With both of his teams loaded up, Emperor Indus stood before the two Transports in contemplation as he tried to decide which one to join. Common sense told him to ride in the second and let Team One ensure he had a safe entrance. However, the thought of seeing his finely-tuned killing machines in action for the first time was too much to resist.
Forty-two minutes had passed since the unexpected arrival of the Baikal Ships, the minutes feeling like days to the terrified crew struggling to maintain power in the Bridge.
“Do we have any heavy hitters like crew served weapon systems or proximity explosives on board?” Lesos asked to the small group of leadership gathered around him.
One of the grim faces answered. “Negative. All arms rooms were emptied except for a few side arms in expectation for filling them with material from the planet’s surface.”
Spurred by his enemy’s decision to fight a whole new genre of dirty, Emperor Lesos dug deep into his psyche to find some sort of conniving loop hole to fight the system. Glancing around the room, his eyes alighted on two brand-new crew members standing petrified before a monitor showing the unbridled destruction taking place outside the Cruiser. Just as he was ready to move on, an emergency housing unit, still in its original packaging, drifted across the screen. The millisecond view trigged a round of much needed inspiration. “I think I have an idea!”
“Sir?” One of the members in the huddle asked.
“Our emergency housing units, they come with small charges for clearing debris,” The Emperor said as the memory of his first humanitarian aid mission as an adolescent briefly replayed in his mind space. “I know for a fact that two will put a hole in a mountain, so if we can manage to safely detonate one, whoever is boarding this Ship won’t stand a chance.”
“You’ll make fighters out of all of us all after all,” laughed the Ship’s Senior Engineer, “but if what you say is correct, the blast is going to rip open a sizable hole in the side of Guide and Deliver. Based off current projections, we can sustain one tear in the hull; but any more and Guide and Deliver will not be able to recover from the lost air.”
The group looked at the engineer with wide eyes. “Essentially,” the engineer restated, attempting to explain what a second hole would do in order to better explain the scenario, “Everyone outside the Bridge would die of asphyxiation before they even had the chance to confront the aggressor.”
“One it is then,” Lesos remarked with a satisfied grin, effectively issuing the battle command. The plan was to at least throw one punch while sending everyone except for a few volunteers to the rear most areas of the Ship. From there, Lesos would stay in the Bridge where he hoped he could at least get a word in to the invaders to try and save the crew. After a few remarks, the group dispersed to see the job done.
Moments after everyone left the Bridge, apart from the few volunteers who stayed to protect the Emperor’s person, GD32 reappeared next to Lesos without warning. “Sir, Guide and Deliver is minutes from losing the last of its crew defensive systems. Once their gone, we will have no means to deter any boarding parties!”
Lesos jumped back at the hologram’s sudden arrival, “How are you here?!”
A wry smile spread across the holographic face, “The answer dawned on me literally at the last nano second. I simply sparked a system reset at the exact same time that I was set to be expunged. It managed to trick Guide and Deliver to use the energy it was using to destroy me to reset my program and push me through that channel. Sure enough, it worked,” GD32 explained with humble pride.
“Someone get that man a medal!” The Executive Officer jested with respect, knowing GD32 was one more recommendation away from a promotion to being an RAI for a Capital Ship or planetary installation. The RAI tilted his head in the XO’s direction to acknowledge the comment before resuming his conversation with Lesos. “Sir, I also thought of a way to reach Carpathian; but it’s definitely not going to be ideal conditions for getting any real information out.”
Lesos’s head perked up, “Do tell.”
Averting his gaze at first, thinking he was receiving fire again, Lesos watched as GD32 projected his plan to the data display. Guide and Deliver’s rear section enlarged and suddenly broke apart into different sections. Careful to only use the energy needed to sustain the images and nothing more off the display, the RAI began. “Well, if I implode the core on the right engine, it will cause enough energy to surge through the Ship to send out a message.” As he spoke, GD32 highlighted and zoomed in on the sections that made up the Fleet Vessel’s rear engine compartments. Guide and Deliver’s jump drive was blown up and also broken down into different highlighted sections. “Because she’s basically empty, it will be a minuscule surge.”
Lesos chuckled, “Better than it being full and we kill ourselves accidentally.”
“Good point,” GD32 answered, “but the catch is that the burst of vitality for Guide and Deliver will be short lived at best.”
His tone undeterred, “How short?” Lesos asked, his mind already scrambling for ideas and finding one at the same time the RAI gave the bad news.
“The best possible outcome would only offer one to one and a half seconds worth of spoken message at best.”
Emperor Lesos couldn’t help but laugh internally at the simplicity of the solution, “If my Interstellar Communication Classes from all those years ago are still correct, I believe the stream needed for strictly textual information is basically nothing. So unless I’m wrong, that’s our route.”
A puzzled look could be seen on the RAI’s expression, “A written message Sir? Those haven’t been used in official settings since Post Exposure,” GD32 retorted.
Lesos winked, “Precisely, it will get through and may even get over looked if somehow intercepted. We just need that window opened GD32. You’ve worked one miracle already, but I’m going to need one more out of ya.”
From inside Emperor Indus’s Transport, the bizarre explosion taking place at the rear of his enemy’s Cruiser played out on one of the monitors. More dazzling than worrisome, blue and white streaks ran across the black backdrop of open space; immediately followed by two radiating pulses of purple plasma that looked as if it was shot from a severed human artery. The afterglow of the blast hung at the rear of the Ship, casting shadows of a thousand different colors back onto the surface of Guide and Deliver.
“What just happened?” Indus said aloud into his helmet as he studied the monitors suspiciously.
The pleasant symphony found in the young woman’s voice almost set the paranoid man’s heart at ease, “The engine’s primary firing chamber suffered a meltdown, or the rear right jump drive’s core imploded. Looking for the answer now.”
As the piercingly beautiful voice spoke, a remarkably attractive face appeared on Indus’s helmet’s visor. He basked in the presence of the sandy hair and amber colored eyes. A near perfect complexion radiated off the screen and onto the Emperor’s skin, kissing it with her grace. Cat, the woman on his visor, was Emperor Indus’s personal Regulated Artificial Intelligence program. Designed to look like his first wife, who tragically died while pregnant with his only son, the RAI often acted as Indus’s buffer to the rest of the universe. Cat often averted the furious storms raging inside her companion from spilling over onto those closest to him by giving the Emperor a new, more productive target to obliterate.
“The sooner the better,” Indus fired back, expecting her to already have the answer.
“Sending data now,” Cat’s soft voice said while information scrolled down the left side of Indus’s visor.
“The blast came from their jump drive’s core,” She explained as data scrolled down his visor with the exact details on the size of the blast, its energy output, and an analysis of Guide and Deliver’s updated structural status.
“A jump drive core implosion? That’s impossible unless done through an override, right?”
“Correct.”
“So what’s their intention then?” The Emperor i
nquired, nervous about ulterior motives. Indus could see Cat’s face just slightly contorting as she did her best to string the perfect explanation together.
“Sir, it has to be a one in a million malfunctioning of the circuit connecting the Ship’s mainframe to the core. I mean, I obliterated everything its mainframe needed to live; and then some. So, the most likely possible situation is the Cruiser’s RAI, I believe GD32, malfunctioned so severely in the expulsion process that it ripped the circuits out with it.”
Indus finished scanning through the data on his visor before answering. “Cat, I know it’s a long shot like you said, but get me all possibilities for an intentional implosion of that core. If there was any advantage to that implosion, I need to know.”
“My pleasure,” Cat replied with a coy smirk and teasing wink.
“One more thing!” Indus barked with earnest to prevent the beautiful face from disappearing too soon.
“Yes?”
“Start targeting their Life Pods. Destroy all but one, I don’t care which. They’ve thought they’ve survived for long enough. Time for them to fulfill their purpose.”
Cat’s expression drastically shifted from flirtatious to a grandmother admonishing a foolish grandchild. “Emperor Indus B. Baikal! Escape systems are considered off limits and have been protected by a mutual understanding ever since their creation. If we destroy theirs now, we will not be shown the same curtesy and will probably never see a single one of our prisoners of war returned.”
Emperor Indus let her finish before answering with vicious intent. “In case you haven’t noticed, we just destroyed four defenseless Ships filled with more civilians than military personnel. Any formal civilities are out the window on this one. Besides, we are here to start a War, and I’ll be damned if our politeness prevents that! Now, get me those answers and please don’t forget to destroy those escape systems with a smile!”
Cat dismissed the rebuke with a shrug before her face disappeared again, “My pleasure.”
Emperor Lesos looked on in horror as the few lifeboats which had survived the Super Capital’s onslaught of death were starting to get picked off one by one. “So,” his voice dropping to a mere vapor of a whisper, “the rumors ARE true,” the Natron Emperor expressed as he watched two ships leaving Dawn of Creation that didn’t match any known equipment to be used by the Baikal military. Turning to GD32, “I was told right before your miraculous appearance that if Guide and Deliver sustained two more hull breaches, its life support systems would not be able to compensate. Please tell me the human who gave me this information was human for once and made a mistake.”
Shaking his head, “Your human is correct in his judgement. Like you, I wish your kind made more careless mistakes right about now,” The RAI expressed while glaring at the Baikal Ships on the display. “But why do you ask?”
“Because we really, really, really need to be able to sustain two,” The Emperor answered, pointing to the two small objects gliding toward them.
“Do you really think he is dumb enough to be on one of those? I mean, how has no one told him how vulnerable he would be?!” The Executive Officer scoffed while Lesos bent down and got face to face with the holographic images, “I know he is. But which one?”
GD32’s personality couldn’t resist the open invitation for sarcasm to lighten the mood, “Guess we better pick the right one since we only have one shot at this. Good luck on that Sir, we’re all counting on you.”
Team One looked like frequent recreational visitors to the river Styx, standing in unreserved silence yet pulsating with anticipation for the kill to come. They were nearly invisible to the naked eye in the darkened interior, only the occasional flash of dirty white off their menacing shrouds gave away their presence.
“Docking now!” A voice broke through the void.
THACK! THACK! BANG!
“Screens Sealed. Weapons up. Safeties Off!” The Transport erupted in laughter at their team leader’s joke.
SSSHHHRRRIIISSSHHH!
Bright light suddenly filled the interior POP! POP! POP! while proximity explosives obliterated anything unlucky enough to be near the breach. “Go get em boys!” Indus cheered, watching Team One pour through the port door.
CRACK CRACK CRACK POP POP POP CRACK CRACK CARCK
With Controlled bursts of gun fire, the perfectly synced team made its way into the interior of the bay. Suddenly, one of the grim reapers appeared in Indus’s field of vision. “Sir, right this way,” came the hideous voice behind the shroud.
Covered in his own newly designed armor that was making its debut, Emperor Indus stepped through the port and onto Guide and Deliver’s demolished bay. A slight adjustment with his eyes and Indus’s visor instantly illuminated the Cruiser’s interior as if the lights weren’t even off in the first place. Due to the lack of power and lighting on the Ship, Indus and his two teams would be forced to rely on their helmets’s imaging enhancement and modification programs to navigate; whereas the Ship’s defenders were left mostly blind in the dark.
Indus could only laugh at the state in which his soldiers left the Ship’s bay. It was littered with debris while the air hung thick with a dense grey smoke. Any loose object within seventy-five feet, regardless of its size or mass, was hurled through the air; the landing causing more damage to whatever was in its path. Emergency food packages, water condensers, medical supplies, tools, parts, and countless other items were scattered everywhere. Gigantic chunks of metal were wrapped and twisted into eerie, yet artistic formations. Every aspect of the bay was chaos and confusion.
Unfortunately for the over eager Emperor, no one noticed the stark contrast lying in the back corner of the bay. The clump of a partially disassembled portable housing unit, covered with scrap sheet metal and jerry-rigged to explode, was just far enough away from the dock to survive. However, it shouldn’t have gone unnoticed to the team of highly trained soldiers as it was the only organized looking object in the entire room.
While walking in triumphantly, Emperor Indus’s visor highlighted two captives lying on the ground with a thin brown outline. Team One’s team leader hovered over them. “What have we here?” Indus asked while walking up, as if speaking about a pair of stray dogs.
“They looked good enough,” The phantom’s electronically enhanced voice said before leaving the scene. His mood elevating, Indus took aim. He was finally going to see what years of pouring money into his defense budget had bought him. For a brief moment, Indus towered over the terrified captives and froze, the barrel inches from their face. Their eyes locked in what felt like an eternity before the short-lived resurgence of a human being retreated back into the depths of Indus’s soul.
THRUMP
THRUMP
Two rounds later and Indus continued on his way as if nothing happened. “Clear the path toward the stairwell!” He barked to Team Leader One who was already half way through the process. “Check,” The team leader’s voice replied, somehow managing to turn a shrill voice into a monotone response; insinuating a “Already on that Sir…”
Guide and Deliver’s primary RAI was able to divert just enough dwindling energy to the bay in order to get the data display to project the unfolding drama. Even the resolute Emperor Lesos had to fight his soul crushing fear at the precision of this never before seen enemy. Leading Operative Vimy and his rag tag Contact Team didn’t stand a chance. Only ten of the thirty volunteers were killed in the initial docking explosions. However, with the super human abilities with which the Baikal soldiers seemed to be operating, it took only minutes for them to kill the remaining eighteen and keep two as tribute for Indus.
“He’s using mercenaries?” Lesos questioned, about to give up on trying to understand the political situation and missing the fact that his Empire was looking at a whole new kind of enemy.
“They don’t match any known enemy, friendly, or militia equipment; but if I may be frank Sir, as long as they can die, I don’t care who or what they are. Because it’s either them
or you!” GD32 thundered.
“Wait, there’s one more of them,” The Executive Officer exclaimed, interrupting the conversation.
“In a different uniform no less,” Lesos added. The soldier’s gait smacked of arrogance and supremacy, but GD32 was unable to identify the obviously high-ranking individual. “Is that who I think it is?”
GD32 instantly provided what information he had. “Emperor Indus has four sets of armor that he uses; none match what we are currently seeing. More than likely we are looking at the Platoon Leader.”
The words sunk deep into Lesos’s gut as he found himself at a horrible impasse. He knew Emperor Indus wouldn’t be able to resist sitting this one out, but he only had one shot and two potential targets. Statistical data and just plain common sense told him that the second boarding craft held his target, but something kept gnawing at him to detonate the improvised explosive device immediately.
Lesos intentionally met the Executive Officer’s stare, his eyes secretly asking for a suggestion. Unaware of his Emperor’s subliminal plea for help, the Senior Officer blurted out, “The second it is.”
“It’s your call Sir. But if it helps, I still think the next group is our target,” The RAI exclaimed, defusing the awkward situation but more importantly, wanting to ensure his Emperor made the final decision.
Going against his instincts and only strengthening the nausea building in his stomach, “God help us. Wait for the second boarding team,” Lesos ordered, praying his last decision as an Emperor would not also be another colossal failure.
Emperor Indus stepped into a cleared room twenty-one yards from the stairwell. With Team One clearing the stairs and a path toward the Bridge like red hot steel cutting through butter, he felt the bay was set for Team Two. “You’re Up,” Indus ordered before stepping back into the hallway and toward the stairwell.
Through the Abyss Page 4
