Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles 7: Renegades (4 page)

WhimPy-101
moved to engage the hostile ship. He attempted to hail it using longed stored Uruk codes but
Alpha
refused to respond.
WhimPy-101
swept his own sensors over the aggressor. This elicited an immediate response. The WhimPy’s communication nodes were flooded with a powerful broad spectrum broadcast that threatened to burn them out.

“WHO?” The language used by the aggressor was an ancient dialect of Uruk. To humans it would appear as a series of undulating chromophorematic color patterns on the surface of the ship.

WhimPy-101 loaded the appropriate language subroutines and responded in the same dialect. “I am weapons platform number 101. This star system is under my protection. Stand down.”

“WHO?”
Alpha
repeated.

WhimPy-101 analyzed his sensor data. Numerous systems on Alpha seemed to be heavily damaged. The platform was actively engaged in repair protocols but they seemed to be poorly coordinated. It was possible that the ancient weapons platform was unable to receive and/or interpret the response to its own query.

WhimPy increased the intensity of his response by increasing the luminosity of his external chromophores.

The Alpha platform spun on its axis and presented a new less damaged face towards
WhimPy-101
. Again a powerful sensor beam swept over 101. Again his communication nodes were overwhelmed by a powerful transmission from the ancient ship.

“RESPONSE IS NON SEQUITUR. ERADICATION PROTOCOLS REMAIN PARAMOUNT”

The
Alpha
platform again rotated on its primary axis and resumed its acceleration towards the more populated regions of the star system. As it did
WhimPy-101
noted a sudden surge in the ship’s, already considerable, energy generation. The ship was surrounded by a shimmering blue nimbus which came together in a bright spot near the forward-facing surface of the platform.

A massive energy beam, well beyond
WhimPy’s
ability to measure, shot out from the bright spot. It struck the moon called Ciru. A third again the size of Earth’s moon, Ciru had a tenuous atmosphere of mostly nitrogen. This boiled off in a fraction of a second. In less than five seconds the surface of the moon had been converted into a boiling magma ocean. The few inhabited cities on the moon died and were utterly obliterated before anybody in them had a chance to even know they were being attacked.

WhimPy
analyzed the attack and immediately began to charge his offensive weapons systems. No member of any of the GCP member worlds had ever seen these particular weapons in action. In its role as a defensive weapons platform, such systems were rarely if ever needed.

A phase-shifted hyperfield conduit between
WhimPy
and the
Alpha
platform formed. A collimated proton/anti-proton beam lashed out. The hypefield conduit nullified the active shielding that
Alpha
had in place. Instantly the antimatter beam began to chew away at the surface of the
Alpha
platform.

Within milliseconds
Alpha’s
AI began to modulate the frequency of its shield harmonics. The shielding firmed up and the
Alpha
platform began to harvest the energy being poured into them.
WhimPy
knew that this was the single feature of the first generation Uruk weapon’s platforms that made them virtually invulnerable.
Alpha’s
shields were literally designed to harvest energy and unless you could bypass them, the system was unstoppable.

WhimPy-101
knew in that moment that he might be out matched. He decided to transmit an encrypted log file of his encounter to the AI known as
Yorky
on the
GCP Yorktown
along with some very specific instructions. If certain conditions were met
Yorky
would make the log file available to Admiral Kimbridge.

WhimPy-101
had one advantage the Heshe had been able to give him. His intellect was orders of magnitude faster and more powerful than the older Uruk ship. He used that to play a cat and mouse game with the bigger and more powerful weapons platform. Every time
Alpha
adjusted its shield harmonics to block
WhimPy’s
hyperfield conduit, the Heshe weapons platform tweaked his emitter frequencies to make a new hole in the shield. The hole might only last a millisecond or so but it was enough for his antimatter beam to rake across the surface of the other ship. Each time his beam connected it vaporized several metric tons of hardened metal.

Unfortunately for
WhimPy-101,
the accumulating damage to
Alpha’s
external systems caused its AI to reevaluate its priorities. Slowly, like a grizzly bear awaken from its winter slumber, the massive ship turned to face the Heshe weapons platform.

Chapter 4: Death…

WhimPy-101
accelerated as fast as his damaged systems would allow towards the smallest of the Mardarian jump points. It was so unstable it was not even listed on most transit maps of this sector. Using it to jump out of the Mardarus system was a calculated risk.
WhimPy
-
101
could easily be crushed should the jump point collapse during his transition. By the same token, the much larger
Alpha
platform ran an even bigger risk should it choose to follow him through the jump point.

Either way, if
WhimPy
could goad the other ship’s AI into brashly following him through the jump point then the Mardarians might just be spared. At very least, it would buy the inhabitants of that system a little more time to attempt to flee – not that very many would be able to. Still, to the Heshe weapons platform, every life was precious and if even one Mardarian could be saved by the risk he was now taking… it was a trade-off he was willing to make.

He began to rotate his shields in an attempt to mitigate the thrashing his defenses were taking from
Alpha’s
constant barrage. He wished he could harvest the energy being throw at his shields like the
Alpha
platform did. Sadly, the Heshe had never build the newer weapons platforms with the regenerative energy recovery systems that their progenitors had utilized in the
Alpha
models. The simple reason was they were too hard to stop if for some reason the Heshe lost control of them.

WhimPy-101
had managed to slag over eighty percent of
Alpha’s
surface but the massive ship was still able to harvest twelve percent of the energy thrown at it. That was energy it used to rebuild damaged systems and recharge its own offensive weapons systems. Those systems were incredibly powerful. It took every ounce of
WhimPy’s
skill and accumulated experience to continue the fight as long as he had. Time was not on his side. He was two minutes from the jump point. He calculated he would reach the jump point roughly three seconds before his shields failed.

As it turned out his calculations were wrong. They had been based on the assumption that the
Alpha
platform would not change its tactics. This turned out to be an erroneous assumption. With the added energy being harvested, the
Alpha’s
AI calculated it would be able to bring its long dormant zero-point energy systems online. This weapon was designed to shunt energies out of a system… draining them to their theoretical zero-point energy levels. On a large enough scale this caused matter to collapse in on itself and resulted in the formation of point singularities… or miniature black holes. The effect was devastating.

WhimPy
felt the new weapon strike his aft shields and begin to drain them. He had scant milliseconds to isolate the targeted systems to avoid a cascading failure. He pumped his antimatter generators to two hundred and fifty percent of capacity. At those levels they would fail within seconds but they would allow him to keep feeding energy into his rapidly collapsing shields. His survival was no longer an option but if he could make the jump point and coax
Alpha
into following him then the sacrifice might be worth it. In the last few milliseconds before the jump he started transferring his intellect to his highly shielded backup memory core. If the core survived, it would locate another
WhimPy
and transmit his engrams to that platform.

He pulsed energy into his hyperfield emitters. A poorly formed purple nimbus shimmered into existence around his body. In a fraction of a millisecond later he entered the hyperfield vortex.

Behind him the
Alpha
platform detected the formation of the hyperfield corridor. It pushed its sublight engines to make up the distance and follow this powerful adversary through. He reached the proper location four point three seconds behind the first ship. He opened the hyperfield corridor and entered.

Had
Alpha
had full use of his faculties he might had detected the anomalous nature of the hyperfield conduit he was entering. As it was, he noticed two problems when he exited the field some 130 light years distant. The first problem was that thirty percent of his mass had been sheared off during the transit by the unstable jump point. The second problem was that the enemy craft was experiencing a catastrophic failure in its primary energy generation systems which threatened to result in an antimatter explosion unless immediate action could be taken.

Alpha
needed information. This surprisingly powerful ship could provide it. It was clearly the most advanced craft
Alpha
had yet encountered since awaking from his great sleep. The problem was the smaller ship was mere moments from destruction. Any action
Alpha
was to take would need to be taken soon.

The antimatter core was located in a dorsal section of smaller vessel. Alpha extended a hyperfield cloak over 63% of the smaller ship and used the field to reverse momentum. This sheared the other vessel in half. The antimatter reactor remained on the smaller of the two pieces which was now outside of
Alpha’s
shields. He quickly poured his entire remaining energy reserves into his shielding. As they firmed up, the other ship’s antimatter reactor lost containment and went critical. The resulting matter-antimatter explosion released more energy than a typical star would release in a thousand years.

Had
Alpha’s
energy harvesters been fully operational the result would have been an energy feast the likes of which he had never previously enjoyed. Unfortunately, between the battle with this smaller ship and the mysterious loss of mass while proceeding through the hyperfield conduit,
Alpha
only had 2% of his collectors operating. They were soon overloaded. His shields however held long enough for him to re-enter the hyperfield conduit.

When he re-emerged in the Mardarus system the backwash from the antimatter explosion traveled with him. The effect was much like what a human’s ‘SJ’ round produced. A highly powerful beam of pure energy poured out of the hyperfield conduit in the scant milliseconds it was open between the two systems. Unfortunately for Mardarus III, the backwash bathed the planet in ultra-high intensity gamma radiation. It was enough to sterilize all remaining life. Mardarus III was dead.

Alpha
consulted the jump point map he had acquired from the survey ship earlier. There was another jump point in the general vicinity of his current location. He should have just enough energy left in his reserves to reach it. According to his data, this particular jump point led to a system called Sol. 

***

Cat shuddered awake. Her body fought its way to consciousness like a deep sea diver fights to reach the surface of the ocean after going a little deeper than was perhaps wise. Every fiber of her being fought her as she clawed towards consciousness. It was a battle that seem to rage on for hours but in reality she had little sense of time.

She could hear the others around her moaning and she knew she was not alone. She was on the bridge of the
Yorktown
. That sudden knowledge brought her some measure of comfort. This was where she belonged.

Lights flickered and gravity reasserted itself.  She fell a scant foot to the deck. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to shake her fully awake. She realized that not only had she and the entire bridge crew passed out, but that the ship’s automated systems had been effected as well.

“Yorky report,” Cat croaked in a voice that seemed oddly gruff and dry.

There was no reply. She reached out to her internal AI, Cal. In a sudden panic she realized that for the first time since returning from the Proxy War mission several months ago, her internal AI was offline.

She tried to run a diagnostic with her embedded Heshe encounter unit but without the AI she had no way of interfacing with it.

Others on the bridge began to stand up. Ken was one of the first. He hit the ship-wide comm button on his command chair.

“Engineering, Environmental, Weapons… report status,” He barked. His voice also seemed oddly hoarse.

It took a moment but the various departments reported in. It appeared everyone onboard the
Yorktown
had been rendered unconscious for just shy of half an hour. The entire crew was OK save for a few cuts and bruises that occurred after the automated systems came online.

The sole exception was Chief Yeoman Rand. He had been working in logistics supply near the forward shuttle bay. His neck was broken when a piece of equipment fell as a result of the shifting gravitational fields. Fortunately the injury happened after systems had begun to come back online. As a result, his standard-issue medical nanites were able to stabilize him until a medical team could supervise reconstructive surgery on his severed spinal column.

As the reports were coming in Cat’s AI rebooted. Seconds later Yorky too was online.

“What in the world was that all about,” Ben asked as he rubbed his jaw. The commander’s hybrid D’rlalu organic and human AI neural net had regained consciousness at slightly different times. The result was a brief period of “lock-in” syndrome where his organic mind was conscious but unable to control his cybernetic body. It was not an experience he enjoyed.

Sassi, the Ashkelon lieutenant, twitched his low-frequency antenna nervously. “I think what we experienced was a higher dimensional plane reverberation from our jump attempt.”

Ben looked at his captain, raised an eyebrow and then turned to look at the blue-eyed Ashkelon moth, “English please.”

Cat stepped forward. “What the Lieutenant is saying is that when we jumped… and that was successful… we caused unintentional vibrations in one or more higher dimensions of space-time.”

Both Ken and his First Officer continued to look confused. “Think about a stone hitting a bell. The stone travels in a single straight line but once it hits the bell, the sound radiates in all directions. As we shunted energy to and from higher dimensional planes in order to facilitate a hyperfield jump outside of a normal jump point we introduced a vibration in these higher dimensions.”

“And that is what ‘rung our bell’?” Ken asked.

“In a manner of speaking,” Cat agreed. “Sentience or ‘self-awareness’ is a fourth-dimensional manifestation of a higher-dimensional plane. Mathematicians and theologians call it the God plane.”

“That’s why both organic and electronically sentient systems were effected,” Sassi interjected.

“So,” Ken said, “we can jump from anywhere to anywhere… but the cost is one heck of a headache and total vulnerability while we nap.” He looked at Cat and Sassi with a hopeful expression. “Is there anything we can do about it?”

Cat shook her head and then immediately regretted to movement.

Sassi answered for her. “I don’t think so Captain. The more energy we shunt the more dramatic the effect. I would imagine jumping from a known jump point to a non-jump point or vice-versa will reduce but not eliminate the effect.”

Cat looked thoughtful for a moment. “We may be able to modulate the shunting field to generate a cancelling effect… basically dampen the higher-dimensional vibration as it occurs but there is a lot of inherent risk.”

“Meaning?” Ben asked softly.

Cat smiled at her friend. “Meaning if we get it wrong we could amplify the effect.”

***

Sharn Dragos kept a wary eye on the man sitting across from him. While Sharn was the only one in the room with a criminal record, it was the other man who in Sharn’s mind was the real villain.

Senior fleet Admiral Imera, through his aid Commander McMillian, had requested an
off-the-books
meeting with the Talus Pirate league. The nature of the meeting was still unclear but the incentive to come had been enticing. Full amnesty and license to operate unencumbered in select regions of Coalition space. Whatever the Admiral wanted, he wanted it badly.

Neither man said a word as their respective aids swept the conference room for bugs. Neither had any interest in their conversation becoming an intelligence bonanza for competing factions.

The Fleet Admiral, for his part, cast an equally wary eye on the swarthy man seated across the conference room table from him. Sharn Dragos, the Pirate King. He appeared to be a man in his early forties of Middle Eastern descent. If half the stories about the man were true, he was considerably older than he appeared. It was said that his appearance could and would change over time. He was a master of disguise. If Imera had realized just how often the Pirate King had sat in the same room as he, wearing a GCP uniform with the same facility as he wore his pirate garb… the Admiral might have rethought the wisdom of this meeting.

Finally both aids looked satisfied that the room was devoid of listening devices. As the aids exited the room, Admiral Imera poured a cup of hot tea which he offered to the other man. Sharn accepted it and took a tentative sip.

“Adeni Shahee Ahmar?” Sharn said with a raised eyebrow. “A Yemeni Red Tea if I am not mistaken.”

Admiral Imera smiled, “You’ve a refined palate I see.”