9 Years, 4 Months, 20 Days After Eridani Landing
The Imperial
[Vann] adjusted the controls for the confinement cell. The wall went transparent, and [Vann] stepping away from the controls moved towards it.
The class C woman inside of the cell winced as light flooded into her what had been a dimly lit cell. Her eyes dilated and fluctuated more wildly than anything [Vann] had seen in a species before, once again confirming that she was alien.
“Go away,” she said her voice raspy even through the translator.
“[Charles] seems to think you might be able to help me.”
The woman chuckled, a dark sound devoid of any actual humor.
“Why would I do that? You killed my commanding officer, attacked my ship, killed my friends and murdered my.” She paused and took a shuddering breath, “my other friend.”
“You’re class C, the fact that I’ve not put you down already is curtesy enough you should be grateful.”
The woman slowly turned to look at him a smile spreading across her features, “So keeping me in a small cell, without any stimulation for weeks on end, not even letting me clean myself is nice? Not even humans are so cruel to their prisoners.”
“You are a specimen, not a prisoner.”
She huffed and fell onto her back staring at the featureless ceiling of her cell.
“Yet you apparently need something from me.”
[Vann] slowly nodded, “I’m at a loss for what else to do. I’m hunting for a spy amongst my crew. They were the one whom informed other factions of my government to your presence on my ship and attempted to have you moved.”
The class C opened an eye and looked at [Vann].
“You’re hunting for a spy? What am I supposed to tell you? It’s not me that’s about all I can tell you.”
“Well I’ve had everyone on the crew investigated and vetted, but no one who would have the resources to communicate with my home world without detection has anything close to suspicious behavior associated with them.”
“Well who didn’t you investigate?” asked the class C closing her eyes again.
“I just told you everyone on the ship was investigated.”
“So you’ve not got a personal entourage? A group of people beyond reproach who act as your advisors?”
“I do.”
[Vann] frowned wondering where the class C was going with this.
“It’s one of them, the spies are always those whom are least suspected.”
“None of them would betray me.”
“Why not? In Human history the spies and traitors are usually those whom are the closest to someone in power. Judas is always the best friend who’s been with you since the beginning.”
“Your history being full of traitors and false friends is precisely why you are class C.” said [Vann]. He was beginning to wonder if perhaps [Charles] was crazy. The class C was not being anything close to helpful.
The class C sat up in her cell and looked at [Vann] studying him.
“You know what, your right. The fact that my species is violent, the fact that sometimes friends betray one another, the fact that we put all of those old hatreds aside simply to survive? It makes us far worse than you.”
“You have no convictions; it is the hallmark of a class C species. I care not for the outward deviations from the norm, those are easily corrected. Many of the class B species of the Empire have had them fixed. It is the mind that we cannot save, that is what makes you class C. We’ve tried, for hundreds of years we’ve tried but we can’t fix it. We are doing the galaxy a mercy by extinguishing all of you before you have a chance to spread beyond your planet and wreck havoc.”
The woman leaned back slightly onto her hands.
“Convictions?” She laughed.
“Convictions to an ideal only mean something when they are tested. You’ve never had yours tested, never been in a situation where you didn’t have to spout some rhetoric and all was forgiven. Tell me young Emperor, these people around you that you claim would never betray you. Have you ever been in a situation where they might have?”
She slowly got to her feet and leaned up against the transparent material of the cell.
“A Human will put complete trust only in those who have had that temptation, the opportunity where they could have taken advantage but they didn’t. I’m betting you’re a spoiled brat, you’ve grown up sitting at the top. You never had to fight, your ancestors put you where you are.”
[Vann] bristled, “You know nothing about my life or what I’ve gone through!”
“Have you had to survive your species almost being wiped out? Your ship being nearly destroyed, your entire team murdered in front of you? You have never been in a situation where you ever had to actually trust someone, it’s no wonder you have traitors in your midst.”
[Vann] turned to storm out of the detention area. The class C was wrong on so many levels, nothing it said was going to be remotely useful.
[Charles] was standing at the entrance, looking uncharacteristically sober.
“[Charles]?” asked [Vann] pausing.
The old Captain walked forward and rapped his fist against the cell wall.
“You didn’t have to be that blunt human, he’s less likely to get the point now.”
The class C rolled her eyes and sat back down on the floor of the cell.
“I’m not comforting the leader of the government who destroyed my world, and neither am I taking advise from the man who actually did destroy it.”
[Charles] chuckled, a dull sound that rasped from his throat. “Fair enough. Still you did give him advice, why?”
The class C closed her eyes again.
“Humans don’t have the power to force you to accept us yet. It’s not even considered in our military projections. You have thousands of fully developed star systems, the resources of thousands of planets. We can’t match that, not yet at least. Humanity has had wars end because two people don’t want to keep on fighting one another. Humanity will never forgive either of you, but the least I can do inside this cell is tell you that we want peace.”
[Vann] laughed, “You want peace for the same reason every other class C race does! I’ve studied class C species before! You might make piece on your worlds between primitive nations but it is always so you can prepare for the next war, so you can rebuild and rearm yourselves! If we made peace with you all you would do is investigate us and attack our children in the future!”
“Nothing I say is going to change your mind?” asked the class C her voice low.
“You’re class C. I have nothing to change my mind about.” Turning [Vann] strode out of the detention area.
“He’s young.” Said [Charles] switching to the human language and deactivating the translator.
The class C inside the cell glanced up, “So am I.”
[Charles] nodded, “Still, as much training as he’s gone through he’s led a sheltered life. I grew up average in almost every way. For me to actually see you as people…” he trailed off and wincing reached down and pulled the damaged detonator for the Martian last resort from a jacket pocket.
“It took a lot of convincing.”
The class C looked at him for a moment and then at the detonator.
“That’s an excuse that’s killed billions of my people, and perhaps trillions of others. You don’t get to keep using it.”
“What should I do then? Break you out of this cell? Start decrying the treatment of class C’s? It’s too ingrained. I’ve been offered another chance by fate, the young impressionable Emperor and hopefully the future ruler of the Empire at least listens to half of what I say. I push to far and he ignores me, but if I can set the balance just right? He might avoid making the same mistakes I did, and the ones that his entire linage has been making for thousands of years.”
“The future ruler?” asked the class C, “You sound uncertain.”
“A title you’ve held since before you could go through the day without defecating on yourself is one that you have to grow into.”
“His parents are dead?”
[Charles] glanced over at her, “His father is.”
“And his mother?”
“People don’t talk about her. Suffice to say she’s had little influence on him as well.”
[Charles] sighed and put the detonator away and drew out a flask. Leaning down against the wall he took another deep drink.
“He’s still far too young.”
“He’s a fool.” Scoffed the class C.
“So is every other child,” grumbled [Charles], “Most don’t have the galactic stage as an avenue for that foolishness though.”
“You’ve not seen what Humans will do.”
“I’d exclude Humans from most generalizations. You tend to have a flair for the dramatic. I’m willing to bet a single human would be able to ruin a world.”
“Probably.”
One Month Later
9 Years, 5 Months, 16 Days After Eridani Landing
Diana, Jikse
“Again.”
“I hit the target!” complained [Hal] even as he readjusted his sight.
“You hit it but you took far to long, and you didn’t even get a bullseye.”
“What’s it matter?” asked [Hal] as he wiggled in the rubble of the building trying to get more comfortable for his next shot.
“You should be able to do this,” reaching down Diana grabbed the gun out of his hands and shoved the stock into her shoulder. Spreading her feet only slightly and steadying herself Diana raised the weapon lined her eyes up with the sight and found her target.
Less than a second after ripping it from his hands she fired, still somewhat thrown by the lack of recoil it took her a moment to calm herself and lower the gun.
“See, dead center.” She handed it back down to [Hal].
He muttered several words under his breath and looking through the sight he confirmed that she had indeed hit the target at nearly 400 meters away dead center, again.
“If you can’t hit the target where you intend quickly here, you certainly won’t be able to do it when we’re under fire.”
“alright, alright. I get it.”
“Good, now start again from the beginning.” Diana pointed at the other end of the building’s floor.
“Fuck you.”
“Go!”
[Hal] got to his feet and holding his rifle properly, a skill that had taken a week to drill into him he jogged back to the beginning of the course Diana had devised. It was a variant of the course that she had trained with on Bellona. Have a recruit in full gear run an obstacle course, and then drop to prone and fire at a target.
It somewhat simulated combat and was at least slightly more realistic than having a trainee simply sit at a range and fire. Unless they were going to be a sniper it was nearly pointless to train with a weapon that was supposed to be used while moving around the battlefield.
“Now,” Diana dodged to the side barely avoiding the wild haymaker from [Orin] as she struck out at her.
Diana spun and swept her feet under the woman sending her tumbling to the ground.
Instead of complaining about the unfairness of the fight like she had when they had begun training almost a month ago [Orin] barely made a sound and spinning around struck out at Diana’s stomach from the ground. Were she fighting a male she had been instructed to hit just a little bit lower. It was dirty fighting but effective.
Diana easily stepped back avoiding the attack and [Orin] hopped back up to her feet.
For several moments both women moved back and forth, almost as if they were dancing neither willing to commit to an attack until they had the advantage.
Diana saw the opening, and struck. Feinting to the left she waited until [Orin] had shifted her weight in that direction before spinning kicked at right side. Already committed [Orin] managed to bring an arm down and grapple, grabbing Diana’s leg.
The two fell to the ground, and Diana rolling quickly pinned the other woman. It seemed that Humans had the strength advantage over most species, although her own genetic enhancement were likely playing into it.
A single shot rang out.
“Yes!”
Cracking her neck Diana release [Orin] and stood up.
Reaching down to her belt for her binocular Diana raised it to her eye looking downrange.
The shot wasn’t dead center on the target but it was close.
“Good enough,” said Diana as she lowered the instrument and offered a hand to [Orin].
She ignored it and got to her feet on her own.
“You still won,” muttered [Orin] as she dusted herself off.
Diana smiled, “you’d be hard pressed to find anyone who would be able to beat me in hand to hand. Still, it’s a supplementary skill. An energy blast to the head will kill even the best unarmed fighter just like a novice. You’re rarely going to fight hand to hand.”
[Orin] grunted but said nothing. Rubbing at her own arm where bruises were forming she ambled over to the salvaged bench where they had water bottles and grabbing one of them quickly downed it.
“You want to say where you learned all of this again?” she asked as she quickly downed half of the bottle.
“I’m a class C genetic hybrid that’s bent on getting revenge for my race,” Deadpanned Diana keeping her face straight.
“You ever going to tell us where you actually trained?” asked [Hal] as he took a bottle of water as well.
“I’m thinking you had to have washed out of one of those class B special operations programs. Something in the home systems where they didn’t want to risk class A citizens but they needed expertise. I’m betting you were with a police force on the home world, I’ve heard that even the class B’s there go through the same courses as the class A’s.”
“I’ve said all I’m going to say,” said Diana smiling.
“Meaning you came all the way out here to the edge of the Empire on that ship that abandoned you because you were running away from something.” Said [Orin].
“That has to be it.” said [Hal], “nothing else makes even a remote amount of sense.”
“Are the two of you done?”
“That depends on if you’ll let us continue,” said [Hal] as he took another sip of water.
Diana smiled, “You’re learning at least, and as much fun as it is to listen to the both of you continue to complain I’ve gotten a hold of something rather interesting.”
Diana held up an Imperial data tablet, a small holographic projection pushed itself out of it and into the air to float between the three of them.
“It’s a manifest!” said Diana excitedly.
“You’re excited over a manifest?” said [Orin] sounding unsure.
“It’s not just any manifest, it’s the encrypted shipping manifest of our competitor.”
“if it’s encrypted why can I read it?” asked [Hal] as he scanned the data.
“40 cases of Beta-3 wine, electronic components, grains, spices, compressed oxygen and other perishables along with a few antiques. Nothing on this list is incredibly valuable or even close to being illegal.”
“You’re to used to actual encryption this is obfuscation, this manifest isn’t listing everything that our friend is putting on his next shipment offworld. Look at the electronic components again.”
He frowned and looked back at the list reading it again, “I don’t get what your so excited about it’s- “he trailed off, “[Seven tons] of electronics on a small transport? Pressurized as well?”
Diana nodded, “[Severn tons] of electronics that’s being kept inside a temperature controlled and pressurized shipping compartment along with perishable goods.”
“That’s odd.” Said [Orin].
“Pressurized storage is for things that can’t handle being in a vacuum. Sure official ships can be wasteful and keep everything in a pressurized compartment. Someone shipping something from Jikse though? Not a chance. This planet barely exports to begin with no one’s going to waste money where it could be saved.”
“Alright, so let’s say you’re right and he’s shipping something else. What is it?”
“My guess would be his modified nano-machine medicine. How he has so much of it I have no idea. Even if it’s not we do know that it’s something valuable and illegal. “
Diana reaching into a pocket extracted another Imperial data tablet and set it down on the ground. Several more holograms appeared in the air, she was still marveling at the tech now that she had found it and was perhaps going overboard.
“Sek has been collecting resources, in fact it’s all that he’s been doing as far as I can tell. He doesn’t process any of it, doesn’t sell it, doesn’t try and expand. He seems to be content with collecting everything he possibly can while draining and weakening the rest of the local market from.”
Diana pointed at the economic projections and continued, “Now suddenly he’s put together a shipment, which besides the mysterious cargo doesn’t look incredibly valuable just food and perishables.”
“So you think that’s what he’s really got on the ship? None of the more valuable stuff that he’s gotten?” asked [Orin].
“I doubt the entire manifest is falsified, you can manipulate data all you want but you still can’t go over weight on a shipment.”
“It’s funny, what he’s shipping almost looks like it’s the standard Imperial supply run.” Said [Hal] as he scrolled through the data looking at the smaller items on the manifest.
“What?” asked Diana.
“The manifest, it’s similar to what’s sent to ships on patrol for restocking, it’s not exact but similar.”
“How do you know what the standard resupply looks like?” asked Diana leaning over to look at [Hal].
“I was going to apply to be in the militia at one point, I took a few dozen of the training courses. For class B’s in support roles this was on of the tests. It’s also public knowledge, look.”
Brining up the alien interface to the data network on his own Comm [Orin] found the reference and threw the regular resupply manifest up next to the one Diana had acquired form Sek’s operation.
Diana frowned and looked at the two lists, besides the electronics shipment being off almost everything else was in line by a few percentages. Luxury goods was twice the normal resupply, but almost everything else was in line.
“Interesting.” Said Diana, “Still, doesn’t change our plan.”
“Which is?” asked [Orin].
Diana smiled, “We’re going to steal whatever it is that he’s trying to smuggle off of the planet.”
“The last time we stole something from this man it didn’t end well.”
“You messed up trying to sell it, stealing it was easy. Besides I’m going to be planning out heist this time, if we’re lucky you won’t have to use any of the new training.”
The two class B’s glanced at one another, “Why do I get the feeling we’ll still have to use it?” said [Hal].
Diana shut the holograms off and whipped the tablet through the air at [Orin]. The woman deflected it sending the device careening toward [Hal]. He barely avoided getting hit in the head as he dodged to the side sprawling onto the floor in a heap.
“You’re learning that it’s always good to be prepared.”
“I think we’re learning your insane.” Grumbled [Hal].
Bellona Colony
“The frequency of his personal chatter has begun to pick up.” said Night as he slowly ambled across the small podium that had been installed in the Council chambers for the Tanuin.
“That’s a good sign then?” asked Ben.
“It is a sign.” Mumbled the young Tanuin, “It could be a sign that he is marshaling order within his mind once more, or that his bodies are now so confused that they are randomly vocalizing.”
“You can’t tell what his individual bodies are saying?” asked Megan.
“No more than a human would be able to ascertain the thoughts of another based off of the electrical impulses of another brain. Tanuin are unable to comprehend the communications between the bodies of one another, the information is too compressed and truncated to extrapolate any meaning.”
“What are the chances of recovery then?” asked Councillor Daniels leaning forwards in his seat.
Night paused and looked up at the Human politician, “He might recover. The factors that lead to this kind of injury can influence how likely his recovery might be. If he were attacked and his bodies slowly killed it is less likely, if his attacker quickly cut the connections recovery is more likely.”
“They’re going to want a percentage Night,” said Ben leaning over to whisper to the Tanuin.
“40% if I must pin down a number.”
“Again anything we can do to help his recovery don’t hesitate to ask,” said General Yan.
“Thank you, at the moment it is up to him to pull through, there is little anyone on the outside can do.”
The Councillors nodded, Daniels turned to Ben.
“How is the Russia progressing?”
“Are you not reading my reports?” asked Ben annoyed at the man.
“I’ve read them, humor me and summarize them for me.”
“We’re preparing for shakedown flights around Big Blue in a week, after that we repair anything that needs to be repair and I’d be willing to say she’s space worthy. Again however I would like to request that we retrofit the ship so that the Tanuin will be more comfortable serving on her.”
“As eager as you and the engineering teams are to begin serving with them, most of the population hasn’t forgotten about the Fort incident.” Said General Yan holding up a hand.
Megan shook her head, “The modifications we’re proposing are cosmetic at best. Having crew who would be able to better access smaller sub systems would also be a great benefit to ship operations.”
“As of yet no Tanuin has passed all of our fleet required courses, despite the extra classes that the two of you have been giving them to bring them up to date.” Said Yan.
“Based on the results of those class though it won’t take long for them to pass however, two more months at the least. We’re also going to have to revise some of the tests, perfect mnemonic recall seems to be universal among them.”
“They’ve all got photographic memories?” asked Daniels perking up at that.
“As best as we can tell.” Said Ben.
“In any case the answer is still no.”
“No more debating it then?” asked Ben.
Daniels shook his head, “No.”
Ben snapped to a salute for the military officers on the Council and turning gestured at Night. The Tanuin hopped off of the platform and following Ben and Megan the three exited without being formally dismissed.
Megan reaching into her jacket pulled out a small device as they walked and calmly switched it on. Night let out a disgruntled squeak as the device as it charged briefly emitted an ultrasonic burst of sound but even that quickly moved out of the Tanuin hearing range.
“You think that was enough?” asked Night as the three passed out of the government complex, now sure that no one could overhear them.
“It should be, It’s almost a coin toss.” Said Megan.
“Coin toss?” asked Night.
“A fifty-fifty chance, no one on the Council is going to risk their career and clout on something that has a 40% chance of ruining them. They’ll go after Alpha.”
Night let out a sound which was basically the Tanuin nod of understanding and fell silent.
“Here’s hoping they use their little virus. We’ve got enough of the computer networks monitored at this point that if they use it we’ll know who’s on the other end of the control for it.” Said Ben.
“Then we have to hope the entire council isn’t in on it when we make our report,” muttered Megan.
“is that a possibility?” asked Night.
“Possible, yes. Likely? No.” said Ben.
“Human politics are difficult.”
Ben chuckled, “We’ve known that for centuries. I think we like it that way.”
Megan winced and let out a small whimper. Concerned Ben and Night both paused, “You OK?” asked Ben.
Megan waved a hand and reaching under her shirt hit the metal cage that she was wearing around her chest that was attempting to mitigate the effects of the radiation. “It’s just acting up, I’m fine.”
Ben leaning down next to her pulled out his link and quickly checked the vitals that were streaming from the medical equipment she was wearing, “Jesus. Don’t let any of the doctors see you like this, your blood pressure just took a dive.”
Megan suddenly lightheaded slowly nodded, “OK.”
Ben moving down quickly rolled up the right leg of Megan’s pants looking at the prosthetic limb.
Skin was once again covering part of the metal looking as if it had grown over the glossy metal.
“Damn it.”
“Something wrong?” asked Megan looking down at it as well.
“I’ve no idea.” Muttered Ben as he rolled the material back down covering her leg. Offering her a hand he helped his wife back up to her feet.
Megan regaining her composure after a moment sighed.
“We really need to finish the particle accelerator and let the theorists at it.”
“Who knows enough about antimatter FTL to even theorize about what’s happening?” grumbled Ben, “Lincoln was the only one who knew even a little bit about whatever the hell this is.”
Megan grimaced, “Still it would be something.”
“Well you want to go and yell at the idiots building it go ahead, they’re limited at the manufacturing not the construction. Unless you want to tell the Council we’re going to delay the Russia so we can use the particle accelerator we’re building to produce antimatter actually need to do some particle physics research.”
Megan hit Ben’s shoulder.
“I’ll be fine.”
“For now at least.” Muttered Ben. Only Night heard him though his voice so low.
Canada, Unknown System
The Canada shook and their was a loud clang from the bowels of the ship.
“Crap,” muttered Derrick as his eyes snapped open and he reacted almost instinctively to the oddity from the ship.
“We are dropping out of FTL!” said Arik her voice echoing through all of the compartments of the ship.
Figuratively rolling out of his bunk Derrick grabbed his suit and absentmindedly tried to pull it on for several moments without success.
“The mechanical counter pressure systems are activated, you hit the controls last night after you took it off.” Said Arik her voice coming through the Link earpiece he was still wearing.
“Thanks,” muttered the engineer as he turned off the system and felt to suit go slightly limp in his hands. Able to move the material around now he donned the suit and sealed it. Opening the hatch to his compartment Derrick floated out into the main corridor.
“Arik what was that?”
“The main power regulator.”
“I thought we fixed that.”
“We did.”
“God damn it.”
“Derrick!” Came the shout down the corridor, from what was unmistakably the Captains’ quarters.
“Fuck,” muttered the engineer.
“Why the hell are we not in FTL! Why the hell are the lights out, and why the hell is this ship still falling apart!” shouted the Captain as she drifted out of her compartment to glare at the engineer.
Both of them had deep circles under their eyes, and neither looked like they were completely awake yet.
“She’s seen combat twice in less than two months without being able to go into drydock, and she’s gone atmospheric while in combat conditions! You’re lucky she’s still in one piece!” shouted Derrick.
The other crew in the corridor who were on shift and those who responding to the thunk like Derrick and the Captain who had poked their heads out of their quarters suits half on all looked stunned for several moments.
Stagg’s eyes widened, and her face went red.
“Conference compartment, now!” she growled pointing down the spine of the ship forwards towards the bridge and the conference room.
Derrick stared at her for a moment, snapped a quick salute and spinning the air pushed off of the frame of his door and shot down the length of the ship.
“I have restored power; we will be able to return to FTL in ten minutes.” Said Arik her voice softer than normal when she was making announcements over the PA.
“Thank you Arik.” Grumbled Derrick as he drifted into the conference room and grabbed one of the many handholds around the perimeter.
The compartment was silent for several minutes and Derrick tried to clear his head slowly shaking it side to side in a vain attempt to get his neurons working properly.
The compartment hatch opened and Stagg drifted in.
She looked at him for a moment, Derrick stared back at her.
“You know sometimes I forget that most of my crew never even flew during the war.”
“I’m trained; I have no excuse for my behavior.”
Stagg shook her head and sighed, “This is your first assignment, we’re in hostile territory and you’ve been saddled with the role of a senior officer. I’ve endeavoured to not treat you any differently, and I’ve avoided looking it up but how old are you?”
Derrick looked at the Captain for a moment, “23.”
Stagg slowly nodded, “So you were what? 15 When the attack took place?”
“I was yes.”
“What did you want to do before it?”
Derrick opened his mouth, and then shut it. He chuckled once, “I was training to set up colony subsystems. I was going to help develop Sagan city, make an earning by specializing in power management.”
“That’s an odd career choice for a fifteen-year-old.”
“To be honest, I just wanted to be out on the Martian frontier working, but not in something that was critical. I didn’t want the responsibility.”
Stagg looked up at that, “Then why apply to be an engineer, and accept being the chief for the Canada?”
“I’m one of the .1% that lived through an alien massacre. I don’t deserve the luxury of slacking off.”
Derrick clenched his fists together, “To do anything but the most with my talents would be an insult to the rest of humanity that died.”
Stagg shook her head. “You’re an idiot.”
“I’ve told him that since we met.” Said Arik.
The two ignored her.
“You’re not supposed to be shouldering the entire weight of humanity yet.” Stagg paused and took in a breath, “But I suppose I can’t begrudge you for doing so. It’s something that every leader feels like they have to do.”
She looked over at him.
“I’m not apologizing; you were out of line.”
“I’m not apologizing either, you’re asking the impossible of me keeping this hunk together,” said Derrick and he slammed his fist onto the inner hull of the Canada.
“You’re doing a good job of it. Although officially you’re getting stuck with an extra three duty shifts and it’s being put in the record.”
“I’m not concerned about my record at the moment to be honest Ma’am. As for the duty shifts, well Arik and I still have to get the FTL kinks worked out and apparently fix the glitch in the power subsystems.”
“Waste treatment also needs to be checked.”
Derrick looked up at the nearest camera, “You really know how to ruin a moment.”
“It’s a talent. Are the both of you going to remain awake? It’s ten minutes until your alarms for duty shifts in any case. I’ve got a briefing on C1803 ready, I managed to break into one of the less secure Imperial servers at 0300 this morning and found some interesting data.”
“For example?” asked Stagg.
“Cultural data and other attributes that the Empire usually ignores, it was being presented to several of the Captains whom are going to perform the assault in case it was pertinent. I have the briefing they were given but most of it was rhetoric so I constructed my own.”
“Summon the rest of the officers then.” Said Stagg as she rubbed at her nose trying to rid the circles from under her eyes.
“It’s going to be a long day.” She said.
_ _The rest of the staff for the main shift filtered in over the next ten minutes, the previous shift would remain on for as long as Arik’s briefing took. Several people looked between Stagg and the chief engineer but no one said anything as they took up positions around the wall, holding onto anchor points or casually slipping their feet through them.
“Arik seems to have more information on the C1803 species, the ones that we learned though the tachyon relay communication network and protocols that we acquired are the next species in line to suffer the same fate as humanity.” Said Stagg.
“I was able to obtain more information, including this.”
A humanoid image flashed onto the main monitor of the room. Were is a human it would have been someone of Asian decent, the skin was reddish and flecked with what looked like camouflaging lines of a deeper shade. The eyes were perhaps the most alien feature, the iris looked like something a snake would have almost vertical slits. The nose was also slightly squashed, exposing the nostrils somewhat.
“Their bones are also laced with a higher density calcium lattice than you would find in a human, nothing extraordinary but it gives them higher durability than a human.” Said Arik as she displayed medical data next to the model of the C1803.
“On a technological level they are close to what humanity had in the 1980’s although their understanding of high energy physics is somewhat more advanced. It is perhaps what is spurring the Empire to attack. On a cultural level they are divided into several hundred nations of varying levels of wealth and education, there is no overarching political structure with any power over the world.”
An image of a globe floated into view next. The planet was about the same size as Earth although it had significantly more landmass, the planet only half covered in water.
“The cultural data beyond this is scant, but from what I can tell they’ve not had wars on a level even approaching anything Humanity had at that time of development. However there are near constant skirmishes between most of the nations over religious values, no one faith has become dominant however and no groups have become large enough to crusade. Overall they are very close to Humanity’s developmental path. They have even achieved limited success with nuclear restrictions if the scans and data are to believed.”
Stagg and the rest of the staff looked at the data for several long moments, “Arik, we still wouldn’t be able to help these people. We’re a single ship.”
“I have some ideas about that, like I said they do have nukes.”
“And nukes do nothing to the Empire shields.” Said Derrick.
“Exactly, and we have a way to eliminate that advantage.”
“Still one ship Arik.”
“How easily can the physical components of the Ace be replicated?”
Derrick frowned, and then his eyes widened, “It’s a big magnet if you want to break it down to the most simplistic terms. The complex part is the control software.”
“Still, if we had a dozen Ace devices we could slave all of their controls to our program. Correct?”
Derrick’s mouth fell open and it took him a moment, “Yeah that would work.”
Stagg looked at him and then glanced up at the camera, “So we would be able to disable all of their shield emitters, an entire fleet?” asked Stagg.
“Close to it. That’s assuming we can’t destroy the tachyon relays in system. In which case we wouldn’t need to even contact C1803.”
“The way everything else has been going I doubt we would be that lucky,” muttered the Captain.