The Icarian Legacy Collected Edition: Brave Souls - First Strike (Volume 3) (58 page)

“I miss you.”                                                                                                                                

He looked at the clock. Time passed fast. He had several more minutes till the meeting. He turned and exited the cabin and headed towards the conference room. As he entered he noticed everyone waiting for him. As he stepped in Aria appeared on the other side. As she did she smiled and nodded. He nodded back.

The conversation in the room quieted down as he entered. All the officers of the Excelsior, his entire command staff was present. Most of them were young with the exception of the engineers and several people he took from the crew of the Prometheus. They all rose in formal greeting. He smiled and waved with his hand showing them to sit down. As he did that he noticed major Rivers looking at him. The major nodded and sat down. His face was serious now. In the previous months he was different, always making jokes in the long conversations they’d had. But now as they were finally about to start with their mission he was starting to look again like the man he really was…A commander of the best soldiers that humanity had to offer. And he noticed the excitement and tension on everyone’s faces.

“Well gentlemen we are finally here. Major Rivers are your men ready?”                               

The major looked at him. He thought he noticed a sarcastic smile on his face but couldn’t be sure. He had a perfect poker face and you could never be sure what was really on his mind. Deep down he knew that his question was a mute and that the soldiers under Rivers command were always ready. The Seals always were.

“We are Captain. The men are ready to go the moment you give the command.”

“That is good to hear. You will have the toughest job on this mission.”

“It is what we train for sir. We will get the job done.”

“I have no doubt in that.”

He turned towards Aria. The AI stayed quiet so far and waited for him. He knew that she would have all the information’s that the sensors gathered about the system they were going in.

“Aria what can we expect once we get there?”

The AI smiled as he addressed her. And her smile made everyone do the same. She was as much part of the crew of the Excelsior as every living breathing human being. She controlled the ships sensors and weapons always finding time to speak with the crew, to give advice or to simply have a casual funny talk. He even suspected that some of the younger people on board might even have a crush on her. If she was a real human being she would have had a lot of suitors. With the blond hair, slender figure, white teeth, small tin red lips and deep green eyes she was stunning. He once asked her about the real person that donated her brain scan. Aria just smiled and said that she is her in every possible way except that she is artificial. She told him of the real Aria Van Hassen, the Alteran astrophysicist that twelve eons ago donated her brain scan and chose to give life to the creature now standing before him. He was growing more thankful with each passing day.

A moment later in the middle of the desk a holographic image appeared showing the Arcadian star system. Eight planets, hundreds of moons and small planets, a large asteroid field and a huge Ort cloud in which they would soon enter appeared.

It was very similar to the Sol system the difference being that here the habitable planet was the second one and it had no moon. There were two other rocky worlds and five gas giants, one almost as large as Jupiter back in Sol. Several of the moons showed icy cores and probably water beneath the ice and there were at least several that looked very similar to Titan. It was truly magnificent.                                         

Aria gave everyone a second to gather their thoughts and watched them with amazement. They were really different from their ancestors, although they were similar in many things. The way they reacted in the time before and after the invasion reminded her of the Alterans but the way they watched with stunned eyes everything new, and still managed to do the right thing, the way they were taking huge risks that was all different from what she knew about the Alterans. She’d had a chance same as the other AI’s to check the historical data about how their civilization developed both from what they knew themselves and from the Icarian probes that collected information even today after all this time. They were a race that was both capable of great things, things that were so amazing and beautiful it was hard to even imagine. Even in their earliest years when they were primitive, it was pictured in the hanging gardens of Babylon, the Pyramids, Rome and Alexandria, the city of Carthage and so many more and for great unimaginable atrocities and evil demonstrated in all their history in the many conflicts they had. And even then she could see them rising above every challenge always managing to bring out the best of things. It was something that was uncommon compared with their ancestors who had the help of the Icarians to overcome events like those. They were an amazing race and had a chance to become a great civilization…

“The system is very similar to Sol…” – the comment came from lieutenant Roberts. He was one of the officers responsible for the weapons systems of the ship.

She turned towards him.

”Yes Lt. Roberts you are right. As you can see our target is the second planet in the system.”

The planet suddenly was magnified in the hologram. As it was many features that weren’t visible like satellite placements and ships were now noticeable. At the same time other points in the system were magnified as well and they all showed various constructs and defenses. Arcadia was a beautiful world with five continents and multiple islands scattered through the large oceans that were just as on Earth covering a large portion of the planet. The continents were covered with jungles. It was something that was expected as it was already mentioned in the previous reports that the AI provided from the last time Alterans visited the world. The hologram showed two hundred defense satellites placed at various points around the planet. Before they could say anything one of the satellites was zoomed. They could all notice the slight excitement in Aria’s face.

“Aria…?”

“I’m sorry but what you see is an Alteran defense grid. One hundred and twelve of those orbital platforms are of Alteran design.”

As she said that they could all notice the similarity between the defense platforms on the hologram and the ones that were at the moment being built around Earth and around every colony.

Jennings looked at the image and then turned towards Aria. ” Are they the same as the ones we are building around Earth?”

“They are similar Admiral. But considering the technological gap these ones are far more powerful. But don’t be alarmed they are not active. It is strange that they kept them after they took the planet.”

“It is strange that they are still here even after all this time. Your creators really built things to last Aria.”

The AI turned towards Lt. Edwards. He was the ships engineer and was well educated in what was needed to build something like the platforms they were seeing now. 

“Yes Lt. they were. But I doubt that those platforms would still be here if they weren’t constantly maintained. I don’t know the reason why they are still here but if we can find out and activate them, your mission for taking and keeping this world will be much easier.”

“What is the power of those things Aria?”

The AI seemed to be thinking for a moment before answering. “They have Coil guns very similar to your MAC guns but far more powerful for long range engagement. A powerful plasma beam is also placed for long range engagement. Rail guns and lasers are used for close range defense. The Coil guns fire a twenty ton slug with a speed of one third of light speed. They fire one shot every ten seconds. The plasma beam is similar and is capable of penetrating the armor of a Dacarian dreadnought with a single shot at a distance of 300000 km. The Rail guns are also capable of destroying anything that enters their field of fire. The lasers are mostly used for point defense. This is the main defense platform there are forty four of those placed around the planet. The smaller ones are for a close range engagements and they fire a five ton slug with a speed of twenty percent of light speed. They have rail guns and laser platforms for point defense as well.”

“That sure is a lot of firepower. If we can activate those systems we can wipe out anything that they can through against us.”

Jennings looked at his second in command. Thomson’s words caused a stir among the others. It was something they all wished and hoped for. They all knew they had been lucky and the victories that they had in the first battles were owed to the Alteran technology and the refugee fleet they found orbiting Sedna. The platforms might not be ships but they were still powerful weapons. They were designed and built by the same people that built the Argus and the two cruisers that helped in the battle of Earth. And considering the fire power that Aria described they were far more powerful than the ships. They might be stationary but they could literally blast anything sent against them to tiny pieces. He hoped that they weren’t active. He turned towards Aria.

“Aria, are you sure that the Dacarians have no command over those stations?”

“Yes Sir. There are no readings that would show that they are active. And I highly doubt that the Dacarians would have needed the other orbital stations if they had control over them.”

“What makes you so sure Aria? I’m sorry for doubting you but we all know how advanced the Dacarians are. And why leave them in place if they can’t control them?”-the question came from Roberts.

The AI stood silent for a second. Then a holographic projection appeared showing the planet and zooming on the defense grid covering it.

“If you look at the placements of the stations…”- as she said that a digital projection appeared showing intersecting lines of fire from the stations- “They are placed to cover the entire planet. We have five stations missing on these points”-five dots appeared on the empty places and they all noticed several of the Dacarian defense stations standing there and they also noticed that many of the Dacarian stations were placed in front of the Alteran platforms. They were smaller, looking as ants compared with the large stations behind them.-“and they were replaced with dozens of Dacarian satellites. My guess is that they were destroyed in the initial battle when the Dacarians conquered this world.”

As she finished Jennings looked at her. 

“Aria what can you tell us about the original inhabitants of this world? The ones you were trying to protect?”

“They called themselves Ksand. They were a young race. Some members of their race were taken and developed far from here by the Icarians about twenty five thousand of your years. By the time the final war started they managed to contact their home which at that point was at the level you were during your second world war. Before the war we found out that they were threatened by several of the other races. This defense grid was built in order to protect them. By the time your ancestors were defeated the Ksand had a powerful republic in the sector where they were placed. They suffered terrible loses in trying to protect your ancestors. Some of their survivors, and a large fleet retreated to this system before the end.”

She stayed quiet for a second and then she turned towards Rivers. As she did an image of a strange looking avian creature appeared on the screen. It was smaller than a human about five feet tall. Its head looked strange. It had a small beak, a retracted nose, almost too small to be recognized, there were no visible ears, and it had two small dark eyes. The two hands were also wings showing a retractable membrane. There were no noticeable feathers instead they were covered with a cream colored small fur that covered strong muscles all over the body. They might look weak and small but they were strong, probably stronger than an ordinary human would be. And even with all those features the creature looked peaceful and gentle. As Rivers watched the creature he wished that his people would find some living Ksand on the planet.

“They risked everything for your ancestors. I hope that you won’t forget that when you go down there…As others have debt towards you, you have it towards them.”

“We won’t forget Aria…If we find them you can be sure of that.”

She didn’t respond but he knew that she was happy with the answer. In the months that passed, thanks to the talks with her both here and on the Demetrion before he got to know her well. She might be an AI but she was just as alive as any other living human being. She was just a little bit different.

Jennings turned towards Rivers. As he did the major just nodded.

“Aria do you know how can we activate that defense grid?”

“Yes I do. The control center for the defense stations is located here…”-an image of a mountain appeared.-“It is located on the largest continent and it is a location that houses a large Dacarian base. The mountain was actually a large military base with multiple defense systems twelve thousand years ago. I can’t say in what condition it is today, but considering the placement of the enemy base it is safe to say that they know about it.”

“How do we activate it?”

“The system needs an AI in order to be able to operate. If you manage to take control you will need an AI to activate it. I will make a copy of myself for you major Rivers. It won’t be as good as me but it will help you if the system is actually operational.”

“It seems that our mission will have to suffer some changes.”- Rivers looked at the admiral.