Impulse (33 page)

The Search

A
n hour later our search had proved fruitless. No disaster beacon. No radio signal or IFF transponder. No residual hyperdimensional signature. Nothing.

Maclintock called the staff into the Command Briefing room. I left Layton in charge of the search and joined Dobrina, Colonel Babayan, Serosian, and Maclintock. Dobrina, Babayan, and I sat around one end of the table while Maclintock occupied the other. Serosian, as always, placed himself in the middle.

“So what you're saying,” said Maclintock, collecting his thoughts, “is that
Impulse
has gone dark in a very significant way. If we're to find her, it will be by pure luck.”

“I don't believe in luck,” retorted Serosian, more pointedly than I had ever heard him sound before. “And neither does the Church. It's true that there is no hyperdimensional resonance signature. If we assume that we've jumped to the same star system as Impulse, then that leaves us with one of two possibilities: either
Impulse
has been destroyed so completely, down to the molecular level in fact, that she has virtually disintegrated, or her hyperdimensional drive has been removed.”

“Removed?” said Maclintock, his voice revealing his alarm at this potential turn of events. “From what you've told me of the HD drive it's an unlimited power source. No one outside the Historian community has the ability to disengage it, and the energy source itself is self-perpetuating. Anyone trying to ‘remove' it without the proper tools would be exposing themselves to what—the power of a sun?”

“Much more than that,” said Serosian. “The power of an entire dimension, potentially. That's why I believe the hyperdimensional drive was removed by a qualified Historian. Tralfane, to be exact.”

Maclintock looked around the table, then back to Serosian.

“So let's get answers to the simple questions first,” he started. “Where are we?”

Serosian folded his hands in front of him, thumbs twitching together.

“I've analyzed the local stars, done a calibration to the galactic core, run our position through a series of complex algorithms. I'll spare you the details, but there can be no doubt.
Starbound
is in the Altos system,” he said.

“Altos is the legendary home system of the Sri,” said Dobrina. “Do you think they're behind this?”

Serosian shook his head. “It's impossible to know. There are fourteen major planets in this system. But only Altos, which was planet two, and a moon of planet six were habitable in the First Empire days. And even in that time Altos was a very secretive world.”

“Didn't the Church bombard Altos during the Secession Wars?” asked Colonel Babayan.

“I thought that was a myth,” said Dobrina. Serosian shook his head.

“It's no myth. It's not something the Church is proud of today, but one of the inciting incidents in the First Secession War was our bombardment of Altos with multiple atomic weapons,” he said.

“Why?” asked Maclintock. Serosian shifted in his chair at this. It was clear from his manner that he was reluctant to discuss it. He spoke anyway.

“The Sri are an order with no spiritual beliefs. They were dedicated to the pure pursuit of science and the exploitation of the material universe. This put them at odds with Church hierarchy. It was an uneasy truce held together by the empire, which had interest in both sides being in opposition to each other. The Sri were masters of technology. The Church saw themselves as the moral regulators of the excesses of that technology. When the Sri began to work actively toward an evolution of man, a conscious blending of man and machine through nanotechnology, the Church believed it had crossed a moral line from man's domain into God's domain. When Emperor Vilius IV publically declared himself to be a user of the Sri implants, it placed the Church in an untenable position.”

“Vilius was declared a ‘non-human' by the Church,” said Dobrina. Serosian nodded.

“Exactly. What had been a deteriorating situation with an empire-wide economic and political crisis suddenly became a religious one as well,” he said.

“The perfect cauldron for war,” said Maclintock.

“And they fought for half a century,” added Dobrina.

“But what about the bombardment of Altos?” I asked. This was information I had never before heard from my mentor.

“The Church ordered it when it became apparent that the empire would win the conflict, using Sri technology. You got a taste of that technology today, Peter. The merging of a man's mind with a machine. We believe that path was also the downfall of the Founder civilization. For the Church, at that time of the war, they believed the attack was justified,” Serosian said.

“Extermination of an entire world,” stated Dobrina, her distaste obvious.

“I cannot justify the actions of the past, Commander,” said Serosian. “The fact remains that we are in the Altos system. No one knows whether the Sri survived the war or not. All we know is that a Historian apparently loyal to forces of the former empire or the Sri themselves has hijacked a Lightship and brought it here. Our presence in this system must now undoubtedly be having the same effect on those forces as kicking a hornet's nest on a summer day. We need to be prepared for whatever comes next.”

“And thank the Church of the Latter Days for rolling out the welcome mat,” said Dobrina.

“All of that was two centuries ago, Commander,” cut in Maclintock. “Our job today is to rescue
Impulse
.” He turned to Serosian. “What's our location relative to the major planets? Where do you recommend we concentrate our search efforts?” he asked.

“Currently we are in the cloud rim of the Altos system, far away from even the most distant of the major planets, so we've little chance to explore the system from here. I suggest that we begin our search in a standard sweep pattern, perhaps using the shuttles to broaden our range,” said Serosian.

“That's not much to go on,” said Dobrina. Serosian turned to her.

“Well, unless Tralfane, or the Sri, or the remnants of the old empire have the temerity to come and find us, Commander, it's the only real option we have right now,” he said.

At that moment my earpiece com buzzed in. It was Layton. I linked him into the room line so we all could hear his report.

“Sir, we've discovered an object in the area, a ship, we think,” he said.

“Is it
Impulse
?” Maclintock asked. The line stayed silent for a second.

“I would say no, sir. The object we're tracking is ten times the size of a Lightship, sir. And one other thing . . .”

Maclintock raised an eyebrow as Layton's pause grew longer.

“Yes, Lieutenant?” he prompted.

“It . . . it appears to be drifting, sir,” said Layton. Maclintock shot from his seat.

“Hold stations, Lieutenant,” he said, making for the door.

“We're on our way.”

We rushed onto the bridge,
Starbound
's main plasma display filled by the image of a dark, pyramid-shaped hulk floating in space. Each of the four base points of the pyramid held a pillar, most likely coil cannon arrays that looked to be about as big as
Starbound
herself. In other words, it dwarfed us.

“Analysis, Mr. Serosian,” said the captain, taking his seat. I went quickly to my longscope station and started my scanning protocol.

“Very low level of energy detected, Captain, almost equal to background radiation from the Altos star. I would say for all practical purposes this is a derelict, probably abandoned for several centuries,” Serosian said. My scans told a different story. I stuck my head out from under the longscope hood.

“With due respect, Captain, I'm getting something on the bioscanner,” I said. I looked to Serosian. His face was impassive, showing no emotion at my report one way or the other. I switched the main plasma to a display showing the biosigns. They were faint, but they were there.

“Can you explain that, Historian?” asked Maclintock. From his tone I could tell he was annoyed that his 'scopeman had delivered information he had expected to get from his Historian.

Serosian didn't miss a beat. “With their demonstrated ability to disguise energy signatures behind stealth fields I suggest we proceed with extreme caution. This could be a lure to get our troops over to the dreadnought,” he said. “They've already taken one Lightship from the Union Navy. Capturing or destroying a second would certainly advance their agenda, whatever that might be.” The captain turned at this.

“So you've identified the vessel as an Imperial dreadnought?” Maclintock said.

“Given its size, displacement, and apparent weaponry, what else could it be?” Serosian said. “Though stories of their use at the end of the war to destroy entire planets was part of the propaganda designed to intimidate enemies into quick surrender, this vessel appears to fit the description rather accurately.”

“I'd like to take a marine team over, Captain,” said Dobrina. “The biosigns we're detecting could be anything, including the crew of
Impulse
. If so, we have a duty to try and rescue them. And before you object to having your two most senior officers off the ship at the same time again, I would remind you that myself and Lieutenant Commander Cochrane are the only officers aboard with experience dealing with Imperial technology.”

“I won't argue with your logic, Commander, just your wisdom,” said Maclintock. Colonel Babayan stepped up then.

“I insist on going as well, sir,” she said. “A mix of thirty marines in a single shuttle should be sufficient to determine the conditions aboard.”

“I disagree,” I said, crossing my arms firmly. “We came here with sixty marines and two heavy shuttles for a reason. This dreadnought is that reason. I say we go over in full force or we don't go at all. And I insist that we go, sir,” I said the last directly to the captain.

Maclintock turned to Dobrina, his decision made. “Request denied, Commander. I need my XO here on the bridge, commanding the teams. We'll go in full force, both shuttles, all weapons. Mr. Cochrane will lead the Quantar marines in one shuttle, Colonel Babayan will lead the second shuttle with the Carinthians.” Babayan's hands went to her hips at this and anger burned in her eyes.

“We've worked hard to get these detachments integrated! Why are you splitting us up now?” she asked Maclintock.

“Colonel, this is a critical operation. I don't want someone to mess up an assignment because of language differences or a cultural misunderstanding. Let's just keep to our own, and do our jobs.” The firm set of the colonel's jaw indicated she didn't agree, but she didn't make any further protest.

Dobrina fumed in silence as Maclintock turned to Serosian.

“Thoughts?” The Historian shook his head.

“Nothing more than I've already stated. Proceed with extreme caution. I'll continue scanning for
Impulse
on the longscope,” he said, then turned to me. “Keep your personal channel open, Peter. Things may end up moving much faster than we expect.”

“I'll keep that in mind,” I replied.