by Alex Lamb
‘Move!’ said the guard, spurring her back into motion.
Ann’s mind started to race. A Nem departure in their direction was the one event the stealth watcher drones at the edges of the Tiwanaku System couldn’t warn them of. They simply couldn’t fly fast enough. But the risk hadn’t been considered serious.
Will’s ugly predictions sprang to mind. Maybe at one time the Nems had genuinely represented a predictable weapon, but Sam Shah had changed that by deliberately pushing their behaviour into an uncharted regime.
When Ann reached the command area, she found Senator Voss standing at the centre of a small crowd of scientists and engineers. They all appeared to be trying to talk at once while she coaxed them back into some kind of order. Then she caught sight of Ann. She pointed a sharp, manicured finger in her direction.
‘You,’ said Voss. ‘Ms Ludik. Do you have a theory about what’s going on here?’
Ann took a moment to try to parse the senator’s expression and thought she saw a little panic hiding in those imperious eyes. On the other hand, the fact that she’d brought Ann out of confinement to participate in the dialogue suggested that the senator hadn’t completely abandoned rationality. Perhaps it was time to recalibrate their relationship.
‘Explain what’s happening and I’ll give you my assessment,’ she said flatly. If the senator was going to pretend she wasn’t a Fleet officer, she saw no reason to be courteous.
Voss gestured at a lanky communications officer. ‘Foster, fill her in.’
‘We have an unscheduled Nemesis machine arrival event,’ said Foster. His hands twisted together anxiously. ‘A large one.’
A scientist next to him wearing a full immersion visor shook her head.
‘It’s not just that. We see a Nem warp signature but no drone scatter. Instead, there’s something like a nestship gravity footprint.’
Ann’s blood ran cold. She strode to the nearest display wall to look for herself.
‘Is Nem-cloaking active?’ she demanded.
‘Yes, ma’am,’ said the scientist in the visor.
‘Give me a full sensor spread,’ said Ann. ‘Point every telescope you have at the Nem arrival if it isn’t already. What was the insertion distance? How long do we have?’
‘Light-lag is estimated at ninety minutes.’
Jaco Brinsen strode in from the pod bay. ‘Senator, I’ve seen the scans. This shouldn’t be happening.’
‘Clearly,’ Voss snapped. ‘So why is it?’
Jaco’s mouth worked silently while he searched for an answer. ‘At this point, we’d expect the Nems to be in final drone production prior to their Earth assault,’ he said at length. ‘Given the relative strengths of the warp trails, Earth should be their next target. But it’s possible that they’re here chasing the Ariel Two instead. Nems usually chase out from their homeworld, not inwards. They leave that to subsequent attack waves. But that doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen. The Ariel Two must constitute a new level of threat.’
‘But why bring a nestship?’ said Ann.
‘Extra firepower,’ said Jaco. ‘If they realised their drones weren’t cutting it, they might try trading up for something else.’
‘Really?’ Ann zoomed in on the Fecund vessel and threw up a display to fill the wall. ‘It’s in terrible condition – it’s tumbling already. The shield hull is inoperable and showing major fissures visible even from this distance. And it’s not alone. Look – here, here and here.’ She pointed at three smudges surrounding the giant hulk, as if shepherding it along. ‘Three more vessels – larger than drones. That’s a design we haven’t seen before.’
She could see Jaco’s confidence slipping. About time.
‘The Nems have been exploring Tiwanaku’s out-system ruins and have simply decided to utilise them as part of their reflection phase,’ he said.
‘Obviously,’ said Ann. ‘But this is despite the fact that they’ve never shown any interest in Fecund ruins before, which have been present in almost every system where we deployed the Nems.’
‘We just used one to shoot at them,’ he retorted. ‘If the Ariel Two didn’t give them a clear idea of what a nestship was capable of, it’s hard to imagine what would.’
Ann shot him a level glare. ‘I don’t dispute that. I’m just not convinced that this is some kind of standard retaliation event. That’s speculation, and right now speculation is dangerous. A cloud of drones is one thing, but nestships are planet-busters.’
‘Koenig,’ said the senator, ‘do we have a flight vector for those Nem ships? Are they headed for Ariel Two or not?’
‘Unclear at this distance,’ said the scientist in the wraparound visor. ‘Nelson has stationed Ariel Two at Snakepit’s L5. That puts it too close to us for a clear read until they correct course from their insert frame.’
Ann rounded on the senator. ‘What we’re seeing here is either a genuinely new behaviour or a modelled one so distorted that it makes no difference,’ she said. ‘If we have to wait for them to bear down on us to confirm Jaco’s optimistic assessment then we’re already in trouble. We need to bring Will Monet up here immediately.’
Voss’s eyes narrowed. ‘Why?’
‘One, he knows nestships better than anyone on this station. Two, he anticipated a change in Nem behaviour, as I tried to point out to you earlier. And three, because none of us have the first clue why they’re back here, and he’s got more experience dealing with alien intelligence than any human being in history. How many reasons do you need?’
The senator’s mouth twitched in displeasure. ‘I don’t think so,’ she said. ‘Let’s not make the security implications any worse than they already are. You’re only here because I need you,’ said the senator, ‘not because I’ve reinstated your authority.’
‘I’m here because you have no idea what you’re doing,’ Ann snapped. ‘I told you we were getting out of our depth and now it’s coming true. If you think you can handle this without me, feel free to send me back to my quarters.’
The senator looked tempted. ‘Careful, Ludik,’ she said.
Ann snorted and returned her attention to the displays.
‘Message Captain Aquino on the Ariel Two,’ said the senator. ‘I want to know how much power he can put through his weapons. Warn him that the Nems may be here for his ship.’
It took over ten grinding minutes for Nelson’s message to get back to them. When his face appeared on the main wall, he didn’t look so great. The surprise visit had put a dent in his suave demeanour.
‘We have no weapons at this time,’ he said. ‘All the power couplings are open for relining. We weren’t expecting this. I can give you full power within two hours.’
‘Too long,’ said the senator. ‘Be ready in forty minutes.’
‘I have a vector!’ said Koenig. ‘The Nems have adjusted course – they’re headed straight for Snakepit, not the Ariel Two.’
Jaco’s face fell. ‘Are you sure?’
‘Unless they correct again, sir,’ said Koenig. ‘Sending the data to your contacts.’ She reached for her touchboard and stopped. ‘Wait! I’m seeing a minor secondary correction. One ship is peeling off from the others.’
‘Well?’ said Senator Voss. ‘Where’s it going?’
Koenig hesitated anxiously before replying, as if trying to make the information in her visor go away by pure force of will.
‘It’s headed for us, ma’am.’
‘This station?’ said Voss.
‘Yes, ma’am. So far as I can see.’
A horrid realisation settled over Ann. ‘Is our short-range Fleet beacon still running?’
Communications Officer Foster gazed at her with pathetic, desperate eyes.
‘Switch it off!’ Ann shouted. ‘They’ve learned how to read it. Tight-beam orders to the Chiyome, Ariel Two and the senator’s scout-ship. Full Nem-
cloak immediately. Further comms only via tight-beam.’
‘Captain,’ said Foster in strangled tones. ‘We’re getting a signal from the approaching vessel.’
‘Play it,’ said Ann.
‘Welcome, humans!’ said the swarm. ‘We detect your friendly signal. We come in peace with good news. All humans are invited to join us in the harmony of joyful union. Particularly children, which are very useful. Reveal your locations to us and we will assist in your peaceful incorporation. All who comply need not fear destruction. It is a glad day for all!’
Ann watched Senator Voss’s face drop.
‘Can we be seen?’ she asked in hushed tones.
‘Not any more,’ said Ann. ‘But with light-lag, that beacon must have given them about an hour’s tracking on our position. We’ll just have to hope that Nem-cloaking still works.’ She turned on Jaco. ‘Did you hear that message? Do you need any further evidence that Nem intelligence is spiking?’
Jaco shook his head anxiously. With his theory about the Nems collapsing, his confidence appeared inclined to go with it.
‘Ma’am,’ blurted Foster. ‘That message was backed by a primitive soft-assault. Our filters just caught it.’
The implications didn’t need stating. The Nems had come for them.
‘Do we have defences if that ship decides to take us on?’ said the senator.
‘Plenty,’ said Koenig. ‘One ship that size shouldn’t be a problem, unless firing on it kicks off another wave of drones from the surface.’
‘Take us to battle stations,’ said the senator. ‘Power up the buffers. I don’t want to take any risks here.’
‘Senator,’ said Ann, ‘please see sense. We have no idea what’s going on and the station is under direct threat. If ever there was an opportunity to bring Will over to our side, surely this is it?’
Voss grimaced. Ann could see emotions warring on her face.
‘Go on, then. Get that old bastard up here.’
As the minutes ticked down to the arrival of the new ships in-system, the command deck buzzed with organised activity. Sensor results from every ship in the system were coordinated. Weapons were brought stealthily online. And a group of guards accompanied Will Monet to the command deck. Will’s gangling frame looked a little ridiculous surrounded by eight armed soldiers with bulky muscle augs, but nobody was laughing.
‘Good afternoon, Captain Monet,’ said the senator brightly, her political persona turning on.
Will stared back at her with a flat, unimpressed expression.
‘These aren’t the circumstances under which I ideally wanted to ask for your help,’ said Voss, ‘but by now you’ve seen enough to know that, rightly or wrongly, it was your vision of peace that motivated our actions here. As it is, we can’t wait to beg for your help. We need it now. Koenig, bring Captain Monet up to speed, please. Give him a picture of normal Nem activity as a baseline.’
Koenig tapped furiously at her touchboard. ‘I’m sending you a memory dump from the station’s strategy SAP,’ she said.
Will’s eyebrows twitched as he absorbed it.
‘We want to know why they’re back here so soon,’ said Voss. ‘Usually they only return to the homeworld after an attack wave is finished, and only then in small numbers. Most drones are abandoned at the battle-site, so clearly this is something new.’
‘And this time they’re dragging a derelict planet-buster,’ said Will.
‘Exactly,’ said the senator. ‘So – any guesses?’
Will made a coughing sound in his throat that sounded like extremely dry amusement.
The senator sighed. ‘Captain Ludik, bringing him here was your idea. You talk to him.’
Will’s cold, judgmental eyes slid across to settle on Ann’s face. She met his gaze directly, refusing to squirm.
‘You’re on this station and as much at risk as the rest of us,’ she said. ‘I feel no shame in admitting that our models of Nem behaviour are already obsolete. You were right before, and your perspective would be welcome now.’
Will appeared to think about it. She wondered if he’d refuse to help her out of spite.
‘I’ve been analysing your bioweapon at the cellular level,’ he said eventually. ‘What I can tell you so far is that everything is a tool for these organisms. Doesn’t matter if you’re talking orbitals or lymphocytes. They systematically deconstruct new material into parts and do something like intelligent digestion on it. They rework the components into forms they can reuse and recode them back into DNA analogues for storage.’
‘That fits our model of a Nem swarm attack,’ said Ann. ‘Attack, dismantle, reflect, absorb. But what’s this, then?’ She gestured at the screens.
Will shrugged. ‘At the cellular level, they only do one other thing during reflection. If the problem’s too big for analysis, the cells fission and the problem is split between them. In essence, directed reproduction.’
Voss’s face flicked back to the swarm ships displayed on the wall. ‘You think this is some kind of breeding process?’
‘Too early to say for sure,’ said Will, ‘but the only reason I can think of that would bring them back here is if they’ve bitten off more than they can chew. This behaviour is intended to help manage the new information they’ve found.’
‘Maybe they’re gathering reinforcements for the Earth surge?’ said Koenig.
‘Possibly,’ said Ann. ‘But why drag an old ship with them to do that?’
‘Sir, we have a proximity alert for the lone ship headed our way,’ said the officer manning the tactical SAPs.
All eyes turned to the main screen. They watched in silence as the Nem vessel slid up to meet them. So far as Ann could see, it had been built by simply gluing modified drones together into a parody of a human starship. It looked like a giant grey raspberry. She held her breath as the ship sailed straight past their position with its sensors still on full sweep. It even adjusted course to avoid the Chiyome apparently without noticing its presence. Ann heard gasps of relief from all over the room.
‘Looks like the Nem-cloaking still works,’ said Jaco.
‘Nem-cloaking?’ said Will.
‘Nems emit a recognition signal,’ said Ann. ‘They’re hard-wired to treat anything using that signature as benign. Stops them from ripping each other apart.’
‘Handy, until they change the signal,’ said Will.
‘We have orbital insertion for the primary Nem fleet,’ said the tactical officer. ‘On the main wall now.’
They watched the nestship slide into a neat, circular orbit high above Snakepit’s weirdly corrugated surface. Its tumbling stopped with the dangerous end of the bulb-shaped ship pointed straight down.
‘Atmospheric bounce suggests a huge amount of tight-beam traffic between the Nem fleet and the planet,’ said Foster.
‘Can we decode it?’ asked Voss.
‘Not yet,’ said Foster. ‘It resembles the standard Nem signalling protocol but it’s much denser, with a level of complexity we haven’t seen before. Looks like a conversation. We’re seeing matching scatter from one of the defensive bodies on the surface.’ He raised a warning hand. ‘Wait! We have a partial match. They’re using the conflict-resolution protocol – the same one that shows up in the reflection phase, but with massive data packets. They’re orders of magnitude bigger than we’re used to.’
‘Conflict resolution with their own homeworld?’ said Jaco. ‘That doesn’t make any sense.’
‘This isn’t good,’ said Will. ‘Can anyone tell me whether there are signs of a working suntap on that hulk?’
‘None yet,’ said Koenig. ‘I’ll get on it.’
Five minutes later, the nestship fired, answering their question. Several dozen g-rays converged on one of the starfish-shaped defensive structures below, instantly turning several hundred square kilometres of Snakepit’s s
urface into molten slag. Rings of tortured atmosphere rippled out from the site.
Everyone stared. Ann stood speechless in astonishment. Why would the Nems attack their own planet? As Jaco said, it didn’t make any sense.
In the ashen silence that followed, Will spoke. ‘Does anyone else need proof that you’re out of your depth here?’
Within seconds, the planet’s remaining defensive nodes reacted, throwing streams of drones high into the atmosphere. They poured out in their millions, gravity drives flickering even before they reached orbit. The entire world below them sparkled with the light of several hundred fountains of living flame. The nestship turned and fired again, reducing another defensive node to a mushroom cloud. The planet redoubled its response.
While they gawped at the chaos unfolding beneath them, the two raspberry ships shepherding the Fecund vessel split apart into their constituent drones, moving to intercept those rising from the world below. Judging by the power of the g-rays they were emitting, Ann suspected they’d been fitted with suntaps, too.
In less than a minute, the space around Snakepit had turned from empty vacuum into a storm of frenzied battle.
‘Apparently this has nothing to do with us,’ said Jaco. He looked totally lost. ‘Is that swarm message still playing?’
‘Yes,’ said Foster. ‘They’re still offering peace. That last raspberry ship is hanging back, though – it seems to be moving away from the fighting.’
‘And we should do the same,’ said Will quickly. ‘That battle cloud is getting bigger every second. We’ll be within crossfire range in less than a minute.’
‘Can we do that?’ said the senator. She sounded nervous. ‘Can we get out of the way?’
‘The station has thrusters,’ said Jaco. ‘We can correct our position, but it increases the chance that they’ll see us.’
