by Trevor Gregg
“Okay,” Kyren said confidently, “just remember, we stay close, in formation.”
“The compressed gas thrusters I’ve rigged up will allow for maneuvering the pod,” Alis explained. “The pods should be invisible to their sensors, thanks to the nano-composite stealth coating.”
“Ready?” Kyren asked.
In response, Tharox climbed into the nearest pod, pulling his large plasma rifle in after him.
“Be careful, remember my lessons on the controls. If you miss the ship there isn’t enough propellant to get you back around to it,” Alis warned as she climbed into her pod carrying her wrench.
Kyren threw in a large satchel and a boxy looking short barreled rifle with a wire frame stock, then began climbing into his own pod. “Are you sure I can’t talk you into staying behind?”
“You know about destiny, Kyren. I am needed aboard that vessel,” she replied, although she didn’t know exactly how.
He nodded and sealed the pod. She climbed into the remaining escape pod and sealed the hatch behind herself. The pod was situated in a launch tube on the underside of the Ashari’s hull. Each pod had a window at one end. She grasped the controls. Through the window she saw each pod ejecting, changing course and bearing for the Crevak flagship. She punched her launch key and her pod shot from the tube.
21
Precog Hit Squad
Kyren followed an excited Benjam off the ship and into the station. The corridors were clean and well maintained, and full of bustling pedestrian traffic. There were also quite a few uniformed Consortium Navy about. Kyren flinched at first, but they paid his small group no heed.
Relaxing, he picked up his pace as Benjam’s squiggling became more frenetic. The pedestrian traffic thinned as they neared his lab. Turning a corner, Kyren froze. Benjam shrieked and threw his tentacles up into the air. Standing at the end of the corridor were two raxi guardsmen, ugly faces sneering, weapons raised.
“Un-chaka!” one said, motioning for Kyren to get down on the floor.
As he lowered himself, he glanced backward and saw Alis, Elarra, and Tharox also descending, but no Geri. The raxi approached, weapons raised. One holstered his sidearm and extracted flexi-steel cuffs and bent to Kyren. Then two shots rang out and the raxi with the pistol out dropped to the floor, fountaining blood from two shots to his head.
He watched in slow motion as the second guard dropped the cuffs that he was about to lock onto Kyren’s wrists and reached for his weapon. As he drew, three more shots rang out and blood sprayed from the guardsman’s chest as he fell. Kyren was about to spring up when Geri barked “stay down!”
She sprinted past them just as another raxi emerged from Benjam’s apartment, weapon drawn. Kyren cringed as they exchanged fire, Geri standing firm and taking aim as the guardsman shot wildly.
Her first round took the raxi in the chest, several more walking their way up his neck and face to find a spot right between his eyes. Geri bolted for the doorway and whirled around the corner, disappearing from view.
Seconds later she dodged back outside and said, “C’mon, help.”
Kyren scrambled upright and followed Geri’s lead, helping to drag the bodies into Benjam’s lab. Geri scavenged their guns and extra ammunition, handing a pistol and several magazines to Kyren. He put the safety on and tucked it into his belt.
“Shit, how could they have found us so fast? How did they know where we were going... Oh wait, that’s right, they can see the future! Shit what’d I get into? Here I am, in the middle of a Consortium beehive, with prescient children sending mercenaries after us. There better be a damn good reason we’re here!” Tharox ranted angrily.
“There is, and I think it is time you heard it. All of you should hear it,” Elarra replied.
Kyren waited for Elarra to begin. She hesitated, but then began to relay her vision of the Kirugi. Her eyes were teary by the time she finished. This beast would unleash a plague upon the galaxy. All sentient societies would be exterminated.
“What can we do about it? Surely you’ve seen a way to beat this thing? You said there was a giant robot fighting it? Maybe we should try to find the bot and get prepared,” Kyren said when she finished.
“No, the first thing we need to find out is how we caused this threat to appear,” Elarra insisted. “What did we change in our timeline to bring about this desolation?”
“Now I understand why you want me to run the simulations,” Benjam said quietly.
“I suggest we hurry,” Geri intoned.
“Hmmm, well, you see… that could take days, even weeks depending on the preliminary results. I only have access to a small pool of computing power. Even with my completed design matrix, it will take time to process all of the variations.”
“Can you bring your data and that fancy design matrix with you? Isa’s got loads of computing power to spare.” Tharox said eagerly.
“Yes, I think it would be prudent to leave as soon as possible, given the gunfight we just had in the corridor. Someone’ll investigate sooner or later, probably sooner,” Geri urged.
“Very well,” Benjam said with a sorrowful sigh, and began to work at his control station, loading up data cores, extracting them a moment later and tossing them in a bag.
Many minutes later, Benjam shut the terminal down and picked up his bag. Squiggling over to a workbench, he grabbed several items and tossed them in on top of the data cores before making his way to the door. Tharox held him back, and Benjam paused. Suddenly, the station shook and trembled.
“What was that?” Alis asked with worry in her voice, as it shook again.
“Let me see what’s going on,” Benjam said.
They followed as he approached his holopanel and began to bring up newsfeeds, radio channels, and video feeds from around the station. Geri hung back, halfway out of the door into the hall, pistol raised, covering the corridor. The barrage of information began to coalesce into a frightening picture. The station was under attack by a massive Crevak fleet.
Pirate ships dotted the space around the station, exchanging fire with the base’s automated defenses. The Consortium forces stationed here were breaking away and turning to confront the enemy, even though they were vastly outnumbered. And then suddenly, many, many Consortium ships warped in behind the Crevak.
Instantly a withering wall of weapons fire washed over the pirate fleet, obliterating many of the smaller vessels.
Kyren hear Geri cheer, a jubilant “yes!” leaving her lips.
The Crevak tribes looked to be breaking when a massive battleship warped in behind the Consortium fleet. A huge red sphere affixed to the bow of the spacecraft began to glow dully. Then a beam of red energy streamed out and bathed the nearest Consortium battleship in a swath of sparks and minor explosions. The craft went dark, drifting dead.
The battle raged with fury, the Consortium and Crevak blasting away at each other with fury and vengeance. Space became strewn with debris as ships on both sides were shattered to pieces.
“Shit, that’s the forty-seventh!” Geri cried.
Alis paled, “Dad? Meraco?”
“Yes, your father and brother are out there,” Geri said gravely.
“I think we need to get out of here, as soon as possible, before the Crevak reach the station,” Tharox cut in.
“Yeah, let’s get the hell out of here,” Kyren said.
Benjam turned as they were leaving and sighed as he closed the door. Kyren felt sorry for him, he knew what it was like to lose a home.
Geri led them, hand resting on the butt of the pistol tucked in her belt. They were nearing the turnoff to the shaft where the Radiant Star was docked, when Geri stopped.
“No, I can’t go. I’m sorry dear,” Geri said.
“What?!” Alis cried.
“I’ve got to get back to the forty-seventh, they’ll need every fighting hand they can get. If I can make even a tiny difference it might be enough. I can’t run, Alis.”
“No, mom, you can’t go. I need
your help still,” she said, a mixture of sorrow and fear in her voice, ears twitching in opposite directions.
“I have to. I will see you all again, I hope.”
She kissed her daughter on her forehead and then strode briskly away.
22
Evacuation
Alis was heartbroken. Her eyes welled up as she watched her mom dashing away. Would this be the last time she ever saw her? The thought was too much to bear, so she pushed it out of her head, focusing on their current situation. They couldn’t stick around, that much was obvious. Without weapons, the Radiant Star didn’t stand a chance. They had to run, and fast, before the battle escalated even further.
Kyren sprinted ahead, pistol drawn but held low. They approached the tunnel to their craft and he held his hand up, motioning them to stop. Alis had an idea and transformed her wrench into a mirror on an extended rod. She wordlessly handed it to Kyren, who extended it around the corner. Over his shoulder, she could see two raxi at the end of the docking gantry, working at the Radiant Star’s airlock control panel, backs turned.
Kyren motioned to them all to back up. Alis took a step back, unable to hide the concern on her face. She knew he was about to do something perilous. He looked at her and gave a small smile, but she was not reassured. Then he leaned around the corner and began firing.
Her ears flattened in pain as the shots rang out, the loud noise hurting her sensitive hearing. The firing ceased and Kyren whirled back around the corner, a volley of rounds tearing through the air after him before thudding into the opposite wall.
“Shit, got one but the other’s still standing,” Kyren said. “Lemme see that mirror again.”
She handed it to him and he peered around the corner again. She could see the raxi at the end of the corridor, just in front of the Radiant Star’s airlock, the other one at his feet, unmoving. He had his pistol raised, pointed down the hall at the corner they were hiding behind.
“He won’t miss, Kyren,” Alis said, placing her hand on his arm. She felt his muscles tense beneath her grasp as he nodded.
“Hold on,” Tharox said, pulling a small device from his pocket. He punched several buttons on the device and then Isa’s voice came through.
“Yes dear?” she said with a hint of sarcasm.
“We’ve got a problem, about eighty kilos of scumbag,” Tharox responded.
“Yes, I see how that could be a problem.”
“Well, can you do anything about it?” Tharox grumbled.
“Hmmm, let me see…”
“Come on, Isa, we don’t have time to fool around.”
“Okay, fine!” she said testily.
Suddenly, the inner airlock door sealed shut.
“Is that better?”
“That’s a start, but how are we going to get aboard?” Kyren asked.
Several seconds later, the door whooshed open. Kyren raised his pistol in response, but nobody came through.
“Well, come on,” Isa urged through the communicator.
Kyren used the mirror to peek around the corner again. The remaining guard was down on the ground, unmoving. He realized Isa must have evacuated the atmosphere and suffocated the guard. She stepped around the corner after Kyren, who kept his gun leveled at the raxi even though they were still.
“Well, get aboard everyone. I’m assuming we’ll be making a quick exit?” Isa surmised.
“Yeah, we need to get out of here pronto,” Tharox exclaimed.
“I’ve already prepped the engines,” Isa replied.
The door to the Radiant Star’s airlock swished open and they dashed inside. Alis and the others followed Tharox to the bridge. Tharox sat down at a console and brought up several holopanels. The main screens displayed the space around the ship. It was filled with fire, a withering barrage of death from the Consortium warships, the Crevak pirates, and Regalis’ defenses. Then she felt the docking clamps disengage with a thump.
“Isa, what are our chances of making it through that mess?” Tharox queried.
Alis’ heart sank as Isa replied.
“Virtually no chance, I’m afraid.”
“But there is a chance?” Elarra asked.
“We just need to jump as soon as possible, before we get into the fields of fire,” Alis explained. “Isa, how fast can you calculate a jump vector?”
“It takes fourteen seconds to calculate destination and vector.”
“So we need fourteen seconds. How long before we reach the battle if we travel at minimum jump velocity?”
“Eleven seconds, not long enough. Once we enter the fray, we likely won’t be able to maintain a heading for long,” Isa replied to Alis.
“Isa, would a design matrix increase your processing power?” Benjam offered.
“Perhaps, if it were of sufficient complexity,”
Benjam extracted a data core from his bag, squiggled over to the console and slotted it in.
An ascending tone played from the Radiant Star’s hidden speakers, then Isa said “ah, delicious! That is a truly superb matrix, squiggles. Calculation time reduced to eleven seconds.”
“Then let’s get the hell out of here,” Tharox exclaimed.
The ship began accelerating, the seconds ticking by in Alis’ head. Would they make it before errant fire took them out? She felt disconcerted not being at the piloting controls, it was certainly odd letting the BII handle piloting.
“Jump in three… two… one…” Isa counted down.
Alis had never been so grateful to feel the consciousness rending whirl of warp jumping.
23
CYG8711
Benjam’s eyes focused and he looked around. His companions were still recovering from jump sickness, so he turned to the viewscreens. He was eager to get to work on his simulation, he had already begun developing algorithms in his head.
Isa’s voice resounded across the small bridge, “we’re clear, folks. You can relax.”
“Where are we, Isa?”
“I chose CYG8711, been here before. It’s uninhabited, but has breathable atmosphere and plentiful water. I can use it to refuel my hydrogen thrusters, while you all have a chance to stretch your legs,” Isa replied.
“Nice pick,” Tharox said affectionately.
“Wow, this is a first. We weren’t hit just as we jumped away. We didn’t get knocked off course. We didn’t even jump into a shitstorm! I mean, really, that was too easy!” Alis said, exasperated.
Benjam, feeling relieved, chuckled and placed a tentacle on her shoulder, “I think we made it, Alis.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. We still don’t know what we are gonna do about this Kirugi. Benjam, Isa, can the simulations be run while we refuel?” Kyren questioned.
“Of course. If Benjam is ready, we can begin now.”
Focusing on the task at hand, Benjam began working out the equations necessary for the simulations. He loaded several data cores and extracted results from previous experiments. He fed all the parameters in and began building his model.
“Atmospheric entry in three… two… one…” Isa said, and the viewscreens began to fill with bright orange plasma as the ship started to plow through the planet’s atmosphere at extreme velocity.
Benjam did his best to ignore the distractions as his tentacles crawled over the holopanel, but failed. He looked up at the main screens and saw they were flying low over lightly wooded gently rolling hills.
“We’ve got company!” Isa cried, zooming in on a small spacecraft parked in a large meadow. “Looks like someone is here ahead of us.”
Benjam quailed for a moment, fearing blazing weapons and relentless aggression. But no withering hail of fire came, no assault of any form, so he relaxed, if only minutely.
“Scan that ship, get us an ID,” Tharox commanded.
“I’ve already got that for you, dear,” she replied playfully.
“Well then spit it out, woman!”
“Hmmph!”
“Okay, I’m sorry Isa. Please jus
t tell me who that is,” Tharox said, sounding genuine.
“The ship is the Archimedes, registered to the liadi empire.”
“Shit! The damn raxi, we need to get out of here” Kyren exclaimed.
“No, wait. Look.” Elarra said, pointing to the screen. “Isa, please zoom in.”
The image zoomed in and they could see a figure standing in the meadow. Benjam recognized the boy immediately. Well, he wasn’t a boy. These damn liadi sure kept his world upside-down. It was Saeli, the one who had betrayed Elarra, but then helped them to rescue her. What was he doing here?
“We need to land. I need to know what he wants,” Elarra said.
“It could be a trap,” Kyren answered.
“Yes, it is certainly possible. Yet I do not believe that to be the case,” she replied, a note of certainty coloring her words.
“Isa, land us in the meadow,” Tharox ordered.
Without a word, Isa circled the Radiant Star low and then set down lightly in the clearing. Benjam heard the airlock hiss open and a ramp grind out.
“Benjam, how long until you’re ready?” Kyren asked.
“I’ve got several more hours of programming before the simulations can start.”
“Keep working then. We’ll go see what Saeli wants,” he said, taking the pistol from his belt and checking to make sure a round was chambered before tucking it back in.
Benjam turned back to his work without a word. This was going to be tricky. He wasn’t entirely positive he could set up an accurate temporal manipulation model, but he was sure going to try.
“Isa, please execute my design matrix to evaluate these equations,” he squeaked.
“Evaluating.”
Tharox entered the bridge and asked, “Isa, how long do you estimate refueling to take?”
“Thirty-two hours,” she replied casually. “It will take time to compress enough fuel to fill my extra-dimensional-scaffolding hydrogen chamber.”
