by Andrew Beery
The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles #5,
Liberation
Copyright 2014 by Andrew Beery
Kindle Edition, v3
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I’d like to thank my wife Lori and my two daughters CJ and Jackie for putting up with me while I wrote this fifth book in the Kimbridge series. Any similarities between people in this book and my immediate family and friends is purely intentional. Of course, I wouldn’t be much of a pastor if I didn’t acknowledge God – to Him be all the glory!
NOTE from the author
This release of Kimbridge #5 is a lightly edited draft... A fully edited version will be released as soon as it is back from the editors. One of the advantages of KINDLE is the ability to update... It allows readers to get access to a book they have been waiting for sooner (and cheaper) than might otherwise be possible. Please help my editors by posting any corrections, missing words, wrong words, etc. to my Facebook page setup for that purpose... The direct link is here...
BeerysBit Author's page
The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles is serial adventure. It is highly recommended that the books be read in chronological order. For more information visit the Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles online. This is an excellent site for learning about upcoming books as well as the ongoing efforts by some well-funded fans to bring Cat Kimbridge to the big screen.
The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles, # 5 – Liberation
Chapter One - Memorial...
Personal Log
2125 was the year the Proxy war began in earnest. The Heshe and Uruk, each with drastically different views of right and wrong, met in open conflict with disastrous results for the known universes. At the same time this was the finest year for the Galactic Coalition...
Admiral Catherine Jackie Kimbridge, ‘Cat’ to her friends… sat in the newly installed Admiral’s chair on the Bridge of the recently upgraded GCP Yorktown. From this chair she could monitor, and to a limited extent, control the disposition of forces under her command. It had been two months since the battle at Naanac and although the GCP and the freedom fighters they were aiding had won that battle; the war went on and the cost continued to be high. She had lost friends… a Naan Professor named Debbu, two GCP officers named Lieutenant Andy McKinney and Lt. Commander Pete LeAnder as well as a host of others trapped in the cities of Harramog, Napoli, Darmog, Glispen and Surdom.
Cat had been forced to utilize an imperfect Suhtian technology that encapsulated a handful of the Naanac cities in protective energy containment domes. Their world had been saved from a ruthless sterilization by the Modos Syndicate but the cost has been thousands of lives extinguished. Cat had given the order. It was the right order. That didn’t make it any easier to sleep at night.
“Admiral, we have a signal coming in from the Mador task force,” Lieutenant Zimmerman said from the communication station.
“Route it to my display Ziggy,” Cat ordered.
A holographic screen materialized in front of Cat. Commodore Jason Ruck appeared to float in front of her.
“Greetings Admiral.”
“Jason,” Cat nodded. “Any word from the Agur Alliance?”
Jason’s holographic imagine smiled. “Given the current situation, they were most willing and even eager to talk.”
The current situation was a Modos task-force consisting of twenty dreadnoughts setting up camp in a star system a mere thirty light years from the Agur home world. The Agur were a curious people. If Cat had to categorize them she would call them the Milky Way’s historians. They had an insatiable appetite for the history of other races. More interesting was the archive they maintained which cataloged the major achievements of countless civilizations. Many of these civilizations were now extinct… victims of the Uruk doctrine of intelligent species suppression.
Unfortunately for the Agur, the Modos Syndicate had become aware of this archive. The war with the Modos Syndicate had evolved into a skirmish war fought on two fronts. One front was a series of revolts in the Modos home universe designated the Beta-verse. The other front was in the Alpha-verse. The Syndicate had a series of harassment fleets operating in GCP space.
The science available in the archive maintained by the Agur was a potential goldmine for any force looking for a strategic advantage in a conflict that was rapidly looking to be a protracted stalemate. The Agur were religiously apolitical and refused to grant others access to this information in the belief that the information could lead to the demise of other races.
The GCP had previously petitioned the Agur for access but been denied. Cat had instructed Commodore Ruck to speak with the Agur elders one more time once it was learned the Syndicate had learned of the archive. Cat’s instructions were simple. Let the Agur know that the GCP would offer their protection if for no other reason than to ensure the Modos did not gain access to the Agur database. The GCP required nothing in return but if the Agur were willing the GCP would very much be interested in a simple list.
Cat had become convinced that the worlds being brought forward in time by the Heshe were in fact not random. She believed that each race fulfilled a critical role that the GCP would need in order to prevail in the coming conflict. The list Cat wanted was a list of deceased civilizations and their major technological and cultural achievements. It was Cat’s hope that by piecing together why each specific race was being saved... and why they were appearing in the order they were... that she would learn something valuable. She would be able to better predict what would be necessary to ultimately win… not necessarily against the Modos Syndicate but against a greater threat... against the Uruk.
“So they will provide the limited information we’ve requested?”
“In a manner of speaking… yes,” Jason said cryptically.
Cat leaned forward. “And?”
“Admiral, I’m having a problem gaging the Agur response. They seem to want to help us but…”
“But what Commodore?”
“Admiral, I believe the Agur want to meet you personally to deliver the information you are requesting,” he paused before continuing, “further they have asked that your father accompany you.”
Cat was taken back. “Jason you know damn well my father is dead and has been since before I came out of stasis on Mars… surely you explained this to them?”
“Indeed I did Admiral. Their reply was your father is to come with you or they will not share the information.”
Cat stood and walked towards the floating holographic display. “Send a shuttle when you get here. We’ll talk more when I’m onboard the Mador. Kimbridge out”
***
Captain Nicked-Tail stood on the gangway of the main fighter bay aboard the Syndicate Dreadnaught Tsunami. The MS Tsunami was three hundred thousand metric tons of pure killing machine. It sported twenty eight high-capacity rail-guns each capable of accelerating a depleted uranium shell at a sizeable fraction of the speed of light in under a second. In addition there were forward and rear mounted plasma weapons that were powered by independent high capacity fusion reactors. Each of the beams could generate energies that dwarfed the surface temperature of most suns. None of these weapons systems were as impressive however as what the captain was looking at right now.
Below him stood eighty-six cybernetically enhanced Modos pilots and the most advanced Syndicate fighters ever produced. These ships were being test deployed for the very first time on the Tsunami and Captain Nicked-Tail was determined that those tests would prove decisive.
He crossed his Bearephant’s arms behind its back. In a loud clear voice he addressed the pilots below. “You have today, the greatest privilege bes
towed upon a soldier- You have an opportunity to show the universe what you are made of,” he paused to let his words echo in the vast room. “The battle you go to fight today is bigger than your individual lives. You fight today for our fundamental right to dominate others. To impose our will on others. Failure to dominate is to be dominated in turn. Failure to dominate is to have others impose their will on us. That is not a future I choose for myself or my progeny.”
He leaned slightly forward. “Today you go into battle to secure a world that may end this war for us. You will not fail because you are Syndicate soldiers- Make the Chairman proud. That is all- happy hunting!”
A few minutes later eighty-six prototype fighters streamed out of the launch bays of the massive dreadnaught on their way to a small world fractionally larger than Mars… A world populated by a curious race called the Agur. The jump-capable fighters lined up on their leader in a pristine formation and disappeared into a single massive hyperfold.
***
Commander Ben padded into the Captain’s mess on four of his six legs. He had received the invitation to dine in the Captain’s mess during his normal duty shift on the bridge and was instructed that the Admiral sought the pleasure of his company as soon as his shift was done.
The D’rlalu power systems engineer was looking forward to a top-notch dinner. Ben’s friend Lt. Rebecca Ann Kirkland was the Yorktown’s Executive Chef and coincidentally the captain’s wife. She was widely considered the best cook in the fleet and had a Michelin Star to attest to her skill.
Much to his surprise the small dining room was empty save for the single woman sitting at the head of the table. As he went to salute Admiral Kimbridge she waved him off and instead motioned for him to accept a seat near her.
“I’ve asked the others to give us a few minutes,” Cat said without preamble.
Ben took the offered seat, his curiosity roused. “Admiral?” he asked.
She shook her head and spoke haltingly. “For this… I’m just Cat" she paused again, "Ben… I need my father.”
Chapter Two – Agur Prime...
Cat watched as the medical nanites transformed the appearance of one of her closest friends. The cybernetic D’lralu Ben was a hybrid being. Most of his brain was D’lralu but it was fused with a human positronic AI that contained the memory engrams of her deceased father, Doctor Robert Kimbridge. It was all of her father that remained. His body was a carefully crafted robotic facsimile currently configured to appear like a D’lralu. That was about to change.
As the nanites worked, the six-legged D’lralu was slowly transformed into a vaguely humanoid shape. It was, for Cat, disturbing on a deeply emotional level. She was tempted to leave the medical bay. Seeing her friend morphed into a semblance of her father, Robert Kimbridge, was not easy. She had always known the AI portion with her father's memories were there but it was easy to forget given Ben’s otherwise dynamic and gregarious personality. The man she knew as Ben was in many ways the polar opposite of her sedate father.
Slowly Ben's D'rlalu canine visage changed to that of Robert Kimbridge. He appeared to be a much younger version of the father she remembered seeing last. His hair was darker. The man she remembered had been on the high side of sixty when she had last seen him. This man appeared to be perhaps thirty. Her grandmother's Mexican heritage was reflected in the slight olive cast to his skin tone. He was, Cat had to admit, a handsome man. She had thought that the sight of her father would bring back painful memories but the opposite was in fact true, she realized. This was not her father... This was Ben her friend and subordinate.
The now human looking cyborg looked up from the medical table that was actively monitoring the work the nanites were doing to his body.
"Are you going to be alright?" Ben whispered so softly that only Cat's enhanced hearing could catch it.
She smiled and placed a hand on his shoulder. "I was over my shock before you began. How are you doing?"
"Generally okay. My tongue feels a lot smaller than I'm used to. We'll need to head to the mess hall after we are done here."
"Are you hungry?" Cat said with a sudden sense of concern. The nanites carrying out the procedure should have been drawing their power from the medical table. If they were drawing it from Ben instead there could be a real problem.
"No, not at all," Ben answered. "I just want to make sure they kept the chocolate taste receptors when they reconfigured the tongue."
Cat smiled and squeezed his shoulder. It was classic Ben. Cat instantly felt better. Her father was her father but this man... this man was Ben.
The medical table hummed briefly and then beeped. The procedure was complete. The stasis field that held Ben was released and the engineering officer sat up and stretched.
“Well everything seems to be in the right place… that’s always a good sign” the commander said as he slid off the table. The ever efficient nanites even created a perfectly tailored uniform for which Cat was immeasurably grateful.
“How do you feel?” Cat asked.
“Never better, Admiral” Ben said as he experimentally rolled his shoulders and arms. “As I said everything seems to be in the right place. I just wish I knew why the Agur insisted on this.”
As the two left the medical bay they headed towards the main hanger that held the shuttle that would carry the two of them to the GCP Mador. The corridors on the Yorktown were busy this time of day as the ship transitioned from second shift to third. Cat was glad she had insisted Captain Kirkland issue orders to the crew to observe nothing more than 'simple courtesy' when she passed crewmen in the corridors. It made traveling the length of the ship easier for all involved.
“We’ll know more once we get to Agur Prime," Cat said. The door to the turbo lift they had been riding opened onto the hanger deck. The sight of the wide open space with the polished white walls and floor never failed to take Cat's breath away. The Yorktown was a beautiful ship. The air had the slight tinge of oil that seemed a natural part of all hanger decks.
The Mador's shuttle, the Dakota, sat in the middle of a lighted rectangular section of the floor not fifty feet from the turbo lift door. The illumination undulated in a flowing pattern that followed exterior edge of the rectangle. The undulation indicated the shuttle was preparing for an imminent launch. Someone entering the hanger deck would be able to tell immediately which of the several dozen small ships was getting ready to depart.
The shuttle to the Mador was necessary because Admiral Faragon had another mission planned for Ken Kirkland and the Yorktown. Cat knew that the Mador's shuttle would not be leaving without her. Nevertheless she quickened her step to hurry to the shuttle. It was not as dignified as her newly promoted executive aid, Sergeant Stone would have liked to see. However, the years of conditioning as a junior officer were hard to break even when one was supposed to be a flag officer. The fact that she appeared to be in her thirties did little to help. Fortunately Sergeant Stone was already on the Mador and would not see her 'quick time' to the waiting shuttle. Ben grinned as he joined her in a quick and deliciously undignified jog to the shuttle.
The shuttle itself was a new design. It featured a special singularity power source that was actually a logical extension of the technology employed in SJ rounds. A stable microscopic hyperfield conduit was opened to a black hole. The resulting energy flow was channeled into a repulsive hyperfield containment vessel and stored for later use. The system was a fraction of the size of a fusion reactor but could provide orders of magnitude more power. The result was greatly enhanced shielding and a single anti-proton beam weapon that rivaled the Yorktown’s in sheer power. The power system was a small clone of similar system recently installed on both the Yorktown and the Mador.
The shuttle’s pilot was a Lieutenant Mike Cochrane. He was the nephew of the Yorktown’s chief engineer Commander Thais Figarero. Cat had met him briefly while he was a fresh cadet in the academy and she was a mere commander. He had fallen all over himself when Commander Thais introduced him to h
er. To a mere cadet, especially one who was less than a week in the academy, meeting an officer of rank O4 and above was tantamount to meeting a mythical demigod. The fact that the name Catherine Kimbridge had even then been a thing of legend did not help. That had been several years ago. The young man had grown a lot in that time.
“Welcome on board, Admiral,” the Lieutenant said crisply while executing a smart salute. “Flight time to the Mador should be just under thirty minutes. If you and the commander will take your seats we will be cleared to launch momentarily.”
***
The trip to the GCP Mador was generally uneventful. For Cat, seeing Jason face to face was a delight. The two had grown increasingly close over the years. Unfortunately, theirs was destined to be a strange relationship. So long as Cat was in Jason’s immediate chain of command they voluntarily put their relationship on hold. When, due to the nature of their respective assignments, Jason reported directly to Admiral Faragon then the two felt free to fraternize. Regrettably, since the encounter with the Modos Syndicate, Jason’s chain of command had included Cat. That didn’t mean that they didn’t enjoy each other’s company… especially when duties conspired to allow them to see one another. The trip to Agur Prime involved eleven hours of travel through a trans-dimensional hyperfield conduit between universes. Plenty of time for friends to enjoy each other’s company.
Cat, Ben, and Sergeant Stone were standing on the Bridge of the Mador towards the rear deck. Jason was seated in the captain’s chair. He leaned forward to scan the holographic forward view screen when the Mador exited the hyperfield corridor in the Agur Prime system. Being able to pick and choose where they entered and emerged between universes was turning out to be a major advantage for the GCP. It meant they very rarely had to fear the type of exit point ambush the GCP typically set for the Modos. It helped to offset the advantage in sheer numbers that the Syndicate had.
