by Craig Allen
The console lit up suddenly, and text flitted across the canopy’s HUD, displaying start-up routines. Seconds later, the lights came on.
“Reactor’s online.” Sonja let out a laugh. “Holy shit, I have access to gravity drive.”
A cheer went up behind Cody as the gravity came on, gently at first. A minute later, they had a full one g of gravity throughout the hopper. Cody had never felt so happy to feel so heavy.
“Set life support to maximum.” Gaston’s voice sounded calm, but he had a grin on his face. “At least until the system can filter out the excess CO2.”
“Aye, sir.” Sonja cranked the controls up to maximum. “Course, sir?”
“Where do you think?” Gaston pointed at the moving dot in the background. “Confirm that thing is one of ours.”
Sonja brought up sensors. “Yes, sir, it’s the Odin. I’m getting gravimetric and transponder readings off other ships, even Spican ones. Never thought I’d be happy to see those…”
Sonja trailed off as she stared at the lidar. “Sir, you need to see this.”
A camera view appeared on the HUD, showing a close-up of the Hive. Small objects were hovering near its surface.
Gaston reached for the controls and zoomed in. Cody’s mouth fell open.
The small objects were bodies. Toads, bloated from exposure to the vacuum, floated end over end through space, dozens of them. Some still gripped G1 rifles, at least those that had arms. Many of the bodies had been dismembered.
“Goddamn,” Sonja said. “I guess the fliers really can take care of themselves.”
Gaston regarded the scene for a moment then switched the view off. “Let’s get out of here. Set course for the Odin, Ensign, and hail her for a rendezvous.”
Chapter Six
A cheer arose as Odin’s docking tube enveloped the hopper. The cheering got louder when the tube opened inside the docking bay.
A mechanical arm set the hopper on the lower deck, and the rear hatch cracked open. The chief petty officer who greeted them barely got out the words “Welcome aboard” before the crew piled out. They jumped up and down as if they had landed in an open meadow.
Cody followed them out the back, shaking hands and getting patted on the back. The crew liked to party, and Cody would’ve liked to do the same, but he was certain they weren’t done with Kali just yet.
Sonja dropped down from her pilot’s hatch. Cody wanted to drag her somewhere private, anywhere, as long as it was just the two of them. But even kissing her right there would’ve been a breach of protocol.
“Well, we made it.” Gaston walked around to the rest of the crew. “Told you it’d be fine.”
The crew cheered the commander while a chief petty officer from the Odin tried to make his way to Gaston.
“Good work, Doc.” Gaston held out a hand to Cody.
Cody took his hand. “I didn’t do much, Commander.”
Gaston belly laughed. “You handed those grenades to the fliers. That would’ve been a huge mistake any other time, but it turned out to be genius.”
“Sir?” The Odin’s chief petty officer finally managed to squeeze past the crew of the Olympus Mons. “You are wanted on the bridge at once.”
“What? I just got here.” Gaston muttered something Cody couldn’t hear. “All right, I’m on my way.”
“Very good, sir.” The chief petty officer pointed at Cody. “Dr. Brenner? You’re wanted there as well.”
“On the bridge?” Civilians on a bridge were unusual. The few times Cody had been on the bridge of the Tokugawa, he’d received dirty looks from officers. “Uh, okay.”
The petty officer turned around. “Gentlemen, if you’ll follow me.”
“What about my crew?”
“They’ll be taken care of,” the chief petty officer said. “We’re assigning them quarters.”
“Good enough.” Gaston pointed at Galloway. “Make sure they behave, huh?”
Galloway smiled. “I’ll do my best, Commander. But you know these guys.”
The crew erupted in laughter as Gaston and Cody followed the chief petty officer. Cody looked at Sonja, who leaned against the hopper, seeming exhausted. She gave him a little wave, and he hoped she saw him wink in return.
He sighed. Never enough time.
~~~
The bridge of the Odin was far larger than that of the Olympus Mons, but the layout was strikingly similar. In fact, Cody thought the layout of the Odin, a battle cruiser, was similar to the layout of the Olympus Mons, a small destroyer. But for whatever reason, when they built warships like the Tokugawa, they decided to change everything up.
“Goddamn.” Gaston nodded appreciatively at the bridge. “A man could stretch his legs around here.”
“A man could stretch his legs anywhere on this ship,” Cody said.
Gaston chuckled as the chief petty officer led them to a side room, which Cody assumed was the captain’s office.
The doors slid open, revealing a small room containing a desk with a high-backed chair behind it and two smaller chairs in front. Paintings had been strapped to the walls. Cody didn’t recognize the artist, but one of the paintings looked like the landscape of Altair IV. No one was in the room except the three of them.
Gaston turned to the petty officer. “Where’s the skipper?”
“We’ve been operating on something of a skeleton crew at the command level,” the petty officer said. “The Odin was pretty banged up in the conflict eight months ago. We’ve been rotating crew around for a while.” He pointed at the hologlobe on the desk. “The admiral is waiting, sir.”
“Admiral?” Gaston walked around the desk. “Why the hell didn’t you tell me?”
The petty officer looked meek. “Orders, sir. He wants to tell you himself.”
The door shut behind the petty officer, leaving Cody alone with Gaston.
“Of all the…” Gaston sat down in a chair in front of the desk and activated the holoviewer. “Grab a chair, Doc.”
Admiral Jericho’s image appeared. “Good morning, Commander.”
“Good morning, sir,” Gaston said. “I had no idea it was morning until just now.”
“There are no clocks on the Odin?” Jericho asked.
“Had too much on my mind to bother to look at one, sir,” Gaston said. “Uh, I have Dr. Brenner here as well, Admiral.”
Cody shifted in his chair. “I can leave if you need me to.”
“No, Doctor, I want you here as well.” Another visual appeared on the holoviewer next to Admiral Jericho. “Eight months ago, the UEAF ordered us to avoid all areas of the Kali system other than those sectors near Kali Prime and the Hive.”
“This is where the trouble is,” Gaston said. “It’s odd they didn’t want probes scouring the system, sir. Seems like that would be a good idea.”
“Yes, and I discovered why the UET denied the use of probes,” Jericho said. “Keep in mind that this information is confidential for now, but I’m sure it will get around sooner or later.”
A different image appeared next to Jericho’s. Cody recognized the world from previous probes around the system. It was Kali VIII, a terrestrial-sized planet, the farthest from the local star.
“What’s interesting,” Jericho said, “is this.”
The image zoomed in on a section somewhere near the northern pole. An artificial ring orbited the planet, almost like a giant space station in the shape of a torus. Cody couldn’t tell the precise dimensions of the ring, but from the numerous ships around it, the structure had to be hundreds of kilometers across.
Cody pointed at the ring. “What is that, Admiral?”
“Unknown. There’s nothing like it in our records. However, notice this here.”
The image zoomed on two ships supervising the installation of hull plating on the ring. One ship was a construction vessel with a UET symbol on it. The other was an old-style battle cruiser similar to the UEAF Kali, only modified—modified in the same way as the Kali ships that had attacked the f
leet eight months before.
“A Kali ship and a UET ship.” Gaston shook his head. “How long have they been working together on that monstrosity?”
“I wish I knew.” Jericho frowned. “I spoke with the chief engineer here on the Tokugawa. He says that ring would have taken at least several months to construct.”
“Eight months, I would guess,” Cody said. “But for what purpose?”
“That’s what I want you to find out,” Jericho said. “Commander Gaston, you hereby have a field commission to the rank of captain.”
Gaston leaned back. “Thank you, sir.”
“You are to take command of the Odin at once. I believe you have your command staff with you?”
“I do, sir. I’m happy to say everyone made it. The Odin is a bit bigger, though, Admiral.”
“The remaining crew of the Odin should help fill in the gaps.” Jericho pressed his lips together. “This is sudden, and I know you are now working with an unfamiliar crew, but I need you to investigate this construction facility and whatever that ring is. I want answers, and it looks like I’m not getting them from UET.”
“What else is new, Admiral?” Gaston nodded. “We’ll get the job done, sir. You have my word.”
“Excellent. Dr. Brenner?”
“Admiral?”
“As you have seen, there are Kali vessels aiding in the construction. I want you on the Odin in case we need to contact them in any way.”
“Of course, Admiral.”
“Very good. Report once you have learned something.” The view cut off.
Gaston sat in his chair for a few seconds then ran his hands along its arms. “This isn’t my chair.” He stood, went around the desk, and sat in the chair in front. “That’s more like it.”
“Congratulations,” Cody said, “Captain.”
“Yeah, yeah.” He opened the desk drawers and peered inside, like a kid looking for candy. “I’m sure it’s a temporary thing.”
“Don’t be so sure.” Cody stood. “Want me to inform your crew?”
“No, I’ll do that in a moment.” Gaston scanned the room, distracted. “Don’t know about these paintings, though.”
Cody left Gaston to his problems, such as they were. He had someplace he desperately needed to be.
~~~
Cody lay on the bed, which he’d thought would be too small, but they made it work just fine.
“Your own quarters,” Cody said. “That’s nice.”
“We had our own quarters on the Washington.”
“True. Or I did, at least. You just kept coming over.”
She smiled. “I don’t recall you complaining.”
“I wasn’t. By the way, do you have a call sign yet?”
“Nope. Whatever it’s going to be, I’ll hate it.”
He checked the time again.
Sonja nudged him. “Stop checking the time. You’d rather be somewhere else?”
“I don’t want to be anywhere else.” He looked at her. “You know that, right?”
She stared back for a moment, running her fingers along his chest. “Yeah, I do. I just wish you’d say it more often.”
He pulled her closer. “I will.”
The room’s comm chimed. Cody wanted to smash it with his fist.
“Dr. Brenner.” It was Gaston.
“Yes Com—er, Captain.”
“What are you doing right now?” he asked. “Other than that ensign you’re so fond of.”
As Sonja grumbled, Cody smiled. “Just finishing up, Captain.”
She elbowed him, but he didn’t stop smiling.
“I see. Well, I want you in my office. Techs just finished sweeping the hopper in which we made our valiant escape. You know what that striped buzzard sent in addition to its last message?”
Cody sat up. “What’s that, Captain?”
“A bunch of files. We’re trying to decrypt them, but with no luck. I understand this is right up your alley.”
“It is. I’m on my way.”
“Very good.” The comm chimed off.
Sonja glared at him. “You couldn’t come up with a better excuse?”
“This sounds important.” Cody jumped out of bed and pulled his clothes on. “I’m guessing Stripe could probably figure out how to transmit files, but I didn’t think he knew how to encode them. The question is why he encoded them.”
“I know it’s important.” She didn’t even bother to cover herself with a blanket. “You could at least pretend you want to stay, you know.”
“I do want to stay.” He leaned over and kissed her. “We never have enough time.”
“No, we don’t.”
“When this is over, we’ll have all the time in the world.” He reached to open the door. “I promise.”
She covered herself just before Cody left. He didn’t like the look of dejection on her face as the door closed.
~~~
A lieutenant escorted Cody to the captain’s office. The first thing Cody saw as the doors opened was a bemused look on Gaston’s face. He wondered if Gaston was still getting used to being in charge of a battle cruiser in addition to getting a promotion. Cody assumed a pay raise came with the promotion but wasn’t sure if asking would be proper.
Just before the doors closed, the lieutenant put his hands to his chest then spread his arms out just like an orbital dropper would. Cody returned the gesture.
“Doc.” Gaston sat behind the desk. “Sit down, will you?”
Cody did so, noticing that in the short time Captain Gaston had been in his office, he’d removed the old paintings. A new one was in place, one that looked like a Monet, but newer. The colors seemed to pop off the canvas. It was probably a 3-D holoimage from a world in the core, though definitely not Earth.
“Here they are.” Gaston ran his hand over the holoviewer, and a list of files appeared, along with a virtual control system in front of Cody. “What do you think?”
Cody attempted to access one file, but a red message appeared: Enter Access Code.
“Interesting.” Cody pulled up Deveau’s access codes, which he’d received from Bodin long before. In seconds, he had permission.
The text looked technical to Cody, and some of the images looked like engineering schematics.
“That’s peculiar.” Gaston leaned over the desk and scrolled through the files. He stopped at one in particular, which he opened.
A third holoimage appeared next to the file list and schematics. A man was standing with his hands behind his back and chin held upward, almost like an officer but far cockier. Also, he wasn’t wearing a uniform but a suit. His clothes probably cost a month’s pay for an officer. In the background was a docking bay though Cody had no clue which ship it was on.
“We would like to see the complete schematics first, of course,” the man said, “before we make a decision.”
“Unacceptable.”
Cody’s blood went cold at the familiar voice. As the view pulled out to show the second speaker, Cody nearly swore. The visage of Private Ann Salyard stood there, stock still, her hands at her sides. But Cody knew better.
“I have given you enough to understand the discovery I have made.” Ann’s lips were the only part of her face that moved. “I require your assistance, after which the complete schematics will be delivered. But not before.”
“But what if you should expire before we can see the full plans?” the man asked.
Cody looked at Gaston and mouthed the word expire. Gaston shook his head.
“Then you will have to move quickly.”
The man started to say something else, but Ann dissolved into seething red tentacles then vanished altogether. The recording ended.
“Well, goddamn it.” Gaston slammed his fist on the table. “When the hell was this recorded?”
Cody pulled up the time stamp. “About one week after the second battle with the toads.”
Gaston nodded. “Of course. That’s why the UET forbade the admiral from sending probes throug
hout the system and why every ship had to stay within range of either the Hive or Kali Prime.”
“It’s whatever is in those complete schematics, isn’t it?” Cody asked. “The Reed Entity has an intelligence beyond our comprehension.”
“Like that schematic, for instance. I’ll pass it on to my chief of engineering and see what he says. In the meantime—”
The comm chimed. “Captain, we are approaching Kali VIII. ETA, five minutes.”
“Very good.” Gaston cut off the comm with a swipe of his hand. “Come with me, Doctor. I think we’re about to see the results of those complete schematics.”
~~~
Cody stood patiently on the bridge, watching the hologlobe in the center. Gaston didn’t sit in his chair but stood next to Cody, his arms crossed.
“There it is, sir.” Galloway—now a commander, Cody noted—pointed at the hologlobe. “Whatever she is, she’s huge.”
A series of large curved metallic plates, very much like ship bulkheads, hovered in space. Small filaments, which the sensors had noted were a carbon nanotubing of some sort, connected the massive bulkheads. All in all, the system resembled a giant ring easily five thousand kilometers across. Running lights covered the surface of the ring, making it perfectly visible. On one section of the ring sat several round bubblelike structures, like attached space stations.
“Well, well.” Gaston stepped up to the globe. “Looks like someone’s been busy.”
“A lot of someones, Captain,” Galloway said. “Look at this.”
Galloway highlighted two different ships, which he then zoomed in on to display side by side on the holovisual. One was a typical construction ship seen throughout inner-world colonies, the type that built stations and helped terraform worlds. The other was an old-style battle cruiser from the war ten years before, with modifications made by the Reed Entity.
“They’re working together,” Gaston said. “What the hell has—”
“Incoming hail, sir,” the comms officer said.
“Patch it through.” After a chime, Gaston spoke. “This is Captain Gaston of the—”
