The Deadly Pact

by Michael Freeport

  “How did humans defeat two thousand of our ships with only a single Woduur manufacturing ring?”

  “I don’t know. I’m not sure what a Woduur manufacturing ring is.”

  Leader turned to Tolon for a moment before returning its attention to Hanlon. “What do you know of the artifact with which you’ve interfaced?”

  Hanlon sighed. She’d hoped the Ulef wouldn’t ask her this. Rather than be deceptive, she said, “I know several things about the artifact. I will cooperate with your investigation, but only once my people are released.”

  Tolon said, “There, you see, Leader. She speaks truly on all points. No need for coercion and no intentional withholdings on her part.”

  Leader bounced a few times on its spindly legs and then said, “Very well. Humans of Lashmere are considered neutral. They are to be released from captivity and treated as non-affiliated guests before being returned to their people. Captain Hanlon, you will cooperate with our investigation of the artifact.” Leader turned and stepped out of the room.”

  Tolon came up to Hanlon. She could swear he, it, was actually excited. “Your truthful assurance of cooperation had the intended effect. We will return to my ship, where I will see your people freed and relocated to comfortable individual rooms. We rarely have visitors, but we can accommodate them when necessary.”

  The trip back to Tolon’s ship was silent. She tried to engage Tolon in conversation several times, but he cautioned her to remain silent. Once they were back aboard, Hanlon said, “What’s going on, Tolon, why were you so worried about me speaking back there?”

  “Leader’s ship is filled with Leader’s subordinates. If you had spoken in a way that made Leader think you were somehow manipulating me, or had somehow fooled the compliance chair, then we both would have been detained. Leader is a very suspicious being and has risen to the highest position of authority within our society by being a highly motivated and individualistic being. This results in a distrustful and suspicious nature. Once we’d achieved our goals in speaking with Leader, it was best to say nothing further.”

  Hanlon nodded. “I understand. Would you take me to my people, please?”

  “Of course. Follow me, Captain.” Tolon led her from the shuttle bay past the door she thought led to the cells and stayed within the gray, unevenly lit passageways until they came to another door, outside of which a lone Ulef stood. “The passageway beyond this door is where your people are housed. They are free to come and go as they choose and they can interact with this one,” Tolon indicated the Ulef standing at the door. “It will assist you with anything you need.”

  Hanlon stepped forward, and, for the first time since being taken prisoner, the door opened at her approach. Several of her crew were standing in the passageway talking excitedly. They saw her and someone shouted, “Sir! Captain Hanlon’s back!”

  Tolon said, “Captain, I must depart. Make yourself comfortable and rest. In a few hours, we will resume our investigation of the artifact.”

  “Thank you, Tolon. I’ll see you soon.” She watched the Ulef depart.

  Watkins ran out of one of the rooms. “Captain! We were worried.” His gaze fell to her hand. “What happened? Did they surgically reattach your hand somehow? Why is it gray?”

  “Long story, but suffice it to say they’ve been taking good care of me. How’s the rest of the crew?”

  “We’re in good shape. We’ve only been here for a short time, but we’ve already requested better food, mattresses, and changes of clothing. What have you been doing?”

  Hanlon quickly recounted the last couple of days and her experiences to Watkins.

  “Looks like diplomacy is working, Ma’am,” Watkins observed. “Did they really grow you a new hand?” He peered at her hand some more, seemingly fascinated by it.

  “That’s what they tell me.” She held the hand up. Watkins reached out and took it in his.

  “It feels totally normal. Do you have the same sense of touch?” He released her hand, but he still looked at it almost apprehensively.

  “It feels totally normal. The only difference I can detect is the color. Everything else seems ok to me. I wish they’d chosen a more festive color, though. Dark gray wouldn’t have been my first choice.”

  Watkins grinned and said, “It’s good to have you back, ma’am. We set aside a room for you. The rooms all have separate facilities. There are changes of clothes in every room as well. I don’t even want to imagine how much water we’re using right now. All of us were pretty desperate for a real shower.”

  Hanlon peered into the room Watkins had indicated. There was a narrow bed and a change of clothes. She went inside and heard the door shut behind her. She was alone in her room. She quickly stripped off and got cleaned up and changed.

  As she returned to the passageway, Tolon was there again. “Tolon, I’m surprised to see you. What’s going on?”

  “Some of your people have arrived in this star system,” Tolon said. “Accompany me to the bridge so we can communicate with them.

  Hanlon nodded and said, “You’re in command until I get back, Watkins.”

  She followed Tolon through a maze of corridors and rooms until they walked into a wide space with several Ulef standing at consoles. A huge window looked out between the two forward structures of the battleship. Ulef ships were roughly shaped like horseshoes with a large rounded section at the back that housed engines and power generation. The forward spars housed weapons, defensive systems, and sensors. She waited patiently until Tolon tapped a console near where she was standing. The window changed to show a strange symbol moving across what was obviously a representation of the system where they were. Two other symbols were moving around the perimeter of the system.

  “It’s a recon, Tolon. I don’t think they have hostile intentions.” Hanlon said. She felt a surge of hope filling her. “Can we communicate with them?”

  “Yes.” Tolon tapped at his console for a moment and then said, “Your people are responding.”

  Hanlon’s heart surged when she saw Aden Patho, wearing Captain’s stars, no less, displayed on the huge window.

  His face registered shock when he recognized her. “No way!” he exclaimed. A huge smile spread across his face. “Captain Hanlon!”

  Hanlon felt her face stretched in a smile as she said, “Alive and well, Captain.” She felt positively giddy. “There are a lot of survivors from the expeditionary force who are guests of the Ulef.” She turned to address Tolon. “Can we have them shuttled to Captain Patho’s ship?”

  “We can, but you must remain behind to assist in the investigation of the artifact,” Tolon said.

  “You’re about to have house guests, Captain. Fifty-four, to be exact.”

  “Is Admiral Drogue with you,” Patho asked.

  “No, he was killed at L262. We are the only survivors. Fortunately, the Ulef didn’t leave anyone stranded.”

  Patho’s face shifted into an unreadable mask. “We have a lot to tell you, Captain, and I’m sure you have a lot to tell us. Why do you have to stay here?”

  Hanlon retold the pertinent parts of her negotiations with Leader, only briefly glossing over her interface with New Dawn.

  Patho said, “We’ve detected a strong signal in the system originating from a station orbiting the gas giant that seems to be mimicking human brainwaves. It made it impossible for us to detect you and the other survivors.”

  “I believe that’s the New Dawn causing that, and I’m staying behind to investigate it. Take the survivors back to Lashmere and tell the admirals that the Ulef are no longer hostile to humans.”

  A short time later, Patho received three shuttles, filled with the survivors of the expeditionary force. After being told again that she would need to remain with the Ulef, but that they were no longer hostile to humans, he took his small ship and departed.

  As Gorgon left through a jump ring, Tolon turned to Hanlon and said, “Now, we will investigate the artifact. Your connection to it will be unblock
ed.” He tapped a few controls, and Hanlon’s consciousness was suddenly flooded with what she could only describe as a double awareness. She was still Hanlon, standing on the bridge of Tolon’s ship, but she was also hovering in space, riding a tiny momentum in a ballistic orbit of the gas giant. Her senses took a moment to clear. Then she heard New Dawn.

  Neural interface reestablished with operator nine-one. Status update. Systems are functioning at thirty-one percent. Self-repair resources are exhausted.

  Hanlon tried to tune her senses, so she felt like she was herself, but her mind felt like it was being sawed in half. “What purpose does New Dawn serve?” She was aware of Tolon standing quietly to one side. She was certain it was observing every aspect of the interchange.

  New Dawn is an experimental design that causes interference with the brainwaves of electrochemical life forms. New Dawn also serves as a seed ship, capable of terraforming a wide variety of planets to be habitable by humans.

  “New Dawn is a ship?”

  Affirmative.

  “Give me a systems status report.”

  Propulsion is currently at seventy percent optimal. Hull integrity is at one hundred percent. Life support functioning at seven percent. Weapons systems are non-functional. Experimental neural wave transmitter is functioning at one hundred percent. The onboard computer system is functioning at fifteen percent. Overall effectiveness of New Dawn rated at thirty-one percent.

  “Tolon, I think I’m going to need to go aboard.”

  “I anticipated this, Captain. A shuttle will take us there.”

  Hanlon followed Tolon back to the boat bay. Once aboard the shuttle, she addressed New Dawn once again. “Why was New Dawn left with the Ulef?”

  Species Ulef were intended to be the caretakers of humanity’s final weapon against the Alliance. Ulef agreed to maintain custody of the ship until a compatible human was found to retake control.

  “How does the New Dawn represent a weapon against the Alliance?”

  New Dawn interferes with brainwaves of any race that uses an electrochemical system for cognitive function. An energy field is projected to halt aggressive actions and to encourage the peaceful departure of the area.

  “Tolon, can you hear the ship when it responds to me?”

  “No, Captain Hanlon. We are eager to discover the function of the New Dawn.”

  Hanlon relayed what she’d learned. “I think the Ulef and humans have been allies in the past.”

  “So it would seem, Captain.” A buzz and light appeared on the console of the shuttle. “I am receiving an urgent message. Odd.” Tolon tapped at his console for a moment. “One of our allies is an observer within the Alien Alliance. He has apparently observed that the Alliance has made a pact with the Woduur to force humanity’s surrender.”

  “New Dawn might be able to protect them,” Hanlon said. “Do you think Leader would allow us to take New Dawn to Lashmere?”

  “I believe so, as long as I accompany you with my ship.”

  Hanlon nodded and said, “Let’s get started, then.”

  Chapter 18

  Admiral Misato heard feet pounding in the hallway outside his office. He looked up sharply. People usually didn’t run in the headquarters building. The feet stopped outside his door, followed by a hurried knock and the door opened to admit a lieutenant, who was breathing hard. “Sir! Would you please come down to the tactical center?”

  Misato stood, read the officer’s name tag, and started towards the officer. “What’s going on, Lieutenant Ellison?”

  “We’ve detected something coming from the Xalcek system. It looks like a fleet. We have it on the long-range sensor array.”

  Misato started moving quickly towards the tactical center. A few minutes later, he came in through the main entrance. He stepped up to the massive round plot that dominated the center of the room. It showed everything that was being tracked by the hugely sensitive sensor system that was made up of hundreds of satellites seeded through the Lashmere system.

  A single contact was moving from Xalcek towards Lashmere. He saw it was nearly a quarter of the way to Lashmere. “Why didn’t you tell me about this sooner? They must have been on the way for hours.”

  “No, sir. They’re moving much faster than anything we’ve seen from the Alliance. They’ve been underway for less than an hour.”

  Misato stared at the junior officer in shock. “They’ll be here in three hours.” The lieutenant nodded. “Send out an alert to prepare the fleet and our system defenses. Do we have contact with Admiral Stokes right now?”

  “No, sir,” Ellison said. “He’s in transit for his third hop. It’ll take at least an hour after he arrives before he gets the next comm node online. We probably have about an hour and a half until he makes contact with us.”

  “And another thirty minutes until he can jump back into the system,” Misato finished.

  Ellison nodded. His features were grim. “It’ll be close.”

  “What’s the composition of the fleet the Xalcek are sending towards us?”

  “Sensors are being hindered by the technology they’re using to travel so fast. Whatever it is, it has an awful lot of mass. We aren’t able to see individual ships yet. As they get closer, we should he able to get a better look at them.”

  Misato nodded. “Prepare our system defenses to defend against a large fleet. Put our ground forces on high alert as well, just in case we end up with enemy forces planetside.”

  Time passed tensely in the command center. Reports came in and out. The system defenses were as ready as they were going to get. The drone carriers had been repositioned to meet the incoming forces and the fleet deployed inside the asteroid belt in four distinct battle groups, each under a separate battleship. The drone platforms and carriers were ready to blunt any attack made by the Alliance. Observed fleet strength had given them an idea of how strong the Alliance truly was. Their defensive doctrine had been drawn up with an eye toward defending themselves against just such an attack.

  When the incoming enemy fleet crossed the fifty light year boundary, they started to get better resolution on the incoming ships. There were about three hundred ships, but seventeen of them were massive.

  Admiral Misato was talking to Admiral Brand, who was on the Lashmere space dock. He’d been on an open comm channel to the command center since the contact from Xalcek started its approach. They were trying to figure out what kind of ships they might be facing.

  “I think we should try to strip off all of the smaller ships first,” Brand said.

  “I’m inclined to agree. Once the ships lose their escorts, we can concentrate our fire against just a few of them,” Misato said. He checked the time. “Any word from Admiral Stokes, yet?”

  “No, sir,” Ellison said. “He’s at least thirty minutes overdue, sir. Even if he leaves as soon as he gets word from us, he can’t make it back before the Alliance force arrives.”

  “Very well. Let me know as soon as he contacts you.”

  Twelve minutes later, Stokes contacted Lashmere Headquarters.

  “Admiral, we have a situation,” Misato said without preamble.

  “What’s happened?” Stokes’ face turned from happy to grim in a flash as he took in Misato’s demeanor.

  “There’s what looks like a large fleet coming in from Xalcek at extraordinary speed. For some reason, the Alliance has decided to launch an all-out attack. They have seventeen massive ships that may be Woduur ring ships like the Aeternum. Our sensor resolution is getting better as they get closer.”

  Stokes' eyes narrowed in concentration. “I’m making preparations to bring my fleet back to Lashmere, but it’ll be thirty minutes at least if I cut the safety margins to a minimum.”

  “Very well, Franklin. Get back here as soon as you can. We will definitely need your strength.”

  “If they’ve brought rings like the Aeternum, they might be vulnerable to our torpedoes and mines. Energy weapons will be less effective. Also, ships like Aeternum woul
d be an odd choice. Aeternum wasn’t heavily armed. Perhaps the Woduur have a variant that’s specialized for combat.”

  “They wouldn’t bring them unless they thought they could use them against us,” Misato observed.

  “You’re probably right.” Stokes looked at someone on his bridge and nodded. “My jump is ready. I’ll be there as soon as possible.”

  Misato said, “Very well, Admiral. See you soon.” Stokes’ face vanished from the monitor. “How long until the Alliance fleet arrives?”

  “Nine minutes,” Ellison said.

  “Fine. Set all of our system defenses to strict emissions control in four minutes. I don’t want the Alliance picking them up from a stray signal leaking out.”

  “Strict EMCON in four minutes, aye, sir,” Ellison replied before turning to key the orders into his comm console.

  Fleet Admiral Coffee entered the command center. He looked at Misato and said, “I’ve spoken with President Mitchell and the Counselor of War. If we can negotiate, we’ll do our best, but the Alliance will be required to leave Lashmere.”

  Misato nodded and said, “Aye, sir. I’ve got our defensive perimeter set. We should be able to see them off.”

  The minutes passed with a torturous slowness. Three hundred seventeen ships appeared at the edge of the Lashmere system. Seventeen Woduur ring ships made up the center of their fleet. They were flanked by three hundred Alliance ships ranging from scouts to battleships.

  “Sir, I’m getting a comm request from one of the Alliance battleships.”

  “Put it up, Lieutenant,” Misato said.

  A being was displayed from its shoulders up. It looked vaguely human, albeit with an overly large head on a spindly neck. The skin was a human-like pinkish hue. Where a human would have a nose, there was a narrow horizontal slot that appeared to open and close of its own volition as the being spoke. There was no visible hair, and the eyes were vividly purple in color, arranged in a binocular fashion, but too high and close together to appear human. Misato found the face unsettling to look upon.

  “I am Commander Machast of the Alliance Military Council. I have brought our Woduur allies to arrange your unconditional surrender.”