A second tongue toggle injected a fresh shot of combat-heal.
Unfortunately, he wasn’t looking where he was going and at the same time, his muscles and joints locked up from the pain of multiple combat heal uses, he slammed into a pair of unarmored technicians.
“ROS!” Phillips yelled, ignoring the pain in his back and the intermittent hissing sound. He started to feel light-headed.
His next axe chop missed and sent him spinning five feet off the hull, the sergeant having forgotten to demagnetize his boots. The technician taking the chance, shot off the hull like a missile before pulling out a blaster pistol and raining shots down at the beleaguered Tractoan.
Phillips, blind to the danger, tunnel vision affecting his sight and feeling like he was about to throw up at any moment thanks to the continued spin, chopped methodically at the second technician every time his field of view came in line with the second tech.
He also failed to notice when the Lancer who’d tossed the satchel charge took up a sniper position and picked off the technician floating above the hull.
Sergeant Phillips felt light-headed and moments later, passed out.
While he continued to spin above the hull, the last lancer on the hull fought a fearsome battle against the surviving black-ops technicians for control over the Spindle.
Chapter 53
Disaster and Helplessness
“What’s our latest ETA, Helm?” Akantha asked.
“Don’t even bother, Akantha; there’s no point in inquiring, we’re still hours out,” I said in a completely sour mood.
“I was just asking,” Akantha said.
“Whatever,” I groused, turning to the screen as if glowering at it would somehow change the unfolding disaster. There was no more helpless feeling than watching a disaster unfold in detail and being unable to do anything to affect the outcome.
“Our people have launched a spirited defense of Spindles One and Three, Sire,” my First Officer said supportively.
I tuned a red-eyed gaze on the other officer and then looked back at the screen where the fastest units of the MSP were already racing back into the star system at their fastest speed, while the remainder of the fleet moved at its best speed. Meaning, the speed of the slowest warship in the fleet or in other words, how fast the Lucky Clover’s engine could send us.
Worse, I didn’t dare leave the entire fleet scattered from here to yon and not just because it would make me look unredeemably unprofessional. There was also the risk of yet another surprise attack, this one aimed at other sensitive targets—albeit ones much less sensitive than the Spindles, but still.
“What’s this about the Spindles?” Akantha asked with concern.
“We’re dealing with it as best we can but our guard force is in it tough,” I admitted bleakly.
“Sir! I have a priority message,” reported the Com-Officer bolting upright in his chair, “decoding now!”
“Another one? There’s no point in needlessly coddling the local politicians, Coms,” I lectured, shaking my head, “either they don’t care for myself one way or the other or the MSP as a whole,” I changed my voice to mocking singsong, “it was that hero Bluetooth and the amazing ‘Guard’ that liberated their Sector, or so they assure me. Either that, or they openly detest me.” Six of one, half a dozen of the other; either way, I didn’t see a way to win the game and much as I hated to admit it, while I’d done the bulk of the heavy lifting, I hadn’t stuck around long enough to win the PR boost.
The Lieutenant turned to me, eyes widening.
“It’s a priority signal from the Com-Stat network. I’m not talking about the locals, Sire. It’s word from home. Tracto’s under attack!” he said.
I was up and out of my chair and halfway across the room before I even knew it, Akantha not far behind.
“What did you just say?” I demanded
The Com-Officer turned his screen to show me the message.
I staggered back to return to my chair.
“What is it, Jason?” Akantha asked, grasping my shoulder and steadying me with a grip like iron before I had the chance to stumble.
“A giant bug Swarm is on its way to Tracto. There only seems to be one Swarm but so far, it’s the single biggest Swarm we’ve seen since we started the Bug Campaign,” I said.
“The Fleet has to return home at once. Not as soon as we’re done smashing the bugs here, Jason,” she said fiercely.
I glared at the screen.
“We may not have that luxury, my dear,” I said feeling sick.
“What do you mean?” she demanded, her fingers digging into my shoulder hard enough that I started to wonder about lasting damage and then her grip slackened and I saw her looking back at the screen where even now, the Spindles were under attack.
“How long will it take us to jump back home from Sector 26?” she asked.
“Sir, you’re going to want to see this,” said Sensor Officer Wang Hai.
“How long!” she said.
“Not now,” I snapped at the Sensor Officer and turned back to my wife. Unless we were about to be attacked by enemy warships, in which case the red alert klaxon should sound, I had bigger fish to fry.
The screen on my arm chair started blinking and flashing urgently.
“Jason!” she said.
I looked down at the screen just in time to see one of my Spindles explode.
“Blast!” I shouted as Spindle Three exploded.
“What?” Akantha asked, her voice assuming a sudden calm.
I looked back up in time to see the face of the serene Ice Princess I’d originally married. Right now, it wasn’t Akantha, wife of Jason Montagne, Sword-Bearer extreme, dealing with the situation. It was the Hold-Mistress of Messene. As any ruler knew you couldn’t deal with a crisis by panicking.
This was just one more cut to my soul on this day of disasters. I was supposed to be Jason Montagne, the great Admiral and Protector, but I couldn’t protect anything it seemed. Not even my new homeworld.
I looked back up to my wife who was staring at me, and, as far as I could tell, pointedly not looking at the screen.
“Enemy shuttles are withdrawing from Spindle Three. Spindle Three has sustained serious damage,” Tactical reported helpfully.
“How are we getting home?” Akantha asked in a low voice.
“There’s always the jump drive. We have a very good detection system. It’s possible the Swarm was detected far enough away from Tracto that some of our faster ships can make it home,” I said.
She visibly digested this.
“Jason, this is a disaster,” she said.
“Obviously, I should have left a stronger guard force. A mistake I assure you I won’t be making in the future,” I replied, changing the subject.
Shrugging off her death grip on my shoulder, I headed to the Admiral’s Throne just as secondary explosions erupted on Spindle Two.
“I think we could all use a cup of tea. At least I could,” I said, placing one hand lightly on the armrest and nodding to the yeoman.
“Tea, Protector?” Akantha asked pointedly.
“Would you care to share a cup?” I asked, looking over to monitor the actions taking place around the Jump Spindles.
“How likely is it we’ll be able to make a point transfer with only one spindle?” she asked.
The look I gave her said it all.
“I’m reading an energy spike on the end of Spindle One. The levels are topping the charts, Sir,” Officer Wang Hai reported excitedly.
Without asking, the First Officer brought Spindle One up on the main screen.
At first, there was just a strong light at the end of the Spindle and then what looked like a partial jump field of some kind formed, starting at the end of the Spindle and stretching out in a 40-degree cone-shaped arch.
“What kind of field is that?” asked Spalding having arrived at some point. The curiosity in his voice was palpable.
“You’re asking me?” I said with disbelief as the screen zoomed out and a distortion field expanded out, encompassing a number of suddenly-revealed stealth destroyers.
Several flashes of light occurred as the field made contact with the enemy destroyers and the stealth destroyers appeared to be converted into an energy state before disappearing. Needless to say, the shuttles that were trying to escape the Spindles shared the same fate.
Fortunately, our surviving warships on guard patrol were unaffected.
“What the blazes just happened?” demanded the old Chief Engineer, pushing his way into the Engineering watch section and presumptively taking control over the main console.
There was the tapping of keys and an irritable request for the raw data feeds.
“E=MC2! It must be some kind of defense system because it just converted those destroyers into pure energy and…” He hesitated as the field projected by the Spindle slowly retracted back inside it, “it re-absorbed it!” cried the old engineer.
“We have to go out there at once and see what’s happened,” Spalding said urgently.
“We’ll get around to it as soon as we’ve assessed the damage and ensured the area’s safe,” I said.
“It’s risky but that’s the best time to get proper readings,” Spalding immediately argued.
DuPont looked over in disbelief.
“I strongly advise against that course of action, Admiral. We should maintain our distance until we’re sure how the Spindles are going to respond!” he said.
“Don’t you mean ‘Spindle’ and don’t be such a nervous nelly. We’re far enough out; it’ll be back to inert by the time we get there,” Spalding scoffed.
“Didn’t you just make my point for me?” asked DuPont.
The old engineer gave our helmsman a withering look.
“You did just see what the rest saw, didn’t you? Those ships were either forcibly point-transferred to another star system or disintegrated in front of our eyes. It looks like the attack and damage to the spindles activated some kind of defensive system. Now it’s turned back on! Who knows if or when it’ll turn off again?” he said.
“Are you mad? We’ll take readings first,” Spalding growled, “I’m not trying to get us killed. We’ll use our nav-computer to interface with it and make sure it’s not about to try anything funny.”
While the two were squabbling, Spindle One started to glow again.
“I’m reading a spike in Spindle activity,” reported Sensor Officer Wang Hai.
“How many enemy warships escaped the beam?” I demanded.
“It’s not a beam, Sir,” pointed out Spalding.
I waved the self-obsessed crazy old engineer away.
“Unknown. I’m reading three drive trails hastily escaping from the area but there could be more,” reported Tactical.
“Energy beam!” cried Sensors, snapping all eyes back to the main screen.
Chapter 54
Spindle Activation
Deep within the heart of Spindle One, a somnolent awareness woke to sudden and immediate pain.
-Confusion-
-Pain-
-Distress-
Rousing from partial awareness was normally a disconcerting operation as different mind levels merged and then split off again. Low-mind and mid-mind remerging always risked a sense of fragmentation.
-More Pain-
Doing so at a thousand times the usual speed and when two-thirds of your previously tripartate mind housing was damaged, severely damaged or possibly even destroyed entirely, only increased the results of this fragmentation by a factor of ten.
Noting the indiscriminate ‘no’, mid-mind struggled to re-assess the situation, the very much targeted use of low-tier weaponry, its body immediately leapt into action.
Mid-mind stretched. The risk of fragmentation fading, it rapidly expanded its consciousness.
-Tight-
-Too Tight-
-A Crowding Sensation-
Something was wrong. Very wrong. It was cramped, hemmed and hawed in. Why couldn’t it think properly?
Its mind was too big and the space for it to expand too small!
It couldn’t separate from low-mind. Something was wrong! There wasn’t enough room.
-Cramped-
-Very Cramped-
-Too Tight-
Consciousness began to fade as mid-mind began to fade back into low-mind, the necessary separation between minds failing.
Mid-mind felt a great sense of frustration but there was nothing it could do. Then low-mind flashed an urgent warning and requested permission to take action and begin emergency repairs.
Mid-mind found itself far too entangled with low-mind and without enough room for continued independent operations.
Mid-mind couldn’t understand this. How, even with only one operational Spindle, was there not enough room for it? But fortunately for mid-mind, it didn’t have to. Not yet. Mid-mind quickly gave the go-ahead.
Everything else could be reassessed later.
While mid-mind was floundering on the cusp of self-actualization failure, low-mind leapt into action. It first tried a hundred different ways, all of them hampered, delayed or outright blocked by missing nodes, degraded nets and lacking materials. Starting to bud new growth within the hull to replace the missing elements was an option but it would take too long. To survive, it had to take action now.
Deep within the hull of the final spindle, within a small region that had failed so long ago it had been forgotten, low-mind finally found a damaged node. Seizing the opportunity, low-mind released a sudden burst of energy as it unleashed a tailor-made repair plan.
Within minutes, damaged linkages had been made whole and a crystalline matrix hundreds of years old was repaired, at least enough to function again. if only at 20% of its original power but that number was rising at 0.1% every minute.
It wasn’t much but it was enough to allow for separation.
With a mental stretch, mid-mind blossomed into full, if nothing like its full potential, awareness. Within seconds, mid-mind was rapidly streaming through recent events and working its way backward.
While the mid-mind was still grappling with the situation and trying to absorb everything from the recent attack to the manner it was suddenly roused, CRIPPLING PAIN paralyzed it, causing the low-mind to go into overdrive.
Reacting to the massive destruction to its body, within seconds, low-mind halted all other operations except for critical node repair and converted the lower-level sentients infesting its body into their component parts with the anti-intruder system. and then furiously started to weaponize the sub-space transport system.
That was a… somewhat intemperate reaction as far as mid-mind was concerned.
By the time mid-mind’s reintegration had proceeded to an acceptable level, there was really nothing left for mid-mind to do but grumpily accept the current chain of events and allow low-mind to continue along its course of destructive actions.
Normally, it would have put a stop to the whole thing, there being any number of less violent and non-terminal actions available to it. Unfortunately for the lower-sentients, suddenly cancelling the now modified transportation beam mid-action put its sole remaining physical repository at risk and even a 1.3% chance of catastrophic failure was too much for mid-mind to countenance.
Instead of taking action and putting a stop to things like it normally would have, mid-mind chose to watch with satisfaction as the lower-sentients that attacked it were converted to an energy state, that energy captured and stored for later use, something it normally wouldn’t have allowed, for ethical reasons.
So, while it would have enjoyed continuing to watch low-mind destroy the remainder of the attackers, the majority had been destroyed and the lower’s ability to threaten its physical structures neutralized, for the most part, at least for the moment…
When low-mind, sensing opportunity, quickly st
arted proposing another destructive course of action, mid-mind reluctantly decided to bring the conflict to a halt. Advancing the conflict by an order of magnitude was not in its nature, as the more advanced life form ethics indicated mercy whenever reasonably possible.
So, with ill humor, it slapped down low-mind’s more destructive impulses, channeling them back toward a series of much needed repairs.
Mid-mind wouldn’t be entirely satisfied until it had more than one badly-degraded repository. It was fortunate low-mind and mid-mind shared so many of the necessary mental structures or it wouldn’t have been able to activate at all! This was something mid-mind still couldn’t entirely understand. What had happened over the years to cause its triple redundant systems to fail?
Grumpily, it wished high-mind was around to offload some of the higher function responsibilities it found itself saddled with. Of course, that wouldn’t be possible until the damage the Spindles had taken was repaired.
In the meantime, dealing with lowers was well within its capacities, if just, but should any advanced life-forms show up before low-mind finished rebuilding its hosting structures, mid-mind would be put in an untenable position.
One that would quickly exceed its comfort level.
Thus, with baleful eyes, it peered around the star system.
Chapter 55
Confusion on Deck
“What the blazes just happened!!?” I demanded, feeling a sense of disbelief I only hoped I’d be able to maintain. Something had to be wrong with the sensors. Or else, the nice quiet alien technology we’d been using to move our fleet around the Spine had just turned out to be not nearly as nice as I’d hoped.
“The Spindles vaporized that raider fleet,” reported the First Officer.
I gave him a burning look.
“There’s only one of them left,” I said pointedly.
My eyes cut to the Sensor Officer.
“Can we verify those sensor readings?” I asked.
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