Collision Course - An Aeon 14 Space Opera Adventure (Perilous Alliance Book 3)
Page 25
“You’re okay with this?” she whispered to Winter.
He shrugged and talked out of the corner of his mouth. “He didn’t have a choice. One of us had to pilot the ship and he’s the best we had.”
Then something caught her eye on the holodisplay. It was the massive ship, the one with the Transcend’s President aboard.
The image was crystal clear. Kilometers of hull, struts an rotating cylinders, dwarfing everything else around it. Only Dessen was larger, but honestly not by all that much.
“Is that it?” Kylie asked, still disbelieving. “The I2?”
“It appeared and cleaned up. One weird looking warship, though. It looks like it has rotating habitation cylinders on it,” Winter said.
“I’ve never seen anything like it. The vibrations it’s throwing off are killer,” Rogers added with a toss of his head and Kylie did her best not to look at his eyes. “Without it, the SSF fleet would have been decimated. Even with only a fraction of your father’s fleet in the mix, they might have taken out Dessen too.”
“So that thing destroyed my father’s ships?”
“Not alone, but it saved the day, that’s for damn sure,” Winter said.
Other than a smattering of Revolution Fleet ships that were committed to going down in a blaze of glory, the battle was over. The wreckage of thousands of ships drifted through space, some of it moving toward Dessen as the planet’s small gravitational field drew them in.
Every so often beams would lance out from the plant-turned-station, obliterating some inbound chunk of wreckage.
Kylie took a deep breath wondering when Nadine was going to turn up when a transmission came in, piped over the bridge’s audible comm systems.
“Barbaric Queen, This is Captain Espensen of the ISF I2. Power down your weapons and engines and hold your current course. We’re bringing you in.”
“Damn,” Rogers whispered. “You know a ship’s big when it can casually ‘bring something in’ that’s the size of the Queen.”
Kylie drew a deep breath. The president of the Transcend was on that ship. Ricket and Nadine worked for the Transcend. They were also the ones who had let things get this far out of hand, and had then shown up to blow away her father’s fleet.
In her head she understood; stopping her father’s fleet had been a necessity, but this heavy-handed interloper had almost killed Kylie and her family. Maybe her family was dead and maybe it wasn’t just that warship’s fault—all Kylie knew was she was damn tired of getting jerked around.
Winter and Rogers were both waiting on Kylie to say something. “We could use that ship to secure our prisoners,” Winter offered.
Kylie’s eyes bugged in surprise at his announcement. “We have prisoners?”
“Barbaric Queen, please respond. You are an unknown vessel and have taken aboard persons of interest to us. Comply, or we will take your vessel by force.”
Kylie swallowed hard and gripped the back of Rogers’ chair. “Do it. Do what they say.”
Kylie slapped the back of his head, though she was glad to be back with his crazy sense of humor. Then she turned away and walked toward the back of the bridge.
“Where are you going?” Winter demanded.
“This thing must have a weapon’s locker, right? I’m not being taken aboard any more ships without a fight.”
Rogers groaned and Winter chased after her. “Captain! Kylie! Wait up.”
Kylie didn’t slow. She followed the route she had taken from the bay up to the bridge; she remembered seeing a weapons lockup in the corridor outside the bay.
She ran through the ship at breakneck speed, though Winter stayed in earshot the entire time, calling for her to stop.
She reached the bay half a minute before him and had already selected a multi-function rifle for herself and was eyeing the racked armor.
“Be reasonable, Captain,” Winter said.
She gestured at the rifles. “You going to take one or am I on my own?”
Winter sighed and grabbed a rifle off the rack. “You’ve been through an ordeal. I don’t know what it is, but from the crazy eyes bugging out of your face, I’m guessing it was no fun. Right?”
Kylie glanced away and her clenched her jaw. Her chest felt tight and she drew short breaths, trying to regain control.
“Now isn’t the time to be standing up to a giant warship. There’s no freaking way we can do anything against that thing.”
“My luck, it’s no good, Winter.”
“That doesn’t even make sense. We bide our time…see what they want. Listen, if I’m the voice of reason, you know you’ve gone off the rails, right?”
Kylie knew he was right, but didn’t care. Nothing mattered anymore. When she felt the vibration of the Barbaric Queen settling down inside the I2 she grabbed a handful of spare charge cylinders for her rifle and rushed out into the bay. Maybe she’d die, go down in a blaze of glory, but at least she would stop being everyone’s bitch.
She was sick and tired of being used, manipulated as some sort of pawn in a game she didn’t sign up for. Kylie wouldn’t stand for it any longer.
Death be damned.
Somehow Rogers was already there. She supposed he may have known a faster route, though how he could see with those glowing eyes was beyond her.
“Why do you guys have guns?” Rogers asked.
“Because Kylie’s gone batshit crazy and…I can’t let her be batshit crazy alone,” Winter said as he and Kylie took cover behind a shuttle.
“Shit,” Rogers said, and glanced around, looking for cover as Nadine and Ricket entered the room.
“Kylie!” Nadine called out. “What are you doing? These people aren’t the enemy!”
“Either shut her up or get rid of her,” Kylie said. “I’m serious, Rogers. I don’t want her here!”
“You risked everything to save her,” Rogers said.
“That was my second mistake. My first mistake was using my savings five years ago to free her from Maverick. Not like she was really at risk of being a slave anyway.”
“You don’t mean that,” Nadine said.
“No? Keep talking and we’ll see what happens next.”
The bay door began to open and Kylie steeled herself for what was about to happen next.
“Who’s opening that anyway?” Rogers asked.
“Lay your guns down, please!” Nadine ordered. “Winter!”
“I stand with the Captain, I’ve learned my lesson.”
The bay doors finished opening, and Kylie took a deep breath, and thought of Grayson, and what they might still have. About her crew, even Nadine and the damn ship they were on. Maybe there was still a future for them all. The anger that had
been building within her began to dissipate and she let out a long breath.
Kylie slid her gun on the floor and glanced at Winter who was doing the same, a look of relief on his face. She realized how funny it was. The one time he shouldn’t have stood with her was the time he had.
She rose from behind her cover and stepped forward to stand with her crew.
A group of soldiers stood on the deck outside. In their midst was a woman with long black hair and alabaster skin. Her body was sheathed in a seamless red skinsuit from the neck down.
She looked to Nadine and Ricket, a smile on her red lips “Good work, agents Nadine and Ricket.”
“Thank you, ma’am,” Ricket said while Nadine nodded silently.
Then the woman’s eyes fell on Kylie. “You must be Kylie Rhoads. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Sera Tomlinson.”
Kylie nodded, glancing down at Sera’s body. “You’re not quite what I expected. Seem like the sort of woman Harken would enjoy.”
Ricket made a choking sound, a look of embarrassed terror on her face.
The Transcend’s president paused for a moment, her eyes narrowing. “Harken, yes. I recall her from the reports I perused. Quite the piece of work, but she did have a good sense of style.”
The woman’s response annoyed her, though it was refreshing to meet someone who refused to be baited. Kylie was about to make a biting remark, but Marge addressed her privately first.
Kylie gave Marge a sour look in her mind.
“We’re not under arrest, are we?” Kylie asked aloud and crossed her arms.
“Of course not,” Sera replied. “Nadine and Ricket need to be debriefed, and we’d like to chat with you, Captain Rhoads, to better understand some of the events that led us here. Colonel Grayson has given us some details, but we’d like to get the full picture from you.
“He did, did he?” Kylie asked, sending him a dark look in her mind.
She hoped that was true. Kylie didn’t like how things had ended between them. Maybe they’d never be together again but maybe she could find a way to let go of all the bad feelings. Maybe she’d be able to let go of the guilt over how the destruction of her marriage had been her fault, even if she had blamed him.
“You’re all welcome to come.” Sera said. “There’s food waiting. I believe one of you wanted scones.”
Rogers raised his hand. “That was me.”
Kylie shoved him forward. “Let’s get moving then. There’s a lot to talk about.”
“Yes,” Sera’s eyes sparkled as they fell onto Ricket and Nadine, “there certainly is.”
“Oh,” Winter said as they walked past the soldiers, “we have prisoners, and they were making a pretty big fuss. You may want to check on them.”
THE PRESIDENT AND THE FIELD MARSHAL
STELLAR DATE: 10.08.8948 (Adjusted Years)
LOCATION: Dock A1, ISF I2
REGION: Outer Silstrand System, Silstrand Alliance
Kylie had trouble keeping her mouth closed as she ate her buttered scone, chewing slowly as Sera Tomlinson—and a dozen soldiers—escorted her from the collection of restaurants where Rogers and Winter were still eating, to a maglev platform not far away.
She could still see the Barbaric Queen resting on a massive docking cradle a kilometer behind them. There was another kilometer between it and the I2’s main bay doors. On the other side, the bay stretched clear through the ship, and another set of doors were barely visible eight kilometers away.
Give or take a bit.
She could see hundreds more docking cradles, though the ships which normally rested on them would be out in space—destroying her father’s fleet.
As she gazed down the dock, it occurred to her that every ship she had ever salvaged could fit in this bay and there would still be room for dozens more.
“Why is this ship so damn big?” she finally asked.
Sera glanced at her and chuckled. “This is how big they used to make colony ships—back before FTL. Though this one is bigger than most were, I suppose.”
“Colony ship?” Kylie asked. “What colony needs a ship like this?”
“Oh,” Sera said, a look of understanding crossing her features. “Of course…Tanis renamed it. This is the Intrepid. It’s from the forty-second century.”
Kylie stopped in her tracks. “The Intrepid. The ship that took out four fleets at Bollam’s World twenty years ago and then disappeared.”
Sera nodded. “One and the same.”
Kylie’s eyes narrowed. “Ricket told me that the Transcend is the FGT. That all of you bailed on the rest of us and set up shop way out past any explored systems.”
“That’s a very rough description, but yes. FGT ships were attacked during the FTL wars. So, they went further out. Eventually forming the Transcend.”
“And you’re their president?” Kylie asked.
Sera nodded. “It’s a recent thing. Would you believe I used to smuggle for The Mark a few decades back? These are my old stomping grounds. Brings back a lot of memories.”
Kylie couldn’t help but laugh. “The Mark eh? That’s a group of pud wankers if ever there was one.”
Sera snorted. Apparently, the president had a sense of humor. “In their defense, I did destroy most of their fleet. Killed that bitch Rebecca in the process. Still brings a smile to my face.”
Kylie wondered what Sera was referring to, but didn’t get a chance to ask as they reached the maglev platform and stepped on a waiting train.
They’d barely had a moment to sit down before the train took off, accelerating to breakneck speed in seconds and slamming them back into their seats.
“What the…!” Kylie cried out. “Did the ship’s a-grav systems get damaged in the fight?”
Sera laughed. “I always forget to warn people about that. This ship was built before a-grav. When they got the tech, they never bothered to install inertial dampeners on their maglevs. I think they take it as a source of pride.”
Kylie rubbed the back of her head. “Yeah, ‘forget’, sure.”
Sera only laughed as the maglev continued on for another minute before stopping at a large platform filled with people rushing about.
“What’s going on?” Kylie asked.
“They’re coordinating the rescue effort. The only thing bigger than a battle is cleaning up after it.”
Kylie nodded silently as Sera led her down a long concourse and into a broad, empty room. Well, empty except for a gleaming white woman in the center.
She was perched on a plinth and surrounded by hundreds of holodisplays which were changing readouts, and moving faster than Kylie could follow. Her hair was long and thick and waved around behind her as she worked.
As they drew closer, Kylie couldn’t help but think that the woman’s skin looked almost like porcelain, though her eyes were completely black and unblinking.
“Hello, Sera, Kylie,” the woman said as they approached. “Tanis is waiting for you.”
“Thanks Tori,” Sera replied.
“Who is that?” Kylie whispered after they passed.
“I just said, Tori.”
“You know what I mean.”
Sera grinned. “I suppose I do. Tori is one of Bob’s avatars.”
Kylie could tell Sera was being deliberately obtuse just to mess with her. “And Bob is?”
in agreement.
“So Tori is an automaton of some sort?”
“Oh, no. She’s human. Bob is too vast to easily communicate directly with humans. So he uses avatars. They speak to most of the crew for him.”
Kylie’s mouth hung open. “Let me get this straight. Your ship has an AI so powerful that it uses human puppets as its mouthpieces?”
A thought flashed through her mind that perhaps her father hadn’t been so crazy after all. Here was an AI that used humans like…like she used Marge.
Kylie realized that Sera had been speaking to her, and apologized. “Sorry, I missed that.”
Sera cocked an eyebrow. “I was just saying that it’s not my ship.”
“It’s not?” Kylie asked. “But you’re the President, aren’t you?”
“I am, but this isn’t a Transcend ship—well, not exactly. This is Field Marshal Richards’ ship. Well…maybe it’s Bob’s ship. Either way. Definitely not my ship.”
“I don’t understand,” Kylie replied.
“It’s OK, things are complicated.”
They stopped at a door which slid open to reveal a well-appointed, but austere, conference room. In the center was a large, wooden table that could seat two-dozen people, though there was only one present. A tall, blonde woman who rose to greet them.
“Captain Kylie Rhoads meet Field Marshal Tanis Richards,” Sera said as she pulled out a chair.
Kylie offered Tanis her hand first. “Funny, I thought you’d be older.”
Tanis’s smile reached her eyes, but it seemed to convey power, not pleasure. “I thought you’d be taller.”
Sera gave Tanis a sharp look. “Should we sit? There’s coffee. You drink coffee?”
“I love coffee,” Kylie said as the three women sat at the table and a servitor brought each of them a cup of coffee. Sera’s banter on the way to the meeting had put Kylie at ease, but now with this imposing woman sitting across from her, Kylie couldn’t settle the butterflies in her stomach.