Liberation_Age of Expansion_A Kurtherian Gambit Series

by Craig Martelle

  “All hail Ted,” Cory said with a smile.

  “All hail Ted,” Plato replied from the overhead speakers.

  “What the fuck is that about?” Kai wondered aloud.

  Joseph and Petricia shook their heads and drifted toward their quarters. Bundin worked his way down the corridor to the cargo bay. Cory and Dokken remained behind.

  “We didn’t know what Ted was capable of until he came to space. We always thought he was a genius but standoffish, not a people person,” Cory began. “With the integration of the comm chip and the development of artificial intelligence that paired with Ted, his real genius is on full display. He does more for humanity than the rest of us combined. Like this.”

  She held up the IICS.

  “He built this so his wife could talk to their children. He went to war with the rest of us to find the component he needed to finish it. All for his wife and family. Everyone else gets to benefit, too. Ships that can jump all the way to Earth. Stealth. Shields. Those things that improve our survivability. He may look at them as technological challenges, but the purpose behind conquering the problem is to help us.” Cory leaned closer to Kailin. “And since Ted has been instrumental in so many recent breakthroughs, to include developing his own AI and a number of off-shoot AIs, Plato’s Stepchildren he calls them, they treat him as a deity. We laughed at first, but it makes sense. To them, he is God.”

  “But he’s Ted.”

  “Yes. He’s our Ted, and I, for one, am better because of it.” Cory saluted using the IICS, then walked away.

  Kailin didn’t know where he was supposed to sleep, so he took the pilot’s seat and watched everything there was to see. He didn’t touch any of the buttons.

  I have so much to learn, he thought. I can’t even talk with the dog. That makes me the stupid one.

  Hunger told him that he should probably find the galley. A sandwich sounded pretty good. “Maybe Ted can explain a thing or two, if I can find the galley.”

  “I’ll guide you,” Plato said matter-of-factly.

  “Can you answer other questions I have?”

  “Of course,” Plato replied.

  Kai returned to the pilot’s seat. “Since no one else is here to listen to my stupid questions, here we go…”

  Keeg Station

  It was the third day straight of hand-to-hand combat training. Six hours on, two off, then six hours on. The bouts tended toward warriors grabbing each other and hanging on until the other could be pushed over.

  “You think it’s time?” Christina asked.

  “They are ripe for a boost,” Auburn replied.

  “K’Thrall, form the platoon.”

  The Yollin was still upright, but barely able to move. He started waving his arms, but no one moved. “Come on, people!” Christina yelled. Kim and Auburn moved into the ad hoc berthing area and tossed sleeping warriors from their bunks. The recruits limped, staggered, and meandered their way into formation.

  K’Thrall had his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.

  “When you signed up to join the Bad Company, you agreed to being enhanced with nanocytes, ostensibly as the first response to medical treatment when you’re in the field. Your nanos will heal your injuries, even fairly major ones. As long as your head stays on your shoulders and your heart stays in your body, you should be able to recover.

  “There are also some secondary benefits, such as your stamina will increase rather significantly. You’ll get bigger and stronger. You already have your translator chips. Those are fairly standard, but now, you’re going to get the whole package. We’re going to sickbay, where they can run two at a time through the Pod-docs. It sounds like a dream, getting enhanced, but you have to work really hard to get drunk, and even then, it’s not the same. You’ll be hungry all the time. And when you’re in combat, you’ll feel like you can take on an enemy army by yourself.”

  The recruits were asleep on their feet. There was no reaction whatsoever.

  “Single file. Follow K’Thrall.” Christina put K’Thrall’s hand on her shoulder, and she held it in place as she tromped toward the hatch leading into the station. Each recruit put a hand on the shoulder of the one ahead, unless they had four legs like K’Thrall and Slikara. Then they hung on to whatever they could reach. A single file with twenty-five recruits following Colonel Christina Lowell. Auburn and Kimber brought up the rear, making sure no one fell over in the short hike into the station, up two flights of stairs, and halfway down a corridor.

  Every step was an ordeal. One foot. Then the other.

  “Maybe we should have done this yesterday,” Kimber whispered to Auburn.

  “They’ll appreciate it more today.” Auburn gave the thumbs up. He was tired too, but he hadn’t gone into the ring repeatedly like the recruits. It was nice to be in charge.

  The challenge had showed the recruits what was required of a warrior. They’d met it and succeeded.

  ***

  Ramses’ Chariot flashed into the Dren Cluster, not far from Keeg Station. The massive shipyard called Spires Harbor loomed in the distance.

  “How long have we been gone?” Cory asked.

  “Not more than two weeks,” Joseph answered.

  “Where are we?” Kailin wondered.

  “The Dren Cluster. The far reaches of the Etheric Federation. There’s no gate out here because this is a secret Bad Company installation,” Joseph replied.

  Ted pointed to a spot at the side of Spires Harbor.

  “Looks like we may be getting a gate after all.” The great disc was only a speck, but Plato enhanced the image on the main screen to show that the initial framework was nearly completed.

  “I’m back.” Ted spoke softly toward the arm of the captain’s chair. “We’ll be docking in the main cargo bay… Yes, the kids looks great. I’ll tell you all about it when I see you in a few minutes.”

  “Felicity?” Kai asked.

  “Uncle Ted’s soft side comes out to play. Occasionally.” Cory leaned over the captain’s chair to kiss the top of Ted’s head. He turned and caressed her cheek with one hand.

  “Was the trip to Earth what you thought it would be?” Ted asked.

  Cory looked over Ted’s shoulder. Plato was maneuvering the frigate toward the massive hangar bay door.

  “It answered the questions I needed answered. Thank you for building this ship to take me.”

  “This ship answered questions that I had. And our time on Earth, too.”

  Ted worked his way through the ship’s corridor, annoyed at the congestion. Once clear, he hurried toward his quarters.

  “Your new home,” Joseph told Kailin, slapping him on the back.

  “It’s not much from the outside, but on the inside?” Petricia quipped.

  “It’s not much either,” Joseph finished for her.

  “Are Mom and Dad here?”

  “How could I be so crass to have forgotten that?” Joseph berated himself. “You’ll find them in the lower cargo bay where they are conducting new recruit training for the Bad Company. Petricia and I will take you.”

  Ramses’ Chariot settled to the deck without a bump or jerk, the hatch popped open, and the lights brightened.

  “All ashore who are going ashore,” Bundin called from the corridor, using the human phrase to perfection.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Onyx Station

  “These are Black Eagles, single-pilot spacefighters from the last great war,” the mechanic explained, looking proudly at the ship.

  “Did you fly these back then?” Yanmei asked.

  “No, not at all.” The man laughed. “I’m not a pilot. I keep them in the sky so the adrenaline junkies can get their fix while protecting us.”

  “You say that you’ve both been checked out in the simulator?”

  “Absolutely,” Yanmei purred. “Which two can we take for our check ride?”

  The man pointed to the closest fighter spacecraft. “You’re kind of big. It’ll be a tight squeeze.”
Aaron nodded. Didn’t he know it? For him, everything was too small.

  Yanmei started to climb up the ladder to access the fighter. “Where are you going?” the man asked.

  “Fly the plane,” Yanmei replied, confused by the question. There was the cockpit. All she had to do was climb in.

  “Flight suits. I have a couple over here. Regular jockeys wear flight suits all the time, leaving their helmets in the seat so they can get in more quickly in case of an emergency call out. But these babies are close to mothballs. It’ll be nice to see them back in space where they belong.”

  “You’re taking these out of commission?”

  “Not me. Them.” The mechanic pointed upwards. Aaron nodded knowingly, although he had no idea. The promenade was upstairs. Shopping. He was certain it wasn’t them. The administrators were mostly near the spindle in the middle of the station. He suspected it might be them, but it wasn’t comforting to think that the man who repaired his spacecraft didn’t know up from down.

  “Will the flight suit protect me if the ship blows up?”

  “Probably not. Why would the ship blow up?”

  “Just wargaming things a bit,” Aaron countered quickly, heading for the small locker to the side of the tool bins. Yanmei slipped a flight suit over her shipsuit, checked the helmet for fit, and walked back toward the Black Eagle. Aaron found a suit that slipped on and fit comfortably.

  “You had a suit that fit me,” Aaron stated, pleasantly surprised.

  “That Kezzin pilot wore it until they made him a custom suit. You’re getting an alien’s castoff! Hahahahaha.” The man was quite taken with his own joke.

  “Aren’t we all aliens, though?” Aaron asked, resting his hand gently on the man’s arm.

  The mechanic stopped laughing. “No!”

  Aaron let his eyes become those of the great cat, the weretiger. They changed to emerald, consuming the man within their gaze. He vaulted backward. Aaron returned to normal and stepped away.

  “We’ll be back soon. Miss you already,” Yanmei called from the cockpit of her Black Eagle.

  Aaron settled into the Eagle, not as sleek as the jet fighters on Earth, but it had a dark beauty that drew him. He wanted to fly, be free like a bird, but he didn’t know what to do.

  Do you know how to fly one of these things? Aaron asked.

  Not yet. How hard can it be? Yanmei replied.

  Hard! Aaron shot back. He looked at the controls and none of it made sense. He liked the flight control stick, styled after the old-time joysticks.

  Follow my lead, upper left, red button. Press it.

  Aaron did as he was told. The engines came to life.

  Your systems should come on. And then you’ll see what’s available. Most of it is related to weapons and shields. Flying the ship? Looks easy.

  Aaron wished that they’d spent at least ten minutes on a simulator so they could get out of the hangar bay without crashing into the station.

  You have a lever to your left. Pull back a millimeter or two and you’ll lift off the deck. Push forward on your joystick and you’ll go forward. Pull back and you’ll stop before going in reverse. Wait for me. Now follow.

  Yanmei’s Black Eagle lifted into the air she rotated the ship slightly to point the nose toward the opening to space. She increased speed slowly until she was at the atmospheric shield. She stopped, rotated the nose again, and rocketed out into space so quickly, Aaron thought she’d teleported.

  Aaron fumbled with the controls, went up too quickly, over-compensated, and slammed the spacecraft into the deck. Aaron thumbed the lever with his left hand, only a millimeter, purposefully ignoring the angry mechanic yelling an impressive stream of expletives that Aaron could hear clearly through the ship’s screen.

  As the ship lifted slowly off the deck, Aaron tickled the joystick. The nose moved where his fingertips directed. He pushed forward and the ship moved. He pushed harder and it moved faster. He tapped it to the right to aim at the middle of the open bay door. When the ship passed through the screen, he pulled back on the lever and leaned hard right as he jammed the stick to the side. He pulled it back and over, driving it forward.

  The ship zoomed into space. His eyes shot wide as he saw the number of ships in orbit around Onyx Station. He pulled back on the stick to slow down and maneuver like the law-abiding citizen he thought himself to be.

  Where’s my bad girl? Aaron wondered.

  The War Axe

  The drone launched a starburst of flares moments before it cycled the railguns, firing a second starburst as the drone kept enough forward momentum to avoid being thrown backwards.

  “Looks like an effective weapon against a well-armed, determined enemy,” Terry said.

  Ankh looked at him. “Data shows nominal performance.”

  “So, we agree!” Terry declared. “Shoulder to shoulder, they marched to their doom, singing in loud voices, showing the enemy they were not afraid.”

  Ankh’s expression didn’t change.

  “And that’s the lie, Ankh. Don’t you get it? They were afraid, but put on the show that they weren’t. It’s all about teaching your fear who’s boss. Courage in action! Buck up, little trooper. Get stoked. We’re going to war with Ten and that lightweight piece of beetle-infested bistok dung is going to get his. We are going to blast his circuits and send his last digital thoughts screaming through the explosion. Yeah.” Terry stood with this fists on his hips and chest thrust out.

  Ankh had yet to move.

  “Carry on, little buddy.” Terry strolled from the combat information center.

  Ankh watched him go.

  “Smedley, recover the drone and bring in the shuttle. I will conduct a physical inspection of the CSD and if it passes, we’ll begin production.” Ankh settled himself within the holo screens and brought up the drone’s schematics to refresh the inspection checklist.

  Keeg Station

  Joseph and Petricia expertly navigated the corridors on their way to the cargo bay that had been subsumed for new recruit training. Kailin looked at everything as they passed, making a conscious effort to keep from gawking.

  “You’ll get used to it,” Petricia said.

  The vampire shielded himself from others’ thoughts most times, for his own sanity, so he avoided looking into the young man’s mind to see if the awe bordered on panic. He decided to do it the old-fashioned way.

  “How are you holding up?” Joseph asked.

  “Doing okay, I guess. One day ago, two days, I don’t know. How do they measure time out here? No matter. I was hunting and scavenging for food, staying away from humanity. Now I’m a spaceman. And once again, I have no idea where my next meal is coming from. I guess that’s the universal constant. No matter where we are, we need to eat. How about water? Is it different out here? Do they speak English? I understand Bundin, but we passed some people, and I don’t know what the fuck they were saying. Are there welcome to space classes? What about…”

  Joseph stopped Kai’s stream of consciousness.

  “We’ll explain it all bit by bit, get you something to eat and drink, but first, let’s say hi to your parents.”

  Kai recognized the yelling. “Bouts?”

  “The more things change, the more they stay the same,” Joseph replied.

  Kai relaxed, his arms starting to swing easily at his sides and his gait less stiff. He smiled when he walked through the hatch and saw his parents on the outside, cheering as much as the recruits.

  His smile froze as he saw the aliens. He thought he was prepared for the variety of life in the universe.

  He wasn’t.

  “There are Yollin, Ixtali, Asplesians, Malatian, a couple others, but you’ll find the Harborians may seem just as odd—humans cultivated and raised by an evil artificial intelligence. The universe is a unique place. You have the benefit of a great family and the nanocytes to help your body cope with life’s more basic challenges,” Joseph explained.

  Auburn smacked Kimber on the arm, pointing. Th
e two rushed to their son. Joseph and Petricia moseyed to the ad hoc ring where the match pitted two humans against one, but a rope tied one leg of each human to the other. So hobbled, the pair fought their unencumbered opponent.

  A fair fight.

  Christina stepped out of the ring and joined the vampires. “Who’s the hot guy?” she asked.

  “That’s Kailin, Auburn and Kim’s son.” Joseph looked at Christina sideways. “He’s a hundred years younger than you!”

  “So?”

  “So!”

  “What?” Christina asked as she watched Kailin Weathers revel in the joy of seeing his parents.

  “Because!” Joseph declared.

  “So?” Christina crossed her arms and challenged Joseph with her gaze.

  Kim and Auburn escorted Kailin to the edge of the ring. A great cheer erupted behind them. The single warrior had bested the hobbled pair.

  “What are you?” Christina asked.

  Joseph looked confused.

  “What are you?” Kailin shot back.

  “I asked first.”

  “I asked better.”

  “Pricolici.”

  “I’m sure that word means something, but I don’t know what it is.”

  “Werewolf, but better.” Christina kept her arms crossed. Auburn and Kimber weren’t sure, but thought they should interrupt the standoff. “Your turn.”

  “Got enhanced on Earth thanks to Akio’s Pod-doc. I’m the young one of the bunch at seventy.” He grinned, letting his nineteen-year old appearance shine through.

  “Me, too,” Christina told him. “Have they fed you since you arrived?”

  “We were just talking about that,” Kai replied.

  “What do you say we take care of that? I’m sure you have a million questions.”

  Christina took Kai’s arm and guided him away. “Are you coming?” he asked his parents.

  “Of course,” Christina replied. “Fitzroy, K’Thrall, and the squad leaders, stay on the training plan, then chow, then clean up, then free time to study operational processes. You know what they are. There will be a test when we return. Don’t fuck up.”

  Joseph and Petricia watched the four walk away. Behind them, new contestants were put into the ring as the Yollin called out names.