Progeny (The Progenitor Trilogy, Book Three) (47 page)

Turinno looked as though she was about to say something else, but Beklide cut the link all the same and swore under her breath at her colleague’s officious and high handed manner, not to mention her disdain for their human allies.  It pained her that the majority of the Council were still in favour of severing all ties with the other races.  Indecision had been replaced with extreme paranoia by the Shaper attack on their worlds and while the Commonwealth struggled for its very existence against the Shapers, the Arkari Navy was forced to stand idly by and watch.  She had to do something.

‘Ship?’ she said out loud to the cabin.  ‘Signal the
Talevera
.  Tell them that we are here on a scientific mission to investigate the de-activated Progenitor portal device and tell them that we have a gift for them.’

‘Yes, at once, and then?’

‘Transmit the schematics for our spatial distortion weaponry, the smaller classes of weapon that might be compatible with existing human vessels.’

‘Meritarch, this goes against Council directives governing the passing of military technology to other species...’

‘Yes, yes.  I’m aware of the directives.  I’m also aware that said other species need all the help that they can get.  Get it done,’ Beklide snapped irritably, and then returned to contemplating the schematics of the terrible world killing weapon before her.

Chapter 29

              ‘So, Admiral.  You completed a test of the prototypes, but whilst you succeeded in testing them, you also lost one of the ships.  Would you care to explain how?’

              Chen stood before Admiral Cartwright in his office aboard the
Trafalgar
.  She had filed her mission report upon returning to the Delta Pavonis system, and had almost immediately been summoned aboard.

              ‘It’s all in my report, sir,’ Chen replied.

              ‘I’ve read your report, Admiral Chen.  Now I want to hear it directly from you. What happened out there?’ said Cartwright and pointed an accusing finger at her.

              ‘Sir.  We began tests of the newly modified arrays and found that their range was more limited than we had hoped.  We jumped closer to the
Constantine
, attempting to use the Matsu system’s asteroid belt as cover and we were ambushed by the Shapers.  They were using a weapons technology that we haven’t encountered before, sir.’

              ‘Yes, you described them in your report.  Independent, seemingly intelligent drone missiles that double as ship killers and jump inhibitors.  Yet you managed to jump into the middle of them.’

              ‘Yes sir, we failed to detect them beforehand.  The Lord Protector of the Order of Void Hunters has had the crew of the
Shadow in the Void
go over their raw sensor data.  It seems that in an effort to clean up the returns from their hyperspace sensors they mistakenly over compensated and processed out the returns from these smaller craft.’

              ‘And yet we knew that the technology was untested.  Are you attempting to shift the blame for this mishap onto others, Admiral Chen?’

              ‘No sir.  I was in command of the mission.  I accept full responsibility for any failings and for the deaths of Captain Trent and the crew of the
Dulles
.’

              ‘As you should.  Why did you not deploy fighters to sweep the system ahead of you?’

              ‘Sir, it was my estimation that in the interests of enabling a quick getaway, that we should not deploy fighters owing to the time taken to recover them.  In addition, there was little guarantee that they would be able to spot anything that we could not, given that their sensor systems have not yet been modified to detect Shaper vessels.  Granted, I could have deployed my fighter wings, and left them behind if necessary, but I feel that it would have been a pointless sacrifice, sir.’

              Cartwright sat back in his chair and steepled his fingers, gazing at her levelly over the top of them.

              ‘Very well, Admiral Chen.  At least you have the courage to stand by your decisions.  As you say, you encountered a new weapon of the enemy’s arsenal, and the test data that you successfully gathered will prove invaluable in fine tuning the design.  We have already put the results to use in modifying our deep range monitoring arrays.  So, it seems that the sacrifice of the
Dulles
was not in vain.  Soon, we will be able to map the positions of the Shapers in each system, and then we will be ready to take the fight to them.’

              He was testing her again, Chen realised.  He was both chiding her and congratulating her at the same time and seeing how she’d respond.  She wondered if Cartwright treated all the officers under him in this manner, or whether she was a special case.

              ‘Yes sir,’ she replied smartly.  ‘I’m looking forward to some payback, sir.’

              ‘Well don’t look forward to it too much, Admiral Chen,’ Cartwright responded.  ‘Just to get you up to speed: combat field tests of our new spatial distortion cannons have proved successful, so we can hit back at last, but our ships are still outclassed by the Shaper vessels.  The Nahabe have continued to raid beyond our borders, intercepting large numbers of enemy troop transport vessels bound for our systems.  The wreckage indicated that each contained thousands of enslaved troops, so it looks like the Nahabe have bought us some breathing space, but the Shapers are definitely up to something.  During your mission to the Matsu system, you spotted transport vessels belonging to the enemy ferrying anti-matter in the direction of the Achernar system.’

              ‘Yes sir, that’s correct.’

              Cartwright nodded.  ‘It seems that you’re not the only ones to spot such activity.  Admiral Hawkwood has informed me that our recon flights and at least one of our agents that can still be relied upon have reported similar incidents.  The Shapers are up to something.  Intel.’s best guess at this time is that they may be preparing a weapon of mass destruction to use against us.’

              ‘Could this be related to the massive warship that the Nahabe spotted heading for our systems, sir?’ Chen asked.

              ‘You’re referring to the five hundred kilometre long behemoth that they encountered in deep space beyond our southern borders?  Yes, it may well do.  However neither we, nor the Nahabe have been able to locate the craft since it jumped to a new position.  The current assumption is that given the length of time since it was last sighted, it may well be within what was previously deemed to be Commonwealth space.  We need to track it down.’

              ‘And once we have, how do we deal with such a monster?’

              ‘Contingency plans are being formulated at this time,’ Cartwright replied.  ‘I can say no more on the subject for the time being.  You’ll be informed on a need to know basis.  For now, you are to maintain secrecy on the existence of this enemy vessel.  Knowledge of its existence could be very bad for morale.’

              ‘Of course sir, I understand.’

              ‘Admiral Chen, the Commonwealth is about to move against its enemies, before they move against us.  You made a valuable contribution to the war effort in the Matsu system, but we can’t afford to make any more mistakes, is that clear?’

              ‘Yes sir, absolutely sir.’

              ‘I’m granting you and your crew some r-and-r for a couple of days.  You’ve earned it, and New Hatti is a pleasant enough place for shore leave.  You may however be recalled before then, so don’t stray too far.  You may have noticed the increasing number of vessels within this system?  They’re here for a reason, Admiral.  Navy engineers are working double time to upgrade the deep monitoring arrays and our other Thea class cruisers, and a crash program to fit spatial distortion cannons to our carriers is also well on its way.  In a matter of days, once we have suitable targets, we will be taking the fight to the enemy, because I don’t think we have a lot of time before they do the same to us.’

              ‘Yes sir.’

              ‘Very good, Admiral Chen.  Dismissed.’

              Chen turned to leave, and then paused.

              ‘Sir, one other thing...’ she said.

              ‘Go ahead, Admiral.’

              ‘Is there any word yet on Haines?’

              ‘None so far, I’m afraid,’ Cartwright replied.  ‘Although your man Harris was one of the agents to spot the Shapers raiding anti-matter supplies whilst en-route to the Achernar system to find him, so as far as we know, the mission to locate him is still going to plan.’

              ‘Agent Harris is as good as they get, sir.  If anyone can find Haines, he can.’

              ‘I hope so too, Admiral Chen.  But it may not be wise to get our hopes up prematurely.  Haines may be dead, or in the hands of the enemy.  We have to fight on without him.  It’s what he would want, after all.’

              On the shuttle back to the
Churchill
, Chen allowed herself to breathe a sigh of relief.  She had been sure that Cartwright was about to chew her out for the loss of the
Dulles
when he had summoned her to his ship.  Working under his command was certainly very different from working under Haines.  Where Haines was gruff, but often informal and even jovial and fatherly, Cartwright was cold and always formal and constantly seemed to be sizing her up and seeing how she would react to being challenged.  She guessed that she just had to get used to his different style of command, but each encounter with the man was like a form of verbal fencing, and she could never tell whether not she’d won each bout or not.

              She gazed out of the window at the dozens of warships hanging in orbit above the planet of New Hatti and allowed her eyes to slide over the massive, battered hull of the Nahabe gunsphere,
Shadow in the Void
, whose roughly spherical hull wore the scars of their recent encounter with the enemy in the Matsu system like a moon pockmarked by meteorite impacts.  It was a reminder of the fearsome power of the Shaper weapons.  Those Commonwealth vessels hanging in stately rows in the skies above New Hatti would be flying into the teeth of a storm of terrible power in a scant few days, against their former comrades and terrible alien forces that now held them in thrall.  Some of them would be facing the Shapers for the first time.  Chen knew what to expect.  She had seen it before all too recently and did not relish the prospect, despite what she had said to Cartwright.  But there was a job to be done, and they must fight or die.

She thought about Haines, and wondered if the old man was still out there somewhere, fighting a lone war against the Shapers.  The news that he had at least survived the destruction of the
Abraham Lincoln
had cheered her immensely when she had heard it, but since then there had been no word.  She wished that he were here now to lead them.  He’d know just the thing to say to raise everyone’s spirits in the face of the enemy.  Haines never gave up, not even when everything seemed lost.  He was larger than life, as well as being a tactical genius.  A born leader.  All she could do was to seek to emulate him as best she could.

              Chen’s shuttle landed within the cavernous hangar of the
Churchill
.  She was greeted on the deck by McManus, who wore a conspiratorial look.

              ‘So, how was your meeting with the old guy?’ he asked.

              ‘Difficult to say,’ Chen replied, as they walked together to the lift.  ‘I can’t tell if he likes me or distrusts my capabilities, or what.’

              ‘Aye, he’s a funny bugger alright is Admiral Cartwright.  Cold and calculating, like.  You never can figure out what’s going on inside that head of his.  What did he say?’

              ‘Chewed me out for the loss of the
Dulles
, but then he seemed to come around when I accepted that it was my responsibility.’

              They reached the lift and stepped inside.  Chen selected Deck One for the bridge on the wall panel and the lift began to move upwards.

              ‘Aye, that sounds like Cartwright alright.  I think as long as you’re straight with him and admit any mistakes, you’ll be alright.  I think you’d really know if he was displeased with you.’

              ‘I would?’

              ‘Oh yes indeed.  I’ve seen him tear Captains, and even Admirals like yourself, to pieces when they tried to blame their failings on their men, or other commanders, or the ship or whatever.  He makes grown men and women soil their uniforms when he’s angry, it’s not pretty.  Some of them were lucky to escape a life of scrubbing the heads for the rest of their careers, I think.’

              ‘Well, we must have done something right.  He’s given the ship a few days shore leave, effective immediately. I’ll announce it to the crew in a moment.’

              ‘Oh aye?  Well that’s fine and dandy, but what then?  Shore leave at a time like this?  It usually means that they’re saving you for something special and they want you fresh for the next fight, am I right?’

              ‘You could be, Commander,’ said Chen.  ‘You could indeed.’

              ‘Ah, shite.  On the plus side, it probably means that Cartwright does respect you after all.  On the downside of course, it means we’ve just pulled our arses out of the fire only to plunge them back in again shortly.  Don’t get me wrong, I wouldnae mind another pop at those Shaper bastards as much as the next man, or woman.  But still, I don’t know about you Admiral, but I could sure as hell use a drink.’

              ‘That,’ said Chen reflectively, ‘sounds like an excellent idea.’

Chapter 30

              Ushild was still unconscious and sedated when the Arkari medical teams began the painstaking process of removing him from the mysterious machinery that had held him for the past ten millennia.  With Rekkid’s help, they had succeeded in decoding the different control panels that governed the operation of the device’s life support systems.  Now, medics and drones surrounded his withered form and prepared to release Ushild.  The drones began to weave strands of life support nano-machinery about him as the medics began to work the controls that would retract the web of tubes, probes and neural links from his body and allow him to be moved, while other drones stood ready with a medical casket fitted with stasis field generators to receive him once they had freed him from his self imposed prison.