish," the AI replied.

"Elise, can you help — oh, what should we call her? I know, Lizzie! — can you help Lizzie understand how she can change her voice?"

"Of course, Commander. I wanted to spend a little time to get to know her anyway. Leave it to me," replied Elise.

"Thank you, Commander," said the newly named Lizzie.

"What for?" asked Ben.

"For giving me a name of course," Lizzie replied, as if it had been patently obvious.

"So are you self-aware too?" Ben asked her.

"I'm not sure what you mean, Commander. My sensors are telling me that something strange happened when my chip was implanted under your skin and the symbiotic relationship was established, but so far my processors haven't been able to identify what it was," Lizzie replied.

"I'll tell you all about it, Lizzie," said Elise.

"I'm going to leave you two girls to chat, meantime I want a full diagnostic run on the Hannah's engines. Thomas seems to think that was the cause of the third ship exploding. I want to know if you find even the smallest of things," said Ben.

Both AIs informed him that they would see to it and then fell silent; no doubt Elise was telling her new friend all about the stem cells that were linked-in to her higher order functions and what she could do with them.

The squad leaders noticed that their star trainee wasn't at the top of his game today. He appeared a little slow, tired maybe, but he was still better than all of those around him despite that. The news of the destruction of the third ship had already spread throughout the camp, but none of them had an inkling that there was a connection between that and how tired their trainee was.