by Damon Alan
[The sound of a door being keyed open]
If I don’t come back, let the record show that Peter Corriea is my choice of replacement. Although he’s neither ready, nor, I think, of the correct frame of mind.
If you’re hearing this because you’ve been promoted, Peter, get control of your emotions. You’re going to need it.
End the log, Lucy.
Chapter 17 - Countdown
22 Gusta 15329
Heinrich waited at the airlock with Sergeant Stornbeck, in the same room the volunteers from the Seventh Fleet had been subdued by Orson.
If the Stennis was nearby, then the Schein must be destroyed at Captain Dayson’s hands.
The indicator on the panel went from red to green as the pressure equalized in the lock, and the door opened. A dozen armed men and women swarmed into the compartment, weapons trained on Heinrich and Stornbeck.
Their magnetic boots locked to the floor, both women raised their hands in surrender.
The next face through the lock surprised Heinrich.
Captain Sarah Dayson. Wearing admirals stars.
“Admiral on board,” Stornbeck called out.
Heinrich snapped to attention, and heard Stornbeck do the same. Admiral Dayson approached the pair, her boots clicking with each step and adhesion, in sync with the two bulky marines at her side.
The admiral studied her up and down. Then looked at Stornbeck.
“Who does your makeup?” Admiral Dayson asked Stornbeck.
“She did,” the sergeant answered, pointing at Heinrich.
“I did,” Heinrich answered at the same time.
Admiral Dayson turned away from Stornbeck, toward her.
“Are you the one who devised the plan that destroyed the Hinden?” Admiral Dayson asked.
That stabbed into Heinrich’s gut. She deserved to be executed for what she’d done. Maybe she could have fought harder. Found a way to resist the drug. She wanted to look at the floor and cry like a child. Instead she replied. “Yes sir. I am.”
The admiral’s eyebrow arched at her. “Of your own free will?”
“No, sir. Under chemical inducement.”
The Admiral looked back at the people behind her, who still had their guns on the two women. “Draw blood samples.”
The conversation stalled while a medic rushed forward to take the samples. A few minutes later, the job done, the medic retreated back to the shuttle.
“So what is the deal with your faces?” Admiral Dayson gestured at the camo work they’d done for each other.
“We decided once Gaia countered the drug and freed our minds we were going to kill Orson’s men on board and retake the ship,” Heinrich answered. “We thought this might instill confusion in our enemies, giving us an advantage.”
“Sir, we… we killed all of Orson’s willing accomplices,” Stornbeck said. “We wanted them to die looking at us this way, even if it didn’t help. To be honest, it was about hate.”
The corner of the admiral’s lips upturned slightly. “You killed them? How did you do that?”
Heinrich almost couldn’t believe how it happened herself. “Gaia showed us this ship’s ancient armory. We hunted Orson’s men down and executed them.”
The admiral pursed her lips and nodded. “Do you have this mind control drug in your possession?”
Heinrich reached into her pocket to recover a pill case containing the drug. A drug that she had willingly taken twice a day because Orson had told her to do so. At least until today.
As her fingers dipped into her pocket, Ensign Hamden raised his weapon and pointed it at her face.
Admiral Dayson reached out her hand and lowered his barrel.
“It’s a pill case, Mr. Hamden,” the admiral said.
“With all due respect, I won’t be losing you too, sir.”
The look on Sarah Dayson’s face betrayed how she felt about Hamden, that she had some measure of affection for the marine. And that his comment was of some significance.
Probably about the former fleet XO.
She put the case into the admiral’s hand, who then turned to Hamden. “Take this to the shuttle and secure it. I’ll want this analyzed to verify Commander Heinrich’s story.” She faced Heinrich once again. “If this drug is what you say it is, you will have redemption in my eyes. And I expect in the trial that you will be standing. Both of you, as well as anyone else who was under the effects.”
Heinrich felt both relief and outrage. She’d blown up a capital ship. She deserved court-martial and conviction.
“I see on your face you blame yourself,” Admiral Dayson said. “That ends now. I need your expertise to deal with what remains of our fleet, and I seriously hope your story checks out.”
“It will,” Heinrich said. “I will try to follow your order.”
The admiral stared at her a moment. Heinrich hadn’t spent much time with the woman before. She was imposing, had a will in her eyes that said her orders weren’t to be anything but followed. “Commander. I am taking control of this ship in the name of the free people of New Korvand. I need a pilot. Can you fly it?”
“I can, sir.”
“Then these marines will stay on board. Ensign Hamden, when he gets back, will be in command. You will take the Gaia back to Oasis and put it in parking orbit around Halvi as it was before.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Then you will take a shuttle to Jerna City. We will open a military tribunal to consider the nature of your offenses, if any. You too, sergeant, along with all of Orson’s victims on this vessel. You will get medical care and be treated fairly.”
Stornbeck nodded.
“As I said, if your story is sincere, you have no worries.”
“It is as the Commander has said,” Gaia broke in.
“The ship AI,” Heinrich commented. “It is rather direct.”
“It is,” the admiral agreed.
“That has been helpful so far,” Heinrich said. “Without her I’d still be serving Orson.”
“Orson is dead,” Admiral Dayson responded.
Heinrich stared at the woman in front of her, silent for a moment. She would liked to have ended him herself. “You killed him?”
“I disabled his ship. He was unable to flee the shock front of the nova that is exploding in this system even as we speak.”
That was new. “Nova?”
“This is not theoretically possible,” Gaia interjected.
The admiral looked annoyed, but ignored the interruption. “It is also possible he was destroyed by the Hive fleet that I left him alone with.”
“Hive? Should we be worried?”
“No, they were destroyed by the nova as well, I believe.”
“How are you jumping the Stennis? You have no singularity, the last I knew.”
The admiral smiled. Being stationed on the Schein, Heinrich hadn’t had a lot of opportunity to interact with Sarah Dayson directly. But now that they were standing face to face, she saw why people followed the woman. Intelligence danced in her eyes, and she practically oozed a sense of fairness. Those traits were backed up by an obvious attention to duty, and dedication to the larger goal.
By her hesitation, she also demonstrated her cautious nature toward Heinrich. But she did answer. “The adepts have devised, with the help of Commander Peter Corriea, a nearly instantaneous method of transportation. They are on my ship as we speak.”
That explains how the Stennis approached the Gaia. If they’d approached by normal methods, the colony ship’s sensors would have given Heinrich plenty of notice. The presence of the adepts explained why Admiral Dayson arrived on a shuttle instead of docking directly.
“They’re still harmed by the singularity drive?” Heinrich asked.
“If close enough. My ship is well outside that range.”
Nodding at that, Heinrich marveled. Orson had hated the natives of the Oasis system. And those same natives were the tool that Admiral Dayson used to bring him to justice.
; The admiral’s bodyguard, Ensign Hamden, returned. He took up position right behind her.
“I’m ready to serve, Admiral,” Heinrich said. “And to face any justice that is fitting when we reach Refuge.”
That warranted a nod from the flag officer, and a gesture toward the ensign. “You will be under constant guard during this trip.”
“I understand.”
“One last thing,” the admiral said. “Is Lieutenant Eris Dantora on this ship?”
“I haven’t seen her,” Heinrich said.
That didn’t seem to please the admiral at all. A pained expression crossed her face as she looked at Stornbeck. “You seen her?”
“No, sir,” Stornbeck answered.
“Sergeant Stornbeck and I weren’t involved with the situation, but there was a problem with stowaways on board. One was killed while attempting to avoid capture, one was found, questioned, and last I heard, executed by Orson’s men.”
Admiral Dayson’s eyes narrowed in a way that Heinrich found very discomforting, then she spoke to her guard. “Ensign Hamden, have your squad search this ship for my officer. Leave no place untouched.”
“Aye, Admiral,” Hamden answered.
Still speaking to the marine officer, she continued. “You have command of this vessel.” She looked at her watch. “And you have less than two hours to be in highspace. The Stennis will wait to see you jump in case there is a problem.”
Hamden nodded. He looked at two of his men standing in the background. “Connorly, Mordin, you two escort these two bridge personnel to their stations. They are not to leave your sight. I’ll join you shortly.”
Admiral Dayson squeezed the Ensign’s arm, then walked toward the airlock.
“Be in highspace in no more than ninety minutes,” she called back as she stepped into the gangway.
All twelve of her armed marines stayed on board.
Ensign Hamden’s eyes reflected his distrust of Heinrich as she was escorted from the room. Clearly he wasn’t as open to her innocence as Admiral Dayson was.
It was going to be a long trip to Oasis.
Chapter 18 - Signal
22 Gusta 15329
“Admiral on the bridge,” Seto called out as Sarah entered.
“Knock it off,” Sarah replied.
Her team laughed. It was sort of funny. If she’d been promoted to admiral back on Mindari, she’d be pushing data on a screen somewhere. Instead, she was still here, on the bridge of the last remaining serious warship available to her.
The Michael Stennis.
She strapped herself into her command console gravcouch. “Status?”
“We’re still at condition one, sir,” Corriea said. “We have full weapons lock on the Gaia.”
Sarah didn’t want to tell him the news about Dantora, but she couldn’t protect him from it.
She filled him in on the status of Heinrich and Stornbeck. How they’d been drugged, and how they’d secured the ship from Orson’s mutineers after the AI had given them an antidote for the drug. “No sign of Eris, Peter. I’m sorry. I have Ensign Hamden’s team searching the ship. If they find her, they’ll keep her safe and bring her home.”
Corriea’s face fell. But only for a moment. “I understand, sir. If she was on the Schein, she is gone. But I don’t think—”
Alarin called in from the other room. “Wait.”
He floated onto the bridge and over to Peter. Stopping himself next to the XO, Alarin pushed his forehead into contact with Peter’s. It was the most intimate contact Sarah had seen the adepts perform. “Think of your woman, Peter. Show her to me.”
“She’s more than I can put in words,” Peter said.
“I didn’t ask you to put her in words,” Alarin answered. “I asked you to think of her. She has left an imprint on your mind. If she is on the other ship, I will find her based upon your closeness to her as long as she’s not next to the demon. I cannot search there.”
Peter’s eyes came alive as he complied.
Alarin clasped his friend’s shoulder and closed his eyes.
“Status of the Gaia, Mister Seto?” Sarah asked.
“They are firing up their fusion engines now, sir, turning to head for Oasis. Sergeant Stornbeck informs me that they will spin up the singularity in 5 minutes.”
“Let me know when they begin that process,” Sarah ordered.
“Aye, sir.”
Sarah turned her attention back to Alarin and Peter. She’d missed part of what they were saying.
“—she’s important to you. You think your minds do not touch each other, Peter, but you are wrong. You and Eris have already started to alter each other’s thought patterns.”
“That’s nonsense,” Peter said. “We’re not telepathic like you adepts are.”
“Everyone, given enough time, imprints on the minds of those around them,” Alarin responded. “Even non-believers such as you.”
Peter grinned.
Sarah appreciated the friendship Peter and Alarin had. It was Peter, after all, who’d given Alarin a chance to prove his integrity in the first place.
“She is on the ship, but something is strange,” Alarin said.
“She’s drugged?” Sarah asked.
“No. She thinks of you Peter, but that thought is still in her mind. It is as if she is stopped.”
Peter was alarmed. “What?”
“Not dead. It’s as if something stilled her mind, to not move, not think, not feel. But there you are, frozen with her, in an unmoving sleep.”
“The Gaia is spinning up their singularity,” Seto said.
“Copy,” Sarah said. “Alarin, to your seat. Mr. Corriea, Alarin said she’s on the Gaia. You have that, but now I need my XO.”
Corriea nodded. “Of course. But she is alive.” His grin was a kilometer wide.
“She is alive,” Alarin confirmed as he returned to the bridge briefing room. “She’s… stilled.”
“She used the cryo chambers,” Corriea said. “That has to be it.”
“Good news,” Sarah agreed. “Now get to work. Stand down from battlestations, and prepare the ship for jump to Oasis.”
“Roger,” Corriea said as he grabbed his mic. “All hands, normal operations, set condition three. Resume non-combat stance, we jump inside of ten minutes.”
“Mr. Harmeen, close all the airtight bulkheads.”
“Admiral! I have a signal,” Seto broke in. “It’s voice.”
“Origin?”
“About six AU from us,” Seto said. “Farther out system.”
“On screen.”
No visual popped on the screen. Only a stream of random squeals and clicks.
“Is that Hive?”
“I think so,” Seto replied. “The underlying coding matches some intercepts from when we fought for the Alliance.”
“Is that a survivor?” Sarah asked.
“It has to be,” Harmeen said. “That is not the location where the Hive arrived in system.”
Sarah frowned. This was bad. How did her nemesis survive the shock front of the nova? Why had they not detected the Hive jump from in system?
“Mister Seto, order the Gaia to jump. Now.”
“Aye, Admiral.”
“Mr. Corriea, as soon as the Gaia is gone, see if we can lock down the location of that signal.”
Corriea pushed the electronic intelligence panel to the main viewscreen. The sensor electronics began narrowing down the possible location of the threat. A holographic sphere shrank as the signal was pinpointed.
Sarah felt her face furrow. The combination of curiosity, hatred, and puzzlement didn’t sit well with her. “Return to battlestations.”
“Battlestations, Battlestations,” Corriea called out on the PA. “Set condition one. This is not a drill.”
All over the ship crew were scrambling to return to posts they’d vacated only moments earlier.
“How big is that sphere?” Sarah asked.
“Four million kilometers, ma’am,” Ha
rmeen answered.
“Help the adepts lock onto that space, and jump us as close to the center as possible. Full sensors immediately when we arrive. Lock any target and open fire.”
“They have the image,” Harmeen reported simultaneously with Emille jumping the ship.
They dropped out of the jump less than two hundred thousand kilometers from a single Hive vessel. The FTL cruiser from the fleet that had jumped in on her position earlier. Its cooling fins were fully extended, indicating the vessel might already be heavily damaged and unable to retract them.
Sarah didn’t have to order the Stennis to fire. Lieutenant Commander Corriea had spun up the missiles as the adepts had prepared to jump. The enemy was less than one light-second away. Weapons lock was fast, and missiles launched right after. Orange slugs of metal hurled from the railguns into space, streaming away toward the Hive ship.
All weapons fire stopped after a few seconds. If the Hive ship didn’t maneuver, the railguns would kill it in about forty minutes. If it did, the missile should do the job shortly after that.
“Weapons silent,” Corriea reported. “We should have it. But it will know that and maneuver, then return fire.”
“Of course,” Sarah said. “But we should hit first. The moment we do, jump us out of here.”
“Incoming signal, Admiral.”
What? Hive don’t communicate. There had never been a known instance of Hive contacting human warships during an engagement.
“Let’s hear it,” Sarah said.
Seto opened the frequency, putting the transmission on the bridge speakers.
“Captain Sarah Dayson, human. This colony has followed your actions since your engagement with the computation facility in the system you know as Tincana Danii.”
Silence. It appeared to be waiting for a response.
“You are correct, this is Sarah Dayson. What do I call you?”
“This colony is Bn74x00. You have fired on this vessel, and it has no functional weapon systems with which to respond. Answer questions, human.”
It wanted to ask her questions?
Why not.
“I will answer one question for each one you answer,” she responded.
“Your proposition is not unreasonable,” the enemy responded.
