by J McGovern
‘You don’t have to come with us,’ Alyce said. ‘It’s only Tekka that’s been enlisted.’
‘I know, but … I want to come with you.’ Doland’s face became slightly wooden as he struggled to express what he wanted to say. ‘I … I feel like I should help. I mean … I probably won’t be much use, but if you’re willing to let me come with you …’
Alyce touched his arm. ‘Thank you, Doland. We’d be glad of the support.’
‘Well,’ Tekka said. ‘Are we going to set off, or are we simply going to stand here chatting all day?’
Once they were back onboard the Deliverer, on a course back to Lightworld, Alyce made sure that they were all armed with Cellzers. The Navy technicians had masterfully replicated the core of the technology, which they had found to be surprisingly simple. However, they had made some slight modifications. The technology had been made into a device resembling an assault rifle, making them easier to hold and operate. Another change was the name: rather than Cellzers, the weapons had been renamed ‘sonic rifles’, due to the discovery that they operated largely by means of focussed sound waves. Each rifle had two triggers; one to emit sonic energy, and one to fire a blast of focussed laser energy. Thus, they could be used against both human and Weerm targets. The power of each device had also been vastly increased, to the point that a single sonic blast from one of the guns should be enough to obliterate a Weerm … at least in theory. Of course, there was still the possibility that the captive Weerm had been more easily damaged due to its weak condition. They would not know for certain until they began to test them in the field.
When Glitz, Alyce, Tekka and Doland arrived back on Lightworld, they were immediately taken by the First Naval Lord to meet the men that would be accompanying them on the Deliverer. They met in a large battle room, which was filled with computer consoles and holographic starcharts. There were thirty-two commandos in total, led by their platoon leader, Lieutenant Horace Jameson. The First Naval Lord was slightly disappointed by what he had been sent; he had been hoping for a company of at least a hundred men, led by a competent Lieutenant Colonel. Then again, from his accent, it seemed that Lieutenant Jameson was of a common birth, so perhaps he was competent enough for a promotion but had been denied it.
‘I understand I will be working under you, Captain Wickham,’ the Lieutenant said, shaking hands with Alyce. He was a tall, handsome man with blonde hair and a strong jaw.
‘Well, you will be working with me, Lieutenant,’ Alyce said, smiling. ‘Why don’t we all sit down and go over the plan in detail?’
Glitz, Doland and Tekka sat down with Captain Alyce Wickham and the Marines. The First Naval Lord wanted the Deliverer to play an unusual part of the overall battle plan. The idea was to send in the main Navy and Marine forces in first of all. The Navy superdreadnoughts would deal with any enemy ships near Station 949, including Ozytan’s flagship with the high-energy weapons. While the Navy engaged in space combat, the Marines were to get onto the station using any means necessary — they would then kill or capture the Weerms, and reclaim control of the base.
The Deliverer would arrive at the base thirty minutes later. The idea was that if the Imperial forces were losing, the ship might swing the balance back in their favour. Alyce thought the idea was ridiculous, but the First Naval Lord had been adamant. She wondered if it was because she was a woman that he wanted to hold her back. Because the ship had been built with no weaponry, the technicians had fitted her with the best weapons available, including antimatter cannons, fission beams, phase torpedoes, anti-gravity bombs, plasma bolts, and neutron blasters. Alyce had wondered whether Seraph, the ship’s computer, would forbid their installation, but it actually co-operated.
After going over all parts of the plan, Lieutenant Jameson took his men to their sleeping quarters, and Alyce returned to the Deliverer with Glitz, Tekka and Doland. There was a shortage of sleeping space in the Navy headquarters, as there was a massive fleet preparing for take-off on the next day. Usually, Naval missions were on quite a small scale; sometimes they had to mediate in border disputes, while other times they were required to impose justice on planets that had not paid their due taxes. But the situation was much more serious indeed — an Imperium-owned station had been taken over by rebels. If they did not show a strong hand in dealing with the enemy, other rebels might start to get ideas.
When they entered the Deliverer, Alyce quickly showed Tekka and Doland the way to the sleeping area on the second deck. It was quite late, and they would be making an early start the next morning. There were five spacious ‘pods’, which all contained a double bed, a shower, and a toilet. Once Tekka and Doland had entered their rooms, Glitz turned to Alyce.
‘You feel like …’
‘No,’ Alyce said firmly. ‘We both need to get some rest.’ Glitz frowned; she was acting more like the old, imperious Captain Wickham, rather than the gentle and sensuous woman he had come to know. She seemed to realise this because her face softened. ‘When this is all over, we will, I promise.’ She grinned at him, and then entered her pod and closed the door. Feeling a little irritated, Glitz got into his own bed and sealed the door.
Chapter Twenty
‘Ready?’
‘Yes, Captain,’ came the dull reply.
Captain Alyce Wickham nodded slowly as she looked over her full crew, who were all assembled on the flight deck. In addition to the commandos led by Lieutenant Horace Jameson, the Navy had also seen fit to assign her a helmsman, a weapons operator, an engineer, and two dozen able spacemen. She had attempted to explain to the First Naval Lord that the additional crew was unnecessary; Seraph, the computer system on the Deliverer, had shown itself to be more than up to the task of piloting the ship, and it had a full auto-repair system. Even if it did somehow break down, it was highly unlikely that the engineer would be able to do anything about it. But the First Naval Lord had been insistent, and so Alyce was leading the ship towards Station 949 with several redundant crew members. Hopefully they wouldn’t get in the way too much.
‘Okay,’ Alyce said. ‘You all have your orders. We should reach the station in just over six hours. We have been given wormhole network priority, so there should be no significant delays. When we arrive at the station, we do not know what the situation will be. The other Navy ships will have arrived half an hour before us, so the battle may already be decided before we reach it.’ Alyce felt like adding that she thought holding the Deliverer back was a foolish tactic. Why save your best ship until last? But it wasn’t good for discipline to publicly question the orders of superior officers.
‘We will exit phase space as close to the system as possible, but the station surveillance will almost certainly detect our presence before we even get close. If fired upon, we will simply have to hope that our defences are up to the challenge.’ She paused, wondering whether to tell the crew about the origin of the ship. She decided that it would likely improve moral, so added, ‘Many of you have been wondering where this ship originated. The engineer pointed out that the engines operate in a way totally alien to normal design principles. Well, he was right. This ship is alien. It was given to us by the Zierons.’
Alyce smiled at the reaction from the crew, and noticed one or two disbelieving faces. That was to be expected. The Zierons were not a race believed in by most rational people; indeed, there had seemed to be no evidence at all of their existence. That is, unless the Imperium, for whatever reason, had decided to conceal the evidence in the past.
‘That’s right. I travelled to the Zierons’ home planet with Mr. Glitz, and we informed them about the threat we face from Ozytan and his creatures.’ The crew had already been briefed about the horrific nature of the Weerms, and armed with sonic rifles. ‘Without hesitating, they gave us this ship so we can stand against them. Now, have courage! We go into battle with the support of the Zierons, and the future of the Imperium may depend on us! Now, I will repeat: ARE YOU READY?’
‘Yes, Captain!’
The
difference in the response was phenomenal, and Glitz really had to admire Alyce’s ability for rousing enthusiasm and morale. The men and women were all sitting up straight, eyes gleaming — they were ready for battle.
‘Dismissed!’
The crew had all been assigned to various parts of the ship. Glitz, Tekka and Doland, along with the weapons operator, helmsman and engineer, would remain on the flight deck for the duration of the journey. The able spacemen were assigned to the dining area on the second deck, and the Marines were allocated the crew room. The ship had no need of such a large crew, and the Marines would not be able to be of use until arrival at the space station. So they simply had to wait.
Alyce sighed as she sat down in the captain’s seat on the flight deck. ‘Seraph, please report on the status of the main ship systems.’
‘Brilliant.’
She sighed, stood up, and joined Glitz, Tekka and Doland on the polygonal sofa. They all seemed taut and nervous; even Tekka seemed slightly paler than usual. She was tremendously grateful for their support. Yes, it was true that Tekka had been pressed into service, but with his technical powers she was sure he could have escaped if he really wanted to. She smiled at Glitz, and made a small gesture as if to take his hand, but decided against it and pulled away. There was not any time to indulge such instincts until Station 949 was back under Imperial control. The mission must come first.
‘So how long do we have now?’ Doland said, glancing at his chronometer.
‘Hours.’ She smiled at his bored expression. ‘Tell you what, why don’t you retire to the leisure room for a while. There are vidfilms and virtual books in there. I’ll call you if I need you.’
‘OK, thanks!’
Doland got up and stood in the anti-gravity elevator, which lifted him silently up to the second deck. The three remaining people sat in silence for a few minutes, staring into space. Finally, Glitz turned to Tekka. There was something that he had been wondering about … Tekka would probably refuse to venture any information, but if he did … it would be nice to satisfy his curiosity.
‘Can I ask you something?’
Tekka raised his eyebrows fractionally. ‘You can ask.’
‘What were you doing on Necreon, when you asked us to drop you off there after we’d visited Chaos? It’s nothing but sand.’
For a moment, a slight colour seemed to appear in Tekka’s cheeks. It wasn’t a tinge of embarrassment, or anger. It was more like a touch of warmth, of human feeling. He paused for a few seconds, as if considering how to respond. Finally, he looked directly at Glitz, and began to speak.
‘Necreon is the planet on which my wife died.’ Glitz said nothing; he was stunned. Tekka went on, ‘Her name was Nim. We met ten years ago, when I was a graduate student at Homeworld University. She was a researcher of Mathematics — her full title was Professor Nimrat Delevigne. However, her colleagues at the University knew nothing of her secret life; she was also Nim, the master criminal.’ A light came into Tekka’s eyes; his face brightened with her memory. ‘I was enraptured — that is the only word to describe it. Others said she was beautiful; well, perhaps. But I fell in love with her mind. She was the most intelligent person I have ever had the honour to meet. We were married on the planet Prime Number, after successfully solving Dearborn’s 15th Problem.’
He fell silent for a moment, before continuing. ‘We studied by day and committed crimes by night; we were not interested in the money, the infamy, or even the thrill of avoiding capture. No, we did it for the mental exultation! We cracked the most complex security systems in the Universe, and avoided detection from the most advanced surveillance machines devised. But then … one day … things went wrong.’ The light in his eyes seemed to diminish a little. ‘We devised a plan to steal five billion credits from the Imperial Central Bank. It was audacious, but we had done everything else — it was to be our last crime. But … I made an error. I have only ever made that single miscalculation, but it caused the death of my wife. We successfully penetrated the levels of security, and we entered the headquarters of the Bank, which is located on Necreon, in a secret underground chamber. There is also a decoy bank on Homeworld — which fools most people — but we went to the genuine establishment. After hacking into the computer system, I transferred the credits into a dispersion account designed to disseminate the money into hundreds of anonymous accounts. But then, as we readied to make our escape, we heard the sound of a door crashing. I realised — I realised — I had entered an incorrect digit when deactivating the alarm system. I had worked out the cryptographic code, but I had confused the Thermon string with a Bettelheim cipher. And they —’
Tekka’s usually calm voice cracked a little. He swallowed, then continued, ‘— they came for us. Every guard of the bank swooped in; we were outnumbered; escape was impossible. I held up my hands in surrender, but Nim dived at one of the computer consoles. I believe she had intended to create an energy inversion field to render their weapons useless. She began to type at the keyboard, and she was ordered to step away. But she did not listen. So — so one of the men fired his blaster — she was disintegrated — not even her ashes were left.’ He paused. ‘I asked you to take me back to Necreon so I could build her a grave. There was no corpse, but I know that her atoms still remain on the planet … somewhere.’
He did not cry or wring his hands in anguish, but his pain was almost palpable. Glitz didn’t know whether to put a hand on his shoulder.
‘It wasn’t your fault,’ Alyce said softly. ‘Don’t blame yourself.’
‘I appreciate your attempt to console me, but such a statement cannot be justified. It was I who inputted the incorrect sequence; without my mathematical blunder, she would live today. You need not be a logician to see this. To deny the truth of the situation would be to indulge in happy falsehood.’
‘Right.’ Alyce paused. ‘You never know … you might find someone else.’
‘There is no one else like her. She eclipsed and predominated the whole of her sex.’ He looked up at Alyce. ‘I mean no offence.’
‘None taken.’
Alyce didn’t know what else to say to him. He had quickly returned to his cold manner, but clearly the death of his wife had had a profound impact on him. But how did you console someone like Tekka? Any possible comforting notions would have been already considered and dismissed by his astonishing intellect. She was relieved when he stood up, announcing that he was going to read a book until the arrival at the space station. It was technically bad form to leave the presence of an officer without requesting permission, but she did not press the matter. After all, he was not really part of the Navy.
She turned to Doland. ‘You don’t have to come with us to the space station, you know. The majority of the crew — Marines excepted — will be staying onboard while we enter the station.’
‘Thanks,’ Doland replied. ‘But I want to do this. It’s … it’s important to me.’
Alyce nodded. Secretly, she felt that Doland would likely be more of a hindrance than a help. He had no technical aptitude, no military experience, no particularly remarkable characteristics … but she admired him for wanting to help, and she wasn’t prepared to prevent him from serving the Imperium.
The Deliverer had calculated a route to Station 949 that included four phase jumps and two wormhole trips. First they would phase jump once to get to a wormhole, and then travel through the wormhole to the junction. Then, they would take another wormhole, followed by three more phase jumps. Then they would be on the edge of the sector in which the station was located. It was fairly hard to reach; it had been set up well away from the core worlds in a bid to detract attention from it. The Genetic Archive was an im
portant scientific establishment, because of its wide collection of DNA samples. Alyce wondered what Ozytan wanted with it …
The Captain’s intervention was rarely required for the duration of the trip; the almost-miraculous Zieron ship computer handled the flight with care and precision. She had to manually take over to obtain authorisation before using the wormhole network, but apart from that the journey was fully automated. When they were nearing the end of the journey, she recalled the Marines and the rest of the crew to the flight deck to go over the plan. Once they had entered the system in which the station was located, they would quickly assess the situation. If there were enemy ships still active in the vicinity, the weapons operator and helmsman (who had been reassigned as the 2nd weapons operator), would fire at will. It was a risky tactic as far as the safety of the Deliverer was concerned, but it would simply have to be hoped that the shields would remain strong.
As soon as it became possible, the Deliverer would dock with the space station — forcibly, if necessary — allowing all of the Marines, as well as the Captain, Tekka, Glitz and Doland, aboard the station. The computer began to speak.