“You enjoy embarrassing them, don’t you?”
“Moi?” She replied innocently, putting her fingertips to her chest and batting her eyelashes.
“You realize that by not zig-zagging we will probably beat Task Force Seven to the rendezvous point… even towing the frigate?” Mia asked dryly.
“Really?” More eyelash batting.
Mia groaned. “It took me years to get Aarlan settled down, and now I have to do it all over again.”
Aleph-null 287 was a visually unremarkable point in the vast depths of space, but sitting at the center of the churning unformed nebula allowed any ship to become virtually invisible to both Staarkand and Vonuborg sensors. The Frigate Grazer and the Destroyer Sword of the Primus sat at the very center of the rendezvous point, their power plants just keeping life support working as all available crew swarmed over the damaged hulls making what repairs they could short of a shipyard. The Survey Ship Wyvern sat in full stealth mode, three light seconds away, waiting patiently as they watched over their two battered charges.
Two days later Mia interrupted Kelsoe’s training to inform her that the rest of Task Force Seven had arrived. A few minutes later, after her shower and with a towel wrapped around her shoulders and a cup of klah in one hand, Kelsoe settled into the command chair. “What do we have?” She asked, sipping. It was one thing she was quickly learning about space travel, and space battles; they took forever.
“The Task Force is just coming in range to…” A voice from the speaker cut Mia off.
“This is Captain Ristani of the Heavy Cruiser Avenger.” The gruff voice announced somewhat unnecessarily. “Who are you?” He asked bluntly, although he could probably see things for himself, and Kelsoe was sure that the com people in the Fleet were receiving the IFF (Identification Friend from Foe) signatures of the two smaller ships. The Wyvern certainly was.
“This is Captain Velo, of the Destroyer Sword of the Primus. The other ship you see with us is the Frigate Grazer. Their com system is damaged, and currently receive only.”
“What the hell are you doing here, Velo?” Ristani growled.
“Ahhh,” the younger voice hesitated. “The Survey Ship Wyvern, your guardian angel, towed the Grazer here when her drives failed. We simply followed.”
“You told them where the Aleph-null 287 point was located?” The older voice asked incredulously.
“No Sir, I did not.”
There was a long pause as Ristani digested this information. “Are they gone then?”
Captain Velo chuckled tiredly. “I have no idea, Sir. We never saw them visually or recorded them on our sensors, although we knew where to look. They are probably a few light minutes away, watching and listening to us right now.” The voice of the young captain hesitated. “I should tell you Sir that the person who spoke to me sounded like a young woman.”
“Woman???” Captain Ristani glanced nervously over his head. “Do you think they are dangerous? Women captains are sometimes…unpredictable.”
The young captain nodded solemnly. “Yes Sir I do… but not to us. They’ve gone to a great deal of effort to save our collective butts… Sir.” He added quickly.
“How would you advise we contact this Wyvern then?” The Senior Fleet Captain asked slowly. “The Admiral would very much like to meet the captain of that ship.”
“You might try asking them, Sir.”
Kelsoe suppressed a chuckle. “Put me on Mia, audio only.”
“You’re on, Captain. Don’t do anything stupid.”
Kelsoe rolled her eyes. “This is the Captain of the Survey Ship Wyvern.” She said slowly and clearly. “I would like to meet your admiral also, so if you would open the space doors to the main hangar on the battlecruiser we’ll land and we can meet face to face.” She thought for a second. “The fewer who know about this the better.”
“You’re asking a lot of us.” Captain Ristani growled in a deep threatening voice.
Kelsoe sighed. “Captain, if I wanted to destroy your little Task Force,” she emphasized the word little, “and not have them simply follow me I would have launched something other than paint at you.”
The captain snorted. “Point taken. I’ll speak with the admiral and…”
“This is Admiral Simona Ventsislavova Bacheva.” A woman’s tired mezzo-soprano voice said, cutting off her captain. “The main hangar door is opening now. I guarantee you safe passage.”
Kelsoe pointed to the battlecruiser, nodding silently to Mia. The starfield swung around as the saucer banked and accelerated. “We will be there momentarily Admiral.” Kelsoe replied. “Bring trusted guards if you wish, but I believe that we should meet aboard the Wyvern, for my safety as well as yours.”
Kelsoe had to give the Admiral credit; her voice was as steady as a rock. “As you wish. Come ahead.” The com link went dead.
“Are you sure about this?” G’Fleuf asked in an uncertain voice.
Kelsoe sagged in her chair. “No I’m not sure about this, or about anything. At least by meeting aboard the Wyvern, I will have my friends here to protect me.” A crackling laugh came from the small silver speaker around the Drugud’s neck. “No, I’m serious.” Kelsoe stamped her foot in irritation. The laughter increased. Mumbling a curse under her breath, Kelsoe turned back to the view screen. “Shut our stealth mode off just as we hit the magnetic envelope at the edge of the hangar.”
To the people waiting in the hangar, the shining silver saucer materialized out of thin air as it entered the magnetic envelope that kept the atmosphere in, appearing as if by magic from the dark depths of space. The hangar was large at 250 feet wide by three hundred deep of free space. It didn’t look quite as large when the 200 foot saucer slowly pushed its way in, sliding across the floor with the grace of liquid mercury. People were still running for cover and dragging equipment out of the way when the saucer finally came to an abrupt stop, the trailing edge of the disk a mere ten feet from the edge of the magnetic field. The silver material of the lower dome flowed to the floor to form a rigid ramp. Kelsoe was standing at the top of the ramp waiting when the Admiral appeared, running thoughtful fingertips along the smooth hull of the saucer, a bemused expression on her face. Nearly six feet tall, the admiral was a lean olive-skinned woman with shoulder length auburn hair that was shot with grey. Her eyes were a deep sapphire blue, and her crisp white uniform was neat and unadorned, but for rank marks on cuffs and collar. Her white shoes shined with a high gloss. She looked up at Kelsoe and smiled. “Permission to come aboard, Captain?”
Kelsoe swallowed. “Permission granted, Admiral Bacheva. Welcome to the Survey Ship Wyvern.” She gave the older woman a crooked smile. “I am Captain Smith.”
Admiral Bacheva blinked, and raised a single arched eyebrow. “Smith?” She asked, as she ascended the ramp.
Kelsoe nodded slowly. “Kelsoe Shaheera Smith, daughter of the Lady Lydia Smith and Aarlan Theodosius Smith, or so I’ve been told.”
Admiral Bacheva nodded once, and looked back down the ramp at the two security officers who were waiting to board. Behind them stood another dozen Marines who were not quite pointing their weapons at the saucer. “Stand your post right there, gentlemen.” She said in a firm voice. “The matters we will be discussing are beyond your pay grades,”… “and mine too.” She finished in a whisper as she turned back to Kelsoe. “Please, call me Simona.”
Kelsoe chuckled, feeling some of her tension depart. “Only if you call me Kelsoe. Let me show you around the Wyvern, Admiral.”
The Admiral nodded, and Kelsoe turned. “This isn’t the first time I’ve seen this ship, Kelsoe.” The woman said quietly. Kelsoe froze, her heart beating wildly. “A long range courier met with your father a few years back, just before the Primus disappeared into the Vonuborg Empire and recorded the image of this craft. We received the occasional message from the Primus, and updates on his intelligence gathering, and then for the last year…nothing.”
Discarding her idea of a tour, Kelsoe turned into
the wardroom. “We can talk here.” She paused. “Do you like klah?” When the admiral nodded she continued. “Mia, two hot klahs please.” Two mugs appeared on the table, and Kelsoe took a long sip, as did Simona. “My story starts about sixteen years ago when the Shooting Star Liner Olympus was lured into the Wrecker’s Moon.” She stared into the swirling warm clouds of her drink. “My pregnant mother survived the wreck, as well as her family retainer G’Fleuf Bolsorg, a short and very loyal Drugud. Mother disguised her true identity to protect me and died alone two years after I was born. G’Fleuf had the pleasure of raising me.” She paused to glare at the tears that seemed to be coursing down her cheek. Simona blinked again as the small tentacled creature walked quietly into the wardroom and sat beside Kelsoe. “Ten or eleven days ago I found out that the wreckers were luring a convoy of three ships into the moon.” She looked at the floor. “One was this ship, which survived. My father, unfortunately, didn’t.” G’Fleuf handed her a clean handkerchief, and she took a moment to wipe her eyes and blow her nose. “He survived long enough to recognize me for who I was, turn the ship over to me, and call me by name. He died in front of me.” She whispered.
“It was you who sent us the message about the survivors of the crash.” Simona murmured speculatively, sipping her drink.
“That was me.” Kelsoe admitted reluctantly.
“And led us by the noses into the teeth of the Vonuborg Armada.”
“I needed to slow the Armada down so that I can get to Wecarro and recall the Fleet.”
Admiral Bacheva frowned at that comment. “How do you know about THAT?”
“My father told me, in a way. It’s really a very strange story.” Kelsoe began, reaching out and touching the Admiral’s hand in a completely friendly, unthreatening gesture while she thought to herself, Damn!! What do I do now? The silence stretched for several long moments before Kelsoe answered her own question. This Admiral is an honorable person, she said to herself, and she likes you. The admiral frowned, blinked and looked over at Kelsoe. The frown deepened as she rubbed the back of the hand Kelsoe had touched, who recognized the gesture and blanched at what it implied. “Two weeks ago I was a simple wrecker, a pirate if you will, one of many living on the Wrecker’s Moon. That is all I’ve known since I was born. Then the bosses used the Lure to bring down a Fleet convoy, and my world changed.” She looked around the room. “My father passed the ship over to me, along with more problems than I think it is worth.” She sighed. “I had Mia send a distress call for the Fleet when I found that there were survivors. I didn’t expect you to be there in three days.” She gave Simona a sour smile. “Then I found out about the Armada, and everything changed again. Now I find that my actions will affect the lives of all the remaining Smiths, and not just me. I brought you here to see the Armada for yourself. It’s that simple.”
Simona sat at the table, steepling her fingers and giving Kelsoe a look that betrayed nothing of her own feelings. “What will you do now?”
Kelsoe let out the breath she didn’t know that she’d been holding. “Take the saucer and go to Wecarro. I can slip through the planetary defenses easily enough. After that it is only a matter of finding the FTL Transmitter, which I assume is in the Smith quarters, send the message to the Fleet warning them of the Armada, and leave.” In the air of the wardroom she heard Mia give a little laugh. “Hush Mia!!” She said softly. “You’re confusing me.”
“You are already confused, child.”
Simona was staring at her. “You have a mighty inflated impression of your abilities, young lady.” The admiral growled.
Kelsoe just smiled at her. “I have connections you don’t know about…yet.” She looked down into her empty cup. “One last thing. I left a drone shadowing the Vonuborg Armada.” She held out her hand and a small blue data crystal appeared there. “This will give you the correct frequency for the drone, as well as all the necessary decryption algorithms.”
Admiral Bacheva looked first at the crystal and then at the ship that surrounded her, as if seeing it for the first time. “You have a fine ship here.”
Kelsoe smiled. “You don’t know the half of it. Say hello to the Admiral, Mia.”
“Good day, Admiral Bacheva.” Mia’s honey smooth deep contralto purred from the air.
“Who is that?” Simona asked, sitting up straighter in her seat.
“I suppose that you could say that I am the Artificial Intelligence that runs this ship.” Mia said in a nonchalant voice. “Aarlan programmed my personality matrix to be as close to Lydia Smith as he could get. I suspect that after years of being by himself, he was finally beginning to get lonely for human companionship.”
“How…how big is your personality program?” Simona asked in a shaky voice.
“I am barely hitting eighty four out of one hundred and fifty petabytes total personality storage. That size is growing as I develop more and deeper human emotions.”
The Admiral made a strangling sound. “Eighty four petabytes is more than all the operational data storage in the entire Task Force Seven.” She looked down into her empty cup, and suddenly it was full of steaming klah. “Do you have holographic capability?”
Kelsoe was astounded when Mia actually sighed. “That was never programmed into me.”
Simona smiled. “We are equipped with fourth generation holo-emitters on the flagship, mostly in navigation and in tactical. You are welcome to the plans and software if it would help you.”
“Why, thank you Admiral.” Mia said with real sincerity. Across the table a blue figure sparkled and appeared. Dressed in what appeared to be a standard shipsuit, her hair was straight and cut into a bob similar to Kelsoe. The facial features of the blue figure and Kelsoe were strikingly similar. “I’ll admit that I stole the information as soon as we got in range, and began work on the construction of the holo-emitters throughout the ship, but it’s always better to have permission, don’t you think?” Her grin was impish.
“You are the spitting image of Lady Lydia Smith.” Admiral Bacheva whispered in a shocked voice.
“Thank you Admiral.” Mia replied seriously. “I strive to follow the intentions of my original programmer, Aarlan Smith.” The image of Mia rippled as more colors pulsed through the image. The skin went from blue to a soft pinkish brown, the same color as Kelsoe’s. The hair on Mia’s head was now a deep brown rather than black, and her eyes were a light sky blue. Her lips were full and red. The black shipsuit filled out to surprisingly full proportions. Mia looked down at her lush body, highlighted by the snug shipsuit. “Goodness.” Looking up at the Admiral, she raised an eyebrow. “Was Lydia Smith really this…well proportioned?”
Simona laughed out loud. “From what I remember, Lydia Smith never had any sort of enhancements.”
Mia looked over at Kelsoe, smiling. “See what you have to look forward to my dear?” Kelsoe just groaned.
Simona set down her empty glass and stood up. “It has been a most enlightening meeting, Captain Smith.” Taking a quick step forward, Simona hugged Kelsoe warmly. “Take care Kelsoe.” She said in a small voice. “The fate of Wecarro rests on your shoulders now. When he left, your father named Pataki Szervác as his Steward of the Empire. At the time it was a good choice, but now I wouldn’t trust the man any further than I could throw him. If I would guess, I would say he has been bought, or someone has something over his family. Either way, he isn’t to be trusted, so be very careful who you entrust your identity to. When I get back to the bridge I’ll send Mia the frequency and encryption algorithms for secure FTL com with this ship as well as the rest of the Fleet. We’ll stay here as long as we can, but if the Vonuborg Armada begins to make its move we will have no choice but to attack. You know what that means.”
Kelsoe nodded solemnly, knowing that the lives of every man and woman in the Fleet now depended on her too. The klah churned in her stomach like a pool of acid. “I understand Admiral.” She forced a small smile. “A little bird suggested that the damaged Frigate Grazer and t
he Destroyer Sword of the Primus join your other damaged destroyer on the Wrecker’s Moon. As I recall, there are spare parts available, and the surviving military troops can be split between the three ships if the transport can’t be repaired.” Kelsoe held the Admiral’s eye. “I can’t guarantee that I will succeed in my task, but I will certainly do my best.”
“That’s all we can ask of any man or woman, Captain Smith.” Admiral Simona Ventsislavova Bacheva walked calmly down the ramp, her shoulders straight and signaled to her two guards who fell in on either side of her as they departed the hangar, followed closely by the Marine squad. Only a handful of technicians remained to goggle as the ramp flowed back into the strange saucer, and without a sound the ship moved thorough the magnetic seal of the hangar door, vanishing instantly into the blackness of space.
Chapter 5
WECARRO
Kelsoe stared at the view screen, her thoughts whirling over the events of the past few days. Admiral Bacheva had accepted her suggestion, and as the Task Force reached the edge of the Wyvern’s sensor range Mia noted that both the damaged frigate and destroyer were moving out slowly, in the general direction of the Wrecker’s Moon. A single lonely support freighter, probably containing parts and supplies for the damaged ships, was accelerating rapidly after the departing warships. Kelsoe smiled grimly. It didn’t take a great tactician to realize that two broken destroyers, a broken frigate, along with a damaged troop transport and a two fleet freighters, one smashed, hidden on an airless desolate moon stood a better chance of surviving what was coming than the entire balance of Task Force Seven, now at better than fifteen to one odds against the approaching Armada. Unfortunately, the addition of those other ships, even at full strength, wouldn’t measurably improve the Task Force’s odds. The only glimmer in the bleak picture was the fact that very shortly the Vonuborg Armada would be powering their ships on fumes. She and the Admiral needed the Starrkand Fleet if the Task Force, and Wecarro were to survive.
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