by Mark Wandrey
“Anyway,” he finished, “I don't think it's possible. I guess you could make an asteroid move like a ship, but something this big? There are just too many issues. Not the least of which is where they parked it.”
“I understand,” Kal'at said and snapped his claws. “You would severely disrupt Bellatrix's orbit if you even tried to move this moon.”
“Unless that is exactly what you intend to do,” Minu almost whispered. Pip turned to look at her, his jaw hanging down and an unspoken question on his face. “Yes, I think that is exactly what this is.”
“What?” Kal'at asked.
“You mind?” Pip asked Minu who made a sweeping bow and stepped aside. “Help yourself.” “This moon has been equipped with elements of a star drive and power storage facilities for the express purpose of moving an entire planet.”
“But you just said...”
“Not this planet,” Pip said and touched a control he'd been examining. A huge display came alive with a highly detailed rendering of Bellatrix. Dozens of highlighted information displays hovered around the planet scrolling complex calculations. “That planet.”
The elevator roof slid out of the way just before the somewhat crowded platform reached the top. Minu was about to squeal and duck when it slid out of the way. The People were very short. Pip never stopped talking the whole time.
“—no way of knowing how many of these there are throughout the galaxy. Half the populated worlds could have them, for all we know.”
“But such expense, such difficulty!” Kal'at continued to argue his point. “With so many worlds in the galaxy, why bother working so hard to keep one habitable. There are hundreds we know about that are already inhabitable without going to such work to keep one marginal world such. Why not just move to one that is not in need of extreme life-saving measures?”
Minu tuned them out and switched channels to inform the Rasa pilot of their arrival. She was a little surprised her daughter hadn't been insistently calling for her from the moment she reappeared on the surface. As soon as the pilot was notified she called to Lilith.
“I am here, mother.”
“We are fine. I know the installation cut off our transmissions.”
“Yes, I was a little concerned.”
Something in her daughter’s tone of voice bothered her. “Are you okay?”
“Yes, I am well, just mentally occupied.”
“Anything I can help with?”
“Not at this time. I am gladdened that you are well. Please have Pip upload a report to me on what he has located at his convenience. If possible, please rendezvous with me in orbit. Lilith out.”
“Okay,” she thought and shook her head. “What the hell was that all about?”
In the time between her revelation and arriving on the surface, Pip and Kal'at had performed a number of computer simulations and examined the controls. They now knew within a reasonable doubt that she was right. The moon Romulus was a hundred trillion ton gravitic anchor. The installation’s computers revealed the complex calculations that could use the moon to gently swing the planet into different orbits within the solar system.
Power was generated from the tidal effects of Romulus's orbit around Bellatrix, and also from similar generators on moons around Vegas and Valhalla, and stored within vast EPC banks deep in the planet’s core. “It would take about two hundred years to accumulate a full charge,” Pip had estimated after examining the power yields. Stored within Romulus was enough energy to run the entire planet of Bellatrix for a thousand years.
“What about the surplus?” Minu asked as the two shuttles came into view.
“What about it?” Pip asked back.
“Where does it go?”
“I suppose that's part of what Lilith spotted. It’s bled off safely.”
“So let's harvest it!” Aaron said, since Pip wasn't getting it. “If it takes two hundred years to fill the capacitors, and the peak is a thousand times more than we use in a year, that means the extra is five times more than we need right now!”
“Leave it to a glorified pilot to think of the obvious,” Pip snorted, but he turned and smiled at Aaron and Minu. “But that's a wonderful idea!”
“The logistics would be insane,” Kal'at pointed out. “You import thousands of the smaller EPCs every year already. It's hard enough transporting them up to Remus, and we really don't use that many.”
“We'll have Cherise work out the details.”
Meanwhile Lilith was trying to concentrate on a signal she'd picked up from the moon a few minutes before her mother had reappeared. She'd almost missed it entirely, completely wrapped up in exploring the mystery network. It wasn't a quantum transmission; she never would have noticed that unless it was directed to her ship’s unique signature. This was a tight beam ultra-high frequency signal sent to a local destination. If the Kaatan hadn't been orbiting directly above the source it would never have been detected.
The computer's analysis subroutines were analyzing the signal while she used the navigation system to track their destination. The signal was transmitted to the planet Valhalla in the outer solar system. More precisely, to one of the moons. So she turned her sensors on that distant moon and in minutes began to assemble a digital image that was nearly identical to the tiny world she floated above.
“How many of these secret bases are there in this system?” she wondered.
After watching the star system for the time it took the two Phoenix shuttles to climb from the moon's surface to orbit, Lilith concluded nothing was happening as a result of the signal. The analysis of the transmission was inconclusive. “An embedded code signal containing eleven data packets of twelve kilo-bits each,” were the results. Without knowing the established meanings of the packets, she had no way of knowing what the purpose was.
“Lilith, this is Aaron, we've reached orbit.”
“Noted, father. I am transmitting approach information.”
“Minu wants to know why you want us to come aboard. We need to get back to Bellatrix and discuss a possible plan.”
Lilith was looking at a report Pip had just transmitted. Their theory of the moon base's purpose made perfect sense. And with some work she could confirm their feelings. Even more importantly, she could probably assist. “I wish to discuss some matters that dovetail with your discovery on the moon.”
“Very well, we'll be on board in about ten minutes.”
Lilith watched as the sleek form of the first Phoenix shuttle fired maneuvering thrusters and moved towards her ship, and the other used its gravitic drive to push off towards Remus, and home, she wondered how she was going to explain everything she'd learned to her mother.
Chapter 16
March 6th, 534 AE
T'Chillen Command Ship, Enigma Sector, Galactic Frontier
Fleet Commander Singh-Apal Katoosh watched the tactical screen with equal parts excitement and dread. Two dozen Mok-Tok ships had dropped out of supra-luminal drive two hours ago and fallen screaming into the system, making a half parsec wide deadly wedge aimed directly at the ancient fire base. Thirteen more ships bolstered the previous squadron to what his tactical termed a strike force.
He was not surprised that the shaggy mounds had brought reinforcements from their previous encounter. In fact, he would have been surprised if they hadn't, but not as surprised as the enemy was about to be.
The Mok-Toks’ two carriers disgorged a dozen squadrons of heavy fighters each, then fell back into the rear of their formation where a pair of destroyers acted as escorts. The fighters formed the tip of the spear, racing ahead at speed before the three heavy cruisers. It was a deadly vanguard designed to punch through any resistance. If the T'Chillen cruiser screen tried to hold their ground against the swarm of fighters, they risked being overwhelmed by the enemy heavy cruisers. If they ran the gauntlet through the fighters to get at the enemy capital ships, they exposed their own lighter ships in the rear to the fighters.
Katoosh's two dreadnoughts were in t
he rear of his formation, as the slow, heavy war machines were usually deployed. He ordered their two squadrons of fighters to launch and race for the approaching enemy even as his cruisers fell back as far as they dared. It was a desperation move, and an obvious one. Space at the front of his formation lit up with crisscrossing beams of deadly energy as the lead element of the Mok-Tok fighters came within range of his heavy cruisers.
The action took perfect timing. Katoosh watched intently as fighters began to explode and damage started to be reported on the cruisers. In a minute his own ineffective fighter force would join the hopeless fray. “Now,” he ordered his tactical leader. An order was dispatched in a way he hadn’t known existed only weeks ago.
Across space, three T'Chillen pocket carriers swung down out of supra-luminal speed almost precisely behind the enemy carriers. Primed and ready, they each hurled their four squadrons of medium fighters into space, and onto the enemy carriers and their escorts. Katoosh's fangs dripped poison as he saw the enemy formation waver in sudden confusion. Spring too soon and the enemy would have turned back on his meager carrier force, too late and the enemy fighters would have been fully engaged with no desire to withdraw.
The enemy fleet was stuck in a no win situation. Regardless of their faster than light drives, physics was still their enemy. Racing towards his forces in normal space, they'd built up a high amount of delta V that couldn't just be reversed. A fifty thousand ton destroyer could not be stopped quickly, especially without any large gravity wells to push against. There were no planets in this star system. Their gravitic drives had only the gravity plane of the galaxy to push against. It was like doing a push-up on a water bed.
“Move us up,” he ordered and the two dreadnoughts surged ahead, the fleet’s formation quickly splitting to make room for the hulking battleships. It was precision flying. Because he'd allowed them to fall back so far, many of the ships now were less than a kilometer apart. Most of the warships were piloted by females who intently did their jobs, deftly dancing their cumbersome craft without a single incident.
The enemy fighters were confused, split between breaking off to fall back and protect their carriers, and the tantalizing target of the advancing dreadnoughts.
“Launch our fighters,” Katoosh ordered and the dreadnought’s squadron jumped into space along with fighters from her sister ship. The two earlier squadrons from the carriers had been holding in closer orbit around the dreadnoughts.
The T'Chillen cruisers moved into close formation with the dreadnoughts that dwarfed them as the four squadrons of medium fighters formed into their own lance and punched into the Mok-Tok fighters. They used their lighter and faster design to scatter the heavier enemy fighters, and clear a path for the dreadnoughts.
A panic of indecision for the Mok-Tok turned into a terror of firepower as the T'Chillen battleships began to unload waves of shipkilling missiles and APAWs into the much lighter heavy cruisers.
In the end, the tactical decision of the Mok-Tok commander was one of hardware. Their fighters were largely drones controlled by occasional command fighters. Those fighters raced back to the rearmost cruisers where they squeezed into docking bays as their fleet began to break up and flee for their lives. The two enemy carriers fought against the dozens of T'Chillen fighters.
Their destroyer escorts both paid with their lives, and still only one of the two carriers managed to get clear enough to jump away. The other was critically injured, its gravitic lens drive unable to engage. Katoosh hissed in delight at the prize he'd taken. Even as the vast majority of the enemy fleet fled the system, his victory was unequivocal.
“Post action assessment,” he demanded from his tactical commander.
“Eight fighters destroyed, eleven damaged. Three destroyers sustained minor damage, and one cruiser reports serious damage from a lucky fighter-launched shipkiller. Enemy has fled the system. They have lost one cruiser, four destroyers, and one carrier. Damage assessment suggests two more heavily damaged cruisers, and moderate damage to the second carrier. They abandoned their entire fighter contingent, minus most of the command fighters. We are beginning clean-up and salvage operations.”
“Understood. Send my compliments to the carrier captains and inform them we will hold a fleet wide command meeting in six hours to discuss out next action.”
A few minutes later he was in his cabin behind the bridge examining a display floating above his computer. A three dimensional map of the galaxy slowly rotated, with T'Chillen controlled space glowing a comforting red. In each of those areas a single star sparkled, his new secret weapon. Not really a weapon though. Call it a secret asset. Two pocket carriers delivered to the Enigma system in not months, but hours. His communicator beeped for attention, and he knew who it would be.
“You are pleased with this present I have presented to you?”
“How could I not be pleased,” he replied. But his excitement turned bitter in his throat as he considered. “What has this cost me?”
“Cost? Why, there is no immediate cost.”
“There is nothing free.”
“You are correct.” The line was quiet for a moment before more text began to appear. “The T'Chillen helped the Grent eons ago, when we needed you. We will call on you again. This is why we have provided you with this tool. Use it well.”
Somewhere a few light-years away the Mok-Tok commander was licking his wounds and wondering how he'd been so thoroughly outmaneuvered. Katoosh was sure the shaggy mound would be completely confused and furious. Of course, he would have no idea that Katoosh was just as confused. Ghosts from the halls of time were walking behind him, offering advice and gifts. Why was he not happy?
In the places of politics on Nexus the leaders had many wise sayings to describe how their machinations functioned, or failed. “The plan was working well, until the Grent came along.”
Chapter 17
March 7th, 534 AE
Rasa Phoenix Shuttle, Bellatrix Orbit, Bellatrix Star System
There was plenty of room in the Kaatan's docking bay for the Phoenix shuttle. The ship’s own shuttles were moved via hoverfield and moored against the inside of the walls and ceiling when not in use. Minu always felt a little nervous when walking under the hulking needle shapes of the shuttles. It only took a minute for the familiar walk to the ship’s little command center Lilith called her home. The door irised open a moment before they arrived.
“Please come in, Mother.”
“Hi Lilith,” she said, stepping off into space and floating into the open globe of the command center. Lilith's ultra-lean figure floated in the exact center, partially surrounded by dozens of holographic displays and charts of figures. She resembled her mother in many ways. They were both lean with narrow hips and small chests, but Lilith had grown up in space. Microgravity gave her a long legged and armed grace that bordered on gangly. She'd let her hair grow over the years. To keep it controlled she put it into an elaborate ponytail that Cherise had taught her. She'd since tasked a robot to do the work for her. As Minu floated in followed by her husband, she could see her daughter’s brown eyes showing unusual concern. She was normally a fairly expressionless woman, the side effect of being raised by a computer for the first eleven years.
“Are you okay, dear?” Minu asked. She often didn't resort to that sort of familiar title with her daughter. She wondered if being pregnant had something to do with it. Then she admonished herself mentally. Like being a couple days pregnant would have anything to do with anything.
“I'm fine Mother. I have news that I thought would be better to discuss in person.” Aaron had floated into the command center as well, taking up a spot less than a meter from the pair as Minu drifted slowly to within a hand’s space of her daughter. As usual, an invisible hoverfield caught and stabilized her. She'd always wondered if that was something Lilith did consciously or was it some automated mechanism of the ship. So much of what went on aboard the ancient artifact was a mystery to her.
“Sure, but d
on't you want to hear about the installation?”
“I've already read Pip's report. He is going to work with Kal'at on your energy harvesting idea. This is bigger.”
Minu's eyes went wider. Discovering a secret cache of enough power to run their planet a thousand times over was phenomenal. But what she knew was bigger? This might prove interesting. She gave her a 'tell me more' look.
“When you went underground and I lost contact, I was faced with an impossibility. The facts I was taught states that quantum signals could not be blocked. It involves splitting a meson into two quarks and then taking one with you. They share a quantum state. Agitate one, and the other responds in kind.”
“I'm somewhat familiar with the theory. But doesn't that mean that every such connection only works between the two original parts of one meson? It really means you only have a fancy walkie-talkie.”
“On the surface, yes. However, there is a vast network of quantum connections. I was aware of this from the beginning, but not the true nature of that network. Not the extent of it.”
“What do you mean?”
“For the network to work correctly, and perfectly, it couldn't rely on a haphazard scheme of random connections between split mesons here and there. There had to be a central network hub, a switchboard if you will. Billions of mesons were split into quantum connections, the majority of their other halves then kept at these switchboards. When I talk to you though the quark in your implant, the quantum communicator in the Kaatan sends a signal to its paired quark at a switchboard, which in turn then sends a signal to your quark.”
“So we're not talking directly. I understand that, but what does it have to do with the signal being blocked?”
“It wasn't blocked.”
“But we have proof. We couldn't talk.”