With that, she stepped inside and the doors closed, leaving Kendrick alone in the corridor, his fists clenched and his body shaking with rage.
“I’m sorry, Ken.”
He turned to see Carol standing in the corridor. “You stole my ship!”
She nodded. “I suppose I did. I knew what the protocol entailed and was under orders not to share the details. I never intended to initiate Protocol Omega-Five-Two-Six, not unless I had no other choice.”
“And yet, here we are.”
“People are dying!” she exclaimed. “My people are dying! Three of the science team are already dead! Do you think I did this just to get Starfleet your ship?”
He wanted slug her, but knew that would just get him tossed into the brig or back into stasis. They no longer needed him to complete the mission. Apparently, Admiral Bruce’s worries about an AI controlling the ship were cast aside when the United States decided it was time to steal something. Besides, Kendrick had never been able to bring himself to strike a lady.
“No,” he finally said. “But right now, my wife and ship are in the hands of your government. You want the ship, fine – it’s clear that Starfleet never had any intention of honoring their contract. I can walk away from that, but Fiona is off limits. I want her back this instant!”
“The instant we return to Code Yellow, I assure you, Fiona will be released.”
“She’d better be,” Kendrick warned.
“I promise, she will be,” Carol assured. “You have been a good friend to me, Kendrick. I am sorry, but the lives of those placed under my command come first, yours included.”
“My orders … Captain?” Kendrick practically spat the words out.
“Return to your post, Mister Royce. She can hear me – she’ll let you in.”
He brushed past her, seeing red. Kendrick had to get away from her before he did something he would regret later. But when later finally came, if Fiona was not restored, there would be hell to pay.
17
She was going to die. Ariella Fleischer knew that this was the end. She had put two of her squad mates out of their misery when they were swarmed by the creatures and being eaten alive. Gunfire was no longer slowing the creatures down, though the light from the flashlights mounted on the end of their guns seemed to give them pause. She had only six marines left, and the only reason they weren’t dead yet was because some of the creatures were stopping to eat the bodies of the ones the marines had killed.
“Last clip!” she shouted.
“Same here,” Harris called. “Been nice knowing you!
“I’m out! See you in ….” Braxton never finished his sentence, cut off as one of the creatures jumped on him and grabbed his helmet in its mandibles. It impaled the helmet and his skull with its tongue, and began devouring him.
Ariella was distracted long enough to miss the one coming right at her. By the time she turned to see it, it was too late. She resigned herself to death and hoped it would be quick, but instead of death, the creature exploded, spraying her with its innards. The caustic stuff was eating through her suit, but the creature was dead. Floodlights bathed them, and machinegun fire erupted, obliterating the creatures closest to them. Jax was here.
The shuttle landed, and twenty large soldiers in armored suits, each armed with a Gatlin gun, swarmed out of the shuttle, providing cover fire as the last of her team retreated and boarded. She had never seen them before and had no idea where Jax had gotten them, but right now, she did not care. She was alive.
Each of these large troopers laid down a withering field of fire, taking out the creatures ten at a time. The creatures burned as they were killed, the guns firing incendiary rounds. With the ground team aboard, the troopers slowly retreated to the shuttle, then boarded, firing as the shuttle lifted off. Finally, they were airborne, and the hatch closed.
“My suit…” Ariella gasped.
“Should hold long enough for you to get from the shuttle to the outpost landing pad,” Jax finished. “We can’t land inside the Selene’s shuttle bay right now.”
“Why the hell not?”
“Because, Lieutenant Fleischer,” a nonplussed Jax replied. “Some asshole blew up the other shuttle inside the Selene’s shuttle bay. The ship can’t even take off until Dalrymple and her team repair the damage.”
“Fuck me,” Ariella exclaimed.
“That just about sums it up,” Jax agreed.
18
“It’s worse than we thought, Captain,” Miss. Dalrymple declared. “But we can still fix it in four days.”
The captain, Miss Reddy, Kendrick, Kang and Heather had gathered in the conference room to discuss the state of the ship. It was not good.
“Four days….” Carol Giffords pondered this for a moment. “According to Selene, these creatures will be here in less than an hour.”
“The immediate issue,” Heather said, “is the gaping hole in Selene’s underbelly. Apart from the obvious problem of a gaping hole that these creatures can attempt to gain entry through, we had a substantial amount of equipment for the Ganymede outpost stored in the shuttle bay. Most of it’s been destroyed completely or rendered unsuitable to our needs.”
“Scrubbing Ganymede is not an option,” Giffords declared. “But right now, I need to know that we don’t have any more ticking time bombs aboard the ship. Mister Mun, you’ve been the lead on the investigation—is this sabotage?”
“Yes,” Kang declared. “Heather and I were able to piece together what happened: someone—we don’t know who—was in the shuttle. They rigged it to blow and stayed inside to make it happen—the shuttle’s data recorder indicates that someone was at the controls at the time of the explosion. We have no datapad or any communications—no America First brochures in anyone’s cabin, so we’ve got no smoking gun. We’ve collected all the datapads on the ship, but Selene’s found nothing incriminating on any of them. We assume that the saboteur was working with the old first assistant engineer. Right now, our theory is that he—or she—decided to finish what he and their America First pals started.”
Giffords sighed. “We all wondered if the first assistant worked alone. Guess we know now.”
“Thing is,” Kang noted, “all of the Starfleet crew, marines, and MEDroids are accounted for. Which means that whoever did this was on the ship without the rest of us knowing.”
“Kang,” Kendrick interjected, “I trust you, and I trust your instincts… but that ain’t possible.”
“That’s what I said,” Mister Mun agreed. “Anyway, that’s all we’ve got at this point. Fiona – and now Selene – each did a whole spectra analysis of the ship, and there’s no unaccounted-for heat signatures anywhere, so I think we’re safe. So… what about the immediate threat outside? These… mantid creatures. What do we know about them?”
“They’re susceptible to gunfire,” the science officer informed. “Sergeant Gardner killed one with a large caliber pistol, but that was a freshly hatched specimen.”
“That’s something at least.” Carol looked at Heather and Kendrick. “The cargo bay door needs to be repaired within the hour.”
Heather and Kendrick looked at each other, then back at Giffords. “That may not be possible, Captain,” Miss Dalrymple said. “The mechanisms are not something easily made, and….”
“I don’t care if it works!” Carol slammed her fist on the table. “I want that bloody hole plugged! Bring the shuttle and one of the Rock Crushers inside and plug the fucking hole! The door doesn’t have to work; we can remove it when we get to Ganymede and figure out how to offload the heavy equipment at that time.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Heather volunteered. “We’ll get it done.” Kendrick looked sharply at her, but the engineer did not waver.
“What else can you tell me about those creatures?” Carol asked of Vanya.
“The team is going over the readings we got when we studied the one specimen we retrieved, ma’am,” the science officer replied. “I can give you a more detailed a
nalysis then. At this point, all I can tell you is that they’re lethal fresh out of the egg. Their ichor and digestive fluids are acidic, but do not eat through structural components or metal, though it does mar the surface. The one other thing that may work in our favor is that it was photosensitive. Interior lighting made it screech and spit on the lamp fixture.”
“Mister Royce, once this bird is in the air,” Giffords said, “I’ll need you fly us over that crater and incinerate every last one of them. Prepare the masers; those things are on their way; as soon as they’re in range, start taking them out—I need to know now if the masers will kill them.”
“Ma’am,” Vanya objected before Kendrick could respond, “We can’t kill all of them! This is a scientific mission, and study of these creatures is an opportunity that we cannot….”
“We kill them all,” Giffords declared. “And I will personally execute anyone who tries to smuggle one aboard this ship. We’ve got as much information as we can safely get on these things, and we have people coming who will build out this outpost. If we don’t kill them, then we’re putting them in danger.”
Vanya pouted and folded her arms, but she still said, “Yes, ma’am.”
“Since we’re talkin’ science,” Kendrick added condescendingly, “let’s talk about the clone troopers you sent out with Jax.”
“Clone troopers?” Vanya looked at Kendrick, then at Carol. “What is he talking about?”
Carol Giffords wished Kendrick had not brought this up in a group setting, but the fact was that the whole crew would soon know about them, and it was clear that Kendrick did not care about her feelings on the matter.
“Genetically engineered super soldiers,” Carol declared. “Ten male, ten female. They were sent in a secured compartment behind engineering. I activated them to aid Commander Jax in the retrieval of Lieutenant Fleischer and her platoon.” Then, she looked at Kendrick. “What did you want to know?”
“Were we expecting hostile aliens, or are they here for something else?” Kendrick folded his arms and waited for her answer. He was not being hostile, but there was a definite rift between the two of them now.
Carol sighed. “Kendrick, you’re a friend—a close friend. You know this. I won’t lie to you, but there are things that I cannot tell you. I had hoped to go the entire voyage without ever activating them, but we both agreed that this was an appropriate time.”
“Survival is paramount,” Vanya agreed, “but assuming they survive this, what do we do with them afterward?”
The captain was surprised by Kendrick’s response.
“If we lose the marines out in the field,” Royce noted, “we’ll need the clones for the remainder of the mission.”
“That’s assuming that any of them survive as well,” Heather noted. “Though I assume they’re not just cannon fodder, ma’am.”
“Absolutely not,” Giffords assured. “As Mister Royce noted, we need to maintain a minimum crew level. They’re with Commander Jax and five marines extracting Lieutenant Fleischer’s platoon, so there is every possibility that they may suffer losses before they even return, though I pray that they don’t. We’ve lost enough people on this mission already.” She looked down at the table for a moment, then back at the group and said, “Dismissed.”
“Not so fast,” a still seated Kendrick said as everyone else was standing. “I want to know how you got an AI into my wife’s body and I want to know where you got it. That AI is not Selene – not any Selene that I know.”
“This is not the time…” Carol began, but Kendrick stood and pounded the table, cutting her off.
“The hell it ain’t! Full disclosure,” he insisted. “It happens now!”
“Mister Royce, don’t make me…” Carol began, but this time, Vanya cut her off.
“No, Captain,” the science officer interjected. “He’s right. We just happen to have a NessCorp AI tech on the science team and you just happen to have a spare AI lying around that, wonder of wonders, none of us knew about, and which has no loyalty to Mister Royce. It’s no secret that Royce and I don’t see eye to eye, but I’ll be damned if I’m going to let this slide.”
“Ms. Reddy…”
“No, Captain!” Vanya snapped. “At least with the AI loyal to Royce, I knew there was some check against you and your gung-ho iguanas. Now, it’s hoorah all the way, science and exploration be damned. As the science officer, I’d like those answers too.”
“I can call security, you know.” Carol looked intently at the four of them. “I’d rather not, but if you press the issue…”
Kendrick slammed his palms down on the table and stood. “Fine. I’m outta here. I’ll see you at my post – unless you plan on putting me back into stasis ‘cause y’all don’t need me no more.” He looked at Heather, who nodded as though some unspoken words had passed between them.
“I’ll be in Engineering, ma’am,” Heather said as she stood.
Carol nodded. “You’re all dismissed.”
Kendrick, Kang and Heather left the conference room, leaving only Carol and Vanya.
“This isn’t over by a longshot, Giffords,” Vanya scolded. “Clone troopers, Captain – did you really think I’d just nod and wink then turn a blind eye to this?”
“You’re the one to blame, Miss Reddy,” Carol countered. “If you and your Brainiacs hadn’t molested that egg, I wouldn’t have been put in this position. Don’t think I’ll turn a blind eye to that, Miss Reddy.”
“Oh yes!” Vanya snapped. “Blame me for doing my job! Blame me for the saboteur. Blame me for everything. It’s typical military bullshit, so I’m used to it. I’m sorry I ever complained about Royce – it was you and Jax and the rest of your goon squad we should have left in stasis …” then she spat, “ma’am.”
Kendrick took his seat on the bridge, wondering why he had even bothered to return. The ship could not fly, after all, and he would probably be of more use to Heather in chasing down the saboteur. Right now, however, he felt the need to be near his wife.
Fiona’s body stood at rigid attention awaiting Captain Giffords. Kendrick wondered what she was thinking; was she watching everything helplessly or had her consciousness been so completely subverted that she was not thinking at all.
Apart from Kendrick, only Darcy was presently at her post, maintaining contact with Jax’s shuttle. Kendrick envied her blissful ignorance of what was going on behind the scenes.
A few moments later, Vanya joined the coms officer, taking her place at the bridge. Kendrick wondered what had transpired between the science officer and the captain after he had left. Vanya looked angry and for once, it was not at him.
The bridge doors swooshed open again, and Giffords strode through them.
“Captain on deck,” Vanya declared, standing at attention.
Giffords ignored her. “Selene, set threat level to Code Yellow.”
“The astro-mantis horde will be here in twenty-six minutes, Captain,” Selene countered through Fiona’s mouth. “This situation fulfills the requirements for Code Red conditions.”
“Invoking executive override,” the captain declared, but the AI was not moved.
“The Omega protocol cannot be overridden by the captain until conditions return to a state which constitutes a threat level of code yellow or below.”
Carol looked incensed at this. “What do you mean ‘cannot be overridden by the captain’?”
“Starfleet prioritizes the success of the mission over the captain’s autonomy,” Selene/Fiona replied. “This was also done to prevent captains from utilizing the Omega Platoon for inconsequential matters.”
“The Omega Platoon?” Carol shook her head. “What do they have to do with you?”
“They answer to me,” Selene explained. “After Captain Lorgen’s misuse of an Omega Platoon, final authority over them now resides with the AI, not with the captain.”
Kendrick did not know whether to laugh or cry. On the one hand, his wife’s free will had been usurped and her body
stolen. On the other hand, part of him still liked seeing Starfleet get their comeuppances.
“Selene’s guns are ready,” Kendrick announced, tired of the back and forth between Carol and this imitation AI. “Don’t y’all think maybe we should be concentrating on the incoming horde?”
“Mister Royce,” Carol began, but the AI cut her off.
“I have monitored the mantid horde and our state of readiness continually. Commander Jax is returning with the remaining shuttle and the surviving marines. Once he disembarks, he will take charge of defending us on the ground.”
Kang Mun entered the bridge and went to his duty station. Kendrick was surprised that Carol did not ask him why he was not already there, but he did not care enough to remain surprised. They were as ready as they could be. Now all they could do was wait. Kendrick hated waiting; so, he decided not to.
“Permission to join Commander Jax in defense of the ship, ma’am,” Kendrick more said than asked.
“You’re the helmsman…” Carol began, but Royce did not let her finish.
“Clearly, you don’t need me any longer, ma’am. Had Admiral Bruce and some of the other powers that be not been scared shitless of AI, you would never have made any investment in me at all. You’d have stolen my ship and told me to fuck myself.”
“Mister Royce will be of greater use on the ground,” Selene/Fiona declared before Carol could answer. “You will deal with his insubordination after the threat has been dealt with.”
“What?” Kendrick asked. “No concern that your husband might be killed outside?”
“You are a soldier, Lieutenant,” the AI countered through Fiona’s mouth. “You are expendable.”
“Yeah,” Kendrick replied. “An’ if my wife is gone permanently, so are you.”
The Silver Liner: Sails to the Edge! Page 8
