Creull noticed a different kind of agitation in front of her. She quickly cycled through her own console while snarling in confusion. “Sappho’s sensors state she’s a ship of some kind, but I’ve never seen anything like her.”
“It’s Duncan and Maeve,” Oana said excitedly. “They’re giving us the right codes.”
The captain shook his head in disbelief. “It’s impossible. No ship moves like that.”
Duncan Hauk floated in a field of golden light, surrounded by streams of liquid neon. The blinding intensity forced him to keep his eyes closed. He had taken off his helmet, and yet he could somehow breathe air. He remembered being led by Maeve Lindros into the artifact on Horizon when its structure had suddenly revealed an opening as they stood beside it. The next thing he knew, they were traveling out of the system, even though he couldn’t see what was happening.
It seemed as if the artifact itself was speaking to him through feelings, opening up other dormant senses within himself. He no longer needed to see, touch, or hear anything, for he could just feel the existence of nearby stars and planets, even base elements all the way down to their molecular level. He could feel at one with the universe, and everything around him was visible in his mind.
Even though he couldn’t see Maeve, Hauk could sense she was close by. Everything he had learned about traveling on starships was nothing like what he was experiencing at this moment in time. The artifact they were traveling in was indeed a vessel of some kind, and it was unlike any spacecraft he had ever been in.
He could sense they were traveling faster than the speed of light. The artifact jumped across different systems without the use of the t-drive. Whatever heat they produced seemed to be vented off somewhere else, so there was no need for radiators either. Hauk could feel it all, even without understanding how it worked.
Hauk turned his head. “Maeve, are you there?”
“Yes,” Maeve said. “Don’t worry. We’re now in the area where the Nepenthe is.”
“They’re in trouble,” Hauk said.
“I know,” Maeve said. “Let’s help them.”
On the bridge of the Wyvern, everyone was smiling, their confidence returned. They were now on the verge of capturing the most notorious pirate ship in history, and every crewmember had just finished congratulating the others when a loud beep brought their senses back into focus.
The tactical officer stared at the virtual map in disbelief. It took him another minute to recheck his readouts to make sure it wasn’t some sort of mistake on the sensor’s part. “Sir, we’ve detected another contact, closing fast.”
Tran was incredulous. “What is it? Another ship?”
The tactical officer bit his lip. “I … don’t know, sir.”
Tran glanced angrily at him. “What do you mean you don’t know?”
“Even our ship’s AI can’t identify her,” the tactical officer said nervously. “She’s moving at over a billion gees of acceleration, sir.”
Tran sank back into his chair, stunned. “What? T-that’s impossible!”
A loud series of alarms began howling across the bridge. Several crewmembers gasped.
Tran grimaced. The warning bell meant a collision alarm. “What’s going on?”
The tactical officer’s voice now had a trace of panic in it. “The object, sir. She’s heading straight for us!”
Tran stared at his console in disbelief. The unknown object was roughly the size of a large battle drone, yet it could somehow move at an unbelievable speed. The telescopic sensors revealed it to resemble some sort of small, brightly glowing star with a tail of light, like a comet’s. It has to be a weapon of some sort, he thought.
“W-what do we do?” the tactical officer asked.
“What do you think we do?” Tran snapped. “Go to maximum acceleration and begin an evasive maneuver. Activate all point defense systems. Blast that thing out of space before it gets close!”
Everyone inside the Nepenthe’s battlesphere could only watch as a new sort of battle began to take place. Dangard pushed off and made it back to his seat; he had ordered Viniimn and his engineering crews to work on repairing the radiators, hoping this latest distraction would give them enough time to get away.
“It cannot be Duncan and Maeve,” Creull said. “Those two would have been crushed to death if they traveled inside that thing. She’s moving way too fast for any organic being to survive inside.”
“I’m telling you, they’re here somewhere, Commander,” Oana said. “Maybe they just fired some sort of new missile and they’re in another ship hidden somewhere in the nebula.”
“Only a lancer warhead has that kind of acceleration, and it can’t maneuver once it fires,” Dangard said.
“Object will impact enemy ship in under a minute,” Creull said. “The Star Force cruiser is trying to evade, but she lacks the speed.”
“If that thing is a lancer missile, the cruiser can knock it out easily,” Dangard said.
“Looks like they’re doing just that,” Creull said. “Multiple close-range weapons discharged from enemy ship. Gauss, lasers, everything. They’re trying to shoot it away before it hits their hull.”
“The speed of the object is unbelievable,” Oana said breathlessly. “Seems it can maneuver on a dime too.”
“They must have gotten a few hits on it,” Dangard said. “If not the gauss point defenses, then the lasers for sure.”
“I’m sure they did,” Creull said. “No apparent damage to the object though.”
Oana leaned back and shrieked, “Impact! Object impacted against enemy ship’s hull.”
Dangard leaned closer to his console. The new readings astounded him. “Impossible. Object collided and cored the hull of Star Force cruiser. She’s been crippled.”
Creull let out a confused purr. The object flew out from the opposite side of the enemy ship’s hull, which meant the unknown contact had ploughed through the entire ship and remained intact. The next event was even more incredible as the object suddenly changed direction and smashed into the Star Force cruiser a second time, almost ripping her in two.
For several long minutes, no one said anything. All they could do was stare at their consoles in complete shock and awe. The star-like object continued to smash against the Star Force cruiser until just pieces of the enemy ship remained.
A voice suddenly boomed over their com-link system. The all-too-familiar audio unmistakably belonged to Maeve. “Hello, Nepenthe. It’s good to see you again.”
Hauk sat up at the edge of the automed device and got to his feet. He had just finished putting on his skinsuit when Commander Creull and Lieutenant Strand walked into the Nepenthe’s medbay and faced him.
The boy quickly stood at attention. “Spacer Hauk present.”
Strand tilted his head back and chuckled. “There’s no need to do that. This isn’t the Star Force, kid.”
“Yes, Lieutenant,” Hauk said. “Sorry about that.”
Creull seemed more placid than usual. “There will be a formal debriefing later, though we feel you need to rest first, and we just wanted to see how you’re doing.”
Hauk shrugged while rubbing the back of his neck. “I’m feeling perfectly fine, Commander. If you want to start the formal debriefing now, I wouldn’t mind.”
“We need the captain to be present,” Creull said. “As of right now he’s still with Viniimn, supervising the repairs.”
“I wanted to see who beat me out as hero of the day,” Strand said. “You and Maeve practically saved this ship.”
The boy smiled sheepishly. “Honestly, it was mostly Maeve who did it, LT. I was just along for the ride.”
“Her last message she sent before she left credits you with saving her life though,” Strand said. “So you deserve a lot of kudos.”
“Do you know what that thing you traveled in was?” Creull asked.
“Not really,” Hauk said. “The artifact that was buried on Horizon was actually some sort of old ship, and I brought he
r back to it after we escaped from the Concordance base. The next thing I knew, we were inside of it and we lifted off from the planet’s surface, then we tried to find our way back to the Nepenthe.”
Creull narrowed her eyes. “So you have no idea how that ancient vessel worked?”
“I’m afraid not, Commander,” Hauk said. “I was in a daze while inside of the artifact ship. Even now it still feels like it was all a dream.”
“You didn’t seem all that surprised when you just reappeared inside of this ship and Maeve said her goodbyes to us then jumped out of the system,” Creull said. “Do you know where she’s headed?”
Hauk shook his head. “She told me she wants to find something, but she didn’t say what it was. I asked her to stay with us since we’re her family now, but she said no. I think the artifact might be leading her someplace, but I don’t know where.”
“Do you think the artifact ship is sentient?” Strand asked.
“I don’t know, LT,” Hauk said. “All I can sense is maybe she’ll come back to us one day and tell us everything.”
33 The Unveiled
Night had fallen over Earth’s North American continent, yet the evening sky remained illuminated by the countless satellites and orbital stations up above. A privately owned air car hovered near the boundaries of the NYC Memorial before penetrating its airspace. Two police aerial drones immediately flew in and intercepted the vehicle, their sensors scanning it for a brief minute before they veered away.
Erich von Steyr continued to sit in the air car’s front seat and looked out the side window. Manhattan Island remained a dark, twisted ruin of concrete and rusted metal. Rather than rebuild the city after the devastation of the Second Singularity War, the citizens of Earth decided to keep the rubble in place as a stark reminder of the horrors they had experienced. The dead city was an open wound, to be looked upon by future generations as an example of humanity’s folly.
Hassan Obi was in the driver’s seat, and he used the autopilot to make a soft landing in the clearing of what was once a park. Erich opened the car door as the engines were shutting down and walked a few steps forward, stretching his cramped legs. Despite having only the twilit illumination from the orbital satellites up above, he could see the once fertile ground had been glassified from a bombardment that happened over a hundred years before.
Looking out into the distance, Erich first scanned the gnarled, petrified trunks of the burned-out forest to the north before facing towards the east. Sure enough, he could see a set of floodlights had been activated by the ruins of an old museum, their designated meeting place.
Hassan nervously patted the compact gauss pistol holstered beneath his jacket. “Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you, Director?”
Erich finally saw the outline of another air car parked beside the lighted ruin. “No. This is a private meeting. You got everything in place, I hope.”
“I did, sir,” Hassan said as he pulled out the weapon from his shoulder holster and offered it to his boss. “Nevertheless, you might want to have this just in case of any surprises.”
Erich waved his palm offhandedly before turning around, and began walking towards the ruined museum. “I never use such things.”
The bits of burned glass on the ground continued to crunch beneath the soles of his authentic leather shoes as Erich moved onwards, fully aware he was under observation. No sense in bringing a weapon anyway, he thought.
It took him fifteen minutes to make his way into what looked to be a deserted courtyard behind a burned-out wall. The floodlights had been set up to shine directly into the center of the patio. The building that had once occupied the area where he stood was made of whitewashed concrete, but the devastation had blackened what was left to a dusty gray.
Placing his hands in his pockets, Erich stood by the side and waited, away from the glare of the lights. He noticed the smartcom device on his wrist no longer had any com-link access. There’s some sort of jamming going on, he thought.
A feminine voice spoke from the nearby shadows. “See, I told you he would show up.”
Erich turned again. Nilda Carerra and Malcolm Walden emerged from the gloom of a nearby alcove and strode over to him. He gave each of them a nod. “Why meet in this forsaken place?”
Nilda thrust out her lower lip. “Why not? This place is closed to the public at night, and heavily patrolled by police bots to make sure there aren’t any derelicts around. Only executives such as we have the right to come and go here as we please.”
“A depressing place to hash out an alliance,” Erich said.
“I like coming here,” Nilda said. “This whole area is a testament to the horrors of the Singularity Wars, when the AIs fought against all organics and nearly won. We made them, and we paid for it.”
Malcolm stood a few paces away from them and ran a hand over his silvery hair. He wanted to get this over with. “The game’s up, Erich. Nilda told me everything. I just wanted to ask you a few questions before you get arrested.”
Erich offered him a gentle smile while looking at Nilda. “I knew it. You worked both sides, didn’t you?”
The old lady smiled back. “Oh Erich, I thought your little ploy would succeed, but it seems the pirates did get away after all.”
Erich crossed his arms. “You old hag. I knew you’d team up with Malcolm here to try and take my asset away. So who hired those damned pirates to steal from me? You or Malcolm?”
Malcolm pointed at Nilda. “It was her doing. I just decided to go along with it because if it did work, then you’d have gotten the chairmanship.”
“Yet it didn’t turn out the way you wanted either,” Erich said. “The pirates never handed my asset to either of you.”
Malcolm shook his head. “Unfortunately not. Instead we got a tense standoff on Horizon between our forces and the Concordance. Both sides are accusing each other of treaty violations. This could lead to a hot war.”
“And so we’re back at square one,” Erich said.
“Not quite,” Nilda said. “I can reveal to the general public that it was your actions in doing this secret research on your asset which led to the current incident on Horizon, and the actions of your contacts with the Concordance. You’ll be disgraced and out of the Committee, Erich. What you did was treason and you will be executed for it.”
Erich arched an eyebrow. How could she have known about my dealings with the xtid? He needed to find out more. “What a silly accusation. You can’t prove a thing.”
“It was the xtid ambassador himself who relayed the information to my people,” Nilda said with apparent relish. “Of course, the media will only report on you, since the xtid have pledged to cooperate.”
Goddamn worms betrayed me, Erich thought. He turned his gaze to Malcolm. “She’s just using you. She and I formed an alliance to block your chairmanship bid.”
Malcolm eyed them both with contempt. “You’re both snakes as far as I’m concerned. Nilda, give me the support of your block and I promise you a plum position behind the throne.”
Nilda sneered. “No, it was my information that’s going to put Erich away, so you should support me as chairman instead.”
“Like hell I will,” Malcolm said.
Nilda snapped her fingers, and another man appeared on the other side of the courtyard. He was carrying a laser pistol and began walking towards them.
Malcolm instantly recognized him as his own personal assistant, Buck Besa. “I told you to stay by the air car!”
Buck calmly walked over and stood beside the old woman. He aimed the laser at his former boss.
Malcolm staggered backwards a few steps. “What in the hell? You work for me, Buck!”
Nilda couldn’t help but grin now. “Your secretary here has decided to jump over to my side, Malcolm. He has also given me quite a few of the surveillance videos of your private life. Seems even your beloved wife doesn’t know about your predilection for little slave girls. Could you imagine the uproar once this s
candal goes public?”
Malcolm’s eyes grew wide. “You wouldn’t dare!”
“I now have a hold on both of you,” Nilda said. “We can do this the easy way or the hard way. You can either both end up being dismissed from the Committee, your lives forever ruined, or you both elect me as chairwoman. Your choice.”
“I’ll go with neither,” Erich said. “You may have done your part in taking away my asset, but the old research material is still in my possession, and there was a bit of a breakthrough, so to speak.”
Nilda gave him an incredulous look. “What are you on about?”
“The asset I tried to bring here seems to have some sort of energy field that proves lethal to symbiotes,” Erich said. “Although Subject Zero is gone, the years of research my people did on her did yielded one little new piece of technology.”
“And that is what?” Malcolm asked.
“This.” Erich held up his wrist smartcom and tapped its side. A shrill noise erupted from hidden loudspeakers along the courtyard.
Nilda grimaced in pain as she fell to her knees and began convulsing on the ground.
Malcolm looked about in confusion. “What is going on? What’s happening to her?”
The sound soon abated. Nilda stood back up, yet it was clear she had been shaken. Her eyes were bloodshot, and her speech had begun to slur. She pointed a quivering finger at Erich while looking at Buck. “Kill him.”
Instead of aiming at Erich, Buck pointed the laser at her instead and fired off a microsecond pulse burst. Nilda screamed as the intense flashes of heat tore into her rotund chest, and fell back onto the ground once more. She writhed on the floor for a few seconds before finally lying still.
Malcolm remained petrified. “What … what just happened?”
Erich pointed at the now dead woman on the ground while looking at Buck. “Go ahead.”
Using his left hand, Buck knelt down beside Nilda’s corpse and ripped open the back portion of her blouse. A dying symbiote flopped onto the ground after it detached from Nilda’s spinal column. Buck finally dispatched the alien with a second burst of laser fire. He stood up and stared down at the now charred alien with unemotional detachment.
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