by Andrew Beery
“Did we get a final total on those ring-gate breaching pods in the Glory’s launch bay?” Ken asked.
“We did, Sir,” Commander Martinescu answered. He held a small data pad. “There were three breaching ships but only two of them had gate-rings installed. Apparently, there is a gate-ring installed near the bridge. That unit failed and they stole one from a breaching pod to replace it.”
“Are we at risk of the Glory’s crew using them to escape or bring in reinforcements?”
“Negative Captain,” AG answered quickly. “First, that’s not the way the Nester mind works. Once they accept subjugation that’s the end of their thinking on the matter. Second, the ring-gates require an elaborate initialization mechanism… my understanding from my conversations with Left Captain Hero in the Med-bay is that the gates can only be opened from a land-based facility.”
“Which begs the question,” Ben First said, “What keeps one of those land bases from opening a gate and spoiling our party?”
Andrew Martinescu looked over at Captain Kirkland. “It might be wise to move all of the gates to a secure holding area on the Yorktown. With your permission, I’ll task some of Thais’ people as soon as they get all the critical repairs completed.”
“Make it so, number one… but Andrew…”
“Yes Sir?”
“Securing the gates has a priority,” Captain Kirkland said emphatically. “I don’t want our critical repairs interrupted by unexpected guests. Some of those repairs will have to wait a few hours while you get a team in there to deal with those smaller gates.”
Ben First leaned forward. His new android body was physically identical to the cybernetic one that had been destroyed a few days ago. He had initially had some difficulty accepting that his consciousness was now a simulated series of engrams running in a massive Heshe AI matrix on the Marine’s WhimPy platform untold light-years away. Only by virtue of the instantaneous nature of quantum communication was he able operate his robotic avatar in such a way that he felt physically present… and in point of fact, often forgot the strange nature of his existence. In many ways, he felt connected at an emotional level to the members of the Yorktown crew that had experienced the “Big D” for the first time. That singular thought did more to convince him that he was in fact alive… despite the physical realities of that life.
“Sir,” Ben began, “We might need to be concerned about the other gates. As far as we can tell this system is linked to five others… and She-Who-Would-Sing says the one we need is in orbit around a Neptune sized world in orbital position three.”
“Five?” The various people in the room said in unison.
“So, you are saying there are five ring-gates in this system,” AG asked incredulously, “…and the Nester Captain says that we want to get to Nebi Prime that we have to head to a gate in orbit around the third planet, a gas giant?”
“Oh… It gets even better than that AG. According to the navigational logs we downloaded from the Nester battleship, there are nine gates leading to five different star systems. In fact, the one we came through is the only one that is not redundant,” Commander First answered.
“The question is… why so many ring-gates?” Ken Kirkland mused. “Is the Hyperfield dampening really that wide-spread?” They had learned from the Nester Prime Captain that the Hyperfield dampening was not a new phenomenon in this region of space.
Lieutenant Jon Robison, a marine pilot, who, as a result of a misspent youth, had become a gifted computer hacker, chose that moment to cough gently. He was the lowest rank in the room and felt uncomfortable. That said, he had, because of his unique computer forensics skills, been tasked with the analysis of the Nester battleship’s downloaded data core. The man had spent hours crawling through the battleship’s interior to access and copy that core. The confined spaces didn’t bother him at all. In another life, some three hundred years earlier, he might well have been a submariner.
“Go ahead Jon,” the Captain urged.
“Sir, I think there is good evidence that the dampening field is actually spreading and at an accelerating rate. It’s possible… even probable… that at some point in the future the only way to establish hyperfield conduits between star systems will be… via ring-gates.”
Andrew Martinescu leaned forward. “Good Lord. The implications are almost beyond comprehension. The GCP is…” The Yorktown’s First Officer paused as if the thought was too much to put to words.
“…is in real trouble unless we can get this information back to them… and quickly,” the Yorktown’s resident computer geek said in what had to be the understatement of the century.
***
The capital of Nebi Prime was a sprawling metropolis that covered something on the order of three hundred square kilometers. It seemed the Nesters had an aversion to heights and so their building tended to be single story structures.
The only exception seemed to be those buildings utilized predominately by members of one of the many subjugated races. In those instances, the buildings tended to be taller but still were rarely more than five stories tall.
Cat was in the upper floor of one such building now. In a reversal of Earth culture, the penthouses in Nester cities tended to be lower income housing. The lower the floor, the easier the access to those areas where the dominate species, the Nesters, frequented.
“What have your people discovered about the palace layout?” Cat asked the ancient Hedgemite who was the only other occupant of the room.
Short-Tail licked some dirt off his paw. He was one hundred and eighty cycles old. His race rarely lived past the age of one hundred and fifty and so he was, in his mind, living on borrowed time.
“We have a reasonable map of the public areas,” he said. “Those areas that are off limits to sub-races have been mapped to a lesser degree by sympathizers within the Nester’s own ranks. I’m afraid there is a lot we don’t know. You will need to be flexible in your planning and execution.”
Cat nodded. “I expected as much. We will take whatever you can give us.”
The silvered squirrel leaned forward and pointed to a small tablet-like device on the short table between them.
“That is one of the last pieces of our technology from the time before our loss in the Great War. It’s a data tablet that is certain not to be infected at a hardware level with Nester spy-tech. I’ve cleared its security sub-system so you can access its content. I’m afraid its data is encoded in our Hedgemite language… will that be a problem?”
Cat shook her head but when the large squirrel failed to stop looking at her she added, “I have an artificial intelligence imbedded in my body that translates spoken and written words for me on the fly. It’s familiar with a vast number of languages, including yours.”
“It must be very old but a fast learner,” Short-Tail said. “I understand you perfectly but the words and syntax you used when we first met was ancient… now, not so much.”
Cat laughed. “The data my AI has access to spans tens of thousands of years if not more… so yes I’m not surprised it was working from old information.”
The Hedgemite nodded to the tablet. “What are your plans for that information?”
“We are going to try and reset the caste system.”
“You’re planning to storm the palace?”
“We are,” Cat confirmed.
“Be warned Catherine, Admiral of the Galactic Coalition of Planets. What you are seeking to do… has been attempted many times. Many times, the attempt has been met with failure. You have every reason to be afraid.”
Cat smiled at the old Hedgemite. “We have a saying on my world. Fear inspires us in two ways. Forget everything and run… or face everything and rise. We make our own choices as to which we give power.”
***
Prime Captain She-Who-Would-Sing stood in the alien ship’s medical bay. The level of technology amazed her. Her life-mate, Left Captain Hero, was suspended in a null gravity field. The human doctor who was caring f
or him and the other injured from her vessel had explained that it was the easiest way to address his critical blood loss. The null field keep his blood from pooling and made it easier for his six hearts to circulate what was left of it. But the treatment did not stop there. Even now, specially trained advanced medical nanites were encouraging his body to produce more of the precious fluid. The Nesters had speculated about such technology but they had never mastered it nor had they conquered a race that had.
The doctor, a Janice Pulaski, seemed to treat all her patients with a high level of compassion and empathy. In the case of Hero, she assured She-Who-Would-Sing that her mate would survive and be whole again. It appeared the humans of this culture were more advanced than the ones they had previously run into. These could, with time regenerate entire limbs.
She had found their social structure confusing until her command equivalent, a Captain Kenneth Kirkland, had explained the human caste system. Position and rank existed within the human sphere just as it did within her species. But rather than inheriting position, the strata’s in the human caste system had to be earned by the individual.
This led to a competition to excel for those who were interested in obtaining the highest levels in society. It also meant once you got to that level you only dealt with the best of the best. It was an intriguing system… one in which she could see the merits.
Nester society was filled with privileged classes controlling the decisions that set the direction of their empire but often those decisions were at odds with the needs of the empire. The system only worked because of the large number of underprivileged classes. If the Nester Empire ever lost control of the masses… it would quickly disintegrate under the weight of its own shoddy leadership.
This was, in part, why She-Who-Would-Sing had sought a commission in the Navy. She was a rarity in the royal palace… she was a royal but… she was also reasonably competent. Even more daring… she surrounded herself with others who were competent.
Her goal in surrendering had been to preserve the lives of her crew and more specifically her mate. Those goals were still important to her… but she was beginning to realize that the Divine might have had a purpose in forming the clay of fate to place her in this place… at this time. There was, perhaps, a higher calling at play here.
“Left Captain Hero should make a full recovery,” Doctor Pulaski told the Glory’s Prime Captain. “Most of the others that were brought over for treatment are also responding well. I’m afraid the couple of Naan that were injured succumbed to their injuries. I just didn’t know enough about their physiology to save them.”
She-Who-Would-Sing dipped her eyestalks in acknowledgement of the Doctor’s efforts.
“The Naan are a hive intellect. The passing of a live is always to be regretted but their memories and to some degree, their thoughts remain with their egg-mates.”
The Doctor pointed to the Nester’s external comm-badge. “I can alert you if something changes… you don’t need to stay here.”
“Indeed, I cannot stay. If we are to save both our peoples I must be about the business of tending my ship. Be well… how do you say it… Beloved of the Creator?”
Doctor Pulaski smiled. She didn’t know if the Nester could understand the gesture so she added… “Yes… and thank you.”
She-Who-Would-Sing lowered her eye-stalks once more. “We use different words but the thought is the same… and it is I who should be thanking you Doctor Pulaski. May the clay of fate keep you warm and safe.”
***
Ken Kirkland sat in his command chair. The now fully repaired GCP Yorktown and NE Glory were about to cross the event horizon of ring-gate 5.
The Yorktown repairs had taken a couple of days… and most of that time was spent waiting for the bio-generation chambers to catch up with the backlog of casualties. The Nester ship was another matter.
The captain of that ship, Prime Captain She-Who-Would-Sing had surrendered to the Yorktown crew. She had confirmed it was her forces that had originally attacked the Yorktown in the Beta-2 star system. Apparently surrender meant something different to the Nesters than it did to the GCP. She-Who-Would-Sing and her ship were now under the control of Captain Kirkland.
After several enlightening conversations, Ken found that he liked the Nester Captain. The fact that the Yorktown crew had tried to save members of her crew, even given the fact that the Yorktown had been the ones to attack her ship in the first place, had been met with a modicum of respect and appreciation.
She-Who-Would-Sing had confessed that given the same set of situations, her ship damaged and vulnerable… a presumed hostile battleship on an approach vector, she too would have ordered her fighters to engage the approaching ship.
That said, She-Who-Would-Sing had professed a degree of kindred spirit with the Yorktown and her crew. The merit-based hierarchy was a novel concept for the Nester commander but she had obviously found it a compelling approach to command.
The Captain of the Yorktown had spent quite a bit of time talking with the Nester Prime Captain. Officers within the GCP had received extensive training on the safest way to interact with new species. Surprisingly, intelligence often caused vastly divergent species to develop a certain set of common core beliefs. Those were things that could be leveraged to develop a dialog that could bridge cultural, racial, and technological divides.
By her own admission, She-Who-Would-Sing had developed a fondness for these humans and a belief that working with other races rather than subjugating yielded richer rewards for all parties.
“We will enter the event horizon in five seconds,” Commander Martinescu reported. “The Glory will be three seconds behind us.”
“Very good number one. Get those shields up the millisecond we clear the hyperfield,” Ken ordered.
“Acknowledged Captain. Shields are set to auto-engage and Mister Daniels is prepared to manually initiate should that fail to happen.”
A second later the Yorktown entered the gate. There was a slight queasy feeling in the pit of Ken’s stomach but other than that there were no other effects from the transition from where they had been to where they were now. Sometimes, hyperfield travel involved minutes, hours or even days to traverse the hyperfield conduit but this trip was only a fraction of a second.
“The Glory has emerged behind us. Their captain is hailing us,” Commander Zimmerman reported from the communications station.
“Put her on the main screen Ziggy,” Ken ordered.
The furry crab that was the other ship’s Prime Captain shimmered into existence. Her front claws tapping together.
“Welcome to Quadra, Captain Kirkland. You are now my prisoner.”
Chapter 14: Quadra…
Ken sat straighter in his seat. They were approaching the most dangerous part of their trek thru the Quadra system. Quadra was a major hub of the Nester Empire. Per their plan, the Yorktown was pretending to be a prize ship captured, with all hands, by the NE Glory under the command of She-Who-Would-Sing.
She-Who-Would-Sing contacted the government shipyards in orbit around Quadra, the rocky second world in the dwarf star’s goldilocks zone. Both sides of the conversation were visible on the Yorktown’s bridge thanks to some creative systems integration work done by Lieutenant Robison and Chief Engineer Thais Figarero.
The Glory’s Prime Captain inquired, as would be expected, for the current rate of payment for a prize ship of Yorktown’s size and tonnage. The number that came back caused She-Who-Would-Sing to make a strange clicking noise with her forward pinchers that the Yorktown’s AI had trouble translating.
“They insult us,” She sputtered to Ken on a private channel.
“Well, I suppose it doesn’t matter since you are not actually going to sell us,” Ken said matter-of-factly.
“But even if I was, I would never accept such a ridiculous offer. You are clearly worth more than they are offering!” She said in disgust.
It was obvious, even for those who were not familiar with
Nester mannerisms, that the Prime Captain was upset.
Ken looked at the agitated Nester on his view screen “Thank you… I think.”
Moments later the Glory’s captain filed a flight plan for ring-gate three. This was the gate that would take them to Nebi Prime. The shipyard manager contacted her a few moments later with an enhanced offer for the Yorktown but She-Who-Would-Sing rebuffed him. She would see what the yards at Nebi Prime would offer for her prize.
The manager continued to argue with her… apparently there were contractual agreements that gave the Quadra system first rights to salvage running through their system. She-Who-Would-Sing pointed out that he had been given the first chance to bid but that she had found the bid so insulting it was tantamount to a “pass… I’m not interested.”
The Yard manager’s direct superior was a station manager named Mooch. The orange-faced crab was the next to try to talk the Glory’s commander into parting with the Yorktown. His offer was little better than the one from the shipyard manager. She-Who-Would-Sing responded by tapping and holding her front claws together. Ken had learned that this was their way of smiling. She politely speculated as to the water temperature at the time of his hatching… apparently this had an impact on a Nester’s IQ.
The entire time the exchange was taking place, the Glory and the Yorktown were continuing to accelerate towards the third gate. In point of fact, the Yorktown could have managed nearly twice the speed of the Nester ship but it was important to maintain the illusion that the Glory was leading the Yorktown.
“Prime Captain,” the Nestor known as Mooch said, “I’m sure you realize that a fish stinks from the head down. Your failure to negotiate in good faith for the sale of your prize will have repercussions at the highest levels”
“Be that as it may,” She-Who-Would-Sing responded, “I’m under no obligation to sell for what I consider to be an inferior bid.”
“Actually, I’m afraid you are,” Mooch replied. “I’ve spoken with the planetary supreme leader many times on this very matter. The needs and desires of the State, as defined by the supreme leader, supersede the rights of any other entity in this system. We will forcibly interdict you if we need to… to prevent you from taking Quadra property out of our system.”