Spirit of Empire 4: Sky Knights

by Lawrence White

  Claire, still in the background, spoke up. “The peicks were designed to fight Chessori. That included not just using the net, but taking the net away from the Chessori and defending their hold on that net. I cannot speak to the capabilities of super peicks, but I suspect their powers might even be stronger.”

  “Something like that might explain what I ran into,” Akurea said.

  “My Lady,” Claire continued, “Our scientists programmed an off-response into the peicks’ DNA as a safety. There’s probably only one super peick in command of the net. Your job is to reach it and activate the off response.”

  “What are we looking for?” Akurea asked.

  “I don’t know. All I know is that there will be a virtual control panel. The peick code is 9238#TJB45. I hope it’s the same for the super peicks.”

  Akurea just stared at her. “You’re not joking, are you,” she said.

  “No, My Lady.”

  Josh blinked. He had always considered the net to be harmless. He was out of his element here, but that had become a frequent occurrence since leaving Earth and coming to the Empire. “I have a lot of soldiers,” he said. ‘What do you suggest I do with them?”

  “The best offense against a net intrusion is to physically take out the perpetrators,” Jas said.

  “Okay. I’ll do what I can. I have five Great Cats, maybe six depending on Lex’s condition. Besides them I have four Terran Protectors, myself, Lebac’s marines, and the ship’s crew.”

  “No,” Akurea said softly. “I’m taking all your Great Cats.” Josh stared at her blankly—the Great Cats were his strongest fighters. She did not keep him waiting. “They’re going into the net.”

  “With you?”

  “Not exactly. We can’t be in a normal net at the same time as the Great Cats—they overpower everyone—but this net is fragmented, so I think we can be in together without actually coming into contact with each other.” She looked to Jas. “We’ve already gotten a taste of what we’re up against, and you and I are not strong enough by ourselves. Great Cats are strong, and I’m counting on that strength to distract the super peicks while we do what we have to do. I want to follow the Protectors, not lead them. Their strength may be our only hope.”

  Akurea, her quarters guarded by two Terran Protectors and ten marines, went back into the net to initiate the Korban option and to begin her own dark journey. Jas, guarded by his own squad of marines, returned to his operations center where he would do the same.

  Josh briefed the Great Cats who then dispersed in pairs to three different parts of the ship. The cats grumbled when Lebac detailed marines to go with them and provide protection, but they understood that they would not be able to physically defend themselves while in the net.

  He detailed two more Terran Protectors to guard Atiana who was most likely in sick bay keeping an eye on Havlock’s tank. Claire, who was still following him everywhere, looked at him with big, hopeful eyes. He frowned, but he had to admit that her shooting was first rate. He added her to Atiana’s protection detail.

  Finally, Josh headed for his own personal challenge: the bridge.

  * * * * *

  The two Protectors assigned to guard Atiana reached sick bay with Claire following close behind. There, they found Atiana organizing the medical staff to repel boarders. Loose equipment had been moved to each end of the room, and they were working on detaching beds and heavier equipment from the deck. Though disorganized, the area shone with cleanliness, everything completely white except the people.

  Claire stood out, covered as she was in blood from the peicks she had killed, and the Protectors were covered head to toe in their blue battle armor, both of them spattered in blood as well. The medical staff wore clean, light blue, disposable tops and bottoms. Six medical tanks lined the wall on the right, and recovery rooms lined the wall on the left. The area opened into cross corridors on each end, so they had to guard two entrances.

  The Protectors each took an entrance while Claire briefed the staff on what had happened and what to look for. When she was done, Atiana came up to her and handed her a translator device.

  “Who are you?” she asked when Claire finished attaching the unit to her ear.

  Claire considered her answer, then said, “At this point, I guess I’m a refugee.”

  Atiana’s forehead creased, then her eyes opened wide. “You’re from Harac.”

  “Yes, ma’am. May I ask who you are?” Claire asked, fondling the translator device on her ear.

  “I’m Queen Atiana.”

  Claire’s eyes bulged. “You’re the Queen?”

  “No. Definitely not. I’m queen of a small province on an emerging world. I’m sorry, but I speak very little of your language.” She pulled out a pad and said, “I’m learning though.” Her eyes narrowed. “Who’s blood is that?”

  “It used to belong to peicks,” Claire answered. She curtsied, though she kept her weapon ready and her eyes moving around the room. She knew that if peicks or super peicks showed up, it would be a brief, intense fight. Despite the number of weapons in the area, she could not predict the outcome.

  “Pleased to meet you, Your Majesty,” she said. She looked at Atiana’s sidearm and frowned. “That’s a strange one. Something new? And since when did queens start carrying weapons? Do you know how to use it?”

  Atiana smiled. “Yes, I know how to use it. I have a feeling we both have interesting stories. I need to speak with a Protector briefly.” She looked at Claire’s sidearm which was out of its holster and in her hand. “Do you know how to use yours?”

  “I know very well, Your Majesty.”

  Atiana pointed to the tank holding Havlock. “He’s the most important person in the room. We must protect him at all costs. Will you keep an eye on him while I’m away?”

  Claire shook her head. “Not so, Your Majesty. If you’re the Atiana who Sir Josh spoke about, you might end up being the most important person on the ship.”

  When Atiana looked a question to her, Claire moved in close and spoke in a whisper, explaining what would happen if one of a small group of people, of whom Atiana was one, were not in the net. When she was done, Atiana looked sick.

  “Should I go into the net right now?” she whispered back.

  Claire looked up to the ceiling as she considered, then she shook her head. Continuing to whisper in case the peicks were listening, she said, “Probably not. If the super peicks have control of the net, it will give your location away. However, we should be prepared for you to go in. Let me check around and see if I can get you set up.”

  Five minutes later she returned with two helmets and and their associated cables. She attached the cables to wall outlets in a recovery room and set the helmets on the bed. “This should be your place until we hear otherwise, Your Majesty. You should be ready to put the helmet on at a moment’s notice.”

  “Why two helmets?”

  “The peicks were given the ability to not only use the net but to take it over and defend it against use by the Chessori. I don’t know the capabilities of these super peicks, but I have a feeling they’re brutal and strong, and they have a vested interest in keeping us out. If you’re our last hope, someone needs to go in before you to clear the way.”

  “You?”

  “If necessary.”

  “Can you?”

  Claire frowned. “I don’t know what we’re up against, and I’ve never been on a ship’s net, but I’ve spent plenty of time in our own net. My specialty is mathematics.” She looked sharply to Atiana. “Regardless of what you see and feel on the net, it’s really just mathematics and trons.”

  Atiana reached a hand out to Claire’s face. “I’m sorry, but I have no idea what you just said.”

  “About the net?”

  “Yes. I’ve heard the term mathematics, though I don’t know what it means. What’s a tron?”

  Claire remembered that she was speaking with someone from an emerging world. There had to be a story here, but now was not
the time. “I’m talking about numbers and particles—electrons, photons, that sort of thing. They’re what make up the virtual world.”

  Atiana just shook her head in defeat. “I understand the part about survival of the ship coming first. That’s enough.”

  Claire shook her head. “I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but you’re wrong. This is just a ship, and it’s infected. I believe it has seen its last mission. Saving its crew and my people are all that matter now.”

  Claire’s meaning came as a blow to Atiana. This great ship might die? And everyone in it might die? Her gaze went to Havlock’s tank, and she knew there was no way the tank would survive if the ship died.

  Her mind came back into tight focus. “I’ll do whatever is necessary,” she said to Claire, “starting with talking to the Protectors. We should send scouts out into the corridors. If a peick comes for us, we’ll have a better chance of survival if we have warning.”

  “I’ll do it for you, though they probably know more about this than either of us. Wait here. I won’t be gone long.”

  Atiana watched Claire walk away, then turned to the tank holding Havlock. “What have we done?” she whispered to him, though she knew he could not hear. “As usual, nothing’s simple around you.”

  Claire approached Sergeant Tsarnov who was kneeling down behind an overturned table inside one set of closed doors to sick bay. She squatted down beside him and spoke softly, “The Queen didn’t know her purpose. She does now. How will we know if she needs to go into the net?”

  The man frowned. “I should have thought of that. I take it she’s not on our comm network.”

  “I don’t think so.”

  Just then their ears popped with a pressure change and they felt a distant explosion. Tsarnov called Josh. It took several minutes, but when he got through he spoke obliquely in case the peicks were monitoring. In short order, he nodded and turned back to Claire. “They took out the operations center and everyone in it, including Admiral Jas. The countdown has begun. We have 116 minutes.”

  Claire noted the time and nodded. “The queen was wondering if you had thought about sending out scouts.”

  He smiled grimly. “Always the soldier, that one. Tell her they’re already in position. Both corridors are barricaded in both directions. I’ve kept the doctors and a few senior people in here. The rest of the staff are manning the barricades.”

  Her eyebrows lifted. “You sent medical people out into the corridors?”

  Tsarnov nodded. “I doubt if any of them has fired a weapon since their initial training, but I don’t need them to stop the critters. I just need them to give us a little warning.”

  Claire stared into hard eyes, appreciating the harshness of the choice he had made. Her people had made hard choices over the years as well, including the choice to blow themselves up rather than be taken by peicks.

  “Stay with her,” Tsarnov said, nodding his head in Atiana’s direction. “You might be her last layer of defense. She has quite a reputation as a fighter, and so do you. The two of you will make a good team.”

  Claire stood up and returned to Atiana. “Scouts are in place. The countdown has started. If we haven’t heard otherwise, we’ll think about getting you into the net in an hour or so. In the meantime, let’s see if we can set up our own defensive position here.”

  “I won’t leave the tank undefended,” Atiana said.

  Claire nodded in understanding, though she disagreed. “Your Majesty, the peicks will have no interest in a tank. If they come here at all, it will be for you. I suggest we get you as far from that tank as possible.”

  Atiana considered, but she knew what Claire meant. “If they understand my purpose, it will be to their advantage to keep me alive.”

  Claire’s eyes rose to the ceiling in thought. “You’re right. I don’t really understand, but I overheard Galborae telling Sir Josh about some Leaf People who feared these super peicks. He said they had gone to a lot of trouble to make certain they never spread to the Empire. Does that clarify anything?”

  Atiana’s lips firmed as she mentally reviewed the steps the Leaf People had taken to reach this point, including Galborae’s final vision. She nodded to herself, then focused back on Claire. “It means the peicks must not leave this place—ever. No matter what. I will do my part to keep the ship alive, but if the peicks have a clear win, I will withdraw.”

  Claire took her hand and nodded, then the two embraced briefly.

  “What kind of barrier will stop them?” Atiana asked, looking around at the loose equipment.

  “Nothing will stop them, but we don’t have to stop them. We just have to slow them down long enough to know where they are.” She pulled Atiana to her feet, and the two of them went in search of the right kind of hiding place.

  * * * * *

  Lex’s body was injured, but his mind was not. He stayed on the floater, pushed by a marine to an officer’s stateroom. There, marines would guard him and another Great Cat while they went into the net.

  Great Cats rarely went into the net—their thought processes tended to drive individuals of most species crazy—which meant they were not experts, but they could get by. He pulled on the helmet and lay back while the net did its thing, then he was in.

  But what was he in? There was no net. Instead, a vast, misty swamp surrounded him, seen only vaguely through a weak light. He looked out over small, brackish ponds separated by mounds of grass and moss. A larger lake lay off to his right in the distance. Scraggly, mossy trees, their branches mostly bare, clumped here and there. His mind automatically categorized them as potential places for cover, though they would provide cover to his enemies as well.

  He looked up, but there was no sun. Even so, the light felt like twilight just after sundown. There was no smell, though there was never any smell in the net—smell was not a strong point of computers. Great Cats smelled their way through life, and the absence of odors always came as a blow. Lex felt like he was operating with a severe handicap.

  Nor was there any sound, at least not yet. He growled low in his throat, and discovered that, yes, sound did exist in this strange place. Still, he sensed no other life in this place that should have been filled with people, sounds, and ribbons of trons to follow through the net.

  He turned, searching, and saw his brother, Kas, materialize nearby. Kas instantly flattened himself to the ground and began a careful search just as Lex had. His gaze crossed Lex’s, but he gave no indication. His eyes continued their search. Lex saw his nose and ears searching as well.

  Which way to go? The only abnormality that really stood out in this amazingly abnormal net was a slight red glow on the horizon to his left. He looked to Kas, and Kas nodded toward the red glow. The two moved out in their prowling mode, knowing they were somewhere on a battlefield, but knowing they did not know the rules of the battle or the dimensions of the battlefield.

  That was okay with them. Great Cats were users of high technology, but that did not mean they understood it. In fact, none of the Protectors had a detailed understanding of the world in which they practiced their craft. Their real world, their home world, was a more primitive place of continual sensation, constant threats, reward for the strong, and death for the weak. Great Cats tended to feel their way through life along pathways of sensations tempered by logic, but in this place of non-real which civilized people called the net, Great Cats had to fall back on a more fundamental instinct: will.

  He and Kas traveled perhaps a mile in their hunting mode when suddenly a streak of red light appeared low down in the sky. The streak struck Kas in the head and he went down with a scream, but he was back up in an instant. Another streak came from the same place, high up in a tree ahead of them. Lex leaped sideways, and a streak intended for him missed, but another streak right behind it hit him in the head. He screamed inadvertently and went down.

  The streak had not wounded his body, it had wounded his mind. He felt weaker for it.

  He and Kas split up and raced for cover.
Lex found a small mound behind which he could lay while he recovered. He was a survivor, and his mind focused just on survival for the moment. How could he have been wounded inside the net? The net did not exist in reality.

  Then he reconsidered—the net did not exist in his reality, but it did exist theoretically, meaning it existed within scientific laws he did not understand. So it did exist in reality, but weapons here would not be physical, they would be more like theoretical, a creation of the mind.

  Maybe that’s why he and Kas and taken hits to their heads. The red streak had struck his mind.

  If the super peicks were using weapons of the mind, could he?

  He looked hard at the top of the tree from which the streak had come. He could not make out a physical creature, but that made sense since the peicks blended in so well in the natural world. However, he saw a dim red glow near the top of the tree. He focused on that glow, then thrust his hand out toward it, grunting as he put all his will behind the thrust.

  A bright red streak much stronger than the one from the peick left his hand and crossed the distance, striking the tree but missing the red glow. Still, he heard a shriek and the red glow moved quickly down the tree and disappeared, so it must have affected the super peick.

  Hmm. Interesting. He looked hard for more dull red glows, saw none, and raced over to Kas. The two of them conversed, then split up again.

  Since this was a place of the mind, Lex tried another tactic. He visualized the rest of his brothers in his mind and sent a thought out into the void. Kas let out a brief snarl which might have meant he felt the message, but Lex did not know if anyone else received it. Still, it was worth the try. They would be stronger if they could team up.