Sonata in Orionis (Earth Song Book 2)

by Mark Wandrey

  "That doesn't surprise me. Who else did?"

  "Your father, a couple weeks before he disappeared."

  The portal flashed into life. The two Chosen manning the fixed beamcasters tensed, training their weapons on the portal as the scene from another world solidified. Almost before you could make sense of the terrain a pair of Chosen were leaping through carrying a wounded man between them. A second later two more Chosen followed, these two backing through holding their beamcasters up and ready. They were both injured, and they carried a body wrapped in an issue tarpaulin between them.

  "All clear!" the first Chosen to come through yelled as soon as the other pair were clear. The operator deactivated the portal instantly and the gunners safed their weapons. The medics were already moving in. Minu and Dram approached the scout leader.

  "Report," Dram ordered.

  "We got on station as planned and began to negotiations with the third party species, like the Tog told us. Halfway through the deal we were jumped by a squad of Rasa. We returned fire with the beamcasters to good effect. The enemy squad was almost wiped out in just a few seconds."

  "Good job."

  "It didn't work out that way. Once we were under fire, the aliens we'd been negotiating with took off. Then four more squads of Rasa showed up and tried to envelope our position. We were forced to move and return fire as we ran. The beamcasters just too cumbersome to move and target fast enough against a dodging foe, especially when you're trying to run and dodge yourself. We lost Alphonse almost right away," he indicated the wrapped body with a head gesture. "While their flechette guns lack the kick and penetration of the beamcasters, they are fairly accurate and the Rasa can keep up a withering rate of fire. Damn things seem to have an unlimited amount of ammo. They use them like a fire hose. Alphonse was almost cut in two.

  "So Sven and Garcia were both injured while we're secured Alphonse's body, then we finally manage to make the portal and shoot our way through." He moved aside his cloak which was wet with blood on one side. The power pack for the beamcaster was fixed to his belt and it showed only a tiny charge. "If we hadn't made it through when we did..."

  "I understand," Dram said and patted him on the shoulder. "You did well. Report to medical and have that checked into."

  "Thank you, sir." The scout commander recognized Minu and nodded in acknowledgment. "Good thing we had these with us," he told her and patted the now less than pristine weapon.

  "Doesn't sound like it," she said, hoping they wouldn't notice how she was shaking and on the verge of tears. One man dead and several injured because she fatally overestimated the usefulness of the beamcasters in combat. Why hadn't she thought to do exactly the research she'd done while on vacation? How dare she even take a vacation while Chosen were fighting and dying with her weapons? Of course Bjorn ordered her to take that vacation when he caught her sleeping in the lab three nights in a row...

  "They weren't perfect, that's for sure. Can you imagine what would have happened if we'd been armed with those old slug throwers? It would have been a slaughter. The Rasa could care less about the old guns. These, they were afraid of these," he said and patted the blood splattered stock of his beamcaster, "and they got us through."

  "I'd like you to copy Minu here on your report," Dram instructed him, "give full details on your thoughts as to how the weapon did what it was supposed to, and how it failed."

  "Understood sir. Please understand, I am in no way saying we shouldn't use these. Just that maybe we need to be more realistic on how they should be employed."

  “Understood. Now get to the infirmary and check on your men.” The man nodded, pausing for a second next to the still body of his slain man and Minu felt hot tears rolling down her cheeks. "This is all my fault," she sobbed, in imminent danger of losing complete control, "how could I-"

  Dram grabbed her roughly by the arm and pulled her out of the portal jump off room and into an adjacent conference room. Before she knew what was going on he'd locked the door and his ham-like hand was smacking her across the face hard enough to rock her onto her heals, splattering tears across the room. "What is wrong with you?" he demanded.

  "I-I'm sorry," she sobbed and fell to her knees, "it was t-too much. More dead people, more pain, and I caused it."

  "How in the hell could you even think that?"

  "I brought the beamcasters home. I led the team modifying them to our use. I certified them for deployment."

  "And I sent you on that mission to get them," he growled, "and I okayed their entering into our inventory along with the whole god damn council. Jacob gave the okay for the funds for development them, and appropriated the funds for building the HERT. And then I sent every man out who has died or been injured in the last half year. Should I be on the floor crying my eyes out too?" She didn't answer, the tears were slowing. "We're Chosen, sometimes we die! The Tog let us keep those weapons. They could have taken them all. They wanted us to have them! Have ever considered that."

  "Yes."

  "Minu, this is just beginning. We've been working for the Tog for a century doing piss ant jobs and little missions, now we're finally starting to come out from behind their skirts. Humanity has to stand on its own two legs or we'll forever be like the Beezer."

  Minu gave a little coughing laugh. For all their huge size and bluster, the Beezer were wimps, and they were fine with that. They only fought when cornered, and then just to defend themselves. “Tigers or cows,” she said through her stopped up nose.

  "Exactly! It is true that this conflict with the Rasa began with your retrieving that cache, but the trouble all really started long before then. It began the first time a human Chosen began digging through garbage piles out there looking for the good stuff. The Concordia is like a garbage heap at the edge of town. All the rats are fighting over the scraps, and we're the new rats on the block. We used to be cockroaches, and I guess we still are, but now we got guns."

  This time she did laugh. He reached down with the same powerful hand that almost knocked her senseless and took her under the arm, lifting her to her feet as if she weighed next to nothing. He couldn't look at her eye to eye because he was almost a half meter taller. Despite the height difference he held her attention squarely. "We need you to fix this."

  "I'm not sure how," she admitted. He cocked his head and looked stern. "but I have some ideas."

  "I know that, or you wouldn't have started that discussion before those scouts came back."

  "I want to be transferred to an active scout team."

  "No."

  "Why? I can learn more from working with a team." She knew it was a lie and said it anyway.

  "You can learn from reports and firsthand accounts."

  "I am formerly requesting that transfer."

  "And I am formerly denying it."

  "You son of a bitch!" she snarled, almost rising on her tip-toes to make herself more impressive. It was the first time she'd ever raised her voice to the mountain of a man that was Second among the Chosen. Somewhere in the back of her mind alarms were going off. She ignored the warning klaxons and pressed on. “I demand an official explanation for denying a legitimate transfer request.”

  "Because you can't fix anything if you're dead." She lowered back onto her heels, bearing her teeth. Dram actually took a step closer. She was not impressed and stood her ground. "Look, I completely understand how you feel. Every man that comes back injured or dead is a physical hurt to you. You feel it in your heart." She lowered her head and refused to allow the tears to return. Anger was much more useful to her now. "That is what makes you a good commander. I saw your face when you lost William on that mission last year. You felt it to the core of your being. If I let you out in the field you'd make it personal against the Rasa, and that is the last thing we need. Not only won't the weapons problem be solved, and we'd be out the most promising young Chosen in a generation."

  "What do you want me to do?" Most promising?

  "Use that brain, use the team we gave you
and figure out how to fix those guns, or somehow make something to use with them to mitigate the shortfalls. Come up with a training program that will let us make these men able to operate with what they now have and come back alive. You do that, and I'll give you that transfer, after the problem is fixed."

  "I'd like that in writing."

  "And I'm the son of a bitch?" Dram said as she looked up into his intently narrowed eyes. “What does that make you?”

  "Daughter of a bastard, sir."

  "That you are," he said and nodded his head. She turned to leave and he put out a hand to stop her. "One magnificent bastard he was, and that was the first time I've seen him in you. He'd be proud."

  "Don't say that until I've succeeded," she said and detached herself, "I have a lot of work to do still."

  Minu unlocked the door and left Dram alone in the room. He watched the door long after she'd left, his face a dark mask of concern.

  Chapter 5

  December 14th, 517 AE

  Tranquility, Plateau Tribe

  If Minu's team thought they were working hard before, they were sorely mistaken. As her people arrived the next morning it was to find the entire schedule trashed and reorganized. "We are going to work on this night and day until we have a solution," she said, pacing the lab. "I've been promised whatever it takes, including two scout teams to work with for training and testing. They are our guinea pigs."

  "What's a guinea pig?" Alijah asked.

  "Extinct animal used for testing drugs on old Earth," Pip whispered. Alijah made an 'oh' face as Minu continued.

  "The new schedule is posted on your tablets, all other projects are either on hold or transferred to other research teams." Their complaints began and she continued talking over them. "Once we have a solution and have deployed it, we will then go out with scout teams into the field to ensure the new scheme works as advertised."

  "In the field?" Terry asked.

  "You're kidding, right?" Pip said.

  "Awesome," Alijah laughed. Minu doubted he understood what he was in for. Of them all, only Pip and herself had ever been on the frontier more than once.

  "I won't go," Mandi declared, shaking her head and crossing her arms under her formidable breasts.

  "As a civilian, that is of course your decision. When that phase of the tests arrive you will be reassigned."

  "Fine," she said, shooting daggers at Minu with her eyes.

  After the first week, Minu found herself staying in the lab later and later. Another new year began. Shortly after New Year’s, and after two days straight falling asleep at a workstation, she admitted to Pip that her knowledge was insufficient to the task.

  "No one has done anything like this since Earth," he agreed. "We fought more than a few wars on Bellatrix, but that was before we even redeveloped firearms."

  "Not the same tactics." she said. "Arrows and swords aren't like guns and beamcasters."

  "Have you done any searching for relevant university classes?"

  Minu hadn't really checked for any classes on how to make an army to fight aliens. Maybe she could put together her own curriculum? She spent the rest of that night working through the course books of every university on Bellatrix. The results were not overly encouraging. Despite everything she went to bed with some hope. In the morning Minu met with Pip and reviewed her results.

  "Pretty thin," he said after reading it all. "I've taken a few of these."

  "It's all I could find," she said, also looking at the list. "I can't believe that the Concordian don't have their own classes, or at least files."

  "What makes you think they don't." Minu narrowed her eyes and Pip suddenly looked like he'd said too much. "What have you found?"

  "I've said too much already."

  "No, you haven't said enough." She crossed her arms under her breasts and gave him a stern look, he bit his lip and tried to look innocent. "Damn it, Pip, what have you been holding out on me? I want some details."

  "You remember when we talked about those partial Concordia databases we found? Well, we also have a few pirated access keys into the main database here. We know for a fact that the local network is complete, just carefully segmented to keep us kids from finding anything dangerous."

  "I would think we have plenty of danger now, what we need is the means to defend ourselves."

  "The Tog probably won't see it that way."

  "You and others think they want us to be and armed and dangerous. Well, we're armed, but not very dangerous."

  "I could get fired for even thinking about this."

  "I'll fire you if you don't." Pip looked grief stricken and Minu just shook her head and patted him on the arm. "You know I won't, but we need that information."

  Pip sighed and pointed to her computer, a desk unit, more powerful than a tablet and with a hardwire into the main network. She slid out of the chair for him to take her place. "There is some risk in doing this," he told her before proceeding.

  "Like?"

  Pip took a small metal case from his pocket. To her surprise it had a tiny bioprint ID reader on it. He slid a finger over the moliplas plate and it obediently popped open. Inside she could see it was made to securely hold a dozen data chips. Unlike the average chips she used every day these were made of dualloy. "When we use these IDs we run the risk of them being traced back to us. It’s sort of a game of cat and howler with the Tog. They know it has to be us doing it, they just haven't been able to prove it...yet."

  "Serves them right for not just giving us the information."

  Pip shrugged and took out one of the dualloy chips, giving Minu a questioning look. She nodded her head and he slid it into the computer. "This is a bad idea," he mumbled. Minu popped him in the back of the head and pointed at the screen. “Ouch, fine.”

  Using his access he logged into the Chosen network then shifted to a gateway in the civilian network. There she watched him change identities twice before pausing in a corporate network. "Where are you now?" she asked him.

  "Malovich Industries," Pip said. Minu smiled as he drew upon the pirated identification. The active light came alive on the dualloy chip, it was now being used. Pip entered a simple command and he was in the Concordia network. "Here we go."

  Like all Chosen computers, Minu's was loaded with a complete set of script translators. When the input switched to the alien language, the screen only flickered with the cryptic symbols before the translation matrix activated. Pip, always the consummate professional, didn't waste a second. He instantly accessed the Tog learning archive and scrolled through the index faster than Minu could read. "There's a lot here," he said with a whistle, "I don't think any human has ever seen some of this before."

  "Copy it all," she said. Pip looked around for storage and Minu handed him a stack of brand new chips. Because it was a desktop, the computer was equipped with several data ports. Pip filled all of them and went to work. "How long?" she asked, her heart racing.

  "All this? Shit, maybe hours, days, I don't know. There are petabytes of data. I could-" he stopped in mid-sentence as a pop-up notice appeared. With a sweep of his hand he made it disappear.

  "What was that?"

  "Trouble." Minu gave him a look. "The network is wondering why we're downloading all this data."

  "It's that smart?"

  "Apparently. We usually take a little here and there."

  "Okay, widen out the theft. Get us some weapons schematics and military data."

  "Maybe it will confuse the AI," Pip said and spit the screen. In moments another computer chip flashed as more data was copied. This time another warning popped up in only seconds. "Shit, maybe that wasn't such a good idea." Minu wanted to know what was going on but Pip couldn't talk. She'd known him long enough to tell when he was using most of his brain, and that was a rare thing. His fingers flew across the virtual keyboard in a blur calling up programs and mustering his defenses. Fast as a snake striking he whipped one of the once new chips from its slot and slapped another one in. Most of
what he was doing was lost on her. Minu saw Pip using at least two more sessions running, one a local connection to his own computer up in the lab. "Code breaking bug," he said through clenched teeth.

  For almost ten minutes Pip matched wits with the Tog network AI. He drew on more and more of his assets to keep from being kicked out, or worse. Programming that was written before mankind tamed fire fought back against Pip time and time again, each time he somehow managed to keep from being bested. Every thirty seconds he would remove a full chip and replace it with an empty one. He did this seemingly without conscious thought. A chip would fill and he'd replace it. Minu tried to replace one for him. He snapped at her and slapped her hand away so she didn't try again. She checked the pile of new chips and realized she was going to run out in only a minute. Just then Pip jerked out the dualloy chip holding his pirated identification and stabbed the network disconnect. Her computer was now physically separated from the network.

  "Are we safe?" she asked, her heart still pumping.

  "It was damn close," he said, sitting back and stretched his legs. She knew he must be twice as tense as she was. "I think it was Z'Kal in person, there at the end." He looked genuinely concerned.

  “The Tog librarian?”

  Pip nodded and wiped sweat from his forehead. "I must have been setting off alarms all over the place. I can't believe I got as far as I did." He stared at the small pile of chips on the desk. "You know what this is?”

  “Illegal.”

  “Right, and it's also more deep, hard, and secret Concordia data than we own after a hundred years. We scored!"

  "What it really is," she said and started taking them from him, his eyes getting wide with surprise, "is a tool we can never let leave this room."

  "But, Minu!"

  "Don't 'but Minu' me. You know as well as I do that if this data ever leaves this room two things will happen. One, you and I are screwed and left out to dry. I wouldn't be the least bit surprised if Jacob tries to have us fired. Second, we'll never see that data again."