Altered Destiny

by Trevor Gregg

  “But how could the station survive the supernova of its host star? Unless… but no, that’s not possible… but maybe, just maybe…” Benjam muttered to himself.

  Hubbell paused for effect, appearing to wait for Benjam’s realization before continuing.

  When she saw a look of recognition pass over Benjam’s face, she continued, “Yes, Europa Destinia survived. Its shields protected it from the stellar detonation. And in the process, it siphoned away a tremendous amount of angular momentum from the rapidly spinning neutron star that was left behind.”

  “It drew power from the very source that was supposed to destroy it?” Benjam questioned rhetorically. “That level of technology is incomprehensible!”

  “Why do you think Millennium War tech is so valuable? Because it does shit like that!” Hubbell exclaimed, patting Benjam on the back.

  “Neutron star? What’s that?” Kyren questioned sheepishly, obviously struggling to follow the conversation.

  “Well, to be most descriptive, it would be considered a pulsar,” Benjam quantified. “A ball of extremely dense matter, almost a black hole, but not quite. Held up by neutron degeneracy pressure, it is.”

  “Neutron degen… what?” Kyren responded, embarrassment at his lack of knowledge obvious.

  Alis felt a bit of pity for him, remembering that she had more education than most, growing up within the Consortium’s ranks and having studied astrophysics, if only briefly.

  “Kyren, a pulsar is a super-dense ball of neutrons, almost nearly a black hole, but just barely not enough mass. They spin incredibly fast and have tremendous magnetic fields surrounding them. Energy is channeled out of two regions, off-set from the poles, and as it spins around, a “lighthouse” effect occurs. Every time the beam sweeps past you, you would see a flash, or pulse. Hence, a pulsar.”

  “Ah, so we look for this flash to locate our destination!” Kyren exclaimed, obvious triumph on his face.

  Alis couldn’t help but grin at him and he grinned back.

  “So it drew power from the very explosion which was to destroy it?” Benjam spoke, apparently voicing his thoughts aloud.

  “Yep! The shields protected it from the stellar detonation. They were burned out in the process though, leaving the station unprotected from the sweeping beam of the resulting pulsar,” Hubbell confirmed.

  “But how do you know it’s still there? How do you know it’s survived the pulsar’s radiation? At that range, every time the beam sweeps around, the station’ll be bathed in massive amounts of radiation,” Alis questioned Hubbell.

  “Pulsars spin many times per second, that would be a machine gun burst of radiation. How could it avoid being destroyed?” Benjam squeaked.

  “Well, for one, its massive size. It would take a significant amount of radiation to disintegrate a moon-sized object.”

  “What!?” Alis was echoed milliseconds later by Kyren.

  “So the reduction in angular momentum… what is its current period?” Benjam queried, looking pointedly at Hubbell.

  “Fifty-three minutes, give or take a few seconds,” Hubbell informed him.

  “Fifty-three minutes? How much angular momentum does this station siphon off, anyway? I mean, pulsars are millisecond bursts!” Benjam exclaimed. “That would take ten million years to slow down.”

  “So we need to see it pulse twice, then, to identify the fifty-three minute period?” Alis questioned, seeing where this was going.

  “Yeah, but it can only be spotted from somewhere deep in the Boneyard, a place called the Swagg. It’s a handful of systems ruled by pirate clans. They usually fight amongst themselves but will come together to whoop up on outsiders if provoked.”

  “So we’ve got to survive in the pirate badlands for two hours. The Mantis can manage. As long as you all can keep your lunches to yourselves, we’ll be fine,” Hubbell replied with a chuckle.

  Alis continued looking around the central chamber, noting hardware wired in haphazardly. The place was well orchestrated chaos, Alis could see. There was a method to the seemingly discarded bundles of wiring and mismatched components. There, three bundles came to a junction box, which fed into a phase reduction capacitor. That would be for the thrusters, fine tuned controls. This ship must be able to turn on a dime, she mused.

  Hubbell moved swiftly around the bridge, flipping switches and tapping holopanels. Her pre-flight routine complete, she jumped into the pilot’s seat.

  “Oh, manual piloting, eh?” Alis said, unable to hide the envy in her voice.

  “Yeah, fly-by-wire and ultra-sense nano controls, she’s one of the most maneuverable ships in the galaxy, I’d stake my reputation on it,” Hubbell replied as she detached the ship from the dock.

  She hit the throttle and Alis watched the station recede in the viewscreen and the warp gate loom larger.

  “Chuck, you got our route?” Hubbell questioned.

  “Path downloaded to your terminal, boss,” Chuck replied in a monotone.

  Several jumps later and they emerged into the Swagg, tracing a distant orbit around the star Tragus.

  “Let’s hope nobody notices us while we watch,” Hubbell said.

  “Scanning…” Chuck began.

  41

  The Emirate’s Cargo

  Many minutes had passed and Elarra began to relax. Maybe they would go unnoticed. She took a moment to study the Mantis. The interior of the craft was a nearly spherical compartment with a tiered floor and holoscreens projecting three-hundred-sixty degrees. The “bridge” was the center and highest tier, Hubbell’s control station at the center. Arrayed around it were four standard holostations.

  There were components haphazardly installed, wires and conduits running all over the ship’s interior. It looked cobbled together, to be honest. But the look on Alis’ face told another story. She looked fascinated, examining the devices with excitement.

  Hubbell had offered them access to the cots lining the wall in the back, and refreshments from the small galley next to the cots. Elarra felt a pang of fear as Chuck spoke.

  “Incoming transmission, Captain,” the autonomous entity, or AE as it had referred to itself, spoke in a monotone.

  “Dammit, they’ve spotted us,” Hubbell exclaimed.

  “What do we do? Do we talk to them?” Kyren asked nervously.

  Hubbell put up her hand, silencing him. “Chuck, prime the weapons and countermeasures.”

  Several seconds passed and Chuck replied “Armaments primed, Captain.”

  “Take the call,” she instructed.

  The face was hideous to Elarra, lumpy and misshapen. A huge grin sat atop rolls of neck skin, no chin visible. The creature’s mouth was filled with jagged, rotting teeth and it’s two eyes looked in opposite directions.

  “This sector is the territory of the Mardoks. I am Grody, you will pay tribute for your trespass,” the creature mumbled through flabby lips, its tongue lazily licking the corners of its’ mouth.

  “Now hold up a second. We didn’t mean to be here, we’re on our way to meet with the Emirate. But we’ve broken down. We’ll gladly compensate you for a tow,” Hubbell said nonchalantly.

  “You speak of the Emirate, yet you look not like one of the clan. What is your business?”

  “Our business is our own. Now come give us a tow,” Hubbell said, hitting the transmission end button. “Chuck, continue scanning, regardless of what I do. Keep your processing power on locating that pulsar, okay?”

  “Yes Captain.”

  “Oh, and Chuck, cloak our weapon signatures please.”

  “Already done, Captain.”

  “What’s the plan?” Kyren asked. “Obviously we’re not going to this Emirate, right?”

  “Of course not. We’re gonna wait until they get close and blast them in the face, that’s what we’re gonna do,” Hubbell replied jubilantly.

  Elarra waited tense seconds, watching the viewscreens apprehensively. The approaching craft grew from a speck in the distance.

 
“Some sort of corvette-class gunboat, not a very large ship, it seems,” Alis said, studying the readouts listing the craft’s pertinent statistics. “Oh, look, it’s in the database, listed as stolen a year ago. Stolen from the Consortium,” she paused, then continued. “That’s no pirate vessel, that’s a Consortium gunboat named Viper. Armed, armored, and heavily shielded it is.”

  “Hmmm that could pose a problem. In that case, we’ll have to be precise. They’ll need to down their shields to get close enough to tow. Then they’ll attach cables and tow us back to their base,” Hubbell explained.

  “Wait, we’re going with them? Won’t that prevent us from finding our destination?” Kyren demanded.

  “I think they will board us first, to verify our story and attempt to steal what they can. If we resist boarding it’ll be a fight, and we’ll probably lose,” Hubbell continued, ignoring Kyren’s lamentation.

  “So what, we just let them scavenge the ship?” Elarra asked nervously.

  “Fuck no! Everyone’s gonna follow my lead, understand?” Hubbell bellowed antagonistically.

  Before her visikaji had become reality, Elarra had felt rather invincible. She knew how she would die, therefore many of their death-defying encounters they had survived together had not frightened her. Now, she had no idea whether she would survive or not. Seeing the future didn’t necessarily mean she was going to make it until the end.

  “Everyone, arm up. Look as intimidating as possible,” Hubbell instructed.

  “We are being hailed again, Captain,” Chuck interrupted.

  “Okay, here we go folks,” Hubbell said reassuringly, and punched the answer button.

  The hideous creature named Grody graced their screens again. “What is your business? Know that if you make a move we will blast you into oblivion.”

  “We are delivering the Emirate’s new liadi,” Hubbell replied coarsely, slightly gritting her teeth.

  Uh-oh, Elarra thought. She knew how this was going to play out. If Grody really wished to claim their valuables, she would certainly be considered one.

  “Ah, a liadi you say? I must come have a look. Prepare to be boarded. Resist and die,” and the screen went blank as Grody abruptly signed off.

  The ship loomed large in the viewscreen as the docking hatches locked onto each other with a clunk.

  Hubbell strode toward the airlock door and motioned for Kyren, Tharox, and Alis to take up defensive positions. A clanging knock came from the airlock door.

  “Chuck, open the door for our guests,” Hubbell said sarcastically, casually resting the butt of her plasma rifle against her hip.

  The airlock whooshed open and in strode Grody, flanked by two red-skinned humanoids with curling bony horns protruding from their foreheads. They bore energy rifles of one variety or another and some had knives or grenades. These beings were not to be trifled with, Elarra knew.

  Grody turned his stout, awkward frame to Elarra. He licked his lips and inhaled sharply as he looked her over.

  “You might taste delicious, if you were prepared by my cook. Why don’t I just take her and eat her myself?” Grody said, stalking over to Hubbell.

  “Because, you’d be taking away the Emirate’s property, and he’d be pissed off. You know what happens to those who piss him off?,” Hubbell paused, obviously waiting for an answer.

  After a long moment of consideration, Grody replied, “we will tow you to the Emirate. Perhaps he will reward me with one of you, once you’re enslaved. Yorshak, remain here, make sure they don’t try anything.”

  Grody turned to go. Yorshak just grunted, taking up position by Hubbell’s piloting console. Had Hubbell considered this in her plan? Elarra had no way to know. At least Hubbell seemed adaptable, hopefully she could cope with the change in circumstance.

  They were waiting for Grody’s crew to exit the ship in their spacesuits and hook up the tow lines when she noticed Hubbell and Alis both working at their terminals. A moment later, she realized they must be communicating. She looked at Kyren, willing him to look over at her. He finally turned and she mouthed “get ready.”

  Suddenly, the grav plates deactivated and they were left in zero g. Hubbell spun quickly and grabbed Yorshak’s foot. He was attempting to bring his rifle to bear on her, so she heaved, using the seat to anchor herself and provide leverage. She sent the pirate into a wicked spin and he started firing wildly.

  Alis was transforming her wrench into what looked like a cattle prod, electricity crackling at the tip. She reached out and jabbed demon-horns with the sparking end. The pirate went rigid and then went limp, still spinning and drifting.

  “Grav plates coming back on line,” Hubbell warned.

  Elarra braced herself for the return to gravity, and managed to remain standing, as did the others. She watched as Kyren darted over to the demonic Yorshak and quickly began stripping him of his weapons.

  “In that cabinet back there are some restraints, get him bound before he comes to,” Hubbell said, pointing.

  Elarra ran to grab the bonds, rummaging through the cabinet until she found them. Kyren secured the pirate and Tharox helped drag him out of the way. They unceremoniously dropped him near the cots. Tharox picked up the pirate’s energy rifle and stood over him menacingly.

  “If we’re gonna do it, we better do it now, they’re extending the tow cables. Alis, can you handle monitoring for me, so I can concentrate on flying?”

  “Okay,” she replied, turning her attention to the viewscreens.

  Hubbell jerked the controls and the ship rolled, putting the weapon turret in line with the pirate craft. They were inside Viper’s shields, so the cannon would do maximum damage. But would it be enough? The barrels of the turret belched white-hot beams of plasma. The blasts tore into the gunboat, walking all over the surface. Elarra realized Hubbell was targeting their weapons pods.

  Reacting sluggishly, the larger ship began to back off, attempting to get the smaller ship outside its shield radius. Hubbell pressed her advantage and kept pace with the larger vessel, pouring the fire into it. The Mantis rolled and dodged, avoiding the remaining turrets as they swiveled to fire. Suddenly, Elarra’s vision narrowed to a tunnel. Oh hell, another vision, she thought, and her consciousness was suddenly elsewhere.

  Elarra was drifting, a disembodied consciousness floating in a gray indeterminate ether. Voices came through from all sides, a cacophony of speech, conversations in a thousand languages. But from the noise, one stream became detectable. She strained to listen.

  “…dear, so happy to see you,” someone said, the voice almost recognizable in the din.

  “Mom, what’s going on? How’s dad and Meraco? Is everything alright?” this time she recognized the voice, it was Alis.

  Which meant the other was Geri.

  “…they’re both fine. For now. Your dad’s ship escaped major damage and Meraco has been on a gunboat in the armada guard around homeworld Banuh. However, we do have a bit of a problem,” Elarra continued to listen, straining to hear over the noise.

  “What kind of problem?” Alis asked.

  “I believe the Crevak are going to attack Banuh. The Consortium has been planning for a battle at Panalax, where the Crevak have been amassing. It’s a ruse, they’re gonna hit Banuh, I know it. Only the forty-seventh and the armada guard are there. They will be overwhelmed, they will fall to the new weapon.”

  “What’s the plan, then?” Elarra heard Kyren ask. “What can we do against this entire Crevak armada?”

  “Plenty,” Geri replied, confidence strengthening her voice. “That’s why I need your help, all of you.”

  “Okay, so we’ll do it, just let us know what,” Kyren replied in earnest.

  “We are going to sneak aboard that enemy flagship and sabotage it,” Geri uttered the words slowly, purposefully.

  42

  The Pulsar’s Signal

  Alis knew this was a serious pickle. Any second the Viper would start firing. She figured they must be struggling with the unfamili
ar controls. It would only buy them seconds. And it seemed that while Hubbell had done a significant amount of damage, many weapons turrets still remained.

  As if on cue, the Viper opened up on them. High velocity metallic rounds ricocheted off the Mantis’ armor.

  “We’re still too close to engage our shields, but they can’t either,” Hubbell said while rotating the Mantis and goosing the throttle.

  They began to fly along the length of the enemy ship, Hubbell surgically removing every weapon turret they passed. The Mantis suffered a withering hail of fire. Huge dents formed in the hull and components were knocked loose, sending a flurry of sparks and smoke into the cabin. Alis clenched, waiting for decompression, but it never came, her armor held. As soon as they were past, Hubbell accelerated them away from the enemy.

  “Going to try to outrun them?” Alis asked.

  “Just getting a little space to maneuver,” Hubbell responded.

  The ship rolled to bring the weapons on its undamaged side to bear. Hubbell didn’t give them the opportunity to line up a shot, she accelerated in a wide arc, staying in their enemy’s blind spot. The smaller Mantis outmaneuvered the larger Viper with ease. However, now that both craft had their shields up, the fight had changed.

  Alis knew the Mantis lacked the firepower to pierce the pirates’ shields, but neither could they target them. She felt like the standoff was acceptable. All they needed was to buy time to spot the pulsar.

  “How long do you think we can keep this up?” Alis asked Hubbell.

  “Not long, whatever warlord he serves will send reinforcements soon,” Hubbell explained.

  Alis spotted a couple of new dots on the viewscreens, but these remained unidentified. Their engine signatures indicated they were burning full out.

  “Approaching craft are charging weapons, Captain,” Chuck informed her without urgency.

  “Dammit,” Hubbell exclaimed and began juking the ship, dodging the incoming fire from the two newcomers.