Void Ship

by Dave Bara

  “I know, but what can we do?” said Yan. She turned to the android again. “Can we use the emitter and create a mini-Void to act as a shield?” asked Yan.

  “Not likely to be effective at this range,” said Amanda. “And the Void material would take too long to form.”

  “So we’re on our own,” said Renwick. They watched as the two Soloth HuK’s reformed with the third.

  “Getting their attacking orders,” said Yan. “Aybar, this time I want you to hold your suppressing fire. Try and project their attack path and lay your fire across it.”

  “Aye sir,” said Aybar, “But I’ll warn you now, they’re coming in at point-zero four light, and at that speed luck is about all we have.”

  “Understood,” said Yan.

  The HuK’s started their second attack run. The Gataan frigate positioned at the Kali’s crown moved to protect her damaged sister on the port side, anticipating a kill move and laying down orange coil cannon fire and a swarm of torpedoes. Aybar fired her coil cannon at the incoming bogies but missed clean.

  This time the HuK’s broke even later, slicing off at the last possible second and attacking the starboard frigate with a hail of cannon fire. This frigate was better prepared, and moving, firing a hail of coil cannon shot and a brace of torpedoes that missed completely. The HuK’s came in a lead-and-follow formation, the second scoring a direct hit on the frigate. Orange fire erupted on her hull, the sickly green of her defensive shields sparking and fluctuating in and out of phase.

  Suddenly a fireball of blue and orange filled their screen. It wasn’t the starboard frigate, it was the port ship, the one attacked in the first run.

  “The port frigate has been destroyed,” reported Amanda, her voice completely devoid of emotion. “They attempted to fire a torpedo. It caught in the launcher and detonated.”

  Renwick looked up at her sharply. “I thought you said her launcher was good?” he challenged. “Were you in error?”

  “No. There was a six percent deficiency-“

  “Thirty of my people are dead!” yelled Reya. Renwick held out a hand to calm her.

  “You’re telling me that a six percent chance killed that ship? I find it hard to believe you were off by that much Amanda,” said Renwick calmly. Amanda stayed silent.

  “Not now, Renwick,” said Yan, attempting to return his attention to the battle. “What about the second frigate, Amanda?”

  “Sixty-three percent efficiency in all systems still available,” said Amanda.

  “Unless a torpedo gets stuck in her launcher,” snapped Renwick. This time Yan said nothing. Reya, for her part, seethed in silence at the android, her anger fueled by her husband’s suspicions.

  The Soloth HuK’s reformed for a third run.

  “This time they’ll come at us,” said Renwick.

  “What makes you think so?” said Yan.

  “Just a hunch, captain. I suggest we hold our fire until they make their break, and then...” he trailed off.

  “Then what?” said Yan. Amanda looked at Renwick with renewed interest.

  “Can you transfer system controls to my console?” he asked Yan.

  “Yes, which system?” she said.

  “All of them,” he said to Yan, then looked to Amanda. Her face was a complete mask.

  “I don’t understand-“ started Yan.

  “Just trust me,” he said to her. Yan flashed her hands over her board.

  “Done,” she said.

  The HuK’s came in again. The frigate at the crown of the Kali had moved to defend the bigger ship’s port flank. The damaged frigate held her spot on starboard.

  The HuK’s speed was too much for normal weapons, Renwick was sure of that. His hand poised over the controls. This time they came straight in at the Kali, splitting to port and starboard moments before they passed. In a flash of movement the damaged starboard Gataan frigate fired her impellers and leapt into the path of the closest oncoming HuK.

  The explosion blinded all the Kali’s systems and rocked the Void ship to her core. When the system-level whiteout cleared and the crew had regained their stations, Yan looked over to Renwick.

  His finger still touched the systems integration pad.

  “Look!” said Reya. On the main display screen the final Gataan frigate was closing on a smoldering HuK, disabled, helpless, and drifting. The frigate closed to firing range and launched a single torpedo. The HuK exploded in a satisfying fireball.

  “What did you do?” Yan said to Renwick. He nodded to Amanda.

  “Ask her,” he said. Yan looked to Amanda.

  “Report,” Yan said. Amanda complied.

  “Both Soloth HuK’s have been destroyed,” said Amanda.

  “I saw the first one go up, but what happened to the second?” Yan asked. Renwick crossed his arms.

  “Go ahead, tell her,” he said to Amanda.

  “My analysis is not complete. You’ll have to ask the Senator-“

  “Oh for god’s sake! Just tell me what you did, Renwick!” Yan demanded. Renwick uncrossed his arms, still displeased with Amanda. He leaned on the command console then and started to explain.

  “I anticipated that on the third run they would try and hit the Kali, to disable us. I also knew that conventional weapons like the coil cannon were likely useless. When I asked for control of all the ship’s systems I needed to be sure that I could do what I intended without any potential interference,” he said.

  “From Amanda?” asked Yan.

  “I would not have interfered, Senator,” said Amanda in her defense.

  “So you say,” said Renwick. “At any rate, I needed to be completely free to act. Again, since I knew they would want to take the Kali intact, for whatever reasons Zueros might have, I knew they wouldn’t hit her main systems; the scoop, the emitter, impellers and the like. That meant they would have to take certain paths over the ship to hit our non-essential systems, like environmental control, but still do enough damage to force us to surrender. That narrowed the path even further.”

  Yan was growing impatient. “So what did you do?” she demanded.

  “I had access to all the Kali’s systems. As they made their run, which looked like what I thought they’d do, I used the maintenance system to vent the scoop plasma still in the holding cells, but not yet processed into the diffusers,” Renwick said.

  “Essentially, you projected a curtain of dark energy directly into the path of the attacking HuK,” said Amanda. Renwick nodded.

  “And they flew right through, which disabled every system they had, and gave our Gataan friends some semblance of revenge,” he said.

  “A brilliant tactical maneuver,” said Amanda.

  “Thank you,” said Renwick, unimpressed by her compliments.

  “No,” said Yan, “it’s for me to thank you, Renwick, for saving the Kali.”

  He looked to his captain. “You’re welcome,” he said.

  “With your permission, captain,” said Amanda, turning to face Yan, “I’ll begin the planning for the EVA to make the repair to the scoop diffuser modules.” Yan nodded acknowledgement and Amanda departed.

  Reya came to Renwick and put her arms around his shoulders, kissing him on the cheek. “You are a hero,” she said. He pulled her arms off of him.

  “Reya...” he said, with just a touch of exasperation.

  “Mr. Kish,” yelled Yan over the top of the fawning princess. “Get our impellers started and fire up the scoops again. Forty-one percent efficiency or not, I want us out of here ahead of that fleet. And get that frigate stowed on the landing deck.”

  “Yes sir,” said Kish.

  “And before I become ill,” she finished, just loud enough for Renwick and Reya to hear.

  18.

  “So what the hell was all that about?” asked Yan. The battle had been over for barely fifteen minutes, the Kali now underway again to the coordinates of the emitter station. Renwick had left for the galley after the battle and Yan had followed him once she had sec
ured the bridge to demand an explanation. He sat on one of the benches contemplating a full cup of coffee on the table in front of him. He didn’t really react when she questioned him, so Yan opened her mouth to inquire again.

  “Simply put, I don’t trust the androids, and I especially don’t trust Amanda,” Renwick said before she could speak, then took a drink of the coffee and put it back down again. “During that whole battle she could have easily been conveying information to the HuK’s, or giving the Gataan bad information.” He looked up at the Kali’s captain. “Do you really think she made a six percent mistake? Is she even capable of that narrow an error?”

  “I don’t know,” said Yan. “But I can read the same systems she can.”

  “But you’re assuming Amanda is showing you accurate information. You said yourself you had gray areas, gaps in your information, or your memories. Who is most likely to have put those gaps there?” he said.

  Yan looked at him for a few moments, but didn’t answer. Then she walked over to the galley’s display console, standing next to it but not really doing anything.

  “There are days I hate being a robot,” she said.

  “I sympathize,” Renwick replied, then joined her at the console, putting his hands on her shoulders from behind. “Look, I think we have enough of a discrepancy here to justify caution in our dealings with Amanda.”

  “I don’t disagree,” Yan said, focusing on the display readouts. “I’m just looking for a way we can operate this ship without her and the other androids, and I’m not finding any good possibilities.”

  Renwick dropped his hands to his sides. “You worked with her for three years before, before the Void accident. Did you ever notice any erroneous behavior? Did you ever get any indication that she had some agenda other than your mission?” he asked. Yan shook her head.

  “None. She did everything I ever asked, without complaint or question. And she waited three hundred years for me to come back and get her,” she said.

  “So you’re saying you trust her?” he asked. She hesitated a moment before answering.

  “No, I’m saying she’s never been anything but loyal to me, to the mission, and I have a hard time questioning her now.” Renwick walked a few steps away from her and ran his hand through his hair in frustration.

  “Then I will continue to defer to you on your judgment of her in battle situations. But I reserve the right to change my position for the sake of the mission, and I think we should both keep an eye on her behavior,” he said.

  “Noted.”

  Their conversation ended there with Amanda’s arrival in the galley.

  “I have completed the proof of concept for the repair mission,” she said. “Thorne can complete the task in eighty-seven minutes.”

  “Even while were transiting Void Space?” asked Renwick. Amanda nodded.

  “Buffeting from the Void displacement of the scoops will be difficult, but not impossible for him to handle. The climb up the scoop neck will be the most difficult part of the activity,” she stated. Renwick looked at her, then over to Yan.

  “And what if a human did it?” he asked. Yan turned quickly from the monitor.

  “Don’t be ridiculous!” she said. “The androids are far better equipped to-“

  “But Senator Renwick does not trust us, he has made that much clear,” said Amanda, cutting in, with an almost human tone of annoyance in her voice. “I would have to recalculate the mission for human parameters. I assume you would be doing the EVA Senator?”

  “You can model it for me, yes,” said Renwick. Yan shook her head.

  “This is insane. The androids can do it-“

  “Perhaps they are Captain, but I am in command of this mission, remember?” Renwick said, cutting her off a second time. He looked to Amanda. “Re-run the mission parameters. We’ll meet back here in thirty minutes to review them, the whole crew,” he finished.

  Amanda looked to Yan.

  “Do as he says,” said Yan. Amanda nodded quickly and departed the galley.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing, Renwick,” Yan said once the android was gone.

  “So do I,” he replied.

  THIRTY MINUTES LATER they had all gathered in the galley, which had become their impromptu gathering room for these type of conferences, to review the spacewalk requirements. The full command crew sat around the room at the eating tables, facing Yan at the display console. The Gataan sailors had made it clear they preferred to stay aboard their own ship and would answer only to Reya’s commands.

  Amanda stood her post next to the captain of the Kali as Yan called the roll for reports from each station.

  “There’s no question we need to do the repair,” said Kish. “The scoops are down to thirty-seven percent efficiency. Between that and the battle our lead over the Soloth fleet has shrunk to three-point eight hours.”

  “What’s the status of the trailing HuK?” asked Yan.

  “It’s fallen back to twenty-six light-minutes distance,” reported Aybar. “It doesn’t seem to want to tangle with us.”

  “For now,” observed Renwick.

  “Mischa?” said Yan, ignoring Renwick for the moment.

  “We’re still on course for the programmed coordinates,” said Lieutenant Cain, “but the loss of scoop performance is starting to affect the helm.”

  “How?” asked Yan. Mischa crossed her arms.

  “Well, the best way I can describe it is ‘interstellar drag’. When the scoops aren’t clearing Void space for normal space as efficiently as usual, I have to make periodic course adjustments to keep us on target,” she said.

  “How often?” asked Yan.

  “About every thirty minutes, right now. But it’s happening more frequently, and it will only get worse,” Mischa said.

  “Unless we fix the diffuser modules,” said Renwick.

  “That is why I called this meeting, Senator,” said Yan. Then she turned to Aybar. “What’s the effect on weapons systems, captain?” she asked.

  “Minimal, at this time,” said Aybar. “But that doesn’t mean they won’t be effected in some way we can’t predict in the near future.”

  “Thank you, Captain Aybar,” said Yan. She passed over Reya, who had no real position aboard the Kali except as Renwick’s wife, and then turned to Amanda. “Please run down the mission parameters for us now, Amanda,” she said.

  Amanda stepped up to the console and lit up a floating 3D display large enough for all of them to see. It showed animation of Thorne performing the EVA.

  “As you know, the EVA to repair the scoop diffuser modules could be completed by Thorne with minimal disruption of other crew duties and ship performance in about ninety minutes,” she started. “But Captain Yan has asked me to work up a model of what the EVA repair would take if the human crew were to perform it.”

  “One of us? Why?” asked Kish.

  “Hold your questions, Mr. Kish,” said Yan in her best command voice.

  Amanda continued by overlaying two human models over the Thorne animation so that they could be seen simultaneously. “As you can see it would take two members of the human crew to perform the task, primarily because of the mass of the diffuser modules.” The animation showed two human figures in complete EVA gear hauling the diffuser modules up the neck of the scoop, holding it between them. The Thorne figure, without an EVA suit, pulled ahead almost instantly and climbed far faster than the two humans. He began the repair and swapping out of the large modules. The human figures were still climbing the neck when Thorne started down.

  “As I said, Thorne can complete the repair in about ninety minutes. At that time the Kali will return to maximum efficiency and we will arrive at the emitter station ahead of the Soloth fleet with approximately a four-point-two hour cushion,” said Amanda. The display showed the animated Thorne figure heading back inside while the two humans were still engaged in the swapping-out process. “The two humans would complete the repair in about one-hundred forty-four minutes. The res
ulting loss of time, plus the reduced time for the Kali to traverse the Void at maximum cruising efficiency, would result in a cushion of merely two-point four hours,” she concluded.

  “Questions?” said Yan.

  “I have one,” said Renwick. “For Amanda. Why did the diffusers malfunction now? I mean, at this critical point in the mission?” The android showed no change in her expression as she replied to him.

  “The diffusers are one of the more delicate systems on the Kali. I can only assume that three hundred years in stasis resulted in system degradation and eventual failure,” she said. Renwick eyed her, not satisfied, but kept his mouth shut for the moment.

  “Anyone else?” said Yan.

  “Captain, why are we even considering using a human crew when the android could clearly do the job better and faster?” asked Kish. Yan looked to Renwick.

  “Senator?” she said, deferring to him for the answer. Renwick stood now and addressed the room.

  “Because, quite simply, Mr. Kish, I don’t trust the androids,” he said. Kish looked confused.

  “You mean you don’t trust them to do the job?” Kish said. Renwick shook his head.

  “No. I mean I don’t trust them at all,” he replied. “Consider the last battle. Amanda here cleared one of the Gataan frigates to continue fighting even though they were heavily damaged in the HuK attack. In fact she assured us that the torpedo launch tube was ninety-four percent effective. The torpedo they fired on the next pass of the HuK’s stuck in the launch tube and detonated, destroying the frigate and its crew. I submit to you that androids don’t make mistakes like that, not when there’s only a six percent chance of them being wrong.”

  “Is that it?” asked Kish.

  “I’d like to hear more as well,” said Aybar. “Because I assume you’re going to be one of the people going on this repair mission, and you’ll have to convince someone else to go with you.”

  “Good enough,” said Renwick. He moved to the front of the galley. “I have done an analysis of the DNA test done on our old friend Mr. Zueros back at Skondar. The test results were perfect, a perfect complementary fit between his Soloth DNA, ours, the Raelen, and the Gataan.”