by C. M. Kane
Zeus turned quickly to Vulcan. ‘Tell me this is possible,’ he said, unable to disguise the excitement in his voice.
Vulcan nodded. ‘It’s simple to add a small subprogram. If I could have some of Brightmoons nanites I could re-program them so that they will continue multiplying until they reach saturation point in the Neuro gel.’ He sat back frowning in thought, ‘I think the easiest and quickest way would be to have them destroy the original nanites already there as they go, that way they could use the dead husks to replicate themselves once they are in a vein, much like how a virus works. Once the sub-programming is fulfilled it could switch itself off permanently, leaving the remainder of each Nanite that would be exactly the same as Brightmoons from then on. They would then go back to simply replacing their original selves as needed with-out the subprogram.’
He sat quietly for a little while with his head bowed in deep thought, while everyone waited quietly to see what else he came up with. ‘There is one problem with this unfortunately,’ he said as he came out of his reverie and looked up at them again. ‘We would have to wait until the Neuro gel pathways were totally compromised before launching any kind of orders, and that could take days, even weeks, depending on how many we manage to infect them with originally.’
Vulcan turned to Tae. ‘You really are quite brilliant for a Terran you know. I can’t believe I didn’t think of this myself,’ he turned back to the other Gods and continued. ‘She’s right, if we can find a way to do this, than in theory, the Titans fleet would become like extra appendages of Brightmoon. Theoretically, she could even make their own fleet fire on any Titans who may attack us.’
Tae blushed in pleasure at the words of praise, she remembered their joking around in the shuttle while both were badly injured, high or not, she decided she liked Vulcan. Once he let his hair down, so to speak, he was fun. She felt her stomach give another violent lurch and she went a shade paler.
‘So,’ said Loki interrupting her train of thought and giving her shoulder a light squeeze of thanks, ‘all we have to do is come up with a plan to infect those ships and a time table to do it in.’ He looked around the table at the others who were now staring at Tae in open admiration. He unconsciously moved a little closer to her before saying, ‘anyone got any brilliant ideas?’
Tae turned to him, she was beginning to feel very bad and was about to ask to be excused, before she could though, she vomited violently. Most of it hit Loki’s legs and crotch in a splatter of regurgitated Rafa juice. She looked up at him in the sudden ensuing shocked silence.
‘Sorry about that,’ she said, before she slipped sideways off the chair in a dead faint. She wasn’t aware of being caught mid faint by Loki, nor of the ensuing howls of laughter as the other gods present finally took in what had just happened.
Brohan and Valaria immediately stepped forward. ‘We’ll take her back to the med bay, while you shower and change, My Lord.’
Loki nodded irritably as Zeus added. ‘Bring her back after an hour, Commander; it should give her time to recover enough to continue with the meeting. It seems we may need her insight far more than we had ever realized. In the meantime the rest of us will break for lunch while Loki goes and gets himself cleaned up.’ He glanced over at Vulcan who was also looking decidedly green about the gills. ‘I think you had better have a little extra time, too, Vulcan.’
Vulcan didn’t need any more encouragement; he quickly left the room as Brohan carried Tae’s inert body out.
Zeus turned to Tannan who was standing behind him in his customary position. ‘Make sure you summon everyone back here to reconvene in an hour, we’ve got an attack to plan.’
Chapter 28
Tae arrived back at the meeting room an hour later feeling much better, she still had a bad headache but her nausea had now disappeared. The Med-techs had told her it was quite common to vomit after awakening from Marashion poisoning. Of course this didn’t stop her own feelings of humiliation, she found herself blushing and not making eye contact with anyone as she re-entered the room and sat back down. She glanced around to see everyone was already seated. Loki had obviously showered and changed clothes, at the thought of what she’d done to him she blushed anew. So much for her tentative plans for flirting with him and seeing if what Latrissa had said was true.
Nothing quite like getting vomited on by a potential lover to ignite the flames of passion, she thought ruefully. She thought it might be best, given the circumstances, if she tried to ignore Loki and concentrate on Zeus and the problems at hand for the time being; at least until she could work out another avenue to express her feelings for him.
Zeus smiled at her. ‘Well, once again you’ve given us a possible chance of victory, whilst providing us all with some much needed levity, Tae. Now all we have to do is come up with some ideas of how to infect Hyperion’s fleet. Has anyone thought of anything in the last hour?’ he said glancing around the table.
‘I’ve been thinking about where we will need to hit them,’ said Vulcan. ‘Obviously we would have to get them all at once, so it will have to be an external attack. There’s simply no way we could ever hope to smuggle people onboard all of their ships in the time we have left. Having come to that conclusion I have asked Brightmoon to show me the closest access to any of her veins from the outside, and I think I have an idea that could work,’ he looked around the table before continuing. ‘Brightmoon has some much smaller conduits running to her pulse cannons for instantaneous orders if she doesn’t want to use the slower larger pathways. If we target their pulse cannons with buzz bombs, or to be more precise, where their pulse cannons are joined to the ship, all we have to do is rupture a small vein to make an access point. Once the vein is ruptured, even if it’s only slightly, the bomb section carrying the nanites can break open, giving them straight access to the ruptured vein. It will give us the greatest chance of contamination,’ he finished.
‘I don’t think Hyperion or any of the others would allow a buzz bomb past their defenses, unless of course they’re in the middle of a full scale battle with us. Plus, as you said, it could take up to a week before the nanites reach saturation point, and by that time we could all be dead, so it wouldn’t matter anyway.’ Said Ares, ‘are you sure this is the only way?’
Vulcan nodded, ‘I know the risks inherent, but this is the quickest and most efficient way, unless you want to dress in disguise as a serving wench and pop onboard with a twenty pound needle to jab into the nearest vein.’
‘So why don’t we do that then?’ Loki said.
Tae looked at him along with everyone else; her heart gave a little lurch when she found his black eyes regarding her intently.
‘What’s on your mind then, disguising Ares as a serving wench?’ Zeus said with a snort of laughter. ‘Hell, unless times have changed drastically, I don’t think even Hyperion would be that desperate.’
‘No, I was thinking that maybe we could disguise the buzz bombs? Or even make them smaller,’ said Loki, He stood up and started to pace as he articulated his thoughts. ‘Could they be made much smaller and disguised, perhaps as some small slow moving space junk, or better yet, small slow moving asteroids, so they take no notice of them? We need them to look harmless enough so that even if they do see that one or two have slipped inside their force field, they will disregard them. If they think they will just bounce off them they are likely to let them go, otherwise they would lose face in front of the others if they were seen to be afraid of being hit by something so small and ineffectual. You know their ways, Zeus. Fear is weakness, show weakness to anyone and you deserve to die! I’m willing to bet they will let them bounce off if they’re moving very slowly. Remember, this will be one of the few times they have all been together in a gathering of this magnitude, if ever, especially with Hyperion in attendance.’
Everyone turned to Vulcan as Loki sat back down; it was up to him now, everything now hinged on what he said. ‘Theoretically it can be done, we have the equipment,’ said Vulcan who was onc
e again lost in thought as he began planning. ‘With the help of Brightmoons bots and the right materials, and if she lets us use the schematics for the force field disruption design already in her memory banks, we could basically start immediately.’ He turned to Tae. ‘Can you talk to her and explain all this?’
‘Why can’t she just look in Brightmoons memory banks and get it?’ asked Bellona in a puzzled voice.
‘It doesn’t work like that,’ Tae sighed. Everyone present turned to stare at her as she tried to explain once and for all her intricate relationship with the giant Dreadnaught.
‘Both Brightmoon and I are still entirely separate entities, she can’t see things I don’t want her to see,’ she said casting a furtive glance at a surprisingly relieved looking Loki. ‘And I can’t see what she doesn’t want me to see. I have full access to her senses, weapons, communications and engines, but not her thoughts, and believe me, she does have them. As a matter of fact they are growing increasingly more complex the older she gets. She can drop my access to any part of her that she wants to, and I can do the same. We both don’t because we trust each other. I trust her implicitly to never deliberately hurt me, and I know she feels the same way about me,’ she said glancing around at them. ‘I would never deliberately hurt or betray her, so don’t ever ask me to, ever.’ She said in an effort to cut off any future ‘requests’ for information the Gods might want to have.
‘You dare to tell us what you will and won’t do! You forget where you are and who you are speaking to!’ said Isis in outrage.
Surprisingly it was Zeus who held up his hand. He looked closely at Tae as he considered his next words. ‘I think Tae knows exactly who she is talking to. In fact I think it’s the entire reason she just said what she did, am I right,’ he asked as he continued to stare at her.
Tae nodded but held her head high.
He shrugged. ‘Captains prerogative,’ he said. At Tae’s startled look he turned to Loki. ‘Since you have sacked Captain Settria and she is at this moment heading to Velonchos you will need a new Captain, yes?’At Loki’s quick nod he continued. ‘Although I still think there are many other officers far more suitable than Tae, it seems she is the one who Brightmoon wants, and we most definitely need Brightmoon onside and at her best. I would like to suggest we give her anything that she might need to facilitate that.’
Loki smiled, ‘I was thinking the same thing he said turning to Tae.
‘You’re hereby appointed to Captain, Lieutenant Rames; I’ll make the announcement after the meeting.’
‘Thanks you, My Lord, she said, unable to stop a wide smile from creeping onto her face. ‘I think now that I’m feeling a bit better I had better go talk to Brightmoon, obviously she would have been listening in on the meeting, but that’s not the same as me talking to her about it.’ Everyone stared at her, as if startled at her little announcement. She spread her hands in exasperation. ‘Sensors people! Remarkably clever sentient ship; remember?’
‘You mean she listens in and watches everything we do?’ Loki asked, with what seemed to Tae to be a touch of concern.
‘I assume so,’ she said unconcernedly. ‘I know she was watching and listening to all of you when you first came on board. I usually don’t check things she likes to do on her own, like the Lab that she’s shared with Vulcan, or what-ever the hell she’s doing with the top seven floors. I’ve learnt to just leave her be.’
‘Top seven floors?’ asked Zeus perplexed.
‘Yes, I’ve never been able to access the top seven floors, I have no idea what she’s doing up there, but all access of any kind has always been blocked. I figure she’ll show it to me if, and when, she wants to.’
Zeus frowned, the thought that Brightmoon had a whole seven floors that she didn’t want anyone poking around in was actually quite disturbing. He glanced around the table to see that the others looked equally nonplused. Still, they had other more important things to think over than what the Dreadnaught was keeping secret, at least he hoped this was the case. He decided to take a leaf out of Tae’s book and just take one problem at a time.
‘Go speak to her, we will return to our ships and make tentative plans for what alternatives we can have ready, in case of any unforeseen circumstances that may crop up. And please ,Tae, be convincing, if not for us, then for every other sentient creature in our realms, they’re all depending on you, whether they know it or not.’
‘So, no pressure then, good to hear,’ said Tae as she quickly stood.
‘My Lords,’ she said bowing lightly before she left for the bridge.
***
As Tae made her way to the bridge she began to think in earnest. She had a fairly good idea that her little talk with Brightmoon wouldn’t go easy. She knew the ship had already listened to what had been said, so now all she really had to do was convince her to help. Unfortunately this might be easier said than done, she went over the two main points. One: get her to help Vulcan design a camouflaged delivery system to send the re-programmed Nanites with, and, Two: Convince her to hand over said Nanites to Vulcan to be re-programmed. She wasn’t sure exactly how the Dreadnaught would handle that last request, but she had a nasty suspicion she wouldn’t like it. Brightmoon wasn’t usually a willing sharer. Tae sometimes thought she worked on the principle of; what’s mine is mine and what’s yours is mine, and what I might see, want, or need, is also mine.
She was welcomed back heartily by the bridge crew, Loki having made his announcement straight after she had left the meeting. She smiled at everyone in greeting, accepting their congratulations, then she hoped into the star seat to have her little talk with the ship. She found she had been waiting for her.
Tae explained everything in fine detail while Brightmoon stayed strangely quiet and unobtrusive, even during her detailed explanation, which was really not like her at all. As a general rule Brightmoon was usually trying to ferret around for anything of interest in Tae’s mind, and Tae was always shooing her away from thoughts and feelings she had decided to keep private. Now she simply listened patiently to what Tae asked of her, and when Tae was finally finished she found out why. Brightmoon had decided to try her hand at a little blackmail.
She let Tae know that she would help Vulcan with the first item, the design and building of a camouflage system to deliver nanites to infect the Titans ships, because they were friends. But she would only think about allowing Vulcan to re-program some of her Nanites if, and only if, Tae allowed her to see and experience what occurred on Tartarise between her and Loki in the cave.
Tae was outraged, she told Brightmoon that this was totally unfair, but the dreadnaught wasn’t budging. If Tae wanted her to even consider the second request, than she had to cough up on some details.
She disconnected herself from the Dreadnaught and sat up angrily, shocked at what the ship had asked of her. ‘Talk about a bloody snoop!’ she muttered aloud.
She looked around at the crew who were all eyeing her warily. Knowing she had no choice she sat there for a moment thinking it through. She knew what would occur if she relived what had happened in the cave, which left her with little choice. Damn it!
‘I need all of you to have a break for a while and leave the bridge. I will have Brightmoon contact you when you can return,’ she said dismissing everyone from the bridge. After a few shocked glances the bridge crew filed out, once they had left Tae sat back down and rejoined with the ship.
‘Alright, Brightmoon, you win, but this is really private so I’m trusting you not to show or tell anyone else what happened, ever, okay. And I bloody well want as many nanites as you can spare for this,’ she said irritably.
She felt a sense of anticipation wash over her, and for the first time since she had been linked to the great ship, she wasn’t sure if it was coming from Brightmoon or from herself, either way she opened her mind. Her mind was quickly drawn back into the cave, reliving her experience with Loki as if she were there with him again. She felt her every emotion, her every desire and n
eed, all of it coursed through her body again. Brightmoon started going over everything that had occurred as if in slow motion. Once again she felt her pheromones explode from her as she looked into his eyes. She felt herself offering herself to him as her own needs made her throw any caution she may have had to the wind. She felt a shudder run through Brightmoons thoughts as she once again felt Loki’s teeth sink into her neck. Brightmoon relived the intensity of her orgasm with her; which of course meant she then tried to fixate on it. Tae knew the ship wanted to keep reliving this moment, but she pushed on to what happened next. She showed her the hurt and confusion she had felt, then her talk with Latrissa, and what she had thought about the whole episode, after that she pulled her mind back.
There, now you know everything, she thought. I had an orgasm with a man for the first time in my life, and it felt great. Afterwards things got really bloody awkward and I felt like shit, but as it turns out, it might not be my fault after all. She hesitated for a moment than thought nervously. Do you think I might stand a chance with him? Do you think he might like me like Latrissa says?
Brightmoon was silent for a long time as she analyzed everything she had learnt. (Tae secretly thought she was continuing to go over the orgasm scene as she felt little tremors in her mind intermittently). Finally she was overcome by a sense of rightness and she realized that Brightmoon agreed with her being with Loki. It was something that surprised her no end, especially given the Dreadnaughts obvious feelings on sharing anything that she saw as hers.
Thank you so much, sweetie. I really wanted you to approve of us, because I’m pretty sure I have real feelings for him, she thought in relief. This was turning out to be a lot easier than what she had earlier anticipated. She had no idea Brightmoon would be so accommodating. Tae immediately began to wonder if this had more to do with Brightmoon wanting to share more “intimacies” with Tae, than of her wanting Tae to be in a relationship. She knew the dreadnaught had a tendency to watch whatever she found of interest, she’d just never expected to be the recipient of such curiosity. She pushed such thoughts from her mind, telling herself she was just being paranoid. Of course it was then that the Dreadnaught made its next “little” suggestion to Tae. Tae’s mind was filled with the image of her and Loki having sex, but instead of being in either her or Loki’s room, Brightmoon had swapped surroundings and they were on the bridge, in the star chair.