Inherited War 1: Retribution (16 page)

28

It took Cole a few moments to realize that he had actually fallen asleep and he was dreaming.

“Good job out there today Cole, I took some small pleasure in the Esii defeat at your hands.
  I am dreadfully sorry about what happened to your world.”

Cole looked at his ancestor sitting across his desk from him.  He was in his cabin aboard the
Retribution sitting behind his desk.  “Yeah, bummer I know.  Of course it is ultimately your peoples fault that my people are dead now. You do realize that right?”  Cole asked.

“I do.”  Was all he
said.

“Well
, now that we have that settled, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?”

“I wish to offer my condolences and congratulations.  Now that I have done both I am here with some advice that you will remember upon waking. 
Our people, your people too, had many allies and these allies should rally to your cause.  Even though Retribution’s AI will protest against allowing them access, it can be done.  Much like Sky has limited access to the ship’s systems, the allied races are all backups to human extinction.  They all have their uses.  The Nixa are the defenders and can link to the defense systems, the Twin Worlders are the attackers and can link to the weapons and drone fighters.  Those are the most important of the races we chose to bear our inheritance.  There are others but they hold minor roles onboard the ships.”

“That’s great and all but what happens when the Esii and whoever is backing them show up to Nix
a or the Twin Worlds and destroy them with the Sun Eater?  We have to destroy that thing before I would expect any support from those or any world.”  Cole was thoughtful.  “I will go to those worlds when they are safe from retaliation on that scale, right now I need a way to get crew that won’t jeopardize their home worlds.”

“The burden of command is a heavy one but you are my
descendant and are more than capable of making the right decisions.  I have faith in you and so does your Doctor Sky.  You will figure this out in time and will do all the things you set out to do.  You have to, or our work in this galaxy will be for nothing.”  Sadness filled his voice at the end.  “Daily you are growing in your power.  You are getting stronger and faster.  You are becoming more intelligent and logical but you are also able to temper logic with emotion and that will be what serves you best. Explore your new body and mind.  Learn its capabilities and use them to your advantage.  I have faith in you because you are the sum of what we prepared humanity for and you will triumph where we failed.  Now get some rest and prepare to move forward.”  With that he was gone and Cole drifted into a deeper sleep.

29

“
I blame myself for the failures of that fight.  I was distracted and that put Sky in a bad position.  I stayed in system for too long and that gave them the opportunity to track us.  I put us in mortal jeopardy twice in one day.  But we lived and I learned.  I got a little Retribution of my own.  We need to figure out how to crew these ships.  We need to find the AI’s that were supposed to be the brains of these ships, and we need a target for these ships.  I believe the Esii are just a front for whoever dislikes humans.  I can’t wait to meet them with a fully staffed fleet.”

When Cole awoke the next day he felt well rested and ready for action.  He stripped out of his suit and took a good, long shower then sat down to program some eggs and bacon into the food dispenser.  He got almost what he wanted and chowed down.  Sitting wrapped in a towel, he accessed the second skin dispenser and found he could alter his suit to almost any style to fit his needs.  He spent a good hour doing so.  After dressing in his new clothes he rang up Sky on the com and asked her to meet him at the armory.  He looked in the mirror and adjusted his new duds.  Now that is what he thought a space Captain should look like.  He turned and headed out the door and down the hallway to the armory.

Cole got there a few minutes before Sky and started looking through the arsenal.  The weapons locker had everything from small hold out pistols to what appeared to be the biggest sniper rifle he had ever seen.  If there was one thing Cole knew
, it was guns.  He had always loved them and tried to learn as much as possible about them.  He had never had too many opportunities growing up to use them but that had changed in the army.  Before he had shown up for basic training, he knew almost everything there was to know about the M4 rifle, M249 SAW and the 240G machine gun.  It was the one thing he was better at than everyone else in his class.  He knew the parts, tricks to cleaning them and most importantly, how to accurately shoot them.  Even though he had never actually fired them prior to joining the army, he had devoured everything he could about the army’s weapons and arms manuals.  He definitely knew guns.  The armory was his dream come true.  He stared at the ranged weapons for a while before moving further in and coming upon the melee weapons.  They ranged from small easily concealed daggers, knives, and clubs, all the way up to an actual sword.  He moved past the melee to the explosives.  Some of it looked like the C4 he had gotten to mess around with but most of it was unidentifiable so he left it alone.  He walked back to the guns and selected a few pistols and rifles and placed them in a carry bag, along with what he assumed, was the ammunition or battery packs.  “Hey Hal, where would I go to shoot some rounds off?  Oh and a manual or anything to explain how to operate these things.”

“I can give you a shake down on operating all those weapons
, head down to the cargo bay.  I can modulate the outer shield to allow your rounds to exit the ship while keeping the atmosphere inside.  You can fire at holograms the ship will project outside for you.  As long as you don’t shoot up the inside of the cargo bay, it should be safe.”  Was his response.

The door to the hallway opened up and Sky stood silhouetted in it.  “Hey grab a gun if you want
, we’ll go talk in the cargo bay and get in some target practice.”  He nodded his head at the weapon locker.  “Or just come and watch me shoot while we talk.”

Sky opted out of taking a gun saying she would try one Cole had grabbed, but she did grab some more ammo packs.  They headed off to the rear cargo bay.  It looked different now that the remains of the space station were no longer crowding the room.  Cole stood blocking the doorway for a moment before heading in.  He walked over to a bench on the side of the room and started unpacking the guns he had grabbed.  He neatly stacked them on the bench and stacked the ammo on the floor.  “Okay Hal, pop the hatch.”  He grabbed the first gun of the morning, a large pistol.  He figured it would be comparable in size to a Desert Eagle 50 caliber.  He guided Sky over to the center of the bay as the big outer door slid open.

“So I have a few questions I was
hoping you two could answer for me.  First, what did you find on Sky’s family?”  He stood and faced the great emptiness of space in front of him.

“Bad news on that I am afraid
, all the information I took from the Admiral’s ship had your family being on the sector capitol when it was destroyed by the Esii and Roche.  I am sorry Sky, profoundly.”  The last was almost a whisper.

Cole turned to face Sky expecting to see her near tears
, he was surprised.  She had a fierce look on her face and was holding a compact looking rifle.  It reminded Cole of an Uzi.  Sky let loose with a barrage of rounds.  There was nothing to aim at, yet, but Cole could sense her need for violence.  It took her nearly a minute to expend the ammunition in the gun’s grip.  It appeared to be a mini rail gun.  It fired a solid round, but used magnets to get the rounds up to near the speed of light.  With no chemical propellant the damn thing could hold a hell of a lot of rounds and burn through them fast.  “Nice one, but I won’t believe they are truly gone until we have definitive proof of their demise.”  She said looking no less fierce than before.

“That a girl, never give up hope
.  Now tell me about this sweet little pistol, Hal.”  Cole said as he turned back to the impromptu firing range.

“That is
what the Pure Humans called the Fission 2B.  It is a small plasma pistol capable of firing 50 rounds of charged plasma.  It burns at nearly one million degrees for approximately twenty-five meters then rapidly cools.  Maximum effective range is not much over sixty meters.  It uses a battery pack that contains a small fission cell that has power settings of fifty rounds on the highest setting and ten rounds on the lowest.  It is good in close range fights in the open, but can really heat up the atmosphere inside a ship.”  Hal finished his lecture and brought up a silhouette that was vaguely humanoid shaped.  Cole set the power to the lowest setting and started firing off some rounds.  He liked it almost at once.  It was lighter than it looked and had zero recoil.  The battery pack came out easy and could be recharged indefinitely.  He would have to find a holster for it.

“Nice, so here is my plan.  The Esii will pay for what they did to my world.  It will begin with the destruction of that damn ship that blew up
Earth.  We need to destroy it first and foremost because its destruction will allow other races to join us and not have to worry about it showing up to their home worlds.  The catch 22 is we need more people to man these ships but we can’t count on their help until the Sun Eater is destroyed.  So where do we find willing crew members?  That is the first problem to solve.  The second is finding out where they keep it when it’s not out destroying planets.”  Cole was thoughtful for a moment.  “So we need a crew and a destination.  Any ideas from you two?”

Almost as one
, they both replied.  “The Pitt.”

“The Pitt?
Doesn’t sound so hot.”

Sky looked at the nearest speaker.  “Do
you want to tell him or should I?”

“Go ahead
Doctor, the pleasure is all yours.”

“Thanks.”  She said.  Sky took a moment to dredge up everything she had ever heard about the Pitt.  “I have never been there before but I have heard that if you want something
, the place to get it is the Pitt.  It started as a refugee encampment built on a moon.  It fills the inside of one of the moons craters.  Hence the name Pitt.  It is a destitute and deplorable place.”

Cole interrupted.  “A wretched hive of scum and villainy?”  He supplied.

Sky looked
at him for a moment and nodded her head.  “Yes, that describes it perfectly how did you know about it?”

“Didn’t
, but have heard of places like it before.  Please go on.”

“
Well, like I was saying, it started as a refugee colony but got turned into a place with no laws and anything can be had for the right price.  But it also has its bright spots.  Some worlds have embassies there and people who try to fight the depravities that go on.  It is also a storehouse of information.  We may be able to buy the location of the Sun Eater from someone there.  There are beings from every planet there as well, so you should blend in a little better.”  She shrugged as she finished.

Hal spoke up at that point.  “It is considerably worse than that.  Life means little there and if you are considered weak they will try to either enslave or kill you.  You must watch your back at all times and never allow yourself to travel unarmed.  It is a place rife with murderers, slavers, thieves and the generally unsavory.”

“Been there before Hal?” Cole asked.

“Yes
, as a matter of fact, I was there long enough to be sold to Admiral Nasser.  I did not like what I was witness to there and would prefer not to go back.  But I agree it may be the best place to start looking for a crew and information.”

Cole walked over and grabbed a rifle off the bench.  “Well
, I guess we have our next destination in line.  Unless there are any other suggestions?  No.  Okay, give us a few hours to familiarize ourselves with these weapons.  Then we can head out.”  Cole walked back to the center of the room.  “What’s this one Hal and how do I use it?”

For the next few hours the cargo bay grew with the stench of discharged weapons.  It was a smell that Cole loved.  It wasn’t quite as intoxicating as gunpowder but it was close.  He missed this smell.

30

“I always loved guns.  The gun was the great equalizer.  If you could point it and pull the trigger, you had as much power as the next guy no matter how big or small you were.  It was fairly easy to learn and in America they were plentiful and relatively cheap.  I loved the feeling of walking with a gun or rifle.  It made me feel safe.  Strange I know since I was in the business of war.  If I was using my rifle there was probably someone else trying to use his to kill me.  But I figured we had even odds and if I had to die, I would rather die fighting.  I feel the same way now. The only difference is these guns are cooler and way more deadly than anything I had used before.”

Cole felt better than he had in a long time.  There was just something about putting rounds down range that relaxed him like nothing else.  They had burned through all of their ammo and were packing everything back into the carry all.  “So no comment on my new clothes?”  Cole said as he finished packing.

“I was told never to criticize
someone’s sense of style, so I figured I would keep my mouth shut.  The jacket looks old western era America and the rest is just fatigues.  Doesn’t really scream commander of a lost human fleet.”

“Hey I always loved dusters
, and fatigues are just way too comfortable and handy.  I thought I looked tough.  Kinda outlaw Captain or something.”

“I am just teasing you
Cole, it’s very dashing but also very conspicuous.  Not many beings have the cash for Second Skin Suits, let alone outerwear made out of the stuff too.  Where we are going it will mark you as someone with money to rob, kill or kidnap.  It will draw attention to us at any rate.”

“I am done hiding and running around
.  I am looking for a nice stand up fight if one comes at us.  Plus this stuff layered works better than a single layer of Skin.  It will take a hell of a lot of firepower to destroy these clothes and the duster provides ample carrying capacity for weapons.  So I’ll take the notoriety if it comes, and be ready to kick some ass if needed,” he said as he slung the carry all over his shoulder.  “Let's hit the gym for an hour or so of you kicking my butt.  Then have some lunch.”  Sky lead the way out of the cargo bay and down the hall back to the armory.  They replaced the guns and set the battery packs into their chargers.  The best thing about these weapons was the advanced tech didn’t really require them to be cleaned, and anyway, the armory had its own nanites to handle any detail work or repairs.  In short order they were at the gym and Cole was removing his duster and hanging it on the wall.  He did a little better this time and learned some more of the basics of Sky’s fighting style.  She said it had no name so Cole just thought of it that way.  After an hour of bruising agony had passed they stopped and headed back to Cole’s cabin for breakfast.  Sky detoured for a few minutes in the med bay to check on the patient.

“How is she doing?”  Cole asked as Sky entered his cabin.  She stopped at the food
dispenser and ordered up her food.  She joined Cole at the table and began to eat.  “Same, her injuries are healing as fast as I can get them to without the nanites help, I plan on taking her off the sedatives and waking her up in three days.  By then the healing should be in the final stages and the majority of pain should be gone.”

“I know you don’t agree
with withholding the nanites, but thank you for doing the best you can with what you have.  It really means a lot to me.  So three more days and we get to find out who she is and if she wants to join our little crew.”  Cole finished off his plate of eggs and bacon.  He pushed the plate away and leaned back in his chair.  He almost had the flavor right with the bacon this time.  “I have been looking at the information on the computer about our enemies and have some observations I would like to run by you.”

“Go
ahead, I would love to hear them,” she said around a mouthful of something Cole didn’t like to look at too closely.

“I started with the Esii and
Roche.  Something seemed very familiar about them and I couldn’t place it for a while then it hit me.  I think the Pure Humans may have implanted a natural fear of both those races into my ancestors along with their DNA.  The Esii reminded me of a legendary monster on Earth called a Vampire.  They are creatures of the night and live almost completely underground.  They don’t eat to gain sustenance but rather indirectly feed off the life energy of other sentient beings.  From the images I have seen of them, they very much resemble vampires of Earth.  Generally tall, fair of complexion, cadaverous and are negatively affected by any sun light brighter than the white dwarf their planet orbits.  Earth vampires share many of their features and were reported to be allergic to the sun.  The Roche are, as close as I can tell, analogous to a creature of Earth lore called a goblin.  Greenish blotchy skin, bulbous heads, surprising strength and very numerous.  Also very aggressive and warlike.  I wouldn’t be surprised if the rest of The Pure Human’s enemies were very much like old Earth lore about monsters.  I can’t think of why they would preprogram us to be afraid of them.”

“I would hazard that they wanted you to be aware of them so as not to be surprised if you ran into them amongst the stars. 
It’s handy to know your enemies before you actually know they are your enemy.  That makes the most sense to me.  Are there any other creatures of myth you can think of, I may be able to recognize them by your description?”  She said as she placed her plate into the return receptacle.

Cole spent the next hour or so racking his brain trying to remember every monster story he had heard over his life.  None matched any living beings that Sky had heard of, but admitted that the galaxy had changed so much since the time of the Purge
, that races could have gone extinct or gotten cut off from the galaxy as a whole.  “It was worth a shot.  Now we have to get ready to head out to the Pitt.  I have some things I want to do here in system before we leave.  I am planning on taking until tomorrow morning to get what I need done so you have some time to yourself, or you can come with me if you want.  It won’t be exciting, just a lot of me bonding with the docks and yards.  Going to see what else they can do besides build the big ships and the
Retribution
class ships.  I also need to reset the security system protecting the facility.”

“I think I will stay here in
case my patient needs me if it’s all the same to you.  Take a nap too,” she said behind a big yawn.

“Okay then we head out first thing tomorrow morning.  See you then.”  Cole got up and proceeded to head to the docking tube.  “Hal please call up a transport from the docks and bring it to the right side docking tube.”  He made a quick stop at the armory to grab a
pistol, he didn’t think he would need it but better safe than sorry.  He hadn’t actually lied to Sky, he was going to do all those things he had said, but he wanted to do some other things as well, that he wanted no one to know about.  He should have done it the first time, before running off to Earth.  Just another rookie mistake he guessed.  He hoped he could only get better from here on out.