Starship Defender: Beyond Human Space

by Michael Keats

  Chapter 20

  I was being stupid and risking too much, but I’m very headstrong. I’d made up my mind about the most honorable thing to do, and I was going to stick to it even if it got me killed.

  Hightower, one of the marines, opened a private channel to talk to me.

  “O’Donnell.” He sounded aggressive and annoyed. His fists punched the wall by the camera. “Let me out.”

  “Sure,” I said sarcastically. “Wait a sec while I tell the AI to let you out.”

  “You’re kidding, aren’t you?” Harry murmured off-mic. “You can’t let one of them out. He’ll rescue the others and send us both to the nearest prison.”

  “I don’t care what you have against Hooke.”

  I had expected Hooke to contact me, not anyone else. Marines are supposed to follow the chain of command, not to take initiative.

  If Hightower handed me over to justice, that was it: the end of my career and my life. I could be allowed to live, but I’d never be allowed to live a normal life. Admirals hate being contradicted, and stealing their best ship is generally taken seriously.

  “I don’t want to abandon the civilians either,” Hightower continued. “We’re supposed to save them. We won’t save anyone if we let the ship run away.”

  I don’t know why, but I believed him. This man was resentful towards something, but that something wasn’t me. I told Harry to let him out, and he begrudgingly did so.

  My squad manned the remotely controlled fighters, and I joined them. I took a seat on an ergonomic combat chair with large screens in front of it, optional HUD glasses and several control mechanisms to adapt to people’s preferences. Most ships didn’t have such advanced chairs, but the Defender wasn’t a normal ship.

  “Ready for action, sir,” one of my men said.

  I nodded and told them to get ready.

  “I want us to disable the marine ships,” I said. “I don’t want to kill anyone. I want them alive and capable of returning home. These are warning shots, but make it clear that we’re ready to face them. Bluff us out of this one, lads.”

  The men agreed as if I’d just given them an order I was allowed to give. They weren’t traitors; they were simply naval men. Aboard a starship, one forges bonds with one’s fellow seamen because there’s nowhere else to go and nobody else to talk to. Men weren’t just numbers.

  It’s hard to leave one of your men to die in space. It’s harder to let ten men die. But leaving all our civilian contractors to face an unknown fate? I was going to fight the world until they let me rescue them. That’s what naval loyalty’s about. It’s about karma. And ego. Mostly ego.

  We boarded the fighters and flew around Fleet Command’s minions. Our ships were faster than standard marine ships. We were better-armed and better at maneuvering. They weren’t going to defeat us or make us fall, no matter what they tried. The marines knew it, but they would have fought to death if forced to.

  Hightower arrived, stopped by my combat chair and observed the scene. Harry stepped back as if expecting him to betray me, but he didn’t.

  Hightower saluted me and shouted, “Sergeant Hightower ready to follow orders, sir!”

  Marines shouted too much. Harry put an uncomfortable finger in his ear as if it annoyed him too. He didn’t care that holograms didn’t have any functioning ears.

  I set Hightower to one of the combat chairs. He sat down, turned on the screens, took a formation of three fighters, and turned on his neural controls. His hands went for the joysticks concealed under the armrests in case he lost mental focus.

  “I see that you haven’t done anything useful without me, sir,” Hightower taunted. “Lucky the cavalry’s here.”

  “Shut up and scare those wasps away,” I said. “The Defender’s brand new and I don’t want them to scratch the paint.”

  “Expensive paint job, sir,” he said.

  We flew in formation and swept the space around the Defender. The marines noticed us and stopped forcing the hangar doors open. They followed us, chased around us, and shot at our unmanned ships. They were desperate to destroy them, almost as if we were flying them ourselves.

  “Why are they chasing after the ships?” one of the men asked.

  “Took the liberty of putting some fake ID chips in them, sir” Hightower said. “Makes them think we’re flying them. They won’t let them escape in case you’re aboard one of them.” He turned his ship right to dodge enemy fire and headed farther away, laughing. “It’s illegal, but I’d rather keep them off the ship than take them with us.”

  Illegal? ID forging was one of the big sins of the modern world. Getting close to a fake ID chip led to long and uncomfortable interrogations. I didn’t know where the man had bought them and I didn’t want to know, but his strategy had worked. The marines chased after his ships without realizing that they were all empty.

  They’d never expect us to turn our engines on and leave our men behind. I told the men to keep flying and accessed the Defender’s navigation systems.

  I plotted a course several light minutes away, distant enough to dodge immediate threats but close enough to keep communications systems active. I abandoned the unmanned ships behind and left.

  Once we were several light minutes away from the ships, I opened a channel to contact Fleet Command. I was eager to have another family reunion.

  “Thanks for the company,” I told my aunt. “We’re on our way to save the world. Please stop making things harder for us; it’ll only delay our mission. I promise to bring the Defender back with all our scientists as soon as I’m successful. Give my regards to my father.”

  My aunt shook her head slowly. “Commander, you can’t―”

  I shut the communication.

  Yes, I could. And I didn’t care what she thought.

  Harry looked at the scene incredulously. “Is that a normal family reunion according to human standards? Because she was annoyed enough to chase after you herself.”

  She wasn’t going to. Aunt Eleanor only joined missions whenever she was certain to win. She had no chances against the Defender.

  At least that’s what I hoped.

  Chapter 21: Kate

  “Don’t fall asleep, John.” Kate held the doctor’s hand and rubbed it. He was cold, losing the little energy that remained in him. She’d tried to keep him awake since the fights, but he’d had internal wounds since before fighting.

  “Forget it, Qad,” John told her. He kept using her Frateran name, but she wasn’t going to correct him this time. He was too weakened.

  He needed surgery, he needed his medical equipment, and he needed help. He wasn’t going to get any unless they reached an agreement with General Dovrik, and she had no guarantees that he’d keep his word once he got what he wanted.

  “I’m fine,” John insisted. “I just need some time to recover. My body’s getting older.”

  John had many problems related to his health. Like the general had said, his body didn’t accept all the modifications. His internal organs rejected his skin, so he didn’t heal easily. Any simple wound could cause him fevers and infections, and he had both external and internal wounds.

  “Go back to the commander,” John said. He sounded calm, relaxed. Just like men speak whenever they’re facing an imminent death and have decided not to fight against it. “Tell him everything. He’ll keep you safe.”

  Everything? She’d told him about their tech, but how was she supposed to tell him anything? They barely knew each other, aside from a few occasions on Earth and a brief moment aboard the Defender. He was honorable and had strong principles, but it wasn’t enough to make humanity join a war against a race that surpassed their technological level by so much.

  The situation wasn’t an accident.

  Vortos had abducted Kate almost after boarding the ship, and then the shuttle had triggered a long-distance emergency signal to attract the general’s ship. Someone didn’t want Earth to join them in the galaxy.

  “I can’t,” she told J
ohn. “You’re here, and the commander―” She fell silent. How could she explain that she didn’t want him to think badly of her for not being from the same planet as him?

  John chuckled to himself and gave her a sad smile. “I can’t keep you all for myself. I’ve seen him look at you, and I’ve seen you look at him. Find a way out of the ship and help humanity build a fleet.”

  “Is it that serious?” Kate asked. She didn’t need to ask, but she did so anyway. She wanted to hear a negative response.

  He slowly nodded, but looked at her with nostalgia. “Do you remember home?” he asked. “Do you remember anything before Earth? Before the starship?” He shook his head. “I was too old to join you but did so anyway, but I’m very glad to have come here, get to know you, and see you become what you were meant to become. It has been an incredible adventure.”

  The door clicked open and someone dropped a note inside. The door didn’t close again, and nobody entered.

  Kate walked to the door and picked up the note:

  YOU ARE NOT ALONE.

  Not alone? Where? In the universe? She already knew that.

  Chapter 22: Kate

  Kate looked out of the door, but there were no guards nearby. It was her chance to find a way to help John and everyone else. She didn’t have the soul of a martyr. She wasn’t going to help Dovrik in his plans for universal conquest.

  She looked at John one last time. If she didn’t do things properly, she might never see him again. “I’ll be back,” she promised.

  John gestured at her to leave. “Fly, fly away. I’ll be fine. Find a way out of here and return to Earth.”

  She ran out of the cell and looked for a room with computers, technology, or some other form of access to the ship’s systems.

  Two armored soldiers patrolled along a perpendicular corridor. Kate stuck her back to a wall until they walked past. Her heart accelerated. She couldn’t let anyone see her. She wouldn’t get a second chance.

  Once she’d dodged the guards, she reached one of the ship’s main computer rooms. Nobody was ever in those rooms because Frateran computers rarely needed maintenance, and everyone could access the systems from other regions of the ship. Unlike human wireless networks, Frateran networks were invulnerable to prying eyes.

  Tech had evolved a lot since she’d left her homeland. Security systems blocked her access: they required authorized DNA and didn’t have a guest mode. They were designed to protect the ship from anyone like her. Frateran trust in their own people had disappeared within a generation.

  Aside from the computer’s protections, the ship manuals included information about force fields, shields, and partial depressurization methods for the ship. She was aboard a combat vessel.

  As she inspected the neighboring rooms, she found a room with a computer turned on. It contained the human genome, decoded. Someone had created maps of human genes, chromosomes, and compatible genetic alterations designed to create stronger and less critically-minded humans. Someone wanted to create a legion of mindless drones to do the dirty work for him, and those drones were going to be human.

  One of the screens even showed maps of Earth and a simulation designed to test attack strategies for bioweapons. Dovrik planned to eliminate humans and steal their planet.

  He didn’t mind becoming the worst genocide in the galaxy.

  Chapter 23

  Harry paced around the great cabin and brought up several holographic screens to show the marines in their respective cells and locked rooms. We’d managed to trap them as soon as Fleet Command had ordered them to arrest me, but I couldn’t keep them locked up forever.

  Harry was enjoying the situation more than I’d have liked.

  “Shut up and sit down, will you?” I said.

  “I haven’t said anything,” Harry said between chuckles. He sat down on the admiral’s armchair and raised both feet onto the desk in front of him. He almost instantly brought his feet back down and sat up with a broad grin on his face. “You have to acknowledge it, though. You’ve broken more rules today than in your whole life. Where’s the honorable Commander O’Donnell and where has his clean record gone?”

  I ignored him, shook my hands in the air to get rid of all his screens, and brought out a star chart. We were on the enemy ship’s trail, but we didn’t know where it was headed or which country it served. I wanted to rescue the scientists, but I might’ve acted too soon. Stealing the Navy’s best ship wasn’t my idea of earning points for my next promotion.

  Harry’s only suggestion was to drink myself to obliviousness.

  “Come on, Decaf!” Harry said. “You were much more fun when you were acting cocky towards your aunt. What would she think of you now, huh? Moping everywhere and crying because you’ve lost the only girl who’s ever looked at you.”

  “Dr. Thompson isn’t the only girl who’s looked at me,” I said. “She’s a scientist; she was looking at an officer.”

  “That’s even sadder.” Harry poured another holographic drink into his cup and raised it in the air. “To your social awkwardness and your inability to attract women.”

  “Stop drinking,” I said. “I’m already an outlaw. I don’t want to become a drunkard.”

  Harry rolled his eyes. “As if remaining sober would make your life more bearable.”

  I was aboard the most advanced ship humanity had ever created, and we’d based it on alien tech and used our best scientists to do so. We needed them back.

  “Hate it when you keep double-guessing yourself,” Harry said.

  “But what if we miss?” I said.

  “You die.”

  “And if we succeed?”

  “You die too,” Harry said. “But in a public hanging to serve as a deterrent to everyone else. You know I’ve got something for people who die hanging from a rope. I’ll go and witness it, if it makes you feel any better.”

  It didn’t, actually. The idea of hanging or dying in battle wasn’t too encouraging. I simply had to follow my conscience, and my conscience had demanded me to risk everything to rescue our people. There was no going back. Aunt Eleanor wasn’t too forgiving whenever someone sat on her seat during family reunions. Imagine how she’d react to my recent actions as soon as she got her hands on me.

  “I’ve taken the liberty of doing something.” Harry stood up, walked around the table, and turned on the table’s screen. “It might make your life easier.”

  “What? A neck pillow so that being hanged hurts less? Some alcohol to mitigate the pain? Not interested.”

  Harry chuckled. “Nice ideas, but it’ll help you now, not later.”

  What was it going to be? A large target so that Fleet Command knew where to shoot? A fake mustache to pose as someone else? Harry could keep his creativity to himself.

  “Not interested anyway,” I said.

  He ignored me and gestured at the screen to bring up my aunt’s face. She was annoyed and waiting for me to answer her communications. He stared up with a broad smile.

  “Your idea is to contact my aunt so that she chases after me sooner?” I said. “Awesome, but you’ll be sold as scrap the moment I fall. You’re defective, remember? You’ve helped me escape justice.”

  “She isn’t your aunt,” Harry said. “She has nothing to do with your aunt. I was planning to use her to update her orders to the marines. Nobody’s going to ignore her commands, are they?”

  What was he saying? She was my aunt. I knew those judging and disdainful eyes.

  She turned out to be a 3D model of my aunt.

  Harry transformed instantly into the woman on the screen, leaving his usual appearance on the desk screen. He ran his hands over his own curves and whistled. “Your aunt’s impressive, buddy,” he said, imitating my aunt’s voice. “Is she as old as her file says?”

  The drunk ship AI was imitating my aunt’s appearance and having lascivious thoughts about her, but the idea was crazy enough to work.

  Harry took the neck of his double-breasted jacket and lifted it
to peek under his clothes. He hummed approvingly.

  “That’s my aunt’s body you’re staring at!” I said. “Mind not causing me a lifelong trauma?”

  “Sure,” Harry said. “I’ll inspect it later.” He released the neck of his double-breasted jacket and straightened his clothes up. He turned a screen into a mirror and kept staring at his reflection and admiring his new appearance. “I should do this more often while we’re in space. Makes me feel less… lonely. And I want to meet your aunt as soon as we go back to Earth.”

  I wasn’t going to let it happen. My aunt was off-grounds for sex-starved artificial intelligences.

  Chapter 24

  Hooke, the captain of marines, deserved to be contacted first. I hated the idea because I’d seen the woman in action and read her file. She was the kind of person to shoot first, shoot again, and ask later.

  Harry had locked her up with several of our engineers. She’d been locked up for long enough to be annoyed at me, but not long enough to despair. She wasn’t going to greet me too well. Luckily, Harry was ready to make them believe that I was in charge of the Defender.

  I entered the bridge with both hands in the air

  Hooke’s hand moved instantly to the handle of her gun and she aimed it at me.

  “Whoa, whoa!” I said, waving my empty palms in the air. “I’m unarmed. No need to resort to violence.”

  She didn’t show any sympathy towards my reaction. Instead, she nodded at two of her marines to get them to seize me. She walked forth with a serious expression, her eyes focused on me in case I made a mistake and deserved an immediate execution.

  “Commander O’Donnell,” she said in her classically loud voice, “I must take you back to Fleet Command. You can either collaborate or spend the rest of the trip in custody.”

  “Change of plans,” I said. “The admirals have changed their minds. They no longer want to annihilate me.”

  She stared at me through squinted and angry eyes. She didn’t believe a word I’d said.