The AI War (9 page)

Hunched over her in the dark, the S'Cotar continued its work, unconcerned by her shallow breathing and weakening pulse.

"No!" snapped KTran. "No expeditions into that dark beast, D'Trelna! We penetrate the shield, plant a charge, and leave."

"We need that commwand, K'Tran," said D'Trelna. "We're going for the bridge."

"Enemy disposition, strength and intent?" said the corsair scornfully. "Where is the bridge? How do we get there? What's to stop us? Unless you have a plan, D'Trelna, we'd better jump for it—now."

"No one's jumping anywhere," said D'Trelna. "And there is a plan." He turned to the slaver computer. "Egg."

"Thank you, Commodore," said the machine. A multicolored hologram of
Alpha Prime
appeared between Egg and D'Trelna's station, well within range of the comm pickup. "This is from the Imperial Archives, R'Actolian War section. Unless the R'Actolians have radically altered the design of
Alpha Prime,
there will be a concealed sally port here." A short, red shaft appeared and penetrated the hull, halfway down the ship's port side.

"Define 'sally port,' " said K'Tran. He sat slouched in his chair, fingers steepled in front of him, looking at the hologram.

"I've been in one on
T'Nil's Revenge,"
said D'Trelna. "On that ship, it was a tunnel through the hull, used to counterassault boarders who'd gained the hull."

"Thank you, Commodore," said Egg. "It served the same purpose in
Alpha Prime.
Indeed, Archives records that a brigade of Imperial Marine Death Commandos, under the personal command of one Admiral K'Yal, penetrated that very sally portal on
Alpha Prime."

"To what effect?" said K'Tran.

"K'Yal was my many-times-removed maternal grandparent," said L'Wrona. "His faction having lost a power struggle within FleetOps, a suicide mission was arranged for him and his personal brigade. They penetrated the shield, reached the hull—took enormous casualties doing it—entered the sally port, and were never heard from again."

"Death Commandos, indeed," said K'Tran. He sat up. "How do we get through the shield?"

"Your ships must link shields," said Egg. "Interfaced with the computers of both attacking vessels, I will use a shield-shaping algorithm to mold the normal globular shield of each ship into a triangular-shaped shield. This shield will have both ships at its base, with its apex penetrating
Alpha Prime's
sally port." As Egg spoke a green triangle materialized beside the image of the mindslaver. Two diminutive cruisers sat one above the ether, just inside the base of the triangle. As everyone watched, the triangle and ships moved on the mindslaver. Penetrating the red haze marking
Alpha Prime's
shield, the tip of the triangle touched the space-end of the red shaft.

"Note," continued Egg, "that this maneuver places the two fusion batteries that could bear on the sally port within range of our weapons—weapons that will still enjoy the protection of our shield. Once those cannon are neutralized, a two-shuttle sortie should be launched through the port.
..."

"Why only two shuttles?" said A'Tir.

"The sally port's lined with disintegrator cubes," said D'Trelna. "I ran afoul of the ones on
T'Nil's Revenge.
Turns that tunnel into a disintegrator chamber. The most we'll get through are two shuttles, moving at flank."

"Disintegrator cubes," said A'Tir.

"A foolish question, Egg," said K'Tran. "Why shouldn't the slaver change position and avoid our attack?"

"They've defeated every force ever sent against them, Captain," said the machine. "They are arrogant. Perhaps you are familiar with the condition?"

Gods! thought D'Trelna. That thing's baiting K'Tran.

"How do we get to the bridge?" said K'Tran after a hard look at the Egg.

"I have provided directions," said the machine.

K'Tran shook his head. "Uh-huh. D'Trelna, I don't trust your unctuous egg. It goes with us, or we take our chances against you here and now."

L'Wrona reached for the commkey, ready to direct a missile and beam salvo at the corsair. D'Trelna stopped him, loudly clearing his throat. "Our friend Egg?" said the commodore. He turned to the slaver machine. "You don't mind, do you, Egg?"

"An honor, Commodore," said the machine.

"We get inside," said L'Wrona. "Then what?"

"Race for the bridge," said Egg. "The corridors should accommodate shuttles of the dimensions shown in
Implacable'
's equipment roster."

"Resistance?" asked A'Tir.

"Heavy from automatic weapons systems at key intersections," said Egg. "And fierce opposition from organic units."

"Organic units?" said D'Trelna, frowning at the featureless spheroid beside him. "What organic units?"

"I've been giving the matter some thought," said the machine. "The R'Actolians are biofabs. They've had a great deal of time to perfect defenses for that ship. I suggest, given the R'Actolians antecedents, that such defenses would be organic. Most probably very lethal biofabs, held in cryogenic suspension until now. Biofabs without the R'Actolians' genius, of course. Her creations would not replicate Governor R'Actol's fatal error."

"Sort of like our friends the S'Cotar," said D'Trelna.

"Your records show they were not your friends," said Egg. "And why they didn't wipe you out is a deep mystery."

"Let's get on with it," said K'Tran impatiently.

"Agreed," said D'Trelna, swiveling his chair back to the scan. "We'll run a passby over your ship, K'Tran, on an intercept course for
Alpha Prime.
As we penetrate your shield perimeter, jettison your camouflage and upshield on our shield frequency. We then attack, with Egg maneuvering both ships and running shield control. Once our combined shield overlaps the sally portal, and the instant those two batteries are wiped, we launch our shuttles, rendezvous and run the portal. Clear?"

"Clear," said K'Tran.

D'Trelna leaned forward. "I'm switching you to Commander K'Raoda, who you so unkindly tried to kill at our last meeting. He'll give you a preliminary tactical feed and assign you battlelink frequencies." He touched a commkey, sending
Victory Day's
signal to the first officer's station. He turned to L'Wrona as the comm screen cleared. "I really hate—"

"—that slime," finished L'Wrona. "You're not alone. I could find a hundred volunteers for his volley party."

An alarm shrilled. "Unauthorized launch!" called T'Ral. "We have an unauthorized lifepod launch!"

"Recall it," ordered L'Wrona, moving to T'Ral's station.

"I have." The younger officer pointed to a telltale. Data was racing across the screen. "Negative response."

D'Trelna had come to stand on T'Ral's right, eyes on the telltale. "Making for jump point. Surprised the slaver hasn't picked it off."

The data slowed, then stopped.

"Jumped," said T'Ral. "But where?"

"No time for that now," said L'Wrona. "Why didn't you abort launch on computer warning?"

"There was no computer warning," said T'Ral, busy logging the incident.

Captain and commodore exchanged worried glances. "Get N'Trol on it," said D'Trelna. He walked with L'Wrona back toward their stations. "Mindslaver. Corsairs. That." He jerked his head toward Egg, still hovering by the flag officer's chair. "Now the computer," he said, turning for the door.

L'Wrona stared after him. "Where are you going, J'Quel? We're about to engage."

"Engage nothing till I'm back," he said as the doors opened. "I'll be in the facility."

The deck whirling toward him, John grabbed a railing as it flashed by—only to have his grip wrenched loose by the force of his fall. Screaming, arms and legs flailing, he fell the final hundred feet to the deck—and vanished inches above the battlesteel.

Standing behind the railing, T'Lan watched Harrison's disappearance without expression. He stood there an instant longer, drawing the logical conclusion, then busied himself at the command station.

"Sure you want to do this?" asked N'Trol. He stood at the bridge engineering station, finger poised over the Execute button on his console.

"Shield frequencies matched," said L'Wrona, ignoring N'Trol. "Stand by for linkage."

The camouflaged bulk of
Victory Day
filled
Implacable's
main screen. The cruiser was passing over the corsair, heading for the mindslaver.

"Ready for linkage," said A'Tir, her image in both N'Trol and L'Wrona's comm screens.

"Execute," said L'Wrona.

A'Tir and N'Trol both pressed a switch.

Implacable’
s sensors went blind for an instant as
Victory Day
flared bright as a sun. When sensors cleared, they showed the corsair, shorn of her camouflage, running close to
Implacable
as both ships charged the great, grim bulk of
Alpha Prime.

"Alpha
will fire now," said Egg. It hovered beside the tactics console, tied to
Implacable's
computer by a tendril of soft blue light.

Thick as a shuttle, dark blue fusion beams lashed at the cruisers—and were stopped by the strangely elongated shield projected by the two ships, a sharp-tipped golden cone racing toward the mindslaver.

"What kind of a shield is that?" asked D'Trelna. He stood beside Egg, staring at the main screen.

"One mutated and strengthened by a shield-shaping algorithm, Commodore," said Egg. "Note the characteristic yellow hue."

"And the slaver's shield?" asked D'Trelna.

"Breached by our own," said Egg. "We've effectively tunneled through it.''

Now halfway to target, the shield was glowing, the portions around the beam points shading over into a sullen umber. Behind D'Trelna, alarms buzzed at engineering and command stations, warning of shield generators pushed beyond design.

"We're through!" called K'Raoda as the fire suddenly slackened. Following behind their shield, both ships had passed the point where all of
Alpha Prime's
port batteries could bear on them. Only two of the slaver's main batteries were firing now.

"She should stand off and blast us," said D'Trelna, watching their shield fade back into yellow.

"Were
Alpha Prime
entirely rational, Commodore," said Egg, "we would be dead."

"Gunnery," called L'Wrona over the commnet, "we're inside her shield. Take out that starboard battery." He switched channels. "K'Tran, take out their port battery."

Victory Day
and
Implacable
fired together, fierce red beams exploding into slaver's nearest fusion turrets, sparking twin towers of yellow-green flame that billowed outward, then were gone. Two scorched and jagged craters marked their passing.

"I have positioned the shield's apex directly over the presumptive location of the sally port," said Egg. "We should leave now."

"You heard that, K'Tran?" D'Trelna said into the commlink.

"On our way." The corsair's face appeared in the screen. "Rendezvous in shield cone. See you on the slaver's bridge, D'Trelna—or in hell." K'Tran disappeared.

"Hell, probably," muttered D'Trelna, turning for the door. "Let's go, Egg."

The blue tendrils vanished as the slaver computer followed D'Trelna. As the two passed the captain's station, L'Wrona signed off on his log entry and stood. "Commander K'Raoda, you have the conn," he said, falling in beside D'Trelna. "Luck, T'Lei," he added.

"Luck to you too, H'Nar. Commodore," nodded K'Raoda, taking the captain's chair. He watched as the doors hissed shut behind the trio, then swiveled back to his console. "Hold her here, Commander T'Ral," he ordered. "And so advise our . . . allies.

"Launch control," he said into the commnet, "sortie party is on its way. Stand by shuttle."

The bridge crew watched as, a few moments later, the screen showed two armed shuttles meet and proceed toward
Alpha Prime.

"Slaver is jamming all communications to the shuttles," reported K'Lana.

"What about us and the corsair cruiser?"

The comm officer shrugged. "Hasn't affected us yet."

K'Raoda glanced at his instruments. The commlink to
Victory Day
showed green. "Computer," he said, punching into the complink, "monitor carrier frequencies to corsair cruiser—report any change in status." He turned back to the main screen, then frowned at the silence. "Computer," he said, annoyed, "acknowledge order."

"It can't."

K'Raoda turned. A worried looking N'Trol stood beside the captain's station.

"Explain," said K'Raoda, looking back at the screen.

The shuttles were now just two silver needles receding against the mindslaver's mass.

"Someone who knows Imperial computer theory better than anyone now living has dropped a stasis algorithm into the computer.''

K'Raoda swiveled to face N'Trol, shuttles forgotten for a moment. "Impossible," he said, shaking his head. "That's a myth—a cybernetic wild tale from before the Fall. It must be some sort of system failure—maybe something latent, from when Fleet applied the overlay."

"Shuttles halfway to target and closing," reported T'Ral.

"Acknowledged," said K'Raoda.

"Fine," said N'Trol with exaggerated patience. "There's no such thing as a stasis algorithm. But something is moving through that machine." He jerked a thumb aft, in the general direction of the computer. "Something that's freezing its basic operating systems—suspending them for later reactivation."

"How do you know?"

"Because it's challenging incoming commands to affected sections in machine code I've never seen. Does that sound like a system failure to you, Commander?"

"No," admitted K'Raoda, shaking his head. "How long have we got?''

N'Trol shrugged. "Watchend, maybe. At current rate of deterioration."

"What do we need to stop this . . . stasis algorithm?" asked K'Raoda.

"The original algorithm," said N'Trol. "Or, faster, one that's antidotal. No one would create such a monster without having something to kill it. That would be stupid. And whoever or whatever did this is not stupid.''

"Two candidates for culprit," said K'Raoda. He glanced at the scan.
Alpha Prime,
minus two main batteries, was still bathing their shield in fusion fire, ineffectively. The shield indicators were still in the green. "T'Lan and the slaver machine."