Dreaming of Atmosphere (23 page)

27.

Maxine, Fel’negr, Crege, Artemis and I were in Max’s cabin, seated around her conference table. Max was finishing off a swearing tirade directed at Artemis, and no one wanted to get in the way. Eventually, she calmed down enough to speak plainly, though through clenched teeth.

“So you’re telling me that these Corporate bastards know that we’re taking something they want into Gossamer? That all along you’ve known they would try and stop us and you said nothing.”

“Close enough, a little paraphrasing but yes.” Artemis said.

“And you didn’t think to tell us about this the last time they shot us to pieces, and nearly killed you too, by the way. You didn’t think that when I asked you about it then, that you should have perhaps parted with some of this information?”

“The thought had crossed my mind.”

“We thought it was you they were after.” I offered.

“That is true, they do wish to detain me, probably torture me to give up what I know. But ultimately they want the package.”

“Why? What is it?” demanded Max.

“It’s a piece of technology stolen from the facilities at Votus Station.”

“What’s at Votus Station?” I asked. Fel answered for me.

“It’s a frequent stop over for Corporate organo-ships. It’s run by the Votus, and has all kinds of high tech research facilities there.”

“Koveli-Xue, in particular.” Explained Artemis.

“What’s this technology?”

“You don’t need to know that right now.”

“You bitch!” cried Max and stood up in a rush, drawing a blaster from her hip.

“Tsk, tsk.” Chided Artemis, “You can’t shoot me yet, you haven’t found and removed all the bombs yet.” She gave that wicked grin she was so fond of wearing.

“Maxine, we need clear heads to resolve this.” Said Fel. The stand-off lasted a few more tense seconds before Max swore again and sat. She pointed a finger at Artemis.

“We’ve played your silly game for weeks now. We’ve jumped through hoops for your little boss and now we need answers. I need to know how hard these Corporate punks are going to come at us, and if we’re better off just tossing you out the airlock and taking our chances with the bombs.”

“They’ll come at you hard, but they won’t risk destroying the ship. Not while they still believe the package is on board. But you get me to Ambrose Station, and I’ll tell you all about the package. On one condition.”

“And what’s that, you little bitch?”

“I need your boy wonder to come with me.”

Somehow, I always knew this was going to be the plan. Ever since Jenner told us where we were going, I always knew I’d be returning to the station, and in more than a simple courier role. I thought about the last month and a half, my training thus far, and the progress I’d made with my post-traumatic stress disorder. I was dimly aware of Max and Artemis in a screaming match, with Fel and Crege trying to shout them both down.

“I’ll do it.” I said, and suddenly everyone was quiet.

“You don’t have to, Donny.” Said Max, her face still red from yelling.

“I do.”

“It was never part of the job, we just had to deliver it, nothing more.”

“It was always implied in the job. You know it was.”

“It’s too risky. I won’t allow it.”

“Max, we need to do this. I need to do this.” She looked at me, concern and worry all over her face. Eventually she leaned back and looked defeated.

“Tell me about Korveli-Xue.” She said.

Artemis cleared her throat and began. “They are primarily based in the Caspellan Network, on the other side of the Votus II System. They’ve always been interested in Votus technology and have patented many designs that blend the two together. Their facility on Votus Station had a security flaw, one which was taken advantage of, and Jenner acquired the device shortly after.”

The Votus were one of the old races. Some say they are in decline, while others believe they are merely more patient in their schemes. They were an aquatic species, in their early stages of evolution, who left for the stars many thousands of years before humankind stopped hitting each other with sticks and rocks. They had discovered Jump Gate technology, but didn’t have to expansionist drive that saw humanity spread across the galaxy. They were first encountered several hundred years ago, when the first Jump Gates opened into the Network prior to the Votus-Eridani Network. The Galactic Protectorate negotiated their joining the Protectorate, and although they tend to remain aloof from galactic politics their technology ensures they will almost always have some kind of sway in how the Protectorate operates within their star systems.

In general, the Votus are considered one of the finest engineers in the galaxy. They have enabled worlds to be terraformed and colonised that prior to their introduction to the Protectorate would have been ignored as too extreme. One such world in the Eridani System, called Cataphract, is less than half an AU from the Eridani star. The Votus engineered a giant solar shield that allowed an atmosphere to form on the molten world, and even now there exists a thriving energy trade there. My grandfather, old Hieron Donovan, retired to a Votus world, a water covered world of artificial islands called Oceania. The islands are giant cities constructed in space and lowered to the surface.

I’d never really met a Votus before, but I’d seen a few in my travels. They’re patient, ponderous and rarely make bonds outside of their own race, but they remain one of the galaxies greatest engineers and technological wizards. Whatever Jenner stole from Koveli-Xue, if it was based on Votus technology it would certainly be something of vast potential.

“My overlay tells me they specialise in stellar research.” Said Fel.

“That’s correct, they have several processes to draw material out from stars, and they’ve also worked on gas giant mining. Deep gravity stuff. They were one of the first Corporations to pull diamonds out of gas giant surfaces.”

“So why are they trying to ambush us now? Why did they give us so easily in Argessi System?” asked Max.

“I’d say they’ve received more Intel. They may have found a witness on Corus Cluster who attested to seeing me get on the Dreaming. Maybe they finally tracked down the package some other way to the ship. If it’s any consolation, that Corporate man who let you get away, along with the Captain of the Spear of Orion have probably been severely punished for letting you get away. They may have even been executed.”

“The Corporations do that?” I asked, incredulously.

“Some do. They’re too powerful for the Protectorate to enforce their laws, as long as they regulate themselves somewhat and steer clear of the general populace the Corporations can do what they please.”

Crege snorted, “If they are caught breaking galactic law, Protectorate gives fines. Corporations pay it and move on. They are beyond dishonourable. Protectorate is no better.”

“Don’t be too harsh on the Protectorate, Crege,” said Fel, “They can’t do much, in the grand scheme of things, at least they can use the Credits to keep the peace or make reparations.”

“So what do we do about the ship waiting for us?” asked Max.

“Evasive moves, right after shift.” offered Crege.

“That should get us clear of any initial barrage. We won’t be going fast enough for a full flight.”

“Neither will they. They’ll use drones, for sure, maybe mercenaries and once they have a clear shot they’ll try their main weapons.” I said.

“What kind of weapons are we talking about?” asked Fel.

“Koveli-Xue organo-ships favour the Massilov Stone Burner railguns. Class 3 all the way to Class 4 weapon grades.” said Artemis.

“So direct fire only?”

“They’ll have to wait until we clear the Gate. They won’t risk hitting the ring.”

“Or sending rocks through the gate to Harakiwa.”

“So we’ll have to contend with the drones only?” asked Max.

“Direct fire, no problem for Dreaming,
kitrak.
She fly like
yendag
.” said Crege, proudly.

“How are our Interceptors?”

“We have four fully functional, but one more need repairs that we simply don’t have the parts for.” I read off my overlay.

Max swore. “I need options.”

I believe I can offer a suggestion, Captain Cooper.

“Go ahead, Tac.” she said.

I have several partially disabled synthetics under my control. If they are attached to the outer hull, I can direct any weapons they may use more effectively than a drone AI.

“What have we got in the armoury that can damage a drone?” she asked me.

“Three P291s. There’s an anti-tank rocket and a Goveli Arms Rotary Cannon.”

“An anti-tank rocket?” asked Artemis as she looked at me with a smile.

“Surplus from a previous job, long story.”

The P291s were heavy energy rifles, powerful guns but are heavy and a little too long for my liking. They’re great for defending a stationary location, or for covering the ship when it was resting on its landing pads. The Rotary Cannon was an impulse buy I got from Cortez’ Armoury after a big job last year. I’d never used it, and thought I never would. It needs a back mounted power pack to even use, but can lay down impressive suppression fire for extended periods. It looks badass, but I could never see myself carrying one into a fight. Too clichéd, I’d look like some stupid action movie hero or something.

These weapons should be sufficient to provide a point defence option when dealing with the drones, Captain.

“Okay, get Mal and Eric and get them suited up. One synthetic per EV trip and I want them taking three hour breaks before going back out. Have Zoe check them for poisoning each time they go out. Get Hergo and Denno to help them, probably pair them up with either Eric or Mal and have them take shifts. Fel, will the ship’s wireless reach them from outside the hull?”

“Probably, although I can build a signal amp into the synthetics’ chassis for good measure.”

“Get on it. Seth, head on down to engineering and fill in the boys down there.”

We stood up and shuffled off on our assignments.

28.

We only had just shy of three ship days to prepare ourselves for the shift back into normal reality. Maxine and Crege worked around the clock formulating evasive manoeuvres, while Fel’negr and Tac worked on the electronic warfare side of the coming fight. I was working in shifts with Mal, Eric, and the two Argen crewmen going EV to weld the synthetics to our outer hull.

Artemis, for once, helped out as well. I took her and Zoe through a damage control training session, and got them at least partially proficient working on hull breaches and using polycrete foam. Zoe, in turn, gave Artemis first aid training, although I could tell that Artemis already had a passing familiarity with basic aid. About what you would expect a soldier to have. This, along with her familiarity with small squad tactics and strategy, gave me even more to ponder on about her background.

The most of my time I spent running through drone simulations, practicing Interceptor formations and attack runs. We only had four left, and we had to make them count. When I did have free hours to spend I went down below decks to the cargo hold and practiced more on my nano-paradigms. Although my nanites had absorbed plenty of data regarding the Jump Gate shift, my own mind was still having a rough time trying to visualise how to get the Spatial Translation paradigm to work. The best I was able to achieve was to make myself dizzy and fall over a few times.

Max called us all into the cargo hold a few hours before we were due to shift, and gave us all the low down on the plan. She paced back and forth, her usual briefing posture. No one was on duty in the command module, since we were within a Jump still and there was no hazards that affect us.

“I know we’ve had a rough time of it already, first the pirate attack then the drones before we left Argessi. The Viridian March was also a little too hairy for my liking. We don’t normally do so much fighting on a job, even when we take a bounty. You can scratch this one up as par for the course. We all knew there’d be some fighting, one doesn’t fly into an exclusion zone full of hostile aliens without realising that. But this time we’re facing a very powerful enemy, one who we’ve already slipped the noose before and they’ll be looking to even the score. We cannot let that happen.” She paused to eye us all before continuing.

“We’ve done a great job getting ready for this fight, and that’s not always an advantage someone gets going into a battle like this.”

“How are we sure they’re waiting for us?” asked Mal.

“Seth’s nanites are affected by the shift a little differently than people or ships. They somehow flew through the Jump Gate ahead of us and saw the organo-ship waiting for us.”

“But how do we know they’ll attack us? Maybe they’re just waiting for a courier or something.”

“My nanites didn’t just go ahead of us,” I explained, “They appeared at the same time as we shifted back into reality. It’s hard to explain, but the nanites will be there when we come out, and they’ve already relayed the images back to me.”

I believe the phenomenon is related to signal propagation.
Sent Tac.
A concept used to describe why tachyon fields do not in-fact travel faster than light, but merely appear to.

“What in space’s name is that robot brain talking about?” sneered Mal.

“Consider a series of pendulums, dangling in suspension all resting against each other,” I began, “you lift a pendulum at one end and drop it. It strikes the next pendulum and sends a rippling wave through the others. The last one receives the momentum and then swings back into the others, sending the wave back to the first. The nanites reproduce at almost the speed of light, and they can work faster together to produce more, even when they’re only partially complete. In Jump Space, reality works a little different than in real space. The nanites exceed the speed a light, which is really just a concept that we bring into the brane with us from reality, and transcend the usual three dimensions that we’re bound by in our little pocket of existence.”

Fel turned to look at me in surprise.

“What? I’ve been studying!” I said, “The nanites extend themselves through one of the seven other possible dimensions, besides up / down, left / right, forward / backward. In this case it was time. Future / past.”

Mal’s face screwed up in disbelief, he was about to say something when Max held up her hand.

“Enough. The Intel is real. If it’s not, and we come out of the Jump Gate battle ready for nothing? Who care’s we just look like we’re paranoid.”

“But there’s….” began Mal again.

“Shut up, Cuts. We’re doing this.” Snapped Max, “First order of business will be to get clear of the Jump Gate. We don’t believe the Corporate ship will just blast us to bits as we come out, they want what we have. They may just try anyway, which is why we’re going to try to keep the Jump Gate directly behind us in relation to the enemy. Once we’ve built up some thrust we’ll try to get away as fast as we can. In the meantime, our greatest threat will be drones. They’ll try to disable us, they’ll probably try to board us. I want all crew armed and armoured, either with armour or personal shields. After we break from here you’ll all line up at the armoury and Seth will hand out the merchandise. Nobody responds to a boarding attempt alone, do I make myself clear?” She paused once more for effect.

“Tac will coordinate response teams, and point defences. Seth will be on drone control, but will relinquish control to Tac if he’s needed to repel boarders. Crege, Fel and me are on point in the command module, and Zoe will be on standby in Med lab with Artemis. Hergo, Denno, you’re in the mess hall with a damage control kit. Eric and Mal are in the central engineering space. Any questions?”

“What happens when we get clear of the Gate?” asked Eric, “Won’t the organo-ship just run us down? Those bastards are big and fast when they get underway.”

“We’re going to run around the Jump Station, hopefully get ourselves lost in the traffic there. At the very least we’ll stop the Corporates from just blasting us at range. We’ll buzz close to any Protectorate warships that will be there, give ourselves a head start into the system before the organo-ship gets underway.”

“They’ll still be able to gain on us eventually, we can’t out run it over long distance.”

“We won’t have to. The Gossamer Jump Gate is only point six of an AU from the Harakiwa Jump Gate. It’ll be close, but if we dump all our power reserves into the ion drive we should have the head start we need to get there before the Corporates can overtake us.”

“What’s the uncertainty percentage?” asked Eric.

Max hesitated a few moments before answering. “I won’t lie. It’s a big risk. Plenty can go wrong. What if we take damage to our propulsion, can’t get maximum thrust out of the drives? What if we need to slow down for repairs? What if the organo-ship has one of those new Pulsed Muon Drives? What if they have more ships between here and Gossamer?

“This is going to be one hell of a run. Make no mistake, we
will
be running hard for the Jump Gate.”

“What about if we toss Miss Sweetcakes here out the ‘lock and just hand over the package?” offered Mal.

“Are you forgetting the bombs?” said Max.

“No, maybe the Corporates will show some charity and offer some replacement parts?”

“Do you really believe that?”

“It’s better than the alternative. I ain’t willing to die for some piece of ass and a job.”

“Your preference is noted. The time to bail is long gone. You’re on this ride whether you like it or not.”

Mal started to grumble some more, but Eric slapped him on the back of the head, knocking his head forward.

“All right, people! Line up and get kitted out. We shift at 13:47 ship time. Close up at station in one hour and thirty minutes!”

I opened the armoury, and started going through the available weaponry. We had four shield generators and 3 armoured suits. Two of the armour pieces were simple infantry vests and padding, the last was a heavy duty exo-rig. The exo-rig was more for loading heavy cargo, but a few months ago I’d attached several armour plates to it. It seemed a little excessive after I’d finished but now I was glad for it. I gave out the infantry gear to the Argen, along with two Thudguns. The exo-rig I gave to Artemis. I knew she was good with a blade, and the added strength was going to work out in her favour. Zoe, Eric, Mal and Crege all got a shield generator. Fel’negr declined any protection, as did Maxine, saying that if things got so bad that they needed armour that pretty much meant they were all toast anyway. It was sound logic, even if it was a little discouraging.

I had one more rapid fire energy weapon, which I gave to Artemis. Her gyrojets were all gone after our gunfight on the Viridian March, and I knew she could handle the fire. Everyone else got energy pistols. I wore my usual M4 MAEL suit, my PX-2 and the E2S. I took a pair of party poppers, handed out spare batteries, swords to anyone who wanted one and well wishes. The armoury had never been so empty.

We had about forty minutes before we were due to close up at duty stations, and I found myself in Zoe and Artemis’ cabin. Thankfully Artemis was in the cargo hold practicing with her exo-rig. Zoe and I were sitting on her bunk, talking quietly to ourselves.

“I don’t know how you can be so calm,” said Zoe, “I’m scared out of my wits.”

I put an arm around her and gave her a hug. “I’m scared too.”

“You’re scared?”

“Of course! Who wouldn’t be?”

“You don’t just get used to the danger?”

“You do, but you don’t stop being scared. Fear is a great motivator, it can drive us to do things we couldn’t normally bring ourselves to do.”

“Like what?”

“Like killing another living being. Even in war, the reality of what you’re doing can paralyse you if you let it. Fear is one way to pull yourself out of that paralysis and act. Let your brain sort out all the darkness after the fact, use fear to survive first. Hate is another motivating emotion. So is love.”

“Have you ever been in love?” she looked up at me.

“A couple of times. First time didn’t end up so good. In hindsight I think it was more lust than love, but at the time I thought it was love.”

“And the second time?”

“So far, it’s been pretty good for me.” I smiled down at her. We kissed and held each other for a little while longer, then I left and headed for the bridge.

The command module was a flurry of activity when I arrived. Seems I wasn’t the only one who wanted to close up at station early. The rest of the command staff were already at their consoles, doing last minute checks. I sat down and started my own round of checks. Soon, Maxine called the crew to close up, and we were as ready as we were ever going to be for what was to come.

As the count down until we shifted ticked down we were silent. For once the command module was absent the usual banter.