Dark Rivals: Age of Expansion - A Kurtherian Gambit Series (Uprise Saga Book 4)

by Amy DuBoff

  For all their resources, the Federation didn’t have a ship on the same scale. That didn’t mean their weapons weren’t more powerful, but it did make Kurtz wonder what else might be lurking out in the depths of space.

  More than physical opposition, though, there was the question of the mind. Back when they’d first crossed paths with the Dyons, it had appeared that specific neural pathways made of a resonant mineral needed to be present in the mind to create a telepathic receptor, or TR. Only those who’d ingested the mineral and had the TR could be taken over remotely by the alien consciousness. However, in the assault on the Gidyon System, all FDG warriors present—aside from Ava—had become paralyzed in a telepathic grip.

  Based on that experience, it would seem the TR was necessary for long-distance telepathic control, but the Dyons had the potential to exert some measure of control over anyone at close proximity. Any ship, any crew sent to intervene, might find itself incapacitated before they had a chance to act, if they got too close.

  The obvious answer was to send a ship piloted by an EI or AI, but with the revelation that the Dyons could also now hack into the secure FDG network, a ship would likely suffer the same fate as a biological crew.

  They have us cornered. Though Kurtz hated to admit it, he couldn’t ignore the reality. They were up against an opponent they didn’t yet know how to fight.

  But while they tried to find a weakness, there were people in immediate danger.

  The alien planet-ship was three days away from the Alaxar Trinary at its present velocity, and it would be visible on the system’s long-range scan well before that. Kurtz had no interest in finding out what would happen when it reached the system, but until they learned how to stop it, they needed to prepare for the worst-case scenario.

  As soon as he reached his office, Kurtz brought up the contact information for President Connors of Alucia. The computer warned Kurtz that it was 02:00 local time in the Alucian capital city, but the warning couldn’t wait. He initiated the call.

  Twenty seconds passed.

  “Colonel?” President Connors answered over a voice-only connection.

  “Sorry to contact you in the middle of your night, but this couldn’t wait,” Kurtz replied. “We have a developing situation.”

  The president groaned. “What kind of situation?”

  “The Dyons are back,” Kurtz revealed. “This time, they have a ship headed toward the Alaxar Trinary.”

  He breathed a sigh of relief. “A ship! I thought you were about to say they have a fleet.”

  “The ship is seven thousand kilometers in diameter.”

  Silence.

  “H-How…?” Connors stammered

  “We don’t know, but considering the ship is two-thirds the size of Alucia, I wanted to give you as much advance notice as possible,” Kurtz continued. “My best guess is that the vessel was emitting a signal to mask its presence while it made the approach—similar to the interference we observed in the Gidyon System. A dark patch on scan doesn’t stand out unless you know to look for something.”

  “So they could have been in transit for years, or…” Connors took a shaky breath. “What kind of offensive capabilities does the ship have?”

  “I’ll know more in a few hours. Don’t worry, this is a top priority for the FDG, and we’ll do everything in our power to keep your system safe.”

  “That’s it? You wake me in the middle of the night to tell me a planet-sized ship is headed for us, but ‘don’t worry’?! How the fuck am I—”

  Kurtz took a slow breath. “Mister President, would you rather it surprise you in another eighteen hours, when it shows up on the long-range scans from your system’s sensor array? You wanted to be kept in the loop. This is it.”

  “We’re defenseless,” Connors shot back. “How do you expect me to react?”

  “Like a world leader,” Kurtz said, firm. “I’ll dismiss your attitude as a product of being awoken in the middle of the night, but next time we talk, I expect to have a rational discussion. To get through this, we need calculated, coordinated action.”

  Connors took a deep breath. “You’re right. Thank you for reaching out right away.”

  “I’ll be in touch as soon as I know more.”

  “Thank you.”

  Kurtz ended the call.

  As much as Kurtz disliked emotional outbursts from those in positions of authority, he didn’t blame Connors. Were he in the president’s position, he probably would have sworn a whole lot more.

  * * *

  Karen awoke to an incessant chirp coming from the desk in the living room of her temporary apartment.

  What time is it? She glanced at the clock on her nightstand and saw that it was 04:07. Who would be calling me at this hour?

  The chirp was more annoying than usual, which she attributed to the hour. However, when she hauled herself out of bed to check the notification, she realized that the sharper tone was because the communication was flagged as high-priority.

  It was coming from the Alucian capital, and it was only 02:07 there.

  Shit!

  Karen hurriedly wrapped a robe around herself, then answered the call.

  President Connors appeared on her monitor, dark circles under his eyes and hair unkempt. “I spoke with Colonel Kurtz at the FDG,” he said. “They’ve detected a Dyon ship headed for our system.”

  Karen’s heart leaped into her throat. “What?!”

  “I don’t have any more information at this time, other than that it’s huge—roughly the size of Nezar.”

  She shook her head, mystified. “That’s…”

  “I didn’t want to believe it myself, but the FDG wouldn’t relay false information.”

  “We’re completely fucked,” Karen breathed. “Here we thought we defeated them, but that was just the warmup round so they could see what defenses we had to offer.”

  “That was my first impulse, too, but we can’t give into that way of thinking. The colonel said not to worry, so they must be working on a plan,” Connors told her.

  “So, what, we pretend everything is okay? I wish I didn’t know.” She smoothed back her light brown hair from her face. What could we possibly do in defense? If we evacuate everyone, where would we go?

  A vice tightened around her heart. No, there wouldn’t be an evacuation; there weren’t enough ships in the system to transport all the citizens. They were trapped on their worlds, subject to whatever horrific fate the Dyons had planned.

  President Connors straightened in his seat. “Someone on Nezar needed to be informed, and you’re the closest thing the world has to a leader right now.”

  “I’m not—”

  “Karen, I need you to keep a level head. I’ve seen you under pressure before. You can do this.”

  She took two slow breaths and nodded. “Yes, sir.”

  “Now. I don’t know what the FDG is planning, but I wanted to give you a heads up so that you would have time to process the situation. When we get our directions, we’ll need to be a calm presence of authority above the inevitable chaos.”

  “What about Coraxa?” Karen asked.

  “Do you know Mitchell Korwen?”

  “Not personally, but he’s been Tribeca’s mayor since I was a teenager,” Karen replied. “If you’re asking if he would be a good point of contact, then yes.”

  Connors nodded. “I’ll reach out to him.”

  “How long before the ship is visible on scan?”

  “Less than eighteen hours. It will arrive in three days.”

  Karen swallowed. “Okay. Let’s hope the FDG has their plan before then.”

  * * *

  “Giant fucking planet-ships,” Ava muttered. “These Dyon bastards must have some kind of inferiority complex with a constant need to overcompensate for their nanoscopic size.”

  Across the conference table, Luke and Widmore chuckled, but Kurtz looked decidedly less amused.

  “We’re looking for actionable theories,” the colonel stated
.

  “Sorry, sir.” Ava looked down.

  “Joking aside,” Widmore began, “it is pertinent to note the scale of the vessel. Its sheer enormity says a lot about its potential use.”

  “That’s a good point,” Kurtz agreed. “Something planet-sized is probably dealing with planet-scale concerns, rather than any matter involving an individual.”

  “Yes, but we can’t rule out an individual-scale component,” Ava said. “Based on what we observed in Gidyon, it’s possible that this ship might also contain a soldier factory.”

  Kurtz gave a grim nod. “But with this ship, they could abduct the entire population of a planet.”

  “Hell, the Alaxar Trinary has so few full-time residents that they could take everyone in the whole system,” Ava said without thinking, only to immediately realize that those weren’t faceless victims—they were her friends and family.

  Luke exchanged glances with her, clearly realizing the same thing. “For that matter,” he said, “this structure isn’t bound to surface area in the same way that a planet is. Looking at the volume potential of the structure, it could reasonably hold the population of dozens of systems.”

  “Or the entire thing could be a mega-weapon,” Ava countered.

  “Whatever it is, it was able to interface with the station and FDG ships,” Luke said. “It also activated the debris we collected from the Gidyon System.”

  “What do you mean?” Kurtz asked.

  “The dust was glowing… and moving around in the vials. It wasn’t able to get out, but it definitely wanted to do something other than sit in a test tube.”

  The colonel frowned. “What’s going on with it now?”

  “Went dormant again as soon as you got control of the computer system,” Luke replied.

  “Hmm.” Ava crossed her arms. “You think that has anything to do with the flickering monitors? I wonder if the hack caused the computer equipment to emit a signal that activated it.”

  Luke nodded. “A reasonable hypothesis.”

  “And the source of that signal is this new ship, I presume?” Widmore said.

  “The ship’s appearance and the impact on the FDG fleet would suggest as much,” Kurtz replied. “But there’s more to this ship than a transmitter, and it falls to us to determine the potential function of the vessel. The engineering report from the survey ship highlighted some key components that may offer clues.” Kurtz adjusted the three-dimensional holoprojection of the spherical ship floating above the center of the table.

  Eight circular recesses highlighted around the sphere’s equator, then the view zoomed in on one to show it as a cross-section. The apparent circle was actually a cylinder.

  Ava tilted her head. “That’s… weird.”

  “The mechanical components suggest that these cylinders can extend outward,” Widmore observed. “There are slots ringing each.”

  Indeed there were. Ava tried to count them, but quickly lost track.

  >>Seventy-two in each,<< Ruby supplied for her.

  That’s a lot of… whatever those things are.

  Across the table, Luke was scowling at the holographic projection. “I can’t wrap my head around this scale. I keep looking at each of those cylinders and thinking it’s something manageable, but they’re each a hundred kilometers apart.”

  Widmore shook his head. “ ‘Mind-boggling’ would be an understatement. Those tiny-looking slots are, what, a kilometer each? It looks like nothing.”

  Wait a minute… Ava did a double-take at the model. Hey, Ruby, we’ve encountered a kilometer-long cylinder recently, haven’t we?

  >>You don’t mean the pits on Gidyon and Nezar, do you?<<

  That’s exactly what I was thinking.

  >>Maybe,<< the AI agreed. >>Go ahead. It’s your idea to bring up.<<

  You think it’s stupid.

  >>No, I think it fits surprisingly well. I just don’t like the implications.<<

  Ava cleared her throat. “So, um, crazy idea… What if each of those slots were to hold a pit like the ones in Gidyon and Nezar? Eight around and nine deep.”

  Luke slumped in his chair. “Fucking hell.”

  Kurtz spread his hands on the tabletop. “What makes you suggest that, Ava?”

  “Nothing aside from scale, sir,” she replied. “We observed two structures approximately one kilometer deep with an interior diameter of four meters, and this thing happens to have slots one kilometer long and twelve meters wide. You asked for ideas, and mine is that that contraption is a giant core sampler. I don’t know if it inserts the pits or takes them out, but there you have it.”

  Widmore did the math. “If they only need one per system to get a foothold, then…”

  “Our little happy corner of the galaxy is in a shitton of trouble if that ship is left unchecked,” Ava completed when he trailed off.

  “If I may add,” Ruby said over the audible comms, “these cores—if that is, indeed, what they are—make up only a fraction of the ship’s function.”

  Kurtz nodded, bringing up a different set of highlighted plans.

  This version of the holographic model focused on a series of short towers ringing a single, tall tower. Four protrusions around the central grouping looked to be folded mechanical arms, but the exact nature and purpose were unclear.

  “I’ve got nothing,” Ava said.

  “If there was one component of this ship for population transport, we can assume there would need to be a means to craft a new home,” Ruby continued over the comm. “I’ve run this configuration through the FDG database, and it is most likely some form of weapon.”

  “A weapon that’s six hundred kilometers in diameter?” Kurtz scoffed. “It’s absurd.”

  “The scale doesn’t change my assessment of the information at my disposal. That said, my specialty is in biomedical applications, not military weaponry.”

  “Same here,” Luke said. “I’m a—”

  “Geneticist, we know,” Kurtz cut him off. “But the people sitting in this room are the resident Dyon experts, regardless of our backgrounds. For better or worse, our hunches related to these guys have a good track record of being correct. So if Ruby thinks this is a weapon, then I’m inclined to proceed accordingly. And, assuming it is, it’s not just a planet-killer—it’s a system-killer.”

  “To what end?” Ava threw up her hands.

  “Raw materials,” Luke murmured. He sat upright in his chair, chuckling to himself. “Of course.”

  “Care to enlighten us?” Kurtz prompted.

  “All of their structures are manufactured, right? That requires raw materials. Mining raw materials is highly time- and labor-intensive. It’s way easier to smash a target to bits, scoop it up, and sort through the matter after the fact.”

  “A weapon to blast worlds apart, then a processing plant, or whatever, to extract the useful materials?” Ava clarified.

  “Something like that,” Luke replied. “But it’s a guess.”

  “I agree with the assessment,” Ruby stated over the comm.

  Ava groaned. “Problem is, that next ‘target’ is Luke’s and my home system.”

  Luke’s face flushed. “Kinda like to keep it from getting destroyed, if we can.”

  “Agreed.” Ava looked over the holographic ship. “So how do we stop this thing?”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Kurtz looked Colonel Walton in her eyes. “Last time, every ship with an Arti-Sun weapon was detained, but I hope you can find an available one for us this time.”

  She smiled. “I was thinking the same thing the moment we realized this was the Dyons. I’m granting you temporary command of the Hellfire.”

  Wow, the Hellfire? That will do very well, indeed. It was the newest dreadnought in the FDG fleet, and it packed a serious punch, Arti-Sun or not. “Thank you, ma’am.”

  “It will be waiting for you at Onyx Station.”

  “I’ll arrange transport right away. I suggest that Ava Landyn accompany me, in the event we’re able t
o make telepathic contact.”

  The other colonel nodded. “This may be our only chance to learn more about them. Good luck.”

  * * *

  Ava lay on her bed next to Luke, staring up at the ceiling. “It’s just so stupid-big.”

  “I know, I can’t fathom it, either.” He sighed.

  “I don’t understand how that thing could move around,” she continued. “I mean, it didn’t have any visible engines.”

  “Beats me.”

  “Maybe it uses the Etheric in some way?”

  “We do know that they use telepathy through the Etheric, so it’s possible.” Luke agreed.

  “Stars, I really wish we didn’t have to deal with this right now.” She shook her head.

  “I know, but you’ll figure out a way to best them, just like you did before.”

  Ava appreciated the confidence in his tone, but she couldn’t quite muster up the same level of enthusiasm. The last encounter with the Dyons had taken a lot out of her, and she wasn’t eager to go through the experience again—let alone with an even bigger, meaner-looking base of operations.

  “Thank you for always believing in me,” she said after a pause.

  “Always.” Luke took her hand.

  “Even Colonel Kurtz was worried. I don’t think I’ve seen that before.”

  “It is a pretty tense situation. I don’t envy those in charge.”

  Ava repositioned to rest her head on his shoulder. “They’re going to look to me for a solution. I don’t know if I’ll be able to do what I did last time.”

  “Sure you will.”

  “I dunno, maybe. But I don’t want to. I had to go to this dark place in myself—fueled by an anger and bitterness that’s not truly a part of me.”

  Luke swiveled to look at her. “That wasn’t all of it, from what you told me.”