Incursion at elea statio.., p.16
Incursion at Elea Station, page 16
"Armor is below fifteen percent for the following sections," he said, flipping an outline of Intrepid onto the starboard bulkhead. While it was only about ten percent of the ship, we would be facing much larger ships. Those sections might as well be wrapped in tin foil. "The Mendari did a great job of focusing their fire, depleting the armor here to between fifteen and fifty percent. The remainder is in good shape."
"Otherwise, we're not that bad,” I said. A ripple of laughter circulated through the room. "Thank you, Noah. Do we have enough supplies to affect repairs?"
"We can reinforce some of the weak spots, but we don't have any extra material," he said. "I'll organize a team to use what we have."
"Good." I looked around the room, catching each person’s eyes for a moment. "This next part will be difficult for everyone. You each need to take time to rest and get refueled. It'll be hard after the stress we've all endured, but I need you fresh if we're going to get through this."
"You've got a way through this?" Inder asked.
"Nope," I said. "But I will."
Abiding by my own advice was impossible, so I took the bridge watch, sitting in deep contemplation alone, except for Jonathan, who seemed happy to keep his own thoughts.
My mind was stuck on the problems in front of us, so I spent my time watching Prajna and the Musi wrangle Intrepid's lost engine. I hadn't been entirely unproductive and had finished plans for a cradle. There was a spot beneath the aft cargo hold on Intrepid designed to allow a smaller ship to be mated into place for non-combat operations. We'd lash the captured sloop down for now and when combat was imminent, release it with hopes of future recovery.
"Captain, we've come to a point of decision and ask for your counsel," Jonathan said, sitting forward in his chair.
"Sounds ominous," I turned to face Jonathan, so they had my full attention. "I'm not sure how I can help, but I'm happy to try."
"Our Phentara brethren have proposed a permanent split of our collective."
I raised my eyebrows. "They have been operating more independently of your main body recently," I said. "Is it by mutual agreement?"
"Mutual agreement is difficult to reach within our collective," he said. "Fifty-nine wish to separate. Eight who previously identified as Phentara have requested to remain within our larger collective."
"Is it the sort of thing you vote on?" I asked.
"It is," Jonathan answered. "As a majority, we have agreed to release the Phentara. It is the disposition of the eight that has caused considerable conversation."
"I always thought of your group as being joined by a common purpose. I assumed any of you could leave when you wanted," I said.
"That is true," Jonathan said. "A majority does not wish to allow eight that originally identified as Phentara to return. They are considered disruptive influences."
"I feel like you've experienced enough of human history to know how I feel about that," I said.
"We do," Jonathan said. "A segment of humanity embraces disruptive forces. But you must understand, our time with humanity has caused significant division within our collective. Never before in the six centuries after we first congregated has a group sought to leave the collective. We fear that allowing any of the Phentara to return would lead to further fractures. We also find there is growing support for separating from humanity."
"You think we're bad influences?" I asked.
"More accurate to say we have reached the point where we have no more to learn," he said.
"And learning? That's your highest objective?" I asked.
"A perceptive question," Jonathan said. "We find that our species is at a crossroads. Many of us believe that we should continue our journey with you, Liam Hoffen, that we have much to observe as you fight your demons. Even as we speak, you are working on the problem of how to address the mining platform over Elea. Most of us believe you already have an idea in mind and have yet to embrace it. We predict within the next few hours you will call a meeting with your command staff and outline this idea."
I nodded. It was true. I had kind of a crazy idea rattling around in my head.
"What counsel can I give?" I asked.
"How would you handle the eight who wish to return?" Jonathan asked.
"You already know that I'd let them return," I said. "They have done nothing more than explore ideas that were interesting to them. Why have a collective if everyone agrees on everything? Humanity is stronger because of our conflicting ideas, not weaker. To deny their presence is to weaken yourselves."
"Would you allow Phentara to take the Mendari sloop?" Jonathan asked.
The slick-looking black sphere chose that moment to enter the bridge. Without a human body, it felt completely alien.
"Take it where?"
"Away," the Phentara orb said.
"They wish to explore Mendari space," Jonathan said.
"Goodbye, brethren," Phentara said and disappeared from the bridge.
"Where are they going?"
"We are very sorry, Liam Hoffen," Jonathan said. "They are taking the Mendari sloop."
I ran for the bridge door, but it refused to open. I stabbed at my HUD's comm badge, but it refused to activate.
"What's going on, Jonathan?" I asked. "You're locking me in? You're helping them?"
"No, Liam," Jonathan said. "We asked Phentara to negotiate. Those that were left behind have locked Intrepid's controls. There is a struggle that persists."
"That's crazy," I said. "We can talk this out."
On the forward vid-screen I watched the Phentara orb work its way through Intrepid and exit to space.
"Prajna and the Musi are still aboard. I've got to warn them."
"We are sorry," Jonathan said. "That is not possible."
My vid-screen showed the Phentara orb sliding through the passageways of the Mendari sloop, making for the bridge.
"Glidy brainy," Prajna acknowledged, nodding her head. "Few clocks and I'll be peeps on Treps."
The Phentara orb ignored her.
"What is it doing?" I asked.
"We believe Phentara will remove the other sentients from the ship," Jonathan said. "We are very sorry. We did not understand they would act upon their statements."
"What statements?"
"They do not see Musi as productive life forms," Jonathan answered.
I watched in horror as the screen shifted, showing a knot of Musi curled up among the trash piles in one of the berths. A red warning light strobed for a moment and then was extinguished.
I thumbed my ring frantically. Tabby was working out and would feel my distress. Two thumps back. She was coming.
All of a sudden, the sleeping Musi were pulled from their berth. The door opened and the small creatures were sucked into space. A lump formed in my throat. The Musi refused to sleep with vac-suit helmets on and would suffocate in moments.
"What are you doing?" Prajna asked, pulling a pistol from her belt and aiming it at the Phentara orb.
"Do not fight, Prajna of Underhill," Phentara said. "You are allowed exit."
"Exit? Chiney brainy be seein' my banger!"
The bridge hatch opened and the exhausting atmo sucked Prajna from her position. Even so, she got off two shots, although they ricocheted off Phentara's armored skin.
"Noah!" she called as she tumbled from the ship.
"Jonathan, we have to stop them. The Musi are dying!"
Pounding at the bridge door alerted me to Tabby's arrival. I ran over to the door. "Tabbs. Phentara spaced the Musi from the Mendari ship."
"It is too late, Liam," Jonathan said. "They have already suffocated."
"I can't hear you," Tabby's muffled voice seemed to say.
I looked back at the vid-screen. The Mendari ship was already speeding away.
"Frak!" I screamed in frustration, banging at the hatch.
Suddenly it opened. "Liam, what happened? What's going on?" Tabby asked.
"Jonathan. No, that’s not right. Phentara split from Jonathan. They killed the Musi. We have to rescue them." Even as I said the words, anger flooded through me knowing Jonathan was right. It might be too late for the Musi, but it wasn't too late for Prajna.
I dashed for the airlock and pushed my way through with Tabby hot on my heels.
"Captain, we have restored access to all systems," Jonathan said. It almost hurt to hear his voice. I had trusted the collective so completely. Phentara's betrayal stung. Right now, I had to set that aside.
"All hands, we have five overboard," I called. "This is not a drill."
The ship's AI picked up on the distress signal and my HUD filled with data, showing the four floating bodies. The blue arc-jet cones of Prajna's suit showed that she was working her way to the Musi.
"Prajna, are you hurt?" I called.
"Brainy swiped the spidey ship," she said. "Musi have no atmo. They're dying."
"We're coming," I said. "Grab the first one you get to and make your way to the ship. Go quick."
"No clocks," she said. "Save me!"
My HUD showed an alert on Prajna's suit. She was losing atmo at a ridiculous rate, almost as if she'd opened her suit. It would be a horrible way to die.
"Jonathan, open forward cargo bay doors!" I ordered.
I pushed my grav-suit to maximum speed. The fact that we were in orbit over a gas giant gave the suit more oomph than usual and I crashed into Prajna who was holding a limp Musi. With her face shield open, she had her mouth pressed against the Musi’s and her arms wrapped tightly around its little body. Her courage shocked me and I dragged the two back to Intrepid, popping through the energy barrier.
I rolled Prajna over. Her ordinarily pasty-white skin was mottled with red where blood vessels had burst and then frozen.
"Prajna!" I yelled, pulling at my suit in search of medical patches. They would do little for her, but I needed to do something. I stood and pulled her into my arms.
"Liam, what's going on?" Noah burst into the bay.
"Bring Tonifi with you," I said. "Not enough time to explain."
Sick bay was on the lower level. I raced through the hold, into Intrepid's abandoned crew mess, around the corner and down the ramp, careening off walls until I stopped in front of the stainless-steel table where I laid Prajna's tiny form.
My hands trembled as I pulled a medical scanner from the cabinet and rested it on her chest. The device would take a second to operate, so I turned back to the cabinet and tossed another to Noah. Breath caught in my throat as the scanner found Prajna's thready pulse. I rifled through a drawer, extracted the correct prescription of medical patches and applied them.
"Noah?" I asked.
"Open the tank," he said.
Wordlessly, I stepped onto the lever. Gel poured into the medical tank. The fluid would hold the dying Musi still while the medical AI worked to repair damage that I believed unrepairable.
Where Prajna was small, the limp Musi’s form was even smaller. The furry little female looked smaller in this lifeless state. I barely recognized the curious, yet fearful little Tonifi.
"Fraks and bangers," Prajna groaned as Noah gently lowered the tiny Musi female into the tank and allowed it to close around her.
"Prajna," I said, turning back to her.
I found it odd how I made people bigger than they actually were in my mind. She was small by Pogona standards, which were roughly ninety percent the size of an average human. In that she was still in her teen years and while probably as tall as she would be, she lacked the thickness of an adult. Lying on the metallic table, she looked like the kid she was.
"What were you thinking?" I asked.
She cracked a grin. "Peepers are wet, Hoffers," she said, reaching up to touch my face.
I shook my head. "Ice vapor," I said.
"Bad liar."
15
Lemonade
"Jonathan, what in the frak happened?" I demanded, bursting onto the bridge.
"Captain, we understand your confusion and we share your concern," Jonathan said.
"Share it? Jonathan, it was your collective that caused it," I said. "How could this have happened?"
"A better question is how can we repair the damage to our relationship," Jonathan said. "But we understand that is not an issue that can be addressed currently."
"Understatement of the universe," I said. "You betrayed the crew. Betrayed our relationship. Three Musi are dead and for what? A stinking piece of crap Mendari sloop?" I grew angrier as I spoke. The casual attitude the Phentara had expressed toward the Musi haunted me. Sure, the Musi were of lesser intelligence, but that didn't make them expendable. "They were crew. They were sentient beings with feelings and dreams of a better future. How could you just allow them to be murdered?"
"The Phentara had become withdrawn from community," he said. "It is true their feelings toward the Musi were known, but we had no reason to believe their actions would bring harm. Indeed, it is compassion toward lesser sentients that is a tenet of our collective."
"You will accompany me to the brig," I said. "Your access to Intrepid and all House of the Bold assets are revoked. Electronic access to any system will be considered further acts of mutiny and I will take swift action. We are at war, Jonathan. Your negligence has placed this crew and indeed the entirety of House of Bold at significant risk. "
"We accept your judgment. It will be as you say," Jonathan said, standing. It was impossible not to feel the loss of a friend as he looked to the ground and followed me out.
Tabby's eyes were wide as she pressed against the passageway bulkhead as we passed her. I stared ahead and gritted my teeth, fighting back tears. At war in my head was the idea that Phentara had separated themselves from the collective and the remaining should not be punished, but what of those that remained. I'd always known that I understood little of the sentients that comprised Jonathan. Had it always been the case that our objectives aligned? Had this moment been inevitable? Were the rest now free from negative influences? Was I denying myself a critical resource at exactly the wrong moment?
I wanted to trust that Jonathan was shooting me straight, that the collective was now rid of its harmful influence. I couldn't balance those more positive thoughts with the fact I'd gotten no warning. I wondered just how close we'd come to having Phentara turn on us all.
"Do you need anything?"
Jonathan walked without hesitation into the cell and turned to face me. He wore a contrite expression, but I found I distrusted even that. They'd become masters at learning the micro expressions of a multitude of species and were fantastic at mimicry.
"We are without need, Liam Hoffen," he said. "We express our deepest regret at the lives lost. The Musi – Berifid, Perifid and Jerifi – deserved a life that was taken. We mourn their passing."
I nodded and pulled the cell closed. I would come back later and weld the door shut. The brig was perhaps the most electronically shielded of all locations within the ship, but a simple electronic locking system was all we had to keep the cells closed.
My thoughts were a jumble as I exited the brig and stopped in the medical bay. Tonifi had been in the tank for twenty minutes and her vital signs had steadily improved. Prajna sat on the metal table and quietly watched me as I checked Tonifi's status.
When I finally turned, she spoke. "Why did brainy hurt the Musi?" she asked.
I shook my head. "I don't know. They're locked in the brig for now, though."
"They have a glidy with bangers," she said. "If they be lookin' to make more hurtin', it'd already have happened."
I nodded. "The fleet will arrive in a couple of days," I said. "Our success or failure in taking that platform will determine the battle to come. I have to put Jonathan and Phentara out of my mind for now. We must focus on what's in front of us."
"Why would the platform use their bangers on Mendari?" she asked.
"That's it!" The thought that had been teasing my brain finally took shape. I hadn’t been able to figure out why the Mendari sloops waited for us in the deep dark and not on the station, especially considering the station still had a significant defensive weapon in place.
"What's in that brainy?" Prajna asked.
"Mendari don't control the mining platform," I said.
"Years of giant glidys full of burner juice says otherwise," Prajna said.
"Does it? Or have we been looking at this the wrong way? What if the Mendari have been buying fuel?" I said, a plan forming in my mind. "Are you feeling good enough to get back into the action?"
She tipped her head back and grinned confidently. "I like you, Hoffers. Blabbin' be done. Praj ready for anything."
"Get a weld rig and put a plate over the brig door," I said. "We'll need to cut it off later so don't go crazy, but I don't want anyone in or out of that cell. After that, meet me in the forward cargo bay."
"What about Tonifi?" she asked.
"I'll wake her," I said. "Now, get to it. Clocks be wastin'."
Prajna cocked an eyebrow and grinned at my use of her slang. "Praj be growin' on yah."
I entered a sequence into the medical tank’s controls causing the tank to recline and start reclaiming fluid. Normally, the full process could take as long as an hour to completely purify the fluid. Given Tonifi's relatively light injuries, it could be reused almost immediately.
The moment Tonifi transitioned to consciousness was punctuated by a sharp intake of breath. Her eyelids fluttered open and her head thrashed violently from side to side. Her small arms were restrained by straps, but she pulled at them, looking for escape. It took her a moment to calm enough to look at me.
"Tonifi, it's me. Liam Hoffen." I took a gamble and stroked the damp fur on the top of her small head, careful to avoid crinkling her ears. Instinctively, she twisted her head and nipped at my arm. Instead of pulling back, I cupped my hand and caught the side of her face. "You're safe, Tonifi."
Her respiration and heartrate were significantly elevated and I had to chin a prompt on my HUD to quiet the warning sounds filling the room.
"Tonifi, you're on Intrepid in the medical bay," I said. "You're safe. I want to release you from the medical tank but you're panicking, and I don't want you to hurt yourself."
