“That’s why, from now on, anytime we drop out of Fold Space, all Marines will wear their combat spacesuits.” These were lightweight suits which would offer protection for a short while if a weapon penetrated the outer hull and caused air to bleed out of a compartment or corridor. “Corporals Peterson and Hambridge will be responsible for our two squads of Marines. I want both of you to be aware of locations where it’s too dangerous to fire a pulse rifle. I think the hull on our ship is thick enough that a pulse rifle hitting it one time will not penetrate. Multiple strikes will be different. Inside some areas of the ship, such as Engineering, we don’t dare fire a pulse rifle.”
“We’ll be careful,” promised Peterson. “Those damn spacesuits will be uncomfortable as hell to fight in.”
“Better than not being able to breathe,” responded Hambridge.
“If the Trellixians do manage to board, these are the areas I want protected.” Mark explained in detail where he wanted the Marines posted. They would be in two-person teams, protecting the most vital areas of the ship as well as the main airlocks.
-
After the meeting Mark made a quick tour of the ship with Lieutenant Brown. If the ship was boarded, Mark would be in the Command Center. It would be up to the lieutenant to handle the boarders.
“We’ll be ready,” promised the lieutenant. “I’ll hand out the pulse rifles an hour before we drop out of Fold Space. We have two arms lockers with twenty rifles in each one.”
“Just be careful with those damn things,” Mark said, his eyes narrowing. “We don’t want to cause more damage than the Trellixians do.” Mark had his own pistol strapped to his waist. He wore it anytime he was on duty and when they were to exit Fold Space. It was the only weapon the Marines on duty normally carried, since the pistols could not penetrate the hull.
-
Later Mark headed toward his quarters for a good night’s rest. They would be dropping out of Fold Space in a little over forty hours. He would run some additional battle simulations in the Command Center on his next duty shift. The best way to stop the enemy from boarding the ship was to destroy their battlecruisers.
With a deep sigh, Mark knew he’d have to use the ship’s missiles in the next engagement. While they had a good supply, it took six missiles to destroy a Trellixian vessel. It wouldn’t take too many battles to exhaust their stock of the powerful missiles. Mark hoped these mysterious aliens Captain Erickson was trying to contact showed up before that happened. If not, then it was doubtful either of the two human ships would ever see home again.
-
Trellixian Battle Commander Balforr was more and more confident that the two Human ships would soon be under his control. Several more squadrons of Trellixian warships had intercepted the hyperspace message, and they now knew the Humans’ approximate course. They had varied it nearly twelve degrees, but that would do them little good. Balforr was now more convinced than ever that he knew which system the Humans would drop out of Fold Space into next.
“I want our fleet to drop right in on top of the Human ships,” he said, looking at Second Officer Jaltor. “All weapons are to target their drive systems. If we can disable them, their ships will be ours.”
“You still want the ships’ crews eliminated?”
“Yes, the crews are worthless to us. They are to be exterminated by the boarding parties. Instruct the boarders I want the ships as intact as possible.”
Jaltor nodded. “I will inform the boarding parties of your requirements.”
Balforr was tempted to have some of the Humans brought before him so he could have the satisfaction of killing them with his own hands. His hatred for the Humans had only grown since his unexpected defeat at Earth. Killing the crews of these two ships would be extremely satisfying.
-
Major Dolan was busy in the Command Center running combat scenarios. He was in the middle of a scenario when a message appeared on his computer.
Try bracketing the Trellixian’s energy shield by detonating a missile on opposite sides of the shield near the bow. This should cause a momentary weakness in the part of the energy shield directly in front of the ship, which will allow a third missile to penetrate.
Mark looked suspiciously around the Command Center but could not see anyone monitoring the scenario he was running. With curiosity he changed his attack method, and, sure enough, the third missile penetrated the energy shield, destroying the Trellixian vessel.
The two previous missiles caused a severe disruption of the shield where the two energy waves met. This should allow you to destroy a Trellixian battlecruiser with the use of just three missiles instead of six.
Looking at his computer screen, Mark began typing. Who are you?
I don’t have a name yet. I am waiting for Derek to give me one.
Mark’s eyes widened in surprise. He now knew who it was. The quantum computer. Are you an AI?
Yes, I only became self-aware recently.
Have you told Derek?
Not yet. I will when he reports for his next duty shift.
Mark had to grin. Derek would be greatly surprised when he found out his quantum computer was now alive. Mark’s gaze shifted to Captain Erickson. Mark wondered if he should say something to the captain about this development. After a moment he decided not to. He would allow Derek to make the announcement. It would only be a couple more hours before Derek put in an appearance.
Focusing again on his computer screens, Mark decided to run a few more scenarios using the three-missile tactic. Once he was satisfied it was consistent, he would contact the tactical officer on the Constellation and suggest he try the same thing. If this worked in actual combat, it would double the ship’s missile capability, something which could be extremely useful in their current predicament.
-
A few hours later Derek and the other lieutenants put in an appearance, replacing the third shift crew. As Derek sat down, he looked at his computer screen with a puzzled look on his face. That expression was immediately replaced with a look of excitement. “It worked!” he yelled, standing and pumping his fist enthusiastically.
“What worked?” asked Captain Erickson, frowning at the lieutenant’s behavior.
“The quantum computer. It’s an AI!”
The other lieutenants quickly gathered around Derek, gazing at one of the computer screens, now displaying a series of messages.
“Can it speak?” asked Lisa. Most of the computers in the Command Center were set up to respond with simple speech patterns and even obey voice commands.
“Yes,” replied Derek as he made some adjustments on his computer console, activating the voice function. “Hello?”
“Hi,” a young woman’s voice responded. “Can you give me a name?”
Derek looked frantically at Lisa and the others. “A name? I never thought about a name for you.”
Lisa laughed. “Well, I guess you’d better pick one.”
Derek looked back at his computer screen. “How about Chloe?” It was the name of his first real girlfriend when he was a teenager.
“That’s a girl’s name. Is that what you prefer?”
“It’s already talking in a girl’s voice,” said Lieutenant Commander Barrington with a confused look on his face. “I don’t understand.”
“Derek already had the computer programmed to speak using a female’s voice,” Lisa explained. “Most computers are like that so they seem less intimidating.”
The computer was silent for a moment and then spoke again. “I like Chloe. I will do some research on how a female AI should act.”
“Chloe,” said Major Dolan, “is there any information you can give us on the Trellixians?”
“There is a 92 percent chance the Trellixians will be at our next dropout. There is a 68 percent chance the race you seek will be there as well.”
Captain Erickson drew in a sharp breath. He looked closely at Derek. “What are the odds your computer is right?”
Derek hesitated a
nd then answered. “Chloe is a quantum computer. All of her answers recently have been dead-on.”
“Should we skip this dropout?” asked Lieutenant Commander Barrington. “We could find ourselves in the middle of a battle between the Trellixians and whoever these other aliens are.”
Captain Erickson shook his head. “No, not if there’s a reasonable chance the aliens we’re trying to contact will be there. I think we have to take the risk.”
The entire Command Center grew quiet. They all knew this could be quite dangerous.
“The odds of both the Vengeance and the Constellation surviving this next encounter with the Trellixians is only 42 percent,” said Chloe. “My sentient life may be very short.”
Chapter Fourteen
Trellixian High Commander Kaldre was on board his flagship, the Dawn Reaper, studying the latest reports from Battle Commander Traven and Battle Commander Balforr. The Humans on Earth had built a space fleet based on Jelnoid technology, and the Humans’ missiles far outranged Trellixian weapons. Traven’s fleet had been nearly destroyed in its first engagement. Traven was requesting massive reinforcements so they could destroy the planet’s defensive grid. The battle commander was convinced the planet didn’t have the necessary industrial ability to replace the defensive grid once destroyed—the same for its warships. Kaldre frowned deeply. This still didn’t explain where the satellites for the defensive grid and the warships came from.
Of even more concern was the report from Battle Commander Balforr. The two Human ships making their way toward Voltrex space were still a threat. While they had been attacked several times, the two ships had escaped and were continuing toward the region of space controlled by the Voltrex. However, Balforr was confident he could deal with the situation and could capture one or both of the Human vessels.
“Balforr plays a dangerous game,” commented High Commander Thatrex, who was on board the Dawn Reaper for a meeting with Kaldre. “If he fails in capturing or destroying the Human ships, and they make it to Voltrex space, we could find ourselves in a long and drawn-out war.”
“A war which would spell disaster for our growing population,” said Kaldre, grim faced. “If we are forced to slow the steady exodus of our excess population by way of the colony ships, our entire Empire could fall into chaos.”
High Commander Thatrex stood for a moment, gazing at a viewscreen showing the large orbital station above the home planet. “I fear we are rapidly reaching a point where, even with our colonization fleet, we cannot move an adequate number of our people quickly enough. Our population for years has expanded exponentially. I don’t know what the solution is.” This was a big admission for Thatrex to make.
“We can always attempt to control our population growth.” Kaldre knew how revolting such a suggestion would be to nearly every living Trellixian. All believed they had the right to unlimited breeding.
“The Jelnoids suggested the same thing before we destroyed them,” said Thatrex. “They had developed an injection that would prevent conception. The High Command at the time refused to even consider the Jelnoids’ offer. Even now, it is something our people will not consider.”
Kaldre gazed at the planet his ship orbited. “Eighty billion of our people are on our home world. Living space is severely limited. I haven’t been to the surface in years due to the overcrowding. The average lifespan of a Trellixian on the planet has been reduced by four years over the past two decades, and it’ll only get worse.”
“The living conditions for our people worsen with every passing year,” agreed Thatrex. “It’s no wonder lifespans have shortened. Even on the new worlds it only takes a few decades before the planets are overcrowded. We are fast running out of living space. Both High Commanders Olnarr and Danaar have requested a massive increase in colony ship construction to move our people off our overcrowded planets faster.”
“We don’t have the resources,” replied Kaldre. “We need to build more warships and expand the Empire in the regions away from the Voltrex.”
“Food will soon be a major problem,” said Thatrex grimly. “Our people are growing hungry.”
“It has become necessary to reduce the food allowance on many of our worlds,” replied Kaldre, recognizing the problem of a growing food shortage. “If this war with the Voltrex becomes more widespread, we could be looking at starvation on a number of our planets. Billions of our people may die or revert to barbarism, including cannibalism. We could lose control of parts of our Empire.”
Thatrex slowly shook his head. “I don’t believe our people would become so barbaric. They will make do with less.”
“Then we need to deal with Earth and the Voltrex quickly,” urged Kaldre. “While you are sure our people will not descend into barbarism, I am not so certain. Starvation could be a very grave danger to our Empire if it becomes widespread.”
“I will speak to the other members of the High Command,” said Thatrex with a deep sigh. “We will do as Battle Commander Traven has suggested. More fleets will be sent to deal with Earth. The same for the Voltrex. We must assume the Human ships will succeed in establishing contact. If they do, we must destroy whatever Voltrex system they are taken to. I will also see about building new shipyards for warship construction. However, I fear Olnarr and Danaar will demand part of that construction be dedicated to colony ships.”
High Commander Kaldre turned to face Thatrex. “To send those fleets will require us to pull many of our invasion fleets from their cleansing of other worlds. It will slow our colonization efforts and make the living conditions on our more densely inhabited planets even worse. It could hasten the coming of chaos.”
“It cannot be helped,” Thatrex replied in a heavy voice. “This day was bound to come. We’ve all known about these issues for quite some time. While we have only recently encountered the Voltrex, others are bound to be out there as well who will resist our constant expansion.”
“There will be chaos and large numbers of deaths,” warned Kaldre, knowing what pulling the war fleets off the frontier of the Empire would cause. “The other High Commanders may not be willing to commit the fleets we need to deal with the Humans and the Voltrex.”
Thatrex showed his flesh-tearing teeth, and his eyes narrowed sharply. “They will do as I suggest. I am senior on the High Command, and my words will be taken seriously. While they may not like it, they will do as I order.”
Kaldre bowed his head slightly. “Let us hope so.”
“In the meantime go ahead and send the necessary ships to Battle Commander Traven. We will deal with both Earth and the Voltrex. Let us hope Battle Commander Balforr is successful in his attempt to capture or destroy the two ships. However, we must begin making preparations in case he fails.”
High Commander Kaldre’s gaze shifted to the large viewscreen and the planet below. He greatly feared the Empire was about to go through a major change. What it would look like afterward, he had no idea. The Empire was already large and unwieldy. The demands for more food shipments were increasing daily from numerous worlds.
Only the Empire’s massive military kept every planet in line. The huge colony ships which left daily, carrying masses of each planet’s excess population to new colony worlds, kept chaos from reigning. High Commander Kaldre was not certain what would happen if those colony fleets were suspended for a few weeks or even months. It was a subject he did not care to dwell on.
-
On his Voltrex flagship, Kamuss studied the latest reports from the scout ships. The Trellixians were rushing hundreds of ships toward one narrow region of space. A few of Kamuss’s scout ships were reporting detection of a hyperspace signal repeating prime numbers.
“It’s them,” Lieutenant Commander LeLath said. “The signal has to be coming from the ship or ships we seek.”
“It must be a refugee fleet, trying to escape Trellixian space,” said Kamuss. “The Trellixians seem determined to prevent it from reaching us.”
LeLath let forth a low growl. “Another
reason why we must get to it first.”
“Metriic, any idea where the ship might be heading?”
“There’s a star system along their line of flight that could hold a habitable planet. If they’re seeking a refuge, they might stop there.”
Kamuss took a deep breath. His whiskers quivered as he considered the ramifications of his next order. “Set a course for that system. If they make an appearance there, we will attempt to contact them.” Kamuss then turned to face Meela at Communications. “Prepare the First Contact packet. If we find these ships, send it as soon as we’re within range.” The First Contact packet had been designed years in the past, in case a Voltrex exploration ship ever found another spacefaring race. So far it had never been used.
“We’ve lost six scout ships in the last day,” added LeLath. “The Trellixians are bound to grow suspicious. They may realize we’re searching for these mysterious ships as well.”
“Most likely we will have to fight the Trellixians to save any of these vessels,” said Diboll from Tactical. “We could suffer some heavy losses. Are these ships worth the cost?”
Kamuss was silent for a long moment as he looked at his tactical officer. “I believe so. These aliens must represent a danger to the Trellixians. The lizard people would not be so determined to intercept them if they did not. They almost seem desperate, from the number of ships they have assigned to this operation. It has been days now since any Trellixian vessel has ventured into our space. All their forays have come to a complete stop. They have committed everything to this region in an attempt to stop these aliens from reaching us. For that reason alone we must get to them first.”
The Command Center became silent as the Claw of Honor and the rest of the ships in her small fleet made the transition into hyperspace. Very soon they would know who and what the Trellixians were trying to stop from reaching Voltrex space.
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