Chapter 012: Codename

Discord was first discovered by an exploration team of the Immortal Assembly, a soon-to-be member of the Transhuman Alliance. It was a massive space station (capable of housing billions of humans when reactivated) that could be reached only by a network of jumpgates, exotechs allowing ships to instantly move from one point to another, despite light years of distance between them.

It was used during the War of Purity as the headquarters of the Alliance, greatly helping in coordinating its offensives and allowing it to reshuffle its forces between the frontlines many times faster than the forces of the Commonwealth. Only the transit speed being limited (and thus ships having to move around one at a time, without hours of cooldown for heavier ships) has stopped the Commonwealth from being overwhelmed.

When the war ended, the Transhuman Alliance’ remnants began cooperating with the criminal underworld of the Commonwealth. The Discord became the center of smuggling and a safe haven for pirates, slavers, and political extremists banished from the Human Space. It has become an epitome of evil, contacts with which are considered a crime against Mankind and are punished with summary execution in both the Confederation and the Solar Republic.

Encyclopedia Galactica

Book 2, page 190

***

The next few days were interesting. The mess on Carmotia changed a lot. Mostly in the training department. Christopher had no idea who made the decision, but Tiaa informed him that it was time for him to learn actual combat skills. Christopher himself suspected Captain Keller, even though the man was strangely absent from his life.

Christopher might have been an American, but it’s not like he was born with a pistol in his hand. Instead, he had to train his way into becoming something resembling a shooter. Of course, this wasn’t something that could be mastered in a week. Especially when you also had to master other ‘basic combat skills’.

Eight hours of work a day. Two hours in the VR shooting range. Two hours of figuring out how to use space suits and basic types of combat armor. Two hours of general physical training with elements of ‘how to hit other people 101’. Two hours of theoretical military education. Since people could scarcely maintain focus on things for more than an hour, there were also breaks.

It was, once again, an interesting experience. Christopher always enjoyed learning new things, even if they were mostly limited to videogames. Now he had the perfect occasion for that. And it was nothing mundane - it was far in the future.

After two days of idyll, Colonel Nowak had for some reason decided to entertain herself by giving Christopher some personal attention. This changed the idyll into complete horror. One that Ryan - who also went through the same general training - was exempt from.

Soon the ship was back in Hyperspace. And then, after a few more days of arduous training, things turned interesting again.

***

EGS Echo - Marine Deck

13:45 27.04.2610 STT

Cadet Christopher Hall

The hit was powerful enough that it forced Christopher to take a step back, even despite his successful block. Rukh wasted no time. He closed the distance almost instantly, raining hits on Christopher’s stomach and chest. Despite the impact-absorbing suit, he could feel every hit.

He tried to counterattack with a straight punch to the face, but Rukh saw it coming and took advantage of the momentary lapse in defense. The hit Christopher received sent him reeling. He got his guard up in time to receive another barrage of blows. Which lasted until Colonel Nowak had enough of it.

“So, how was I?” He asked while taking off the protective suit. Despite the protection it offered, he could still hear something ringing.

Can’t someone pick up that damn phone?

“He is superior to you in terms of skills, strength, speed, and reaction time.” Lieutenant Nowak was as merciless as indifferent in her answer. She was stating a fact. It wasn’t her problem that the actual state of affairs was this bad for Christopher.

“You are unrivaled in getting hit.” She continued. Christopher winced painfully, though only in his thoughts. He wasn’t going to show the world how vulnerable he was. “Then again, not many would stay upright and continue getting hit without being able to respond. It’s a type of bravery.”

Colonel Nowak was slightly more talkative when it was about fighting. It was an interesting discovery. Not very useful to Christopher, but interesting.

“I’ll take that as a compliment.” Not like he could expect anything else from her anytime soon. Or ever, actually.

He finished taking off the suit and had a moment to look at Rukh, who was still struggling a bit with his helmet.

Despite a few days passing by, he still had only had a few opportunities to see Rukh. Their team’s bodyguard was extremely asocial. Or didn’t like his teammates. His luck with evading the quarters when someone was there was so superb that Christopher began suspecting Tendrik wasn’t the only person who had planted hidden cameras around the place.

He was also a ‘biological' furry. He looked more like an anthropomorphic wolf than human-animal hybrids like Nekia or Tiaa. This amazed Christopher as much as it forced him to slightly alter the worldbuilding of the fictional universe roughly based on the actual future that was going to house his sci-fi story. He could expect too many screams of individuals thinking that furries were the worst thing in the world after communism, and he didn’t feel like facing that.

“Take it slowly.” Lieutenant Nowak noticed who he was looking at. “For the first two weeks all we heard from him was ‘I came to train’ and ‘can I borrow those weights’. Amazing, in its own weird way.“

“Mhm, well I can’t wait for the day when his interactions with his de facto superior will consist of something else than physical violence against said superior.”

Especially as it goddamn hurts. The way Rukh moves is too fast, too precise. It’s barely human at all.

“I will share with you a very important secret of the universe.” Lieutenant Nowak leaned towards Christopher, her tone going down to a confidential whisper. “Violence is never an answer. It is the question. And the answer is yes.”

I’m beginning to understand why her callsign is ‘Berserker’.

“Great. So, uhm, can I know why this is even part of my training? I can understand teaching myself how to shoot.” Especially as he had results. His eyes seemed to be much better than they were in the 21st Century, and his eye-hand coordination was well trained in computer games. ”But this? I’d be dead five times over if not for the protective gear.”

“That’s why I’m having you train.“ She answered. “So you won’t get killed if something gets close.” It made perfect sense, even if Christopher didn’t like having to admit it. “It’s also for humility.”

“Humility?” That was new.

“Your body is above human average.” She replied. “And you are telekinetic. But that’s not all that shocking. The sooner you understand that in combat you’re no one special, the better. That’s why I’m having the youngest marine trainee aboard the Echo mop the floor with you.”

She is grinning. I’m about to collapse on the ground from exhaustion and pain and she is grinning. Ugh.

Suddenly, something showed up on his Personal Computer.

WARNING

PRIORITY MESSAGE FROM:

Chief Petty Officer Tiaa Sistonen

All petty officers in charge of the Recovery Teams are to assemble in thirty minutes [14:15 Standard Terran Time] in the briefing room on the Hangar Deck.

Time left: 29:56

Estimated Travel Time: 17:23

***

EGS Echo - Hangar Deck

14:15 27.04.2610 STT

Cadet Christopher Hall

“And this, ladies and gentlemen, is the Pristine Jewel.” Chief Tiaa said, pointing towards a huge and blocky ship presented on the monitor. It looked like a gigantic metal cigar. With its industrial and blocky texture in the color of rust, the name ‘Pristine Jewel’ was the last thing that came to mind.

Christopher felt out of place. Everyone in the room but him looked like a veteran. While he… he could pretend to be a child of some people present, with a reasonable chance of succeeding.

“It was designed and built for the Republic of Triana by an outside contractor to serve as a heavy passenger and cargo transport vessel.” Tiaa continued. “The merchant fleet of the Republic inducted it into its ranks five years ago; however, the ship vanished in Hyperspace three hundred and twenty days ago. Because of a wave of disappearances that occurred in the subsector around that time, it was commonly accepted that a pirate warlord went on a rampage in the area. We are about to have this claim verified. And by ‘we’ I mean eight recovery teams led by me, and five marine squads led by Colonel Nowak.”

Well, I always knew this day had to come eventually. My first boarding. No way I’m qualified to do that! It’s barely been a month since I got transported here. How the hell am I supposed to do stuff like that?! At least the marines will get there first, so it should be safe. Right?

“Unfortunately for us, we are on a tight schedule here. All thanks to this.” The cat woman replaced the picture on the display with a jumble of colors that Christopher couldn’t decode. Judging from the murmur around him, he was the only one with this issue. Was it some star map?

“Hyperstorm designated EVA-II(B47) will reach this area in three days.” Tiaa continued. “We are two days away from our next stop, the Texia system. If we take into account the slower acceleration of a civilian ship such as the Jewel, we have less than twelve hours left for this boarding if we want to safely exit Hyperspace with the Jewel before EVA’s arrival. Because of that, we will land alongside the marines, rather than waiting for their confirmation that the LZ is clear.”

The murmur grew stronger. Only his lack of experience and the crippling feeling of inadequacy stopped Christopher from joining it.

Tiaa raised her hand, silencing the people assembled. It was amazing to see so many people muted by a single hand.

“We have two prime objectives here.” She continued. “The Pristine Jewel is powered down. We see no outside damage, and the probes we sent showed next to no damage to the interior. This leads us to believe that the ship itself is salvageable.”

It didn’t require being a professional in this trade to know that this was the best result. Enough time to pillage everything AND you got to sell the ship itself.

“We are going to divide our forces into four groups.” Tiaa continued, this time with slightly disturbing thoughts. “Group One is composed of Recovery Teams Two and Three, together with a squad of marines; you will attempt to access the Engineering Deck to reignite the main reactor and run diagnostics on the ship’s systems to find out if we can get it out of the Hyperspace.”

A wave of nods. Save for landing alongside marines and the restricted time, it was a fairly standard operation.

”The second group, formed by Teams Four and Five, together with another squad of marines, will seek to reach the bridge to access the ship’s databases and take control of the Jewel’s computer systems.” Tiaa continued. “For this reason the group will be accompanied by Lieutenant Fouquet.” This time the murmur sounded hostile, but Christopher had no idea why.

“Group Three will be composed of two marine squads under the personal command of Colonel Nowak, Recovery Team Six and Lieutenant Commander Athalia.” This time Tiaa’s words ended the standard part of the operation. Why Athalia? He was a medic, yes, but each squad had their own medics. If anything, he was best placed aboard the Echo.

Unless it was some high level complicated move that he was yet to hear about during his theoretical tactical training. That was always an option.

“According to the data we got from Triana before our departure, the Pristine Jewel carried two thousand crew-members and seven thousand passengers.” Tiaa added. “The most likely place to find what remains of them is the Passenger Deck, and that’s where the third group will go to, to hopefully find some answers. That is if the second group will not find them in the archives.” Now it made sense. Of course, if one didn’t expect any serious complications.

“Finding out the cause of the Jewel’s disappearance is the second objective, by the way.” Tiaa clarified the issue before carrying on. “Group Four will be the Recovery Teams One and Eight, together with me and a squad of marines.” She swiftly squashed Christopher’s hopes of getting excluded from the mission after all. “We will land near the main hangar and establish a bridgehead in case we have to bring in reinforcements. Which is, let me stress this once again, VERY. UNLIKELY. The rest remains on standby aboard the Echo. Questions?”

“Cargo?” One of the petty officers raised a hand and asked.

“Seven hundred thousand tonnes of various low-value cargo, primarily metals from the mining operations in the asteroid belt of the Texia system. Of no importance to this mission. Though it should provide us with a lovely bonus if we get the ship back to the Republic.” The irony of returning a lost ship to the totalitarian regime that wanted to seize their ship just a little while ago wasn’t lost on Christopher. The future was weird.

“And what about…” Someone else inquired into details of the mission. The questions went on for a few more minutes. Finally, the meeting was over. At least for most of them.

“Cadet Hall, I’d like to have a word with you.” Chief Tiaa said, interrupting his speedy evacuation from the room.

Why do I feel like a primary school kid who was just ordered by his teacher to stay after the lesson for a talk?

“I am conscious that your team suffers from a fatal lack of experience and training.” Chief Tiaa started speaking once everyone but them had left the room. ”We are doing our best with training, however eventually we will also need to address the experience part. The Pristine Jewel is a convenient opportunity for you to start your career as a recovery team for real.”

“I hope you’re right, chief.” He really did. In recent times he seemed to be facing one unexpected thing after another. He could only hope the Pristine Jewel would be a walk in the park, as she pictured it.

“Just in case I’m not, I will accompany you, at least during the landing.” Tiaa said, leaving Christopher to stare at her. “Recovery Team Eight will land near Recovery Team One, taking a different entrance. Consider this a live boarding exercise. I will instruct you during the boarding and examine your performance as a petty officer. Then we’ll join my team and the marines, and proceed according to plan.”

How much of this is Tiaa being protective of her daughter and how much genuine care about the team, I wonder? Probably both at once, but how much of either side?

“That’s a relief, chief.” It really was.

“Oh my. Christopher Hall, answering quickly and formally.” She smiled. “And being happy that I’m accompanying him. You must be really worried about the entire thing.”

Well, we all know how well the Hyperspace entry went. Let’s hope it will be different this time.

***

Shuttle 05H

14:50 27.04.2610 STT

Cadet Christopher Hall

Half an hour later, the entire Recovery Team Eight was present in the transport compartment of one of the Echo’s shuttles. Each of them wore a dedicated spacesuit which looked like a slightly puffier skinsuit with a helmet and an oxygen tank camouflaged as a backpack. Also, the boots were significantly thicker.

According to Tiaa’s explanation, magnets in the soles allowed them to walk on surfaces while in 0g. Plus some small thrusters to help maneuver in places without surfaces.

All of them were armed. Rukh, Tiriel, and Christopher were supplied with what seemed to be a futuristic assault rifle. Rukh also brought a mean-looking knife. Tendrik, Kivanna, and Ryan received pistols. And Nekia… Nekia received a light machine gun. Which, even with the accompanying exoskeleton (which boosted her strength and absorbed recoil) looked ludicrous.

Each of them also had a set of tools, chosen according to their specialty. Which, together with the rest of equipment made them look more professional than Christopher felt like.

“Ok, first things first.” Christopher stood in the midst of the compartment, painfully conscious of the chief looking at him inquisitively. “Since none of us save for Rukh and Tiriel can be considered experienced with guns, I want the rest of you to keep your safeties on during the boarding. I don’t want to get shot by accidental discharges.”

“Awww, and here I was, hoping for some nice gunfight with an alien scourge.” Tendrik said. He seemed at least slightly relieved by the order, though.

“Hopefully we’ll avoid having to fight with anything.” Christopher replied. That would be the best-case scenario. “Does everyone remember their call signs?”

It was a rather important part of the training. It reminded Christopher of that ‘military talk’ he had often seen in some films depicting the modern military. There was some encryption in place for their communications, but it could at best delay the enemy decryption. Thus it was prudent to keep names secret, and the long-distance communication limited in details.

He didn’t know enough about the call signs in his time to know how much had changed. Probably a lot. Although there was also the matter of whether the Echo crew treated them fully seriously - Christopher had no way of knowing how they are used in ‘actual’ militaries.

“Uhm… I have a question.” Tendrik raised his hand. “I’m Cat Four or Cat Five?” Tiaa must have had a jolly good time issuing the team its callsign.

“You’re Cat Three.” Christopher sighed. “One is me, two is Tiriel, four is Nekia, five is Rukh, six is Kivanna, seven is Ryan. Eight is Patches, but he is outside of comms range.” Christopher briefly considered asking Tiaa how much of the paperwork he’ll have to go through if he throws someone outside mid flight. Purely for comedy sake. But then he remembered that it’s Tiaa, so he quickly abandoned the idea.

He also refused to go into the callsign swamp again, so instead he moved to another point of the talk.

“I believe it’s time for Chief Petty Officer Tiaa Sistonen to instruct us about a few very important things before we land on the Pristine Jewel.” He moved to one of the seats that lined the walls of the compartment, letting Tiaa take central stage.

“In a few minutes, we will arrive at our destination. All of you had basic training in operating a spacesuit.” The cat woman - who was wearing a similar spacesuit as they were and carried a shortened version of their assault rifles - began speaking.

Christopher had some doubts about whether the basic training was enough, but his basic training with dealing with Chief Tiaa had him leave this opinion to himself. If she said it was enough, it was enough.

“Using them in Hyperspace is a bit different than in Realspace.” She continued. “I’m going to repeat the basic things, just in case any of you forgot about them.” Christopher could probably name a few people that had forgotten some or all of it. He himself was in the first category.

“Hyperspace is technically filled with liquid.” Tiaa continued speaking. “However this liquid offers friction only to light objects, while being frictionless to heavier ones. That’s why the Echo can fly through it with a fraction of lightspeed, but this shuttle has to be a special one, built like a submarine. The fact that you are subject to friction means that accelerating too much is impossible, and it’s impossible to stray too far. All you need to do is to stop accelerating and you’ll slow down on your own. And rather quickly. That concludes the list of positives, now we’re going to the negatives.”

Of course there have to be negatives.

“Looking at Hyperspace, hearing it, smelling or touching it with any part of your body does weird things to your brain.” Tiaa dropped the main bomb. “Looking or hearing is the worst, especially the former. You see it, you’re gone for good. That’s why some precautions have to be taken.”

Hyperspace Exposure Syndrome. Christopher had heard about it. Three seconds of unedited Hyperspace footage had been enough to drive every officer in the online meeting insane during the Day of Sorrow. He only read a brief summary of what happened next, but it was sick enough for him to not want to know any details.

“Access the suit’s settings and switch on the Hyperspace Mode.” Tiaa finished.

After Christopher did so, everything around him transformed. First, everything went monochrome. Second, the rest of the team and Chief Tiaa changed into spotless white humanoid figures.

“Your suits’ helmet is no longer transparent, and the external cameras are offline.“ The human figure tagged ‘Tiaa Sistonen’ continued talking. “They are currently figuring out each other’s positions through their internal localizers. When you're outside, they will create a rough sketch of your surroundings based on the three-dimensional waves spreading through the hyperspace medium. This allows you to see IN Hyperspace, without seeing THE Hyperspace. Which is safe. Furthermore…”

***

Hyperspace

15:10 27.04.2610 STT

Cadet Christopher Hall

Hyperspace was… insane. Or at least that was the initial thought that appeared in Christopher’s mind once he left the shuttle. He corrected himself and altered his opinion from ‘insane’ to ‘weird’.

First of all, it really felt like water. He didn’t need to use the suit’s thrusters to reach the Jewel. He could move around by doing breaststrokes - he ceased doing so solely because it felt too silly. It also had ‘waves’, though three-dimensional ones, that kept pushing him a bit in random directions. Those arriving from ‘above’ were stronger, as according to Tiaa they were heralds of the hyperstorm coming from that direction.

His suit’s external sensors also told him that the Hyperspace had a mild temperature of about twenty-seven degrees Celsius, and was composed of Oxygen (twenty-three percent), Nitrogen (seventy-five percent), and two percent of trace components. But this kept shifting with every passing second (with the list of trace components sometimes including very exotic components - and sometimes very spooky, such as ‘human spinal fluid’) which lasted until the sensor figured out that they were in Hyperspace and ceased functioning altogether.

They could see the Pristine Jewel in front of them. The ship was actually pristine for once, an enormous white shape floating amidst the darkness, visible due to the Echo’s sensors sending them details about its shape and placement. A red dot signified their destination. Tiaa Sistonen kept instructing them on the comms, correcting obvious mistakes in their usage of thrusters. After five minutes of clashing with the controls, they arrived at the airlock near the main hangar doors.

They landed around it, using their magnetic boots to latch themselves to the hull and stabilize their position. Their suits’ computers adapted to their new position by showing more details of the ship’s surface. Enough to recognize the shapes, but not enough to do much more than that.

“Cat Seven, get it open.” Christopher said to Ryan through the comms. Getting things such as the airlock open was an engineer’s duty, at least as long as they didn’t have to hack anything.

“On it. Uhm, how do I open this?” Ryan corrected himself after a second. “I can’t see the panel.”

The only two reasons why Christopher didn’t facepalm was because he wore a helmet… and because it would be hypocritical to make fun of people who lacked the experience to do something right after he kept wallowing in self-pity and lack of faith in himself due to lacking experience.

“There is no power, so the panels don’t work.” The ‘Ooooo!’ sound must have come from Ryan. ”Look for some sort of manual opening lever. If you find nothing, just use the plasma tor… actually, Cat Three, do you have the schematics for the airlock?” He said, silently hoping that Tendrik remembers his call sign now.

He didn’t. This was going to be a long day.