But, there was nothing he could do now. He’d just have to sit and wait.
Chapter 23
Lord Tara’s struggle
The hyper-link sensor on Alex Richardson’s ship suddenly activated as it received a covert Data-update burst from the security AI on Commodore Earhart’s Invincible.
Captain John Banks, a slim, dark-haired and muscular forty-six-year-old special-ops Captain, studied the decrypted data on the Trexis group.
“It’s genuine, Alex.”
“Has separation taken place?”
“Seems so. Two groups of three ships. And, the male’s group has departed.”
“Good.”
“Less than eleven hours remaining Alex, according to the Invincible’s security AI.”
“Okay.”
Then Alex called Captain Adams and Captain Sitrea as he thumbed the inter-ship comms-link tab.
“We must leave now. Invincible’s AI confirms that the target will jump in less than eleven hours.”
“Ten hours thirty-five ship minutes, to be exact,” Captain Banks replied, correcting Alex as he checked the Hyperlink message’s time-lag.
Alex smiled upon hearing Banks’ cheeky correction. Then, as both Captains faces reappeared on his bridge’s sub-display, he touched his sister’s mind.
Carina… Time to prepare.
About time, she returned.
Are you still happy to take on this Lord Tara, as Invincible’s AI calls her, Carina?
So long as you’ll back me up if I’m not strong enough.
I’ll have my work cut out re-converting all three ships crews. Have faith, Carina. You’re a level three.
I know, Alex. But we don’t know how many cell injections Charlotte’s children had.
We’ve been through this before. Father said he was pretty sure that Charlotte had only taken two Cryo-Injectors from Andromeda.
Pretty sure, isn’t a statement that gives me confidence, especially as we don’t know how many injectors Charlotte had in the first place.
You’ll be fine… Trust me, Carina.
With that, the conversation ended. However, Alex wasn’t a hundred percent sure he was right in thinking that Charlotte’s siblings’ mental ability might be higher than his and Carina’s. But, if that was the case…, then…?
No way, he reassured himself, shaking his head. Then turned his attention to the two Captains.
“Time to put our plan into action before Earhart’s group leaves the area,” Alex ordered.
“We’re ready,” Sitrea confirmed.
“Both of us,” Captain John Adams enthusiastically added.
“We’ll sublight through them to create panic, John. Then swing around just in case you need us, Alex,” Sitrea suggested. As what appeared to be an unusually recognizable broad grin for a Solveron, crossed his face.
“Spot-on Sitrea,” Alex agreed.
Yes. And by using your Skipper-drive, its sub-warping effect should give them the willies, John,” Alex pointed out.
“Okay. We’ll tactically sync on exit,” Alex then ordered.
“I hope you realize that we’ll only have a second or two at the most, to accept and sync the pulse, Alex?”
“It’ll be enough, John,” Alex assured Captain Adams.
“Then, I hope you’re right, Alex,” Sitrea muttered.
Alex had sensed a little rivalry between the two Captains. But, he was sure that that was a good thing.
“I am right,” he assured Sitrea. “Sync for warp exit-point timing, and let’s get on with it.” Alex finished.
Alex knew that the transit time was thirty ship minutes. And, that their three ships must exit warp at precisely the same time, and be close enough to each other, to make Earhart’s ship’s sensors register Alex’s stealth ship as a warp echo.
Chapter 24
Delta’s Fear
Stardate, 2725.
Location: Delta’s central chamber.
Delta’s virtual Central chamber was once again in session, with holographic images of all nine prime Council elder’s heads seemingly hovering in the air around a holographic image of a circular table.
To one side of the chamber, the holographic images of Supervisor Javon and Senior Predictor Platos hovered patiently, ready to answer any questions regarding their input to this session.
Supervisor Javon would have preferred to have been retired by now and spending the rest of his life in stress-free luxury. However, having just finished yet another four-hour stint in Delta’s rejuvenation cubical he felt reinvigorated, his focus had improved, and he was sharp once more.
Number One, audibly addressed the other members to facilitate the recording of the meeting.
“As you all know, operator Charlotte is now in our hands after her orb sent a distress call for her to re-join Delta,” he told them and paused while Charlotte’s interrogation report was sent to the physical location of each of the Elders’ matrix.
“Our predictor fraternity have studied the report in detail and are now evaluating its implication.
You may observe the investigation by Supervisor Javon’s team through your usual mental net. But, pay attention to what might well be a third overlay in the making,” Number One said and paused again. Then added, “This meeting will reconvene after your comments have been logged.”
Supervisor Javon, and Senior Predictor Platos both watched as Platos’s Temporal team entered Charlotte’s full data package into the Holographic temporal overlay. Then they studied the temporal-representation of operator Charlotte’s claims and supporting data.
Javon thought that even though her Orb had acquired the information for her, Charlotte’s data presentation was outstanding, for an operator.
Javon, was Charlotte trying to avoid termination? Platos mentally asked.
No doubt Platos, Javon replied. However, operator Charlotte provided some interesting observations in her Orb’s transmission.
Yes, Platos. But cleverly, only just enough to promote sufficient interest to ensure Delta would bring her in.
Clearly…. “Ah, here we go,” Javon said aloud knowing that from this point on, both their comments would be recorded.
As he studied the final two overlays. Javon started to feel very nervous, having noted that the variations were far more evident, and the Human’s up-time timeline had vanished above 2726.
That made him sweat, knowing that the timeline should in fact end at 2773, or higher up. And, he was sure that Platos would also have noted this error.
He decided not to speak for the recording, purely because he was sure that there was something or someone else in play. And, as unlikely as it might be, he didn’t want to be overheard by some other entities.
Javon noted the highlighted dates in the Human’s timeline that showed where Delta’s operators had created the requested adjustments that had been called for by Delta’s Predictors. These included overshoots that had, in themselves, created more timeline deviations.
Javon sensed an emotional change in Platos and became conscious that they had both arrived at the same conclusion, albeit separately.
However, Javon was intrigued by the highlighted dates and compared them to Charlotte’s findings. Then realized, that the one thing he was now sure of was that this crisis started with the Enhanced Brain-Cell Research Program, which broke all the rules about how and when the cells could be used.
Javon could see that the center-lines of the holo-overlays were closely matched, until 2033. Then, saw another marker at 2085. Neither of these two had a data reference for them. But upwards from these, everything did.
For instance, in December of 2108, the word Acarea was high-lighted, next to the date.
Then, of course, there was the Richardson family.
At 2309, the first Garoden skirmish. Followed by the second that covered 2313 to 2314.
Looking at the information, it was evident to Javon that the number of dangerous deviation overshoots should have been apparent, even to an untrain
ed eye.
But, the most significant deviation was from the ship that Delta had recently brought from 2620 to the Richardson time-period.
Javon was horrified. He hadn’t been asked to comment on the extraction’s Timeline implications. If he had, he would indeed have said no to the proposal to bring the ship to 2330.
Javon cursed under his breath at the indiscriminate use of the Enhanced brain cells throughout the Earth’s Navy, and now, through the Galactic Empire.
He had no idea how many unrecorded instances of improper cell use there had been.
Then, Javon sensed a sudden turmoil in Platos’ mind, as his telepathic ability struggled to comprehend the meaning of something on the overlays.
Javon looked questioningly at Platos, who merely pointed to a misty looking red patch on the overlays.
Javon peered at it and saw that the patch looked more like a third overlay. But, it was so faint that he hadn’t noticed it before.
“What is…?” Javon started to ask.
The bringer of death, Platos mentally sent him.
Then, just after he sensed that Platos had realized the meaning of the red patch, Javon knew the bitter truth.
Chapter 25
Tara’s Gambit
Commodore Earhart and his crew had recovered from the near disaster of Commander Procard’s Crillon ship warping out from under them, and the ten minutes of volatility that Invincible had suffered before regaining stability.
“Excalibur’s repairs have been completed, Commodore,” Invincible’s security AI stated.
“Good…. Where are we with our emitter replacements, Curry?”
“The last of the service droids are coming back on board now,” his science officer confirmed.
“Excellent.”
Captain Carpenter looked up from studying the data flow passing across his tactical screen. “Another seven minutes, and we’ll be ready for the pre-programmed jump, Commodore,” he warned.
Earhart knew that his three ships were programmed by Lord Garth to exit close to the Lexington.
But, he couldn’t remember the exact details of Lord Garth’s plan, even though he was sure that they were still in his head. Even so, whatever Garth’s plan was, he knew there was nothing he or Captain Carpenter could do but obey Garth and Tara’s instructions.
Earhart sighed, then checked the jump count-down chronometer. Okay, still seven ship-minutes to go, he thought to himself.
“Worm-holes forming,” the security AI suddenly stated, bringing Earhart back to the present.
“Three…, no. Two…. Uh…., three. No, we only have verification on two which appear to be genuine,” Science officer Curry finally stated, having been frustrated by the ship’s sensors inability to separate the objects. So, he’d had to correct the tactical information being displayed.
“Are you sure, Curry?” Captain Carpenter queried.
“Yes. The other has to be a ghost image Captain,” Lieutenant Curry confirmed, as he started to triangulate the worm-holes, using the Cruisers Victor and Excalibur’s sensor grids for confirmation.
Just then, Captain Adams Earth Cruiser Intrepid, and Captain Sitrea’s Solveron battle-sphere, both exited Warp.
Then surged forward, with their sublight drives rippling space as they went straight through the gap between Invincible and the cruiser Victor. Then they curved outwards, to take them out of range of the weapons on Earhart’s three ships. While successfully masking Alex and Carina’s stealth ship Discovery’s warp exit.
Captain Banks, Discovery’s pilot cum captain, manually struggled to overcome the wakes left by Intrepid and the Solveron battle sphere’s passing, as his ship, hopefully undetected, approached Invincible’s forward airlock, then nestled close to it.
“Marines to the ready,” Banks ordered, as protocol dictated, even though he knew that Marine Captain Tanner’s men were already in full battle-armor and waiting at the airlock.
Captain Tanner had already split his twelve marines into two groups to separately protect Alex and Carina Richardson when they boarded the Invincible.
Although both Alex and Carina could reach out and influence converted minds over long distances. Both had already agreed they would be more effective if they were on board the Invincible, because of the number of minds they needed to reconvert.
Alex would be taking on the challenge of reconverting Earhart and all three of his ship’s crew members. While Carina would have to tackle Tara. Of course, Tara was something else, challenging and entirely unpredictable. So, it was crucial for the pair to turn their mental abilities down until they were safely onboard the Invincible.
Alex and Carina were watching their progress on the Bridge’s secondary display, as their ship approached the contact point on Invincible’s hull. The secondary display was now mimicking the view that would usually be seen through a typical bridge window. Then Discovery finally came to a halt just millimeters from Invincible’s hull, and directly opposite her forward airlock.
“We've locked, Alex,” Captain Banks informed them. On noting that the green transfer-field tabs had lit on his console indicating the force-field transfer tube had established between the two airlocks.
Neither Alex nor Carina bothered to acknowledge Captain Banks confirmation as they hurried to Discovery’s air-lock.
Alex’s mind quickly found Invincible’s services Ensign, and immediately removed Tara’s control over him. Then ordered him to open the airlock.
By the time the airlocks between Invincible and Discovery had opened, Alex and Carina were already mentally searching for their respective targets. Then, both Richardson’s along with their Space Marine escorts quickly passed through the pressurized transfer coupling and onto the Invincible.
Once inside Invincible, Alex rapidly moved his attention to Commodore Earhart’s mind. Within moments, Alex had cautiously entered Earhart’s brain and searched for any booby-trap patterns.
Once he was sure that there weren’t any, he then looked for Garth’s control pattern. Surprisingly, it was astonishingly simple, and he quickly overcame the basic conditioning pattern and released Earhart’s Bolt-hole contents back into circulation. Then turned his attention to Captain Carpenter. This only took a few moments and was just as easy.
Both Earhart and Carpenter took a few seconds to recover their brain’s connectivity, to enable them to assimilate the data.
Alex! Earhart’s mind sent as he recognized the intruder.
Earhart. Don’t fire on my ship, Alex mentally returned. I have a lot of work to do.
Earhart knew exactly what Alex meant. And was thankful that Garth and Tara’s control over them was about to end. Well, he hoped so, even though it wasn’t all over yet.
Carina quickly reached the door of Tara’s luxurious cabin without making any mental contact with her. But the door suddenly slid open, surprising her, and Carina sensed Tara’s mind inviting her in.
Carina gingerly stepped inside and, looking around, was impressed both by the luxury of the room, and Tara herself.
Tara was standing in front of her illuminated dressing table, about three meters away, and was wearing a lightweight linen effect wrap. Carina couldn’t help studying her. Tara’s reddish hair cascaded over her shoulders and down her back, while her stunning female form was silhouetted through her wrap by illumination from her dressing table.
Carina noticed that Tara’s fluorescent green eyes had rested on her. Then Tara suddenly took a step forward, startling Carina and stood there studying her with a superior look on her face that showed her contempt for Carina, while displaying her own confidence and authority.
“I am Lord Tara. When you’ve finished looking my body over…,” Tara scornfully stated, “I will start training you to be my servant.”
“Lord, or no Lord, you know that won’t happen.” Carina calmly replied.
“What, because two low-grade sixteen-year-olds are going to take me out?”
Carina could see by the vivid fluorescent color of T
ara’s eyes that she was mentally much stronger than they had thought. Then, she felt Tara in her mind, and instantly put up blocks to keep her out.
“Not up to it, are you Carina?” Tara mockingly stated while taking another step closer.
Carina cringed as Tara’s mind pushed at her mental blocks.
“You’re a stupid girl. Do you think I would have allowed you both to board my ship if you weren’t so pathetically weak?”
Carina started to panic, as she sensed her mental blocks slowly crumbling.
“See, you’re pathetic,” Tara said, with a grim smile on her face.
Carina saw Tara’s smile, as she desperately tried to mentally push Tara back.
But, Carina knew she was losing, as did Tara.
Then Carina knew that all her effort was for nothing as Tara’s mind broke her mental blocks, leaving Tara to do whatever she wished with her.
Tara now had a chance to find out what her father Frank Richardson was like, from Carina’s memories, and compare them with what she had already seen and learned about him from her mother Charlotte’s memories.
“Don’t. We’re family,” Carina was struggling to say as Tara prepared to scramble her mind.
Galactic War Page 11