On the Edge

The Curator was squirming under the pressure. "But why a human? The ship simply needs a few adjustments!"

The Committee were unimpressed. "You have been flying that ship around for thirty years. The humans have a soft spot for us, ever since first contact, and are willing to provide an engineer for practically nothing.

Frankly, it's your seniority in the service and the age of your ship that brings you here. Allow the human do her job or retire. We are tired of hearing about your fear of omnivores. She isn't going to eat you. She promised, in writing. Clear?”

The library ship Deannwer was moving through the edge systems, following its mission of spreading technology and ideas to those too far or too old fashioned to connect directly with the galaxy.

It was one of those projects that sometimes got funding, sometimes not. The ship was serviceable but old. It's latest addition was a human engineer. No-one was quite sure why she had ventured so far out, or why she was willing to take the low wages.

Engineer Revel was poking about in the engine room. Not one single system had the familiar "Human Altered" sign. Perfect. She was sick of fiddling about with human hybrid engineering.

She was willing to take a little time to go back to the beginning, to see what her father had seen when he had arrived in space. Anyway, it had been one of these library ships that had found Earth. Humanity had a debt to them, and a certain admiration.

Also she got a large grant that covered the drop in wages. Sort of community service.

She was humming quietly, surrounded by the dismantled converter console when the Curator arrived.

It stood well back and spoke to the floor. "Honourable Engineer, perhaps you would explain. The engine is uncooperative. We are concerned."

Revel didn't understand the body language that well but the expression 'shitting himself' seemed to describe her new Captain. Save us all from herbivores. She spoke to the floor as well. He would leg it if she looked at him straight, according to her briefing.

"Honourable Curator, I submitted the work schedule over a week ago. You requested a refit. This is what a refit looks like. We aren't going anywhere soon anyway, according to your diary."

The Curator stepped back, unnerved by Revels voice. "This is correct but.." his forelimbs waved about " are you certain you can rebuild all of this?"

She smiled to herself. If the Captain actually saw her smile she had been warned that shitting himself would be an actual event, not an expression. She could see why she was the first human these people had met and why she was the first human engineer on board.

"Honourable Curator, rest assured that I will rebuild it. I am simply installing the new control systems in engineering before I begin on the real work. If I did it the other way round, this system would be damaged. I will be doing the same for the bridge console. Soon you will have the sort of speed and range that your mission deserves."

The Curator bristled at the news that the Human would be on his bridge, barely restraining himself from spraying the room to establish dominance. He thought quickly "Perhaps you could work on that when we are off planet. You would have so much more.. space."

A weak logic, but he would crash the ship into a star if the human looked at him at the wrong moment.

He had chosen this profession so he could limit his contact with the more aggressive species of the galaxy. Intellectually he understood that there was no threat here but, regretfully, that didn't help.

Revel nodded, then realized she was still looking at the floor. Fuck’s sake.

" Of course, Curator. I have plenty more to do here anyway."

The time passed as peaceably as expected on a flying library. Happily, the rest of the crew wasn't as insecure in her presence. She found them endearing, she enjoyed scraping back the years of ancient bodges and permanent 'quick fixes' she uncovered. It was like her student days had come to life, without the drinking this time.

She finally tuned the engines. The output was off the charts compared to what she found. Adding thirty years of tech and human ingenuity had transformed the power supply. Now she was itching to get to the main controls. At this point she had built an entire backup bridge in engineering!

Engines, check

Converters, check

Life support, check

Computers, check

Shuttle, check

Power supply, check

Medbay, check

Still she waited for permission to take on the Main bridge. And waited.The only system she had ignored was weapons. No-one had ever attacked a library ship. Nothing to steal but knowledge and they gave that away free.

"Fuck this." Revel announced to herself.

She had been waiting for weeks for the Curator to park up. Unfortunately every time she met the Curator he behaved like the constipated badger that his species resembled.

"Fine. I'll turn the ship into a fucking battleship. Anyone who doesn't pay their library fines is now condemned to death!"

Revel had done her time in military engineering. They were encouraged to shut the fuck up about this when out in the galaxy, but damn near every human a Xeno ever met had military training. Especially the engineers. Humanity didn't want anyone looking too closely at that, but it kept the informal alliance among the engineers a positive force.

She started with the shields. She spent a couple of happy weeks on EVA, something else that had the Curator looking like he was dealing with a bag of angry cats when she suggested it. Then she started on the weapons array, such as it was.

The Curator was still hiding in his office. He knew he was hiding. It was embarrassing, this was his ship, she was no threat and it was only a matter of time that his behavior would cost him his career.

But the human was outside the ship and he felt better already. He had kept the paper she had signed that promised not to eat him in his pocket for weeks now, in case she forgot. It was now so damp and tattered that it was unreadable.

He was aware that it was irrational and that the Human might have misunderstood his reaction to her wish to work outside, but the relief was profound. It wasn’t in the ship anymore. Perhaps he could keep her busy out there? They had few systems on the exterior, but she seemed enthusiastic. He let the bridge know that his orders were to let the Honorable Engineer work on all exterior systems.

Wendig system

Perhaps the galaxy should have been watching. Perhaps it didn't need to happen at all. The Wendig system wasn't important, just one of the many systems on the edge of things.

Its people were subterranean and nocturnal. For the systems that had heard of it, they knew it as a species unwilling to travel in space and unpleasant to visitors. When it began a genocidal civil war, it was so deep and so disconnected from the larger galaxy, no-one else even knew it was happening.

He who was Holy stood in the remnants of the council chambers. His fur was bloody from the slaughter of the heretics. The former president was being nailed to the door as he watched.

One of his warrior monks arrived,

"Holy One, the victory is ours. Your Generals wish to begin the purge."

"Of course, tell them to sweep away those who defile the minds of our people. Universities, schools, crèches. I want them cleansed. We begin anew, clean in the eyes of the Gods. No longer will we follow those that seek to live under the sun. Kill them all"

Deannwer, Wendig system

Revel was coming back in after another days work on the exterior when she was met by one of the friendlier crewmates. She found their monklike adhesion to titles a bit annoying but, if she was right, he was Second Scribe, Higher than Third Scribe or something. Fairly important anyway.

“Honorable Engineer, we have refused to continue this farce. In truth, we should have landed weeks ago. Our poor Curator has finally agreed. He asks only that you stay off the bridge until we have descended. He has also agreed to retire. The Committee was unimpressed with our recent travels and will find a new Curator. We hope you will allow him this dignity. Please.”

She watched the shuttle descend. Apparently this world was one of the rare ones that didn’t value the galaxy much. They evolved underground and, deep down, couldn’t give a shit about space. Still, good intentions sent the shuttle down and left her the ship to play with on her own.

Finally she could rip out the antiques and put her new systems onto the bridge. They expected to be gone for a couple of months. Time to rip out the central CPU and replace it with something younger than herself. She rerooted all Comms to the shuttle and shattered the CPU with the biggest hammer she could find. She had waited months to do that.

Life support rebooted from her engineering console. Now to get some real work done.

Finally she rebooted all the systems from the bridge. Two weeks of work. Nearly twenty months of planning and preparation.

She connected Comms to the shuttle and listened to the screams. She scrambled to take control of the Shuttle, activating all the upgrades she had fitted. The locals were attacking from every direction. Whatever was going on down there, she needed to get her people out. Since whoever the fuck was shooting didn’t seem to be reasonable, she didn’t feel like waiting. They were shooting at a bunch of librarians, for fucks sake. Who doesn’t like librarians?

The ship was unarmed, but that didn't mean she had left it undefended. She turned on the shields, normally only activated on entry to the atmosphere. The forcefield ballooned out, crushing the enemy into a fine paste. Then she boosted them again and they hit the buildings. Sniper fire snapped at the ship until the shields pushed through the complex. It fell over. Oops.

She called the shuttle. " Are you okay? What's happening down there?" No response. Either they were hurt or not listening.

It didn’t take long for her to work out the scenes that had played out. Some of her crewmates had been seized, then beaten and held.

Public broadcasting by the new regime had declared them despoilers and spies, shouting to the very stars that this was the penalty for walking in the light . She watched as some sort of show trial took place, accusing the Curator of spying, of corruption and heresy.

Revel took full control of the shuttle. Wherever the pilot was, he wasn't in control. She scanned as much as she could, trying to identify the attackers. They just looked like locals. No uniforms. Some kind of militia, maybe. The shuttle started rising.

The Curator looked beaten, tired and afraid but he apparently refused to concede anything. A constant flicker of his lonely figure, surrounded by angry accusers. They didn’t broadcast his words, but their anger was clear. So was the result. In an orgy of righteousness they dragged him outside. Then they secured him to a post and burned him alive. Celebrating.

They were banning all ships from their fucking sacred dark. Her crewmates that remained on board had frantically sealed the shuttle and tried to contact her.

No-one else was listening. Maybe in twenty years someone might go looking, or they would stupidly shoot at a passing military ship. Otherwise no-one gave a fuck about their system or a wandering library ship.

Revel was beyond angry. These were teachers, the same ones that had given mankind the keys to stars.

"Anyone in the shuttle that can hear me, secure for lift off. This is not going to be pleasant."

So, they like setting people on fire. She could do that too.

She lifted the shuttle off the ground and swung it around, pointing the engines earthward. The flames boiled down, smoke hiding the shuttle.

She held the ship over the spaceport and poured flame across the wreckage of the complex, burning any ships she could. Then she accelerated the shuttle fiercely, swerving to avoid any interception. Taking them home.

She hailed the planet, “ Attention. This is the Deannwer. Return my people or I will blow the fuck out of you and your bug ugly world."

The Holy One listened to the message and laughed, “ Do you hear this! One of the bookkeepers is still hiding out there. Find the ship and kill it.”

This was a library ship. Amazingly they didn't carry carry heavy weapons. Or anything else useful. She could send a strongly worded letter and threaten them with fines if the librarians were returned scuffed or without covers.

She could read about them though. She really hadn't done that much to the weapons array, beyond the standard human updates.

Still, she needed to get her people safe. The shuttle docked, followed by a couple of planetary defense ships arriving late to the party that had utterly failed to penetrate her shields.

These assholes didn't like space travel? Fine. She could sort that out for them. She activated the weapons array and one-shot the bastards. Welcome to human tech.

Some very bedraggled bridge crew arrived on deck. "Thank you, Honorable Engineer, we have never been attacked before. I'm afraid we may have reacted poorly."

Revel sympathized with them. Being under fire without leadership or experience is... unpleasant.

" You did fine. How many were left behind? What happened?"

"They had a revolution. More like a massacre. The Curator refused to leave the planet, he maintained that it was a local affair. Frankly, I think he didn't want to come back here. He didn't want his last mission to be a failure.

When the rebels won, he took a team to speak to the new leadership. He said they were a religious government and would be peaceful."

The Second Scribe struggled to continue.

" Their Holy One ordered his execution. They burned him to death as a warning to the unclean and broadcast it across the planet. They are holding the others in case of reprisal"

"Eight of our Scholar's are still held. Including the pilot, which is why we couldn't leave. They thought that we were trapped. None of us has ever flown a ship, and they kept shooting..."

His voice dwindled. Revel recognised it as Survivors Shock. "Take the crew into the Medbay, I'll sort this out."

Wendig Government complex

"Holy One, our spaceport is destroyed. It will take weeks to repair and the aliens escaped. Our spaceships are destroyed or trapped on the ground. What do you wish?"

"What do we need with a spaceport? Let it burn."

"Holy One, there is a ship still out there. It has destroyed much already, we need a response."

"The Gods will protect us."

Revel studied the maps. The religious freaks holding her people had taken the central complex. From the noises they were making, no compromise was possible.

They were busy building a cathedral out of the parliament buildings. They were using the bodies of their enemies to do it, grinding the corpses into the cement. It was only a matter of time before her crew became an ornament. Or roof insulation.

The minor issue was that, first, all their important buildings were underground and, second, this was a fucking library not a battleship. She made a few calls. If nothing else, her people would make sure that these idiots paid a price. She couldn't afford to wait for them.

The Second Scribe arrived back on the bridge. "I feel much better now, thank you. May I ask if you have a plan?"

Revel hesitated. This was now his ship, really. "I have the beginnings of plan. What would you like me to do, Captain?"

The Second spoke fiercely, "Get our people out, kill these murderous savages. He was my Curator. Not a great man, but a great teacher. I know his fears overwhelmed him, but he spent his life helping, informing the worlds. He deserved honour, not execution.

I know nothing of war. Please, do what you can. I leave this in your hands. I will care for the crew."

Revel went back to the books, looking for a weakness. It turned out that these bastards worshipped their moons. An eclipse was a holy day, a sign of the triumph of Dark over Light. This she could use.

Of all the moon's orbiting the planet only one looked useful. It was due to eclipse in four days. She took the shuttle down to it. It took two days to rewire the engines, another to install the trigger. Then she took the Evac pod back to the ship.

She hailed the planet, max Comms.

"You will return my people or suffer the wrath of the dark. I am human, there is nothing we don't know about the dark. Tomorrow you will pay for your attack."

Sometimes you need a little more information. Or a geology degree. She powered up the weapons array. Slowly she ran it up to maximum power. The lights dimmed in the ship as she unleashed the most powerful strike ever fired from a library.

It struck the trigger charges on the shuttle engines and immediately caused them to fail containment. She had fully fueled the ship before she parked it. When the shuttle exploded, she expected it to look frightening. She didn't expect it to shatter the moon. She watched as huge chunks of rock began falling towards the planet.

"Fuck."

Most of the debris fell towards the other moons, but enough fell on the planet to register as an extinction level event. Luckily, most of the population was already underground. Still.

Revel watched as the apocalyptic event she had caused unfolded. Millions of tons of newly independent rock hurled into the planet.

Part of her was childish. Her first thoughts were 'You started it,' followed by ' I am in so much trouble' and then, finally, to action. She called for help.

"All Shipping, this is the library ship Deannwer. An extinction level event has occurred on the Wendig homeworld. Immediate aid required."

Then she called Earth.

"Hi Dad, I might need some help, I just dropped a moon on a planet."

On Earth, a man aggressively not wearing an Admirals uniform stood up in a meeting and told quite a lot of people who were wearing that uniform to shut up. A question was asked.

"Yes, an inhabited planet."

A button was pressed.

The doors on the meeting were sealed.

Two more questions were asked.

The Admiralty realized that this was going badly for someone. They were waiting to find out if it was them.

"Yes, I'm fine, but I need you to get the Earth out here. We need to fix this. And yes, they were trying to kill me and my crew. They burned my Curator at the stake."

The Holy One was standing and admiring his half-built cathedral when one of his monks came running “ Holy one, the eclipse, the moon...it’s gone. We saw flame. The sky is filled with burning rock.”

The Holy One turned and snapped “ What nonsense are you ranting? The Gods are immortal! As I will be one day…”

As he spoke a vast meteor air-burst over the Cathedral. The surface was crushed down, collapsing the building beneath, leaving only a vast crater in its place.

The gods had spoken.

A shuttle containing her stolen crew was dispatched to the ship immediately, along with pleas for mercy, declarations of surrender and requests for aid.

The Second Scribe stood beside her as they watched the planet being pounded by debris.

"Are you sure this was necessary? I am unfamiliar with human customs. This seems .. excessive."

"Well, no-one is ever going to fuck with a library ship again. Our people are home, and this world is saved from a bunch of fanatics and they will get the help they deserve. But no. This was not my intention."

"Are all your people like you?"

"Sadly, yes."

The galactic response and inquiry teams sent an immediate recommendation that humans be forbidden from all weapons control and weapons arrays. It was passed unanimously. Strangely, the humans voted for it too.