“It's Monica. And what other choice do we have?”
“Fair enough. We'll be here for a bit longer and if you can think of anything you need – anything at all - come find me and I'll get it for you.” Alistair reached out and put his giant armored hand on her shoulder. She placed her comparatively small hand on top of it.
“Thank you,” she said with a cautious smile. “I don't even know your name. Or why you're here.”
“My name is Alistair, and I'm only here to help.”
“So you.. flew out into the middle of nowhere to let a bunch of mining scabs out of prison?”
“He also smashed a few bad guys with a hammer. I'm sure that had something to do with it,” Stewart added, desperately trying to lighten to mood.
Monica Gibson was an attractive woman with shoulder length brown hair, brown eyes, and a strong posture. Alistair didn't pay much heed to her looks, though, instead focusing on how much strength she exuded. He seemed to consistently run across women who'd give him a run for his money in the toughness department.
“Regardless, thank you. I know a lot of people here will need a lifetime to heal, but now they at least have that chance. If there's ever any way we can repay you, we will.”
Alistair smiled and went to check with some of the other refugees to see if they needed anything. The boarding party would be heading back to The Ubik soon and he needed to be sure, at least for himself, that he didn't leave before contributing in every way possible.
Garcia noted the man's enormous armored form working between crowds of people, bringing smiles to children and occasionally hauling crates of food and medicine here and there.
“When you watch him fight you imagine he's some kind of monster,” he said to Stewart as they watched Alistair run himself ragged. “But here, with these people.. I don't know, man. He's got some level of care that just runs beyond anybody else I've ever met.”
“I know what you mean. I'm glad he's on our side and not just because he's good with a gun,” Stewart replied.
“Do you think he's actually crazy? He just shuts down sometimes. Like down in the prison. I could barely pry a word out of him. He didn't jump when he saw those things trying to grab him. Just stared them in the eye. Those were straight-up monsters down there and he looked at them like he wanted to help.” Garcia's eyes were glazed over with forced indifference: he had shut down emotionally after leaving the prison in an act of self defense.
“No. He's damaged goods, just like all of them. He shares their pain and I think they can sense it. And I also think he's determined to stop messed up shit like this from happening to anyone else. You've seen how well Mel has been doing. Nobody would guess at her fucked up past just by talking to her. They're both broken, but have been working together to fix whatever they can.”
“Yeah, I get you.”
Both men just stared for a moment, trying to take in what they were seeing. Refugees hunted and sentenced to death by the Republic. By their Republic.
“Think the navy will fight back against these orders like we did?” Stewart finally asked.
“... yeah,” was all Garcia could muster. “Dark days ahead, man.”
Chapter 59
The crew aboard The Ubik were preparing to dock and receive the boarding party. Lili had been able to wrangle some of Admiral Granger's time and they decided her best course of action would be to take The Ubik to the destination of the bio weapons transports to keep investigating. She was also to send any 'rebellious' elements she came across to the station they had renamed Acherus. While Achilles scanned the station, Lili worked with Cairenn to send weapons schematics from The Ubik's workshop down to the much larger printing units about Acherus. The station was minimally defended for now, having two pirate corsairs acting as stationary weapon batteries and a planned ring of mines.
Within a week, the station would have several large railgun turrets for defense, as well as improved communications arrays and sensor stations. The schematics sent from the reconnaissance vessel were highly illegal and some of them experimental, a thought which made Admiral Granger laugh. The Republic poured a lot of resources into designing many of these weapons, some of which had yet to even be deployed among Republic Naval vessels.
Now, they'll be used to shoot any traitors we see out of the skies, he thought with a smile. He knew a dedicated naval armada would squish his station, but for now it was the best they could do. Arming the station gave his people hope, which had been running critically low for months now.
“Lili,” Granger said over his PCD. He'd been able to have one printed for him so he could give Alistair's back. “Have you found your target yet?”
“Looks that way, sir. The second planet in the system. They've had a lot of freighter activity from here to there and the cargo manifests list substantial quantities of a redacted substance.”
“And how far of a trip is it?”
“Three weeks out, sir.”
Admiral Granger pursed his lips in thought. The Ubik was the only ship around that could create a solid defense if Acherus were to come under attack. But he also knew that this was bigger than the 250 refugees.
“Lili, you need to get out there. If you have any chance of saving the people on that colony, you have to take it.”
Lili knew he was right, but didn't like leaving Acherus and its people unprotected.
“What about your people?”
“We'll get those corsairs flight worthy in no time, then see if we can find anybody else willing to fight back. The Republic using biological weapons against its people is taking things too far. Somebody has to make a stand. There's more at play here than you know, Lili. When you get back from Kalinar, we'll sit down and have a good talk.”
“Yes, sir,” she replied. “Although I admit I don't like this. Any of it.”
“Neither do I, but what choice do we have? And I'm not your commanding officer anymore, Liliana. You don't take orders from me.”
“No, but I still respect your judgment above all else, sir.”
The Admiral smiled. He and Lili had always been close as she rapidly rose through the ranks of the Republic Navy. Seeing her out here during such trying times was an enormous boon.
“See you when you get back, Captain.”
“I apologize for the delay, Mr. Crowe. My biological scanning libraries were found to be lacking. I had to essentially create them from scratch before determining the nature of the sample you provided.”
It had been a week since The Ubik had departed Acherus Station and Alistair had been doing his best to bide the time while Achilles scanned the bio weapon sample he'd retrieved.
“My human anatomy libraries are quite robust, as you know. But my biological weapons analyses programs were relegated to 'harmful or otherwise'. I have a full report on the weapon now, however. Would you like me to send it to your PCD?”
“Yes, please.” He was eager to find out what the Republic was doing using a pirate cartel to deliver biological weapons to a harmless colony far outside core space. Kalinar was about as rural as they came.
“For a quick breakdown, I have deduced that the biological agent was not finished when we raided the Burmean Python home base. The freighter we saw departing had hundreds of life signs on board and I would posit that they were moving to a different facility to continue conducting tests. The laboratories we saw aboard Acherus Station were somewhat rudimentary, as I'm sure you gathered.”
“So there's another station out there doing these same tests.”
“That would be a safe assumption, Mr. Crowe. As for the biological agent itself, its effects on humans would most likely be varied. In theory, it creates the basis for a nerve calming agent, as the virus attaches itself to various pleasure centers in the human brain. But the side effects degrade the mental capabilities of the victims. Those you saw imprisoned aboard Acherus would have been some of the earlier test subjects.”
“A biological pacifier. Sounds very Republican, doesn't it?”
<
br /> “It would seem to suit their modus operandi, Mr. Crowe. Some of the more crude side effects include the destruction of tissue below the skin, similar to necrotizing fasciitis. The difference being necrotizing fasciitis is a bacterial infection, but what we are seeing here is the rapid growth of the virus and the body's responses to it..”
“So the agent comes in contact with the body, and the body begins destroying itself as a result?”
“Very astute, Mr. Crowe.”
“Forward this packet to the crew. Is there any chance for some sort of antidote? Or counter agent?”
“That would require months of calculation and testing. The introduction of the weaponized agent onto an unsuspecting civilian population would provide a large enough sample size for rigorous testing, however. I believe that may be the purpose of the shipments we have tracked to Kalinar.”
Alistair sat quietly while trying to anticipate the state of the Kalinar colony when they arrived. He had a feeling that when they arrived, there wouldn't be a civilian population to render aid to.
He pinged Rachel and asked her to gather the crew for a meeting. He knew they were in for a hellish experience, but he had some ideas that may prove fruitful.
Chapter 60
“This won't take long,” Alistair started. “I'd ask if all of you have read the packet Achilles prepared on the bio weapon, but your grim faces say it all.”
The mood in the room was extremely somber.
“What we need to do before we reach Kalinar is start studying everything we know about the population, colony size, political leanings – everything we can get our hands on. If this agent was deployed there en masse, I want to know of any groups that have had a chance of surviving. I've asked Achilles to look for potential genetic differences that may help create an immunity to the virus and we'll cross reference that with the colony's population census when we get there.”
“So you're hoping maybe there are pockets of resistance?” Garcia asked, seeing where Alistair was going.
“Yes. Any uninfected people we find we'll bring back aboard The Ubik. We'll also have to do some heavy atmospheric testing to determine if the virus is airborne. According to Achilles' studies it shouldn't be able to be transmitted via coughing or breathing, but we're still vulnerable to infection from bodily fluids. So anybody who doesn't have a suit needs to remain on-board at all times.”
Everyone in the mess hall agreed with Alistair and it felt good for them to have some semblance of a plan. Even if the chances of finding survivors was slim, it was something.
“I'm going to start studying the surveys of Kalinar and see if we can look at topography to determine smaller towns or even potential sites for pockets of survivors. Garcia, can you look up defensible positions outside of towns? We can have Achilles scan them first.”
“No problem.”
“Rachel, I need you to check the towns themselves and have Stewart point out any potential strongholds. Militia barracks, police stations – anything that would make a hardened target, or have good vantage and choke points. Also any shelters, community centers, or orphanages that would have initially housed large populations.”
Rachel and Stewart nodded.
“I think the last thing we need to find are any major industrial centers, mainly for printers. Cairenn, can you cover that?”
“Sure, I'll see what I can find. I can compile a list of the industrial capabilities and send them to everyone.”
“Alright. Lili, I need you to look at shipping lanes and try to find any news out of the system. If it's gone completely dark it'll tell us a lot.”
“Roger that,” she said with a smile. She was glad to see him coming out of the funk he's been in since boarding Acherus.
“I think that sums it up. Thanks all.”
The group went about their separate tasks, all of them relieved to have something to do to occupy their time. The weapons had been cleaned and polished, armor repaired, and the ship's stocks documented twice over. Nobody wanted to be idle for too long.
As Alistair watched his crew disperse, Mel approached with an irritated look on her face.
“So what, everybody gets a special task but me?”
He laughed in response.
“No, Mel. You and I have something far more important to work on. Meet me in the main cargo hold in five, alright?”
She eyed him warily, then made her way to the lower deck.
Chapter 61
As Alistair entered the cargo bay, he saw Mel sitting on one of the gray steel crates.
“Here,” he said as he held out his Ka-Bar. He had loaned it to her earlier but she had always returned it to their quarters.
“You're going to teach me to fight with a knife?” she asked.
“In time, yes. For today we're going to start with target practice. You're great with the ship's weapons, but you need to learn to shoot. You're going to need to learn a lot of ways to defend yourself if you keep following me around like a sad puppy.”
She jumped down from her crate, slowly approached him, and slapped him in the stomach. His reflexes didn't stand a chance.
“Oof, fair enough,” he said with a laugh. She didn't so much slap as whip her fingers at him and it stung.
“So what's the knife for?”
“It's a gift. You know how long it's been in my family, and I want you to have it.”
Her eyes darted up to his. “I can't take that, Alistair.”
“You're the only family I've had for a long time, Mel. I just want you to know how serious I am when I say that.”
She was frustrated and a little flustered, but reached up and took the combat knife.
“I don't have anything to give you, though,” she said as she inspected the blade through watery eyes.
“Just keep being a consistent pain in my ass and we can call it even,” he joked.
Mel slid the knife into the ragged old sheath, strapped it to her right thigh, and gave Alistair a crushing hug.
“Alright, enough feelings for the day. You've got your knife, but you still need a firearm.”
He produced two mock pistols from a cloth backpack he'd been carrying and handed one to her. In his bag were some holographic target projectors, used by special forces to keep their aim sharp while traveling long distances. He methodically placed six of them in different places throughout the cargo bay, some behind stacked crates and others behind support beams.
“Let's see how fast we can get you to take out all of the targets, then after a few rounds I'll switch them up.
The two spent an hour and half shooting, changing targets, shooting some more. Melanie, the misunderstood orphan with soulful eyes and an utterly decimated sense of innocence, was actually having fun for the first time that she could remember. She and Alistair would compete for high scores and he would let her inch closer and closer to victory. She knew he was going easy on her, but it felt good to see her times improve and her groupings shrink.
After working with side arms, Alistair retrieved two practice rifles. She did much better with the sidearms and had an almost unnatural affinity when it came to picking targets. They made the decision to keep going with smaller arms for the time being.
“Next time we'll get some sensors to wear and we can challenge the marines to a few mock fights,” Alistair said after they'd finished for the day. He handed her a bottle of water that she gratefully accepted. They both sat side by side against a stack of bright green crates packed with emergency nutrient paste.
“I don't see how that would be fair for them,” she said with a smile before taking a long drink.
He let out a laugh and Mel leaned over to rest her head on his shoulder. She ran her hand along the knife strapped to her leg and relished in the safety and comfort she felt.
Before long, an announcement came over the ship's broadcast speakers.
“Unusual signatures detected approximately four minutes off current course.”
Achilles routinely combed through the m
any sensors that fed The Ubik mountains of data. He was programmed to always be watching for targets, but had grown to search for any abnormal signals in their vicinity or along their trajectory.
“What does it look like?” Alistair asked into his PCD. Mel had sat up and was checking her own PCD as well.
“Three vessels, two Republic navy and one civilian. It seems to be a standoff of some kind, Mr. Crowe.”
Alistair stood, grabbed his bag, and began loading their training equipment in.
“More tomorrow?” Mel asked hopefully.
“Absolutely. A few weeks of this and you'll be able to give the marines a run for their money without my help.”
They both headed toward the bridge to investigate the 'unusual' signals.
Chapter 62
“It's a colonial transport headed for the Astrons system. It looks like it's full of militia members and their families,” Rachel said with a twist of confusion in her voice. “They were stopped for 'harboring dissenters' by a Republic frigate, but this heavy destroyer – the URS – L'appel de vide answered a distress call from the transport requesting assistance. The call said 'requesting immediate assistance. Suspected rogue policing action suspected'.”
“L'appel de vide?” Mel asked.
“It's Old Earth French for 'Call of the Void'. That's a very well-known ship,” Garcia said. He looked to Lili and he could see it in her eyes too. “It's a Republic Special Operations Command destroyer. RSOC is where my career was headed before.. well, before I met up with you guys.”
“It's essentially The Ubik with twenty times the tonnage. We don't want to get involved here. Not if we want to survive, anyway.” Lili's voice held strong, but she knew they wouldn't stand a chance if they had to go toe to toe with an RSOC command ship.
“We can't just leave them there. Look at the logs between the ships – the frigate is threatening to fire on the transport if they don't comply. There are children on that ship!” Mel wasn't going to stand by and let more families be torn apart by opportunistic pirates, regardless of their uniform.
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