by Ken Lozito
::Tell me how I can help,:: Zack said.
He focused on the small window, silently pleading for a response.
"Go ahead, Efren," Hicks said.
"Reactor core temperatures have spiked and continue to increase. They will be at critical levels shortly," Efren said, his voice coming through the nearby speaker.
"What's causing it?" Hicks asked.
"There’s a large chunk of power being diverted to the engines, but the majority is devoted to the communications array. We’re broadcasting at orders of magnitude above anything I've ever seen before," Efren said.
A sudden thought came to Zack, and he brought up the network interface control systems. "Holy crap, she's patched into thousands of ships!"
"What's she doing, exactly?" Hicks asked.
"I'm not … she could be … just give me a minute," Zack said.
The ship shuddered violently and Zack felt his shoulders pressing against his straps.
"We may not have a minute," Hicks said, his voice sounding strained.
::Athena, you cannot control every ship in the armada. Not even you can do that. You have to stop,:: Zack said.
He waited for her to respond, but the lonely cursor just blinked its normal slow, unresponsive blinks.
::Must confirm . . . Must confirm . . . Confirm . . . Only way to balance the equation,:: Athena replied.
::I don't understand. What are you confirming?:: Zack asked.
::Xiiginn . . . Cannot control . . . All probabilities unacceptable,:: Athena replied.
Zack's breath caught in his throat. He knew Athena was trying to find a way to defeat the Xiiginns. She'd been weighing every possible action and kept coming up short.
"Major, the reactor core has reached critical levels. I tried to shut it down but the control interface isn’t responding. I can't stop it. We may need to abandon ship," Efren said.
The ship shuddered again as if there’d been an explosion next to it.
::Environmental subroutines have been updated. Alternative solution has been found,:: Athena said.
"What have you got, Zack?" Hicks asked.
::Shuttle evac,:: Athena said.
"Athena says we should head to the shuttle," Zack said.
Etanu unstrapped himself from the copilot’s seat. "I'll go prep the shuttle for departure."
"I will join you," Cardaleer said.
Hicks climbed out of his chair and approached the communication work area. He leaned in and peered at the screen. "Doesn't make any sense."
"I think updating the environmental subroutines of the Armada ships is working, but she's having trouble figuring out whether it's affecting the Xiiginn influence," Zack said.
"We don't have much time. We have to get off the ship," Hicks said.
Zack looked back at the screen and watched as garbled text appeared that almost seemed as if the AI couldn't convey the message properly. What is she doing?
"I'm not leaving," Zack said.
"Look at me," Hicks said and grabbed Zack's shoulders. "The reactor core is overloading. A meltdown will take out the ship, even this ship. We have to go."
::Core matrix realignment in process,:: Athena said.
Zack's throat became thick. "Go on and I'll catch up with you."
Hicks narrowed his gaze. "I don't believe you. This isn't the time for heroics. You'll die if you stay behind."
"There's an escape pod right off the bridge. I'll use that," Zack said.
"Major, shuttle is prepped for launch. Efren and Cardaleer are aboard. You need to hurry," Etanu said.
Hicks glanced at the door to the bridge and then turned back to Zack. He pressed his lips together and the skin around his eyes tightened. "Go on without us."
"But, Major—" Etanu began to say.
"Take off. That’s an order. Zack and I will get out using the escape pod. You can swing back and pick us up later," Hicks said.
Zack blew out a breath.
"Understood," Etanu replied. "Good luck."
Zack brought up the status of the Athena's critical systems. The power levels were beyond even what the Boxans thought the Athena was capable of. He kept looking for something that would help. He needed to get the reactor core back to acceptable levels—anything that would take them off this path.
Hicks sat at the workstation next to Zack. "The broadcast signals have increased, and I'm showing that the signals have been duplicated from all the ships in our vicinity," Zack said, and the holoscreens in front of him all went blank.
"What the hell is going on?" Hicks asked.
Zack turned to where Hicks was working and saw that his screens were blank too.
A message appeared from Athena.
::ABANDON SHIP!::
The message appeared multiple times on every screen.
"That's it; we have to go," Hicks said.
He ran back over to Zack and hit the emergency release for the straps holding Zack to the chair.
"There has to be something we can do," Zack said.
"There isn't anything we can do. She's telling us to get off the ship. Now get up," Hicks said and pulled Zack out of the chair.
Zack shoved Hicks away from him, his breath coming in gasps, and he spun around. This wasn't how it was supposed to be. He had to be able to fix this. An idea blazed like wildfire in his mind, and he ran back toward his workstation.
Chapter Twenty-Four
The ECF emissary force emerged from the wormhole to a set of coordinates that put them nearly four billion kilometers from the Confederation capital space station—roughly the distance from Neptune to the sun, Kyle estimated to himself, though he knew there would be some sticklers who would have gleefully chosen to remind him that his estimation was off by over four hundred million kilometers.
"Colonel, we're within five hundred kilometers of our target coordinates," Sergeant Fuller said.
"Acknowledged, and good work, everyone," Kyle said.
Their current position was a marked improvement over their wormhole to Alpha Centauri where they'd missed their target insertion point by almost a hundred thousand kilometers.
"Five hundred is good," Scraanyx confirmed.
"We'll continue to improve," Kyle said, knowing that the Boxans were able to traverse through wormholes with a much greater degree of accuracy.
"Of that, I have no doubt," Scraanyx said.
They'd decided to aim for coordinates well away from the Confederation capital space station. This would give them ample time to scan and dip the proverbial toe in the water before committing to entering the system. The Confederation capital wasn't near the gravity well of a star, so ships could traverse through a wormhole much closer to the space station.
"Tactical, commence scanning the system. I need to have an accurate picture of what's out there," Kyle said.
"Yes, Colonel," Major Stephens said.
The main holoscreen showed their current position in relation to the Confederation space station, and with over four billion kilometers to their intended target, there was plenty of room for other ships. The Lincoln's scanners began detecting so many ship signatures that at first pass he would have thought the ship's cyber warfare suite had developed a glitch.
"Existence of the Confederation Armada has been confirmed," Michael Hunsicker said.
Scraanyx peered at the main holoscreen. "These are Boxan battle groups, and there are Nershal warships here as well," he said, gesturing to multiple groups along the edges.
"My god, we've come here in the middle of a battle," Ambassador Jacques Cartier said.
Kyle had known there was a possibility that the Star Alliance would engage the Confederation Armada, but a battle on this scale was beyond anything he could have anticipated.
"What are your orders, Colonel?" Major Stephens said.
"Perhaps we should consider leaving until the battle is finished," Ambassador Cartier said.
"Don't be ridiculous, Jacques. We're right where we need to be. We're here so the Xiiginns can
't posit their assertions that humanity needs to be liberated from the Boxans. We couldn't have picked a better time to show up," Ambassador Rebecca Sharp said.
Kyle silently applauded Ms. Sharp, the UN Ambassador from the United States. The UN Security Council had debated on how many ambassadors to send along on this mission, and the numbers had ranged from two to about fifteen. Many nations wanted to be represented, but Scraanyx advised that for initial contact with the Confederation, no more than two ambassadors were recommended. This led to a slightly lengthy debate about which two ambassadors would go. The mission ended up with Rebecca Sharp of the United States and Jacques Cartier of France.
"We can't go charging in there, announcing our presence, and hope the fighting will just stop," Ambassador Cartier said.
"Don't worry, Ambassador, we won't. We'll assess the situation first and then proceed," Kyle said. This seemed to mollify the European ambassador. "Tactical," Kyle continued, "we need to start tagging the ships so we know who’s who."
"We could open a comms channel to one of our ships and they could send us the data we need. Would be quicker than waiting on scans," Scraanyx said.
"That's a good idea—"
"Colonel, we're receiving a broadcast signal. Given our proximity to the source, this broadcast is four hours old," Lieutenant Rogers said.
"Let's hear it," Kyle said.
"It's a video message, Colonel," Lieutenant Rogers said.
"Very well," Kyle replied.
A smaller sub-window came to prominence on the main holoscreen, and an image of a Boxan battle leader in power armor appeared.
"I am Battle Leader Salevar of the Boxan Military, and this message is to all Confederation Armada ships. Our war is with the Xiiginns and not the individual species that comprise the Confederation. Our stance has always been to avoid direct conflict with the species of the Confederation because, whether you believe us or not, you are all under the influence of the Xiiginns. This is something we can no longer tolerate. We've come here to prevent the Xiiginns from conquering a newly discovered species. We've gone to great lengths to avoid coming into direct conflict with Confederation species except the Xiiginns, but the creation of this armada has forced our hands. We are sending this message as a warning to you that should any Confederation ship open hostilities against this Alliance fleet, we will respond to aggression in kind. We can no longer avoid coming into direct conflict with you, despite knowing that you are under the Xiiginn influence. The time for change is now. The Xiiginns have assembled this grand armada with the purpose of subjugating a younger species to its will. The real reason for the Xiiginns' interest in this species is that they have the Mardoxian potential. That is the only reason they are interested in going to the Human star system in force. The Xiiginns failed to take the system before and would risk destruction of the entire star system to attain what they desire. We are here to prevent this from happening. We are not alone. Nershals, Gresans, Napox, and factions of many other species have joined the Alliance. We would prefer not to wage war against the Confederation, but the Xiiginns have made this impossible. We have Human representatives with us who can validate our claims, and there is a strong chance that there are more Humans on the way. It is not too late to cease hostilities, and should any of you take back control of your ships from the Xiiginns and express peaceful intent, we will also respond to that in kind."
The prerecorded message ended.
"Colonel, a special encrypted communication protocol for reaching the Alliance is included in the message," Lieutenant Rogers said.
"Understood," Kyle replied and took a few moments to review the message in his mind. He looked at Scraanyx. "Is that true? Your military would only engage Xiiginns and not other Confederation species during your war?"
"That is correct. Once the Xiiginns became aware of our policy for dealing with Confederation species, they made sure to include multiple species as part of their crews and also inserted their own presence on every Confederation species warship," Scraanyx replied.
Kyle glanced around and saw that there were more than a few surprised expressions on the faces of the Lincoln's crew in response to this. The Boxans' conviction to wage war with the Xiiginns and only the Xiiginns seemed an impossible task. They'd almost sacrificed the survivability of their species for their long-held belief that the other Confederation species were merely victims of the Xiiginns. Whenever Kyle thought he understood the Boxans, they'd reveal a deeper level of governance that, though idealistic to be sure, was surprising in a species that seemed obsessed with making tough choices. They had become a rigid society, and the fact that they were willing to cast those practices aside reconfirmed his belief that the Boxans truly had humanity's best interests at heart, but it also showed a fundamental and overdue shift in Boxan war policy. The grace period that had allowed the Confederation species to flourish at the expense of the Boxans was over. If they persisted in hostilities toward the Boxans, they would be treated like any other hostile force, regardless of the circumstances that led to such hostilities.
The whole situation was sad. It reminded Kyle of a war of ideals he'd been born into that had nearly stripped entire nations of their identities because of powerful factions pushing their own agendas. These agendas promoted an entitlement society and nearly seduced an entire generation into despicable acts disguised as righteous rebellion. Malicious labeling attempted to dehumanize all opposing viewpoints until violence was the only acceptable outcome. Kyle's parents had always encouraged respectful and open discourse regardless of what a person believed, and they weren't alone. It had taken humanity years to learn how to conduct themselves in an age where every whimsical thought could be broadcast for the world to see. In essence, humanity had to relearn to apply a filter to their thoughts, but his grandfather had said on more than one occasion that people just had to remember to think before they spoke.
Kyle respected the Boxans, even though he questioned the viability of some of their decisions. He felt honored to be able to fight at their side.
"Colonel, I'm showing a Star Class Eagle shuttle powering up at the aft hangar bay," Captain Young said.
"Send a security team to that location," Kyle said. "Comms, open a link to the deck officer in charge."
"Security teams on their way, Colonel," Captain Young replied.
"No response from the deck officer, Colonel," Lieutenant Rogers said.
"Lock out shuttle controls," Kyle said and returned to the commander's couch.
"Lockout unresponsive. Shuttle has disembarked, Colonel," Captain Young said.
Kyle swore. "Comms, can you open a comlink to the shuttle? Tactical, I want a firing solution for that shuttle, and get the alert strike-fighter squadron deployed."
"No reply to our hails, Colonel," Lieutenant Rogers said.
"Understood. Try a remote override of the shuttle systems," Kyle replied and looked at the shuttle's trajectory on his terminal screen.
"Colonel, alert strike-fighters have been launched. Shuttle is still too close for an effective firing solution," Major Stephens said.
"Understood, Major."
"Remote override has failed, Colonel. There wasn't even a response. Whoever is on that shuttle might have disabled the communication systems," Captain Young said.
The Star Class Eagle shuttle was flying along the length of the ship, and Kyle watched as their strike-fighters raced to catch up.
"Colonel, sensors are detecting a micro-singularity off the port bow of the ship," Captain Young said.
"They're trying to open a wormhole to escape through. Strike-fighters are cleared to engage. Take out that shuttle," Kyle said.
"Yes, Colonel. Strike-fighters, you're cleared to engage," Captain Young said. She put the strike-fighter comms channel on the open speakers.
"Target in sight. Firing weapons," the strike-fighter pilot said.
There were a few moments of silence.
"Hold your fire. Energy spike detected on shuttle. Cherubian drive e
ngaged. COMCENT, if we take out the shuttle with the Cherubian drive engaged, the explosion will significantly damage the forward sections of the Lincoln. Confirm orders," the strike-fighter commander said.
Captain Young looked at Kyle. "Take the shuttle out. Action Stations, set condition one throughout the ship," Kyle said.
His orders were repeated and the klaxon alarms sounded twice, signaling to the Lincoln's crew that condition one had been set.
"Target hit. Damage to shuttle engines confirmed," the strike-fighter pilot said. "Wormhole has been established. Forward escape pod has been launched and has entered the wormhole. Going to pursue the target."
Kyle shook his head. They weren't going to make it. Whoever was on that shuttle had just escaped. A few seconds later the strike-fighter pilot confirmed the same.
"Who was on the shuttle?" Michael Hunsicker asked.
"That's what I intend to find out," Kyle replied.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Mar Arden sat alone in the forward escape pod of the Star Class Eagle shuttle. The Humans had managed to fit a small Cherubian drive onto the shuttle capable of scouting missions, which had been perfect for his use. After his escape from the trap laid by Ed Johnson, Mar Arden had had to move quickly. The clever Human had discovered their secret base and taken it out, along with Hoan Berend and the Xiiginn test subject. Mar Arden had the research data and eventually found a ship with capabilities that had enabled him to infiltrate the Human battleship-carrier.
The outward design elements of the warship spoke to Boxan influence, and his own species was unaware of some of the systems. The fact that the Humans now possessed specific technological advancements that surpassed even Xiiginn warships would soon be rectified. Fitting a Cherubian drive aboard a ship this small was among them.
Mar Arden had stowed himself aboard the Human warship after liberating certain medical devices that he needed to augment and facilitate his own gene therapy. He recalled how much frustration Hoan Berend had expressed that their progress with gene manipulation had been so slow because they were using Human technology. That hadn't been important to Mar Arden because he knew that once they had a workable method in place for augmentation, he’d be able to achieve results much faster using Boxan technology that was already there.