Void Dragon

by William Kephart

  "You mean greenshift right into a planet's atmosphere? Isn't that dangerous?"

  "The core can handle all that, don't you worry," Bruzio said. "It sends all the excess radiation on a series micro-greenshifts over a wide enough area so you won't do any measurable damage to the local ecosystem. Cuts way down on the light-noise as well. They'll never see you coming." She grinned wickedly.

  "So it is a stealth ship, in a way," Wen said.

  "If you like, now take a look at this, Captain," Song said, pointing at the conveyor belt, which upon closer inspection Wen realized was an artificial gravity guide rail. The ammunition was floating aboard.

  The massive light shell looked like an angry, roiling sea under green glass. Wen wondered how any transparent material could contain such power.

  "Those had to be made special you know, so don't waste them," Bruzio said. "They're not just down-scaled dreadnought rounds either. A lot of mass is packed in there and it was pretty expensive and time consuming to get it right. You should be able to hit harder than you did in the simulator."

  "You saw that?" Wen said, mortified.

  "Don't worry about it, Cap. It was all expected. The Void Dragon is designed for an aggressive mind like yourself."

  "Yes, we have contingencies to balance you out," Song added.

  Wen didn't like the sound of that. "So, is there anything else for me today?" she asked.

  Song glanced at his datapad. "Doesn't look like it, you're dismissed for now."

  Thank goodness. "I'll be in my quarters."

  ***

  Wen returned to her temporary quarters on the facility and settled in, but sleep was elusive. She didn't have much in the way of personal effects and hadn't had a real home in years. Considering everything that had happened so far, relaxation wasn't realistic.

  Her entire world had changed at a stroke, and as exciting as it was, change carried with it the destruction of what came before. Her path, previously clear, was now more uncertain than it had ever been, and worse than the unknown was the waiting. There was nothing to do but sit in her quarters and brood. Hidden research stations were not built with leisure in mind.

  She didn't like dwelling on her failure in the simulator; it reminded her too much of her Academy days after her mother died, but she couldn't seem to think of anything else.

  Everything they ever said about me is true, she thought. If they put her in charge she would get people killed.

  No, I can't think like that. I'll get better. I have to.

  She should’ve been happy, but uncertain thoughts found their way into her mind. Her dream was right there in front of her, and its proximity made her question if she really wanted it after all.

  This was a dangerous and precarious time. Even with her limited access to intelligence briefings she knew the war wasn't going well. Maybe they were doomed and none of this would matter. She was good at her job but it rarely made a difference; the life or death of the ship doesn't typically rest on the shoulders of a gunnery officer. But a captain, a captain had a fearful responsibility. A captain’s mistakes got people killed.

  There was talk that this new ship could win them the war. It could also lose it and it would be her fault. This was an entirely new level of duty and Wen felt unequal to it. The elder Wen took that responsibility all the way, throwing herself and her squadron into certain death so that her comrades might escape. When faced with the same choice could the younger Wen do the same?

  Chapter 3

  The next day she received a summons over the intercom.

  "Captain Wen please report to conference room four," a mechanical voice said, and she was up and out of there.

  It was just as well, all this time with nothing to do but think was on its way towards driving Wen mad. She straightened some things on her desk, fastened the top button on her jacket, and made her way to the inner levels. She moved forward with confidence she did not fully feel; nevertheless, a new and welcome reserve of energy seemed to push her forward. It might’ve been her fight-or-flight response, but Wen was thankful for it all the same.

  Wen might have gotten lost if not for the security checkpoints. Everything was compartmentalized and restricted. There could have been a dozen projects on the scale of the Void Dragon operating at once and the rest of the staff would have no idea anything was happening. Needless to say, access to the various work modules was purely for those who needed to know.

  The thing she found most intimidating were the Ren marine guards, tall and imposing. Guard duty was typically the province of Mei soldiers who were short enough to ignore most of the time, but an elite corps of Ren marines was maintained for sensitive missions that required political reliability. The Mei rebellions were more than a generation ago, and while Mei were now theoretically equal citizens of The Gongyue Government, there were still those in highly placed positions who didn't feel they could be fully trusted. Wen wasn’t exactly among them, but she wasn’t used to seeing Mei like Bruzio is places that really mattered, either.

  Seeing a Mei scientist and Ren marines so close together made this a week for defying expectations, and the day was young, too.

  The conference room had an honor guard that waved her in. Once she crossed the threshold three pairs of eyes turned towards her at once. Song and Bruzio she knew, but the third was a mystery.

  At first glance he looked like another of the Ren marines, if a little short. The height was deceptive and might fool some at a distance. However, upon close inspection he was too heavily built to be a Ren. He was a Mei, thick with muscle and wide-framed from their high-gravity existence, about as high as Wen's eyes, unusual for them but not unheard of. Some even struck it rich and bought property on Ren worlds. After a generation or two in lower gravity they somewhat lost that compressed look they tended to have.

  The uniform was that of a Marine Corps officer, a major by the insignia on his collar. Wen was a bit confused by his presence considering the Ren security personnel just outside the door, which, evidently, High Command felt to be necessary. He turned toward her and saluted smartly.

  "Major Zhamisce," he said.

  "Excuse me?" Wen said.

  "I'm Major Zhamisce, pleased to meet you, Captain." He had a bit of an accent. Strange name too, she thought.

  "Oh, I see. Well, likewise, Major," Wen said, returning his salute. Just call him by rank; don't try to pronounce his name. She paused for a moment and continued, "Major, if I might ask directly, why are you here?"

  "The op—"

  Before he could continue Admiral Song interjected, "I believe I can field that one, Captain. When last we spoke we discussed the possibilities of the Bruzio core. The ability to shift excess energy and disperse it over a wide area would allow a ship much greater tactical versatility, but I don't believe we went into another possible application, at least not in depth. We want to test...terrestrial applications."

  “Ah yes. You want to see if we can use the Void Dragon as a landing craft. I suppose it’s small enough," Wen said.

  "Not just any landing craft, a covert landing craft capable of deploying unsupported behind Enemy lines," Bruzio said.

  "But how would that even work?" Wen asked. That sounded dangerous. Taking chances like that was what killed her mother.

  "We discussed the possibility of making a greenshift jump directly into an atmosphere," Bruzio said. "The core can microshift and disperse all the excess radiation and light-noise so you won’t do too much damage or give yourself away. If they aren't actively scanning they'll never know you were there."

  "Every planet worth holding is now fortified to an absurd degree. We're doing it, The Enemy's doing it too," Song added. "Imagine thousands of plasma flak guns that can light up the lower atmosphere like New Years. Invading such a planet is suicide using current methods."

  "I can verify that," Zhamisce said matter-of-factly.

  "You've come back from suicide missions before?" Wen asked.

  He chuckled lightly. "Just the opposite, Ca
ptain. I've been on plenty of combat drops, but only against targets the Enemy wasn't defending too stubbornly, places they didn't really want. Deploying enough plasma flak for total planetary coverage takes time. They don't bother with it for a lot of the lesser colonies they've seized.

  "Our general strategy for the last several years has been to be as big a thorn in their side as possible. Most worlds they take are never fully pacified. If they land us with some fabricators we can supply ourselves for months or even years if we can capture and hold some agricultural real estate. We dig in and tie down their resources as they are forced to dig us out bit by bit.

  "But there are limits, make no mistake. Our shuttles are one way trips, like the landing craft used in ancient wars on the old home world, and not shift capable. We need warships to escort the space-going transports into orbit and we drop from there. Once we're down the fleet usually has to hightail it out of there before Enemy reinforcements arrive. Trying to go through a planetary flak grid is impossible. It’s a wall of fire that destroys anything going in or out. There are usually gaps, thankfully.

  "Extraction is another matter. It takes time. We can be behind enemy lines for months while we wait for their fleet to leave an opening we can slip through. Moving anything big requires space elevators and they're pretty vulnerable from the air and hard to defend.

  "The Void Dragon or another of it's class could solve all our problems at once. You can deploy marines, and more importantly, extract them again. We could actually gather intelligence on the Enemy or launch raids on their planets without a massive naval invasion, even the ones with full flak coverage. It would change the whole scope of the war."

  "And that's why the Major is here," Song said. "The Void Dragon is a prototype and we need to test all features. That includes deploying ground forces. His company was hand-picked for this mission. They've all seen plenty of action, and their record is excellent."

  "Of course," Wen said. He seems pretty knowledgeable for a Mei.

  "We have high hopes for both of you, but we have a few more officers we want you to meet. I'm sure you've been over the roster I gave you," Song said.

  Actually, no. Probably should have. "Yes, sir."

  There was a slight commotion outside the door. "Ah, I think that's one now," Song said.

  He turned toward the door as a Ren woman entered. She was tall, even as Ren go. Wen noticed that her hands were covered in small cuts and burns. Her uniform looked unnatural on her, as if she rarely had occasion to wear it.

  An engineer, has to be, thought Wen.

  Engineers were not generally part of the chain of command on a ship of the line; they had their own academy and career pipeline. Song was at or very near the top of that pyramid and the two looked like they knew one another.

  "Admiral, Professor, you called?"

  "Hello, Lieutenant," Song said. "This is Captain Wen and Major Zhamisce; you'll be serving with them on the Void Dragon."

  "Really? Honestly, I thought you just brought me in to install the core," the woman said. She looked excited. "I'm Lieutenant Tian. The Void Dragon really is an amazing ship. I can't believe I got selected for something like this."

  "Tian is too modest. I picked her out myself. She won't disappoint; I assure you," Song said.

  Tian smiled a bit at that.

  "She's one of the best," Bruzio added. "Even gave me some ideas for streamlining production. The next run of Void Dragon class ships won't cost nearly as much or take so long"

  Tian's smile grew even wider. "It wasn't anything brilliant. The trick is to stop thinking of your prismatic computer as a computer. It's closer to our shield technology than anything else. The device itself is nothing more than a series of tiny shield generators shaping the massive light into a series of quantum constructs. Pass the command line configuration through and the calculations make themselves."

  "We get it, Tian Ju. Well, most of us," Bruzio said, glancing in Wen's direction.

  I thought she was finally warming up to me. I understood some of that. "Indeed," Wen said, trying to keep a straight face.

  Song plowed right ahead. "Anyway, back to the original reason for our meeting today. Operation Escalade is at an end. You've all been briefed individually and most of the crew complement is assigned.

  "High Command thought it appropriate to get the core officers together in one room and ready to work together. This will be an unorthodox mission and you will have to depend on each other in the coming months. Further, it is important that—"

  "Admiral, may I ask a question?" Tian asked.

  "Go ahead, Lieutenant," Song said.

  Tian nodded and turned to Bruzio. "Professor, I was meaning to ask you about the core's power supply. We just got a shipment of these nano-engineered quantum energy sinks and I haven't had a chance to test them out. I know their specs say it's safe but if you have that much energy that densely packed you're just asking for trouble.

  "I'm worried about overloads and crashes, not just with the core but with the energy relays. When you're working with high energy transfers it's the connectors that fail first. If the core went down while the shields were up we'd have a big problem."

  "I'd be worried too, Lieutenant, especially with those old reactor energy relays,” Bruzio said. “Bottlenecks are probably inevitable but quantum storage should mitigate most problems. Those materials engineers are wizards. You'd be surprised what kind of crazy conductors they've been able to produce. Still, we should probably stress-test before the Void Dragon leaves drydock. We can do it together."

  "I think that would be for the best," Song said. "The rest of the officers will be here shortly and we have some military matters that need to be discussed. Your presence won't be required, Tian. I want you both there for the final system checks anyway. You're dismissed."

  "As you say, Song Ming. Let's go, Tian Ju."

  Once they were out of the room Wen spoke up. "This has been a pretty irregular meeting. Why not summon everyone at once?"

  "Need to know, Captain," Song said. "Compartmentalization is the order of the day here. Looks like we've got another one. Commander, punctual as always."

  Wen hadn’t noticed him entering. The officer was a spare, unassuming Ren man of average height. His appearance was neat and his uniform well-maintained, with several ribbons on his chest, one which Wen recognized as a rare one from the Harbin offensive. He was a bit older than the rest, being one of those career gunnery officers Wen had just barely escaped becoming.

  "Admiral, Lieutenant Commander Xinren reporting. I'm anxious to get underway. I've been briefed already but I'd like to see it for myself. Is it true what they're saying about this ship?"

  "Everything and more, Commander. Have you had a chance to review Captain Wen's simulation performance? It's a good demonstration of the Void Dragon's strengths and weaknesses."

  Wen winced and hoped nobody noticed.

  "Not as yet, Admiral. I only received my orders a few days ago. Security was pretty tight."

  She relaxed a little.

  "Take a look when you get the chance, Commander. There is much of relevance to your new duty. Captain Wen, this is Lieutenant Commander Xinren, late of the dreadnought GSS Liangshan, your new gunnery officer," Song said. It was all military now.

  "I'm pleased to be here, Captain. I hear you do good work," Xinren said. "Looks like nearly all the officers are here. Nima was right behind me."

  Nima! Oh no.

  "Nima?"

  "About that, I understand you two have some history. None of that matters now. You must understand that you're something of an unknown quantity. High Command wanted someone reliable to be your first officer," Song said.

  They're sending Nima to spy on me, she thought. She should have known they'd never let her have her own ship without conditions. She could see it now, Nima as he was in the Academy, top of the class, command track material all the way, second guessing every order she gave from the astrogation station. This was going to be a nightmare. />
  He walked into the room without a verbal greeting, pointedly turned to Song and offered a salute. Though technically correct, Wen couldn’t help interpreting this as a slight against her. Song returned it mechanically.

  Nima was about Wen's height, his manner cold but impressive. Wen knew him well. He was always polite on the surface, but he never tried to hide his disdain for Wen, always silently implying that she was nothing without her famous mother. He was in line for a dreadnought command and had circumstances been different she would’ve been saluting him.

  "And this is Commander Nima," Song said.

  "We've met," Wen said in as neutral a tone as she could manage.

  "So we have. Well, well, Wen Guiying moving up in the world. I never would have foreseen it. I'm sure your mother would be proud."

  "That's Captain Wen to you, Nima. You'll show me proper respect or I'll have you replaced."

  "Will you? My orders come from High Command. It's been quite a while since you've had anyone with their ear,” he said so calmly it was infuriating.

  "Now listen here—"

  "That will be all," a quiet voice said.

  A middle aged woman stood at the threshold, stiff and severe.

  "Commodore Jiang!" Nima said a little too loudly.

  "Yes. Me. You're competent, Nima, but not overly brilliant. Just do your job and try to refrain from antagonizing your commanding officer.”

  Nima having been chastened, she measured all in the room, one after another.

  "Admiral Song, greetings. And I suppose you must be Captain Wen."

  Wen nodded.

  "And you I don't know."

  "Major Zhamisce, ma'am. I'm to lead the marine detachment." He'd been hovering in the back for a while. Wen had forgotten he was there.

  "Very good. I'm Commodore Jiang, and I'll be in operational command. I suppose it's time to tell you all what's what. On this shakedown run we'll be testing everything, point by point, nice and meticulous. Once I'm satisfied you're ready we'll be patrolling our colonies and outlying systems.