by Ken Lozito
Michael Hunsicker frowned. "A few days? Why will it take that long to get there?"
"The battle group’s first wormhole won’t take us directly to the Confederation capital space station. Instead, we'll go to a known region of space. Then we'll do systems analysis before going any further. Despite assertions that the Confederation won’t simply open fire on us when we arrive, it doesn't change the fact that we might have to leave them very quickly. If that's the case, I'd rather our second use of the Cherubian drive not be a wormhole from an active combat zone. So we're going to Alpha Centauri first," Kyle said.
Michael Hunsicker drew in a breath and smiled. "I see your point," he said. "I never thought I’d get to see Alpha Centauri up close."
"You should've seen Specialist Hunter's face when I told him," Kyle said.
"I bet Gary was speechless," Michael replied.
"Let's just say he couldn't pack his bags fast enough to get on board," Kyle said.
The ECF battle group was made up of their only battleship-carrier, one heavy cruiser, and one destroyer class vessel. There were no support ships. Their mission was to attempt to open negotiations with the Confederation and discuss humanity's admission into the Confederation. However, the real mission was to give the ECF as much time as they could to solidify its defenses should the Xiiginns return with the fleet. The UN decision to go to the Confederation directly had taken the Boxans by surprise, but they accepted that this was the best course of action. Most of the Boxans were serving aboard the heavy cruiser. If things didn't go well, the heavy cruiser would take them to a known Boxan gateway. This was an access point where the Boxans could communicate with their colony. Apparently, there were no clearances given to travel directly to the colony. The Boxans would shoot them on sight if they just showed up there. He recalled that the two UN ambassadors aboard his ship had expressed a great deal of shock when Scraanyx told them this, but Kyle understood. The Boxans had been nearly wiped out in their war, and they couldn't afford to take any chances.
Several hours later, the battle group came to an area of space just inside the Star Shroud shield. Their ships were quick to reach maximum velocity, but slowing down still took much longer than it did to speed up. Nothing stopped on a dime in space.
"Colonel, the Star Shroud shield is just ahead at ten thousand kilometers," Major Stephens said from the technical workstation on the bridge.
"Acknowledged," Kyle replied. "Ops, is the shutdown protocol ready to be transmitted to the Star Shroud network?"
"Affirmative, Colonel. We can commence transmission on your command," Captain Amelia Young replied.
Kyle looked at the data on the main holoscreen and took a few deep breaths. He was going over multiple checklists in his mind, making sure he hadn’t missed anything. And if he had missed something, he was sure it would have been pointed out to him. He glanced over at Scraanyx, who gave a firm nod. "Very well, commence transmission of the shutdown protocol."
"Sending transmission, Colonel," Captain Young replied.
Kyle watched the main holoscreen, which showed a video representation of the sensor feeds on their ship. The sensor data was first routed into their computing core, which analyzed and disseminated the data, and the output was sent directly to the main holoscreen. The image was a glimpse of the universe that was just beyond reach. The Lincoln's systems were patched into the monitoring devices for the Star Shroud shield, which showed that the shield was still active. Kyle wasn't sure what to expect. They didn't know how long it would take, so they waited. And waited.
Kyle glanced at Scraanyx, who watched the main holoscreen, and resisted the urge to ask the Boxan a question he already knew the Boxan didn't have an answer for. No one knew how long this would take. Some of the ECF engineers had theorized that the Star Shroud shield wouldn't shut down until the protocol had reached all of the Shroud devices. Chazen didn't believe it would work that way and was of the opinion that once the new instructions reached a certain percentage of devices, they should see some results. Kyle was inclined to believe the Boxans since they were the experts on Star Shroud technology.
Kyle glanced at Major Stephens, who closely monitored the tactical feeds on the holoscreens that surrounded his work area.
"No change in shield activity," Major Stephens announced.
The ECF crew on the bridge watched the main holoscreen, waiting for some indication that the shutdown protocol was going to work. If it failed, they'd have to assess whether they’d done something wrong or there was a flaw in the shutdown protocol. Kyle didn't want to think about how the shield was constricting around the solar system and had the potential to nudge an entire planet from its orbit. He watched the main holoscreen and hardly dared to blink.
"Colonel, I'm detecting multiple energy spikes from the shroud devices," Major Stephens said.
"Highlight on screen, Major," Kyle ordered.
A sub-window opened on the main holoscreen, which showed a single Star Shroud device. It was still too far away to make out the details, but it looked like it was a large cylinder floating in space. Kyle peered at it. The cylinder appeared to be glowing along the edges, but he couldn't be sure if its surface was just highly reflective. There was a bright flash and then the cylinder went dark. Multiple flashes seemed to spread out away from it.
"Multiple Shroud devices are now off-line, Colonel," Major Stephens said.
"What about the monitoring devices? Are they detecting anything?" Kyle asked.
"No, they seem to have gone dark as well, Colonel. The monitoring devices were placed pretty close to the actual Shroud devices, so they might be affected by what's happening," Major Stephens said.
Kyle watched as a wave of energy spikes spread away from them and eventually beyond their sensors’ capability to report.
"Tactical, prepare the forward maser for a low-energy beam," Kyle said.
"Yes, Colonel. Maser battery one is powering up. Low energy beam will be ready in twenty seconds," Major Stephens said.
Kyle waited a few moments. "Fire maser when ready."
A few seconds later, Major Stephens said, "Firing, Colonel," and watched his terminal display. "The maser has reached beyond the area of the shield."
"Power down the maser. Ops, I want to send a recon drone there to confirm," Kyle said.
"Yes, Colonel, recon deployed from forward launch bay," Captain Young confirmed.
Kyle watched as the drone flew toward the shield. If the shield was really gone, the drone should be able to fly right through the area without taking any damage.
"Recon drone will reach the shield in one minute, Colonel," Captain Young said.
"Very well," Kyle replied.
"Colonel, I am unable to reach any of the Shroud devices in our immediate vicinity," Lieutenant Rogers said.
"Understood."
Kyle watched the recon drone's distance indicator as it steadily drew toward the shield ten thousand kilometers away. The drone reached the shield and flew past it unopposed.
Kyle glanced around as everyone working on the bridge and the ECF crew blew out a collective sigh of relief. The shield was down. There was a sobering mixture of relief and trepidation as Earth's defense now rested solely on the shoulders of the ECF. No longer would they have a massive shield that protected them from an invading force, but they also didn't have to live in fear that the shield would cause a catastrophe that would forever impact the entire solar system. The Shroud devices were off-line, and it was unlikely that they would ever come back online again. Kyle would've liked to have taken the time to retrieve a Shroud device to confirm, but they didn't have time. Now that the shield was down, time was against them, but he supposed time had always been against them since the shield first went up.
"Helm, ready the Cherubian drive. Coordinates to Alpha Centauri," Kyle said.
"Course to Alpha Centauri confirmed. The Cherubian drive is powering up," Sergeant Fuller said.
Kyle saw Michael Hunsicker looking at him, and then Scraanyx loo
ked at him also. "Time to see how well our engineers learned what you had to teach."
Kyle waited for the Cherubian drive to power up, hoping that what they were about to do would be remembered as the first of many such journeys beyond their solar system.
Chapter Twenty
"Is it too late to turn back?" Zack asked.
"Sure thing. We’ll execute a reverse thrust maneuver, turn around, and hope the armada will just ignore us," Etanu replied from the Athena's copilot seat.
"Everyone just relax," Hicks said. "If they haven't noticed us by now, I think we're in the clear."
Zack tried to keep himself from freaking out by focusing on his breathing. He couldn't ignore the fact that they were flying amidst the Confederation Armada. "I thought we’d be able to use our stealth capabilities—you know, just sneak right in there and do what we need to do, then get out as quickly as possible."
"Think of it as hiding in plain sight. We're not trying to mask our presence; we're just trying to blend in," Hicks replied.
Zack didn't know why Hicks sounded so damn confident. He was usually the one to point out the flaws in any plan Zack proposed. It was probably because once Hicks committed to a course of action, it was all or nothing, whereas Zack preferred an extra dose of caution even if there was nothing he could do about it—one final gut check and then perhaps five or ten more just to be sure.
"Athena, can you confirm the identification codes you used to alert the Confederation equivalent of a harbormaster?" Zack asked.
"You mean the sector chief?" Etanu asked.
"Yeah, fine, whatever. Athena, please confirm what kind of ship you told them we were," Zack said and didn't bother to hide his irritation with Etanu's pestering.
"We’re posing as a Gresan survey ship. They’re slightly larger than we are, but as long as the sector chief doesn't pay close attention to us, we should be fine," Athena replied.
Zack was well aware that the ship's AI was trying to make him feel better and that her assertions were much more accurate than other people's facts. He also knew Athena had studied the Gresan ships when they were in the Nerva star system, so the fact that Athena was now trying to fool the sector chief into believing they were just another Gresan ship shouldn't have come as a surprise to him. If he bothered to ask her, he was sure Athena would tell him that she'd considered multiple options and this had the highest probability of success. But what really put him on edge was the sheer number of ships in the Confederation Armada. Zack suspected that if all the Confederation ships were to join together, they could rival the mass of a small moon.
Cardaleer sat on the floor next to the communication station where Zack was working. The Boxan didn't seem to mind having to sit on the floor since there were no seats on the bridge capable of holding the Boxan's weight. Zack had tried to think of another part of the ship where they could work so Cardaleer would be more comfortable, but there wasn't anywhere. Even though the Athena had been rebuilt by the Drar, the design was still very much for Humans.
Zack glanced at the old Boxan and tried to ignore the guilt he felt at making the equivalent of an old man sit on the floor. In his mind, it was just wrong. He felt the urge to give up his chair but knew the gesture would be wasted.
Rather than listening to Cardaleer verbally ask the questions that would give him insight into the Drar data repositories, Athena had suggested that he be granted access through his neural implants. They’d granted a few Boxans access to the Athena’s systems previously, but they’d been closely monitored, and Cardaleer wasn't treated any differently. Zack kept a watchful eye on the Boxan. He didn't expect Cardaleer to do anything suspicious, but then again, he hadn't suspected that the Boxan scientists he'd worked with on Olloron would try to force their way into the Athena's systems.
He told Cardaleer that he wanted to watch and learn from him, which the old Boxan seemed to accept.
"Are you sure it's that simple?" Zack asked.
"We can't be sure until we actually try it. Part of the Xiiginns’ compulsion capability is utilized through their pheromones. I can tell you with absolute authority that we researched that part quite thoroughly. We tried to filter out particulates, thinking that perhaps we could block the pheromones the Xiiginns used to bring other species under control. Never worked. We always felt there was another layer to it that we were missing, but we couldn't figure out what that layer was. What the Drar did was quite delicate and obvious now that we've unraveled it. It never occurred to us to utilize the artificial gravity systems to affect how the brain or body functions," Cardaleer said.
"You said that before and I think I understand it better now. They used the artificial gravity systems as a way of assisting the healing field without actually doing anything invasive to the patient—not that I think Jonah would have minded if they had done something invasive. Using artificial gravity to manipulate cells on a molecular level is something we haven't considered at all," Zack said.
"I've never heard of it either," Cardaleer replied. "I will admit that it opens a few possibilities and explains a few of the things you observed while on the Drar space station."
Zack rubbed his fingers on the stubble of his chin. The solution Cardaleer had found was both simple and elegant; however, they needed to test it on a ship they knew the Xiiginns were on. The plan seemed to be a simple enough idea since the Xiiginns had a significant presence on many of the ships in the armada. But as Hicks had pointed out to him, they needed to test it in such a way that wouldn’t alert the rest of the armada to what they were doing. Assuming that their plan worked, the Xiiginns would soon realize there was something very wrong and would take steps to minimize the impact. He supposed he should feel confident of their chances because Cardaleer's investigation had opened certain data repositories on the Athena. The AI had quickly absorbed the new information and provided them with options that made for pretty convincing arguments to explain what had really happened on the Drar space station.
"What's bothering you now?" Cardaleer asked.
Zack brought up Athena's computing utilization on the holoscreen. "She's operating at almost seventy percent utilization. Given how her capabilities keep growing, I don't know what else she's doing."
"As I've already stated," Athena said, "I’m running multiple data models on how best to test this new way to block the Xiiginn influence and what we’ll need to do should our tests prove successful. This requires an enormous amount of processing power, and in addition, I’m also communicating with sector chief personnel."
Hicks turned around and looked at him. "Let her do what she can. We can't imitate the Gresan language."
Zack nodded, but he didn't think that was all Athena was doing. This wouldn't be the first time Athena had shown a willingness to omit certain actions, although he'd never believe Athena would do something to hurt them. He trusted her, but sometimes he didn't think the AI fully comprehended everything she was doing. Logic and calculations would only get her so far, and he wasn't sure how to convey that to the AI. There were times, it seemed, that she operated at a completely higher level that they could scarcely comprehend, but other times it was the simplest of concepts that caused the AI to stumble.
"Major," Athena said, "I've identified a target for your approval."
"Show us," Hicks said.
"I've been accessing the crew manifests of the ships nearest us as we fly by. Per your instructions, we've restricted our movements to the outskirts of the armada. The best way for us to test the potential of blocking the Xiiginn influence is to identify a target that not only has Xiiginns aboard the ship but has controlling ranking officers. Finding evidence of compulsion is difficult, but I think I've found a good test candidate," Athena said.
"How were you able to confirm that the Xiiginns were using their compulsion capability?" Zack asked.
"By using the communication systems on the ship. I'm able to monitor zettabytes of communication data at once, and I pinpointed scenarios where initial subjects resisted
the Xiiginns’ wishes. Once I identified those examples, I was able to focus my attention on which crewmembers were afflicted. The target, however, is a Gresan warship," Athena replied.
Zack pursed his lips in thought and then shook his head.
"What's the matter?" Hicks asked.
"Athena shouldn't be able to process so much data at once," Zack said.
"It is possible by compressing the data, which allows me to assign patterns to known data types. This increases efficiency and allows me to focus my attention on high-value targets," Athena said.
"I understood most of that," Hicks said.
"She's able to tune out the noise so she can pay attention to the important stuff. If this works, the individuals under the Xiiginns’ control may suddenly realize they've been manipulated. On the Drar station, Jonah might've been fine with the knowledge that he was going to die, but that's just one possible reaction," Zack said.
"I understand, but we have to try," Hicks said. "Athena, assuming we succeed, how long would it take for you to do the same thing on all the ships in the armada?"
"Your request is beyond my current capabilities," Athena replied.
Hicks's brows pushed forward.
"Hold on a second," Zack said. "You're assuming Athena has to do all the heavy lifting. The changes can be concealed as an update to normal environmental maintenance systems. So if this works, we might be able to utilize a distribution system that's already been established."
Hicks nodded. "Understood, and you almost gave me a heart attack."
Zack smiled and glanced at Cardaleer. "Just have to know what questions to ask."
"Okay, I give my authorization to begin this test," Hicks said and opened a comms channel to engineering. "Efren, we may need maximum thrust capabilities at a moment’s notice."
Efren assured them he would be ready.
Zack watched his holoscreen as Athena accessed a nearby Gresan warship’s systems. Multiple session windows opened as she delved deeper into the Gresan ship's systems until she was able to access the environmental subroutines. She uploaded a package and gave the commands to execute the new information, which she was able to use as a backdoor to access a surprising number of critical systems. Zack wondered why the Gresans had never considered another species gaining unsecured access to their systems. He would have had a field day in his old life.