A slight human cough brought his attention into the here-and-now. Admiral Kimbridge was back from her visit to the WhimPy platform. It had appeared in orbit a day ago. Running Stream had no idea Cat's people had access to such technology. He was glad that it was the GCP and not the Modos Syndicate that had been the recipients of the Heshe legacy.
"How is our big friend up there?"
"101 is curious. His scanners are showing buried structures in numerous locations. He also sees ample evidence of war damage. But you knew this already," Cat said, with a compassionate hand on his shoulder.
Running Stream gestured towards the PDA on the field table that held Dr. Lacidem's report. "The good doctor confirmed our suspicions a few hours ago. It seems we are monsters."
Cat shook her head. "There is a book my people revere called the Bible. We believe the ultimate Creator of all things inspired the writers to record immutable wisdom in this book. One of the wisest men in the book, a man named Ezekiel, once said 'The son will not bear the punishment for the father’s iniquity...'"
"Would it surprise you to know I am familiar with this book?" the Modos captain said. "We too have a concept of the uncreated Creator. When I read your Bible I was struck by a passage out of Exodus that said 'The Creator will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.'"
Cat smiled compassionately at her newest friend. "The ramifications of our mistakes live with us and our children... that is true. But the fault belongs to the father, not the son. There is a world of difference."
Running Stream stood. "The difference is this son will fix the sins of his father. You said your big friend up there in orbit has the locations of several more buried structures? We need to catalog and preserve as much of the Suhtii as we can. We can't restore all that was lost but we owe it to He-Who-Speaks and his progeny to save all that we can. We may also find something that will help us win this fight with the Syndicate."
***
Several hours later Commander Ken Kirkland stood on the bridge of the moon-size Heshe weapons platform known as WhimPy-101. The bridge was a design concession made for the benefit of organic passengers. In point of fact the AI that was WhimPy-101 was the only sentient being within thousands of light-years sophisticated enough to control the massive world-ship.
Ken had moved his pinnace from the mouth of the Suhtii base on the moon below into one of the WhimPy's numerous shuttle bays. He, Ben, and Cat had then each piloted supply shuttles down to the surface. Now that the solar storm was abating it was once again safe to move about the surface. The mixed Modos/GCP team was now much better provisioned. Ken had returned to the WhimPy platform with Captain Running Stream at the request of the Admiral. They had some research to do.
With Ken and Captain Running Stream were several members of the Bluefin's crew, including a cartographer and a husband-wife team from the science department. The crew from the Bluefin was busy trying to catalog each suspected Suhtii complex buried under the surface of the planet below. The Modos captain wanted to start a systematic exploration of these sites just as soon as the scientists had prioritized them.
Ken looked at the massive forward viewscreen and pointed to a large cone-shaped structure built into the caldera of a long dead volcano. "That looks promising," he said to the Bearephant.
Running Stream extended his trunk to point at the base of the same structure. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but that caldera looks like its sitting on top of a mountain, not a volcano."
"I agree," Ken said while stepping closer. "WhimPy, what's your assessment of this structure?"
"I've been curious about that one myself," 101 answered. "I launched three reconnaissance probes about an hour ago. They should be reaching the site in the next fifteen minutes. I agree with Captain Running Stream though. If I had to guess, I would say the structure was disguised to look like something it is not."
"Which begs the question..." Ken started.
"…what are they working so hard to hide?" Running Stream finished.
***
Captain Moondew of the Modos Slaver Dark Water was on his bridge as the ship approached the trans-universe terminus at the system the humans called SgA. He had a hull full of prime slaves. The selling price would insure his family's fortunes for many seasons. Such was the nature of this new hunting ground. The indigenous populations were barely aware they were being harvested by the Modos Syndicate.
He leaned back in his comfortable Slag-leather command chair. The six stations that fanned out in front of his seat were filled with members of his family. None were truly related to him but he viewed his crew AS family. He cared for them deeply. That care was a big part of his desire to see this cargo sell well in the next few weeks.
The bridge of the Dark Water was well lit. Each surface was pristine. The silvered glass consoles that stood in front of each station were free of smudges. His crew was meticulous about keeping his bridge spotless because they knew that was the way he liked it. He had been a fleet captain in the Modos space corps before retiring. The spit and polish was a hard habit to break.
Hushed conversations occurred between the various stations as his crew saw to the smooth running of the ship. He closed his eyes and enjoyed the sound of his bridge. His daydreaming, however, was interrupted by a sudden shout.
"Captain! There seems to be some type of armada protecting the terminus." a young ensign said in alarm.
Moondew swore. Five minutes and he would have been free and clear with his cargo and crew.
"Tactical overlay on screen!" he yelled. "Let's see what we are facing."
His communication officer tapped his earpiece and signaled for his attention. "Sir, we have an incoming message."
"Helm, launch a message buoy into the terminus—maximum acceleration. Include a complete set of logs and a standard military request for indigenous suppression." Turning towards his communication officer, "Let's hear what they have to say."
The translated voice of Jason Ruck filled the Modos Bridge. "Attention Modos vessel. This is Captain Jason Ruck of the Galactic Coalition of Planets aboard the GCP Yorktown. We have reason to suspect your vessel is engaged in illegal activities. In accordance with our laws we demand that you heave to and prepare to be boarded!"
Captain Moondew leaned forward. "Captain Jason Ruck of the Galactic Coalition of Planets aboard the GCP Yorktown, I do not recognize your authority to interdict. We will not heave to."
He waved to the comm officer to cut the channel. "Helm, make ready to transit. Weapons officer, bring up shields. Let's see if these dogs have any bite."
***
Jason Ruck saw the message buoy enter a hyperfield conduit near SgA. He knew immediately that it would be trouble. Undoubtedly the Modos were reporting the blockade that his ships had established. What this would mean wouldn't really be known for another 22 plus hours, assuming the Modos didn't use a technique similar to Admiral Kimbridge's temporal shift. If they did then all bets were off.
Jason toggled fleet-wide comms. "Defiance, take up a position to guard against any additional message buoys. Blast them to pieces before they can transit."
"Roger that Yorktown. Going weapons hot." The Defiance was one of several heavily shielded pinnaces that were designed to take a beating and keep flying. It was perfectly suited to intercept small probes and the like.
"Sir, they are moving towards the event horizon."
"Mr. Martinescu, please let them know in no uncertain terms that this is unacceptable."
"Aye Captain," Lt. Commander Andrew Martinescu said. "Firing primary lasers at 5 percent at their bow."
"Effect?"
"Marginal, Sir. Sensors show a minor fluctuation in their shield harmonics. They are, however, accelerating towards SgA."
"Fine! They want to play rough...we can play rough," Jason said with determination. "Lasers to full strength. Target the asteroid they are using as an ablative shield. Con
tinuous fire. Destroy it."
"Firing now!" the weapons officer yelled. The targeted asteroid quickly crumbled under the onslaught of the Yorktown's massive energy beams. "That's doing it! They are diverting course and shutting down their hyperjump nodes."
"Let's see if they are a little more willing to talk now," Jason said out loud to no one in particular.
As if in answer the bridge rocked violently. "I guess that is a 'no,'" Jason said dryly.
A coherent anti-proton beam challenged the Yorktown's active shielding. The lights dimmed briefly as the ship's AI diverted energy to the shields.
Jason nodded to his helm officer. "Rotate us on our primary axis. Let's not overload any one shield."
The Yorktown was hit by two more energetic beams. Because of the rotation, the energy was distributed across multiple areas of the ship. The shields were barely fazed.
"Commander Martinescu, if you would be so good as to respond in kind. Do keep in mind that we suspect there are innocents onboard. Disable, but do not destroy."
Before he finished speaking the Modos slaver launched several dozen smart depleted uranium kinetic missiles. Their drive systems quickly accelerated them to 15 percent the speed of light. If they hit they would quickly overwhelm the Yorktown's shields. The Yorktown's AI, Cal, automatically engaged the missiles with its point defense systems.
Commander Martinescu noted the PDS fire as well as the fact that none of the missiles escaped to threaten the ship. He continued to work his weapons console. "Targeting their sub-light drive. Primary batteries at 60 percent. Firing." He paused and checked his sensors. "Firing again." The weapons officer checked his sensors one last time and smiled. "Their shields are down. Their reaction drive is offline. Sir, if I were a betting man I would suspect they are ready to talk now."
"Excellent," Jason said with a matching smile. "Thank you, Commander."
***
Ricky Valen whistled. He looked at the decoded translation Honey had just intercepted. A priority communication to the Vengeance from the Modos Syndicate had been received. The young Lieutenant who was manning the comm station that had received it practically fell out of his seat in his rush to get a secure tablet to his commanding officer with the "Captain's eyes-only" message on it.
It seemed an armada was being formed to establish a protected beachhead into another universe. There was no question in Ricky's mind as to which universe was to be the target of this activity.
Honey, still looking oddly enticing in the blue-white Aenar skin that was part of their current disguise, leaned forward and winked at Ricky. "Are you thinking what I'm thinking?"
The movement caused Ricky to gulp. He had already noticed that the Honey Dipper's avatar had enhanced the size of her cleavage as well as the cut of her jumpsuit when they had adopted their disguises. When she leaned forward like this, he found the sight distracting in a very pleasant and at the same time oddly disturbing sort of way.
"Probably not..." he said, looking at the gentle swell in the front of her jumpsuit.
She giggled softly, which did not help matters. She leaned back and continued to smile coyly. Almost subconsciously she adjusted the nanites controlling the appearance of Ricky's skin to compensate for the reddish blush that threatened to overcome his active camouflage. She was tempted to share with this man she loved just how fully functional her organics were, but decided that would wait for another day. Instead she waggled a finger and said "Hey there, space cowboy...my eyes are up here."
His only response was a guilty sigh and to look up at her beaming face. "It seems to me we should do something about this beachhead they're trying to establish," he said finally.
"Agreed. I have an idea, but what we really need is a distraction."
He looked at her closely for some hint as to what she was considering. Honey, for her part, kept a straight face as only a highly sentient super-AI could. "OK, I bite. What are you thinking?" Ricky said.
"I like being able to play with this ship. We have control of any number of systems. Just think about how much fun it would be to play around with an entire fleet." Honey cooed seductively.
Ricky shook his head. "You scare me sometimes."
Chapter Fifteen: Discovery
Ben scanned the walls of the small room with his enhanced cybernetic eyes. A polarized view showed microscopic stress fractures against one wall. It was almost as if a metal door had been welded shut and then carefully sanded and buffed so as to hide it was ever there.
Under Admiral Kimbridge's orders, he and a team from the Bluefin had been exploring the abandoned Suhtii facility's bottom-most level to see if they could discern a better understanding of its purpose. There was no question that the facility had a role in controlling a now-defunct global defense grid but there were odd inconsistencies. The number of sleeping chambers and the size of the mess halls far and away exceeded what would be needed for a facility this size. The hidden door Ben had discovered might well be the answer.
Ben toggled his commlink. "Admiral, I think I may have something."
"Go ahead, Ben," came the immediate response.
"I think I have found a hidden door. Someone went to a lot of trouble to weld it shut and hide that it was ever there."
"Interesting. Be careful. Whatever is on the other side may have a more active defense."
"Will do, Admiral. I'm going to ask Captain Running Stream to provide a security detail."
"Good idea. Can I do anything from my end to help your investigation?"
"A chocolate bar and a plasma torch would be nice."
Cat chuckled. "I'll see about the torch. Ken and a team from engineering are on their way to you now."
***
The security team beat the engineering contingent to the lowest level. Whether this was because they were closer or because security teams, in general, were just accustomed to deploying quickly in response to threats, Ben didn't know. In any case the security team was forced to wait with Ben for the proper tools to arrive to gain access to whatever was on the other side of the hidden door.
The Modos Security Chief looked closely at the wall. He was the biggest Bearephant Ben had ever seen. His trunk extended almost to the floor and his hands were of epic proportions—easily twice the size of Ben's which were on a par with human hands. The Modos symbiote nestled under the right earflap was almost completely hidden. He had introduced himself as Lieutenant Feihc when Ben had met him for the first time earlier in the week.
The lieutenant pointed towards the expanse of burnished metallic white surface. "I don't see anything. Even touching the surface I don't feel anything. What makes you think there is a hidden opening here?"
"My eyes are cybernetic and I can tune them to see a much broader spectrum of light than yours. In addition, I can selectively filter incoming light by polarization. When I do that I can see there are microscopic stress fractures here, here, and here," Ben pointed at various points in a line on the metallic wall.
The security officer nodded in a very human gesture and felt the wall with the tip of his trunk at the spots that Ben had pointed out.
"The micro-fractures occur when metal is point-welded and then cooled. If the builders of this facility had painted these walls after the fact I would never have been able to detect this," Ben added.
"As it is... you can," Lieutenant Feihc finished for him.
The sound of footsteps interrupted their discussion. Yhsif, Ken Kirkland, and a couple of junior engineers from the Bluefin entered the room. All were carrying equipment cases from engineering.
Ben nodded to the Commander and his friends.
"I brought a polarized imager that should help us mere mortals see what you see," Ken said with a cheerful smile. "Where should I set it up?"
Ben directed him towards the back wall of the small room. Yhsif opened his case and brought out a plasma cutting torch. The Modos equipment used available room air to form its plasma so there was no need for a separate gas cylinder. The rechargeable po
wer source could supply enough current to cut roughly ten linear meters of half inch steel. If that didn't do the trick then Ken would have a portable GCP fabricator brought down and they would use its fabrication nanites to 'unweld' the seams securing the hidden door.
It turned out this was not necessary. The Modos equipment was more than up to the task. The metal in question was relatively thin and the plasma torch made short work of the welded seams. Yhsif attached a magnetic grapple and in a few moments he and Ken were carefully lifting the recently unfrozen door panel out of its frame.
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