by Ken Lozito
He’d caught a glimpse of all the wreckage from the other subsections of Phoenix Station. Because his EVA suit helmet had excellent optics, he’d also been able to see the wreckage that was in relatively close proximity, but they hadn’t made contact with either Bravo or Charlie stations. Connor hoped Captains Mason and Saunders and their crews were still alive.
Connor looked at Captain Randle. “If the communication array is almost up, that means a scanner array should be up soon as well.”
“That’s affirmative, General,” Captain Randle said.
A short Asian man walked out of a nearby room. He looked over at them and smiled excitedly. “General Gates, thank you so much for repairing this section.”
“You’re welcome, Dr. Kim,” Connor said.
Dr. Young Kim regarded Connor for a moment. “You don’t realize what we have in this lab. There are samples of different viruses and bacteria we’ve gathered from New Earth that could be instrumental in our fight against the Vemus.”
“I’m glad the redundant power systems were able to keep your samples alive,” Connor said and looked up at Captain Randle. The bear of a man chuckled.
They’d been through this a few times. Connor knew research labs had their place, but of all the areas that could’ve survived the attack on Phoenix Station, he didn’t think the research lab rated very high.
“You’re still not convinced,” Dr. Kim said.
“I meant no disrespect to you or your work, Dr. Kim. It’s just that the Vemus Alpha is still out there and we need to find a way to stop them. I’m not sure how your samples of microscopic organisms are going to help us with that,” Connor said.
Dr. Kim seemed unperturbed by Connor’s answer. “Actually, General Gates, the best chance we have of defeating them is within my lab.”
Connor frowned curiously. “Okay, you’ve piqued my curiosity. Want to explain it to me then?”
Dr. Kim’s eyes widened with excitement. “I’d be happy to. If you’d follow me—”
There was an audible comms chime in the corridor they were in and Connor waited for the announcement.
“General Gates, communications and scanning capabilities have been restored. PRADIS is starting to update, sir,” Lieutenant Daniels said.
“Acknowledged, Lieutenant. We’re on our way,” Connor said and looked at Dr. Kim. “Hold that thought, Dr. Kim. I’ll be back down here later and you can tell me about what’s so important in your lab.”
“Of course. I look forward to it, General Gates,” Dr. Kim said.
Connor and Randle started making their way toward the Command Center. A direct path from the section they were in was no longer possible, so they had to circle toward the outer fringes of the wreckage. Connor had to prioritize certain areas, and though they were intact, they had to conserve their power consumption. The overhead lighting had been so badly damaged during the Vemus Alpha attack that there were entire corridors without lighting, but there was limited power available. Repair teams had set up temporary lighting in those corridors.
Connor checked the reports from Engineering as they walked. “Doesn’t look like we’ll get much beyond emergency power.”
“The main reactor is gone, so we’re basically running on reserves and the backup reactor,” Captain Randle said.
“Looks like one of the hangar decks isn’t damaged,” Connor said while still reading the high-level reports. “Even if we crammed everyone into the shuttles we have, it still wouldn’t be enough to get everyone off the station. We could use the remaining escape pods, but that wouldn’t get us back to New Earth.”
“One thing at a time,” Captain Randle said. “We’ve got comms and scanners back up.”
Connor nodded and hastened toward the command area. When they arrived, they saw that the medics had moved the wounded to another location, but there was blood in some areas that hadn’t been cleaned up yet. The main holoscreen was still only showing a partial window, so Connor went to his workstation and brought up his own screen.
“Comms, what’s our status?” Connor asked.
“There are still limited broadcast signals from New Earth. But the Vemus attack has begun and these broadcasts are several hours old, sir,” Lieutenant Daniels said.
“Ops, what’s our current position?” Connor asked.
“We have limited thruster capability, but we’ve stabilized our position so we’re not simply spinning through space anymore. At twenty million kilometers, we’re still a long way from New Earth, but we’re heading in the right direction, sir,” Lieutenant Rawn said.
Connor nodded. “Comms, are there enough communications satellites still up to get a message to Lunar Base?” he asked.
“Yes, there are, General,” Lieutenant Daniels said.
“Good. Send an encrypted message to Lunar Base letting them know our current position,” Connor said.
If Colonel Hayes was able to, he’d open a direct comlink to their position, which should minimize the risk of the Vemus detecting the signal. He checked PRADIS, but it was still gathering data.
“General, I’ve received a reply from Lunar Base. They’ve sent us the coordinates to a specific comms satellite using a nonregulation encrypted channel,” Lieutenant Daniels said.
Connor frowned. “Nonregulation?”
“It’s not CDF-specific, but it’s not NA Alliance military either, sir,” Lieutenant Daniels said.
“Alright, connect us using that channel, then. Directly to my screen, Lieutenant,” Connor said.
Connor waited a few seconds for the connection to establish and then saw Colonel Hayes on his screen.
“It’s great to see you alive, General,” Colonel Hayes said.
“You too,” Connor replied.
“Before I bring you up to speed, I need you to know that this comms channel will only be secure for a short period of time,” Colonel Hayes said and proceeded to inform Connor of what had happened.
“I didn’t think the Vemus Alpha was going to attempt a landing on New Earth. The Alliance military couldn’t even do something like that with their larger ships, and we all know how big that Alpha is. I think you did the right thing, Colonel,” Connor said.
“General, you’re pretty banged up. I’d really like to send out a few shuttles to resupply you until we can get a rescue mission organized,” Colonel Hayes said.
“We could use those supplies, but we need to focus our efforts on stopping the Vemus,” Connor said.
Colonel Hayes’s eyebrows wrinkled in grim acknowledgment. “We do have one of our shuttles that was in the debris field when the Vemus attacked. With the Vemus cruisers in the area, we’ve been trying to find a way to bring it in without alerting the Vemus to our location. The crew was sent to investigate a salvage and recon mission to attempt to learn more about the Vemus.”
“What did they learn?” Connor asked.
“We’re not exactly sure. The salvage team was lost, but the rescue team was able to retrieve the data and the Vemus samples that were gathered. The lead scientist believed he’d discovered crucial information that would help us defeat the Vemus,” Colonel Hayes said.
“That sounds good, but I’m sensing some uncertainty,” Connor replied.
“We’re dealing with combat shuttle comms. With the Vemus cruisers around we can’t even establish a connection to the shuttle long enough to dump the data,” Colonel Hayes said.
Connor nodded. “I’m beginning to understand. Who’s in command of the shuttle?”
“Captain Jon Walker. He’s a good man, but he’s just lost his brother, who was part of the salvage mission. It was his brother, Brian, who made the discovery about the Vemus,” Colonel Hayes said.
“Send orders to Captain Walker to bring his shuttle to me,” Connor said.
“I was afraid you’d say that, sir, and I’d be remiss in my duty if I didn’t warn you about the degree of risk involved. The mission report provided by Captain Walker indicates that the salvage team had become compromised by the sur
viving Vemus soldiers aboard the wreckage, so we can’t be sure that Dr. Walker’s claims about his Vemus discovery are really what we hope they are,” Colonel Hayes said.
Connor leaned back in his chair and rubbed the stubble on his chin. “We don’t have a choice. Order Captain Walker to come here and we’ll see what we’ve got. We can’t afford to leave any stone unturned.”
“Understood, General,” Colonel Hayes said.
They had to close the comlink after that because their time had run out and the risk of a Vemus cruiser discovering the signal would put both Lunar Base and the remains of Phoenix Station at risk. They agreed to reconnect again in a few hours’ time.
“At least we haven’t lost Lunar Base,” Captain Randle said.
Connor looked at Captain Randle. “We’re still in this fight,” he said. “Ops, inform the hangar bay that we have a combat shuttle on its way to us.”
“Yes, General,” Lieutenant Rawn said.
Connor looked at Captain Thorne. “Do we have any weapons capability?”
“No, sir. We thought we might have had a few rail-guns and perhaps some point defenses, but those systems are too far gone. Essentially, we’re a lifeboat at this time,” Captain Thorne said.
Connor gritted his teeth for a moment. He supposed it would have been too much to hope for that they had any serious weapons capability. “Understood. Captain, I want you to continue compiling a list of our assets. I need an inventory of everything we’ve got.”
“Yes, General,” Captain Thorne said and went back to work at his terminal.
“Ops, when will PRADIS be back up and running?” Connor asked.
“The scanning array is up. We’re running passive scans now and processing the updates we’ve received from Lunar Base. I can give you a snapshot of the Vemus location within the last two hours, but that’s it for now, sir,” Lieutenant Rawn said.
The system was taking its sweet time coming back online. He guessed the PRADIS designers hadn’t thought of the impact of being cut off from the primary computing core. There were a lot of things they hadn’t thought of, so he’d have to be patient. Connor gestured for Captain Randle to follow him. “It shouldn’t take the combat shuttle long to get here. I want to meet them when they land.”
They headed to the lower decks, and Connor ordered a team of CDF soldiers to meet them in the hangar. Later, Connor watched as a CDF combat shuttle entered the hangar bay. There were gouges on the hull and damaged plating. The hatch on the side of the shuttle opened and a battered crew stepped out. Once they reached the floor, they stood at attention and saluted Connor.
“Welcome aboard Phoenix Station—what’s left of it, that is,” Connor said.
“Thank you, General,” Captain Walker said. “I don’t think we could stand being on that shuttle much longer.”
A team of medics came forward to check the shuttle crew.
“We followed decontamination protocols, and the samples that were gathered are in the biological containment unit right here, sir,” Captain Walker said and gestured to the metallic case in his hand.
“Captain, I understand you’ve lost your brother. He was on the salvage team?” Connor said.
“Yes, he was, General,” Captain Walker said.
“What did he find?” Connor asked.
“We tried to do our own analysis of the data, but we didn’t understand it,” Captain Walker said.
Connor gestured for one of his soldiers to take possession of the case. “Let’s get you and your team cleaned up. Then we can talk.”
“I appreciate that, sir, but my brother died for this data. I need to know if . . . I just need to know, sir,” Captain Walker said.
Connor regarded Captain Walker for a moment. He clutched the case in a white-knuckled grip.
“Alright. We have a few working labs. Let’s head over to them and let those scientists analyze what you’ve got. In the meantime, the rest of your team will be debriefed and cleaned up,” Connor said.
Captain Walker nodded, relieved.
Connor led them out, the CDF soldiers walking behind them. “Not what you were expecting, were they,” he said.
Captain Walker frowned.
“The Vemus. Colonel Hayes reported that you encountered Vemus soldiers,” Connor said.
Captain Walker’s expression hardened. “No, they weren’t, sir. I have trouble believing they were once people.”
Connor nodded, remembering his own encounter with them. “They might have been people once but not anymore.”
They headed toward the biological lab where Dr. Young Kim waited for them.
“I hadn’t expected you to return so soon, General,” Dr. Kim said.
“Circumstances have changed. Captain Walker here has brought live tissue samples taken from Vemus soldiers. There has already been a preliminary analysis done by Dr. Brian Walker,” Connor said.
Dr. Kim’s eyes darted toward Captain Walker and then he glanced at the other soldiers. “Where is Dr. Walker?”
“He didn’t make it,” Captain Walker replied.
Dr. Kim’s gaze softened. “I’m very sorry to hear that.”
“I have his data. He died for it,” Captain Walker said.
“Yes, of course. I’ll take very good care of it. Please upload over here,” Dr. Kim said and gestured toward the nearest terminal at the end of a long table.
Dr. Kim walked over to the terminal, completely ignoring the case with the Vemus samples. They waited a few minutes while he studied the information. Connor glanced around the lab. There were all sorts of instruments and containers marked as cold storage.
Dr. Kim looked up from his terminal. “This is remarkable.”
“We’re glad you approve, but we need to know if there’s something in there we can use against the Vemus,” Connor said.
“Brian said he’d found the key to destroying the Vemus for good,” Captain Walker said.
Dr. Kim bit his lower lip and glanced down at the screen. His eyes slid into a look of calculation, as if he were weighing the possibilities, and then he snorted. “I can see why he thought that.”
Connor’s brows pulled together. “Do you agree with his findings?”
Dr. Kim frowned. “What Dr. Walker discovered was that the Vemus behave like a hive. There’s a strict hierarchy,” he said and looked at Connor. “I recall your reports on the Vemus included an opinion that they weren’t very imaginative.”
“That’s right. They only seem to react to the immediate threat,” Connor replied.
“How can they be a hive? That doesn’t make any sense,” Captain Walker said.
Dr. Kim shrugged. “Actually, a hive hierarchy is one of the dominant groupings of life. We’ve seen it on an insect level but also among microorganisms. So it’s not much of a stretch of the imagination that the Vemus have this hierarchy as well.”
“There’s a lot that doesn’t add up here. Hives don’t work this way. They don’t cross interstellar space to hunt humans,” Connor said.
“No, they don’t,” Dr. Kim said. “What we’re seeing is a parasitic organism that’s in symbiosis with a very specific virus. One cannot survive without the other.”
“If there’s a hive, then there’s a queen. Will the hive die if we kill the queen?” Connor asked.
Dr. Kim shook his head. “I may have oversimplified what the Vemus are. They’re hive-like. I need some time to look at Dr. Walker’s data and the samples he’s collected.”
“We’re a little short on time. How much do you think you need?” Connor asked.
“This is where you expect me to give you a completely unreasonable timeframe because I’m a scientist who can’t see beyond what’s directly in front of him. But I assure you, General, I’m well aware of the stakes. Give me a half hour to look things over carefully and then I’ll have more answers for you, or at the very least a reasonable estimate,” Dr. Kim said.
Connor swallowed hard. “Thirty minutes,” he said and left the lab.
Co
nnor walked back into the corridor, his mind replaying what Dr. Kim had said. He really could have used Wil Reisman’s help with all this or even Noah’s—both were good at finding the devil in the details. He glanced behind him and saw Captain Randle and Captain Walker following him. They were good men, but they weren’t Sean. He was surprised by just how much he’d come to rely on Sean Quinn’s counsel. He didn’t regret sending Sean back to New Earth, but he did wish he was still here with them. Connor closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He thought about Lenora and felt his chest tighten. She certainly had never pulled any punches when dealing with him. He wondered what she’d do if she were here.
Connor stopped walking and leaned up against the wall. “What do you think about what Dr. Kim said?”
“Honestly, sir, this is beyond my expertise. I don’t know what to think,” Captain Randle said.
“What about you, Walker?” Connor said.
“Brian wouldn’t have made the claim that the data he’d found was important unless he really thought it was. He knew he was never getting out of that ship. He’d been infected, along with the entire salvage team. He even stopped the other team members from trying to escape. So if you’re asking me whether I believe what my brother said is true, then I do, sir,” Captain Walker said.
“The hive theory makes sense, but I’m not sure if that’s because I want it to make sense. We know the Vemus were using some type of command/control signal for the fleet. We blocked that signal and it severely limited their fighting capability. So there’s evidence to support that we’re at least dealing with a centralized intelligence,” Connor said.
“Sir, how do we go from a disease that spreads among mammals and then, when we try to fix it, it targets humans exclusively? That’s what was in the data from the Indianapolis. I can understand how the virus spreads, but for it to become some type of collective intelligence, I’m not sure how we can defeat that other than by taking the damn thing out,” Captain Randle said.
Connor sighed. “I think you’re right. We just need Dr. Kim to confirm it, and hopefully those samples will give us something we can use against them.”