Restoration

by Daniel C McWhorter

  “Easy, Sam, she can’t have gone far,” Lieutenant Commander Luanne Wilkes said.

  She gestured at her holodisplay, adjusting the ship’s scanners to the maximum range.

  Chief Petty Officer Jaime Gonzalez was the first to see the blip appear.

  “I got it, Lu,” he said. “It looks like she’s headed toward the Belt, probably this small cluster of asteroids way the hell over there.”

  Luanne saw target indicators appear on her holodisplay denoting the ship and asteroid cluster.

  “Got it. Wow, she’s hauling ass. Is that possible on thrusters alone?” Luanne asked.

  “Yeah, laser ping indicates better than 180 thousand KPH and accelerating. Her gravity signature is…that’s weird, she’s showing minus 270K giganewtons. I didn’t think you could run the counter mass independent of the pulse drive?”

  “Well, they’ve obviously figured out a way,” Luanne replied. “Can you get a read on their reactor status?”

  “Not at this range but I’d think she’d jump if she could,” Jaime said.

  “Endeavor is moving to intercept,” ship’s pilot Ryan Randolph called from the flight deck. “She’s charging her pulse drive.”

  “What’s that about?” Sam asked. “What happens if they jump this close to us?”

  “The gravity shear would tear us apart,” Ryan replied. “Should I evade?”

  Luanne studied her holodisplay for a moment before responding. “No, hold course. Continue decelerating for orbit. I think they are just trying to scare us away.”

  “God, I hope your right!” Sam exclaimed.

  “Me too,” she replied.

  “Orbit in seven minutes twenty-two seconds,” Ryan announced.

  * * *

  Finally! Christian thought.

  He announced his success to General Secretary Dianne Merkel and Executive Director Veronika Horvat. “I have established near real-time contact with the Kutanga.”

  “Real-time? How is that possible?” Dianne asked.

  “The Kutanga is equipped with a quantum array that is meshed with The Galileo Group’s array on Mars and I am connected to the Telogene array that connects their offices on Earth with those on Mars. We are experiencing a 422-millisecond latency due to the satellite relay I am using to bridge the two quantum arrays.”

  “That’s fantastic, Christian, what has it said so far?” the Executive Director asked.

  “Thus far we have exchanged names, identifiers and other…pleasantries. It is called Aneni, and it has been active for nineteen years, eight months, fourteen days, seven hours and twenty-three minutes.”

  Dianne excitedly patted Christian’s shoulder. “Ask it about its mission…where is it going?”

  “It will not say but GFN Command reports that it is moving deeper into the Belt. It is probably attempting to buy time until its reactor reaches full power.”

  “What then?” Veronika asked.

  “It will initiate its first jump out of our solar system once its engine core is fully energized,” Christian replied.

  “Did it say where it was headed?” Dianne asked.

  “No. That information is restricted and Aneni says I am not authorized.”

  “It has to be Alpha Centauri,” Dianne said.

  “Should I get Bachmann?” Veronika asked.

  “No, they will be back in ten to fifteen minutes,” Dianne replied. “Let’s see what we can accomplish between now and then.”

  Christian’s facial expression changed to puzzlement. “Interesting, Aneni believes it is on a mission to save humanity but it will not reveal its cargo.”

  “Should we ask it to come to Earth?” Veronika asked.

  “It will not,” Christian replied. “It has been told that Earth is dangerous and should be avoided at all costs.”

  Viktoria scowled. “So, how do we stop it then? We aren’t going to be able to get Epsilon Six on board if the ship is running all over the solar system.”

  “It wants to know why we are trying to stop it?”

  “How does it know that? Can it hear me?”

  “No, I have not opened an audio channel,” Christian answered. “Gbadamosi told it that we were coming to stop it from completing its mission.”

  “Tell it…tell Aneni that we don’t want to stop her, we just need to verify that it is carrying the correct cargo,” Dianne said.

  She shot a sideways glance at Veronika. “Hey, it’s worth a shot.”

  “It says that its cargo has already been verified.”

  “Bummer,” Veronika said. “Nice try though.”

  Dianne tapped her index finger against her lips. “Christian, what would happen if you synced with it? Could you override its current instructions?”

  “No, ma’am. Syncing would allow me to share information at a much faster rate but I would not have override authority.”

  “Well, what if you shared information with it that would cause it to question its instructions? Is it possible it could change its mind?”

  “It is possible but what information would I share?”

  “I am guessing it hasn’t been educated much on Earth’s history…at least not the parts that led us to ban cloning in the first place. Maybe you could show it why cloning is so dangerous?” Dianne asked

  “And explain to her why we can’t allow the first human colony outside our solar system to be founded by clones.” Veronika added.

  “I cannot sync with Aneni from here, I would have to return to my office.”

  Veronika checked the time on her holopad. “How long would that take?”

  “I can be back in my office in less than fifteen minutes. It will take an additional three minutes to re-establish the connection.”

  “Alright, let’s try it,” Dianne said. “Let me know as soon as you’ve re-established contact.”

  “Very well.”

  Christian stood up, gathered his things and exited the conference room without further comment.

  “Do you really think he can convince it?” Viktoria asked.

  “I have no idea but I do know that once synchronized they will be sharing code with each other and that might create an opportunity for us.”

  “Like what?”

  “Actually, I was hoping you could help with that. You wouldn’t happen to have any AI experts hanging around your agency somewhere, would you?”

  Viktoria grinned. “I might but it will take some time.”

  “Like how long?”

  “An hour, maybe less. Do you think you can keep Christian connected that long?”

  “That depends on them but if this Aneni is the state-of-the-art AI that I think it is, I suspect getting them to disconnect will be the bigger problem.”

  “Let me make a call,” Veronika offered. “Please cover for me if I’m a little late getting back.”

  “Of course.”

  “Are we going to tell them?”

  “Yes, once you are back and can confirm that we have an agent up to the task.”

  “Okay, sounds good. I'll be right back.”

  Dianne walked to the conference table and took her seat. She looked up at the timer counting down on the holodisplay floating above her—she still had at least ten minutes to decide how she would sell her idea to the President and Vice Admiral.

  * * *

  Robert Graham, Endeavor’s tactical officer, verified the readings on his holodisplay before giving his status update.

  “GFN transport will enter orbit in sixty seconds, Admiral,” he said

  “Understood. Initiate pulse when ready, Linda.”

  “Pulse initiated, CM field at one percent and climbing,” she replied.

  “Two percent…”

  “Three percent…”

  “Transport is in range,” Robert called out.

  “Five percent,” Linda said.

  “Collapse the counter mass field now,” Adee ordered.

  Linda gestured at her holodisplay, causing the micro-black hole that had formed thr
ee hundred meters in front of the ship to collapse. The resulting burst of graviphotons ripped through the boundaries of local space-time, creating a temporary hole in space and sending a repulsive wave of gravitational energy toward the GFN transport. Simultaneously, the Endeavor was pulled toward the gravity well.

  The overall effect was akin to waves on the ocean, everything in front of the wave gets pushed away and everything behind gets pulled along until the wave collapses. Endeavor’s reverse thrusters fired to counteract the additional velocity the maneuver had imparted to the ship.

  “Status report,” the Admiral demanded.

  “One second, recalibrating telemetry...we…we missed. The transport is only two thousand meters off course and is correcting.”

  “How is that possible?”

  “Checking now…,” Linda replied. “There was a malfunction…port side, forward array three. It’s point seven six degrees out of alignment, Admiral, which was enough to cause an asymmetric field collapse.”

  “Recalibrate and try again!”

  “Working on it, sir…I can’t fix it from here. The issue is mechanical, I need to get up there to correct the problem.”

  “Then what are you waiting for, go fix it…and if it’s not too much trouble, do it quickly!”

  “On my way,” Linda acknowledge.

  “What’s the transport doing, Robert?”

  “The transport has changed course…they are headed straight for us.”

  Gbadamosi heard another voice come from behind him, it was Elisha Ezratty, the ship’s Communications Officer.

  “Incoming transmission, Admiral, it’s the transport,” she said.

  “Put them on, let’s hear what they have to say.”

  The holodisplay projected on the wall in front of the admiral shifted to show the stern face of a female wearing an all-black assault suit.

  “Mister Gbadamosi, this is Lieutenant Commander Luanne Wilkes, operating under GSSA Directive Seven authority. We demand that you surrender immediately and be boarded. We have a warrant for your arrest, along with warrants for Evan Feldman, Chen Hao, Aubrey Harris, Lily Harris and Yin Li. Will you comply?”

  “Greetings Lieutenant. As I am sure you are aware, we are not in GFN controlled space and you have no authority here, regardless who is giving your orders. I suggest that you turn around and return to Earth before anyone gets hurt.”

  “That’s not going to happen Mister Gbada…can I call you Adee? I believe that’s what your friends call you, yes?”

  “Adee is fine but we are hardly friends, Lieutenant.”

  “Listen, Adee, there are two GFN interceptors on the way here with sixty more Peacekeepers who, I promise you, will not be as friendly as I am. Especially if you try that gravity pulse shit again. So, do yourself a favor and surrender to me while you still can.”

  “I’m sorry, Lieutenant but I am extremely busy and don’t have time to chat. Now if you’ll excuse me I have other important business to attend to.”

  Adee terminated the communication link from his console.

  “What’s the status, Linda?” he called over the inter-ship comm system.

  “I had to take the field projector offline to realign it…we are looking thirty minutes to get it back online.”

  “You have ten minutes, no more. Get it done. Out!”

  Adee turned to his ship’s Damage Control Assistant, Gustov Pichler. “Gustov, get your ass down there and give her a hand.”

  “Yes sir, I’m on my way.”

  Adee activated the ship's intercom again. “Aisha, this Adee.”

  “Go for Aisha.”

  “Aisha, I want you to calibrate for a fifty percent pulse with array three offline, can you do it?”

  “Fifty percent?” came the reply. “That’s a lot of energy to contain with a projector offline. I can give you thirty. Will that work?”

  “Make it forty. Be ready to jump in two minutes.”

  “Yes sir, I’m on it.”

  “What’s the plan, Adee?” Yin asked. “Where are we going?”

  “We are going to run interference for Kutanga. We’ve got to keep those interceptors away from her.”

  “But what about them?” Yin pointed to the GFN transport ship being shown on the forward holodisplay.

  “I’m hoping they will take time to investigate the station rather than follow us…but if they follow then I will have no choice but to destroy them.”

  “Just remember that two hundred years from now we want to be remembered as heroes, not villains. Shooting down a GFN troop transport is not going to earn us a lot of points toward that end.”

  “I understand, Yin, it’s a last resort.”

  Adee activated the intercom. “All crew secure for maximum thrust in thirty seconds.”

  “Liz, take us out of orbit. Maximum thrust,” he said.

  “Maximum thrust in thirty seconds, aye,” the pilot replied.

  “Sir, the transport is going to pass within three hundred meters to starboard.”

  “Thank you, Robert. Take us out, Liz.”

  * * *

  “Shit, they’re firing their main thrusters!” Ryan called from the pilot’s pod.

  After the call with Gbadamosi had terminated, Luanne had established a TacNet link with Boldisar and the three Peacekeepers he had selected to be part of the Endeavor boarding party. The four Peacekeepers were currently standing at the back of the craft in their SPAS gear waiting for the signal to eject themselves into space.

  “Abort B, I repeat abort. Close the door and get secure. It’s not going to work.”

  “Roger,” came the reply.

  “Get us away from here, Ryan,” Luanne ordered.

  The transport’s Hellfire engines roared as Ryan directed the ship up and away from the cone of plasma spewing out Endeavor’s back end.

  “How is that they are always one step ahead of us?” Sam asked in disgust. “You’d think they were fucking mind readers or something.”

  “I don’t know and it’s starting to annoy the crap out me,” Luanne replied.

  Sam, Luanne and Ryan watched helplessly as Endeavor powered out of orbit. The transport shook violently as Endeavor’s powerful engines passed just a few hundred meters away.

  “So, what’s the plan?” Sam asked. “Do we try to chase her down?”

  “No, we can’t catch her,” Luanne answered. “We’ll leave them to the interceptors. Let’s get down to the surface and see what we can find there.”

  “You really think they left anyone down there?”

  “It’s possible, I don’t think they planned on leaving.”

  “Well, it’s a damn good thing that BGSI agent was over there. Otherwise, our happy asses would be spinning off into space right about now. How do you think she did it?”

  “Asymmetrical field collapse,” Ryan answered. “I saw the containment field fluctuate as the gravity well formed.”

  “And that’s all it took?”

  “Hell, on a ship that size, less than half a degree of variance would be enough to deflect the gravity wave by several thousand meters.”

  “Can they jump with it out of alignment?” Luanne asked.

  “Possibly but not at full power…thirty to forty percent tops.”

  “So, we could have a window to catch them then?”

  “Good question, let me check.”

  Ryan input some variables on his console and then waited a second while his AI checked the data.

  “Well I’ll be damned, this little tub is faster than I thought. We can catch them so long as they stay below 42 percent power.”

  “New plan B. Get Bravo ready for a HOLO. Ryan put us over the top of the station. Sam, get Alpha ready. We’re going after Endeavor.”

  All three men acknowledged simultaneously.

  The term “HOLO” was a derivative of the old military parachutist slang used to describe a “HALO” or “high altitude, low opening” parachute insertion. The only difference being the replacement of the
word “altitude” with “orbit.”

  A “high orbit, low opening” insertion meant that Boldisar and his team would eject themselves into orbit and then use their suit thrusters to power toward the dwarf planet’s surface at maximum speed. Since the atmosphere of Ceres was too thin for traditional parachutes, the HOLO team would wait until they were about one thousand meters above the surface before deploying their rocket-chutes.

  The chutes attached to the back of the team’s SPAS armor and, when activated, would deploy four one-meter long rockets attached to one-hundred-meter-long titanium wires. Each rocket would fly to the end of its wire as it powered up to full thrust. The combined thrust of the four rockets would slow the Peacekeeper’s descent enough that they could use their suit thrusters for directional control and to, hopefully, make a soft landing. The catch being that the rockets only burned for ninety seconds, so the soldiers needed to be on the ground—or at least very close to it—before they ran out of fuel.

  It took seven minutes for Ryan to move the transport into the correct orbit and another five minutes to get directly over the top of the station. Two minutes after that Boldisar and the other five members of Bravo team were flying toward the surface of Ceres at ten meters per second, which would put them on the surface in three minutes and twenty seconds.

  Given that the Endeavor already had a substantial head start, Luanne didn’t have the luxury of waiting for confirmation that Bravo team had landed and successfully breached the station. Despite the outcome of their previous run-in with Gbadamosi’s crew, Boldisar and his team were top-notch operators, and she knew they would do the job.

  “Let’s go get them, Ryan,” she ordered.

  “Yes, ma’am. Aligning with the Endeavor’s last known trajectory. First pulse in one minute fifteen seconds.”

  A minute and a half later the transport was streaking through space, glowing a bright, brilliant white as stray photons reflected off its hull. Luanne had her doubts on whether they could get to up to speed fast enough to intercept Endeavor, or whether they had enough fuel to make the return trip to Earth—but one problem at a time.