by Chris Fox
“What about you, Nolan?” the captain asked. He looked more awake than Nolan felt. Maybe the captain had found time for a nap.
Nolan certainly hadn’t.
“I spoke to Kathryn, and she’s given me one hell of a revelation,” Nolan explained. He sipped his coffee, and considered how best to explain. “The admiralty has been infiltrated somehow. What’s more, she believes that both the Tigris and Primo have been infiltrated as well.”
“I expected as much,” the captain said. He scrubbed his fingers through his hair, and gave a deep sigh.
“You knew?” Nolan asked.
“Suspected,” Dryker said. He shook his head. “It makes too much sense. We’ve been yanked around, and the admiralty has made no move to solve this problem. I first suspected something the last time I spoke to Mendez. He’s changed, and not in a good way. Hanging out a Fleet captain as a scapegoat? That never would have flown with him a few years ago. The final confirmation was the Primo blowing up their own library. Someone high in their command structure wants to cover up what we’ve found.”
“Something the VI said got me thinking.” Nolan looked from Lena to the captain. “Remember when it said that the Void Wraith were careful to keep hidden until it was too late? What’s the best way to keep hidden?”
“Hiding in plain sight,” Lena said, blinking.
“Exactly,” Dryker confirmed. “If you plant agents within any government capable of reacting, you can ensure that your activities remain unnoticed until you no longer care about their discovery.”
“So what do we do about it?” Lena asked.
“I have another piece of information that might give us an answer,” Nolan said. “I probably should have led with it. The admiralty is trying to keep attention off something they call ‘Ghantan.’ Kathryn ran a search, but couldn’t find a reference to it. She guesses it might be a system.”
“I haven’t heard of it,” Dryker said.
“Neither have I,” Lena said.
“What about the VI?” Nolan asked.
“Good point,” Dryker said, smiling grimly. “If you’re a long vanished race, what’s the best code? Terms from an empire that no longer exists.”
Lena pressed a button on the side of the black box, and a moment later the holographic display flickered to life. The Primo VI appeared, giving them a bow as it resolved. “How may I serve?”
“Are you familiar with the Ghantan system?” Dryker asked.
“The Ghantan system is the largest producer of varentium ore,” the VI explained. “It supplied Fleet operations for nearly two centuries, until the final war.”
“How do we cross reference the location with modern star charts?” Nolan asked.
“I have an idea for that,” Lena said. She picked up a silicon chip, and inserted it into the side of the black box. “This will link the VI to the Johnston’s mainframe.”
“Is that a good idea?” asked Dryker. “What if this thing tries to take over the ship?”
“It can’t,” Lena said. “The data bandwidth from this connection is minimal, and I can terminate it at any time.”
“Ahh, so much data,” the VI said. It flickered briefly. “I’ve accessed your star charts, and have overlaid our own. Given the stellar drift, the most likely location of the Ghantan system is here.”
A star map shimmered into existence above the black box, replacing the VI.
“That’s in Primo space,” Nolan said, leaning closer. “We can be there in three Gates.”
“Emo, this is the captain,” Dryker said, speaking into his communicator. “What’s the status of repairs?”
“We’re a mess, Captain, but engine two is back on line. We’re missing a lot of armor, and down two turrets on starboard,” Emo said.
“It will have to do. I’m forwarding a course to you now. Fire up the engines, and make for the Helios Gate,” Captain Dryker commanded.
39
Scout
“You have the bridge, Commander,” Captain Dryker said. The words caught Nolan off guard, and he didn’t react immediately. He glanced at the view screen, then back at the captain.
“Are you sure, sir?” Nolan asked. The view screen was a mass of red, showing the undulating layers of the star’s core as they pressed through to the surface. In a few minutes they’d emerge into the Ghantan system.
“I’m sure,” Dryker replied, rising from the captain’s chair. “I’m tired, son. You’re capable of handling this, and part of being in command is knowing when to delegate.”
Nolan watched as the captain ducked through the hatch and out of the CIC. The bridge crew shared looks, and Nolan could tell they were concerned. They placed their collective faith in the captain, and that faith had just been shaken. The captain had revealed weakness, and at a critical time.
“Juliard, how long until we breach the photosphere?” Nolan asked, moving to the captain’s chair.
“Three minutes, sir. It will be another six until we’re free of the corona,” Juliard said. She glanced at the hatch where the captain had disappeared, then back at her console.
“Alert me as soon as we’ve reached the corona,” Nolan said. He lapsed into silence, watching the screen as they pushed through the sun.
The very idea that they could travel through a star still awed him. The tremendous pressure and heat were unlike anything else in the galaxy, and the fact that various races had harnessed technology that allowed them to circumvent those pressures was a testament to just how much could be accomplished.
Minutes passed, and no one spoke. The crew had been through a lot in the last week, a wholly separate set of pressures. They were cut off from their government. Cut off from family, friends, and any other type of support. They were being hunted. Their ship was severely damaged. They were low on ordinance.
“We’re breaching the photosphere and entering the corona, sir,” Juliard said, her voice breaking the near silence. The only other sound came from beeping monitors, and the background hum of the computers.
“Orders, sir?” Emo asked as the Johnston burst from the dense, roiling mass of flame and plasma.
“Make for that solar storm,” Nolan commanded. He rose from the captain’s chair and moved to stand next to Emo. “Keep us under cover.”
“Are you certain, sir?” Emo asked. The waif-like pilot shifted in his chair. “That storm could tear our engines apart if we aren’t careful. The rear inductive field won’t function while we’re under thrust.”
“Dryker claims you’re the best pilot in the 14th,” Nolan said, folding his arms. “Is he lying?”
“No, sir,” Emo said. He guided the Johnston toward the storm, a mass of flares bursting and twisting from the sun’s surface.
“I know I’m new here,” Nolan said, straightening. He looked around the bridge, making sure that each and every person was paying attention. “I know I’m not the captain. But I’m what we have right now. My father had a saying: ‘On your death bed, you’re visited by the person you could have been.’ What we’re doing is dangerous. We could die. But if we don’t do this—if we sit by—then the entire galaxy could pay the price.”
No one replied. There was no applause. But everyone stood a little straighter; they bent to their stations with a little more pride. Nolan suppressed a smile, returning to the captain’s chair. He wasn’t a great commander, but he’d just taken a step toward being a good one.
The Johnston bucked wildly as a solar flare shot up from the sun’s photosphere. It knocked them to starboard, and Nolan would have fallen if he hadn’t caught himself on the captain’s chair. A few gasps came from the crew, but no one panicked. Emo guided them around the flare, into the tip of the storm.
“We’re about two hundred miles above the surface, sir,” Emo said, guiding them smoothly around another flare.
“Juliard, begin scans,” Nolan ordered.
“Yes, sir,” she said. The view screen flickered, providing a visual of the area she was scanning.
T
he Ghantan system didn’t contain planets, but it did contain a vast asteroid belt circling the star. There had to be billions of rocks, and Nolan wondered idly why those rocks hadn’t formed into a planet.
“Sir,” Juliard said after several moments. “We’re detecting two objects. I’ll put them on screen.”
“Look at the size of that thing,” Nolan said, studying the larger of the two objects on the screen. It was massive, almost a planet in its own right. “That’s a factory. See along the rear section? Those are dry docks. This thing is building ships out of those asteroids.”
Nolan counted seven vessels docked in the berths on the bottom of the factory, and it was possible there were more on the side they couldn’t see. Each of the vessels—complete, or close to it, as far as Nolan could tell—was constructed of the now-familiar blue-black alloy, in the strange pincher-winged V-shape that he’d first seen on Mar Kona…was it really only a week ago?
The factory itself resembled one of the Primo’s carriers, but far larger and far more lethal; it bristled with weaponry unlike anything Nolan had ever seen. Clearly, any approach would result in swift death. It would take an entire fleet to take that thing down, and that fleet would likely suffer heavy casualties.
“What do you make of the second object, Lieutenant?” Nolan asked Juliard. He stared at the odd spherical structure floating a short distance from the factory.
“I’m not sure, sir,” she replied, pursing her lips. “It’s giving off massive amounts of radiation of a type we’ve never seen. That thing has almost as much mass as a small star. Those ports on the bottom appear to be thrusters, so whatever it is…it’s probably mobile.”
“Complete your scans, then get us the hell out of here,” Nolan said, barely above a whisper. They’d found the Void Wraith, but now what the hell were they supposed to do? They’d need an army to deal with them…and they didn’t have one.
40
Leak
Nolan shielded his eyes from the approaching flashlight, lowering his own so as not to blind the other crewman.
“Sorry, sir,” said a tech he didn’t recognize, lowering his flashlight. He ducked past Nolan, hurrying down the corridor toward C deck.
Even in the darkness, Nolan could see the man was tired. They all were. Every last crew member had been drafted into repairs, and even with all their hard work the Johnston was in bad shape. That wasn’t as apparent right now, because they’d gone dark. Only life support and gravity had power. Everything else, anything that broadcast a signal, was dark.
He continued up the corridor, stepping over a thick conduit along the floor, then ducking under a ladder. He finally reached the captain’s ready room, which had a small portable lantern near the center of the table. Captain Dryker and Lena were already there, each nursing a cup of coffee—probably the only thing keeping them conscious.
Nolan scratched at his chin as he sat down. The stubble was starting to itch, and was threatening to become a full beard unless he found a razor today. Maybe he should just leave it. Maybe that was how the captain had first grown his beard. Not shaving meant one less thing to worry about daily; when you had the pressures of command, every worry added to the pile.
“All right. Let’s recap what we know,” the captain said, rubbing at his eyes. He looked more haggard than usual, his uniform rumpled and beard unkempt. The same coffee stain from the day before was still on his right cuff.
“You’ve read the initial report about the two structures. The first is obviously a starship factory,” Nolan said. He turned to Lena, who was busy grooming. “I’m hoping Lena might have some theories about the second structure.”
“I don’t have a theory, but I do have some interesting data,” she said, looking up to meet Nolan’s gaze. She stopped cleaning herself, folding her paws together. “The second structure contains a heavy element we’ve never seen before.”
“What do you mean by heavy element?” the captain asked.
“Hmm,” Lena said, licking her chops in a very unsettling way. “Your people have something called the periodic table of the elements. Are you familiar with it?”
“Yes,” Dryker said, nodding.
“The number on each element corresponds to the number of protons and neutrons it contains. Heavier elements have more,” Lena explained. She gave a yawn, and her fangs flashed in the low light. “The heaviest element on the table has 120 protons. Enriched Uranium has 235. The element in that structure has over five hundred.”
“What does that mean, exactly? What would an element like that be used for?” Nolan asked. He ripped open a packet of aspirin, and ate them dry.
“I can only speculate,” Lena said. She cocked her head. “There’s more energy in that structure than I’ve ever seen outside of a star. It could do anything from igniting a new sun to being the largest bomb we’ve ever seen. We just don’t know.”
“I guess it doesn’t really matter what that thing is. They’re building it, so we need to destroy it. And that factory,” Nolan said. He straightened. “If we’re going to do that we need a whole hell of a lot more firepower than the Johnston can bring to bear, especially in her current state.”
“Where are you planning to get this army?” Lena asked. Her ears twitched. “If the Void Wraith really have infiltrated every major fleet, then there’s no way we can convince anyone to come help.”
“It’s troubling,” Dryker said, giving a sigh. “We have to assume that any attempt to bring an organized force to this system will be blocked.”
“What about an unorganized method?” Nolan asked. He gave a grim smile. “How about we use our notoriety against them? Everyone is hunting us. The Primo, the Tigris…hell, even OFI seems to want us dead. We broadcast our location to each group, basically flash our asses, and then run back here.”
“So all three governments send groups to hunt us down, and those groups end up in this system,” Dryker finished. He smiled for the first time in days. “I like it. Tell me more.”
“We could use the Quantum Network to alert Fleet and the OFI,” Nolan said, thinking out loud. “That will be the easiest part of the plan.”
“If you want to bring the Leonis Pride you’d need to jump into the Tigrana system. It’s a sacred place. If a human were to trespass there, the Tigris would have no choice but to hunt you down,” Lena said, blinking. “That would bring the Leonis running. It might get other prides to come too.”
“What about the Primo?” Dryker asked. He still looked tired, but some of his strength had returned.
“I can’t think of a way to get them to come,” Nolan said. He scratched his stubble again. “We could use the Quantum Network to broadcast a signal to their space, but I’m not sure they’d react. They’re slow and deliberate—and, even if they do come, its unlikely to happen before the battle is decided one way or another.”
“We’ll make the attempt, at least. It isn’t the best plan, but it will have to do,” Dryker said.
41
Quantum Lite
Kathryn glanced over her shoulder to ensure she was alone, then sat down at the terminal. It was as public as one could get, a small, blocky box set into one of the tables in the mess hall. Ostensibly it was there for busy officers to use during meal times, but more often than not, enlisted personnel used it to play games or chat with their SO across the vast distances bridged by the Quantum Network.
She was alone, which was to be expected at this hour. That was why she’d come, after all. The security cameras would pick her up, but that was a good thing. Anyone observing her would see a tired officer taking a break, not an operative conducting clandestine business.
Kathryn sipped her coffee, then fired up the terminal. There were two security cameras in the room, but she’d deliberately chosen a table whose screen wasn’t visible to those cameras. In theory, this was the most private place she could be right now. That was critical, as she’d become increasingly sure that she was being watched. That wasn’t uncommon in OFI, but it went deep
er than that. Her father suspected her loyalties; she was sure of it. Her only hope was that he believed she wouldn’t act on those loyalties, so she needed to be sure not to give him reason to doubt her.
The screen lit up, and she did a quick scan of the local news stories. These updated hourly, pulling data from the entire fleet. That was the beauty of the Quantum Network. With quantum entanglement, distance didn’t matter. A line of stories filled her news feed, and she began scanning for anything interesting.
Her heart nearly stopped when she read the third headline: UFC Johnston Sighted In Ghantan System.
She clicked the link, and began scanning. The article showed a picture of the Johnston, and claimed it had been sighted in the Ghantan system. It even included a star map showing that system.
Kathryn grinned. The move had Nolan’s fingerprints all over it. Officers would begin checking their news feeds as they woke up, and too many people would see this. It couldn’t be ignored. The OFI would have no choice but to send a fleet to investigate.
“Clever, Nolan,” she said, leaning back in her chair and stifling a yawn.
Then the story disappeared. Her screen flickered, and she was back on the news feed. She scrolled up, then down. There was no sign of the story. It was just…gone. Someone was scrubbing the news feed, and doing it close to real time.
Kathryn ran a search for the word ‘Ghantan’ and found four more stories. That made sense. Nolan was thorough, and wouldn’t have left something so important to one story. He’d replicated it many times, to try to secure broader notice. The screen flickered. Now there were three stories.
“Damn it,” she said, hitting refresh again. It was down to two.
Kathryn considered the situation. She considered everything on the line, and her own role in things. Nolan had located the system she’d pointed him at. He’d likely learned more about these Void Wraith, and was obviously trying to get help there the only way he knew how. If that help didn’t arrive, there was probably no way the Johnston could stop the Void Wraith. Nolan needed OFI. He needed her.