Chroniech!

by Doug Farren

  "There is a theory which indicates that if an atom could be constructed with a very large number of protons and neutrons a point would be reached where it would once again become stable. This has been referred to as the island of stability.”

  "Such matter would be extremely dense and, because of the arrangement of the nucleus and electron cloud, may possess physical properties similar to normal matter. It is believed the periodic table of the elements could be repeated, at least in part, by this form of super-heavy matter. To date no theory exists as to how such matter could be created."

  "It appears as if the Kyrra have mastered that bit of theory," Doug muttered under his breath. After digesting what he had just learned, he turned his attention toward his roll as officer of the watch.

  Two and a half hours after Stricklen had retired, the Mobius contacted the Dragon. "We have received a report from the Rotara-Ahr." That ship, Doug recalled, was the lead ship of the group which had been left behind to continue salvage operations at the scene of the battle with the Chroniech. "They have picked up a large group of ships in pursuit. At the time of the transmission the estimated time to intercept was two hours. The message was sent about an hour ago."

  "How many ships and what type?" Doug queried.

  "At least fifteen. Their message stated that the exact types could not be determined accurately but the drive wakes suggest at least two are battleship class or above. They are out-gunned and there is nothing we can do to help."

  Scarboro considered waking the captain but decided against it — there really was nothing they could do. A moment later, the bridge door slid open and a marine stepped inside. "Permission to tour the bridge with two guests?" he asked.

  Doug granted permission and watched as the two Kyrra entered. Their presence created a small stir of excitement which quickly subsided when the XO displayed a look of displeasure. The marine gave the two Kyrra a brief tour of the bridge, momentarily stopping at each control and monitoring station.

  After making a complete circuit of the bridge, the Kyrra approached Scarboro. Doug thought he recognized Trel'mara. One of them said, "I am Trel'mara and this is Tee'Chea. We would like to see the ships which attacked you and destroyed our transport — is this possible?"

  Doug replied by saying, "Dragon! Display a visual of the Chroniech ships on my monitor."

  In response to his command, one of the monitors on the command console came to life and a Chroniech battle-cruiser appeared. The picture had been taken from a distance by one of the other ships during the battle. The two Kyrra looked closely at the warship and conversed between themselves.

  Tee'Chea asked, "There appears to be a marking on the side of the ship. Can you enlarge the image?"

  Scarboro looked closely and saw what might be some type of external identification. During the heat of the battle such details had been missed. Doug requested the computer to enlarge and enhance the section of the ship where the marking appeared. The computer replied, "The symbol appears on another ship which was recorded during the battle. A better enhancement can be obtained using that image. Shall I use the better image?"

  "Use the best image available," Doug replied. The computer displayed a highly magnified view of one of the Chroniech ships. A blurred symbol appeared on the screen which resolved itself into a clear image in less than a second as the computer enhanced the picture.

  Doug stared at the symbol for a second then exclaimed, "I'll be damned! Why didn't anyone notice this earlier? Dragon, compare the symbol now displayed to the one on the derelict ship."

  The screen split and the faint image of the derelict ship's markings appeared on the screen. "Although not identical," the computer said. "The two markings appear similar. There is a very high probability that the two symbols originated from the same race."

  "SON — OF — A — BITCH!" Doug remarked in a slow even cadence. Forcing his eyes from the two symbols, he looked at the now frightened Kyrra. "The Chroniech are the descendants of the slavers," he said in a measured tone.

  Both Kyrra were obviously very upset. Trel'mara said, "It appears as if the slaver empire has recovered from their downfall. Your Alliance is in grave danger."

  "Sir," the communications watch spoke up.

  Doug, still shaken by the recent discovery, slowly turned toward the communications station. "Yes?"

  "The Mobius has forwarded a second message from the Rotara-Ahr. They have initiated a Lansing escape maneuver. We will be making contact with a support fleet in about 28 hours. The Mobius and most of the fleet will then depart in order to attempt a rescue. We have been ordered to continue on to Masfuta with the General Patton."

  It took Doug's overloaded mind a few moments to make sense of the details of the message. The ships they were to make contact with must be the reinforcements Sorbith had called for.

  A Lansing escape maneuver was a last ditch effort to save some of the crew. Doug could picture the fleeing Tholtaran fleet in his mind. They would have begun wild course changes, weaving in and out of each other's flight path in a complex pattern. At random intervals an escape pod would be ejected. Eventually, the ships would continue, unmanned, until the Chroniech caught up with them. The ship's computers would then do their best to engage the Chroniech ships in combat.

  The Lansing maneuver was named after a British captain who had managed to save most of his crew using this technique. The reasoning was that the escape pods would be spread across such an enormous volume of space and were so difficult to locate, that the Chroniech would not bother to take the time to find and destroy them all. The Mobius would be able to easily find the pods because a special signal would be broadcast causing the escape pods to begin transmitting a homing signal.

  Scarboro returned his attention to the Kyrra. "Tell me what you know about the Chroniech or, as you knew them, the slavers."

  "In our time," Trel'mara began. "The slavers were the most aggressive species we had ever encountered. They were brutal rulers, treating us as little more than animals. Little is known of their social structure. Despite their aggressiveness, they seemed to work very well together. To my knowledge slavers seemed to treat other slavers with respect."

  "So they got along with each other but seemed to despise other species," Doug summarized.

  "Correct. We did notice something which struck many of us as a bit odd," Trel'mara continued.

  "And that would be?"

  "Although the slavers were able to use the technology at their disposal, it appeared as if many of them did not understand how such technology worked. For instance, when a ship's drive system malfunctioned the slavers would assign a repair crew consisting of non-slavers to repair the ship. A slaver would watch while the crew made the repairs."

  "Sounds like they became dependent upon their slaves for all their manual labor including the construction and repair of their own machines. It's a wonder their empire didn't collapse sooner and its a miracle they managed to bounce back so quickly."

  Tee'Chea spoke up and said, "It is my opinion that the Chroniech are indeed the descendants of the slavers. They appear to have learned from their past mistakes and have abandoned the practice of conquering and enslaving other races preferring now to simply exterminate them."

  Doug nodded his head in understanding. This gesture was misinterpreted by both Kyrra. "You disagree?" Trel'mara asked.

  "No, I agree," Doug replied confused then suddenly realized what had happened. "In my culture, this gesture," he said nodding his head in an exaggerated fashion, "signifies agreement or understanding."

  "A difference in cultural body language which we still find confusing," Tee'Chea remarked.

  "I found it quite interesting," Doug said, "that the Chroniech claimed that your ship belonged to them, I would say that at least some memory of their past still exists in the form of legend."

  "That seems reasonable," the Trel'mara replied.

  The Kyrra left the bridge and continued their tour of the ship. Scarboro again considered waking the
captain and again decided there was no need to do so. He did, however, contact Sorbith and explain to him what they had discovered. The peacekeeper was also surprised that nobody else had noticed the similarity. The remainder of Doug's watch went smoothly. He was eventually relieved by the personnel officer.

  After being relieved, Doug stopped by the captain's cabin. The privacy indicator was still set and the marine guard indicated that the captain was apparently still asleep. He left a message for Stricklen to contact him as soon as he was awake and then headed toward the galley to grab a bite to eat.

  Three hours later, a donut munching Stricklen found Scarboro in the engineering section watching several mechanics disassemble one of the ship's auxiliary fusion reactor's coolant pumps. Stricklen looked refreshed and was in a much better mood.

  "I kind of figured I would find you down here," the captain remarked. "Still want to be an engineer I see."

  "I think I would enjoy it more than pushing paper all day," Scarboro replied. "You look much better sir."

  "I feel much better. You left a message for me to contact you as soon as I was able — what's up?"

  Scarboro brought Stricklen up to date on the latest developments including Sorbith's demand to see him. When he had finished, Stricklen said, "I'm glad you let me sleep. I'm not too sure how I would have reacted to all this news while I was still tired. When is the General Patton due to arrive?"

  Scarboro glanced at his wrist-com, did the mental arithmetic, and replied, "We should be within detector range in another 17 hours. As soon as we have a confirmed detector lock on the General Patton the Mobius will depart. We are still about three days out from Masfuta. Care to join me for a cup of coffee in the mess?"

  "Coffee and breakfast sounds better, but we had better invite Sorbith otherwise he's likely to show up in a foul mood. By the way, I want to start thinking about how we are going to provide adequate security for our Kyrra guests once we arrive. I'm sure there will be a large number of dignitaries wanting to impress them with their desire to learn. You and I both know what they will really want is to get their hands on some of the Kyrra technology."

  The two friends headed off toward the mess hall as they continued their discussion. They did not make it out of the engineering section before Stricklen's com-link demanded his attention. "Stricklen," he replied.

  "Commander Tacket sir. Communications has just received a message which I think you need to view right away. It's from the Hess."

  Scarboro could not hear the message from the bridge but he did see the look that appeared on Stricklen's face and heard his startled response. "The Hess! Are you sure this is not some sort of hoax? The Hess don't send messages to Alliance ships, in fact they don't send messages to anyone."

  "The authenticity of the message has been confirmed. It arrived under captain's seal."

  "Very well, I'll take it in my cabin. Inform Sorbith and ask him to meet me there in five minutes. Stricklen out."

  Ken turned to his XO and said, "The Hess have sent us a message — can you believe this! We are carrying five guests who are forty-five thousand years old. We have been attacked by an alien race which is almost as old as our guests. And now, the mysterious Hess, who never seem to want to talk to anyone, have sent us a message. I'm waiting for God himself to appear to deliver the punch line because this sure seems like one hell of an enormous joke to me."

  Scarboro had a confused look on his face. "Who are the Hess?" he asked.

  Stricklen stopped dead in his tracks and turned to stare at his XO. "You mean to tell me you have never heard of the Hess?"

  "I have no idea who they are."

  "I'm starving," Stricklen replied. "Let's swing by the mess so I can grab something more substantial than a donut to take the edge off, then head for my cabin. I'll explain on the way. I want us both to hear that message." As they walked, he told Doug about a mysterious race known as the Hess.

  Toward the end of the Human-Tholtaran war, a damaged Human warship had taken refuge in a star system where they felt nobody would attempt to pursue them. The system consisted of three planets in orbit about a magnetar-powered pulsar. The beams of deadly radiation emitted by the pulsar were angled about thirty-five degrees off the plane of the planetary orbits placing the planets close but not inside the path of the beam.

  Entering a pulsar's space warping gravitational and electromagnetic field pose a significant challenge to the navigational capabilities of starships. The hardest effect to deal with was the twisting of space known as frame dragging by the fast spinning, massive, dead star. It was an effect that had been predicted by Albert Einstein in the early twenties century but not proven until nearly a hundred years later. It played hell with stardrive fields.

  The magnetar's extreme magnetic field made navigation all that much harder. Luckily, the navigational skills of the ship's helm were up to the task and they managed to establish an orbit around the outer planet without incidence. Once safely hidden, the ship's crew shut-down their reactors and began repairs.

  Not long after arriving one of the crew pointed the ship's instruments toward the second planet. He was shocked when he discovered possible signs of life. A series of large structures were spotted on the planet's surface. The civilization must have been ancient, since the star would have destroyed all life in the system when it went nova and became a pulsar. The captain decided to send a probe over for a quick look.

  Before the probe had made much progress toward the second planet a voice in perfect English hailed them. The signal was traced to the second planet. It warned them not to approach the planet or retaliatory action would be taken. Not knowing what sort of new culture they had discovered, and because of the degraded condition of his ship, the captain immediately recalled the probe.

  The captain explained that their ship was in need of repairs and asked permission to remain in orbit around the third planet until those repairs could be completed. The inhabitants responded and identified themselves as the Hess. They granted the captain's request and broke off communications.

  After the war ended, many attempts were made to contact the Hess, some from privately funded groups. All were turned back. The smart ones heeded the warning message that was broadcast to every ship that entered the Hess system. Those who were more persistent were given a not too gentle reminder by a very powerful repulsor beam. Those who insisted in establishing contact through military force were shown the error of their ways by a weapon of irresistible force.

  A religious cult actually claimed that the Hess were an enlightened species that would only allow those who were pure of heart and mind into their presence. A constant stream of believers made the dangerous trip into the Hess system only to be turned back. Eventually, after nearly two years of refusing any and all contact, the Hess contacted the Alliance.

  They wanted to be left alone and asked the Alliance to station a couple of ships near their system to keep others away. The Alliance, of course, wanted something in return. During the negotiations it was discovered that the Hess had an advanced understanding of certain mathematical concepts.

  In return for keeping unwanted visitors out of their system, the Hess agreed to assist the Alliance in the solution of mathematical problems. One outcome of the agreement was an algorithm for an unbreakable cryptographic system which the Alliance quickly incorporated into their military communications network.

  Nothing else is known about the Hess. No member of their race has ever been seen. They have never been known to leave their isolated and forbidding planet. Communication between them and the Alliance has been minimal and only to the extent necessary to satisfy the agreement that had been reached. It is believed they are a silicon based life form, but it is only a theory. Contact with the Hess has always been sporadic and on their terms.

  As they approached his stateroom, Stricklen received a message from the bridge, "Peacekeeper Sorbith was on his ship sir. He is en route now and should be arriving at your stateroom in about fifteen minutes." Strickl
en swallowed the last bit of sausage he had been eating on the way back from the mess hall, acknowledged the message, then keyed open his stateroom door.

  Taking a sip from his coffee, he sat down in front of his terminal and performed the necessary security actions to have the Hess message decoded and displayed. As with all Hess messages, this one was text only. The two stared at it in disbelief.

  ********************************************

  STRONGLY REQUEST THAT KOMODO DRAGON IMMEDIATELY DIVERT TO SHAULAR. PERMISSION GRANTED FOR PLANETARY LANDING OF KYRRA AND NO MORE THAN TWO ALLIANCE REPRESENTATIVES.

  ********************************************

  The two officers stared at each other for several seconds before Doug asked, "I wonder how the Hess learned about the Kyrra? Everything about them has been classified."

  Stricklen stood up as he replied, "You really don't know anything about the Hess do you? They developed the encryption codes used by every Alliance military organization. I'm sure they didn't give us a code they themselves couldn't break. It's always been assumed that the Hess could read every encoded transmission we've ever made."

  "But that would represent an intolerable security risk," Doug replied, flabbergasted at such an admission.

  "Not at all," Stricklen replied opening his cabin door. "The Hess are about as neutral as you can get. They don't meddle in the affairs of any race — which makes this message from them all the more mysterious." Motioning for Doug to leave, Stricklen continued, "I had better see Sorbith alone. I'm sure he's going to have some interesting things to say to me when he gets here."

  ‘I understand. I hope you're still the captain after he's done talking."

  Sorbith arrived a few minutes after Scarboro had departed, read the message once, turned to Stricklen, and said, "Alter course to Shaular immediately. I will contact the Mobius and have them continue with the rescue operation as planned. Have your helm compute a new rendezvous ETA and intercept course for the General Patton and relay the new course information to them."