Deception

by M. R. Forbes

  “Unfortunately, we still need her help to get the ship back to safety. As for authority, the Guardians only have greater authority as long as the ship is in space. According to the original protocol, as soon as we land we’re supposed to disband and retire, and Riley knows it. Of course, we were supposed to be around seventy years old by then, but that’s not the point. Anyway, she doesn’t know that I know what she did and that I know who she killed. Right now, she thinks she’s in the clear. But that doesn’t mean she won’t make moves to discredit my Marines or me to ensure nobody ever finds out what she did. I’m telling you because someone else has to know. Someone with no personal ties to the whole mess.”

  “Right. Well, it sounds simple enough. Deal with her before we land.”

  Caleb smiled. “I’d like to. But I prefer to have a backup.”

  “And how can I help you with that?”

  “Just by being aware of the situation, and believing that there’s at least a shred of merit to what I’m telling you.”

  “Fair enough. I believe you, Sergeant. You don’t seem like the sort of man to lie.”

  “Maybe not, but if Riley finds out what I know, or even suspects I might know, she’ll do what she can to convince you I am a liar. That’s what I’m trying to head off.”

  “Has she given you any indication she suspects you know something?”

  “Not so far. But to be honest, that only makes me more convinced that she does.”

  Sheriff Dante smiled. “I know the type. I’ll stay alert, Sergeant.”

  “Thank you.”

  They continued descending to Deck Twenty-three, exiting the stairwell and moving aft to the interchange. Caleb regained the lead as they entered the large space. The Guardians had done their best to remove the dead trife and the remnants of their nest from it, but a stale sulfurous scent still clung to the air.

  “This ship must be drawing a lot of power,” Carol said, looking at the massive pillars.

  “It takes a lot of power to bring something up to half a cee in a reasonable amount of time,” Caleb replied. “The thrust units are behind this room, through those doors.” He pointed to the closed hatches at the back of the area.

  “I’d love to get a look at them,” Joe said. “I’ll have to come back again later. Anyway, we have similar converters in Metro. They’re a lot smaller, but they probably work the same way. You’ve got a feed coming in from the reactors, and then out to the thrust units. But it’s probably only flowing in one direction.”

  “According to David, if you plug the energy unit into a feed to the capacitors, it’ll push enough juice out to fill them, and then replenish them as needed. The main thing is making a safe link between the capacitors and the energy unit.”

  “And you said it would accept pretty much any type of connection?”

  “That’s right.”

  Joe turned to his wife. “What do you think?”

  She nodded. “It shouldn’t be too hard. The tricky part will be finding a heavy enough conduit to manage the power flow.”

  “We can probably take it from one of these converters. I’m sure they built the system with enough redundancy to handle losing one.”

  “Right,” Carol agreed. “At worst it’ll cost us a little thrust.” She looked at Caleb. “Probably a quarter cee when all is said in done.”

  “Anything is better than dying,” Caleb said.

  “Amen to that,” Joe replied. “Okay. Let’s get to work. Big man, I could use your help.”

  Washington pointed his thumb at his chest. Me?

  “It’s Washington, right?”

  Washington nodded.

  “The conduit is pretty heavy, and I’m getting old. If there’s any beer on this boat, I’ll owe you one when we’re finished. Deal?”

  Washington smiled and nodded, flashing Joe a thumbs-up.

  “What do you need me to do?” Caleb asked.

  “For now, stay out of the way. I’ll holler if I need you.”

  “Roger that,” Caleb said.

  Joe pushed the sleeves of his shirt up past his elbows. Then he scanned the room, looking for something. He seemed to find it because he motioned to Washington and started moving. “Let’s get to work.”

  Chapter 46

  It didn’t take long for Joe and Carol to find something for Caleb to do, and the two hours it took to cobble together a solution to the ship’s power problem went by in a flash. The fact that they were closing in on an hour before they would collide with the system’s star wasn’t lost on any of them, and they worked with a frantic focus that left them mostly silent while they completed the task.

  Their work took them out of the interchange to the deck below where the supercapacitors were stored. They huddled around the energy unit. A thick cable rested on the floor nearby, stretching from their position to the primary transformer that connected the reactor to the hundreds of capacitors arranged in a circular order around them. Because the solid-state batteries were tall and wide silver boxes, Carol likened them to a modern Stonehenge.

  “This is it,” Joe said as he removed the makeshift outer cover of the energy unit. He stared at the floating sphere for a moment, just watching how it emitted power from its outer diameter to the collectors surrounding it. “Where does all the power go with nothing plugged in?” He seemed to realize that if he didn’t know, then none of them would know. He glanced up at his wife, waiting to see if she could answer before picking up the end of the heavy wire that would hopefully restore the ship to full power. “Are you ready?”

  “We’re ready,” Sheriff Dante said.

  Joe glanced at Caleb. “This is either going to recharge the capacitors, or we’re all going to be dead two seconds from now.”

  “No pressure, darling,” Carol said with a smirk.

  Joe smiled at her, and then carefully lowered the wire toward the floating sphere, taking great care not to touch it.

  As soon as the wire broke the outer plane of the containment, a bright bolt of blue light reached out and grabbed it. Caleb turned away as the light flashed and crackled, and a smell like burning rubber rose from the connection. He clenched his eyes tight, waiting for the resulting explosion to take him.

  One second passed. Then another. And another. He opened his eyes, looking back at Joe. The engineer was still crouched beside the unit. He had his eyes closed too, his hands clasped together in a desperate prayer. There was still energy reaching out to the wire, wrapped around it and holding it fast. The sphere had a more intense glow, as though it were pulling an order of magnitude more power through it.

  “Still alive,” Sheriff Dante said. “Is it working?”

  Carol broke away from the group, walking over to the transformer. There was a terminal built into the face of the equipment, and she tapped on the controls, bringing up a few different technical screens. Then she turned back to them, a huge smile on her face.

  “It’s working!” she announced. “Capacitors are already at thirty percent and rising!”

  The small group erupted in a loud cheer, everyone but Washington. He pumped his fists in the air triumphantly.

  “Great work, Joe and Carol,” Caleb said. It felt good to have a smile on his face. It felt good to have something to smile about, even if it was only for a moment.

  “Yeah,” Sheriff Dante said. “I knew you could do it.”

  Joe’s face flushed, and he kept his eyes down, uncomfortable with the praise.

  “Let’s head back to the bridge,” Caleb said. “I’m eager to find out how Klahanie is making out with the lockdown.”

  “Me too,” Dante agreed.

  “I’m going to stay here,” Joe said. “Keep an eye on things, just in case.”

  “I’ll stay too,” Carol said.

  Washington raised his hand, indicating he wanted to stay with them.

  “Okay. Joe, the nearest comm to the bridge is out in Engineering Control. Call into the bridge asap if there’s any trouble. Wash, I’m not sure how far the netwo
rk will stretch and I know you can’t call for help, but ping me if you need me.”

  Washington gave him a thumbs-up. They had both discovered the control room with Joe and the others, passing through it to reach the capacitors. It looked a lot like the control rooms in both the Marine module and Research, only smaller.

  “Will do, Sergeant,” Joe said.

  “Sheriff, are you coming with me?” Caleb asked.

  “Affirmative, Sergeant,” she replied.

  They headed away from the area with the two deputies, leaving the engineers and Washington behind. Caleb hurried back to the stairwell, eager to see what was happening on the bridge. He assumed he would know when they had regained control of navigation because the ship would slow or change course. While the inertial dampening systems would absorb most of any vectoring adjustments, he imagined they would cut the main thrusters and fire the bow thrusters at full power to slow down, something he was sure he would feel.

  “I’m still having trouble coming to grips with this,” Sheriff Dante confided as they ascended.

  “With what?” Caleb asked.

  She flailed her arms. “This. Being on a spaceship instead of under a mountain. Getting the power restored is great progress, but I feel like it was the easy part.”

  “It might have been.”

  “I’m not ready to die.”

  “Me either. You don’t think Klahanie can pull this out of his hat?”

  “I hope he can, but I don’t know what he’s up against. What if he can’t do it?”

  “We aren’t up to can’t do it yet. We still have an hour.”

  “That felt like more time two hours ago.”

  “I know. We--”

  Caleb stopped speaking as a sudden jolt rocked the Deliverance, the force taking him off guard and slamming him against the wall. He bounced off, catching himself before he toppled down the steps. He reached out and grabbed Sheriff Dante, collecting her with his replacement arm before she could take a header down the steps. Momentum carried her into the crook of Caleb’s arm, leaving her face pressed against his chest. Behind them, the two deputies had been less fortunate, hitting the deck and tumbling down a few steps.

  “What the hell was that?” Sheriff Dante said, glancing up at him.

  “I don’t know,” Caleb replied.

  The light in the stairwell washed out, suddenly replaced by the return of the red strobes and the whining alert. Something was definitely happening.

  It felt like they were accelerating again.

  Chapter 47

  Caleb checked the tactical network, looking for Washington or Flores on it. They were near the mid-point of the distance between each, leaving him cut off from the others.

  “We need to get to the bridge,” Caleb said, helping Sheriff Dante upright and getting back to his feet.

  “Bashir, Casper, are you hurt?” Dante asked the men who had tumbled down the stairs.

  “No ma’am,” Bashir said. “A little bruised. We’ll be fine.”

  “I can’t wait for you,” Caleb said. “Do you know how to get to the bridge?”

  “No, but we’ll figure it out,” Dante said. “Go.”

  Caleb made it up one more deck before the ship shook again, rocking harder than the first time. He was thrown heavily into the wall, pain shooting up through his shoulder as he bounced off, cursing. What the hell was going on?

  He looked down the stairwell, concerned Dante or one of her deputies might be hurt. Should he go back to them or continue climbing? He couldn’t do much to help them. He decided to climb.

  He sprinted up three more flights, nearly shouting in joy when his ATCS connected with Flores.

  “Flores, what’s happening to the ship?” he asked.

  “Alpha,” Flores replied breathlessly. “I… You won’t… we’re under attack!”

  Caleb felt like his heart stop. “What?”

  “It’s a long story. It turns out the lockout was bullshit.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Klahanie figured it out. There was no encryption. No lock on the systems. Just a modification to the interface to display false information. Obfuscation and misdirection. We thought we were headed toward the star. We’re actually approaching the planet.”

  “Essex?”

  “That’s the only planet here, Alpha.”

  Caleb tried to make sense of it. Why had the AI tricked them into thinking they were going toward the star? And why hadn’t Riley figured that out?

  Unless she already knew...unless she had done it?

  “Son of a bitch,” he said, yanking himself up the stairs at an increasing pace. “Who or what is attacking us?”

  “We don’t know. It came out of nowhere. It’s a sphere about ten meters in diameter, and it’s firing some kind of energy weapon at us. Hold on Alpha!”

  Caleb braced himself on the wall, thankful for the warning. The ship shook again a moment later.

  “We can’t take this for long,” Flores said. “Damn Cylons.”

  “Riley’s wearing armor,” Caleb said. “Can you give her your helmet?”

  “Roger, Alpha. Standby.”

  Caleb kept climbing for the ten seconds it took for the network to reconnect under Riley’s ATCS. He was on Deck Twelve, almost there.

  “Valentine, what are we looking at?” he asked, having to swallow his growing hatred.

  “I think it’s a drone,” Riley said. “Sensors suggest it was operating on low power until we started closing on Essex. Now it’s firing on us.”

  “Damage?”

  “Minimal so far, but it won’t stay that way. The Deliverance wasn’t built to defend itself in space.”

  “Do we have any external firepower of our own?”

  “Negative.”

  “So what’s the plan? I hear we’re closer to Essex than we thought.”

  “We are. I’m sorry, Sergeant. It’s my fault. I should have realized it was tricking us. It seems it had a backup plan for not getting the landing codes.”

  “Crashing us into the planet?”

  “Apparently.”

  “Why would it do that? It might kill its own – ”

  “I don’t know, Sergeant. We have more immediate concerns.”

  “What about the equipment on board? What about in the hangar?”

  “There’s nothing orbital in the main hangar,” Riley said. “Klahanie already checked.”

  “What about the secondary hangar up front?”

  “There’s another hangar?”

  “What, I knew something you didn’t? How is that possible? Yes, there’s a smaller secondary hangar in the bow. For all I know, it’s empty, but it’s worth checking out.”

  “One second, Sergeant,” Riley said. “Klahanie, can you get anything on a secondary hangar? Caleb, hang on!”

  Caleb braced himself again. The ship shook a third time.

  “We’ve got damage to the midship airlock,” he heard Klahanie say. “We’re venting air, Doctor!”

  “I don’t care,” Riley said. “Find the secondary hangar.”

  “Got it!” Klahanie said. “Inventory lists something called a dagger. Does that mean anything to you?”

  Riley was silent long enough Caleb thought he had lost the link. He checked his HUD. Still connected. “Valentine, do you know what a Dagger is?” he asked.

  “Yes. It’s an experimental starfighter.”

  “Did you just say starfighter?” Caleb said. “What’s a starfighter doing on the Deliverance? Isn’t this a civilian ship?”

  “The Dagger is controlled through a neural interface. Space Force had them loaded for my team to work on during the trip to Proxima.”

  Caleb knew she was lying. Not outright. She sprinkled the truth with lies, just enough to make them indistinguishable.

  “Are they functional?”

  “For the most part. Like I said, the Daggers are experimental. They’ve never been used in an uncontrolled environment.”

  “What does that m
ean?”

  “It’s never been tested outside of a simulator.”

  “Well, I guess that’s about to change. Tell Flores to grab Orla and meet me at the stairwell.”

  “What about the ship?”

  “Do we have full control over it?”

  “We do.”

  “And do you have the landing codes?”

  “I do.”

  “Then you know what to do.”

  “Sergeant, I’m not sure…”

  “The AI is gone, right? David is gone. The Reapers are all dead. There’s no reason not to land.”

  “I can think of one reason. The planet isn’t safe. It’s being watched.”

  Caleb’s jaw clenched. Damn it, the planet was never safe and she knew it. “We’re venting air. You’re a Doctor. You know what that means.”

  Riley hesitated a moment. “Roger. Flores! Take Orla and bring her to the stairwell. Meet with Sergeant Card there.”

  Caleb didn’t hear the response, but he knew they would be on the way.

  “Doctor, I need directions to the hangar. I know it’s up there, but I don’t know where it is.”

  “Roger. Standby.”

  Caleb ascended while he waited, making it the rest of the way to Deck Six. He burst out of the stairwell at the same time Riley started speaking again.

  “Klahanie turned on all the lighting leading back to the hangar. Just follow the yellow brick road, Sergeant.”

  It sounded like something Flores would say. “Roger.”

  He heard boots on the floor down the corridor on his left. Flores and Orla appeared a minute later. The ship rocked a fourth time, throwing them into the wall. Flores twisted awkwardly to keep the unprotected pilot from slamming into the bulkhead, cursing as she hit the ground.

  Caleb ran over to them. “Flores, are you hurt?”

  “I think my arm is broken,” she replied. “It doesn’t matter. Nothing will if we don’t stop that thing from shooting at us.”

  Caleb took Orla’s thin arm in his hand. “We need to run.”