The RedSky CEO had no such reservations though, “I see no problem with that. This is their world and I entirely agree with their most reasonable request.”
It was then that a chime went off from his desk. Redic turned to see a new message window flash open on his display. He quickly sat down in his plush chair to quickly read the communique. Admiral Lin himself had sent the note, as per the signature at the bottom, but Redic could instantly tell something had been wrong with the man when he had written it. It was not in the Admiral’s usual friendly style and there was no casual joking remarks aimed at Redic himself. It almost seemed as if someone was impersonating the great admiral.
Redic had sent the Chief of Armed Services a request for information about the Fringe Sector. Mostly it had been about the loss of communication from Frontiera and Kapricara that had now spread further into the Pisces Sector. What he received back was a message that basically told him to mind his own business and not to involve himself in the operations of the Federation Military Forces. It told him that the problems he was inquiring about were under control and in the process of getting resolved. No mention was made as to the spread of this problem to Rahias, where RedSky had a full team of scientists and engineers working on a variety of projects for the military.
Something was going on with the admiral and Redic made a mental note to watch the admiral further. He also had a bad feeling that whatever was happening inside the Federation was getting much worse and only gaining momentum. His personal corporate intelligence service had reported new fleet mobilizations as well as certain reinforcements heading towards the area in empty space were Rahias was located. For this reason he had ordered a surveillance mission of the military facility.
Suddenly another alert called out to him. This time it was of an incoming priority transmission.
"Pardon me Governor Lawrance, but I have some pressing matters to attend to. I hope we can talk again soon. Thank you once more for all your help.”
“Of course, I completely understand. We can talk later,” with a cordial smile and nod the governor disappeared from the screen.
Redic quickly activated the feed, "yes Rela? What is it?"
"Sir, you have private flash traffic coming through. It’s from CS Two Two," Relaza, his personal assistant, sang through the comm with her beautiful voice. Why she had not gone into a singing career was beyond Redic’s comprehension.
Redic smiled at the news and moved his right hand into a concealed slot at the edge of his desk. The scanner inside tested his fingerprints, DNA, venous patterns, as well as oxygen concentration in order to make sure it was truly Redic himself. He made sure to avoid the panic switch hidden inside. Within seconds the transparent wall behind him darkened completely, allowing no light at all to pass, before his private data terminal activated and showed him the message waiting for him. CS-Two-Two was one of the many Core Survey ships sent towards the galactic core regions months ago. Now it seemed that one of the ships had found what he was looking for.
"Rela, please contact Dr. Hamulson and let him know I would like to speak with him right away."
"Right away, sir," came her reply almost immediately as she set to work establishing a subspace channel.
“Thank you Rela, oh and in the meantime could you put me through to Commodore Feloran,” Redic requested while rubbing his eyes gently, feeling his stomach growl at that very same moment.
He thought about getting another mealbar to hold him over until later, but Rela accomplished his request in record time, as was always the case. Commodore Juani Feloran’s holographic image flickered to life on the other side of Redic’s large desk. Like always the man’s dark bearded face was expressionless and he stood straight at attention looking directly at Redic himself. The scene would have been intimidating had he not known the fine officer for the past decade or so. Juani had previously been a captain in the Federation Navy, until such time as he was discharged from the service for the disobeyment of an order from his superior. In Redic’s mind his actions were completely justifiable and so the navy’s loss was RedSky’s gain. Now the experienced man was in charge of most of the corporation’s Space Defense Force.
“How may I be of service, Mr. Skyler?”
“Commodore Feloran, I have a mission for the RSDF. I’d like you to preposition a force to within striking distance of Rahias. How long with that take?” Redic inquired and studied the commodore for a second.
Without pause the man answered, “eighteen hours, sir. I’ll send the orders to our nearest assets. Captain Delveko and his ships are the closest assets. They can be quickly redirected.”
“This will be in support of Federation Naval units already at the facility,” Redic added in anticipation of the other’s question, “I am also sending your forces a shipment of new Berserkers. This should prove a perfect time to test them in a live fire setting.”
“Roger that. May I assume that chances of armed hostilities are certain then?”
“Let’s just say there is a very good chance of that. I wish the force to be prepared for the worst.”
“They always are, Mr. Skyler,” this time it was Juani’s turn to take a pause and he looked directly at Redic, “is this Threat Omega?”
At that Redic took a slow deep breath, “there is a high probability of that.”
“Very well, sir, I shall make the necessary arrangements,” the commander of all RedSky Space Defense Forces said without a second’s hesitation before cutting off the subspace transmission.
With the orders issued Redic let out a soft groan as he lifted himself out of the comfortable chair and stood up, stretching out his aching muscles. He could feel the pain and weakness starting the break through and looked down at his chrono. The symptoms were returning faster these days. A few months ago he would have gone another two hours before feeling the effects and needing to take his medications. The doctors had told him this would happen, but the progression has occurred even faster than they had estimated. It was a constant reminder of the hazards of being a man with his stature and one with many powerful enemies that would love nothing more than to have him out of the way.
Redic inhaled a long breath and made his way slowly across the office towards the small kitchen unit built into the office. He walked to one of the corner cabinets and opened it. Pushing a couple of the glasses inside out of the away, he found the switch he needed. Once pressed Redic felt the locking mechanism retracted and a small compartment flip down from beneath the mounted cabinet. Reaching inside he pulled out a small white container.
The RedSky CEO frowned at the need for it, but pressed his thumb against its top nonetheless. With a hiss the side of the small box popped open and slide out to reveal an injector unit and three cartridge ampules. Redic reached down to extract the small injector and checking the small display to make sure it was already loaded. Satisfied, he rolled up his sleeve to expose his left forearm and pressed the business end of the injector against his skin. He paused only for a second before pressing down to trigger the unit.
The soft puff emitted from the device was barely audible to anyone except Redic. To him that lone sound meant life or at least a few more meaningful years he could spend with his family. The specially designed nanoparticle medication was the only one of its kind and the only thing keeping his system from succumbing to the disease. It was not a true cure, but for the moment it was the only thing available to him. That would change in time, but time was something he was running out of. With every new defense designed against it the sickness would mutate and transform into something slightly different. It was truly an ingenious feat of genetic engineering and Redic would have been thoroughly impressed by it had the virion not been designed specifically to kill him.
A slow continuous organic wave of rejuvenation washed over him at that moment as the microscopic machines now inside him began to instantly repair the internal damaged caused by the raging infection within. The feeling was good enough to make Redic’s eyes close reflexively a
nd his breath to catch inside his slowly healing lungs. It almost made him miss the sounding chime of the office doors parting open. He sealed his medical container shut and tossed it into the closest drawer just as the sound of tiny footsteps running on marble flooring reached his ears.
“Daddy!” he heard his son call out excitedly and turned just in time to see the boy run around the corner, “daddy! There you are!”
“Hey Reddy, how’s my little champ today?” Redic smiled and leaned down to quickly pull the boy into his arms for a bear hug. Everything he now did was meant to shape a fruitful future for the young boy. “I missed you so much!”
“Daaaddd,” the boy giggled, wiggling in Redic’s arms as he kissed his cheeks, “mama said we can go to the zoo today once you get done with work. I sure hope you are.”
“Oh did she now?” he laughed slightly and looked past the boy’s shoulder at the beautiful dark haired woman standing there, her hands across her chest and a smirk on her face. “I guess we are going to the zoo then. She’s the boss.”
“And she says you both need to spend some time outside,” his wife, Michelle Skyler, shook her head at the remark and slowly began to move towards them. Redic smiled and met her halfway. Shifting the young Redcliff to one arm he wrapped the other around Michelle’s waist and pulled her to him. His family meant everything to him and having them so close just reminded him that much more about how much he needed to protect them. Redic felt his wife’s arms envelope both him and the boy in his arms and for a second all the problems in the galaxy vanished.
As all good things, they tend to not last forever, as Redic found out once again when a new signal sounded from his work desk. Relaza’s voice called out to him as second later, “Mr. Skyler, I have Dr. Hamulson from GenLabs for you.”
Redic watched his wife tilt her head at him and lift her arms out in order to take Redcliff from his arms, “alright Red, go do your business thing. You better hurry up, though, or we are leaving without you.”
He gave her the boy after kissing his forehead and heard Michelle laugh softly as she walked away slowly to the other side of the large office. Redic watched her for a moment and smiled to himself at how lucky he was to have someone like her in his life. She had pulled him out from some of the worst times in his life and he hoped that one day he could repay her for that. Michelle had been the only person in his life that had kept him from spiraling down into a deep depression after the murder of his beloved first wife.
Sitting down at his desk once more Redic quickly activated the subspace transmission. The holographic projector powered up immediately and constructed the image of Indigo Hamulson. The scientist was transmitting from halfway across Federation Space, but the marvel of subspace communication allowed Redic to talk with the woman as if she was in the next room. Indigo, probably named after her stunning eyes, was a rather young scientist at the head of one of the most promising projects being undertaken by GenLabs. While operating mostly independently, GenLabs was in actuality a wholly owned subsidiary of RedSky Enterprises.
“Dr. Hamulson, thank you for getting back to me on such short notice,” Redic said while leaning over the desk on his elbows.
The doctor smiled back at him and flicked her long red hair back behind her left shoulder, “no problem at all Mr. Skyler. How may I be of assistance to you this fine morning?”
“I’m actually inquiring about the progress of Project Saturn. Have there been any recent developments?”
“The project had actually seen a number of breakthroughs as of late,” the doctor looked down at a holographic command pad now being projected in front of her from her personal wrist communicator.
She typed in a series of commands and the keypad was quickly replaced with a floating video display, which she held up for Redic to see. At first the image only showed a view of a land plot with barren light brown soil. For a moment nothing happened, until suddenly a green sprout appeared to break the surface. In just seconds the plant bud growth enlarged and grew further. It shot up vertically to at least three meters in what the accelerated timer at the bottom edge of the display showed to be around five hours. At that point multiple branches extended from the thickening trunk and began to fill with yellow leafs and violet flowers.
“As you can see,” she continued even before the video was complete, “the latest attempts have proven successful. Our previous ones were less so because of excessive heat generated from the rapid cellular replication. We found that the heat produced was enough to actually trigger protein and nucleotide denaturation within the cells.”
“But this has now been overcome, correct?” Redic politely interrupted her, knowing her penchant of talking for hours on end in excruciating detail.
“Sorry, yes we have altered the growth rate and genetics so that heat is no longer an issue. We can apply these techniques to other planet life as well.”
“Excellent, I’m glad to hear. Are we ready for Phase Three?” Redic asked while studying his survey team’s report once again on the other screen.
“I believe we can be ready. We might need another week to run further simulations, but everything looks good in order to proceed.”
“Can those simulations be completed onboard a vessel? I think a most suitable planet has been found for Phase Three,” he reached over and transmitted the survey data collected.
Dr. Hamulson got the report seconds later and looked down into her palm to quickly browse over the data, “yes…yes I believe this will do just fine. And we can certainly transfer the necessary equipment onto a vessel provided it is of proper size.”
“Very well. One will arrive at Crix in approximately nineteen hours. Please have everything ready for transfer by then. Project Destiny is officially a go from this point on. The person I am placing to oversee the deployment will accompany you and your team on this journey.”
“Understood Mr. Skyler. I will get everything prepared and ready for your ship’s arrival.”
“Thank you doctor. We shall keep in touch,” Redic nodded and watched the women immediately turn away in order to get everything prepared, just before her image faded.
“It’s the dawn to a new day,” Redic added quietly under his breath as he pushed the chair from his desk.
“Yes it certainly seems that way,” a soothing familiar voice replied from behind him.
Seemingly out of nowhere Michelle’s warm hands materialized from behind him and ran over his shoulders. Redic smiled slowly at the feeling of her massage and relaxed back against her arms. He felt her lean over and kiss his cheek with her soft lips. She always seemed to have a knack of knowing when he needed her at his side and how to make his world a better place.
“I’m proud of you for pursuing this project Red. I know how much its cost you, but in the end it will be worth it.” Redic felt her hands finally surround him and he turned his head to look into her eyes, “all of humanity will benefit from it more than all the war sales.”
“If I ask you to do something without any questions asked, will you Em?” he asked after a moment’s pause in her arms.
“Of course,” she replied without any visible hesitation, “I trust you completely.”
“I need you to take Reddie and go oversee Project Destiny. The Skipray is stocked and ready for you. It will take you to the system I have chosen. Dr. Hamulson will meet you there.”
Without a word Michelle gave him a slow nod of acknowledgement and leaned in closer until her lips met his. Redic stood and held her tight in his arms for a moment before looking into her eyes. He smiled gently while running a hand through her long hair, “I think we still have time for that trip to the zoo.”
XVIII
December 31, 2486 S.E.D – Post Invasion Day 11
Rahias, Pisces Sector
Regal Carrier Battle Group – 9th Fleet
A renewed barrage of light blue laser beams shot through space and barely missed the maneuvering Dragonfires of Knight Squadron. Styker sat in the cockpit of Knight One and
jabbed the control stick sideways causing the heavy fighter to flip port side into a quick roll just in time to miss one of these enemy beams. As many an enemy found out only too late, the Dragonfire’s response time and maneuvering capability were in contradiction to other craft of its size and weight. It had always been a more than formidable opponent, but its latest rendition in the form of the Block E model had taken that level of performance even further. While the Cyclone drivers still enjoyed many bragging rights, Styker knew that his Dragonfire Es were not far behind and even exceeded those new interceptors in terms of shields, armor, and internal ordinance space.
In true combat what mattered most was the capability and fortitude of the pilot. The quality of the machine they flew helped, but Commander Telwin knew from experience that even the finest fighter in the galaxy was usually no match for a skilled adversary. There was also of course the element of luck that every warrior in history could attest to. Styker had hundreds of personal stories about how such a silly notion had saved his life. His life was also filled with just as many instances of pure gut instinct. It was always a distinct feeling inside him, like a hard to explain twinge in the back of his skull or one that helped direct his actions. That same feeling took him over at that very moment and Styker distinctively pulled back on the flight controller, sending the fighter into a vertical climb. This tactical display showed a detonation beneath him and a decrease in his shield levels.
“They scattered mines Knights, watch yourselves,” he called out in warning to the rest of his squadron, while turning back towards the floating enemy frigate some six hundred kilometers away.
The rest of the Knights acknowledged his warning and continued to fight through the heavy defensive fire on their attack run. Flying in tight pairs the squadron had dispersed across three kilometers of open space in the hopes of thinning out the frigate’s defenses. The constantly maneuvering AF-103s were giving the targeting systems onboard the opposing vessel a good testing, making them readjust with each successive shot. Even so Styker knew that Knight Squadron’s luck could change for the worst at any moment. Because of this they would need to complete their mission sooner rather than later.
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