"The rebound shield. It is a man-portable, regenerating, portable force-field. The field pattern is prolate spheroid, the field strength is-" the engineer began to explain. When he saw the look of worn patience on the face of his commander, he pulled out a datapad and directed her attention to the landing pad. "At the center is the shield emitter, strapped to a test dummy. At seven o' clock are samples of our standard sidearms, at ten o'clock is a plate of high density ballistic armor. Watch."
Another tap unleashed a barrage of shots from the weapons, one energy and one projectile-based. When the sizzling, zapping, and thundering had come to an end, the shimmering shield was intact, and the armor plate was smoldering and blackened. Every round had been bounced directly into the plate.
"We have tested this shield with every weapon we were comfortable discharging within the confines of the station. The only time we've been able to collapse it was when Nelson fired on it with the charge gun and nearly punched a hole in the hull."
Purcell crossed her arms and allowed a wry smile to come to her face. It had a peculiar quality, as though her face was so seldom expected to show anything besides stern disapproval or contempt that it was out of practice when asked to display something like satisfaction. She pulled out her communicator.
"Guard Unit 1, bring Karter to Docking Bay B," she ordered. Once acknowledged, she turned to the engineers. "I want to commend you, men. This is why we exist! I have no doubt in my mind that dozens of ideas such as these, hundreds, thousands, cross the desks of military assessors who clung to the old, reliable ways, turning a blind eye to innovation and condemning their soldiers to drown in the rising tide of progress. Not only that, but-"
"Is she preaching again?" Karter called out from down the hallway. "Do you people have to put up with that all day every day?"
"Even you cannot tarnish this moment, Dee. All of the news feeds are saying our names. We've sent a video message taking credit for the Weston University attack, and even now it can be found on every news source of record. Look at... Wait..."
Purcell had looked to her datapad, planning to show off their freshly earned notoriety, when something caught her eye. The list of poor quality videos, what she believed to be an endless sequence pale replicas of the Modane footage from different angles, was still silently playing. She paused the current video and tracked it backward. It was a shot of the gunship and the troop carrier departing, something that was absent from the Modane broadcast, and just before the crew door finished shutting something caught the light. The commander tracked back again and paused, zooming as much as the resolution would allow. Even without further enhancement, she knew what she was looking at. Karter was escorted to the doorway just as she frantically scrambled for her communicator.
"You rang, Boss Lady?" Karter said, one arm missing, the other restrained.
"Get me the assault team carrying the alloy! Now!" Purcell ordered.
"That won't be possible for a few more hours, Commander. They are taking a direct route. They won't be in range of any communication nodes until shortly before they arrive. Why do you need to contact them?"
"Why? WHY!? Look at this! Look at it! That is a slidepad Alexander is throwing into the troop carrier. And we've heard from them since then, and they did not report it, which means they don't know about it. They can be tracked! And they are heading directly here!" she raged. After a moment to regain her composure, she turned to Karter. "How long after the alloy arrives will it take you to get the CME Activators functional?"
"About two days," he said.
"Two days!? Why have you been wasting my time if there is still two days of work to do!? I want those devices completed no more than two HOURS after the alloy arrives."
"You can't always get what you want, boss lady. Those lumps of fancy metal can't do their job unless they get within a minimum distance of the sun, and they can't do that without at least three layers of ablative ceramic. Each layer takes fifteen hours to apply. That's forty-five hours minimum. We can do all of the modules at the same time, and when they're done you'll have your missiles in about twenty minutes, but the laws of physics are dictating the timetable for the ceramic application. It'll be done when its done. Hey, plasma burns on the walls. You guys been testing my charge gun? Have you had any overheat issues? The new peltier plate heat fins are-"
"Shut your mouth, Dee."
Karter rolled his eyes, "You've got the greatest scientific mind in the galaxy at your beck and call, and you are telling him to shut up just when he starts to talk shop? You should be-"
"I said shut your mouth!" she demanded. She turned to one of the guards. "Get his arm out of storage. And you, Dee. Set aside the parts necessary for the remainder of the CMEA components and then catalog everything we've got. Disassemble any unnecessary equipment and add the parts to the available resources. Start manufacturing weapons, equipment, anything combat oriented, starting with what I've seen here. I want to see my armory full to bursting, and I want field manuals for any new equipment drawn up. I don't care how new, how unstable. I want my men armed for war."
"Is this for real? Are you honestly going to let me do this? Because you've been blowing hot and cold during this entire operation and I don't want to get all tasted up for some bleeding edge prototyping just to have you start PMS-ing and send me to my room again right when I hit a groove."
"Get to work!" she bellowed, grabbing his jumpsuit and hauling him close, "And remember this. The stun device in your arm is more than capable of stopping your heart, so don't try anything funny. Take him away."
"Pff, like you even know the tech specs on my heart," he scoffed as they took him away. "I designed it myself."
Purcell turned back to her engineering team. "I want usage recommendations for these devices drawn up and distributed, and be prepared to do the same for anything he turns out between now and the arrival of the alloy." She addressed her second in command. "I want you to get any soldiers not currently supporting mission critical operations to maintain a constant state of combat readiness. This station is on red alert until those CMEAs are completed and deployed. If someone is coming, I want them to have to go through hell to get to us. Do you hear me?"
"Yes, Commander."
"Good. And that goes for all of you! I want whoever these people are to be flying right into the jaws of a lion."
#
The unusual assemblage of heroes had found refuge at a transfer station similar to the one that had been the site of Garotte's escape. The number of stations like this numbered in the thousands. They were supposed to be well-secured, but a greater number than anyone would like to admit simply didn't have the time or resources to keep the cameras running and the patrols sweeping. Thus, the Declaration and the SOB were able to secure a weightless double-sized docking bay without anyone so much as asking their names. In a predictable illustration of priorities, they did remember to ask for payment in full, which was provided via one of the seemingly endless supply of false bank accounts that Karter and Ma kept handy. Now the group was coping with an aspect of military campaigns such as this; boredom. Silo was painting her nails, Garotte was tinkering with a piece of equipment inside the Declaration, and Ma was draped loosely around Lex's neck to keep from drifting uselessly around the interior of the bay.
"So let me get this straight," Lex said, staring at the inert pile of machinery called Zerk. His eyes were lingering on the blood stains on its fingers, and he had decided to stay well outside the ship. "This thing won't wake up unless you give it an adrenaline shot or something like that?"
"That's right. Perfectly safe," Garotte said.
"And they just had it alive and well in storage, so once you juiced it, it could seek out a power source?"
"Yes."
"Isn't that... idiotic? I mean. Shouldn't they have taken it apart? You know, so something like this wouldn't happen?"
"It was designed to be tamper-proof, and it can't be entirely powered down because it has biological components that need to
be kept alive. Plus, the brass in charge of research always like to keep one functional example of their favorite toys, just in case."
"Okay. So is insanity a requirement for anyone above a certain military rank?" Lex asked.
"It is considered a prerequisite for officers, I believe," Garotte replied.
"So that's why I never made it past sergeant," Silo mused. She blew on her finished nails. "Well, I guess that proves that you can paint your nails in zero g. Have you found that ship yet, sweetheart?"
"At last check, it was not yet within communications range," Ma replied.
"Well, have you checked recently?"
"I have initiated a scripted contact sequence. The device attempts a connection once every twenty-five milliseconds."
"Well, maybe you should try again."
"I have made more than two hundred and forty attempts to connect since the beginning of this sentence."
"Are you sure that you've got the right slidepad?"
"I am absolutely certain, and inquiring repeatedly will not accelerate the discovery process," Ma explained, "So stop asking."
"Well okay, Miss Snippy," Silo remarked with raised eyebrows. "We'll see if I ever feed you any hotdogs again."
"If you're through harassing the computer, send her my way. I've got something I could use help with," Garotte said.
"Sure thing," Silo said, drifting over to Lex and reaching to scoop her off of Lex's shoulders.
"I am quite capable of responding to a request without aid. Thank you," Ma stated.
She crouched and shoved lightly off of Lex, drifting slowly into the ship. Lex steadied himself a bit and watched her go. It was interesting. She'd sounded irritated. It wasn't that she'd selected the most irritated voice segments available to her, she actually sounded annoyed. In fact, the various different voices that made up her unusual vocalization were all a bit closer together, as though they had been smoothed out and blended together somewhat.
"What's gotten into her?" Silo muttered under her breath.
Lex turned to her, then motioned for her to follow him as he drifted behind the SOB. She joined him there.
"You're good with guns, right? You're a good soldier?"
"One of the best you'll ever meet."
"You're also an attractive woman."
"Well, thanks, hon."
"How did a pretty thing like you get mixed up in a situation like this?"
"Now that's not really appropriate, Mister-"
"Don't you worry your pretty little head. Us men will take care of everything from now on."
"Listen, I don't think-"
"I'd hate for you to break a nail while the men are busy fighting-"
Silo grabbed him by the chest of his flight suit and hauled his face close to hers.
"This had better have a point, honey."
"The point is, you're more than what you look like, and you're more than what you do. You're a whole person, and when other people don't treat you like it, it can be pretty irritating."
"But that's not the same thing. I am a person. She's an animal."
"And she's a computer. But most of all, she's a person. Understand?"
"That's a little hard to swallow, hon."
"I'm not asking you to embrace the idea. I'm just explaining why she's acting the way she's acting."
Silo looked doubtfully toward the Declaration where Ma was doing her best to hold onto a hand grip, analyzing a piece of equipment Garotte was holding.
"Can this device be made to function with this ship?" Garotte asked, holding out a roughly constructed control box with torn and dangling wires protruding from it.
Ma squinted at the device. "I am afraid I did not include the appropriate information to make that determination in the subset of my full complement of subroutines and data that was downloaded to this physical instance."
"Well, that's rather unfortunate, because-"
"Stand by," Ma said, closing her eyes. The indicators on the data radio on her back began to blink madly. A moment later the displays and controls for the Declaration became similarly active. "Accessing Armistice schematics. Accessing repair and installation guidelines. Accessing EMOF device interface hardware and command protocols. Access denied. Attempting code word clearance utilizing Karter's credentials. Access granted. Indexing. Processing... Processing... Yes, Mr. Garotte, I can help you install the device. Please locate and remove overhead access panel 25b."
"Hey," Lex said, poking his head into the ship, "You guys think maybe we should be plotting and planning, or something, so that once we know where they are, we'll know roughly what we want to do?"
"Normally I would say yes," Garotte said, holding firm to a hand grip and pulling the access panel free, "But depending on the outcome of this little upgrade, any prior plans we might have made would need to be seriously rewritten."
"What is that?" Lex asked.
"Just a little gadget we managed to tear out of a Luddite ship before it exploded," Garotte explained.
"Unhook the four cables and unbolt the secondary shield generator from the emitter assembly. When they are detached-" Ma began, suddenly her head jerked up and her eyes opened wide, "Connection established. Tracing connection."
"She found it?" Silo said, joining Lex in the doorway.
"Querying communication grid. Communication node identified. Position tracking, logging, and reporting set to high. Displaying coordinates now."
The main display on the ship's console displayed a stellar map. The humans gathered close around, trying to identify it.
"VCDN-2221," Silo said, "That doesn't exactly sound like a vacation spot. Usually the sort of place a terrorist would threaten would at least have a name with vowels in it."
"The population is just under six million for the whole system," Lex pointed out.
"Give us a summary on the star system, Ma," Garotte requested.
"VCDN-2221 is a planetoid belonging to VectorCorp. It is the second planet from the star, and the site of the primary monitoring, processing, and distribution facility for the outlying half of their transit and communication network," she explained.
"What is the worst case scenario if the Neo-Luddites were to hit the star for that system?"
"Approximately three days after the deployment of the CME Activators, the leading edge of a sphere of charged particles would strike the planet. Any unshielded electronics, including power and communication lines, will instantly and catastrophically fail. Shielded electronics will fail systematically over the following weeks. The loss of the facility will require monitoring and communication regulation to be shunted to their secondary facility."
"Well, that doesn't sound too bad."
"Their secondary facility is on the third planet of the system, and will be struck sixteen hours later."
"Ah. Perhaps not the best bit of planning, that."
"The loss of both facilities will leave VectorCorp unable to maintain safe transit lanes for that portion of the galaxy, an expanse that contains 116 of the 245 populated planets, including Tessera, Golana, and Earth. All interstellar traffic will cease until monitoring can be reestablished, a process which may take years. Communication will also be impossible for a period of weeks while secondary routes are established for data traffic. The sphere of interference surrounding the star will continue to grow for the months-long period of activity associated with the CMEAs, creating a massive, expanding section of space that will disable and destroy any vehicle passing through. The disruption of communication and transit will choke off trade routes, causing mass starvation on any planets that are not yet self-sustaining. This loss of life, coupled with the inevitable economic and social disruptions, will produce a death toll approaching the billions by the end of the decade, and could be the inciting event for a full societal collapse."
There was silence for a moment.
"Am I the only one not surprised that Karter is going to be responsible for the fall of human civilization?" Silo asked.
"
It did seem something of an inevitability. I'm actually a bit disappointed that it took a rogue military group to actually pull the trigger, though. I've always thought Karter would make an excellent megalomaniac, if he would only apply himself," Garotte quipped.
"Are we going to be able to stop this?" Lex asked, his voice the only one carrying the level of terrified concern that seemed appropriate for the situation.
"Well, we're certainly going to try. Ma, do we know what we'll be dealing with when we reach them?"
"Attempting to access local orbital sensors. Processing... Processing... Unable to access, encryption level exceeds- One moment, connecting live audio feed."
The speakers in the Declaration crackled and began to broadcast the voices of the crew.
"-in need of resupply. Provisions ran out three days ago. Have medical personnel standing by. Extreme distress," said the first voice. It had a haggard, weary tone.
"Affirmative. Medical teams staged and ready. Stand by for a message from Commander Purcell." This voice was further distorted, evidently coming over the troop ship's speakers. A moment later, a female voice rang out angrily. "Attention assault team. I have reason to believe that the security of your ship has been compromised. You must not return the alloy to the space station until you have neutralized the threat. Someone has been able to deliver a slidepad onto your ship. Find it and destroy it before docking."
"Space station," Garotte muttered under his breath. "I truly dislike combat in space stations."
"Me too," Silo agreed.
"They have located the slidepad. Displaying video feed," Ma announced.
The screen now displayed a dark, cramped view. Evidently, once the ship had left the gravity well of the planet, the slidepad had drifted up behind a bundle of emergency gear strapped to one wall. A hand was visible, grasping for it. Finally it grabbed the device and pulled it out. A swift, shaky view of the interior of the vessel whisked across the screen. The view then became steady and the butt of a rifle came smashing down on the device. Two more hits replaced the video feed with the words Connection Lost.
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