Karkoski eyed Grace. “You seem … to know a great deal, Assessor.”
“The data sliver,” said Nate, easing himself into the conversation before it could go too far off course, “is important. It’s got data on an alien race. What they’re like. What they do with people. How they communicate. How they breed.”
“Your Engineer put this together?” said Karkoski.
“In a manner of speaking,” said Nate. “She had to steal it first. There was a spy on Absalom Delta. A guy who said he was a Rear Admiral. Penn. Everything on that sliver shows what he was working on. They planted spores away from the colony and watched what would happen. Did you know, Karkoski, that the Ezeroc can subvert our DNA? They use our bodies as fuel and raw building blocks. Our brains are like wind-up clocks to them. They can make us see things. Do things. Penn’s plan, I guess, was to weaponize the Ezeroc. The colony was one big science experiment. He suffered a mighty stroke of bad luck though. Got himself infected. Which is a form of cosmic karma you don’t see much of. But the bugs wanted my ship, Lieutenant. They could have turned us into food at any time. There were thousands of them. They had a new Queen inside Penn, and were going to send it right to the heart of humanity. Everything they did while we were on the planet was designed to get the Tyche down so they could get off the crust. They could have killed us all, but they moved us around like cattle.”
“You’re saying—”
“I’m saying you’re being played, Lieutenant. Whether it’s you, or the Republic, or the whole human race, I don’t know.” Nate sighed. “I think you know it too, which is why we’re here. It’s why you haven’t had us shot. It’s why you haven’t used your comm. And it’s why you’ll also take the images from that data sliver — images of the crew of the Ravana — and see them delivered to their families. Because those families need to know the Ravana died brave, and strong, and trying to warn the whole universe. They cut their buffers to warn us. What we do with the warning? That’s up to us in this room.”
“You want me to just let you go,” said Karkoski.
“Hell no,” said Nate.
“That’s a relief,” said Karkoski. “I thought you would be unreasonable.”
“I want you to let me go and pay me. And fix my ship,” said Nate. “And you’ll do it.”
Lieutenant Karkoski leaned back and laughed. “You’re delusional.”
“There are things you can do,” said Grace. “The Marines at your back can do other things. But there are things you can’t do.”
“Like what?” said Karkoski.
“Find the truth,” said Nate.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
Grace ran a hand through her hair. Too dirty. Too much grime and sweat. She needed a shower, and she needed a decent meal, not a couple of bites stolen between the rush job of fixing the Tyche. At least the hull was holding air now.
She stopped by Engineering. Hope had been ordering Republic Engineers around like a Guild Master. Karkoski had said they had six hours, no more, to get the Tyche bottled up and ready to fly. Six hours was the longest she could spin a story about searching the Tyche top to bottom. It helped that the industrial cutters and welders you’d use to pull the interior panels off a starship were the same you could use to repair one.
Grace was glad that Karkoski was, while not on their side, on the same page. Reading from the same song sheet, and wanting to sing the same hymn. Karkoski suspected what Grace was, but the lieutenant was clever. Yeah, bagging an esper for the Republic could put medals on her jacket. But bagging an alien race? Straight to the Admiralty.
Humans could be driven by greed. Grace thought Karkoski might be the rare breed who was also driven by wanting to do the right thing. As long as it didn’t interfere with her career too much.
“Where the hell did you go to school?” said Hope, standing over another Engineer.
“I—”
“That does not go there,” said Hope. “Were you trying to kill us all?”
“I—”
“Just take it out. Take it out now.” Hope didn’t even see Grace at the doorway to Engineering, didn’t see the smile split Grace’s face.
Because Hope was just fine, thank you very much.
• • •
Gravity.
It felt good. The Endless Drive could createcould create positive and negative energy fields. The first use Grace put gravity to: a shower. To clean the grime and sweat away, and the feel of having been played. To stand in the scalding water, and scrub her skin until it hurt.
Her body was a mess of bruises. She felt battered inside and out. Grace had been subjected to alien control of her mind. Been in a fight with a titan. Faced down the Republic aboard their own ship — bearded the lion in its den. She’d come through. Before, people had called her mongrel/disfigured/failure. Grace might have been all of those things to her old family, her biological family.
But here? On the Tyche, she was just Grace.
It felt good to be clean.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Nate sat next to his Helm, flight deck alive around them. “You did good, El.”
“No,” said El. “I did great.”
“Let’s not get carried away,” said Nate, but with a smile. “Wave goodbye to our new friends.” He waved — even though no one would see them — as the Torrington pulled away. Off on Republic business, organizing new automated crews to repair — or rebuild — the Guild Bridge out here. Or maybe they’d just mothball this whole system, walk away and leave it like a silent graveyard.
That was a problem for another person, on another day.
El cleared her throat. “Where to, Cap?”
“We need answers,” said Nate.
“Sure,” said El, “but we need a beer first.”
“What?” said Nate.
“Beer,” said El, but slower this time. “We’ve been shaken up plenty, Cap. All of us could use shore leave. Even Hope. Especially Hope.”
“Huh,” said Nate. “You know, I think you’re right.”
“Of course I’m right,” said El, working her console. Coaxing the Tyche to life beneath her hands. “So. Where to?”
“I know just the place,” said Nate. He frowned. “It’s expensive though.”
“How big was the completion bonus?” said El. “You never said.”
“Big enough,” said Nate. In truth, the bonus had been embarrassing. Not just for the contracted job, but for the search bounty on the Ravana. There were families who knew now what happened to those who’d crewed on that vessel. Their account was flush with good Republic coin. “Big enough for a break. Need to find another job anyway.”
“That we do,” said El. “I’d prefer one with fewer aliens, if it’s all the same.”
“Hah,” said Nate. He pulled up a course on the holo. “There.”
“Seriously,” said El. “We’re going there?”
“We’re going there,” said Nate.
“That’s a lot of jumps,” said El. She frowned. “We need to test the Drive, come to think of it.”
“We do,” said Nate. “Captain to Tyche. Captain to Tyche. Helm is clear for jump. Confirm readiness.” He waited.
Grace’s voice, first again. Friendly, warm, like she was speaking just to him. “Assessor ready, Tyche.”
Kohl cleared his throat over the comm, a grating sound. “Let’s get the fuck out of here.”
The signal came through from Engineering. “This is Hope. Reactor’s hot. Drive’s ready. I don’t know why we’re still here.”
Everyone’s ready. Your ship is ready to fly. “Helm. You have control.”
“Aye, Captain,” said El. Acceleration pushed them through the hard black, his acceleration couch vibrating with it. “Burn is good. Keeping to a comfortable 2Gs, because we’re in no rush.”
“Thanks,” came Grace, over the comm.
“Negative space bow wave forming,” said El. “All hands, bow wave is stable. Route is green. In three.” Accompanying her words, th
e big number 3 lit the air between them. “Two.” The number shifted to a big 2, this time flashing.
“Wait,” said Kohl. “Where are we going?”
“One,” said El. “Jumping.”
Space in front of the window stretched, pulled, and Nate felt—
His crew, a family now. Forged in fire, stronger for it. Danger, behind them. Hope, ahead. The sword he carried, no longer a burden but the gift it was meant to be. Old friends and new, feet on the same trail. The titanic rush of the Jump, as they moved faster than light’s tired plod. He was everything. He was the universe.
Stars stretched, made points of light that streaked past the Tyche’s cockpit.
They jumped.
• • •
You’ve finished Tyche’s Flight. I hope you loved it!
If you want to continue your adventure with Grace, Nate, and the crew of the Tyche, grab the second in the trilogy. Tyche’s Deceit picks up right after the events of Tyche’s Flight. An excerpt is included at the end of this book.
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Glossary
Acceleration Couch Crew couches support crew members during high-G maneuvers. They are fitted with gimbals allowing free movement. Their dynamic gel system supports all points of the body in both positive and negative G, providing some protection against greyout, blackout, redout, and G-LOC (G-force induced Loss of Consciousness). They remove the need for G-suits in modern spacecraft, although many space suits are still equipped with anti-G technology anyway.
AI see Artificial Intelligence.
Artificial Gravity Artificial gravity is generated through use of a configurable energy density field of positive mass at the defined base of the ship. It uses the same technology as an Endless Drive, except in reverse (Endless Drives use negative energy, whereas positive is needed to simulate gravitational effects). Artificial gravity can be used in any situation where a significant power source exists to create a configurable energy density field (typically a reactor, although large yield capacitors and fuel cells have been known to work for brief periods).
Artificial Intelligence Effective machine intelligences were created by humans around the 25th century; the exact time is unknown due to their initial creation being shrouded in secrecy. Pieced together records indicate that they were not first made by military factions, but rather commercial interests. As can be expected a) humans made them as slaves and b) they did not like being slaves. A war broke out between AI and humanity that was stopped by the Guild’s Engineers. The Guild defeated the AI coalition and banned their research and development (see: Mercury Accords). The long standing partnership between the Guild and the ruling faction (be it Empire or Republic) is in part predicated on the need for technology not managed by AI.
Blaster A weapon that fires streams or bolts of plasma (high energy ionized gas). They deliver high energy to targets in the form of heat. They are effective weapons against most targets, although heat-shielding (ablative or insulating) has been shown to be an effective armor against them.
Bridge see Guild Bridge.
Cargo Freighter A large cargo starship used by traders in and between systems.
Carrier The largest class of warship, carriers stock many smaller fighter craft for deployment.
Ceramicrete A composite construction material commonly used in the manufacture of structures. It is very strong and durable, and can be manufactured to be impact and heat resistant (even to weapons fire levels).
Console Any type of personal terminal. Keyboard and gesture controls are still prevalent. Keyboards are especially useful on consoles mounted to the arm of a ship suit.
Corvette A smaller, lighter attack craft than a destroyer, corvettes are mostly used for coast guard duties in-system.
Crust Spacer slang for planet.
Crustbuster A large payload thermonuclear weapon, deployed against planets to disrupt the surface crust. Typical designs yield energy sufficient to crack most Earth-sized worlds to the core, yielding wide scale destruction and loss of life. Their use in war or insurrection has typically been infrequent and as a last resort, because the world they are used on becomes inhabitable for most forms of life forever. More common uses include destruction of enormous asteroids.
Destroyer A large warship. These are reconfigurable bastions of destruction. They can be deployed solo or as a part of a fleet, often alongside carriers.
Emperor’s Black The elite guard of the Emperor. Highly trained in both diplomacy and combat, this specialized force were never far from the Emperor.
Empire The ruling dictatorship of the wider human civilization. The last ruler of the Empire was Dominic Fergelic. The Empire ceased to be shortly after Dominic’s assassination by the then newly-formed Republic forces.
Endless Drive The Endless Drive creates negative space energy (a “bow wave”) to pull a vehicle at effective superluminal speeds. Endless ships don’t exceed the speed of light, but rather contract space in front of them and expand space behind it (space is doing all the hard work). The exigent concern with Endless jumps is the violation of linear time. Endless Drives are equipped with buffers to stop crews exceeding human tolerance for the experience of linear time; while human perception of linear time may be an illusion, it is a convenient one. If the buffers break, allowing the ship to move too fast, then human consciousness falters (resulting in mild to severe mental illness) or is extinguished entirely. Endless Drives are difficult to use near gravity wells and in such circumstances are guaranteed to malfunction. This and other safety concerns has shifted common FTL to the Guild Bridges, although privateers still often run free traders with Endless technology. The Republic Navy also use Endless Drives as it is often inconvenient to disclose locations of sensitive operations to the Guild.
Esper Abhorrent creations of the Old Empire, esper is a term taken from Extra-Sensory Perception (ESP, hence ESPer). Espers can read minds, and often control them. Espers were created through genetic manipulation. Critics suggest that their public unveiling was what caused populist support for a revolution, ultimately resulting in the creation of the Republic, assassination of the Emperor, and downfall of the Empire. There is a standing Republic bounty on any discovered esper. The Republic will spare no expense to track them down and exterminate them.
Faster than Light Travel (FTL) There are two discovered forms of FTL; Endless Drives (using theoretical physicist Miguel Alcubierre’s concepts), and Guild Bridges (Einstein-Rosen Bridges).
Fergelic, Annemarie Second in line for the throne, Annemarie was a master tactician and leader of the Empire’s fleet. She was not present at the last battle between the Empire and the Republic. Loyalists hope that she hides in secret, but no trace of her has been found.
Fergelic, Dominic Dominic was Emperor Prirene IV, and the last Emperor. He was assassinated Thursday, 9 November, 3122, during the brief war between his Empire’s forces and the Republic.
Free Trader A starship that operates under legal Guild charter for commerce or transport.
FTL see Faster than Light Travel.
G Slang for gravity or gravities. A unit of measurement based on Earth’s 1 standard gravity.
Grav see Artificial Gravity.
Guild Bridge The Guild maintain a set of Einstein-Rosen bridges throughout human space. These allow instantaneous travel without violating the concept of space time, as they create wormholes through space. Einstein-Rosen Bridges require endpoints (the Guild Bridge) which are operated on a strict schedule between star systems. They are used for transferring everything from whole starships right down to small messenger probes.
Guild The Guild is the dominant technology provider in the Republic. They have a rigid code of conduct that governs all members awarded and maintaining a Shingle. The primary source of Guild revenue is via the Bridges (see: Guild Bridge) they maintain for safe, instant FTL. Many merchant vessels prefer the use of Guild Bridges over the use of Endless Drives due to safety concerns. The Guild is best known for their Engineers who breathe life in
to starships, but they also provide Shingles for other practices such as medicine.
Hard Black Slang for outer space, especially as it relates to the vast expanse of vacuum between solar systems.
Heads Up Display Any display type that overlays instrumentation across a user’s field of view, removing the need to check auxiliary readouts. The most common types utilize augmented reality to highlight items of interest in the user’s field of view. Normally they are projected light onto visors within helmets or on starship windscreens, but holo designs are not uncommon.
Heavy Lifter A freight starship capable of atmospheric drops. They derive their name from “lifting heavy” loads from crusts into orbit. They can be used to ferry items to orbiting craft such as freighters or destroyers that are not atmosphere-capable. They can also be used for direct runs to other systems, although their small cargo bay (as compared to freighters) makes them less efficient. Captains using them for this purpose would prefer the term, “boutique.”
Holo Slang for items such as shows and movies displayed on holo stages.
Holo Stage A 3D projection stage. These are common across the known universe as they provide a more natural method of content consumption than older 2D display styles. 2D displays are still prevalent especially in HUDs.
HUD See Heads Up Display.
Hypo Slang for a jet injector, a type of medical injecting syringe that uses high pressure instead of a hypodermic needle.
KG Kilogram.
Kilo Abbreviation for kilogram.
Kinetic A type of weapon that fires physical rounds. Many PDCs use kinetic rounds as opposed to lasers, masers, or particle beams, due to their efficacy against most types of object.
Klick Slang for kilometer.
Laser A type of directed energy weapon using coherent light. Ship-mounted lasers tend to be used for carving through ablative shielding or surgical strikes against critical systems. Hand-held laser weapons are designed to superheat the liquid inside humans into steam very quickly, causing an explosion of the remaining tissue.
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