CHAPTER 34 - UNDERWAY

DATE POINT: MAY 9th, 7 A.U. (AFTER UNIFICATION)

LOCATION: SOL SYSTEM, ABOARD UTRN INDOMITABLE WILL

CAPTAIN HENRY O’TOOLE

Henry stepped from the gangplank into the flight deck of the Indomitable Will. Several attending junior officers swarmed by him the moment he set foot down on the deck. Henry beckoned for them to come over, which caused them to step forward and salute.

“Welcome back sir! What are your orders?”

“Thank you, I’m not sure if word has filtered down to you yet but we are to be getting underway immediately. I need this gunship unloaded and back in its cradle without delay.” Henry said, patting them on the shoulder.

“Aye, sir, I'll take care of it.”

“Good, I know you will. Make sure those crates are set into armory D-1, as they’ll need to be transferred over to the Fist of the Argonauts once they’re back in their saddle. See to it quickly now, we're leaving in less than an hour.”

Henry turned in a clear dismissal. Already teams one and two had disembarked and were heading off to their assigned armory to prepare themselves. Last to disembark was Doctor Octa Silvar’Esh. The moment he stepped down, heads turned, and hushed conversations broke out across the busy deck before a sharp look from Henry caused everyone to return to their work.

“Doctor Silvar’Esh, welcome aboard! If you would follow me, please, we will have to find you temporary sleeping quarters within one of the officer’s cabins as a stopgap measure until your ship is ready. Do you have any specific biological needs we need to accommodate for?” Henry asked as the Alderei fell into step alongside him.

“I have all I need with me now. We have engineered the need for long sleep cycles out of our biology as much as possible. I only require four hours of rest for every thirty six of your hours of activity. A soft bed in a quiet environment will suit my needs just fine, though rest will not be necessary for quite some time yet. I have packed enough food for several weeks for myself in my dimensional sling, so my caloric needs are well taken care of, and we drink water like you so I will be okay with a steady supply to stay hydrated. I will be able to continue my research once my ship is ready and arrives in system. I will be perfectly content with the use of my quantum extranet connection to keep myself occupied in the meantime.” The doctor said while tapping on his head.

“Well, then. I will arrange for you to have temporary quarters after we get underway rather than right this second, if there is no real rush. It sounds like you implied that you have an internet connection inside your head, or have I completely misunderstood you?”

“That is indeed the case, they require rare and expensive augmentations, so the fact that I have them makes me one of the few Alderei that would be eligible to be your liaison. Well, that along with my social credit ranking and decades of relevant education and experience. I was the natural choice and Consensus agreed. Plus, I get to work directly within my core areas of expertise and continue my research mandates while avoiding the front lines of the war. Truly a situation where everyone wins.”

“I guess so, well, we are happy to host you for as long as you need to be here. Speaking of which, how long until your ship will be able to arrive?” Henry asked as they walked towards the quick lift to take them down to the CIC.

As they walked, they seemed to make a spectacle of themselves everywhere and with everyone. More than once, Henry had to stare down a crewman for a moment to remind them not to be rude to their guest as they walked by gawping. Whether it was the wisdom of ages providing the doctor with the grace to ignore it, or the fast talking alien simply was too absorbed in his own world to care, he seemed to show no signs of being bothered by the attention.

“The ACN Solar Warden should be finished with its refits within a week or so. I do expect some delays due to the massive amounts of materials and crew that Consensus is moving around at the moment to meet the threat of the invasion, so there is a small possibility that may be delayed slightly. It is important to remember that the Solar Warden will not be joining you in any space battles. It is to be provided simply as a home for my research and as a logistical hub to assist your efforts in taking control of the system and afterwards in industrializing the planet.”

“Right, we discussed that lightly beforehand, Roh Thaad’at offered to trade raw minerals mined from the asteroid belt for finished goods from higher up the value added chain to help jump-start our technology levels.”

“Correct, we have a vested interest in developing our trade ties and our alliance. The war with the Nephaeli’im has provided us with few opportunities to forge alliances, as we have a cultural taboo against the act of uplifting and manipulating the development of sapient species. Once we liberate a system with an intelligent species, we prefer to back off and allow them to develop at their own pace. Your arrival truly has provided us with a unique opportunity to gain a new ally with minimal wait time.”

“Right. If your war continues to drag on the way it has been, you will need all the allies you can get. I remember Roh Thaad’at mentioning they could hold as many as a couple thousand species under their thrall. Manipulating genes, playing as gods while extracting resources and holding back the pace of progress... its despicable.” Henry replied. The very thought made his skin crawl.

“It’s truly barbaric. I’m sure you can see why we see the practice of uplift and interference to be so abhorrent. There is no right way to do it without some form of systemic exploitation. Even now, we will have to be very careful when we trade with your species to ensure we do not make you unfairly dependent upon us.”

“Believe me, we are already keenly aware of that possibility and would rather avoid it at all costs too.” Henry replied.

“Then we understand each other.”

“Indeed, it seems we do. For what it’s worth, I am glad you are our liaison, instead of say, Lor Ix’Alderos.” Henry remarked as they arrived at the quick lift.

“As am I, not that Lor Ix’Alderos would have ever accepted such a position. We are not all such strict followers of the Triune Path as myself and the Commandant are. Some of us are much more… calculating shall I say. There are some that argue we will need to transcend such ancient ideas as inefficient shackles holding the Alderei back from their true potential. They argue that only cold logic and rationality can save and elevate the species from the risk of extinction at the hands of our enemies and only through Alderei dominance of the galaxy will we ever be truly safe. I disagree, as do many Alderei, though the rationalist faction seems to forever be growing in power and influence. It would not surprise me one bit to see their mindset become the majority party within Consensus within the coming millennia, especially if the war takes a particularly bad turn, as fear is a powerful motivator. It would be sad to see our species lose all touch with our biological emotions and become slaves to cold reason.”

“Sounds like there are cracks in your Consensus growing. I’m no political expert, but it sounds like your rationalist faction bears some striking resemblances with some of our own more extreme ideological factions. Though the instinct to pursue cold rationality and to abandon the trappings of emotion and your old society I daresay is quite unique.”

“They are born from the same anxieties, I would imagine, though the proposed solutions may be different. We will have more time later to discuss political ideologies and philosophical matters. We are on a strict timetable. It appears this low technology contraption we are standing before of is some means of traversing between decks, correct?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty handy when we're in microgravity to have a quick way of moving through the ship. You just grab a loop and let go and jump off when you reach the deck you need. It moves just slow enough that you have plenty of time to disembark.” Henry said.

“Captain, I am not sure that I like the thought of this mechanism. Is there any other way of traversing between decks like stairs or an elevator?”

“Yes we have both, it’s only nerve wracking when you are first getting used to it. It gets quite fun once you try it and realize it’s perfectly safe. Will you try it at least this one time? It’s the fastest way to reach the CIC.”

“What is the CIC?”

“The Combat Information Center, it’s the heavily armored inner control center from which I run the operation of the whole ship and the fleet. Now come on, we have to get moving.” Henry said, feeling somewhat impatient.

“If you insist.”

Henry grabbed a loop and rode two decks down before stepping calmly out and landing gracefully on the deck. He could see Octa Silvar’Esh poking his head down into the lift watching him.

“Grab the loop doctor!” He called up.

Slowly, tentatively, the Alderei reached out for a loop and let several pass him by before he finally grabbed one.

“I DO NOT LIKE THIS!” He yelled as he gripped tightly onto the cable for dear life. Henry stepped back to allow him room to step off.

“Be ready to step off with a small jump just slightly above the deck you need. Give yourself plenty of room!” Henry called up. Moments later the Alderei leaned one leg out and then chickened out at the last second, still gripping the cable as he moved past Henry down the tube. With a groan, Henry grabbed a loop and followed after him.

“What happened?” Henry asked.

“The Alderei do not share your species desire for a potent adrenaline rush. We prefer flight over fight unless there is truly no choice. It is only with heavy use of technology that most of us even have the courage to fight at all. We do not have your easy depth perception and do not share your strong body brain coordination, nor do we have your same biological aids to courage.”

“Very well, let’s take the stairs.” Henry said with a sigh.

Once his feet were back on solid deck, the Alderei let go and moved quickly out of Henry’s way.

“Please do not ask me to use that contraption again.” The alien said, visibly shivering.

“Okay, I’m sorry for pushing you into it. Let’s take the stairs.” Henry replied, beckoning for him to follow.

“Thank you, your species truly seems to have a hardwired death wish. I still find it hard to believe some of you actually enjoy using such a dangerous system!”

“Not all of us, but the armed forces do tend to attract a certain personality type.” Henry replied.

“So it would seem. Our soldiers need genetic modifications to their adrenaline production capacity just to reach your natural baseline, as well as specialized hormone processing centers to prevent toxicity of the blood. Yet your species casually lives like this on a daily basis. I have studied your neurochemistry for many years now and it still surprises me to see its casual consequences in action.”

Henry laughed. “Yeah, Adrenaline is a hell of a drug. That’s why we have things like base jumping and skydiving, or extreme sports.”

“What are those?” Doctor Octa asked.

“Base jumping is when you jump off a really high building or cliff, skydiving is jumping out of an airplane at cruising altitude.” Henry replied nonchalantly.

“I believe I am going to be ill. You mean to tell me, you do these things for fun!?!”

“Well, yes. With a parachute of course, or sometimes a wingsuit also if people really want to get a rush.” Henry replied.

“Oh dear. Given access to technology, your species has grown to be collectively insane.”

“Well, there are plenty of humans who would never skydive, so don’t go putting us all in the same category now. We are a very complex and varied species, as I am sure the Alderei are also.” Henry replied. Octa Silvar’Esh simply nodded and remained mute.

Henry led the doctor up the stairs in silence, allowing the alien to brood over things, as it seemed to desire no other conversation, which was fine for him. Henry’s mind was already turning on the various orders he would be giving to the fleet as he climbed the stairs and headed into the hallway in a rush. Moments later, Henry burst into the CIC, which was a flurry of activity.

“Captain on deck!”

Henry raised his hand up to signal everyone to get back to work. Alvarez rushed over to him.

“I was starting to wonder where you were, sir. Well hello, who do we have here?” Alvarez asked as he realized they were not alone.

“This is Doctor Octa Silvar’Esh, he is our liaison with the Alderei Consensus, and what amounts to their foremost expert in human physiology and psychology. Doctor, this is Commander Ricardo Alvarez. He is a veteran of the first contact war and is my second in command.”

“Good to meet you, Doctor. I take it he must speak English, or have some kind of translator equipment on him, right?” Alvarez said, reaching out his hand to shake.

“I have a working mastery of the English language pre-uploaded into my neural supercomputer the same way that the Captain and your ground teams have a working fluency on the major languages of this Earth's current timeline uploaded to theirs. As the language program gains practical experience, speech fluency levels improve automatically. Because you were so kind as to provide a full language primer in your first contact package, we were able to feed it into the fluency algorithm immediately before applying it as an update to all Alderei who could feasibly be put into contact with humans.”

“Cool! So the captain here can speak your language too?” Alvarez replied, sounding impressed.

“He would have trouble replicating some of the sounds, but yes. What’s more important is that he would understand it perfectly, and would, with practice be able to communicate effectively enough to be understood. The same will be true with your ancient human languages on the surface, minus the bio-mechanical impediments. Initial communication may be a little basic as the program takes some time to convert the theoretical knowledge into practical mastery. The process is quite short so long as there are no physiological limitations preventing the replication of certain linguistic sounds.” Octa Silvar’Esh replied.

“Well, you clearly gained a mastery over English quickly. You sound as if you have been fluent your whole life!” Alvarez said.

“Thank you, Commander. I was able to install the algorithmic adaptations that were generated from Roh Thaad’at’s initial meetings with your crew as an update. Each of your individual soldiers will have to gain their own language integration mastery levels while on the ground, as your installed models of neural computers have no network capability allowing them to share data. It will also help build fluency at a far faster pace than what is natural should you encounter a language that our ground teams had not yet encountered. It is actually the work of our previous field teams that allowed us to produce the language programs that your teams will take into the field."

“That actually takes a huge weight off my mind. It should make our ground operations much easier if we wont need to rely upon locals to act as translators.” Alvarez replied.

“As fascinating as this conversation is, I’m going to need to coordinate the fleet and get us ready to move. Commander, will you find our guest suitable quarters? He will be staying with us for a week, possibly longer, while his ship gets a refit.” Henry said.

“I’ll take care of it. Doctor, if you would come with me?” Alvarez replied. The Alderei nodded and followed along behind. Henry turned towards the CIC crew and realized that many of them had been subtly prying into the conversation by the guilty looks.

“All right, everyone, back to work! We have a lot to get done in a tight timetable!” He then pulled up the FleetNet interface.

“Fleetwide directive, We are preparing to disembark and begin our journey into the inner solar system. All frigates are to return to their saddles immediately. Drone control, recall combat space patrols immediately. C.L.A.P.P.E.R control, bring our drones in from the cold and fly them alongside us at a minimum safe distance and trajectory for now. We cannot risk unleashing their payloads while in proximity to the Alderei ships any more than we can allow the risk to our own, so keep a close eye on them at all times. Comms, get the Alderei on the line and coordinate with them so we can be in the right place and the right time for this in system jump.”

“Aye, captain!”

Henry’s console pinged, C.L.A.P.P.E.R control was calling his direct line. He accepted and Chantal’s face popped up on the screen. Henry’s heart skipped a beat when he saw her.

“Hello gorgeous, to what do I owe the pleasure?” He said, smiling. She giggled and returned the smile.

“Hmm, I heard that sexy voice of yours over the intercom giving me orders and I just had to see your face, my Captain.” Her face turned sour for a moment before she continued. “We have a problem.”

“I don’t like the sound of that. Lay it on me.” Henry replied.

“Maybe later.” She purred. “Drone two is showing a worrying fluctuation in its barrier generator frequency, and they are both running a bit hot. I can’t recommend bringing them in close unless we can dump their payloads first. They have been out there for days now only able to rely upon radiative cooling.”

Shit.

“That gives up a major strategic secret to the Alderei that I’m not sure I am willing to reveal. We have to keep some strategic distance and options between us, just in case.” Henry replied.

“The other option is to abandon them, I’m not sure you like that idea any better.” She replied, looking unhappy and twirling a bit of her curly hair.

“Are you sure we can’t bring them in alongside just for a little longer? The Alderei ships are going to leave us in the next few hours. They’ve survived several days already like this, and they are not redlining yet as far as I can see.”

“There’s another issue. The Alderei are going to likely place us In the center of their three ships and warp space around us all in a giant gravitational distortion envelope. When that happens, it will likely cut off the flow of fresh null matter into the dimensional interstice that feeds the null barrier effect.” She replied. “At least the napkin math I've done here implies that'll be the case. I don't really have the data or models to be sure. There may be enough raw null matter trapped inside the envelope to maintain proper null matter pressurization to feed the barrier, but I wouldn’t count on it.”

“Meaning if it runs out while we are enveloped, we are trapped in there with two high-pressure multi million degree plasma packets that will want to expand to fill the space inside. Fuck me.... that’s bad news.” Henry replied as a shiver ran up his spine.

“Captain! Maybe later.” She said with a giggle, which broke the tension. “God you’re so hot when you show how smart you can be. But yeah, that's really bad news.” Chantal said, smiling. Henry laughed for a moment before he got serious again.

“Sounds like we have no way out of it. I’m gonna call Roh Thaad’at then. Prepare to release the payloads on my orders only. We need those drones back more than we need to keep this secret.” Henry said.

“Mmhmm, yes my Captain. I agree, we need to get my babies back, I’d hate to leave them out in the cold like that.” She said with a smile on her face.

“Comms, do you have that link with the Alderei up yet?” Henry called out.

“Yes, Captain! We're sharing nav data now.” His comms officer replied.

“Good, tell them I need to speak with Roh Thaad’at urgently, then route it to my console.” Henry ordered.

“Aye, Captain!” They replied. A few moments later, another one of his screens flared to life with an image of the Commandant. He stared mutely for a moment before speaking.

“Captain O’Toole. You mentioned you had something urgent to discuss?”

“Commandant, thank you for being so accommodating with your schedule. I wanted to give you fair warning about something that is about to flare up on your sensors before we did it so there would be no accidents or misunderstandings. Our ship is equipped with a guided fusion plasma cannon with standoff capabilities. They are controlled by drone that relies upon a barrier formed of null matter to trap the plasma packet and store it while acting as a perfect mirror. We fired off two of them before your ships came in range and we are going to have to now release those payloads before we accept a ride back into the outer solar system with your ships.”

“I see. We had detected some anomalous readings from afar that suddenly make much more sense now.” He replied.

“If we had brought them within the enclosed gravity envelope we hypothesized that the null barrier might fail in that environment, washing us all with plasma. Obviously we cannot risk that.” Henry continued.

“Without running the numbers, I can say you may well be right, though the static pressure might be enough within the envelope to recirculate the trapped null matter enough to maintain the barrier. I am not sure I would desire to take that risk. Even our photonic barrier systems might not survive such an event while trapped in an enclosed environment like that. Your ship, surely would perish. It was most wise of you to alert us to this.” Roh Thaad’at said.

“We are going to blow up a couple of asteroids then, I just wanted to give you fair warning, so you didn’t suspect treachery or an ambush.” Henry replied.

“Once again, a most wise precaution. Was there anything else, Captain? I have much to attend to.”

“No that would be all.” Henry replied.

“Excellent. Your flight plan has been transmitted into the largest ice free pocket in nearby space. We will be moving into a triangular formation, and we will need you to position your ship perfectly in the center. You will feel no inertial forces while enveloped within the field, and the travel time will be mere moments to your perception. There will be large amounts of radiation that will wash over your ship, but your ship's armor seems more than thick enough and advanced enough to block the majority of it. Furthermore, your exposure times will be short enough that we do not expect there to be negative health consequences to your crew. Please have your communications officer relay when you are ready and we can move into position. We will need to leave immediately, we recommend you jump to FTL immediately afterwards to travel to your largest gas giant, the one I believe you call Jupiter. That is where you are most likely to find the first dreadnought you will need to kill. From there, we will be unable to help further until the Solar Warden is ready. We will not jump the Solar Warden into your system until you have secured the space around Jupiter. Even then, the Solar Warden will travel no farther into the system than the planet called Saturn so as to avoid detection. Do you have any last questions for us?” Roh Thaad’at asked.

“No, I just want to thank you for all of your help, and for talking, instead of shooting. It was really refreshing to have a positive first contact experience.” Henry replied.

“It was my pleasure, Captain. The galaxy can be a cold and indifferent place at the best of times, if not outright hostile. It is up to us to change that paradigm for the benefit of all future intelligent races that emerge into it. May you walk the wisdom of the triune path, always.”

With that, the feed cut off. Henry turned to Chantal’s screen. “Release the C.L.A.P.P.E.R packets, make sure you pick your targets and impact angles so as to send all debris away from us and our planned trajectory. After that, go ahead and bring our drones home so we can give them a full cooling and maintenance cycle.”

“Yes, Captain!” Chantal smiled and cut the feed, leaving Henry alone for a moment. He saw two larger asteroids get marked on the local systems map before their icons flashed and disappeared. Both drones showed up on the map as they tracked along their return journey. His status indicators showed the rest of his frigates and ships of the combat space patrol drones had docked as well.

“Get me confirmations from our section chiefs that we are ready to disembark, and have them sent to my console.” Henry called out.

“On it!”

Henry busied himself looking over the incoming status reports while he eyed his incoming C.L.A.P.P.E.R drones. Finally, the last of the status reports came through. Everyone was ready. Moments later the last two lights on the C.L.A.P.P.E.R drone status console turned green, indicating they were safe in their saddles.

“Comms, send the Alderei the word that we are ready. Helm, follow them into position.”

The three massive Interdictors set into motion and the Indomitable Will followed in their wake. Soon, they were in position in a relatively clear section of space. Without warning, the light from the stars red-shifted as the world around them turned into a blur as their external radiation alarms blared. Moments later, the majesty of Saturn and her rings dominated the view screen and the alarms died off. The triad of alien ships then moved away in perfect synchronization before shooting off into space and disappearing utterly from their scopes in less than a second.

Henry took a moment to soak in the view as goosebumps ran up his arms. He smiled in silent thanks to their new allies. It was truly a marvel that they just made a trip safely in moments what had taken them so many dangerous months to accomplish.

“Navigation, find the nearest inbound stream of the gravitational super-highway. Helm, coordinate with them and prep the Inversion drive! It's time to go hunting." Henry said with a predatory smile.