Spinward Fringe Broadcast 11

by Randolph Lalonde

  “We are way below tolerance,” Iruuk said. “The Order shouldn’t see us unless we land on their hull. Maybe not even then.”

  The hole Alice made expanded at the last instant and the Clever Dream emerged into normal space. Most of her holographic displays changed to focus on tactical systems. All four of her gunners had checked in, and Lewis took control of the remaining three. The rest of the weapons were at Alice’s fingertips.

  The tactical map populated, and Theodore sat down behind her at the communications station. “Welcome back to the bridge,” Lewis told him. “Maybe you can help me make sense of the distress calls I’m getting.”

  “Oh, there are thousands,” Theodore said as he sat down.

  Alice watched as distress markers started appearing around three planets in the Cefa System. Laceni was one of them, and their destination. “Don’t ping anything,” Alice said. The red distress icons marking ships in need became more detailed, revealing that they were all Order of Eden markers. She set her system to stop putting the icons on top of the tactical data and was relieved to see all but three distress markers disappear. Of the three, two were cargo haulers, one was a civilian interplanetary shuttle.

  “Is the entire Order of Eden Fleet here disabled?” Iruuk asked, helping her sift through the sensor data and gathering more information.

  “I don’t know yet, Fur-Face,” Alice said. “Setting a course for Laceni. Lewis, can you load a probe?”

  “Yes,” Lewis said. A few seconds later he added; “Loaded.”

  Alice activated the probe, turned its cloaking measures on then pointed it towards Laceni, gave it a curvy course that would make it difficult for another ship to track it back to the Clever Dream then launched it. “Probe’s away. Let’s see what these new active sensors can do.”

  It accelerated towards Laceni ahead of the Clever Dream, zigging up for a while then moving in a curve before disappearing from Alice’s sensors entirely. “We’ll be in outer orbit around Laceni in five minutes,” Ute said.

  “Slow down,” Alice said. “I want to know what’s going on before we get in there.”

  The probe appeared on scanners as Alice expected. It was focusing its main scanner array at Laceni, sending high-powered pulses and beams in its direction for three seconds then disappearing again. It would repeat the routine every thirty seconds as it got closer to the planet. The data it sent back in a burst filled much of Alice’s and Iruuk’s screens in. “Oh, my God,” Iruuk said. “The entire Order of Eden fleet is dark here. Their ships are cold. There’s some evidence that many of them have taken damage too.”

  “I see it,” Alice said. “It’s like two battle fleets powered down a few hours ago.”

  “Longer,” Iruuk said. Another burst of data was sent by the probe and he nodded. “I can see it clearer now. Their reactors are completely cold, capacitors drained.”

  “Lewis and I have a solid theory on what happened here,” Theodore said. “There are three battle groups from the Order of Eden in the solar system. A data package came through their hyper transmitter containing an artificial intelligence that triggered their weapons systems, restricted control of their systems, and started combat maneuvers that had their own ships firing at each other. Finally, the fleet around Laceni converged on an Edxi Base Ship, or Brood Ship, we can’t be sure what it’s called officially according to the transmissions, and before the order was given for the Order soldiers to disable their own vessels, it was destroyed. The virus is named Mary.”

  “Does it have anything resembling a personality? Can you tell?” Alice asked, bringing a holodisplay up to see the summary of data Lewis and Theodore were able to gather.

  “I checked,” Lewis said. “Mary is a soulless, evil creature that only attacks Order ships. She’s programmed to make attempts at disrupting Citadel ships as well, but there isn’t as much code pertaining to that, so whoever programmed her didn’t know enough about Citadel operating systems to cause damage at first. She will eventually learn, given the opportunity. I sort of like her.”

  “But she’s not like you,” Alice said.

  “I don’t think she’d be a good conversationalist,” Theodore said.

  “She’s a tool. Nothing more than a spanner or welding torch,” Lewis added.

  “Way to go, Dad,” Alice said, noticing that calling him ‘Dad’ didn’t feel as wrong as it did before.

  “You think this was Captain Valent?” Iruuk asked.

  “Well, he’s probably not the only one to think of using a virus against the Order,” Alice said. “But he might be the only one who wouldn’t care about what the Galactic Courts might do to him for it.”

  “It’s one of the only crimes that can still earn a transgressor the death penalty,” Theodore said. “Then again, most of the Justices are dead now, and though there have been some announcements that the court is being reformed, the new leaders are generally treated with disrespect and suspicion. They’re probably a bunch of crooked bastards, so that’s probably the right attitude,” Lewis said. “So, yeah, way to go Jake.”

  “Coming up on Laceni outer range,” Ute announced.

  Alice enlarged her main tactical view and stared at the crystal clear visual and multi-spectrum readings. It was like a fever dream come true at the same time. Fighters, combat shuttles, corvettes, interceptors, interdictor cruisers, destroyers, battleships, carriers and even a few invasion ships were adrift in all levels of orbit around Laceni. There were millions of strong life readings - people running around aboard the ships, looking for a way to get things up and running.

  The remains of something out of a nightmare, half shredded and tilted against the horizon of the blue and brown world like a thorn, drew her attention for a moment. “An Edxi invasion ship,” she said. It wasn’t her memory, but that of the Exile’s Geist. “The Edxi hate…” a mental flash struck her then. It wasn’t a memory, but a fear and a mental image of a small Geist creature being carved to pieces on a pillar, Edxi who were dressed in fine garb adorned with tiny crystals that sparkled and tinkled together taking turns accepting cuts from the methodical butcher who worked on the living Geist. “Holy crap,” Alice said, catching her breath. “The Edxi hate the Geist enough to make them into a sacrificial meal, and the Geist fear them…” she searched for the word.

  “Mortally?” Theodore offered.

  “Yes, that’s perfect. They have a mortal, primal fear of the Edxi,” Alice felt it then. “There’s one here. A Geist. It’s not strong, maybe it’s far away, but it’s an old one.”

  “So, our cloaking?” Iruuk asked.

  “Worthless if the Citadel ship it’s on is operational. That’s if it can feel me too, and I don’t know the rules, I have no idea if it can tell I’m here, but I know I’m blocking him.”

  “Are you going to be all right?” Theodore asked.

  “I’m fine. It’s not like an attack, more like I can feel it in my periphery,” Alice replied. “Everyone scan for our people, for the Ion Runner.”

  “I have the Ion Runner,” Lewis said, showing a hologram of an Order Carrier holding it in a landing bay on its port side. “It’s aboard the Sagittarius Three. The fools have not closed the outer doors, so we could grapple onto it and pull it right out if we wanted to.”

  “Put us on an evasive course,” Alice told Ute. “Use one burst transmission to send a system status query using the Fleet Control Code for that ship.”

  “Done,” Theodore said. “It is broadcasting its full status on an encrypted signal. The worrying thing is that someone other than a Haven Shore military officer has turned it on.”

  Alice looked over her shoulder at Iruuk and saw that he had located the brig aboard the Sagittarius III using the schematics the fleet captured. “I’m going to wait to perform a focused scan. I’ll time it with the next burst transmission.”

  “Good idea,” Alice said. “What are they doing to the Ion Runner?”

  “Well, there are so many people aboard that the ship is at capacity,�
�� Theodore said. “The Order has managed to turn the life support on, but other than that they have failed to hack its systems.”

  “Oh, but they’re trying,” Lewis said. “It’s connected to another computer that’s attempting to hack in wirelessly.”

  “The Citadel ship,” Alice said, urgently using her tactical system to find the transmission and track it back from the Ion Runner to the Citadel craft. “They have no idea we’re here, otherwise they’d stop, circle around and watch for us to break our cloak.” A line appeared between the Ion Runner and a hidden ship. “There it is, point seven kilometres off the port side of the Sagittarius.” She brought up an interface that allowed her to program instructions into the probe that had entered orbit and remained on hold, cloaked and ready to receive instructions. “I’m going to find out what kind of ship that is. I’m ready. That probe is going to head for where that signal is headed then make a huge mess. Everyone else ready for a quick burst of scanning and transmitting?”

  “What do you want the Ion Runner to do? We can instruct it any way we like, and it has a connection to the Citadel ship,” Theodore said.

  “For Citadel’s operating system to try to hack the Ion Runner, they have to be running some version of Sol Defence’s operating system, right?”

  “We’re detecting something called the Mars Advanced Operating System. It’s a compatible variation of Sol Defence’s older standard, but compatibility is certain.”

  “So, how deep do you think we can get into their systems through that connection?” Alice asked, looking her tactical displays over. She already knew the answer but wanted to see if higher intelligences could find a better one.

  “We could get the model, origin, port of call, and identification data for the Citadel ship,” Lewis offered. “We’ve only seen one Citadel ship we could get that information from so far, the Exile.”

  “We could catch a snapshot of any unencrypted data that’s flowing, but hacking would take too much time. They would track our signal back to us,” Lewis said, sounding disappointed.

  “All right. Open all missile ports, target my point,” Alice said. “We’re going to capture data while we do our bursts. Ute…”

  “Evasive measures,” she said calmly, nodding. “I’ll make sure our missile bays can hit your target too.”

  “Javelins and Saber missiles loaded. The target is soft locked,” Lewis said.

  Alice confirmed that everything was set up properly on her tactical system. The Clever Dream’s five heavy launchers were loaded with cloaked Javelin torpedoes and there were eighty four small missiles ready to fire all at once. They were all seeker types, made to take out shields and strike precise points on enemy ships. Her mine bays were closed, they were too powerful to use when the Ion Runner was so close.

  “All right, ready to send all our signals and disappear,” Alice said. All at once instructions were sent to their probe, a query signal was sent to the Ion Runner, and the Clever Dream’s scanners worked with the probe to perform a high powered scan of the Sagittarius III. Milliseconds later, it stopped and seconds later, they were nowhere near they were when the burst was made.

  “We have basic data from the Citadel ship. It is the Pariah, an advanced exploration ship originally, somewhat similar to a destroyer but with higher power levels,” Lewis said.

  “I can feel him,” Alice said as she felt her mind come under pressure. Her hand lowered to the fire controls and she ran her fingers down the line of buttons that controlled the Saber missiles and Javelins. “Fire everything, destroy that ship.”

  The probe exploded against the front of the ship, blasting it with a focused electromagnetic pulse then ejecting kilograms of nanobots that crawled across the hull, sending faint signals individually that added up to a loud beacon. The Javelin torpedoes disappeared as soon as they left the Clever Dream’s launchers, and Alice watched a widening cloud of Saber missiles as they rushed towards the Pariah.

  The enemy ship returned fire, striking the Clever Dream’s lower aft shields briefly, its countermeasures focused on destroying the flock of missiles Alice sent in its direction.

  “You really have to warn me when you’re firing that many missiles,” Ute said, chuckling.

  The missile bays reloaded. The pressure in her head, as though something was trying to force a blunt object into her skull from above, was mounting. A tear ran down her cheek and she pounded the launch buttons, faintly aware that a whole new volley was loosed. Her fingers flipped the backup switches for the Clever Dream’s beam weapons and the antimatter generator. “Keep us alive, Ute,” Alice said.

  “She’s not all right,” Iruuk said. “Theo!”

  Theodore was there next. “What’s happening, Alice?”

  “This Geist, he’s older, powerful,” she said. “Trying to get into my head. If I do anything…” she ground her teeth together, a mental image of her father appearing vividly in her mind. It was something she didn’t see but imagined several times during his recovery; him being torn apart, replaced piece by piece to replace the framework technology. The Geist put it there. She replaced it, focusing on a memory of her watching holograms of Jacob Valance, the feared bounty hunter, the man she thought was her first father. “You won’t learn anything new about him,” she grimaced. “You won’t survive to tell anyone about me either,” she said. The pressure on her mind alleviated a little for a moment and she struggled to imagine what kind of memory could traumatize such a powerful telepath. There was something in its attempt to break past the barriers in her mind that seemed different from the old Geist aboard the Exile.

  With a gasp, Alice realized what was different about the one she was battling. It only pretended to be old and it had her fooled for a moment. It was actually young, connected to many humans, so it knew something about forcing itself on someone, but it was still acting out of fear. “I’m going to read you,” Alice mumbled, and she felt it flinch back.

  “The beam weapons are ready.” Lewis announced.

  Alice glanced at her holographic display. The Geist wasn’t in her head anymore, she’d pushed it out for the moment. It was doing something else, splitting its attention. The shields of the Pariah were low. “Gunners! Prioritize fire on their weapons!” Alice ordered. “Lewis, let’s hack them. Flood their systems with attempts. Iruuk, I want a hard scan performed in every direction. Watch for more cloaked ships. Theo, if I start doing anything that will hurt the crew besides taking us into combat, then put me into deep stasis.”

  “Are you certain?”

  “That’s an order,” Alice said.

  “Ute, I’m going to try to scare the shit out of that Geist. Get ready to follow it.”

  “Follow?”

  “We’re going to kill it,” Alice said. The small beam countermeasures aboard the Clever Dream were successfully superheating incoming missiles and they had several Order of Eden ships between them and the Citadel ship’s guns. It was still in the same place. “When I tell you, come out of cover. Our antimatter beams are ready?”

  “All three Prometheus Emitters are set,” Lewis replied. “I’m going to show you where to fire, and you’ll keep firing until your scanners tell you that you’ve hit a large biological life form that isn’t human.”

  “With pleasure.”

  The first five Javelin torpedoes struck the Pariah full on, reducing its aft shields to nothing and the forward dorsal shield to minimal levels. Alice ground her teeth and tensed as she felt the Geist return, crushing into the barriers around her mind. She concentrated, closed her eyes, then let it in, focusing on a black space with nothing but her in the middle. The Geist imagined itself as a massive, golden aquatic creature with long tails and broad fins. Alice was youthful, bright eyed, round faced with a mane of bright red hair. She was wearing white, holding a candle. “I’m happy to meet you.” Her imaginary self said, feeling the Geist’s desire to dominate her, its fear, and its growing curiosity. “Welcome, you can probably feel that you’re not the first Geist to visit.
”

  It didn’t give her anything, no specific ideas or specific transmitted thoughts. Alice found it easier to focus. Its attempts to overwhelm her were easing. Alice imagined that the candle in her hands lit up. “Did you know that the smallest flame can start a fire big enough to burn a city? I’m sure you know the names of the flames; worry, regret, anxiety and fear. I’m looking for a teacher, someone to help me with my discipline so I can extinguish them before they burn me.”

  That was it, the attractive lure that turned all his interest towards her. The Geist was vain; it wanted to teach humans. Alice concentrated harder, focusing on the Geist, excluding everything else.

  “I can help you,” the Geist said. “You only need to surrender your mind and your ship.” Alice could feel a crack, just a small opening in its mind from whence its telepathic message came from. She didn’t expect that it would be so easy, so obvious, especially since she was not a telepath, but it was right there as if it was the only star in a vast, dark sky.

  Alice focused on the lie then. “Good!” her girlish self chirped cheerily. “I had a master, but he couldn’t teach me anymore because I ate him!” A pure imagining of her laughing with friends as they tore pieces off of the Exile Geist, celebrating bloody morsels. Iruuk was especially enthusiastic, skipping the knife and digging into the living creature with his long maw, ripping and tearing deeper with urgent savagery. Fear and disgust ruled over the Geist and she grabbed him, gained a full sense of him, could hear his thoughts, see what he was seeing, remember anything she wanted from his mind at will. He was hiding something important, something that pertained to her exactly. Alice dug into its psyche, remembering the lesson with Quan: by taking his mind she would have eventually been able to control it.