by Terry Mixon
He smiled without the least hint of humor. “I believe we discussed this earlier in the conversation. The team in engineering will compromise the fusion plant. The entire ship will go up and we’ll never know that we’re dead.”
“Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that,” she said. “Now, let’s head for the bridge so that we can get a team working on this problem. We have to plan for success while we pray against disaster.”
23
Kelsey leaned back in her seat, rubbing her eyes. The feel of her face without the plate she’d had for years still felt wrong. Not that she was complaining, of course.
Not about looking like a human being again in other ways, either.
The regeneration sessions she’d completed before she’d left Caduceus had eliminated the visible scarring all across her body. Doctor Stone was very pleased at the reduction in the microscopic damage, too. She had expressed cautious optimism that Kelsey’s new nanites would be able to completely eliminate even that in time.
A full recovery had never been laid out as an option when they’d started, so Kelsey still didn’t know what to think about it. She was pleased that her pharmacology unit no longer had to dispense drugs to cover the pain. She hadn’t realized she’d had a subtle cloud over her senses before it had stopped.
She’d thought that had been a shock, but getting a good look at this Rebel Empire system had been an even bigger one. A close examination of Harrison’s World had not shown the potential threat her empire faced as clearly as she saw it now.
On this robotic destroyer, she could interface her implants with the ship’s scanners. They were locked into passive mode, but there was so much data to process. The number of enemy warships in this system was staggering.
Just a cursory look had tagged dozens of them. Potentially, there could be as many as a hundred war craft. Even if they were only destroyers, that was more than sufficient to conquer the New Terran Empire, at least in her universe.
The chime that indicated she had a visitor sounded. A check of her implants revealed Scott Roche standing in the corridor. She signaled the hatch to open and he came in.
“Highness.”
She gestured toward a chair. “I understand they’re going to be here in a few minutes to move all the furniture, so enjoy a seat while you can. What can I do for you?”
“I’ve been examining the scanner readings,” he said as he settled into his seat. “I’m worried.”
“Ironically, I’ve been doing the same thing. The fact that I can interface with their scanners using my implants probably drives home the fact that things are worse than you think.”
“Great,” he said with a shake of his head. “I can’t imagine how the Empire possibly survives. Our universe doesn’t have all of these repairable ships lying around. When the Rebel Empire finds us, they’re going to conquer us.”
“I can’t get around that gloomy assessment, either,” she said with a sigh. “And unless they get very lucky here, the same is true. Yes, they have all these wonderful ships: superdreadnoughts, carriers, and swarms of smaller ships. None of that makes one bit of difference.
“Once the Rebel Empire learns of their existence—which from everything I’ve heard is already true—it’s only a matter of time until they send an overwhelming force to destroy the New Terran Empire here.”
The Fleet officer rubbed his eyes. “What do we do? Give up? Surrender and accept slavery? Or do we fight and die?”
“Why can’t there be some kind of middle ground?” she asked. “These people at Harrison’s World. They’ve developed technology to block flip points. They call them flip-point jammers. When one of them is running, the flip point is impassable.
“Surely they could surround their systems with these flip-point jammers and keep the Rebel Empire at bay.”
Scott looked skeptical. “Let’s say that works. They’re free from direct oppression, but they’re trapped. They’ll never be able to leave their systems, not even to take the fight to the enemy. You can rest assured the Rebel Empire will invest those border systems with overwhelming force, too.
“And that assumes that what man builds man cannot overcome. Suppose that the Rebel Empire comes up with technology that neutralizes these jammers. Then they’d just pour through. Or, perhaps they’d find one of these weak flip points and send ships straight through into an unexpected area.”
Kelsey sighed. “Or play the really long game. Their ships can be computer controlled. They could build a massive fleet and get it close in normal space before sending it across the gulf between systems. I have no idea how close their nearest system would be, but even if it took centuries or millennia, these computers could still win.
“The New Terran Empire—both in this universe and ours—has to actually win this fight. We’re in far worse condition than Admiral Mertz’s forces. This mission to Terra is our best chance. The data we gather now makes a long-shot mission in our universe a possibility.”
The two of them sat in gloomy silence for long minutes before Scott spoke. “We don’t even have a destroyer that could fool the Rebel Empire in our universe. The only person with an Old Empire ship is the Bastard. And he has the Imperial Scepter.
“Do you think he knows what he has? That it leads to Terra and the vaults underneath the Imperial Palace? Does he know about the override?”
She considered that for a few moments before shaking her head. “I don’t think so. I’ve been over the roster of those who defected to his side. He just doesn’t have the scientific support to probe the scepter.
“Even if he figures out that it has an Imperial computer inside it—which isn’t certain since the designers made sure it never signals its presence—the memory sector that holds the message from Emperor Marcus is fiendishly well concealed.
“While I’m as far from a scientist as you can get, I’ve looked over what this Carl Owlet discovered and believe that only someone of his intellectual caliber could’ve found it. The man is probably the greatest mind the Empire has produced in our lifetime.”
Scott smiled a little. “I sent a message back home to locate and sequester him. Once they start sending data and hardware back to our universe, I expect he’s going to prove very useful indeed. If only we could come up with a way to get him implants.”
That wasn’t very likely, at least not in the short term. While there were potential paths between the New Terran Empire and Pentagar, they were not short. Sending anyone out to make the trip to this universe and be implanted would take roughly six months. Then they’d have to get home.
A better option was taking implantation hardware back into her universe and sending an expedition home. That would still take six months, but it gave them much greater flexibility in preparing their homeland for this conflict.
She intended to have a discussion with the alien on the space station inside the Nova system. It had created artificial flip points between its system and both Pentagar and Avalon in this universe.
Kelsey understood the rather large power requirements in doing so limited its ability to do so again in the short term, but the shortened travel time between it and the occupied systems fighting the Rebel Empire might provide at least a slim chance for them to survive.
The chime at the hatch sounded again. This time there were a group of Fleet crewmen in the corridor. It was time to head for the bridge. Very soon she’d see what the possibilities were, if they made it out of this system alive.
Elise had decided to be on the bridge when the destroyer achieved orbit.
Just like Olivia, she’d been going over all the data she could get her hands on. While she didn’t have the same experience of being part of the Rebel Empire that her friend had, that didn’t mean she hadn’t found a few interesting things.
It seemed that the Rebel Empire was very restrictive in what it allowed its citizens to talk about. That didn’t mean that they no longer discussed those other things, only that they’d became much more circumspect about how they d
id it.
There were a series of fascinating discussions that she tapped into where the participants used subtext to get around any number of potential roadblocks to whatever it was they were discussing.
True, that didn’t provide her with a lot of useful information for their current task, but it did confirm something she’d suspected for a long time. Something Olivia had become blind to.
The citizens of the Rebel Empire were not as cowed as one could be led to expect. And, since the sentient AIs that ruled it were not complete idiots, they obviously tolerated a certain level of subversion.
Oh, not in any serious manner. For example, if someone were to discuss planting a bomb or committing some act of terrorism, no matter what language they use to talk around it, she was certain that the System Lord would detect it, if it were in a channel the AI was monitoring.
But, if it were two brothers discussing how they could safely skirt certain regulations about proscribed technology as it related to manufacturing in space, that might be allowed to pass. At least it wasn’t stopping the two brothers she’d found.
Elise was relatively certain they wouldn’t be discussing such matters—or even mentioning that the technology was technically disallowed—unless they expected to have some level of safety in doing so.
The brothers in question were not members of the higher orders. Technically, they might not even be members of the middle orders. She still wasn’t quite certain she grasped how everything fit together in the Rebel Empire on a societal level.
“We’ve entered orbit,” the helm officer told her husband. “We’re about a thousand kilometers away from what has to be the biggest orbital I’ve ever seen. The thing is a monster.”
Jared nodded. “Easily three times the size of the Dresden orbital. I can only imagine how long it took to build. Any idea of what they want with us? Have we received a signal to transmit our report?”
“Not yet. Again, the System Lord back at Harrison’s World didn’t retain that level of detail about any previous report, so this might be perfectly normal. Or, something could be seriously wrong.”
Olivia cleared her throat from where she sat beside Elise. “Is there any possibility of piggybacking a communication onto something here in orbit? Of getting a signal down to the surface of the planet?”
The helm officer shook her head. “I’d have to be desperate to try, ma’am. There are so many ships in orbit that the chances of detection are absurdly high.”
“I think you’d best give up your idea of contacting the resistance,” Jared told the other woman. “While it was a wonderful thought, we can’t do anything to endanger our mission. That means we have to be the most cautious individuals you have ever met.”
“Fine,” Olivia grumbled. “I just hate missing the opportunity to steal a march on those rebel bastards.”
The helm officer sat up a little straighter. “We just received instructions to transmit the report. The computer sent it just as planned. We’ve received a confirmation that the orbital has it.”
“Now what?” Princess Kelsey asked. “Do we head back?”
Kelsey had been more quiet than usual ever since the surgery on her face, Elise had noted. She’d offered to talk to the woman from another universe about what she was going through, but Kelsey had declined.
It had to be traumatic, Elise knew. She’d been living with her disfigurement for years. She’d seen how everyone around her had recoiled at her appearance. That kind of thing left a mark on one’s psyche.
Jared shook his head. “We wait. If it were as simple as heading back immediately, they’d never have brought us in. Something will happen.”
He turned his attention to the ship’s tactical officer. “I want everything in our area watched. If any ship or small craft heads toward us, I want to know as soon as possible.”
“There’s a ton of traffic around the orbital,” the man said, “but we’re outside the regular pattern. If anyone is interested in us, I’ll see it as soon as they start toward us.”
“I’ve got everyone that can be spared in the maintenance passages,” Sean said. “Only critical people in engineering and here are out. We’ve looked over every area they might come into and there are no traces we were ever here.”
“Good,” Jared said. “I hope all they intend to do is send something back. There’s no indication they’ve ever sent people before. If they do, this is going to be very, very tricky.
“We’d have to let them take control of the ship and wait until we flipped out of the system to subdue them. Nine hours during which we’d be the ears in the walls and didn’t dare reveal ourselves.”
Elise suppressed a shudder. The maintenance passages were cramped under optimal conditions. Now that they were filled with people and furnishings, she’d be sitting in someone’s lap the entire time.
“I have a cargo shuttle inbound,” the tactical officer said. “ETA twenty minutes.”
“Any signals?” Jared asked.
The man shook his head. “It looks as if they expect to dock without warning the computer they’re coming.”
“Everyone to their assigned hiding places,” Jared said grimly. “We’re going to have guests for dinner.”
24
Sean monitored the intruders from the safety of a nearby maintenance tube. It was cramped, dark, and packed with heavily-armed marines. Thankfully, he was able to use his implants and the ship’s own cameras to monitor their unwelcome visitors.
They’d taken every precaution to make certain the Rebel Empire personnel wouldn’t detect Athena’s rightful crew’s use of the ship’s systems. Hopefully, the people exiting the cargo shuttles would unload whatever they’d brought, pack it away, and depart quickly.
Worst case, some of them would stay aboard. If that happened, everyone would remain in hiding in the maintenance tubes. They’d only reveal themselves once Athena had exited El Capitan.
Things were looking pretty good for the moment. Fleet crewmen, under the watchful eyes of their superiors, were unloading crates and securing them in the cargo section nearest the destroyer’s docks. There was no way to know what was in those crates, but that hardly mattered at this point. There’d be plenty of time to look into their contents once they were safely away.
It took them almost two hours to unload the cargo shuttles. As they got closer to finishing, Sean’s tension rose. Not that any of the personnel had come near any of his hiding people. In fact, they hadn’t left the cargo area.
His heart soared when the officers ordered the enlisted men back aboard the cargo shuttles and they undocked. It looked as if Athena wouldn’t be having long-term company after all.
He was about to order his men out of the maintenance tubes to inspect the crates when Admiral Mertz sent a general message through everyone’s implants.
We have a cutter inbound, people. Maintain positions.
Sean cursed under his breath. This wasn’t good. With the cargo secured, the only reason another vessel would be coming their way was to drop off passengers or do some kind of inspection. Neither of those options was promising.
He tapped into the ship’s passive scanners and watched the cutter approach. It was alone, so there wouldn’t be very many people to deal with. The Rebel Empire used the same design as the New Terran Empire, now that they had upgraded to using Old Empire tech, so he knew what the capacity of their cutters was.
They could hold thirty-five people plus a flight crew of three in comfort. Twice that stacked like logs. He doubted the incoming cutter was running heavy, so they were looking at a maximum of three dozen people. Troublesome, but not beyond handling if need be.
The cutter docked without incident and disgorged three dozen men and women. Unlike the previous individuals, these immediately left the docking area and headed for the critical sections of the ship: the bridge, engineering, and computer control room.
Not good.
Admiral Mertz could handle the people going to the bridge. He and his team were
actually in the bulkheads directly surrounding the bridge. They could gain entrance through concealed hatches that weren’t on any schematic. The same was true of engineering and computer central.
Sean had made certain Athena’s crew had places to hide as he was overseeing the refurbishing of the destroyer. He’d known there was a possibility they’d have to attack intruders in critical areas of the ship. Having done so before, he realized they might as well make it easy on themselves.
The incoming personnel settled themselves at the control consoles in the three areas and immediately took control of the ship away from the computer. They used specific key phrases and implant codes to do so.
Of course, the ship’s computer wasn’t the standard version that they’d expected. It reported itself at their disposal, but it was still under the New Terran Empire crew’s control. And now they had an interesting set of codes they might be able to use again at some future point.
The woman that sat in the center seat opened a communications channel to someone on the planet below. Based upon the way the man she called was dressed, he was a member of the higher orders.
The woman on Athena’s bridge smiled. “We’re ready to depart. I don’t anticipate any trouble. We should be back in a couple of months.”
“Excellent. You know how important this mission is so I won’t tell you to do everything you can to make it a success. I trust you’ll do that as a matter of course. Safe journey, Jaleesa.”
The man terminated the connection without waiting for a response. Sean supposed that firmly established who was the superior in that relationship.
He wondered what the woman and her people intended to do back at Harrison’s World. Were they going to install some kind of equipment? Until they really dug into what was down in the cargo area, they weren’t going to be able to determine what the Rebel Empire’s goal really was.
He was about to close down his connection to the bridge when he noticed that the com signal to the planet below hadn’t terminated. Even though the woman in the command chair was no longer in communication with the man she’d called, Athena was still talking with someone.
