by Jay Toney
"How about one of the moons. The sixth planet has lots of them, and some of them are small."
"Persephone, change our course to the sixth planet."
I started looking at the moons. A couple of them were nothing more than captured asteroids, small enough that we could tow them out of orbit. I knew what I had to do now. I began working out the details on my comp.
****
The first moon was almost three kilometers in diameter. Pulling it free from the planets gravity was going to take a little work, but the Vengeance and the Valkyrie, working together, were powerful enough to do it. The second moon we targeted was bigger, just under five kilometers. The larger, more powerful engines aboard the Persephone could do it.
Mike worked on our tractorbeam array to ensure that they could handle the strain we would be putting on them. They would be pulling a load well beyond what they were designed for.
Red and Beverly positioned their ships and activated their tractorbeams. They started with minimal power, increasing their engine's power to pull their moon out of orbit. At first, it was slow, but as they gained distance, they gained momentum, and speed.
We were next. I used the ships tractorbeams to latch onto the moon. My engines were more powerful, but I was pulling a bigger chunk of rock from a closer orbit to the planet. The ship strained and groaned while pulling the moon away from the planet. Everyone was relieved when the groaning and creaking lessened and finally stopped.
We had to be precise with our course. There couldn't be any deviation. We accelerated, in single file, to 2000 KPS. We would stay with our packages until one day before impact. At our present speed, it was going to take twelve days to reach our target. The path of the first moon had to be precise. It wasn't going to hit just the planet. It was going to hit the space station first. They were going to get a one-two punch from us.
Two days out from the planet, missiles were fired from the surface of the planet to destroy the moon. The Vengeance and the Valkyrie released their tractorbeams and positioned themselves clear of the oncoming missiles. There were too many to stop. It looked like the Aramani fired everything in their arsenal.
Even if they managed to destroy the moon, the second moon was hidden in its shadow. I didn't think their weapons were powerful enough to destroy the moon, but I was concerned that they could cause a deviation in its path.
The missiles struck. Explosion after explosion fractured the moon's surface. Nearly half of the moon was broken up by the explosions. Most of the moon's mass stayed together in a group. There was no deviation from its course. It was going to impact the space station. Instead of one massive collision, there was going to be thousands of smaller impacts before the rest of the moon hit. By then it wouldn't matter, the space station would be destroyed, and the planet would be next.
Our warships targeted as many of the fleeing ships as possible, destroying most of them before they could escape. There were enough survivors that word would spread about the destruction of the Aramani homeworld.
Persephone took our daughter below where she would not be a witness to the destruction of the space station or the loss of life on the planet. I sat in my command chair and watched.
It was over too fast. The space station didn't even slow the first moon down. The smaller pieces left a band of craters on the surface of the planet nearly 5000 kilometers long. The big section hit on land sending a dust plum high up into the planet's atmosphere, 2500 kilometers above the planet's surface. The dust would cause an ice age that would last for thousands of years. The impact fractured the planets mantle creating a super volcano that could be seen erupting from orbit.
The second moon landed in an ocean. Steam and water vapor filled the atmosphere hiding the surface view from us. Rain and then snow and ice would cover the planet. It was doubtful that there would be any survivors. If there were, they wouldn't be alive for long.
"I was wondering if you were going to figure it out," Ares said.
"It wasn't me. It was Demi. My daughter is as smart as her mother."
"Then the gift I carry must be for her. Demi!"
Demi appeared and curtsied to Ares. "Well-mannered, intelligent, and beautiful, all in one package." Ares presented her with a sword. It had a gold hilt, its blade was covered with elegant runes, and its gold scabbard was covered with a matching design. "As you grow the sword will grow with you, always the perfect size and balance for you. Hephaestus made this sword himself."
"My thanks, Ares."
"Nathaniel, you have done it again. The Aramani will recover, but they will reconsider waging war against their neighbors in the future. The loss of their homeworld will be a constant reminder to them. Your small fleet must depart before their armada arrives." Perses vanished.
Our fleet changed course to Beta Leporis, also known as Nihal, and entered hyperspace.
The Hare
The star system, we entered, had a large yellow sun with seven planets and four dwarf planets. The third and fourth planets were teaming with life.
A space station orbited the fourth planet in the system. There was an unusual amount of traffic in the system with both interplanetary ships and interstellar starships filling the traffic lanes, heading to and from the space station, mostly to it.
"Captain, we are being hailed" Jewel reported.
That was incredibly fast. We had only been in the system for a few minutes, barely long enough for our sensors to start sending us data that we could use.
"Put it on screen."
"It is an automated message, audio only:"
"Welcome to the gathering. This cycle we have an unusually large assortment for our guests. We have a wide variety to choose from that is sure to suit everyone's needs or desires." The rest of the information was approach instructions.
"Captain, I am receiving more detailed data from our long-range sensors. Most of the ships at the space station are heavily armed and from a mix of different species. I advise we move on and skip this system."
I agreed, but Ares wanted us in this system for a reason. We could have skipped stopping in this constellation and traveled directly to the constellation of Horologium. There were several more star systems to explore in Horologium system that was recorded in our astrogation database.
We still hadn't found any information on the location of the Sol System. With all of the different alien species visiting this space station, there was sure to be more information we could use to update our star map.
"Jewel, announce to the fleet to go dark. We will play it safe on this stop. Nugget, change our heading to 214°, declination -2°, and slow our speed to 100 KPS."
I wasn't going to bring our fleet to the space station without first making sure it was safe to do so. We needed time to make repairs from our battle with the Aramani before we engaged another hostile fleet. The little time we spent in their home system wasn't long enough to make the repairs our ships needed. Running dark in deep space would give us the time and safety we needed to make our repairs.
It was time to look at our new Medusa class fighters. They were faster, more maneuverable, and deadlier than any of our fighters, even after all of the modifications they went through. None of our mechanics had figured out how to open the ship's hatches. They were towed out of the way of our other ships and were clamped onto docking cradles to get them out of the way until we could figure out how to board them.
Persephone joined me. We could separate while aboard the ship. No matter where I went, she maintained a presence, of some sort, on the ship. Her staying at my side was a habit that we had gotten used to. She spent most of her time with Amber, Jewel, Demi and me. Other than with us, she rarely socialized, except to spread gossip. We were her closest friends, and she was content to be with us.
Persephone and I climbed the stairs that led to a catwalk where we could reach the Medusa fighter. The entry hatch had a handprint embossed on the door. It didn't have any features making it little more than a silhouette. It should be easy enoug
h to open the door. I couldn't understand why our techs were having so many problems gaining entry.
I placed my hand on the handprint, and nothing happened. "Silly, it hasn't been set yet, the prior setting was erased."
"What does that mean?"
"You have to set your biometrics to the door first in order to open it."
"How do I do that?"
"Place your hand on the handprint, gather a little energy, it doesn't take much, then will your print onto the door."
I did as she said and the door opened. We were the first to go inside our new ships. The inside of the ship was much larger than the outside. It had a section that could be used for cargo. There were equipment lockers, full of an assortment of different items, including power armor that would also double as space suits and flight suits that would adjust to fit the wearer. The flight suits could also temporarily serve as space suits in an emergency, such as ejecting from the ship. There were four private bunks and a dining area that had its own replicator.
We moved forward to the cockpit. There were four seats, one for the pilot, the copilot, navigation, and sensors. I sat in the pilot's seat and the instrument panel lit up. Persephone sat in the copilot's seat and stared at the instruments.
I couldn't read any of the symbols, letters, or numbers. The instruments and computer menus were useless to me. There was no way I would be able to fly this ship.
"It's in ancient Greek," Persephone informed me. "I can teach it to you."
Other languages didn't come naturally or in any other way to me. I was better at math or following Doc's recipes. That said a lot about my inability to learn other languages. There might be another way. Maybe I could change the programming on this ship to translate Greek into Basic Galactic.
I willed a connection with the fighter's computers. I hit a firewall that prevented me from passing through to the computers memory core. It attacked, and I found myself trying to defend myself against the ship's AI. It wasn't very intelligent or complicated, but it was strong. It overpowered me in nanoseconds and took over my programming.
"Nathaniel!" Persephone shook me. When I turned to her she continued, "Are you alright? It looked like you were having a seizure."
I checked my diagnostics. Everything was operating at peak performance. There were no errors in the error log. "I think I am okay."
"Maybe, we should have Doc take a look at you, just in case?"
"I feel fine." Something had changed. I looked at the instrument panel, and I could read and understand all of the instruments, and computer menus. I tried to reprogram the Medusa fighter's computer for my language. Instead, it had programmed me with the knowledge I needed to fly the ship. I was also able to link with the ship's computer now, the same way as I did with my Marauder.
I contacted the maintenance team to have them lower the Medusa fighter to the flight deck. While we were waiting, we changed into the flight suits and helmets that came with our new fighter. We had three fighters but only two people who could possibly fly them. Persephone and I couldn't separate far enough apart to make it possible for her to fly alone, even with holographic emitters installed throughout the new ship. We had to fly together because of the way we were bonded.
The fighter settled on its landing gear with a jolt. The mechanic who was operating the lift was careless. I could hear Jane calling him over and scolding him for his clumsiness through the fighters hull. The ships inertia dampers reduced the jolt so that we barely felt it.
I sat in the seat searching the instruments to see how much fuel we had aboard. I couldn't find any instrument or computer menu that would tell me. Persephone realized what I was looking for and tried to explain it to me.
"The ship doesn't use fuel as you think of it. Its reactor uses other energy, to power the ship and its engines."
"Other energy?"
"Yes, much like my old chariot did."
"What sort of energy?"
"I don't know. Its just other power and it never runs out. We used to use it for everything before we abandoned most of our technology. Maybe mother will know. You can ask her the next time we see her."
Demeter barely tolerated me, only because Hades hated me. I didn't think it was worth while to press my luck with her. Her friend Athena kept Arachne around, still transformed into a spider. Goddesses could hold a grudge for a very long time. I didn't want to become her spider.
Persephone knew what I was thinking. "You should get over your fear of my mother. She wouldn't dare turn you into a spider. It would upset both Demi and me."
I concentrated on starting the engines and cycling through the preflight checklist.
"Preflight?"
Maybe it didn't need one. I concentrated on taxing the ship to the runway and launching. We were thrown back in our seats and launched into open space accelerating hard. The ship was fast, beyond belief. I thought about the space station and flying there. The Medusa fighter changed course, nearly reversing the direction we were heading and accelerated to half the speed of light. If this was its cruise speed, I didn't want to find out what it could go at full power. The ship was almost too fast to fly. I would have to be extremely careful when approaching for a landing.
****
It only took slightly longer than 2½ hours to reach the space station. We traveled 1½ light hours in that time. The Medusa sensed our needs and slowed down coming to almost a complete stop a few kilometers from the space station.
The ship transmitted the stats on our credit chips and gave us their adjusted value. The silver embedded chips were worth almost two and a half times their face value and the gold embedded credit chips were worth over five times their face value. Precious metals were much more scarce and valuable on this side of the wormhole. The exchange rate for our credits was posted on the station's exchange boards and in its computers. Every merchant aboard the space station would now be required to accept our credit chips and give the proper amount of change back. We had more than enough credits on board the fighter to buy anything we wanted.
Persephone contacted the space station using the ship's comms. We were granted docking clearance in shuttle bay Alpha-17. A shuttle bay door opened and the fighter made its way slowly into the waiting shuttle bay and landed smoothly on its landing gear. I shut down its engines and we waited for the shuttle bay to pressurize.
Neither of us knew what the gathering was about. I was sure we would find out soon enough. I took a handful of credit chips, leaving most on board the shuttle. On most stations, I went unarmed. I made an exception this time, strapping on my gun belt and energy sword. Persephone wore her sword at her side. I was tired of running into trouble aboard different space stations while unarmed and unable to defend myself.
We were greeted at the airlock by a couple of officials. They didn't pay any attention to our weapons. They wanted money. The admission fee to the gathering was 1000 credits per individual. It seemed steep to me but I still didn't know what the gathering was about. I handed him a 1000 credit chip and waited patiently for his partner to return with our change.
The officials directed us to a hotel where we could stay and told us to be sure we reserved our seats. There were only a few good seats left for the show. It was being held in the station's promenade this cycle.
The hotel was a dump. It wasn't any better or worse than any of the other lodgings we passed. It was a good thing we were armed. I didn't see anyone unarmed, and we saw not less than three disputes settled in the corridor while we were looking for a place to stay.
The hotel clerk looked like the oily, dirty Zur that he was, kind of a cross between a rat and a weasel. He stank too. He charged me 1000 credits for the room before leading us up three levels to what he assured us was his best suite.
"With the gathering, rooms are hard to come by. I might be able to find you better accommodations for the loan of the girl."
"For the credits, I'm paying this had best be your best room."
"It is. You won't find better, I assur
e you. If you want to make some of your credits back, my offer for the girl is still good."
It was all I could do not to shoot him on the spot. Persephone ignored him and led me into the room before I decided to kill him. The clerk laughed before heading back down to the front desk.
The room was in worse shape than the rest of the hotel. It didn't look like it had ever been cleaned. The mattress on the bed was bare. I could swear I saw bugs moving on it and in it. "This will never do. It is much too small." Persephone made a gesture with her hands and the room enlarged. It was clean and freshly painted. The bed and the rest of the furniture had been replaced with new furnishings. "That is much better."
I poked my head into the washroom, to inspect the plumbing. I wished I hadn't. Between the filth and the smell I nearly threw up. There wasn't a spot between the sink and the shower that wasn't covered in feces. Worse, the room had spiders. It was a rich hunting grounds for them with plenty of flying insects.
"We're leaving. This place has spiders."
"Don't be such a baby." She made another gesture and the room was cleaned, enlarged, and redecorated. "It will have to do. I can't take it with us when we leave." I was relieved to see that the spiders were gone. Persephone replaced our door and lock with a door that would only admit us. Neither of us wanted any uninvited company while we were sleeping.
We left satisfied with the room now, locking the door behind us. The station's promenade was a long walk from here, and we still had to reserve our seats.
****
A man was showing a small group of humanoids seats in the back end of the promenade. We waited patiently for him. They must be out of good seats if he was reserving seats all the way in the rear. The stage could hardly be seen from there.
While we were waiting five men came out of an adjoining bar. They had four people with them. All of them were hooded and had their hands and legs fastened together with sticky tape. They must not have paid their bar tab. No one tried to interfere with the men taking the people away.
