by Don Viecelli
“Very well. Tell them to enter the coordinates for Yoykan to get us home.”
Cadora walked to the Qumru officers sitting at the control station and told them what to do and watched them enter the space coordinates for Yoykan.
Rahta surveyed the Bridge that overlooked the rest of the Command Center one level below him. The large curved windows on the dome were open and he could see the stars glowing in the distance unlike his view from the Yoykan Malee Ta and other Yoyka warships. He liked the design of this spaceship. “How long will it take us to reach Yoykan?” he asked.
Before Anahta could question Utor, Shonya, the AI, responded in the Yoyka language. “The trip to Yoykan will take thirty hours at the highest FTL speed in hyperspace.”
The Yoyka on the Bridge were surprised by the answer and by the AI’s voice. “What is this?” Rahta asked.
First Officer Cadora took the liberty to answer. “The Solruku has its own artificial intelligence entity, Imperial Leader; much more advanced than our own AI systems. It is sentient like the Holtu androids according to these Qumru, but it will not interfere with any of our commands since we control the ship.”
“It knows our language.” Rahta said.
“Yes, it learns very quickly. You can ask it anything and it will respond.”
“So this spaceship is equipped with the newest FTL hyperdrive we detected in the Holtu warships.”
“Yes, Imperial Leader. That is one of the reasons we are here,” Anahta said. “We will be home long before the rest of our fleet arrives. It will give us time to prepare the next Holtu attack.”
Rahta considered his response before speaking. “The Holtu star system is too heavily defended. We must upgrade our FTL hyperdrive systems first. And we must learn how to build the new light speed kinetic energy missile weapon used against our fleet. Then I will decide who we attack next.”
“Yes, Imperial Leader.” Anahta bowed in obedience.
“Is it true, AI, that you have the Onutu technology aboard this ship?” Rahta asked Shonya.
“Yes, we have Onutu regeneration chambers and mind transfer quantum link computer bays aboard the Solruku. Do you wish to see them?”
“At once!”
“I can show you and High Commander Anahta where they are located if you wish,” Cadora offered.
“Take me to them.” Rahta looked pleased in spite of the current situation.
Anahta ordered his officers to remain on the Bridge to make sure the Solruku was headed home and to learn how to operate this ship from the Qumru. He did not trust Utor and his crew even though they were under the complete control of the nanomachines.
Cadora led the emperor, Anahta and two other soldiers from the Bridge down to Level 12 where the Onutu equipment was located. He had one other surprise for his leaders, but first he showed them the quantum computer bay room.
“This is where the Qumru store their consciousness or minds when they die or need to be transferred to a new body. I did not know this technology existed before boarding this spaceship.”
Rahta looked at Cadora and knew this could be a problem if word leaked out to others. “This is knowledge known only to a few other Yoyka commanders. You and your soldiers must never speak a word of this to others or you will all be put to the death. Am I clear, First Officer Cadora?”
Cadora tried not to show any fear, but the threat was very real. “Yes, Imperial Leader.”
“The Qumru race has developed superior technology to defeat death and live forever. This technology will make our race invincible in the galaxy. No other race must have possession of Onutu.”
“What about the Holtu androids?” Cadora asked knowing how they were created.
“They must be destroyed at all costs. Only limited AI capabilities must be allowed to serve us. Now tell me, ship AI, are there any Qumru minds still in these quantum computers bays?”
Shonya said, “All quantum computer bays are empty waiting to be uploaded after the space battle on Holtu.”
Rahta laughed. “That will not happen now, AI.” He turned to Cadora. “Take me to the regeneration chambers.”
Cadora led the group out of the computer room and down a narrow hallway to the medical section where the regeneration chambers were located. “My troops have already inspected all the chambers. There are 16 chambers with Qumru bodies in them. They may be infected. The other chambers are empty.”
“Good, then we have time to test the capabilities of Onutu on our way home. We will need volunteers from your assault troops, First Officer Cadora.”
Cadora realized at once what that meant. One or more of his troops would have to die to become test subjects. Even he was shocked at this request. He quickly thought of an alternative. “We have Qumru prisoners on board we could test first, Imperial Leader. They have all been put in isolation rooms in case of infection.”
Rahta looked at Anahta and both thought that was a good suggestion. “Do we have any Qumru who know how to use the Onutu?” he asked Cadora.
“Yes, Imperial Leader. Let me take you to him.”
Cadora led the group to another part of the medical deck. In a separate room enclosed by glass walls stood a single Qumru. Cadora pointed to him. “His name is Tumil. He says he is an important Qumru scientist. I have him isolated as well. I am sure he is infected with the anti-nanomachine solution used on Qum. He says he is one of the inventors of the solution.”
Rahta looked at the Qumru through the glass partition. “Can you understand me?”
Tumil nodded his head yes.
“I want to learn everything there is about your Onutu technology. Will you show us?”
Tumil looked Rahta in the eye and said, “No!”
Chapter 54
USS Illinois
Admiral Jason Weston watched with satisfaction as the Yoykan Malee Ta exploded into a million fragments from his last salvo of nuclear missiles fired at the warship. He hoped the explosion finally rid the universe of Emperor Rahta. The rest of Rahta’s fleet of warships, what ships remained, was fleeing out of the Holtu solar system as fast as they could.
“The Yoyka imperial dreadnaught has been destroyed, Admiral!” one of the systems officers reported on the Bridge.
Doug verified the destruction and checked to see if any survivors made it out before the warship exploded. He saw several escape pods leave the ship. “There are survivors, Admiral. Should we pursue or destroy?”
Admiral Weston wrestled with his conscious. He almost gave the order to destroy every enemy survivor he saw on his monitor. He withheld the order. “Send out rescue shuttles. Maybe we will get lucky and find Rahta in one of the escape pods.”
“Very well, Admiral.” Doug issued the orders to his rescue teams waiting in the hangar bay. There were Holtu, Qumru and human survivors waiting to be rescued from the battle as well. It was time to save everyone they could; even the enemy.
A few moments later, the systems officer reported, “One of the escape pods from the Yoykan Malee Ta is headed for deep space, Admiral.”
“What’s there?” Jason asked.
“There appears to be a spaceship in the vicinity. I’m checking ID beacons now. It’s not a Yoyka warship, Admiral. It appears to be a Holtu spaceship. It’s the Solruku, Admiral.”
“Solruku? What’s it doing out there?” Doug interrupted. He checked his records. The Solruku was supposed to be docked at the space platform orbiting Holtu. Perhaps the crew decided to leave Holtu during the space battle to protect the starship.”
“Contact the Solruku, XO. See what it’s doing out there. The space battle is over. They should return to dock.”
Doug put out a call to the Solruku. No response. He checked his communication channel. The equipment was operating fine. “They’re not responding to our calls, Admiral. Something is wrong.”
“Change course, XO. Let’s try to intercept before it enters hyperspace.”
Doug issued the order to the navigation officer who entered new space coordinates. T
he engines fired and they began to pick up speed.
Doug brought up the Holtu space platform on his viewscreen. It was just a docking platform for civilian spaceship with no military significance. He was about to turn off the viewscreen when he noticed something unusual. There was damage to several structures around the dock where the Solruku was supposed to be.”
“It looks like the Yoyka landed an assault team on the space platform during the battle, Admiral. I think they wanted to capture the Solruku.”
“Why would they want to do that?” Jason asked, mostly to himself. Then it occurred to him and Doug at the same time. “The Solruku has Onutu technology on board, doesn’t it?”
“Yes!” Doug answered. “It was also upgraded with the new FTL hyperdrive system! Somehow Rahta must have found out and decided to take the ship. We need to try and stop him!”
The escape pod from the Yoykan Malee Ta had a big head start. It wasn’t as fast as a Spitka fighter, but it was fast enough to put a lot of distance between itself and its pursuers. It made it to the Solruku in a matter of minutes and disappeared inside.
“The Solruku is firing its ZPE hyperdrive engines, Admiral. It’s trying to get to light speed,” Doug said.
There was no time to consider other options. Admiral Weston made a snap decision. “Fire KEM missiles now. We must destroy that ship before it enters hyperspace!”
Doug gave the orders to its weapons officer, but he knew it was already too late. By the time the KEM missiles reached light speed, the Solruku would be gone. A few moments later, the Solruku entered hyperspace and disappeared off their scanners. The KEM missiles had to be destroyed.
This was bad news. Everyone on the Bridge knew by now what had just happened. The latest Holtu technology had fallen into the Yoyka hands. It would make the war with the Yoyka even more difficult to win in the future.
Admiral Weston ordered the USS Illinois back towards Holtu. He put a call through to Vice Leader Di. Di answered on the comlink almost immediately.
Jason explained what just happened to the Solruku. Di was silent for a moment. “I just received a call from First Chair Brendu and First Chair Cleota. They congratulated us on our victory over the Yoyka. However, they too informed me the Solruku has been taken by the Yoyka. They demanded I send the self-destruct code to destroy the ship, but it did not work. I believe the crew or AI aboard the Solruku deactivated the code. They have escaped and are most likely returning to Yoykan space. First Chair Cleota also informed me that Tumil was aboard the Solruku and most likely captured alive as well. This does not bode well for our cause.
“As soon as we pick up all survivors from this space battle, meet me on Holtu for a meeting with the First Chairs. We must discuss how to handle this problem.”
The news about Tumil was unsettling, especially to Doug. Jason had one more question. “How is First Leader Altek? Did he survive?”
“First Leader Altek and most of his crew aboard the Iconda were killed during the battle. Their bodies will be regenerated as soon as we can get to the Onutu chambers back on Holtu. Most of the Holtu affected by the electromagnetic pulse attack are still unconscious. We are attempting to revive them manually. It will take some time. The Yoyka developed a new weapon that hurt us where we were most vulnerable. You humans made a big difference in our victory. I will report this fact to the First Chairs at our meeting.”
Di ended the call. Jason looked at Doug. “It appears we proved our worth to the Holtu in this battle, XO. Let’s do what we can to find survivors and get ready for our meeting with the First Chairs.”
Doug nodded his head and began to plan in his head what they could do to try and save Tumil, even if it meant Tumil must die first.
Chapter 55
Rahta
Emperor Rahta stared at the impudent Qumru named Tumil barely controlling his rage. How dare anyone say “No” to the Imperial Ruler of the Yoykan Empire! He almost ordered First Leader Cadora to kill the Qumru on the spot.
Anahta saw the rage building inside Rahta and quickly tried to subdue it. “Imperial Leader, if this Qumru scientist is who he says he is, he can help us decode the nano-agent they used to defeat our nanomachines. He would be most useful.”
Rahta calmed down a bit and considered what Anahta said. “Perhaps you are right. We will have our scientists perform lab tests on him when we reach Yoykan. We will get what we need when we make him our slave.” Rahta had one more thing to say to Tumil. “You will tell us what we need to know, or I will have all the Qumru prisoners on this ship terminated!”
The threat was real. Tumil could see it in Rahta’s eyes. He remained silent.
Anahta did not dispute Rahta. Tumil was not a slave yet. In fact, it may prove difficult to make the Qumru a slave using Yoyka nanomachines. That was precisely the reason Anahta thought Tumil should live; to find out just how their nano-agent worked to block the effects of the nanomachines. It would be invaluable information to be used against this formidable enemy race.
“How long before we reach Yoykan?” Rahta asked First Leader Cadora as they left the room to head back to the Bridge.
Cadora said, “We will reach Yoykan in thirty yus (hours), Imperial Leader.
Rahta considered his options. He said to Anahta, “We must send word to our military leaders that our remaining force is returning from Holtu.”
“What should I tell them?”
“Say we were led into a Holtu trap and had to fight our way out of it. Tell them the Holtu have a new missile weapon we must defend against. Do not tell them we lost the battle. We had to retreat to prepare a new battle plan to use against Holtu in the future.”
Anahta understood. “I will send the message to my warship Commanders as soon as we get to the Bridge. It will take ninety-three cys (days) before the fleet returns to Yoykan.”
“By that time we will know how the FTL hyperdrive system works to make our warships travel as fast as the Holtu warships and fighters. The Holtu will no longer have FTL light speed advantage.”
“The Holtu may be preparing to attack us even now, before the Holtu fleet returns, Imperial Leader.”
“If they do, we will destroy what’s left of their war fleet, Anahta. We still have our NEP weapons to stop them. They will not attack us until they can find a way to defend against it.”
The electromagnetic pulse missile weapon might do just that; deter the Holtu long enough for Anahta to bring all his war fleets together at Yoykan to defend their star system. Either way, he would send word to the returning fleet to send spy probes back to Holtu to monitor enemy positions and movements.
Rahta reached the Solruku Bridge and demanded that Utor be brought to him for questioning. When Utor was standing before him, Rahta asked, “What do you know about this new FTL hyperdrive propulsion system?”
Utor stood stiffly and answered the question in a monotone voice; eyes staring blankly, “It is a simple upgrade to the Quantum Vacuum Thruster (QVT) power supply energy storage system, Imperial Leader. More stored ZPE energy allows more power to accelerate in hyperspace.”
Rahta turned to Anahta and asked the obvious question. “When will our warships have this new type of QVT engines?”
“We have already begun converting our warfleet power systems to Q-Thrusters from hydrogen fusion reactors, Imperial Leader. It will take more time, but it appears we only need to increase the energy storage supplies to achieve the same FTL speeds in hyperspace.”
“I want all our warships upgraded as soon as possible, High Commander. This is high priority!”
“Yes, Imperial Leader!”
Rahta glared at Utor. “Do you know how to operate the Onutu regeneration chambers aboard this ship?”
“I do, Imperial Leader.”
“How long to regenerate a new Qumru body?”
“Up to twenty-two yus (hours).”
“Can the Onutu process regenerate one of our bodies?”
“Not without the proper DNA coding sequence and Qumru nanotechnology, I
mperial Leader.”
“Does the process work the same with Holtu androids?”
“Similar regeneration process, but we do not need biological tissue to build a new android body. It is all synthetic materials. Android minds already produce memories in digital format and can be more easily uploaded to the quantum computers.”
“How do memories get captured for uploading?” Rahta was utterly fascinated by what he was hearing.
“Qumru people already have the nanite treatment to process memories to Onutu computers. The nanites are like wireless quantum transmitters and routinely transmit the latest memories over the QTL quantum transmission link for instant storage and retrieval.”
“What happens when one of you dies?”
“If there is time before the mind dies, the nanites automatically transmit and upload the last memories to Onutu so no memories are lost. Quantum communication is almost instantaneous.”
It just got better and better, thought Rahta. Possessing Onutu will be the deciding factor in who rules the universe, not just one galaxy.
“How can one of us receive the Qumru nanites our mind needs to upload memories to Onutu?”
“Your DNA must be sequenced and the Onutu nanites must be programmed to match your DNA.” Utor seemed bored with the whole conversation.
“Who can do this for us?”
“Any one of our Onutu scientists can perform this task. It is a highly specialized function.”
“Can a scientist named Tumil do this function?”
“Certainly. Tumil is one of our most famous scientists. His father invented Onutu.”
Rahta hit the jackpot. Anahta was correct. Tumil could give him immortality! He turned to Anahta. “We must make this scientist help us to implement Onutu for our race.”
“He has already refused us, Imperial Leader. He is willing to die before helping us,” Anahta said.
“Perhaps, but I have another means of persuading him. Take us to Qum before we get to Yoykan. I will make this scientist do what I tell him or more of his people will die!”