The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles #1, Inception (22 page)

"Aye, Captain" Sergeant Epstein said, as he signaled the corporal to head out as he covered.

Pointers were a slang term for plasma guided electric pulse Tasers... The idea was a simple one. An ultra-short but high powered and precisely tuned laser creates a plasma pipe in the air thru which it travels. A high voltage pulse uses the ionized air to conduct its charge to the desired target. A low power visible laser is combined with the system for targeting and was responsible for the name.

As the two men played a dangerous game of leap frog, Cat and her team followed behind.

A loud metal on metal hammering sound rang out behind Cat, and she realized someone was firing projectile weapons. Immediately she heard the sizzle-crack of pointers firing. The projectile fire stopped.

"Did you see who fired?" Cat yelled.

"No, Ma'am... I think the pointers might have winged them around the corner tho."

One of the interesting aspects about pointers was, that the discharges from them tended to follow the path of least electrical resistance. Normally this would be the microplasma channel created by the laser. If, however, you fired one near a big wet salty conductor like a human, or in this case a D'lralu, the discharge will actually bend to find the better conductor. This is apparently what happened when the sergeant returned fire.

The corporal quickly peaked around the corner. "One of them is down... Looks real bad tho... All mangy and stuff. The other one just took off... Damnedest thing... running on all six legs"

Cat made to move the group forward, when Ben grabbed her arm stopping her. His head was tilted to the side as if listening to something. Suddenly he pushed past her and barked a command in Lal'quint. Cat's encounter unit automatically translated "Stop! That is an order! Be at ease. We are a medical team here to help. By order of the First, lower your weapons. These humans are under my direct command."

Ben turned on four legs to face Cat and the others. He placed his two forward legs up in a human-like gesture to halt. "It is safer now... They will not fire on you... Probably."

"Probably?" Dr. Riley questioned.

"These soldiers are trained to follow orders no matter how injured... but radiation often impairs cognitive functions... 'Probably' is the best one can hope for under the circumstances," Ben said stoically.

As Cat walked up to Ben, he started walking directly beside her. His head was held high, with a pride she had not previously seen in him. "So... We are under your command?"

"Save my people, Captain!"

"Yes, Sir!" Cat saluted.

Ben returned the salute and laughed. "A necessary white lie, Captain. The soldiers in the medical bay off to the left up here were ordering the ship's AI to self-destruct. I just saved your life."

"And that would explain why you are not walking two steps behind me."

"That it would," the D'lralu cyborg said proudly.

***

Cal, working with a team from the med lab, quickly modified the hybrid human-Heshe nanites to function within the D'lralu... Repairing the radiation damage done to DNA and other micro cellular structures. The nanites were also programmed to immediately desensitize pain centers until the damage was repaired.

Ben helped calm the test subject they brought onboard the Yorktown. He patiently translated what the Heshe AI was offering, and why, if the soldier allowed the humans to treat him, he could be helping to save hundreds of his fellow soldiers to live. The fact that the humans offered the soldier a choice, when clearly they could have forced the issue, ultimately convinced the soldier to accept the treatment. Ben found he enjoyed working with the Heshe AI. In many ways they were the same... Creatures transplanted out of their cultures... And yet completely welcome by these humans.

Ben was on hand to treat the remaining crew of the first light cruiser. Of the original crew of one hundred plus souls only six survived. Those six ,however, were soon carrying the nanite radiation treatment to the crews of the other remaining ships. In the end Ben estimated over six hundred lives had been saved. This was a small fraction of the lives lost but it was of intense psychological importance to the D'lralu cyborg.

There was no compelling reason to make the effort to save a wounded enemy, and yet for a brief period of time these humans had made it their priority. It said something about these humans that separated them from the D'lralu.

And it wasn't just their compassion. Ben had never seen innovation occur at the rate these humans seemed capable of. Humans had adapted recent technological advances, to do in months things the D'lralu were not capable of accomplishing, despite having had the same root technologies for many decades. Part of this he knew was due to the Heshe influence, but the spirit of innovation was so ingrained in these humans, that he suspected their advances would have come anyway.

That they used their advances to help others, even when there was no strategic value in doing so, made the events of the next several days that much more painful.

***

"Captain, we're being hailed by Orbital One" Ensign Zimmerman said, just as Cat was relieving Ken on bridge rotation. She looked at her First Officer as he raised an eyebrow in question. "Go ahead and put them on the speaker Ziggy..." she said while signally Ken to wait.

"On speaker now," the petite blond said.

"Orbital One, this is Captain Kimbridge of the Yorktown... How can we help you?"

"Standby Yorktown..." There was a brief pause and then a familiar voice came online.

"Cat, this is Admiral Faragon. We have a situation developing. I need you to jump back to Earth orbit and pick me up. How soon can you wrap up operations where you are?"

"I have several away teams out, helping survivors. How soon do you need the Yorktown?"

"Yesterday"

"Sir, can I have 15 minutes to recover my teams?"

"Absolutely and convey the Admiralty Board's heartfelt appreciation to your entire crew for the fine humanitarian work they are doing."

"Roger that, Sir. We will jump for Earth in the next few minutes. Kimbridge out."

Cat turned to Ken. "Tell Rebecca, the Admiral is coming onboard, and alert the crew we will be jumping in less than 15 minutes."

"Aye, Captain, and I'll ask my wife to bring some coffee to the bridge. I have a feeling this day is going to get a lot longer."

"Ziggy, alert all away teams to make for the Yorktown at best possible speed."

"Already done, Ma'am"

"Outstanding, Ensign... Remind me to promote you sometime."

"Certainly, Ma'am"

"
Cat?
" the Heshe AI spoke directly through her encounter unit.

"Cal... We have a lot going on right now... What's up?"

"
I have been monitoring the situation... I would like to remain with Ben, working on the last ship. They were farther from ground zero, and a significantly larger portion of their crew has survived.
"

"That's great news," Cat said.

"
Yes and no...
" Cal responded.
“It means they are less willing to tolerate human medical staff, and are that much faster at triggering their AI's self-destructs. I have already high jacked several of their AI's to prevent the destruction of our teams.   With your permission, I'm going to send the human component back to the Yorktown, and work with Ben to save this crew. You can pick us up later, and of course I'm quantum linked with both you and the Yorktown anyway.
"

"Permission granted... Do good things Cal."

"Always, Captain."

The Yorktown jumped to Earth orbit twelve minutes after Cat finished her conversation with the Admiral. She immediately reported to him via her comlink.

"Sir, we are in orbit... What are your orders?"

"Hold fast until my shuttle arrives, then plot a course for Mars. I'll want to brief all senior staff 30 minutes from now."

The Admiral’s yacht docked in shuttle bay four, which was the only one big enough to accommodate it. Sherry Melbourne, the Admiral's administrative assistant, exited ahead of the Admiral. She saluted the captain, and asked for permission to come aboard. Once granted, she headed directly to engineering. She signaled the First Officer and requested his presence, along with Chief Wroblewski, the weapons officer.

The Admiral exited a few moments later carrying a data tablet. "Permission to come onboard, Captain."

"Of course, Sir," Cat answered.

"Is the senior staff ready?"

"Yes, Sir, except for Commander Kirkland. Sherry borrowed him for some special project."

"Yes I'm aware of that... I expect they'll only be delayed a few minutes. We have a lot to talk about, Cat, and I'm afraid very little of it is good."

***

Admiral Faragon leaned over the holographic briefing table. "Cal, bring up the plot of the D'lralu invasion fleet we were looking at on the shuttle on the way up."

Immediately, a three dimensional view of the Sol system appeared before them. Earth, Mars, Venus and the various human outposts were highlighted in a soft blue. A soft red expanding haze surrounded the upper right quadrant.

"Cal, increase rate of time by a factor of 1000 and show projected positions in yellow"

Suddenly the red haze expanded in a yellow wave that dimmed as thousands of ships began to separate and assume a spherical shape.

Thais looked at the expanding globe that was forming at the edge of the Sol system. "I'm confused," The Chief Engineer said. "How does accelerating widely from a common center point help them defeat us?... Assuming that is still their objective."

Cal spoke up. "
I can assure you it most certainly is. I've seen this type of formation before. They are building up their relative velocity... Probably something between .2 and .4c. Once they reach their target velocity, they will each jump so that rather than an expanding sphere they will become a collapsing sphere, with human targets in the center. You will have the D'lralu attacking you from all sides at speeds between 20 and 40 percent the speed of light.
"

"That was our analysis, too." the Admiral added. "Unfortunately, it gets even worse..."

Cat looked over the board and saw a small bulge where one cluster of ships was accelerating faster than the others. "Cal what is the current velocity of the ships we are looking at?"

"
The average speed is approaching .3c
"

Cat pointed towards the bulge... "How about here?"

"
Approximately five percent of the ships are on an independent course, and are accelerating 26% faster than the other ships
."