by John Filcher
Both Bulldogs quickly flew down to the airless surface. “Primary entry point dead ahead,” Gellin announced as they descended to what both Cerberus’ AI and science staff had identified as the most likely ship landing dock. “Looks even more like a landing facility the closer we get,” Gellin murmured as they got closer.
“Yes, it does,” Chanson agreed from Bulldog 5, unaware he had the commlink channel open.
Minutes later, both craft settled in on matching squares on the expansive tarmac. “We’re down, Gamma 1 time to earn your pay,” said Gellin.
“Gamma 1 confirms. Gamma team, move out and establish a perimeter,” ordered Gamma 1, Cpl. Brett Blackwater from Wales.
Gamma team swiftly moved out of the Bulldog, assuming kneeling postures with weapons drawn as they established a semicircular perimeter between the ships and the buildings 30 yards away.
“Negative contact, Gamma 1,” reported Pvt. Jefferson Langley from Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin.
“Roger that, Gamma 2,” Blackwater responded. “Breaching team to the entrance on the larger building to the right,” he ordered. Gammas 3 through 5 swiftly posted themselves next to what Blackwater thought looked just like an airlock from Cerberus. Blackwater moved to get a better look at it.
Gamma 5, Pvt. David Addington from the hinterlands of the Canadian Yukon, set himself as he was covered by the team, and used the breaching jaws on the airlock door. “Knock, knock,” Addington said, when the door suddenly opened with great force. “Berger, job opportunity,” he announced, ducking away from the opening in case someone on the other side didn’t appreciate his efforts.
“Affirmative. Drone away,” responded the team’s electronic warfare specialist, Private Victor Berger, in French-accented American. “Clear!” Berger reported seconds later.
“No contacts. Berger, get that inner hatch open,” commanded Blackwater, who immediately ordered most of the team inside the room.
Berger swiftly repeated his breaching duties, and the team swarmed into the dark passageway beyond.
Bulldog 1 — Command Level
Cpl. Brett Mackey followed Pvt. Terry Allison into the spacious command level compartment.
“Bravo 1, they look pretty dead,” noted Allison.
“Roger that, Bravo 5,” acknowledged Mackey. “Bravo 6 and 7, job opportunity. Move these corpses out of our way,” he ordered.
“Bravo 1, Bravo 2. We’ve ID’d the computer core,” announced Pvt. Ed Wilson.
“Already? They have a big picture on it so you grunts could find it or something?” asked Mackey.
“That’s a rog, Bravo 1. And it’s literally labeled Computer Core. It’s written in American on the outside of the section panel,” noted Wilson, who was from Brookings, South Dakota.
“Bravo 4, can we turn the thing on to copy its files, or do we want to figure out how to physically take the thing with us instead?” asked Mackey.
“Captain wants us to try to turn it on here, Bravo 1. The Science team is afraid of a possible hostile reaction if there’s an AI and they don’t want Cerberus too close if that happens,” responded Guthrey.
“OK. We’re expendable, understood. Bravo 4, let’s get that process figured out,” Mackey decided.
“Bravo 5, break out that portable generator and I’ll open this thing up,” Guthrey said, grabbing the utility took from his waistband. “Never thought I would end up using a standard screwdriver in an ancient, flying ghost ship, and find that it worked!” Guthrey interrupted his commentary as the access panel quickly popped off. He looked at Bravo 1, who was now standing near him.
“Should we be unnerved that our tools fit this relic?” muttered Mackey as he watched.
Well, I guess this has to be a power feed, thought Guthrey ironically as he explored the innards. He noticed a cable labeled “Power,” which he swiftly cut into, as there wasn’t a coupling to tap into. When he was ready, Guthrey motioned for Allison to start bringing up the power output of the generator. When power output hit 50 percent, the workstation suddenly lit up and came to life. Guthrey motioned again, this time for Allison to hold power at 50 percent.
The team gathered round the workstation and watched its view screen display the system boot process for a few moments. They were rewarded when the system navigation screen appeared. For a moment Guthrey studied the options, by now only slightly surprised to see them listed in American since the origin of the ship was obvious.
“Bravo 4, anything look promising?” inquired Mackey.
“Well, Logs, Records, and AI,” responded Guthrey. “But only AI is clickable.”
Mackey wasn’t terribly pleased with that option, but gave Guthrey the go ahead anyway.
“Here goes nothing,” muttered Guthrey to himself, clicking AI.
Seconds later, the entire team heard through their helmets, “Please state command authorization,” through their commlinks.
“Uh, Bravo 1, we aren’t supposed to hear the ancient alien machine talking to us on our own encrypted commlinks, are we?” asked Ed, managing to sound both highly concerned and dumbfounded at the same time.
“That’s a negative, Bravo team,” responded Mackey.
“Who are you?” asked the disembodied female voice through all of their exosuits commlink nodes.
After Bravo team all traded glances at each other, Mackey replied to the voice. “Corporal Brett Mackey, Bravo team leader, assigned to the Cerberus. And who might you be?”
“I am the artificial intelligence for USS Constitution,” the voice responded. “Corporal, you and your vessel do not appear in my databanks for Western Coalition forces. Please state your origin.”
Even no one could see it through his helmet, Mackey’s eyebrows rose in surprise before he replied. “Dothan, Alabama.” No one else spoke.
“Corporal, my sensors are offline and this limits my analysis. Your accent when speaking English does not quite match my records of that location’s accent. Can you explain?”
Mackey thought about his response for a moment before deciding the truth was the only smart play here. “We’re a Marine boarding party. We located a ruined hull hurtling through this region of space with the markings USS Constitution visible on the outside. There are corpses throughout the vessel, and we brought along a power generator to aid our exploration efforts. We used it to bring you back to life. And why did you say I have an unusual accent when speaking English? I speak American.”
This answer gave the AI pause.
“My last data fragments recorded a massive shockwave impacting the ship during battle. Coalition forces detonated fusion bombs to prevent eastern access to the jump gate. Do you have an estimate of when our recovery teams will arrive?”
Both stunned and saddened, Mackey decided to just tell the intelligence the harsh truth. “Recovery team? I’m sorry, AI. There will be no recovery team. Are you aware of how much time has passed since the battle?”
“No. I am presuming somewhat longer than five days. My systems were entirely powered down due to the extent of damage to the ship. Fleet doctrine is to locate and recover ship AIs within five days of combat to prevent capture by enemy forces,” responded the AI. “However, you were unable to provide command authorization, suggesting you were diverted from another mission for the recovery as command authorization is not transmitted over fleet channels for security reasons.”
“You have no idea how diverted we were, AI. At your current velocity and course, and factoring in the rate of radioactive decay, your battle took place 753 years ago.” said Mackey. “I’d like to introduce you and our team’s AI, but our AI goes to auto lockdown when an unknown AI infiltrates our systems.”
Bulldog 2 — Aft Engineering
As Echo team explored the aft engineering, they didn’t take long to find where the Engineering ended. It was once an “L” shaped compartment, but now they saw after roundin
g the inner angle of the “L” that the other end of the “L” wasn’t there. Literally, it had been sheared off by the forces that destroyed the ship centuries ago.
“Echo 1, Echo 5. There ain’t much to see here,” reported Danfries. “The other end of the compartment is gone. Completely blown away and exposed to space,” he added.
Just then, the AI broke into the commlink. “Corporal Kanagawa, my infiltration of the system has revealed a nearly spent nuclear power source here in the surviving section of Engineering. That source powered the anti-intruder system that injured privates Gonzales and Pak. I have severed the connections between the power source and the remainder of this vessel.”
“Thank you, AI. Have you located any records or logs in this wreck?” asked Kanagawa.
“Affirmative. Some navigational data survived. Most logs and records were destroyed along with the rest of this ship. I have downloaded what little information remained for retrieval.”
Surprised, Kanagawa called Cerberus. “Cerberus Actual, this is Bravo 1. Ship is secure.”
Ronin responded moments later. “Roger that. Science team is on the way. Cerberus Actual, Out.”
Bulldogs 4 and 5
As Gamma team swiftly moved into the passageway, Pvt. Victor Berger left signal repeaters at intersections and spacing intervals. The building was three stories tall, and about a hundred yards long on each of its four sides. There appeared to be two main passages, interspersed with laterals every ten yards on the ground floor that they traversed.
“Personnel. Galley. Power Plant. Spaceflight control. Gym. So far, this place seems pretty mundane,” commented Cpl. Jefferson Langley.
“Oh yeah, what are those signs telling you, private?” challenged Blackwater.
“Uh, that it’s an office building?” responded Langley.
“No, you numbskull. The signs are written in American! That means this was probably a Coalition base and not an Asiatic Collective outpost,” rumbled Blackwater.
“Come on Gamma 1, everybody knows we can’t read,” wisecracked GySgt. Juan Sanchez.
“They should’ve drawn pictures in crayon if they wanted guys like us to know what was in there,” added Pvt. Aldo Pena, the team’s corpsman.
“Cretins like you would’ve thought they were dirty pictures even if they were in crayon,” Sanchez quipped as the team located the center of the floor plan where both main passageways intersected around a bank of lifts.
“Gamma 5, open a set of the lift doors and let’s see where they lead,” ordered Blackwater.
“Gamma 1, this place has everything,” quickly responded Addington, getting the doors on the far left lift open. “A third-floor penthouse and at least ten sub-levels below ground,” he added.
“OK. Gamma team, break into pairs and let’s get the rest of this building searched before we go spelunking,” Blackwater ordered.
Within thirty minutes, the team reformed back at the lift bank in the center of the first floor. “The building houses administrative and cargo facilities. I’m betting the fun stuff is down below. There’s no stairway, which isn’t terribly surprising from a security perspective. Easier to control access if there is just a bank of lifts to guard,” Blackwater said. “There’s an access hatch in the floor of the lift, so let’s go through there and rappel down the shaft,” he added.
“Uh, Gamma 1, we’re going down into the dark scary hole? That’s where aliens eat your face off,” said Langley, peering down into the dark shaft.
“You watch too many cheap movies, Gamma 2,” commented Blackwater dryly. “None of them would find your head palatable.”
After the laughter died down, Sanchez ribbed Blackwater. “Gamma 1…uh, ‘palatable’? What, you get attacked by a dictionary or something? We’re just grunts. We don’t know fancy jargon like that.”
With that, Gamma team descended down into the dark hole.
Chapter 10
Discovery
The next week crawled by for Ronin, but it passed swiftly for the various boarding and shore parties, who found a decidedly mixed bag of success. While they explored, Ronin was getting into the rhythm of his ship.
Gotta get some exercise, he thought as he crawled out of his bunk in his quarters. He brushed his teeth to get the nasty out, and stumbled down to the gym.
As he walked along, he saw Lieutenant Delacroix in the open rec room near the gym, sitting at a table populated by a mixed group of three navy ensigns, and a Marine lieutenant. Curious, Ronin sidled over to see what card game was ongoing.
“Captain, join us?” asked Delacroix when he spotted Ronin. “We’re just playing a friendly game of five card stud.”
Ronin smiled and shook his head. “No, thanks. I don’t need to lose my pay to a gang of pirates. Especially to you, Delacroix.”
The Marine laughed.
“Yes-sir, the good Lieutenant’s prowess at the table is legendary,” Ronin remarked, to the amusement of the others seated with Delacroix. Ronin continued on to the gym, thankful to have escaped the card sharks swimming at that table.
As he entered the gym, his eyes were immediately drawn to a sparring match going between Charlie team’s Private Kowalski and Gamma’s Corporal Blackwater. Both were accomplished black belts in Tae Kwon Do, although Kowalski was also a black belt in judo as befits a close combat specialist.
“Care to join us sir?” called Kowalski.
“You don’t mind sparring an old flabby guy like me?” Ronin responded.
“No sir, we could always use some fresh meat…I mean, another sparring partner. Greatest exercise ever.” Blackwater backed out of the sparring ring to play scoring referee while Ronin geared up with some sparring pads.
“OK, Kowalski, I’m ready,” announced Ronin as he and Kowalski faced each other in the center of the ring and bowed.
The two quickly began circling as Kowalski tried to get a read on Ronin’s skill level. Ronin quickly realized his opponent didn’t know he wasn’t facing a rookie in the ring, so Ronin decided to play it like a rookie. He started acting nervous, and forced himself to seem unnaturally stiff, like someone who didn’t know what he was doing. Ronin also began showing various openings, trying to bait Kowalski into attacking. He didn’t have to wait long, as Kowalski decided to start with a showy tornado kick against his inexperienced opponent.
Gotcha! thought Ronin, as he suddenly relaxed so he could move faster as he stepped further to the side while delivering a very basic roundhouse to Kowalski’s exposed midsection when it reappeared during his spinning. Ronin swiftly followed it with a sliding sidekick at the midsection to keep Kowalski’s momentum going in the wrong direction while Ronin twirled into a spinning wheel kick at Kowalski’s head while covering enough ground to catch up to where Kowalski had gone to.
Surprised, Kowalski recovered quickly with a spin back kick that caught Ronin in the stomach. “Ooff! Sir, nicely done. You baited me in with that whole rookie act,” Kowalski said with a small laugh.
“What belt are you?” Ronin, still circling as the two threw various combinations of kicks and punches.
“Third degree black in Taekwondo,” replied Kowalski.
The next hour’s sparring with combinations of the three men was just the sort of hard, stress relieving workout that he craved, Ronin thought as he returned to his quarters for a quick shower.
By the tenth day, Cerberus’ science teams were as giddy as kids on Christmas morning. They were uncovering all sorts of interesting stuff, and the functioning AI discovered by Bulldog 1 had been very cooperative.
Ronin, LeCroy and Cmdr. Diane Mueller met in the main conference room with the ship’s science team to get the latest update. Mueller’s husband, Karl, was there. “Captain, it’s still difficult to believe some of the information we’ve located. Legends are coming true,” Karl reported.
“How true?” Ronin asked.
&n
bsp; “Data from the records onboard the Constitution and from Ninebase confirm the jump gates were indeed real, and this system’s gate was destroyed in The Fall. Its location was the center of the highest density radiation in the hot spot,” Karl stated bluntly.
Interesting how the ancients named the base on Planet Nine’s satellite Ninebase, Ronin thought. They must’ve originally counted the number of planets using the same conventions we are using today.
“What about the colonies?” Ronin asked, hoping they weren’t just going to remain legends.
“Yes sir, we’ve only partial data there due to deterioration, but there was enough left to confirm the existence of three coalition colonies in orbit around a star the ancients called Baidam. We initially assumed assuming it was named after the person who discovered the star, or explored the system or something like that, but data from the Constitution said it was named Baidam because it’s in the shark constellation.”
Ronin took a sip of his beloved coffee. “Which colonies?”
“Forrestal, Celestra, and Solara.”
Ronin set his coffee down and leaned forward. “You’re sure? Those names really ARE the stuff of legends.” Ronin shook his head slowly as he sank back in his seat. “Seriously, we’ve heard those names our whole lives. They’ve reached the same legendary status as the legend of Atlantis in the pantheon of lost civilizations. I’ve never heard of a shark constellation. How do we find it?” he asked.
“There wasn’t any nav data uncovered so far, just a symbol that looks like a backwards ‘S’ and a video fragment of some stars. We’re not sure what it’s supposed to mean. Confederation databanks don’t have any information on where this shark constellation supposedly was,” Kurt noted.
“We have another dilemma that is of a slightly more immediate concern, Captain,” Mueller noted. “Bulldog 3 is still eyes on the enemy destroyer over on the far side of the hot spot. They report it’s still accelerating for the hot spot, but we have time to warn them to change course before they fly though enough radiation to turn everyone onboard into a crispy corpse. What are we going to do about them?”
