The Dominant was the creation of Fleet Admiral Dron, a servant to the order unlike any other in the fleet. It took three hard years to build five of the Regal Class ships, an incredible feat of resource procurement, worker handling, engineering, and sheer ruthlessness. Building one of the base ships should have taken eight years, by the Beast’s estimation, but Dron had forced the building of five in three years. He took one for himself the moment he saw it.
The gargantuan killing machine was made for intimidation and sector superiority. Broad, pointed twin forks with thick layers of armour and covered weapon emplacements graced the front. Beneath were heavy grade mooring systems that enabled the ship to transport six full sized destroyers.
The main body of the ship was a hulking mass of armour plating arranged in a broad semicircle with thick shards jutting out from its sides. Many of those extensions were launch bays for middle and small class ships. There were mooring points for five more destroyers across the bottom of the vessel.
No weapon emplacements, exterior sensors or antennae were left without a layer of armour ready to cover them. Unlike ships built by Regent Galactic, there was enough space for most of the crew to make the ship feel like a home, a necessity when the vessel required a minimum of nine thousand crewmembers. Optimally, the vessel was crewed by twenty eight thousand. It was a supreme show of force, with enough firepower on its own to suppress a planet populated by millions. With the addition of the destroyers and corvettes that made up its accompaniment along with thousands of small ships, they were a highly mobile fleet.
The Regal Class vessels were the key to controlling the Iron Head Nebula, and the vessel wasn’t just presented to Clark Patterson in a complete state, it was presented to him with plans. The man who was responsible for their construction built them with a set of strategies in mind, and it was thrilling to see a commander who spent so much time meticulously testing his creation in tactical simulations before it was finished.
Fleet Admiral Dron wasn’t a member of the Order because he believed in the religion, or because he strove to become immortal and indestructible. He joined so he could exercise his military mind, and to find a place of power in the galaxy. His determination and ferocity was attractive to followers, and he had brought millions into the fold while recruiting workers for his little known shipyard. None of them were paid, but they were all taken care of in return for their service. This was the man who could stand up to Eve, his charisma and drive was exactly what Clark needed. The success he had in building the monstrous ships was a testament to how Dron could lead the population of one single planet in quietly but quickly undertaking a massive project. The control it must have taken to keep it secret from the galaxy and even most of the Order was impressive.
The Beast didn’t know the man existed until two months before. Dron toiled as an Admiral in a region of space still controlled by Vindyne, a company that Regent Galactic acquired some time before. He did have control of a shipyard, power over a solar system, and he made good use of them while he spent only as much of his attention as he had to on holding the territory.
When Freeground was almost destroyed, Admiral Dron couldn’t escape notice. Freeground Fleet discovered Dron’s massive shipyard. How exactly it happened, no one could say, but the Admiral made sure Freeground would be too busy to tell anyone else what was happening in the Aurora Bella system.
Admrial Dron took it upon himself to set Freeground’s destruction into motion. Without expending a single ship, he created an alliance with an unheard of group of militant humanoids, the Isek, who hailed from a nearby galaxy. They already had a foothold in the Milky Way, and were warring amongst themselves for control over the Thun Solar System, well outside of Order of Eden territory. Dron convinced the two largest clans that their philosophies and objectives in the Milky Way were similar enough to the Order’s to be joined, and that the Order of Eden would be critical to their goals in the galaxy. They only had to take care of one problem to prove themselves, and that was Freeground.
The report that his plan worked was startling, and seeing Freeground reduced to its Alpha segment then forced to run gave Clark a very human feeling of gratification. He showed his thanks by making Dron a Fleet Admiral, a position that he earned with cunning.
The Beast watched the eleven new destroyers that accompanied his new flagship, the Dominant, as they crossed his view through the transparent section of the upper hull. The bridge was busy, the main fleet of the Order of Eden was preparing to enter the nebula. Most of them would traverse the space, but nearly a third of the massive fleet of thousands of ships would remain there, taming and taking worlds, rooting out undesirables.
Just on the left side of his railing were translucent holograms that displayed news from the fleet, the overall status of the main departments on his ship, and the status of each of his destroyers. The holograms to his right highlighted news from the rest of the fleet, their overall position, their destinations and orders. The middle section of the railing was mostly clear of information, reserved for information he needed to focus on and the announcement of emergencies.
The sectors of conquered space behind his fleet were well in hand. Strongholds surrounded by shipyards and billions of followers that unwittingly protected a secret that their enemies should have already known. It had taken too long to begin manufacturing on that side of the Iron Head Nebula, but it was well under way, so they wouldn’t need as much finished equipment from Regent Galactic. The Order of Eden could grow on both sides of the nebula at a much greater speed.
He was also confident that the crisis of information was over for the time being. The risk that Order followers would try to abandon their posts at hearing that the Edxi were taking control of a few of their worlds did not manifest in any meaningful way. Jacob Valent and his followers on Haven Shore had failed to frighten Order followers by spreading the truth, that the Edxi were using some of the Order of Eden worlds as hosts to their broods. Broods that fed on humans.
The galaxy did not believe. The ones that the Order had not yet converted or conquered thought the allegation was too horrific and outlandish. The members of the Order who heard the rumour saw it as propaganda, lies meant to pull them from the path to elevation in the Order. It was a situation Clark could not have expected. The efforts of one of his most dangerous enemies was hampered by simple scepticism.
Fleet Admiral Dron approached the Beast’s perch. The man did not flinch as Overlord Patterson turned towards him, the partially transparent red plates covering his body grinding against each other slightly. The sound was like small, wet, sand covered stones being rubbed together, and Clark had learned to love it. If it made him the Beast to everyone else, so be it.
“My Overlord,” addressed the Fleet Admiral. “One of our stations has reported that they have seen the Triton. They attempted to stop their progress through the Iron Head nebula, but failed. Most of their ships were ordered to spread out and search the region for Freeground Alpha, so they had a minimal defence. There was another ship with the Triton as well.” Dron made a gesture towards Clark’s left hand side, bringing up a full report in holograms spread out across the railing.
“Thank you, Fleet Admiral,” Clark said. “You may come up.”
The Fleet Admiral calmly climbed the steps, his long legs taking them two at a time. “Thank you, my Overlord, it is an honour.”
“My assumption is that the Triton is looking for Freeground Alpha,” Clark said. “What do you think?”
“My first thought was that Valent and McPatrick were leading a strike to raid the facility. There are stores of high-density materials there, as well as a warehouse of fabrication systems that just arrived three weeks ago. That’s not to mention the food production systems that base maintains in order to supply ships in the area. My first assumption was based on both of their ships being fully functional, however. They are not.” Dron focused in on a hologram of a ship named the Revenge. “This is one of our ships, captured by Valent, I have
no doubt. They made some significant modifications, but the scan the base was able to take indicates that two of the ship’s main launch bays are incomplete. Supplies for construction clog their cargo holds. That only indicates one thing.”
“They launched early,” Clark said. “Earlier than was convenient. They know where Freeground Alpha is, and want to join them.”
“I agree,” the Fleet Admiral said. “I have run the scenarios and can see no other reason why they would rush launching such a ship. Significant damage was done, so the final construction of their vessel will take even longer. The Triton will be forced to protect the Revenge, which does not seem to have a cloaking system.”
“They can be tracked,” the Beast said. “They could lead us to Freeground Alpha.”
“My Overlord, I know you have been waiting for the right time to move the Dominant into the nebula so we can join the forward elements of the main fleet. I submit that you may have found the perfect time. We can reach Station Five-Oh-Three in four days from our current position.”
“Prepare the prototype jump drive, order all ships to mooring positions,” Clark said. “If they had no choice but to pass through this ice field, and get past that station, then there can be only a few courses they would take. Project them. Send twice the combined power of the Triton and the Revenge to search along each course. We will position the Dominant so we can respond as quickly as possible when Freeground Alpha is found.”
“Yes, my Overlord,” Fleet Admiral Dron said.
“I will brief my knights,” the Beast said. He descended from his perch on the bridge and strode through the thick double doors at the rear. He mentally ordered the computer to pass a message to all of his personal army of Order Knights to assemble. This is what he brought them together for. He would take Freeground Alpha and use it as a new base of operations on the other side of the nebula. He would stand on the Command Deck of that base as its new master.
Chapter 47
Stark Truth and Ambition
It was times like these that Carl Anderson was glad that the position of Governor came with a private office. He only had to begin telling Alice that Doctor Messana was doing serious research into her condition to get an immediate and clear response. She leaned forward in her seat with a deadly serious expression on her young face. “If she found a way to get rid of it, the framework, I mean, I want you to do it.”
“I need you to know how the cure was found if we’re going to go forward,” He replied. “I have all the information here, and I’ve made a guide so you can get through it in a few hours.”
“Show me, then,” Alice said. “She did something wrong, otherwise the method wouldn’t be important. Just show me so I can decide and get on with things.”
“She did cross some ethical lines, and you’re going to find parts hard to watch,” Carl warned her.
“I see worse when I try to get some sleep,” Alice said. “Trust me.”
So, he left her alone in his office with the report, including the recordings and the forensic analysis. He couldn’t help but be a little proud of how quickly and thoroughly she looked through the information. The training she’d had in the Rangers about processing information had taken root.
He gave her three hours to look through everything on her own, and she was finished in two. When he returned to his office, she found that she’d had time to walk all around the government and operations centre in the upper half of the Everin Building. Carl Anderson met her at the doorway to his office and he had difficulty judging her mood as they sat down. Alice was quiet, but not pensive or morose. She seemed on edge instead.
The light from the transparent section of the wall above and behind Carl’s desk bathed her in hues of gold. She was still in a Civic Watcher’s uniform, black with a wide white stripe down the sides. Her two weeks off before the Fleet Academy opened would not be wasted. Alice was just starting her first patrol shift with The Watch when he called her in.
It was remarkable that someone with Alice’s mental maturity could train to have new instincts with the Rangers, that she could sustain and persist despite her mental problems, and then refuse to remain idle when she was given the opportunity, taking a temporary full time position instead. It was remarkable, and Carl Anderson admired her drive and potential, even though he couldn’t help noticing how small she looked in the chair in front of his desk. There was a frailty to her that he’d never noticed before.
“Do you need more time to think?” Carl asked. “There is no time limit on this cure.” he said, knowing that she had visited her therapist in the middle of the previous night. The note in her file said that she woke up sweating, screaming, and panicking.
“I don’t think so,” Alice said hesitantly. “You left the whole ethics debate you had with your Ando at the end of the file. I listened to it while I watched the other me wake up. She must have been terrified.” She exhaled slowly and leaned forward, much of her nervous energy disappearing. “No one else will be hurt if I tell you to do it, if I die and get rebuilt as this next version of myself without the framework.”
“That’s true,” Carl replied. “It won’t be true death either. Your brain will only be modified to the point of removing any memory blocks and framework devices.”
“I know,” Alice said. She took a moment to think. “If I decide that using the cure is wrong because of how it was made, the suffering that it already caused will be for nothing,” Alice said. “And we can never know if Messana would have given the girl she made a life of her own once she was finished. She was killed by that energy wave on the Fallen Star.”
“That’s true, Doctor Messana never had a chance to record her intentions.”
“I can’t believe that she went too far over the line,” Alice said. “Or that she wouldn’t do everything she could to make things right if she did. Not everyone liked her, but she only ever helped us, especially my father. I have to do it. I am the girl that Messana copied, so I know all of those copies would have the same answer, they wouldn’t want their suffering to be for nothing. I can’t believe that Messana’s end game was evil, and she seems to be one of the only people who could see what my framework could do to me, that it would only get worse as time goes on. I have to grow, but I’m regressing while I’m carrying baggage I can’t handle. I can’t carry a weapon anymore, because I’m not even sure what I’m seeing from one moment to the next is actually what’s going on, and I get these paranoia attacks. I’m falling apart.”
“Mentally, yes,” Carl said, amazed at how well Alice understood her situation.
“What about physically? My health tracker says I’ve rolled back younger than ever, it doesn’t make sense,” Alice said.
“I can check that, but I suspect your tracker is right.”
“Doctor Anderson,” Alice said. “Show me to the operating table.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes, I need this, I need to have control of my life. The last time I felt free, I was running across a battlefield. That can’t be it, I need to feel like my body, like my life is my own again. I want to be a real girl, with all that comes with it, and I think I’m pretty sure I could do worse than be genetically tied to your daughter and my dad. I guess that’s the problem, I’m going to have to wait for him to come back. I’m technically not an adult.”
She was desperate, excited, and then morose. Watching the sway of her emotions, then the final downturn made him want to help her. “I’ve seen framework technology send scientists into a frenzy,” he said. “There is something about the combination of technologies that made then carry the research forward, try it under the most inappropriate circumstances. The Order has turned framework systems into a method of building a soldier wrapped in flesh, and there are strings attached. I have a theory I was afraid to share before. Your framework is the latest generation the Order has, and I believe a part of what you’re experiencing was made to act as a kind of corrosion, just in case a soldier becomes fully self-aware and decides to
escape. I also believe that there is something undiscovered in your system that can be activated by an Order of Eden device that could erase everything in your system and reboot you as a blank soldier. That is one of the reasons why I suggested that you stay here, though I am pretty sure your father already wanted the same thing.”
“Okay, now I’m not just sad, but bloody terrified,” Alice said with a nervous laugh.
“You won’t have to be for long. You are such a brilliant girl, you remind me of both my daughters, the one I could not admit fatherhood to, then the one I made. I need you to be well.”
“Thank you, but, we’ll still have to wait,” Alice said, surprised.
“No,” Carl said. “Technically, no. Your father left your care in my hands. While he is out of the solar system, you are my responsibility. I can’t watch you suffer, and I can’t have you at this level of risk.”
“So, how soon can I do this?” Alice asked.
Carl Anderson thought for a moment, considering what could go wrong one last time. There were so few risks, and no matter what, he knew he could keep her alive. “You sat through all that footage, and the reports,” he said. “So, any time you’re ready. Understand, you will feel different when it’s finished. You won’t be left on your own either, not for weeks.”
“Yes, just, yes!” she exclaimed.
“That sounds certain to me,” Carl said.
Warpath Page 38
