AMP Private War (21 page)

Frig spoke, "Sir, it appears to be a warship, frigate sized and lifeless. It is not Milgari. I believe we should investigate."

The ship was tubular in shape with a smooth, dark gray exterior. The front and back were covered with antennae. A large hole in its side and numerous scorch marks told of its possibly having been in battle. The scorches appeared to have originated from behind the ship, as if it were being pursued. The ship was dead. A deep scan of the hull yielded data that showed it had been adrift for several thousand years.

"Frig. Pull us up into that hole. I want a look inside."

Frig turned in my direction, "You plan on boarding her Sir? That seems very risky. If a ship were to come our way I would have to abandon you."

As I walked back for my helmet and blaster I responded, "Just do it, the faster we explore this thing the faster we get out of here."

Frig maneuvered the Swift into the hole in the side of the frigate. When the Swift had been sufficiently turned around, placing the rear cargo door near an exposed deck, I stepped through an airlock and drifted onto the dead craft.

From the exposure I could see that the main body of the ship had eight levels. I was on level five. I stepped through a room and into a hall way, the bulkhead doors were all open. I turned left, heading towards the front of the ship and began to walk. The ceilings were low and the halls narrow.

I relayed the information I was seeing to Frig and asked for a response, "Any identifying marks you can pick up on? I have symbols on the walls in here, but the translator has not identified them yet… hang on, I think we have our first dead alien. Looks about the right size to fit in these hallways, his helmet shield is cracked."

"Looks like they are just under a meter and a half tall, about average build and they have a wide flat head like you, but they aren’t Gambits. Their skin is dark, almost indigo in color and this one is wearing a combat suit. Insignia looks impressive so I am guessing he was an officer. Kind of creepy that he could float here dead for this length of time without being disturbed."

Frig responded, "With the lack of oxygen the bodies will only mummify slightly, there is no decay. The translations are coming in now… Lieutenant Fuyea was a navigation officer. He was killed from the concussion of the explosion that opened that hole. You will likely find more as you proceed."

"Sir, I scanned for the existence of life pods and they are all still in place. It looks like no one escaped whatever caused that explosion."

I soon came across a second body; this one was in a standard uniform without a helmet.

Frig again reported his findings. "Sir that one to your left, their injuries are consistent with an intense radiation burst. A quick analysis of the damage to this ship tells me that it is highly likely that a fission explosion made this hole. I have yet to see evidence of a fission device being used anywhere in the galaxy as a weapon. Several thousand years ago my people experimented with it for medicine and power, but the waste product was found to be a nuisance and clean ion power came along at the same time."

Frig punched away at his keyboard while I continued my look around. After climbing two decks up I discovered the bridge. The door was locked and sealed. I removed a plasma charge from my pack and formed it in a circle around the lock. Three minutes later a small thud could be heard, followed by a rush of air. I stepped back up to the door and pushed it open. A dozen dead aliens floated aimlessly, propelled into motion by the rush of air as it escaped from the sealed compartment.

I spoke, "Do we have a name yet for these people? Is there any identification on the hull?"

Frig typed away feverishly at his keyboard, "One moment Sir, I am in the middle of a data analysis on the ship’s power system. At the moment it looks like the explosion was internal. The ship was powered by a fission reactor. This was definitely a sub-light speed craft Sir."

"I believe that with a few modifications we might be able to power her up. The main power is gone, but I have isolated the forward section of the ship, including the bridge. If we disconnect four circuit breakers I should be able to wire up one of our ion generators to power her. It would be interesting to see what her computer systems contained if they were still operable."

As I looked around the bridge I asked Frig for direction to the breakers, "Show me the way and I will flip whatever levers you like. If we can get their computers up maybe we can download the data for analysis later. Even though this ship may be old you never know what bit of useful tech you might find. I know you built our signal inhibitors from tech on a salvage ship. Maybe this one has some of the same."

The next hour was spent moving about the frigate under Frig’s direction. A space-walk was then performed to move one of our four ion generators over to the derelict ship. Several dead bodies floated in the relay room Frig had selected for the generator hookup. He then worked his engineering magic and shortly afterward we were ready to apply power. The ion generator came on with a rumble. The lights in the room we had selected soon powered on followed by the ship’s gravity system. The four dead bodies fell to the floor with a thud.

I spoke, "Wow Frig, you never cease to amaze me. Let’s get up to that bridge and see what we can find out!"

When we stepped onto the bridge the systems displays were lit up with amber colored screens. I made my way to the Captain’s chair while Frig looked over the environmental system. I began to push buttons and the derelict ship began to move.

Frig spoke, "Sir, I would suggest you not experiment with those controls until we know what it is that they do. I can see that I made the right decision by clamping the Swift to the inner hull beams. She would otherwise be floating helplessly away from us."

I turned my head slightly and spoke over my shoulder. "No harm, no foul then!"

We continued to study the systems on the ancient frigate. I had enough to keep me busy while Frig looked as though he was in an engineering museum. To him everything was of wonderment and awe. As I poked around I came across the nav officer's console. A grid was displayed on the screen. I turned a dial and a meter rose to 100%. A joystick was then maneuvered until a position on the grid was selected, it matched coordinates near the Milgari's Tantric mine.

Out of curiosity I pressed a red "Enable" button. A buzzer sounded and the ship began to rumble. Frig rushed over to the console, "What did you do Sir?" The frequency of the rumble rapidly increased until a high pitched whine permeated the bridge. A loud buzzer then sounded for five seconds and an intense RF burst left from the antennae on the front of the ship.

I spoke, "Not sure what that was but it was kind of fun!" Seconds later a yellow blip appeared on the console at the point I had selected earlier. The blip then began to grow slowly. Frig raced over and enabled a large view-port screen that looked out of the front of the ship. A black void was slowly swirling, bending the light from the stars around it.

Frig punched the small keypad on his armband. A deep scan of the void was initiated by the Swift's sensors. Seconds later the data came back from the scan. "Sir, I am having difficulty with this. It appears to be what one would describe as a wormhole, something that has always only been science theory and never fact."

Frig moved to the navigation console. "The nav screen suggests that if we go through that hole we will be instantly transported to a new point elsewhere. I am trying to determine where that point might be. If this is true, if this is real, we may have stumbled upon the solution to one of the most sought after theories of space travel there ever was, a direct link between two points in space."

As I looked at the screen I pointed towards the coordinates I had entered. "I put an X right next to the location of the Milgari Tantric mine. I thought I was setting a way-point or something. If that void out there is a wormhole as you say, then I think we know how this ship traveled. With your own wormhole generator all you would need was sub-light speed. Start the download of the information from this ship’s computers."

Frig began to punch wildly on his keypad. The remainder of the day was spent looking over the ship’s systems. It appeared to be a research vessel as there were no signs of a weapon's console on the bridge. The derelict ship would require a thorough investigation. The others would be expecting us at the Tantric mine soon. We instead chose to stay.

The blip that indicated the wormhole soon turned from green to yellow, then red. In an instant it was gone. As Frig dug into the systems, I chose to walk the ship. I moved down a stairwell to the level below and began checking the rooms along the hall. They were laboratories. One wall was lined with sealed jars that contained specimens of life from other worlds.

Each lab had an emphasis on a different aspect of biology, plants, animals and cells. I turned the corner into the next lab and was greeted with four small air-locked rooms, each with a yellow symbol that could easily signify bio-hazard. I wondered what experiments they may have run. Were they searching for cures or weapons?

When the ships power had returned all the open bulkheads were sealed off from the remainder of the ship. Bodies that had once gently floated fell to the floor and lay in awkward positions. Frig had identified the species as the Adree. Their origin was unknown and as there was so much to see it was not a pressing matter. There were new technologies and a new species to explore and learn about, a ship full of secrets waiting to be uncovered.

The ancient ship was low tech in many ways, but it also had technologies that were highly advanced. The gravity system felt natural, unlike the constant cyclical feeling you got from being on the Swift. Small fluctuations due to power usage made for a sometimes bumpy ride. The ship also had an extensive water system with recycling in every room. Fountains were a thing enjoyed by the previous owners of the ship as they were built into the structure on every deck.

I sat down on an animal-hide couch in a room that was decorated as would be expected of a lounge. There was a cube sitting on the table in front of me that was decorated with colored squares. I moved the rows of the cube in an attempt to line up each of the colors. After several minutes of distraction I set the cube back down and walked away in frustration. Whoever they were, they had a strange idea of what was entertaining.

I next ventured into what were the living quarters for the researchers on the ship. The walls were covered in a stained wood that begged you to sit and stare. Each researcher had a small private room, they shared a community bath. It had been many hours since I had gotten some rest and the beds of the researchers looked comfortable, but short. I smiled as I thought of our new accommodations on the Swift and the slightly lengthened bunk that I now enjoyed.

I then moved on to a kitchen and dining hall with seating for the crew. A buffet line was apparent and the utensil bin was filled with metal devices that resembled the combination of a fork and spoon. I was then startled as a buzzing sound went off in the kitchen. An automated oven had sounded that whatever meal it contained was done. I winced at the thought of what a several thousand year old meal might smell like.

When I had completed my tour I returned to the bridge. Frig was still moving quickly between consoles as he cataloged each and every control. As I looked around, admiring what we had found, the proximity alert sounded in my helmet. "Frig! Get back to the Swift! Now!"

I ran down the stairs and through several bulkhead doors before coming to the one that led out to the Swift. It was sealed.

I called out, "Frig! We need to open the hatch at bulkhead 57! We are sealed off from the Swift!"

Frig stepped through the bulkhead down the hall and pulled the hatch shut behind him. He punched the keys on his arm pad as he ran towards me. The air began to evacuate from our section and the lock on hatch 57 slid free. I pushed the hatch out and clumsily stepped through onto the open deck where the gravity no longer worked. Frig closed the hatch behind him and then continued towards the Swift. Seconds later the cargo door was closing and our ion generators were online.

As I sat in my pilot's chair and brought up the proximity console I exclaimed, "Oh crap! They brought the whole fleet. There are thousands of ships out there and they are closing in from every direction. We have probably been broadcasting signals off this derelict since we powered it up!"

I waited for Frig to unclamp the docking locks from the inner bulkhead of the old ship. Instead he punched away at his keyboard. "Ah, what are you doing? We have got to be out of here. Look at the screen!"

Frig continued to type, "I just need one moment Sir. I'm bringing the wormhole online."

I dropped my jaw in disbelief, "The wormhole! We are about to be pummeled here and we don't even know if that thing works! Cut those clamps!"

Frig stopped typing and looked at me, "Sir, look at your monitor, we are already surrounded. We would not make it 500 kilometers before a hundred cannon shots would rip us apart. This wormhole is our only option. I'm counting on the element of surprise to allow us to slip through."

Frig continued, "I connected my arm pad to the derelicts network. I have access to all of her controls. You should see a new wormhole open in front of her in three... two... one."

The wormhole opened.

"Now, we need approximately 15 seconds for it to stabilize. Once this light goes green I am going to start up her drives and we are going through. As a precaution, I have initiated our self-destruct and also the self-destruct of that ion generator on the derelict. We either make it through that wormhole of we die."

The stability timer counted down to zero and Frig pushed the throttle on the derelict to full. The freighter began to move forward into the wormhole. Just as the center of the ship entered I could feel the vibration of the impacts of a hundred cannon strikes on the back end of the derelict as it disappeared into the wormhole.

For only a moment time seemed to stand still. Then, in another instant we emerged on the other end of the wormhole and the derelict ship began to break apart as the ions from several hundred cannon strikes began to expand. Frig punched the clamp disengage and pushed the Swifts throttle to full.

Damage alarms rang out as we pulled away from the exploding derelict ship. The ions continued to rip through the old ship and in an instant it violently exploded in every direction. The wormhole quickly shut behind it, but not before half of a Milgari frigate came through.

As we pulled away from the blast the Swift rocked from the concussion. Our tail was damaged. We had made it with three layers of Tantric armor to spare. But we now had a second problem to contend with. The point to which we had jumped was adjacent to a small Milgari fleet that was guarding the Tantric mine. Before I could take a breath the first cannon bolt impacted our nose as Frig turned hard away.

I took control of the cannon and soon had two shots off that cripple the cruiser that had fired upon us. Nine more cruisers were turning our way.

I spoke, "Keep the nose pointed at them! We can't take hits in the back!"

Frig rolled the Swift and headed for the nearest cruiser. Again we took a shot to the nose before the Milgari cannon was destroyed.

The six remaining cruisers continued to come. We took two hits to the port wing and then another three to the starboard. Frig cut hard to avoid a hit as I tried to take out another cannon, I missed. The Swift rolled right and three strikes came across the top of the fuselage, another cannon was then knocked offline taking the number bringing us pain down to five.

I yelled, "Take us between those two to the left!"

Another hard cut was made as I squeezed off two more bolts. The Swift took three strikes to the nose as another Milgari cannon was shut down. As we rolled over the top of one of the four remaining cruisers we took three more hits across the top of the fuselage.

I continued, "Protect that back! Don't let them get a shot from behind!"

This time Frig managed an inverted turn, exposing the Swifts underbelly. As we came around hard four bolts found their marks on our underside. I responded with another shot to a cruiser cannon bringing our enemies firepower down to three.

The Swift lurched left and then rolled right as a bolt hit our cargo door. Smoke began to fill the cabin as the paint on the cargo door sizzled. Another hit from behind would be the end of our venture.

I spoke, "Line up on those two and head straight for them in a rolling spiral!"

Frig lined me up for a shot. I squeezed the trigger as a bolt from the first cruiser struck our nose. I kept the cannon firing and a hole was ripped through the first cruiser and into the second, both cannons were now down. The final cruiser then swung in on our tail.

With a move that I had never before seen, Frig set the Swift into a tumble. The cruiser fired repeatedly landing glancing blows. I fired in return, but could not get aim as we rolled uncontrollably. After three more glancing hits the battle came to an abrupt end.

The Slaughter, Slayer, Sleuth and seven Defenders all fired on the cruiser at once! Before a final bolt clipped our wing the cruiser blew into a million tiny parts. The Slayer landed two bolts into its recombination chamber; just in front of her engines... we had somehow survived the encounter. Seven sections on the Swift had one layer of Tantric armor or less remaining.

We settled into the docking bay of the Sleuth and the Colonel came out to greet us. "Grange! What just happened there? You were nowhere on our sensors and the all of the sudden you were mixing it up with those Milgari! How were you able to sneak in under our sensors and why did you attack?"

I began telling the Colonel about the derelict ship and the wormhole. He struggled to believe.

The Colonel spoke, "So, you are saying that fifteen minutes ago you were back near Barithia? And this ship was just floating there? Dead in space? And where is the Hammer? Were they left behind?"

I replied, "The Hammer is on its way and should be here in about a week. I decided to send them back alone while we investigated the second site that was being supplied from Barithia. We also have data on the Torrian world."

"We found some interesting things going on at the second site, but nothing so interesting as compared to the ship we discovered. We were taking a different route back to here and we just happened to get close enough to it that our sensors identified it as a manufactured object and not just space debris. After stopping and seeing it we of course had to go inside. We are curious like that."

I continued, "We used one of our generators to restore power and soon discovered the wormhole that allowed it to perform interstellar travel. We were so engrossed in the ship and its technology that we neglected to keep an eye on our surroundings. That ship was probably broadcasting a huge signal and the fleet at Barithia detected it."

"If it wasn’t for Frig’s quick thinking we would have had to self-destruct to keep from being captured as there were more than a thousand ships surrounding us. Frig opened the wormhole and pushed the ship through, but the back end probably caught several hundred main cannon bolts all at once as we passed into the wormhole. He managed to de-clamp us at the last second and our layers of Tantric kept us from exploding with that ship."

"We managed to pop out of the other end of that wormhole right in the middle of those Milgari ships."

I reached over and patted Frig on the shoulder, "This guy did a fantastic job of keeping us alive. At one point I thought we were going to lose the cargo door, but we managed to survive and here we are."

I then asked the Colonel why they were still waiting at the mine. "The Milgari have changed tactics on us. They are now using smaller ore haulers and moving shipments out about every two weeks. We were a couple days from taking this one as we had just missed the last."

"We are also waiting on the new personnel transport to arrive. We are going to take that hauler and then extract all those miners down there before destroying that mine. It will take them months to restore it to production during which time they won’t have any more ore."

"There are about 120,000 slave miners down there. We will house and feed them and then ask for volunteers for our ground assault force. Those who are willing will be trained and equipped. Those who are not will be given the opportunity to take one of our conventional transport ships, along with adequate supplies, and go anywhere they would like. I’m hoping we can pick up the 50,000 troopers we have been looking for. Freed slaves tend to be very motivated fighters."

With the Milgari ships out of the way the small freighter was boarded and taken over. A ground assault left 800 Milgari soldiers dead and 119,234 slave miners freed. The remaining harvested ore supplies were shuttled up to the freighter and the mine destroyed. Our transport soon arrived and the now free miners were taken aboard.

The miners were Teldaki citizens, a world deep in the Pollus sector that had been overrun and enslaved. Nearly five million Teldaki citizens had been forced into servitude under the Torrians on Torrus while another 10 million had been sent to work in Milgari mines. The remaining two billion citizens were exterminated and their cities burned to the ground. The newly freed Teldaki had no home to return to.

Almost 80,000 Teldaki volunteered for our ground assault force while the remaining 40,000 wanted to return to their home world. They hoped to rebuild even though they would be under the constant threat of another Milgari invasion. With the small number returning they hoped to be left alone.

Our operation at Jarhead continued to grow. The nation of Defiant now numbered more than 90,000 as more citizens joined our ranks. Honus had his automated construction docks up and running with the first two Raiders due to come online in only days. After that milestone we would be able to produce at a rate of eight Raiders per month.

The second dock was being setup to construct the troop transports and the assault shuttles for our new volunteers. The first 20,000 troop transport, with assault shuttles, would be ready for trials in nine weeks. Additional transports would be produced every three weeks thereafter. The automated construction docks were a thing of wonder once they had been properly configured. So long as the resource supplies were kept stockpiled the construction dock worked 24 hours per day until the job was done.