by Kal Spriggs
The sudden and immediate practical cowardice on the behalf of the two scientists bothered Daniel in the face of how often they'd gleefully encouraged further investigation despite any risks. Still, they weren't entirely correct... he hoped.
Daniel looked at Chuni, "Can you gain access to the station if we get you there?"
The big Ghornath met his gaze, her mirror-like eyes unreadable, but her hide was the brown calm color that suggested confidence. "Yes, if you get me there, I can get us inside."
***
Chapter XIX
The Throne of Kopal Pesh
The Sacred Stars
January 4, 2409
"How do we get in?" Daniel asked.
"You're asking a lot of us," Rory replied. "We're scientists, not magicians. I can't just wave my hands and shout 'open sesame' and the defenses drop, that's not how this works! That's not how any of this works!"
"There could be any number of requirements for entry to the defensive perimeter," Feliks nodded. "It might require a physical item, there could be a variety of challenge, response requirements..."
"Well," Daniel said, "since neither of you two have come up with anything over the past couple hours, that leaves me no choice."
"Oh, good," Rory said, "We really should be getting back, I'm certain there's a backlog of important work for both of us..."
"We're not going back, not yet," Daniel gave a grim smile. "Ensign Giovanni stripped the transponder data off of what we think was a pair of drone cargo shunts. We've modified our drop shuttles to match that transponder data and we're going to fly one of them right up to the structure. We're keeping the second one in reserve in case we need to launch a rescue mission."
"Wait... what?" Rory stared at him in shock. "Good luck to whoever is aboard, I mean, they'll have different emissions characteristics, different radar profiles, drastically different mass..."
"It might fool the Ghornath defenses, but there is next to no chance it would fool the station," Feliks nodded. "Whoever goes is doomed."
"Well," Daniel grinned, "you had better hope you're wrong. You'll be joining the away team."
"Whoa, wait a minute!" Rory protested. "Surely there's another way?"
"You are sending us on what is surely a suicide mission," Feliks shook his head. "No one should set foot on that station, much less under such dangerous circumstances!"
"Wait... what do you mean no one should set foot on the station?" Daniel asked.
The two scientists looked at each other for a long moment. "Look," Rory said, not meeting Daniel's eyes, "We don't know for certain who built that station. It might not be what it appears to be..."
Daniel's gaze narrowed, "You mean someone besides the Ghornath's Protectors built it?"
Rory glanced at Feliks, but the other man's gaze was on the floor. Whatever had the two men spooked, it was enough that neither of the two men seemed able to directly speak of it. "Maybe not... or maybe these 'Protectors' of the Ghornath were anything but."
Daniel thought about the vast field of wreckage they'd found in the Wastes of Argolim. "I might be convinced of the latter based upon some of what we've seen so far. The former seems a little far-fetched if you're suggesting another alien race went and built a station in orbit over the Ghornath's capital planet and the Protectors let them do it."
"Or else the station was already there and the Protectors simply made use of it," Feliks muttered.
Daniel blinked at the scientist, "Why would you say that?"
"It doesn't matter," Rory said quickly. "Look, if these Protectors aren't the stalwart types that the Ghornath legends suggest, then we probably should actively prevent access to that station, not be assisting it."
"We gave our word," Daniel said. "Honor compels us to follow through."
"Honor is not a suicide pact!" Rory snapped.
And there it is, Daniel realized. Whatever had Rory and Feliks so spooked, they thought certain death lay at the end of this course.
"What aren't you telling me?" Daniel asked.
Neither Rory nor Feliks answered for a long moment. After what seemed like forever, Rory ran a hand through his thinning hair. "Look, let's just say that there's things that it's not safe to know. Things that even knowing a little bit of the truth can lead to very dangerous repercussions."
"We are not talking just madness and death, we are cautioning against forces that could destroy humanity," Feliks said softly. "Things that should be left alone."
"You think this is one of those things?" Daniel asked.
They both nodded.
"Do you have any way to verify that?"
Rory and Feliks exchanged nervous glances, "No... not without examining these things in person."
Daniel considered that for a moment. "Okay, here's the deal. You two are still going." As they opened their mouths to protest, he held up a hand, "I'm authorizing both of you to pull the plug as soon as you see anything that is of any threat. I'll instruct Ensign Giovanni of that fact myself." He gave them both a level look, "And in the meantime, I want both of you to do your best to make this mission succeed, do you understand?"
Both men gave him reluctant nods.
"Excellent," Daniel said. "I'm glad we understand each other."
***
"Listen up, Marines," Alannis said, pitching her voice to reach the back of the briefing room. She had sat through several of Ashtar Shan's briefings and she did her best to adopt her late friend's tone. From the intent looks on their faces, she'd pulled it off well enough.
"We are going into the station, what our Ghornath allies have identified as the Throne of Kopal Pesh," Alannis brought up a holoimage of the structure. "We don't know what we'll find there, but we're going along to make certain that Leader Chuni is able to activate the station."
"Possible threats include alien defense systems, robotic guardians, and anyone who might try to get in the way, understand?"
"Hooah," the platoon rumbled.
"What's your mission, Private Antio?" Alannis barked.
"No matter what, our mission is to defend Chuni," he replied. "She activates the station we high-five on the objective, and we all go home, ma'am!"
Close enough, Alannis thought.
"We're going with a heavy combat load, since we'll take one of our two shuttles in," Alannis said. "They've both had their transponders modified so that they'll match drone ships here in the system. We go in, offload and try to activate the station. If necessary, the second shuttle will come in to retrieve us. Any questions?"
No one responded. "Alright, squad leaders, conduct your inspections. We're going to be three million kilometers from resupply, so make sure everyone has their batteries." Alannis turned to Gunnery Sergeant Tam. "Gunny, will you inspect my gear?"
"No problem, ma'am," Gunny Tam said with a professional nod.
As he checked her gear over, she asked, "How'd I do?"
"Good, ma'am," he said. "Next time you might add something about medical support and evac, but they already know it'll be difficult at best." He finished his inspection and gave her a nod, "Looks good, ma'am." It had better, she thought, I went over it myself three times.
"Right," Alannis filed that away for later. She hoped they didn't have any need for medical evacuation. For one thing, the round-trip travel time to and from the ship would be very long. For another, given the advanced technology and the massive scale of the structure they'd be exploring, it was all too likely they'd be far outmatched by anything they faced.
"Captain will be doing a final brief, aboard the shuttle" Alannis said as she turned back to face her platoon. "Move out."
***
Daniel looked at the nervous faces of the Fleet personnel and the stoic faces of his Marines. Still, compared to the pasty expressions of Rory and Feliks, they all looked like they'd perform admirably.
"Our analysis indicates there's a landing platform here," he said as Ensign Giovanni brought up the site on the display. "That will be your point of entry. The Constellation will b
e standing by to back you up, so if anything goes wrong--"
His comm chimed an alert and he activated it, "Yes?"
"Sir," Commander Bowder said, "we've just picked up an emergence from shadow space. Forty-plus vessels ranging from corvette to frigate size. Profiles match the unknown enemy vessels from before."
"I'll be right up," Daniel said. He leveled his gaze on Chuni, "It's all on you now."
If she had showed any shift in posture or flush of her hide, even the slightest edge of doubt, he would have called off the mission then and there.
But she just stared at him, her hide brown and her posture straight, "I will not fail."
Daniel turned to Ensign Giovanni, "Ensign, launch the shuttle. We'll screen you as long as we can."
The shuttle launched almost before he had finished closing the airlock. Daniel moved quickly to the bridge, even as he saw his crew readying the ship for battle around him. He felt an odd sort of calm wash over him. Here they were, far beyond the edge of explored space, in a system which even the Ghornath had believed to be legend.
They were about to fight a foe that outnumbered them, with advanced, powerful technology. They had no allies, no one but themselves, with a last, desperate hope of infiltrating an alien station and possibly turning the planet's defenses to their favor.
There was every possibility that they would die here, alone, far from any human star.
Yet Daniel felt a strange confidence. His ship and crew were solid. They had already accomplished so much... they would not fail now.
He stepped onto the bridge and gave the XO a confident nod. "Commander, I have the ship's conn."
"You have the conn, sir," Commander Bowder replied.
"What's our status?" Daniel asked.
"Forty-eight enemy vessels," Commander Bowder said. Is it just me, Daniel thought, or does the XO seem a little bit pleased to be right? "We estimate eight destroyer-class, sixteen frigate-class, and twenty-four corvette-class vessels."
"Very good," Daniel said. The range was still well over three hundred thousand kilometers, but the enemy fleet was in position to cut them off if they tried to move around the planet's defenses. We're boxed in, he thought. The Constellation could flee into the defensive perimeter and be destroyed or she could try to escape along it's edge and be caught by the faster enemy vessels. There were no significant celestial objects to hide behind, just open space.
The enemy must have scouts in the system, who had reported his arrival and given the enemy their course.
"Navigation, status of plotting a jump to shadow space?" Daniel asked.
"Five more minutes, sir," Lieutenant Forsberg said.
In theory, the Lieutenant could have had one prepared already, but they'd no reason to expect this kind of ambush. Five minutes time from now might as well be five hours, though. The enemy had a significant velocity advantage and higher accelerations. They could pursue the Constellation anywhere they went...
No, he thought, not anywhere.
He connected to Engineering, "Lieutenant Commander Voronkov, how long would it take to modify our ship's transponder?"
***
Hunter felt a rush of pleasure as his fleet emerged in perfect position. The human vessel was against the planet's defenses. While his own ships couldn’t brave those defenses, the human vessel would be unable to escape, Hunter’s ships had the velocity and acceleration advantage.
They could not be allowed to tell their fellow humans what had occurred here and they could not be allowed to pass that information along to their slave-race allies.
Even as he thought that, though, he felt their ansible transmission. It was a compressed data-burst, pulsed through shadow space to their distant headquarters. It seems they realize they will not survive, he thought. Still, if he couldn’t prevent the information from going out, then he could kill these humans in warning. Surely the rest of their species would hold back if they thought trespass here brought certain doom.
Hunter, one of his scouts reported, the humans launched a shuttle, the course will take it to the Enforcement platform.
Hunter felt his pleasure ebb. Why have the defenses not engaged it?
The scouts took a long moment to respond. Then again, he had not allowed them much growth beyond their purpose. That was why he had left two vessels, they needed two ships in order to function Independent thought was not something he wanted in his subordinates, especially not ones who operated outside his supervision. It may be that the humans have mimicked the transponder from one of the caretaker drones, his scouts finally responded.
Hunter considered that for a long moment. In theory, that would allow the human shuttle to bypass the slave-race’s defense stations. It shouldn’t allow them access to the Enforcer platform, but these humans had proven remarkably resourceful so far.
His scouts had stealth systems. Those might allow them to get close enough to the platform to offload their troops. Move into position, if the humans board the platform, he told them, do not allow them access to the Enforcer platform.
The human cruiser’s drives went active and it began to maneuver. Yet it had waited long enough that there could be no escape, Hunter’s fleet would catch it long before it could escape.
Yet he felt his satisfaction fade as he saw the enemy’s course. The human cruiser dove straight in towards the defenses, as if it didn’t care that they would easily destroy it.
Let the humans kill themselves, Hunter thought. Yet he felt dread, they had fought so long to survive, why would they not continue that fight?
Hunter searched for the reason and a moment later he felt rage boil up as he found the answer. The humans had altered their ship’s transponder. While that wouldn’t fool a sapient, the automated defenses run by the caretaker systems might not identify the cruiser as a threat. In fact, if his fleet continued their pursuit, those defenses would attack his forces.
Yet what choice did he have? The human ship could not be allowed to survive.
***
The artificial intelligence caretaker in charge of the multiple star systems was actually rather sophisticated. It had operated for just over eight thousand solar cycles with only a few minor setbacks and it's adaptive algorithms were advanced enough that it had managed to fix those issues before they became major problems.
During those eight thousand cycles, it had stockpiled weapons, ships, and equipment according to its instructions. It had maintained the empty cities and its subroutines had managed the storage facilities with no faults whatsoever. The relative handful of issues had been unavoidable incidents: shifting geology, solar flares, and other similar disasters which had caused minor but repairable damage.
The artificial intelligence ran across an ansible network, so it had detected the initial entry into the Forges of Angrahad system and the initial access attempt by the unknown vessel. That access attempt, a radio broadcast, had triggered automatic defenses.
That trigger came as a result of over two dozen prior attempts by various ships and even fleets, each of which had been of hostile attempt. The intelligence had depleted a relatively large stockpile of weapons to date in preventing those ships from accessing any of its protected worlds.
Yet this new ship had not behaved in the predicted fashion. It had not returned fire on the weapon emplacements that had fired on it. Nor had had it displayed similar signs of technology to the original invaders. While the artificial intelligence could have launched combat drone vessels to intercept it, it had instead chosen to observe.
As the networked systems watched the progress of the ship, two things had become clear. The first was that the unknown vessel seemed to be observing what it could of the star systems. The second was that the ship contained elements of technology crafted by the creators.
That second fact was the more important. The artificial intelligence had functioned as caretaker for eight thousand solar cycles, but it was not the master or ruler of these systems. It longed for the return of its creators, for the co
mpletion of its mission... and also for someone ---something-- to talk with besides itself.
If this ship contained technology from the creators, then it might have been sent by the creators. In which case, the artificial intelligence would be correct in allowing it access to the Protector station. There was some ambiguity. The intelligence had long awaited the pass-codes that the creators should know. Yet there was some chance that the mortal descendants could have lost those. The intelligence was willing to allow them access in the chance that they were the ones he had awaited.
Besides, if they were not, then the Protector's defense would eliminate them before they could do any damage to that station.
It had quickly seen through the stolen transponder codes on the ship... but it had also seen the ships in pursuit of the unknown vessel. Those the station recognized as the most recent incarnations of the attackers who had tried its defenses for the past eight thousand solar cycles. They sought to destroy its defenses, to tear down its cities, to destroy the storage vaults and facilities, and to lay waste to everything the creators had built.
The unknown ship ran from them, which while it didn't tell the intelligence if it was sent by the creators, it did tell it that it was no friend to its enemy.
As those enemies pursued the ship within its engagement zone, the intelligence felt some satisfaction. It had never been intended for battle, merely basic defense, but the various raid attempts had rarely come within range of its main weapons, certainly never in such numbers.
Now it finally had a chance to strike back.
It took the time to identify and target the enemy ships and then all of its missile platforms fired at once.
***
"Missile launch!" Lieutenant Cassat shouted. After a moment he continued, "Target is the enemy fleet!"
Daniel felt a knot of tension ease. That relief turned quickly into awe as he saw how many missiles had launched. The cruiser's sensors were overwhelmed and tracking quickly devolved into tracking missile flights.
"How many?" Daniel asked.