Ghost Fleet

by Isaac Stone

  “Are there any other questions?” Captain Dredge asked.

  There were none. Honestly, I think we were afraid to know more.

  13

  The Hard Rain, and the other naval ships, was forced to move back further from the Spear Cluster as the dark matter began to spread. As our forces were forced to retreat, the cluster had more room to send its forces out from the tunnels it created from within.

  Dark matter was speculated about for centuries before humanity moved into interstellar travel. There was no real way to calculate, or even observe, it until the first explorers made their way across the galaxy. It came about as astronomers observed the spin of galaxies. They concluded there was no way galaxies could keep from flying apart unless another source of gravitational pull could account for the discrepancy. For centuries, dark matter was a subject of theory and not one of observation.

  The first explorers encountered the dark matter streams around supernovas and black holes, once the physics of faster than light travel was resolved. When a starship could find a way through the corridors of space by jumping through imperfections in the space-time continuum, there were few limits to how far it could travel.

  The first use for dark matter was in the building of the Insubstantia portals that allowed instant travel through the galaxy. They were built to provide a cheap method of interstellar travel and worked with brilliance.

  No one fully understood the nature of the relationship between the Insubstantia barriers and dark matter. The original scientist who designed the barrier drivers, Sybil Zehuq, went mad after the drive was tested to completion after it was finished. No one ever found a way to improve on her design and the current model stayed in use for the past five hundred years. There were rumors of ships that vanished and never returned in some of the early trials. Other rumors existed about ships that appeared full of strange people who spoke an unknown language. No one paid much attention to these because the system worked to perfection. There were few complaints.

  As I looked over the report of the expanding dark matter around the Spear Cluster, I wondered how long it would take for the Insubstantia barriers to cease working. If that thing inside the cluster could manipulate dark matter, could it not shut off the jump drive system that depended on dark matter for operation? All I knew about dark matter was that it was very unstable. Dark matter needed special equipment for manipulation.

  I noted that the rate of dark matter expansion around the cluster was increased at an exponential rate. It wouldn’t be long before we’d have no way to patrol the perimeter outside it. Once dark matter expanded beyond our level of surveillance, the intelligence inside it could send out any amount of ghost ships it wanted. It would not have to worry about any interceptions from us. In time, the UDF Navy would be useless.

  It was about that time that I found myself assigned to Captain Dredge solo. I wasn’t the only man to be relieved. The ratio was adjusted by adding more of us to the evening shift and setting up a larger number to the day. It wasn’t unusual at that time to enter the mess hall before day shift began and see groups of men and women who sat together, ready to go off for the day shift. I preferred to keep my schedule the same, but others enjoyed the change. With only two FAS crews on standby, both of the women in charge of the Hard Rain decided to have each crew work a different shift. At least none of us had the indignation to be passed from one shift to the other with the same person. They did keep the names in constant rotation.

  When I arrived at her quarters, Dredge was seated on her bed. I was a bit surprised to see she still had her uniform in place. Unless you were headed somewhere for the evening with your assignment, most people stayed put in the woman’s quarters. This was the first time I’d soloed with her. I didn’t know what to expect.

  “Go ahead and get cleaned up,” she told me. “I’m tired and want to stay in bed this evening. I’ll want you beside me all night.” This was an order, not a request.

  She’d removed her clothes by the time I’d left the shower and toweled off. Captain Dredge reclined in her bed, with no sheet over her. She patted one hand next to the cushion next to her. I joined my captain in the bed.

  The hair on the top of her head had grown out a bit. This was months after she’d pledged into the pack. I could still see the whip marks that covered her, as she’d opted not to remove those. I wasn’t used to sleeping with women who had those. It was a bit of a shock until I grew accustomed to them.

  “It used us,” she told me after we’d spent a few hours making love. By then I’d learned to follow her lead. Every woman on the ship had specific requirements for the evening, but Dredge and the other former pirate women were in their own category. I was lucky that the other men compared notes.

  “Who used us?” I asked, my mouth on the back of her neck. Her hand snaked around and pulled me down to her level.

  Captain Dredge looked at me with her dark eyes. I hadn’t minded probed her in a long time and didn’t want to do it right now.

  “Yaldabaoth,” she told me. “It’s the name of the thing inside that cluster. It told us we would rid the galaxy of corruption and sin. It promised us so many things. All it did was use us as a means of escape. We made it possible to leave the cluster.” I watched her stare up at the sky as her eyes glossed over.

  I wanted to ask her more, but she put my mouth to other tasks.

  Across the galaxy, people unearthed old temples and dug up artifacts they thought might help humanity survive. The ghost ships continued to strike out of nowhere. Their methods became worse each time. It was always to the same end, destroy any humans they could find and any trace of humanity. They would fight until their ships were blown apart by the UDF Navy or local forces. By now, everyone knew what to expect and struck back without expecting any mercy.

  The monks from the Svardheim system were sent out to every point where they could be used. They were able to anticipate the next move of any ghost ship they could see on a screen. No one knew how it was they accomplished this and no one cared. So long as they continued to destroy ghost ships, the monks could be used. The ones who remained after each battle would train more, although it took a long time to create a monk. But with every engagement, a monk or two was sure to die. The replacement numbers were slow to make up for the losses. Goat Squad was scouring civilized space for anyone who had the gift, and their propaganda department had certainly changed its tune. Now psychics were being hailed as humanity's next best hope. Funny house emergencies will change the public perception.

  Even those icons that didn’t destroy the ghost ships still gave hope to those who found them. It was a way to connect with the past and find something lost over the years that preserved humanity in its darkest hours. This was the first time humanity was threatened by a force from outside. In all the centuries of interstellar travel, there were no discoveries of other intelligent life forms. Life existed across the galaxy, but never rose above level of primates. As a worker of tools and thinker of thoughts, humanity was very much alone.

  Still no one could find an artifact with the power of the Cosmic Seed. There were a few books and amulets that seemed to repel the ghost ships for a while, but not for long. The ghost ships always could find a way to stop whatever was wielded against them. It still didn’t prevent people from trying to find a new weapon to send them back to hell.

  On the planet Hondu in the Foleras system, an archaeologist uncovered a legendary silver cup that was used in the far past to vanquish an army of demons on Old Earth. He rode along with an FAS ship when it attacked a horde of ghost ships. Four of the six ghost ships were eliminated in minutes. However, the fifth and sixth realized what happened and vaporized the FAS before it could engage them.

  The search continued. If there was one Cosmic Seed out there, another had to exist. If not a Cosmic Seed, an amulet or talisman that could stop the attacks. People said prayers and meditated for deliverance.

  Surrender was not on anyone’s minds. The ghost ships destroyed any t
arget that tried to give up.

  It was a few weeks after my encounter with Captain Dredge where she’d uttered the name of the thing in the cluster, that Captain, now Marshal, Sophia called a meeting.

  This time Captain Dredge wasn’t present. It was a general meeting too, and in the morning. Dredge and two other women were absent, as someone needed to keep watch on the bridge. There was only so much an AI could do without a human to guide it.

  “There's been a change in the roster,” she announced in front of the assembled pack. “You’ll see it when you leave here. By the way, continue to call me Captain. I don’t care for the term ’Marshal’, even if it’s my official title.” She turned and left the room without saying another word.

  In spite of her age loss, this was a bit odd. Captain was never short with us, even when she was joined by another Captain.

  “Guess we can go back to calling her Captain,” Tank, who sat next to me, muttered. "But what do we call Dredge?”

  “Captain Dredge,” Talia, who sat with him, replied. "Guess we’ll have ‘Captain’ and then ‘Captain Dredge’. Might as well as she’s the original."

  “Well, let’s see what’s on the roster," Tank spoke to me as we entered the ready room outside the hangers. He snapped his fingers and a screen appeared before us.

  “Didn't expect this,” Orlando commented as we all checked the schedule for the next few weeks.

  The roster had Captain sleeping with a different man each night solo over the next three weeks. We were all about to get a different turn and in order. There were no exceptions.

  “I wonder why she did it this way?” I spoke while going looking at the list.

  “Guess you can ask her tonight,” Tank tossed out to me. “I see she’s placed you first in line.”

  Captain was energetic that night.

  She was on top of me before I could get into her bed. I thought it might have something to do with her present condition, which no one still understood. But with the youthful appearance came the drive of a mature woman. I’d once heard it was a cosmic joke that men’s sexual drives peaked at eighteen while women didn’t max out until forty-two. That night, captain had both drive and the vigor that comes with youth.

  “Why are you having each one of us every night?” I asked her. “I won’t complain. No one will if you take care of us all the way you just did for me.” I lay next to her in bed as I tried to recover.

  “I must have you all,” she spoke. "I feel it. This is something I have to do. I need the seed of every man on this ship. If I could accomplish it in one night, I would, but that isn’t practical.” She rolled over and went to sleep, but I couldn’t. I lay for a long time in thought and tried to decipher the meaning of her words.

  I talked to the others as the weeks progressed. We hadn’t encountered any of the ghost ships and the navy was content to let us stay put, as Captain was coordinating the war against the enemy.

  Every man reported the same thing to me. Captain would have sex for about two hours with every assignment, then sleep. The only thing we found odd was the way she made love with each man sent to her quarters. She made certain that the only time we climaxed was inside her. She didn’t waste any of it. I remembered how she’d spoken of “the seed” when we were together. She spoke of similar things to the other men.

  “Whatever happened to three hours of cuddling?” Medoro grumbled after his session with her. The four of us were at work on some part of the FAS.

  “It's almost like she wants to get pregnant,” Tran spoke while looking at a screen. “Not a good idea at her age.”

  “Age?" I sent back. “Have you seen her? Captain has the physique of an eighteen year old woman.”

  It wasn’t until five weeks after she’d finished with the last of us that we learned Captain was pregnant.

  It wasn’t even formally announced. Captain let the information pass to the women in charge of the medical evaluations. She told them a few days after sleeping with the last man on the ship that she wanted tested for pregnancy. A little surprised, they performed the tests and found Captain to be far enough into her pregnancy to test positive. It took a good two weeks before they could confirm a pregnancy under most cases, but they had Captain listed as “with child” in a matter of days.

  “Did you hear?” Tank asked me at dinner a few weeks after she’d passed the information down through the crew. “Captain Sophia is pregnant. How the hell is she going to do her duties as the Marshal of the Orders while she’s carrying a child?”

  “The same way she did it before,” Talia, who sat with us, responded. “I’ve heard talk of her calling in fire and attack positions from the bridge when she could barely walk. Don’t you worry about our captain; she’s made of steel on the inside. You men should know it better than anyone else.”

  “First she regains her youthful appearance,” I mentioned, “and now she’s pregnant. I wonder which one of us is the father. She had us all, in order, then slept alone.”

  “I suppose, in a way,” Tank replied. "We’re all the fathers of her child. I’d expect the medical staff will know soon enough. Shouldn’t be too hard to tell once they check the kid’s DNA.”

  However, there was no word as to who was the lucky man. I put it down to Captain being too absorbed with other duties. In truth, I wondered if she didn’t want anyone to know until she was ready to make the announcement.

  Two days later, we received a message from the UDF Central Command.

  The Thunder Horse was about to be replaced.

  The navy sent us a small corvette cruiser that we could use to probe the dark matter around the Spear Cluster. As nothing seemed to work to stop its expansion, the UDF decided to find out what it could. All it knew was that the expanding barrier allowed the ghost ships a way out of the cluster without encountering the UDF Navy. With the barrier moving further out every hour, it would soon not be possible to stop any of them.

  Captain decided to staff the corvette with Dredge and the former pirate women. The new ship was renamed Rhapsody Danger. It arrived a week after the announcement came from the UDF.

  “Looks like any other corvette,” Tank spoke as we approached it from the supply shuttle. He flew it with me as co-pilot. Captain Dredge and her crew sat in the passenger compartment and waited for their new ship.

  Dredge and the former pirate women were quite a bit different in temperament from the psychotic pirates we’d taken prisoner months ago. I didn’t even recognize them anymore. After the deep probes I’d done with them, they were different people. However, there were some things no probe could fix.

  They sat there and watched the corvette appear in the big screen. None of them said a word. They, and Dredge for the most part, were silent and didn’t talk. You might engage them in conversation, but it was hard to do. They didn’t want to talk about their past lives, given they’d been the victim of, and committed, atrocities. The UDF let Captain know they were part of her pack and outside the laws of any planetary government. However, the navy could not be responsible for what might happen should the women come into contact with a former victim.

  The shuttle docked in record time and we transferred into the corvette. It lacked a delivery crew, as its AI was able to bring it to us through the Insubstantia jump from where it came. The air inside smelled recycled. I could feel the lives of the many people who’d flown in this ship over the years it was in service.

  A screen floated in front of us and Tank looked over to check it. “Everything is in order,” he spoke. "Armed to the teeth and outfitted with every weapon they could send. Hope this will help with the survey of that dark matter barrier they want to undertake.” He turned around and looked at Dredge and her women. "You want us to stay around a bit until you’re settled in? The AI can put you through the basics of operation and navigation. Jump drive and propulsion should be similar to the ship you used to fly.”

  “I think we can manage this on our own," Dredge spoke to Tank, as she pushed him aside and went to
check out the battle stations. “You may return to the mothership.” The other women followed her and ignored Tank.

  He looked at me, shrugged, and walked back across the docking port to the supply shuttle. I went with him.

  “Hope they don’t have trouble flying that bird,” Tank spoke to me on the way back. "I don’t want to lose any more packmates.”

  “She'll manage,” I replied. "Won’t be hard for them to get the operation of that thing down, after running Thunder Horse for so long on a skeleton crew. Might be a little hard on the roster for the next few weeks while they stay on the corvette.”

  “Right. Damn, Maenad was supposed to be assigned to me in three days. I’m sure Captain will find a replacement.”

  They spent all their time on board the new ship. The Rhapsody Danger gave them a bit of trouble over all the new weapon systems, but the women weren’t use them very often. We were told the ship only had so much ammo and power. Any missile fired, cannon discharge or laser shot would lessen the corvette’s ability to fight. After some basic training sessions, they didn’t use the weapons again. This was meant to be a survey and scout ship, and while it carried a wide array of weapons, it only carried enough ammunition and power to fight its way out of a bad situation and that was about it. No sustained battles.

  Two days after their training was over, I was in one of the hydroponic rooms helping Adri when I was summoned by Captain to report to the bridge.

  “Wonder what’s up now,” Adri spoke as she placed a herb for dinner down into a tray. She liked working in the hydroponic room.

  “Guess I’ll find out when I get up there,” I told her as I picked up a cart to drop off at the kitchen on the way to the bridge.