Alliance
Page 6
Lucia retorted. She schooled her expression to prevent alerting Jess about her mood. She admitted that Juliette was right. Jess couldn’t take his eyes off her, but there was something quiet and gentle about the way he looked at her.
Lucia had heard that before. SADEs who worked for Alex’s fleets earned stipends equivalent to a senior officer’s pay. SADEs consumed nothing and had no expenses, except for ancillary avatars they might wish to own. Instead, they invested their credits in startup companies run by humans. They supported the companies with strategies, research, design, and construction techniques.
“Captain Cinders, how did you come to be here instead of on Pyre?” Lucia asked to end Juliette’s teasing and give Jess a viable reason to look her way.
“I journeyed through Sylia to a nearby dome to visit my twin sister, Kasie,” Jess replied. “She was at a non-alliance dome connected directly to the Sylian dome. That location was unoccupied, which allowed it to be used for research and the education of dome administrators.”
“Why not execute the research at a home world dome?” Juliette asked, intrigued by the difference.
“This was the discovery of Aurelia Garmenti and Devon Higgins, two Pyrean explorers. Unoccupied domes allow uninterrupted investigations of a dome’s console,” Jess explained. “While I was visiting Kasie, we saw a platform fire.”
“It did what?” Patrice asked. Olawale and she had become interested in Jess’s story. They’d stood to look over the seats at Jess, and Talsoma and Soshona had followed suit.
“Sorry, it’s an expression,” Jess said. “A console controls the dome’s platforms. When a platform is activated by a console operator to send individuals or material, we often say the platform fires. That’s what the blue light looks like when it emanates from a platform and merges with the dome overhead.”
“Continue with your story,” Lucia directed.
“Yes, well, we saw a net disappear,” Jess said. He belayed the next questions with an upraised hand. “We spread a net over a platform to prevent the Colony from arriving from the opposite end of that Q-gate.”
Juliette transmitted the conversation to Orbit. Esteban, with a SADE’s acute auditory capability, could hear fine from his seat.
“At least, that was supposed to be the way it worked,” Jess lamented. “The leader of the Resistance, Envoy Harbour, continually warned the alliance races about the Colony’s rapid expansion and cleverness. In the early years, the explorers found evidence that the Colony was mastering the consoles faster than the great Aurelia Garmenti.”
“What happened to the net?” Juliette asked.
“The platform fired,” Jess repeated. “The portion covering the top of the platform disappeared. An outer ring of net material fell to the deck.”
“I realized the Colony had found a way to disable a console’s safety features,” Kasie said. Hearing her twin relating the story of the Colony’s attack, she’d left her seat to join the discussion. “I screamed at the dome’s visitors to evacuate.”
“I saw a Jatouche walking up the ramp,” Jess added. “I extended an arm over the deck’s edge and told him to grab on. We locked forearms, and I hauled him up. Then we ran for the gate to Sylia. The Jatouche turned out to be Tacnock. My heart lurched, when I saw two tiny Pimborians hurrying across the deck. I was worried they’d be trampled in the panic, but a Loopah snatched them up.”
“As soon as I saw the platform fill, I activated the gate,” Kasie continued. “I remember being so angry at my brother. He’d stepped off the platform before it activated to make room for the Loopah and the Pimborians. Then I set it for a short delay and ran to join the remainder of our group.”
“As our gate fired, I saw insectoids appear on the platform where the net disappeared,” Jess said. “When we arrived in the Sylian dome, evacuation was already underway. It was pandemonium.”
“Many alliance individuals lost their lives that morning,” Talsoma said, “I was young, but I remember the stories of my patriarch’s patriarch. Emergency procedures were enacted. Security personnel fought to delay the arrivals of the insectoids. Four shuttles were crammed to overcapacity with passengers. They launched and made for Talseseena Station. By estimates, more than two hundred individuals were left behind to the merciless insectoids.”
“Has this happened in other domes?” Lucia asked.
“How are we to know?” Kasie retorted.
“What my sister is failing to explain,” Jess said apologetically, “is that we communicate with other worlds via the gates. We send message cubes. One moment, we were connected with hundreds of civilizations. The next, we were alone.”
“I’m sorry for all of you,” Lucia said apologetically.
“Esteban asks what defenses have been tried,” Juliette said.
“Velsana developed a gas to put them to sleep,” Soshona said. “Unfortunately, it’s not fast-acting. The insectoids breathe through openings, spiracles, along their body’s lengths, and we believe they can close them off. That buys the Colony members time to fight our defenders.”
“We also have Loopah weapons that the first explorers discovered,” Jess added.
“You mentioned Loopah before,” Olawale said, with a querying raise of an eyebrow.
“Did you see the simian sentients in my audience?” Talsoma asked.
The word simian wasn’t understood by the Omnians.
“I did,” Patrice replied. She looked toward Juliette, and said, “Left side of the assembly, as we entered. They were about halfway up the aisle, gold and silver sheaths, and dark fur.”
Juliette reviewed her recordings of the event. “Found them,” she said and sent them to the other Omnians.
“What are the weapons?” Lucia asked.
“They use compressed gas,” Talsoma replied. “A drum of darts is attached to a simple launcher. A gas cylinder fires the dart. As the dart buries into flesh, it breaks a second cylinder. The expanding gas destroys the flesh. They’re extremely effective.”
“Anything else?” Lucia pressed.
“Races have developed energy weapons,” Soshona said. “This is especially for races who have a Q-gate that connects directly to the Colony’s home world dome. These races were the first to encounter the Colony and effectively repelled them.”
“However, as you can imagine, energy weapons must be judiciously used when near or within a dome,” Tacnock cautioned.
By now, the aisle was crowded with individuals partaking in the conversation. Those with nearby seats were standing in place.
“With all these forms of defense, how were you overrun?” Edmas asked.
“Sylians are part of the Resistance,” Kasie replied. “We thought we were being proactive by monitoring the Colony’s advance in the non-alliance dome, where I was working. It was a mistake that many of us made by not heeding the warnings of Jessie Cinders. When I checked the night before, the Colony was located many stars away from our site. When they came through the gate into our dome, they’d journeyed through eighteen systems in the time it took to switch between eighteen pairs of platforms within as many domes.”
“What you might not comprehend is that a dome can have one to five, even six, gates,” Jess added. “There are no labels on a platform that tells you which gate goes where. Somehow, the Colony found a way to map a journey across many systems to a specific destination. It might be they were using the consoles’ recordings of the explorer teams, as they traveled through the non-alliance domes.”
“So, you felt safe. You thought you had time,” Lucia summarized. “That means the individuals in the Sylian dome weren’t heavily armed and weren’t guarding the gate that led to Kasie’s non-alliance dome.”
“Regrettably, that’s accurate,” Talsoma said sadly.
“Your pardon, Olawale,” Velsana said. He stood in the aisle
, his hand on the shoulder of a young med tech. “We haven’t perfected energy weapons, but I’ve a store of other items onboard the station. They’re portable gas canisters and Loopah weapons. I hope you can make use of them.”
Lucia turned her head to gaze at the elderly scientist. “My new best friend,” she said to him, and Velsana tipped his head.
Tacnock quickly vacated his seat and offered it to Velsana, who gratefully accepted it. He sighed as the nanites formed around his body. “We must have these,” he murmured in satisfaction.
It was a short flight from the planet to its orbital station. Juliette requested landing instructions from the station director, and accommodations were made for the visitors’ shuttle. Except for Jess and Tacnock, the Sylian defenders were surprised when the cabin lights brightened, and the hatch dropped shortly afterwards.
Talsoma and Soshona stared expectantly at Olawale. He replied, “Gravitational engines. We borrowed the technology from a massive AI that wreaked havoc on sentient races not under its control. I imagine by now that Alex’s fleets have vanquished it.”
“What if your Alex has failed?” Talsoma asked.
Olawale considered the question, and the Omnians waited. “There’s always that possibility, but the odds heavily favor him succeeding.” He smiled good-naturedly and beckoned to the defenders to stand and follow him off the traveler.
Velsana found Juliette waiting for him at the hatch. “I rather enjoyed my previous form of transport, Juliette,” he said. “If you wouldn’t mind a repeat?” he asked, glancing toward the steep hatch steps.
Juliette smiled, and Velsana and she were on the deck before the scientist knew it. Rather than put the scientist down, Juliette carried him out of the bay. Velsana happily chatted with the SADE about her avatar.
Soon afterwards, Captain Tenard arrived at the station with the Colony shuttle in tow. The slight delay had given time for a construction crew to ready a receiving bay and for Lucia to finalize her arrangements.
The station’s crew, operating small loaders, took charge of the ruined shuttle from Tenard’s Trident. Then they maneuvered the vessel into the bay and hastily exited.
In the corridor, Lucia waited with a team of Omnian security from the Judgment. They’d donned environment suits, but the faceplates were still open. They carried the typical Méridien weapon, stun guns, and Loopah weapons from Velsana.
“Do we go in before the bay is pressurized?” Lucia asked Olawale.
“Negative,” Olawale replied. “That gives us few options.” He turned to a Sylian crew chief and ordered the bay pressurized.
The crew chief hesitated and glanced toward Talsoma, who announced firmly to the Sylian defenders, “You’ll take your instructions from our visitors until I say otherwise.”
Immediately, the chief pressurized the bay. Esteban chose to wait at the transparent airlock shield, where he had a clear view of the shuttle and its hatch. He broadcast the view to the Omnians.
It was nearly an hour before the hatch opened. The shuttle had rolled about thirty degrees off axis, which meant the hatch bottom struck the deck after partially opening.
A gray insectoid ventured partway out, looked around, spotted Esteban in the airlock, and paused. Before long, it crawled onto the deck. Other grays followed until nine of them were clear of the shuttle.
“Grays and no reds,” Jess mused.
“Perhaps, the reds have chosen to remain inside,” Kasie ventured.
“Explain the species’ differences,” Juliette requested.
“Both species are aggressive and dangerous,” Kasie replied, “but the reds, the larger of the species, are the only ones that explorers ever saw operate weaponry.”
“We believe the reds rule the grays,” Jess added.
Lucia turned to the crew chief. “Can you introduce Velsana’s gas into the bay without opening the airlock hatch?” she asked.
The medical staff opened a large case and withdrew a metal canister, which the chief examined. “Yes,” he replied.
“Do it quietly and slowly,” Lucia instructed.
The chief accessed a corridor panel, which offered various connections for power, bay door operations, and venting. He pulled a thin, flexible hose line and attached the free end to the bottle. A knob on the canister allowed him to introduce the gas slowly into the bay.
Everyone waited for the gas to take effect. The grays continued to investigate every meter of the deck.
“Searching for an escape, I would imagine,” Jodlyne mused.
“Not an effective gas,” Lucia commented, when time dragged on.
From a chair, Velsana gestured to one of the medical techs, who handed a second canister to the chief. The first canister had registered empty. The second unit completed what the first canister had started. It rendered the roaming grays inert.
Lucia took command. “Security team front and center,” she ordered. “Everyone else into the corridor. The team’s first three are to use stun guns. The second three will back the first three with Loopah weapons.”
“I’m going in with you,” Jess said to Lucia. He wore his vac suit and hoisted his launcher.
“Stay beside me,” Lucia said firmly. “We can’t communicate with you.”
Jess’s fingers flew in response.
“What’s that?” Lucia asked.
“I said I understand in sign language, Commodore,” Jess replied. “You don’t speak it?” Without waiting for an answer, he signaled his suit to close the faceplate, which triggered the suit’s air flow.
When the airlock was clear of ancillary personnel, the crew chief sealed the corridor side hatch, and Lucia triggered the bayside hatch.
The three Omnians with stun guns entered the bay first, spread out, and tagged every gray. Then they used their implants to record body positions and set apps to register any changes.
Slowly, Lucia and the others approached the shuttle’s open hatch. While the security team with Loopah weapons edged forward, Lucia held Jess back. She noticed he’d attempted to walk slightly ahead of her. Protective male instincts, she thought. She was tempted to snort in dismissal, but for some reason, she stopped short of that.
The three Omnians weren’t long in the shuttle. When they finished touring the interior, they backed out. Then Lucia ordered the bay cleared. She tapped Jess on the shoulder and pointed toward the hatch.
“What did you find?” Talsoma asked anxiously, when Jess and the Omnians had cleared the bay.
“Could you take us to a conference room?” Olawale asked instead. “We can let individuals out of their suits and get some food. Then we can review the recordings. Many of us have questions.”
-6-
What Happened?
After Jess rid himself of his vac suit, which the crew chief took, Lucia walked over to him with Juliette in tow.
“Was that thing with your hand an actual language, Captain, or were you having fun at my expense?” Lucia asked sternly.
“Your technology is superb, Commodore. It’s obvious that your warships are extraordinary, but your manners need some work,” Jess riposted. Then he stalked off to follow the group to the conference room.
“Tactful, Lucia,” Juliette remarked.
“If it’s real, learn the language, Juliette, and build an app for us,” Lucia requested.
“I posit a near zero successful interaction with the captain unless he receives an apology,” Juliette replied. “He certainly deserves one.” Then she left to join the others.
Lucia stood a
lone in the corridor. “Why me?” she muttered, before imitating Jess, as she stalked off to catch up.
When everyone was comfortably ensconced in the conference room, Esteban activated his holo-vid.
“We’re going to watch the implant recordings of the security team who boarded the shuttle,” Olawale announced. “Please wait until the imagery is complete before we discuss the findings.”
The defenders were shocked by the visuals’ grisliness and, unexpectedly, their clarity.
Tacnock caught Jess’s attention. He tapped his temple, his jaw hanging low in amazement.
The implant imagery feeds ended, and Olawale regarded the defenders. “Analysis,” he requested.
“Something’s not right,” Soshona said, shaking her head in disbelief.
“Obviously,” Lucia remarked. “You indicated the reds were dominant. Weren’t those three reds that we saw on the shuttle’s deck?”
“Yes,” Kasie replied. “Their color and greater sizes make them easily recognizable.”
“Obviously, they’re dead,” Lucia pointed out, “and you’ve nine grays free to wander around the bay.”
“I believe the key to this seeming conundrum is the other bodies,” Esteban interjected. “Notice the proximity of the destroyed grays to the bodies of the reds. Those grays appear to be partially consumed, but the reds are intact. However, their bodies are punctured in many places.”
“You believe the reds were consuming grays, and the other grays revolted,” Jess surmised.
“That is my hypothesis,” Esteban replied.
Olawale wondered how they might use the information, but at the moment, it was a secondary concern.
“Velsana, you have an opportunity to conduct a medical analysis of your enemy,” Olawale said. “What would you like us to collect?”
Velsana grinned at Olawale. He was being presented with the opportunity of a lifetime. He’d never heard of a race or an explorer team able to retrieve a Colony specimen for inspection. “Could we examine a live gray?” he asked.
Olawale saw the ruler and commander’s horrified expressions, and he replied, “Not at this time.”