The Broken Cage (Solstice 31 Saga Book 2) (8 page)

CHAPTER NINE

Tan'Vi

“Why am I telling you this? Because, Barcus is not the only one responsible here. I killed those bastards, and yes, in retrospect I'd do it again.”

--Solstice 31 Incident Investigation Testimony Transcript: Master Chief Nancy Randall, senior surviving security member of the Ventura's crew.

<<<>>>

“Poole, this map has several villages marked on it. Let's avoid them by following a line, like this.” She indicated it on the HUD.

“If the pi symbol represents a shelter, do you think there is a variation on this symbol, with a leg missing? Or this, the one with the peaked roof?”

“
We will find out soon. Following this track we will pass near both. When the Fly catches up, it can recon.
” AI~Poole was businesslike again. “
It will catch up soon. We are moving much slower to ensure we are not seen and our tracks are difficult to follow.”

They traveled at night now and rested during the day. Moving along streams and rocky areas, they hid in dense forests during daylight.

Rand discovered that there was a particular annotation for a three-sided, open shelter and a visible, aboveground shelter like a cabin or other building.

The forest here was untouched. The forest floor was littered with fallen trees of all sizes. The going would be very difficult for a person on foot and impossible for a horse. The canopy above gave shelter from sat monitoring, which, it seemed, the trackers were aware of.

Rand found similar journals in other shelters. Some even warned of the level of observation from above.

For two weeks, they moved at night. Easily avoiding settlements, even small groups, and individuals, via infrared.

The game became plentiful. One morning, Rand awoke to find a buck at Poole's feet.

“Last night, while we were parked, it scraped its antlers on my leg. I reached down and broke its neck just at the base of its skull with a quick squeeze. We had discussed hunting, but I had no idea it was so easy.”

Rand gutted the deer, right there. She had Poole bring the deer with them to the next shelter. It was a small, aboveground cabin on a small bluff above a stream. No one would ever find this without a map. It was simply not visible from any direction until they were there. There was already firewood and even a large cook pot on a swinging hook in the fireplace. Soon, the deer was skinned and quartered. A simple stew with salt and pepper simmered over the fire.

Rand slept in the small cabin. It was outfitted with four hammocks. The hammocks hung from only one hook when not in use. When deployed, they basically took up the entire cabin. They were very comfortable and meant she didn't have the worry of mice like with the mattresses in other shelters.

Poole had taken up a position in the evergreens, legs extended all the way, still as stone, blending in.

***

Rand dozed in a hammock, as the venison simmered in the pot, when AI~Poole woke her.

“Rand, there are two people approaching from the west. They are about thirty minutes away, but coming directly at us.”

A window opened in her HUD. She saw them from above. They moved toward the Fly. One man, one woman. They walked along, casually talking, even laughing at times. Each had a bow, but they were unstrung and on their backs, strapped to well-worn leather packs. Their clothes were worn, but clean. The clothes she now wore, salvaged from the saddlebags, were much finer. Her cloak was especially nice. The edges were trimmed with leather and the subtle design was functional as camo as well.

“Their names are Tannhauser and Vi. Based on what I know, they are trackers. They have been here before. April 23
rd
was the last time they were here. They were heading north for the summer. They like to hunt and to forage there. They sign all the logs Tan'Vi. Until now, I thought those references were complicated names. They are all couples.”

Both of them had their hoods down. Vi wore a long, French braid. Tannhauser's hair and beard were long and wild.

Rand put on her black riot gloves and her cloak. She checked her Glock as she watched them in the HUD.

They became quiet and paused, Vi holding out a hand to halt Tannhauser's movement.

They smelled the smoke.

They quickly strung their bows with practiced ease. Rand could not hear what they whispered, but they split up and went different ways.

The Fly stayed with the woman. She was quick and quiet and as professional and economical in her movements as anyone Rand had ever worked with. Vi notched an arrow as she approached the cabin. Just a bit of smoke came out of the stubby chimney as she approached.

The Fly and Poole now had views of both sides of the cabin. The door was wide open. She saw herself in the cabin door, sitting on a stool, stirring the stew.

He called out a greeting, in Common Tongue, as he approached slowly. His bow was in hand, but no arrow was notched. Vi was ready to fire.

Rand continued to stir with her left hand, covering her right hand which held the Glock.

“Please come in, Tannhauser. And ask Vi to join us, as well. It can't be comfortable behind that rock.”

“You have us at a disadvantage.” He did not advance.

She holstered her gun while he couldn't see and set the wooden spoon across the top of the pot to forestall it boiling over and putting out the fire.

She stood slowly, moved toward the door, ducked under the jamb and stepped out.

He was very short, probably less than five feet tall, which meant Vi was even smaller.

What's with this planet?

“My name is Rand. I have a large pot of stew and no conversation. Would you and Vi care to join me?”

She stood up from behind the mossy boulder then and lowered her bow.

Rand was completely hidden in the shadows of her hood. She stood on a large, flat stone used as the step for the cabin. It made her seem even taller, in the Fly’s eye over Vi's shoulder.

She slowly reached up and lowered her hood.

She saw herself for the first time in days. Her hair was wild, and it added to the level of intimidation that she emitted.

“Please, join me.” She turned her back to them and reentered the cabin.

CHAPTER TEN

Another Skyfall

“Someone was, intentionally, directing ships to their death. They knew this planet was a trap, and they were murdering thousands, with a word.”

--Solstice 31 Incident Investigation Testimony Transcript: Captain James Worthington, senior surviving member of the Ventura's command crew.

<<<>>>

The Hammerhead relay worked better than expected. The position of the planet never changed in the sky, and the variety of sensors the team had put together was impressive.

There were all kinds of RF collection, temperature, spectral, chemical, and ultrahigh definition optical sensors. Soon, all of these were combined to get a bigger picture of the planet itself.

They discovered in the coming weeks that the northern hemisphere of a single continent was the only inhabited portion of this world. They found cities there but not modern cities.

They also managed to locate, and scan, the automated defense sats. They zoomed in very close and saw the tubes that concealed the nuclear missiles that had destroyed the
Ventura
. They were small but fast and powerful. The planet had a full grid of these sats that managed full planetary coverage.

Once the power was hooked up to the base, it began to warm. Slowly.

Of the five major domes in the compound, only one of them was not pressurized, and even though they inspected the entire exterior they were not able to gain a seal. It was unfortunate because the dome contained a series of workshops and labs that may have been useful. They harvested what few tools were left behind, and then left it dark and unpowered.

Once the ventilation system came online, the massively overengineered CO
2
scrubbers began working. The water thawed in the cisterns, ensuring they would starve to death before suffocating or dying of thirst.

Jimbo had taken to living onboard the
Memphis
. He hated lower than normal G, so he made one of the few, small staterooms his home. The bridge had become the location for their intelligence gathering, and their communications hub. The HUD on the bridge had been adapted to use the two Flies they had, as well as the four V-Drones. The Flies were small as a real fly, but could only navigate where there was atmosphere. V-Drones were much larger, but were designed for use in a vacuum and even zero gravity. They were the size of a hockey puck and used a small grav-plate and a gyro. Using these, the entire base was explored from the safety of the bridge.

Hume was the only other person to reside full time on the
Memphis
. It was for the gravity; she only wanted it to stay fit. She even talked Jimbo into creeping the gravity higher without telling anyone else.

Early hopes that they could use the Tesla Interstellar Communications Array to get a message out were quickly crushed. Tyrrell discovered all the comms gear, and even the cables that connected to the array, had been removed long ago. This was a huge mystery to them because that type of equipment could not be repurposed for anything other than scrap.

Weeks turned into months. Jimbo stared at a snow-covered region of the unpopulated side of the planet, as he listened to Dr. Shaw and Sarah Wood talk about the rate of food consumption.

“All of the galley foodstuffs are now gone, except for a few hundred pounds of rice,” Shaw said. “We have collected all the rations from the life pods and the shuttle, including those inside the Emergency Module.” Lists scrolled by on the HUD as she spoke. “We are set with water, even though we lost all the water in one of the reservoirs.”

Wood added, “That was about 10,000 liters. The tank must have cracked from the freeze. It all ran into the lower levels on that side.”

“It did help with the dry air. God, I hate bloody noses,” Shaw continued. “The agridome started showing signs of life once the heat was on. A detailed search over there found some seeds. They were probably frozen for a few hundred years; but, we had the soil and the water, so Sarah, Duncan, and Jack planted them all. We have no idea what the seeds were, but what the hell? We think about five percent were still viable and have begun growing. No idea if any of it will be edible.”

“The lower gravity in the dome is helping.” Concern made her lower her voice. “The crew are working less and need less. We estimate 180 days of rations remain. We could cut them now and extend that.”

Just then, the quiet on the bridge was broken with a Klaxon.

“Muir, what is that?” Jimbo asked, as the main HUD switched to tactical view.

“A ship just dropped out of FTL at 350°, Mach 9. It is on an approach vector for orbit!” Muir said.

“Hail them. Break radio silence. Stop them from entering orbit!” Jimbo yelled.

“I can't, sir. We are on the dark side of the moon. Our Hammerhead sensor array picked them up,” Muir said, as the ship got closer.

“What about the Hammerhead? Can that reach them?” Jimbo asked, leaning on the console now.

“Think! Where is Tyrrell? There has to be something?” Jimbo said, as Hume and Tyrrell ran onto the bridge.

“Magnify!” Jimbo called.

They watched as the optical zoomed in and tracked the ship.

“Oh, my God. It's a Vision-class cruise ship,” Hume said.

The missiles struck. They were so fast.

When the flash dimmed, they saw two more missiles launch and strike, vaporizing the largest remaining chunks.

There were a few flashes of what looked like particle beam weapons from the platforms. Then, all was quiet again.

Jimbo sat down, slowly, in the command chair, staring at the screen.

“A passenger ship? Out here?”

They zoomed in as the wreckage began to ignite in the upper atmosphere. The optical zoomed all the way in, but there was nothing left to see. The ship had been utterly destroyed.

Muir studied the sensor data. The ship was, in fact, a Vision-class cruise ship. A luxury vessel.

“It had a capacity of 4,600 passengers and crew.”

“I have heard stories of ships disappearing. Everyone always thought that there was a failure or a route miscalculation while in FTL,” Jimbo said, slowly.

“Jimbo, we cannot allow this to happen again. If another ship comes, we have to be ready,” Hume said.

“How?” He was angry.

“We could transmit, now, on this side of the moon. We need to create a transmitter that will face planet-side,” Hume said.

“Do it,” was all he said. Jimbo left the bridge.

Hume looked at Cook and Muir. “What is the name of this damned planet?”

***

“Here’s the basic idea.” Hume was at the podium in the main briefing theater. Diagrams and parts lists popped up behind her on the screens. “First we will go out there and salvage one antenna from the Tesla Array. We will bring it back and combine it with the comms unit we salvaged from the damaged shuttle. Here’s the problem.” She pointed to some specs. “Power requirements. A transmitter powerful enough will require this many power cells to ensure it will be available through the long nights.”

“What's the problem? We have the cells and the panels to spare,” Jim said.

“They are all too big for the Hammerhead,” Hume said.

Elkin chimed in, “I could use one of the fork sleds and rig up a cargo container. The Hammerhead could tow it. It won't be fast, but then two people could go as well.”

“What about the antenna?” Tyrrell asked. “It's thirty meters tall.”

“We will salvage the nearest one to the relay. Here.” She pointed on the map. “Then, I will only have to carry it about three kilometers. We’ll hang it below.”

“One other problem,” Hume continued. “We will not be able to test it. It would give us away.”

“Wouldn't it give us away, anyhow?” Kuss asked.

“Yes. But if it worked, we could stop a ship from reaching orbit and getting destroyed. We could be rescued,” Hume said.

Jimbo said, “Let's do this.”

***

They decided to pre-stage the antenna. Elkin and Hume detached it on one run and then they moved it on the next. They spent long days in pressure suits. They figured it would take a whole day to erect the salvaged antenna with only the two of them, and they were right.

On the day the antenna went up, it was easier than they thought, thanks to a clever rig that Greg Ibenez made with old-school block and tackles. With the extra time, Elkin interfaced some of the RF sensors with the new antenna, to see if it would improve passive collection of signals.

Almost as soon as it was brought online, it happened.

Jimbo received a notice from his personal HUD.

“Command Control Activated: Automated Promotion Requirement - Commander James Worthington is hereby promoted to Captain. Expedition briefing and orders decrypted. Please stand by.”

“Sir, we have detected...Um...with the new sensors...bodies, sir. All dead. Brain implants are still active. And, sir...” Tyrrell was not sure how to continue.

“I know, Matt. One of them was the captain. I've just been promoted,” Jim said.

Cook noticed that Jimbo's icon in his HUD already listed the new rank. Worthington got up.

“I'm going for a walk. Cook, you have the bridge.” Old habits died hard.

***

Jimbo walked down the stairs into the lighter gravity and decided on a walk around the hangar, again. The
Memphis
and the giant machine only filled about half of the vast space. Jim had learned that the device was called a Maker—a giant, automated bot that built the redoubts. It was basically a single function AI that was dropped into a location and, using local materials, built the enclosures they now used.

Overbuilt was the word Jimbo used. The modern version was a tenth the size and made shelters twenty times as fast. But, not like this.

He walked from one pool of light to the next, and when he reached the far end of the hangar, he turned and looked at the
Memphis
.

It seemed so small.

“Open orders,” Jimbo said, out loud.

In his HUD the document list opened. A video began in a new window.

It was Captain Alice Everett. She had short, blonde hair and was just a bit on the heavy side of fit. Jimbo always wondered how old she was. Longevity treatments seemed to freeze people at different ages.

“Let me start off, Jimbo, by saying I hate making these things. With luck, they will expire and auto delete. I also hate the politics causing me to make this. If you’re watching this, I’m probably already dead. If you’re watching this, things really are as bad as the admiral thinks.”

She stood in her office on the
Ventura
. Jim had only been there a few times.

“When I was transferred to the
Ventura
with a large number of other officers, it became apparent that something very subtle was happening in the fleet. There’s no way you could have seen any of this because your tour out here has been so long. But, even that was odd.”

She sat on the edge of her desk. “Admiral Briggs noticed that his closest friends, and advisors, were quietly consolidated somehow on individual ships. At first, he thought it was just a happy coincidence. Or, that there was a higher number of like-minded staff in the fleet.”

She paused and looked directly into the camera, “Then, these ships began to go missing.” She paused, again, before continuing to glance at a piece of actual paper on her desk. “Quietly, the admiral started analyzing officer assignments, promotions, types of ships and their missions. He believed that there was more going on here. You see, our ship just had a turnover. All the remaining officers, the staff and even the civilian contractors are known to lean towards the politically conservative side. All are antislavery, antisocialists. All pro-individual rights, all pro-liberty, all Defenders.”

Jimbo hated the label 'Defender'. He hated any label just because someone believed in a few fundamental human rights. He believed in defending his people, never thought about defending ancient documents or principles.

“During this tour, we’re going to play it by-the-book. But, if something happens, I need you to get back to Earth and tell Admiral Briggs what happened. So, you’ll have pinnace duty. If he is right, this is way above our pay grade.” She shook her head, then said, “I keep forgetting if you see this, I’m already dead. Wes Hagan has been assigned to the
Memphis
as well. He will have additional orders that include the tactical team I have placed with you.” She looked up, directly at Jim, again. “Congratulations on your promotion, Captain. I hope you’re already on your way home. Be safe, Jim.”

The window closed. He browsed the files. There were timetables, crew rosters, and even psych profiles of the entire crew. Hagan was probably dead, since he was on the missing list. He was lost with the others in main engineering.

“Jimbo, you need to get back here. We found something else,” Muir said, urgently.

In his HUD, a message opened. “Additional Command Modules Activated.”