{"id":2217,"date":"2011-06-11T01:00:25","date_gmt":"2011-06-11T05:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.allandouglas.com\/blog\/?p=2217"},"modified":"2025-04-21T01:56:41","modified_gmt":"2025-04-21T05:56:41","slug":"chapter-5-cyborg-wars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/chapter-5-cyborg-wars\/","title":{"rendered":"Saturday Fun Stuff: Chapter 5 of Cyborg Wars"},"content":{"rendered":"

If you want to Start at the Beginning<\/a><\/p>\n

My shuttle touches down just as the landing craft are lifting off to return our men to the ship.\u00a0Those who survived.\u00a0 High General Gohn is already there, standing at the hatchway as I step out of the shuttle.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdmiral Mann,\u201d he says with a small, stiff bow.\u00a0 \u201cIt is a pleasure to fight beside you again.\u00a0 And it was a glorious battle, was it not?\u201d<\/p>\n

We lost 43% of our Troopers, and 60% of our ships.\u00a0 I don\u2019t see anything glorious about that, but Stormers consider dying in battle the height of glory.\u00a0 \u201cMmm\u2026 Glorious.\u201d<\/p>\n

General Gohn laughs and steps aside to let me exit.\u00a0 Then growls and reaches for his weapon when he sees my guest.<\/p>\n

I held out my hand, with out touching him \u2013 never try to restrain a Stormer Warrior or you\u2019ll end up dead too.\u00a0 \u201cAllow me to present,\u201d I say in as cordial a voice as I can manage at the moment, \u201cWing Commander Ulan.\u201d\u00a0 The General stands with weapon at ready, lip curled, but stays where he is.\u00a0 I continued, \u201cWho is grateful\u2026\u201d and I emphasize that last word, much to Ulan\u2019s chagrin, who tries not to, but looks indignant just the same, \u201cfor our assistance in this matter.\u201d\u00a0 <\/p>\n

\u201cAssistance?\u201d Growls the General if it were not for us, they would all be dead.\u00a0 Most of them already are!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNow see here, you hulking\u2026\u201d She tries to push past me, I stay put.<\/p>\n

\u201cWait, wait a minute you two.\u00a0 There has been enough bloodshed here today.\u00a0 And we have some urgent business to attend to.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes,\u201d\u00a0 agrees Ulan, \u201cyou are correct about that.\u00a0 We must go.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLead the way please, Wing Commander.\u201d And I let her pass, hoping that Gohn\u2019s curiosity is greater than his hatred of Birdmen for the moment.\u00a0 He steps in beside me.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou follow the Birdmen now, Admiral?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this single instance, General; yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

We follow Ulan toward the central building.\u00a0 A large, lavish affair with tall spiky spires.\u00a0 All made of what appears to be white marble.\u00a0 Very odd for the Cyborg.\u00a0 Their ships and what we know of their lifestyle are strictly utilitarian.\u00a0 No decoration.\u00a0 No creature comforts.\u00a0 They sleep standing up in a regeneration pod.\u00a0 To find them clustered around a marble castle\u2026 that is unheard of.<\/p>\n

Our security teams accompany us to the entrance of the castle, mine stays posted outside, Gohn\u2019s come inside, Ulan was alone.\u00a0\u00a0 Another detail from Alpha Company meets us inside and guides us to their find.\u00a0 We rush along winding passages that twist upwards as well as from side to side.\u00a0 A great deal of damage has been done to the interior.\u00a0 Bodies are everywhere some still standing.\u00a0 I try not to look at the faces of the human bodies, or the half converted bugs.\u00a0 I don\u2019t want to find anyone I knew.<\/p>\n

\"cyborg,\u201cIn here, Admiral, High General, Wing Commander.\u201d Our guide ushers us into a high vaulted compartment.\u00a0 In contrast to the rest of the castle, this room is almost empty.\u00a0 In the center is a large chair.\u00a0 In it sits a Cyborg unlike any we\u2019d ever seen.\u00a0 Cyborgs have devices: tools, scanners, weapons, implanted all over their bodies.\u00a0 They are barely recognizable as a living being.\u00a0 But not this one.\u00a0 Other than a few tubes emerging from her skull and back, a couple of vents in the top of her shoulders and a peculiar series of hooks piercing the flesh around the neckline of her garment there is no sign of implants.\u00a0 Two eyes, two humanoid hands, a body that is obviously female in a close-fitting leather outfit.\u00a0 No hair, and that mottled gray skin that all the Cyborg share.<\/p>\n

Also in the room are two regular drones and half a dozen Birdmen — two alive, one just barely.\u00a0 That one wears a black uniform and a Cyborg style implant on the right side of his face covering the area between his eye and his ear.\u00a0 Green blood oozes from his ears, nose and mouth as he lay gasping on the floor next to the throne.<\/p>\n

Ulan rushes to him, \u201cTell me what you know.\u201d\u00a0 His eyes sweep over the Federation and Stormer troops and focus on Gohn and I as we step up to stand either side of Ulan. \u201cIt\u2019s alright, they bought you enough time to complete your mission.\u201d\u00a0 She lowers her head, \u201cI\u2019m afraid I failed in that.\u201d\u00a0 He is hesitant, distrustful.\u00a0 \u201cHurry,\u201d she urged, \u201cwe must know, don\u2019t let your knowledge die with you.\u201d<\/p>\n

He speaks haltingly to her in their native language.\u00a0 I know enough to get parts of it, but he is weak, speaking softly and through spasms of pain.\u00a0 After a few moments his head slumps to his chest and Ulan lays him back on the floor.\u00a0 She gently removes a data pad from his lifeless hand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe must get to our ships quickly.\u00a0 Get all your Captains together for a meeting.\u00a0 Pull all your troops out of here. \u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI will not.\u201d Insists Gohn, \u201cWe have much to learn here, maybe even how to beat this enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYou will learn nothing here, Stormer, but you will surely die, if you stay.\u201d<\/p>\n

I issue orders to have the rest of Alpha Company retrieved.\u00a0 Gohn reluctantly does the same for his men.\u00a0 Then we all board my shuttle.\u00a0 Gohn\u2019s will follow.<\/p>\n

I know from the uniform and insignia that the Birdman in the throne room is \u2013 or was — a psi-terrogator; their new weapon, but I resist asking about him.\u00a0 Ulan alone knows what the major had discovered and I don\u2019t want to risk offending her.\u00a0 Birdmen like to think that their secrets are safe from us inferior species.\u00a0 Perhaps letting her know that I know all about their psi-terrogation officers would push her into breaking her promise to share what he would find out while we battled the Cyborg fleet.<\/p>\n

She sits silently, reading the data pad, her face expressionless.\u00a0 Finally she closes her eyes and sighs, \u201cAdmiral Mann, does your strike force have enough firepower to destroy this moon?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat?\u201d Shout the three Stormers. They all yell at once, shouting about Ulan wanting to keep the secrets of the Cyborg to herself.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe do not have time for this.\u201d She snarls in a voice that quiets them all. \u201cIf we do not destroy that moon \u2013 now \u2013 we will have lost our chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe killed all of them.\u201d\u00a0 Growls Gohn.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, no, Stormer, you did not.\u201d\u00a0 She slips the data pad into a pocket inside her tunic.\u00a0 \u201cWe have known for some time that the Cyborg are not completely autonomous. They do have leaders who provide guidance, make decisions when decisions must be made.\u00a0 And they sometimes refer to \u2018The One Who Brings Order To Chaos\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cDid they tell you this?\u201d\u00a0 Asks Gohn.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot\u2026 willingly, but yes they did tell us many things.\u00a0 We have a new method of interrogating Cyborg prisoners.\u00a0 One they cannot resist.\u00a0 But that is not important right now.\u00a0 What is important is what the Major has gotten this group to tell him.\u00a0 You think you\u2019ve won.\u00a0 That the battle is over.\u00a0 It is not.<\/p>\n

Deep in the bowels of that moon are a hundred thousand more Cyborg, just waiting to be told to attack.\u00a0 And the facilities to make as many more.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that is so, why did they not attack us?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBecause no one told them to.\u00a0 Because the Cyborg are all mind linked, they communicate in a way we cannot even conceive. As I said, we\u2019ve discovered that they do have a leadership structure.\u00a0 Kill their leader and they must stop to choose a new leader.\u00a0 The more important the leader, the longer it takes to choose.\u00a0 Kill even a task force leader and there will be little if any perceivable difference for another leader is selected almost immediately.\u00a0 A sector leader will shut them down for a few minutes, more or less.\u00a0 But killing their Queen\u2026 that hurt them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen you\u2019ve succeeded,\u201d I exclaim, \u201cYou\u2019ve stopped them!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOnly temporarily\u201d, sighs the Wing Commander, \u201cThe planet must be sterilized immediately, they must all be killed before a new ruler is chosen.\u00a0 And every Cyborg ship you can find must be destroyed now.\u201d<\/p>\n

High General Gohn shouts, \u201cWe can\u2019t possibly destroy them all, we don\u2019t even know where they are.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen the war is not over?\u201d I ask.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo,\u201d laments Ulan, \u201dfar from it.\u00a0 During the battle several ships passed through that array in the distance.\u00a0 The Cyborg secret weapon; an escape route, a jump gate.\u00a0 On board one of those ships was the Queen\u2019s\u2026 uh\u2026 call him her son, Vyctor.\u00a0 He and a full contingent of Cyborg.\u00a0 As we attacked this moon which they call Borga, he was sent off to the center of another galaxy, to start another Cyborg Collective.\u201d She fumbles in her tunic pulling out the data pad and hands it to me.\u00a0 \u201cA seed planted in a fresh fertile field where he will grow, and spread, and eventually come back here to avenge his mother. Even if you can destroy all Cyborg in this quadrant, Vyctor will return.\u00a0 If we don\u2019t stop him from building another collective, we are all doomed. I have failed in my mission.\u201d<\/p>\n

And with that, she pressed a small button on her arm band , closed her eyes and died.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdmiral Mann,\u201d squawked a communicator, \u201cbridge reporting, the two war birds just exploded!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMy first officer gripped my arm, \u201cHugh, we\u2019ve got to act fast, we\u2019ve got to warn the others and get this campaign going. Now.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRecall all ships and bring all weapons on line!\u00a0 I\u2019m on my way to the bridge as soon as the shuttle docks.\u201d<\/p>\n

* * * * *<\/p>\n

Read The next chapter<\/a><\/p>\n

If you want to Start at the Beginning<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

If you want to Start at the Beginning My shuttle touches down just as the landing craft are lifting off to return our men to the ship. Those who survived.  High General Gohn is already there, standing at the hatchway as I step out of the shuttle. “Admiral Mann,” he says with a small, stiff bow.  … Continue reading “Saturday Fun Stuff: Chapter 5 of Cyborg Wars”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[13],"class_list":["post-2217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-muse","tag-scifi"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2217","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2217"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20816,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2217\/revisions\/20816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/pineymountainfoster.org\/thoughts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}