HADRON Revelation

by Stephen Arseneault

  Jane said, “Any idea where we’re going?”

  Mace replied over his shoulder as he ran, “The bridge is up and forward from here. If you see anything that resembles stairs, let me know.”

  Johnny came over the comm. “I’m back in. Which way you headed?”

  Jane asked, “Who’s with you?”

  “No one.”

  Jane shook her head as she scowled. “You numbskull. Mace, hold up. Johnny’s coming.”

  Mace stopped at the corner where three hallways converged. “Tretcher, come forward. Should be coming up on us in about thirty. And please don’t shoot us in the back.”

  Johnny laughed. “Can’t make any promises. Oh crap!”

  Explosions could be heard coming from Johnny’s direction. Jane turned and ran. Mace followed.

  “Wow. For a shorty you sure can run!”

  Jane held up her hand as they came to a corner. “Hold up. Listen.”

  Footsteps could be heard.

  Johnny said, “They have me pinned down in a room. No other doors. And they’re using those nasty microwave guns.”

  Jane replied, “Were coming. Stay where you are.”

  Mace stepped in front. “You cover my back. And give me at least two strides of distance between us. If I have to flop back I don’t want to be banging into you.”

  Jane nodded. “Got it.”

  Mace rounded the corner, dropping to one knee as a plasma round left the tip of his rifle. A United Front crewman screamed just before his insides exploded. Two others turned only to meet with the same fate.

  Mace stood, sprinting down the hall, rounding a corner and slamming into a wall as another plasma round left his weapon. A microwave beam flashed in his direction for only an instant before turning toward the floor. Jane stood over a squatted Mace, loosing a dozen rounds into the crewmen who remained. The hallway went silent.

  Johnny said, “The two that had me pinned are dead. Tell me that’s you.”

  Jane replied, “It is, you’re clear to come out. But come out slow.”

  Johnny waved a hand into the hallway.

  Jane said, “Bring it on. And watch your back.”

  Johnny joined the duo.

  Mace opened a comm. “Raffy, Tek, where you at?”

  Rafael replied, “Almost to the back of the ship. We’ll make our way up to the bridge deck from there and we’ll then move forward.”

  Mace said, “Keep an eye on your backs. They will try to follow.”

  Mace looked down the hall they had just come from. “Let’s roll. I think I saw a stairwell at that three-way junction.”

  The three soon found themselves on the deck leading up to the bridge.

  Mace paused, “Mr. Hobbs, what’s the situation over there?”

  Liam replied, “The Dellus are on their way back. They obliterated the destroyers they stopped. I get the feeling they aren’t looking to take prisoners.”

  Mace said, “Have Mr. Mueller keep those weapons hot. If they start shooting at this ship, you release that grapple and unload on them. We’re heading for the bridge. Ramirez and Holmes are aft.”

  Liam replied, “Will do, Mr. Hardy. Keep safe.”

  Mace, Johnny and Jane sprinted forward, blasting walls as they ran. Johnny enabled a speaker on his helmet and began blasting out tracks from Pink Floyd’s “Dark Side of the Moon.” More crewmen were running away than standing to fight. Two small skirmishes saw the trio in a hallway just outside the bridge.

  Mace said, “One of those grenades would be nice about now.”

  Johnny stepped forward. “Move aside.”

  Jane asked, “What are you doing?”

  Johnny turned back. “I’m ending this. Mace, I’ll be hitting the deck and sliding up to that far wall. You come up behind me standing and we’ll clear out any resistance.”

  Mace held up a hand for several seconds before mumbling into his mic.

  “OK. We should be clear.”

  Johnny said, “What?”

  Mace replied, “Raffy and Tek have their admiral. The crew have been ordered to stand down and lay their weapons on the deck.”

  Mace stepped forward, peeking around the corner before jerking his head back. The hallway remained silent.

  The trio walked onto the bridge, where twenty-six United Front crewmen stood with their hands in the air. A stack of microwave rifles lay in front of them on the deck.

  Johnny remarked, “Well, how do you like that.”

  Jane said, “I like it a lot better than seeing you get roasted with your idiotic plan.”

  Johnny laughed. “Hey now. Easy.”

  Two minutes passed before Raffy, Tek and the admiral reached the bridge.

  Tek grinned. “Caught this one hiding in the can. I don’t think he’s keen on the up close and personal-ness of combat. Gave up without a fight.”

  Mace asked, “They understand our language?”

  Tek replied, “Not a lick. The Dellus don’t have a template for them, either.”

  The Dellus admiral came over the comm. “Congratulations on a mission well executed, Mr. Hardy. We’ll be taking over from here.”

  Mace replied, “Just hold your position admiral. We’ve got this.”

  The admiral replied, “I must insist that they be turned over to us immediately, Mr. Hardy. This is our war. They are our prisoners.”

  Mace shook his head. “Sorry, Admiral, you made this our war by forcing us into this. These are our prisoners. If we determine it to be in our best interest to turn them over to you, we’ll do so at that time.”

  Humphrey Mallot opened a separate comm channel. “Mr. Hardy, we’ve been listening to the Dellus comms since we still have that Mawga key. The admiral has called for backup. He’s planning on hitting that ship with everything they can in a single barrage. What should we do?”

  Mace said, “Have Mr. Mueller target all the cannons on this side of the Muhatha. I want them all disabled.”

  Humphrey replied, “The admiral won’t be happy with that.”

  Mace half smiled, “No. I suspect he won’t. But I have no interest in waiting around to find out if he would actually do it. Give Mr. Mueller the go-ahead.”

  Mace rejoined the comm to the admiral. “I thought we were past all this, admiral. We’re supposed to be fighting on the same side.”

  The admiral put on his best confused performance. “What are you talking about, Mr. Hardy?”

  The Rogers unleashed eighteen powerful plasma rounds during a three second burst. The cannons on the starboard side of the massive Muhatha smoldered in ruin.

  An angry Dellus admiral stared into his comm. “Human treachery!”

  Mace nodded. “You’ll want to get those fixed before we go after that station, admiral. Best you be getting on it.”

  The comm closed to a stare of hatred from their Dellus counterpart.

  Jeff opened a comm. “Mace, you’ll need to get them talking. We need data to feed to the translation application.”

  Mace replied, “Well what am I supposed to talk about? How do I get them to talk?”

  Jeff shrugged. “Maybe start pointing at objects and saying what they are in English. If they repeat whatever it is in their language, the translation algorithms will identify a path to solve the rest.”

  Mace pointed at Johnny. “This is Johnny. This is Jane���”

  Jeff laughed. “No. Point at objects. People’s name won’t help.”

  Mace pointed at the floor and stomped. “Floor.”

  He moved over and tapped on a wall. “Wall.”

  He next waved at the ceiling. “Ceiling.”

  “They aren’t following.”

  Jeff replied, “Do those three again. And a third time if needed. Gesture for them to say it. They will pick up on what you’re trying to do.”

  Mace repeated the three words as he waved his hand at the objects. The United Front admiral pointed at the floor and muttered a garbled mess. He walked over to the wall and touched it, again, the sound that
came out of his mouth was unintelligible. He followed with a point to the ceiling and another sound. The point and speak session continued for another twenty minutes.

  Mace asked, “Is this working at all?”

  Jeff replied, “Keep going. We’re at 40 percent and rising.”

  Mace sighed as he pointed to other objects in the room and said their names. The crew of the dreadnought stood watching in fascination.

  After another twenty minutes had passed, Jeff said, “Have Johnny and Jane pick out two other crewman and do the same. The app can process multiple streams. I’ll apply their feeds. Should speed this process up considerably.”

  Ten minutes later the match had climbed to 80 percent. The first United Front word was repeated after Mace pointed at a chair and said its name.

  When the match hit 90 percent Jeff said, “Enable the translator, Mace. You should be able to have a conversation with the admiral, it will be broken at first, but should improve quickly. Have Johnny and Jane do the same.

  The three began talking to their counterparts. Within minutes the match had risen to 98 percent, and normal conversation could be had.

  Mace said, “Why are you attacking the Mawga worlds?”

  The admiral replied, “It is the Mawga who attacked us first. The rift opened just over a year ago. We sent a scout ship through. We were surprised to find an inhabited world so close to the other side. Contact was made and an envoy was sent. Weeks later, an armada of ships showed up on the other side of the rift. A research vessel studying the rift was destroyed. Our nearest colony was then mercilessly attacked and twenty thousand colonists murdered.”

  Mace shook his head. “That’s not the story we’ve been told. The Dellus say you were the first to come through and you have been mercilessly attacking their ships and colonies ever since.”

  The admiral scowled, “The Dellus are liars and butchers. You are not Mawga or Dellus. What is your association with them?”

  Mace gestured for the admiral to take a seat in a nearby chair. “At the moment we’re allied with them. But things change. For instance, if what you say is true, we may back out of our support for what they are doing.”

  The admiral sat forward. “They must be stopped. We will not tolerate their brutal attacks on our innocent people! We cannot allow them to come through the rift! We just want to live in peace!”

  Mace held up a hand. “OK. I get that. I do have a question. If you just want to keep them away from your space, why is your station positioned on this end of the rift? In their space? I would think a better defense would be to have it on your side, out of their space and close to your worlds.”

  The admiral replied, “They must pay for their transgressions.”

  Mace nodded. “Now we’re getting somewhere. So this is retaliation for the attacks. Maybe it would be better if you just pulled back and played defense. No amount of attacking the Mawga colonists is going to bring back your own.”

  The admiral was silent for several seconds. “You are correct.”

  Mace slowly paced back and forth in front of the admiral. “So where does this leave us, Admiral? How do we proceed from here?”

  Johnny said, “Can I talk to you over here for a second?”

  Mace nodded, following Johnny to an isolated corner.

  Johnny looked over at the others. “I’m having a hard time trusting these… aliens. That wide mouth, big lips and no nose just creeps me out. I mean look at that… nostrils on either side of their face with a nasal cavity that runs down their cheek to under their jaw. Jasper would be having a field day calling them names. Anyway, the way they roasted those unarmed cargo ships tells me all I need to know about their character. With whatever scheme you’re cooking up in your head, be careful.”

  Mace replied, “I don’t have a scheme. I think we might need to go back to the Rogers to discuss our options with the team.”

  Johnny scowled as he looked around the room. “The only good thing I have to say about them is their height. They are all of what, four feet? The Mawga must hate them just for that.”

  Mace walked back to the center of the room. “Admiral, you’ll be coming with us. Who’s your second in command?”

  The admiral pointed. “That would be Captain Oorin.”

  Mace asked, “By the way, what’s your name?”

  The admiral replied, “Frado Knuttin. And I’m not an admiral. I own these vessels.”

  Johnny laughed out loud before turning away. “Sorry.”

  Mace said, “Come with us, Mr. Knuttin. Mr. Ramirez, you and Mr. Holmes maintain security over here. We’ll send over a couple others to assist.”

  Mace gestured toward the exit. “Take us to an open docking bay. You have a shuttle?”

  The Kohamian nodded. “I do.”

  Frado Knuttin’s private shuttle carried Mace, Johnny and Jane back to the Rogers.

  Chapter 16

  *

  The Kohamian was placed in a room with a guard. Mace and the other senior personnel filed into the conference room. Questions were asked, Frado Knuttin was brought in for several interviews, and decisions were made.

  As the prisoner was taken back to the holding room, Mace turned to the others. “So that’s it, then. We first make an effort to shield our exterior from that microwave weapon. Jeff, can you get started with extruding the screen you were talking about?”

  Jeff replied, “I think you’re getting a bit ahead of the action. I’m not certain we have the materials to make enough screen to cover this ship.”

  Jane said, “How about we only cover the sections we need people in. The reactor room, the drive room, docking bays…”

  Mace nodded. “Jeff? Would something like that be effective?”

  Jeff replied, “I don’t see why not. Would cut our needs by two thirds at least.”

  Johnny shook his head. “So we’re putting screen doors on our space ship?”

  Mace put his hand on Johnny’s shoulder. “You were funnier when Jasper was around.”

  Johnny chuckled. “Crotchety old fart’s probably running the Targarians by now. Hope he’s OK.”

  Jane commented, “You still haven’t said what we’re doing with the dreadnought.”

  Mace replied, “I was just thinking… I wonder if we could pull one of those microwave guns from there to add to our own arsenal?”

  Gnaga Klept replied, “Could I have a look at what they have?”

  Mace gestured toward the doorway. “I’ll take you over.”

  Minutes later, the Human leader and the Kaachi outcast walked into a gun turret control room.

  A crewman said, “Electric power is provided through here. The ship has a single massive emitter that all the weapons draw from. The beam is switched to different waveguides, sending it to whatever turret requested it. The emitter is powerful enough to supply four turrets at once.”

  Gnaga replied, “Can you take us to the emitter?”

  The crewman nodded. “Follow me.”

  As they walked, Gnaga said, “They seem helpful. I would think information pertaining to one’s weapons would be held in the strictest of confidence.”

  Mace replied, “I’ve been blown away by the reasoning of some of the species out here. That includes yours. Some things are heavily protected and others, not. You were a big help to us early on with the reactors.”

  Gnaga replied, “Yes, well, I had motive. I was given orders to assist where I could, since you were opposed to the Mawga at the time.”

  Mace nodded. “But you kept helping. Why is that?”

  Gnaga shrugged. “Survival instinct, perhaps? I couldn’t go back to my people. My only option was to make the best of my situation.”

  They entered a vast room in the middle of the ship. In the center, a ten-meter-tall klystron sat atop a large box.

  The crewman pointed. “The emitter sends a powerful beam down. That beam is bent using a strong magnetic field. The resulting direction is along a magnetically trussed waveguide that circles the interio
r of the ship. We call it the storage ring. The energy stored in that ring is then directed as needed to the gun turrets, where it is blasted toward the intended target in an extremely tight beam.”

  Gnaga looked over the controls on a console beside the klystron. “A simplistic and yet powerful system. Impressive.”

  Mace said, “Any possibility of hooking that big tube directly to a gun port?”

  Gnaga shook his head. “The weapon would only offer very low power. Think of it like this: within the ring, the microwave energy builds up. It builds to a point that is far more powerful than what comes directly from the klystron, because you now have the power of time. Power the klystron for a millisecond burst and you will receive a millisecond pulse. Power it for a full second, still delivering in a millisecond and you have a pulse a thousand times as powerful. I suspect the beam coming from this weapon is not a beam at all, but rather a series of amplified pulses.”

  Mace frowned. “So it looks like we aren’t getting our hands on it for the Rogers.”

  Gnaga tilted his head to one side. “I would not come to that conclusion yet, Mr, Hardy. Allow me time to look over the technology that allows this design to function. We could make room for the klystron. The storage ring, however, would offer its own challenges.”

  Mace returned to the bridge of the Rogers. “Johnny, I need opinions on our next move.”

  Johnny replied, “While you were over there I got to thinking. Jeff needs resources to make the screen to cover the outside of this ship. We have a boatload of resources parked right next to us. We should be field-stripping that ship of every item we could make use of.”

  Mace thought for a moment. “Go see Jeff. Ask him for a list of items we might need. And have him look into what kind of water store they have on there. We’ll be needing to replenish our hydrogen supply soon enough.”

  Jeff made use of the machines in the maintenance / repair room to extrude the metal screening to be used on the Rogers’ largely composite hull. The crew of the United Front dreadnought were courteous and helpful with demands made by their captors, demands that took resources from their warship. Three days of effort saw the first of the screen material being attached to the outer hull.