Revenant

by Raymond Bayly

  Davi came back on the bridge a moment later and looked between Blake and Shira.

  “Sorry,” he murmured.

  Walking over to the sensor console,

  he began punching buttons. Blake slowly made his way over to the captain’s chair and sat down. “Davi, give me the status on the probes,”

  he said. Davi waited another moment before responding as he analyzed the incoming data.

  “She took a couple of hits, but nothing that compromised the probe. Looks like some surface gunfire, so my guess is she got a little too close to a freighter. Had it been something bigger, we wouldn’t have had a probe to recover,”

  he continued.

  Blake noticed that Davi continued to avoid looking at the main screen as if it might come back on at any moment to taunt him with the vision of the black hole.

  “Shira, use the sensors and see if we can’t catch that probe and bring it in,” Blake said,

  “but please don’t turn on the main monitor.”

  Shira nodded and looked over the data on the pilot’s console.

  She programmed in an intercept course for the probe and hit activate.

  The maneuvering engines fired,

  rotating the ship until it was pointed in the direction of the probe.

  Once it had stabilized its heading,

  the main engines ignited,

  pushing everyone back into their seats despite the inertial dampeners.

  “Sorry guys, the gravitational pull of that thing required a little more work out of the engines than usual, but no need to worry. Morgan assures me it’s not enough to suck us into the event horizon.” Blake looked a little concerned at this.

  “Morgan, please keep an eye on that and make sure we don’t get sucked into that bloody thing. I really don’t want to die screaming today,”

  he said, only half joking.

  “Of course, Captain. I will remain vigilant,” Morgan responded.

  Shira could swear she heard a smile in her voice.

  As they approached the probe,

  the ship pivoted 180 degrees,

  so, its engines were pointed forward.

  They began to fire off, slowing the large ship quickly to a complete stop.

  As the ship slowed, Morgan began downloading the pertinent data is housed.

  “Captain, the probe was successful in collecting data from both of the freighters as well as the general planet network. Give me a moment to go through it, and we should have what we need.” Shira lined the ship up along the probe and extended the docking arm to retrieve it.

  Once the probe was in the hold and secured, she turned to Blake.

  “Probe is docked and locked, Captain.”

  Blake nodded.

  “Morgan, upload the data please.”

  A moment later, it began streaming onto the main screen. They could see multiple postings, which looked to be from net groups and others that seemed to be advertisements.

  “Captain,” said Morgan,

  “no warrants have been issued directly, but there are several notices offering rewards for the capture of the Nismel. These are not official Empire sanctions and look to be posted by a private party. Whichever planet we end up at, we may be looking at a fight.”

  Blake looked at the screen.

  The strange language transformed into English before his eyes as his ocular nanites translated them.

  “Well, someone wants this ship badly,” he said. “Okay, we should be careful wherever we go. Shira, is there anything on the freighters?”

  Shira walked over to the navigation holo and pulled up the entire system.

  “It appears there are three places we can hit freighters,”

  she put her finger to the holo, highlighting the three systems she’d indicated.

  “Now, based on the items we are looking for,

  Morgan estimates a 75% chance that this one is our best chance.”

  She zoomed in on a system not too far from their location.

  “From what I can see, there are minimal armaments and no escort on the freighter itself.

  It appears to be flying under the radar as a diplomatic ship for the Empire, which means it requires authorization to see their flight plan. We don’t have it, however, its manifest reads like an arms dealer’s wet dream, boss.” Shira said in awe reading the manifests.

  “Alright, Davi,” said Blake,

  “now would be a good time to talk about what gear you have been so diligently working on.”

  Davi smiled from ear to ear.

  “Meet me in the training room in 5, sir,”

  he said as he scurried off the bridge.

  Shira and Blake made their way to the training room on the lower deck.

  Upon entering, they saw tables laid out with various gear and clothing with a very proud Davi standing next to them,

  cuddling his little bot.

  “Yeahhh, just not getting it,” Blake murmured, looking at Davi and his pet.

  “Oh, leave him alone. He’s bonded with it,”

  Shira laughed, shaking her head at Blake.

  “Everyone needs a friend.” She finished, still smiling at Blake.

  Davi, having overheard the two, looked at the pair indignantly.

  “I will not have you speak ill of Eloise while she is present. She is a compassionate and loving creature!”

  Davi shot them both a reproving look,

  all the while stroking the bot’s back.

  “Don’t worry, Davi. Just because Captain Grumpy Pants doesn’t need any friends, doesn’t mean I don’t understand. I am happy you found each other,”

  Shira said soberly while jabbing Blake with her elbow. Blake put up his hands in surrender.

  “No man, if it makes you happy, you and Fido can cuddle all day long. Who I am to judge?”

  Davi just shook his head and muttered something about needing some time on a couch for commitment issues.

  He set the bot down and straightened himself. “Now, if we can proceed,” said Davi.

  His smile returned suddenly, and he began to rock back and forth, like a child on Christmas waiting to open presents.

  “I have some wonderful new toys to show you! While we have been traveling, Morgan and I have been using the fabricators in the machine area, as well as the supply area, to outfit the group. We have come up with some wonderful equipment that I think you’re going to like.”

  He stepped up to the table.

  “First, these jumpsuits we are wearing will not do for planet-side combat. It turns out this ship has a full database of the technology used by the Empire, and I must say it was quite the treasure trove, so I went through it and studied some of the Empire’s combat designs.”

  Davi picked up the nearest suit.

  It was entirely black and looked like a two-piece leather shirt and pants.

  “This is the battledress we have come up with. They are made with nano-fibers, which can repel lasers and will spread out kinetic projectiles. They will also deflect a direct knife blow. However, if that knife has a Nano edge, it will be able to get through. The suit will also repair itself and stabilize any wound caused to the person wearing the armor.”

  He put down the suit and lifted a pair of boots. “The boots have repulsors in the sole and will allow you to change your weight to either heavier or lighter. This will also allow you to levitate yourself off the ground. Now, you won’t be able to fly because the power system is limited but will be able to hover for a short time.”

  The boots looked like a cross between combat boots and ski boots.

  They had thick buckles on the sides, and the soles were about two inches thick, giving the wearer more height but not high enough to throw them off-balance.

  Davi set the boots down and picked up a black, full length, leather-looking trench coat.

  “The coat is made from the same nano-fiber that the clothes are, but heavier. It also has temperature control and can handle limited exposure to a space vacuum.
It can repel larger kinetics and plasma shots, and to a limited degree, it will protect against fire. If hit by a heavy object, it will stiffen to limit the damage done to the wearer. It also has a built-in helmet with a full heads-up display.”

  Davi put on the coat.

  With a touch to the collar,

  small black bands began to stack into place, overlapping each other to snake over the top of his head and around his face.

  The final outcome was a black helmet.

  The eye slots glowed red,

  and there was a small breather mouthpiece.

  It looked evil as hell.

  Davi touched the collar again, and the helmet retracted back into the collar.

  Blake whistled. He couldn’t even tell where the helmet had gone.

  “Damn, Davi,” he said,

  “you might be nuts, but that is impressive as hell!” Davi beamed at the praise and put the coat down. He picked up a vest that looked like something a motocross rider would wear.

  There was armor padding over the chest and stomach area.

  Davi put it on and fastened it along the side.

  It instantly shrank against his chest like a second skin.

  “This is the combat vest. It will hold equipment and. As with the clothing, it is protected against energy and kinetic weapons. It also holds a long-range communicator that will allow connection and communication with the nanites in your body. It will make it seem like someone is whispering in your ear rather than into a device, and if you murmur, and the person on the other end will hear you clearly.

  This vest will hold the curved knives you have been training with as well as two pistols,

  various grenades,

  and other miscellaneous devices.”

  Davi took off the vest and stepped over to a table adorned with weapons and an assortment of other equipment.

  He picked up an unusual looking rifle and carried it closer to the other two.

  Blake was no stranger to guns,

  and this looked similar to an FN2000,

  a very strange rifle a friend of his owned in his collection.

  The man used to love pulling it out and showing it off.

  “This is a dual-purpose rifle. It fires both a kinetic round from the barrel and plasma grenades from right underneath that. These are nasty, and there are only four of them in the gun. After use, they need to be recharged, and that can only be done here on the ship. The rifle system, however, has an integrated power pack and depleted uranium rounds in the standard magazine of the gun. It will hold one-hundred and fifty rounds. Now, this is not a typical round. After it is loaded into the barrel, it is then sent towards the target using a high-power magnetic system along the interior. This way, it can be used in any number of environments, including a vacuum. I’m not entirely sure of the range on it, but it should be comparable to a normally-fired rifle round.”

  Davi tossed a magazine to Blake who caught it deftly and turned it over in his hands.

  It was a little heavier than a typical M4 magazine when it was loaded,

  and it was completely enclosed,

  except for a hole in the top.

  It was roughly the size of a thirty-round extended magazine and was made of some type of polymer.

  Blake handed the magazine to Shira and walked over to the table to pick up one of the rifles.

  To his surprise,

  as soon as he picked it up,

  a targeting display hovered over his eye.

  When he moved the gun and turned it to the extreme left or right,

  the targeting reticle followed,

  There was also information on anything he put the targeting reticle over,

  including distance and movement speed,

  as well as his own heart rate and body temperature. “Cool, isn’t it?” Davi said, still grinning.

  “It is tied into your bodies’ nanites, and uses the ones tied to the ocular nerve to act as the targeting system,

  so, you can hip fire this baby with the same accuracy as if you were aiming down the barrel.” Blake was impressed,

  and as he examined the weapon,

  he noticed it was very light compared to a normal carbine rifle.

  He also noticed the large part of a pipe sticking out from under the barrel with a button on the stock, near where his hand would rest while firing the weapon.

  “Yeah, I wouldn’t touch that,” Davi warned.

  “It’s loaded, and it makes quite the mess.

  “That’s the plasma grenade launcher. We haven’t had time to test it properly, so we are not positive on the yield, but in my professional opinion, it’s going to be pretty friggin’ big!” Davi finished, looking nervously as Blake poked at it.

  Blake laid the weapon back on the table and looked over the other items laid about.

  He noticed two different pistols next to each other. One looked like an oversized revolver with a six-inch bull barrel,

  and the other looked like a strange Glock .40.

  “Hey, what are these?” Blake asked,

  picking up the odd-looking revolver.

  Again, the reticle in his eye activated, so he moved the barrel until it was not present in his vision.

  Davi gently took the pistol from him.

  “That, my friend, is a plasma pistol.”

  Blake looked at it carefully while it was in Davi’s hand.

  “Dude, we have laser guns?” Blake asked with amazement.

  “Not 'laser,' I said plasma.'

  There is a difference, you know.

  Plasma are more kinetic where lasers are not,

  Think of it as a kinetic beam weapon.”

  Blake gave it a five-count and said,

  “So, we have laser guns?”

  Davi rolled his eyes.

  “Aside from the lethal weapons, you carry there is also the staff that the two of you have been training within your downtime.

  “You will also have two ASP’s, but these will be slightly electrified to give your opponent a shock.

  These are also motor-assisted in opening and closing.”

  Davi picked up one of the five-inch grips and hit a button, causing it to spring open to about a 3-foot tapering pole.

  He hit the button again, and it withdrew.

  He put down the ASP and picked up a small, blue, metal ball.

  “This is a magnetic grenade. Basically, when it goes off, it will violently push everything about 10 feet outward at a high rate of speed, causing people and items to become kinetic weapons themselves.”

  He picked up another ball, this one orange.

  “This is similar to your flash grenade. It will cause a bright light and high level of noise to disable opponents in an area.”

  He put it down and picked up the final ball which was bright yellow.

  “This is a neat one. This little baby will shoot out a self-replicating gel that will solidify within 6 seconds to essentially trap everything in the room in something akin to amber.”

  Blake and Shira looked at each other.

  “Davi, I think I speak for everyone when I say that is some damn fine work!” Blake exclaimed.

  “Shira and I will become familiar with our gear. You just make sure the internal weaponry and countermeasures are working and in tip-top shape., oh and the laser pistol’s, I’ll take two” Blake finished smiling at Davi’s irritation at the use of the word laser.

  Shira, looking confused, leaned over towards Blake. “Are you expecting a boarding party, Boss? “ she whispered.

  ” Plan for the worst, baby. Plan for the worst. Let’s gear up.” He responded moving over to the first table.

  They began to dress and collect their weapons. “Morgan,” said Blake,

  “set the training room for live fire simulation.

  We need to make sure we know how to use our new toys before we go storming one of those freighters.” Blake requested, Davi handing him a second pistol and outfitting him with a dual, low slung holster for the
m, giving Blake an old west gun fighter look.

  “Of course, Captain,” Morgan said,

  and the door to the second training area slid open. Shira and Blake entered and didn’t exit again for several hours.

  Exhausted, but feeling competent, Shira and Blake went up to the bridge to find Davi pouring over data at the science station.

  “Captain, this is an amazing find. There are at least 27 previously unrecorded minerals in this system floating around that black hole! I am updating our periodic table, well, I mean the one we used on Earth. At some point, we should get this information back to them.” He blurted excitedly , his eyes never leaving the console as the data scrolled in front of him.

  “I am sure that’s great, Davi, but it’s not our main purpose,” said Blake, still exhausted from the training session.

  “Let’s talk plans. As I see it, we have several objectives. First, we need to disperse the beacon, so it doesn’t show as coming from this ship. Second, we need to appear to be basically a freighter in trouble, giving us a reason to get close to the convoy. Once there, we need to disable the convoy, then gain access to it. Anyone have any suggestions on these?” He asked, pausing his statement and giving the others a chance to chime in.

  Davi punched keys and said,

  “Morgan and I have been working on the way to disperse the beacon, and we believe we can do that for a short period of time. This will confuse the freighter sensors for a bit, and they will know there is a beacon going off, but not from where. Since we will quite probably be the only ship in the system aside from them, it won’t take them long to figure it out. As for the mayday, I can mimic a core overload that will show up on their sensors to give us a reason to need help and get close. However, we are going to have to go dark ourselves, to make us seem like we’re experiencing power failures.

  Once there, I can set off a large EMP pulse that will disrupt their systems for 30 to 50 minutes, but that’s all. Now having our power systems down will allow us to bring them up once the EMP is set off with little impact to our systems,

  but that means for a small window,

  we will be powered down and blind.

  I can, however, use the reflectors to put out the size and signature of a freighter. Once that time is up, their systems will come online, and we are shooting if we are not out of there.” Davi said shaking his head.