Chapter 8: The will of Leke:

Commander Sheppard stepped out from the military transport onto the smouldering ground that was once the town of Gol. Ash flittered through the air as the smoke replaced the fog that once existed in this town. His men were lined up a few meters away from him. One of them, with his helmet off, was exposed to the disease, and on his knees, with two soldiers standing behind him. He had been found drifting in orbit. One of the soldiers was meant to transport former Captain Angela Lawrence to her prison internment camp. His partner had been found, too, but he was dead. A shot with his own pistol.

Sheppard studied the soot-stained remnants of the town. The small wooden houses, brought down by the fires. It had gone up like kindling. The landscape now showed the clearing within the forest that kept it. The only thing distinct from the broken nature being the Pillar that hung atop the hill on the western hillfront.

He paced along what was once the street between the houses and heard the squelching steps of Smik behind him. The soldiers straightened as he looked upon the ruins. He turned and slowly made his way to the smouldering husk that was once Captain Lor Dimitri of the 37th Reon Battalion. Curled in a ball, black ash being the only thing that covered his withered bones.

He looked up at his troops. Only nineteen were left. He had sent in twenty-five of them. Soldiers, each and every single one of them. Trained, disciplined, armed. He stepped on the husk and crushed the bones as he strode forward to the line of Dorlec, sparks filtering into the air in front of him.

“Where is the boy?” Nobody moved. Their helmets merely reflected his own image.

“The Commander asked you a question!” roared Smik from behind him. The Lieutenant stepped forward and saluted,

“Sir, we did not see the boy at all.” Sheppard stood there for a moment. Allowing the silence to be felt. A tool which he had learned from Lord Valentine.

“Are you telling me that this man”, he said, turning to the corpse of Lor Dimitri, “Killed six, highly trained Dorlec soldiers before he succumbed?”

“No, sir”, said the Lieutenant, “Three of the team were taken out by an unknown assailant as we arrived in the town, sir, but we did not see a boy. It was…someone else, sir” Sheppard did not answer. He wanted him to press on.

It could have been the boy. But the soldier they had found in orbit, now kneeling with his helmet off, had said that the prison transport had been attacked. The ship left before they entered the town. A mistake on Sheppard's part. The attacker wore one of the blue exosuits of the outpost on Gol, but all of the bodies of those guards had been accounted for. That had to have been the boy.

“Sir, we had no comms or visuals on them. We don’t know…” The man stopped at a lazy flick of Sheppard's wrist, as he felt the warming of the tech in his chest, and the release from his hand. The soldier's throat opened up and sprayed blood along the ash-strewn ground.

He tried to grip his throat, but it was pointless. Sheppard made a point to watch him as he struggled, waiting until he stopped moving on the ground. The rest of the troops did not do anything in response. They watched as all Dorlec would at the cost of incompetence. He didn't need team leaders who could not see a threat.

He stepped over to the soldier with his helmet removed, calmly and deliberately. He whimpered on the ground, now exposed to the disease. Sheppard stood over him and waited for the young soldier to look up at him.

“Who attacked the ship?” It had to have been the boy. But then that meant that there was someone else.

“As I said, Commander, it was one of her guards as the doors closed, sir”, he said, trying to remain composed, knowing that his fate was already sealed. Smik commed into his suit.

“All the guards were confirmed dead, sir. It must have been the boy”

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“Call down the seer, I want to know everything that he saw”, he said out loud, turning to Smik. He needed to understand everything that happened here. How could this all have gone so wrong? They were shutting down an experiment and now he found himself thwarted by a child and a crippled old man. There had to have been someone else. Did they have a traitor?

“Two Dorlec soldiers against an old lady with no tech and a dead guard?” he said to the man whose face cracked. He had underestimated her. “You have failed the Dorlec” The man tried to say something, stopped himself before he did. “Leave him here”, he said to the two guards behind him. The man just lowered his head at his fate. Silent weeping began from him. Sheppard turned away in disgust.

He turned to walk back to his transport, but spoke to the remaining troops as he did.

“I want a full search of the forests and surrounding lands. Find me the intruder!” he would need to inform Lord Valentine of this. He would wait until the seer had ravaged the surviving transport soldier’s mind. He would find his answers. Through his comm, he said to Smik, “We may have a mole, use the seer. Find them, and get me more details on the pilot”.

He looked down at the coal that was once the town of Gol. Once the home of a grand experiment built for the expansion of the Dorlec empire. A method to extend the contagion window of HX-31. An experiment that had run for nearly twenty years, an experiment that had allowed the Dorlec to extend the life of a contaminated patient and allowed them to infect all others with a disease that rapidly decayed any that they infected. They created living super spreaders of a disease that could live for decades while allowing the disease that they spread to consume the new target in a matter of weeks. An experiment that had been completely successful until today. Until Sheppard had been tasked with completing it.

His eyes traced the scorched landscape surrounded by trees. He had lost the only person ever known to escape the disease. A single patient who showed true immunity.

He would find him.

He would dissect him.

He would create a vaccine from him.

He would rectify his mistake.

He would gift the boy to Lord Valentine in reparations for his error.

A happy accident that opened a galaxy of potential for the Dorlec. A child who walked through absolute death and remained healthy. A child that could allow the Dorlec to walk freely through worlds taken by simply contaminating water sources.

“Commander”, said Smik on his comms, nervously. Sheppard looked over to him, irritated that he was pulled from his thoughts, his self-chastisation. “Commander, Lord Valentine awaits your report”, he said, hanging his head.

Sheppard went cold. His body did not move. His very being seemed to stiffen with those words. Lord Valentine, already? He needed more time. He needed to find the boy, to offer as a gift for his failure.

“Very well”, he said through a dry mouth.

Once back in his office on the highest level of his Pillar, Sheppard pulled on his full uniform. He adjusted his hair as sweat dampened his forehead. He straightened himself, looking in the mirror. He felt ill. He moved to the centre of the room and dimmed the lights, awaiting his Lord. Light flickered through the room as the hologram coalesced, but he didn't look up. He dared not look into the eyes of Lord Valentine. This would be his end. He had failed him.

“Sheppard”, said his cool, silken voice. He felt himself shudder. “Quite a mess indeed”

“My Lord, I have failed you”, he started, feeling every thump of his heart.

“Yes, you have”

“I will rectify this, my Lord. In the camp, there was…” Valentine allowed the silence to hang. Time seemed to stand still as Sheppard prayed for the next words.

“The boy”, he said eventually, and Sheppard felt his whole body go stiff. “Yes, I know about the boy”

“My Lord, I will find him. He could offer us a way to use the weapon more freely,” he pleaded. Again, Valentine allowed the silence to hang over him like an oppressive pressure dropping on his shoulders.

Sheppard lifted his eyes just slightly, but before he could even ask, Valentine spoke again,

“Rise”.

Sheppard followed his order and stood to his fullest height, and gazed upon his Lord's face. He was taller than Sheppard, more finely crafted. His hair was effortless, and his sharp features and eyes closed on him. It was as though he was born of Leke himself.

“The success of the experiment stands, regardless of the unfortunate ending. You are right, however, it seems there is more to be gained than we originally expected” Sheppard dread not move as Lord Valentine continued. “I am interested in this boy”

“Yes, my Lord,” he said, bowing his head down lower. His hands were slicked with sweat.

“He escaped on the prison transfer, yes?” before Sheppard could answer, Valentine continued, “We have scanned the system and it seems that the ship is moving to Yeley” Sheppard dared not look up at him, but he felt his heart beat faster.

“We already have an operation in progress on the planet, I would like you to lead that assault. I have already informed the Warden that there will be a change. With the boy's presence now, I will need your…discretion.” He truly was blessed by Leke.

“Deliver me Yeley, and bring me the boy,” he said slowly as he allowed Shappard to know of his understanding. The hologram drifted across the room. “We have what we wanted from Gol, the disease is synthesised and it can be deployed, but” he said sharper than he had before, “This will be a powerful tool for the Dorlec”, he finished, echoing Shappard's own thoughts. “Use whatever means necessary”

“Yes, my…” he didn't finish as the hologram ended. Sheppard stood there for some time unmoving. Unable to believe that he still remained a member of the Dorlec.

He had been saved. He had been granted a chance to prove himself. He straightened himself up fully and lifted his chin, taking in a deep breath. A dawning realisation falling over him.

“Praise Leke”, he said softly to himself. His blood truly was blessed.