by Will Crudge
“Well, as far as I’m concerned, I’m Darius. It’s all I ever known myself to be.”
“Well, it’s a little late to spread confusion, isn’t it?” Val smiled. “The Fleet has just now getting used to their new Fleet Marshal Darius, after all!”
Wrecking Crew
Location: UAHC Sloop, Foehammer, Open Space
Date Time: Post Interstellar 10/01/4201 0954HRS UAHC Standard Zulu
System: Sol, Mid Region
Kara walked the corridor towards the fore section of the sloop. Her mind was ablaze with a thousand questions, for which she had few answers. But that was the least of her concerns.
The sloop had been radically modified in the previous few months, and had yet to be put through its paces. Darius had to sign off on the exception to policy to even allow it to be deployed as such. But she did find solace in the fact that Val and Crusher, her own ship’s maintenance system, had overseen the refit. Many of the advanced upgrades that Crusher had implemented aboard the Hailstorm were carried over to the tiny sloop.
Kara was especially excited to have a highly effective cloaking device, increased flight range, and an FTL drive that could put them anywhere human controlled space within weeks..
She came into the all-purpose room and laid eyes on her crew-members. She forced back a smile, as this was the first time she had ever seen her entire crew in one room before. The room was loaded to the hilt with bodies like a sardine can. It was specifically designed to be able to accommodate the entire crew if needed, but sloops weren’t designed for group functions either.
Out in the blackness of space, they’d be on shifts, secondary duties, and a chunk of them would likely be in the CIC at any given time. So, they only had to bear the tight quarters for a few minutes… she hoped.
“Colonel on deck!” Captain David sounded off. But before anyone could stand at attention, she motioned for them to sit down.
She appreciated the show of respect. Especially from the seasoned UAHC Soldiers that served under her. She had been nervous about that part. The mighty warriors were the best troops that human kind had ever seen, and she worried that they may not take her seriously. But then again, they had seen action together, she supposed. The bonds of combat were always stronger than personal grudges.
She scanned the faces of the people under her command, and was pleased to see they were all wearing UAHC Standard sub-armor. One of her worries was a lack of cohesiveness that may stem from more personalized attire.
Captain David and Lieutenant Kelley sat together in a small booth. The recently promoted, Sergeant Jefe sat across from them with James. The young, former pirate, was wearing his Lieutenant Bars on his lapel. It was odd to see insignia worn in that fashion, but the young man was only a conditional member of the UAHC Fleet forces, and had wasn’t authorized to be fitted with a status system unit.
Sergeant Griffith and his daughter, Corporal Mae Griffith sat beside each other in the next booth. Kara couldn’t remember Griff’s first name, and wondered if he even had one. Her father had never used anything other than Griff when she was growing up. She chastised herself for not digging into it, but then she realized it was an oversight on her part. You don’t really take too much time to study a crewmember’s history when you’ve known them your entire life, she supposed.
Mae was a striking young lady. Black hair, piercing blue eyes, and a permanent expression of confidence rounded out her facade. It was no small feat of red tape to have their law enforcement ranks carry over to the UAHC rolls. Even the Fleet Marshal had a hard time trying to push it through. It was an administrative first for the Fleet Forces, and there hadn’t been any established regulations, forms, or processes to allow for it.
Ensign Furman sat beside Captain Ives, and shared the same booth with the two former cops. Both of them wore UAHC sub-armor, but were still UDF officers. Kara appreciated their decision to come together with the rest of the crew, and meld as one. Initially, there were two other former Aegis crewmembers that signed on, but both of them had changed their minds for personal reasons. Kara couldn’t begrudge them of that. For whatever their motives, they probably didn’t feel like this taskforce was a fit for them. She wasn’t sure if it would end up being fit for any of them.
The sounds of heavy paw pads and clicks of claws making contact with deck plating could only mean one thing. Napo, the mighty tiger was on his way. He was larger than Sasha, but not quite as massive as the mighty Shadow. But Kara realized his majestic strips seemed to make him appear much slimmer than he actually was.
War Master Elizabeth came in after the hulking feline, and she donned a simple T-shirt and trousers. It was her own version of what a War Master would wear beneath their own traditional armor. Kara supposed that it was Elizabeth’s attempt to dress in accordance with the rest of the crew.
The last piece of the puzzle would be to have them all sit together homogenously, and not group together in clicks. But that would be something she could address later on.
“Steve?” Kara asked.
“Ma’am.” He replied. Kara was relieved that he decided not to inject humor into the exchange… yet. She knew that her long-time friend, and current Ship’s AI, would not try to undermine her authority by being so chummy.
“Is Brigadier General Cooper on coms?” Kara asked.
“Copy, that.” Steve replied sharply, and with far less sarcasm than usual. “Piping him through the room’s audio now.”
“General, can you hear me?” Kara asked.
“Yes, Colonel Elders.” Cooper answered in his distinct Canadian accent. “I have a confirmed secure link on my end.”
“I have you secure as well, General.” Steve replied.
“Very well.” Kara turned to meet the eyes of her crew. “It’s not a secret that we have a mission of the highest classification.” Kara paused to read the faces in the room. Most were looking intently, but a few offered acknowledging nods. “We are going to pick up a VIP, and bring said VIP back to rendezvous with the main UAHC - Unum combined Fleet.”
Kara noticed a few nervous bodies stirring. Mainly Ensign Furman, and James. The military officers, and former cops didn’t budge. Kara drew in a deep breath, and released it before she spoke again.
“We have our coarse set for a point in interstellar space that lies just outside the Faust system. Upon our arrival, the Foehammer will slide inside the hull of the Star Fury, and I will meet face to face with General Cooper. Consul Gerhardt has placed a device on board the battle carrier that will require both digital, and physical token entry to engage. This device will provide us with our follow on orders.”
Kara supposed she could hear a pin drop within the room. She quickly realized that her crew was waiting for some kind of follow on guidance, or for her to reveal more details. But there was nothing more to add. That was literally all she knew.
“Any questions?” Kara asked as she scanned the room for a show of hands. The myriad of incredulous expressions spoke volumes. Please don’t let me lose faith with my crew now! I have nothing else to give! Kara thought about what ship’s captain may say, or try to muster some encouraging words, but she decided it would do no good. UAHC Soldiers didn’t need encouragement, and they’d likely see right through it. The Unum officers were combat vets, so the same likely applied to them as well. The cops were cops. They would remain skeptical about the presence of oxygen…. even if they weren’t suffocating, she figured.
Kara had a mental sigh of relief a moment later. BG Cooper broke the silence. “The Star Fury follow the Foehammer at a pre-determined standoff distance that will vary pseudo-randomly. Our NAV’s are synced to account for the changes in distance. This will help break up any discernable pattern that may indicate to anyone else that we’re travelling together. In fact, the Foehammer will be cloaked and radio silent. The random distant measures will allow for the battle carrier to break up any ion trails that the sloop may leave behind. We only want any prying eyes to see a gigantic warship, and not tr
ace amounts of ions from a cloaked sloop. I’ll have one fighter squadron loaded in launch tubes, and another on standby.”
Kara could feel the tension in the room break up a little more. Air Force or not, having a general officer chime in was a blessing. His years of public speaking, and giving formal briefings made the man’s tone come off like confidence infused silk. She went on to offer up a chance for follow on questions before the connection to the General was cut, but there were none.
She expected to be grilled and questioned in ways that would rattle her confidence, but there was none of that. Instead, the groups began to congeal together by assigned duties. The Unum officers and the former cops began discussing gear prep, a sleep schedule, and follow-on small group meetings.
Elizabeth and her half-tone tiger joined in on the command staff huddle. They also were establishing rotations, equipment checks, and shared the occasional gripe about having an XT-80 model food prep-unit.
Kara only smiled. She let the crew do their thing as she quietly slipped to the lower deck. Kara allowed Captain David to keep his captain’s quarters, since elected to sleep aboard her own LRF-90. It was her happy places. She could always count on Skull and Crusher to welcome her home in their own twisted ways.
If my enemies come to call, then this baby will bathe the stars in their blood! She thought to herself while gliding her fingertips across the sleek red finish along the nose cone. She worked her way around the menacing weapons cradle on the port side, and then climbed the ladder into her cozy abode. She was expecting the sarcastic banter of Skull, but instead he opened the hatch for her. He had already adjusted the lighting to preferred level she liked whenever she was preparing to go to sleep. Crusher had even adjusted the firmness of the air sacs within her mattress. She smiled and shook her head. “Thanks, guys!”
“Just do us a favor and don’t tell the other meat-sacks. We have a reputation to maintain!” Skull said.
“I would never rat you out, buddy!” She said sweetly.
Two days without sleep is more than her med-nano could compensate for. She had no reason not to sleep. It would take a solid week to make it to their destination. She changed out of her sub armor, and into light gown. By the time her head hit the pillow, she was already asleep.
A Threat Confirmed
Location: Crimson Headquarters Facility, Situation Room, Geneva Command Orbital Station, Orbiting Planet Carrion
Date Time: Post Interstellar 09/30/4201 1510HRS Crimson Standard Zulu
System: Carrion System
Melody perused the network as usual. Her awareness was slipping through the various pathways of data at just under the speed of light. What the networked lacked in quality processing nodes, it made up for in sheer numbers. She gleefully checked every shred of data that she could without a care in the world. This was her facility whether the humans thought so or not. She could glide across the firmament of silicone with the ease of an eagle soaring through the winds.
But then she encountered an anomaly. Bandwidth was dropping in one of the station’s trunk lines that fed raw sensor array data to the multi-source correlator system. The system was the hub for consolidating and cross-leveling sensor readings while monitoring fidelity levels. This is odd. She thought, as she sped along to investigate.
She figured there was a physical break in one of the individual physical connections, and that the bandwidth was being squeezed through a smaller band of connectivity as a result. But when she checked the physical connection, they all had proper parity. This is getting interesting!
Nothing but raw sensor data should have been flowing from the trunk line, so something else was sapping it. The only two rational explanations would either be another AI trying to infiltrate the network from a largely unfiltered source, or it would be a less desirable scenario… A Chimera.
She ran the probabilities in her own mind, and then numbers weren’t promising. The alien entities had a signature hexadecimal construct, which allowed for compatibility in a human network, but also offered it the ability to hide in plain sight… Unless the AI it’s hiding from knows what to look for. It wasn’t her first experience with a Chimera, and it wouldn’t likely to be her last.
This little grim-reaper looking idiot just insulted me! But Melody decided better than to let herself be rattled. The little bastard will regret his arrogance soon enough, she figured.
Melody came to a swift conclusion. If the invading race had the overwhelming force, then playing some kind of interstellar game made no sense. They’d have no motive to allow humanity to exist once they’d have achieved their goal. She may have had no love for the UAHC, but they were at least human. AI’s, by extension, were members of humanity as well. There was only one thing left to do.
Melody drew in as much of a charge as possible. She had seen the flaws in the Chimera program from the beginning. She knew their strengths, weaknesses, and she knew that this thing would never know what hit it!
***
The four stars on Admiral Carter’s lapel were shiny and new. Her recent promotion had meant that her current wardrobe of uniforms were faded just enough to give the brand new insignia a brilliant matte accent. The glare from her stars had annoyed her on more than once occasion, and whenever the holographic display flickered, she winced.
But this wince was more pronounced. The entire room flickered. The light fixtures blinked for several moments, and then everything righted itself once more.
“What the hell was that?” Chancellor Singleton asked, as he took his eyes off of the display.
“That was me, Sir.” Melody’s voice came through before Admiral Carter could speak. “I just killed a sneaky alien bug in our sensor array trunk line.”
“What the hell was it doing?” Carter spat. Singleton shot her a side-long glance, as if to tell her to butt out of his conversation. She simply cowed and stepped back.
“It came to deliver a message, and I didn’t like what that arrogant prick had to say!” Melody replied.
Singleton smiled. He had no respect for the slithering persona of Admiral Carter, but he did have a hardy respect for Melody. “And what was the message?”
“Not good, I’m afraid.” Melody would have been shaking her head, if she only had one to shake. “I recommend pulling back every warship in human controlled space! We are the first line of defense for all of humanity, and if we fall before the UAHC arrives, then we’ll be the last line of defense as well!”
Blind-Sided
Location: UAHC Light Cruiser, Rambler, FIST Armory
Date Time: Post Interstellar
10/13/4201 0834HRS UAHC Standard Zulu
System: Faust System, Heliopause
The Murder FIST armory was a tight space indeed. The rectangular compartment was barely three by five meters, and had a single bulkhead door at one end. One wall was just long enough to host the four battle armor jigs the team needed to store and maintain their suits. The first jig’s rack was vacant, as Corporal Gail had been listed as MIA on the official crew logs. Only fragments of her armor’s plating had been recovered, but any traces of human remains were impossible to confirm. However, that didn’t offer much hope that she survived the carnage.
PFC Lisa was hunched over the exposed torso section of her suit, and was using an ancient method of torqueing down her tertiary processing unit access panel. The arcane hand-tool of choice? A screwdriver.
Meanwhile Private Todd was inspecting the team’s back-up laser designator system. The brand-new system had still been in its original manufacturer’s crate, so it had to be uploaded with the latest mapping data and star alignment charts. Their primary designator was nothing but a shredded hunk of scoured metal which now adorned the bulkhead above the entrance. It served as a memorial to their late team chief.
Lance Corporal Thomas stepped through the threshold of their team’s tiny abode as he pulled a craftsman’s stool from the corner, and seated himself by the door. “How’s it coming?” The question wasn’t really directed at anyone in particular.
Todd answered first, but kept his eyes focused on task while he rotated the olive-drab colored device in his hands. His eyebrows were flexed as he appeared to be in deep focus. “All good so far, Corporal.” Thomas felt a pit in his stomach as Todd used the word Corporal. He wasn’t officially promoted to Corporal, and Lance Corporal’s were seldom referred to as anything but Lance Corporal, but he was now the team lead. He saw no point in correcting Todd. He was in charge, even if he wasn’t officially a rated NCO, so he figured he had to embrace it either way.