“Copy that. Active array coming online, waiting to transmit on your command.”
“Stand by,” Doc said. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to calm himself. “Go active, full power.”
“Going active,” Kage confirmed. Tachyon particles flooded the system, breaking the laws of physics as they bounced off every object nearly simultaneously and giving the Phoenix a clear view of everything in the area. “Mapping all derelict formations, mapping detection satellites, verifying ship positions. We’re ready to fire.”
“Fire,” Doc said as he squeezed the trigger on the stick.
“All missiles have ignited their engines,” Kage confirmed. “Birds are flying hot and clean. We still have no movement from the defending ships and the behemoth is still flying its normal orbit.”
“Countermeasures to full active,” Doc ordered as he flipped the drive to full output mode. “Let’s go hit the admiral’s ship and grab our people.” He engaged the drive and sent the Phoenix streaking towards the small smuggler’s launch that was on the opposite side of the planet from the Diligent. “All combat systems active.”
“You’ve got everything,” Kage confirmed. “Fly the indicators to the target, I’ll tell you when to fire. We’re going to overfly it so just pull the trigger when I say. The two corvettes are completely out of position, we’re good to go.”
Doc concentrated on keeping the ship on course as they plummeted towards the formation that contained the smuggler’s scow. The fantastic power of the Phoenix allowed her to ignore the influence of the gas giant and fly a direct line to the target. A larger, less powerful ship would be required to respect the planet’s gravity well and pursue the formation around its orbital path.
“Get ready, Doc!” Kage said. “In three, two, one ... FIRE!” Doc let loose with a full salvo from the forward plasma cannons, the most powerful energy weapon they carried, and barely registered an explosion ahead of them before they were by it and flying down below the orbital plane. “Direct hit!” Kage exclaimed. “New nav data coming your way. All missiles have destroyed their targets and the passive grid is down. Corvettes are mobilizing and heading towards the ship we just destroyed.”
“Go passive!” Doc said. “No more emissions. Let’s hide in the confusion and sneak around to the Diligent. What is the big ship doing?”
“Nothing I could detect before shutting down the sensors,” Kage said. “We’ll be coming up on the Diligent in thirteen minutes. You’ll have to maneuver onto the flight deck using the optical sensors only.”
“I can handle it,” Doc said, still exhilarated by the action he’d just taken. “Do you think they’ll be there?”
“They’ll be there,” Crusher said confidently.
*****
Damn! I guess it’s started. Jason’s armor had enough sensor capability to detect the blinding broadcast of the Phoenix’s active array suddenly coming online as well as the confusion of the passive detection grid collapsing. The three were now standing on the flight deck of the Diligent and were once again observing com silence. No point in coming this far and screwing it all up by someone detecting a radio emission from somewhere it shouldn’t be.
They had waited another hour until, without warning, the Phoenix loomed out of the blackness and descended to ten meters over the flight deck. Once the belly hatch opened and the transit beam descended, the trio made their way quickly over and, one by one, jumped into the beam to ride it up into the cargo bay. Jason was the last to ascend, and only by actually shoving a surprised Lucky into the beam.
“We’re on our way out of the system, Captain,” Doc said over the intercom. “We’ll be dead drifting for a bit and meshing out near the eighth planet.”
“Very good, Doc,” Jason replied. “Proceed. I’ll be up there shortly.”
Chapter 17
“Do you think we made it out without being detected?” Kage asked as the Phoenix tore through slip-space.
“You would know more than I would at this point,” Jason said. “We were standing in total darkness on the top of a derelict ship. From what Twingo told me it seems in the confusion nobody ever got a good scan of the ship. It’s likely they’re not even sure it was only one ship that hit them.” They were quiet for a moment, listening to the hum of the engines and the muted conversations taking place in the aft rooms of the command deck. “Did you complete the analysis of that ship you found orbiting the planet?” Jason asked.
“I completed my part,” Kage said. “I’ll need Twingo to look over the results and tell me what they mean. We have a rough shape and sensor readings of engine power output and the like. He said he’d get to it once he finished helping Kellea extract and organize the data you guys brought back.”
“Sounds good,” Jason said, stifling a yawn. “I’m going to go grab some sleep. Wake me up if anything interesting happens.”
“You got it.”
Jason poked his head into the com room where Twingo and Kellea were engrossed at the two forward terminals poring over what looked to be an astronomical amount of information, so he slipped back out without a word and continued on to his quarters. On the way to his stateroom, he saw the infirmary glass was still blacked out. He made a mental note to corner Doc about what he was doing in there, but he was just fatigued enough to care less at the moment. He flopped back on his bunk and was asleep before the computer even dimmed the lights down for him.
*****
“Jason. Wake up.”
The voice was coming directly from above his head. Jason snapped his eyes open and saw Kellea staring back down at him. A slow smile spread over his face.
“Not a chance,” she said with humor in her voice. “You need to see something.”
“This better be good,” he grumbled as he swung his legs out of his rack and followed her out of the room. The ship was at “night hours” and the lights were dimmed to a barely perceptible glow, just enough to keep one from tripping over obstacles. They went up to the command deck and slipped into the com room where Twingo was still sitting at one of the terminals, his black eyes rimmed in red, a testament to how long he’d been staring at the displays.
“So, what’s up?” Jason asked as Kellea hit the control to close the door behind her.
“This appears to be far more significant that just trying to set up a wealthy businessman,” Kellea said. “But I’ll let Crisstof tell you in his own words. Twingo, go ahead.” Twingo nodded and keyed up a video that looked like it was taken from the terminal at Crisstof’s desk. Jason could clearly see the office and the lit flight deck of the Diligent behind him.
“Hello, Kellea,” Crisstof’s recorded self began. “This recording was hidden in a few strategic places that only you know about, so if you’re watching it I’m certain things are not going well for me. And for some inexplicable reason I’m certain that Omega Force is involved in this somehow. So, hello Captain Burke, I wish our reunion were under better circumstances.
“I’ll cut right to the point. I recently became aware that the ConFed was going to be making a serious push in expanding its influence and usurping the authority of regional governments. This is, of course, nothing new. The ConFed has continually played these games along the periphery while consolidating its power base in the core worlds, but this appears to be something new. This will be the first time they’ve taken direct action against independent worlds in an attempt to strong-arm them into conceding their right to govern themselves.
“The plan targets Tier-2 and Tier-3 worlds that are themselves protectorates of other, more powerful Tier-1 independent planets. These symbiotic relationships are often so strong that the loss of the lesser planets would force the others to the table to negotiate with the ConFed. In order for the trade they depend on to resume, they’d have to come crawling and likely accept membership into the Confederation as a term. ConFed Fleet Command will ensure these agreements are binding.
“To destabilize the local governments, the ConFed is first using a pr
opaganda campaign on each world to foment resentment and put the local officials on the defensive. When it appears that they’ve been successful in whipping up the population, they move into phase two: armed insurrection. This is the important part, Kellea ... they aren’t just arming locals and hoping for the best. They’re guaranteeing bloody results by deploying cloned drones of each species to carry out the attacks and, hopefully, get the locals involved along with them. Let that sink in for a moment ...
“This has been in the works for decades and now appears to have hit the operational stage. Even as I speak, we’ve already investigated three such attacks. An unexplainable number of well-armed locals flood the streets of a capital, wreak havoc, and the ConFed Fleet steps in during the aftermath to offer assurances, infer the Tier-1 host world can’t protect them, and clean up the evidence.
“The cloned drones themselves are absolute marvels of technology. The term clone may be a bit of a misnomer; they’re fully manufactured individuals, complete with their own unique DNA. Even if a drone were captured, it would simply look like an undocumented citizen. The ConFed is counting on being able to capture the bodies of the drones that get killed in the violence in order to keep suspicion at a minimum and on the fringes of conspiracy theory.
“We’ve known for years that the Council wasn’t content to operate the fleet in exchange for protection taxes, they’ve always had aspirations of a unified quadrant under the Confederated flag, and have been continually nudging here and there to accomplish that through economic pressure or more overt operations like Omega Force saw in the Concordian Cluster. Now they have the means to start really leaning on the holdouts and quickly bring other systems into the fold, and the best part is that it will even seem like the will of the people.
“Attached to this recording is all the data I’ve been able to compile complete with known targets, likely targets, and dossiers on known key players. Good luck, Kellea; you’ll be on your own with this. You obviously can’t approach the ConFed and no other Tier-1 worlds will want to touch this, even if they believed you.”
Jason sat staring at the blank screen for a moment after Crisstof signed off his recording. In the reflection of the monitor he could see his companions were also lost inside their own thoughts.
“So it’s finally happening,” Jason said. “The ConFed has been a paper tiger for as long as I’ve been able to look back, using their fleet to run a protection racket on other systems but never really interfering other than to secure its own interests. Now they’re really going to try and break out and take over.”
“On the surface, this plan seems ridiculous,” Twingo said. “But that may be why it’s so dangerous, and why it will likely work. If enough planets begin to fall, others will beg to be ruled by the ConFed if only to be protected from what’s happened on other worlds. The fact that the threat springs up internally is far more terrifying than any outside attack.”
“Indeed,” Kellea commented. “An outside attack usually galvanizes the populace and makes exerting influence that much more difficult.” As she was talking, the files attached to the message were slowly scrolling across the monitors.
“Wait!” Jason said. “Run that back.” Twingo began reversing the data flow until a dossier came up on the screen. “Stop!”
“What is it?” Kellea asked.
“You recognize her, Twingo?” Jason asked, tapping the picture on the monitor. Twingo squinted at it a moment before an expression of disbelief crossed his face.
“What?” Kellea demanded impatiently.
“Dr. Jevara Da’Chelic,” Jason read the name off the dossier header. “This is certainly a blast from the past. We’ve tried to kill this woman before.”
“What!?”
“When we first gained possession of this ship we—” Jason trailed off. “Holy shit,” he said in sudden understanding.
“Yeah,” Twingo agreed. “We attacked a facility where she was working. A genetics research facility.”
“And we attacked it at the request of Doc,” Jason finished. “Open her file.”
“This isn’t making a lot of sense,” Kellea said.
“Known relations,” Jason was reading, ignoring her. “Brother: Dr. Jorvren Ma’Fredich. That lying son of a bitch.”
“Now wait a minute, Jason—”
“Computer, where is Doc right now?” Jason demanded.
“Doc is in the medical bay.”
“Now I’m really confused,” Kellea said, trying to regain control of the conversation. Jason was already exiting the com room and moving swiftly to the still-blacked out infirmary. When he arrived, the doors refused to open.
“Why won’t the doors open, Computer?”
“The doors have been locked on the authority of the ship’s medical officer. Stated reason: biological pathogen risk.”
“Bullshit,” Jason snapped. “Open the doors NOW! My command authority.” The doors whisked open and Jason stomped inside in time to see Doc start and jump out of his seat near a computer terminal. He could read his captain’s face and immediately put his hands up and stepped back.
“Look, Captain,” he stammered, “I can explain—”
“Shut up,” Jason snarled. He reached over to the sheet that was covering the deformed kelpen body on the bed and gave it a yank. The “body” was in various states of disassembly; most notably the brain had been neatly dissected and laid out on a tray near the head. “You will follow me out to the galley,” he said calmly, “where you will sit down and answer my questions. If you give me any trouble, I will physically drag you out there. If you really resist I will have the ship disable you and call Crusher. If you lie to me ... things won’t go well.” Jason turned and left the infirmary, confident that Doc would be on his heels.
*****
“So ... tell me again what happened to your sister,” Jason said when he, Doc, Twingo, and Kellea were all seated.
“You already know what happened,” Doc said in confusion.
“Ah, see, I thought she had been sold into slavery,” Jason said, tapping commands into a tablet. “So you’ll forgive my confusion at seeing this.” He turned the tablet around and allowed Doc to see his sister’s dossier, including the section citing known relations.
“Wh... Where did you get that?” Doc asked, his normally vibrant blue skin turning a more sickly greenish color around his cheeks and forehead.
“Does it matter?” Jason asked. “Since you’re not denying this is legitimate, which I know it is anyway, we’ll start with why you lied to Twingo and me right from the start.”
“I technically didn’t lie,” Doc said. “I simply said she had been coerced and finally succumbed. You assumed I meant she was sold as a sex slave, or worse. The worst I did was not correct you.”
“That’s sophistry,” Kellea said. “A lie of omission is still a lie.” Doc gave her a decidedly unfriendly look before continuing.
“I had no idea what was going to happen to us,” Doc said. “It was only dumb luck and the element of surprise that we survived The Vault anyway. After that, I couldn’t let the opportunity to use this ship to try and stop Jevara and her cohorts slip by me. There’s no way I could have guessed this arrangement would have become so permanent.”
“That can almost be forgiven,” Twingo said, “but you didn’t come to us afterward. That can’t.”
“Where do you fit into this, Doc?” Jason asked. “She apparently wasn’t being held prisoner by Bondrass, but you were. Why? And how does a two-bit crime boss get mixed into a ConFed scheme for galactic domination to begin with?” Doc sighed before going on.
“I know you’re being sarcastic, but there is some truth in it,” he said. “Bondrass, and others in the syndicate, were approached by agents representing a faction within the Council. During the early days of research and development of the drones, they were responsible for hiding the operation and laundering the funds it took to run it. That way it stayed well hidden from overzealous auditors and investigators.
“I signed on willingly at first, answering the call to participate in a research program that promised to take huge steps in eliminating congenital defects in a host of species by treating the parents before they reproduced rather than treating the newborn or manipulating the embryo. It was really groundbreaking work.”
“How noble,” Jason said skeptically.
“However,” Doc continued, ignoring him, “I soon learned that the real purpose of the program was to manipulate stock genetic material to produce variations and, eventually, countless unique individuals from the same base DNA. My sister, Jevara, was already working on the program in a different capacity. I went to her first and told her I suspected the purpose of our research had nothing to do with medical advancement and she laughed in my face and called me naive. She already knew exactly what the outcome was supposed to be, and had taken a substantial monetary reward to not only accept it, but actively strive for it.
“I was appalled and tried to leave, but she warned Bondrass before I could disappear. I was grabbed and taken to him and she continued on with her work. Bondrass promised her that he wouldn’t simply toss me out an airlock, so he made me a source of entertainment as he tried to get me to enhance his fighters, extend his life, and a litany of other insults. He kept me on a loose leash because, in addition to him being able to easily track me down, he told me what he’d do to Jevara if I tried to escape. That pretty much takes us up to when I met you two.”
“So what changed?” Jason asked. “If I remember correctly, it was you who initially approached Twingo about hijacking the gunship and stealing that cargo ship.”
“Jevara came to see me on Pinnacle Station the day before I was to ship out with Deetz on this ship,” Doc continued. “She told me that while she could probably spare my life, she wasn’t going to. It was actually the first I learned that I wasn’t meant to survive my time at The Vault. She’d become a believer, even a zealot, and was convinced that total subjugation of the quadrant by the ConFed was the most logical course of action to bring everyone peace and prosperity. I was too great a risk to that to be left alive. When you met me, I was a shattered man. My only family had signed off on my death sentence at the hands of a sadistic thug with no more emotion than if she’d stepped on a bug.”
Omega Force 3: The Enemy Within Page 16