by Dietmar Wehr
The trip to Vril seemed to take forever. As Sorcerer was descending through the cloud cover, Murphy looked at the colony on the main display. It seemed to consist mostly of farms, far more so than your typical relatively new colony. If the Brain Trust was moved to a temporary location before moving on to their final destination, then it made sense that they would come to a colony like this to stock up on food and agricultural equipment for their own future use.
By the time the ship had touched down and the ramp was lowered, there was already a small but growing group of locals standing nearby. Murphy looked at their expressions as he slowly made his way down the ramp. The general reaction to his ship’s presence seemed to be apprehension. There was an older man with lots of white hair standing at the front. Murphy was willing to bet he was the Colony Leader.
Before Murphy had a chance to speak, the older man beat him to it. “What side are you on, Commander, Federation, Empire or Rebel?” It was a good question, and Murphy didn’t quite know how to answer it. He definitely wasn’t fighting for the Empire, and he wasn’t really fighting FOR the Federation, and the SSU was now just a pipedream.
“The answer to that question is actually kind of complicated, but I’ll answer it this way. I consider the Empire to be the greatest threat to Human Civilization that has ever existed. I’m helping what’s left of the Federation to defeat the Empire, but my heart is still with the principles that the SSU stood for. Does that answer your question?”
The Colony Leader thought that over carefully before replying. “I suppose it’ll have to do. We haven’t had any news about the war in a long time. What’s been happening out there?”
By this time, Murphy was standing half a meter from the Colony Leader. With that question asked, the others began to gather around.
“My knowledge is limited, but what I can tell you is that the SSU has been conquered by the Empire. Earth has also been attacked and is now under Empire control. My ship and I are part of a small resistance operation that includes people from both the Federation and the SSU. We’ve all agreed that the Empire is the greater threat now. That’s why I’m here. I know that an SSU officer by the name of Drake brought scientists, engineers and their families here before taking them somewhere else. If they’ve developed breakthrough technologies, then we need to combine forces to exploit that technology in order to have any decent chance of overthrowing the Empire.”
The Colony Leader smiled a sad smile. “If you were hoping we could tell you where they went, you’re going to be disappointed. We don’t know where they ended up.”
“Surely some of them must have said something,” said Murphy.
“We didn’t hear a word about that for the simple reason that they didn’t know exactly where they were going to set up a new colony when they left here. What we did hear was that they thought they MIGHT explore the Murisaki Cluster, but no final decision had been made by the time they left.”
Murphy struggled to contain his disappointment. He knew enough about astronomy and astrogation to know that the Murisaki Cluster was a long way away and contained in excess of a thousand stars. Assuming that the Brain Trust did relocate there and that this ‘hint’ wasn’t just another attempt at misdirection, finding that colony would be like looking for the proverbial needle in a very large haystack.
“Have they been back here since they left?” asked Murphy on an impulse. The Colony Leader’s body language changed immediately. He was no longer looking relaxed. As he looked over to the man next to him, Murphy had another inspiration. “I’d like to talk to Lorelei Remington. I know she came here.”
The Colony Leader’s expression now flashed a hint of alarm. Murphy had guessed correctly. “She doesn’t want to talk with anyone, Commander.”
The speed of the response surprised Murphy. “She’s no longer on Vril, is she?” His tone said that it wasn’t really a question.
The Colony Leader’s face now took on a carefully neutral expression. “We can’t help you, Commander. It isn’t that we don’t want to help, we’re simply not able to help you. We honestly don’t know where Drake took all those people.”
Oh, but you have helped me; you just don’t know it, thought Murphy. By evading his question about Remington’s whereabouts, the Colony Leader had effectively confirmed Murphy’s suspicion that Drake’s people had returned at least once and had taken Remington with them.
Murphy smiled and patted the old man on his shoulder. “Okay, I’ll be on my way, but before I go, I’m going to leave you with some information, just in case any of Drake’s people come back here again. You tell them that the Empire is rapidly consolidating its control over all occupied planets. You tell them that I’ve personally seen evidence that the Majestic computer has the ability and the will to turn humans into obedient slaves against their will. My people have the ability to build warships, but we’re outnumbered. We need whatever breakthrough technologies the Brain Trust might have developed, and we’re begging Drake to contact us. He can find us on Midgard. Now listen carefully, Old Man. That last part is for Drake’s people only. If anyone else comes here, even if they say they’re fighting the Empire, don’t tell them about Midgard. The Empire doesn’t know about our operation there, and that’s the way I want to keep it. I’m taking a huge risk telling you about it, but I don’t see any other way of Drake finding us. Any questions before I board ship?”
The Colony Leader looked like he wanted to ask something, but shook his head instead. Murphy turned and gently pushed his way through the crowd. When he reached the top of the ramp, he turned and waved to the crowd. The Colony Leader hesitated for half a second and then waved back. As Sorcerer ascended into space, Murphy uttered a prayer to the Gods of War that his message would reach Drake AND that Drake would take a chance and send a ship to Midgard.
Day 144/2554
Excalibur
Drake reread for the third time the report from the commander of the freighter that had just returned from a covert recon mission to Vril. The information was still the same as the other two times. Someone claiming to be Cate Foster’s husband, Bret Murphy, had left a message for him on Vril. Come to Midgard and join the combined Federation/SSU resistance against the Empire that was now under the direct control of a rogue computer. How was he supposed to evaluate the credibility of that message? The only confirmed part was the existence of the Empire. His wife, Lorelei Remington-Drake, had assured him that the Empire did indeed exist. And while the idea of an alliance between what was left of the Federation and alleged survivors of Murphy’s covert operation on Midgard seemed damned unlikely, it wasn’t impossible. It was the idea that Trojan’s Majestic computer had achieved some kind of sentience and now was enslaving humans that was hard to swallow. He looked up as Lorelei entered his ‘office’. The colony on Excalibur was constructing buildings like mad, and Drake’s office was still a temporary affair. The new Admin building was half finished, and he’d been assured that it would be finished before winter. He handed her the data tablet containing the message from Midgard.
“Here, read this and tell me what you think of it,” he told her. He could tell that she too read it more than once before handing it back.
“So Cate died for nothing.” Drake’s expression looked puzzled and she elaborated. “She told me she thought Murphy was dead, and she wanted to join with his spirit by blowing herself up and taking the man she thought was responsible for his death with her into the afterlife.”
“That’s only true IF that really is Bret Murphy and not someone claiming to be him. What do you think of Majestic going rogue and enslaving humans?”
“Well, considering that we’re now very close to completing our own Majestic computer, it’s an interesting possibility.”
“My thoughts exactly,” said Murphy. “I know our Majestic isn’t up to full capacity yet, but it’s capable of answering questions, right?”
Lorelei nodded. “The tech boys claim that it’s already more capable than the Phase II Oracle we had
on Sparta.”
“Good. So let’s ask it if there’s a technological way to control individual humans.”
They had the machine’s answer 24 hours later: detailed schematics of a device to be implanted at the back of the neck, with tiny filaments inserted into specific areas of the human brain. The computer even provided precise instructions on how to perform the surgery.
Murphy shook his head as he dropped the blueprints on his desk. “I suppose that if Trojan’s Majestic had been upgraded, it’s not inconceivable that it might have come up with the same design on its own. I somehow doubt that Trojan would have considered asking for something like this, given what you told me about the fanaticism of his elite troops.”
Lorelei nodded. “Trojan wouldn’t need technology like this. He used good old-fashioned brainwashing techniques. Now that I’ve seen this, I’m inclined to give that message the benefit of the doubt. You met Bret Murphy a few times on Sparta. Does that message sound like something he might leave on Vril?”
Drake shrugged. “The tone of the message sounds like Bret all right, but if someone is trying to trap us, they could very well have Bret as a prisoner and have studied his way of thinking and speaking. However, I agree that we have to take the possibility of a rogue Majestic in control of the Empire seriously.”
“So you’re going to send a ship to Midgard?” asked Lorelei.
Drake smiled mischievously. “Not exactly. I’m going to TAKE a ship to Midgard.”
He expected her to object loudly and with passion. Instead, she nodded calmly and said, “Let me guess. You don’t trust anyone else to assess the situation properly and take the appropriate action, right?”
“Not quite. If this message is legit, it’ll save a lot of time if I take along the technical data and information for our new detection and ECM systems. We don’t have the resources to exploit those breakthroughs effectively, but if Murphy does, then getting these breakthroughs to him quickly could make all the difference. On the other hand, if this really is a trap, and if the Empire’s behind it, then letting them get their hands on it would be a complete disaster. The price of guessing wrong is just too high to be put on the shoulders of a subordinate. This is the kind of decision that only the guy at the top can make, and unfortunately that’s me.”
“I understand. I’ll let you go, but only if I go along. I’m not letting you out of my sight again, Roland Drake!”
Drake sighed. The two of them had lost so many years being apart, and he hated the idea of being separated again for months, but she just wasn’t thinking clearly. “If you come with me, who’s going to look after the colony and keep everybody in line?”
Lorelei opened her mouth to speak but then changed her mind. Drake nodded. There had been grumbling when he appointed his new wife as his second in command, but the grumbling quickly changed to compliments as her organizational skills became evident. She was better at managing the day-to-day operations of the colony than he was, and as an outsider, she was acceptable as a leader to the three groups consisting of the scientists and their families, the farmers and professionals brought from Vril in the second evacuation, and the officers and crews of the ships. Naming a second-in-command from one of those groups would have irritated the other two. Drake had tried that before bringing Lorelei back from Vril, and the result had been a lot of friction and wasted effort.
“All right, I’ll stay,” she said reluctantly. “Which ship are you taking?”
“Coral Sea. Might as well give the new systems a real field test.”
“I’d sleep a lot better if you took the Kirov. At least then you could shoot back if someone starts shooting at you.”
“The report brought back from Midgard said that Murphy’s ship had flat sides, which we know gives it stealth capabilities. None of our warships has the new detection system installed yet and therefore wouldn’t be able to see stealth ships. Coral Sea will tell me where every ship is, and the new ECM system will hide her from those same ships. I’m less likely to be shot at if they can’t see me.”
“I just wish we had taken the extra time to test the new systems on one of the armed ships, even if the armor would have complicated the testing, instead of an unarmed missile boat carrier.”
Drake laughed. “Spoken like a former cruiser CO. If I didn’t know better, I’d say that you really wanted to come along just so that you could shoot at somebody.” He chuckled as he ducked just in time to avoid being hit by the multi-colored rock he used as a desk ornament.
Day 146/2554
Makassar orbital space
Murphy realized that he was pacing back and forth in front of the main display again and stopped. Having a much larger Bridge had seemed like a good thing when the new and bigger cruiser was finished at the volcano base, but if he had been on Sorcerer, there wouldn’t have been enough room to do any pacing, and his Bridge crew wouldn’t be seeing how nervous their CO was. It wasn’t just the fact that he and Molitor were attempting a second attack on Makassar that was making him nervous. The first attack had gone off okay until one of the x-ray laser satellites had somehow detected Tigershark and fired at her. Her very thin layer of neutron armor had absorbed most of the laser’s energy, but enough got through to damage interior equipment and kill a couple of crewmembers. It was the unknown way that the ship had been detected that made Murphy nervous. Well, it was that plus the fact that on the first attack Molitor had been in overall command due to her more extensive experience, while on this mission he was in overall command of Tigershark, Sorcerer AND the new Phantom. When Molitor had pointed out that two of the three ships ‘belonged’ to Murphy and should be under his command for that reason, it made sense for him to command all three. At the time, he was impressed by her willingness to keep her ego in check, but now that he was firmly in the hot seat with everyone waiting for his commands, he was beginning to wonder if she actually got the best part of the arrangement by having only one ship to worry about.
He checked the display and its sidebar data again. His three ship squadron was coasting toward Makassar at a very respectable five percent of light speed. That meant that it would take them just over five minutes to penetrate the planet’s hyper-zone and get within optimum range for a systematic missile bombardment of the industrial centers they had missed the first time around. So far they hadn’t found any signs of Empire ships in Makassar orbital space, and Murphy still hadn’t had an opportunity to give his ships’ anti-missile recon drones their first live fire field test. They worked perfectly in the field tests in Midgard orbital space, but the tests were predicated on the fact that the ship firing the recon drones knew what direction the ‘enemy’ missiles were coming from. If there were stealthy Empire ships in Makassar space, they could be firing missiles at his ships even now, and he wouldn’t know it. The recon drone idea had seemed like a good idea when it was first proposed, but now that his ships were facing the possibility of real enemy fire, their usefulness left a lot to be desired. However, there was one thing he could try using them for.
“Weps, program a spread of rec-drones to fan out in a three hundred sixty degree pattern, maintaining a constant distance from Makassar, and have them scan the planet optically only. If there are ships in orbit, maybe the drones will detect them against the lighter planet background.”
“A three sixty pattern coming up, Skipper,” said the Weapons Officer with obvious enthusiasm now that he could fire something. “Recon spread is ready for launch,” he said after a few seconds.
“Very good. Let ‘em rip, Lieutenant.”
“Drones away!” he said in a louder than normal voice. Murphy resisted the impulse to let his face express his amusement at the young officer’s excitement. He had heard enough stories about how horrific ship combat could be to realize that he could easily do without another ship-to-ship battle and its pulse-pounding adrenaline rush. Engaging in an orbital bombardment was action enough, thank you very much. A quick check of the sidebar data showed that his squadron had just cros
sed into Makassar’s hyper-zone. They were committed now. If the drones detected Empire ships, his fleet would not be able to simply jump away. I should have launched those drones sooner, he thought with a mental shake of his head.
Empire Cruiser Agincourt
Makassar orbital space
Commander Hendricks jerked his head up at the sound of the tactical display ping. He realized that he might have dozed off for a few seconds and hoped no one had noticed. His implant apparently didn’t record when he slept, but now that all Bridge personnel also had Majestic’s device implanted, any impact on their behaviour as a result of observing him sleeping while on duty could potentially cause Majestic to remove him from command. He felt his anger threatening to surge and took the deep breaths that he knew would calm him down. The implant could detect strong emotions, or rather the physical side effects that strong emotions generated such as higher heart rate, faster breathing and heightened brain activity. He had already learned the hard way that allowing free expression to his anger at having that damned device in his neck and brain would generate a wave of agony that left him bathed in sweat and shaking like a leaf.