The Pathfinder Trilogy

by Todd Stockert

  “Be wary,” Glen advised them. “Some of those ships look pretty primitive. If given an opportunity, they’ll try to pull alongside and take a few shots at us with guns or missiles that aren’t linked to computer systems. And then there is that ramming thing they like to do…”

  “We’re currently sitting about fifteen light seconds from the star. I’m setting navigation and PTP to automatic hops based on proximity,” decided the Captain sternly. “If any enemy ship tries to approach us again, we’ll automatically transit to what the computer decides is the best new safe location.”

  “We’ll need to eventually, anyway,” said Glen. “We’ve only got a partial map of the solar system on this side of the sun.” He paused, studying the overhead monitors with a puzzled expression. “By the way, has the star’s output dimmed in some odd way?”

  “No,” Noah promptly told him. “The electromagnetic force field bubble that Adam asked for is simply containing the vast majority of all solar activity. Most of the radiant energy is confined within it, and if the shield remains active for any length of time, all planets in the habitable zone will begin to cool noticeably.” He chuckled lightly. “Adam’s idea to use the Kuth ships already in place around the star to define the perimeter I needed is a brilliant one. Since they’re on the outside looking in. the crews aboard each vessel will survive to live another day… due primarily to his foresight.”

  “Was it his idea?” asked Glen with a polite smirk. “Or was it that infamous tactical database?”

  “A little of both maybe?” replied Kaufield confidently. “Don’t worry. This isn’t going to take long at all. I’m hoping for twenty hours or less.”

  In seconds he was proven at least partially correct. “The AI program controlling the Canary probe has opened a hole in the force shield encircling the sun,” Noah informed them. “The attached quashing weapon is scheduled to fire in exactly five, four, three, two, one…”

  The subsequent action and reaction this time around was extremely similar to the previous quashing, as coordinated by Adam while still aboard the Ali Rinai. The sun elongated and distorted away from the point of impact, punished by the sudden punch of the warhead’s mighty electromagnetic pulse. The only difference on this occasion was the invisible barrier that instantly halted the advancing tendrils emerging from the savaged mass of solar matter. Like a colossal egg in a glass bowl, the sun stretched away from the point of the weapon’s impact until it crashed against the inside edge of Noah’s massive force shield. The remote unit in the Canary probe promptly received additional instructions from the Pathfinder’s AI program to close the opening it had fired through in order to destabilize the star. For several long minutes, the overwhelmed sun continued to bubble and burn uncontrollably, gradually losing its spherical shape and lighting up the surrounding force field barrier with a truly hellish glow that was astonishing to witness.

  The Captains of the vessels assigned to protect the sun were obviously terrified by the star’s explosion so near to them, watching huge bursts of suddenly released energy expand toward them before suddenly halting as the solar energy smashed against the invisible barrier. A few dozen ships abandoned their positions at first, and less than a minute later the rest of them did as well. Protecting the star was useless – after having first been surrounded by an impenetrable barrier, the sun itself was astonishingly, somehow quashed.

  “How long can the barrier contain all of that energy?” asked Kaufield, clearly interested in the unusual phenomenon captured fully on the ship’s monitors.

  “Indefinitely,” Noah told him in reply with a cheerful smile. “However, the star itself would normally burn out much faster than normal without periodic venting. Adam was wise to request the capability to create openings in the barrier that will allow the ignited solar fuel to flow through. Essentially, he has created a huge battery with almost limitless energy to draw upon.”

  “He verified his concerns with Dr. Julie Markham several nights ago,” Mary pointed out. “He wanted to know specifically how to more efficiently harness and then use the energy from a quashing.” She shook her head at the sheer magnitude of what she was witnessing. “The Kuth use only a small fraction of each sun’s potential and he needed to move at least four hundred and twenty-five planets.”

  “Well he certainly has succeeded in that regard,” commented a clearly impressed Kaufield. He continued to watch the massive ‘fire in a bottle’ burn hot in space.

  *

  Noriana Roh had remained, for the most part, completely silent until now. Her own laptop’s telemetry feed was linked to the quashing weapon’s computer core. Now that the star was dying, the second stage of its programming was kicking in – specifically the new code that Thomas had labored hard to create. “Another hole is opening in the force shield,” she acknowledged, watching the fresh statistics with a raised eyebrow. “Lots of them… there are at least fifteen dozen vents forming, actually.”

  Adam was watching the enemy fleet carefully, making certain that the vast majority of them were indeed ‘weapons cold’ and otherwise harmless. Several of the larger ships occasionally attempted to accelerate unexpectedly and ram the Pathfinder, but Kaufield was also paying close attention up in the Command Dome. His proximity detector instantly activated and transited the starship to a safe location. “We need those extra vents in order to bleed off excess energy,” he explained eagerly to his spouse. “They also serve to conceal the lone conduit that’s powering up our quashing weapon. If there was only one outlet, that’s where the weapon would be and the enemy fleet could converge on it and attempt to break its shield and damage or disable it.”

  “Efficiency was our priority,” said Thomas with a pleased grin. “The weapon has received our prioritized list of planets. It will siphon the energy it needs from the star through one of the conduits, then transit to a location in close proximity to its target. After each planet in the habitable zone is moved, the cycle will repeat.”

  “I still can’t believe this. How can you move an entire solar system?” asked a clearly puzzled Kra Wonin. Seated next to him, Snee Vasten chuckled in response to his manner.

  “Just the planets in the habitable zone are being relocated,” Noriana stressed firmly. “The worlds where your people are serving as slaves will go last, giving us the time we need to get those people out of there. Our allies have teams evacuating them even as we speak.”

  Kaufield’s voice crackled suddenly and unexpectedly out of a nearby, open Comm-Channel. “The Kuth have run things here in the Wasteland for quite some time now,” he began again, choosing his words more slowly and deliberately this time while using an outgoing channel. “That era has now passed into history. Your foothold planets are being moved to the habitable zone of another star system, one where you can live by yourselves.” He paused, allowing the weight of his words to sink in. “Since you don’t respect other life forms, even sentient ones, coexistence with the humans here in the Wasteland has proven to be impossible. Those of you in ships will want to make haste and pick a planet to orbit or land upon. If you do not, your home worlds will soon be gone and you will be left here without the Caucus leadership to continually resupply you. There are many human warriors and clans that continue to survive, however, despite your best efforts at wiping them out. I’m certain these clans have soldiers who would love to meet you in battle, this time on EQUAL terms.”

  “Planet number one on our list has just transited away,” reported Thomas gleefully. “The Canary – and weapon attached to it – has hopped to a new location on the other side of the star, and new vents are opening in the force shield. It will be out of contact…” he trailed off as the Pathfinder suddenly transited.

  “Part of Kaufield’s auto-transit program is set to keep us on the same side of the star – and constantly in contact – with your probe,” Nori told him.

  “This is… this is nothing short of absolutely amazing,” gasped Kra Wonin. “You transited an entire planet?”

 
; “Just like they did with the Ali Rinai’s first quashing missile. We needed a way to more efficiently use a quashing weapon for this to work,” Adam explained almost casually to Wonin. “So our allies created an impenetrable force shield around the star, a barrier to contain all of the exploded matter and concentrate the resulting burn rate. Normally, a quashing weapon uses only a fraction of an exploded star’s potential… it literally wastes the vast majority of the burning plasma. We’re changing all that, first by containing the ignited solar material and then by draining it off, a little at a time. We’re harnessing only enough energy each time those vents form to transit one planet from an orbit around this star to its new location.”

  “The traditional process would have required us to wait for as many as two or three days, until the radiation levels decreased to a point where the weapon can lower its shield and still function.” Thomas smiled at the thought. “During that time, the largest portion of usable energy normally burns away. It’s quite amazing to me how – other than minute adjustments here and there – the Kuth have utterly failed to significantly improve upon this process over the passage of thousands of years.” He threw up his hands hopelessly. “Why worry about changing a technology that’s working as long as there are endless stars to work with? That is the unfortunate tunnel vision chosen by the Kuth, one unlike anything I’ve ever seen.”

  “Which is why President Kaufield decided to slap the Caucus around a little bit,” added Noriana. “They’ve been running things with an intransigent mindset and complete disregard for other sentient life. If they don’t change their ways… well, now at least they will have no choice but to prey upon each other instead of on your people.”

  “What about all of those ships out there?” queried Snee Vasten curiously. “Many of the Kuth and Yakiir are extremely intelligent. If they manage to successfully clear the viruses from their ships’ systems, they can resume their attack on the Pathfinder.”

  “I wouldn’t worry too much about that,” Thomas shrugged indifferently. “That AI program knows their communications protocols pretty well by now, and it is clogging up all of their traditional channels pretty thoroughly. I estimate it will take them several days just to get their long range inter-ship transceivers working again. Then they’ll have to clear and test the weapons systems on each vessel, including the fighters. If weapons are not properly tested prior to use after something like this, malfunctions prematurely detonate ordnance. That kind of thing could cause as much devastation as any attack on our part.”

  “Meanwhile they simply sit there and watch as their planets vanish, one by one,” Nori grinned heatedly. “Or they choose a planet to land on and wait to be moved to a new, unknown home. Not an easy choice for cold-blooded killers who are used to giving all the orders.”

  “What about other foothold systems?” asked Kra Wonin, scratching his head. “This may not be the only star system populated by Kuth.”

  “This is where the vast majority of their resources are,” Adam promised him. “And their ‘Bridge’ between universes is reliant upon the coordinates that they have established in this galactic spiral arm. Clan forces within the Wasteland can now safely reorganize and plan for future incursions. They will now be ready for the Kuth if they attempt to repopulate this area, and why should the Caucus even bother after discovering from our weapons demonstration here today that you have new, more powerful allies? I expect that their leadership will simply resume operations – if they manage to find a way to contact those who remain on the other side – in their new solar system. A solar system, I might add, that is very, very far away from here.”

  “Take a look, I’ve tapped into the video feed from the Canary Probe,” reported Thomas eagerly. The laptop screen he was holding shifted its image to an exterior view of a large planet with many continents connected by several large oceans and curling white wisps of overhead cloud cover. They could see one end of the cigar-shaped quashing missile in the foreground of the picture, and statistics along the right side of the screen scrolled by, offering up data on power drained from the dying star along with transit coordinates. When all major precursor functions were successfully completed, the weapon’s shield lowered and it fired a wormhole generator at a point just ahead of the planet’s current orbital curve. The huge spherical planetary body vanished seconds later in a huge, emerald flash that lit up the entire room. Next, the missile transited toward the next target on its list, and they noticed the surface image of a new, completely different planet appear on screen.

  “Anyone who wants to remain part of Kuth Central had better get their act together fast,” chuckled Adam with a satisfied smile. “That’s why we left the enemy ships maneuverable, because we predict that most of them will choose to leave with their foothold worlds. If they don’t, then they’re a severely weakened bully living in this area of space and completely at the mercy of your soldiers.” He paused, watching Wonin’s pleased reaction. “They also don’t know how many of us there are or how many ships we have at our disposal.”

  “If this works, my people won’t know how to thank you,” said Kra Wonin humbly. “I am glad that I made the decision to trust you.”

  “Your people will have choices now, Kra,” stated Nori. “They can live on one of the worlds in our galaxy or stay here and build something for themselves by conquering habitable new worlds that orbit stars along the perimeter. Without a constant supply of quashing weapons, your new homes can no longer be taken from you as they have been in the past. It’s a fresh start and a new beginning for all of the people in the Wasteland. It is time for this war to end.”

  “I agree,” nodded Kra Wonin gratefully.

  Together, all smiles, the five of them continued to watch planets continue to vanish, one after another.

  PROJECT WASTELAND

  Pathfinder Series: Book Two

  Chapter XVIII: Meridian

  Aboard the Pathfinder…

  The crew of the Pathfinder slept in shifts for the next twenty-two hours and change, taking turns at getting some rest to prevent fatigue. Considering the sheer magnitude of what they were attempting, nerves tended to fray even among the trained combatants already long since battle tested and hardened. Adam, Nori and Thomas took turns taking brief catnaps on several cots they had prearranged in one corner of the communications room. None of them felt comfortable venturing too far away from the computer equipment and its valuable telemetry, since it was the heart of their operation and required constant attention and periodic fine tuning. During this time, Snee Vasten and Kra Wonin never seemed to sleep. Instead, the two of them spent a considerable amount of energy discussing the future of the Wasteland and its human occupants.

  Focusing on the tasks at hand, Adam heard brief snippets here and there of their conversation, even pausing once in a while to ask a question or add his own point of view. In the end, he got the sense that the two men were greatly concerned about the sheer complexity of the clan feuds that quite literally spanned thousands of years. Each man had lost friends and relatives in battle, and Vasten had quite a few stories to tell about Yakiir and other clan raids on ships carrying the civilian members of his people. Hiding them on dead moons and worlds blasted into rubble was difficult, even with so many star systems to choose from. Civilian ships had engines even worse than the over-used warships and their ability to transit between stars without a constant supply of fuel, food and fresh water traditionally proved to be extremely difficult.

  “Many of our people are being relocated to the Proteus galaxy,” Vasten pointed out, shortly after Adam raised himself from a faint glimpse of slumber long enough to check a few statistics and verify that matters remained under control. A brief glance at the motion sensors demonstrated that the Pathfinder was still busy hopping back and forth around the system, continually pursued by stubborn battle cruisers, fighters and missiles. Fervently, he hoped that Kaufield was keeping sharp and alert up in the Command Dome. One slip was all that it would take to hand the starship ov
er to its furiously determined enemies. Even so, he had to admit that their situation was considerably improved from even a few hours ago. Noticeably fewer enemy targets dotted his screens, indicating that many of the Kuth vessels were heeding Captain Kaufield’s advice and seeking refuge on a world that would soon be transited.

  “Perhaps it would be best for all clans if we simply abandoned the Wasteland for at least a few generations,” Kra Wonin concluded reluctantly. “I don’t see the average individual in any clan being able to simply put aside a lifetime of violence and brutality. It’s not a matter of who initiated the conflict any longer, but simply a large population of people who are all guilty in some way, shape or form. Manipulated or not, we have all been choosing to kill each other for centuries.” He shook his head negatively. “I cannot see survivors simply putting aside those kinds of differences. Everyone has suffered, and everyone carries the emotional turmoil of anger that cannot be reasonably controlled around members of other clans.”

  “I agree with you,” nodded Vasten glumly. “Adam Roh has weapons and defenses greater than anything I have ever seen, gifts that elevated his ability above everyone aboard the Ali Rinai. And still it took repeated, intense emotional clashes and violent actions on his part simply to get our men to ignore each other, to break into segregated groups and complete assigned tasks.”

  “Fully two thirds of the Ali Rinai’s crew ended up imprisoned in her ‘brig’ because they still weren’t convinced,” pointed out Adam with a sarcastic curl of his lip. “Then there were the attempts to give us away every time we came within shouting distance of another Yakiir warship.” His attention drifted back to the computer screens scattered around him just as planet number 387 of 425 vanished in a bright flash of expended energy. Seconds later, the Canary Probe and its attached quashing weapon transited away to the next planet on the assigned list.