Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles 7: Renegades (20 page)
Read Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles 7: Renegades Online
Authors: Andrew Beery
Chapter 26: Ashtoreth Prime…
WhimPy-101
orbited high above the Hupenstanii home world. The orbit was hundreds of thousands of kilometers further away from the planet then he was used to. His body was now large enough that it caused tidal swells on the worlds he visited. He could use his Higgs field dampeners to shield his effective mass but that took energy that he choose to spend elsewhere.
He had been in this orbit for the better part of a month and he had been busy. The former
Alpha
platform was virtually unrecognizable. Its cratered surface was now nearly smooth. Nanites flowed over the surface like blood through veins and arteries. The Alpha’s energy harvesting systems had been rebuilt and enhanced. The most striking change however was the domed city that occupied the upper third of the moon-sized craft. This last was the result of extensive conversations with Admiral Catherine Kimbridge and Lieutenant Commander AG Stone.
The introduction of engram teaching machines and replicant bio-printers meant the universe was a very different place from what it had been when the Galactic Coalition of Planets was formed. The problems foes like the Ashtoreth represented required different types of solutions.
The Ashtoreth utilized enhanced bio-mimics to undermine the core values and strengths of those civilizations they chose to dominate. They were brutal in their actions and beings of principle, could not in good faith, stand by and do nothing.
It was for this reason that
WhimPy
allowed Admiral Kimbridge to redefine his role in the greater community of sentient beings.
WhimPy-101
was now the permanent home of Lieutenant Commander Stone and the Infinity Brigade. Marine city was a training ground, mobile base, home and medical facility for up to five thousand troops and support staff. Of course the number of marines initially deployed to the base numbered in the hundreds rather than thousands but it was a start.
One of the main reasons for utilizing the
WhimPy
for this base was the need to preserve the memory engrams of the troops in as safe an environment as possible. It was hard to think of a safer place than an upgraded
Alpha
platform.
WhimPy’s
primary programming to be a defensive platform was not in conflict with this new role. The marines, under the command of an independent sentience, would be the sole offensive component to the base. In short,
WhimPy
would defend the personnel under his protection but he would not fight offensively for them.
WhimPy
sent a signal to a set of massive armored doors that protected a landing bay large enough to accommodate ten
Yorktown
class starships. The doors receded smoothly into hull-metal sheaths. The craft that entered the landing bay was much smaller that the
Yorktown
. Its name was the
AM Brown Recluse
.
***
Harry Bedmore, a.k.a. Captain Ricky Valen, was impressed and he was not an easy man to impress. The ship, if that was what you could call something this big, was in a word… BIG! The
Brown Recluse
was dwarfed like an elephant would dwarf an ant.
As he docked his ship, he instructed Rhino to hold the fort down. His wife, Commander Honey Arris joined him at the gang plank. “I assume you want to go with me?”
Honey looked at him briefly and said simply, “Try and stop me.”
“Wouldn’t think of it,” he said with a wink.
Admirals Kimbridge, Faragon and Melbourne where standing at the base of the gang plank when they stepped out of the
Recluse
. Honey saluted them crisply. Harry went to shake Cat’s hand but seeing the stern look his wife and First Officer gave him he relented and gave a sloppy salute to all three at once.
Cat smiled. “Some things never change, Ricky.”
“Ah, beg’n the Admiral’s pardon, but I go by Harry now. Got’s to stay in character ya know.”
“I understand,” she said with a wink. “Would you like to see Infinity City?”
“YES,” Honey answered before Harry could say a word.
Sherry Melbourne laughed. “We know who wears the pants in this family.”
“Aye, tis a man’s lot in life… to lead…
from behind
,” Harry acknowledged with a theatrical sigh.
The turbolift from the landing bay to the city itself was a hyperloop shuttle with built-in inertial dampeners. The journey which covered well over ten kilometers was accomplished in under a minute.
When they exited the shuttle, Cat guided them to another vertical turbolift that took them up several dozen stories to the top floor of what they would later learn was the main administration building.
Newly promoted Lieutenant Commander Anthony Stone greeted them as they stepped off the platform.
Harry looked at the young man and broke into a broad smile. “AG, ya all growed up. Weren’t ya sporten Sergeant stripes the last time I saw ya?”
“You’ll have to talk to my boss. No matter how bad I screw up she keeps promoting me.”
Admiral Faragon tapped his watch and Cat took the hint. “Gentlemen, and ladies… shall we adjourn to the main conference room?”
It turned out the main conference room was just outside of the Operations Center. Marine City was a strange mix of city, space station and starship. The Operations Center reflected that hybrid nature. The conference room next to it looked more like the Captain’s ready room on the
Yorktown
than anything else.
Cat grabbed a cup of coffee and sat at the head of the table while the others grabbed their own beverages. Harry went to add something from a silver flask that had been in his pocket to his coffee but a scolding look from Honey caused him to tighten the cap and put it back in his pocket. Once Ricky/Harry got into character it was hard for him to get out.
Cat began the briefing. “As you all know, we managed to attach a reconnaissance probe to an escape pod on the Ashtoreth flagship. When that escape pod was launched we hoped to be able to determine where our enemy was based. Unfortunately, the star patterns the probe was able to return to us are so different that we have been unable to locate the Ashtoreth home… that is until now. Captain… Bedmore, would you share with the others what you shared with me earlier?”
Harry straighten up and became all business. The transformation was startling to anybody who had not seen him do it before.
“I’ve been working closely with Sharn Dragos. As you might be aware, he has access to star charts that extend beyond what the GCP has access to. When I scanned them for a match to what Admiral Kimbridge’s reconnaissance probe had returned I did not get a hit. I thought that would the end of it but Dragos suggested we consult an Agur stellar database that Head Archivist Sna’st had given him years ago.
“Archivist Sna’st told Dragos that the database would be needed one day and to keep it safe. The database was the whole reason Dragos created his collection on his private world called
Garden
.”
“OK, I bite,” Admiral Melbourne said. “What did the Agur database have to say about the star pattern?”
It was Cat’s turn to smile. “Nothing… at first.
WhimPy
… care to share your piece to this puzzle?”
“Certainly Admiral,”
WhimPy’s
voice filled the room. Cat was amused to see Harry jump a little in his seat.
“I deduced that the data supplied by the Agur was over four million years old. I applied a heuristic to identify potential clusters of stars that might drift over that period of time to form patterns that would be consistent with what we can observe today. After several billion iterations I identified a match to known star patterns.”
“And…?” Sherry prompted.
“And,”
WhimPy
-
101
continued, “I know where the Ashtoreth are.”
Cat stood up and walked over to where Lieutenant Commander Anthony Stone was seated. She placed a hand on his shoulder.
“Finally ladies and gentlemen… we can take the war to them!”
*** This ends book seven of the Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles. Book Eight “Replicants” will be available on Kindle in June 15
th
, 2016. ***
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Other Books
(Click on titles to jump to order page)
The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles
The Stone Saga
Harry Bedmore: Intergalactic Rogue
The Ways of Mages
(with Catherine Beery)
The Ways of Mages, #1 – Revised July 2012
The Ways of Mages: Two Worlds, #2 – Aug 2012
The Ways of Mages: Starfire, #3 January 2013
The Ways of Mages: Three Swords, #4 – 2013
The Ways of Mages: Reunited, #5 - 2015
Defender of the Empire
(by Catherine Beery)
Book 2: Facades 2014
Book3: Chaos 2015
* Coming Soon
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The Witness
L
eaves slapped me for my impertinence, but I had bigger problems then insulted plants. Run! Repeated through my head like a really bad, yet catchy song. My body followed that single directive as best it could. I didn’t think, I just ran through bushes and around trees. I tripped on roots. My cheeks stung from the slaps. But I didn’t care. Whatever woe the forest gave me was better than what lay behind me. Even death out here would be better than the best death I could hope for back there.
I slipped on a pile of leaves soaked from last night’s rain and chanced a look behind. Bold search lights slashed through the darkness. Now that I wasn’t running, I could hear something worse and much closer. You know the sound a wasp makes? It was like that but instead of one it was like a whole nest. I don’t know how I missed it earlier. But then, I hadn’t been listening. I’d just been trying to stay ahead.
On hands and knees I scrabbled to my left towards a particularly dense patch of brambles. I admit, it probably hadn’t been the best idea of my life. But it was leafy, thick, and covered in thorns that I didn’t think my pursuers would relish searching through. After all, I didn’t relish hiding in them but I found that if I dug the old leaves out of the way as I moved that I could kind of crawl under the worse of the thorns. My crawl space was only large enough for the short human female that I was and that only barely. My much larger pursuers would have to reach through the thick of it to get to me. Yes, I was vindictive. And very hopeful. There was a part of me that understood that a mere wall of thick bush and thorns wouldn’t protect me long from the searchers if they knew I was there. They were unfortunately tenacious that way.
Okay Anna, breathe in. Hold it a sec. Now breathe out. Breathe in… I silently coached myself. If I could calm down, well maybe then I’d be alright. Dampness spread from the knees of my jeans. The smell of wet loam filled my nose as I breathed. It was a normal scent that I didn’t have much time to enjoy. The droning sound flew over where I had just been. The trees beyond rippled like I was looking through a heat wave. But I wasn’t. I gulped and shrank further into the dense brush.
If I hadn’t moved when I had, I would have been gone. And very likely dead. The droning moved off then grew louder again. This time it was behind me. My body froze as I heard the sound change into something similar to a dog whine. I turned slowly and watched through the leaves as a ship sank gracefully into the clearing on that side of the bush. My hideout had concealed it from my view earlier. I prayed it hid me just as well.
The ship was roughly eighteen feet long and sleek as could be. It was similar to a fighter jet in form, but somehow less rugged. I don’t know how else to explain it. Its haul was made of some kind of reflexive black material. Or maybe just paint – who knows? Indigo and silver markings ran along the tail of the craft. They somehow caught the light of the moon and seemed to glow. There was a hiss as the cockpit opened. Two humanoid figures climbed out.
I curled in on myself even more. They might look humanoid, but they weren’t human. In any way. They were the nightmare of science-fiction since the dawn of the genre. They didn’t come in peace. They came just like every superpower in history who encountered a weaker, raw material rich nation. Except the earth wasn’t the ‘raw material’ they were primarily after, though it did have its uses. No, we were the ‘raw material’ they wanted. Anyone who got picked up by one of their ships, or captured by their hunting parties, were never seen or heard from again.
The world’s military might had paled in comparison to the invaders’. Valiant defensive counter attacks had been made but had simply been swatted away or, worse, ignored. Which made a horrible kind of sense since the aliens were capable of interstellar travel and we were not. Not yet. Maybe never now…
I shoved that thought away and observed my unwanted company. They were larger than the average human male, though I assume some of that bulk was thanks to their armor suits they wore and my current angle. Similar to their ship, their armor was black with only indigo symbols etched on the shoulders. Though unlike the ship, they didn’t reflect light or glow. I only saw the emblems in the light from their cockpit as they had clambered out. Outfit and large size aside, what caught my, and other survivor’s attention who had survived close encounters like this, were their eyes. Either the alien’s eyes were reflexive like a cat’s or they actually glowed. No one could decide which it was, though no one who had ever been in a position to ask had ever come back to explain the phenomenon to the rest of us. Kind of like the mysteries after death. The aliens by the ship both had indigo colored eyes. I wondered if there was a connection between their eye color and the color of the symbols on their ship and armor. It was the first ship and crew that I had seen however. I had no other observations to draw from and I didn’t plan on having any others.
Probably due to their large size, the alien’s voices were deep and low as they talked. They weren’t being really that quiet about it either. But then any secrecy they might have had had ended when they had flown with an engine full of angry wasps. I have noticed over the weeks since I had escaped a fort full of crazies that the invaders often didn’t care if you heard them coming or not. Especially if they didn’t know where you were. If they did know, well then they went into hunting mode. Otherwise, they were like any other top predator not hunting. They ruled while the prey tried very hard not to be noticed.
It sounded to me like one was complaining about something. The other was amused. The complaining one went to the side of the craft and pressed something. A storage compartment opened and a soft white light filled the clearing. Curiosity had me edging closer. Carefully, mind, so I didn’t rustle my hiding spot. He was pulling out a clear drawer filled with what looked like test tubes. I couldn’t see them well due to my angle, but they gave me a bad feeling anyway.
The amused one cradled their equivalent of a MK 47 as he kept an eye on the woods around the clearing. Red lights along the muzzle of the gun lent it an edge of intimidation it really didn’t need. Thankfully he was off to the side protecting his companion’s back and not aware of me. He looked over his shoulder and asked something. They kept to their own language so I was out of luck in overhearing anything interesting. But I was somewhat amazed and disturbed to realize that their emotions were similar to mine. Their comradery almost made me forget that they would shoot me on sight like the cold hearted bastards they were. From what I had heard from other survivors, the Zethari as they called themselves, saw humans as unthinking beasts.
The one at the craft’s side grunted an answer and pulled out one of the test tubes. He grumbled something and his companion laughed. Suddenly he tossed the tube in my direction. It fell far short of my bush, but I discovered that wouldn’t matter. The glass shattered and a creature similar to an alpaca but with glowing red eyes shimmered into existence. It snarled angrily like a large cat, but it wasn’t looking at the Zethari. Oh no, that would be too nice. It was glaring at me.
For whatever reason, the invaders had brought the creatures with them. I don’t know what they called the beasts, but we called them Red Eyes. I know, very original. But you come up with something better when one of these things is staring at you with murder on the brain and saliva dripping down four inch fangs on either side of its jaw. It was usually a quiet ambush predator. Side note, while Red Eyes seemed quite accomplished in hunting humans (and everything else) they seemed to annoy the Zethari. Which made me wonder sometimes what their home world was like. But only for a moment before my imagination conjured something straight from a bad space horror movie. Then I drop the subject entirely.
I tensed wondering through a fog of panic where should I run? Or would the brambles keep the Red Eye from getting to me? But then, the Zethari would know that there was something of interest in the brambles and come investigate. I would be busted either way.
Before I could figure out which way to run a shot rang out. A thud and sizzling sound followed and I looked back at the Red Eye. It had collapsed to the ground, a good portion of its head gone. A voice on the other side of me called something to the two aliens by the craft. It sounded like it might have been a rude question.
I barely kept myself from startling. I think I only succeeded because I was too horrified to move. The ground hunting party had caught up. How had I forgotten about them? The keeper of the voice stepped into the clearing not three feet from me. The other two replied and the three of them laughed.
They were sick. My heart pounded. I had to get out of here. It would be nice if the two in the craft would just pick up the third with their ship and take all of them back to where they came from. But that was wishful thinking. Wishful thinking never got anyone anywhere. The three started chitchatting as though they had not a care in the world. And as I mentioned earlier, they really didn’t have anything to worry about. Maybe if I was a snipper they’d have more concerns. But I’d only get one. The others would follow the trajectory of the bullet right back to me and that would be the end of that.
I was neither on a suicide mission or a sniper. So there was no threat to them. That must be nice, I thought to myself. My limbs were cramping. I wanted to flee, to escape while they were distracted. I couldn’t hear the rest of the ground crew though I listened. I figured they must have fanned out while their leader, supposedly, chatted with the pilots.
Now. I can go now! my thoughts clamored as I edged away from the clearing. I would go back the way I had come a little ways before I picked a new direction and, God willing, I’d be home free. I’d just needed to move carefully now, but once out I would be gone without them ever knowing I had been there.
Ever hear the phrase that went something like ‘watch out for the silent ones as they’re the ones that’ll kill you’? I should have remembered it.
I turned my head to see how far I had to go and came eye to barrel with a Zethari riffle. My eyes widened in horror. A throaty chuckle drew my gaze up. Green highlights from the riffle’s lights glistened off glowing silver eyes. I had never been so close to a Zetharian before and thus had never noticed that their ‘hair’ wasn’t hair at all, but feathers. I could not tell what color the one crouching by my hiding spot had, not in this light or caught in his gaze like I was. But I could see they were short and layered. His hunter’s smile reached his gaze as he stared at me. “Boo.” he whispered snapping me out of my terrified stillness…