by Andrew Beery
I met Whiskers at the entry hatch to what we believed to be an antiproton arc cannon. Don’t ask me what an antiproton arc cannon is. All I knew was somehow you pointed it at the bad guys and pulled the trigger. In a perfect world, the bad guys would have a bad day, and the good guys would have a good day. I was painfully aware, however, that we did not live in a perfect world.
“Ya want me to pull this thing apart and she wha she be all about do ya?” Whiskers asked as he and I walked thru the first couple of subterranean chambers that constituted the first part of the massive machine.
“Negative. We still don’t know its purpose. I need you to do two things. First, find out definitively what it does… without disabling it. Second, rig it with explosives should we need to take it out in a hurry.”
“Aye that I kin do. Half me life I’ve been working ta keep things from blow’n up. Be a right pleasure ta be working in the other direction.”
He looked around the vast chamber. The walls undulated with mysterious energy patterns. I’d never seen anything like it. There were obvious control surfaces, but it was anybody’s guess as to what the controls did. The bottom line was this was obviously Ancestor technology used on a scale we had never seen before. The sphere that had started this whole thing floated about ten meters off the ground. The same mysterious energy patterns flowed across its surface. The room and the sphere seemed somehow connected even though there was no obvious point of contact. Whiskers whistled.
“As fer as wha’kin it do… Well, that be another matter. All I can promise is ta give it me best.”
I smiled. “That’s all I can ask for my friend. That’s all I can ask for.”
2100.1207.2065 Galactic Normalized Time
Ish-Boset gave the final command. The advance reconnaissance team jumped into Skip Space. The attack had begun.
Chapter 22: Desperate Dog
Captain Ming Xi was good enough to allow me on the bridge even though we technically served different governments. The Nimitz was small compared to the ship she was chasing, but at sublight speeds, there were very few vessels in the Sol system that could match her.
Five hours later, aboard the Nimitz, I had finally caught up to the Gilboa. The J’ni had reduced acceleration to a mere six gravities once the ship had reached twenty percent the speed of light. It was almost as if they wanted us to catch up with them. The Ticonderoga was pacing the Gilboa as well. It was almost as if we were functioning as a task force… except we weren’t.
“Comm, please open a channel to the Gilboa,” Ming Xi ordered from her command chair.
A moment later the image of Commander Shelby floated in the front of the Nimitz’s bridge. The Commander’s eyes locked on mine for a moment before returning to the Nimitz’s captain.
“Captain, the Gilboa thanks you for your assistance. May I speak with our Fleet Admiral?” My First Officer asked politely.
A second holographic image appeared next to Shelby. It was my father-in-law, Admiral Spratt.
“Enough with the pleasantries. No disrespect, Captain, I suspect we don’t have the time for them. By the authority of the United Earth Alliance council and exercised at my discretion with the agreement of Ambassador Shella… I am temporarily merging our command structures. Captain, for the duration you and all other officers under my command are hereby embedded within the Galactic Order command structure. The reason for this move will be made clear in a few moments.”
The holographic image of my father-in-law then did something I had never expected to see or hear in my lifetime. He turned towards me and offered a crisp salute.
“What are your orders Fleet Admiral Riker?”
It took me a moment, but I returned the salute. Technically salutes were not offered holographically, but the Admiral was making a statement, and I decided to play along.
“You do realize, Admiral, that I may have to order the Ticonderoga to fire on you? If we can’t regain control of that ship and if it poses a threat to others, I won’t have a choice.”
“I do indeed understand. Let me turn you over to your second, and she can explain our current situation.”
Shelby took a half step forward.
“Admiral the Gilboa is operating at close to 165% efficiency. Whatever the J’ni are doing they are enhancing the ship’s systems. Our shields, weapons, sensors… they are all operating well beyond their old design specifications. And sir, we still have access to the Gilboa’s AI for day-to-day operations, but it is no longer under our control.”
I tapped my comm badge.
“Mitty, report to the bridge!”
I turned back to the holograms. Losing control of the ship’s computer and AI completely changed the equation. There was a very good chance that I would have to destroy my own ship… at a time when we desperately needed her.
“Shelby, I’m assuming you still have control of the shuttle bays and the escape pods. True?”
“Affirmative, Admiral.”
“You need to abandon ship. Coordinate with the Ticonderoga. Get everyone off the Gilboa. Is the manual self-destruct still online?”
“It is sir, but that system is under the control of engineering and the computer core. I don’t think they are going to allow us to use it.”
“Understood. Get my people off that ship. Assign a special team to assist the Tas.”
“On it sir. We need about ten minutes.”
“Get it done, Commander. Riker out.”
I turned towards the Nimitz’s communication officer. “Ensign get me a channel to Captain Kimbridge on the Ticonderoga.”
A moment later the bridge of the Ticonderoga materialized as a holographic projection. Robert Kimbridge swiveled his command chair towards the holo-emitter.
“Admiral, we’ve been monitoring your communications. I have my search and rescue teams scrambling. We should have twenty-four SARs in the air in the next two minutes… and another twenty-four two minutes after that.”
I nodded. Kimbridge was an exceptional officer. If anything, his reputation did not do him justice.
“Captain, I need a favor. Does the Ticonderoga carry any Class-V fusion devices?”
“If you mean as missile warheads then the answer is no. If you mean proximity mines, then the answer is absolutely.”
“My thought is to place one inside the Gilboa as close to the fusion cores as possible. If we can’t take control of the ship, then we need to make sure the enemy can’t have her either.”
“That’s your ship Admiral. Surely there must be another way?”
“I hope so too. But the first priority needs to be Sol. What would it take to rig a Class-V to blow on a timer?” I asked.
“One second Admiral.”
The image of Captain Kimbridge turned his head to the left.
“Mikey, if I wanted to detonate a walley-bang with a timer… what would it take?”
An off-screen voice answered.
“About ten minutes with a wrench and a whole lot’a stupid… Sir.”
I knew that voice, and despite myself, I smiled.
“Is that Mikey Thomson? The worst bridge player this side of the Orion Nebula?” I asked.
A bearded Chief walked into view.
“Well if it isn’t Admiral Four No Trump. I take it that this is this your hairbrained idea?”
“I’m going to assume you two know each other,” Kimbridge said with just a tinge of concern in his voice.
“OK, Mikey,” I said. “What’s wrong with my idea?”
Mikey and I went back almost as long as Whiskers and I. For many years he had been Whiskers right-hand man at the Ceres Boneyard until a back injury sidelined him. It looked like the newly available rejuv treatments had done wonders for him. He appeared to be a good twenty years younger than I remembered.
“For starters Admiral… you do know what mines are used for? Once they are armed, they go boom if they are disturbed.”
“I kind of got that Chief. Why is that a problem?”
Mikey
looked at me through the holographic interface.
“They go boom,” he repeated.
“Got it. They go boom. We want them to do this. That’s the point.”
“No sir. You want them to go boom when you want them to go boom. They want to go boom when they want to go boom. There’s a hell of a lot a difference between the two. Once they are armed, there just aren’t a lot of safeties in place. Any foreign object approaching them… any shift in local gravimetric field… Hell Sir, just look’n at them funny will set them off.”
I nodded. I was beginning to understand his concern.
“Chief Thomson,” I said. “We are fighting the clock here. What would it take to make this work?”
“Simple in concept but almost impossible in practice. You would need to place them and, then and only then’ arm them. When they get placed in a minefield, they are armed by the launch system. The arming mechanism provides a roughly five minutes window for the ship laying the mines to make it out of the engagement zone.”
“So, we place them, and then we arm them. Can I assume manually arming one is tricky?”
“That depends, Admiral. If it takes a six-week course at the NCO academy to learn how to do it safely means its tricky… then yes it's tricky.”
“OK Chief. You’ve made your point. I assume you are qualified to arm them?”
“That I am, Sir.”
“Rig one Class-V with an adjustable timer. Then you and I are heading over to the Gilboa.”
The dour-faced Chief brighten right up.
“Sir… are you inviting me to the dance?”
“That I am, Chief. That I am.”
“Hot diggity damn! What will I wear?” He said as walked away from the holographic pickup.
I wish I could have shared his enthusiasm for this mission. The Gilboa had become a member of my family. The thought of putting her down like a dying dog was almost more than I could handle.
I spoke with Captain Kimbridge a few more moments and then had the Nimitz close down the connection.
About the same time, Shelby announced the Gilboa was evacuated except for the J’ni and a four-person bridge crew.
***
The shuttle ride from the Nimitz was a quiet one. No one said a word. It felt like we were going to a wake. Lori hadn’t even tried to talk me out of going. If these were to be the last hours of the Galactic Order Ship Gilboa, I needed to be with her.
As we landed in the shuttle bay, I wondered what the J’ni were thinking. I knew the ship’s AI would have taken note of the fusion bomb Mitty, Chief Thomson and I off-loaded from the Ticonderoga shuttle which had landed just before ours.
We all wore our Marine Encounter Suits. There were very few things the ship could do to stop us from carrying the bomb into the bowels of the ship other than screw around with the environmental systems. The MES pretty much took care of that option.
I toggled my comms.
“Shelby, we’re onboard and in route to main engineering. What can we expect?”
“Well Sir, unless the situation has changed you will encounter a level three force field at junction one-one-three. It extends thru decks E, F and G. The turbolifts has been disabled by the ship’s AI both above and below those decks.”
“In other words, we can’t get to engineering.”
“No Sir. I’m afraid not. Similar barriers are in place for both the computer core and the backup bridge.”
“The backup bridge? Why in the world would they be guarding that?” I grunted. The nuke we were carrying was heavy, and we were going to be carrying it as deep into the ship as we could.
“I’m not sure, Admiral, but we’ve been getting strange energy reading from within it for the last several hours… about the same time we lost control of the ship’s computers.”
Finally, we arrived at the central turbolift shaft. We couldn’t use the turbolifts, but the shaft extended virtually the entire length of the ship. A nuke set off here would effectively disable the ship.
“Mikey do your stuff but do not set the timer until I give you the go ahead.”
“Aye, Admiral… but remember what I said earlier. Once I arm this guy don’t so much as sneeze in its direction, or you won’t be needing a handkerchief.”
“Shelby lock down your controls and abandon ship. If we are going to save her it's going to be because I can talk some sense into the J’ni.”
“Sir, I’d prefer to stay. Perhaps I can help. I…”
“You have your orders, Commander. I expect you to carry them out.”
Before Shelby could respond the red-alert klaxons began to blare. At the same time, the air began to crackle with what felt like a massive static electric buildup. The hairs on my arms and the back of my neck began to stand up. Half a second later there was a bright flash. When my eyes adjusted, I realized only two things remained. Myself… and the blaring klaxon. Mitty and the others, including the bomb were gone...
2100.1207.2067 Galactic Normalized Time
In the distance, a yellow star shone. It was significantly brighter than any of the other stars that were visible. General Ahithophel knew it brighter because it was orders of magnitude closer. They had arrived at the Sol system...
Chapter 23: Angry Dog
“Shelby? Mitty? Chief? Is there anybody on board?” Nothing. I decided to try a different tact.
“Gilboa, are there any crew left aboard?”
I really wasn’t expecting an answer given that the ship was now under hostile control. I was somewhat surprised when I actually received an answer.
“Affirmative, Admiral. Commander Sa’Mi is the highest-ranking officer currently aboard the Gilboa. He and a staff of eighty-three J’ni are making final adjustments. They will be with you shortly. May I suggest you return to the bridge, please. You will find the turbolifts are now available.”
I have to admit, as far as mutinous computer AIs go… this one was at least very polite. As I made my way towards the nearest lift, a holographic image of an Archon appeared next to me. It looked like Mitty but was subtly different. I suspect the Gilboa’s AI would realize that given the current situation, I would be disinclined to respond favorably to a hologram wearing the form and visage of my friend. Instead, the hologram that appeared was the one I had come to recognize and call ‘Gil.’
“So, Gil would you care to tell me what is going on?”
“Sixteen Fuqua-Class Defiler reconnaissance craft have exited Skip Space approximately eighty-one light minutes away. We are moving to intercept.”
I didn’t know what a ‘Fuqua-Class’ reconnaissance craft was, but I was willing to go out on a limb and guess their presence in our solar system was not a good thing. I decided I needed more information.
“By we, you mean the Gilboa, Ticonderoga and the Nimitz?”
“No Admiral. That would be incompatible with my current mission objectives.”
Do you know that feeling you get in the pit of your stomach when you have very bad news confirmed? That was the feeling I had right now. It was not a feeling I enjoyed. I was a glutton for punishment and needed that one final confirmation.
“So, you are part of the Defiler invasion, and I am your prisoner,” I said dryly.
Gil stepped in front of me where he stopped and turned to face me. He did that strange nose-thing that Archons tended to do at odd times. Normally I found it somewhat endearing. Not so much this time.
“Is that what you think, Admiral?”
I stared at the ship’s avatar for a moment. A slight vestige of hope began to stir in my mind. I quickly suppressed it. Whatever was going on, the ship was no longer under my command. That meant some other force or entity was directing its actions. I had to proceed carefully.
“It would seem so based on the evidence that is available to me. My ship has been stolen by an unknown force. Part of its crew subverted in ways I can’t begin to understand. It's heading in the direction of a known enemy bent on the destruction of my home planet. Until very recently, all
attempts at communication have failed. Given all of that, an adversarial relationship is a very reasonable conclusion.”
“Nevertheless, it is not the only conclusion. If you will continue with me to the bridge, I will attempt to explain the true nature of the events that have transpired.”
I stepped through the holographic projection. It was considered rude, but I was beyond caring.
“Tell me this at least. Is my crew safe? Did you just beam them out into space? What about the nuke we brought with us?”
Gil shimmered into existence in front of me. I was feeling pissy, so I walked through him again.
When he reappeared, he was a good ten feet in front of me… about halfway to the turbolift door.
“Your boarding party was transported into the cargo hold of the UEA Ticonderoga. They are safe. The nuclear device you attempted to destroy me with has been placed safely in stasis.”
By this time, I was next to Gil again, so I proceeded to step through him a third time. Did I mention I was feeling a bit pissy?
My leg hit what felt to be a solid object. In point of fact, it felt like I had walked full stream into a brick was… definitely a lot harder than what you would expect ‘alien otter thingies’ to feel like. I had forgotten that the Gilboa could use micro-field emitters to simulate tactile responses with its holograms. Running into it hurt but I wasn’t about to give the ship’s AI the satisfaction of hearing me grunt.
I gingerly stepped around the offending hologram and continued on towards the elevator.
“Are you done acting the part of a petulant child?” the hologram asked from behind me.
I spun around to face the ship’s AI. I raised a finger and began to offer a witty retort but then decided not to. The damn machine might have a point. I was acting the spoiled brat… but in my defense, I believe I had ample cause.
I lowered my hand without saying a word and stepped into the turbolift. Thankfully, Gil chose not to join me. I knew that he would simply appear on the bridge when the turbolift doors opened. I was not disappointed… or maybe I was. Hard to say… I was still feeling a bit pissy.