by Worth, Dan
‘Yes sir,’ she replied smartly. ‘I’m looking forward to some payback, sir.’
‘Well don’t look forward to it too much, Admiral Chen,’ Cartwright responded. ‘Just to get you up to speed: combat field tests of our new spatial distortion cannons have proved successful, so we can hit back at last, but our ships are still outclassed by the Shaper vessels. The Nahabe have continued to raid beyond our borders, intercepting large numbers of enemy troop transport vessels bound for our systems. The wreckage indicated that each contained thousands of enslaved troops, so it looks like the Nahabe have bought us some breathing space, but the Shapers are definitely up to something. During your mission to the Matsu system, you spotted transport vessels belonging to the enemy ferrying anti-matter in the direction of the Achernar system.’
‘Yes sir, that’s correct.’
Cartwright nodded. ‘It seems that you’re not the only ones to spot such activity. Admiral Hawkwood has informed me that our recon flights and at least one of our agents that can still be relied upon have reported similar incidents. The Shapers are up to something. Intel.’s best guess at this time is that they may be preparing a weapon of mass destruction to use against us.’
‘Could this be related to the massive warship that the Nahabe spotted heading for our systems, sir?’ Chen asked.
‘You’re referring to the five hundred kilometre long behemoth that they encountered in deep space beyond our southern borders? Yes, it may well do. However neither we, nor the Nahabe have been able to locate the craft since it jumped to a new position. The current assumption is that given the length of time since it was last sighted, it may well be within what was previously deemed to be Commonwealth space. We need to track it down.’
‘And once we have, how do we deal with such a monster?’
‘Contingency plans are being formulated at this time,’ Cartwright replied. ‘I can say no more on the subject for the time being. You’ll be informed on a need to know basis. For now, you are to maintain secrecy on the existence of this enemy vessel. Knowledge of its existence could be very bad for morale.’
‘Of course sir, I understand.’
‘Admiral Chen, the Commonwealth is about to move against its enemies, before they move against us. You made a valuable contribution to the war effort in the Matsu system, but we can’t afford to make any more mistakes, is that clear?’
‘Yes sir, absolutely sir.’
‘I’m granting you and your crew some r-and-r for a couple of days. You’ve earned it, and New Hatti is a pleasant enough place for shore leave. You may however be recalled before then, so don’t stray too far. You may have noticed the increasing number of vessels within this system? They’re here for a reason, Admiral. Navy engineers are working double time to upgrade the deep monitoring arrays and our other Thea class cruisers, and a crash program to fit spatial distortion cannons to our carriers is also well on its way. In a matter of days, once we have suitable targets, we will be taking the fight to the enemy, because I don’t think we have a lot of time before they do the same to us.’
‘Yes sir.’
‘Very good, Admiral Chen. Dismissed.’
Chen turned to leave, and then paused.
‘Sir, one other thing...’ she said.
‘Go ahead, Admiral.’
‘Is there any word yet on Haines?’
‘None so far, I’m afraid,’ Cartwright replied. ‘Although your man Harris was one of the agents to spot the Shapers raiding anti-matter supplies whilst en-route to the Achernar system to find him, so as far as we know, the mission to locate him is still going to plan.’
‘Agent Harris is as good as they get, sir. If anyone can find Haines, he can.’
‘I hope so too, Admiral Chen. But it may not be wise to get our hopes up prematurely. Haines may be dead, or in the hands of the enemy. We have to fight on without him. It’s what he would want, after all.’
On the shuttle back to the Churchill, Chen allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief. She had been sure that Cartwright was about to chew her out for the loss of the Dulles when he had summoned her to his ship. Working under his command was certainly very different from working under Haines. Where Haines was gruff, but often informal and even jovial and fatherly, Cartwright was cold and always formal and constantly seemed to be sizing her up and seeing how she would react to being challenged. She guessed that she just had to get used to his different style of command, but each encounter with the man was like a form of verbal fencing, and she could never tell whether not she’d won each bout or not.
She gazed out of the window at the dozens of warships hanging in orbit above the planet of New Hatti and allowed her eyes to slide over the massive, battered hull of the Nahabe gunsphere, Shadow in the Void, whose roughly spherical hull wore the scars of their recent encounter with the enemy in the Matsu system like a moon pockmarked by meteorite impacts. It was a reminder of the fearsome power of the Shaper weapons. Those Commonwealth vessels hanging in stately rows in the skies above New Hatti would be flying into the teeth of a storm of terrible power in a scant few days, against their former comrades and terrible alien forces that now held them in thrall. Some of them would be facing the Shapers for the first time. Chen knew what to expect. She had seen it before all too recently and did not relish the prospect, despite what she had said to Cartwright. But there was a job to be done, and they must fight or die.
She thought about Haines, and wondered if the old man was still out there somewhere, fighting a lone war against the Shapers. The news that he had at least survived the destruction of the Abraham Lincoln had cheered her immensely when she had heard it, but since then there had been no word. She wished that he were here now to lead them. He’d know just the thing to say to raise everyone’s spirits in the face of the enemy. Haines never gave up, not even when everything seemed lost. He was larger than life, as well as being a tactical genius. A born leader. All she could do was to seek to emulate him as best she could.
Chen’s shuttle landed within the cavernous hangar of the Churchill. She was greeted on the deck by McManus, who wore a conspiratorial look.
‘So, how was your meeting with the old guy?’ he asked.
‘Difficult to say,’ Chen replied, as they walked together to the lift. ‘I can’t tell if he likes me or distrusts my capabilities, or what.’
‘Aye, he’s a funny bugger alright is Admiral Cartwright. Cold and calculating, like. You never can figure out what’s going on inside that head of his. What did he say?’
‘Chewed me out for the loss of the Dulles, but then he seemed to come around when I accepted that it was my responsibility.’
They reached the lift and stepped inside. Chen selected Deck One for the bridge on the wall panel and the lift began to move upwards.
‘Aye, that sounds like Cartwright alright. I think as long as you’re straight with him and admit any mistakes, you’ll be alright. I think you’d really know if he was displeased with you.’
‘I would?’
‘Oh yes indeed. I’ve seen him tear Captains, and even Admirals like yourself, to pieces when they tried to blame their failings on their men, or other commanders, or the ship or whatever. He makes grown men and women soil their uniforms when he’s angry, it’s not pretty. Some of them were lucky to escape a life of scrubbing the heads for the rest of their careers, I think.’
‘Well, we must have done something right. He’s given the ship a few days shore leave, effective immediately. I’ll announce it to the crew in a moment.’
‘Oh aye? Well that’s fine and dandy, but what then? Shore leave at a time like this? It usually means that they’re saving you for something special and they want you fresh for the next fight, am I right?’
‘You could be, Commander,’ said Chen. ‘You could indeed.’
‘Ah, shite. On the plus side, it probably means that Cartwright does respect you after all. On the downside of course, it means we’ve just pulled our arses out of the fire only to plunge them back in
again shortly. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldnae mind another pop at those Shaper bastards as much as the next man, or woman. But still, I don’t know about you Admiral, but I could sure as hell use a drink.’
‘That,’ said Chen reflectively, ‘sounds like an excellent idea.’
Chapter 30
Ushild was still unconscious and sedated when the Arkari medical teams began the painstaking process of removing him from the mysterious machinery that had held him for the past ten millennia. With Rekkid’s help, they had succeeded in decoding the different control panels that governed the operation of the device’s life support systems. Now, medics and drones surrounded his withered form and prepared to release Ushild. The drones began to weave strands of life support nano-machinery about him as the medics began to work the controls that would retract the web of tubes, probes and neural links from his body and allow him to be moved, while other drones stood ready with a medical casket fitted with stasis field generators to receive him once they had freed him from his self imposed prison.
It was a painstaking process. As the various tubes and probes began to retract themselves and the Arkari systems took over in their stead, the medics closely monitored Ushild’s vital signs for any fluctuation. Then, when at last he was free of the grip of the ancient machines, the drones moved in to gently cradle his unconscious form with suspension fields that moved him carefully into the womb-like interior of the waiting casket. Once they had him inside its sterile embrace, the nano-machinery that they had woven about him began to grow and link itself both to the casket’s systems and to Ushild’s implants and nervous system.
He lay within the casket, his breathing shallow but regular, his ancient and withered form encased within a cocoon of shining silver threads. Stasis field generators within the casket activated, trapping Ushild in a bubble of frozen space-time like a fly in amber, and then the drones began to escort the casket from the vast underground chamber to begin the long journey back to the surface and the waiting shuttle to the Shining Glory.
Katherine stood amidst the ruins of the dead city and watched the dust swirl about her as the wind howled mournfully about the broken buildings. It pained her that they had still not got to the bottom of the true mystery about what had happened to this world or its shattered sister planet. That the Akkal had been torn apart by religious wars as a result of their encounter with a Progenitor AI controlled warship was clear, but what was not clear was why a full half of a sentient species had been so easily inclined to turn against centuries of belief so quickly, why the resulting wars had been so bitter, and how they had managed to destroy one another so utterly in their blind hatred. Only one being held the rest of the story, and Ushild had remained unconscious since his near fatal heart attack. So far he had shown little sign of waking up, particularly since the Arkari medical team were anxious to keep him under until they could get him aboard the Glory and work to reverse the effects of his extreme ageing.
What could traumatise a civilisation so badly that they could turn to this? That they would annihilate themselves so freely, that they could plan and execute the destruction of so many of their own species was deeply shocking to Katherine. She was aware that in the past, humanity had taken fateful steps along a similar road, but had stepped back from the brink of actually carrying out such actions when clearer heads had prevailed. In the case of the Akkal, they had been blinded by rage, or bigotry, or something else. Perhaps they had collectively ceased to want to exist, driven by some suicidal mania? What had they found on the other side of the portal in the centre of the system, and where had a civilisation less technologically advanced than modern humans acquired the ability to utterly obliterate an entire world?
She turned as she heard Rekkid and Steelscale approach from the direction of the entrance to the ziggurat.
‘The shuttle should be here soon to pick us up,’ said Rekkid. ‘Have you got all your gear?’
‘Everything the drones didn’t take for me, yes,’ Katherine replied, indicating the jumble of bags and cases around her feet. They no longer wore the breathing masks as before. Although dust devils still moved amongst the desolation, they were no longer being battered by storms of grit and the air was quite breathable. Rekkid noticed the expression on Katherine’s face and could tell something was wrong.
‘Are you alright?’ he asked her.
‘I think so...’ Then she shook her head. ‘No, actually, no I’m not. I can’t believe that we’re packing up and leaving just like that. We don’t know anything about this place!’ she replied and threw up her hands in exasperation.
‘We know something of what happened here,’ Rekkid replied. ‘The drones have copied everything that we found down in that library. It’s just a matter of searching through the archive, and we have Ushild. Plus, the Glory’s technicians might able to get Eonara up and running again eventually.’
‘Maybe.’
‘Eonara brought us here because of that portal,’ said Steelscale, his translator pendant squawking tinnily in the open air. ‘We must see where it leads.’
‘Must we?’ Katherine replied. ‘Whatever is on the other side of that portal led these people to destroy themselves. I wouldn’t be so eager to find out what it was that they found.’
‘Nevertheless, War Marshal Mentith has given the order to withdraw everyone from the surface and head for the device. So either we do as he says, or we find some way to survive for the rest of our lives on this corpse of a world,’ said Rekkid. ‘I don’t know about you, but I don’t think we can live on radioactive dust, do you?’
‘The people who lived here once: it just seems like we’re abandoning them, that’s all,’ said Katherine. ‘Someone needs to properly record the full story of what happened here.’
‘One day, perhaps,’ said Steelscale. ‘For now, however, our survival, and our ability to return home is a more pressing matter. Perhaps Ushild can be revived and we can speak more with him aboard the ship and find out what occurred here ten thousand years ago?’
Above them, the slender shape of one of the Glory’s shuttles broke through the grey cloud cover and began to spiral down towards them.
‘Perhaps, assuming he lives long enough. I just think that we’re rushing into things before we have all the facts, that’s all,’ said Katherine.
‘Maybe the ship trusts Eonara more than we do,’ Rekkid offered. ‘After all, I doubt that she would intentionally mean us any harm.’
‘You do? What about the other Progenitor AI, the one that the Akkal found? Maybe it didn’t mean any harm either, and look what happened.’
‘You have a point...’ said Rekkid as the shuttle touched down a short distance away and opened a portion of its hull to form an access ramp. ‘Nevertheless, it’s time to go. Come on, Katherine. Let me help you with those things.’
In some ways it was good to be aboard the Shining Glory again. Katherine and Rekkid found their spacious suite of rooms on board as they had left it and it felt good to get properly clean for the first time in weeks and wash the dust and dirt out of their clothes, but Katherine still couldn’t escape the feeling that they had left too soon. Wearing a fresh change of clothes she watched the planet turn slowly beneath them in the section of the wall that Rekkid had turned into a screen showing the view outside the ship. The planet’s dead surface was wrapped in a shroud of cloud and Katherine compared it in her mind with the images of the lush green world that she had seen in the buried archives of the Akkal.
Steelscale had returned to his concubines, who had been patiently awaiting his return. There had been much growling and roaring in the K’Soth language upon his arrival, and Katherine tried not to think too much about what might be happening in his cabin.
She was roused from her contemplation of the dead planet by the soft chime of the door. Mentith entered, the old Arkari looking a little less weary than the last time she had seen him. He seemed, like the ship, to be rejuvenated. She guessed that once his crew had got the ship’s orbit stabilised
and the repairs well under way, he had had time to take stock of the situation and recuperate.
‘War Marshal, you’re looking well. Was there something you needed?’ said Katherine.
‘I came to thank you both in person for all your hard work down on the planet,’ said Mentith. ‘You have made some fascinating discoveries, not least of all our newly arrived guest. For that, I congratulate you and you have my gratitude. I am aware that you raised some concerns about our rather rushed departure for the Progenitor portal in this system, but I would like to stress that we will approach it with the utmost caution.’
‘I just think that we should be prepared for every eventuality, War Marshal,’ Katherine replied. ‘We still don’t know fully what happened here, or what might await us if we pass through that portal, or where it might take us.’
‘Well... there are a number of possibilities,’ Mentith said, cryptically.
‘You don’t say,’ said Rekkid, drily.
‘Hmm, indeed. We have not been idle during your absence. You will be pleased to know that soon after the ship’s AI and navigation systems came back online, we were able to get an accurate fix on our current position. We have also been comparing the scant records from Eonara’s memories that the ship has copies of with the galactic map that Professor Cor so helpfully provided us with. We have found a number of references to a Progenitor wormhole gate network that extended right across this galaxy at one time and which formed the transport backbone for their galaxy spanning empire. Over such distances, even the use of jump drives becomes impractical, a predicament that we are currently experiencing for ourselves. The ship has theorised that the Progenitors used the wormholes to travel tens of thousands of light years instantaneously. These devices appear to have been less complex than the one found in the Maranos system, designed to merely keep fixed wormholes open rather than generate their own at will, hence the smaller size of the one in the centre of this system.’