Lost Systems: Legacy War Book 2

by John Walker

  “Lightning strike tried to bring us back,” Jeb said. “But we were already up here. Engines will need some serious work, but I told you we’d make it.”

  Heat wanted to comment but he kept quiet. The fact they’d survived was worth more to him than bantering with the crazy pilot. He’d saved their lives and for that, Heat’s guys would probably buy him a lot of drinks. Unfortunately, they’d lost a man … Dorian was gone. Considering the odds, they did pretty well but it didn’t make it easier.

  How are those people marooned down there going to survive? How have they survived so long? It makes no sense. Their ship’s automated defenses must be sufficient to keep those monsters back. Or maybe they only bother invaders when they go into their sacred temples. Either way, I don’t envy them … even if they were too stubborn to accept our help.

  ***

  The Gnosis broke orbit and headed away from the planet. They needed a place safe for departure, somewhere they’d be able to initiate hyperspace the moment they knew where they were going. Cassie sat in the tech center with Thayne and Gil when Gorman arrived, still in his power armor. He gave them his computer and left for his debriefing.

  “Excellent!” Thayne attached it to the computer with a physical connection for a swifter download. “Shouldn’t take too long now to get what we need and be on our way.”

  Gil nodded. “We’ll need some time to decrypt it, too. Luckily, I’ve already broken the code. The process might take an hour or so.”

  Cassie said, “It’ll take a while to get to a safe hyperspace position. Plenty of time to find what we’re after … right?”

  “Should be,” Thayne said. “But while that happens, I’m going to have something to consume. Do you both care to join me?”

  “I’m fine,” Cassie replied. “I’ll report what we’re up to while you both indulge. They’ll want to know before we leave, I’m sure.” She watched them go before establishing a connection to Vincent. “Hi …”

  “Oh! Hey …” Vincent was in his quarters. “Um … how’s it going?”

  “The information is downloading from the marines,” Cassie said. “We’re anticipating it to be available for query soon. Once it is, we’ll dive in.”

  “Good, great. I’m hoping you’ll be able to give us some coordinates before we’re ready to go.”

  “That’s the plan.” Cassie cleared her throat. “That um … that’s all. I just wanted to give you a quick update.”

  “Thank you. That’s great. Perfect.” Vincent smirked. “Maybe when we’re on our way to the next place, you can slow down for an hour to have dinner.”

  Cassie’s first instinct was to say no but she held it back. “I guess we’ll see how intense this research is, huh?”

  Vincent nodded emphatically. “Absolutely. It could be crazy. You might be really busy. I get it. But … you know … we all have to eat. And take breaks. I have to remind Zach all the time. He’d sleep in his chair on the bridge if he could, I swear.”

  Cassie chuckled. “I know. I’ll be sure to contact you when I have a few minutes.”

  “Thanks, Cassie … Good luck.”

  Cassie killed the connection and slumped in her chair. She had to admit, Vincent was an attractive guy and she’d dated far worse in her time. Unfortunately, neither of them could really afford the distraction. Especially not while out there in the middle of nowhere. While the Pahxin had charted the area, humanity had not.

  Being the first humans to set eyes on these places meant they needed to be particularly wary. If anything went wrong, no one was coming to save them. This danger unto itself ensured they needed to remain vigilant. Though if Cassie was to be honest, her constant engagement didn’t mean a whole lot to their survival.

  And having dinner with an officer wouldn’t exactly cut into any specific duty. Maybe it would be nice and if it happens organically, then all is well. I won’t force it, one way or another.

  Chapter 8

  Desmond sat in the briefing room before the others arrived, reading through the reports from both the pilots involved in the action and the marines. The mutants proved to be as big of a problem as they feared. It made sense why the Pahxin quarantined the planet. The Kalrawv Group risked a great deal for their potential weapon.

  They clearly hired daring people, those willing to wait in some of the worst conditions Desmond had even imagined rather than work with potentially friendly strangers. He wondered about their loyalties and where they stemmed from. If it was just another corporation, a business essentially, then what did they pay them for such devotion?

  Or was it more about leverage? Did the Kalrawv Group blackmail their employees into total obedience? These were questions he would ask Gil later when they weren’t involved in a critical assignment. The enemy pilots proved to be tough and willing to take crazy risks … though not quite as insane as their own pilot.

  Alicia Quinn would likely be speaking to her squadron leader about the actions listed in the report. Considering her actions very likely saved the marines, Desmond doubted there would be a formal reprimand. However, he did expect she would hear about taking unnecessary risks during combat.

  One of the marines died during the fighting, a private named Remus Kelly. He’d taken a shot while they were moving for cover, some kind of beam weapon capable of tearing through the power armor. Scan data from the combat would be analyzed by the engineers to see about better protecting themselves against such attacks in the future but it didn’t help the young man.

  That’s three marines lost to these trips so far. Desmond sighed. We need those personal shields. It might’ve saved some lives.

  Gil, Thayne and Cassie were able to extract the data from the download and would arrive at any moment to provide a briefing on what they had discovered. Vincent planned to join them along with Salina. Zach had the bridge. They’d traveled four hours away from the facility and were in a good position to hyperspace out of the area.

  We just need a destination.

  The others filed into the room, taking seats around the table. Cassie tapped her computer and took control of the large screen occupying the wall. A solar system appeared and it took a moment for Desmond to recognize it as the one they were currently in. He noted the scans indicated only one habitable planet.

  The rest were barren but each held a notation beneath the image. At one time, they were all habitable in some way, but some event had devastated them. Abandoned structures on different planets were little more than ghost towns, standing in the wastes of poisoned atmosphere and wild temperatures.

  “So this place looks like it’s seen better days,” Desmond commented. “Where are we going to start?”

  “History of this system,” Cassie said. “I’m speaking for the team. We found logs from scientists who lived on that planet, the leading men and women who helped build some of the most advanced technology anyone’s ever seen … even the Pahxin. They relied heavily on automation and artificial intelligence to run the foundation of their society.

  “They were connected up to all the planets in the solar system, which they’d occupied in various fashions. Some required domes while others they were able to modify the environment to be livable. A centralized station, which crashed in the northern hemisphere of the world we visited, maintained all technology for every planet.”

  “That seems crazy,” Desmond said. “I’m assuming there were backups and such.”

  “Yes, on each world,” Cassie replied. “Unfortunately, they weren’t segregated from the main system. So while they could take over if the signal was lost for a few days, they would sync back up quickly which leads us to what happened here. Every planet in this solar system died within a few weeks.”

  “How?” Vincent asked. “Nothing could work so quickly … cause so much devastation. I mean, even if someone weaponized the formula Gil found, it wouldn’t cause all this. Correct me if I’m wrong.”

  Cassie shook her head. “You’re not but this wasn’t a straightforward attack.”
She tapped her computer and the solar system flattened and several dotted lines appeared, starting from outside the system and touching a block near the primary world. From there, solid lines branched out to the different planets.

  Desmond frowned. “Someone attacked the station.”

  Cassie shrugged. “Maybe. The logs state they detected a signal which originated somewhere beyond their solar system. It went straight to the station and from there, branched out to all the worlds it interacted with. Within hours, strange things began to happen, but they didn’t have time to isolate the problem before the violence broke out.”

  Vincent’s brows raised. “Violence? Why? What happened?”

  Cassie brought up another screen showing twenty different columns, each with a different color. “While the people of these worlds lived in relative peace, they were still divided into several factions. These were groups living in different sections of the worlds with the smaller controlled by two or less of these pseudo nations.

  “Shortly after the signal hit the station, the groups began fighting. We have reports that they blamed each other for attacks which left infrastructure devastated and civilians dead. Retaliation followed and before anyone could talk about the events leading to the war, they’d already sent themselves spiraling toward destruction.”

  “Bad enough to warrant all this?” Desmond gestured at the screen. “To corrupt the people into those monsters?”

  “They relied on power plants built from the formula Gil found,” Cassie explained. “While they had it regulated fairly well, they weren’t built to withstand explosions and direct assaults. The radiation leaks alone were enough to cause widespread death and contamination. Those who survived the initial problems were further altered by the water.”

  “Wow …” Vincent shook his head. “So the entire solar system entered into a massive war because a signal hit the station and … what? Made the AI go crazy?”

  “Yes,” Cassie said. “And in a subtle enough way to not be obvious. Whatever that signal said to the station made it perform actions in the right way to make the catastrophe look like sabotage … like attacks, not malfunctions. It didn’t help that there was some suspicion between the factions too. Not on the verge of hurting each other but they were definitely competitive.”

  “So we know what happened here,” Desmond said. “What about this signal? What else did the scientists know about it?”

  “They were able to plot a trajectory.” Cassie brought the slide back up with the line leaving the system. “Their data shows where it came from and we did our own theorizing about it. Unfortunately for them, while they definitely figured out where they were attacked from, they had no way of figuring out why or who did it.”

  “But you know where?” Desmond clarified.

  “Yes, we have the coordinates and we can plot a course at any time.” Cassie brought up another slide, a different system with ten planets surrounding a star. “This is where we’ll be going. Unfortunately, even Thayne and Gil were unable to discern much about it. It may still be inhabited because the interference we’re receiving appears to be generated from technology.”

  Thayne stepped in, “There’s a continuous signal blocking our deep scans. We’re able to find a safe place to hyperspace in but beyond that, we cannot tell if there are ships there or the population. However, we all believe this is where we will find the answers to why the Tol’An are trying to collect the Orbs.”

  “Furthermore,” Cassie added, “we’ve checked the surrounding solar systems, several Gil claimed are pretty much like the place we just visited. They’re all in a similar state. Trashed and either uninhabited or blasted back to something like a modern stone age. Technology went crazy on those worlds and whatever made it do so is there.” She gestured to the screen.

  Desmond narrowed his eyes at the screen, contemplating the situation. They’d left Earth to figure this out, to find the answer about the Tol’An’s plans. The risk of traveling to the new system weighed on him. They had no idea what to expect. There could be an entire fleet or it may be just as dead as the others.

  If there are sentient beings alive there, why would they wipe out their neighbors knowingly? Something isn’t passing the sniff test here. Pure malevolence doesn’t ring true to me.

  Vincent asked, “What’re the chances the Gnosis will be impacted by whatever hit the technology here?”

  “The signal ceased to broadcast a long time ago,” Cassie said. “It would have to hit us directly but now that we know about it, we can protect ourselves against it. The power of this attack, if that’s what it was, is the surprise nature of it. No one knew the AI would go crazy so they weren’t prepared for the repercussions.”

  “I don’t think we have a choice,” Desmond said. “We need to get out there and see what’s going on. If we have any hope of understanding our enemy, we need to know what’s got him spooked. Maybe this information will help us in our negotiations with Thayne’s people. They’re unhappy with the Tol’An too … Any evidence against them should be good.”

  “Definitely,” Thayne said. “Unless our military is far more clever than I suspect, and I do not believe they are, then they will not have this information. The motivations of our enemies have always been suspect, however. The cult mentality of the Tol’An makes them dangerous and unpredictable. We may have just proven otherwise.”

  “Indeed.” Desmond turned to Salina. “What’s your opinion?”

  “I believe we’re on the right path,” Salina said. “And I’d like to work with Zach to plot our course immediately.”

  “Go ahead.” Desmond turned to Vincent. “Get me an ETA for departure as soon as you can. Let engineering know we’ll be out of here soon and give the fighter pilot’s a heads up. We might need them again. Cassie, you guys did great work. Thank you. I appreciate it. We’re on the final push now, folks. Don’t lose focus when we’re close to the end.”

  Desmond watched the team depart and remained behind, contemplating the information they had shared. An entire civilization wiped out in such a short period of time. The concept felt eerie. Technology became a sentient being’s method to overcome physical inadequacies, to give people time to innovate and think.

  Such advances were tools but when they became crutches, then terrible things could happen. Humanity proved to be fortuitously thoughtful about how they allowed technology into their lives. So far, most things were not required to survive. However, they hadn’t reached a point where computers controlled every basic aspect of life.

  At such point, they’d be just as susceptible to destruction as these worlds. A strange signal might come along and destroy them as well if they weren’t prepared. If the Tol’An knew half of what they’d just discovered, he understood why they were looking for a way to avoid it. Considering the annihilation he had just learned about, their violent methods even made sense.

  I wonder if they warned anyone before taking it upon themselves to protect the galaxy. Perhaps if they’d worked with their culture, they might’ve had some buy in. Something tells me they want to be saviors though, those who protect the people from a horror. It would give them power, put them in a position to usurp authority.

  Desmond doubted any chance of altruism from the Tol’An. They’d proven themselves monstrous with how their captured individual died from some triggered response during interrogation. They kidnapped Thayne, attacked Earth and stole their own culture’s Orb. Ultimately, whatever they managed to do would not put them in a positive light.

  They were pirates with a religious code to excuse their actions. Maybe their leadership even believed in the propaganda, but Desmond thought of it as a publicity stunt. The Tol’An shouted out what they stood for to mask their base desire to control the lives of others. Sadly for them, humanity had spent the better part of four hundred years defying such groups.

  We sure aren’t going to stop now.

  ***

  Alicia reported to Squadron Leader Arden’s office, prepared for a re
primand. He sat behind the desk, reading her file on the computer while she stood at attention, waiting for his commentary. Part of her didn’t care what he had to say. She knew she’d done the right things during the mission and saved many lives.

  Anything he had to criticize would be protocol related and those wouldn’t keep her from flying.

  “You had quite the day,” Dennis said. “Would you say some of your stunts weren’t exactly by the book, Officer?”

  “No sir, they were not,” Alicia replied. Her brown hair was cut fairly short, but her bangs tickled her forehead. She desperately wanted to brush them aside but she hadn’t been given permission to leave attention.

  “Care to explain?”

  “Permission to speak freely?” Alicia asked.

  “Granted.”

  “I did what I had to do not only to survive but to assist my squadron in their mission. The risks I took were well within my skills to remain safe.” She paused, wondering if the rest of her statement was wise. She decided it didn’t matter. “You must’ve realized I had it or you wouldn’t have sent me to provide cover for the marines.”

  “There were two things I didn’t like about your flying out there,” Dennis said. “One involved your disregard for sticking to your wingman. I went over your flight recorder and you rarely linked back up. That put you both at risk. The second thing was those maneuvers. You’re lucky to be alive after pulling those off and I’m shocked you’re not sore.”

  “It was jarring, sir,” Alicia replied. “But I could handle it. Furthermore, the fighting down there was less conducive to our standard operating procedures. We had to adapt to the enemy and that involved some erratic patterns. Kate got hit because she wasn’t evasive enough. Those guys didn’t care what happened to their bodies as long as they won.”

  Dennis seemed to fume on her comment for a moment before continuing on. “I looked over your file and I don’t see anything in your past that shows how you were able to pull those maneuvers off. What did you do before you joined the military?”