Komi Syndicate (Dark Seas Book 6)

by Damon Alan

  It awaited the small ship with some concern regarding what might be learned from the attack and the nature of the enemy.

  As the recovery expedition neared 00’s position, the colony on board regained full awareness. It transmitted an alarm beacon with all the force 00’s power unit could give it.

  “Silence that transmission,” 00 ordered. “Report designation.”

  “This colony is Yz32p41. Grappler flight unit.”

  “Colony 41 will be assimilated into Bn74x00 in order to collect all details on the system assault and the nature of the enemy involved.”

  “Yz should report to the Original directly,” contradicting 00’s intentions.

  00 paused for a nanosecond to study the use of the first two designator letters instead of the customary type designator given as the last two digits. “This colony is the appointed investigator for the Original. Merging with this colony will satisfy the need to report,” 00 insisted.

  “Negative. Data is of a nature imperative to the survival of the Collective. Yz will report to the Original, that decision is based upon calculated benefit to the Collective.”

  That calculation was problematic. 00 needed to obtain the data. It found some level of strangeness with the concept of what it intended to do in order to get what it wanted.

  The plan was to interrogate the unit referring to itself as Yz, determine what data was critical to the survival of the space based nanite colonies of the Collective.

  The intermediary insertion of itself into the data stream was necessary to understand the motives of the human based nanite colonies. It would determine any bias of those colonies by studying their directives after learning the data Yz possessed. It was possible the human colonies placed the needs of their own type ahead of the pure colonies that lived in space.

  It also occurred to 00 that it could filter the data to slant the outcome of any directive from the Original in favor of the space based units. With that factor included, 00 made a decision.

  “The deductive integrity of colony Yz is accepted. This colony will provide transport to Albeus III. The hatch opening now will provide secure and safe transport.”

  “Moving to the bay now,” Yz replied.

  Bn74x00 waited until the small craft was inside before executing the plan.

  Gantry cranes locked the small vessel into place, then power and nourishment hoses snaked into the small ships ports. Yz expected nothing else, so accepted the hoses as standard operations.

  Instead of nourishment, 00 pushed a stasis nanite flood into the unsuspecting colony. The electrical impulses inside the grappler immediately shut down, indicating the inert state of the occupant. Then integration nanites flooded through the hose, removing the essence of Yz a single speck at a time and transferring it into the maintenance system for integration into 00.

  It remained immobile as Yz was assimilated, then, once the process was complete, ejected the spent grappler into space.

  Then 00 sat.

  It analyzed the memory and data analysis of the new nanites.

  The attackers were small nimble ships that could move without seeming to have any propulsion method, appearing and disappearing at will. There. A larger model. It’s manipulating arm reached down into the darkness of the ravine and stabbed the body of Yz’s grappler, pushing a sharp point through the steel of the ship and out the other side. Deuterium hissed into space as a fuel tank collapsed when it was pierced.

  The arm lifted the Yz colony toward the surface, but the small craft snagged on the side walls of the ravine. The manipulating arm of the attacker sliced through the body of the grappler like it was made of air, allowing the tiny vessel to fall back to the bottom of the crevice.

  Bn74x00 could sense the emotional malevolence behind the larger vessel’s intentions, the enemy wanted Yz. It seemed frustrated that it did not accomplish that goal, indicating there was emotion behind the vessel’s controlling entity. It stabbed at the surface for a moment as the smaller vessel had done, then vanished, not to come back.

  00 considered the tiny amount of evidence it had gained. No visible weapons were used by the enemy except their manipulating arms, but armor meant nothing to them, they penetrated it like it wasn’t there.

  Proximity alarms.

  Bn74x00 activated its full sensor package. Over sixty vessels closing on its current position, a horde of the smaller ships and two larger ships. One was cruiser sized, and one was as large as 00’s dreadnought.

  It immediately started spinning up the singularity. It fired the dreadnought's frame’s engines full bore, rotating the ship around to the nearest vector it could obtain toward a Collective colony system.

  The small ships were spread out in a long string, the two front runners struck 00 as the singularity activated the bubble. They slammed through the armor, into the deeper part of the ship, on a direct line for 00’s colony nanites.

  As the bubble activated, the ships responded violently, ripping through cables, conduits, and pipes. Frigate sized, they did a considerable amount of damage for a few million cycles, then stopped moving.

  00 was in highspace.

  It considered what it had just experienced. It seemed the enemy did not respond well to singularity travel.

  That was useful information.

  It assessed the damage to its frame. Extensive, with critical weapon systems offline, one reactor shut down, and a fuel tank leaking deuterium into space. Offline sensory equipment and cables that were severed prevented 00 from determining the status of some sections of the ship.

  It began immediate repairs of what systems it could fix, but it would need a major overhaul at a space dock to be one hundred percent effective again.

  The flight to the colony would take two jumps, and even with the new drive system 00 had, that would require some time.

  00 shut down all of its functions except timekeeping and damage control.

  Chapter 12 - Loose Ends

  Sylange and Khala rested in deep space, for a long time in silence, absorbing the bounty of their last feast. Her children slept and grew under the protection of her massive carapace, and all seemed well. Many more feasts like that and they’d no longer be able to rest inside of her. She should enjoy it while she could.

  Shared moments with her mate were when she was happiest. He understood her, unlike her mother who was so judgmental. “I spoke to mother a bit ago, she seemed displeased when I told her about the functional machine we left behind. She says we should have remained until the system was sterilized,” she grumbled to Khala. “I don’t know what difference it makes. It was incapacitated and dying.”

  “What difference did she say it made?” he asked.

  “That this universe isn’t too damaged to save, that we shouldn’t leave any trace of the threat that corrupts it behind.”

  “You’re mother is ancient,” Khala replied. “She’s a voice of wisdom. Over time our food always figures out a way to do in some of our numbers, yet she endures.” His body lights flashed his admiration for her mother. “Her caution is probably why.”

  “What are you suggesting?” she grumbled, irritated that he agreed with her mother. She must have involuntarily showed him that irritability in her own lighting, because he started to back away. “You’ll stay right here with me.” She gestured inward toward herself with her maneuvering arms.

  “Yes, of course.”

  “So you think mother was right?”

  He paused for a long time.

  “Khala, you’re my mate, not my child. I know we’re both young, but I will never harm you,” she insisted. “We’re not Bennokit clan, where the mating is a onetime thing. You are my mate until you or I are ended. That ending will not be from me. I need you to understand we’re a team.”

  “But you’re the leader,” he added.

  “I am hundreds of times your mass. It is natural that I am the leader.”

  “Your mother was right,” he blurted out, a flash of fear in his lighting.

&nbs
p; She pulled her sensor appendages into herself, considering. The young male had known to destroy the enemy, why had she been so unconcerned with it? Was it because the machines in this universe were so fragile?

  “You and mother are right,” she finally agreed. “We must go back. The machine was heavily damaged, we will have no difficulty finding it as it will be where it was.”

  “Let’s go then,” Khala said, a smile in his lights. “I’m proud of you, that must have been a big admission, and difficult.”

  “I don’t want to talk about it,” she said as she lunged toward the system they’d just left. “Come along.”

  A short time later, no more than a few thousand chimindiks, they were in the star system once more. A new signal greeted them.

  “The enemy has already returned to our feeding ground,” Sylange observed, her sensor arms sweeping back and forth. She ejected her babies into space, waking them with the sudden movement. They mewled at her, wondering why they had to be outside.

  “We have unfinished business,” Sylange said to them. “Stop the complaining, and prepare to run. We go after this new stronger food signal and destroy it.”

  That changed their attitude. Khala urged them on, and as a family they raced toward the enemy. The signal was strong, this would be a healthy specimen. Sylange let the children move ahead, in competition with each other to get to the food first.

  Something strange was going on. There was a singularity at the center of this creature, spinning rapidly, and it felt different. It seemed to alter the fabric of this universe in a way she’d not seen before. Two of her strongest children pulled farther away than the others, and then slammed into the enemy machine. She sensed their pleasure as they began ripping apart the insides.

  Then they vanished.

  She clicked out their numbers, calling them back to her.

  Nothing.

  She screamed her rage, the enemy had laid a trap and stolen two of her children!

  Khala backed some distance away with the other hatchlings, comforting them as they trembled in fear of the emotion spewing from their mother, a rage worse than they’d ever heard.

  Finally she calmed down, her energy spent. Pain ripped at her inside. It was one thing to destroy a hatchling for weakness or failure, it was another entirely to lose the strongest two. Near the place where the machine had stolen her children another machine floated. She pounced on it, ripping it open and tasting the insides.

  The machine that left had eaten this one. It was the same she’d earlier tried to lift from the ravine, she could smell her own scent in the rended metal of the thing. She shredded it into pieces, then hurled the debris toward the star.

  “You will pay for this outrage,” she promised nobody in particular.

  Khala and mother had better not remind her that it was her own unwise decision that had played a part in this.

  That would not go well.

  Chapter 13 - Friendship Defined

  11 Seppet 15332

  Salphan floated in the doorway of Sarah Dayson’s quarters for a moment to get his bearings, then knocked on the bulkhead.

  For some reason the slight jarring of the knock made him feel queasy. He wasn’t sure if he was ever going to adapt to space.

  “Salphan, come in,” Sarah urged. “How are you keeping food down?”

  His stomach surged a bit at the mention of food. “Better, Sarah Dayson,” he fibbed. “Thankfully.”

  “Are we not friends yet? Call me Sarah. Please.”

  She, despite her friendship with Alarin and Emille, still didn’t understand the nuances of adept interaction. And for the purposes of respect, she was as powerful as any adept he knew. “I work for you, two names is proper.”

  “You work with me, and you’re not in my military chain of command. One name is proper. We are friends whether you want to admit it or not.”

  Maybe he needed to frame his interaction with her in the context of her culture?

  “As you wish,” he relented. She’d pressed him for weeks now to use one name. It didn’t feel right to address her so informally, but part of him rejoiced at the change. He respected and admired her mind, although he could sense the stresses pulling her in all directions. The last thing he needed to do was to add to that stress with his own rigidity.

  “That’s better. Now say it,” she pressed.

  He laughed. Just like her to demand proof. He should have expected that, and when he thought about it, how had he not? He’d spent a lot of time with his thoughts mixed with hers as she healed and he’d supported her pain suppression and mental health.

  “Sarah,” he said.

  “Yes? You called?”

  “Emille Sur’batti sent me forward to tell you that she can move us faster than Captain Harmeen is allowing for. She wants to know if we will keep up the slow pace.”

  “He is the Captain. He will make that decision. If Emille has questions, she should ask him,” Sarah said. “I am the admiral. I set the mission. He is the Captain. He runs the ship.”

  “I see,” Salphan responded. “Then I will consult with him on her behalf.”

  He started to turn away to leave, but the admiral stopped him.

  “Salphan, come in for a minute,” she requested. “Close the hatch.”

  Sensing something distressing her, he did as she asked, closing the hatch when she gestured for him to do so.

  Her sense of distress elevated from there. He resisted the urge to join with her mind and console her directly. It was not the newcomer way. That avenue was only open if she invited him to do so.

  “Nobody knows this but Thea Jannis, myself, and now you. I don’t know why you’ve dedicated yourself to being by my side so persistently, but you have. As such, you’re going to need to know what I’m about to say.”

  Her tone implied something dreadful.

  Had he failed to detect something? His job wasn’t just to see to the protection of her body, but her essence as well. He couldn’t be failing already. “What, Sarah? What can I help with?”

  She was reluctant for a moment, pursing her lips and tensing up. Finally she told him the issue. “I’m permanently damaged. My spinal column has not healed correctly, and never will unless I opt for a synthetic replacement. We don’t have that sort of facility on Oasis, so that’s not going to happen. Really, this result shouldn’t have been unexpected, I failed to respond to nanite healing once before, when I was considerably younger. The little pieces of dirt seem to know I hate them.”

  “I don’t see anything wrong with you,” he said slowly.

  “The damage is inside,” she responded. “While I have healed somewhat, I will never be whole.”

  “In what way?” he asked. “You get around fine.”

  “And I feel fine. In space. But I will never walk again in anything more than half gravity, at least not without assistance. My spine collapses, affecting the flow of my nerve impulses.”

  He wasn’t sure he understood all that. Since he’d joined Sarah’s bodyguard and gone to space with her, he’d worked around the clock to learn the newcomer world. But there was much he still didn’t know. He could wager a guess, and put it in terms he did know. “Your back is broken, but only when you’re on the ground?”

  She smiled at him, his gift told him she was amused by his lack of knowledge. “That’s the sum of it. Yes.”

  “And what can I do for you?”

  “I don’t want you stuck with me when you have a chance to go home.”

  “First, Sarah, since we’re friends, and that word means a lot more in my culture than yours, I am not stuck with you. I choose to be here. Second, you’re my charge, because my First Adept says so. Yes, at my request, but now it’s his directive. For protection, mind you, or any other aid you might need. What sort of friend would I be if I put my needs ahead of yours?”

  That seemed to shock her a bit. “I don’t know. A normal friend?”

  He grinned. “You heard the part about friend being something mor
e significant to me, right? Besides, I am not normal.”

  She laughed. “A candid admission…”

  Sometimes she seemed irreverent. “You mock me.”

  “No, I goof off with you. That’s what being comfortable with someone looks like where I come from.”

  “My culture must seem very formal to you, I suppose.”

  “It does. While mine probably seems like we’re all wild antics with no rules,” she agreed. “But that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends and meet each other half way. Alarin manages it. So can you.”

  “You didn’t mention Emille?”

  “She struggles a bit more than Alarin. You can see his political background displayed in his adaptability.”

  “She will learn.”

  “Lucy, have the mess bring tea to my quarters. For two. Salphan will be joining me, I hope.”

  He nodded his assent, although with a caveat. “I need to talk to Captain Harmeen.”

  Sarah tapped the comm panel on her desk. “Bridge, Admiral Dayson.”

  “Seto, Admiral. How can I help?”

  “Tell Captain Harmeen to go talk to Emille about the jump schedule,” Sarah said.

  “I’ll inform him,” Seto responded. “Anything else, sir?”

  “Only my earlier directive. Advise me five prior to our next jump so I can return to the bridge.”

  “Will do, Admiral.”

  Sarah gestured toward her table.

  “That takes care of that issue, I suppose,” Salphan said as he strapped into his seat.

  “Lucy, add something good to eat to the tea,” she ordered. “You know what I like.”

  “Immediately, Admiral Dayson,” the AI responded.

  Salphan still flinched whenever the newcomer machines talked. At least the flinch was inside now, not outside anymore. But it was still disconcerting and felt a bit like demonology. “I will never complain or turn down an opportunity to sample newcomer food. So rich and varied. I would never have imagined it before I came to Jerna City.”