OMEGA Destiny

by Stephen Arseneault

  Getta bumped foreheads with me. "Go. I need to spend time with the Council anyway. They claim to have pressing business that requires my attention and vote. You go. I probably won't be here when you get back, but the brood will be."

  I took one last roll on the floor with my new progenies before being swept up to the Garmon. Seconds later we were closing on the AI battlecruiser. The Yacabucci device was powered up and the AI ship brought to a halt. A quick sweep placed Go near the front of the ship and me toward the rear. An inhibitor broadcast brought any resistance by the AIs aboard to a stop. As I worked to remove an AI from its housing, two dozen new ships appeared out of nowhere.

  A general hail came in. "Surrender and prepare to be boarded!"

  Jack said, "Sweeping you back aboard."

  Seconds later I was standing on the bridge with my hands empty. "I almost had one."

  A second sweep brought Go aboard.

  Lieutenant Jefferson said, "Baldi vessel is powering up weapons!"

  Jack pressed a button on his holo-display as the Baldi ship opened fire. The plasma stream impacted the skin of the Garmon as it went active, flowing over the exterior and exiting as a beam on the other side.

  Jack half frowned. "That was a bit too close."

  A second beam ripped into the silent AI ship, shredding the outer hull and cutting through several bulkheads with the first shot. A second burst penetrated the battlecruiser to the forward decks. With a third shot, the AI ship broke in two. The Yacabucci web held the halves in place.

  The Baldi ships sat silent as they evaluated the situation.

  I opened a general comm. "This is the Alliance of Major Planets’ ship the Garmon. We mean you no harm."

  The Baldi commander came on screen. "You are in violation of the laws of ethical behavior. Stand down your shields and prepare to be boarded."

  I shook my head. "I don't think so, Commander. And we are not in violation of your laws. The AI are enemies of the AMP as well."

  The commander scowled. "Humans. You are responsible for the murder of Admiral Barbatto, and as such are an enemy of the Baldi Empire."

  I slowly nodded my head. "I understand your position, Commander. The aforementioned event was a mistake. Our forces thought you were holding our citizen against his will. We only learned otherwise after the fact. We can do nothing more than apologize."

  The commander continued his scowl. "There was no attempt at communication with us. Any reasonably civilized species would have attempted such first. Instead, you violated our space and destroyed our ship and all her crew. And now we find you bellied up to the AIs."

  I said, "Look, Commander, neither of us want war with each other. That AI you just killed, we were attempting to take one aboard for interrogation. If we had been successful, we would know if there are any more out here. Now we won't know until we can find another. Instead of us posturing over past events, we should be working together to rid the galaxy of this scourge."

  The commander returned a stern expression. "I don't trust you Humans. You have only shown us harm, and you have been in the presence of an AI on both occurrences of our meeting. The Baldi Empire will not tolerate your invasion of our space. You should return to the space you come from, and let everyone know that your kind is not welcome here."

  I sighed. "Commander, first, I am not Human. Second, this is not Baldi space. We are eighteen months journey to your closest colony from here. If I were you, I would be in fear of the AI ships in this sector and not of us. We mean no harm and have no ambitions on your empire."

  Jack said, "We're kind of at a standstill here, Mr. Beutcher. Other than that lead ship, we can't see the others with our sensors. Going back through the recording of the initial encounter, I can see seven ships that were communicating with each other, but there may be a thousand more behind them."

  I asked, "Mr. Jefferson, do we have a lock on their current position?"

  Jefferson replied, "We do."

  I froze our outgoing video feed as I turned to Jack. "Hit 'em with the Yacabucci and then sweep me over to just in front of that ship."

  Jack shook his head. "They aren't going to like that."

  I took a deep breath. "According to them, we are at war at the moment. I don't see this making it any worse."

  Jack swiped at several screens. "Yacabucci is in place."

  Go remarked. "Debris from the AI ship is spreading apart now."

  Jack said, "Sweeping you to just in front of that lead vessel."

  Seconds later I was drifting in space. Other than the feed from the Garmon directing me to the Baldi ship, I could not see a thing. I powered forward slowly and was rewarded as I passed through the outer cloaking field and onto the bridge. A short burst from my BHD glove brought me to a stop.

  The commander yelled at his crew. "What do you mean you've lost the helm?"

  The crewman replied, "I'm sorry, sir, she's not responding to any commands. Something is holding us in place. All power to external components has been lost. We can't even communicate at the moment."

  The commander growled. "Give me something, Lieutenant! Anything at all!"

  I blinked in, my boots clomping on the floor two meters from the Baldi commander. I let my image soak in for several seconds before blinking out. The Baldi pulled their weapons, but stood in place without a target.

  I said, "Commander, I come in peace. I have no intention of harming you or anyone on this ship."

  The commander replied, "How did you do that? First you hold us in place, and then project an image onto our bridge. What are you attempting to accomplish?"

  I blinked in behind a crewman, holding his arms in place. "Sorry, Commander, you seemed unwilling to listen. You left me no choice."

  I blinked out. The crewman spun, waving his hand around in the space where I had been.

  The commander scowled. "You have my attention, Human."

  I replied, "I'm not a Human. I'm a Grunta, one of several thousand species in our alliance—a peaceful alliance that would like peace with the Baldi. Just give me the time needed for a simple and honest discussion. Promise no hostile actions and I will reveal myself."

  Jack said, "That's not a good idea, Mr. Beutcher."

  I replied, "We have to show trust in order to receive trust. Just give me a few minutes."

  "Well, Commander? I do have a weapon and I could have used it repeatedly by now if that was my desire. I just want to talk about our common enemy."

  The commander was quiet for several seconds before he slowly raised his hands, gesturing for his crew to stand down. When the last of the plasma weapons had been lowered, I blinked in, seated in a chair.

  I said, "Commander, your enemy is our enemy. We can start from there."

  The commander suspiciously asked, "You said you wished to interrogate the AI. How is that possible? Their memories are encrypted and their hardware is tamper-proof. We've experimented for hundreds of years without success."

  I replied, "We have our methods—methods we would be willing to share with you should we become partners instead of enemies."

  The commander gestured toward my suit. "How is it that you came aboard this ship?"

  I shook my head. "Sorry, Commander. That I cannot answer. We have technologies that we are unwilling to share, just as you do. Such as your ability to mask this ship from some of our sensors. I'm certain you would be unwilling to share that information with us. But instead of talking about what we would be unwilling to share, why don't we discuss what we would be willing to pass to each other. As I said, our goal is to rid this galaxy of the AIs. We've accomplished that in our sector, as you have done in yours, but the remainder of the galaxy is open to their abuse."

  The commander said, "Your ship, it's unlike the others we've encountered."

  I nodded. "The other ships, like the AI ship you just destroyed, they were from a species called the Grotus. That species has been wiped from existence. And the AIs have been purged from the worlds they previously occupied. We are out
here continuing that fight."

  The commander replied, "If what you say is true, then our peoples would indeed have a common goal. Tell me, from what part of the galaxy did you come?"

  I hesitated for a moment before pulling up a holo-display over my arm pad. "This is the galaxy. We call it Yallux."

  The commander replied, "We call it Zontia."

  I nodded. "This quadrant of the galaxy hosts your people and ours. This is your space. Over here is ours."

  The commander returned a look of anger. "How do you know of our worlds?"

  I held up my left hand. "We have our ways. What's important is that we are sitting here. And that we came across this AI today."

  The commander scowled. "An AI that we were tracking. It would have led us to others."

  I continued: "This space between our worlds, it's huge. This is the first AI ship we've seen in months."

  The commander sat quiet for a moment. "We had a small scout party of a dozen ships. They went missing about two months’ distance from here. We were en route to their last known location when we came across the AI."

  "Can you show me where that was on this star map? Perhaps we can help in some way."

  The commander looked on suspiciously. "Would you be willing to part with this map and its information?"

  "Perhaps. What would you offer in return?"

  The commander sat quiet in thought.

  I said, "I’ll tell you what, Commander. You release the information on your scouts’ last location and I will give you the data for this map."

  Jack said through my helmet speaker, "I think you're making a bad deal, Mr. Beutcher. That has the location of the populated planets here. We don't know that these Baldi can be trusted."

  I said, "Well, Commander?"

  The Baldi commander leaned in closer. "Can you expand this section?"

  I zoomed in on the selected area.

  The commander pointed. "This system … they were conducting a survey of the second planet when communications were lost."

  "They killed twelve ships at once? In the same instant?"

  The Baldi answered reluctantly. "We had a distance comm open with a single ship. They apparently hit that one first. As I said, we were on our way to investigate."

  Jack said, "Performing a portal scan. Give me a couple minutes and I can tell you what's there."

  I pursed my lips. "Commander, what would you say if I said I could take you to that system? And I'm not talking about in two months. More like a few seconds."

  The commander twisted his head to the side as he pulled back. His eyes remained fixed on me.

  "I say that's not possible."

  "Signal the rest of your ships to wait here patiently."

  "What?"

  I held up my hand. "Jack, can you sweep this ship to the location on the starmap?"

  Jack replied, "Of course, but again, I think you are making a big mistake."

  I sighed. "Do it."

  The commander asked, "Do what?"

  Three seconds later, a planet appeared on the viewscreen of the Baldi vessel.

  The crewman at the nav screen turned around. "Sir! I don't know what just happened, but we're in the Dekota system."

  I said, "Scan for ship debris from your scouts."

  Jack said into my helmet, "I count debris from eleven of those Baldi ships."

  I said to the Baldi commander, "Is that evidence of your scout fleet?"

  The commander gestured for his sensor crewman to answer.

  "Sir, I have a debris field that is definitely from our ships."

  I asked, "Crewman, can you tell how many ships?"

  The crewman punched in several buttons on his console. "Eleven."

  I looked back at the commander. "Have you ever lost a ship to the AI? Have they ever captured one from you?"

  The commander slowly shook his head. "No, this is grave news."

  A sweep was performed to move us back to the Baldi fleet.

  I stood. "Commander, I would hope you relay the complete details of this encounter to your superiors. We will likely be making contact again, and I would rather it not start off in a hostile manner."

  The commander raised his plasma pistol. "There is one big problem with that scenario. How do we know it wasn't you who destroyed our ships at Dekota?"

  "Because I stand before you without attempting to kill you. Those are not the actions of someone who just destroyed eleven of your ships, Commander. It wouldn't make sense for me to be standing here if that were the case. We want peace. We want to work with the Baldi against the AIs."

  The commander kept his gun at the ready. "I'm afraid you will have to stay with us until I have spoken with my superiors."

  I sighed. "Sorry, Commander. We have AIs to chase down. I'll be back in contact with you when I get a chance."

  I blinked out, placed a QE tag on the wall of his bridge, and powered back to the Garmon. A quick jump was made to the Dekota system.

  Chapter 4

  * * *

  As I sat in a chair next to Jack, he was shaking his head. "I don't get you sometimes. Any one of them could have blasted you just for being there."

  "There was no cause. I wasn't a threat. Now, let's see what they have to say about the encounter."

  I pushed the feed from the tag to the wall display.

  The commander was on a rant. "I want to know how he got on this ship! Go over every sensor, every feed. Was there evidence of a wormhole opening or some other phenomenon? I want to know how we ended up in a system two months travel from here! If these humans are that advanced, the AI might be right behind them! And if that's the case, we are doomed!"

  Jack said, "You know, I've been thinking about that. What happens if the AI capture this ship?"

  Quan answered. "There are safeguards in place for its operation, but they are minimal. A Human must be present for the controls to respond. However, the gate may be vulnerable to removal."

  I asked, "Is there any way we can secure that from happening?"

  Quan replied, "I will evaluate our potential options, Mr. Beutcher."

  The Baldi commander opened a comm to his command. "Admiral, we had an encounter with the Humans. I am concerned they have technologies that are far in advance of ours."

  The admiral asked, "What sort of tech are we talking about? Were there any casualties? Shots fired?"

  The commander shook his head. "It was strangely peaceful, but I believe they have wormhole technology. One of their people just appeared on our bridge, and a few minutes later our ship was parked in the Dekota system, two months’ journey away. The transition was almost instantaneous, sir. And when we arrived, we found the remains of our scout fleet. That is, all but one, sir. A single ship is missing."

  The admiral returned a concerned look. "If the AI have captured one of our vessels, that is indeed bad news. Our sensory projection system would be at risk. Tell me about the Humans."

  The commander replied, "They claim to have an alliance with several thousand species. The one who came aboard our ship was Grunta. Very tall, very big. He didn't make any aggressive moves and even made himself vulnerable to our weapons, claiming that he only wanted to talk."

  The admiral huffed. "They destroy one of our ships after we rescue one of them and they only want to talk? Something doesn't smell right."

  The commander nodded. "That is my suspicion, Admiral. They claim to be enemies of the AI—only when we came upon them, they were aboard an AI ship."

  The admiral clenched a fist. "So the filthy Humans are in league with the AI."

  The commander held up a hand. "We are uncertain of that, Admiral. They claimed to be taking an AI from the ship for interrogation. They said they could get the location of any other AIs it has been in contact with."

  The admiral scowled. "And how do we know they aren't just trying to get in touch with the AIs, to ally with them?"

  The commander shook his head slowly. "We have no way of knowing, sir."

  I stood.r />
  Jack laughed. "You need to work on your salesmanship. I don't think the commander was buying your story."

  I said, "Run portal scans on the space within twenty light years of this system. Maybe we can catch the AIs who destroyed these ships."

  I opened a comm, tunneling through the Baldi comm system to their admiral. "This is Knog Beutcher. I am a representative of the Alliance of Major Planets. I'm sorry to force my way into your communications, Admiral, but I feel I need to say this to you directly—we are not your enemy. The AI are the enemy of both our peoples. We should be working together on their eradication."

  The admiral was silent for several seconds. "You choose intrusion onto one of our ships and then through our communications as your diplomatic channel?"

  I slightly bowed my head. "I must apologize for that, Admiral. After our first interaction, I felt it to be our only avenue. We are deeply sorry for the loss of your ship and its crew. That was a rescue attempt by us that didn't go exactly as planned. We just wanted our friend back. The AIs had been holding him for months."

  The admiral scowled. "How would I be able to trust anything you are saying? Your actions are not those of a friendly species."

  I nodded. "I understand your concern, Admiral. Actions were taken whose results cannot be changed. Mistakes were made. However, we have too much in common, and there is too much at stake, to throw away an opportunity for us to cooperate. The AIs are still out there, and they have the potential to become extremely powerful in a short period of time. You know this to be true, or you would have attempted to end this comm by now."

  The admiral shook his head slowly. "I would like nothing more than to believe you, Mr. Beutcher, but your methods are leaving me with little choice. Your prior actions, and your attempts here today, do not speak of honesty or trustworthiness."

  I turned to face Jack. "Can you lock on the coordinates of his broadcast and sweep me into that room?"

  Jack raised his eyebrows. "Are you nuts?"

  I shook my head. "With this suit, I really don't think I'm in danger. My reactions are fast enough to blink out in an instant if I sense something is about to happen."