Rise of the Empire 1: Olympus

by Ivan Kal

  “First, we have been experimenting on faster than light communications, there were some mentions of it in the alien databases, but the data was too corrupted to be recovered, but it helped us by telling us that FTL comms were possible. So we threw ourselves on the problem. First idea we had was to use hyperspace capable comm drones, but since ships or in this case drones can only enter hyperspace when they were sufficiently away from a star’s influence we rejected it, but kept it as a possibility for communication between star systems. Then we got the idea to use gravity. We had discovered that gravity propagates at the speed substantially faster than the speed of light, when we were developing artificial gravity generators. But our understanding of gravity is not yet large enough to pull it off efficiently, we don’t have a power source strong enough to create a gravity pulse focused and strong enough to reach any distance that would be of use to us. So after these failures we tried to follow more abstract and unconventional paths. We tried speeding up the light, at which we of course failed.” She grinned. “We played with the concept of micro wormholes, but decided that at our current level we weren’t proficient enough to pull that off safely, if at all. And then we went back to hyperspace, we know that the law in hyperspace are different than in regular space. We studied the laws of hyperspace and finally discerned that the reason ships can only enter hyperspace when the stars influence was low enough has to do with the mass of the object trying to enter the space. After an object with mass passes certain point of gravitation pull on it, it can safely pass through the barrier between regular space and hyperspace, if it tried to enter hyperspace while the gravitation pull on it was above that point, the gravity would hamper it, and it wouldn’t achieve, for the lack of a better word enough “thrust” to be pushed through the barrier, resulting in it being destroyed. Theoretically one could enter hyperspace within a star system, but it would require insane amount of energy, the closer to the sun you are the more energy you would need, while after it crosses the “passing point” the amount of energy drops off sharply. So after we learned this we set on to find a way to pass communications through hyperspace. We discovered that if we send a charged luxon particles, particles that move at the speed of light, into hyperspace they became tachyons, particles that move faster than the speed of light, and move in the direction they were moving prior to entering hyperspace until they run out of charge. So we devised a way to send information with these particles, we devised computers that can interpret the information once tachyons leave hyperspace and become luxon particles again. So now we have FTL or rather near instantaneous communications, the lag is so small that it is negligible, with a few little problems, one is that the communications are instantaneous in the range of 50 light years, after that the tachyons lose speed rapidly, even if they are still charged, but it will still be much faster communication than anything else. The lag increases substantially after 50 ly point. But we won’t need to worry about that for a long time, we even have some ideas that could effectively remove the problems, we could place rerouting stations that would receive the communication and then relay it for another 50 ly, if we ever need to communicate over such vast distances. The other problem are the calculations required to send the communication on target, the math is abysmal, the biggest problem is that space, our galaxy even is in constant motion, while hyperspace is not, and as such we need to calculate the amount of charge the communication needs, then the coordinates of the receiver, as they will be after the communication exits hyperspace. The only computers that are able to calculate this are our most advanced quantum computers, and only those that have an Ai in them, the Ai’s ability to manage multitude of problems simultaneously lowers the margin of error to barley 0.001%”

  Tomas raised his hand. “Wait. Why can’t a quantum computer do the calculations without the Ai?” He said.

  Seo-yun grimaced. “It can, but an ordinary software can’t do it as precise as an Ai can. The Ai’s have the ability to coordinate and use quantum computer’s assets in such a way to increase its capabilities by a factor of 12. We have still not been able to figure out why.” She said. Tomas saw that their inability to find the cause of the increase in ability was annoying her. She had never liked unsolved puzzles, it was one of the reasons he hired her, and showed her the alien ship so many years ago.

  Tomas sighed. “Alright, I know that you feel that the Ai pose no threat, if they are treated right, but I still want you to be careful. The aliens shackled their Ai’s for a reason, and I don’t want us to make any mistakes.” He said while looking Seo-yun in the eyes. She held his glare, and was about to say something when she changed her mind and nodded.

  “Good, that is an amazing discovery, and I have no doubt that it will be remembered in the history books, but you said you have one more thing to tell me. I doubt that it could be more amazing than what I just heard” Tomas said.

  Seo-yun’s expression immediately changed from serious to amused, which immediately told Tomas that he was wrong, this will be even more amazing.

  “I so enjoy to prove you wrong.” Seo-yun said while smiling and batting her eyelashes at him, which in turn made him smile with her.

  “Go on then, prove me wrong.” Tomas said.

  “Well, you know that we got a lot of medical knowledge from the alien ship.” She said, and Tomas nodded. “Well, the knowledge itself was worthless to us, as it was all about alien physiology, so it was of low importance, but one of our geneticist was looking through it in his spare time, and something he saw in there, on one of the races that the Union encountered gave him an idea. So he worked on it in his spare time for the past few years, until finally a year ago he had a breakthrough. He went to his team leader and showed her his work, and she in turn showed it to me. I gave her the permission to focus all our available resources on it, and then we had another breakthrough a few months ago. The final test results came in yesterday, so now it is confirmed. We have been able to create an artificial gene, that when introduced into human DNA, causes our cells to stop decaying, stop dying, in other words it stops entropy. With this gene we can remove death. Each one of us with this gene, will live forever, barring that we don’t have a violent death or die from disease.” Seo-yun said grinning.

  Tomas looked at her with mouth and eyes wide open disbelieving what he heard, he thought that she must be pulling his leg, but he knew her better than that, she never joked with her work. Living forever, he tried to wrap his head around the concept, it was unbelievable.

  “That, that… That is insane.” He finally said.

  “Yes it is.” Seo-yun said still smiling.

  “My god, what are we going to do?” Tomas asked uneasily.

  “What do you mean?”

  “This could change everything.”

  Seo-yun’s smile slipped at the expression on Tomas’s face.

  “How?” Seo-yun asked.

  “This could change everything it means to be human. Imagine what it would do to religion, or how it will influence people lives. Or what it would do to Earth if we give this to them. The Earth is already overpopulated, if people stop dying… It could lead to the collapse of our entire race at the worst, at best it will redefine the human existence.” Tomas said gravely.

  Seo-yun looked at Tomas, understanding dawning in her eyes.

  “We will need to be very careful about how we introduce this.” Tomas said.

  Seo-yun started to protest but he cut her off.

  “I’m not saying that we don’t share it, I just think that we need to be aware that this will impact our entire race, and before we introduce this kind of an upheaval to our culture, our way of life, we must be ready to face the consequences.” Tomas said.

  “You are right.” Seo-yun said, and knew that with this one discovery, more than any other before, Olympus will yet again change the world.

  Chapter Eighteen

  February 2103

  Adrian and his teammates waited inside of the training base’s landing bay for the trans
port ship to dock. Their team had passed the training, after that first stumble Bethany and Adrian managed to clear the air between them and started to work together on tactics for the team battles, instead of leading alternatingly, they led together. It proved to be the right choice, after that first loss they had won every other match, bringing their team to the top spot. After the deadline, Force Commander Pierce informed them that only the top three teams passed, and the third one just barley. The other teams were crestfallen, but the Force Commander informed them that they could stay one more year and try to pass with the next class, that they could keep their ranks of cadet tier 1 and join the fleet at that level, or chose another path in the fleet, they always needed people. Some stayed behind, while others chose to remain cadets, and try to work their way up the ranks through service. From those that passed, only team 9 was told to board the transport that would take them to their new assignment, they weren’t told yet what ranks they acquired by passing the test. The other two teams were told that they would remain on the base for another week. Team 9 had little time to celebrate, they spent only a few hours at the stations bar, and then they had to go to sleep, in order to wake up and be on time to board the transport tomorrow morning. They didn’t even know where they were going.

  After the ship docked and they boarded it, they were told that the ship was going to the Mars station where they would be told their assignments and ranks. One of the transport ship’s crew showed them to their quarters for the trip. They spent the next month on the ship as it traveled from the training station to the Moon. They spent their time mostly in the recreational facilities that the transport had, and the rest inside of their room discussing what their next assignment would be. Most of them wanted to be placed on a transport or a cargo ship, with all of them agreeing that a post on a mining ship would be the least favorable. Adrian on the other hand believed that there was a good chance that they would be posted to serve on one of the Olympus’s warships, but the others didn’t even know that those existed, and Adrian couldn’t tell them. So he agreed with them.

  After they arrived at the Moon station, they were immediately met by a woman in fleet uniform, with the rank of Adjutant who sent them instructions on where they needed to check in. They were split, with most were sent to the offices in charge of transport ships, save Alexander who was sent to the medical, and Adrian and Bethany who were only given the instructions on how to get to the office where they were supposed to check in. They said their goodbyes and agreed to meet later that day.

  “I wonder why we weren’t sent with the others. It doesn’t even say where we are going, just the instructions on how to get there. I hope they don’t plan on assigning us to a mining ship.” She said. Adrian didn’t need to wonder, he knew exactly where they were going, he went there often when he was on a break from the Academy and had the time for the trip to the base orbiting the Moon.

  “We are going to the Laura Reiss’s office.” Adrian said.

  “And how do you know that?” Bethany asked frowning.

  “I was there before.” Adrian said.

  Bethany stared at him, but when he didn’t elaborate she gave up and they walked the rest of the way in silence.

  When they arrived, the secretary in front of the office instructed them to go in. Adrian entered the office with Bethany following close behind. The office was the same as it had always been. Laura sat behind her desk reading reports. Or rather Fleets Master Laura Reiss, Adrian corrected himself, he couldn’t keep referring to her as he usually did, at least not in public. When she noticed them she stood up and walked around the table to stand in front of them. Both Bethany and Adrian stood at attention, Laura studied them for a moment, and then reached out and hugged Adrian, surprising him. A moment later she let him go, without him even having the chance to return the gesture.

  “Congratulations on passing Adrian.” She said smiling brightly. Adrian looked at her and couldn’t help but smile as well. Laura was the closest thing to a mother he ever had, and even though he had forgone the possibility of being adopted when he accepted to come to Olympus, he felt as if she was his family, and even without her last name he felt a close bond with her.

  “Thank you.” Adrian said, and then he remembered Bethany, he glanced at her and saw that she had a startled and confused look on her face. She of course didn’t know about his connection to Laura.

  Adrian coughed uncomfortably and looked back at Laura, she looked at Bethany and her face reverted to her commanding form.

  “Cadet Jones, congratulations on passing the training.” Laura said.

  “Thank you ma’am.” Bethany responded tightly, Adrian had no doubt that he would need to explain some things later.

  Laura nodded and then turned to her desk where two black boxes that sat there. She picked them up and turned back towards them.

  “I know that both of you are wondering why you are here. The answer is simple, I wanted to inform you of your earned ranks and your assignment in person.” She opened the boxes and retrieved two sets of Low Prime insignia. “Both of you are granted the ranks of Low Prime in the Olympus Fleet.” She pinned the ranks on both of their shoulders. They were stunned they never expected such a high rank, at most they would be given the rank of Adjutant. Their faces must have conveyed their thoughts because Laura smiled. “There was much debate over what ranks were to be given to those who passed the training, you have all exceeded our expectations, most the others have gotten the ranks of Station Handlers or Adjutants, but the two of you were the only ones to get the Low Prime ranks. There was a lot of arguing over that decision, some even wanted to give you a higher rank, mostly because your scores in the simulations at the Academy, and those during the past year far surpassed those of our fleet officers. But in the end we decided that while you were impressive at the Academy, you still lacked experience.”

  Bethany and Adrian were speechless, they couldn’t have known how their scores measured up to others who weren’t at the Academy.

  “As for your assignment. Both of you are going to be posted at the same ship, at least for a little while, the ships name is Athena. Most of the ship’s crew is currently on leave, and had transported out to Mars, the ship is going through upgrades and there isn’t much to do, so Adrian you will to assume position as the acting Ship Master, and Bethany as the acting High Prime. When the Athena’s Ship Master and High Prime return, Adrian you will assume the position of Low Prime, while you Bethany will transfer to Neith, which should be arriving at the same time for its scheduled upgrades, its crew, like that of Athena will be going on leave, and you will assume the position as Ship Master. This is so that you may gain some experience commanding a real ship, though there won’t be much to do.” Laura finished with a grin.

  Stunned once more the only thing Bethany and Adrian could do was to stare at Laura. A moment later the name of the ship they were posted on clicked with something Adrian learned years ago.

  “Athena?” Adrian asked. “Isn’t that…”

  “Yes.” Laura responded. “We have high hopes for the two of you. And now I believe it is time you go and report to your new posts.”

  With one last smile she sent them off. After they left her offices Bethany turned on Adrian.

  “You know the Fleets Master?” She asked in whisper.

  “Yes.” Adrian said.

  “Care to elaborate?” Bethany asked.

  “It’s complicated.” Adrian said. Bethany just kept looking at him until he relented. “She kind off adopted me.” He said finally.

  “Adopted you.” Bethany looked at him strangely, and then a look passed over her face that Adrian knew very well.

  “No! She never favored me! I didn’t even know her before I was invited to join the Academy.” Adrian said quickly.

  Bethany looked shamefaced. “Sorry.” She said.

  “It’s ok.”

  “What was it that she said to you at the end, something about the ship? Do you know it?” She asked.

>   “I know of it.” Adrian said.

  Again she looked at him funny.

  “You seem to know an awful lot.” She said. But this time it was in a playful tone.

  “Yeah.” Adrian said a little embarrassed. “Athena and Neith are warships.”

  It took Adrian a few steps to realize that Bethany wasn’t walking with him, he turned and saw her staring at him incredulously. “Warships!” She yelled.

  Adrian shushed her, and walked to her.

  “Warships?” She asked in a whisper.

  “Yes, they were built a few years ago, so that we may have something to protect ourselves with. Just in case.”

  Bethany’s incredulous expression soon turned to excited.

  “We are going to serve on a warship.” She said smiling brightly.

  “Yes.” Adrian said. He turned and led the way to the where the ship was docked, Bethany following excitedly.

  Chapter Nineteen

  March 2103

  “Are you sure this will work?” President Lucas Von Holt of Concordis asked Admiral Jan Weiss. They were in Berlin, inside his office. The rest of the room was filled with the other leaders of Concordis. The representatives of the council of three, Maria Hughes, Emerson Tully and Yuri Petrov , the Minister of the Economy Amelia Turner, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Boris Vitkovic and the Minister of Defense Victor Ross.

  “Our plan is solid.” Admiral Weiss said.

  President Von Holt sighed. “Are we absolutely sure that there is no other alternative?” He asked the room.

  “We have tried everything in our power, but the bastard won’t budge.” Minister of Foreign Affairs Vitkovic said tiredly.

  “He is right Mr. President. Tomas Klein won’t change his mind, he will never sell us his technology. And we can’t keep going like this. He keeps us under his control, we are too dependent on them, and we can’t afford to stop doing business with Olympus.” Minister of the Economy Turner said.