Inherited War 1: Retribution (12 page)

“Yea
h, yeah I got It, I have to concentrate.  Here goes nothing.”  Cole sat in the Captain’s chair hovering his hands over the rounded ends of the arm rests.  He looked at Sky, winked, and dropped his hands down gripping the control interface tightly.  Suddenly, like before, he was outside of his body, but unlike before, he got to enjoy the feeling.  He had become the ship.  He could feel every inch of her inside and out.  He could feel the slight tug and cold of space.  He could feel the power singing through his conduits.  He reveled at the total feeling of freedom.  He delved into the navigation and saw all the places he could go in the galaxy.  He ransacked the ships memory banks and found them full of ancient knowledge.  He could look through all the inside and outside sensors and see what they saw.  He found the one for the bridge and suddenly saw himself from all different angles on the bridge.   His body was in a relaxed position on the chair and Sky was behind him with her hand on his neck checking for a pulse.   He concentrated on the bridges intercom system for a moment and felt it open to him.  “I am all right Sky, don’t worry I am just bonding with the ship.  I have a couple more things to do in here before I come back to myself.”

He re
-orientated himself to be looking out the ships front sensors.  Cole concentrated on the weapon systems.  He felt them come online then he turned the ship very slowly to face the asteroid belt.  He picked one at random and brought up the targeting system.  He chose the main gun for his first test fire.  All it took was a thought to release the energy stored in the weapon.  In an instant, he fired a steam of billion degree plasma at the asteroid.  The asteroid disappeared into a ball of dust.  He acquired a new target and hit it with the larger anti-ship missile system.  Two bright streaks shot out of the wings of the ship and hurtled at the moving asteroid hitting it dead on and exploding in a fiery ball sending shards off in all directions.  Happy that he could control the ships exterior weapons, he brought up the shield next.  He had 360 degree coverage that was proof against all types of energy weapons, and the odd skin of the ship that the mercs couldn’t cut through was a different kind of kinetic energy barrier that absorbed and spread out all over the ship.  He knew though, that if enough attackers hit him with enough energy or kinetic weapons, his shields could get overloaded and he would suffer damage. 

With the shield up and all his concentration on the engines and navigation Cole started to move the ship around inside the defensive perimeter. 
He didn’t know how long he spent flying the ship around but he was having a good time and didn’t want to stop.  He started having a nagging feeling in the back of his mind and it was growing stronger.  Someone was trying to get his attention inside of him.  He quickly scanned his internal security feeds until he found Dr. Sky on the bridge shaking his body trying to get him to let go.  He focused for a brief second and shoved himself back into his flesh and blood body.  He felt Sky shaking him and begging him to wake up.

“I am up, stop with the shaking. 
How long was I out?”  He asked.

“
You have been flying us in circles and destroying asteroids for the better part of the day, you can’t ignore the needs of your actual body Cole.”  Sky sounded upset.  “There are other things we have to do, playing with the ship can wait.”

“But that was the most
wonderful thing I have ever done.  I wish you could experience it, it was absolutely amazing.  It felt like I actually became the ship.”  Cole said excitedly.

“Yes
Cole, the ship itself was made with a new type of composite metal.  The metal as it was formed was bonded to trillions of nanites that are basically tiny sensor modules.  Your brain automatically turns all the information the nanites give you into sensory inputs you can understand.  The outside scanners and long range sensors are processed through your visual cortex, communications and listening devices through your ears and ships condition and damage sensors through touch.  The ship was designed to be an extension of your own body and controlled at the speed of thought.  You can set tasks then disconnect, but in battle you have to remain in constant contact with the command up link in the chair.  You will feel the damage the ship takes.  I am not sure how that will feel, whether or not damage will be translated as pain, but it is highly probable.  This ship was designed to have at least ten crew members manning the different stations during combat and at least five for normal operations.  We need more people manning the ship or you will soon be worn out.”  Hal finished his lecture.

“I agree with
Hal, Cole, we need to get more humans to help us with whatever it is we are going to do.” Sky said.  “Do you know what we are going to do Cole?”

“I am not sure yet.  I’ve been running the possibilities through my mind all day but haven’t settled on a course of action yet.  I don’t know enough about what is going on out there in the galaxy to make an informed decision.  I need time I think, well
, to think that is.”  Cole got up from the Captain’s chair.  “But I do agree that I need something to eat and some rest.  Hal, can I assume we will be safe here for the time being?”

“Yes, Sir I feel this place should be relatively safe for the foreseeable future.”

“Good
. I want to rest for a bit then spend some time learning all the ships systems and capabilities before we head off.  If we do go to get some help I don’t want to be crashing the ship into the moon or anything.  How are we on supplies?  Do we have enough food and water for a week or two?”  Asked Cole.

“Ships stores are reporting enough convertible material for three weeks of nutrients and an indefinite supply of water.”

“One final question before I take a break.  Can we set Sky up to be able to control the ship like I do?  Get her an interface up link?”

“I will consult with the med bay computer on that and will get back to you.”  Hal said.

Cole turned to Sky and held out his arm.  “Would the lady join me for dinner?”  He asked with a big smile.

Sky
twined her arm through his and said.  “Lead the way I’m starving.”

They walked arm and arm following the map Cole now seemed to have implanted in his head of the ships layout.
A short walk later, they made it to the crew’s quarters.  It was basically double rows of bunks on the walls with tables and chairs in the middle and a large bathroom at the end.  They stopped and looked around. 

“Okay this sucks
, let’s go see if the Captain’s cabin is better. “ Cole remarked then turned around and went down two more doors.  He opened it up and stepped inside.  It was spartan to say the least.  It was a ten by ten room with a double bed, desk, table and chairs with a small personal bathroom.  He saw the food unit on the wall and headed over to it.  Hitting the menu he was surprised at the sheer amount of different choices.  He had no clue what any of them were though, so he selected a dinner at random.  In a few seconds a steaming tray appeared at the slot underneath the food unit.  It didn’t smell horrible so he grabbed it and went to sit down while Sky ordered up something as well.

             
It turned out to be rather tasty Cole thought and the cabin was silent except for the noise of contented chewing.  They ate in silence for a few minutes before Cole finally spoke up.  “Man I’m sorry, I never even asked if you wanted to be rigged with the interface system Sky.  Sorry for just assuming.  It is up to you, if the computer can even do it though.”

             
“No, that’s all right, I would love to be able to help out any way I can.  I put you through the procedure it would only be fair if it happened to me too.”  She said around a mouthful of food.  “Hal told me about the nanites the med computer put into you, I would really love the chance to look at them and if possible, make some for me as well.  I always knew something like that could be done I just never knew how.  It’s absolutely fascinating.  Studying them will give me something to do while you practice with the ship.”

“Hey
Hal, you got a second?”  Cole asked.

“Yes
Sir, how may I help?” He responded through the room’s intercom.

“Any word on Sky’s chances of interfacing
?  Also look into the nano tech and see if it’s adaptable to her species and clear her for full access to the med computer please.”  Cole started to clear his plate looking around for the place he was supposed to put the empty dishes.

“Used dishes go back into the food unit.” 
Supplied Hal.  “As to your other questions, yes, Sky can be rigged with an interface module and I would have to be delivered with the nanites so yes to all your questions.”

“Okay
, then first order of business is to get Sky and myself some rest and cleaned up.  Tomorrow we get her rigged with an interface.  Then we both need to practice with the ship until we are competent enough to use its systems and fly it reliably.  Then we decide what our next step will be.  Anyone else have anything to add?  Nothing. Okay let’s get some sleep then.  Hal please wake us in eight hours and we will get started,” Cole said as he stood and reached up high stretching his body.

Sky stood and headed for the door.  “I saw another cabin just down the hallway, if you don’t mind, I’ll just use that one.”

“That’s fine
, it’s the First Mate’s cabin and it is all yours.  Can you read English?” he asked her.

“Yes
, I studied all of Earth’s languages while we were on station there.”

“All right
, that makes things a little easier.  Well, good night Sky and I’ll see you in the morning.”  Cole flopped onto the bed.  It was the most comfortable thing he had laid on in a while.  He never even made it under the covers before he fell asleep.

Over the next two weeks Cole, Sky and Hal spent every waking moment working on learning the ships systems and controlling them.  Cole mainly concentrated on
flying, navigation and the weapons systems.  Hal, they found out, was able to do the jobs of most of the missing crew members but he could only split his attention between a finite number of tasks at once.  They would definitely have to avoid any large scale conflicts for the time being.  They ended up staying longer than they should have, because Cole was just unable to make his mind up on what their next course of action should be.  He finally made his decision two and a half weeks after their arrival in system.

Cole had Sky meet him in the top observation blister.  It was a small room with a circular couch
in the center.  The blister was a clear metal dome which gave a 360 degree view of the surrounding space.  Cole had moved the ship closer to the red dwarf at the center of the system.  He was in the orbit of the closest planet to the sun.  When Sky arrived, the sun was just coming out from behind the barren yellow colored planet.  It was a spectacular view.  She quietly entered and sat down next to Cole not wanting to ruin the moment.  It wasn’t until the red giant had fully come out from behind the planet that Cole told her what he wanted to do next.  “I don’t know what our ultimate goal should be, whether we are going to try and destroy our ancient enemies or just make a place for humanity in the galaxy.  I know one thing, we need help and we need to man the battle fleet regardless.  You’re involved in this too, so I won’t make a decision like this without your input.  I want to go to Earth and find a few thousand people to train and man those ships.  If nothing else, to act as a defensive force.”

Sky turned slightly so she could face Cole.  “I understand and I will do what you think is right.  We do need help and I will gladly return to your home with you.” 
She slid closer to him and he put his arm over her shoulder.  She nestled into him and rested her head on his shoulder.  She closed her eyes and enjoyed the feel of security he brought her.

“We leave tomorrow then.  I think things only get better from here on out.  Whatever we decide to do
, Earth will be safe.”  He sank back into the couch.  He enjoyed having her under his arm and the beautiful view around him.  Yes, he thought to himself, things couldn’t get any worse than they had been.

PART II

REVELATIONS

22

Excerpt from Captain’s record: “I am only doing this one time and one time only.  Captain’s log, star date unknown.  Okay, got that out of my system.  I just found this new program on my cabin’s computer, it is a recording system for the Captain to use at his discretion.  So here goes my first one.  I will, over the next few days retell what has transpired over the last month of my life to bring me to this stage. For right now I will start in the present.  I feel myself and Doctor Sky have mastered enough of the ships systems to warrant us finally leaving the staging area where we found the ship and its sisters.  Apparently nobody in the galaxy names their ships or even differentiated between ship classes, which seems kinda weird to me, and I haven’t yet either.  As soon as I come up with a good one I’ll get it painted on the hull.  Our next stop will be Earth.  I have decided that for us to make any kinda headway in this galaxy, humans need to return in full force.  I don’t know yet if this will mean war or just home defense with escorts for traders and explorer ships.  We will burn that bridge when we come to it I guess. Well, enough for now, I will try and make regular updates for posterity and be as accurate as possible.  Cole out.”

Alright Hal, lets go over the check list for the grav jump,” Cole said as he settled into the Captain’s chair.  Sky stood beside him with her hand on his shoulder and gave it a gentle squeeze.  Cole looked up at her and smiled.

“
Yes, Sir.  First, all organic beings need to be seated and buckled in.”  Hal came over the intercom. 

“That would be me I guess
,” Sky said walking over to the nearest chair and taking a seat.  The crash harness automatically extended and snugged up tight around her. 

“Second: 
This is a completely different style of flight than any of us are used to.  This is something new that your ancestors developed just for these ships.  It will seem nearly instantaneous point A to point B travel.  There will be some time lost to you while we are moving but it should go unnoticed.  We also do not need to pre-gather energy from the local gravity.  This ship is equipped with a rather unique storage device that automatically gathers and stores energy between jumps.  The ship will warp space using gravity as normal ships do but as soon as space time is warped, we will then travel at many, many times the speed of light to get to our destination.  While a normal ship only travels at close to the speed of light.  This gives us an advantage if we need to get places in a hurry.”

“Wait
, what’s that mean for us?  I guess what I mean is, how long for a standard ship versus this ship to get from here to Earth?”  Cole asked.

“A standard ship traveling at near light speed
would take about seven standard days.  We will require less than one hour and we will not notice that hour.  To us it should seem instantaneous, ” Hal replied.  “Now to continue.  Cole you will have to take control of the ship before transit and give yourself a countdown before engaging so you can retreat back into your mind for the trip.  There is no evidence that being bonded with the ship during warp will negatively affect you, but better safe than sorry, for the first few times anyway.  Both of you will need to activate the compensator shielding in your chairs to protect you from the massive acceleration.  You should come out on the other end with no disorientation, ready for anything.  I believe that’s it.”

Cole looked over to Sky. 
“Ready to go back?  I know we haven’t been gone all that long, but this time you get to come down and meet some people.”  She smiled and nodded her head.  “Okay then let’s do this.”  Cole grabbed the link devices in the armrests and once again found himself becoming the ship.  He reveled in the feeling for a moment before reigning himself in.  He brought up the map of the galaxy from the ships memory banks.  The galaxy suddenly swirled to life in front of him.  It was awesome in its detail.  He could select any star at random and if there was any info on it he would have it at his beck and call.  He focused his mind and thought of Earth. A bright light shone from out near the edge of the Milky Way.  He thought of the ships location, another bright pinprick of light shone bright.  Just to see what was there, he focused on the info surrounding Earth.  Nada, it came up blank.  Well, if it isn’t written down, no one can steal it.  He concentrated on the connection between the two points on the map.  He felt them connect.  He gave himself 10 seconds.  He raced back into his body, bringing up his personal shielding as he did.  He opened his eyes now, back in his body and saw the shimmering almost water like sheath around him and his chair.  Hal had the countdown.  Five. Four. Three. Two. One. 

For what seemed like a split second Cole felt like
all the bonds that held his body’s cells together just broke down and he fell apart.  It was only for a moment, but it was the oddest damn feeling he ever felt.  Then there they were, one moment hundreds of light years distant the next knocking on Sol’s door.  “Oh man! Why do I feel like I need a shower?  I hope that feeling goes away after a few times.”  Cole shivered in his chair.  He glanced at Sky.

“Yes that was quiet disconcerting.  I do not believe I have ever felt that way before.  But I will suffer it to get places this fast.”  The last she said with a grin.

“Where are we Hal?  I don’t see the Earth anywhere.”

“We have come in just outside the system.  Remember
the grav drives cannot function inside solar gravity areas and your sun has a very large gravity footprint.  At normal cruising speed we will be to Earth in thirty minutes.  Or faster if you want to push the engines.”

“
Naw, we can go in like this.  It gives me a chance to work on my speech and decide where we want to initially land.  This is exciting.  I should make the history books with this one.  Hey, maybe they will make a statue of me.  That would rock.”  Cole got up and paced around.  “We going near any other planets on our way in system?”  He asked Hal.

“Yes
, we will pass close by Neptune and Mars.”

“Okay
, re-plot us to get as close as possible to those planets and slow down so we can get a good look.  Open the jump shutters so I can see out.”  The shutters retreated into the floor giving Cole a nearly 360 degree view of space.  Sky got up and joined him looking out the windows.  She put her arm around his waist and leaned into him.  They passed Neptune first; it was beautiful blue ball of frozen water and other gasses.  No living human had ever seen it like this before.  A few minutes later the red ball of mars started to fill the forward window.  They cruised past and started their approach towards Earth.  They were now heading directly into the sun.  They would have to be almost on top of Earth before they could see it or the Moon.  Hal reported five minutes out.  As they slowed faster and shifted slightly to avoid the Moon, and entered a parking orbit trajectory around Earth something struck Cole as being odd about his home planet.  They almost seemed to creep closer now, not moving so fast.  As the planet came into view, Cole realized what was wrong.  The typically blue, white green and brown ball that he had seen so many times on the NASA channel was gone.  In its place was a world that looked like it had been sliced and quartered like an apple.  Cole’s grip on Sky grew tighter as they got closer.

“Cole,
” Hal started to say.

“Shut up, NOW,” Cole snapped.  The bridge grew silent.  As they approached the devastated planet the damage was clear.  It looked like someone had bisected it from pole to pole and through the equator.  The sum was not as big as the whole though.  The four pieces didn’t match up.  There had to be some surface area that had been just totally disintegrated.  Cole couldn’t see any water or clouds.  It was obvious that the atmosphere didn’t survive the attack.  Because that is surely what it had to have been.  Planets don’t just break into four pieces on their own.  He disengaged himself from Sky and stumbled backwards until his knees hit the Captains chair.  He sat down hard.  Sky turned and looked at Cole.  She had a look of pure horror on her face.

             
“Cole, I am so sorry.”  She started to say before tears choked her voice.  She ran and kneeled down in front of him, wrapping her arms around his waist and laying her head on his chest, as she cried for him and his people.

             
“Hal” Cole started “I want you to start scanning for life on the planet surface or however far below you can penetrate.”  Cole’s voice was firm and didn’t waiver.  “I don’t care how small or insignificant it seems.   If it’s alive, I want to know about it.

“
Cole, nothing could have survived that.”  Hal said

“Do.
It. Now,” Cole said with anger lacing his voice.  “Don’t make me ask again.”

             
“Yes Sir.”

The moments crawled by.  They got even closer to the shattered planet and the devastation got worse.  Sky felt Cole shudder under her embrace.  “
I have completed a quick scan of this side of the planet and have no life signs to report, though I did find a transponder signal from a spy sat left behind by the former Captain Feng.  If we retrieve it we may be able to get more information on who initiated this attack.”

“Yes, fine
, but you better keep life signs scanners running while you do that.”  Cole said through clenched teeth.”  He was starting to lose himself to the grief.  He couldn’t break down yet though.  He had to be here and functioning just in case they beat the odds and found someone alive. 

“Coming into range to
access the sat now Sir.  Downloading recording.  Download complete.  It appears we have a visual record of the Earth and surrounding environs since we left orbit a few weeks ago.”  Hal brought up a view screen and started playing the footage from the beginning.  The first scans were of the original ship departing Earth’s orbit and heading out system.  Hal slowly started to fast forward.  Every few seconds Cole saw the international space station whiz by on the screen.   “Here, it would seem is the relevant information.” 

The images returned to running at normal speed.  In the middle of the screen Cole saw the
Earth floating peacefully in the void of space.  The moon slowly coming into view on the far left.  From the far right an object appeared moving slowly towards Earth.  As more of it appeared on the screen, the leading end suddenly split into four sections and actually started to spread apart, wide enough to slip over the Earth like some gigantic claw.  Sky gasped.  Cole was so intent on the video he never even registered her exclamation.  Slip over the Earth they did.  The thing had to be massive and it had its claws over his home.  At this point, Hal zoomed the image out far enough that the sun just barely came into the picture.  Cole figured there was something Hal thought he should see, so he remained quiet.  The four claws of the giant ship all came together at a point that looked like, for all that Cole could tell, the body of a spider.  Soon after the ship had the Earth between its arms, a tendril of molten plasma started to twist itself off the sun.  In a matter of moments, the tendril extended half-way from the sun to the Earth.  Finally the tendril made it all the way to the body of the ship.  Hal focused back in on the planet. 

“They tried to fight back.” 
Cole saw what Hal was talking about.  He saw vastly smaller ships darting around the legs of the ship shooting at, what Cole could only assume were missiles being launched from different points of the Earth’s surface.  None where making it through the smaller ships defense.  Suddenly, a bright light blossomed from the main body of the ship.  The ship was focusing the energy and heat from the sun into two giant columns of pure energy that bisected each other forming a cross.  The cross slowly moved from the body towards the Earth.  Cole was about to witness the deaths of almost seven billion people and he could do nothing to stop it.  The blindingly bright cross moved steadily towards Earth.  When it hit the atmosphere, the billions of degrees heat instantly started to burn the flammable gasses.  Before it even got to ground level the Earth had been super heated beyond livable standards.  Then the energy beams started to cut into solid ground.  Cole watched as the cross moved through the planet, finally coming out the back side.  The cross itself had flash boiled all the water on the surface and because it had destroyed the atmosphere, the water had boiled off into space.

As the energy came out the back side
, it flickered off.  The ship let go of its hold on the sun and began to back off the Earth.  After completing its reverse maneuver it turned and started heading out system.  In a few moments it was gone from the sats range.  Cole watched as his home, now cut into four pieces, slowly started to drift apart.  He grasped Sky and lay his check on top of her head.  He wept, and kept weeping for a long time.