by Andrew Beery
The rate at which WhimPy was able to subsume systems filled him with complete confidence that he would ultimately gain full control of the Uruk weapons platform. That said, the real question was whether or not this task could be accomplished before the Alpha AI was able to destroy the human’s home world.
Chapter 13: Ashtoreth…
Cat looked out the shuttle’s window. Commander Dickerson, who had resumed command of DE1, had made a discovery that he wanted to show Cat in person. From Cat’s vantage point she could see could see several of the High Orbitals the GCP had placed in orbit around the Hupenstanii home.
With JD’s help Cat had been able to convince the commanders of each of those platforms to accept her authority in the system. It helped that Dickerson had been able to provide proof as to the nefarious activities that had been taking place on High Orbital 1. Fortunately none of the other stations had a BioOps contingent stationed on their facility. Cat did not know what she would have done if they had had to face a number of those super strength replicants.
Sergeant Stone stood next to her. He was still recovering from his unassisted spacewalk. Some neurological damage had occurred within his spine that the medical nanites were having a hard time fixing correctly. It was obvious to anyone who knew him that he was in constant pain and had trouble walking without a limp.
It worried Cat to see him like this. With the modern miracles that medical nanites represented it was easy to forget that they were not perfect and that humans and the end of the day were still quite vulnerable.
“What do you think our new friend has to show us?” Stone asked Cat while nodding his chin towards the station everyone had started calling DE1.
Cat leaned up closer to the window. “It’s something to do with what the BioOps team was up to. That section of the station had always been off limits to everyone but the BioOps team.”
Cat turned to face her friend. The way he was standing seemed to favor his right leg. “You going to be OK?”
The Sergeant stood up straight. The effort caused the briefest of twinge of pain to cross his eyes but he did not allow it to propagate to the rest of his face.
“Fit as a fiddle,” he said with a false bluster. “Doc says there may be some residual nerve damage… something the medical bots can’t figure out. Seems I have a defective template and the nats don’t know how to fix me yet.” He leaned closer to the Admiral and said in a conspiratorial voice, “Personally I think the Doc has the hots for me and can’t bear the thought a med bay without me in it.”
Cat smiled. “I’m sure that’s it sergeant!”
The shuttle bumped slightly as it docked with DE1.
JD met the Admiral with a crisp salute as she and the Sergeant exited their small craft.
“Welcome aboard Admiral. I trust your trip today was more comfortable than your last visit.”
Cat returned the salute and shook the man’s hand. In a very short period of time he had transformed from a burnt out, sorry excuse for an officer… to a man with a mission… a man intent resurrecting not just his career but the honor and dignity of the GCP. What Cat found refreshing was that she, although technically a rogue officer, was responsible for setting this man straight.
“I understand you have something to show us?” Cat prompted.
“Indeed Admiral,” JD said as he led Cat and Sergeant Stone towards the central turbolift. “Once we decided we needed to know what the BioOps team was doing, I had my engineering team cut a new hatch into their isolated quarters. I didn’t want to risk overriding the security codes on the main entrance for fear they would be tied to some type of self-destruct or data-dump system.”
“A wise move I suspect,” Cat said as they exited the lift. Cat could see an engineering team a short way down the corridor. They were working on installing a security screen that sealed a gaping hole cut in one of the interior walls of the corridor.
“It turns out it was,” the Commander agreed. He ushered them over towards where the team was working. Power cables draped across the floor as the engineering team installed and tested the new containment screen.
As they stepped through the opening Cat could see what had the Commander concerned. The equipment in the room they entered was completely unfamiliar to her. Even the labels on the various control surfaces bore absolutely no resemblance to anything she could remember seeing.
“What in heck is all of this?” Sergeant Stone said as he looked at what appeared to be a status chamber adorned with an unimaginable number of cables and pipes. There was a six foot rectangular display mounted on the side of the chamber. It was undulating with various shades of deep red and lavender.
Commander Dickerson stepped up to the machine in question. “That, Sergeant in the million dollar question. We can’t read any of the writing and none of our equipment will interface with anything we have found so far.”
“Are the other rooms like this one?” Cat asked.
“Five of them are almost identical. Two more have strange equipment but not the same as we are seeing in here. Everything else looks like it could have been shipped in from Earth.”
“Let me guess,” Cat said. “The rooms that look normal are the ones closest to the primary entrance.”
“And that’s why you’re the Admiral,” JD said with a grin. “Whoever these people were, and I’m beginning to question whether or not they were people – at least of the human variety – they wanted to make darn sure no one discovered their secrets. To my knowledge in the entire history of the facility no one ever got into these suites… except them.”
“And despite that they were prepared with ‘cover rooms’ should the need arise,” Sergeant Stone added. “The real question has to be ‘Who were they?’”
“No,” Cat said softly. “The real questions are ‘Why were they here and what were they up to?’”
JD stepped forward and placed a hand on one of the strange status chamber-like devices. “When my guys ran their first sensor sweep they detected organic residue in several of these pods. It had a very specific DNA signature.”
“Let me guess,” Cat said. “The DNA matched what you have on file for Admiral Bud Faragon but with some unusual modifications to some of the alleles – some of which code for additional ATP generation.”
JD looked at her for several seconds before answering. “How in the hell did you know that?”
“Simple actually. All of the replicants looked to be physical duplicates of Admiral Faragon but their strength and speed far and away exceed what an unenhanced human should be capable of… even with nanites augmentation. They would need extra energy to fuel that speed and strength… thus the additional ATP which is our body’s primary mitochondrial energy source.”
“OK, I’ll buy that Admiral. Any thoughts as to why so many duplicates of the same man?”
Cat walked around the room staring at the various machines. She signaled her internal AI Cal to link with Yorky. She wanted a recording and analysis of everything her eyes were seeing. She paused to look at some of the writing on the control surfaces.
Cal do you recognize any of these symbols?
The Heshe encounter unit responded immediately. This writing is from a race of very advanced aggressive bipeds known to both the Uruk and Heshe as the Ashtoreth.
Cal, superimpose a real-time translation in my field of vision.
Immediately the purpose of each of the control surfaces became clear and Cat had a far better understanding of what they were facing.
Turning back towards the station’s commander, she answered his earlier question. “According to my Heshe database, we are dealing with an aggressive foe called the Ashtoreth. These controls are labeled in their script. We know from our earlier conversation with one of the replicants that they had planned on replacing Admiral Faragon. The only reason you would need multiple copies is if you were planning for the eventuality of losing one or more of them.”
She walked across the room to look at a computer screen which,
thanks to her AI, she could now read.
“I think,” Cat said, “that the Ashtoreth are working to subvert the GCP from the inside. I suspect the Faragon replicants are just one set of many that may be out there… And if I’m right, this station and everyone one on it is in real danger.”
***
F1 fingered the throttle control of his attack fighter. The squadron he was leading was barely three minutes from reaching their desired jump velocity. Each fighter carried a fusion payload that could easily overload the target’s defenses. What he did not know was the capabilities of the renegade GCP Yorktown.
His task was, with extreme prejudice, to erase from the memories of all concerned, any evidence that the Ashtoreth had been involved in the affairs of the Galactic Coalition. His people’s years of careful planning and work had not yet come to fruition. It would be a shame to have to move before they were completely ready.
“Taskforce,” F1 barked, “Prepare to engage jump fields. Beta wing under the command of F3 is to swarm the High Orbitals and destroy them. Everyone one else is to engage the Yorktown and any support ships they may have gathered. With any luck they will not be expecting us and this will be an easy cleansing. Once their defenses are dealt with we will proceed to sterilize the planet. Our experiment is over – we have learned all we are going to from these test subjects.”
F1 looked at his countdown timer. He had ten seconds to go. He rested his hand on the jump field switch. He interlocks were all in place. His entire squadron would jump in sync with his ship. The timer hit zero. He pressed the button and the universe became a swirling mass of violet for the briefest of seconds. Then the stars reappeared… but something was wrong.
F1 checked his sensors. They were a full five light minutes from their anticipated arrival point. Somehow they had overshot their destination. He was at a loss to explain it. The end result was they were going to lose their element of surprise.
He gritted his teeth. So be it. They would still overwhelm the enemy. His creators had been subjugating servant races since before the first Hupenstanii had drawn breath. There was a natural order in the universe and his people sat at the head of it. No one could stand up to the might that was Ashtoreth!
***
Cat sat in her Admiral’s chair on the Bridge of the GCP Yorktown. Captain Ken Kirkland was in his command chair. Cat watched as her friend expertly managed the affairs of the ship as she prepared for the coming confrontation. She had begun to question whether or not she had misread the situation. Her analysis of the situation caused her to conclude that the forces behind the creation of the Faragon replicants, as well as the genetic manipulation of the Hupenstanii race, would want to suppress the knowledge of their activities within the greater Coalition. This almost certainly take the form of an attack… an attempt on their part to sanitize the situation.
Earlier Cat had ordered the other ships in her taskforce to jump into the Hupenstanii system and assume defensive positions around the planet. The Exeter and Mador were in polar orbits while the Captain Purohit’s Relentless flew in an orbit that kept her just within visual range of both the Yorktown and High Orbital One.
The attack, when it finally came, was sudden. It had taken over a week for the invaders to make their move and although it was intended to be a surprise attack Cat felt confident that the surprise was on the attackers and not their intended quarry.
Cat had Commander Thais scatter a number of hyperfield resonators in a wide orbit around the planet. They were tied into the FTL communication systems of each of the ships in her taskforce. If her ships tried to engage their jump drives they would temporarily deactivate the resonators. Anybody else attempting to jump into or out of the space immediately surrounding the Hupenstanii home was in for a rude surprise. The resonators would disrupt their ability to create a hyperfield jump point in the desired location.
“We have twenty jump points attempting to form right on top of us!” Commander Ben yelled from his First Officer’s station.
“How is our surprise working” Ken said calmly.
“Yorky adjusted the modulation so the jump points have been shifted about 54 million kilometers sunward. It’s going to be toasty five light minutes closer to the sun,” Ben answered with a grin.
Cat toggled her ship-to-ship comms. “Gentlemen, it looks like this party has started. Remember we want a prisoner if we can get one. We are operating from a position of ignorance and that is not a place I like to be. Admiral Kimbridge Out.”
“The ships are vectoring in on a straight line at just over 0.2c,” Ben reported.
“Any transmissions Ziggy?” Cat asked.
Lieutenant Zimmerman shook his head. “Negative Admiral. If they are talking it’s on a channel we can’t receive.”
“Very well,” Cat acknowledged. “Let’s see if they are open to talking with us.” She nodded to Ken. “Captain Kirkland will you do the honors?”
The Yorktown’s captain flipped a toggle on the arm of his command chair. “Attention approaching ships. The space around this planet is under the protection of the Yorktown Taskforce. Please shut down your engines and state your intent.”
He sat back in his chair to await their reaction. After a few seconds he looked over at Ziggy. “Did they receive that signal?”
The lieutenant shook his head. “There is simply no way to tell sir. The communication arrays in all GCP ships automatically acknowledge the receipt of any transmission but these ships don’t follow our protocols.”
Ken looked back at Cat. She nodded and he swiveled his chair back to face the forward view screen.
“Helm ahead zero point one five. Weapons station, forward shields to maximum. Bring beam emitters up to full power. Charge the railguns.”
“Aye Captain”
“They’re breaking into two groups. The smaller group is vectoring towards Orbital One the others are heading directly for us,” Ben yelled from the First Officer’s station.
Cat toggled her internal comms and signaled High Orbital One. “Commander Dickerson, It looks like you are going to have some company. Is your little surprise online yet?”
JD’s response was immediate over the comms. “Affirmative Admiral. We got the last of the power conduits tied in about twenty minutes ago.”
“That was cutting it a little close Commander.”
“Yes Admiral but that’s what makes life exciting!”
Cat smiled. “You remember that ancient Chinese curse?”
“May you live in interesting times?”
“Well Commander, I suspect things are about to get interesting.”
Chapter 14: When Good Men Fall…
Commander Andrew Martinescu tapped the launch buttons on his CAG control board for the Gold and Blue wings. He was going to hold Red and Green in reserve. Immediately the two groups of Scorpion-class attack fighters shot out from their linear accelerator launch bays.
The Gold wing was under the command of Lieutenant Commander “Jax” Jackson while the Blue wing commander was Lieutenant Commander “Madi” Madison. Jax and Madi were two of his most experienced pilots. CAM, as his team had taken to calling him, was especially interested in watching Jax’s wing. One of his pilots was new to his Scorpion.
Admiral Kimbridge had decided that their little merry band of misfits needed a fully trained Marine Assault Contingent. By fully trained, Cat meant that every MAC should be able to use whatever weapons systems were on hand to get their mission done.
The Yorktown taskforce was operating on its own and so that meant they had to do more with less. As a result, the Admiral had granted a field promotion to Staff Sergeant Anthony Stone. He was now a Marine Lieutenant in charge of the Yorktown’s MAC. As a result he was putting his recent AI enhanced Scorpion fighter training to the test as a temporary member of Gold wing.
“Gold wing leader… this is the CAG. Take good care of our newest recruit. The Admiral likes him and I would hate to have to tell her you got her favorite marine killed.”
A moment later Jax responded. “No worries CAG. Marines don’t die, they just go to hell and regroup!”
***
Newly promoted Lieutenant Anthony Grant Stone sat in the acceleration couch of his Scorpion. Things had happened fast. He thought to himself, ‘The paint on the side of the this ship must still be wet’. His call sign Rubble Maker had been recently emblazoned on the side of the small but deadly craft. Truth be known, it seemed odd to be sitting in a fighter. As a marine he liked a fight as much as the next guy but this was something different.
Up until a few days ago he had been a grunt. A staff sergeant. Something the Admiral had seen in and amidst the alien tech on DE1 had changed his life. The admiral had adapted an idea from what she had seen and he was the first fruits of that idea.
Specially designed nanites had been injected into his body and made their way to his cerebral cortex. There, they interfaced with his brain in such a way that they could facilitate rapid experience-based learning. With the Yorktown AI’s help he had accumulated, what the egg heads estimated was, two years of flight training in just a couple of days. He had access to muscle memory that was implanted rather than developed naturally. Sadly this did not mean his muscles were actually toned to their new role. That was something that would take real hours in a real ship. What that would mean for the mission he was about to fly was anybody’s guess. The true test of his enhanced training would come in the form of trial by fire… just the way he liked it.
His fighter was one massive weapons system. He could feel the power coursing around him. It was exhilarating. The entire aft compartment thrummed with energy. It was filled with a powerful super capacitor and matched 16 Tera joule fusion charging plant. Together they could boost the fighter to almost 0.1c from a complete standstill. Thanks to the hyperfield acceleration launch tubes he would be operating at speeds that were several orders of magnitude faster. Without his ship’s AI he couldn’t begin to cope with the speed this ship was capable of.