by Alex Kings
“We've got a lot of ground to cover,” he said, “so let's get started immediately. First up, the Albascene aren't happy.”
“They weren't happy before,” Hanson offered.
“The Albascene ambassador called us a few hours ago and asked if I'd authorised this. I quite honestly told him I hadn't.” Chang sighed. “Suffice to say, there was a heated exchange, and he said that the only reason he didn't declare war on us was because we'd already lost Earth.”
Srak, slumped in the corner with his tail in one of the canals, said, “The fact that the Tethyans have your back might also have something to do with it.”
“Regardless,” said Chang. “We haven't exactly managed to bring them over to our side, have we?”
“No, sir,” said Hanson. “But we've the liberated the Petaurs, and I consider that a worthy goal by itself.”
Chang nodded. “So now we have 60 million Petaurs to deal with.”
“We are working on growing a new segment of the city to provide them with accommodation,” said one of the Tethyans.
“And I hate to say it,” continued Chang, “but as we discussed last time, we need allies. Are the Petaurs useful allies? They have between them three jump-capable ships, and only one of those has significant weapons capability.”
“Admiral, you should not underestimate us,” murmured Yilva. “Between us, we have significant technical expertise.”
Chang looked at her for a moment, before turning back to Hanson. “You've also managed to pick up a Glaber?”
“Yes, sir,” said Hanson.
“Can he be trusted?”
“I believe so. He had several opportunities to betray us and chose not to. Normally, warrior Glaber have a fanatical loyalty to their hive. Uruth has no hive. He's intelligent, independent, and – though I never expected to say the word when talking about a Glaber – decent. Besides which, I still hope we can get some of the Glaber hives on our side.”
“Very well,” said Chang. “I trust your judgement on this, James. Don't let me down.”
“I won't, sir.”
Chang glanced at his tablet. “Next order of business. Yilva? Have you made any progress on your idea?”
Yilva perked up. “I think so!” she said. “I have been occupied with some other things,” She glanced at Hanson. “But during my travel here, I have been corresponding with the science team on Ghroga. And I have found some fellow engineers among the Petaurs who are willing to help. We have come up with a series of signals which seem to affect the artefact on Ghroga.”
“Good work,” said Chang. “Are we close to putting it into practise?”
“I think so. We will have to mount the connector artefact on a Tethyan Battleship. We run the signal through the artefact, read its responses, then amplify them using the Battleship's own communication method.
“I will contact the Varanids and make the necessary arrangements,” said one of the Tethyans. “Is there anything more I should know?”
“No, that is all,” said Yilva.
“Very well.” The Tethyan jetted away suddenly along one of the canals and passed under the wall.
Chang watched it go. “So that's all in order,” he said. “Good, because our problems with the Dominion are about to get worse. Agent Serafin?”
Serafin nodded and stepped forward. She looked around the room slowly. “We failed in our mission,” she said. There was no regret in her tone, just a simple admission of fact. “The facility on Iona was destroyed, but the Dominion is growing Blanks aboard the Ancient ship. However, thanks to Specialist Newman, who had the frame of mind to record information from the Iona facility while under heavy fire, we have some important intel.”
She brought up her tablet and shared some documents with everyone.
“First, we're looking at 15,000 Blanks. They should be ready within the next couple of days. With those numbers, we can expect to face increased ground resistance. Moreover, they are a resource with which the Dominion can crew Alliance navy ships and bring them into combat against us.”
The room was silent for a few moments. Serafin let it sink in.
“The most interesting bit of intel, however, is this.” She swiped to the next page. “IL is interested in the Afanc. We don't know why.”
Chang nodded. “Hanson, you've been to the Afanc. Any ideas?”
“Last time they were just using it as a staging post for shipping Blanks from Iona,” said Hanson. “They chose it because it was a power base for Hive Shrike, and at that time IL was allied with the Shrikes. Now the Shrikes have been effectively destroyed and lost control of the Afanc, I can't see any good reason for them to return there.” He frowned, thinking. “In fact, they probably wouldn't be welcome there. Which suggests there's something about the Afanc they need.”
For a moment, nobody spoke.
“Uh, what did those shadow guys say about the Ancient ships?” said Agatha.
“The Shadowwalkers?” asked Serafin. “They said a lot of things.”
“Yes, but the Ancient ships aren't actually ships.”
“No … they're actual Ancients.”
“But also that the Ancients modified themselves?”
“Yes … what does that have to do with anything?”
Agatha grinned. “What if the Afanc is an Ancient? An original Ancient, without all the modifications? Think about it!” She checked the points off on her fingers. “Both huge, both covered in spikes. Inside, they're both full of tunnels and cavities. They both date from about the same period.”
“They do look similar,” confessed Hanson. “So how would the body of an original Ancient help them?”
“It might know something,” said Serafin.
Everyone stared at her.
“The Shadowwalkers said Ancients don't die as easily as we do. We have artefacts that are still active after millions of years. The Afanc is very well preserved. Even if it is dead, perhaps enough of its brain is preserved to hold some useful information …”
“So if we got to the Afanc before IL,” said Hanson, “we might be able to get it out. What do you think, Yilva?”
“We could … we could stimulate its nerves!” she cried. “We have some idea about how Ancient control systems work. If we use the same signals, perhaps we could get it to respond.”
Hanson looked at Chang. “It's worth a shot,” he said.
Chang nodded. “Very well, then,” he said. “Your next mission is to the Afanc.”
Chapter 40: Uruth
Aboard the Dauntless, Uruth rifled through the bag Hanson had given him.
“In our way of speaking, the Petaurs were Hiveless. Like me. No community, no context for their life,” He grunted. “The Hiveless Glaber who saved the Hiveless aliens. Yes, that would be a fine epitaph.” He pulled out a gun, examined it, then looked at Hanson. “This is a Glaber gun.”
“We've requisitioned a few in our time,” said Hanson. “I thought you'd find it easier than trying to work a weapon made for human hands.”
“Yes,” said Uruth, He put it back in the bag.
“You don't have to join us, you know. From Tethya, you could go anywhere.”
“Until the Dominion conquers it.” Uruth grunted as he threw the bag up on the shelf. “Besides, where else am I going to go, Hanson? I have a suit without a helmet and nothing else. I could go after my brother, but … never mind. You offered me a job and … you are paying me for this, aren't you?”
“Corporal's salary,” said Hanson.
“Good. You offered me a job and I accepted. This is what I'm good at. So let's get to it.”
Hansom smiled. “Alright.”
As he stepped out of the room, Uruth called him back.
“Humans,” he said. “You're the ones who have chicken tikka masala, right?”
“Yes.”
“You have some on board?”
“We've just restocked, actually.” Hanson frowned. “It's the last of the supplies we have from Earth, actually, so make the most o
f it.”
Uruth snorted. “I will.”
Chapter 41: Return to the Afanc
The Afanc floated before them, a vast mass of tentacles, dim red light glancing off the ridges in its mummified flesh.
In the CIC, Hanson said, “Hold position. Let's stay until we find a dock.” He looked across the control console at Lanik. “So that could be an actual Ancient. Rather makes you see it in a new light, doesn't it?”
Lanik frowned. “Not really, sir.”
Hanson shrugged. He opened a comm channel. “Agatha, Srak?”
“On it,” came Agatha's voice.
This time they had no contacts. Which, given their previous experience with Vance, Hanson thought was probably for the best. So instead, Agatha and Srak were sending docking requests to the Afanc. They knew the place best, and Hanson trusted them find a place which wouldn't try and steal the Dauntless from under him.
“We've got someone,” said Agatha. “It's safe, but it's daylight robbery. Or red dwarf light robbery, anyway.” She quoted a price at him.
Hanson sighed. “Do it,” he said.
Agatha send the co-ordinates through to the CIC.
“Take us in,” Hanson ordered. He turned back to the channel to Agatha and Srak. “What do we know about our host?”
“He's not affiliated with Unity or Sweetblade,” said Srak. “Runs a small business on the Third tentacle. Small security force to look out for the ships under his care. Has a good-ish reputation.”
They entered through an immense mouth, lined with fangs the size of the frigates. The Dauntless docked a little way inside.
Yilva was already prepared. She stood by the docking tube with an extended tablet in her hand. Vyren and a couple of Free Petaurs accompanied her.
“I have a candidate,” she said, flipping the tablet over to show a map. “I have used the architecture of the Ancient ships as a guide,” she explained, “and mapped their features onto the Afanc. If I am right, we should find a major nerve channel here.”
“How deep do we have to drill?” Hanson asked her.
“Between two and eighteen metres.”
Hanson stared at her.
“Uncertainties in mapping between Ancient and Afanc morphology,” she explained.
“Alright. Let's go.”
Hanson, keeping in mind what Bloodtooth had said, brought along a large team to protect them, consisting of Moore, Saito, Srak, Agatha, and Uruth.
Srak carried the drill on his back. It had originally been part of a much larger lunar mining machine. It was cylindrical, about a metre wide and two metres long. The drill face was studded with carbide claws. Pipes to eject slurry opened up on the other end.
Hanson led them down the docking tube, and from there, into the Afanc.
They passed through tunnels, then onto an open plaza. The plaza itself, a patch of gravity plating enclosed in an effector field, was in the middle of a giant cavity a kilometre across. Other gravity plating formed pathways that curved upwards slowly until they appeared to be vertical. They were like pedestrian streets, with various stalls arrayed along either side.
Banners in Isk said that was a Sweetblade area. A stall manned by a couple of grimy-looking Petaurs sold weapons. Someone else offered salvaged junk. A small bar promised its patrons discretion in whatever business they wanted to conduct. Someone had strung together a dozen cleaned Glaber skulls and hung them beside his stall.
Hanson's team kept getting looks. Whether that was because they had Uruth with them, or because they were carrying a giant drill, Hanson wasn't sure. Still, no-one interrupted them.
They left the cavity and headed into a mass of tunnels. The crowds diminished.
Srak looked back the way they'd come. “When we speak to the Afanc, what happens to the people living on it?”
“I do not know,” said Yilva. “Perhaps we can obtain all the information we need through the link and leave without anyone noticing.”
“Best case scenario?” grunted Srak.
“Yes.”
The tunnel opened up into a larger chamber, where three Albascene were waiting for them.
“Captain,” said Bloodtooth. “Hello, once again.”
Chapter 42: Negotiations
Hanson brought up his carbine immediately and centred it on the middle section of Bloodtooth's suit.
The suit was decorated, but not in the decadent sort of way Karnasc's suits had been. Its elements were more angular, harsher, sharper in colour. To Hanson, it looked like it might suit a tribal chief.
“I said before we would be enemies if we met again,” said Bloodtooth.
“Yeah, and we outnumber you. So you might want to rethink that position.”
“Do not think that threat will make me acquiesce,” said Bloodtooth. “I gave you the respect of meeting in person, even though it risks my life, but we are not your only opponents. All of Unity stands behind me.” His lower segment turned slightly. “That is not a metaphor,” he added. “I have several hundred armed Albascene surrounding us, listening in on this conversation.”
Hanson sighed. “It would have been easier if you hadn't noticed us. We could have finished our mission here and left without troubling anyone.”
Bloodtooth went very still. “Last time you were here, you started a civil war.”
“Only because I was backed into a corner.” Hanson made a show of looking around. “Which, hey, doesn't bode well for this interruption, does it?”
“And last time, you were fighting the Glaber. Now you have one standing beside you!”
Uruth snorted. “Those were the Shrikes,” he said. “They killed most of my hive. Believe me, buddy, I had more reason to hate them than you did.”
“Irrelevant,” snapped Bloodtooth.
“It was pretty fucking relevant to me.”
“Uruth,” Hanson said quietly.
Uruth managed to shrug without changing his aim.
Hanson turned his attention back to Bloodtooth. “I take it you've heard about Laikon?”
“Of course,” said Bloodtooth.
“And you're not the slightest bit miffed about that?”
“No,” said Bloodtooth. “Laikon was corrupt. If anything, I am … amused … by what you did.”
“Ah,” said Hanson. “And you chose to speak to us, rather than just rush in and try to kill us. So … you haven't totally made up your mind on whether we're enemies or not?”
“What is your mission?”
“We want to stop IL. If you're smart, you'll see they're as much a threat to you as they are to us.”
Bloodtooth took a moment before admitting, “Yes, the Ancient ships trouble me.”
“That's why we've come back to the Afanc,” said Hanson. “We think we might be able to stop them.”
“How?”
“The Afanc may still be partially alive. We want to try and communicate with it.”
“Very well,” said Bloodtooth. “You will have our assistance of Unity in this mission. On the condition that you share everything you learn, and that we retain control of the Afanc, whatever condition it may be in.”
*
“Here,” said Yilva.
The spot was under the floor, near the edge of a chamber a hundred metres across.
“Pull up the gravity plating,” Bloodtooth told his entourage.
Another eight Albascene had joined him since Hanson agreed to work with him. They were silent except when responding to his orders. Now they went to work, disconnecting the gravity plating and pulling it aside with their effector fields.
Srak swung the drill off his back. As soon as it was over the hold in the gravity plating, it floated steadily. Srak manoeuvred it down to the black, leathery flesh of the Afanc.
He helped Yilva extend some struts against the side to brace it against the gravity plating and hold it in place.
“Water tank's ready. It's all set.”
Yilva nodded. “Good, let's go.” She gestured at a control panel on the side. It
lit up. The drill hummed its way through a few mechanical motions.
There was a grinding roar as the drill head hit the Afanc's flesh. Water rushed through the transparent pipes to a scrubbing section. After a second it became dark, thick with detritus.
Slowly, the drill began to descend through the Afanc.
Chapter 43: Drilling for Nerves
It took them a little over an hour to reach three metres. An opening in the side of the drill released a viscous black sludge with a texture like wet cement. They had to refill the water tank tank twice. Srak was prepared to go, but Bloodtooth stepped in and told his underlings to get the water.
They returned accompanied by a couple of Varanids.
“Don't worry,” Bloodtooth told Hanson. “We have decided to share our agreement with Sweetblade. Hiding it from them would risk another gang war.”
“Very sensible,” said Hanson.
The two Varanids moved to the side of the room to watch, while Bloodtooth's Albascene worked with Srak to connect the new water tanks.
“Last time I was here, you were a shopkeeper,” said Hanson. “You've certainly moved up in the world.”
“I was the first to learn about Hive Shrike's collaborations. I led the assault. And I have since proved myself a capable administrator.”
Hanson smiled faintly. “So you got your big break because of me, huh?”
Bloodtooth was silent.
“Well, you didn't try to kill us, so let's call it even.”
“Yes,” said Bloodtooth. “I think that would be best.”
Hanson looked at him, studying the violent-looking suit decorations. “And you're really willing to help us fight against IL?”
“Of course,” said Bloodtooth. “We share a common enemy. We have never backed down from a fight.”
“Good.”
*
The drilling continued. The drill had descended out of sight now. Black sludge was piled up by the side of the room.
Bloodtooth was called away. The Sweetblade Varanids were replaced by another group – a couple of humans and a couple of Petaurs. The Sweetblade Petaurs seemed to have no interest in, and feel no connection with, the Free Petaurs helping Yilva. Out here in the criminal underworld, the politics of Laikon were irrelevant.