by T J Bryan
Emmitt nodded.
Abel continued, "You know his son is serving on the Holgata. Weapons I think."
Abel decided to change the subject. "And how are the new 'seeker mines' progressing?"
Emmitt looked irritated, "I don't really know. I gave the whole project over to Jason Lambert. You remember Jason the slow talking PhD candidate. He's working full time now on mines. Has some good ideas, but I simply have given up all my other projects to devote myself to this insane 'apparatus'."
Emmitt paused a moment and then continued. "I did talk with Professor Rajesh Neet who heads the missile program. The shells are done and the engines mounted. They did several tests and the results are positive. But without automata to guide the missiles we have nothing. We really need to send someone to the Moschus
system to determine if they have something we can use or adapt for guidance."
"I agree Emmitt, but right now we can barely protect Wu and the knot lines to our allies. I am tempted to send someone, but I just don't see the ships I can spare. Farn is off to New Horizons with New Kara and Mist. Helen is off to Eleos with Greenland and Olrun, and then we have the expedition to relieve the Theans with the Skeleif and Iceland. We just don't have any resources left."
Emmitt stood and went for coffee and returned. "How about Hilda the training ship? Or the Herja. "
Abel immediately replied, "No. Both ships fly all right, but their old wounds make them unsafe in battle. We can't send either."
"Ok, then send the Banshees. The youngest of them must now be almost 18, And if there was any ship I would send into the void with confidence they would return it would be Sváva and Mia Nordlicht."
Abel did not immediately reject the idea and had for so long kept the Banshees out of the fight due to their age he had forgotten they were growing up. Abel thumbed his inter-tab open and checked the ages of the six crew that made up the Banshees on Sváva. The oldest Mia Nordlicht, their captain was now twenty and the youngest seventeen and some. But then Abel was struck by one of the stats for the Banshees. Having been confined to the Jamon system following the Second Battle of Wu they had been used primarily as opponents in combat training for green crews. They had been on this assignment for more than two years and their ships log indicated they had more flight time than any other two ships in the fleet and that included Silvi Karrlson. He knew they were aggressive and skilled. They had proven that at Wu, but it was clear from training reports that few green crews or even for that matter experienced crews in drills survived their vicious and often tricky training attacks.
Abel replied, "They are still a short crew. Only six. I must admit that I have not thought seriously about the Banshees since I restricted them to our system."
"I like Mia, their captain," said Emmitt. "She is young, but so are most of our captains, and she is the levelling agent that makes the other girls..., I mean women..., she is the one that keeps them safe and sane. Just find three more crew, crew that is, that the very tight group of Banshees will accept, and you have your extra ship for Moschus."
"Does Wu station among its' liberated captives have anyone from Moschus?" asked Abel and he thumbed his inter-tab to the Wu Station roster. "Ah, here is one. Emershan Abara. Age 89, formerly an AI Tutor, whatever that is, now a bar keep on Wu station." Abel looked at Emmitt, "What's an AI Tutor?"
Emmitt just shrugged.
Two weeks later Sváva departed for Wu and on to Moschus with a crew of nine.
Chapter Ninety Four
Wu System - Holgata Station - Year 3248 March 1 ET 15:00
The upgrades to Holgata Station had been finished and with the addition of crew quarters, living spaces, and a functioning mess, the Liner Wu Ascending was released and returned to regular passenger service up and down the knot lines of the allies.
Construction on Holgata Station had continued through Dharma Saint Nicholas Day and Toni Hamilton decided to delay the holiday celebration until the crew quarters were completed. Then she did everything she could to make the delayed holiday a pleasant one. Much of her crew for the past year had been working in cold and often miserable conditions to complete the initial stage of Holgata Station as quickly as possible. The construction engineers from Wu Station had returned to continue repair on their own station. The Wu engineers were now experienced in station construction and with Greenland's last voyage were supplied with materials that would keep them busy repairing and expanding Wu Station for a least a year.
Most of the construction engineers from the Commonwealth had either returned home or joined those at Wu Station to continue building efforts. Toni found herself with a new complement of OCN crew including 8 OCN Marines, a full command staff, and an enlarged and more powerful command con and team to manage it.
Four crew were kept on watch in the command con and Toni had assembled the Holgata Station crew in one of the new comfortable but still spartan lounges just off the main crew barracks. It was time for a traditional Dharma Saint Nicholas Day with all its attendant customs and rather strange traditions.
About 90 station OCN personnel and a few citizens of Wu had gathered and there was singing and a table full of snacks. Near-beer flowed and the overall feeling was one of relief rather than joy. But the feeling of relief felt very good after a year building the station. The addition of a second weapons bay added significantly to that relief. On rotation the Crusher New Kára was docked and joined in the party. Silvi stood next to Toni watching a number of crew members dancing to the music of a small three piece band composed of OCN crew who had studied music at the Collegium. Toni noticed that Lennie Karrlson seemed to spend all his time dancing and with one girl in particular.
Silvi turned to Toni. "Lennie seems smitten."
Toni replied, "Yes. That's Old Man Marx's granddaughter; Samie Marx. She is here to tend to Nomi's experiments. She has a PhD in physics."
Silvi thought a moment. "Yes, I can see a resemblance. Just a bit. The eyes. I can see why Lennie is attracted to her."
Moments later the band stopped and the Master of Ceremonies called everyone to order for the traditional exchange of small gifts stuffed into stockings. Why gifts were always wrapped in stockings, which no one wore any more, was a mystery, but it was tradition. The stockings had to be made specially for the event and resembled knitted tubes. Tradition allowed each person to choose two others to give their gifts and the unwritten rules dictated that the gift be hand made or cost less than half a credit. Most gifts were silly things like a small bag of fortune cookies, or and old fashioned alarm clock for a sleepy head, or a holo picture of a loved one.
Toni was about to give Silvi her small gift when her inter-tab chimed. Before she could reach the device the station battle claxon sounded and the speaker sounded. "Incoming. All personnel to stations. This is not a drill. Incoming. Unknown ship."
Toni turned and quickly walked to her command con. Silvi and her crew returned to the dock and prepared to pull New Kára away and back into the void.
Now that the station had two rings, one for docking four ships and the other below for crew quarters, it took Toni a bit longer to reach the command con. The command con resembled the bridge of an OCN ship with a weapons station, defence station, and even a pilots station since Holgata Station occasionally needed orbital adjustments. A captains chair sat on a slight dais giving the Station Commander a view of the bridge.
Toni said nothing and asked for nothing. Her crew were good and would inform her of new information as it became available. Toni looked at the status board. The unknown ship, which to her relief was not Megra, had entered from the Hypsistos
entry portal. After entry the ship stopped as recommended by the beacon that warned of mines.
Toni heard her defence station hailing the ship and asking its' intentions, as the defence station officer informed the Wu Revenue Cutter Wu's Advance of the entry.
Lars Ulf on defence called out. "I have a reply to the hail."
"On speaker Mr. Ulf" replied Toni.
> Seconds later the speaker came to life. "... out of the Diana system, seeking entry to Wu for consultation. Diana system threatened by alien probes. Again, this is the ship Black Storm out of the Diana system..."
"Mr Ulf what does our scan say?"
Lars turned to his station vid. "She's a light freighter. Fast with low mass and fusion engines. Actually a lot of engines. Looks like two rather large plasma cannons, given the bore perhaps effective at 40 kilometres. Capacitors are not charged. No anti-matter signature. No tubes."
"And she is not moving?"
"No. I hear Wu's Advance hailing her for inspection and to guide her through the minefield and she has responded that she will comply."
Toni thought a moment. "Contact Wu Station. Tell them I prefer that Black Storm dock at Wu Station. Given their message I will travel there within the hour for consultations. I would rather keep the details about Holgata Station as obscure as possible for now."
"Also, which SAR is closest to the entry portal?" Toni knew the answer but asked anyway.
Alva Zanos on weapons replied, "That would be Kata Park on Göndul."
"Please direct Göndul to escort Black Storm to Wu Station. And as they escort the ship I want a full 'M' scan."
"Aye aye, Sir."
Toni sat in her captain's chair. It was too late to resume the Dharma Saint Nicholas Day party. Perhaps next year she thought. There might be peace. Then Toni realized she was fooling herself. This was going to be a long, long war. And now another system was at risk. Too many systems, too many Megra, not enough ships.
Toni took one of the tractor trucks over to Wu Station. The truck was free for now given that most of the work on building Holgata was done for now. Toni did not want to use a SAR and disturb the dispersal pattern so she chose the uncomfortable, slow, but reliable tractor truck found adrift in the debris of the wrecked orbital yards in the Wu System last year.
The truck docked three hours before the Black Storm would arrive and Toni was greeted by Captain Smilot.
Smilot did not smile. "Looks like we have another waif wandering in from the storm seeking help."
Toni replied, "Looks that way. Megra seems to be pushing into more and more of the systems on our knot lines."
"I only wish Toni, that one of these systems might bring some resources along with them instead of just begging for help."
"Agreed, but human kind has not faced a crisis like this since the Great War and even during the Great War some systems survived even if plunged into darkness. With the Megra on our doorstep I don't think any systems will survive if we don't turn the Megra away."
Smilot thought a moment. "Turning the Megra away is not really a solution. They would just attack another species and then after time probably turn back to human space. No they need to be defeated."
Toni looked at the clock on the bulkhead wall. "We have three hours and I could use some coffee."
In a few minutes they were in Captain's Smilot's office just off the munitions room of the monitor section of the station. Smilot poured coffee for both of them, handed Toni her cup, and sat down at a long narrow table. Toni sipped her coffee and looked up at the status vid board on Smilot's wall.
"When did Sváva depart the station?"
Smilot put her cup down. "I think about 11 days ago."
"Doesn't she pass through Diana on the way to Moschus?"
Smilot replied. "Yes, I think it is Sargon to Diana then Gabbi and Larissa and finally Moschus. Moschus is about 80 days out from Wu."
"How far to Diana from Wu?"
Smilot thought a moment. "Sváva should take about 16 days to reach Diana. That would put her in the Diana System very soon."
Toni though for a moment how she wished she could warn Sváva and her Banshees of the new risk in the Diana System or for that matter new risks possibly along the entire knot line. But that was impossible. The Banshees would need to rely on their wits and knowing the reputation of the Banshees that was probably enough. Or she hoped it would prove to be enough.
Toni took another sip of coffee.
Smilot spoke, "Mia Nordlicht spoke at length with Emershan Abara from Moschus. He was a native of the system and was an AI Tutor of some kind. Seems when an AI is created it's like a baby which grows to a child and then an adult. In order to be civilized as well as educated it needs a human teacher. Without human contact at an early stage of development the AI's tend to become psychopathic. No morals, no right or wrong, manipulative, lack of empathy for humans, and that makes them dangerous. So it was a position of some importance on Moschus."
"How did Emershan end up here on Wu'"
Smilot continued, "He was on a mission to Diana to upgrade several AI systems Diana had installed for management of their economy. Seems that living in a constant hurricane makes planning difficult. The pirates attacked his ship. He survived because at his age he presented no real threat to the pirates and they thought he might be useful or a potential subject for ransom."
"What convinced Mia to take Mr. Abara with them on the voyage?"
"Emershan described Moschus as an extremely complex society. Seems humans live a pretty luxurious life dependent on droids but the overall system is actually governed by AI's. Even their justice system is AI based. If anything the AI's seem to rely on logic to a fault often refusing to act until all the facts of a situation are known. And in real life all the facts are never really known. Now Emershan didn't say so, but his description was pretty clear. Humans think they run the place, but in reality the AI are in total control. Any negotiations for Moschus' tech is with the AI's and not the humans. Without Emershan successful negotiations might be impossible."
After a second cup of coffee it was time to walk to the dock to greet Black Storm. As Toni and Smilot stood on the dock, six fully armed and armored Wu Station police arrived. Wu was simply taking no chances, even though the Black Storm had been boarded and inspected by the Wu cutter.
Black Storm docked and both Toni and Smilot looked out the plasticene window at the sleek ship. The full 'M' scan had revealed that the bulk of the ship was its' engines and reaction mass. The ship 200 meters long had a crew compartment of perhaps 20 by 30 meters. Clearly Black Strom was not a freighter. Any sizeable crew would find the ship cramped. Fore and aft she sported two plasma cannon of moderate size and primarily useful only in defence against pirates. Any reasonably armed warship could easily destroy Black Storm.
As the telltale above the boarding hatch to the dock turned green the armed police took up positions at the hatch. Moments later the hatch opened and two Black Storm crew stepped onto the dock. Toni took a careful look at the visitors and there was nothing remarkable or strange about them. The appeared as any citizen of the Commonwealth might or for that matter a citizens of Wu. One male dressed in a loose fitting green jump suit stepped forward.
"I am Krzysztof and my companion here is Katarzyna." Krzysztof motioned to the woman in similar dress who stood beside him.
Katarzyna spoke, "We come on an urgent matter. We seek consultation with your OCN about possible alien invasion of the Diana system."
Smilot nodded. "Please step into our conference room so that we may discuss your situation."
Moments later all four were sitting in the conference room just off the dock.
"Please," said Smilot. "What are your concerns."
Katarzyna looked about the room and then began. "Two months ago our system was crossed by a messenger of some kind. It left a beacon warning us of invasion by the slaves of Hitti of legend. Our Guidance Order considered the warning and chose to wait for additional information. Then six weeks ago probes began to appear in our system. Unknown probes. We destroyed as many as we could but they continued to appear."
Toni leaned forward. "And this messenger warned you of the ancient Megra."
Krzysztof replied, "Yes. And now we are greatly concerned that the warning may well be correct. Our Guidance Order advised us to seek council with the Obsidian Commonwealth Navy at Wu. We
have occasionally heard rumours of your conflicts with Megra from our trade representatives at Bizon and New Carthago. We seek facts and information."
Katarzyna continued, "We need information to provide to the Guidance Order. The Guidance Order will take no action without proof of a real threat and at this point they seem very sceptical."
Smilot looked at Toni who responded. "I am the Area Commander of the OCN. We are at war with the Megra. They have attacked us here at Wu twice, at Pope Leo, Dong Son, and other systems. They are being driven into human space by a resurgent Hitti empire. Recently they have attacked Maltzoff after probing the system for several weeks. The probes you see in your system are a prelude to an attack."
Katarzyna and Krzysztof seemed not to react to Toni's disclosure.
Krzysztof asked, "And may we see proof of these incursions."
Toni thought the question odd. "Captain Smilot can we display the vids of the Second Battle of Wu?"
A few minutes later the vid screen came to life and showed a shortened depiction of the battle.
Toni noticed that neither Krzysztof or Katarzyna reacted to the conflict.
"And these other incursions of which you speak?" asked Katarzyna.
Smilot shook her head and then queued up vids from the Third Battle of Wu and the Battle of Fitz. Toni had not seen the vids in some time but they were extremely detailed and showed the conflict in great definition.
Katarzyna and Krzysztof asked for a moment alone to consult with the representative of the Guidance Order. Toni and Smilot left the room and waited outside in the passageway.
"They need to talk to some representative of what must be their government?" asked Smilot. "I wonder why the representative is not present for this meeting. I doubt they have FTL communications and if that is the case then the representative must still be on Black Storm."
Toni just shook her head.
Moments later Katarzyna opened the door to the conference room and asked them to enter. Again all four sat at the table. Toni and Smilot waited for the representatives of Diana to speak. However they remained quiet but their body language indicated they were listening or paying attention to something else. After a full minute Katarzyna spoke. "Do you consider our system at risk?"