by Chris Fox
"Juliard, how long until we breach the photosphere?" Nolan asked, moving to the captain's chair.
"Three minutes, sir. It will be another six until we're free of the corona," Juliard said. She glanced at the hatch where the captain had disappeared, then back at her console.
"Alert me as soon as we've reached the corona," Nolan said. He lapsed into silence, watching the screen as they pushed through the sun.
The very idea that they could travel through a star still awed him. The tremendous pressure and heat were unlike anything else in the galaxy, and the fact that various races had harnessed technology that allowed them to circumvent those pressures was a testament to just how much could be accomplished.
Minutes passed, and no one spoke. The crew had been through a lot in the last week, a wholly separate set of pressures. They were cut off from their government. Cut off from family, friends, and any other type of support. They were being hunted. Their ship was severely damaged. They were low on ordinance.
"We're breaching the photosphere and entering the corona, sir," Juliard said, her voice breaking the near silence. The only other sound came from beeping monitors, and the background hum of the computers.
"Orders, sir?" Emo asked as the Johnston burst from the dense, roiling mass of flame and plasma.
"Make for that solar storm," Nolan commanded. He rose from the captain's chair and moved to stand next to Emo. "Keep us under cover."
"Are you certain, sir?" Emo asked. The waif-like pilot shifted in his chair. "That storm could tear our engines apart if we aren't careful. The rear inductive field won't function while we're under thrust."
"Dryker claims you're the best pilot in the 14th," Nolan said, folding his arms. "Is he lying?"
"No, sir," Emo said. He guided the Johnston toward the storm, a mass of flares bursting and twisting from the sun's surface.
"I know I'm new here," Nolan said, straightening. He looked around the bridge, making sure that each and every person was paying attention. "I know I'm not the captain. But I'm what we have right now. My father had a saying: "On your death bed, you're visited by the person you could have been." What we're doing is dangerous. We could die. But if we don't do this--if we sit by--then the entire galaxy could pay the price."
No one replied. There was no applause. But everyone stood a little straighter; they bent to their stations with a little more pride. Nolan suppressed a smile, returning to the captain's chair. He wasn't a great commander, but he'd just taken a step toward being a good one.
The Johnston bucked wildly as a solar flare shot up from the sun's photosphere. It knocked them to starboard, and Nolan would have fallen if he hadn't caught himself on the captain's chair. A few gasps came from the crew, but no one panicked. Emo guided them around the flare, into the tip of the storm.
"We're about two hundred miles above the surface, sir," Emo said, guiding them smoothly around another flare.
"Juliard, begin scans," Nolan ordered.
"Yes, sir," she said. The view screen flickered, providing a visual of the area she was scanning.
The Ghantan system didn't contain planets, but it did contain a vast asteroid belt circling the star. There had to be billions of rocks, and Nolan wondered idly why those rocks hadn't formed into a planet.
"Sir," Juliard said after several moments. "We're detecting two objects. I'll put them on screen."
"Look at the size of that thing," Nolan said, studying the larger of the two objects on the screen. It was massive, almost a planet in its own right. "That's a factory. See along the rear section? Those are dry docks. This thing is building ships out of those asteroids."
Nolan counted seven vessels docked in the berths on the bottom of the factory, and it was possible there were more on the side they couldn't see. Each of the vessels--complete, or close to it, as far as Nolan could tell--was constructed of the now-familiar blue-black alloy, in the strange pincher-winged V-shape that he'd first seen on Mar Kona...was it really only a week ago?
The factory itself resembled one of the Primo's carriers, but far larger and far more lethal; it bristled with weaponry unlike anything Nolan had ever seen. Clearly, any approach would result in swift death. It would take an entire fleet to take that thing down, and that fleet would likely suffer heavy casualties.
"What do you make of the second object, Lieutenant?" Nolan asked Juliard. He stared at the odd spherical structure floating a short distance from the factory.
"I'm not sure, sir," she replied, pursing her lips. "It's giving off massive amounts of radiation of a type we've never seen. That thing has almost as much mass as a small star. Those ports on the bottom appear to be thrusters, so whatever it is...it's probably mobile."
"Complete your scans, then get us the hell out of here," Nolan said, barely above a whisper. They'd found the Void Wraith, but now what the hell were they supposed to do? They'd need an army to deal with them...and they didn't have one.
Chapter 40- Leak
Nolan shielded his eyes from the approaching flashlight, lowering his own so as not to blind the other crewman.
"Sorry, sir," said a tech he didn't recognize, lowering his flashlight. He ducked past Nolan, hurrying down the corridor toward C deck.
Even in the darkness, Nolan could see the man was tired. They all were. Every last crew member had been drafted into repairs, and even with all their hard work the Johnston was in bad shape. That wasn't as apparent right now, because they'd gone dark. Only life support and gravity had power. Everything else, anything that broadcast a signal, was dark.
He continued up the corridor, stepping over a thick conduit along the floor then ducking under a ladder. He finally reached the captain's ready room, which had a small portable lantern near the center of the table. Captain Dryker and Lena were already there, each nursing a cup of coffee--probably the only thing keeping them conscious.
Nolan scratched at his chin as he sat down. The stubble was starting to itch, and was threatening to become a full beard unless he found a razor today. Maybe he should just leave it. Maybe that was how the captain had first grown his beard. Not shaving meant one less thing to worry about daily; when you had the pressures of command, every worry added to the pile.
"All right. Let's recap what we know," the captain said, rubbing at his eyes. He looked more haggard than usual, his uniform rumpled and beard unkempt. The same coffee stain from the day before was still on his right cuff.
"You've read the initial report about the two structures. The first is obviously a starship factory," Nolan said. He turned to Lena, who was busy grooming. "I'm hoping Lena might have some theories about the second structure."
"I don't have a theory, but I do have some interesting data," she said, looking up to meet Nolan's gaze. She stopped cleaning herself, folding her hands together. "The second structure contains a heavy element we've never seen before."
"What do you mean by heavy element?" the captain asked.
"Hmm," Lena said, licking her chops in a very unsettling way. "Your people have something called the periodic table of the elements. Are you familiar with it?"
"Yes," Dryker said, nodding.
"The number on each element corresponds to the number of protons and neutrons it contains. Heavier elements have more," Lena explained. She gave a yawn, and her fangs flashed in the low light. "The heaviest element on the table has 120 protons. Enriched Uranium has 235. The element in that structure has over five hundred."
"What does that mean, exactly? What would an element like that be used for?" Nolan asked. He ripped open a packet of aspirin, and ate them dry.
"I can only speculate," Lena said. She cocked her head. "There's more energy in that structure than I've ever seen outside of a star. It could do anything from igniting a new sun to being the largest bomb we've ever seen. We just don't know."
"I guess it doesn't really matter what that thing is. They're building it, so we need to destroy it. And that factory," Nolan said. He straightened. "If we're going to do that we nee
d a whole hell of a lot more firepower than the Johnston can bring to bear, especially in her current state."
"Where are you planning to get this army?" Lena asked. Her ears twitched. "If the Void Wraith really have infiltrated every major fleet, then there's no way we can convince anyone to come help."
"It's troubling," Dryker said, giving a sigh. "We have to assume that any attempt to bring an organized force to this system will be blocked."
"What about an unorganized method?" Nolan asked. He gave a grim smile. "How about we use our notoriety against them? Everyone is hunting us. The Primo, the Tigris...hell, even OFI seems to want us dead. We broadcast our location to each group, basically flash our asses, and then run back here."
"So all three governments send groups to hunt us down, and those groups end up in this system," Dryker finished. He smiled for the first time in days. "I like it. Tell me more."
"We could use the Quantum Network to alert Fleet and the OFI," Nolan said, thinking out loud. "That will be the easiest part of the plan."
"If you want to bring the Leonis Pride you'd need to jump into the Tigrana system. It's a sacred place. If a human were to trespass there, the Tigris would have no choice but to hunt you down," Lena said, blinking. "That would bring the Leonis running. It might get other prides to come too."
"What about the Primo?" Dryker asked. He still looked tired, but some of his strength had returned.
"I can't think of a way to get them to come," Nolan said. He scratched his stubble again. "We could use the Quantum Network to broadcast a signal to their space, but I'm not sure they'd react. They're slow and deliberate--and, even if they do come, its unlikely to happen before the battle is decided one way or another."
"We'll make the attempt, at least. It isn't the best plan, but it will have to do," Dryker said.
Chapter 41- Quantum Lite
Kathryn glanced over her shoulder to ensure she was alone, then sat down at the terminal. It was as public as one could get, a small, blocky box set into one of the tables in the mess hall. Ostensibly it was there for busy officers to use during meal times, but more often than not enlisted personnel used it to play games or chat with their SO across the vast distances bridged by the Quantum Network.
She was alone, which was to be expected at this hour. That was why she'd come, after all. The security cameras would pick her up, but that was a good thing. Anyone observing her would see a tired officer taking a break, not an operative conducting clandestine business.
Kathryn sipped her coffee, then fired up the terminal. There were two security cameras in the room, but she'd deliberately chosen a table whose screen wasn't visible to those cameras. In theory, this was the most private place she could be right now. That was critical, as she'd become increasingly sure that she was being watched. That wasn't uncommon in OFI, but it went deeper than that. Her father suspected her loyalties; she was sure of it. Her only hope was that he believed she wouldn't act on those loyalties, so she needed to be sure not to give him reason to doubt her.
The screen lit up, and she did a quick scan of the local news stories. These updated hourly, pulling data from the entire fleet. That was the beauty of the Quantum Network. With quantum entanglement, distance didn't matter. A line of stories filled her news feed, and she began scanning for anything interesting.
Her heart nearly stopped when she read the third headline: UFC Johnston Sighted In Ghantan System.
She clicked the link, and began scanning. The article showed a picture of the Johnston, and claimed it had been sighted in the Ghantan system. It even included a star map showing that system.
Kathryn grinned. The move had Nolan's fingerprints all over it. Officers would begin checking their news feeds as they woke up, and too many people would see this. It couldn't be ignored. The OFI would have no choice but to send a fleet to investigate.
"Clever, Nolan," she said, leaning back in her chair and stifling a yawn.
Then the story disappeared. Her screen flickered, and she was back on the news feed. She scrolled up, then down. There was no sign of the story. It was just...gone. Someone was scrubbing the news feed, and doing it close to real time.
Kathryn ran a search for the word 'Ghantan' and found four more stories. That made sense. Nolan was thorough, and wouldn't have left something so important to one story. He'd replicated it many times, to try to secure broader notice. The screen flickered. Now there were three stories.
"Damn it," she said, hitting refresh again. It was down to two.
Kathryn considered the situation. She considered everything on the line, and her own role in things. Nolan had located the system she'd pointed him at. He'd likely learned more about these Void Wraith, and was obviously trying to get help there the only way he knew how. If that help didn't arrive, there was probably no way the Johnston could stop the Void Wraith. Nolan needed OFI. He needed her.
"This is definitely the stupidest thing I've ever done," she said, closing her eyes for a moment. She owed Nolan. He'd given up a promising a career, thanks largely to a mistake she'd made. She had to make this right.
Kathryn opened her eyes, resolved. There were two networks in OFI space. The biggest and best was the Quantum Network, which was controlled by the military. But there was also Quantum Lite, the civilian network. It had less bandwidth, and longer queues, but it was how civilian governments communicated. That network fell under the auspices of OFI but, because it was used by far more people than the military network, it was much more difficult to police. Stories could go viral in an instant.
Kathryn copied the last remaining story about the Ghantan system. She spent several minutes writing a simple computer script, one that would replicate the story and fire it off on a timer. Then she bridged the two networks, and set the script to start firing stories into the Quantum Lite network. Doing so would be considered a breach of security. It would be traced back to her eventually, and she'd be brought up on charges. She might be flushed from the service, or--given what she'd seen of her father lately--might meet an even worse fate.
It didn't matter. This was the right thing to do. She'd ducked morality when she had a chance to save Nolan, and had watched his career be picked apart because she'd stayed silent. This was a chance to atone, even if Nolan never knew it. At least she'd finally be able to sleep again.
She executed the script and watched the story begin to replicate across both networks. Then she turned the terminal off, smiled, and walked back to her quarters.
Chapter 42- Here Kitty Kitty
"I cannot believe we're doing this," Nolan said, grabbing the handle set into the CIC's bulkhead.
"It was your idea," Captain Dryker countered from the captain's chair. He was grinning like a madman, his gaze focused on the view screen.
The Johnston had just emerged from the star, a G class star not unlike Earth's sun. They were free of the corona, which meant that their sensors were able to scan the system. It also meant that they were visible to anyone in-system who happened to be scanning.
"Sir," Juliard said, her voice quavering. "I count seventy-three Tigris vessels. At least a third are Leonis pride, and most of those are warships. They're primarily concentrated around Tigrana, but there is some traffic to and from the Gate."
"Excellent," Dryker said. He smiled grimly. Nolan noted that the Captain's uniform had been pressed, and he had apparently found time to trim his beard. "Scan for the Claw of Tigrana."
"Yes, sir," Juliard said. She was silent for several moments. "I've located it. They're here, sir."
"Open a channel," Dryker said.
A moment later the view screen changed. It showed the bridge of a Tigris vessel, a view Nolan had never seen before. Its layout roughly mirrored that of the Johnston's own CIC, and several Tigris stood near various consoles. Their captain was terrifyingly similar to a female lion, so much so that Nolan took a step backward. She stared imperiously at Captain Dryker, and Nolan read murder in those bestial eyes. There was history between the captain and t
his Tigris, of that Nolan was sure--history that went beyond what had happened in the Purito system.
"Another human might not understand the insult you have offered my race by coming here," the enemy captain said. She growled low in her throat, and her tail thrashed wildly behind her. Each time she spoke, Nolan could see her two-inch fangs. "You know better, Dryker. You know what you have done, which means you have done it intentionally. Why have you besmirched our honor? Do you crave death so very much? I assure you, you are about to meet her."
"Hello, Fizgig," Dryker said, calmly, and gestured to Nolan. "My XO, Commander Nolan, would like a few words."
Nolan licked his lips, then stepped forward and looked up at Fizgig. "You've lost colonies. So have the Primo. So have we. We've figured out who's attacking them. It's an ancient race. The Void Wraith."
"The Void Wraith are nothing but a fairy tale," Fizgig said, her eyes narrowing. "You've come all this way to tell stories?"
"We're broadcasting the data we've accumulated on the Void Wraith," Nolan said, stabbing a button on his tablet. "You don't trust us, and we can't blame you for that. But look objectively at the data. We have a common foe, Fizgig."
"Even were that true, I'm still honor-bound to destroy you. Coming here has ensured your deaths."
"Maybe," Dryker said. He gave a cavernous yawn, and the Tigris captain recoiled as if struck. "First you have to catch me, Fizgig. You couldn't do that back at Purito, and you're not going to do it here. I'll even tell you where I'm going: We're heading to the Ghantan system. I'm broadcasting the location now. If you're warrior enough, then follow us. Bring your fleet. I promise you're going to need all the help you can get."
"You--" Fizgig began, growling low in her throat.
