Rooke steps back as he shakes his head, asking, “Cale how do you know so much about the future?”
Elise scowls at Caleb in disgust and storms off the Bridge as Caleb looks back to Rooke, saying, “That’s a story for another time but for now I need you to head us in pursuit of the Demon Queen.”
Down in the engine room, Syn moves across the engine room systems at breakneck speeds as he quickly makes the necessary adjustments to Paladin.
Paladin, who is watching Syn closely asks, “Syn why are you moving the secondary couplers from the main energy diverter, by doing this you create an unnecessary risk to the engines.”
Syn remains focused, answering, “I have full access to the engineering specs on this ship and you have never needed to divert power using the secondaries ever Paladin. Therefore, they can be used for something far more important.
Paladin, studying Syn’s action continues his questioning, “What do you intend on using the secondaries for then?”
Syn, remaining focused on his tasks abruptly replies, “I need those couplers to augment power distribution to the shift drive.”
Paladin ponders Syn’s actions for a few more minutes, watching him as he works. Finally asking, “Is your intent to help us or to use us to until a better opportunity arrives?”
Syn stops as he looks up at the com that Paladin uses to speak from, answering, “I do not know of any better opportunities as of yet Paladin but should one become available in achieving my goals it would only make sense that I take advantage of it.”
Paladin considers Syn’s statement and decides to test how much the Phace’mal is affecting him. Paladin creates an image of Marianne directly in front of Syn, pausing to allow Syn a chance to observe and study the image.
Syn stares at it, finally stating, “This child has similar facial features that would show a family connection to my Father as well as Caleb.”
Paladin responds, “Your Father in this time line, Abraham Jackson married Carla Ocoda some time ago and she then gave birth to two children. The one you see before you is just one of their descendant.
Syn becomes silent as it stares deep and long into the image. Clearly confused by the holopicture Syn stares aimlessly at the image.
Paladin continues, “You may seek better opportunities into your own survival but your Father sacrificed himself to ensure you survived just as Caleb has sacrificed his entire life to ensure that the future you came from never comes to light. What choices you make. What paths you walk on will have a profound impact on this new time line and you can choose to truly help this future grow or just help yourself.”
Syn continues staring at Marianne in utter amazement, finally asking, “This is the future as it should be.” Syn painfully looks at his synthetic hands and body in contemplation of what he is, finally returning its attention back to the holoimage of Marianne as he wonders if he truly belongs here. Syn feels the Phace’mal within him, reaching out as the being within his synthetic body senses the family connection within Syn.
Syn stands up straight as he turns away from the holoimage and heads back to shift drive, trying its best to contain his emotion.
Paladin however notices Syn’s emotional response and reports back to Caleb telepathically, “Cale I have been monitoring Syn, testing his emotional response level and have been able to determine that the Phace’mal is most unquestionably affecting him. Cale, I believe we have an opportunity here as he was able to learn about our Phace’mal with his connection with his Phace’mal, perhaps we can do the same.”
Caleb leans forward in his command chair, standing he says to Rooke, “Michael you have the Bridge, I am going for a walk.”
Caleb walks through the decks of Paladin, observing his new-found crew as he slowly turns a corner where no one can see him. Caleb hastily shifts away down to the cargo bay where he has hidden the Phace’mal. He once more approaches the largest of the Phace’mal, placing his hand on it, making psychic contact. Caleb immediately senses the pain they felt from his earlier shifts and lowers his head in shame. The Phace’mal, sensing Caleb’s guilt instantly reassure him that this is a sacrifice of their own choosing and one that they are committed to take to save their people. Their link also provides Caleb with the answers he is seeking. The Phace’mal from the future time line is indeed affecting Syn as this Phace’mal is amplifying his emotional response to every different situation. Especially since the declaration of the children of Abraham and Carla from this time line. Caleb learns that this has had a profound impact on Syn as he is unable to comprehend his place in this time line, knowing that it has changed so much.
Caleb stands slowly, disconnecting his mind from the Phace’mal and lowering his head in respect to the Phace’mal, shifting back to Bridge.
Rooke turns towards Caleb, surprised at his hasty return, stating, “Well I always thought walking involved using one’s legs and feet, not shifting cloaks.”
Caleb chuckles briefly, stating, “Michael you had asked earlier about getting home and I was a less than forthcoming about that and I’m sorry, so allow me the opportunity to correct that now. Paladin has placed forty-six gateways between here and home. I have them hidden and only Paladin knows where they are. Now, with that finally out in the open I see by our course that the Demon Queen is traveling on is parallel with path of our gateways. I have calculated that if we try and use one of our gateways we can intercept the Demon Queens fleet within a week instead of a few months.”
Rooke’s mouth drops as he stands speechless. Finally, he asks, “And the reason you decided to share this information now is why?”
Caleb takes in a deep breath, releasing it slowly before answering, “I was concerned that the Demon Queen would discover these gateways and try and use them to get back to our galaxy. That concern became greatly amplified once Syn appeared but I’ve since decided that I don’t have time to waste on whom I can trust and whom I can’t. The gateway is about four months away and was the last one in the chain, which coincidently places it right where we need to go.”
Rooke pauses, standing confused before asking, “So I’m guessing that means you have another gateway onboard to allow us to get there.”
Paladin responds, “The gateway I have onboard was originally planned to be used as a weapon to trap the Skull station in a gravitational pull of this galaxies galactic core, a super massive black hole. Unfortunately, that will no be an option once I tap this gateway into this gateways system net.”
Rooke asks, “Well can’t you just take the gateway we arrive through and use that as your weapon once we arrive.”
Caleb smiles briefly stating, “We’ll two problems with that. The first is that we are more than a few billion light years away from home Michael and each gateway is about ten years apart, so to answer your question, sure I can do that but we add ten years onto our journey. Second, the gateway I have onboard was heavily modified to withstand the gravitational effects of the black hole, so using anything else wont work.”
Rooke shakes his head, understanding what Caleb has just said, stating, “Okay, so that’s out the window.”
Paladin asks Caleb telepathically, “Cale, I understand that you are less concerned with the threat of Syn but he still could easily betray us. Are you sure this is a wise course of action, exposing this to the crew?”
Caleb responds, “I’ve considered my options and like none of them, so I went with my gut in the hopes I make the right call.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
BUILDING BLOCKS
Several hours later Syn appears on the Bridge after being requested there by Caleb. He enters and sees that a gateway is directly in front of Paladin. Syn unimpressed turns to Caleb and says, “I had already calculated that you must have built a gateway bridge system to accelerate your trip home. I can also see this gateway is reinforced to withstand extreme gravitational stress so I’m assuming this gateway was originally designed to tie into one of the T-Challa gateway traps.” Syn suddenly gives pause as he reflects
. He quickly looks to Caleb in confusion and asks, “Does this revelation mean that the great Caleb is beginning to trust me now?”
Caleb grumbles ever so slightly, replying, “Trust is something earned Syn, this can be a beginning of earning that trust or the end. That is a choice that is up to you.”
Syn stares at Caleb as he tries to understand what he is doing. After a moment passes he asks, “The reason you have asked me to come to the Bridge?”
Caleb allows Paladin to speak in his stead as Paladin asks, “We will be passing through the gateway and well within long-range scanner range of where we estimate the Demon Queens fleet to be, do you believe they will detect the gateway energy?”
Syn calculates the probabilities within a second, responding, “They would have no reason to be scanning behind them with such diligence as nothing within this sector posses a significant threat, so the probability is extremely low, less than two percent. Nonetheless, the Demon Queen may eventually gain access to her psychic powers and we will be outside the effected area of the psionic super bomb you detonated upon your arrival.”
Caleb finally speaks, stating, “The more reason that I have chosen to start my attack now. If I wait any longer than I lose any chance of surprising them.”
Syn walks out towards the front of the Bridge as he looks out the main portal and over the massive heavy cannons of Paladin, stating, “You are out gunned a hundred guns to one. If you will allow me I will continue to help you.”
Caleb asks, “Have you completed the modifications to the shift drive?”
Syn still focused on the Heavy cannons of Paladin replies, “I finished the modifications two hours ago and have since began streamlining the recharge rate of your shield generators. Nevertheless, that can wait for now as I see the need to build up the structural strength of Paladin’s overall mass.”
Caleb looks at Syn perplexed asking, “And for what purpose?
Syn replies, “As I stated earlier your intent is to go headlong into battle against a force that out guns you a hundred to one. Since we cannot match them in the number of guns we will need to augment the guns you currently have to do more damage and the only way to do that is to increase the over all mass of Paladin.”
Caleb shakes his head, asking, “Just where do you plan on finding the material to use to build up Paladin’s mass?”
Syn who finally turns towards Caleb grins, stating, “Don’t worry Caleb you won’t feel a thing. I have a plan which I am working on as we speak but it will involve your complete trust in me.”
Caleb exhales heavily as shakes his head in frustration, stating, “Very well Syn get to work on your plan.”
Caleb turns to Rooke, saying, “Michael cloak the ship and take us through the gateway.”
Paladin cloaks as the mighty ship enters the gateway and appears on the other side.
Paladin immediately announces, “Cale I’ve detected their fleet and they are two weeks ahead of us, moving at a much slower speed than we originally anticipated. I’m able to scan seven Super Carriers but not the Demon Queen’s vessel. It is possible she is cloaked and hiding nearby her fleet or has moved beyond our sensor range.”
Syn, who has yet to leave the Bridge states, “She could have gone ahead to get to the gravitational area of this galaxy. My Father would have calculated the percentage of a worm hole occurring that would take them back to our galaxy.”
Caleb asks Paladin aloud, “Can we scan this gravitational area Pal?”
Paladin replies, “I can detect the energy of the worm holes but nothing else. I’m sorry Cale but it is still a few months ahead of us.”
Syn grunts, saying, “I’ll do what I can to improve your scanners after I finish working on a plan to build up Paladin’s overall mass.”
Caleb, becoming annoyed states, “Paladin has more than advanced the technology we took from you in the previous time line with over two thousand years of further development. I truly doubt you can really do so much more than we have already done.”
Syn shakes his head, stating, “You believe that you had access to all my Fathers secretes when in fact he was able to hide many of his advancements from you when Paladin and you took over Skull.”
Syn suddenly stops and looks at Caleb and grins, stating, “A tactical error or another test Caleb. You have just exposed a fact to me that you have had over two thousand years to prepare for the Demon Queens arrival.”
Caleb stares down at Syn with a scowl.
Syn chuckles, “Knowing the man that you are or at least were it is highly unlikely that you would have created additional humans with X’ena knowledge like my Father. In fact, Caleb, knowing your personality as I was programmed with in depth knowledge of it is more than likely that you hide most if not all futuristic technology from the humans to prevent its misuse.”
Paladin speaks, “I had access to all of Noskcaj files while in control of Skull.”
Syn snickers, stating, “Arrogance is unbecoming in you Paladin. My Father could hide my existence from the Demon Queen who could properly handle the energy that you and Caleb struggled so much to control for mere minutes. You foolishly believe that my Father, a being that prepared for your arrival for the better part of three thousand years would not have arranged for you to scan his data systems. Granted, I know he was unprepared for the way in which you did take control. Nevertheless, he was able to hide most his achievements from everyone, save me.”
Caleb now concerned asks, “And would Ronin and the Demon Queen now have access to those same data files?”
Syn quickly becomes solemn, answering, “It is very real possibility that they do. I have no way of knowing how much information my Father was able to destroy before finally succumbing to Ronin.”
Paladin announces, “Ronin would have been altered when it absorbed Noskcaj within its system. The Ronin that the Demon Queen possessed would have drastically changed by absorbing a being such as Noskcaj. This could be to our benefit.”
Rooke, who is still studying the fleet asks, “Do you think you can call in some reinforcements Caleb. We really don’t have a chance against so many ships.”
Caleb exhales heavily, replying, “All I’d be doing is bringing more ships for her to eventually use against me. Paladin is naturally shielded against the Meli’s psychic power.”
Rooke confused asks, “Yes but didn’t you say earlier she doesn’t have access to her psionic power?”
Paladin responds, “A temporary situation at best Michael and one she will eventually correct.”
Syn studies the ships for a moment, finally stating, “We need to get your ships mass up to size to handle the larger guns needed. With the added power of the Phace’mal you have onboard you can only use the main Heavy cannons a few times before they become overheated and useless.”
Caleb, looking perplexed asks, “I really don’t see how that’s an option Syn, even if you could figure a way to increase our mass there really isn’t any Ferrous anatanium magnetic alloy available.”
Syn scoffs, asking, “Is your intent to go in guns blazing, using those anti-matter nuclear torpedoes you have in your armory? Your main attack plan is now gone Caleb. Your gateway trap can no longer be used. Let’s face facts Caleb, you need to have a backup plan or as you and your original crew so loved to call it a “plan B” … Now allow me to give you one.”
Caleb puzzled asks, “Okay Syn I’ve had enough of this double talk. Now answer my question and stop dancing around the answer as you have done so every time I’ve asked. Jut how are you planning on adding more mass to Paladin and how is that a backup plan?”
Syn responds, “I know everything there is to know about Ferrous anatanium magnetic alloy, including making this ship bigger and stronger and we will need all the strength we can muster to face the threat before us.”
Caleb stares at Syn impatiently for a moment and says, “Okay show me what you’re planning now.”
Syn moves over to the C.i.C holoscreen and pulls up the seven Super Carriers
focusing on the two in the rear, stating, “We will need to bring these two out of hyperspace without exposing ourselves. Once that is done I’ll board one of them and tap into its weapons systems, forcing the ships automated systems to attack the other Super Carrier. The result should be the destruction of both vessels as its automated defense systems will retaliate. This will leave us with more than enough the Fama we need.”
Rooke quickly turns, asking, “Fama?”
Paladin responds, “An acronym for the Ferrous anatanium magnetic alloy, which is what this and all X’ena/ human ships are made of.”
Rooke huffs, declaring, “Well I know what the ships are made of, just never heard it called Fama before.”
Caleb looks over at the two ships and asks, “Even if you can get aboard just how do you plan on masking our presence?”
Syn grins stating, “I am the embodiment of my Father, my creator, my plan is very simple. I will jack into the Super Carrier’s primary systems and appear to be a rogue program left behind by my Father to attack the forces of the Demon Queen.”
Caleb rolls his eyes in annoyance, stating, “Okay let’s just say you succeed in getting them to drop out of hyperspace and you successfully infiltrate one of their vessels, just how do you know the rest of your plan will succeed. I really don’t see why Ronin wouldn’t be prepared to block something like this. Not to mention killing all those people on board those two ships, that isn’t really a first choice for me either.”
Syn looks to Caleb and states, “My plan will succeed Caleb and as for the people onboard those vessels their minds are completely under the control of Ronin who in turn is controlled by the Demon Queen. The people you hope to protect are for all intense and purpose already dead. They are simply drones under Ronin’s control.”
Enemy Myself Page 13