Dominion military communication codes could only be picked up by Dominion ships or stations with the decryption or the code breakers necessary. Otherwise, these types of communications would seem like random cosmic noise. Fangix looked at the data. The communication stream was picked up by a Dominion trading ship, a front for a Dominion agent spying on Independent planets.
“This says it was picked up from a jump hole in Alioth, not even a month ago,” Fangix found himself thinking out loud.
“A distress signal that’s over thirty seven years old, but somehow just reached us now via a jump hole, can really only mean one thing. Well, two. Either Commonwealth or Independents are playing a really good trick on us or, more likely, an old distress signal has come back to us from somewhere far beyond thirty seven light years, and through this jump hole in Alioth.”
“Ok, you have my full attention. Some new Commonwealth technology I need to sniff out?” Now Fangix could see where the mission was going.
“Maybe, but there's more. This is clearly Dominion code, old code. The astrotechs are beginning to pinpoint just how far out this transmission would have to be and they have it at around four hundred to five hundred light years, if not more. In our history, we know of only two ships that have gone beyond that range and we know the fates of one of them. It’s only the other whose fate we still do not know.”
Before the handler could continue Fangix knew the answer. It was elementary Dominion history.
“The Magyo.” Fangix uttered the word, almost whispering, afraid of waking any ancient ghosts, “Are we sure of that?”
“Nearly. We are waiting on some data to compare the decryption codes but there appears to be no other explanation.”
Fangix knew that to never be the truth. There could easily be many explanations.
“So someone’s found the old behemoth? What’s this to do with me?”
“The transmission came through a jump hole. A jump hole that is likely hundreds of light years long. That’s unheard of before.”
And there it was. It was the old Dominion adage of jealousy towards the other planet’s technology. Never quite able to become the leading edge, the Dominion had settled into waiting quietly for the development of new technology and pouncing on it ready to steal or sabotage.
“I need you to get to Alioth right away and find out all you can. There are rumors of an incident around this time involving pirates in Alioth and a strange explosion. Alioth is too well guarded for piracy. Maybe there is something to that.”
Fangix tapped a few buttons and touched his thumb on the screen, giving the desk computer permission to transmit all of this data to his personal data storage. He would have to study it in detail in flight to Alioth.
“Right away?” he asked.
“I don’t need to tell you how important technology like this could be. Plus, the prestige of finding the Magyo could certainly help you with family standings.”
Fangix had already thought of that. He stood up as the old man swiped the desk clean of all the information. Fangix nodded once then turned to head out of the door. He walked back down the hallway when he realized he was in with the old man for just ten minutes. This was the quickest turnaround from one mission to the next. There was an old rumor among agents that when the Dominion looked to get rid of one of its older agents, they simply put them back into another mission as quickly as possible and did this until they got themselves caught or killed. There was no such thing as a retired Dominion agent.
Fangix drew a breath of air sharply against his teeth. He really wanted some time in the harem. He actually dreamed of owning his own harem. He didn’t try to over play things though. He realized this mission was potentially very important, which meant that he was looked up to as one of the best agents. It would be the mission after this one that would determine what they really thought of him.
He stepped back past security and onto the transport where he sat down. He remembered an old saying from one of the former agents he used to work with, one specialized in finding old wrecks.
When searching for ghosts, one usually finds death.
As the transport moved back into the overwhelming darkness of the cavern, Fangix closed his eyes and envisioned himself among several young women. He dreamed of the moment where he would have the contact of flesh and all the smells and aromas. But when his mind focused on the young vixens, they were replaced by corpses with rotting flesh and Fangix was startled back out of his dreams.
Someone was going to pay.
3124 – Eileen System, Godhri station orbiting mining planet Eileen 1, 45.7 light years from Sol.
Cruxe had chosen Godhri station for two basic reasons: it was far from any of the powers that be, namely Earth and Coran, and even further from Alioth, where his ship was surely marked for piracy. It was also a station known for having no ethics when it came to the merchandise sold and traded there. The station was notorious not only for its slave trade, but for being a free for all of human organs, parts, genetic material and stolen technology, and that was only the kinder side of the station. The rumors that floated from the dark booths of the station of the transactions there were things of legends, or nightmares.
For Cruxe, coming here was an easy choice once the hard one was made. He briefly approached his father with the idea for selling the information of this new jump technology, or at least the location of it on the Midnight Oil, but his father had not had the foresight to see the potential with that. In fact, his father had tried to forbid him from embarking. So Cruxe left the station. He knew full well that going against the chief there was tantamount to exile, even if he was his son. Thankfully for him though, his exploits during the time he was chasing the Midnight Oil had earned him the respect of the men his father had sent with him. Every one of them volunteered to go with him, equally earning exile for themselves.
Once that choice was made, it was simply a matter of posting anonymous posts all over many of the larger planetary nets, especially the Earth and Dominion nets, with just small bits of the data from the jump. The reaction was swift and dramatic. There were calls of either fraud or dire interest in more. It didn’t take long until he had actual offers on the table, and Godhri station was the next logical step.
Cruxe had his men run as much background on the three principal prospects for his information. The first group was Inxi Star Labs, a corporation that ran several covert research facilities on the Char system. This particular corporation was well known for cutting edge jump technology and either wanted to control any new jump technology to monopolize it, or found evidence of something better than what they had. The group was also known for playing both sides of the Dominion/Commonwealth conflict. They had top money to offer and were probably the safest bet in the long run. They were also a very big group, and Cruxe just had an uneasy feeling about dealing with a large faceless corporation.
The second group was from a political entity on the Dominion planet of Famah. While technically representing one of the smaller royal families on that planet, the Ortan family, they had clear ties back to Coran. Clearly, this group would have the wealth and backing of one of the major powers in the galaxy. While Cruxe would have preferred not to deal with the Dominion, all their digging around showed that this particular family wanted to rise up in the standings or the never ending race between families, and having this technology would guarantee this rise to new power. Even die hard loyalists nobles would want to keep their hands on this technology for some time, at least while they consolidated their power.
The third group was a small cadre of men that represented one of the galaxy’s largest and most influential religious groups, the God is Near faith. Cruxe already had plenty of bad experiences with religious groups, but this one was a bit out there. Their main belief was that man needed to keep exploring to find God, which they assumed would be in the shape or form of something not human at all. Essentially, God would be an alien, or vice versa. Their interest in this technology was clear: they a
lready maintained one of the largest exploration and scouting fleets short of the two powers and had the support of the largest corporations and groups. Within this church, there was no lack of volunteers ready to go at a moment’s notice for a one way trip into the unknown. They were being represented by one of their most famous missionaries, Samuel Easton, a leader of a failed revolution on some backwater planet, and one of the many attempts to set up a religious state. He had since joined the God is Near group and became one of their most visual leaders. That he was personally coming to this exchange was very interesting. It also showed Cruxe that the information he had was real.
Cruxe was no scientist, but he knew what he had seen. He had witnessed something no man had ever seen before. He and his men poured over thousands of pictures and stories of space vortexes and wormholes to see if they ran across anything like it, and they never did. They collected the data and could make no sense of it and had no delusions that they would be able to, and that is why they posted it on the nets, in small bits. He knew that once his limited information was out on the net the reaction to it would show him if he was right or not.
Cruxe met with each of the three groups independently on the station. He used a robotic proxy, a crude android that he could feed into and speak to the parties without revealing who he was, and got their offers. The Inxi Star Labs, as he had expected had the clearest offer. It was just over fifty million Commonwealth Crolas, or the Dominion equivalent, the Rayid. Cruxe would have to submit his entire data set and on top of that, the ship that they were in, presumably to run any kind of tests on it. They would also need the information on the Midnight Oil and likely chase them down on their own. With that kind of money Cruxe would be able to afford any ship of his own. He was also asked to agree to a formal intellectual rights removal, a targeted memory wipe of what he and his men had seen. They would be rich, but not know one hundred percent why they were rich.
The Ortan family offered far less in compensation, the equivalent to thirty seven million Crolas. They also offered him prime lands on Famah. This was a very interesting option and there was no request for a mind wipe either. It was also hinted, that if he did take up residence on Famah, that he would be privy to Dominion genetic rebuilding. This was essentially the promise of a far longer life then he could expect to live.
But as good as those offers were, as soon as he heard the church’s offer, he knew he would take it. They offered him a measly ten million Crolas. But what drew him in was that they would hire him, his men and his ship, to hunt down the Midnight Oil to retrieve the new jump technology and should help be needed, hundreds of volunteers to serve as manpower. Cruxe savored the possibility of revenge with that offer. They also offered him first choice at any salvage on their mission and the rights to any new planets they might discover with the new technology. What sealed the deal though, was something far greater than long life. If anything new was discovered, the church was willing and ready, and had the legal documents to prove their intention, to have him named as the primary discoverer of any new worlds. Cruxe didn’t think they would ever find anything; he had no use for their religious beliefs, but to have his name live on forever, on any discovery, played too easily into his ego. He accepted the offer on the spot and gave the church a set of coordinates where they would meet. The one condition they had though, was that their own representative would be on his ship. Samuel Easton himself would be with him.
Getting immortality in the eyes of history easily trumped having to put up with a religious kook.
Part 2
3124 - Zeleen AB, Unexplored system, around Zeleen AB 7, Gas Giant – 729.7 Light years from Sol
Kale sat back on the couch with one hand half covering his face. He was looking at the young girl they had freed from the pod with one of his eyes. She was sitting in the other couch directly opposite from him, wrapped up in a blanket. Ayia sat next to her, one arm around her shoulder. She looked about as normal as a young girl could be, except for the electric blue eyes that just didn’t seem right.
They had rushed her out of the pod when she had fainted. Kale kept reviewing in his mind how she rose from the coffin like an old virtuavid vampire. She initially had convulsions and was shivering terribly hard, but those subsided quickly once she was covered up. That was nearly ten minutes ago and Kale hadn’t spoken a word since. Gheno was on the floor still next to the cylinder itself, still working on plugging it in.
Kale sat back into the couch. He wasn’t about to take his eyes off of the girl.
“So, is there anything left? Is there anything there?” he asked Gheno.
“I don’t know,” he said, just popping his head up from behind the cylinder.
“Now, am I right in thinking that these biological computer things, that, the biological part of them, wasn’t really alive in the sense that you and I are?”
Ayia gave him am angry look.
“Yeah, no consciousness, just a brain to host the computing,” Gheno ducked back behind the cylinder.
“Correct me if I'm wrong, but she’s alive like we are,” Kale sat up in the couch, putting his elbows on his knees.
Gheno popped back up, shrugged his shoulders, and disappeared again.
Kale inched to the edge of the couch, leaning forward. He looked right at the girl.
“Was that you talking to me?” he asked.
She met his gaze but said nothing.
“I know you can talk. You said help when you popped out of the box there,” Kale said pointing at the cylinder.
She looked over where he pointed at and then looked back at him. The eyes were entirely different, not natural, but clearly organic. He drew his eyes away and then felt suddenly ashamed for having lost a staring contest with a young girl. He stood up and started walking to her.
“What’s your name? Anything?”
“Kale, stop. She’s clearly in shock,” Ayia protected.
“I don’t know,” she said, a voice utterly clear, almost piercing, yet soft at the same time. Gheno shot up at the sound of her voice.
“I knew it,” Kale laughed.
“What do you mean you don’t know?” Ayia asked, sitting forward after taking her arm out from around her and facing the girl.
“I know I have a name, but, I can’t think of it. It’s written for me, but I can’t understand it,” she said.
Gheno looked back at Kale, who stood there now stupefied, a confused look on his face.
“Wha…” he started, but caught himself and stopped. He pointed at Gheno. “You're the smart one, figure this out.”
Gheno put his hands up in a display of confusion. Kale stepped back and scratched his head and then began tapping his forehead with his left fist.
“Ok Gheno, get that thing plugged up, this is confusing me more than I prefer to be and I’d like some answers.”
He turned and sat back down on the couch.
“What do you remember?” he asked the girl.
“I can see words, but I don’t know why. I think someone was telling me what to do.”
Kale’s eyebrows rose. “Do you realize you're not making any sense?” Kale though maybe she didn’t.
“I want to talk, but there are words I cannot use, and there are words I cannot find.” She looked down and covered her face with both her hands.
“It’s called crazy kid,” Kale muttered.
Her head snapped back up. “No. That word I can see and it is not in me.”
“Kale, really?” Ayia began, “Give her some time. Who knows how long she’s been in that thing.”
She turned and looked at Ayia.
“Thirty five years,” she answered without hesitation.
Gheno, who was still standing behind the cylinder, drew a deep breath. Kale looked at him and then back at the girl.
“How can you know that?” he asked, “That doesn’t even make sense?”
“I can see the numbers,” she replied.
“I don’t even know what that means. Are you the comput
er? The AI?” he asked.
She returned his questions with a confused look.
“Are you even alive? Are you a human being?” he continued asking.
At those words, her whole face beamed in recognition. “Yes, I am a human, a being.”
“Well, you look really great for thirty five years old,” Kale then looked at Ayia, “That’s all I got. Gheno, get that thing hooked up and let’s get this figured out. Get her some clothes, something. Are you hungry kid?”
Again she appeared confused.
“Food, did you eat while frozen?”
Kale motioned Ayia towards the cold chest. She nodded and walked over, reached in and pulled out a loaf of bread. She broke a piece off and handed it to the girl who took it in her hand and held it. She looked pleadingly to Ayia.
“Put it in your mouth,” Ayia instructed.
The girl put the piece of bread in and her eyes immediately opened up wide. She then closed them as she instinctively chewed the bread. Ayia smiled and broke off a few more pieces. She looked back at Ayia extending her hand out for more and Ayia obliged. Kale nodded in approval.
“Must be a human being if she likes bread.”
Gheno was busy at the terminal end of the pod. He continued studying the wiring and running it through various specs on his tablet. At times he would take a picture of another set of wires, pull the 3d picture so that it hovered over the tablet, and he would begin comparing it to many different 3d specs he had on file, passing one after another right over the copy of the wiring, trying to find any matches. As Kale sat next to him, he observed him for a few minutes following his movements. Gheno was completely immersed in the task at hand, and focused on each passing image with intensity. Kale knew deep down that he would not have been able to pull this off on his own and began wondering if the old man had sent Gheno with him for the kids benefit or Kale’s.
The Emperor's Daughter (Sentinel Series Book 1) Page 18
