Rising Star

by Donald Nicklas

  “This stuff is not what we need. They are all dead end systems that don’t talk with the main servers. We need to keep moving on.”

  Bill nodded and led the way to the next wall that had two doors. They opened the one on the left and saw that it led to a generator room that appeared to be a dead end. The door on the right led to a stairway. They closed the door to allow them to discuss their next move.

  Tavia looked at Bill and said, “If we are right about our location, the deck above should be the lower of the three gun decks. The guns have to have control nodes that make contact with the main computer to allow the bridge to know their weapons’ status.”

  “You’re counting on the gun rooms being empty when not at general quarters?” Bill asked.

  “We have no weapons but our hands, so they better are deserted.”

  “Ok, Tavia, let’s do it.”

  Bill opened the door and checked the stairwell. The coast was clear and they quickly moved up one level. There were two doors on the landing, one facing forward and one aft. Tavia opened the forward door slightly and saw an empty space with a second door facing towards the center of the ship. From her knowledge of military vessels, she knew this would lead to a passageway with door after door, each leading to a gun emplacement. She closed the door and opened the one facing aft. It led into a dark room, but something caught her eye. She signaled Bill to follow her and went through the door. Tavia pulled a small flashlight from her jumpsuit and shined it into the room.

  “Is this a tactical control room, Tavia?”

  “It appears to be,” Tavia said. “This is a stroke of luck for us.”

  All corporate warships had a tactical control room on each side of the ship on every gun deck. The purpose of these rooms was to handle the entire computer readouts associated with the cannons and missiles. They also functioned as a backup if the bridge took a direct hit and weapons had to be controlled from elsewhere. A ship with three gun decks would have six such rooms. They would act to control one broadside and the front or rear cannons if necessary. One person was assigned to each tactical control room when the ship was at general quarters, but otherwise it was empty. They went in and closed the door behind them. Since the room was for electronic more than human occupation, it was small and could not hold more than a few people at a time. Tavia walked across the room and sat on the only seat, which was round and attached to the wall, from which it swung out. She reached over to the wall and pulled down a keypad. Tavia then pulled out her tap node.

  “Once I activate this next to the keyboard, it won’t take them long to detect the incursion. I’m just hoping the night transit crew is not as observant as the day crew,” Tavia told Bill.

  “I better keep an eye on the door then. Wish we had our swords.”

  Tavia nodded and placed the tap node next to the keyboard. She then pressed the button on the node and it started to do its thing. The node did not need the system to be on to function; it just needed it to be directly connected with the ship’s computer, which was always on. The tap node was designed to pull and transmit as much data as possible from the target computer to the ship’s computer on the Invicta. The node had a high level of artificial intelligence to the point that it could intuitively determine what was needed based on the information given it by the Invicta computer. All corporations and the Romani used tap nodes and they represented a technology long in use among humans. Now there was nothing to do but wait until the tap node beeped to indicate it was finished.

  “Captain, data coming in from Tavia MacDougal’s tap node,” Tom Gardner reported from the communication’s station.

  Slone was in the captain’s chair with the primary crew on duty since there was the possibility of combat. “I knew we could count on her. Roger, make sure we break contact as soon as we have what we need.”

  “Aye, captain.”

  “Tom, how long until we hear from that freighter?”

  “It will still be close to an hour, captain.”

  Slone hated waiting. Normally his wife would tell him it was part of the job, but he still hated the fact that distances were so enormous in space and physics could not be circumvented. It was those same laws of physics that prevented Alaya from returning with his cruiser in time to take on the Q-Ship. Tavia accomplishing her mission had even greater importance for that reason.

  First officer, Commander Alonso Cavel, was in the captain’s chair of the Rising Star. Just before the night shift started, they had picked up a freighter entering the system. Telemetry indicated the freighter belonged to Petrov Corporation and therefore a valid war target. He was aware that many of these freighters were used to haul refugees, and if that was the case, even better. The purpose of the Q-Ship was to strike terror into the Petrov resistance and finally end this endless takeover. Sinclair Corporation had been fighting to take over Petrov space for the past four years, ever since word was received of the failure of the expedition to annex Balin Corporation. Thanks to an unknown ally of Balin Corporation, the Petrov forces were defeated and their fleets destroyed. With no army or navy, the hostile takeover of Petrov Corporation should have been child’s play. However, resistance had been much worse than expected, hence the construction of the Rising Star. The ship was a marvel of combat power. It was estimated that in a fleet battle, it could easily stand up to three dreadnoughts and win. Commander Cavel hoped he would not find out. The true genius of this vessel was the fact that the passengers, who were on the upper decks wanted an adventure cruise and believed the ships destroyed by the Rising Star were all drones. In the morning, it would be announced that an enemy ship had entered the system and the passengers would assemble on the promenade deck and watch as the Q-Ship destroyed the “drone enemy ship”. Meanwhile, they were destroying and terrorizing the remaining resistance. Only the bridge crew and the ship’s personnel were from Sinclair Corporation. The combat troops aboard were all mercenaries and that bothered both the captain and the first officer. The Sinclair Mobile Fleet was still guarding the area of Petrovia, but some of its ships had been pulled back for use elsewhere. In a word, this entire situation was a mess. Since there was now a war brewing with the coreward corporations, the Rising Star was forced to operate alone, when there was supposed to be backup. Commander Cavel was only glad the Petrovians had almost no navy left.

  “Commander,” the sensor tech said. “I am picking up a slight power surge coming from the starboard, lower gun deck tactical node.”

  Cavel perked up, “Could it be a glitch of some kind?”

  “I doubt it, that system should be shut off.”

  “Sent a message to security and have them send someone there to check it out.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Cavel then put it out of his mind and sat back again. Being on the night shift, usually meant he could just cruise along and relax. Things never happened on this ship, as long as they were careful picking their targets.

  After what seemed an eternity, the tap node let out a small beep and Tavia picked it up. “All done, now let’s get out of here, Bill.” Tavia folded the keyboard back up into the wall and got up from the chair. She and Bill walked over to the door and slowly opened it. They got it open about four inches when it was suddenly pushed open from the other side, throwing both of them across the room. They jumped up and were about to attack whoever entered when they saw a big, burly guard in body armor with an automatic rifle pointed at them.

  “I wouldn’t do anything if I were you, we have orders to shoot.” The guard said and signaled them to stand against the wall. “What are you doing here?”

  Tavia put on her frightened girl look and said, in halting speech,” W-We were exploring the ship and found a door open that led down here. We checked in here and somehow got locked in. Thank you, thank you, thank you for letting us out.”

  “Nice try lady, but the door wasn’t locked. The captain will want to have a chat with you.”

  The guard was about to turn around when there was a voice behind hi
m, “Drop your weapon or I will be forced to shoot you in the head.”

  Tavia and Bill knew that voice; it was Dalton, gambler, tablemate and now, what? “Grab his gun.” Bill disarmed him and Dalton ordered the guard to take off his helmet. As soon as the guard complied, Dalton hit him on the head with a small club and knocked him out. “That should hold him for a bit. Now about you two. Who are you and what’s your play here?”

  “We could asked you the same,” Tavia said.

  “You could, but I saved you, so you owe me an explanation. We also have to get out of here. You can bet someone will miss him.”

  “Ok follow us,” Bill said. “We can talk in our yacht. We can’t go back to the suite, since in the morning they will be looking for us. They are on their way to take out a freighter and we intend to stop them.”

  “You two,” Dalton said, and burst out laughing. “Unless you know how to blow this ship apart, it would take a small fleet to take it out.”

  “Let’s talk when we’re clear of here,” Bill said and signaled for them to follow. They backtracked and reentered the passageway leading to the ladder room that would take them back to the promenade deck. They were half way through the dimly lit passageway when two guards jumped out in front of them and ordered them to drop their gun. William Marshal quickly assessed the situation and realized they were at a great disadvantage. He handed the gun over to the guards who then bound the hands of all three of them. “They found the guard you left in the tactical node room and want you alive,” the larger of the guards said. “If it were up to me, I would shoot you where you stand, but I think they want to know if there are any more of your ‘friends’ aboard.”

  “We just got lost and I don’t know anything about a guard or some kind of room,” Tavia again tried to bluff her way through this.

  “Don’t bother. We discovered the camera you disabled on the promenade deck. Now do you want to tell me if it is just you three or are there more we have to worry about?”

  Just then, Tavia heard a very quite ‘hiss’ behind the guards. Before they could react to the sound, the end of a serpent tail came through the chest of the shorter guard. There were suddenly two clawed hands on either side of the head of the second guard. In one motion, his head was separated from his body, which dropped like a rock. The tail was then withdrawn from the first guard, who fell in a heap on the other. This took all of 5 seconds. Hatch was about to spring on Dalton.

  “Hatch, he’s with us. Leave him alone and cut our bonds.” Tavia and Bill held their bound hands out and Hatch severed the plastic restraints with her nails.

  “Hold your hands out, Dalton.”

  Dalton complied, Hatch cut him loose but Tavia, and Bill could see Dalton was a bit in shock.

  “Sss. Lady Tavia, are you and the Centurion alright?”

  “Yes Hatch, we are fine. We need to return to the Yacht. Dalton, come along with us.”

  “I’m not going anywhere until someone tells me what just happened and what exactly I’m looking at here,” and he indicated Hatch, who was intently staring at him, since she was not sure he could be trusted.

  Tavia was losing her patience and would have left Dalton behind but they would have had to kill him. Finally, she said to him, “Ok, quick summary. We’re spies, she,” pointing to Hatch, “is an alien and if we don’t get out of here now we will get caught again. Since we’re all covered in blood, it’s going to be tough to go unnoticed. Hatch, can you get us back to the yacht with no one seeing us?”

  “Sss. Yes Lady Tavia, just follow me.”

  Tavia looked at Dalton as if to say, ‘are you coming?’

  “Ok, I’ll come with you, since all this blood will be hard to explain. But I want a full explanation when we get to where we’re going.”

  “Ok. That’s a deal. Now let’s move,” Bill said and they proceeded to follow Hatch back to the yacht without further problems. Once inside the yacht, Tavia and Bill stripped off their clothes and put on their military jumpsuits with rank insignias. They also offered a military jump suit without insignias to Dalton. Jack Dalton was about to say something when Tavia walked onto the bridge of the yacht and opened a tight beam channel to the fleet.

  “Tavia here, did you get what you needed?”

  Quickly the response came back, “Yes,” and the line went dead. Tavia then returned to the table in the living area. Bill was sitting there with Dalton, who could not stop staring at Hatch, who was standing in the corner.

  “Sorry, but I had to contact the fleet to make sure they got what they needed,” Tavia explained. “Now Dalton, I am sure you have a few questions.”

  “A few question?” Dalton almost stammered. “Where to start. First of all, who are you people? From what corporation. I know those are military jumpsuits but the insignias are totally unknown to me, I have been in all the corporations.”

  Bill decided to let Tavia do all the explaining, “Tavia, you fill in Dalton, I want to check our weapons and armor for the coming combat.”

  “Combat?” Dalton asked. “I thought we were here to make a run for it.”

  “No, we’re going to take this ship. Tavia will fill you in.”

  Dalton was dumbstruck. He knew from the start there was something different about these two that is why he kept an eye on them. He thought they were spy catchers and he did not want to be caught. Now he was in a private yacht with a gung-ho young couple who think they have a fleet and want to take over the Q-Ship. And let’s not forget about the alien. An alien, until a short time ago, the thought of alien life was not even on Dalton’s horizon, now here he was face to face with one that looked like a nightmare and ripped people apart.

  Tavia looked at her guest and said, “Ok Dalton, now to your questions. Not sure how much time we have. First, we are not part of any corporation. We are soldiers of the Republic of Nova Romae and call ourselves Romani. Nova Romae is a democratic federation of systems. We have no corporate allegiance.” Tavia let that sink in.

  “Ok, and the alien?” Dalton was starting to feel more at ease with a large reptile in the room.

  “We call them serpents and they are part of our republic. They are our equals, though they do think we are not quite as smart as they are.”

  Long exposure to Tavia had taught Hatch she could interject in a conversation without first being addressed, and that is what she did. “Sss. Lady Tavia, we no longer think you less smart or you would not have been our world mother.” Hatch was referring to Tavia’s special status for a short time after the serpent civil war.

  Dalton found himself fascinated with the hypnotic speech of the aliens. Tavia responded, “I know, my friend, and I am still honored to have ruled your world, if even for a short time.”

  Dalton was mesmerized. He could see that Tavia was in her late teens or early twenties, yet this alien treated her as if she was the most important being in her life. If they survived this, he had to get to know these people better. Just then, Bill returned and placed three pistols and three automatic rifles on the table. “They are all cleaned, oiled and loaded. I assume you know how to use a gun?”

  Dalton replied, “Yes, though I prefer not to.”

  “Things will be getting hot soon, so you may not have a choice.” Bill then went over to the wall and pressed a few buttons on a well-hidden number pad. The wall rotated in several sections to reveal body armor, shields, bandoliers and swords. Dalton could see grenades on the bandoliers. “Time to suit up and await developments.”

  Dalton watched as Bill and Tavia put on their gear. He was fascinated, since no corporate military looked anything like these people. Their armor consisted of a helmet, breast and back plates and lower leg pieces. Over the armor, they put their bandoliers from the left shoulder to the right waist. At the end of the bandolier was a sheathed short sword. The sword handle had an eagle motif with the letters SPQNR on the cross piece of the hilt. There were five grenades on the bandolier across the chest. They put extra clips for pistol and rifle in their chest armor
and put a dagger on their left hip. The pistol fit into a holster on the chest armor and the rifle was slung over the right shoulder. What fascinated Dalton the most was the transparent shield that covered most of the body when held in front of them. The shields and helmets were left to the side for now.

  Bill said to Dalton, “Sorry we don’t have armor for you, but we were not expecting anyone else. Hatch has natural armor and weapons. While we wait, why don’t you tell us exactly who you are?”

  Dalton decided to be as honest with them as they appeared to be with him. “My real name is Jack Dalton and I am a gambler by profession. A profession that gives me access to many areas of corporate space and allows me to function as a spy for my corporation. I work for the Lagarde Corporation. Our border is with Petrov Corporation and this hostile takeover by Sinclair has us on edge. Since Sinclair flexed its muscles, we have all been concerned. Tudor Industries also borders us and we have a close relationship. They were concerned when Petrov invaded Balin Corporation, which they border and heard rumors that a new player entered on the side of Balin and defeated the Petrov forces. The new player was not known to them and I was sent out to find out if they were friend or foe. I have been out here for three years and not able to make contact with this new player, though I believe I may have finally achieved my goal.”

  “If it is the Romani you seek, you have found them,” Centurion Marshal stated.

  “So tell me, how do you plan to take this ship?”

  Tavia answered this one, “One deck at a time.”

  Chapter 8 – Deck by Deck