by Will Crudge
“Wow!” Trixie’s voice emerged from the small device. “I never knew that Zodiac voice modules had AI ports!”
“That’s the voice module for that fucking panther?” Nicolas asked with his head slightly tilted.
Jack nodded with a smile. “Why keep either of the prisoners alive, when we have our own UAHC Military AI embedded in a Zodiac’s module? Now she can access all of her tokens, and even activate her distress beacon.”
Nicolas/Zedd’s eyes went wide, and his draw dropped. “That’s how the Cerberus was tracked!”
“I’m not following brother.” Charlie stated with a shake of his head.
“That bitch… Ensign Alba… The treacherous War Master that infiltrated my crew. She must have activated some kind of beacon or coms from the other panther’s module. It lead those fuckers straight to us!” Nicolas asserted.
Jack just nodded. “Our captive was too weak from the vacuum exposure to activate it herself. It’s too dangerous to have a Zodiac alive onboard, wouldn’t you say?” He glared at his brother and former Commodore. But Nicolas just grit his teeth and let out a forced laugh.
“I guess Stockholm syndrome didn’t suck you in, did it?” Charlie laughed. “I suppose I’ll have my men flush them out of the airlock before the smell sets in.”
“Why bother?” Jack said with a sinister smile. “Let them marinate. Then the UAHC cleanup crew can enjoy the aroma!”
All three brothers began to laugh hardily for several moments before Charlie caught his breath to speak. “I must say, little brother, you are one evil motherfucker!”
“What can I say? You two are bad influences!” Jack shrugged with his arms cocked and his palms facing upward. “What’s even worse, is that I killed them with kindness.”
“How so?” Nicolas said with one eyebrow cocked.
“Let’s just say… I wouldn’t drink the water on board for a few more hours!” Jack winked.
A Hunter Named Katherine
Location: Civilian Endurance-Racer, Dominator, Cockpit
Date Time: Post Interstellar 10/20/4201 0234HRS Titan Habitat Local
System: Sol System, Mid Region
“I have to admit… I didn’t believe for one second that the beacon would ever go active.” Marbles said with no small measure of annunciation. The former Crimson infantry drone had no facial expressions to augment his words, so tended to speak with enthusiastic inflection.
“I kept telling you, never lose faith!” Katherine said with a hardy grin. A strand of long thick blonde hair fell forward from behind her ear, so she tried blowing away from her mouth. Both of her hands were gripping the steering yoke of the small ship tightly. Her dainty knuckles went white with from her strong grip. She dared not use her hands to flip her hair away. The racing vessel’s insane velocity made for a stiff response from the controls. The purpose built long-range racing skiff had fly-by-wire system as a rule. But the actuators in the steering yoke applied back pressure to the controls at high speeds. It was designed to make a pilot work hard to pull of vector changes at blinding speeds, lest the ship be torn apart from the g-forces. Most small racing craft had inertial dampening, but there were regulations to restrict their usage. The pilots were expected to endure harsh g-forces during a race, so the inertial dampeners only engaged when conditions were life-threatening.
“Do you need me to get that for you?” Marbles asked with a sarcastic tone.
“Yes, mommy!” Katherine replied. The shiny polished arm of the humanoid drone reached over and carefully moved the sliver of hair back behind her right ear.
“There you go!” Marbles said, as if her were trying to project a profound sense of accomplishment. “That’s the first time I’ve touched your hair without getting beaten over my head with a wooden sword!”
“That just means I’m charging interest… The total payment will be due at our next training session!” She jibed. All she heard was the familiar metallic clank noise that Marbles made when he performed a face-palm gesture. “Don’t scratch your finish! I spent days polishing you up after we stripped off all that old paint!”
“It’ll buff out.” He replied with a monotone voice. “I figured you’d just have to polish me back up after you battered me with the sword anyway.”
Katherine didn’t respond. She was focusing on the faint blip on the ship’s HUD. She only prayed that the g-forces wouldn’t loosen the hard-wired connection between the HUD and Marbles’ auxiliary port. After all, it was he that was the tracking device… The HUD was just for her reference. But the signal was so weak that she didn’t want to risk losing it all together.
“My internal mapping data may be decades out of date, but I believe they’re heading for that orbital habitat near Titan.” Marbles chimed.
“How sure are you?”
“99.96% probability.” He replied confidently.
“You sure they’re not heading for that massive shipyard?”
“Very sure. They’re in a UAHC Frigate, but the main fleet has long since left the system via Tangine. If they were going to link up with their fleet, then they’re heading in the wrong direction.” Marbles noted.
“Why in the hell would they do that, knucklehead?” She scoffed. “That dude is Crimson through and through, but he’s not an idiot. The last thing he would want would be to roll up on a UAHC fleet in a stolen UAHC frigate!”
“I get that, dear! I was just making a point as if it weren’t him. The fact that he’s had that same suit of armor for more than ten years is fascinating. I only gave it a 1.23% likelihood that he’d have the same suit for five years, let alone a decade.”
“Well, it’s not like he’s part of the rank and file. He was sent to kill or capture War Masters in UAHC controlled space. As a result, I was left stranded… My only friends were you and Trixie… He took her from us, and he’s going to pay dearly for all of it!” She spat. Her blue eyes flared brightly. Marbles picked up on it immediately. If he had a skin, it would be crawling. Humans aren’t supposed to have glowing eyes.
“Calm down, Kat.” He said softly. “Whatever that monstrous energy inside you is, it’s going to come out if you don’t keep calm.”
She took a long meaningful breath, and then released it slowly. Marbles scanned her vitals and noticed her heartrate slow a bit. He didn’t have any means to measure her adrenaline levels, but he wished he did. Deploying nano-bots would do no good. Her body would fight them off, or just burn out, before they even penetrated her epidermis. All he could do was stay the course.
He wondered if she would have survived on her own. If anything had triggered her adrenal glands to any significant extent, then she wouldn’t have anyone to talk her down. He knew she was a ticking time-bomb if she didn’t make it back to her own kind. But she was hell-bent on revenge. All he could do was be there for her until she satisfied her vengeance… If it didn’t kill her first.
She had given him a purpose beyond killing. She had built him up from a life-less combat drone, and granted him the tools he needed to become sentient. He owed her too much to abandon her when she needed him the most.
But then again, he figured... He needed her just as much as she needed him.
A Friend in Need
Location: Blood-Reaper, Docking Bay, UAHC Destroyer, Beast
Date Time: Post Interstellar 10/20/4201 0234HRS UAHC Standard Zulu
System: Interstellar Space, Slip-Space
“Jimma?” Kindle, the ship’s NAV system, said. “You need to get some rest.”
The exhausted War Master knew she was right, but she couldn’t let herself relax. She was determined to be ready for the transition into normal space. From there, she would search the Sol system until Shade was found.
“I know, Kindle. I know.” Jimma huffed.
“Poor Grinder! He’s exhausted, and he’s tossing and turning back there. Your bond is beginning to take hold. He seems to be responding to your stress, dear. I don’t have to remind you that Zodiacs need vast amounts of sleep to main
tain their strength.” Kindle lectured.
“Message received and acknowledged!” Jimma said as she raised her hands up in compliance.
“I’ll wake you in plenty of time to catch some breakfast and get washed up before we transition into normal space.” Kindle said with a nurturing tone. “The Beast’s captain has already launched a slip-space broadcast probe. Forge STC should have us at the front of the line to Tangine.”
“Sounds good, thanks.” Jimma said as she fought back a yawn. She rotated the pilot’s seat to face the berthing area, unstrapped, and stepped down into the main hull. Grinder was splayed out on the deck to the right of the single bed, and his massive legs stretched to the base of the cabinets that lined the tiny cooking area. He let out a long relaxing huffing sound before finally drifted off to sleep.
Jimma just smiled. The half wolf – half wolfhound was an amazing sight. No other Zodiac had been bred beyond their individual species, and Jimma could feel the unique energy that Grinder gave off. Perhaps, she thought, he would be a sign of change for the Guild. Every Zodiac species had their own distinct traits despite their common abilities. They all had amazing strength, agility, and durability that defied biology. Panthers tended to be patient. Wolves tended to be aggressive. Tigers were a blend of both, but each to a lesser degree. She knew the traits of cheetahs, leopards, jaguars, and the full pantheon of Zodiacs… But Grinder was something unknown to her.
She let her mind settle as she changed her focus towards preparing for sleep. Now that Grinder’s brainwaves began to shift from alpha to beta waves, she felt her own mind drifting off a well. She hit the pillow, and was out cold in a few moments.
But her dreams flooded in rapidly. She was back on Tangine. She and Kara had just breached into the meat grinder. Crimson spec ops commandos and humanoid battle drones fell at the might of her sword. She had expended her ammunition in the heavy rifle she’d breeched with, and was now fighting hand to hand. But then the rage began to grow from within. She fought it at first, but then her inner defenses began to wane, and brilliant waves of violet light flowed from the deck below. She was enveloped in an aura of pure quantum energy. Energy that flowed across the unknown layers of reality.
She was surrounded by enemy combatants, but she didn’t care. By then, she had already given into the brilliant surge of energy that was using her as a multi-dimensional conduit. Even her advanced genetics could only allow for so much, and the density of her physical body had reached its limits. Darkness took her. She would never have any memories of the explosive release of energy that followed. But her limited ability to survive the energy surge would be her salvation. She lost all mental faculties and blacked out before the energy could build any further. Her mind went black, and the energy discharged in all directions.
But in the blackness of some unknown void an angel would come. A benevolent presence. It illuminated the utter void in which she was immersed. But the angel had a face that seemed familiar.
Kara!
Jimma’s heartrate slowly spiked as she realized what had really happened. She had only remembered fragments… images. She knew Kara had pulled her back from the brink, but not like this… Not from the brink itself!
Only the most highly skilled War Masters had ever achieved such a thing. Leaving one’s corporeal body, and projecting consciousness into the hidden fabric of time and space was rarely achieved.
But Kara couldn’t have, she surmised. She may have felt trace amounts of Val’s genetic heritage within Kara, but not enough to truly manifest any latent abilities…. Especially when her genetic traits had never been fully unlocked. But there she was.
It was Kara.
It all began to make sense, despite her skepticism. Kara was more than just an Unum girl. She had something within her that made her vastly powerful. Something that, she supposed, Darius had unwittingly awakened within her friend. Darius’ own ability to merge deep within all aspects of realty and consciousness had ignited something. Something glorious, but yet terrifying.
Jimma jerked awake. She gasped for air, and then steadied herself. By the time she had wiped the sweat from her brow, Grinder was already standing beside the bed.
“Jimma?” Grinder asked empathetically. “Are you alright?”
She nodded, and then took in a few calming breaths before she spoke. “I had a dream… a vision. My friend K…”
“Kara.” Grinder finished the sentence for her. “She’s something special, indeed.”
“You knew?”
“I sensed it. The smells of her pheromones, the PH levels, all of it. It was the same I’ve always experienced after either a Zodiac or a human has their genetics awakened. It lingers for several weeks.” Grinder explained.
“I had no idea. But she’s never had her DNA tweaked. How is it possible?” Jimma asked. She didn’t expect Grinder to know.
“Darius.” Grinder replied with yawn.
Perhaps Grinder is more intuitive than I thought. Perhaps this is his unique trait? She thought to herself.
“Yes.” Grinder replied to Jimma’s thoughts audibly. Jimma jerked back in surprise. “My gift seems to be similar to Darius’, but to a lesser extent.”
“You read my mind?” Jimma asked.
“Yes, but it’s not always that straight forward. Only the strongest feelings and thoughts you may have on the surface will make themselves clear to me. It doesn’t happen often, but it will be more frequent as our bond grows.” He explained.
“That can be very useful, indeed!” Jimma nodded.
“It’s the main reason I offered to pair with you.” Grinder answered as he tilted his head and winked. “You are highly prone to Primal Rage. My ability to sync deeply with your thoughts and intensions will allow you to control it more efficiently.”
Jimma just smiled. “I’m honored to have you as my mount, Grinder! I was just so emotional when Sasha left, that it’s been hard for me to open myself up to you.” She said as she wiped an emerging tear from the corner of her eye.
Grinder just smiled. His K-9 teeth seemed far less sinister to Jimma than what an enemy may consider. “My family, adopted or not, has looked after the Albas for a very long time… The honor is mine!”
“Thank you, big guy!” Jimma said as she leaned forward and hugged the hulking creature around the neck.
“You’re welcome!” Grinder said as he gleefully accepted the affection. “Now get back to sleep! I’m exhausted!”
“Yes! Get back to sleep, both of you!” Kindle chastised them both. “Reaper is starting to complain about all the emotional wishy-washy stuff that’s going on back there! He’s trying to decalcify some old connections, and he’s already on edge!”
“Sorry, Reaper!” Jimma said. “We’ll try to be quiet.”
“Don’t be quiet! Be asleep!” Kindle spouted once more. Jimma decided the ancient AI sounded like a stern parent. She knew all about having one of those. Growing up with the revered War Master Jep Alba as a father was no picnic.
“Is he still upset? What did he say to my apology?” Jimma asked.
“Human words can’t capture the true spirit of his response… Just be glad he even responded at all!” Kindle replied.
“Understood!” Jimma nodded, as she whipped out a sharp salute. “Laying down now!”
Grinder was already snoring by that point.
Jimma followed suit moments later.
The Mission Begins
Location: UAHC Sloop, Foehammer, CIC
Date Time: Post Interstellar 10/21/4201 0810HRS UAHC Standard Zulu
System: Faust System, Heliopause
The mighty sloop was now oriented at ninety degrees in relation to the massive battle carrier. James put the visual on the main display on the fore-facing bulkhead, and the entire crew drew simultaneous breaths of astonishment. They all huddled behind the command console where David was sitting. Kelley was at her position, which was directly to David’s left and against the starboard bulkhead. Kara stood between them, and the
rest of the crew were jockeying for a vantage point for optimal viewing.
The image of the megaton Air Force ship was breath-taking. Built over five hundred years ago, the mighty ship harkened back to a time when energy shields advanced enough to serve as primary protection. The thick layers of steel armor could fend off most modern weapons with little damage to the primary hull.
The Foehammer slowly drifted towards the twelve kilometer long hull, as the axe-shaped prow of the sloop began to break into the protective energy shielding of the docking bay. But only James gave any notice as he worked the helm.
“Those plates are removable.” David spoke as he pointed to the squared off patched of exterior armored plating of the Star Fury. “Each of those plates are meant to be jettisoned, and can be quickly replaced between battles. They have enough spare plating on board for an entire layer. Beneath that layer, and over top of the most critical portions of the ship, is a layer of reactive armor.”
“What’s reactive armor?” Kara asked. David looked up at her to answer, but found several sets of inquisitive eyes peering back at him.
“It’s got sheets of shaped charge explosives that are oriented directly opposite of the hull itself. When a heavy ballistic round or an armor piercing missile manages to slice through the top layer, it strikes the reactive armor, detonates it, and the inertial energy of whatever it is, and gets simply nullified. It’s one-time use, of course… but they have enough spare segments to replace each panel twice over.” David explained.
“That’s insane!” Corporal Thomas interjected. “I’ve never seen anything like it!”
