by Ben Winston
"I could only wait until our probe arrived in the area and examined the base. What it found is very troubling," Mother replied and restored the video feed to the holographic imager.
"T'Gree!" Jance said, and waved him closer since the image was large in scale but small in detail. The Ranger joined them and narrowed his eyes. "Very sneaky! The Duke, knowing we were still in orbit, ordered troop ships to hide under the floaters. Those ships are now docked at the base, no doubt to kill the pirates for failing to kill us," he said quietly. "Mother, is your probe capable of detecting sonic resonance?"
"Yes Ranger T’Gree," Mother said. "Using the imaging system, this is what the probe has detected."
The image showed each of the four ships docking at four different and diverse locks into the base. Large, humanoid troops dressed in armor, burst through each lock and began an assault of the base. It was clear they were looking for the occupants.
"As much as I hate to say it, the Duke could easily claim that he had simply discovered the hidden base via his own investigation, and sent in his troops to capture the pirates," Hyroan offered. He had joined the group to observe more of the interactions with the AI, while the other Rangers quietly spoke to the other attendees.
Jance shook her head. "Negative, given the distance to this location from the closest available port, the floaters had to have been dispatched well before our ship left this world. Add to that the need to hide his troop ships under the floaters themselves indicates he wished them to remain hidden from orbital observation." She looked at the slim Ranger to her left. "T'Gree, did you get the scans from the Dalphine?"
"Yes Commander, although I have not yet had the time to review them," T'Gree replied.
"Please do so, I only wish we could display it here. Not having the ship at our disposal is going to hamper our efforts here," she sighed.
"Perhaps not Commander," Mother intoned. "Prime Council may I have your permission to summon the appropriate personnel to the base to assist the Rangers, while we work to make our systems compatible with theirs? Ranger Hyroan can certify my existence and function?"
"At this point, I feel there is little reason to hide any of our secrets from the Rangers. I intend to allow this, as well as access to the Command and Control section of this base. Please forward your opinions and replies as well as any pertinent questions to Vice-Councilor Bedouin immediately. Councilor Carlyle, would you consider coming here? I am beginning to feel the need for your analytical expertise."
"Indeed, Prime. I have anticipated your request and am in route to you as we speak. Events have prompted me to reconsider my current position. I have tendered my resignation to the Council in favor of applying for the Ministry of Intelligence," Carlyle replied. "With little need for the espionage aspects, I find that I feel far more suited to that office than as a Councilor."
"I understand, Councilor. We will have to discuss this more, later. For the time being, thank you for your wisdom," Ben replied.
Jorga entered and joined them. "Ben, the Council agrees with you and approved your proposed actions, however, I have been asked to let you know they are very uneasy about this situation."
"Commander, Rangers, please allow me to introduce my Vice-Councilor and assistant, as well as my wife, Jorga Bedouin," Ben replied smiling proudly at her. "Jorga, it is my honor and pleasure to make known to you, Ranger Commander Jance Halst, Ranger Officer T'Gree, and Ranger Officer Hyroan of the Hyclarion Rangers," he finished.
Jorga smiled and bowed her head at each being as they were introduced. "It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance Rangers; Commander."
"The honor is ours Vice Council," Jance replied smiling at the young woman.
Ben grinned at the blushing Jorga. "Jorga, could you get with Marcy to have our tech people work with the Rangers so they can use our systems during their investigations. Also Ranger Hyroan will need a guide to take him to Mother's vault. He needs to verify her operations in order for the Empire to trust her data."
"Certainly, Ben. I know just the girl for the job!" Jorga said and was about to see to his orders when Ranger Sc'ellese stopped her. "Please Citizen, abide a moment."
Jorga looked surprised but stayed put. Sc'ellese turned to her Commander. "Commander, this young woman is enhanced."
"Are you certain, Sc'ellese?" Jance asked.
The Ranger nodded. "Engage your Combat enhancement, and you will get a read on her."
Jance seemed to jerk slightly and looked closely at Jorga. "She is not enhanced for combat, but you are correct, she is enhanced. Prime Council, can you explain this?"
"Before the fall of our world, Jorga developed a form of a deadly disease we called cancer. We now know that is no longer a deadly disease, but at that time, it was most often fatal to its victims. Her mother, one of our more promising medical researchers at the time, had been working on a form of bio-cybernetic treatment, as this disease ran in her family. When it was determined that our conventional medical knowledge at the time had been insufficient to save her life, Jorga volunteered to test the devices her mother had developed. The treatment worked, and she has been cancer free for almost two consecutive years. She retains the devices as part of an ongoing experiment. No other individuals here have them," Ben explained. "Is this a problem?"
"The use of biological enhancement has been restricted by the Empire. The enhancement of non-Ranger personnel is illegal. However, Vice Council, in actual time, how long have you had these enhancements?" Jance asked.
"Eight thousand, two hundred and ninety years, Commander. We call them biocytes or nanocytes, I can assure you, this was not an intentional violation as we didn't even know the Empire existed at the time," Jorga replied.
"That much is understood, Vice Council. However, this knowledge is very strictly controlled and regulated by the Empire. The fact that you developed it on your own and began its use well before such knowledge was even available to the Empire prevents me from arresting you and your mother. However, I have to officially request that any knowledge you have of this be very closely regulated if not sealed completely. I am certain that the Empire will insist you either abandon its use completely, or very tightly regulate it."
"At the very least that much," Sc'ellese agreed.
"All information and research on this has already been classified, however, because of the potential medical applications for this, I have allowed Doctor Lowe to continue. Knowledge that Jorga still has the nanocytes in her is also not public knowledge," Ben replied.
"That is also the way it is handled in the Empire, Prime Council. Temporary enhancement for the treatment of medical issues is acceptable as long as the enhancements are removed from the patient prior to leaving the medical facility," Sc'ellese replied, nodding. "I am the unit medical specialist, which is how I detected the enhancements in your Vice Council. I am not yet what you would call a doctor, as I am still in training."
Ben nodded his understanding. "If time permits, perhaps I can arrange for you to meet Doctor Lowe so you may set your mind at ease in this matter."
"I think I would like that, if for no other reason than to meet such an extraordinary sounding being. For her to have developed this technology even ahead of the Empire is fascinating," Sc'ellese replied.
"My mother is an amazing woman; I am very proud of her," Jorga said. "If you will excuse me, I need to get the techs moving. Councilor Carlyle will arrive in an hour, Ben."
"If you knew she was coming, why didn't you warn me?" Ben asked.
"Well, you were kinda busy at the time!" Jorga shot back as she moved away.
"Commander, look at this," T’Gree said after Jorga departed. The Ranger was holding a device not unlike a tablet, and he held it out so his commander could see it also.
"On the surface this does appear to be a safety shelter, however, the Dalphine was able to get a very good scan of the top most parts of this facility. The rock formations Citizen Amrath described are indeed a great many camouflaged ships. They are clearly troop tra
nsports, although because of the magnetic fields generated by the camouflage, we cannot accurately identify them as belonging to the Duchy of Cassius, although they certainly match the design.
"Perhaps the more troubling item here is that this sea shack is clearly nothing of the sort. Even with the ships sitting directly over the upper portions of this, we got a good reading down to about a hundred ticks under the bottom of the sea. While there are clearly more levels to this than we could see, the uppermost four are visible.
"The original sea shack has been expanded and is being used for storage. I would assume it was to this that Citizen Amrath took the supposedly stolen cargos. The next level appears to be either offices or officer quarters. There is also a small armory situated here, by the lift.
"The next level is a larger armory and barracks. Depending on the race of the troops, this could easily hold a thousand soldiers. The level below it is the same, although the resolution had begun to fade making it difficult to be certain. The next three or four levels are the same size and shape as the barracks levels so it would be a safe assumption that they too share the same layout.
Based on what we see here, there are at least five thousand house troops in this facility with the strong possibility of many more. It must be close to capacity as the ocean is no longer dissipating the over-all heat signature generated," the thin alien explained.
Jance nodded. "While you two are working with these people, try to find a way to get me a working comm back to Hyclarion. I'm getting a really bad feeling about all of this."
"Only now?" Sc'ellese asked. "I've had a bad feeling about it since our new friends told us what they knew and suspected."
"Rangers, the ducal troops appear to be leaving the base," Mother replied. "Our scan was detected by the troop ships, and they are actively searching for the source. For now they do not appear to have located the drone. The floaters on the surface are flooding the area with sonar pulses."
"Where is the drone, Mother?" Ben asked quickly.
"In order to provide the highest resolution for acoustical imaging, I placed it in contact with the outer hull of one of the base bulkheads. If it is seen, it should be mistaken as a part of the base." A small green dot appeared on the image of the base. "This is the location I placed the drone."
"Does the drone contain a self-destruct device?" T’Gree asked.
"It does Ranger T’Gree. If it is discovered, the power unit will insure the complete destruction of the drone. When used as a weapon the power unit is used as a trigger to detonate the payload," Mother explained.
"Dare I ask what the payload is?" Jance asked.
"This model was used at the end of the last war. While we no long currently stock the more powerful or destructive payloads, it is capable of delivering an antimatter-enhanced nuclear payload equivalent to a standard Empirical anti-ship missile. This is based on the information available on the InfoNet regarding standard Imperial Weapons systems," Mother explained.
"Thank you for clarifying that, Mother," Jance said.
"Mother, have you been able to monitor the communications to and from this facility?" T’Gree asked.
"I have been able to detect it, Ranger. I will not have the encryption protocols for another two hours and twenty-one minutes," Mother replied.
"Wait, did you just say you will be able to hack into their comms?" Jance asked.
"Affirmative, Commander. The protocols are not that difficult; in point of fact, the pattern currently being used appears to be a number of years older than what was used at this base just before the final evacuation," Mather explained.
"Mother, you said earlier that the Duke had used an old encrypted email program to send his orders to the pirates, didn't you?" Ben asked.
"I did, which caused me to take a second look at the encryption patterns currently in use. They are all based on Pre-Fall, human communications encryptions logarithms," Mother replied. "Once I have identified the base key, I'll have full access to all encrypted communications on the planet."
"Amazing, and Duke Tammerain is regarded as one of the leading data encryption experts in the Empire! That was why we originally doubted your claim as having decoded messages from him," Hyroan replied.
"We actually went one better than that, Ranger Hyroan!" Jorga replied as she rejoined them. "Mother, please play the recorded message I sent you when I went to the pirate base."
"Hello? How can I help you sir?" a young man could be heard to clearly ask.
A distorted voice replied. "Who are you? I want to speak to Elrond! Go get your leader, now!"
"I'm sorry sir, Captain Elrond is not available right now; he's out on a business trip," the young man replied.
"I don't care where he is you little Juuntic! Put me through to him right now, or I'll eat your liver for my breakfast! Do you understand me?" the voice replied.
"I have no idea who the hell you are sir, but threatening me won't help you. If you have nothing else to say, we can terminate this contact right now; I have my own duties to take care of. Getting insulted by you is not one of them!" the young man countered.
The next voice that spoke was not distorted. "This is Duke Tammerain of Cassius you stupid fucking primate! Authorization code hasspen-creta-zero-break-gorth-nine-nine. Now put me through to Elrond! Now!"
When the young man replied he sounded suitably frightened. "M... My Lord! Forgive me! I had no way of knowing! B-but I'm afraid I still can't put you through to him, he's out preparing a trap for the Rangers as you commanded, Sire! W-we don't expect them back for another two days!"
"Listen closely human; I don’t care how you do it, but you better get a message to him telling him the Rangers will be leaving the planet mid-day tomorrow! If he sylphss' this up, I'll have the lot of you as the main course at the next festival! Do you understand me?" the Duke replied, still without the distortion.
"Code verified, voice tonal and pattern check matched. That is the Duke speaking, Commander," T’Gree said softly.
"Yes, M'Lord! We will get the message to him right away!" the young man said.
"Good, now delete this message immediately!" the Duke ordered followed by the soft tone indicating a disconnection.
Jance smiled at Jorga. "I have no idea how under the seven suns you managed to pull that off, but that is absolute proof that the Duke of Cassius ordered the deaths of a Ranger team. While that is bad enough for us to arrest him, it doesn't prove he is trying to over-throw the empire. We're going to need much more evidence than one small facility full of troops on a planet that has been having pirate troubles."
"Captain Elrond suggested someone investigate the Vega nebula. He said it's one of the only places a fleet of ships the size of what he'd need could hide. We have no way of doing that ourselves, or we would have," Ben offered. "But he would need more than five thousand troops here if he planned on taking the Capitol."
"That is why I asked AI Mother if she could monitor the Duke's communications to the false sea shack. Perhaps she could search for other locations based on the communications patterns to and from the Argassi Comm Center,"
"Prime Council, Commander, Rangers, the Ducal troops are departing. The floaters on the surface are dropping large objects into the water over the base," Mother reported. The image in the hologram changed to that of the surface again. The four floaters could be seen pushing their cargos off the rear of each big ship.
"That cannot be good," Sc'ellese said softly.
"Indeed, Ranger. I'd bet that those crates are full of an explosive of some kind," Jorga said
"That would be a fool's wager, Vice Council," Hyroan replied.
As they watched, several of the large crates could be seen falling and coming to a rest on the bottom very near to the old base. Some of them actually came to rest on top of it. But none of them detonated. The watchers looked on in silence as all the crates from the surface came to rest on the bottom. On the surface, the now empty floaters engaged their drive systems and turned back for port.
"Please tell me none of those crates are radioactive, Mother," Ben said.
"I cannot, Prime. However, I would not believe a nuclear weapon would be used here. There are too many crates; if it were a nuclear explosive, there would have been only one. Still, the number of crates is clearly over-kill on the part of the Duke. I would recommend sealing the base against the pressure wave," Mother reported.
Ben nodded quickly. "Do it, and tell everyone to hang on to something."
"How far away is that place?" Sc'ellese asked.
"A hundred and fifty klicks shallower, and almost two sectors away," Ben replied. "But we're going to feel it, anyway. Mother, if you can safely recover the drone, bring it back."
Just as she was about to reply the image being sent from the probe disappeared. "Prime Council, the Drone has been destroyed." Just then the base began to shake and a low rumble could be heard. Both quickly faded.
“Damage report?" Ben asked.
"Transit tunnel four-three-three is reporting moderate damage along a three mile section closest to the explosion. Traffic has been rerouted around the damaged section. Councilor Carlyle will be delayed by three hours. Transit Authority is already dispatching repair drones to the affected areas. Minimal damage to some personal effects in the closest pods. No injuries, no further damage to report," Mother replied.
Ben nodded. "Good, please inform Captain Elrond that his former base has been destroyed.
Deirdre walked up to him then. "Excuse me, Ben, folks are starting to panic. How much can I tell them?"
"Tell them the truth, and that no one was harmed. Also reassure them that we remain undiscovered and all our people are safe," Ben replied. "Let them know I'll talk to everyone, in person, as soon we have more information. Just telling them that the Rangers are here and we've made friends will most likely freak them out."
Chapter Nine
Terran Marine Base Alpha
Computer Section - AI Vault