Inherited War 1: Retribution (17 page)

31

“
It still blows my mind to try and understand just how far advanced our ancestors were and their ability to plan for contingencies thousands of years in the future.  They bred the fear of the Esii into us in the form of vampires.  Now whether or not it takes a wooden stake through the heart to kill one, I don’t know, but according to everything on the ships database they are extremely difficult to kill and almost supernaturally fast.  Thinking about it now it was a very ingenious way for them to go about making the Esii recognizable as a natural human enemy.  Let humanity fear them for thousands of years before they even actually meet.  Too bad we met before we were ready for it.”

Cole was good to his word and was back onboard by the next morning.  He had come back in a smaller transport craft that was rated as reentry and atmospheric capable.  As an added bonus, it fit neatly into the side cargo bay.  He had done all that he could think of to keep the site safe and out of enemy hands until he returned.  He hoped it was enough.  He was going to keep some of what he had done a secret, just in case Sky got captured at some point so she couldn’t reveal anything.  He had already let Hal know what he was doing though, in case he didn’t make it back, so someone could tell Sky how to get back in here safely.  Cole post flight checked the transport and locked it down.  Wearily he headed up the hall to his cabin.  Hal said Sky was still asleep in her room, so he shucked off his clothes and lay down to take a brief nap before heading to the bridge to start the journey to The Pitt.   He only meant to doze for a few minutes but he was more tired than he thought and ended up being out for three hours before Hal finally woke him.  He got up and went over to the mirror to take a long look at himself.

This was it, the beginning of his quest to exact revenge on those who had killed his people not once
, but twice.  He looked at himself and thought, am I ready?  Hell, he was as ready as anyone could be, about to take on a mortal and ancient enemy with only a MD, an unconscious women and an AI that had ideas of its own.  He cracked a grin at himself, grabbed his duster, and headed to the bridge stopping by Sky’s room on the way.  He knocked on her door and when she answered she was wearing the same outfit as him, fatigues over Second Skin and finished off with a shorter version of his duster.  “Nice duds.”  Cole said.  “Let’s go start this war.”

“Yes
Captain, I am with you one hundred percent.”  She gave him a little salute.  Shoulder to shoulder they walked towards the bridge and to destiny.

32

“I don’t know if I will ever get used to FTL and Grav travel.  The feeling when that drive engages and hurtles your ship through space and time faster than light can travel is very disconcerting to say the least.  The best way I can describe it is to compare it to the teleporters from Star Trek.  You feel like you’re being broken down into your atomic parts then reassembled.  So far it has made me want to take a shower after every time we have made a jump.  I guess I can handle the feeling if it gets me from point A to B, faster than anyone else in the galaxy can go.  It gives me the willies just thinking about it.  So far the only travel we have done was relatively short from the docks to Earth and back again.  This next one is going to take us to the other side of the galaxy.  We are going to spend several hours in grav warped space.  Hal assures me that it will feel just as fast as the Earth trip and we shouldn’t notice anything different.  Well there is no way around it so I may as well try to ignore it as best I can.”

Cole and Sky walked onto the bridge and took their respective seats.  Without connecting to the ship Cole brought up the star chart in front of him.  “Hal, show me The Pitt on the map and our current position please.”  Milliseconds later two bright dots blinked to life on the holoscreen in front of Cole.  He selected the dot that belonged to The Pitt.  It was a rogue moon.  At some point in its life span, the moon had broken orbit from its planet and solar system.  It now resided by itself just outside of a brilliantly beautiful nebula.  The nebula didn’t provide heat but it did reflect light onto the moon.  The moon itself was about half the size of Earth, but its core was solid iron and some other trace minerals so it had near Earth gravity.  It was within a light year of a populated system, a system that had gone through a civil war about two hundred years ago.  Some of the populace fled from the Major inhabited planet and set up, what was expected to be, a temporary colony while the two factions duked it out in the nearby system.  The war lasted about twenty-five years and the only habitable planet in the system was washed in radiation and chemicals that rendered the planet uninhabitable.  The ones who formed the colony ended up being the only survivors from the whole system of billions of beings.

Most of them abandoned the colony to go looking for a new home world.  Some stayed to sell goods and services to the small trading community that had started up
.  It turned out that the moons location was very close to a transfer spot between two other systems that had just signed some trade agreements, but didn’t have a direct route between the systems.  Apparently there were a cluster of black holes between the two and you could not make direct transit.  So with the advent of the colony the merchant fleet started making the course adjustments in the neighborhood of the colony moon.  Bringing with them merchant marines and all that entails.  With the influx of trading ships, it soon became a ripe target for less than lawful organizations.

It became known as the place to buy anything from illegal substances t
o slaves.  It had the advantage of not having any laws and being far enough outside of other systems that no one really cared what happened there as long as the ships kept moving through.  These days, criminal bosses ran the show and petty crime was the norm.  But recently some of the more civilized elements of galactic society had begun setting up shop there, in order to curb some of the excesses, and to put a dent in some of the worst crimes.  It was those organizations that were trying to improve things on the Pitt that Sky wanted to get in contact with, because they had already proved their willingness to do the right thing when it was dangerous to do so.  Cole hoped she was right because this place made Detroit look like a paradise.  He stared at the information for a bit longer before shutting it down.

“
Everyone ready?”  He asked.  Both Sky and Hal signaled affirmative so he took a deep breath and made the link with
Retribution
.  He reveled in the feeling of oneness with the ship for a moment before locking in the coordinates to The Pitt.  He gave himself a few seconds to sever the connection with the ship before she jumped. 
Retribution
powered up and slipped into gravity created warped space, leaving Cole feeling like he was falling apart.  True to what Hal had said, it only felt like moments before he was put back together again.  Cole quickly reconnected to
Retribution
.  He did a quick scan of the surrounding space lanes.  They were here, well an hour of normal space travel to the moon.  Cole was going to keep the ship to normal speeds, trying to keep its secrets hidden for as long as possible.  He laid in the heading that would bring them to the moon and whatever it held for them.

Thirty minutes out from The Pitt
, they got the first attempt at outside communication any of them had had in a while.  It was some kind of air or space traffic control.  “Unknown ship, slow to standard planetary speeds and transmit docking information on this com frequency.  Since you are coming up as an unknown, we need all specs on your ship to include tonnage, weapons, defenses and personnel.  Then prepare for a full scan fly by.  Control out.”

“I hope you have something for them Hal and it better not be the truth.  Hmm, can we send them false spec information and hide it from a close scan?”  Cole asked.

“Already done Sir, and there is no way these idiots are going to get through my concealment routines.”  The last was said with disdain dripping from his voice.

“Okay next question then, I
am sure we are not going to park here for free or resupply without cash or credits or whatever you use for money here.  Any ideas on that?”

“Taken care of too.
  The Admiral was nice enough to access some of his accounts that were not connected to him or his organization in any way.  We have some credits to work with but it’s not infinite.  We should have more than enough to pay whatever docking and customs fees they will charge us and resupply our food and water systems.  I am transferring the information to this mini comp.  You can take it with you and use it to interface with whatever they have to make funds transfers.  Try not to spend it all now, we may need more credits later.”

Two small computers, about the size of a smart phone, slid up out of the consoles
in front of Sky and Cole.  They each grabbed one, and gave them the once over.  Cole looked at the linked accounts shown on the screen.  Just under fifty thousand credits was the grand total.  “I’m not up on the currency yet, is this a lot?”

“Not a fortune by any means
, but it will sustain us for a good while.”  Hal responded.

“It would make for a very nice shopping trip
,” Sky piped in.

“Ha-ha, okay looks like the scan ship is inbound
, everyone act natural.”  Cole had Hal bring up the 360 view ports so he could see everything around him.  There were dozens of ships floating in the void around them.  Some coming others going.  None of them looked the same.  Hal labeled each ship with the information their transponders were reporting.  Three quarters of them appeared to be merchantmen stopping for a layover or heading out from one. The rest appeared to be either private ships or working shuttles, like the kind currently coming to scan the
Retribution
.  He even noticed two fighter ships streaking off into the distance.  Cole’s attention was drawn back to the ship approaching their front.  It slowed and then stopped.  It looked like a large box with an engine on the back.  It was definitely designed to only do one job.  It was currently hesitating in the performance of that job.

“Unknown
ship please inform your Captain that we would like to speak to him.”  The call came from the boxy little scan ship to their front.

“Hal
, just go voice no picture from us.  Okay open a return channel.”  Cole was excited and nervous at the same time.  Thank God these suits whisked moisture from his actual skin or he would be soaked in sweat right now.  “Scan ship, this is the
Retribution
and I am the Captain.  Is there a problem here?”

“No problem
Captain, but your ship is not appearing in any of our known hull references and we need a make and world of origin before we can start the scan.”

“Understood.
  This is a Retribution class star ship with an unknown point of origin,” Cole responded.

“Sorry
Captain, I need more than that or you will be denied docking rights.”

Cole thought for a moment then shrugged.  “Wait
, I have something here, yes it looks like place of origin was Earth in the Sol system.  If you try to tell me you never heard of that either, I am going to start getting upset and find somewhere else to spend these credits.  Somewhere they ask a lot fewer questions.  I would recommend updating your informational systems if you can’t find this ship or its planet in your current references.”  Cole was hoping they would try to cover any perceived ignorance on their part and finish the scan.

“There are lots of places I haven’t heard of
, what’s one more.  Stay in your current position and prepare for hull scan.”  The small boxy ship started at the cockpit and moved along the upper hull towards the back then swung underneath and came forward.  It finally parked itself back in front of the cockpit and hailed
Retribution
again.  “Scan checks out with all your listed specs you are free to go after paying the docking fees and the unknown origin fees.  I am transmitting the totals to you now.”

“
Thank you very much.  Lemme know when I can proceed forward. 
Retribution
out.”  Cole looked at the two numbers that appeared on the screen.  The docking fee was higher than the second fee.

“You do realize the second account is a
personal account and he is expecting a bribe.”

“
Gee, really Hal, I never realized it.  I know, but it’s better to pay this guy off than stay here attracting attention and pissing off the local authorities.  Besides it’s not much and we can afford it.”  Cole selected the amount on his comp and paid the fee and the bribe.

“
Follow the beacon to pad forty-five.  It should be just the right size for your ship.  Enjoy your stay here at The Pitt.”  With that the little ship turned away and headed back to a small station off to their right.  Cole, with Hal’s help, found the landing beacon and headed out at what Hal said was a proper approach speed.  The moon slowly grew in size as they got closer.  Cole finally noticed the nebula off in the distance behind the moon.  He had only seen pictures of a nebula taken by the Hubble telescope.  It was even more mesmerizing than those pictures lead one to believe.

“Pay attention
Cole, if you crash us into that moon, I will make your last seconds very uncomfortable,” Sky said after being silent since they had left the docks.  “Look at the nebula later, land on the pad first.”

“Yea yea sorry just never s
aw one this close before.”  Cole said as he peeled his eyes off the nebula.  The city was dead center of the moon and it gave the moon an eerie look.  The moon itself reminded Cole of an eye and the city was the black retina.  It was a little creepy to be honest.  Finally the moon filled up the forward view port and Cole had to fully concentrate on his landing.  This was his first one after all.  He finally found himself above the docking bay with the number 45 painted in giant black paint over the grey door.  He cut his thrust and engaged his repulser lifts, slowly drifting down into the rapidly opening bay. 
Retribution
would not be the only one docked here it seemed.  There were two other ships already on the ground.  Hal advised Cole to use the landing struts and not just leave it hovering since it was very rare for a ship to have parking repulsers.  They were considered a luxury that was usually only found on high end personal transports.  So Cole extended and locked into place the four landing struts on the underside of the ship.  He settled into his parking spot like a pro.  Not a bounce or shutter to be felt.  He was here and would finally be interacting with other beings.  Again he felt excited and nervous at the same time.

“Alright Hal, obviously you hang out on board and keep the ship ready and safe while Sky and I head into town to see what we can see.  I assume there is some way for us to stay in constant contact with each other?”

“Yes
, I had the nanites modify the language interpreter device that you both have into two way radios.  Whenever you need to, just think about making a connection with myself or Sky, and vice versa for you Sky.  While I can reach you at anytime through the ships comm array, your broadcast range is severely limited by solid objects and distance from each other and me.  If you are having trouble reaching me, try getting to a higher elevation or out of buildings.  If you need me, I will try to fight the ship to you but I would prefer to not to have to do that on our first field trip.”

“Gotcha Hal.”  Cole looked to Sky. 
“Ready to go do some shopping?”

She nodded affirmative and they both headed down to the external ramp.  They stopped at the top of the ramp and gave themselves the once over
, checking weapons and ammo and attaching the small computers to the ends of the sleeves of their suits.  They looked at each other for a moment then Cole hit the button to drop the ramp down to the deck.  He stepped down onto the ramp and walked to the bottom.  They stepped off the ramp and into a small war.