“How do you know that?” Commander Appraxin demanded.
“Your compliance is mandatory,” I repeated. “I know that phrase, couldn’t forget it if I wanted to. I heard it several times a day for ten years during my stint on a Psion prison planet. Your AI has been converged into the Collective’s Overmind. There’s probably a Psinode riding shotgun on that dreadnaught.”
“Attention senior staff,” Kressi repeated. “You have been ordered to join the junior staff in the Crane Auditorium. Be advised, your compliance is mandatory.”
“Life support has just gone offline, chief,” a tech seated before us announced as she tapped and swiped the screen of her console with growing frustration. “And we’re venting oxygen into space and… and I can’t do anything about it… controls unresponsive… we’re locked out.”
“Kressi, you will return control of the station back to us immediately,” Chief Admin Chung ordered. “Ms. Beckham, initiate override protocol. Jericho A1-1A-101-A101Z.”
“Yes sir,” the tech Beckham responded. She repeated the code as she entered it manually and then shook her head. “No good, sir.”
“Kressi!” Chung barked. “Surrender control of the station immediately!”
“Senior staff will join the rest of Krestor’s personnel in the Crane Auditorium,” Kressi repeated. “Be advised, your compliance is mandatory.”
“How much time do we have before we’re out of air?” Commander Appraxin asked.
“Thirty to forty minutes,” tech Beckham responded.
“Life support will be restored when senior staff reports to the Crane Auditorium as ordered,” AI Kressi said.
The Imperial Knight turned to Krestor Station’s Chief Administrator. “We can offline your AI manually, can we not?”
“Of course,” Chung said. “But it has to be done from engineering. Stewart, can you raise engineering?”
“No sir.”
“Lieutenant Vingh, take a couple of men with you and get it done,” Commander Appraxin said to the knight at his left.
“Aye, commander.”
“Perhaps I should go with them,” Beckham volunteered. “If the engineering crew heeded Kressi’s order, you’ll need someone to show you where the plug is.”
Commander Appraxin deferred to Chung. The Chief Admin assented with a nod.
“Very well, young lady,” Commander Appraxin said. “And thank you.”
The young woman followed the knights into one of the three elevators. As soon as the door closed behind her, the young tech screamed. The shriek of terror faded quickly. The knight nearest the elevator drove his gauntleted fingers into the seam between the doors. With a grunt he pulled them apart along their groove, exposing the bare shaft. A moment later a muted but sickening crash rose out of the silo.
“Senior staff will report to the Crane Auditorium. Be advised, your compliance is mandatory.”
“Oh dear, God!” Sister Elizabeth cried out. “Kressi killed them!”
The knight at the elevator bank looked down the shaft for several seconds, no doubt adjusting the magnification of his visor’s view. He was shaking his head when he turned back to his commander. “They fell all the way,” he said.
“That’s a three mile drop,” Estrella said, blanching at the thought.
“That wasn’t a drop,” I said.
“No,” Lieutenant Zapatas agreed. “The impact was nearly immediate.”
“Meaning what?” Estrella asked.
“Meaning that Kressi made a rail gun out of the shaft,” I answered. “She shot them to the bottom.”
Esty closed her eyes and dropped her head.
“Lord accept your worthy servants into your most blessed arms,” Father Corsica said with a bow of his head. “We pray in Christ’s name. Amen.”
The room responded with a chorus of ‘amen.’
“Senior staff will report to the Crane Auditorium immediately,’ Kressi repeated as she opened the doors to the two remaining elevators. “Be advised, your compliance is mandatory.”
“Maybe we should just do as Kressi demands,” Chief Chung said. “Before we lose anymore lives.”
“Perhaps a couple of us could climb down the shaft to engineering,” one of Appraxin’s lieutenants offered. “There is a ladder along the shafts inner wall.”
The commander shook his head. “Not while Kressi has control. She would fire up the EM Refractor and shoot you down the length of the shaft as easily as she did the elevator car. We need to find another way.”
“There isn’t another,” Chung said.
“Actually, there is,” Estrella said and started making her way to the Command Center’s forward screen. “When the station was built, the OZ and even Haven were not as well disposed to Christianity as they are now. The station’s founders included certain precautions into its construction.”
Estrella reached the base of the screen which was embedded into the wall seven feet off the deck. The wall beneath the screen, like all the walls of the station, consisted of six by three feet plasteel panels. Each rectangle was divided into three rows of three squares. The view screen sat atop five of the panels. Estrella stopped before the center one and then pressed the cardinal squares one at a time in a cross pattern. She then pushed in on the center square three times. On the final push, the square depressed with a click and the entire panel slipped back and slid behind its neighbor.
“How come I wasn’t informed about this door?” Chung asked.
“Or I?” asked Father Corsica.
“With all due respect, gentlemen,” Estrella said. “Priests and Chief Administrators serve on Krestor for short stints. If every chief or priest that served here was told about the doors and passageways, well… it wouldn’t have remained secret for long.”
“Even Kressi doesn’t know about them,” Sister Elizabeth said.
“The founders entrusted their secrets to the convent because we are assigned to the station for life,” Estrella continued. “Even then, only a few of us know about the doors. I only learned of their existence when I became Mother Superior.”
“Can you get us to engineering through there?” Appraxin asked.
Estrella nodded. “Yes, commander. We can get to any deck or ring from here.
“And I know where Kressi’s main frame is housed,” Sister Elizabeth added. “I even know how to take her offline.”
“That’s great,” Chung said.
“But I will need instruction on how to reboot Kressi without her higher functions,” the young nun said. “We’ll want to restore life support without giving her control.”
“One thing at a time sister,” Chung said. “Get Kressi offline and then we’ll talk you through the rest.”
Sister Elizabeth nodded eagerly.
“We’re going to have to hoof it and hoof it fast,” Esty said.
“Commander,” Lieutenant Zapatas said. “Allow me to escort the sisters to engineering.”
“Very well, lieutenant,” Appraxin responded. “Take your men with you. When your done, get your men and yourself back to the Lyonesse.”
“Aye commander,” Zapatas answered. He then snapped to attention and gave Appraxin the three finger salute. “God be with you, sir.”
Appraxin returned the salute. “And Godspeed to you, lieutenant.”
“Senior staff will report to the Crane Auditorium. Be advised, your compliance is mandatory.”
“Let’s go,” Zapatas said, gesturing to his two men to follow him.
I fell in behind them. We all followed Estrella and Sister Elizabeth through the doorway into a narrow passageway. It was dimly lit by luminescent strips that ran the length of the walls and low ceiling. The ground slanted downward before us. We proceeded single file at a brisk pace for a couple hundred feet before the passage broadened enough to allow us to travel two abreast. The luminescent strips became wider and brighter. Ahead of us, the nuns hiked up their habits and began running down the ramp.
We ran after them. Zapatas and I
brought up the rear.
“What happened to the rest of your platoon?” I asked him as we jogged along shoulder to shoulder.
“I sent them ahead on the Annunciation.”
“So how does your commander expect you to get off this bucket?”
The knight flashed me a rakish smile, “I know a guy who knows a sleek little Strumpet.”
I barked out a laugh. “Presumptuous now, aren’t you, goon?”
“Not presumptuous so much as hopeful,” Zapatas answered. “On account of the faith I have in your generosity, Don Gaelic of Arkum.”
I shook my head and laughed. I recalled the strange look Chief Engineer Greeley gave me at my mention of wanting to take the nuns with me. I began to suspect there was some conspiring going on around me. Its purpose eluded me.
We ran on, ignoring Kressi’s continuous commands to report to the auditorium. After about a half mile, we came to a sudden stop. There was a wall before us, a panel of the same molded plasteel. Estrella pushed on its squares in the same pattern she had used on the command deck and it too opened for her. “Through here we connect to the maintenance ramp. It runs along the periphery of the station’s spindle, spiralling all the way to the bottom.”
We stepped through the doorway into a well-lit, twenty feet wide corridor indistinguishable from those in the station proper except for the inner wall, whose molded panelling was interspersed with junction boxes, stretches of cables, recessed modules of circuitry and the other varied and sundry instrumentation which kept Krestor Station humming along in the depth of space.
“Officially, the maintenance ramp opens up to every deck at two points,” Estrella continued. “Unofficially, there are two other access points per deck.”
“How much further to engineering?” I asked.
“About two miles,” Estrella answered.
“We better hurry then,” I said.
“If we’re lucky, we’ll run into a cart and get to ride…” Estrella started to say.
“Senior staff will report to the Crane Auditorium immediately,” Kressi interjected. “Be advised, your compliance is mandatory.”
I spat an obscene curse at the AI.
“Is that language really necessary, Gael?” Estrella asked. “Kressi is just a machine.”
“If you spent the time I did under the Psion thumb,” I retorted. “You can get very personal with a machine.”
She shook her head and started to say something when a cart came charging round the bend at us.
“Get back!” Lieutenant Zapatas ordered.
I pushed Estrella up against the nearest wall. “See what I mean,” I said as I pressed my body against hers as cover.
Zapatas did the same with Sister Elizabeth. His two fellow knights stepped forward and fired their pulse rifles. The twin high voltage bursts shattered the cart’s chassis into a dozen pieces. They fixed their second shots on the exposed engine, blowing it off the frame. The cart slowed considerably, enough to be stopped by a knight’s raised boot.
“Thank you Gaelic, for placing yourself between me and harm,” Estrella said. “But the danger is over. You can get off me now.”
I turned to face her and, with a grin and arch of my eyebrows, asked, “Must I so soon?”
“Forthwith,” Estrella answered with a gentle push.
“Alright,” I said, getting out of her way. “But only because we’ve got a space station to save.”
“Senior staff will report to the Crane Audi…” Kressi began.
I found the nearest speaker on the ceiling and fired two shots into it.
“...rium immediately,” the AI continued mutedly from another speaker further down the maintenance ramp. “Your compliance is mandatory.”
“Time’s short and so is the air supply,” Lieutenant Zapatas said. “Let’s move it!”
We took off again with the knights leading the way. The nuns jogged after them and I brought up the rear, wincing with growing discomfort and exhaling through gritted teeth. When, some ten minutes later, we came to a stop, I was winded and lightheaded. I bent forward, hands on my knees, and fought to collect my breath and concentration.
Zapatas gave my back a playful slap. “It’s a good thing the run was downhill all the way, eh pirate?”
I managed a weak sneer.
Ahead of us, Estrella was counting wall panels. When she reached the twentieth one from the official entrance to engineering, she pressed its squares in the same cross sequence. The panel slipped back and slid open.
“Allow us to go through first, Reverend Mother,” Lieutenant Zapatas said. “In case Kressi has any more surprises.”
Estrella nodded and stood to the side of the doorway. The knights stepped through and immediately came under fire.
19
The Imperial Knights suddenly found themselves in a crimson lattice of deadly laser fire.
The nuns yelped and I growled as we three staggered back from the doorway, shutting our eyes against the searing reflection of the laser fire.
“Stay back!” Lieutenant Zapatas barked at us.
“Don’t look into engineering” I told the sisters, reaching into one of my vest pockets for my pair of lunastone visors. I slipped them on and slowly opened my eyes. Blotches of color pulsed in my field of vision, blurring the details of my surroundings.
“What’s going on in there, goon?” I called out behind me.
“Stay back!” Lieutenant Zapatas yelled in reply. “They’re welder-bots… dozens of them!”
I heeded his advice and planted my back against the bulkhead. Several seconds later, the blotches of color were gone. The details of the world were sharp once more, rendered in a color-tinted grayscale through my visor. I turned back to the ongoing battle. The nerve-scorching glare was gone. The laser fire was reduced to dashes of pale pink light. The knights had their backs to each other. They were making their way to the partial cover of one of the galleries raised at each corner of the engineering deck. Their weapons were raised and returning fire at targets over their heads. The continuous lines of laser fire shifted this way and that, the cat’s cradle of high energy lances criss-crossing in frenetic fashion as the bots which fired them tried to dodge the blue-white, high voltage bolts of Imperial pulse rifles and pistol.
The knight’s armor plating was designed for protection against kinetic weapons. The laser beams would bore through their thin ablative coating in short order. The Crysteel and tungsten weave of their hauberks would absorb and diffuse most of the energy which penetrated the plating, but even that would only protect them for so long.
The seconds, gravid with paralyzing fear, dragged on slowly as I watched from the doorway, frozen in helplessness. The nuns lips trembled in silent but fervent prayer. The knights kept their backs to each other, turning one way and then another, moving as one, as they haltingly worked their way deeper into the engineering deck. With a growing, reassuring frequency, the blue-white bolts of pulse weapons resulted in an offstage explosion, a crash of metal and a drop in the number of red-hot lances striking the knights.
Two transport carts suddenly rushed into the melee from opposite ends of the deck. I shouted out a warning to the knights and, relieved to have something to shoot at, I fired on one of the carts as it passed in front of me. The full auto stream of bead fire punctured the tires on the cart’s left side, slowing it down as its chassis dropped on one side and scraped the deck. Ahead of me, Lieutenant Zapatas continued to fire into the air. His subordinates, Weber and Ringo, turned their attentions to the incoming carts. Ringo fired on the one I had disabled. His well-placed shot blew out the remaining front tire causing the cart to flip onto its side and come to a screeching halt several yards from the trio. Weber did not fare as well. The three shots he got off shattered the front of the chassis and blew out a front tire but failed to slow the vehicle’s charge. All he could do at the end was push his lieutenant out of the way before barreling into Ringo so that they too could dodge the motorized menace.
It was just enough. The cart sped harmlessly through the hole Weber made. It immediately careened into a wide turn to make another pass at the men. Despite their armor, the knights rolled nimbly to their feet. They raised their weapons and resumed firing at their airborne assailants. Weber only managed to fire off one shot before he was struck through his visor. He loosed a cry of pain. A second scorching laser beam lanced Weber’s shattered visor as he stumbled back. A choked cry escaped the knight and then Weber fell hard on the deck and was still.
Zapatas and Ringo spread apart as the cart reorientated itself for another run at them. They continued to fire into the air as they did, whittling away at the number of incoming laser fire. The cart chose to charge at Zapatas. A trio of blasts from Ringo’s pulse rifle promptly ended its run in an explosion and electrical fire.
Even as the cart came to a rest on its side, another four rushed into the engineering deck from the wide doorways at opposite ends of the vast room. I blew out a pair of tires on the one that darted past me. Behind the carts, moving slower on their treads, a dozen robo-racks entered, their vice-clawed, forked arms rising threateningly.
“What’s happening?” Sister Elizabeth asked.
“They’re drawing fire to themselves so that we still have a functioning engineering deck when the battle is done,” I proffered, feeling no small amount of admiration for men my time in the Federation Forces had conditioned me to regard as the worst of enemies.
“We’ve got to do something!” Estrella exclaimed.
“There’s nothing we can do until the laser fire stops.” I said.
“And if it doesn’t?”
I had no answer for her.
The nuns resumed their prayers.
Lieutenant Zapatas narrowly escaped the ramming rush of one cart and then another with a pair of leaps. The second jump ended in a shoulder roll that landed him by Weber’s prone form. Zapatas snatched up his comrade’s rifle and resumed firing into the air. Ringo dispatched the cart I had impaired almost immediately and dove over the second as it tried to run him over. That cart then came to a lurching stop and went into reverse, striking the knight before he could regain his feet. The impact sent him sprawling back several feet. The knight fired his weapon even as he flew backward.
One Last Flight: Book One Of The Holy Terran Empire Page 18