We were hit again, this time the lights didn't come back on, but the consoles still worked.
Cirruit reported. "Secondary shields at 15%."
I acknowledged and said, as calmly as I could, "Shaka, microjump behind that alien ship, overwrite jump safety. Mao, stand by on FTL projectors and Loki Torpedoes; as soon as we come out of quasi I want you to fire point blank. Cirruit, put all energy you have in our forward shields as soon as Mao fires!"
The Barracuda was designed to take a pounding and all systems were at least triple redundant, my damage board showed me that this was the reason we were still alive.
Shaka proved he was one hell of a helmsman. He executed a microjump with computronic precision. Mao fired as we saw our attacker for the first time close up. It was a small ship, disc-shaped, almost looking like a miniature version of the Devastator. The similarities were so great that one could think they came from the same designer.
Our FTL projectors fired, at the same time Mao laid two grav bombs on each side of the vessel and two Loki Torpedoes with Exo Loads launched and connected!
Shaka executed the second part of the microjump but not before our secondary shields collapsed from the energy overload of two Exoload explosions. The last layer of shields was all we had left and it was no longer at 100%.
We re-entered Planck space and witnessed the alien ship emerging from the energy cloud apparently undamaged, but this time its shields flickered and were clearly damaged.
"Mao, now! Microloads salvo tact, into their drive section. FIRE!"
Mao fired manually as the fire control automatics were down. The aft section of the alien ship was ripped apart and the rest drifted into space!
Wetmouth reported. "Captain, sensors indicate the alien ship is without shields and maneuver power and there is one life form aboard. I also detect repair activity!"
What did it take to defeat that thing? It was clearly more advanced than anything the Union had, and it was only Wolfcraft-sized! What if there was something much bigger?
"Shaka, get us close enough for Main Translocator. Mao, place a full load in that drive section!"
Mao's shot exploded a microsecond before the shields of the alien came back on. This time, everything but the cockpit section of the alien ship was completely destroyed.
With one eye on our own damage control readout, I blinked a fire order to Mao. "Micro loads into secondary energy sources!"
Four more explosions crippled the alien ship and reduced it to a burning wreck.
"Captain, I am still reading the life form!"
"Tech stop and Paralysator full intensity."
Wetmouth didn't take her eyes of her scanners. "Captain this is incredible. The ship over there is destroyed and disabled to over 80% and I can detect molecular manipulation and energy to matter replication. The ship is repairing itself! Whatever this is, Captain, it is at least tech level 11."
"Can you localize the energy sources?"
"Yes Captain! There are 200 of them."
"Mao, fire till that thing is destroyed completely and utterly!"
The cockpit section of the alien ship detached itself as Mao kept firing, but Mao was on the ball and he sent a grav bomb into the path of the cockpit. It was shielded but unable to evade it and the grav bomb pulled it into its grav center and depleted its shields.
I felt as if I was fighting a mythical dragon that kept regrowing heads. A smaller object emerged from the cockpit. It was a humanoid shape in a spacesuit. It approached our ship! I didn't want to fire on a being in a spacesuit, but from what I saw whatever it was could perhaps regrow an entire ship. "Mao, target that being and fire!"
The alien ship was gone; Mao's gravitation and antimatter bombs had reduced it to atomic dust and dissipating energy.
We were hit once again with a powerful weapon beam and it came from the suited being, just before Mao could place a grav bomb close enough to the small target.
The suited being's last shot had penetrated our shields and hit portside, but as effective its weapon was against our shields, it did only superficial damage to the molecular-compacted Ultronit armor. Shaka's evasive flying was the main reason we were still in one piece.
Wetmouth looked over her readouts. "Alien suit is damaged, shields down. I can read humanoid life signs."
"Hit it with Paralysator and Tech Stop! Maybe we can capture that alien and see what they are and find out if there are any more of them!"
"Hans and Har-Hi, I hate to ask you to do that but you need to get into Quasimodos and out there as fast as you can and cut whoever it is out of what is left of that suit and place it in stasis."
"Aye, Captain!"
I said, "Wetmouth, launch another probe and see if there are any more surprises around that asteroid."
"I am on it!"
"Cirruit, damage report please."
Wetmouth's detailed scan of the asteroid revealed no other energy signatures. Cirruit was busy fixing our shield projectors. The Barracuda was still spaceworthy, but we had depleted of much of our ammunition. Several systems were damaged but Cirruit was confident he could repair it within two or three days. Mao went to assist him.
Har-Hi and Hans had recovered the alien and they had to completely destroy the suit as it too began to repair itself.
The alien being, to our surprise, was a human-looking female, and Wetmouth had her in sickbay and examined our prisoner.
I ordered Shaka to approach the Paracelsus and now we could see that the hospital ship did sustain damage, all four ISAH pods were gone and there was a hole in the engineering section where the energy-producing antimatter reactors had been located. Our scans confirmed all six of the energy reactors were missing. I asked Har-Hi to take the con and keep watch over both the Paracelsus and the planetoid and then made my way to sickbay to inspect the alien. Hans had activated two Cerberus robots to stand guard, just in case.
Our sickbay was small but state of the art and Wetmouth, even though she wasn't a designated Medic, had the knowledge of an MD and was an Xeno biology expert. She stood next to a diagnostic table on which the restrained naked woman was lying. She looked human, had short black hair and appeared to be in overall good condition.
Wetmouth said to me as she saw me approaching, "We almost took a Trojan horse aboard."
"A Trojan horse?"
"An ancient legend of Earth, where the Greeks, a Terran native tribe, overcame another Terran tribe, the Trojans, by giving them a wooden horse as a present; inside the horse were soldiers and the Trojans pulled the trophy inside their city unaware of its hidden cargo. The Soldiers hidden inside the horse then opened the gates of the city and thus caused the doom of that city."
She pointed at the alien. "She was loaded with very advanced nanites ready to spread out throughout our ship and transform it into whatever she needs."
I felt suddenly sick and swallowed. "Where are those nanites now?"
"Thanks to Cirruit we were able to contain and destroy them. He can see nanites and released his brand of battle nanites and destroyed the alien ones."
"Any chance that there are more inside her or that you missed any?"
"Cirruit says no and I did a detailed molecular scan. She is full of medic nanites of ours now, trying to repair her cells and save her life."
"She doesn't appear to be sick or wounded," I said.
Wetmouth looked at me. "Eric, that woman is human, but her DNA isn't Terran, Saran or Pan Saran. It is similar to all. Like all humanoid species we have encountered so far, she shares many of our traits. If my analysis and diagnostics are correct, that lady is over one million years old and her cells are failing. My guess is she was in some sort of stasis or suspended animation for way longer than anticipated. The reanimation process was either interrupted or unable to restore her."
Just then the woman blinked and opened her eyes. She tried to move but the physical restraints and the contour forcefield made that impossible.
Then she said something and it sounded angry a
nd demanding, but whatever she said was in a language I did not understand.
The Computronic beeped and said, "Language not on file. Translation sequence started."
The Computronic spoke directly to the alien in single phrases and the alien woman responded. After about eight minutes, Wetmouth spoke in the same alien language to the woman and listened to her response. The Computronic beeped again and said, "Translation process sufficiently progressed for conversation. Verbal communication filters in place."
The woman said. "I am Commander Cateria. I carry important information for the Empress. You are inferior and you are hereby ordered to release me at once and supply me with all I need to complete my mission, otherwise I will destroy you!"
"Hold it right there, Commander!" I said. "You attacked an unarmed hospital ship and caused casualties and damage. You are inside Union space and you are in no position to make any demands!"
She closed her eyes and opened them with an even angrier look. "It matters not if you destroyed my ship or my suit. My nanites have infiltrated your systems as we speak and you will be at my mercy in mere moments."
"Sorry to burst your hopes, Commander, but we detected your nanites and destroyed them. On the other hand our nanites are in you, repairing your cell structure. I have a good mind and order my medical officer to cease all restoration procedures and simply recover your brain and complete a memory dump on it. We don't really need your entire body to find out who or what you are."
She blinked again and tried to swallow.
I said, "Commander, if you do not want to find out just how primitive and barbaric I can be you had better tell me what you have done to the hospital ship. Are there nanites of yours aboard that ship?"
She didn't answer my question.
Cirruit came in and held a tiny metal sphere between his fingers. "I have never seen anything like that. This alien nanite technology is light years ahead of the best X101 technology. Only because her nanite control unit was damaged, was I able to counter hers. Luckily, however, her nanites are work units only. My battle nanites were able to infiltrate it and completely shut it down. Wetmouth removed it from her brain."
She stared at Cirruit with hate in her eyes but then sudden despair replaced her anger and she pleaded with me. "Is it not better to be under our rule than face utter destruction from the Dark Ones? Help me to reach the Throne World and I will make sure your species is rewarded." She ended her plea and began to stare at me in a strange, intense fashion.
I felt as if something was pushing into my very mind, just like on Quagmire. I suddenly became aware of my ring and always when that happened, I wondered why I kept forgetting about it. At the same time I saw Narth in a dreamlike vision before my eyes and I was certain he was saying."Push back."
Somehow, I did exactly that. I saw Wetmouth slumping over and Hans holding his head with both hands. I knew she had attacked us with something Psionic and even Wetmouth's wig that usually shielded her from such attacks appeared ineffective. I hated Psionics and managed to put my anger at these invisible powers into a single thought and said loudly. "Enough!"
The alien woman screamed and blood ran out of her eyes and nose. Whatever affected me was gone. Hans lowered his hands and then aimed his blaster at the alien woman. "That witch has Psionic powers too! I've had it with those Psi freaks!"
"Hold your fire!" I said.
Wetmouth pulled herself up and took a deep breath. "I am all right." She went to her console and scanned the now unconscious woman. "She is alive but barely. Something caused a massive cerebral hemorrhage and it appears she had some sort of biotech device attached to her medulla oblongata. It is completely destroyed and crushed!"
I wiped my mouth and realized I was bleeding too. I had bitten my tongue. "Keep her sedated and scan and examine her, cell for cell. I am almost certain she has other surprises hidden."
Hans snorted. "She is too dangerous to be kept alive, Eric! She's almost killed us twice now. Her technology is too far beyond ours."
"I tend to agree with you Hans, but we must take the risk. We need to know where she came from and if there are more like her. Can you imagine what a fleet of those little ships could do? We are not in unknown space but deep in our own territory that we deem safe. There are hundreds of inhabited worlds in this sector. It is our duty to find out as much as we can until help arrives!"
He grunted. "You're right! I just hate being attacked that way. It makes me feel so helpless."
Wetmouth looked at me. "How did you defend yourself against that anyway? Even the Psi shield in my wig failed."
"I am not sure, Wetmouth. But I carried the Huhgavh of my friend Narth once and I think it has done something to me that makes me less vulnerable to such attacks."
She blinked. "A Narth? You know a Narth?"
"Yes, he is one of my best friends."
"I don't know what a Huhgavh is," she said. "But that could explain why the Psi snake couldn't control you. Whatever the Narth did might have raised your Psionic abilities."
"I love this Narth like a brother but I am like Hans, I don't like Psionics one bit."
I assembled my little crew in the small conference room behind the bridge. Elfi started the meeting by saying, "I have sent all our findings and your report to Fleet Command and they say help is still days out. The situation on Planet Gregory is getting worse by the moment. They need the medical supplies aboard the Paracelsus badly."
I nodded to Wetmouth so she could speak. "Our guest is in zero stasis. I established an original DNA pattern of hers and removed 14 artificial enhancements. Most of them I have no idea what they do. She should be harmless now, and I repaired her enough so she will not deteriorate if we take her out of stasis, but she needs new organs; the ones she has are failing. Our sickbay is not equipped with the necessary equipment to help her on that."
I said, "But I bet the Paracelsus has equipment to do that, right?"
Wetmouth nodded. "Yes, it is a hospital ship after all."
Cirruit was next: "As I said before, her technology is far advanced to ours; she is at least tech 11. Her nanites are able to manipulate matter on the atomic level and reproduce quickly. Unlike ours, hers are more intelligent and adaptive. I am sure with her nanite control device intact she could reproduce enough units to rebuild her ship within days from scratch."
"Cirruit, can you detect her nanites?"
"Yes, that was and is my original design. I was born to be a nanite engineer and can see them. My nanites can find hers and neutralize them."
"Can you launch some and get them over to the other ship to see if she infested the Paracelsus?"
"Yes, I'll get right on it!"
"We need to secure the Paracelsus. Render first aid to those who are still alive; help and repair it enough so we can get her to Gregory as fast as possible."
I had begun to know Cirruit well enough to detect his mood by the slight pitch adjustments he made to his voice. "Sorry Eric, there is nothing left to repair. The engines are gone."
Har-Hi said, "I think it is possible for us to tow the Paracelsus. Once we overcome the drag of her large mass we should be able to go superluminal just like container tugs do, not very fast of course, but possible."
Cirruit nodded. "That would be our best option if no help arrives."
I nodded. "Well I still hope there is help on its way, but let us keep that option in mind. Before we go ourselves, I think we should send a Cerberus first, if you think she's nanite-free."
After our meeting, I went back to sickbay and said to Wetmouth, "How is she?"
"As long as she is in stasis she will be all right, but as I said, she needs new organs soon."
"Get her out of stasis. I want to talk to her."
I waited till Wetmouth pulled her out of the stasis tube and deactivated the zero field.
I waited till the alien woman opened her eyes. "Commander Cateria, I don't know who you are but let me give you some facts to consider. Our instruments say that you have been in
stasis or suspended animation for a very long time, longer perhaps than you intended to be. My Science Officer thinks the reanimation process was interrupted or the machinery damaged, but your cell structure is failing on a massive scale.
"We cannot do much about that here on my ship and it appears we need to make you new organs. The big ship you attacked is a hospital ship. An unarmed vessel but equipped with our most advanced medical technology and a host of medical specialists, able to do just that and save your life, so I am asking you and I am asking only once, do you have any of your nanite technology on that ship?"
She listened to me, and Wetmouth activated a field screen over her head so she could see the scans of her own body. Wetmouth pointed at the image and said to the woman, "I am not sure how well you are trained in medical terms but on the right-hand side you see a simulation of a healthy cell and on the left, you see an actual picture of yours."
The alien woman stared at the screen, pressed her lips together and then said, "I was attacked and my ship was damaged by the Dark Ones. I managed to land on the moon of a planetary system and engage the repair nanites. My body was also damaged so I placed myself in deep stasis for regeneration. Can your screen show me the system we are in?"
Wetmouth answered her. "We are in no system, we are in deep space and that moon of yours is a wanderer; an unattached celestial object drifting in deep space."
Wetmouth's fingers flew over the input screen. "I am now calculating the path of the wanderer, factoring in its drifting speed so we can see from where it might have originated."
The screen over the alien woman's head changed and showed the asteroid, then moved out to show the entire sector. A dotted line appeared and traced across the screen to an area well known to me, the Vanderstraat Nebula.
Wetmouth explained, "It appears your moon could have come from the Vanderstraat Nebula, which has been created by a sun that went supernova and exploded approximately one million years ago. That timeframe correlates with my carbon dating of your cells. It appears you have been in suspended animation for about that time span!"
Cateria's chin quivered as she stared at the screen. "This was my home system. There were nine occupied worlds!"
Eric Olafson Series Boxed Set: Books 1 - 7 Page 47
