by Andrew Beery
There was a pregnant pause… my mind went back to that ‘reproductive thing’… yeah, definitely a defect.
“The Defilers have been seeking, in part to reassemble replicators capable of fabricating weapons and technology stored within their collective archives. They have been partially successful and are now deploying assets that are far more powerful than you are used to encountering.”
I have to admit, much to my shame that there were a lot of thoughts going through my mind just then… thoughts like wouldn’t exploring the far side of the galaxy be fun? Or like Ignorance is bliss, and I’d really like to be blissful right now. I shook my head to clear it of this none-productive pipe-dreaming.
“So, the opposition has better tech than us. They outnumber us in terms of ships. They are on the offensive,” I said drily. “Any other bad news?”
For the record, in case anybody is wondering, that last statement was meant to be rhetorical and somewhat sarcastic. Apparently, the Tas Collective doesn’t do sarcasm. Who knew?
“Our consensus was that you were not aware. We’ve only recently determined that there is a high degree of probability that the Defilers now know.”
I shook my head in confusion. Know what?
“We’ve been fighting the Defilers for some time now. They’ve been raiding the Ancestor legacy for some time. That’s how we got involved in all of this.”
“We understand. Sadly, your language imposes certain barriers to comprehension. We will attempt to adjust our conveyance of information accordingly.
“While it is true the Defilers are attempting to acquire Ancestor artifacts, they have to date made no attempt to acquire the Ancestor legacy. That has now changed.”
Things began to click. I didn’t like where this was going.
“Are you saying that the ‘Ancestor Legacy’ is on Earth?”
“Indeed.”
“Would you care to enlighten us as to what this legacy is?”
“Yes.”
I waited for a few moments. Nothing. Have I mentioned in the past that the Tas are sometimes very frustrating to talk with? If I didn’t, please excuse the oversight.
“And?”
“You and your race are the legacy.”
I have to admit. I didn’t see that one coming.
2100.1207.2055 Galactic Normalized Time
Ktan stretched. It had been a long two weeks, but everything was finally ready. The sleepers had all been collected and were nested down in their cryo-beds. The final series of jumps were about to take place.
Chapter 19: Dog-gone Mystery…
“Entering Sol system sir,” Lieutenant Ramchandani reported in a tight voice.
I looked over towards Vigit. The Lieutenant sounded a bit anxious. I couldn’t blame him. It had been a long time since any of us had been home. I wished the circumstances had been better. I didn’t know if the tension in his voice was a result of ‘longing for home’ or concern about ‘what fate might await the planet of our birth’ --well technically not my birth. I was born in a gestation tank, but my memories were of childhood on Earth.
Whiskers had joined me on the bridge shortly before our final dive into Skip space. I think he wanted to see our sun with his own eyes on the massive main viewscreen. It was our window on the universe, and the fidelity was so high that it was easy to forget it was not an actual window. That would have been impossible as the bridge was buried deep within the ship.
“Ah, ha ya never seen such a beauty?” The chief engineer whispered softly.
I smiled to myself. It was hard to come home and not feel your soul connecting with something… even if it was just a simulated image of home. With any luck, and God willing, we would taste the fresh air of Earth in a few hours.
“Sir, we are being hailed by the UES Ticonderoga,” Mitty announced.
“On screen,” I ordered.
A man I had never met, but about whom I had heard much… all of it good, appeared on the forward viewscreen.
Captain Robert Kimbridge had distinguished himself after the Bogey-Four Event when a disabled Defiler attack craft had made a relativistic kamikaze run at the Earth.
Had the enemy ship hit the planet, at the speeds involved, it would have been apocalyptic. The Earth would have been sterilized. Nothing bigger than a microbe buried miles deep beneath the crust would have survived.
A herculean effort had managed to save the planet by deflecting Bogey-Four into the moon, but the cost in lives was still almost beyond measure. A significant portion of the moon ejected into a temporary debris field that still circled the planet. Other pieces rained onto the planet for months.
A retired Commander by the name of Kimbridge, the same man I now faced, took a rag-tag group of survivors and led them across a ravaged wasteland. In the process, he saved tens of thousands and prevented a global war.
If the Defiler attack on our planet had done anything, it had caused men and women like Kimbridge to rise up and say we will not be intimidated. We will not be cowed. We will not go quietly into the night.
When the first of Earth’s new Galactic Order enhanced ships of the line had come out of drydock, Captain Kimbridge had received one of the first commands. The United Earth Ship Ticonderoga was a new class of vessel designed by both J’ni and human engineers. It looked like a three-quarter scale version on the Gilboa, but I knew that she packed nearly one and a half times her punch.
Despite her size and power, she was designed as a home-guard ship. Her shielding was much stronger than the Gilboa and designed to integrate seamlessly with the three other ships of her class that had been or were under construction. In addition, her sublight drive had a good eighteen percent more thrust per kilogram of deadweight. That may not sound like much, but it meant she could reach intercept velocities far quicker than the Gilboa.
“Admiral Riker, Welcome home sir,” Captain Kimbridge said with a crisp holographic salute.
“Good to be home Captain. I trust the Admiralty board received my transmission?”
“That they did. Admiral Spratt is on the way to the bridge as we speak.”
“Ah, very good. I hope you will be willing to provide an Admiral of an allied power a tour of your beautiful ship. After all, she’s the first fully modern human-built ship to come out of Earth’s new shipyards.”
As I spoke, the turbolift door behind the Ticonderoga’s Captain swished open and my father-in-law, Admiral Spratt, walked through.
“Actually son,” the UEA Admiral said with a smile, “that’s a part of what I’m here to talk with you about. With your permission, I’d like to visit with you and your diplomatic mission on the Gilboa. After that, if you are still interested, I’m sure we can prevail upon the Captain to arrange a tour for both you and an engineering team. There are several system enhancements that you and they might find interesting.”
“By all means. I’m intrigued.”
“I’ll shuttle over shortly. I’m going to be bringing a small team with me. I hope you don’t mind. It will be myself, an engineer and another Admiral… one whom I’m pretty sure you are probably familiar with.”
His wording was a bit odd, but I didn’t think much of it at the time. In hindsight, I might have asked more questions, but any answer he might have given would have ruined the surprise.
***
I invited Lori to meet me in the hangar deck. Fifteen minutes later a sleek, fresh off the assembly line, UEA shuttle lowered its landing struts and settled onto the deck of the Gilboa’s main hanger bay. The craft looked so new, I was half expecting the paint to still be wet.
I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised. The United Earth Alliance had mobilized to a full war setting the moment the planet began to recover from moonfall… as the reoccurring meteorite storms were now called. Everybody that could run a fabrication robot or drive a dozer or run optical fiber was working overtime to build ships and defensive weapons platforms.
What was interesting was that we mere humans had not been satisfied w
ith simply utilizing Galactic Order blueprints and designs. The eggheads in the labs had been working to enhance each and every component that went into humanity’s war machine. The result was startling. As impressive as the Ticonderoga was, we were to learn that its advancements barely scratched the surface of what had been accomplished… at least in the labs.
While all of this was running thru what passed for my mind, a ramp extended down from the shuttle and its rear hatch lifted to reveal the four-person crew. My father-in-law, Admiral Spratt, a younger man whose appearance and demeanor screamed ‘geek,’ the shuttle pilot and another man… an Admiral just as my father-in-law had promised. Admiral Jeromy Riker… the original ‘Dog.’
I grinned. In many ways, this man was the brother I never really had. I called him ‘Ody’ because he was the original dog and he called me ‘Fleet’ because I was a Fleet Admiral in the Galactic Order.
“Ody, its great to see you. I thought you were scheduled to head out on Operation Diaspora four months ago?”
My twin shook his head. “That’s a long story… one for another day. We’re still going, but we have had some unexpected… delays.”
Admiral Spratt finished hugging his only daughter – or at least her clone – and coughed lightly to interrupt our conversation. He looked briefly around the shuttle bay before turning back to me.
“It truly is a story for another day… one I hope to share with you… but not today. Is there someplace secure we can meet and talk?”
I nodded and led them to the smaller of the two conference rooms off of the main bridge. I had planned to use my Ready Room, but Commander Shelby and Mitty had taken it over for war planning. I didn’t want to force them to pack up their notes and materials.
The two of them, along with Shella, Jowls, and the Saulite Doctor, Merab joined us in the conference room. My father-in-law had specifically asked that no J’ni be present. I have to be honest, this last request had me more than a little concerned. Lieutenant Commander Sa’Mi had been an exemplary officer and a critical part of our engineering team… second only to Whiskers.
When everybody was seated, and the obligatory offer of coffee or tea made, I started the meeting by addressing the elephant that was not in the room. In this case, the elephant was a cross between a badger and a raccoon – the J’ni.
“Admiral, I honored your request to exclude a senior engineer from this meeting. I’m putting the esprit de corps of a well-functioning team at risk. I hope there is a good reason for your request.”
My father-in-law looked at me sharply before his eyes softened. I suspect he was still getting used to the fact that I was a member of the Galactic Order and not the United Earth Alliance. Ody, for his part, just smirked a little and tried to cover it with a judicious sip of his coffee. Its anybody’s guess as to whether or not he had been successful. Admiral Spratt missed very little, so I suspect not.
“We are having a problem with our J’ni,” the Admiral said simply.
Mitty lapped at his coffee with a tongue. The Archon’s drinking habits had always been a source of amusement… especially since he now had an organic body. Prior to that little gift from the Taserites, his holographic projection could simulate drinking in a more human fashion. The limitations of actual biology changed how he acted.
“In what way,” the Archon asked.
My father-in-law stood up and walked over towards the viewport. He looked out briefly and then turned to face us. I could see the look in his eye. What he was going to tell us, concerned him greatly.
“We discovered several small caches of Ancestor technology. Once we knew what their energy signatures looked like, it was not terribly hard to find them. Places like Area 54 in the old United States, the so-called Bermuda Triangle, Machu Picchu in Bolivia and the like.”
“You left them alone?” Now it was my turn to be concerned. Ancestor artifacts, especially ones with active energy sources, could be exceedingly dangerous.
The Admiral shook his head.
“There was a great deal of debate. Some, myself included, argued for leaving them be. Others, the faction that won the debate, wanted to dig them up. The argument was two-fold. First, if we could discover them, then the enemy could as well. They wanted them off the planet. Second, a small group argued that humanity could analyze them and perhaps gain a competitive advantage in any upcoming battle for the Sol system.”
I nodded, as did Shelby and a few of the others. It’s worth noting, my wife was not among them.
She had that look in her eye that I had become very familiar with over the years. It was her patented ‘You’re about to do something stupid, and I know it. In fact, the whole world knows it, but you will do it anyway’ look. As I said, I’ve become very familiar with that particular frown. I might add, it was nice not to be the target of said frown on this singular occasion.
“It makes a certain degree of sense. That said, I believe disturbing them was a mistake. Earth was lucky they didn’t suffer a catastrophe that would have made the Bogey-Four event look like a snowball fight,” I added.
Whiskers scratched his chin. I noted his beard was rapidly approaching the limits of regulations.
“Ya kin’na tell me that dig’n up some trinkets would sour the J’ni ta ya. There must’s been more.”
“Indeed, there was,” Ody agreed. He looked over towards ‘our’ father-in-law for permission to continue. The older Admiral nodded.
My genetic twin cleared his throat with a sip of coffee. It was freaky how similar his mannerisms were to me… although technically I suppose it was the reverse that was true. I might have mentioned in the past how many complications were created when a person was fully cloned including a comprehensive memory transfer. It's hard to think of me… as me… when I was sitting across from me.
“As you suspected, it was a mistake to unearth the Ancestor artifacts. One of the last objects recovered was a spherical ball about a meter across. It was composed of an alloy we were unable to identify… and once we excavated it… well, that’s when the trouble started.”
My father-in-law leaned forward.
“It began to emit a low-level energy signature. We suspected it was a signal of some type. We tried to determine what the source or purpose of the energy signature was, but it was like nothing Earth science was familiar with. All we knew was we could not shield it.”
“Beg’n the Admiral’s pardon, but what’a ya mean, ya canna shield it?” Whiskers asked.
“I mean the radiation it was emitting penetrated everything we threw at it… lead, depleted uranium, active environmental as well as full combat shielding. Nothing diminished or in any way affected the signature or strength of the signal coming from the device,” my doppelganger answered.
“Eventually we brought the J’ni down to the dig site. The best we can figure, the first J’ni saw the device and immediately contacted all the other J’ni with that VOX device they wear. We don’t know for sure because the J’ni in question disappeared along with the artifact and all of the other J’ni on the planet and in orbit,” my father-in-law continued.
“I see what you mean about ‘a problem with your J’ni,’” I said.
“Sadly, it gets worse,” my brother from the same mother said. “We found the J’ni on the far side of the moon, near the old Lunar Two base. They were building something. Something big. Something they will not let us anywhere near.”
I had an awful feeling in the pit of my stomach… you know the one I’m talking about. The one you get just before a math test in school… the one you forgot you were having and thus had not studied for.
“Mitty, any thoughts?”
“The sphere is unknown to me, but I suspect the energy signature was a multi-phasic, trans-dimensional carrier signal.”
“Is that even a thing,” I asked. I suspected I was going to get one of those twitching nose things he does. I was not disappointed.
“It is indeed… ‘a thing,’” my little alien otter-like friend said drily
. It almost felt like he was insulted that I had asked.
“As far as the activities of the J’ni, I’m at a loss to explain it. Our J’ni are behaving normally. So whatever happened, it was a local event and/or of limited duration,” Mitty continued.
I leaned back in my chair. My mind raced with a number of possibilities. If I was right, there was one group that might have some answers. I toggled my comms. It was time to bring the Tas into the conversation.
2100.1207.2059 Galactic Normalized Time
Eshbaal and Ish-Boshet shared access to a remote neural net. It was not a common configuration, and both Mahanaim-designed AIs found the interface awkward but necessary. The armada had assembled three jump points from the Sol system. Scouts had been launched and would report back soon. This mission was critical to the success of the prime directive. If the creators were to be resurrected, humanity must be dominated but not destroyed.
Chapter 20: Flying Dog
As always, the Tas were a delight to work with. Half the time I didn’t understand what they were telling me. The other half I was sure they were not telling me what I wanted to know. Occasionally, both situations applied. This was one of those times. I swear to heaven above that I was going to have the chef serve escargot for dinner just out of spite.
I decided to try to reformulate the question I was trying to ask one last time. The holographic image of a pair of Taserites slugs hung in the air before me.
“You are telling me you know definitely that the artifact was the cause the J’ni dropped what they were doing and started doing whatever it is they are doing now?”
“We are aware.”
Great, I thought. Now the tricky bit.
“And what precisely happened?”
The Tas shuffled in a way that used their four legs and also reminded me of an inchworm moving.
“The J’ni are aware.”
“Ok, I get that. Aware of what?”