by Neal Jones
( 4 )
The planet, Om'Nalu, was the smallest of the six planets in the Kinai star system, an emerald and white orb that was little bigger than Earth. Aside from the standard satellite network and primary docking station, nothing else orbited it, and Navarr could see why the Haal'Chai would use a backwater solar system like this one as their headquarters. She and Sikandra were on the far side of the Kauramide territories, a full six days travel from the Chrisarii homeworld, nearly ten days from Exxar-One. There were no other outposts or colonies in this system, and, according to the data supplied by Navin, Om'Nalu was the only habitable planet.
Navarr and Sikandra's final destination was Kelnos City, a sprawling metropolis which stretched for several dozen kilometers along the eastern coast of the second largest continent. The two spies emerged from a cardon field into an expansive terminal, with tall, glass windows that arched above them to display a clear, green sky. Om'Nalu's twin moons were just becoming visible as it was less than an hour to sunset, and the two women navigated the throngs of passengers to get to the main gate.
Once outside the terminal, Sikandra hailed a taxi. "Riverstreet Market," she told the driver, and he punched the destination into the nav-com. The hovercar shot into the air and smoothly jumped into the traffic which whizzed back and forth above the tangle of steel, brick, chrome and glass that comprised Kelnos.
Navarr nervously tapped on finger against her armrest as she looked out the window, but she wasn't seeing the skyscrapers and domes. She was thinking of the next few steps in their assignment, and now was when all that research and practice would be put to the test. According to Sikandra, there was a handful of casino bars in the Riverstreet Market where members of the Haal'Chai – along with various other criminals and such – tended to gather. One bar in particular, the Nyys, was their destination, and Navarr felt the same tingle of anxiousness and anticipation that first flowed through her as she stepped onto the primary docking station at the Chrisarii homeworld.
The ride lasted only ten minutes, and while Sikandra paid the driver, Navarr scanned the entrance to the market. It looked like most of the shops and stands were closed, and the few that remained didn't have much of their wares left. As they walked along the street, Navarr was amazed at how much cheap jewelry, fake stone vases, multi-colored bolts of cloth and exotic food could be crammed into such a seedy locale. And judging by the run-down appearance of most of the store fronts, the Riverstreet Market was in one of the poorer districts of Kelnos. Which, of course, made perfect sense when one considered the type of people that she and Sikandra were seeking out.
"That's the Nyys, up ahead on the right," Grynel murmured, pointing.
The interior was exactly as Navarr expected - a smoky fog hanging in the air, every table filled with scowling patrons who hovered over their cards and liquor as though they were expecting a fight at any moment, and the sour odors of tobacco, alcohol and sweat, which Sikandra reacted to better than Navarr. The EarthCorps officer smothered her cough with one hand as she followed her companion to the counter which ran the length of the rear wall. There were two bartenders, both of the same species, and, at first glance, Navarr assumed them both to be male. But then Sikandra addressed the nearest one in a feminine title, and the burly alien responded with a gruff, "What do you want?"
"Two osnt."
Once their drinks were delivered, they selected a booth in the back, then took a few moments to more closely survey the scene. More than a couple heads had turned in their direction once they entered, not so much because of the way they were dressed or anything else about their appearance, but because they were strangers. The Nyys had its regular clientele, and whenever a new face appeared, there was bound to be a certain amount of scrutiny. But as she casually scanned the crowd, Navarr could see that most everyone had returned to their previous activities, and she forced down another sip of her osnt before glancing at Sikandra.
"Who are we waiting for?"
"No one. We're going to let the Haal'Chai find us. The reason I chose this bar from the list that Navin gave us is because it's the one where most people who want to join the Haal'Chai come to make contact with those who are on the inside. You might as well make yourself comfortable because we could be here for another six or seven hours. It's only sunset. Places like this do most of their business after midnight."
At first glance Navarr had assumed that the place was full, but now that her eyes had adjusted to the dim lighting, she could see that there was a table or booth here and there that was empty, and the noise level was comfortable. Sikandra was right. In about four hours, there wouldn't be a place to sit, and that thing in the far corner which could only be a jukebox of some kind would be blasting at full power. Once glance behind revealed a door which probably led to a back hallway. It was a safe assumption that there were many private rooms available for those who needed to conduct business away from prying eyes and ears, or just indulge in a little pleasure.
The osnt was surprisingly sweet and tasty, and Navarr quickly finished it, then ordered another.
( 5 )
Lieutenant Corwin sucked in her breath as another rapid beep-beep-beep sounded from her instrument panel. She swept her gaze over her readouts, but found nothing amiss. It wasn't a proximity alarm, there was still plenty of fuel in the tank, and the raider's hull was intact.
"Command, this is Foxfire. I've got an alarm going off, but no readout. Oh wait! It just went silent."
"Foxfire, this is Rothcer." The soothing - almost monotone – alto of the AGC's Murdohn comm officer spoke into Corwin's right earpiece. "Our scans show nothing out of the ordinary. All panels read green."
"Good to go, then." Corwin inputted a series of commands into her console.
"Foxfire, this is Scoletti. You are cleared for a test run. Begin when ready."
"Roger that, commander. Beginning test run...now."
The Haal'Chai raider jumped into stardrive, and Corwin was surprised by the complete lack of turbulence. Even with the latest upgrades to Federation stardrive mechanics, there was always a slight tremor as the Zabrenski bubble was formed and the ship it encompassed was translated into hyperspace. But this tiny ship which Garrett's team had finally finished putting back together was a true technological marvel. It was only slightly larger than an EDAC hornet, but it handled like a small starcruiser, with a reaction time that was twice as fast as a the mark nine "stingers", the informal word often used by the pilots when referring to their hornets.
After only a few minutes Corwin disengaged stardrive, translating into normal space at the prearranged coordinates: the Tintoru Belt, an asteroid field that was sprawled across several million kilometers. It was perfect for target and spatial maneuvering practice, and Foxfire grinned with glee as she anticipated jetting in and out among the space rocks.
"Command, Foxfire. Preparing for evasive maneuvers."
"Roger that, Foxfire. Take it easy and try not to get yourself blown up." Underneath his teasing tone, there was a hint of true fear in Scoletti's voice.
Corwin smiled as she dipped the raider into the asteroid belt and began her first run. She and Scoletti had been fucking each other for only a few weeks now, but lately there had been a new look in his eyes whenever he would turn her direction, and she had begun to feel the same way. Their relationship had begun almost by accident, and part of the continuing thrill was keeping it secret, but now there was something else. Corwin wasn't about to call it love. She didn't believe in such a ridiculous notion. But for the last couple weeks, whenever she was off duty, or on CAP, or on the flight deck helping Chief Tiahata, she would find herself thinking of her CAG. And it would always catch her off guard, and she liked it.
A slight jolt bumped Foxfire from her musings and she cursed herself for not paying closer attention. She'd almost run directly into a rock, but her quick reflexes - as well as the faster-than-light speed response of the controls - saved her ass, and she marveled once more at this piece of revolutionary technology
she was flying. After a few more minutes of playing dodgeball with the asteroids, it was time to blow some of them up. She brought the tactical system on line, targeted a medium-sized rock and fired. The phased energy of the disruptor "bullets" slammed into the asteroid, shattering it like fragile crystal, scattering the chunks in all directions. The force of the explosion was more than Corwin had been prepared for, even though she knew it would be a level twelve rating, and, once again, her experienced piloting skills – and a measure of luck – enabled her to safely navigate the new debris field.
"Command, Foxfire. Are you getting all this?"
She was referring to the constant stream of telemetry that was being transmitted from her primary console to Exxar-One's AGC and OpCon.
"Roger that, Foxfire," Rothcer said.
"Begin second test run when you're ready," Scoletti ordered, and this time there was no undercurrent of worry in his tone.
He must have decided I'm not in any real danger out here. Corwin's grin widened as she maneuvered the raider to a denser section of the field. Either that or he's masking his anxiety better. She fired her weapons, blasting apart two rocks this time, and the pilot was astonished at how easy it was. It was like a fly going against two bull terriers and kicking their asses. But this time, Foxfire was expecting more difficulty in evading the debris. Most of it was hundreds of tiny rocks, but there were more than a few medium sized chunks, and because this was a denser section of the belt there was very little maneuvering room. However, the raider's navcom had no trouble, and, in fact, it was as if there was no need for a flesh and blood pilot at all. The tiny ship bucked, rolled, dipped and soared, and although Corwin was accustomed to the stress of the g-forces which piloting a stinger required, she wasn't used to quite this much stress. Because the raider's tactical and navigational systems were twice as advanced as the hornets', the reaction time was twice as fast, and thus Foxfire felt like she was a pebble in a large bucket which was being flung about in a Kansas tornado. Were it not for the firm grip of the safety belts keeping her strapped into her seat, her brains would have been splattered all over the inside of her helmet by now.
But all of that was countered by the surge of adrenaline which was coursing through Corwin's veins at lightspeed. This was why she loved her job, and it would be even better if the asteroids were firing back. But then everything went still as the raider finally punched through the debris field to come out on "top" of the belt, and the pilot took a few seconds to gather her senses.
"Whhhoooooeeee!!!! Goddamn! Give me some more of that!" Corwin slapped her console and shook her head, trying to regain her sense of balance. Then she pulled up her readouts and examined the new set of results.
"You're such a cliché, Foxfire," Scoletti said, clearly relieved to hear her voice.
"Ok, boys and girls, now it's time for the real test." Corwin inputted a new set of commands into her tactical and navigation systems, then brought the raider around for another pass. This time, she would be testing the full extent of the Haal'Chai ship's armament. She would dive back into the debris field she'd just created, zooming through it at maximum speed, while taking out as many of the smaller rocks as possible. It was time to see what this technological marvel was truly capable of.
Like a gleaming, copper snowflake returning to the fury of the winter storm, the raider swooped down into the densely packed debris field. After examining the test results of the previous run, Corwin realized that the raider's onboard systems were so advanced as to be almost a form of AI. Because the tactical and navigation systems were so closely linked, they were able to detect and instantly react to any obstacle within sensor range. Foxfire's hands remained over her firing controls, letting the ship pilot itself while she operated the disruptors. After several minutes of successful hits, with no misses and no collisions, the pilot decided to kick the action up a notch. She accelerated to maximum stardrive, and her fingers danced lightly over the console as she kept one eye on her tactical readouts and the other on the viewport.
By the end of the run, there had been a few close calls, and it took Corwin more than a couple minutes to gather her wits. She cut the engines and swiveled the raider to face the Tintoru Belt. As she took several deep, calming breaths, the pilot slowly ran a gloved hand over her console, utterly amazed by the power and performance of this ship.
"Foxfire? Foxfire, do you copy?"
"Uh...yes. Yes, I'm here, Commander. Do you have the test results?"
"Affirmative. All telemetry has been uploaded and stored. You can head back to the barn whenever you're ready."
Corwin nodded absently as she continued her respectful caress of the console. She looked up, turning her gaze to the starscape. It was so quiet out here in space, so completely silent - not even the standard beeps or quirks from the computer. Corwin removed her right glove, placed her hand against the glass, and closed her eyes. This was peace. All alone, out in the void, separated by only a few inches of imitation glass pane.
With great reluctance, Foxfire turned the raider around and set course for Exxar-One.
( 6 )
Navarr and Sikandra were on their third round of drinks when a tall, burly Chrisarii man slid into the other side of their booth. For the last couple hours he'd been glancing their way from his former seat at the far end of the bar, so his sudden presence at their table wasn't a great surprise. Still, Navarr found it difficult to quell her academy training and keep her right hand from slipping beneath the table to grab the pulser which would normally be in its holster at her hip.
"There's only one reason that new faces show up in a place like this, especially on this colony." The stranger motioned to the waitress who was passing by. "Another round."
"Two spice waters for us," Sikandra quickly interjected. The waitress nodded and scurried away while Grynel turned to the man. "I'm Drennen Rhuit and this is my friend, Aerin Vakar. We've just arrived from homeworld, and we're looking for work."
"What kind of work?"
"I'm a good pilot, and both Aerin and I have excellent knowledge of weapons and tactical systems. We're also very interested in serving the empire." She leaned forward but there was no need to lower her voice. The noise level in the bar had risen considerably since she and Navarr had first arrived. "The true empire of the Chrisarii."
The stranger nodded slowly as the waitress returned with the spice waters and a tall, bluish drink. The man downed half the glass in one gulp. "I assume you have plenty of time on your hands?" Both women nodded. "Good. I'll come back for you in a couple hours." He departed as quickly as he'd come, returning to his post at the end of the bar. Another Chrisarii man appeared from somewhere in the crowd and the two began talking.
"I realize why you don't want to have any more alcohol," Navarr said to Sikandra, "but won't it look suspicious if we sit here and drink spice waters all night?" Navarr had to speak directly into her partner's ear. Someone had dumped a bunch of money into the jukebox, and a variety of alien techno rock was pulsing through the floor and the walls.
"Not necessarily," Sikandra replied. "They know that we're here to meet with the Haal'Chai. They'll expect us to be alert and ready for any kind of test they throw at us. It would look worse if all we were drinking was alcohol."
Navarr nodded as she sipped her water. Whatever this was, it wasn't water, and she said so.
"Then have an ustf juice."
Across the crowded tables, on the other side of the bar, the stranger glanced in Sikandra's direction as he finished his conversation with his companion. The other man navigated his way through the sea of patrons and left the bar.
( 7 )
Lieutenant Commander Garrett tapped his control panel and a holo-image of the Haal'Chai raider sprang into existence above the surface of the wardroom table. Gabriel, Decev and Saveck were seated on one side, and as the chief engineer began his report, he activated a second holo-image beside the first. The latter displayed the important facts figures which had been distilled from the raider'
s telemetry.
"Put simply, the raider's central computer system is so advanced as to be a primitive form of AI. As Lieutenant Corwin completed each test run, the ship's navigation and tactical systems displayed an ability that I have termed 'cell memory'. In the second run, after blasting the two large asteroids in a denser section of the belt and then flying through them, the tactical processor 'remembered' the exact location and size of every single piece of debris. By the time Corwin returned to that section of the field for her third run, the computer was able to adapt to the new coordinates of the debris which had drifted, as well as target and destroy the smaller rocks whose coordinates it 'remembered'. Add to that a response time that's twice as fast as that of a mark nine hornet, and this ship is capable of outgunning and outsmarting ships and stations that are a hundred times its size."
"How exactly does its tactical sensors work?" Decev asked as she poured over the telemetry. "Even the new experimental networks which are being tested at Galileo aren't capable of this." Her finger stabbed the tactical data which was currently displayed on the holo-screen.
"You're right," Garrett agreed. "During our dismantling and analysis of the raider, we discovered that several sections of the outer hull are composed of nanotech sensors. They're a part of the hull itself, and that's one of the reasons it took us so long to put this ship back together. Essentially, the nanotechnology turns this stinger into one large sensor array that has a focus rating as powerful as the Dauntless."
Decev shook her head. "Unbelievable."
"That's what I said too, but yet here it is." Garrett sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. "The techs at the Federation Corps of Engineers would sell their grandmothers to the Rykon slave trade to get their hands on this."
For a few moments, the four officers contemplated the holo-image of the raider in somber silence.
