by DJ Morand
Abel did not voice his concerns. If this woman could get him flying again, it didn’t matter what she wanted from him, he would pay it later. Aurora led Abel to one of the hangars, inside was a massive tangle of a ship. The forward canopy looked to have been collapsed as well as the forward nacelles, but he recognized it nonetheless. His jaw dropped and tears formed in his hazel eyes.
“How … how did you--” he cut himself short, putting a shaky hand on the crumbled nose of the Kodiak.
Aurora put a hand on Abel’s shoulder, he started to pull away, but instead let her be. She looked at him sympathetically.
“The EFNF left it there. I guess they figured it was either too damaged to dig out or it simply wasn’t worth the effort, but there are those here on Quintar IV who think that you have more to do than be the EFNF’s puppet. We can fix her up and before you know it the Kodiak will fly again.”
Abel only half listened, his mind was already working the scenarios to repair the ship and the cost.
“Not Kodiak, not anymore. This will be more my design than the Kodiak was. This will be the Atlas.” He realized it would never be the Kodiak again, not without Zee. “I am going to need a good deal of supplies, what’s the catch here?””
He eyed Aurora for any response. She gave no indication, but instead pressed her finger to her temple. Somehow she managed this with grace and femininity as well.
What couldn’t she do with grace? Abel wondered.
“Yes, he is here. He--” Aurora paused and looked at Abel, whose face was beginning to look like he was going to lose his temper, “he has some questions.”” She finished.
Abel began to feel that rage bubbling up inside, but he was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt.
“Captain Abel--” Aurora began before Abel cut her off.
“Not Captain, not yet.” He said simply.
“Abel,” she corrected, “I have some associates that are willing to fund this … endeavor. They want to speak with you in person first. Please keep an open mind.” She said tensely.
“An open mind? Who are these benefactors then?” Abel questioned her, not so certain he still wanted to be around.
Aurora paused a moment, considering her words carefully. “I work for the VIS, the Vald Intelligence Service. The Vald are a species not from the Quintar Prime system, much like we are not.” She said carefully, watching Abel’s expression change from incredulous, to shocked, to one of intrigue.
“You’re telling me there are other aliens?” Abel blurted out without meaning to yell, but doing so just the same.
“Keep your voice down. Yes, there are other species out there.” She said indicating the space beyond the Quintar Prime system.
“The Vald are very secretive, and the Remnant believes they have left the Quintar Prime system. My employers wish to keep it that way.” She was starting to think that maybe Abel wasn’t the right fit for the task at hand, but he was the only one that could get the Kodiak back in the air again and he was the only one that really understood the quantum locked armor.
Abel watched Aurora closely and several questions came to mind. He started with, “Why me?”
“Because, you are the only one to have fought the EXO Prime and survived. This virus is more than just human or Quintarran, it is adaptable and it will take over the universe if we do not stop it here and now. You are the logical choice.”
“Flakking glitches,” Abel cursed. “You are pinning all your hopes on me because I escaped and wrecked my ship? Are you flakking nuts!?””
Abel was flustered and he paced back and forth a bit more before turning back to Aurora, “You want me, fine I’m here, but on my terms.”
“I would expect nothing else.” Aurora calmly replied. “You should get some rest. We have a barracks of sorts above this hangar. You can find a bunk there.”” Aurora said.
Abel eyed her suspiciously for a moment longer, she really is kind of cute, he thought to himself, before giving his thoughts a mental beating. Have you forgotten Echo so quickly?
The thought nagged at him before transforming into, no, but she betrayed me; what’s fair is fair. He huffed and grumbled, but started towards the stairs that Aurora had pointed out.
“I hope, for your sake Aurora, that you’re legitimate. I don’t take kindly to being betrayed.” He warned as he started up the metal steps.
They echoed with a light reverberation as he stepped down hard. Crossing through the threshold he found himself in a barracks.
She wasn’t lying, he thought.
The crew quarters were lined wall to wall with double bunks, most seemed to have been claimed by either belongings or the few lounging workmen. Abel wondered if any of these soldiers were intended to be a part of his crew.
9: ECHO SHADE
Quintar IV - EFNF Alpha Base: Training Simulator
2973 ESD - Thursday, May 20th 03:00 hours
Echo stretched as the training sim pod opened for her. The sim ended with their first success. She was grateful for that. The tedium was starting to become a bit disconcerting. Time and time again she continued to lead her people to their deaths.
Virtual deaths, she thought. But deaths nonetheless.
The thought made Echo cringe. Every day - twice a day - they ran through the same simulation. It was still heavily modeled after her and Abel Cain’s arrival back on Quintar IV. The mission that saw the Kodiak pursued by the EXO Prime and Mercury Frinz.
Echo remembered keenly how Abel and Zee had managed to navigate a broken and dying gunship through the asteroid belt. Playing over the events in her mind she realized they should not have survived. The training sim should not have seen them survive either. The Kodiak had been heavily modified for the type of atmospheric entry Abel had attempted and still Zee did not live.
Echo considered this and began applying tactics that would better suit the destroyer she was captaining. The TP-D was an ungainly beast compared to the Kodiak. The destroyer could not possibly utilize the same tactics as the gunship she had arrived in. Over the course of the past week she had begun developing her own strategies. Still, she feared that it was due to familiarity and repeated practice versus any kind of skill.
What if you get them all killed? The stray thought jumped into her mind. She shuddered and grabbed the towel from the side of the sim pod. Wiping her face and neck she stood up.
The simulation clothing clung to her, damp with sweat and nearly transparent. She did not like the feeling of being so immodest, but it was a necessary evil. The simulation pods put the trainees into a comatose state while they trained. The clothing was designed to allow their bodies to breathe. The pods were confining and had to be temperature controlled, which meant that bodies could overheat if not properly clothed.
Properly clothed, Echo scoffed internally.
The general garb of the age did not fit that description. As with most things in the EFNF she was not alone in her immodesty. Although no one else said anything, they all felt it.
Almost all, Echo corrected.
The Quintarrans did not seem to mind. She considered the crew again. Each had done their jobs admirably, but she still could not shake her feeling about it being too familiar. The repetitive tasks became second nature. While this was ideal for learning new systems, it was anathema to intuitive thought.
Echo shook her head to let the last bit of sweat dry from her hair. She made her way to the briefing room. Her clothing was still soaked in sweat from the excitement and exertion of the last simulation. Echo entered the rounded room and proceeded to front, where it squared off. She watched as the rest of her crew filed into the seats.
“Good run team. Let’s hit highlights, then we’ll look at the improvements and address any other weaknesses.” She said.
For the next several hours they scrutinized the sim reports. The team was doing well and they had bonded, which she was glad for. However, the longer they examined the report the more her fears seemed more founded. They had bounced through tactics trying different
approaches over the weeks until they only had one option left.
In a real world situation, they would not have the ability to cycle through scenarios until they found a solution. On some level, Echo realized that the repetitive sim allowed her team to learn to work with one another and form bonds, but ultimately any sim would do that.
If she was honest with herself, and she wanted to be. Echo wanted her team to face chaos here and now, before it was a real world situation. She kept her thoughts to herself for the moment. She was going to have to work with the Fleet Admiral to get approval for other simulations. What she wanted and what she thought she could get were two different things.
Fleet Admiral Clark had been running the crew of the TP-D Justice ragged. Twice a day simulations with barely a day’s rest in the whole week left them all exhausted. Echo was not certain she would be able to convince the Fleet Admiral to randomize the encounters. At this point Echo knew if they were in the exact situation requiring them to do so she and her crew could escape to Quintar IV with the Infinity nipping at their heels.
It was the other situations that concerned her. Echo needed to test her crew under random conditions - Conditions that they were unprepared for, like the escape from the Infinity had been the first time. It was times like these that she missed Abel’s direct approach. He could be the hammer to a nail, where Echo was more subtle and calculating, like a socket to a bolt.
It always comes back to Abel, she thought.
Echo decided she was going to consult the Fleet Admiral and express her concerns. Despite her reservations about how the conversation would go, Echo was feeling optimistic.
“All right team, let’s take a break. Get some food and some actual rest. We’re meeting back here at oh-eight-hundred hours.”” Echo switched off the Transteel projector and made her way past the crew.
She made a bee-line directly to the crew changing room and dressed into her military blacks.
No sense in being offensive, she thought to herself. Offensive or vulnerable? The question came unbidden.
She dismissed the thoughts as she allowed the metallic clasp to align vertically with her torso. Once clothed, she checked her appearance. Her hair was a mess, by her own standards anyway. Despite having a mirror, Echo was not supposed to look at it.
The Quintarran state of mind was that of a collective, no one was an individual and all were equal. She had argued with her mother vehemently about that when she had left on the mission to locate her father’s home system and Abel Cain. It was the last thing she had discussed with her mother and it was still something that pained her greatly.
Echo understood that her mother wished a different life for her, but Echo was determined to be a part of something greater and sometimes that meant you had to stand out. She considered herself in the mirror again, almost as an act of defiance.
It is an act of karma, she thought, as she realized the imperfections in her complexion and the first signs of stress marking her brow.
Sighing heavily she stepped away from the mirror and exited the opposite side from where she had entered. Exodus Fleet had designed the crew change room this way intentionally. The separation served as a reminder. The clothes you had to wear while in the simulator were not the most appropriate away from them.
Echo stepped into the hall. Shining steel walls greeted the starship Captain. The rivets were evenly spaced and allowed a small distraction from the idea they were in a tin can. Echo did not take too much comfort in the rivets as it all amounted to the same thing; she was in a metal box.
Echo enjoyed spaceflight and a mission destination. However, being on the ground in a bunker, like the one that housed the simulators, she felt like a sardine.
I wonder if that is how Abel felt, she thought.
As she entered the hall the floor lights powered on and lit the way. She looked down at her Writcom, the small navigation and communications device all officers wore. The Writcom was not so different from the device Abel had tricked her into wearing above Eden.
Echo had been so suspicious when she was first assigned the device. She let everyone else put theirs on first, especially the other Quintarrans. Echo was only half-Quintarran, but she was not taking any chances.
“Captain Echo Shade, TP-D Justice, location on Fleet Admiral Clark,” she spoke into the Writcom.
A moment later the small computer chirped and said “Compliance,” as it lit up with an indicator marking the Fleet Admiral’s position.
At least she is not far, Echo thought.
She increased her pace, but still walked towards the courtyard. It was called the Courtyard of the Stars, because one could see both the primary star, Quintar Prime and the belt of asteroids surrounding the planet. From the courtyard, Echo could remember seeing the curve of the planet’s disks lit by the bright bluish light of Quintar Prime.
She could bask in that sun’s light all day and be no worse for the wear, one of the benefits of her Quintarran lineage. Should a human do so, they often burned and became sick. Some said it was the radiation, others just commented that it was the color or temperature difference from the yellow sun of the Sol System. Echo did not know either way, she had never seen a yellow sun; orange, blue, white, and even red, but never yellow.
Lost in her thoughts she had not realized how quickly she approached the courtyard. Echo exited the door leading outside and noted that Fleet Admiral Clark was seated on a park bench. She wore her dress blacks and basked in the light of the star. Of all the humans on Quintar IV, only Andromeda Clark seemed to love the star of Echo’s home system.
She must take extra precautions not to get burned, Echo thought.
Fleet Admiral Clark stood and looked Echo’s direction, “Are you planning to stare? Or will you just come over and say what it is you wish to discuss?”
Echo knew she had to maintain respect due an officer, but she honestly disliked the way the Fleet Admiral spoke to her subordinates. Fleet Admiral Clark was, after all, only the commanding officer of a group of rebels. However, they were only rebels because they disagreed with Echo’s father, and because they had defected.
At the time, Echo felt it was the right course of action and knew that the True EFNF wanted only to find a way back home. After all she had been through, Echo was not certain she had made the right choice or where home really was. She was neither human nor Quintarran and she did not belong to the EFNF or the Remnant. However, her loyalty to the EFNF had cost her. She was certain she had gained as well, but it had cost her the one person with whom she belonged, Abel.
“Fleet Admiral,” Echo saluted. “I have come to discuss the training simulations.”
Andromeda Clark stared hard, Echo was not certain if the Fleet Admiral was scrutinizing or merely trying to stare a hole through her.
Echo almost jumped when Andromeda spoke, “Yes, in regards to that. Well done on your latest victory. Although, it took far too long to reach that place.”
Echo swallowed her pride, “That is why I have come to speak with you, actually. I feel that our lack of progress is because we have not been anticipating, but memorizing. In anticipation we are unsure what to expect, but we are alert. However, on the contrary--”
“I understand the difference Captain.” Fleet Admiral Clark interrupted. “How do you propose to rectify it?”
The question was loaded; Echo could see it in her eyes. It was the same type of loaded question the Fleet Admiral had aimed at Abel. She was not only challenging Echo, she was assessing her.
“I think we need more of the unexpected. We’ve gotten to a point where we know what the EXOs in the SIM will do,” she emphasized the word.
“I highly doubt a real life situation would be as telegraphed. What I want to do …” she paused for a long moment; a moment of great impatience for the Fleet Admiral.
“What I want to do is implement an artificial EXO virus and an AI to mimic the EXOs behavior. I think it would grant us an opportunity to employ tactics--”
“Abs
olutely,” Fleet Admiral Clark interrupted again. “Perhaps we should just hook up an EXO to the SIM.”
Her tone was mocking and cruel.
“Are you an idiot girl!? You have seen firsthand what the EXO virus has done to this fleet! You were on a burning wreckage that miraculously did not kill you, because of the EXO virus!” The Fleet Admiral huffed.
“Now you want to plug that abomination into your SIM!?” She also emphasized the word.
“Out of the question. Think before you bring me these kind of glitched schemes hatched from that cavernous hole you call a brain!” The Fleet Admiral’s face was red and not from the light of the star.
This was a part of Echo’s plan. She had never intended to put the EXO virus into the simulations - no matter how useful it might be. It was the AI that she wanted. Presently, the computer acted on a model of the Kodiak’s re-entry, the same burning wreckage that the Fleet Admiral mentioned.
She needed an opponent whose movements she could not predict. For all of her training and all of her crew’s training, there was nothing that compared to a simulation against an advanced AI, except perhaps a real life encounter with the EXOs.
“Understood Fleet Admiral,” Echo said. Her voice indicated acceptance of reprimand. “Perhaps, if it is okay with the Fleet Admiral, we can still get an AI?”” she said.
Fleet Admiral Clark’s face lost some of its redness and her scowl was replaced with a wry grin, “Clever girl. Alright, you can have your AI, but …” she paused.
“Do not even think about putting the EXO virus into it. I will shut you and your entire crew down. Is that understood?”
“Yes ma’am,” Echo said.
10: AI
Quintar IV - EFNF Alpha Base: Training Simulator
2973 ESD - Thursday, May 27th 07:55 hours
Echo decided not to mention the modifications she had made to the simulation. Primarily, she withheld the introduction of the AI she had adapted from the EFNF DINA model. A nervous pit had grown in her gut. Echo knew that her team was coming off of a win and she was likely throwing them a nasty curve. She worried that it would be too much at once, but steeled herself.