“Crewmembers are being shuttled to the frigates as we speak. The frigates might be a little crowded. Luckily, none of them were even close to full staff when we left.”
Zed frowned. “Lola, does this leave us with any supra-light ship available, other than the Rose and the Formidable?”
“Of course, Zed. You have a pinnace available on both ships. Being a newer class of warship, the captain’s armed pinnace on the Formidable is faster, better shielded and better armed, with a full half dozen supra-light missiles and a single heavy energy weapon.” Lola laughed. “It is also cloaked.”
“That sounds good to me.” He looked at Kat and winked. “Relegate the pinnace from the Rose for evacuation. Leave the pinnace from the battle-cruiser for us, just in case.”
“Do you have a premonition?” Lola asked curiously.
“No, just prudence.”
“Evacuation of the Rose of the Dawn and the Formidable is going somewhat slower than expected.” Lola admitted as they entered the small shuttle that would take them to the battle-cruiser. The door clanged behind them and both Zed and Katherine were shocked to see no pilot controlling the small ship. When Zed made a wry comment, Lola gave a calm-voiced reply. “All the pilots have already transferred to the frigates. The wounded from the last battle may find things a little more crowded, unfortunately.”
“Put them in the Roses pinnace.” Zed commented firmly. It’s more spacious than the tenders, and the food is better. Prioritize it; the most seriously wounded get the pinnace. I want a fully qualified pilot and First Officer in the pinnace too.”
“As you wish, Fleet Captain.”
“When will the last ship get away?”
“Barely twelve hours before the arrival of the Creednax fleet, or ten hours from now. All twelve of our planet destroyer missiles have, however, been completed ahead of schedule.”
“And your bootstrapping project?”
Lola actually sighed. “Completed and tested, Zed.”
“Thank you.” He grinned at the air beside him as he stepped into the bridge of the Battle-cruiser Formidable. He stopped dead. “Holy shit!”
The bridge of the battle-cruiser was built deep into the center of the ship, and thus had no need of windows, of any sort. The huge one hundred and twenty degree wrap-around wall at the front of the room was smooth and featureless. Two seats, side by side sat slightly elevated at the center of the bridge. The rest of the seats completed the semicircle on the right and left. Almost loungers, the seats were deep and comfortable looking. The air in the room was pleasingly cool and smelled of growing things. Zed thought he recognized the scent of a rose, but he wasn’t sure. Somewhere a bird chirped.
Zed frowned. “I don’t see any information displays or screens.” He watched Kat settle into the left hand seat. The material seemed to wiggle under her bottom, and she giggled. Her body sank into the seat as the edges folded over her, leaving only her face exposed. Her gaze took on a faraway look that meant her neural link was active.
“All information, controls and displays are handled via the neural link, Zed. The chair establishes the link, and also protects the user from violent motion. Should the situation warrant, a hard screen will cover the user’s face to protect him, or her, from the damaging effects of radiation. The seat itself will protect the rest.”
“Should I remove my shoes?”
“No Zed. That will not be necessary. Should you need to enter either an escape pod or the pinnace, the seat will transport you there, and reconnect you with that vehicle.”
“This ship is truly amazing.” He sat down on the edge of the seat. “It’s as far ahead of the Rose of the Dawn as that ship was ahead of Earth.” He swung his legs in, and felt the seat wrap around him.
“This will really make you think.” Lola’s voice was playful. “The next generation of warships, the ones Cybele is working on, are as far ahead of this ship, as the Formidable is ahead of the Rose of the Dawn.”
Zed blinked, or thought he blinked. He was standing on a long stage that protruded out into the middle of a clear room. It was like he was standing in space. He turned around. To his left stood a wide eyed Katherine, while all about them was interstellar emptiness. Not empty. He thought
“Are you seeing this?” He murmured to the image of Kat standing next to him. He actually felt her hand take his.
“This is so radical it’s almost magic.” She whispered.
“Simply advanced technology.” The image of Lola appeared to Kat’s left, smiling at them. “Welcome to my world.”
Zed stared at the solid and normal looking woman standing in front of him who was Lola, and looked at Katherine, standing to his left holding his hand with a grip hard enough to break bones – almost. Wearing an ironic smile, he stepped forward, touching Lola’s arm. The flesh under his hand felt warm and alive. Even Lola looked surprised at that.
“You have really good feedback circuits there, Lola.”
He saw her swallow. “You might say that.” She was staring at her own arm.
Katherine pulled his hand, demanding his attention. “This isn’t real? What I feel?”
“Your body is sealed into a reclining chair on the bridge of the Battle-cruiser Formidable, as is mine. This is a very good projection, including all the senses. This is real to your mind, but not your body.”
“Sooo.” She stepped forward, wrapped her arms about him and kissed him – hard. She stepped back, a mischievous smile playing on her lips. “Are you telling me that kiss wasn’t real?”
Zed was sitting on the floor, the world spinning. “Ahhh…” He replied in a brilliant flash of wit.
“My fourteen year old body is back, somewhere else.” Kat mused. “So tell me Zed, how old do I look to you?”
Zed goggled at the young woman before him. She looked to be in her mid-twenties, shining red hair hanging in a thick braid to her narrow waist. A wholesome collection of freckles dotted her small nose and high cheekbones and her emerald eyes sparkled with merriment. She didn’t appear to be wearing any makeup, but then, she didn’t need any. She wasn’t perfect, he thought critically, but she was perfect for him. “You look an absolutely beautiful mid-twenties.” He admitted honestly.
Katherine smiled, and the twenty something form morphed into the fourteen year old. “Thank you Zed. I’ll keep this form reserved for future use, when we have more time.”
Zed sat there quietly, concentrating on lowering his heartbeat.
“They’re scavenging their own fleet to provide material to repair the battleship.” Kat sounded amazed and appalled. “They are the perfect insects. No remorse, no feeling, only need.” Her laughter was bitter. “I feel better about destroying their homeworld now. Those things would consume the galaxy.”
Zed stared at the display and a cold wind seemed to blow up his back. “If they are coming from their homeworld.”
“Aren’t we full of cheery thoughts today? Let’s stick to the devil we know.” Kat grumbled firmly.
“As you say. Lola, is there a dining hall on this ship? Kat and I should get so
mething to eat, and try to sleep for a couple of hours. The next day or two could be hectic, and we need to be sharp.”
“I agree. What would you like?” Zed looked over at Kat, who just shrugged her shoulders.
“Something light and Asian would be nice.”
The digital Lola smiled. “The Cantonese seafood soup in the dining hall is supposed to be excellent.”
“That sounds good, with a small bowl of white rice and a pot of Oolong tea.”
“I didn’t know you were a gourmand, Zed.”
Zed opened his eyes and sat up in the couch. “I’m a bachelor who likes good food, so I’ve always made my own, whenever I can.”
“Mmmmm.” Katherine murmured, sitting up in her own couch and giving Zed a long predatory look. “An intelligent, good looking man who can cook.”
Zed let out a wary chuckle.
“The pinnace has just departed with the last of the crew from the Rose of the Dawn.” Lola announced unnecessarily, as Zed and Kat watched the sleek delta winged craft pull quickly away from the two warships. It dwindled swiftly and was gone, leaving only the small green arrow traveling against the black of space. “Beginning magnetic grapple with the Rose.” Somewhere Zed felt the deck shudder slightly. He had been more than amazed as they entered their couches, when the CatTrace Ralph showed up, jumping calmly into an open couch, circled once as she lay down, and shut her eyes. The couch calmly folded itself over the cat, leaving out only the black nose.
Zed looked over at Kat and caught her green eyes on him. He thought of all the things he might say, and discarded them. “I love you, Katherine Nicole Johansen.” He whispered just loud enough for her to hear, summing things up nicely.
Kat wiped a tear and sniffed. “Oh dammit! Now look at what you’ve gone and done. I promised myself I wouldn’t get all weepy.” Her eyes held him. “I love you too, Fernandez Edwardo Raphael Daniel Yates, and I will never ever let you go.” She lay back down before she started crying, and the couch calmly covered her over. Zed sighed and lay back.
“Engaging sub-light drives at thirty percent.” The joined warships slowly edged their way out of the small nebula. “Launching decoys.” Four small dots moved rapidly away from the ships. Actually refitted supply cutters, when the decoys activated, just prior to the Rose of the Dawn and the Formidable making their attack run, they would give the appearance of the fleet trying to sneak unobtrusively away, some of the ships damaged and bleeding both air and water. Zed and Lola fervently hoped that it would draw away several of the smaller warships. “Formidable cloaking… now.”
Zed knew that visually and electronically the battle-cruiser had vanished. Even if the Creednax detected the faint heat signature, they would attribute it to the neighboring Rose of the Dawn. He was so scared that he couldn’t swallow, and he knew without looking that Kat shared the sentiment. If they had been together in the flesh, she would have been squeezing his hand for all she was worth.
“Have the ships of our fleet moved out of detector range?” It was his biggest fear that the Creednax would detect the escaping ships and hunt them down.
“Affirmative, Fleet Captain. If the enemy were here, our fleet would still be out of effective range of Creednax instruments. The fleet is moving so slowly that even their faint neutrino trails will dissipate quickly.” The tone of Lola’s voice changed from coldly efficient and mechanical, to one that was warm and caring. “They’re safe, Zed. You saw to that.”
“Thank you Lola.” They stood in silence and watched the endless swirl of the stars as they approached their enemy.
An hour later Lola broke the silence. “As we thought, Zed. Advance elements of the Creednax fleet are about to reach the disabled battleship. We will arrive no more than an hour before them.
The pressure on his hand increased, and he turned to see Kat glaring at him. “You played it kind-of close, didn’t you?”
“I had no choice, love. It was that or leave the wounded on the Rose of the Dawn or Formidable.” He saw Kat wince. “I couldn’t do that.”
“I know.” Her voice was small and frightened, and he wanted with his whole heart to hold her. Death is lighter than a feather, but Duty is heavier than a mountain. He had read once in a very old book. He never understood it — until now. “I’m just so scared.” She finished.
“It will be over soon.” He promised. For good or ill. His mind finished for him.
Designated V2937 Cygni in human astronomical texts, the bloated red star, a thousand times the size of Sol, blazed in dark space before them. Zed stared at it from his small platform, and swallowed hard, his mind numb with fear at what they were about to do.
“Zed, look!” Lola pointed to the vast swarm of red arrows, almost invisible against the red sun. The ships on the far side of the swarm were powering up their engines, and the sensitive detectors of the Formidable, coupled with the data from remote drones launched earlier by Jer Bentax, could sense the heat blooms and spikes in neutrino emissions. As they watched, the first of the ships began moving, turning away from the fleet to follow the spurious trail left by the decoys. More followed until a full half the smaller warships were chasing the decoys.
“It’s more than I expected, Lola. Will they…?”
“Wait.” Lola interrupted. “Watch.”
The Creednax ships dwindled and disappeared as they gave chase to what they thought was the human fleet. On the far side of the sun a sudden flash lit the sky, and another and another. Lola was smiling. “Cutters don’t have much for weapons or defenses, but they can drop thousands of tiny spider mines. The mines detect and home in on neutrino sources; like the Creednax ships following them.” There was a fourth flash in the distance. Suddenly all the smaller Creednax warships were powering up, leaving only the two battleships, along with the support ships behind.
“Well now…” Zed was smiling.
Several minutes that seemed like hours crawled past. “We will be entering Creednax detector range in three… two… one… The Creednax have detected our approach and are powering up their weapons.”
“Can you pick up anything from the computer on QX’an tril Station?”
“No Zed. We may have to damage their shields as we pass for me to access their data.”
“Isn’t that just peachy?” Zed grumbled, watching the shifting screen. The smaller warships that had been dashing off after decoys were beginning to slow down, preparatory to turning back, but it was too late. “Shall we launch missiles from the Formidable as we pass?”
“I don’t think so.” Lola replied thoughtfully. “We’ll use the weapons from the Rose. I would prefer to keep the battle-cruiser hidden for as long as possible.”
“It sounds like a good plan.” He chuckled dryly. “Subject to revision.” He glared at the battlespace before them. “We are about to see if the plan works.”
The Creednax battleship fired. A thick bold of eye-searing light tore by them, narrowly missing the Formidable and grazing the Rose of the Dawn. The deck shook, and he could feel the chair clutch him more firmly.
“The Rose has suffered shield failure in iota, lambda and kappa quadrants.” Lola sounded shocked. “Beginning evasive pattern Delta.” The stars wheeled and swayed drunkenly. Another bolt lashed out, missing both ships by a comfortable margin. “Firing supra-light missiles, and main batteries one to four.” The Rose of the Dawn struck back. The twenty tremendously powerful supra-light missiles tore deeper and deeper into the battleship energy shielding. The first strike from the energy weapons weakened the shields more. The second energy strike made the battleship’s shields flicker. It was just enough. The third and fourth bolt from the Rose’s energy weapons flashed home. The battleship staggered, slewing sideways, venting atmosphere to space. Another massive bolt lashed out from the enemy.
Zed was slammed sideways, and the whole spatial display before him flickered off, and sluggishly came back to life. He felt battered. “What just happened, Lola?”
“The Creednax energy weapon just we
nt through the shields of the Rose of the Dawn, through the entire ship, and still had enough power to damage us on the other side. Three areas, six percent, of the Formidable is open to space and there is damage to the computer systems, but nanites are repairing the injury even as we speak. “Eighty seven percent of the Rose of the Dawn is open to space. Firing all remaining missiles and energy weapons.”
Zed saw every single missile and energy shot strike the Creednax Battleship in exactly the same place as before – just aft of amidships. Flashes lit the surface of QX’an tril Station. “Shields are down on the station! Beginning data retrieval.” A shudder passed through the massive length of the Creednax Battleship, and explosions lit the interior. An energy beam lashed out, striking the Rose and shaking both ships violently. The beam cut off abruptly as another explosion lit the interior of the enemy vessel. “Zeta quadrant and the bridge of the Rose of the Dawn have been destroyed.” Lola’s voice was calm now. “Engaging the Rose’s engines to put her into the final spin into the sun. Releasing magnetic binder. Formidable is free to navigate. Data transfer from the alien computer is complete.” He could feel her ironic laugh. “The Rose of the Dawn is now cleared for independent action, Fleet Captain.” On the screen both the Creednax battleship and the Rose of the Dawn were on a slow tumble into the sun “Activating bootstrapppppppp.” The image of Lola flickered out.
“Lola!!” Silence…
“Zed, what happened?” There was terror in Kat’s voice. Zed swallowed his fear and put it somewhere else. He didn’t have time to be afraid right now.
“I don’t know, Lola’s gone, and we’ll be gone too if we stick around much longer. Formidable!” He said into the air. “Plot us a slingshot course around the sun, as close and as fast as possible, while ensuring the minimum safe distance for biologicals aboard.” He stared at the red line that arched from their position around the sun and away. “That looks good. As soon as we are through the slingshot get us out of here, maximum possible speed.” He held his breath. “Engage!” The station dwindled rapidly behind them, and the sun grew alarmingly bigger. I wonder. He mused to himself as he watched the sun grow. When those planet killers are going to detonate. “Formidable. Ship status.” He read the status on a small screen floating before him. Shields: eighty seven percent, hull integrity: ninety two percent, defensive and offensive armaments: ninety percent. The last line bothered him. Status of shipboard AI: unknown. Oh Lola. He turned the thought inward. Where did you go?
... and they are us Page 21
