by A. K. DuBoff
As much as Kira didn’t want bad news, they needed that information. The Trols had launched an assault on her home. That meant war.
“Communications are back online!” a comm tech announced from a workstation near the center of the room.
“So are environmental controls!” another tech called out.
A moment later, the lights returned to normal illumination levels, and the flickering on the control panels subsided.
“Status!” General Lucian demanded.
“No reports of damage to the station or personnel injuries,” the comm tech continued. “All mechanical systems check out.”
“Then what happened?” Kaen asked.
“It’s a signal,” Kyle chimed in. “Remote interference.”
“One source broadcasting to Guard assets in this sector of Taran space,” Nia added. “I’ve never seen anything quite like it.”
General Lucian frowned. “What’s the source?”
“It’s originating beyond the border of Empire territory. The closest named system is… the Elvar Trinary,” Kyle replied.
“There’s a scouting sensor array in the vicinity,” Kyle continued.
“I can try to patch in a visual feed,” the comm tech said. “Resolution won’t be good at that range, though.”
“Do it,” Kaen instructed.
A minute passed while Kyle, Nia, and the comm tech tried to resolve the sensor data. Finally, the holographic display at the center of the room illuminated with the pixelated image of a sphere.
“What is it?” Kira asked no one in particular. “A probe?”
Kyle shook his head slowly. “No, a ship?”
Kaen paled. “What’s the scale of this?”
“The diameter is seven thousand kilometers,” the comm tech reported.
Kira nearly choked on her own breath. “That’s the size of a planet!”
“Where the fok did it come from?” Kaen questioned. “How did we miss its approach? The gravity signature alone of something that size would have an effect on the surrounding systems.”
“How in the stars does something that large move?” General Lucian added.
The comm tech worked her mouth. “There’s no record of the object before fifteen minutes ago. I don’t have an explanation. And… the space around it isn’t reacting like it should around an object that size.”
“Shite.” Kaen turned away from the group of officers for a moment. He took a deep breath, then pivoted toward General Lucian. “How would you like to proceed, sir?”
“Send a scout ship on a recon mission. Let’s get some intel on this beast.”
CHAPTER 5
Of all the foking things that could happen… Kaen jogged back to his office.
A reconnaissance ship had been deployed on an intercept course with the Trol planet-ship. They’d have more information soon, but in the meantime, Kaen’s mind ran wild with the awful possibilities for what the Trols could do with a vessel that size.
He’d thought they were done with that particular race of foes—he’d needed them to be. The invasion of his mind was the most personal battle he’d ever had to fight, and knowing that there were more of the beings still out there, stronger than ever, resurfaced those terrible memories he’d tried to forget.
For all their resources, the Empire didn’t have a ship on the same scale. That didn’t mean their weapons weren’t more powerful, but it did make Kaen wonder what else might be lurking out in the depths of space.
More than physical opposition, though, there was the question of the mind. Back when they’d first crossed paths with the Trols, it had appeared that specific neural pathways composed of valteron needed to be present in the brain to create a telepathic receptor, or TR. Only those who’d ingested the mineral and had the TR could be taken over remotely by the alien consciousness. However, in the assault on the Gaelon System, all Guard soldiers present—aside from Kira—had become paralyzed in a telepathic grip.
Based on that experience, it would seem the TR was necessary for long-distance telepathic control, but the Trols had the potential to exert some measure of control over anyone at close proximity. Any ship, any crew sent to intervene, might find itself incapacitated before they had a chance to act, if they got too close.
The obvious answer was to send a ship piloted by an AI, but with the revelation that the Trols could also now hack into the secure Guard network, a ship would likely suffer the same fate as a biological crew.
They have us cornered. Though Kaen hated to admit it, he couldn’t ignore the reality. They were up against an opponent they didn’t yet know how to fight.
But while they tried to find a weakness, there were people in immediate danger.
The alien planet-ship was three days away from the Elvar Trinary at its present velocity, and it would be visible on the system’s long-range scan well before that. Kaen had no interest in finding out what would happen when it reached the system, but until they learned how to stop it, they needed to prepare for the worst-case scenario.
As soon as he reached his office, Kaen brought up the contact information for President Joris of Elusia. The computer warned Kaen that it was 02:00 local time in the Elusian capital city, but the conversation couldn’t wait. He initiated the call.
Twenty seconds passed.
“Colonel?” President Joris answered over a voice-only connection.
“Sorry to contact you in the middle of your night, but it’s urgent,” Kaen replied. “We have a developing situation.”
The president groaned. “What’s going on?”
“The Trols are back,” Kaen revealed. “This time, they have a ship headed toward the Elvar Trinary.”
He breathed a sigh of relief. “A ship! I thought you were about to say they have an entire fleet.”
“The ship is seven thousand kilometers in diameter.”
Silence.
“H-How…?” Joris stammered at last.
“We don’t know, but considering the ship is two-thirds the size of Elusia, I wanted to give you as much advance notice as possible,” Kaen continued. “My best guess is that the vessel was emitting a signal to mask its presence while it made the approach—similar to the interference we observed in the Gaelon System. A dark patch on scan doesn’t stand out unless you know to look for something.”
“They could have been in transit for years, or…” Joris took a shaky breath. “What kind of offensive capabilities does the ship have?”
“I’ll know more in a few hours. Don’t worry, this is a top priority for the Guard, and we’ll do everything in our power to keep your system safe.”
“That’s it? You wake me in the middle of the night to tell me a planet-sized ship is headed for us, but ‘don’t worry’?! How the fok am I—”
Kaen took a slow breath. “Mister President, would you rather it surprise you in another eighteen hours when it shows up on the long-range scans from your system’s sensor array?”
“We’re defenseless,” Joris shot back. “How do you expect me to react?”
“I know this is a lot to process, but you’re not facing this alone,” Kaen said calmly. “Take a few hours to gather your thoughts. Your people will be looking to you for guidance, and I know you’ll be able to lead them through this crisis. The Guard is already preparing a coordinated response.”
Joris took a deep breath. “All right. Thank you.”
“I’ll be in touch as soon as I know more.” Kaen ended the call.
As much he disliked emotional outbursts from those in positions of authority, Kaen didn’t blame Joris. Were he in the president’s position, he probably would have sworn a whole lot more.
— — —
Ellen awoke to an incessant chirp coming from the desk in the living room of her temporary apartment.
What time is it? She glanced at the clock on he
r nightstand and saw that it was 04:07. Who would be calling me at this hour?
The chirp was more annoying than usual, which she attributed to the hour. However, when she hauled herself out of bed to check the notification, she realized that the sharper tone was because the communication was flagged as high-priority.
It was coming from the Elusian capital, and it was only 02:07 there.
Shite! Ellen hurriedly wrapped a robe around herself, then answered the call.
President Joris appeared on her monitor, dark circles under his eyes and hair unkempt. “I just spoke with Colonel Kaen,” he said. “They’ve detected a Trol ship headed for our system.”
Ellen’s heart leaped into her throat. “What?!”
“I don’t have any more information at this time, other than that it’s huge—roughly the size of Mysar.”
She shook her head, mystified. “That’s…”
“I didn’t want to believe it myself.”
“We’re completely foked,” Ellen breathed. “Here we thought we defeated them, but that was just the warmup round so they could see what defenses we had to offer.”
“That was my first impulse, too, but we can’t give into that way of thinking. The colonel said not to worry, so the Guard must be working on a plan,” Joris told her.
“So, what, we pretend everything is okay? I wish I didn’t know.” She smoothed back her light brown hair from her face. What could we possibly do in defense? If we evacuate everyone, where would we go?
A vise tightened around her heart. No, there wouldn’t be an evacuation; there weren’t enough ships in the system to transport all the citizens. They were trapped on their worlds, subject to whatever horrific fate the Trols had planned.
President Joris straightened in his seat. “Someone on Mysar needed to be informed, and you’re the closest thing the world has to a leader right now.”
“I’m not—”
“Ellen, I need you to keep a level head. I’ve seen you under pressure before. You can do this.”
She took two slow breaths and nodded. “Yes, sir.”
“Now. I don’t know what the Guard is planning, but I wanted to give you a heads up so that you would have time to process the situation. When we get our directions, we’ll need to be a calm presence of authority above the inevitable chaos.”
“What about Valta?” Ellen asked.
“Do you know Mitchell Korwen?”
“Not personally, but he’s been Tribeca’s mayor since I was a teenager,” Ellen replied. “If you’re asking if he would be a good point of contact, then yes.”
Joris nodded. “I’ll reach out to him.”
“How long before the ship is visible on scan?”
“Less than eighteen hours. It will arrive in three days.”
Ellen swallowed. “Okay. Let’s hope the Guard has their plan before then.”
— — —
“A giant foking planet-ship,” Kira muttered. “These Trol bastards must have some kind of inferiority complex with a constant need to overcompensate for their nanoscopic size.”
Across the conference table, Leon and Sandren chuckled, but Kaen looked decidedly less amused.
“We’re looking for actionable theories,” the colonel stated.
“Sorry, sir.” Kira looked down.
“It is pertinent to note the scale of the vessel,” Sandren began. “Its sheer enormity says a lot about its potential use.”
“That’s a good point,” Kaen agreed. “Something planet-sized is probably dealing with planet-scale concerns, rather than any matter involving an individual.”
“Yes, but we can’t rule out an individual-scale component,” Kira said. “Based on what we observed in Gaelon, it’s possible that this ship might also contain a soldier factory.”
Kaen gave a grim nod. “But with this ship, they could abduct the entire population of a planet.”
“Stars! The Elvar Trinary has so few full-time residents that they could abduct everyone in the whole system,” Kira said without thinking, only to immediately realize that those weren’t faceless victims—they were her friends and family.
Leon exchanged glances with her, clearly realizing the same thing. “For that matter,” he said, “this structure isn’t bound to surface area in the same way that a planet is. Looking at the volume potential of the structure, it could reasonably hold the population of dozens of systems.”
“Or the entire thing could be a mega-weapon,” Kira countered.
“Whatever it is, it was able to interface with the station and Guard ships,” Leon said. “It also activated the debris we collected from the Gaelon System.”
“What do you mean?” Kaen asked.
“The dust was glowing… and moving around in the vials. It wasn’t able to get out, but it definitely wanted to do something other than sit in a test tube.”
The colonel frowned. “What’s going on with it now?”
“It went dormant again as soon as you got control of the computer system,” Leon replied.
“Hmm.” Kira crossed her arms. “You think that has anything to do with the flickering monitors? I wonder if the hack caused the computer equipment to emit a signal that activated it.”
Leon nodded. “A reasonable hypothesis.”
“And the source of that signal is this new ship, I presume?” Sandren said.
“The ship’s appearance and the impact on the Guard fleet would suggest as much,” Kaen replied. “But there’s more to this ship than a transmitter, and it falls to us to determine the potential function of the vessel. The engineering report from the survey ship highlighted some key components that may offer clues.” Kaen adjusted the three-dimensional holoprojection of the spherical ship floating above the center of the table.
Eight circular recesses highlighted around the sphere’s equator, then the view zoomed in on one to show it as a cross-section. The apparent circle was actually a cylinder.
Kira tilted her head. “That’s… weird.”
“The mechanical components suggest that these cylinders can extend outward,” Sandren observed. “There are slots ringing each.”
Indeed there were. Kira tried to count them but quickly lost track.
Across the table, Leon was scowling at the holographic projection. “I can’t wrap my head around this scale. I keep thinking it’s something manageable, but those cylinders are a hundred kilometers apart, and each slot is a kilometer long. It’s huge.”
Sandren shook his head. “ ‘Mind-boggling’ would be an understatement.”
Wait a minute… Kira did a double-take at the model.
Kira cleared her throat. “So, um, crazy idea… What if each of the slots in those giant cylinders were to hold a pit like the ones in Gaelon and Mysar? Eight around and nine deep.”
Leon slumped in his chair. “Fok.”
Kaen spread his hands on the tabletop. “What makes you suggest that, Kira?”
“Nothing aside from scale, sir,” she replied. “We observed two structures approximately one kilometer deep with an interior diameter of ten meters, and this thing happens to have slots one kilometer long and thirty meters wide. You asked for ideas, and mine is that that contraption is a giant core sampler. I don’t know if it inserts the pits or takes them out, but there you have it.”
Sandren did the math. “If they only need one per system to get a foothold, then…”
“Our little happy corner of the galaxy is in trouble if that ship is left unch
ecked,” Kira completed when he trailed off.
“If I may add,” Jasmine said over the audible comms, “these cores—if that is, indeed, what they are—make up only a fraction of the ship’s function.”
Kaen nodded, bringing up a different set of highlighted plans.
This version of the holographic model focused on a series of short towers ringing a single, tall tower. Four protrusions around the central grouping looked to be folded mechanical arms, but the exact nature and purpose were unclear.
“I’ve got nothing,” Kira said.
“If there was one component of this ship for population transport, we can assume there would need to be a means to craft a new home,” Jasmine continued over the comm. “I’ve run this configuration through the Guard database, and it is most likely some form of weapon.”
“A weapon that’s six hundred kilometers in diameter? That’s not…” Kaen faded out.
“The scale doesn’t change my assessment of the information at my disposal. That said, my specialty is in biomedical applications, not military weaponry.”
“Same here,” Leon said. “I’m a—”
“Geneticist, we know,” Kaen cut him off. “But the people sitting in this room are the resident Trol experts, regardless of our backgrounds. For better or worse, our hunches related to these guys have a good track record of being correct. If Jasmine thinks this is a weapon, then I’m inclined to proceed accordingly. And, assuming it is, it’s not just a planet-killer—it’s a system-killer.”
“To what end?” Kira threw up her hands.
“Raw materials,” Leon murmured. He sat upright in his chair, chuckling to himself. “Of course.”
“Care to enlighten us?” Kaen prompted.
“All of their structures are manufactured, right? That requires raw materials. Mining raw materials is highly time- and labor-intensive. It’s way easier to smash a target to bits, scoop it up, and sort through the matter after the fact.”
“A weapon to blast worlds apart, then a processing plant, or whatever, to extract the useful materials?” Kira clarified.
“Something like that,” Leon replied. “But it’s a guess.”
