Nopileos: A novel from the X-Universe: (X4: Foundations Edition 2018) (X Series)

by Helge T. Kautz

  There was silence for a while, while everyone was thinking their own desperate thoughts.

  “We’re the same,” Seldon put in the first word. “Space junk, I mean.”

  The weapons turrets of the first Paranid ship in the third wing were visibly pointed at the AP Providence. Within the next sezuras, they would come within range of the spacecraft. Faster, if the Paranid altered course even slightly.

  “Call the clam ship, Commander.” Part of Siobhan wondered at the calm that suddenly ruled inside her. While Borman complied, Siobhan tried to keep an eye on both the Paranid and the jumpgate, as well as the CPU ship. The Xenon’s speed had increased and was given by the gravidar as nearly forty percent of the speed of light. “Crazy,” she whispered. Soon, the CPU ship would have traveled the entire stretch to the Delta Gate—it had also traveled insignificantly farther than the AP Providence, but without a jump drive! No spacecraft manufactured in the Community was capable of such acceleration!

  Out of the corner of her eye, Siobhan noticed Ninu pushing forward and stepping in front of the camera. The woman on the video field gasped in surprise. “Ninu?” Siobhan heard Elena Kho cry, but her attention was diverted from the white dot on the gravidar, which she knew was the Paranid spacecraft whose turrets were aimed at the AP Providence; the battleship started a course change at that moment. Ditta Borman, too, had noticed it and gripped the steering rods.

  Inertial compensators howled as the small ship turned and gave reverse thrust. Seldon activated the shields without receiving a direct order to do so. Borman nodded in agreement. “Hurry!” she cried.

  Ninu shot her a glance over her shoulder, “I don’t understand much about it,but I’ve been told that the gate is no longer passable, except by means of our partial jump drive.”

  Of course, the partial jump drive! Siobhan hastily checked the charging status of the converter. The result—even if not surprising—felt like a punch in the stomach: although the energy shields were not yet under load, they already drew so much energy that the jump drive wouldn’t be ready again for two stazuras. Not even a jump into the unknown would work!

  As Borman brought the engines up to full throttle in no time, the compensators howled again. “Jahn—the asteroid laser!” the pilot called. Seldon looked at her in confusion. “Try to hit the turrets, the engines, something vulnerable!”

  The Major knew as well as his superiors that the Paranid ships had shields and had activated them, of course. Nevertheless, he did as he was told. Tiny, invisible sparks flashed in the direction of the attacker, only to fizzle harmlessly.

  Finally, the ray towers of the battleship shined. “Farewell, Elena!” Ninu was just able to scram before the first energy beam arrived. The AP Providence received a blow that severely reduced their shields; the very next hit completely shredded the weakened shields and penetrated to the hull. Everywhere in the ship, the security bulkheads slammed shut; red lights on the console spoke of pressure loss in all sections except the cabins and the cockpit. All holofields and displays flickered, then went out.

  Siobhan found herself on the floor behind her console again. She scrambled to her feet. Only Borman and Seldon were still sitting in their chairs because they had been strapped in. Ninu, Zakk, and Ion, on the other hand, had been hurled into different corners of the cockpit. The dead body of the Kha'ak had also been swept away from Siobhan’s science console.

  “One hundred seventeen percent throttle!” Borman shouted. “Every moment it’s pulling apart our engines, every—”

  The holofields came flickering back. The rear-facing camera showed the big Paranid cruiser, now barely five thousand lengths away from them, and constantly gaining. Again the gun ports flickered. Ninu clung to the armchair in panic; Siobhan, on the other hand raised her hands and held her fingers out so that her palms hovered just above the console. Deirdre!

  The impact came a microsezura later. It was devastating. The engines exploded in an apocalypse of white fire and tore the small ship apart in the middle. Immediately the compensators, power, and artificial gravity field failed. Siobhan felt herself being lifted up and hurled forward as if a giant had kicked her in the back. I’m not afraid! Hot pain ran through her as her hipbone struck the console that was buckling beneath her. Her scream died away unheard in the roaring crescendo of destruction. Any moment the explosive decompression would sweep her away. Soon… She looked up; over the dead console, the stars whirled wildly around. Debris and superstructures were reflected in the distant storm of beam weapons, the blazing blue-white of the engine section passed in front of the cockpit windows and drifted towards infinity.

  No fear, no fear, no…

  Chapter 47

  At the end of your journey, in your final sezura, you’ll get one last chance. The same whether you’re a criminal or a saint: this is the definitive and irrevocable opportunity to do everything right, to give the “good” answers. It will not be an opportunity to spare your life, but to fulfill it. Always contemplate it, because your last sezura is already waiting for you.

  Christiane Hatikvah,

  Thoughts of One Misunderstood

  “The world portal, it signals ‘do not touch me,’ Ele Na!”

  The astronaut looked helplessly at the Boron. Over two stazuras were gone since Somancklitansvt had issued his ultimatum. Meanwhile, the two hundred thirty-four Paranid spaceships filled the cosmos: powerful, threatening shadows that matched their solar orbits with the jumpgate as far as the eye could see. About a dozen of the Paranids had set a course towards #efaa on a high-speed approach, where a cordon of Xenon fighters was slowly fanning out. A murderous fight seemed inescapable.

  When she laid her head back, Elena could sense the clam-shaped silhouette of the Archipelago, which was frozen far, far, above her in an apparent standstill. But where was the AP Providence? She couldn’t find the Argon jumpship anywhere. It had most likely used its jump drive to escape the Paranids.

  Elena turned her eyes back to the Boron. “What does that mean?”

  “Something is taking place and happening first. We must wait and be patient.”

  “We have…” no time, Elena wanted to say. A tiny glint of blue energy field that flared up in the corner of her eye made her pause. Was the gate working again? No, the normal operation of a jumpgate looked completely different. “What’s that?” she whispered. Her heart was thumping as halfway across to the other side of the ring, she made out a compact, dark shape that emerged from the darkness. “Nola Hi!” she exclaimed, as the shadow began to move purposefully toward her and the scientific ethicist. The call bummed in their own helmet speakers.

  “Yes, and yes. It is a Sohnen!”

  “An envoy of the Ancient ones?”

  “No, negative; a repair unit.”

  The approaching box was nothing more than precisely this: a gray, man-sized box with a rounded edges and a grainy surface that resembled the skin of a shark. The footprint corresponded exactly with the dimensions of one of the floor plates of the stargate. With a queasy feeling, Elena and the Boron retreated farther and farther back. The repair unit lowered itself to the bottom plate. The jumpgate shook. Something flashed. Elena winced.

  But the light didn’t come from the Sohnen robot. The fight broke out over their heads! The rest of the spacecraft that had been hanging in the sky like frozen raindrops just sezuras ago now began to move. A few sped up towards the Delta Gate, but the bulk formed an attack formation that was directed at the approaching Terraformer ship. Energy beams also pattered on the unsuspecting Archipelago. “Why are they doing that? The ultimatum hasn’t expired yet!” But of course, the ultimatum had become completely meaningless, Elena realized.

  “Soon—soon,” the Boron chirped. It wasn’t clear who or what he meant by that.” Elena ignited the maneuvering device and started moving toward the dinghy. “Ele Na! Where are you going! Stay here, please—and please!” the Boron pleaded with his little girl’s voice.

  “We have to get back to the Archipelag
o!”

  “We have to stay here, Ele Na! Stay here, star warrior!”

  Intense, white engine exhaust flared from the clam-ship’s engines. It finally reacted to the weapons fire from the Three-eyes and began to move. The helmet radio came into action and Nopileos’s noisy voice sounded.

  “We must veer away, Elena, Ebosirireos insists on it! They won’t fire on you, you’re too close to the gate. We’re going to Ninu to—” a particularly violent energy salvo drowned out the Teladi’s voice in energetic crackling. “—at any profit!” she ended.

  The Archipelago spun around on her axis of rotation and picked up speed, but some of the Paranid spacecraft seemed to be waiting for this and tethered themselves to its her stern. With rapid acceleration, the Archipelago and its pursuers moved farther and farther away from the Delta Gate. Elena’s gaze followed the ships for a moment—and her eyes widened. Out of the darkness of night, the titanic body of #efaa peeled out, accompanied by a great swarm of black mosquitoes riding on bright flames. The old Terraformer CPU was approaching at great speed. The Paranid fleet scattered like a swarm of chickens being shooed away.

  “Nola—the gate, is it working again?” Elena threw a rushed look at the silhouette of the repair unit. Unchanged—no movement. The robot was sitting there like a fat insect. It didn’t stir.

  The Boron answered in the negative. Terrified, Elena had to watch as the battle over her head widened. Powerful energy storms jerked between the swarming Xenon fighters and the Paranid spacecraft. Silent explosions blazed up, debris whirled into infinity while the unaffected CPU ship fell further towards the gate.

  “There you go, they finally have what they wanted,” Elena murmured resignedly.

  Too late, all of it too late!

  A cruise missile escaped from the body of a Paranid spacecraft and hissed toward a seemingly empty point in space. Elena could almost hear the hiss of the projectile. Unexpectedly, almost playfully, the path of the cruise missile intersected with that of a black interceptor a fraction of a second before it reached the previously undisturbed point in the nothingness not far from the jumpgate. The fireball of the explosion blossomed glaringly, and Elena’s visor suddenly darkened.

  She hit the visor with her flat hand: don’t go dark now! She could barely see anything, just the swirling sea of flames that trailed the stricken Xenon like a flaming torch. As if in a trance, she saw the shredding, burning body of the eccentrically rolling Xenon fighter collapse. Towards her. She just barely managed to call the name of the Boron, then the wreck sliced the event horizon of the gate. And disappeared in the bluish glow of the jump horizon.

  Something exploded in Elena’s head, making her groan and curl up. The gate activated even though it wasn’t functional, even though the wreck had struck the wrong side of the event horizon, and hadn’t first passed the dimension anchors!

  “I have, I…”

  “Ele Na! Ele…” For a moment, the visor cleared. A massive, black mass spun toward the gate, flanked by the flickering energy spears of the attacking Paranids. #efaa was way too big for the jumpgate—she would smash it. Any moment.

  Now!

  The dimensional anchors sent massive blue discharges around, searching, groping, caressing the surface of the passing giant ship frantically, but with no less intense caresses.

  “Dannnnaaaaaa!” Elena cried in complete fear, calling the first and last name that came to mind here and now, at the end of her journey.

  The blue light came, caught her head on, shattered her senses, powered through every molecule in her body, but the bright flare of failing nerves was no longer reaching her brain.

  Chapter 48

  I’ll never forget you!

  Martinus Sandas,

  Argon cultural historian,

  Founder of the Goner Movement, died 217

  “We must veer away, Elena, Ebosirireos insists on it! They won’t fire on you, you’re too close to the gate!” Nopileos threw a heated glance at the navigations commander, whose forehead ridges—what was visible through the makeup—suddenly went paler. Two of the Paranid ships had just altered course and directed their weapons turrets at the Archipelago of Swamp Orchids. Beams lashed out, loud static sound ran through the speech connection “We’re going to Ninu—to rush to her aid!” Nopileos shrieked as the shields flared brightly outside. At the same moment, she realized that they wouldn’t rush to help anyone, that the navigations commander had just turned the spaceship on its gyro axis, gave reverse thrust, and started a wild escape. But there had to be a way! She couldn’t leave Elena and her colleague Ninu! “Elena, star warrior, where are you?” No answer. “We’ll return, do you hear? At any profit!”

  “They do not really look like real Teladi, but they are as cowardly as real Teladi,” Uchan t’Scct sneered, who had taken a position next to his Paranid partner with his arms crossed and passively watched the action; incomprehensibly, he seemed to like the situation.

  Kalmanckalsaltt, who towered over Uchan by several heads, directed his three eyes at an angle to the ceiling. “The warriors of the Godrealm of the Paranid will soon end the fight,” he stated, “if the unholy mind ship finds its way to the refuge and Nola Hi once again succeeds in deactivating the jumpgate. Reverend Somancklitansvt will endeavor to limit the loss of face.”

  “The Pontifex will order him back to Paranid Prime anyway,” Uchan said, grinning. Kalmanckalsaltt remained silent at that.

  “We’re leaving them behind! We’re leaving them!” Nopileos heard Ebosirireos triumph. Of course, the navigations commander hadn’t understood a word of the previous exchange, but he probably wouldn’t have cared about it anyway. Because a quick glance at the gravidar and out the cockpit window confirmed his statement: the Paranid assault ships couldn’t oppose the powerful engines of the Archipelago! Even though the cruisers made an honest effort, they soon left them far behind and the groping fingers of their beam weapons faded appreciably. Nopileos wondered why they didn’t fire missiles at them; but the Three-eyes had probably realized that the clam ship of Ianamus Zura would easily escape them through the power of their mighty engines. Eventually, after several mizuras, the ships gave up the chase and dropped back with blazing reverse thrusters.

  When the giant, blurry blip of the CPU ship disappeared from the gravidar sezuras later because it crossed through the Delta Gate and into the retreat, the behavior of the Paranid fleet suddenly changed: almost simultaneously the energy weapons fell silent; a few Xenon fighters that no longer had the chance to cross to the refuge before the—clearly successful—shutdown of the gate passed away in atomic flashes, triggered by a final phalanx of missiles. Then the last weapons went silent. Debris from a half-dozen Paranid ships and twice as many Xenon whirled quietly into infinity, recognizable on the gravidar by tiny blips that soon disappeared. Only a few larger pieces of wreckage still drew thin, white flags on the oval screen.

  “Tsh! What are they doing?” Nopileos hissed. Clearly visible, the long chain of triplet formations now burst open, regrouping themselves—for what purpose, could not yet be recognized. “Ebosirireos, stop! We want to turn back! We must help my friends!”

  “For the epic elegance of truthfulness? Never!,” the navigations commander crowed. “I’m cured of that!”

  “We have never been in danger, oh colleague!” Nopileos countered against his better knowledge, but the navigations commander could not be convinced. The Alpha Gate quickly grew larger and Nopileos’s thoughts spun. Just how was she supposed to convince Ebosirireos to turn back? They had to bring Elena and Nola back on board and make sure the AP Providence was safe—there was simply no other alternative! In a way, she had to agree with Uchan—such a headless flight response wasn’t fitting for any Teladi from Ianamus Zura!

  Even before Nopileos could think of a new strategy, a thin, noisy voice came from the speakers and the central communications screen flared up.

  “Hello? Elena Kho? Does anyone hear us?” The oval face of an Argon appeared, framed by a w
eightless mane of pale blue hair. Despite the disruption of the picture, tangible devastation could be found behind the Argon: shattered consoles, floating debris, and other indefinable fragments.

  “Who… what…” Nopileos began with shock-pale forehead ridges, but was immediately interrupted again.

  “This is Siobhan Norman from the AP Providence, what’s left of it, that is. Does anybody hear us? Please response! We require aid!”

  “Elena Kho is… hello, this is is Isemados… AP Provi… how is colleague Ninu Gardna?” the completely frightened Nopileos stuttered. She felt her hearts beat wildly. Why hadn’t the jumpship gone to safety? Ninu!

  “Well finally!” came the answer. The blue-haired Argon wiped a few unruly strands from her face. “Teladi-san, you should rescue us before the Paranids snatch the profit from your mouth.”

  “Profit? I don’t understand! What about Ninu Gardna?”

  The Argon cast a quick glance over her shoulder. “Got a few scratches like all of us, but she’s breathing. Can you triangulate our position?”

  “Triangulate? Of course, but… Tsh!”

  “But today, yes?” the Argon interrupted again. “Why are you tsss-ing all the time? Hello?”

  Now Kalmanckalsaltt stepped in front of the field. “Forgive the unholy and ignorant Teladi creature. We can help you.”

  “No, no!” Ebosirireos signaled, who understood what was going on even if he didn’t understand the words. Nopileos translated helplessly. Kalmanckalsaltt turned slowly on his hoofs to face the navigations commander and puffed himself up. He didn’t speak a single words, but none were necessary—the gesture alone was enough. “Sssh! The elegance of truthfulness. All right,” the intimidated Teladi snorted through his nostrils. The Paranid turned back toward the monitor.

  Within a mizura, what had happened became clear: the AP Providence had literally broken apart under the fire of the Paranid ships; only the cockpit had withstood the strain, as its structural components consisted of nividium-reinforced diamondoid. At the moment of explosion, the onboard computer had disconnected the cockpit modules, whose environmental system was designed to preserve the life of the crew, if necessary, for several stazuras. Only a few craft had such a complex and costly security device—in a former ship of the diplomatic corps, however, this was a matter of course.