'What is it Orin,' asked Tiet?
'This planet is somehow a duplicate of Castai III.'
'What?!'
'I know…but I have already located Mt. Vaseer and confirmed other topographical comparisons. The oceans, the mountains, and almost every major landmark are the same.'
Silence held everyone captive at that point.
'But the Vorn inhabit this planet,' said Dorian.
'We could really use some answers and the Vorn aren't likely to give them to us. I think we should go to this planet's city of Vaseer and see if the people on this world left any records.
'The city is deserted according to the scan data. I don't know what else to do at this point; the situation has changed so dramatically from what we were expecting to find.'
'Well, we better do something. This ship isn't invisible, you know. Somebody will be shooting at us sooner or later if we just fly around up here,' said Millo. 'I vote for Vaseer.'
Tiet and Dorian nodded in agreement.
'Course plotted. E.T.A. is twenty minutes.'
The Saberhawk's thrusters came to life to boost it away toward the mountain city. Cloud cover was fairly thick and provided good visual cover for the ship, but they knew that most likely they were already being tracked by the Vorn. The question was, could they reach Vaseer and find out what they needed to know before they were intercepted by attack ships?
THE reconstruction of Vale's body and the construction of his duplicates took a little time even for the automatons and nano-builders at the Spheres' control; but soon enough the work was complete. At ten hours, fifty three minutes, and twenty seven point seven eight seconds, Vale's repaired body and his new duplicates came online.
Vale had control over all three bodies at once. His mind combined with that of the Sphere was easily capable of coordinating every detailed action without hindrance. The three androids moved without delay, to join the waiting invasion force.
In one of the multiple launch bays within the huge Sphere, the Vale androids boarded one of the carrier vessels about to launch to the planet's surface. The drones were miniatures of the Sphere itself. Each attack drone was fully armed with phased plasma weapons and shield generators for defense.
The carrier drones each carried one large surface attack robot, which were more suited to close quarters fighting and rooting out combatants able to evade the airborne attack force. The spherical carrier drone closed around the androids and hovered off the deck of the launch bay to join the other drones already leaving the main ship.
The first target would be a multiple objective. The Barudii ship was on course for one of the ancient cities of the makers, and a large contingent of Vorn forces were on their way there as well.
A Horva of uncommon stature and intelligence sat astride his grevasaur surveying his troops. The General was expecting a mighty victory today. An army of Horva marched with him toward the place where he hoped they could launch a massive counter offensive against the Sphere that had for so many decades been hounding the Vorn. It had decimated their forces at every encounter with the powerful suicide drones it employed, as well as the massive weapons used by the main Sphere itself. General Grod was certain the machine was in orbit around Castai. Sensor scans had failed to locate it, and the orbiting satellites had been destroyed that could scan for its presence.
But now, by employing his new plan he felt confident that not only would they soon have its location but would finally put an end to the destruction. After all, if the Sphere were to eradicate the Vorn, he and his elite Horva would also be included, and he didn't want their former masters destroyed, but subjugated.
The Vorn were still useful, but they would soon learn who the real masters were. Their resistance to the uprising of his fellow Horva would soon be crushed and the balance of power would rest with himself and his fellow clones.
The General's command group began to break away from the rest of his forces as they approached Mt. Vaseer from the north. They would make there way up the mountain to a preplanned area that overlooked the valley on the other side. The valley would be the perfect battlefield to have their showdown with the drones and draw them out into the open, so that his plan could be properly executed. One thing about computers, they always made predictable movements; he knew the drones would take the bait.
Grod's second in command, Malec, was personally escorting their special surprise for the forces of the Sphere and controlling the other weapons that would hopefully bring down the massive control Sphere from orbit. Grod looked back over the fifty thousand man army that marched toward the pass around Vaseer with satisfaction. 'Victory!'
Those within hearing replied in kind and the cry spread across the entire army. They believed that he was a capable leader and that he would lead them to victory.
Grod had bolstered their pride as elite warriors. They had finally grown tired of being the muscle for the physically weaker Vorn, without ever receiving any of the glory or power.
Grod was their ideal, sitting upon his grevasaur, physically powerful and more menacing in his appearance than any of the other elite Horva.
When the Vorn had realized the danger of intelligent Horva with their greater physical power and tenacious love of fighting, they had gone to cloning a new breed of more easily manipulated Horva that were easy to control. This had been the final insult to Grod and his brother clones.
Now the rebellion was on. Grod prodded the grevasaur he rode upon, urging it on toward the rest of the command group who had begun to ride on ahead with their equipment in tow. The beast moaned deeply as it complied with its rider's commands.
THE Saberhawk glided smoothly around Mt. Vaseer on approach to the hangar bay on the lower western face of the mountain. On their internal scans of the city, there appeared to be a lot of damage. Obviously the fighting here on this duplicate Castai had been far worse, since there did not appear to be any Castillians left on the planet. Numerous sensor sweeps had not found even one native left alive.
As they approached the massive entrance, it was apparent that the doors probably were not functional. They were shut and pocked with blast marks and several very large holes that went all the through. The Saberhawk would not be able to gain entrance to the city.
Orin tried several command codes from back home; hoping that maybe the same had been in use in this duplicate universe. The automated systems either weren't functional or didn't recognize the codes. At any rate, the result was the same.
'Well there's not much choice,' said Orin as he looked back at Tiet. 'We'll have to go in and see if we can find anything.'
'I'm in.'
'Me too,' said Dorian.
'Actually I think Tiet and I will have to go alone. We don't have the time to land and hike back up to the city. We'll have to drop in here and go through the damaged hangar bay doors. You can't make the descent from the ship and I would rather that Millo was not left to handle any problems with the ship alone.'
Dorian was noticeably unhappy with the situation, but compliant.
'Millo, please take the ship down into the southern valley until we contact you. Keep an eye peeled for any trouble and get the ship out of danger if you have too. It's likely that the Vorn will be investigating our arrival. I doubt an old Barudii battleship will have gone unnoticed on this planet. Tiet, you and I will make the jump to Vaseer and see what we can come up with.'
Orin proceeded through the bridge passage and down the short stairwell toward the main entry way to the ship, with Tiet following close behind.
'Tiet!' called Dorian coming after him. Both men turned at her approach. Orin looked at Dorian and then Tiet, realizing they needed a moment to speak.
'I'm going to secure some more gear we may need. I'll meet you shortly in the vestibule.'
