Penance (RN: Book 2) (17 page)

“Which was?” The first officer asked leaning forward in keen interest.

“None of the received broadcasts were in any EDP language, code or encryption.” Stavener suppressed a laugh as he considered some irrelevance.

“So what were they?” Canthouse snapped with the rising impatience of someone deliberately kept from the identity of the masked murderer.

“In the twentieth century the then Soviet Union dug a bore hole on the Kola peninsula. When they finished it was over twelve kilometres deep. So deep that some people purportedly made recordings of crying and wailing from the bottom of the hole. They believed the drill had broken through to hell, and the sounds were the tormented voices of the damned. There were those amongst the WIA that considered the opposite, that the device had tapped into some celestial paradise; possibly Heaven. This was nonsense of course, and they finally realised the device was picking up communications from alien civilisations. Real time communications from civilisations we had no idea existed.” Stavener paused for this to have effect.

“My, God!” Canthouse wore the enthralled face of a young boy listening to campfire ghost stories.

Denz leaned back crossing his arms about his chest, not fully understanding the significance of this as a problem. “So how is this a problem? Surely it’s a benefit.”

Stavener hunched his shoulders in a matter of fact way. “Well, part of the problem was no matter where they pointed the transceiver they received previously undetected alien broadcasts. This was interesting at first, but they soon mapped hundreds then thousands of different races. We broke the encryption on some, with others in plain, if unknown languages. But none of them were The Koll. At least not that they could ascertain.”

“It must have been an avalanche of information,” Canthouse said.

“It was. Here they had this ultimate eves-dropping device but no idea where to point it. They kept pointing it randomly, hoping to receive some sort of signal or intelligence from the Koll, but it was all in vain with no identifiable successes. At least until the LN-0R incursion. Then they had them.”

Denz uncrossed his arms; his interest peaked at the mention of LN-0R. “So the EDP had intelligence before the invasion and they did nothing!” A liquid fire stirred within him at this possibility.

Stavener shifted in his seat. Denz’s veil was reddening with the anger almost tangible and he just hoped it wasn’t directed at him personally. “The EDP was aware of an incident in Chinese space but had no idea as to what was happening as The Koll had jammed most of the signals. Commander, you’re aware of how quickly the incident escalated. When EDP central realised that it was The Koll, they immediately issued orders to form up the fleet, but by then it was too late. The colony was gone.”

Denz was near smouldering, his face a livid red as he stared at the communications officer. Even the normally unflappable Canthouse showed his discomfort with what he heard, leaning back his arms crossed and countenance deadpan. Stavener realised he needed to reengage their interest so there anger was directed elsewhere,

“But the disaster at LN0R wasn’t the only problem the EDP faced.”

Neither officer spoke.

“Even though they now knew where The Koll where, it took the combined might of every quantum mainframe on the planet to break the codes, and it still took a week. By then The Koll forces were already on the move toward Earth, so the EDP responded the only way they could, they deployed the fleet.” Stavener glanced at Denz who was still livid, though it appeared to have dropped to a simmering murder.

The communications officer licked his lips and swallowed hard, he squirmed, his mouth opening as if to cite something difficult only for him to sit back and stare at the floor.

“Then what?” asked Denz in a cooler tone.

Stavener glanced at him; an unwilling aspect in his unblinking gaze. “The fleet was deployed and formed up to meet The Koll forces. After evaluating some of the Chinese signals that did make it through, the EDP was actually quite confident in the outcome, until …” Stavener’s mouth contorted with an unwillingness to go on.

“Until what?” Denz snapped, his face reddening again.”

The operation’s officer bore the disconsolate expression of a policeman informing a family of the loss of a loved one. “As our forces massed the World Intelligence Agency broke a Koll code that contained information of their preparing a contingency plan. It appears that they too had concerns of the outcome and had developed a counter initiative should things not go their way.”

“Which was?” asked Canthouse.

Stavener paused, looking between the men, his face grave with what followed said in cold soberness. “They had a weapon. An enormous multi-nature device that would have been nothing short of disastrous to the planet. The details of how it functioned are not relevant. It’s enough to understand that it was a kill all. The Earth would have been reduced to a proto-planet in days. Humans all gone.”

“My God.” Canthouse said quietly, his face ashen and white knuckled hands gripping the desk lip to steady himself.

Denz simply stared, his initial burning anger dampened by an inner realisation. After a moments apparent reflection he said, “But I was there and saw no such weapon. All they had were ships, no large missiles.”

“It wasn’t with their fleet. They couldn’t risk it being destroyed as it was as lethal to them as us, so they left it at LN0R to be called on if needed. It would have taken a little time to arrive, but by then their fleet would be gone so what difference would a few more days make in destroying Earth.” Stavener’s face suddenly became pale, his lips thin lines and eyes dark circles as he looked away from the two men. “The WIA informed the world council and they did the only thing possible to save the human race. They issued our willingness to surrender unconditionally. This is the reason for the capitulation.”

The first officer looked to be in a state of shock as he glanced at Denz. “We came so close.”

Denz slouched against the table with his gaze on the floor; a pale tongue peaking between his dry lips as he considered how close Earth had come to being a lifeless molten sphere. “How close?”

Stavener had regained a little of his colour. “WIA reasons that if pressed, The Koll would have ultimately won the engagement, but it would have cost them dear. They may have taken Earth, but they would have lost their fleet capabilities leaving them open to retaliatory strikes from previously conquered races.”

“A Pyrrhic victory,” Denz said.

“Yes. The WIA estimated The Koll were willing to lose forty percent of their forces. More than that and they would have withdrew and launched. They knew this action would have been nothing like their engagement with the Chinese, who had the might but were still forming up. The Koll forces would be arriving with no preceding screen of rocks and asteroids to bombard our forces. They would be engaging a driven enemy fighting on home soil to protect their home world. We had to support of several planets and dozens of heavily armed stations and platforms to lend their weight. Not to mention the thousands of civilian ships we could use to simply ram the Koll if needed. The projection said that if The Koll lost ships at the rate they did at LN0R, we would have been looking at the launch of their final solution in a little over eight hours from the first shot being fired.”

Realisation dawned on Denz and he looked lost, his eyes flitting as multiple scenarios and ultimate dead end conclusions ran through his mind. He pushed himself from the table, his face pale, eyes fixed and staring with a finger crooked under his nose as he paced in deep deliberation. At the time he had cursed the world council for their surrender. He had been champing at the bit to pull the trigger and engage the enemy. Not a single shot had been fired as the two fleets closed on each other, but what if it had? What would the Earth been now if he had succumb to the battle rage and cried that one single word? He could so easily have been the end of everything.

“We couldn’t have won.”Denz’s hand trembled as he paced the briefing area. Scenario after scenario formed in his mind with each struck down when he considered this new information. “We couldn’t have won, Malcolm. We might have won the battle but we could never have been victorious.” Tears glistened in the corners of his eyes as he turned to face his first officer. “I was wrong in my conclusion. We had no solution. My actions were those of a conceited fool. They died for nothing!”

Denz suddenly looked old and frail, his eyes glassy and confused as if dementia had stepped from the shadows and spread its cloak to embrace him. Canthouse could only feel for his commanding officer. The devastating realisation that his impulsive decision to flee Earth’s surrendering forces had been for nothing, and his crew had suffered and died needlessly would surely destroy him If he were allowed to dwell on it. It may even trigger another psychotic episode.

“Died for nothing,” Denz repeated with the knuckle of the crooked finger slipping between his lips as he stared at the floor in myopic abstraction.

“The transmitters, these unity devices,” Canthouse said in his bridge voice as he regained himself. “You mentioned there was more of a problem.”

Stavener stared at the first officer with little understanding until his mind found the correct gear. “Yes …yes. Following the annex, those that formed the initial resistance needed to get the devices off Earth so they could be used in what was likely to be a protracted struggle. Fortunately for us, The Koll were mostly interested in our military capability, and it soon became apparent that they had a lot of enemies and they used captured forces to fight their battles, rather than committing their own. Following the annex they were preoccupied by our military and paid little attention to our trade and transport systems, well at least initially. And we were able to move the devices via unregistered transport on the grey lanes.”

Both command officers looked up when a double chime came across the intercom. Canthouse automatically reached for his tablet only to close his fist in a
God Damn it
action when he remembered what he had done to it. He looked to Denz who appeared to have snapped from a waking dream, and indicated a wall mounted intercom. Denz had regained some composure and made a hand signal for Canthouse to ignore the chime.

“The grey lanes.” Canthouse said. “There’s no military protection in these areas.”

“There are no other vessels to spy, either,” Denz said, some of the sharpness having returned to his eyes and voice. He saw something in the operations officers face, “They didn’t reach their destination, did they?”

Stavener let out a despairing breath, “No, they didn’t. The idea was to run dark and hope for the best, but it never worked. The ship was taken and the devices never recovered.”

“All of them!” Canthouse almost spat. “You moved all of them on the same transport?”

“No, two of them. A twinned pair. The others were sent by a different route and they made it. We could only secure two ships,” Stavener shrugged.

“And nothing was heard of them.”

“No, not until today. It’s likely the bandits initially had no idea what they were, and it took them some time to buy the required intelligence and figure out how to use them.”

“And now we know they can.” Denz said.

“And to devastating advantage,” Canthouse added.

“Commander,” Stavener stood to face Denz, his fingers laced and countenance of deadly earnest. “We cannot allow these units to remain with these people. I’m sure you’re aware of the unexplainable ship losses the EDP has been experiencing over the past eight months. Losses we’ve been explaining as accidents or pure judgement, but it’s not. These people have been using the devices to track isolated vessels and the FTL to snatch and overwhelm them, and we were powerless to stop them.”

Denz interrupted, “Is this what happened to the Conqueror?”

Momentarily derailed, Stavener stared at Denz, “I’m not sure, commander. I’ve no idea what happened to the Conqueror.”

Denz sucked on his top lip, “Please continue. You said we were powerless to stop them”

The operations officer gave Denz a low questioning stare as he hunted for his train of thought, “Apart from the edge it gives them, we cannot build more devices as the plans were erased moments before the Koll annexed our covert agencies. Their fabrication difficulties aside, these devices are the single most powerful resource we have in any struggle against The Koll. We have to reclaim them, or at the very least destroy them to rid ourselves of a thorn.”

Denz looked pensive. His eyes fixed on the wall between the two men as he considered. He found his natural instinct to say, yes, we’ll do all we can to assist, hindered by the phantasmal projections of fire lit forms uncoiling over screaming silhouettes. Yet something refused to yield. His head may have been lost in the mists of nightmares but something solid lay beneath his feet. The unyielding deck of a Royal Navy gunboat that he commanded. A ship he had lost once, but would never lose again.

“We have no way of corroborating what you say, Mr Stavener.” The double chime from the intercom sounded again. “And I suspect that that is not your real name, However …” Denz stared at the image of the beacon on the display. “Engineering has corroborated some of the things you have said, and I’m willing to take a look at this unit if for nothing more than curiosity. I –“

“Command staff to the bridge. Command staff to the bridge,” the accented female voice said over the intercom.