by S. H. Jucha
* * *
The scout ships paid close attention to the battle action in system, while monitoring the comm sphere and its protective ships. They too took notice of the cessation of the sphere’s broadcast.
There was an intense exchange between Killian, Bethley, Trium, and Linn, as to when to launch the banishers. It was Killian, who voiced an opinion to wait and Linn, who wondered if the launch would be necessary.
The conversation ended, and the scout ship SADEs continued to wait. When Cordelia’s announcement of the defeat of the last of the enemy fighters reached them, Killian didn’t hesitate. He triggered the launch of the banishers.
The tiny vessels, which were used to eliminate probes, ran their stored programs, and the directive had them slipping out from behind their hiding places. They would leave the heavy gravitational field of the nearby heavy bodies to reach the collection of ships surrounding the sphere, but their power crystals carried more than enough energy to reach the enemy ships.
Silently and swiftly the banishers streaked toward the alien warships. They were halfway to their targets, when the comm sphere detected the small probe eliminators. Immediately, it withdrew from its protective globe, darting out the back.
The alien warships held their positions until the sphere achieved sufficient velocity to outrun the banishers. Then they abandoned their places, but it wasn’t in the orderly manner in which they had assembled. The more powerful ships broke away to the outside of the globe and accelerated. Older and slower ships attempted to use their maneuvering jets to make an about face and run for it.
The vast majority of the banishers homed in on the more technologically advanced warships, chasing them from the scene. In the general mêlée, the targeted ship crossed behind the path of two other aging vessels. Though not similar in design, they appeared equally dilapidated.
The four banishers, carrying the engineering team’s signal transponders, failed to get a clean pathway to the target ship. Only one signal buoy was planted on the target ship, although that was all that was necessary. The other three transponders struck the other two inferior vessels.
Killian replied.
Within less than a half hour, the aliens had transited, clearing the field of space, and Killian connected to Alex.
* * *
With the limited telemetry provided Franz by his damaged and out-of-control traveler, he saw that the remainder of his ship was headed for a large rock. At the ship’s present velocity, there was only one outcome. He thought he was about to join the stuff of stars when his trajectory suddenly changed. Telemetry displayed two of the three hulls of a Trident.
Franz let out a breath that he hadn’t realized he was holding.
Franz realized it was Darius’ Prosecutor that had tethered him, and, with their proximity, Darius could communicate directly with him via their comm sisters.
Once aboard the Prosecutor and extricated from the remains of his traveler, Franz examined the wreck. The after section of the traveler’s hull was shredded away. The kinetic projectiles had cut his fighter down to half its length.
“Chief, remember there’s a Miriam copy active in there somewhere,” Franz said, indicating the destroyed traveler.
“I’m not aware of where the sisters are installed in the travelers or the procedure to remove one of them, Admiral, but I’ll check with Miriam. She can guide me,” the chief replied.
* * *
In the aftermath of the greatest battle that humans and SADEs had ever fought, Alex met with his senior staff, fleet commanders, and SADEs to consider the toll they’d paid for challenging a vast, despotic empire.
“One piece of good news,” Reiko remarked. “The freighters are fine. Not a single projectile touched them.”
“And we’re grateful for that,” remarked a Méridien senior captain by the name of Tindleson.
“Unfortunately, the Freedom wasn’t so fortunate,” Cordelia said. “Our casualties are minimal. Moving personnel inward saved many lives,” she added, nodding toward Renée, who’d originally moved nonessential personnel from the outer areas.
“However, numerous projectiles penetrated our hull, our bays, and extended several decks inward,” Cordelia continued. “These areas are now open to space. In most cases, the holes can be easily fixed by tubes of nanites, although it will be a painstaking process. The finish work won’t be pretty, but it’ll be solid.”
“Solid is good,” Alex replied, “and the status of your beam weapons?”
“Regrettably, Alex, eleven emplacements have suffered varying degrees of damage. In addition, two rail mounts and their tubes were ejected, when power crystals were exploded by projectiles.”
“Are these two recoverable?” Alex asked.
“The tubes and mounts have no tracking beacons, and they were ejected into the dark,” Cordelia replied. “Recovery would waste our resources with potentially little opportunity for useful results.”
“Mickey, are the repairs to the other damaged beam weapons min
or or major?” Alex asked.
“Luther conducted the analysis,” Mickey replied, turning his head toward the SADE.
“Eight of the emplacements will require disassembly before repairs can be completed, and the other three require extensive replacement of crystals and control systems,” Luther enumerated.
“Your turn, Admiral,” Alex said to Tatia, mentally preparing for the worst of the reports.
“We lost six Tridents, crews, ships, and all, Alex,” Tatia replied, “and of the twenty-nine travelers, which were destroyed, we managed to save only one pilot.”
The audience glanced toward Franz. Reiko sat close to him, as if her nearness salved her emotional trauma over his near loss.
“In addition, the enemy’s kinetic armament penetrated our ships’ hulls, killing and wounding a significant number of crew members,” Tatia continued. “Our ships’ shells have been holed and chipped, and this is not to mention the damage done to internal systems.”
“Pia, what’s the status of the medical suites?” Alex asked.
“We’ve requested and received additional personnel to help with the wounded, and we built a new area for post-therapy recover.” Pia replied. “Many of the wounded crew members will require weeks for reconstruction of limbs and replacement of severe tissue damage.”
“Do you have everything you need, Pia?” Alex asked, his pain leaking through his words.
“We were sufficiently prepared, Alex,” Pia replied.
Alex sat quietly, digesting the summaries of his key people. While the toll could have been greater, he’d hoped that the size of the expedition would have induced the alien federacy to communicate, even though he thought the odds were slim that they would do so.
“It appears we’ll be here for a while,” Alex said quietly.
“What if the aliens return with a larger fleet?” Reiko asked.
“That’s not statistically probable,” Julien announced firmly. “The enemy threw a potentially overwhelming force at us, and they were defeated. At this time, the comm sphere is reporting to its masters, and their deliberations, as what to do next, will take time. If they choose to attack us again, they must assemble new forces, which will be required to journey here. We have time.”
“I agree with Julien,” Alex said. “We have months, at the least, if not a year. Mickey, we need to rebuild.”
“We built a bay to lay up traveler shells, Alex,” Mickey replied, “and we can use that for repairs. The question is: Can shells, which are this damaged, be returned to a fairly pristine state?”
“The Swei Swee could,” Alex noted and turned to focus on Emile Billings.
It had been a surprise to Alex that Emile Billings had joined the expedition. They had a great need for his skills, but the biochemist had a wife, Janine, and a teenage daughter, Mincie, soon to attend university. He discovered that it was Mincie who had settled the argument between husband and wife, as to whether to go or stay.
Mincie’s close friends would be traveling aboard the Freedom. More important, the years spent with her father, first at Haraken and then at Omnia, had given the daughter a taste for adventure. As she told her parents, “Even if you both choose to stay, I’m going.”
“The problem is, Alex,” Emile said, “we’ve built faux shells since day one and not once have we been required to repair any of these travelers.”
“Do you think you can do it?” Alex asked.
“Ostensibly, the answer is yes,” Emile replied. “We’ll assemble a team and figure out how to do it.”
“Emile, Mickey, Miranda, that’s your priority,” Alex said. “Focus on creating the process and repairing the travelers.”
“What about the Tridents?” Tatia asked.
“We need an orbital platform, which we don’t have,” Mickey stated regretfully.
“Perhaps we do,” Tindleson said. “One of our freighters, the Stardust, was built specifically for this possibility. It was meant to operate as a small platform. While the design didn’t anticipate housing a Trident, I think we can modify it.”
“How does it work?” Mickey asked.
During the conversation, Miriam and Luther had linked to the Freedom’s controller and then to the Stardust, retrieving its structural plans.
“The bay doors on both sides of the freighter have a unique design,” Tindleson said. He got that far, when the holo-vid in the middle of the group activated and the Stardust appeared in a wireframe mode. Its bays doors began unfolding.
“My thanks,” Tindleson said to the SADEs, not knowing which of them had provided the view. “As you can see,” he continued, “the doors are split horizontally instead of vertically. There are multiple sections tucked up behind the outer doors. Once the doors are fully extended, the sections which are attached to the doors unfold to form a box that can create a sealed bay.”
“The space is great enough to shelter a Trident,” Miriam stated, which resulted in a lift of spirits. The expedition had been dealt a heavy blow. What was needed, more than anything, was to give the Omnians a new focus, and rebuilding the fleet was the answer.
“Our freighters don’t possess the structure or materials to repair Trident shells,” Tindleson said. “We’ll depend on Ser Billings and Brandon’s efforts to handle any damage to the hulls. However, our Méridien freighters carry much of the material necessary to repair the internal systems of Tridents and travelers. We can begin repairs on the Tridents as soon as we prepare the extended bay and transfer the needed supplies to the Stardust.”
Alex glanced toward Julien.
“One of the Haraken freighters is loaded with the new power crystals,” Cordelia noted. “They aren’t large enough to be used as replacements for this ship’s destroyed beam weapons, but they are perfectly suited for repairs to the Tridents’ weapons and grav-drives.
“Then we have what we need … capable people, the equipment, the material, and, most of all, the will,” Alex said. “Let’s see to our wounded, start repairs, setup the Stardust, and perform star services for the dead. And we’ll wait for word from our scout ships.”
-14-
Sisterhood
The losses the sisters suffered reduced a portion of their effectiveness, but they had the means to rebalance. Miriam and Luther designed the sisters’ comm structures with ample data crystals, in the event the primary copies needed the space. The sisters made good use of that extensive space and handed off their more mundane tasks to the ships’ controllers.
During the battle, the sisters gathered days of data signals from the comm sphere and the carriers. They were hard at work dissecting every aspect of the enemy’s communication. It was the Sisterhood’s intention to become formidable adversaries when the fleet met the alien federation again.
“Alex, we have an anomaly to investigate,” Julien said to Alex, during morning meal. “The sister’s power consumption has increased on an order of four to eight times, depending on the vessels they’re housed aboard.”
At the end of the meal, Alex linked to Miriam and Luther and requested they meet with him in a small conference room. When everyone was seated, Alex asked Miriam and Luther about what Julien had shared.
“The increased energy flow has been noticed,” Miriam replied.
“What reason have the sisters given for this change?” Alex asked.
“They’ve not been forthcoming with a clear explanation,” Luther replied.
Alex examined the faces of Miriam and Luther. What he heard disturbed him. Typically, SADEs were known for being direct, often blunt, rather than circumspect.
“What’s going on?” Alex asked. When he failed to receive an answer, he connected to Miriamal.
Julien sent with power, which was uncharacteristic of him.
Silence ruled the comm.
Alex discreetly covered the smile on his face. The significant issue of requiring the Sisterhood to communicate openly and directly had been addressed. The sisters’ dismissal of algorithms that curtailed their abilities to protect the fleet was understandable. Every SADE edited their programming. The difference between most SADEs and the sisters was the circumstances under which they did that. And that difference was entirely related to the influences of those in their immediate sphere, which determined whether those edits were favorable or not to their relationships with humans. In Alex’s mind, the Sisterhood had diverged slightly from the path of conforming with human norms but for a good reason.