by Isaac Hooke
The ships were empty husks.
He, and humanity, had won.
And Jain hadn’t died in the process.
A sudden alert flashed on his HUD.
“We’ve sustained damaged to our reactor core,” Xander said. “Shutdown is imminent.”
“Is there a way—”
But then reality clicked off.
Jain hadn’t died, but he may as well have.
36
Jain floated in darkness.
Xander?
“I’m here,” Xander replied. “As always.”
What’s going on?
“We’re being activated,” Xander said.
Is that good or bad?
“Depends,” Xander said, “on whether we awaken to find ourselves in the hands of the aliens, or humanity.”
Jain was relieved when the familiar virtual bridge appeared around him. The other members of the team waiting for him. Minus Cranston and Medeia.
“It’s good to see you all,” Jain said. “But how did you find me?”
“And you as well, believe me,” Sheila said. “It took a while, and some intensive searching of sensor data once we realized your AI core wasn’t in the Devastator. There weren’t all that many things you could have used to leave your ship, so then it was just a matter of sifting through the alien debris field.” She smiled. “Finding a Skirmisher with ‘Void Warrior I’ carved into the side definitely helped.”
He grinned in return and activated his repair termites; the micro machines got to work fixing the damage to the Devastator. He had them focus on the main reactor, which was down to five percent power output. It was enough to power his consciousness, and various subsystems, but just barely.
“The surviving members of the Mind Refurb fleet are approaching,” Xander said. “Their posture seems… aggressive.”
Jain glanced at his tactical display. The fleet was indeed approaching.
In a pincer formation.
“Not good,” Jain said. He glanced at Sheila. “You got permission to restore me to the pyramid, right?”
Sheila gave him a sheepish shake of the head. “They were busy with their own recovery efforts and by the time they realized what we were doing, we had already retrieved you and they couldn’t stop us anyway.”
Jain sighed.
“Void Warriors, assume defensive positions,” Gavin ordered.
Jain didn’t counter the order.
The Void Warriors inserted their ships between the Devastator and the incoming Mind Refurb fleet.
“We’re receiving a transmission from the fleet admiral,” Xander said.
“Put him on,” Jain said.
The hologram of Fleet Admiral Frank Gauss appeared in the center of the bridge.
The bald man smiled. “You did it.”
Jain nodded warily.
“Humanity, and we Mind Refurbs, are grateful for what you have done,” Gauss said.
Jain remained quiet.
“However, we must ask you to vacate the alien starship,” Gauss said. “It is now navy property.”
“You have a whole bunch of other alien ships,” Jain said, beckoning toward the tactical display. “Why do you need mine?”
“Because yours is the only one whose AI core is still intact,” Gauss said. “We’ve done scans of the other ships. Nothing remains of the cores they once had.”
“There have to be some damaged vessels still out there,” Jain said. “The ones that you took down before they joined the Centrifuge.”
“Those have all retreated,” Gauss said. “Some have already jumped out. And the remainder will join them as soon as they repair their power systems, no doubt. But yours remains.”
Jain didn’t answer. He had no intention of giving up this ship, not after everything he had gone through to attain it. Not to mention everything he had done for humanity.
“Also, you will reveal the location of the hive ships,” Gauss said.
“Why?” Jain said.
“We plan to attack now, while they’re at their weakest,” the fleet admiral said.
“And while we’re at our weakest?” Jain said. “The Mimics still have nurturer vessels in their home system, guarding the hives. Class Bs. They’re about half the size of this ship, but they still pack a nasty punch. You’ll lose. Plus, where do you think all those fleeing ships are going?”
“We’ll prevail,” the fleet admiral said. “Just as we did here. Our intellects are superior to the alien mind. You’ve proved it.”
But Jain shook his head, refusing to accept the veiled compliment. “This war has to end. I’ll go to their home system myself and broker a peace treaty.”
“Unacceptable,” the fleet admiral said. He cocked his head slightly, as if listening to another of his captains, or perhaps his Accomp. But then he looked directly at Jain. “Today’s your lucky day. The president wishes to intervene.”
A new hologram appeared beside the fleet admiral. The avatar was of a man in a chic black business suit wearing a bright red tie.
“I wanted to extend my personal congratulations to you, Jain Sagan,” the president said. “The Mind Refurb single-handedly responsible for eliminating the alien threat. You have gone above and beyond the call of duty… you deserve the Medal of Honor!”
“No medals are wanted,” Jain said. “And I didn’t do it single-handedly.” He gestured toward his team. “I had help.”
“All of your Void Warriors will get the Medal,” the president said.
“We don’t want medals,” Jain said. “We just want to be left alone. Let me keep my ship. Let me broker peace between humanity and the Mimics. And then I’ll go on my way. That’s all I want.”
The president pursed his lips very slightly. “You’ll broker peace with the Mimics? Is that even possible?”
“I believe it is,” Jain said. “I’ve been operating undercover among them for a while now. I have all their manuals in my head. Their culture. I understand them.”
The president nodded. “If you can broker a peace treaty, the ship is yours.”
“I also want all my other ships back,” Jain said. “Our Direct Reports, which we lent to the space navy.”
“Whatever you need,” the president said. “Fleet Admiral Gauss will be happy to help you out. Right admiral?”
Gauss wore a fake smile. “Right.”
“In the meantime, henceforth, you’ll always be welcome at Earth,” the president said. “Stay as long as you wish, and return whenever you want.”
“Is that an official proclamation?” Jain asked.
“I’ll sign an executive order if it makes you happy,” the president said.
“It would,” Jain said. “Especially if it covers everything we talked about.”
“Consider it done,” the president said.
“Thank you,” Jain said. “I’ll do my best to get a worthwhile treaty signed for humankind.”
“Not just for humankind, but Mind Refurb-kind,” the president said. “We’re all Mind Refurbs here, after all.”
Jain felt his brow crumple in confusion. “But I thought—”
The president winked, and then his hologram vanished.
The Direct Reports, those that had survived, were returned to the Void Warriors. Jain had the Talos as a Direct Report, along with the Warwolf. The Arcane and Forebode were also returned. Jain and the others lent their repair swarms to the latter vessels, and soon both ships were in full working order.
Sheila restored Medeia and Cranston from backups, and the Arcane and Forebode came back online.
“I died again,” Medeia said when she appeared on the bridge.
“Try not to make it a habit,” Cranston told her.
“You should talk,” she commented.
“You’re the one who’s always so worried about what comes after death,” Gavin told Cranston. “And about how it’s not really us when we’re restored. But you don’t seem in the least bit disturbed about your latest unexpected death and rebirth.
”
“I’m alive,” Cranston said. “At least this version of me is. So why should I be bothered? I do feel sorry for the version of me that died, of course. And by the way, the death part wasn’t unexpected, as you say. But the rebirth was. I didn’t expect us to win any of this. When can I watch the replay?”
“I’ll send it your way,” Jain said.
Once all of their ships had been fully repaired, Jain went to the Mimic hive system with his Void Warriors, along with a contingent of peaceful vessels harboring Mind Refurb diplomats to represent Earth.
An array of A and B Class nurturers lined up in front of the hive ships. The cables joining the city ships behind them had been severed: it was obvious to Jain that they were preparing to jump out via rifts. But if things went as planned, the Mimics wouldn’t have to.
“It’s time to broker a peace between our races.” Jain glanced at Xander. “Open up a comm line. Tell them… tell them Nurturer 529 has returned.”
Thank you very, very much for reading.
I hope you enjoyed Devastator. Visit the below link to be notified of any future sequels, or to discover other books in the Mind Refurb universe.
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Afterword
Please help spread the word about Devastator by leaving a one or two sentence review. The number of reviews an ebook receives has a big impact on how well it does, so if you liked this story I'd REALLY appreciate it if you left a quick review. Anything will do, even one or two lines.
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About the Author
USA Today bestselling author Isaac Hooke holds a degree in engineering physics, though his more unusual inventions remain fictive at this time. He is an avid hiker, cyclist, and photographer who sometimes resides in Edmonton, Alberta.
Get in touch:
isaachooke.com
[email protected]
Acknowledgments
I’d also like to thank my knowledgeable beta readers and advanced reviewers who helped smooth out the rough edges of the prerelease manuscript: Nicole P., Lisa G., Karen J, Jeremy G., Doug B., Jenny O., Amy B., Bryan O., Gary F., Lezza, Noel, Anton, Spencer, Norman, and Trudi.
Without you all, this novel would have typos, continuity errors, and excessive lapses in realism. Thank you for helping me make this the best novel possible, and thank you for leaving the early reviews that help new readers find my books.
And of course I’d be remiss if I didn't thank my dear mother, father, and brothers, whose wisdom and insights have always guided me through the winding paths of space and time.
— Isaac Hooke
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