Arthur’s eyes lit up and he looked at me expectantly. I shook my head slightly, but I knew it was pointless. Arthur was in control now and he was going to push it as far as he could before everything bent and broke.
“Let us celebrate then!” he roared, and once he glanced over his shoulder, I spotted a wicked grin that was plastered in place.
“My Lord,” I began. “We do have to be at our rendezvous point very soon. Are you certain we have time for celebrations?”
Arthur was silent for several seconds and made a show of deliberating my question, but then he shook his head and spoke.
“Nonsense, Dumbface. We have the time, and if we don’t, we’ll make some time. What kind of precedent would we set for those who would come next? These… servants might think the Aloi lax and forget to prepare a grand welcome. They might even lose their lives. Would you want that?”
“Are you completely certain, my Lord?” I pressed again, risking losing our cover, but Arthur was enjoying it too much.
“Silence, human!” he roared and I could feel my nanites nudge me into a semi-battle mode. He was pushing it, but he had me in a bind. Sure, if I attacked them and everything went to shit, he’d follow my orders, but this was his way of telling me to go fuck myself. He was an Aloi, and we were doing this the easy way thanks to him.
“Apologies… my Lord.”
“Well, then. Take me to the slaves and drugs, we will inspect the production facilities later.”
Arthur threw himself headfirst into eating, fucking, and drug abuse like there was no tomorrow, and for the next five damned hours, I had to play along with his wishes, risking exposure with every unnecessary minute we spent on board. More than once had I caught McGill trying something funny and had to punish her using my nanites, which I had attached to the back of her neck. She stopped after the second time.
I finally leaned into Arthur as he was injecting another dose of Kardisian snapp into his left eye and told him to either move this thing forward or I’d personally take care of it. He enjoyed the theatrics a bit too much to let me spoil it, so he finally stopped to the relief of the Takkari and Oolan Jan slaves.
“Right, human, we should proceed. We always have enough time to enjoy ourselves some more once we’re done here.”
I rolled my eyes but stayed quiet. He was pushing my buttons, and if he didn’t stop, I’d push his. With my fist.
The Kovar escort finally took us to their production facilities. Kovar Station wasn’t nearly as big as something like Alpha Station at Detera, and after a short but uncomfortably tight ride in the station’s lift, we finally hit the production deck.
There was plenty to see there, though. The production deck was an improvised docking bay heavily modified with Aloi and Frey technology. Giant tubes went along the ceiling in seemingly random patterns lighting up sporadically and releasing loud, almost orchestral sounds. They sloped down along the walls into a central chamber that almost looked like a flower just about to bloom. One of the, I dare say, petals opened and a white piece of plate the size of my hand emerged.
Immediately an army of Shia went at it as the numerous tech extensions on their bodies fiddled with the piece. Several long seconds passed as the Shia surrounded the plate, turned on a sort of miniature-sized grappling beam attached to their shoulders, and raised the piece of what I assumed was SI material. They lowered it into a magnetized drawer within an apparatus that was the size of a car.
“We’re lucky, my Lord. You have just witnessed the production of one of the plates. We usually manage to produce one plate within a ten-hour schedule as it’s extremely time- and energy-consuming.”
“Yes, quite fascinating indeed,” Arthur muttered as he studied the plate from afar.
“Would you believe that this plate alone used up enough detrium to power a destroyer for a week?” the Greth asked excitedly. I nudged Arthur.
“Good, very good. And how much material have you managed to accumulate so far?”
“Lord? I don’t understand.”
“How much material do we have in stock? If that is too hard to understand, maybe it’s time we find someone who knows how to address me appropriately."
I knew we were treading on dangerous grounds, but we’d need to hurry it the hell up before something happened.
“No, my Lord. We don’t accumulate any. We immediately send it toward ship production and as soon as a ship is ready, it goes out. We had strict orders not to accumulate any material and to destroy all materials in progress immediately in case of an attack.”
“Yes, of course. That is the sensible thing to do.” Arthur said, losing some of his bravado. “Show us the ship.”
The ship was just a few feet away from the production chamber in the docking bay. It very much looked like the Tanaree except that it wasn’t finished. Parts of plating were missing, and it looked like the engines weren’t installed yet either. A swarm of Shia buzzed around the frigate together with several Greth engineers.
“After the assembly of the SI materials is complete, the ships go into a testing period for about a week and are then ready to fly. We’ve reduced the production time from six months to two in the last year alone.”
“How many of these facilities exist?” Captain McGill asked and both Arthur and I looked at her in shock.
The Frey scientist looked at her suspiciously.
“This is the only production facility we are aware of.”
He turned his gaze to Arthur expecting some input from the Aloi Templar.
“Yes, this is the only production facility, I told you as much, Captain,” he said, trying to play along.
“Ahh, you were just testing us I see,” the scientist laughed nervously.
Arthur nodded.
“How many ships have you produced so far?”
“Nine ships. This is the tenth. My Lord, with all due respect, how have they not informed you about this?” the Frey inquired. “The inner circle commissioned our work here.”
“Answer the questions, Frey. These Dusk Ascendency humans are here to learn of your work; they aren’t as informed as you and I are.”
Arthur tried to wiggle his way out of the confusion. No matter how much one might suspect an Aloi, they were the overlords. And to whom would he file any grievances or suspicions? To Arthur himself?
“Yes, Lord,” the Frey answered but the suspicion on his face lingered. I realized we were at a breaking point by now. Our façade was falling apart with every new inquiry we made.
“I have a question,” I said, trying to steer the conversation somewhere the scientist would be much happier with. “At what point do you add the ability to absorb other ships?” Just as I asked that question, an uncomfortable silence washed over the whole room. The scientist regained his composure pretty quickly.
“We don’t anymore, human. The only ship that had this capability was lost to pirates two years ago. We were instructed to abandon dimension-folding tech because it isn’t stable enough. The ship’s AI just can’t handle operating in the fourth dimension, and there’s no biological mind that can even come close to controlling it. The early results were promising but there were too many variables left untested. The Lord Templar knows the details better than I do,” the Frey said looking at Arthur.
“Yes, why I… I do,” Arthur said as his face grimaced.
“My Lord, we have a dozen dormant Templar bodies ready to be controlled in case one of your kind ever visits. Perhaps you’d like to consider switching to one of them.”
“Again with the insults!” Arthur warned him.
“It’s not an insult, my Lord, but just a suggestion. This body of yours seems worn. I have never seen an Aloi control a Templar this old.”
“This body isn’t that old,” Arthur snapped, breaking character and the Frey could smell something was wrong. I contacted Mitto over the INAS without them knowing.
“Mitto, tell Vogron and Fars to be on stand-by. The situation is getting critical.”
�
��Very well, boss,” Mitto replied excitedly. After all the time spent together with us, he’d come to a point where a fight was something he yearned for because every time we’d gain something new for him to play with.
“What is this?” I asked, noticing a long extension on the ships’ starboard beam that looked like a cannon. The Greth jumped in to answer.
“This is our contribution to this model. It’s a long-range particle converter.”
“A particle converter of this size?”
“Ah, yes!” the Greth said proudly. “It rearranges particles in a twenty feet radius under five seconds. Once the ship is fully operational, this model will be able to bore through pekta-reinforced battleship hulls pretty quickly if the beam is focused on a single spot long enough.”
“But won’t that drain the detrium reserves?”
“Oh yes, absolutely. It’s a very energy-hungry weapon. It devours a jumps’ worth of detrium per shot.”
“That’s most impressive. And the other nine ships, they don’t carry this weapon?”
“No, not at all. Every ship we produced came with a signature installment of its own. This one happens to have a particle converter, and the last one we produced had—”
“Let us not bother the Lord Templar with such minute details,” the scientist said and interrupted the Greth. “Come, let’s go to the stateroom so we can go over the numbers if everything seems to be satisfactory here, yes?”
Arthur looked at me and back at the Frey.
“Let the Greth speak.”
“My Lord, these are very sensible details we now speak of. Are you certain you want the Dusk Ascendency to know about them?”
“They know how to keep their mouths shut.”
The Frey’s face grew grim. “Excuse me just one moment,” he said hurriedly, removing himself from our company.
“Mitto, get the ship out of here and bring it toward our location as closely as possible. We have found our next meal.”
The Frey returned with a squad of six Kayzer Guards. I felt all my strength drain out of me as I saw the armors. I can’t say I wasn’t scared when I faced off against my enemies. My last brush with death in the arena was a good reminder of that. But I knew that despite my fear, I’d push forward and do what needed to be done.
I was confident in my own bravery but Kayzer Guards, their very looks gave me the creeps. I died by the hand of a Kayzer Guard now some fifteen years ago and was rebirthed by the CFF, but the trauma lingered even today. I had to remind myself who I was, what I was capable of, and who my allies were just to be able to keep my cool in front of them.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Arthur asked angrily. “Are you threatening me?”
“I don’t know who you are, Templar, but you’re not from the inner circle and those two aren’t from the Dusk Ascendency.”
“How dare you take that tone with the Lord?” the Greth roared.
“He’s no Lord, and these two are not from the Dusk Ascendency! I’ve been a fool not to realize this sooner!”
“One thing, Frey,” I said holding up a finger. “What gave us away?”
The Frey’s eyes narrowed, and the Kayzer Guards took a step forward.
“A Templar with two Dusk Ascendency officials in tow should have been enough, but I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea that an Aloi would go rogue. No, nothing would have given you away if it wasn’t for your quiet conversations with your onboard computer.”
I wanted to slap myself. It wasn’t Arthur who messed it up, it was me. They listened in on our conversations. What an idiot I was. This place was equipped with some of the most advanced technology in the galaxy and I didn’t have the sense to keep radio silence.
“I have called for reinforcements and a contingent of ships is already en route to the station. You might want to tell your ship and the rest of your crew to lay down their weapons. There’s nothing you can do.”
There was a hint of insecurity in his voice. Nothing we could do? That was almost offensive!
“Mitto, now,” I said out loud and the entire station shook as Mitto fired our Pavlov gun at the docking bay, tearing a ship-sized hole in the side of the station. The impact caused chaos to ensue in the docking yard. Shia and Greth started running, and some of them were even spaced. The breach opened the docking bay to the vacuum and started to suck us out into the void.
I hooked myself to the floor with chains and Arthur grabbed a railing. I had to throw another chain around McGill’s waist, so she didn’t fly away.
“Mitto, get us out of here,” I yelled, barely able to hold on.
Two of the six Kayzer Guard didn’t have time to grab anything and they buzzed out of the hole in the station into the black death beyond. Turrets opened fire on the Tanaree but to no effect. We managed to coat the ship in a holographic layer that slightly changed its hull, but beneath the photons, there was a very real SI hull that wasn’t going to be penetrated by turret fire.
The projectiles ricocheted off the Tanaree and scattered inside the devastated docking bay. With the help of nanite chains, I made my way to my ship while holding McGill’s hand and pulling her along. She was trying to wrestle free of me, seeing the chaos as an opportunity to escape her capture. I squeezed slightly tighter and kept her close by, dragging the unwilling captain along. The Frey soldiers fired toward us as best they could, but most of their shots went wide. One even lost his weapon as it flew through the hole in the side of the station.
The Frey scientist produced a weapon of his own from somewhere and screamed at Arthur who didn’t seem phased in the least.
“How could you, betrayer? You’re a disgrace to your people!”
I doubted the words reached him with all the commotion, and even if they did, he didn’t care about them. I extended my Blade Shield around us so Mitto had an easier time picking us up with the grappling beam. Without nanite protection, the beam would have torn our soft bodies into scraps of flesh and bone.
My blade shield jerked toward the Tanaree, and several seconds and several laser bolts dinging off my back later, we were safely on board.
“Grab that fucking ship and let’s get the hell out of here!”
“Yes, boss. There’s no need to curse,” he replied as the grapple beam focused on the hull of the second ship. “It’s bad for morale.”
“Says who?” I snapped. “Just get it done!”
Missiles and solid matter slammed into the shields of the Tanaree as it floated in space and steadily pulled its sister out of the gaping hole.
“Are we in danger?”
“No, boss. There’s nothing they can throw at us that will cause any real damage to the Tanaree. But what about the detrium? We won’t get far without it.”
“We’ll have to figure something out later. Now we just need to get out of here before the reinforcements arrive.”
The Tanaree jerked as the second ship clammed to its hull, and we finally left the station behind. It was a surreal image, having a second ship of the same size “glued” to ours, but it was a new reality I’d have to deal with. Things weren’t just black or white, no, there were hundreds of shades of gray in between. Humans were a strange species; we only believed what we saw and could feel with our hands. Boy were we wrong when the Ka war machine came knocking.
“And now to make sure you don’t make any more of these,” I said and prepped four missiles. Realizing what I was about to do, McGill grabbed my hand and tried to pull me out of the captain’s chair.
“I won’t allow you to murder everyone on that station, you monster!”
I pulled my arm free and accidentally shoved my elbow into her face, knocking the woman unconscious, and gave the order to fire.
“Mitto, destroy that damn station! That’s an order!”
“Yes, captain!” he replied cheerfully. And why not, as he had a new toy to play with after all.
Four missiles streaked toward the station, passing narrowly through the hole Mitto created and slammed into th
e construct. A bright and violent light exploded outward before we ever heard the first explosion. The missiles ravaged the station, causing the surface of the giant construct to violently convulse and become littered with smaller detonations.
I didn’t know how many died there, and I didn’t want to know. I had saved probably millions of lives by destroying one station, so in my books, I had done the right thing. At least that’s what I told myself. I played the cards I was dealt and would eventually see if I’d been right or not.
“Captain, six Aloi ships inbound.”
“That must be the reinforcement. Quick, get the unfinished ship into our cargo bay if it fits. If it doesn’t, leave the rest behind and we can get it once we’ve dealt with the newcomers.”
“Boss?”
“Mitto, prepare for battle. You wanted detrium, here it comes on a platter.”
If we were lucky, we would destroy five of them and board the last one and raid its detrium supplies. This plan went almost too well, so well that I suddenly felt chills run down my spine.
“Captain, they’re frigates.”
“Perfect. What’s their mass displacement?”
“Captain, it’s not perfect at all. These ships—”
“These ships—what? Speak, Mitto!”
“Boss, they almost have the same signature as the Tanaree.”
15
“Cut the damn thing up before they’re on top of us!” I snapped and grabbed the handles of my chair.
Mitto was using the Gavran beam to slice the ship in our tow to a slightly more fitting cargo-bay size. He was making good progress, but the small ship was built to take a beating.
“I want to get the Tanaree out of here, boss. This doesn’t look good for my love.”
“Mitto, I’m not leaving without our bounty. I didn’t spend all our fuel just to leave this place empty-handed and with a slap to the face!”
“The bounty won’t do us any good if they catch us, boss.”
“Vogron, Arthur, Fars, to the guns! Fire at will. Mitto, how’s our detrium reserve?”
Redeemer: A Military Space Opera Series (War Undying Book 2) Page 16