Lacuna: The Sands of Karathi

by Adams, David

  Liao and Summer had privately asserted the opinion that it was arrogance that kept the Toralii information unencrypted. Since they so rarely lost a battle, there were few who would challenge them, so there was no need to think about who might be picking through the bones of the wreckage of their ships.

  From what the construct had told Liao, Cenar had been around for nearly two centuries in its current form, although it had undergone a major refit almost a hundred years ago. The station was constantly upgraded, constantly kept to the bleeding edge of technology. It was so heavily armed that, for at least several decades, no unauthorized ship had even approached it.

  It wasn’t much, but Liao took some comfort in knowing that if they did attack Cenar, no matter what else they accomplished, that record would be broken. But looking over the schematics Ben had provided, Liao doubted they could do any more than that.

  The station was surrounded by gravity mines mixed in with high-yield nuclear warheads that tracked heavy ship hulls and automatically moved towards them, so even getting close to the minefield would be devastating. Because the jump drive required low gravity to function, the Toralii had positioned their gravity mines so there was only one jump location they could use. Their only other option was to jump to a nearby part of the void and travel via conventional engines, which would take almost a year. This solitary jump point was locked down harder than Liao had ever heard of. Every kind of weapon was pointed directly at that point, and there was a failsafe, too; a sphere of fusion bombs surrounding the jump point which, Ben informed her with chilling certainty, would utterly vaporize her ship if they were detonated.

  It was an unwinnable mission. The moment the Beijing appeared in the jump point, the Toralii had any number of ways to destroy them. They would have to be invisible to radar, optics, thermals, and magnetic sensors. They’d need a lot more firepower so they could knock out the Toralii batteries in an alpha strike, then enough speed and armour to survive fighting to the station. Then they’d need to dispatch their Marines in the Broadsword gunships and give them enough cover to make sure they made it. Then they’d have to sit there with their asses hanging out until the Marines could search the entire station, find the Tehran’s crew, and load back aboard their craft and get back to the Beijing.

  They needed an invincible, fast-moving stealth ship with a huge amount of weapons, and they needed it immediately.

  Jolting Liao out of her musings was a rap-tap-tap at the door of her office, as though a metal hand were knocking on the steel hatchway.

  “Come in.”

  The door was pushed open and Ben stepped into her office, his claws clacking together excitedly.

  “Captain Liao! Wotcha, ’ey? Still working on your impossible plan to attack the fortress of horrible doom?”

  Liao was amused, as always, by the AI’s comically overdone English accent.

  “I’ll find a way,” she promised, gesturing to the stack of notes all around her, “even if it takes me the rest of my life. No fortress is unassailable, no defense complete. There’s a way to manage this. I know it.”

  “Really? Well, if you’re that dedicated to finding him, I’m sure you’ll find a way. Chin up.”

  She gave a rueful smile. “It’d be much easier if we had a way to jump in somewhere other than right into their killbox. As it stands, though, I don’t know. There’s a reason nobody attacks this place.”

  Ben nodded. “Oh, yeah. That’s the trick, isn’t it? I mean, look at those worldshatter devices. Just like the ones that devastated your home planet, except, well, except there are eight of them. And even one of the lesser ones, the ship-mounted ones, was able to almost completely disable the Sydney during the last battle.”

  “I know.”

  The AI bobbed his strange little metal ‘head.’ “It’s funny, you know. I mean, the voidwarp technology–I mean, uh, the jump drive–completely changed every civilization that discovered it, including your own. But it has this strange limitation. You can only jump when the region you’re leaving has barely any gravity at all.”

  Liao rolled her shoulders, glancing down to the stack of paper in front of her. “Yes, well, it seems as though the Toralii are further along than we are. How the Seth’arak escaped, taking the Tehran with them, when they were surrounded by gravity mines is a mystery for the ages.”

  “Gravity mines?” The little robot stared at Liao, its synthetic lenses opening and closing rapidly. “But I thought the Tehran jumped away from a Lagrange point.”

  “It did, but we arranged a set of gravity mines nearby that would pulse waves of gravitational energy. We had hoped that would stop them from jumping out, but no such luck.” At least that’s what we hope happened.

  Ben stared at her. “Fascinating! The same gravity mines you have stowed in Engineering Bay Two? The ones next to my datacore?”

  “That’s correct, why?”

  Ben mused, scratching his chin with his claw. “Well, that should have done the trick. Maybe those crackpots on Velsharn have finally figured it out?”

  “Velsharn?”

  Ben bobbed his head. “A research facility deep in Telvan space, well out of the way of anything of any value or significance. They’re tasked with looking at a whole great big bunch of technologies–new thrusters, advanced composite materials, weapons, and a side project to look into ways of jumping inside gravity fields. They were just starting their research when I was trapped on Karathi, so I have no idea how it turned out or if it even works. Some of those who founded that facility were the same research team who created the original voidwarp technology.” He winked at her. “In fact, I uploaded their original schematics to your people years ago.”

  A way to jump inside gravity fields. Although immediately intriguing, Liao tilted her head at that last bit. “Wait, what?”

  Liao swore Ben’s artificial face was grinning at her. “The voidwarp technology, the reactionless drive. They’re actually Toralii technology, more or less. All these technologies I gave to the Americans who were manning the radio telescope, who passed them along to your governments. Of course, from what Rowe was telling me, the Australian Space Agency was working on something similar, so really I just provided the last few pieces which the Australians stole off the Chinese, who in turn shared them with the Iranians. Pieces which were then stolen by the Europeans and reverse engineered by the Chinese again, all with the ultimate result being that nobody knew who invented what. Oh, what a tangled web we weave.”

  Liao stared at him. “So it seems,” she admitted. “I did think it odd that such advanced technology appeared out of nowhere. I just assumed it was highly classified. Secret research and all.”

  Ben raised his claws helplessly. “Maybe that’s what everyone on every side thought. I knew it would all go to pot anyway, giving such an undeveloped species–uhh, no offense–such advanced stuff. It was a risk, but I wanted to be found, and I wasn’t picky about who found me. Whoever did the rescuing would need voidwarp technology, so…”

  “So you helped out poor, little, stupid Humans.”

  “Well, it wasn’t easy. I had to send the messages through the Forerunner network. Jump, transmit, jump, transmit. It was jolly slow going.”

  Liao mulled over Ben’s words. “Well, we’re glad you did, at any rate.”

  Ben laughed. “Oh, not a problem at all, really. You guys had it mostly figured out anyway. I just helped. You probably would have nailed it on your own in a few decades or so, but I couldn’t wait that long.”

  Liao nodded. “Wouldn’t be the first time technology has flowed from a more advanced civilization to a lesser one. We’ve benefited, though, so thank you.”

  Ben winked his optics again. “No worries. Now, I bet you want to know about Velsharn, right?”

  Taking a breath, Liao nodded. “I do. If they’re Telvan, and we can establish a diplomatic rapport with them, this is good news. We need allies. If they can help us get James and the crew of the Tehran back, that’s definitely a bonus.” />
  “I got it, Captain. Visiting the Telvan to somehow obtain their research is one thing, but an assault on Cenar is another. Even with this mysterious jump drive, I don’t think we could achieve any kind of victory against firepower of that magnitude. There’s just too many guns.”

  Liao grinned. “How about you let me worry about that, hmm?”

  Chapter VI

  “Velsharn”

  * * *

  Operations

  TFR Beijing

  Near Velsharn Research Facility

  Toralii Space

  “Jump complete, Captain. We are in the primary Velsharn Lagrange point and the Sydney is in position at jump point two.”

  Stepping towards the command console, Liao nodded to the tactical console. “Excellent. Analysis of the Toralii’s defensive status?”

  The fresh-faced man who served as Jiang’s replacement, whose name did not immediately leap to mind, glanced her way. “No activity so far. They probably haven’t seen us yet, or if they have, their alarms will be just sounding now.”

  Peng. That was his name. “Very good, Mister Peng. Let me know the instant you see any kind of activity, but let’s keep our own weapons powered down for now.”

  Liao felt Saara watching her. She turned, giving the Toralii woman a nod. “We are here with peaceful intentions. It’s important that we make that clear. I don’t want them to think we’re here to attack them.”

  Saara nodded her thanks. The Telvan—Saara’s people—were more reasonable than the Toralii Alliance. Liao was hopeful they could initiate a dialogue.

  She glanced down at the main monitor, the planet’s blue, water-covered surface illuminated clearly by the ship’s optics. Since the vast majority of its surface was water, the whole planet was almost dark on the electromagnetic and thermal scopes. Although there was one extremely bright patch on one of the few islands, indicating that whatever colonies the Telvan had settled on this planet were clumped together, and that there was a high level of power being generated and used at that location.

  Exactly as one might expect from a research facility, she mused. Ben and Saara both agreed that this was the most likely place for a Toralii colony, as they did not like water.

  Lieutenant Dao spoke up. “Captain, facilities on the surface are broadcasting a signal. They’re hailing us.”

  They had anticipated this. Liao glanced at Saara, the only one of them who could speak Toralii, and handed her the headset for the long range radio. With little difficulty, the Toralii slipped it over her head. Kamal handed Liao the First Officer’s headset, and the man nodded to Dao to open the channel.

  [“This is the Velsharn Research Facility. Identify yourselves and state your purpose.”]

  Liao had given Saara the task of talking to them directly, rather than simply acting as Liao’s translator. It was hoped that another Toralii–especially one of the same faction–would be more welcome than an alien species.

  [“Velsharn Research Facility, this is Airmaiden Saara of the Task Force Resolution vessel Beijing. We come not to harm you, nor to bring you misfortune in any way, and we approach you in peace. We wish to engage in trade with you regarding your advanced jump drive technology.”]

  There was a long pause, almost ten seconds, presumably as the Toralii researchers deliberated the strange request, made in their dialect by one of their own.

  [“Task Force Resolution vessel Beijing, uhh, we are a peaceful research facility, not a trading station, but we have no quarrel with you, nor even knowledge of your species or capabilities. However, trade dialogue cannot be genuine when offered at the receiving end of two warships’ guns. Surely you understand our skepticism.”]

  Liao nodded to Saara. “Not an unexpected response. Offer a diplomatic exchange; they send one of their people, we send one of ours.”

  [“Velsharn Research Facility, Beijing. As a gesture of good faith, we are prepared to dispatch an unarmed diplomat to the surface to negotiate with you regarding a potential exchange and to offer you what we have for trade.”]

  Another long pause.

  [“Understood, Beijing, but what guarantee do we have that you are not with the Toralii Alliance?”]

  Liao was vaguely amused that the Telvan were more suspicious of other Toralii than they were of an unknown species.

  Saara turned to Liao, a wide grin stamped on her feline face as she held down the talk key. [“Perhaps you have not heard of the Battle of Kor’Vakkar?”]

  Kor’Vakkar, or the Gateway of Eternal Ash, was an important stronghold of the Toralii Alliance. They used it as a rally point, a resupply venue, and a shipyard. The Humans called it the Hades system.

  Liao and James tore through that place like a pair of whirling dervishes, destroying the massive, armoured space station that served as the system’s fortress and resupply point and annihilating numerous unprepared Toralii Alliance warships before they had jumped away. It had been a decisive blow, one that Fleet Command had hoped would deter the Toralii from attacking directly in the future.

  James had nearly been killed. However, she could not afford to process those thoughts and emotions at the moment so, as she had done more and more of late, they were brutally stuffed into the back of her mind and forced out of her thoughts.

  From the radio there was a stunned silence, then a low chuckle.

  [“We have heard of the assault, but we did not know who perpetrated the deed. We are no friends of the Alliance and, if that truly was you who broke Kor’Vakkar’s back, we have much to discuss.”]

  * * *

  Primary Research Hub

  Surface of Velsharn

  Liao fell in love with Velsharn the moment she set foot on its soil.

  It truly was an alien world, slightly cooler and dimmer than Earth due to its distance from its sun. The planet was almost entirely covered in water, and on what little land existed the ground was covered in thick and vibrant flora. A thick blanket of seaweed stretched out from the coasts, as though the amount of life on the tiny islands had spilled out into the oceans as well. The gravity was slightly higher than Earth’s, although not uncomfortable for any of the crew.

  The Toralii scientists who had settled on Velsharn appeared to have formed their colony with the deliberate intention to preserve the planet’s environment. From all sides, the vibrant fauna seemed to encroach unhindered on the colonist’s small settlement, vine heavy with fruit, and plants growing all around and over the buildings, blending them into the landscape. At first, Liao suspected that it might be a form of camouflage, but as they explored the colony she came to realize they were embracing their environment rather than trying to shape it.

  The largest building of the settlement was a central mess hall, surrounded by fairly spacious prefabricated dwellings–homes, judging by their size and reduced thermal signature–that were covered in blue vines. The next largest was the colony’s medical facility, then various labs and workrooms of unknown description, entertainment complexes, and recreation areas.

  The breeze, fresh and clean, came from the east, and with it the singing of thousands of birds. They were annoying at first, as they made conversation difficult, but after a time Liao became accustomed to–and even enjoyed–their high-pitched tweeting.

  The moment the landing party arrived, they were met by the local inhabitants. Qadan, a grey-furred Toralii and the administrator responsible for the facility, came out and greeted them cautiously but warmly, flanked by several assistants.

  Introductions were made, swiftly and with formality that faded as they began to talk. Liao kept the crew on a tight leash and did not bring many–just herself, a security detachment of Marines, Saara, Cheung, and Summer. Kamal was in charge of the Beijing in her absence.

  Matthew Knight, the captain of the TFR Sydney, stayed with his ship, in orbit with the Beijing. Liao felt sorry for him; the planet seemed heavenly. After having spent nearly a year living in space with nothing but steel mesh underneath her feet—aside from the visit to Karathi—th
e opportunity to hear the crunching of dirt below her boots was more than welcome.

  And, oh, the freshness of the air. Crisp and humid and clean, salty as though they were near the ocean, which judging by the planet’s high volume of surface water made a great deal of sense. It was tantalizing to the noses of those who had, for so long, breathed recycled, stale oxygen.

  Although initially wary, the Toralii were soon out in force to greet them. Qadan explained that the colony was home to ten thousand souls, all civilians, their numbers swelled by the families the researchers had brought along with them. Seeing thin-furred Toralii children running and playing seemed strange to Liao. She thought of the child growing inside her and found herself imaging her son or daughter joining in their games.

  The Telvan greeted Liao and her crew almost like heroes after what they had done at Kor’Vakkar, something that–coming from an alien species–felt more than a little odd. Saara answered endless questions regarding the battle of Kor’Vakkar as fast as she could speak. The stories were repeated by those who heard them and seemed to grow bolder with each retelling. Saara looked particularly glad to be back with her own people, although she had little chance to socialize as she was occupied translating for Liao and Kamal.

  With Liao’s permission, the Marines gave away a few of their smaller items—torches, radios, and mission patches—to the Toralii, who studied them with a voracious curiosity. In return, the Toralii offered them a whole host of technological devices which were graciously accepted, along with fresh fruit–an exquisite luxury for those who had spent months eating nothing but rehydrated rations–and small flasks of a sweet nectar that smelt utterly divine. Liao accepted a vial for herself, tucking it into a pocket of her uniform.

  The hours passed faster than she had anticipated. With the initial meet-and-greet going far better than even her most optimistic expectations, Liao and Saara were offered an audience with Leader Qadan in his private office, a prefabricated building attached to the side of his residence. She accepted the offer as quickly as it had been made.