by Frank Carey
“And the Nova Captain?”
“My brother. My sister, Katana, is his XO.”
“Your brother and sister are those Hisakawa's? The League's wunderkinds?”
“Yes, Ma’am. Someone has to be.”
She took another drink. “Is your being a member of my crew going to be a problem with those two?”
“No. I am not on their radar. They did what they did not knowing I was here. They are hunting whales while I'm just a minnow. I am not worth a second of their time.
“They're your family for God's sake.”
“Yes, Ma’am. Permission to return to the ship?” he asked.
“Granted,” she replied. She watched him walk out the door, not knowing what to think.
###
“How did you take out the crew?” Cora asked.
Taser stars. Take a shuriken--a throwing star--and add Taser circuitry. They go off shortly after being embedded into the target. I can throw six in rapid succession. The crew was so drunk, I could have inserted them manually.”
“That just might work, Boss,” Nyla said with an evil look in her eye.
“What might work, Boss?” Cora asked.
He pulled four shuriken from his pocket and handed two to Nyla, each with a yellow light at its center. “Taser stars,” he said. “Press the yellow light and throw. I hope they have enough power.” He twirled one between his fingers. “Fiona gave these to me as a wedding gift.”
“How romantic. Power for what?” Maddie asked.
“Shorting out the bot's energy cells, blowing up the bot and the ones around them. Ready?”
Nyla nodded. “The rest of you get back,” Akira said as he and Nyla set the power levels and activated the stars. “Go!”
Akira and Nyla jumped out in the hallway and threw the stars before diving for cover near the others. There was a moment of silence before explosions and gunfire erupted from the hallway. Blaster charges flew past their corridor followed by pieces of bots and smoke; lots of smoke. After what seemed like an eternity, the hallway went quiet.
Nyla walked up and looked down the corridor. Satisfied it was clear, she signaled the others to join her. They walked out into the corridor and saw a surreal scene from a science fiction war movie.
In front of them were the smoking remains of dozens of security bots. Some were shot while others sported blast damage from exploding power cells.
“I think we may have started a shooting spree,” Nyla said while kicking a smoking bot head out of the way.
“Obvious design flaw,” Freya said as she examined the remains of a torso.
“Obviously,” Maddie said as she scanned the door. “Scans still being blocked.” She pulled out her commlink. “Comm is blocked as well.”
“How the hell do we get inside?” Joanie asked as she examined what was left of the lock. “The lock pad is destroyed.”
“Let me,” Nyla said as she walked up and knocked on the door. A moment later, it opened to reveal Resh holding a blaster. “Hey, fur ball. Did ya miss me?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
No one in the control room moved.
“Let me,” Romy said as he briefly closed his eyes.
The door slowly opened as everyone in the room, except Romy, took defensive positions. Resh stood in front of the door with his rifle raised, waiting, when he saw Nyla calmly standing on the other side, the floor around her covered in the charred remains of security bots. “Hey, fur ball. Did ya miss me?” she said with arms crossed.
“Nyla? Nyla!” he yelled as he ran up, picked her off the floor, and kissed her. “You're alive! Thank the river gods. How is this possible?”
“I used the teleportation device to move her to a safe area with the crews of the Artemis, Diana, and Aphrodite,” Romulus said as the others made their way into the room.
“Capt. Heranna!” Andromeda said while coming to attention and saluting.
“At ease, Andromeda,” Freya said, returning the salute before hugging the commander. “We thought you dead.”
“I thought you all dead as well,” Andromeda said, wiping a tear from her eye.
“I severely drained the device's energy reserves saving the three crews, which made it impossible to move Andie out of the wreckage. Luckily, the Hippolyta responded to my distress beacon.”
“I don't understand,” Freya said. “None of this makes sense.”
“It does if you think of Procis and me waging a war neither of us can win. I save your crews while she wrests control of weapons and destroys the ships. I hold her off long enough to see to Andie's safety, then she sets course to Earth and activates the drive. Neither of us have enough willpower to take the ship completely over, so we spar using Annihilator's systems as weapons.
“Why were we locked in the crew's quarters?” Freya asked.
“The same reason I blocked scans of that section of the ship. I couldn't risk Procis discovering what I had done. The destruction of the Weapons Center and the breach of the Control Center gave me enough cover to allow you and your crews to leave via escape pod.”
“So, you still have control?” Fiona asked.
“Yes, Captain, but only as long as I am in this room. I walk out that door and my psychic connection to command and control is lost, leaving Procis in charge.
“What about Procis?”
“The same.”
“What happens to Annihilator if you two leave this room?” Akira asked.
“Assuming no countermanding orders are given, the system will go into standby mode. The ship goes to sleep.”
“So, we kill her,” Resh said, referring to Procis. This garnered a swat by Nyla.
“Unfortunately, if either her or I die while aboard, the ship will activate self-destruct and detonate all of its munitions which I estimate would be in excess of one gigaton yield. The weapons were armed the moment I left the bed.”
“Well, setting the auto-destruct is out of the question,” Fiona said.
“I've got this,” Saul said as he activated the escape sequence on Procis' bed.
“Saul, no!” Fiona yelled, but it was too late as the lid opened to reveal the assassin.
Procis sat up and looked around with an evil smile. She turned and looked at Saul and screamed as he went into full Venlanten hunter mode with eyes black, his claws and fangs extended.
“Got her,” he said as he held out his hand and gently helped her off the table. “I think we should leave now,” he said as he continued to stare at her, holding her in check with his black gaze while he walked her toward the open door. Led by Fiona, the others quickly exited.
As Saul took a step out the doorway, one of the dead robots stirred and fired a single shot, grazing his cheek. The pain broke his concentration and momentarily freed Procis. She pulled away from Saul and closed her eyes before he could regain control.
“Stop her!” Romy yelled, but it was too late. As Saul grabbed her and dragged her out of the room, they all felt the deck shudder. Andie, Freya, and Romy ran to a bank of displays and input commands while Fiona tried to raise the Hippolyta.
“Hippolyta, this is Fiona, do you copy?”
“Captain!” John said. “Thank God it’s you. I almost...”
“Don't lose that key, John. You still may need to use it. Where's Streen?”
“Here, Ma’am. Me and the crew de-energized the engine cores, but she's moving, Ma’am. It looks like she may be using the attitude control system.”
“Confirmed. We are on a heading which will take Annihilator straight into the deepest part of Earth's largest ocean,” Freya said. “Her munitions are fully armed and set to go off on impact.”
“How long until we hit atmo?”
“Thirty minutes tops,” Romy replied.
“Dammit. John, we're heading back. Prep the ship for immediate lift-off and call the Penthesileia. Hopefully we can come up with something. Fiona out. Capt. Heranna, I think introductions are in order. My name is Fiona Hisakawa and this is my husband, Akira,
” Fiona said as she and the rest of them headed down the corridor with Saul pushing Procis along with the barrel of his blaster.
“It is good to meet you, Captain. Forgive me for staring but healthy males are almost non-existent on my planet.”
“We've heard,” Akira said as they hurried past destroyed and dormant bots. “This ship is a flying extinction-level-event waiting to happen. We have to get it away from the planet.”
“Annihilator's main engines are down, so we only have its attitude thrusters,” Freya pointed out.
“How do you change the direction of a ship almost three miles long without engines?” Fiona wondered aloud as they approached the entrance to the Shuttle Bay.
Akira said nothing as an idea germinated.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Alarms sounded on the Penthesileia Bridge as Annihilator came to life. “Status report!” Rachel ordered as the monster ship's thrusters fired, sending Annihilator into re-entry attitude.
“Captain, Annihilator's main engines and weapons are offline. Shields are still at max and we detect a large number of armed munitions.”
“How many munitions?” Rachel asked.
“All of them, Ma’am.”
“Dammit,” Athena cursed from the holoprojector.
“Captain, how much time until Annihilator hits atmo?” Joshua asked in a calm voice.
“Thirty minutes,” she said. “Helm, pursuit course. Arm all weapons.”
“Aye, Ma’am”
“Captain, incoming message from Hippolyta.”
“Main screen,” Rachel ordered.
The image shifted to one of a young human male. Behind him, they could see the Bridge of the Hippolyta with only the Communications station manned. “Penthesileia, my name is John Sato, helmsman. I have a status report for you when you're ready.”
“John, Adm. Athena Galactus here. With me is Adm. Joshua Fenstrom. Go ahead with your report.”
John told them what had happened. “Sirs, per Capt. Hisakawa's orders, Hippolyta has been rigged to self-destruct if no solution can be found. The engines have been prepped to overload on the Captains command.”
The Penthesileia Bridge went silent. “Understood, son. We've got experts from three fleets working on this. Keep this line open.”
“Aye, Ma’am,” John replied. Instead of signing off, John looked at Adm. Fenstrom. “Sir, I'm glad they sent you. It's good to see you.”
“It's good to see you too, John. Your sister misses you.”
“And I miss the two of you. Perhaps when this is over...”
“Dinner, just the three of us.”
“Aye, Sir. I'm looking forward to it. Hippolyta standing by,” John said as he closed the link.
“He's your son?” Athena asked, shocked.
“Yes. Sato is his middle name. He uses it so people don't try to exploit our relationship. I know the Hisakawas through him. We were planning to meet for dinner when he finished this trip.”
“Joshua, I...”
“I know. Thank you.”
“What now?” Athena asked.
“We wait and hope,” Joshua replied
As they waited, scientists and engineers from the League, Earth, and the Republic worked against the clock to find a way to keep Annihilator from destroying Earth without resorting to destroying her and the Hippolyta. Forgotten in the fervor, Margarete and her team worked to find out how Procis got aboard Annihilator in the first place. “Shit! Got something boss,” Paloma said as she grabbed a printout and ran it over to Margarete. “I found the orders authorizing the installation of the second bed before testing was complete.”
“Okay, now we've got something,” Margarete said as she scanned the paperwork. “According to procedures, beds two through ten are installed after the initial shakedown cruise. I guess the beds are as difficult to build as the pilots are to train. Let's see, signed, countersigned... Damn, was the whole Naval Command in on this? Ah, this is interesting. Cassie, pull up document 11345/A298-Request for Consideration. You've gotta love the bureaucracy.”
“What the hell is a 'Request for Consideration'?” Paloma asked as Cassie found the document and sent it to the printer.
“This order has about a zillion signatures on it, and I doubt any of the signers were aware of what they were signing. To get the signatures you have to first get the 'Request for Consideration' form signed by both the Construction Mistress and the...?”
“Requester!” Paloma yelled while clapping her hands. Paloma had drunk a lot of tea this shift.
“Exactly! The person we want is the one who requested the change in the first place. Let's see... By the gods, this can't be correct!” Margarete said. She highlighted the name and handed the paper to the other two agents.
They both gasped when they saw the name. “Boss, this is big!” Paloma exclaimed.
“That's why they pay us the microscopic paychecks, girls. I need to get this to Athena. Meanwhile, I want you two to call C-Sec and get this to them pronto.” Margarete grabbed the paper and ran out of the office while Paloma and Cassie prepared a transmission.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
The three teams walked into the bay with their prisoner and made their way to the Hippolyta's loading hatch. Streen and his people walked around the underside of the ship in preparation for lift-off. “Nyla, Resh, take our guest to the brig. Captain, you and the Clyemnes should get checked out by the Doc...”
“By the gods!” Freya yelled as she grabbed Andromeda's weapon. “Someone unleashed the Kraken!”
“Okay, that's really wearing thin,” Doc said as she slid up to a shocked Freya and disarmed her, handing the weapon to Akira. She aimed her scanner at the captain and said, “You’re fine, get inside.”
“What are you?” Freya asked, transfixed.
“Dr. Siatar of the Alturan Academy of Medicine, now scoot,” she said while waving a tentacle. “Andromeda, I assume this is your brother? Get him into Sickbay. Now, everyone move before I really do unleash the Kraken!”
Shaking her head, Fiona followed everyone up the ramp, but stopped when she noticed one member of their crew was missing--Akira. She turned and saw him staring at the top of the ship, specifically at the dorsal docking coupler. She ran back and put her hand on his shoulder. “Husband, are you unwell?” she asked concerned.
“What? No, I'm fine,” he said as he followed her into the ship.
They headed to the Bridge where they found their crew and Capt. Heranna waiting. “Captain, Adm. Fenstrom would like to speak to you,” an unhappy Liz said.
“Put him on the main viewer and patch him through the ship,” Fiona said. She was pretty sure she knew what he was going to say.
“Fiona, Joshua. We've got some bad news. We've run scenarios until the computer melted and the solution with the least number of dead on the planet is if we blow up Annihilator from the inside. I'm sorry, Captain, I...”
“Joshua, give us a moment,” she said, muting the admiral as she saw the look in Akira's eyes. “Husband, what is it?”
Instead of answering her, he pressed the button on her chair which activated the interface with the main computer. “Computer, calculate deflection required to set Annihilator on an escape trajectory.”
“Working...” the computer said. “Using atmo skip, a deflection of five degrees at an altitude of one hundred miles would be sufficient for entry into an escape profile.”
“Computer, calculate current mass of Annihilator using scan data.”
“Working... computed.”
“Computer. Calculate Hippolyta engine burn time required to deflect Annihilator five degrees assuming hard lock to ventral surface.”
“Working... Twenty-two seconds using all engines and thrusters at one hundred ten percent.”
“Computer, calculate placement of Hippolyta on Annihilator ventral surface and route data to helm.”
“Working... Completed. Coordinates have been delivered to Navigator.”
“Cora, is it doable?”
“Aye, Mr. Akira, assuming John can keep us between Annihilator's shields and hull.”
“Not a problem, Sirs,” John replied.
“Streen, can the drive systems handle one hundred ten percent throttle for twenty-two seconds?”
“I don't see them having a choice, Sir. I will make sure you're not disappointed.”
“Computer, assume one gigaton yield detonation. Calculate time from deflection point to minimal safe distance.”
“Three minutes thirty-eight seconds from end of burn.”
Fiona looked at him. “You're amazing. Admiral, we have an alternative plan. If it fails, we'll go to the fallback plan of blowing Annihilator up. Hippolyta out. Capt. Heranna, can you get the bay door open?”
“I will even if I have to go out there and kick it open,” she said. She joined Liz at Communications.
“Let's do this,” Fiona said to Akira as she sat back in her chair. “Crew of the Hippolyta, prepare for immediate lift-off. We are going to lasso this beast and persuade it to leave the neighborhood. Bridge out.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Margarete ran onto the bridge just as Athena and Joshua finished a call to the Hippolyta. Margarete noticed the mood on the Bridge was more upbeat then when she had left a short time ago.
“Margarete!” Athena said when she saw her. “Find something?”
“Yes, Admiral, but I don't think you'll like it. With the help of two other agents, I went through records from the shipyard for the last two years and found discrepancies which we reported to C-Sec. We then concentrated on how something as rare, fragile, and complex as a control bed could be smuggled on board a top-secret vessel in broad daylight. We narrowed it down to one person. Now, to be careful, we did deep background checks on every woman aboard the Penthesileia including you, Admiral, and the crews of the Aphrodite, Diana, and Artemis. No other anomalies were found,” Margarete said before handing the paper to Athena.
Athena looked at the paper and started to frown. “Dammit! This is impossible. Are you sure, Margarete?”
“Yes, Ma’am. Absolutely sure, Ma’am.”
