A Faded Star (18 page)

 Patho resisted the urge to fidget. The attention being
focused on him just made him feel even more like an outsider at the table. It
was nice, having another Karn wearing lieutenant stars in the room. He knew the
man slightly. He'd been one semester behind him at the academy. He wondered how
he'd achieved his rank so quickly as most of his graduating class was recently
achieving the rank of lieutenant, junior grade.

 Coffee said, “I would like the technical briefing on
the Aeternum.”

 Stokes said, “Certainly, Admiral. Commander Kri has a
prepared briefing for you. Proceed, commander.”

 Kri stood, tapping at his tablet to activate the
briefing room screens. A schematic of Aeternum appeared. “The Aeternum has a
diameter of five kilometers, a length of one kilometer and a displacement of
approximately two point seven-five cubic kilometers. There are seven pods
arranged along the outer edge of the ship that extend another three hundred
meters fore and aft.” Kri tapped at his tablet again, the view changed and
added a variety of verbiage around the hull. “The ship is equipped with
primarily defensive weapons and minimal hull armor. Light based weapons will be
completely ineffectual against the hull due to its reflective qualities, but
particle weapons will penetrate the material relatively easily.

 “The ship is designed as a forward based manufacturing
vessel and materials extractor. Most of the space in the seven pods are set
aside for storage of rare atoms and alloys. The central pod, which the ship
refers to as pod zero, houses living quarters, operations areas and the control
room for the manufacturing center.

 “The way the ship manufactures objects is equally
innovative. Ships or other structures are assembled molecule by molecule by
nanotechnology. Materials are guided into staging locations based on the design
being assembled and then taken by nano machines or nanites into their final
location.”

 Admiral Blackwood spoke for the first time since the
meeting began. “This appears to be a very advanced piece of manufacturing
technology. Could you give us an example of how fast it can produce ships?
Perhaps something like Rampart.”

 “I anticipated that request, Admiral,” Kri said, tapping
at his tablet. The screens changed to show a side view of Aeternum with a row
of red zeros under it. “The number at the bottom is days, hours and minutes.”
After a moment, the simulation began to run, a ship smoothly appearing in the
center of the Aeternum and gliding forward as sections were completed. The
simulation had the quality to it that one experiences when watching a plant
grow in time lapse on a nature documentary. The simulation took about two
minutes to run.

 Vesper said, “I- Commander, you said that's days,
minutes and hours?”

 “I did, Admiral.”

 Stunned silence dominated the room for several
seconds. The counter said three days, five hours and one minute.

 “Rampart took us the better part of six months to
construct. I find the speed at which a ship of her class can be assembled by
Aeternum to be somewhat... unbelievable,” Blackwood said. Her voice was nearly
an octave higher than usual, and her face was set in a tight expression of
disbelief.

 “I found it difficult to accept as well, Admiral,” Kri
said. “The ship works on a different manufacturing principle than we're used
to. If you will allow me to give you an example?” When the admiral nodded, he
continued, “When we assemble a ship, we follow standard building procedures. A
keel is laid, the hull struts and joined, hull plating is attached, deck
mounts, decks and so on. The Aeternum simply starts at the front and places
every material, every molecule in place and continues the process one layer of
molecules at a time until the ship is complete. The superstructure is built at
the same time as furnishings, electrical systems, weapons emplacements and so
on. The whole process is managed by an incredibly powerful and complex
computer, located in pod zero.

 “We understand the ship is also capable of producing
orbital structures and structures to be landed on the surface of other planets.
The manufacturing database contains patterns for a rather shocking array of
objects as small as a crate of hand weapons up to fifty kilometer long orbital
facilities.”

 Coffee said, “Do these patterns include the technology
behind the construction of the manufacturing ship itself?”

 “They do, sir.”

 “We will need to capitalize on the technology as soon
as possible. Our entire manufacturing base could be revolutionized by this
technology.”

 Vesper said, “I agree, sir. Mister Kri, are you
confident of your ability to program the manufacturing computer?”

 “The interface is both intuitive and adaptive, sir. As
we work with it, it learns how we expect information to be presented and
increases its usability.”

 Stokes said, “If I may, might I suggest we create a
facility to interface with our existing space docks to manufacture ships and
stations as needed?”

 “A good suggestion, commodore,” Blackwood responded. “Retrofitting
the space dock is important.”

 “It's far more important than you know, admirals,”
Stokes said. “There is one more piece of information we came across aboard the
Aeternum. We learned the alien alliance we've entered into a non-aggression
treaty and mutual defense pact with against the crabs with is responsible for
our being on Lashmere. At a point five thousand years ago, humanity and the
alliance were at war.” Shocked expressions appeared on all three admiral's
faces. “It gets worse. The alliance developed a super virus designed to kill
every human being in existence. The Aeternum has records of our mission to
colonize Lashmere. It was left behind in order to provide us a fighting chance
against the alliance once we rediscovered it.”

 Coffee said, “I think we had better get the
expeditionary force back here as soon as possible. Admiral Vesper, take command
of the Aeternum. I know Admiral Blackwood is in charge of the space dock.
Coordinate with her in designing a series of manufacturing rings to be
retrofitted into the infrastructure of the space dock. With the speed this
technology can fabricate a ship, don't worry about using the whole space dock.
Limit yourselves to something like twenty-five retrofitted slips and then move
on to designing a way to upgrade our surface based manufacturing.

 “Miss Simmons, I'm promoting you to the rank of
Lieutenant Commander. Sorry, there is no time for a ceremony as time now
appears to be of the essence. I want you to report to Admiral Blackwood and
begin the development effort for a fleet of defensive vessels and installations
for the Lashmere system. I want your first priority to be setting up the best
long range sensor network the Aeternum is capable of producing. The more
information we can gather, the better.

 “Admiral Blackwood, while the Aeternum is producing
our sensor system, I want you to have your engineering teams work up a
retrofitting scheme for the space dock. Once you have a plan worked up, send it
to my office for final approval.

 “Commodore Stokes, you will be dispatched to the
alliance forward base where our expeditionary force was to be stationed. Once
you get there, find a way to bring them back. It's far too great a risk to
leave them there. If Drogue finds out about the alliance's history, and knowing
Drogue, he probably already has, he won't hesitate to protect the people under
his command. Despite his excellence as a wartime commander, I'm worried he may
take a rash action.”

 Coffee looked around the room for a moment longer and
then said, “Thank you for the briefing, everyone. Mister Kri, your summary
report was excellent. I will be watching your career as we go forward. Are
there any questions for how we are to proceed?”

 Vesper said, “Sir, are you expecting any resistance
from the senate regarding your prioritization of how the Aeternum is to be
used?”

 “I don't think so. I'll brief the secretary of war and
the president when I get back to the capital. Once they understand the moving
pieces, I'm hoping they can keep the senate in line.”

 The senate was the ruling body of Lashmere that had
been formed at the end of the Karn-Ebrim war. The people who served on the
senate were appointed from among regional elected officials The senate was
represented by population, and so the former Karn regions had more effective
political power in the senate than the president. The president had the final
say in most matters, either by invoking the presidential veto or by using the
planetary financial committee, who was mostly former Ebrim. The old battle
lines were alive and well in the halls of political power, but it was a mostly
bloodless battle now. The system had arrived at the hallmark of most good
governments: gridlock. Massive amounts of time and effort were expended on
glacial changes in the system that had been put in place at the end of the war.
It was so recent that there was effectively no measurable change.

 Seeing there were no other questions, Coffee said,
“Very well, then. Everyone is dismissed.”

 The officers began getting up and shuffling around,
breaking into smaller conversations. Simmons went towards Admiral Blackwood,
while Stokes made his way to Admiral Vesper.

 “Admiral, congratulations on your new command.”

 “Thank you, Commodore. I expect it's a temporary
measure. I still can't take my hand completely off of logistics command.”

 “Surely your exec can handle material and personnel
management for a few weeks until a more permanent solution is in place.”

 “Of course he can, Franklin. My worry is if I'm gone
too long, he'll decide he doesn't need me at all.” Vesper grinned at his own
wit.

 “I've often felt the same about my executive officers.
Mister Kri is shaping up nicely. He should be ready for an independent command
in another year or so.”

 “That's good to hear. I hope we have that much time.”

 “Admiral Coffee was certainly right about one thing.
Having an effective long range sensor system in place will give us a lot better
ability to make decisions.”

 “Indeed.” Vesper looked around for a moment before
turning back to Stokes. “How did Simmons work out?”

 “Well, sir, I have a full brief ready for you, but she
seems to have the potential to be a good officer. I think the fact she's had
custom assignments created for her since she put on the uniform has really
hamstrung her growth in leadership and command ability. I had to step on her
pretty hard a couple of times while we were on our way out to Buckman's Star.
She did show some promise. Right before we got onto the Aeternum, she actually
stood up for herself. Properly, too. She grabbed one of my own lines and turned
it back on me. Showed a lot more insight than I'd given her credit for. I hope
we can get her away from R&D for long enough to get her into leadership
school and polish her career up.”

 “I do, too, Commodore. We may need more strong
scientific officers in positions of leadership than we originally thought.
That's presuming we're able to defend ourselves against the crabs and the
alliance, both.”

 “There was another concern I had, but I didn't want to
bring it up in front of everyone.”

 “What is it?”

 “What if that virus is still out there, sir? I mean,
the people who brought us here took great pains to ensure we weren't infected
and that we'd be left alone to develop. What if that virus was given the
ability to survive indefinitely?”

 “It's a frightening question, Franklin. I'll make it a
priority to get the information from the Aeternum and have it sent over to the
medical corps for research. If we ever do encounter that virus either from the
last time or if the alliance decided to unleash it against us again, we should
be ready for it if at all possible.”

 “Yes, sir.”

 Patho and Kri sat in a pair of chairs along the wall
watching the admirals talk. “How was being second in command for you, Aden?”

 “It was great. I moved all your stuff into a crew
cabin and took your stateroom. Nice view of the forward launch tubes from your
window, by the way.” Patho paused a second before letting a smile spread across
his face.

 “Nice, just perfect. I presume you found a way to
squeeze my bed into the crew cabin at least?”

 “It actually took up the entire floor space, so I just
piled all your clothes and books on top of it. I expect it'll give you really
bad back pains if you try to sleep in there.”

 The two men shared a laugh and Kri clapped Patho on
the shoulder.

 “I expect so.” Kri's expression grew serious. “What do
you think's going to happen?”

 “Tough to say. I hope the-”

 The room was shattered by a massive explosion. Chunks
of debris flew in every direction, and choking dust filled the air. Patho was
pummeled to the ground by the explosion and immediately felt a tremendous pain
in his back and legs. He struggled to move, but found he couldn't. Gasping and
trying to breathe as little of the dust as possible, he turned and looked
backward. A slab of gray concrete was laying across his back just above the
hips. Blood was seeping around the edges he could see. His blood. A strange
feeling of dreaminess began to come over his senses. The pain took on a distant
feeling. Turning, he looked up and saw Kri stooping over him. He was holding a
part of his shirt over a jagged wound in his left arm. Blood ran down his face
and covered the ribbons of his dress uniform.

 Kri's mouth moved, but Patho couldn't hear the words.
Something felt urgent about the situation, but he just wondered why everything
was so quiet. Looking around again, he reached up and tried to brush the blood
off of Kri's ribbons. Such a shame, they were quite pretty in a military way.
Kri took Patho's hand and held it in his blood covered right hand. His mouth
was moving again, but Aden still couldn't quite make out what he was saying. He
was just so tired. A short nap was the perfect thing right now. He felt his
eyes closing and waited for the comfort of sleep to overtake him.