Against A Rock

by Kalin Ringkvist

  Against A Rock

  Kalin Ringkvist

  Published: 2009

  Tag(s): "science fiction" "EVE Online" EVE action violence suspense slavery slaves "cybernetic implant" Allihence Floreina mutiny novel thriller cyborg

  Please visit www.AgainstARock.com for the official website

  Or visit www.KalinBooks.com for more works by Kalin Ringkvist

  Floreina is a cybernetically enhanced young woman with a vibrant future in the Amarrian Empire, a decorated turret commander and slave overseer aboard an Abaddon warship. But after a cruel “accident” and the repeated abuse of slaves, Floreina risks everything in a defiant act of mutiny.

  Along the way, she learns that commandeering a battleship takes more than just artificially focused cunning, automated adrenaline injections, and simple, old-fashioned brutality. For her plan to succeed, Floreina must befriend a Minmatar slave.

  But plans don’t always go as planned… And as the two fight for their lives, Floreina must find a way to reconcile their friendship with the racism that drives her career.

  When people think of slavery, they think of whips, chains and neurological implants. While these things may be necessary, the real tools of a successful slave culture are psychological. Through a myriad of non-violent techniques, such as carefully selecting entertainment material, staging supportive news, and well-timed acts of love, one can tightly control the subject’s perception of his world. The mark of a truly superior slave-bearing society is when the slaves support the system as vehemently as the masters.

  -The New Amarria

  Despite the speed of their run, Floreina sensed the reluctance of the Minmatar. She watched from above, hopping between video feeds as the damage control teams entered the hottest sections of the turret. Their hands shook and voices cracked, but they did not hesitate to race to their duty…

  And Floreina imagined her little buddy doing the same…

  She felt the plasma traveling at ever increasing rates through a shrinking number of pathways…

  … and soon the cooling failures began.

  She entered the turret's central photon generator, unable to avoid the sense of steadily building heat, and felt the sweat on her distant corporeal body.

  Floreina traveled around the generator, jumping methodically through the computations and feedback processes… sensing something. Somehow the coolant flow was inconsistent.

  Within several hundred milliseconds she noticed the weakness.

  We’re about to have a coolant leak at the main generator, Floreina announced, a moment before the pipe burst. Dad, do you have a team in section A-16?

  Miltein seethed with frustration, momentarily distracting the other networked commanders. He zeroed in on his daughter. I have two slaves one deck below.

  Floreina watched the coolant spill from the gash into an adjacent crawlway. The plastic coating along the walls froze and cracked and her visuals clouded over.

  I’m working with another team, if you want to take this, Floreina. Miltein said. Get ‘em out of there.

  Copy that. She scanned the nearby decks to find the two slaves, working to reinforce a plasma pipeline.

  “Filmar and Milkeinos,” she spoke audibly through the local intercom, the words feeling like sludge compared with the elegant mental communion she enjoyed with her fellow commanders.

  The slaves looked up. “Master Floreina—“ started Milkeinos.

  “Discontinue your work,” she ordered. “You’ve got a coolant leak above you. Retreat to deck C.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” replied Filmar as he turned to pack his nanite applicator into its case.

  “Just twenty more seconds,” replied Milkeinos as he strained to point his applicator into the pipeline. “I’ll have it sealed…”

  Floreina ran a check on the coolant dispersal. “Negative,” she replied. “Get out now. Discard the equipment and retreat immediately to C deck. I’ve got coolant coming down and I can’t predict where it’s going to break through.”

  Turret one at seventy percent damage, announced Captain Allihence. Average turret damage now at fifty percent.

  And Floreina sighed, a private and selfish show of relief as she remembered the other turret commanders were having just as many problems.

  She focused on the two endangered slaves, but continued running the standard wavelength coherency, damage and efficiency calculations in the back of her mind.

  Don’t you think you’re pulling them prematurely? asked Captain Allihence, suddenly showing her presence within the local system. Twenty more seconds… are they really in such danger?

  Floreina looked at the slaves as Filmar punched his pass code into the hatchway at the end of the corridor. I predict the leak will continue down another deck, Floreina told the captain, drawing her toward the disruption in the crawlway above.

  And as if on cue, the crawlway floor ruptured, a tiny crack rapidly lengthening to allow the coolant to drip into the corridor below.

  Allihence laughed privately to Floreina. I stand corrected. And the captain retreated from Floreina’s system… or cloaked her consciousness.

  Milkeinos shouted as the fog filled the hallway. As her vision clouded, Floreina saw Filmar pull open the hatch and jump through to the next corridor.

  A second later, Milkeinos’ screams echoed, registering on sensors all along both sections.

  “Milkeinos, are you hit?” Floreina shouted through the nearest speaker. “I have no visual on you.”

  And she listened to his scream for another second before he halted and replied. “Yeah; I’m hit.”

  “Can you –“

  “I can walk,” he said.

  Damage level at fifty percent, announced Lieutenant Ethanial.

  Her natural mind continued focusing on the two slaves, but jumped back intermittently to direct her personal processor, devoted to the normal cannon operations.

  Floreina shifted her view to the next section just as she heard the hatchway slam shut. The slave turned from the door and ran toward the next hatch.

  “Filmar!” Floreina shouted. “Do not abandon your partner!”

  He halted midway along the corridor. “The section’s flooded!” he replied.

  “No, it’s not. Get back and help your partner!”

  And as she spoke to Filmar she simultaneously pulled up the visual on the previous corridor, the fog now rapidly clearing to reveal Milkeinos crawling to his feet, red splotches dotting his skin, his plain brown uniform pockmarked with tiny holes where coolant splatters had disintegrated the material and pieces of his flesh.

  As the slave shuffled clumsily toward the hatchway, another rupture registered above him.

  “Get back Milkeinos!” Floreina shouted a moment too late.

  The ceiling cracked and more coolant splashed down.

  And as the view clouded over again, she saw the slave go down with an agonizing scream. Then he went silent.

  She turned back to Filmar, having returned to the hatchway, now entering his code. “Belay that order,” she said.

  Filmar stopped and looked up, resting his hand on the latch.

  “Reseal the hatch,” Floreina ordered. “Now the corridor’s flooded.”

  “Yes, Ma’am,” he answered as he cancelled his code.

  Heat levels reaching critical, Allihence communicated. Prepare to discontinue overclocking on my mark.

  And Floreina felt grit in her stomach as she adjusted her focus back to the turret as a whole.

  Her face tightened as she continued watching the photon generation and release. She sent a private report to Miltein. I’m sorry, Daddy, she said, feeling his frustration and allowing it to compound her own. She sent her public report to Overseer Karleen a moment later.

  Di
scontinue overclocking, Allihence ordered. Turret five is nearing critical…

  Floreina checked her turret’s damage level as the processes slowed to a normal pace, allowing her implant a mild sense of relaxation. She ran checks on the other turrets and smiled privately as she recognized that most had seen more overclocking damage, reminding herself that despite the sudden stress, her team was doing the best job anyone could expect.

  However, Floreina had been the only one to lose a crew member, and that tainted her success…

  But as the fog cleared, Floreina scanned for Milkeinos’ body and found nothing. She refocused to hear him panting at the other end of the hall and adjusted the camera toward the voice. As she panned, the sleeve of his uniform passed by, cracked and frozen, fingers now frosted white, cemented to the deck plating. Further along, the slave dragged himself toward the hatchway’s keypad. He shook violently, his clothing covered in a thin layer of frost. His right arm jutted from his shoulder, ending at the elbow in a cracked and frozen stump.

  And somehow, bracing his body against the wall, kneeling before the hatch, he entered his code. He lurched toward the latch and pulled the door open. Whining from the depths of his throat, he forced himself onward.

  I need to change my report, Floreina communicated toward Karleen and her father over the public channel, feeling the tightness increasing. Milkeinos is alive… severely injured.

  Repairable? Karleen asked as her presence passed into the corridor to see. Oh dear God, she exclaimed, prompting several of Floreina’s networked lieutenants to take a peek as well.

  No, they seemed to decide. Milkeinos’ injuries were not repairable. Floreina ran a quick price calculation, and was forced to agree.

  And Allihence was there suddenly, her presence overwhelming but somehow comforting. The captain simply watched pleasantly, showing an oddly timed pride in her crew…

  Can I request permission to get this slave some medical attention? Floreina asked. His injuries are borderline…

  Negative, Allihence replied within milliseconds. The cost of an artificial limb above the elbow is more than that of the slave.

  Yes, Captain, Floreina replied. Just thought I’d ask. It seems like the benefit in slave morale would be worth the extra cost.

  Not enough to warrant the trouble, replied the captain. …unless you wish to purchase the slave yourself, Floreina. She paused. Or anyone else…

  No one replied.

  Terminate the slave, Allihence ordered.

  Yes, Ma’am, replied Floreina as she felt herself drawn unnaturally back toward her corporeal body.

  Her emotional suppressant system pulled itself to the forefront of her mind, but she shooed it away, forcing herself back into the moment.

  She felt the other commanders watching her, feeling her distaste for the situation, and sensing her hesitation.

  She looked down from the cameras on Milkeinos as he staggered to the other end of the hall. “I’m going to need medical attention,” he cried. “I’m coming down service crawlway B, if it’s still open… Master Floreina… someone… please tell me if crawlway B is still unblocked from my current position…” His voice cracked and grated painfully, but she felt the rest of the crew watching, simply impressed that he could even speak or move.

  She locked the hatchway just as he reached out to type his access code. The panel beeped a rejection and Floreina felt her mental reflexes pulling away as he screamed a tortured reply. “No… please…” he typed his code again and collapsed to the floor upon hearing the second rejection.

  “Please, God!” he screamed, his body convulsing against the wall. “Why is my access denied? …Commander Floreina! …Commander Miltein! Why is no one answering me?”

  Floreina paused, feeling the weight of the minds surrounding her. Outside they barely noticed their weaponry crushing the last of their enemies, leaving little more than tattered wreckage on the battlefield.

  But as the battle ended, she felt her heart pumping harder. She brought herself back to her natural body for a moment to look out with her own eyes on the crew surrounding her three steps below. She took a deep breath and prepared herself, considering for a moment the use of her emotional suppressants, simply to disguise her hesitation. But transparency and honesty are too important when directly connected to the minds of Amarrian crewmembers.

  Would you like me to handle this? suggested Lieutenant Ethanial.

  …yes, she replied. Thank you. This is my responsibility… but it’s just one of those difficult things for me…

  No need to explain, Commander.

  Thank you, Lieutenant. Floreina disconnected from the monitors in Milkeinos’ corridor and pulled her consciousness away from the situation. I’m going to rest my head for a few minutes before writing my post-battle reports. Ethanial, let me know as soon as you’ve terminated Milkeinos. For the rest of you, join me for a quick clearing of the mind, or begin your own reports. I’ll see you in a few minutes. She paused for several hundred milliseconds to confirm that her team did not have any last minute questions, then reached to the back of her head and removed the network cable from its socket.

  Her team fell away, the ghosts of their minds remaining for several long moments, swirling with her own emotional processing. She sighed and dropped the cord, letting it retract into the head of her command seat.

  She leaned back, noticing the dampness of her uniform, and wiped the sweat from her forehead. Adjusting her turtleneck, she waved a quick breath of air down the front of her uniform.

  Floreina thought about the pirate ships, the terrorist abolitionists, now floating as battered heaps of scrap metal outside their Abaddon warship… and the crew they had held just moments before. Who were they? Why had they chosen a path of debauchery? Had their families tried to reason with them? …or were they onboard too, heaped into a neat little package to be discarded from society and forgotten?

  But her mind did not dwell on the thousands of Minmatar enemies they had just killed, and instead came back to the single Minmatar she had failed to save.

  Floreina closed her eyes and prayed silently, feeling His presence behind everything, watching, in the same way Captain Allihence would watch her team’s activities from the back of their minds. The Lord, however, had a deep, loving and caring subtlety that could not be duplicated with human or mechanical brains.

  Floreina smiled, knowing she could always come back to Him. No matter how intense a situation, He would always be there to lift, to caress her soul and carry her upon the wings of her emotion. And He would always be there to assure her that the universe was on the right path, that she had done everything under His grace and guidance.

  And He reminded her of her own slave in engineering. She paused a long, nervous moment, then opened her personal radio application and connected with the wireless onboard network.

  It took only a couple seconds to find him lying in a crawlspace awaiting orders, his datapad connected to a damage report terminal.

  “Mahran,” Floreina said through the datapad's audio output.

  “Good Morning, Master Floreina,” Mahran replied. “What can I do for you, Ma'am?”

  “I was wondering how you’d feel about a promotion to management and dispatch?”

  “A promotion?” he said. “There's others with seniority… ”

  “I've been thinking I want you off the repair teams,” Floreina said.

  “May I ask why?” Mahran said, distracted by his datapad as he scanned the readouts.

  “Too dangerous.”

  He nodded. “Yeah, it gets hairy sometimes… doesn't Captain Allihence reimburse you if something happens?” He looked up suddenly. “Not that I'm complaining… ”

  “Yeah, I get reimbursed… fair market value… whatever that means… but I'd rather have you alive. But I couldn’t decide if you could handle it… and I finally realized my best option would be to ask you.”

  “My only fear,” Mahran replied, “would be that the others would not respect me
because of how I got the position.”

  “That's fair, but I think you could push through it and the fact that you're considering it indicates to me that you think critically enough to handle yourself.” She giggled. “The other option’s a demotion where you spend your time cleaning my bathroom, organizing files and painting my nails.”

  “I wouldn't want to take away your timeshare money… ”

  “That's why I prefer to keep you working.”

  “Are the damage control teams really that dangerous?” he asked.

  “Yeah… ” she said. “They're probably better off going to Minmatars who belong to the ship.”

  “Okay… ” Mahran nodded, glancing rapidly back to his datapad. “I can handle the position, Master Floreina… thank you.”

  “Okay, I'll put in the request and see what the engineering officers have to say.”

  He looked around the corridor and found a camera. Floreina shifted her view to meet his. His eyes gleamed and a smile snuck across his face, but still he repeatedly glanced toward his datapad. “Thank you, Master,” he said.

  “Well… I can tell you're distracted so I'll let you get back to work.”

  He saluted as she shut off the connection.

  Floreina relaxed, took a deep breath and pulled the cable from the back of her seat. Lifting her long dark hair and the flap of skin hiding her interface, she plugged the network connection into its socket and slipped back into her turret, melding again with the minds of her team.

  Floreina read through the reports of her lieutenants and fellow turret commanders. Despite being the only turret to lose a member, her team had actually performed quite well, receiving less heat damage than all but two of the other turrets. Arguably a successful overclocking test.

  But as the minutes passed, Floreina still did not sense Lieutenant Ethanial’s report. Finally, she asked, Lieutenant, what’s the status on our poor Minmatar?

  Ethanial paused several long moments. Well…he started. I didn’t want to involve you as it’s a little dramatic… he’s being… difficult… I would almost say you were right to suggest repairing him. This kid’s a fighter… more strength than I would have in his situation, I fear to admit… although he’s turned into a disobedient little brat in his last moments before Judgement…