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  "Vejrezzol has broken off almost all contact with the church. He doesn't respond to communications and doesn't see visitors from outside the sect he's established."

  Kulhwolpk shook his head slowly. "I was hoping you could tell me something we could use."

  "I can tell you Vejrezzol was never granted access to the documents that proved church leaders were behind the genocide of our people on Dakistee. We've known for decades that Vejrezzol only craves power, so we've seen to it that he never rose to a position of real authority and responsibility in the church. Had he achieved such a position before we learned of the treachery, he would surely have been included in the discussions and would then have understood why the church allowed the document from Dakistee to replace the Almuth we were following. But I know he can't be trusted to keep the secret, so when I learned he was serious about leaving Nordakia, I felt you should be reminded of what happened once before. I can't guarantee Vejrezzol is unaware of it. He might have learned from a clergy member in the know."

  "Then you feel confident he's capable of carrying out such an act?"

  "Capable? Without a doubt. He's extremely bitter. When the church hierarchy was satisfied that the Almuth presented to the King and Queen by Azula Carver was genuine, we made a commitment to embrace it. It was difficult letting go of so much we had come to accept, but most of us were successful. Vejrezzol and his followers continued to denounce the original Almuth as heresy and pledged himself to proving it was a lie perpetuated by Azula Carver. He was unable to do so, of course, but he managed to gather enough believers that he was able to form his own sect. Unfortunately for them, the government never recognized their church because it tried to impose old values on a populace who had come to embrace the changes."

  "And how do you feel about the changes now?"

  "The church has fully accepted the changes. Our people are more faithful to the covenants of the Almuth and more content with their lives than at any point in my lifetime. I doubt any of our priests, outside of Vejrezzol's sect, would welcome a return to the Almuth we followed in the days before the changes. The recovered text of the One True Word has answered so many questions that our scholars have wondered about and argued about for millennia. A new sort of peace has developed within the priesthood. Our ancestors on Dakistee were wise indeed, and the leaders who brought our people here must have been mad. I wish we could tell both groups how we feel about them."

  "If so much of the church recognizes that the changes have been beneficial, how is it that Vejrezzol has managed to find so many supporters for his dream of reinstituting the false Almuth?"

  "People have trouble letting go of lifelong behaviors, even when shown the practices were wrong to begin with. We in the priesthood have accepted that what we were taught was a lie and that our teachers had themselves been deceived. This was a difficult pill to swallow, but we were unable to argue with the truth that the people who brought us here had committed a vile act. We knew it was time for us to do what we could to rectify it. Vejrezzol never reached that conclusion. He could only see that what he had been taught was being stripped away from him after a lifetime of dedication. He simply refuses to accept the truth."

  "Some might say that's a sign of madness," Kulhwolpk said.

  "Yes, some might. But in all other respects he seems completely rational. I hope he doesn't give me cause to regret my defense of him by attempting a heinous act like that of our distant progenitors."

  * * *

  "Ahil, please give us your report on Dakistee," Chairman Strauss of the Raider Lower Council said at the regularly scheduled meeting.

  Councilman Ahil Fazid stood in front of his chair at the enormous table and cleared his throat before beginning. "We've moved as many elements as possible into the Loudescott site and someone watches the entrance to the tunnel around the clock. We've learned that, to date, the archeologists have made no progress in their attempts to open the facility. They work down there every day but our people report they haven't been able to open the entrance door by even a nanometer. Word is they've asked Admiral Carver to come help since it was she who had so much success with the ancient technology in the past."

  "Admiral Carver?" Councilwoman Erika Overgaard said in surprise. "Do they really expect the Commander of the Second Fleet and Military Governor of Regions Two and Three to come to Dakistee to handle a minor issue?"

  "It's not so minor. Who knows what a wealth of secrets and technology awaits behind that sealed door. They've been trying desperately for weeks to open the facility— without success. Anyway, the word is they're doing their best to open the door before Carver, or whoever she sends, arrives so they can get the first look at whatever lies within the facility and because they fear they might be excluded again."

  "Are we ready to take advantage of any opportunity that presents itself?" Strauss asked.

  "Not quite yet, but we'll be ready in time to move in quickly when the facility is opened. Our main problem is one of keeping the assets in place without detection. We've located as many people as possible at the dig site as laborers, food preparers, and whatnot, and established a base some two hundred kilometers away in a mountainous, densely wooded area for the rest. The terrain is so difficult to traverse on foot that the area is rarely visited. Within minutes of being summoned, our shuttles can be airborne and arrive at Loudescott quickly. The problem is one of keeping our people bottled up inside the small ships until they're needed. We don't allow them outside because, although there are no surveillance satellites around the planet, they would be visible to passing aircraft. The shuttles themselves are camouflaged to blend in with the surrounding vegetation, and the hulls can mask heat signatures."

  "Do they have all the weapons and supplies they need?"

  "They've been fully outfitted and the shuttle captains have been briefed. They understand their roles. They'll deliver the people to the dig site when called and then ferry them off, along with whatever prizes our people are able to retrieve."

  "So what remains to be done?"

  "We're completing preparations for diversionary actions that will pull every Space Marine on the planet to the opposite side of the globe. These will seem like popular uprisings for better wages. Once the Marines begin to arrive at the distant locations, we'll block all communications from Loudescott so they can't signal for help. With luck, we'll have days before the Marines begin returning to their posts around the planet."

  "Excellent. How large is the Marine contingent at Loudescott?"

  "Quite small, really. It's less than a squad. We estimate their total planetary strength to be only about four hundred."

  "That's a significant number."

  "Not for an entire planet with hundreds of dig sites to watch over. They're actually spread out pretty thin. The Marines posted at Loudescott are responsible for all security at the dig, which encompasses some fifty square kilometers."

  "It would seem they'll not be able to offer much of an obstacle if half their present number have traveled to the other site of the planet when we're ready to move in. Excellent planning, Ahil."

  * * *

  The Roberts arrived at Dakistee right on schedule after a smooth and uneventful trip. Christa had spent part of the time brushing up on her Nordakian by requiring the computer interface in her quarters to speak to her only in that language. She also reread the books that she, Eliza, and Jenetta had co-authored a decade and half earlier to refresh her memory. She had also spent an incredible amount of time plowing through the myriad documents and vids they had found in the underground facility's computer. All top-secret documents had long ago been removed from her computer's database. Space Command had released most of the other documents to the archeological officials at the expeditionary headquarters on Anthius, who had no doubt disseminated them to the archeologists on Dakistee. She felt prepared for whatever awaited her on the planet.

  * * *

  Christa lightly touched her shuttle down on a designated landing pad nearest the most
ground activity at the Loudescott dig. The huge smile on her face conveyed how she felt. It was always a thrill to pilot a small craft after being in a command position for a time and away from the controls of a ship. Giving orders to a helmsman that would alter the course of a battleship just wasn't as satisfying as piloting the ship oneself. While aboard ship, Christa always made time for simulator practice, but it just wasn't the same.

  As she shut down the engines and turned off the ship's flight systems, she saw a greeting party approaching from across the landing field. Marine Assault Transport traffic was fairly common in the area, but Space Command ship sightings were rare. The exterior markings clearly identified the shuttle as SC, and the people at the dig site had rightly guessed that it might be the representative they were expecting.

  Christa emerged from the shuttle and stood on the top step for a few seconds to absorb the beautiful springtime vista before stepping down from the shuttle to greet the approaching group. They were the same group of scientists she had known when she was last here. Although Jenetta's first encounter with the group had occurred before Christa's birth, she recalled every detail of the event as though it had been she greeting the site personnel.

  She smiled at the approaching party and, as they neared, said, "Hello, Doctors Peterson, Ramilo, Huften, Vlashsku, Priestley, and Djetch. Hello Mr. Hill, Ms. Steen, Ms. Tomallo, and Ms. Cheney. It's wonderful to see all of you again. It's been a long time between visits. Congratulations on earning your doctorates, Doctor Priestley and Doctor Djetch. I don't see Mr. Deeds among your party. I hope he's well."

  In the lead, owing to their longer legs, Vlashsku and Djetch stopped two meters from Christa. In customary fashion, they dropped to one knee, their heads bowed, with their right hands held against their chests as required when greeting a member of the Nordakian nobility. The others stopped walking while the ritual was performed, but didn't question it since they had observed it before. When Jenetta had first landed on the planet sixteen years earlier, both Nordakians had greeted her in the same fashion.

  "Gentlemen, please stand and raise your heads," Christa said. As they rose, she said, "You honor me with your greeting, and I thank you. Since we'll be working closely for the near term, perhaps we can dispense with kneeling for the remainder of my visit. Is that okay?"

  "As you wish, My Lady," the two Nordakian men said in unison.

  Doctor Peterson stepped forth and extended his hand, saying, as Christa accepted it, "Commander, I'm delighted you were able to come after all. When I received the message that you were sending a representative, I feared we would be saddled with someone who didn't have a clue about the technology of the ancients."

  "Edward," Dr. Huften said, "don't you remember? I told you Jenetta Carver is an admiral now. This is obviously Christa or Eliza."

  "Quite right, Dr. Huften, I'm Christa."

  Dr. Huften smiled and said, "Welcome to Dakistee, Christa. To answer your question, Harold Deeds is well. He's not among us because he accepted a position at Expedition Headquarters here on Dakistee. He's a senior curator at the collection warehouse."

  "Wonderful," Christa said with a smile. "I regret, Dr. Peterson, that Admiral Carver was unable to get away, as much as she would have loved to come, but I was fortunate to be available for a return to my homeland. I hope you consider me a suitable replacement. Just what is the urgent matter you need to discuss?"

  "Since you and your sisters share a common heritage, I'm delighted you're here, Commander. We've encountered a problem not unlike the last time we requested assistance from Space Command."

  "Another cloning lab?"

  "We don't know. We've uncovered an impregnable facility similar to the other, but we've been unable to gain entry."

  "Perhaps that's just as well. There's no telling what dangers might be inside. Would you show me the way to the new tunnel?"

  "Of course. Follow me."

  With Dr. Peterson in the lead, Christa and her entourage wound their way through a maze of small open pits. Most had at least one person at the bottom who was exercising great care while removing clumps of soil or painstakingly cleaning dirt from partially buried objects. Christa was glad to see that Dr. Peterson had finally made the transition to laser poles. The new poles, positioned along two axes of an area, continually drew and redrew a grid work of lines. When Christa had last been on the planet, Dr. Peterson had still been insisting on the ancient system of stakes and string to delineate the grid, and people frequently became fouled in the lines and tripped.

  The surface entrance to the facility was identical to that of the cloning facility. All exterior surfaces of the two-meter-wide tunnel were faced with a highly polished, metamorphic rock such as marble that bore tendril-like streaks of white and gave the appearance of fractures in the lustrous black surface. As they descended into the tunnel, their nostrils were continuously assaulted by the pungent odors of damp soil and mold spores that lingered in the passageway. As with the other entrance, the downward ramp turned back on itself twice and widened to four meters as it leveled out. The entire way was brightly illuminated by Chembrite Light panels.

  As the black wall and door came into view, Christa experienced a flashback to the first time Jenetta had seen the other wall and door. The door and tunnel area were still as pristine here as the other had originally been. Following the attack by Tsgardi mercenaries at the other location, the entry antechamber had evidenced the severe consequences of innumerous explosions from attempts to breach the facility's impregnable construction.

  "Here it is, Commander. As you can see, our attempts at entry have been fruitless. We didn't resort to explosives. They certainly didn't help the Tsgardi gain entry at the other facility."

  "Yes, brute force isn't an effective tool with Dakinium. And the use of power sufficient to break in might result in the entire facility being destroyed."

  "Do you think you can open it?" Doctor Huften asked anxiously.

  "I'll certainly do my best. But first I have to report in. My orders are to send a detailed message to my HQ as soon as I've sized up the situation."

  "But you can't announce this," Peterson said. "We've kept it a closely guarded secret to ensure the Raiders don't learn of it."

  "I'm not going to announce it, Doctor. I'm going to send an encrypted message to Admiral Carver to see how she wishes to proceed."

  "Humph, I know what that means," Peterson said.

  "Please enlighten me," Christa said.

  "It means you're sending for reinforcements to bar us from getting inside."

  "I expect Marine personnel will arrive to protect the facility once it's opened. And I can state with some certainty that you won't be among the first to enter the facility. We must ensure there's no danger to site personnel and that there will be no situations like the cloning accident at the other facility."

  "Which means we won't have an opportunity to examine whatever it is you find inside."

  "As I understand it, all artifacts from the other facility, with the exception of the cloning equipment, were eventually turned over to Expedition Headquarters."

  "Yes, but not for many months."

  "Even so, you did eventually get everything except the illegal equipment or access to certain confidential information that Space Command deemed should remain secret."

  "And how do we know that?"

  "It's the truth, Doctor. If you don't believe it, I have no way of convincing you."

  "Humph."

  "Well," Christa said to the assembled scientists, "if you'll all excuse me, I have a report to compose and send."

  The group parted so she could leave and waited until they were confident she was out of earshot before talking among themselves.

  "I told you," Dr. Peterson said. "We're going to be cut out of the loop just like before."

  "We never expected to be included in the Military's inner circle of confidants, Edward," Dr. Huften said. "We only knew we needed their help to get into the facility. We've had months and we
're no closer to learning the secrets of our find than we were before we found it. Perhaps we'll have to wait a few months to learn what's inside, but we've already wasted that much in effort. I'm happy to turn the problem over to Space Command. I know they'll share whatever information they can as soon as they can."

  "We have only their word for that."

  "Azula Carver and her sisters are honorable," Dr. Vlashsku said. "I believe everything they say."

  "As do I," Dr. Djetch said.

  "Admiral Carver and her sisters did save all our lives at great risk to their own when the Tsgardi attacked." Dr. Ramilo said. "I'm also disposed to believe what she says is the truth."

  "I never said she was lying," Dr. Peterson said defensively. "I trust her. I just don't trust the military as a whole."

  Christa climbed aboard the shuttle and relocked the hatch behind her. The shuttle Jenetta had provided was outfitted to serve as both home and base of operations. The seats in the cabin area had been removed and replaced with furnishings usually found in a deluxe shelter. The larder was stocked with enough food for six months, and she even had a gel-comfort bed. At least she would be comfortable while she waited for instructions from Jenetta.

  The message to Quesann would take seventeen days to arrive and then seventeen more for the response to reach Dakistee, so, after sending her report to Jenetta, Christa sent a message to Admiral Holt at Higgins Space Command Base. As nice as it was to come home for a visit, she feared losing her dream posting on the Hephaestus if she remained here too long. She knew Jenetta and Captain Powers would do everything they could to hold the position open, but they couldn't hold it forever. Besides, she'd rather be aboard the Hephaestus than on Dakistee. The DS battleship was scheduled to leave on patrol in three days and Christa was disappointed that someone else would be handling her watch.