Shadow Core - The Legacy

by Licinio Goncalves

  Kade’s expression, on the other hand, had changed from a calm concerned look to something bordering on ecstatic as she said, “Sigma-225-Deca-2, send it!”

  “What?” Nick asked with a confused expression as he looked at Kade.

  “Sending… reply reads ‘Authorisation granted, proceed to port 5’,” Jude said as she finally looked away from her screen, in Kade’s direction.

  “You’re kidding!” Nick blurted out, utterly confused. “What the hell just happened?”

  “I finally found it!” Kade said joyfully as Jude and Nick looked at her, at a loss by this turn of events.

  During this sequence of events, back in the ‘derelict’, Static and Drake were closely observing the inbound ship to see how it would react to the probe.

  “It slowed its approach, smart,” Static said.

  “They saw the probe engine flare up. It’s not packing standard issue sensors,” Drake added.

  “Probe 15-Alpha has performed a course correction, new estimated intercept time is 2 minutes 20 seconds,” Nexus reported in her cold monotone voice.

  “No way it missed that one… so my friend, what will you do now?” Drake asked, as if talking to the sensor contact, while Static just observed.

  “Sensor pulse detected, the target has switched to active scanning mode,” Nexus reported.

  “Makes sense, I’d want to know what was homing in on me as well,” Static said as he looked at his console display which was showing a graphical analysis of the sensor pulse. And then smiled as he said, “It seems our guests also don’t want to attract any local attention. They’re putting just enough energy into the sensors to try and detect us, but not enough to immediately raise suspicions from the local patrols.”

  “The safer course of action would be to just leave. For all they know we could have shot a missile at them… reckless fools,” Drake said with a disapproving look.

  “I would go with ‘Courageous’.”

  “Same difference.”

  “Detecting energy build-up on target hyper-light engine,” Nexus reported.

  “It’s rabbiting?” Static asked.

  “Too late,” Drake said. “If that had been a missile we’d be seeing fireworks right about… now!”

  “Probe 15-Alpha has intercepted the target,” Nexus reported. “Active scan in progress… receiving data stream… compiling detailed profile.”

  As Drake looked at the screen showing the inbound ship, another screen appeared to its left, this one showing the raw data stream from the probe.

  Data was flashing by the new screen at a rate no human being could possibly understand, as the display showing the inbound ship added in layer upon layer of new information. Creating an ultra detailed picture of the target, down to the scratches and rust patches in the paintwork.

  Drake had looked away from the display for a moment and noticed that Static was staring at the data stream with a worried expression, but to him, the data was streaming by so fast that it all just looked like a big blur.

  “What’s wrong?” Drake asked.

  “Hmm?” Static said as he looked away from the data stream. “Oh! No… nothing. The stream just seems to be running slow.”

  “You serious?” Drake asked in disbelief as he called up his personal user interface, and entered a few commands in order to check the status of the connection to the probe.

  “Well I’ll be… you’re right,” Drake said. “The link is 22% slower than normal. Must be the distance. Nothing to worry about.”

  The ship’s general shape was no longer changing, though minor details were still being updated as the scan data poured in.

  “Weird, it definitely looks like a Patriarch model, but these results don’t seem right to me,” Static said.

  Drake looked up at the screen, focusing on the inbound ship, and then waved his left hand over his user interface, causing it to vanish and be replaced with a 3D model of the vessel.

  “It’s unarmed… and has been heavily modified… but you’re right, there’s something off about it,” Drake said as he manipulated the model with a pensive look.

  “Nexus, start the authorisation sequence via the probe,” Static ordered.

  “Working,” Nexus replied.

  “What for? It’s not as if they’re likely to pass authorisation. What are you up to?” Drake asked as he looked at Static.

  “I’m curious,” Static said with a serious expression and a faint smile. “Not to mention bored,” he continued, his faint smile turning into a grin.

  A few moments passed, as Drake carried on with his examination of the inbound ship, and then something unexpected happened…

  “Authorisation confirmed!” Nexus reported.

  “What!” Static and Drake asked, almost in unison.

  “Inbound ship identified as Independent vessel ‘Icarus’, authorisation code ‘Sigma-225-Deca-2’,” Nexus said, much to their surprise.

  “Err, Static… why is the unknown ship using one of your old ID codes?” Drake asked with a dumbfounded expression.

  “That… is a very good question,” Static said.

  “Guess we’ll find out soon enough. Nexus, stand down from defence condition one and start my reanimation sequence. Time to stretch my legs a bit I think,” Drake said.

  “Working;” Nexus said. “Shutting down Drake’s neural interlink. Starting reanimation sequence.”

  “Stay safe my friend,” Static said as Drake vanished from the virtual environment.

  On board the ‘derelict’…

  In a room with walls lined with a multitude of sleeper pods, the only source of light was the control console of the one occupied pod. A soft blue glow lit up the darkened room as the pod’s status suddenly changed. The reanimation sequence had started, and the occupants life-signs were growing steadily stronger as an ice-like substance slowly dissipated from inside the pod and a timer counted down until full user reanimation: ‘29 minutes remaining.’

  In the mean time the Icarus was continuing on its approach, but with a minor detour. A slight course correction had been made in order to do a fly-by of the nearby wreckage.

  “Are we in range yet?” Kade asked impatiently.

  “We should be close enough,” Jude said as she started running active scans on the debris.

  “They got ripped apart pretty bad. I’d hate to be on the receiving end of whatever hit them,” Nick said as he looked over the scan data as it came in.

  “No energy signatures to speak of,” Kade commented as she reviewed the scan information. “The reactor seems to have been ejected, as were all the escape pods. Whatever happened to it made the crew abandon ship.”

  “From what’s left I would say this was…” Jude paused as she finished the scan of the debris, stopping in order to double check her findings and confirm her suspicions.

  “If we have to guess, can we get a hint?” Nick asked.

  “What? Oh, sorry… it was a Shrike vessel, probably a heavy assault frigate,” Jude said.

  “No big loss then. One less pirate ship to deal with,” Kade said calmly, but this development worried her.

  “Normally I would agree but…” Nick started saying with a concerned look “…we’re probably flying towards something that shredded a pirate ship.”

  “Maybe it really doesn’t like pirates? They aren’t exactly the friendliest bunch,” Jude said. “On a more serious note, there is something odd here. The ship was carved up by a high energy weapon of some kind, a very precise one at that. It cut clean through the primary power distribution node, avoiding any major damage to the reactor housing. This allowed the crew to eject the reactor before it could overload and destroy the ship.”

  “Sounds like a clean kill, so why does it look like it has been put through a shredder?” Nick asked.

  “The remaining damage was caused by internal explosions. The crew seems to have scuttled any useful equipment as well as most of the key structural points before they jumped ship,” Jude reported.
>
  They were still pondering the implications of the wreckage when the ship suddenly jolted, as if it had hit something, causing it to lose some momentum but quickly returning to normal.

  “What the hell was that?” Nick asked as he turned his attention back to the navigation console.

  “Oh my!” Jude said as she stared at her console.

  “Talk to me Jude!” Kade said to a rather perplexed looking Jude that was desperately trying to make sense out of what had just happened.

  “I’m not sure how to describe it…” Jude paused for a moment while trying to compose her thoughts, “the derelict is on sensors now. It would seem we’ve entered some kind of shielded area… fascinating,” she said with wide eyed wonder.

  “Area? How big?” Kade asked.

  “Well… it’s hard to tell. We’re about 25,000 Km out, and if we assume we’re dealing with a sphere…”

  “Ha ha ha,” Nick interrupted. “You could shove Neptune in here… that’s not insane at all,” he said in a matter of fact, if obviously sarcastic, kind of tone. “Even if we ignore the power requirements to pull that miracle off, how does one shield an area anyway? Jammers?”

  “No,” Kade replied. “Jammers wouldn’t affect the ship in a physical sense.”

  “They also leave a distinct signature,” Jude added.

  “Jammers flood the area with a form of white noise… no, we’re dealing with something very different.”

  “And effective,” Kade said. “It certainly explains why the Solarian authorities aren’t crawling all over this place. As far as they know there’s nothing actually here, though the size of the field seems a little… excessive.”

  “Not really,” Jude said. “I agree with Nick that the power requirements must be immense, but the size of the field makes sense to me. Think about it. If we could create a field like this just around the Icarus then normal sensors wouldn’t see us, but they would still see a very localised disruption. They would still be able to pinpoint us even if they didn’t know who we were. Now, if you expand the effective area to the size of a major planet…”

  “The disruption is averaged out and what’s left just looks like natural random noise,” Nick finished Jude’s sentence with a seriously concerned expression as the sisters looked at him in silence, surprised by his insight.

  “What?” Nick asked after noticing their stunned looks. “I do pay attention at times you know.”

  “Right… anyway, let’s focus on something else right now. It’s on sensors, so run me a detailed scan of the derelict. Let’s see if we can identify it,” Kade ordered.

  “I’m on it!” Jude said.

  Jude was keeping a close watch on the results from the scan as the data streamed in. The ship in front of them was a truly impressive beast, but a new mystery now laid just beyond the shielded area…

  “Well, that’s a rather nasty downside. Whatever that ship’s doing to shield this area is also disrupting our sensors. Our active scans aren’t picking up anything past the field boundary. We can’t see ‘out’ anymore than we could see ‘in’ before,” she said.

  “It seemed to see us just fine,” Nick said.

  “The probe that intercepted us was probably sitting outside this field. The ship itself is probably as blind as we are to what’s happening outside,” Jude explained, bringing a smile to Nick’s face.

  Jude glanced over the data that the sensors had managed to compile so far, and one section of the hull caught her attention…

  “Well… that’s something you don’t see every day. Check this out!” Jude said as she forwarded an image from the derelict’s hull to the main view-screen. The bridge going quiet as everyone stared at the coat of arms branded on the side of the ‘derelict’, with the ship’s name written beneath it.

  “That symbol… this ship is a ‘Shadow’!” Kade said with a glint in her eye.

  “The Zenith? Here?” Nick blurted out instinctively, genuinely surprised at what he was seeing.

  “That thing has the Shadow logo on its hull, a group which is closer to myth and legend than reality, and the name is what surprises you?” Kade asked.

  “Oh…” Nick said sheepishly. “It’s just that… well I’ve heard rumours of this ship. But I thought it had been destroyed almost a century ago. And then we go and find it in Sol of all places? It just surprised me… that’s all.”

  “The Shadows! I used to love those stories, but there’s so little concrete data on them. I thought that they were just a myth. So how do you know of this ship?” Jude asked as she turned away from her console, facing Nick.

  “I read something about it once, don’t remember where though. It was a long time ago,” Nick replied.

  “What else do you know about it?” Kade asked.

  “Not much. An experimental ship, but I forget what about it was experimental… the engines maybe? Anyway, the ship was supposedly reported as lost during an engagement in deep space with an unknown target,” Nick said, struggling to remember.

  “Anything else? I was hoping for something more specific. Crew complement or weaponry, maybe how it was lost,” Kade pushed for information.

  “There was speculation that it was lost in a battle with… oh!” Nick said just as he remembered exactly where he had seen the information.

  “Oh?” Kade asked.

  “No, it’s nothing. I wouldn’t put much stock in my information. After all, like Jude said, the Shadows are little more than a myth.”

  “Well this ‘myth’ seems pretty real right about now, and she’s a beautiful ship,” Jude said as the sensor scan finished building up a detailed composite image, which she quickly transferred to the main view-screen.

  The screen flickered briefly as it updated to show the image of the Zenith.

  The design didn’t exactly follow most current ship building standards. It was sleek and symmetrical, and felt as though it belonged to a bygone era. But it didn’t come across as outdated, far from it, it hinted at being a ship of the line.

  At almost four kilometres long it sent out one clear message to any would be attackers, ‘defy me at your own peril’. And yet the design did not come across as aggressive like most present and past warships.

  “It’s just like I imagined it would be,” Kade said almost in a trance as she remembered her grandfather’s tales.

  “What I wouldn’t give to meet the team that designed this ship,” Jude added in a daze.

  “Hey! No drooling on the consoles! Plays havoc with the wiring,” Nick said, breaking the other two out of their daydreams.

  “Way to kill the moment,” Kade said as she was snapped back to reality. “How are we for time?”

  “We’ll dock in 20 minutes, more or less,” Nick replied as he updated the ship’s flightpath.

  “OK, see to it. I have a few things to take care of before we can board. Jude, ready your gear.”

  “Will do,” Jude said with a smile.

  Kade and Jude got up from their seats and headed towards the door. Jude heading down to the engineering deck so as to check on all her equipment, as Kade headed for her quarters.

  Meanwhile, Nick had been left in charge of the bridge and was taking this opportunity to update a few things on his personal Echo unit: a forearm worn technology that married the power of the latest photon processor core, and vast capacity of crystal molecular memory storage, with a standardised holographic interface.

  Nick grinned as he typed into what appeared to be a log. Writing down in intricate detail all of the events that had transpired since the Icarus had un-docked from Titan Orbital II. And paying particularly close attention to the demonstrated technical capabilities and perceived limitations of the Zenith.

  The Smuggler

  Kade stepped outside the bridge and started floating forward along the narrow corridor, with her sister following close behind her.

  The Icarus, unlike most normal ships, did not have full gravity plating coverage. This was something the sisters had always attribute
d to the simple fact that it was an old ship and they had never seen it as a flaw. If anything, it made moving about the ship a relatively effortless task, while at the same time reducing the sustained load on the ship’s reactor output.

  Their ship wasn’t exactly a ‘standard’ model. When compared to the outer sections of the structure, the bulk of the inner sections of the ship were made up of narrower corridors and smaller rooms. It was a strange arrangement for this class of ship, but one that maximised cargo bay space nicely. It was one of many modifications that their grandfather had made a long time ago.

  There were so many differences between the Icarus and the Patriarch’s baseline design that Kade’s trusted repair crews, who often serviced the Icarus when it stopped over at a certain smuggler’s base, would often joke that her ship was ‘one of a kind’. A comment that would always bring a smile to her lips and warmth to her heart.

  Kade reached for the handrail on her right, grabbing on and stopping her drifting motion in front of her room. Her sister carried on forward, waving to her with a smile as she headed to the lower decks.

  As Kade stepped into the room her feet found gravity once again and she moved towards her storage locker in order to start getting kitted out for what was to come.

  She opened the locker to reveal her space suit, which was a more rugged version of the normal suits the crew would usually wear and began undressing…

  Elsewhere…

  Jude had a faint smile on her lips as she looked at her Echo unit’s holographic display, while holding her right hand against what appeared to be one of two large suitcases. The Echo display on her left forearm showing the data stream she was receiving through the transceivers in her right hand glove. She was running some last minute diagnostics on her tools as she imagined getting a chance to use her toys on the systems of an actual Shadow ship.

  All seemed to be in order with her equipment, so Jude dragged the heavy cases to the entrance of the engineering bay and then headed for her quarters in order to change into her spacesuit, drifting along the zero gravity corridor with barely contained excitement.

  Back in Kade’s quarters…

  Kade had just finished putting on her space suit and was stretching her arms and legs so as to allow the formfitting material to properly adjust to her body. All that was missing now were her gloves and helmet. But before she finished getting ready and started heading out, there was one more thing that she had to take care of. She sat down at her desk and pressed her hand against the wall in front of her, causing a secret compartment to open.