OMEGA Conscript

by Stephen Arseneault

  Joni looked around the empty room. "An Igari in white busted in here, looked at me with his mini-blaster raised, turned and left."

  I replied, "Perfect. Now, just know that we haven't forgotten you. We would get you out of there if we could, but we can't. So I need you to do the following. I need you, over the coming weeks, to have a slow change of heart. Use this Igari incident if you want, but you will have to be convincing. Make your uncle believe that you are no longer a threat. It may take a few months, but I believe he will begin to loosen up on your confinement. Once that happens, we will work on getting you out of there."

  Garrett jumped on the comm. "I know you can do this if you set your mind to it. Heck, I bet you could convince him you are actually on his side. He might even put you to work on his cause. If that happens, take advantage of it. The more he trusts you, the better chance we have of getting you out of there."

  I gave Garrett a disapproving stare. "Joni, don't put yourself in a position where your uncle feels he must take action against you. I believe he would. Just focus on cooperating to the point where you have an expanded access to the grounds there. And take your time. We may be heading through the portal gate very soon. If that happens, you may be trapped here for a while, so try to make the best of it."

  Joni nodded. "Just knowing you are all OK is all that matters. You want me to play nice, I'll play nice. My uncle will think I'm on my way to becoming a model citizen, saluting the Salton flag!"

  Footsteps could be heard in the outer hall.

  Garrett leaned into the mic on his comm. "We will be back for you, Joni Salton. I will be back!"

  Go blinked out fully, cutting off the external audio output. Joni Salton stood, brushing the dust off her arms and faking a cough. Four guards entered the room with their blasters raised.

  An image of Harden Salton appeared above the arm pad of one of the soldiers. "Joni? Are you OK?"

  Joni replied as she again coughed. "Yes. What's going on? The door blew open and an Igari came in with a mini-blaster. He looked at me and pulled the trigger, but nothing happened, then he turned and left. What's happening? Are we under attack?"

  Harden sighed. "Move her to my wing and double the guards around our building. I'm sorry, Jo Jo. We've had several incidents here this morning involving the Igari. I expect any trouble with them to end soon. Until then, you'll be staying with your father and me. I'm afraid you will remain confined, but you should be safe."

  Joni took a deep breath and held up her hand. "Hold on. That ... that Igari wanted to kill me?"

  Harden frowned. "You are a Salton."

  Joni scowled. "Look, if you promise to never call me Jo Jo again, I will see what I can do about my attitude. I can't promise you anything though, not after all I've seen you do."

  Harden nodded. "That would be a welcome change. All I ask is that you don't fight your own family while others are trying hard to kill us. It makes it that much harder for us to function.

  "I know I have an ego and I know I sometimes come across as mean and nasty, but I have big goals to accomplish, and sometimes those goals require sacrifice. Just know that I don't do anything without reason. Your father can testify to that.

  "You will remain confined for now. I'll send a doctor by to check on you, and I'm sure you can expect a visit from your father shortly."

  Joni was escorted out of the room as a forensics team came in to analyze and evaluate the situation.

  Harden displayed an angry expression. "I want this spy found and found now! I don't care if they have a cloaking device or if they are slippery or what, I want them standing in front of me, today!"

  Harden turned and left the room.

  Go spoke over the comm. "We have the coordinates, I'm heading back up."

  I replied, "No. Wait. Stay for a few minutes. I want to see what they come up with."

  One of the guards doing the analysis said, "The camera mounts in here were cut just like the others. Cuts are clean too. More like the mount was vaporized or disintegrated. What I don't get was how they erased themselves from the video feed while cutting the mount."

  Another guard replied, "They are professionals. They had a plan and they executed it. It's obvious we have security holes we need to plug. Now shut your trap and record your observations! We all have work to do here."

  A third guard entered the conversation. "Sir, have a look at this doorframe. This wasn't from a mini-blaster. You can see the force of the explosion entered the room in that direction. Ion explosions tend to emanate in all directions from the impact point. The weapon that did this was kinetic. My scan shows an elevated level of infused tungsten."

  The second guard replied, "Tungsten? Do we have any weapons that use tungsten? Could it have been an explosive round of some sort?"

  The guard shook his head. "No, sir. I am not reading any residue from any other substance. Whatever the assassin used, it appears that it fired a tungsten round at an extremely high velocity. I'm not familiar with such a weapon, sir."

  The supervising guard looked around the room. "Anybody heard of a kinetic tungsten weapon?"

  A number of shaking heads implied no. "Mr. Ortis, when we get back to the lab, I want you to search the news archives for such a weapon. There has to have been mention of it somewhere."

  Garrett remarked, "These guys are actually competent. Too bad they will probably never know what really happened."

  I said, "I think we've heard enough. Go, make your way back up to the station for a pickup. We'll shadow the next freighter coming in."

  Go nodded. "On my way. Oh, and Garrett, I don't know if you noticed or not, but this compound is covered with ground defense guns. All of those round pods have twin ion cannons in them. You dropped in here with the Jess to rescue Knog. We won't be able to do that for Joni."

  Garrett entered coordinates in the nav computer that would take the Jess near an incoming freighter. "We'll figure something out when the time comes. Automated guns can be overridden, or destroyed, or decoyed. If she's out of confinement we also have the option of picking her up somewhere else.

  "We'll be shadowing the Montcrief. It's currently on a trajectory for Bay-11. I'm sending the location over to you now. We should be arriving in about twenty minutes or so."

  Go replied, "Got it. I should be there when you get there."

  Garrett looked over at me as I leaned back in my chair. "What do you have spinning in that brain of yours?"

  I half laughed. "I was just thinking of Harden's plans. He has really gone big with them. I believe that might be his downfall. He has too many moving parts."

  Garrett crossed his arms. "Well, if you think about it, other than dealing with the Grotus, he doesn't have much to be concerned with. If that part of his plan comes to fruition, there is nothing these families have that will stop him. That's especially true if he manages to build that portal ship. That's something we just can't allow. If he brings that thing online he will be able to attack anywhere, from anywhere. There won't be any defense against it. I'm impressed that he has a plan B."

  I replied, "I have to believe that his plan B is his plan A. That portal would allow him to attack anywhere from anywhere, as you stated. That is far more powerful than an army of Grotus or Gruntas. He could go where he pleased, when he pleased, doing as he pleased. Unless you caught his ship parked somewhere while refueling, he would be unstoppable."

  I moved around in my chair, attempting to get comfortable. "For now, we go through that gate and stop the slaughter of our people. Then we come back through to put a stop to his plans here. We have time, it will take the Galorians months to set up a shipyard, and months again to coordinate the building of that ship. If he wasn't in need of the cesium from the Galorians, he would be building it here in his own shipyards."

  Garrett nodded in agreement as he pulled the Jess in close to the freighter and settled on her hull. We soon had Go back aboard. Coordinates to Adicus were entered and our journey back to the portal gate was quickly underway.
<
br />   Chapter 11

  * * *

  As we came within sensor range of Adicus, Garrett pulled the Jess to a stop. "Whoa, now that's a fleet!"

  Go pointed over my shoulder. "There must be three hundred of those battleships! How is he getting those built so fast?"

  I zoomed in on a field of ships in stationary orbit around Adicus. "See the markings on those five ships, those are Orwallian. He must have somehow worked a deal with them."

  Garrett frowned. "That, or they have been a part of his plan from the start. What better way to throw the spies of the other families off your trail than to fake rebellion by such a powerful world? That place is probably teeming with spies trying to make deals for blaster tips. It would let Harden know exactly who his real enemies were."

  I turned to Garrett. "That makes perfect sense. It could also be he wants the smaller colonies like Adicus to rebel, so he can come in and conscript them for his war."

  Garrett replied, "Yeah, I think the guy may be a lot smarter than we give him credit for. Other than our few surprises, he seems to be moving forward with his goals, full force."

  Go commented, "Yeah, except for that assassination attempt. He'd be dead right now if it wasn't for us."

  I pulled up an image of the portal gate structure. "We need to get you in that control room. See what they are up to. See if that gate is ready to be opened."

  Garrett pointed back at the ships. "From the size of that fleet, I would say he is just about ready to go. Maybe we try our shadow trick and ride through with them."

  I shook my head. "With that many ships, and with our history of going through that gate, I think that's taking too much to a risk. Let's get Go on there first to make sure it's aimed where we need it to be. I don't want to end up in the Milky Way with no way home because that fleet is heading off for some other mission."

  Garrett replied, "Good point. Our question now is, how do we get Go from here to there? I'd only feel comfortable going about halfway without being a shadow. Sensors aren't showing any ships heading in that direction either. They are all going directly to Adicus."

  I nodded. "Adicus might be their new training world for conscripts. Hold on. Garrett, run me a calculation. Given what we know about the BHD glove, I want to know how long it would take Go to slow down if he exited the Jess at full speed."

  Garrett performed the task. "Hmm, eight hours. We are sitting about an hour away from that gate. If we go back an hour’s distance and approach at half speed, he could use the glove to slow himself enough to reach the gate structure in about four hours."

  Go stood, crossing his arms. "I could do that."

  I held up my hand. "Wait, we'll still have the issue with any space debris you come in contact with. What we need is a shield for him to ride behind."

  Go leaned in. "What about a lifepod? I could ride in close on that?"

  Garrett shook his head. "Won't work. That lifepod has no way of slowing until it reaches an atmosphere. You could take a ride in it and bail out just before you got there, but you still wouldn't slow in time. What we need is something that will slow with you."

  Go gestured toward the view screen. "Hey, if it's all the same, I'm willing to risk it."

  "Not going to happen," I said. "You are our only shot at getting through that gate. We will find a way to get you on there safely. If we have to park here until a ship heads toward it, then that's what we do."

  Go transferred the display of his helmet HUD to my console. After leaning forward over my shoulder and swiping through several screens, he stopped on a display that had statistics on what the suit could handle during a collision at high speeds.

  Go pointed to the bottom of the screen. "There, it says the suit can handle debris the size of a pea when traveling at four times the speed of light. If I go in at that speed from here, how long would it take?"

  Garrett punched in the numbers. "Weeks. We travel a lot faster than four SOL. What we need is a way to get more power to that suit."

  Go stood back, pulling up the display on his arm pad. After several swipes he settled on a set of power maintenance screens.

  "The suit has an extra slot for another power cell. It says here that shielding can be increased by twenty-fold with an extra power cell attached. Could we rig up something for that?"

  Garrett pointed toward the power cell we had found at Megiddo. "Is it possible we could use that one? It looked to be in decent shape."

  I shook my head. "The Sodium feed was jammed full of debris. We should have had the Talisan engineers look it over when we had the chance."

  Garrett looked over his data screen. "I have a portable generator in back that puts out more than five times the power of that power cell. We could wire it into that socket, but we wouldn't have any way to protect the generator. And the change in velocity needed to slow you down would rip it out of your hands in an instant."

  I tilted my head to the side in thought. "How long would it take to get to that portal gate from Adicus at four SOL?"

  Garrett typed in the calculation. "Just under five days, if you add in the fact you have to slow yourself down."

  I nodded. "Maybe we shadow a ship going into Adicus. Go bails out as it slows to four SOL or so, and then slings around that planet toward the gate. We will be taking a risk by being attached to a ship we might be stuck clinging to, but we'll get him heading to Adicus."

  Garrett looked over the calculation. "That could work. If we can catch a freighter that's just dumping supplies there, we would have our way back out as well. In the short time we've been here a freighter has left orbit. We might have to wait a few days while it unloads, but given the right freighter, I think we could slip in and out of there without getting caught. And if we do get spotted, we run."

  Go grinned. "We have a plan then?"

  Garrett replied, "You do realize that you'll be doing nothing but powering yourself along for five days, right?"

  Go nodded, "I'll do it for five months if that's what it takes. I'm young, I've got the time."

  I brought up the holo-display showing the statistics of Go's suit. "Your filter is at 42 percent, and we can top off that power cell before you leave. You won't have food intake for five days, at a minimum. The gel in the suit will sustain you, but you'll have to fight hunger pains like you've never experienced before."

  Go smiled. "I can make it. It would be nice if we had a food pack to strap on this belt though. I mean, I like to eat, but I think I could get used to not having to."

  The next three days were spent waiting on a supply freighter coming in from the nearest security station. The Dratton carried food supplies, making it an ideal candidate for an early departure after unloading its cargo.

  Garrett maneuvered the Jess in close and settled on the hull just in front of the ion generators. "This is almost a perfect fit. Our hull is a similar color and the protrusions and piping on the Dratton's hull have a rounded appearance, similar to our own. If they dock with us on the dark side, we should be difficult to spot."

  Twelve hours later, the Dratton began to slow.

  I looked over the nav display. "Just follow the coordinates on your HUD and you'll be there in no time. Oh, and we are patched through the local comm channels now, so we'll have comm for the whole ride."

  Garrett added. "Thirty seconds and we should hit that optimum speed. Use your glove to speed up or slow down if needed. After that, just steer yourself around Adicus and drift your way to the portal gate."

  Go replied, "I've got it. You guys just get back out and get ready to go once I'm aboard."

  I nodded. "We'll be ready when the time comes."

  Go blinked out. Our video feed from his helmet showed his exit from the Jess and separation from the freighter's trajectory.

  Garrett sat back in his chair. "Brave kid. He hasn't backed down from anything we've asked of him."

  I laughed. "Speaking of kids, you are what, four, five years older than him?"

  Garrett tilted his head. "Really? You're go
ing to go there?"

  I smiled. "I'm just saying. You know, if you look at everyone we've had involved in this circus, we haven't had much involvement from anyone older. I have a few seasons on me, but even I'm middle-aged for a Grunta."

  Garrett half laughed. "Yeah, well, if you're searching for the wisdom of age and experience, you'll have a long hunt. There's nobody out there that has experience doing what we've been doing. Heck, I'd love to have a few old geezers along that we could bounce stuff off of, but I don't think there are any out there who would have relevant things to say."

  The Grumar, still sitting behind us said, "With my people, the wisdom that comes with age, regardless of experience, can be valuable. As we grow older our reasoning abilities mature. That maturity comes through regardless of the situation. We find it invaluable."

  I turned to look at the Grumar. "That's the first time you have spoken without being asked a question."

  The Grumar bowed his head. "I beg your forgiveness, Master. It was not my place to speak."

  I replied, "Pick up your chin. While I don't expect to hear much from you, if you believe you have something relevant to say, then please speak up."

  The Grumar nodded. "You are both gracious and kind. I believe your current plan to be your best option. You cannot alert the gatekeepers to your presence before you travel through. I must say that I am impressed with some of the technologies Humans have available. Suits that travel through walls, portals that allow instant travel to elsewhere. With these items, we could easily rule the galaxy."

  Garrett shook his head. "He already knows too much. I can't say I like this."

  I replied, "He's been cooperative, and we may need him if we catch up to the others. So long as he's here with us, he is no danger."