ARTIS PRIME

by Tobias Roote

  ‘He just outright lied, RIGA, I have the recording, keep going.’

  “You departed at the right time for your ship’s survival, I think, Captain Jennings. As soon as you left a giant Tochin battleship arrived. I now think it was there to take your ship out if there had been any question of Wright’s ability to control the situation,” RIGA admitted, deliberately leaving Jennings out of the question mark over who controlled the Tesperadus.

  “So, what are you going to do when we find this fleet, RIGA?” Jennings mused.

  “I am going to board her and attempt to find out more about their fleet whereabouts, as well as try and track down the location of Osachi,” RIGA advised him.

  “What? Alone? But you're just – ”

  “A girl, Captain Jennings?” RIGA already knew the Tochin tendency to not have women in battle, or in positions of control. The Tochin were a male dominated race reinforced by old and rigid religious beliefs. She could see the effect it had on them in continually underestimating her, and the artificial intelligences in her world. He, and his kind must never win - everything they had built would all be destroyed.

  Jennings looked at her, then down at her hand. It was then that RIGA remembered his look of distaste on the Tesperadus, when referring to her as a cyborg. If he only knew how close he was to the truth, she thought.

  “How are we in terms of time and distance to target, Gossie?” RIGA asked. Even though she could check it herself, she required the human to believe her skill set was limited to other humans.

  “We are twenty clicks from transfer point and then a short jump will put us in range of the enemy ship. I estimate fifteen minutes,” Gossie updated them.

  “Time for me to get ready,” RIGA advised the Captain. “Thanks to your jump field, I can proceed without using the ship as a transfer agent. The field is highly accurate.”

  “Yes, but dangerous to humans, RIGA. We stopped using it for personal transfers a long time ago because we couldn’t plan for obstacles at the destination transfer point,” Captain Jennings pointed out in a patronising tone.

  “It’s a risk I’m prepared to take, Captain,” RIGA reassured him. She was aware that Gossie’s sensors were pretty good and the despatch of a surveillance drone ahead would give her the few milliseconds needed to tune her arrival. The technology may be new to them, but they were making rapid progress with it as a clandestine operational tool.

  RIGA wondered if much of the humans concern was a Tochin-based fear. How long had they been making their plans to take over the two empires? Decades, she thought, if Wright was Tochin. How long had it taken Jennings to rise through the ranks to Fleet Captain. It wouldn't have happened overnight, unless other Tochin infiltrators had a hand in getting him promoted.

  As RIGA placed her helm over her head, her hair disappeared inside as she unconsciously shortened it. The Captain’s eyes blinked as if he had missed something. RIGA didn’t, and admonished herself, no need to increase his fear factor unduly, yet.

  Checking her blasters, shield band and fring, she prepared for Gossie to jump her to the enemy location.

  “Captain, Osachi was interrogated by these people and had to give up the cloaking frequencies to them to stay alive. As a result we were nearly destroyed when we arrived back in-system. We don’t think he gave up the shield frequencies, as far as we know, but we can't be sure.” RIGA eyed the Captain seriously. “We may be discovered immediately if all the enemy ships know our drive signature and are capable of reading the cloak. So Gossie is going to do a fly past at full speed. You call it a ‘buzz manoeuvre’ I believe.”

  “How do you know he was interrogated? I thought you said you hadn’t seen him, or had contact with him?”

  “Because, we had specially adapted shields and cloak, ones that only Osachi, Gossie and I knew about. When they tried to overcome our shields they used codes that would have been valid had we received commercial shields, as ordered by Wright. The specially modified shield Osachi installed wasn’t even issued to your Military, so there were no override codes built in.”

  Captain Jennings nodded, understanding. He would know exactly what that had cost the Tochin if he was part of the conspiracy, a fact which RIGA had few doubts about, at this stage. She still had to play things out the way Bollida wanted it, which meant treating him as part of the team until she had irrefutable proof of his involvement with the Tochin.

  “Gossie should get us in, and out of range faster than they can arm and fire any counter measures. It is down to exact timing. There are two things I have to do, first send the drone, then immediately transfer myself to a point on the ship that is viable for my plan to work. I need you to stay here and monitor with Gossie. If necessary you will need to authorise your ships to participate in a fire fight, you can only do that if you are safe and out of the line of fire.”

  “But you're going in alone; I’m equally as good as you with one of those,” he said pointing at the blasters in their holsters.

  He was suddenly staring down two open barrels, one against each eye. It hadn’t been more than a blink in time.

  As RIGA re-holstered her blasters, Captain Jenning’s brain was still registering what had occurred.

  “Err! That’s fast.” He laughed nervously, looking at RIGA more suspiciously than before.

  She noted the coldness creep into his eyes, the body language indicating he was less than happy with her display. She had been too fast, she realised. No human could have done that.

  “Jumping.. NOW!” Gossie announced.

  “Target is two hundred clicks ahead of us, and cloaked. It is not responding to our arrival. It would appear the modifications to our cloaking device are working,” Gossie announced.

  ‘What modifications, Gossie?’ RIGA asked on their private frequency.

  ‘The technical people looked at the new cloaking system and discovered they could improve it with a few tweaks. Apparently, one of Osachi’s technicians hadn’t cleared down the memory cache before departing and the pass-code was still logged. It was a simple matter to rewrite the code and add in some improvements.’

  ‘Well, that would have been nice to know - before we left,’ RIGA smarted from not checking the maintenance logs, and taking Gossie for granted.

  ‘You would have known, but the Captain IS a bit of a distraction,’ Gossie teased.

  To distract Jennings from the short silence, Gossie said, “Concentrate on the enemy ship. Check if its signature matches the Goliath we saw in Terran space.”

  Captain Jennings wasn’t happy. “How can you see the ship’s drive signature when it is cloaked?”

  “Because we designed and built new sensors to partially neutralise the cloaking frequencies used by the Tochin, which, incidentally, were stolen from the Terran Empire,” Gossie answered.

  “Oh! So, you can see all Terran Empire ships as well?” he asked.

  “Not really, only drive signatures. If we know which ships they are, we can readily identify them, otherwise the system simply locates their positions. The GEN Vasta was using this new technology when they tracked this ship to its current location,” Gossie added.

  RIGA knew that Gossie was attempting to divert Captain Jennings away from the question of their upgraded cloaking technology, which was also of Terran origin.

  The fact that the best AI scientific minds were able to converge on an issue such as a ship’s cloaking device and its unlocked software, meant they could immediately develop it into a new ‘upgraded’ product with little effort. The Terrans would not be too happy if they thought their technology had been stolen, not only by the Tochin, but also the Empirum. To then discover the Empirum had improved it and then not shared with them, would not go down well, if, and when, the Terrans found out. Luckily, barring accidental discovery, it wasn’t RIGA’s problem, but she felt certain that Osachi would get the upgrade specifications.

  The size of their small ship represented an insignificant speck against the enormous battleship. Knowing its proximity meant
they could ascertain its bow and aft end, Gossie negotiated their way carefully to a position to the rear of the Goliath vessel and began searching for a break in their shields. Most large ships used multiple emitters to build cloaks and shields around their vessels. However, it was not always a perfect solution, especially if constructed in a hurry. RIGA was hoping for a malformed overlap that might give them a gap to teleport her onto the ship.

  “Found one,” Gossie announced.

  She had been searching for over two hours while RIGA and Captain Jennings had been going over the previous images of the Goliath taken by Gossie’s sensors in the Terran system. She had a pretty good idea of the layout of the enormous ship now and was identifying and listing possible weapon emplacements in preparation for an attack on the ship if her mission was successful. Her results would be relayed to the GEN Vasta.

  “Send in a surveillance drone,” RIGA requested.

  Captain Jennings was startled when a small globe flew into the cockpit from the rear of the craft. It remained there for only a few seconds before it was jumped out of the ship and ‘ported in through the gap in the Goliath’s shield, cloaking itself immediately on arrival.

  The feed came through on the sensors. RIGA switched to visual so that Jennings could see them. She pretended to view them too, but she could see more clearly via her internal systems.

  The drone had jumped into a hangar bay. While it darted around under Gossie’s deft control, they monitored the feed. The hangar was home to what they immediately identified as fighters. There were one hundred and forty four placed on four decks that looked to be designed to rotate round to provide flight access to the bay doors. This would put them in launch squadrons of thirty plus fighters per wing.

  “Zoom in on the fighter on that deck.” RIGA pointed on the screen, whilst at the same time pinpointing them herself via her internal sensors for Gossie to identify.

  “Those outer fighters are different to the others,” RIGA noted.

  “They have pilot pods, the others don’t,” Jennings informed her, helpfully.

  “Yes, these others could be drones. That would represent squads of six ships with a single controller,” RIGA suggested.

  “There aren’t many guards around there. Gossie, direct the drone to search out surveillance cameras and sensors,” RIGA requested.

  After five minutes the vidscreen was replaced with a 3D floor plan and placement of cameras and surveillance sensors. These, plus the guards, showed that the hangar was well protected, but only at the main entrances. There were plenty of smaller areas where RIGA could enter, or exit the hangar bays.

  “Jump me here,” RIGA indicated to Gossie on the vidscreen following it up with an internal direction which indicated the exact spot on the grid on the top tier, well away from the guards and two of the cameras.

  “What do you intend to do there, RIGA?” Jennings asked.

  “Hopefully, hack their software, try and retrieve data on Osachi’s possible location, and maybe infect their systems with a virus that will disable their ability to retaliate. I haven’t worked out quite what, or how to do it all yet, but I will,” RIGA responded.

  “I want to come,” he demanded, then as if to provide justification to his request, “I need to take a look at those fighters. If I can get into one of them, I might work out how to jam the drones. In a dogfight they might be a problem for our F VII-Marauders.”

  RIGA looked at him thoughtfully, but in reality was conversing with Gossie.

  ‘He’s making his move, RIGA,’ Gossie said through their private link.

  Jennings was looking intently at her, as if reading her mind, which of course he couldn’t do. She needed to decide quickly what to do.

  ‘We need to keep him out of the way, if he is Terran and something happens they might blame us, if he is Tochin, or in their pay, then we cannot afford for him to divulge what we know’.

  To Jennings, she made it look as if she was reluctant to consider his proposal. In fact she was aware the proof she needed would be in his actions. He needed to incriminate himself if the Terran authorities were going to believe her version of events. If they didn’t, it might reflect badly on any future relations. She just wasn’t prepared to risk this part of her strategy, he would have to wait.

  “I’m under instructions from Bollida to keep you with me; informed, involved, but safe. You are here as a representative of your people so that you can verify the events as they occur. I will have no time to protect you down there.”

  She watched Jenning's reactions and was pleased to see his anger and frustration, though hidden well, was near the surface. Had he been on his own ship, they would never know the risk he posed. Here she could have a measure of control over the Terran fleet. Captain Xandarl would be watching them closely.

  Double checking her gear RIGA silently messaged Gossie. ‘If the alarm goes off, jump away - we can’t afford to let him go now. I have activated my locator beacon so you should be able to follow me.’

  ‘If they capture you, RIGA, they will transport you back to Tochin space and you will be lost to us. We cannot afford for that to happen. I was instructed by Bollida to let the GEN Vasta know if you are taken. They will mount an offensive to either destroy the ship, or rescue you,’ Gossie advised.

  ‘Then I will use that opportunity to escape, should the need arise,’ RIGA responded positively, not at all surprised at Gossie’s response.

  ‘Acceptable,’ her AI answered.

  24. The TELLUR

  Gossie had positioned her out of immediate view, behind a pillar. With her invisibility activated by a hand on her armoured leathers, she remained there, motionless as her senses acquired locations of both guards.

  Although she agreed with Jennings, that the knowledge of the drone fighters would be an important intelligence asset, possibly saving many Terran and Empirum pilot lives, it was also obvious to both her and Gossie, that he would have sought to sabotage her mission in some way and warn the Tochin.

  When RIGA was sure of the sensors and guard placements, she ran lightly across the hangar, intermingling with the fighters, to give herself cover from possible sensor sweeps. On reaching the emergency exit, she placed her hand over the control panel. It would require input codes to disarm it. She had to fiddle, the machined parts were flush and didn’t easily allow her thin tendrils of intelligent wire to insert themselves into the electronics tucked up behind the entrance panel. Once she did manage to get in, the software code slipped into her system and matched up with previous Tochin codes that she acquired on the DAN.

  RIGA patiently rewrote code, loading it back into the processing chip hidden in the door panel, then withdrawing her connections, pulled the handle sharply. It opened, and RIGA was in the clear. The Tochin might be a threat, but so long as they wrote poor and antiquated code, she and others like her, would have an opportunity to stop them in their tracks.

  The only problem was that defeating them meant you became responsible for them, which wasn’t Empirum policy. Direct confrontation was a last resort and even then, only to force them to retreat. It was never Empirum policy to invade and overcome other planets, or empires. They had enough problems containing their own. RIGA was responsible for keeping the Empirum safe, beyond that, was someone else’s problem.

  Now, safely through the hatch, RIGA found herself in a long corridor that looked to run through the ship from port to starboard. A central space offered a route fore and aft. RIGA chose to go to the rear; her mission briefing called for intelligence gathering not confrontation. For that she needed a comms console, and somewhere quiet to interrogate it. As she slipped down the grey, empty, well-lit corridor, the link to Gossie faded. She had expected that; the hole in the shield overlap would not provide extensive access. She wondered if Gossie would drop a comm drone relay in, while hunting other access points. It might be difficult to hide even with the miniature cloaking devices they contained.

  The area was quiet. The first corridor section contained
cabins, most with some form of activity in them. Hurriedly, she moved on to the next corridor until she had passed out of crew areas and into store and utility rooms.

  RIGA stopped outside a store room, picking up electronic signals that tallied with her expectations for an active vidscreen. There were no human sounds of activity inside. The door wasn’t even locked, and she opened it a crack, slipping into the darkness. Closing the door behind her, she activated her low visibility lenses, and surveyed the room’s contents.

  It was an outfitting room with uniforms everywhere, black with the same gold and silver piping she had seen on the DAN. Most were still in their packets, a few were hung, ready for fitting. They were all officers uniforms. RIGA strode across the room to the work area where she had detected vidscreen signals and removed a jacket that had been draped over the screen, lighting the room with its display. She was more than satisfied to see it had been left logged in by the previous owner. Humans were so complacent. If they only knew how easy it was to break into a system when you have a key - any key.

  It didn’t take long for RIGA to hack into the main computer from here. She was lucky, the outfitter had links to all of the officers and senior crew to enable the scheduling of uniform fitting. She had arrived in their downtime where they simulated a form of night to keep their crew regulated. RIGA could tell from the terminal timetable that the room would be reoccupied in a few hours. It would be good enough. Sitting down at the desk in front of the antique screen RIGA set to work. She didn’t notice when her invisibility wore off. Neither did she notice the winking light of the motion detector locking onto her movements. After a few minutes the light went out.

  It was thirty minutes before she successfully hacked into the secure system. She was still unable to reach the battle computer that managed the shield, cloak and weaponry. Their institutionalised brand of paranoia meant different parts of the ship were independently managed. They had a jump drive recently installed as well, and she could access that. They weren’t yet familiar with the technology and she could tell it was a copy of Terran systems. The Tochin, it appeared, were great liberators of other races discoveries, but not innovative developers so were unable to modify, only incorporate.