Rumors of Salvation (System States Rebellion Book 3) (16 page)

“I’m
not ready to go that far,” said Drake. “Yes, M2 didn’t recommend an Empire
strategy, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s not attempting to push
its own agenda. Having said that, I have no idea what its agenda could be. I
think we should ask it what Majestic is likely to be doing.” She agreed.

M2
took its time answering that question. The answer was shocking. Majestic would
expand its cadre of slaves while developing biological weapons which it would
then use on any planet that contained more than 100,000 colonists. That
included Earth too. Its ultimate goal would be to dominate small and
widely-scattered pockets of humanity from Hadley, with the local population all
controlled by implants.

“My
God!” gasped Lorelei. “We have to kill that thing as fast as possible!”

Drake
nodded. Any doubts he had about M2 having a hidden agenda were now gone. By
pointing out the horrible potential of the original Majestic machine and how
dangerous this kind of computational technology could become, it effectively
put itself at risk of destruction, not something that Drake would have expected
to see if the machine were trying to manipulate its human masters. The problem
now was how could they destroy Majestic before billions of humans were
exterminated? The delay in getting his fleet of cruisers upgraded was turning
into a potential disaster of huge proportions.

As
Drake tried to wrap his brain around the problem of how to speed up their
preparations, he heard the tone that indicated another text message was about
to scroll across the large display.

[Further
analysis of possible Majestic strategies has the following high probability
scenario. Majestic will implant control devices into key Earth military and
civilian personnel with instructions to be on the lookout for covert
anti-Empire operations. As a result of this, Majestic will learn about the
Midgard shipbuilding operation. It will attempt to infiltrate and take over the
operation with implanted personnel by withdrawing Empire troops from Earth,
thereby letting Earth re-establish communication with Midgard Base. The use of
bio-weapons to depopulate Earth will be delayed until the Midgard Base is under
Majestic control. End of report.]

“Holy
Mother of God. If Majestic gets control of the Midgard Base, it’ll also get the
new detection and ECM technology too,” said Drake.

“But
now that we know what Majestic might try to do, we can warn the Base to take precautions
while they upgrade our cruisers,” said Lorelei.

Drake
pondered that idea for a few seconds and then shook his head. “No. That’s too
risky. The only safe way to keep the technology out of Majestic’s hands is for
us to do the exact opposite of what Rachel and I agreed on. Instead of moving
all our people from Excalibur to Midgard, we’re going to move the Base
personnel AND all their equipment here. Once we install that equipment here, we
can then upgrade our own ships.”

“What
about Rachel’s two ships? They don’t have the faster hyper-drive. It’ll take
them almost two years to get here, assuming they can find enough food and other
consumables to last that long.”

“I
know. That’s why I’ll have to convince her to abandon both ships and have the
crews join the Base personnel in coming here. We’ll find room for them on our
ships.”

“Will
you be taking the fleet back there?” asked Lorelei.

Drake
was conflicted. He’d been away for months, and he very much wanted to stay. But
if he was going to send all their ships to Midgard, with the possibility that
Majestic’s drones might have gotten there first, then delegating command of the
mission to someone else was just too risky.

“I
think I have to go. I hope you can see why.”

She
sighed. “I can see why, but I don’t have to like it. Just make damn sure you
come back, and without a metal device in your neck. How long can you stay?”

“Just
long enough to get the ships and crews ready. I’d guess a couple of days.”

It
actually took almost a week, and it proved to be more difficult than Drake had
imagined it would be. To his surprise, a lot of the crewmembers refused to go.
They had established relationships with other colonists and settled down to
other occupations and were not prepared to put that at risk. Of the eight
cruisers, five converted carriers and six freighters brought to Excalibur,
Drake only managed to find crews for Coral Sea and the six freighters. He could
have taken two cruisers instead of four of the freighters, but he decided that
the extra cargo capacity was more than worth the missile strength that was of
dubious value considering the cruisers didn’t have the new detection system to
make their missiles really useful. His goal was not to fight a fleet-to-fleet
action, and he was determined to avoid combat if at all possible. Stocking the
ships with food and other consumables also took longer than expected. Lorelei
pretended to be sympathetic to his sense of urgency, but she was grateful for
every extra hour with him that she could get. When it finally came time to go,
they said their tender goodbyes, and she watched his seven ships lift off.

Day
334/2554

Midgard
Base

Molitor
stood watching with her security contingent as the two shuttles landed inside
the Base. With her Tigershark in the process of having its collapsed matter
armor removed, there wasn’t room inside the volcano for the Gibraltar to land
at the same time. The fact that a freighter was arriving from Earth was a
surprise, but not nearly as much of a surprise as the news that Empire forces
had completely withdrawn from Earth. No doubt Commander Rollens, the man in
charge of the Gibraltar, was equally surprised to be talking with a former
Empire officer and not with Bret Murphy.

Molitor
told herself once again that she was being paranoid in having her security
people here since it was unlikely that Rollens would have received instructions
to arrest any ex-Empire officers who happened to be in charge of the Base.
Still, her intuition was telling her to be careful, and she had learned to
listen to it.

When
both shuttles had landed, their passengers started to disembark, and Molitor
recognized Rollens. He smiled and waved to her as he came closer. Behind him
were roughly a dozen individuals, some of whom were carrying what appeared to
be luggage and two who were clearly armed. Molitor didn’t like seeing that. She
attempted to keep her expression from showing her disapproval. As Rollens
approached, he offered his right hand, and after half a second hesitation,
Molitor shook it.

“Welcome
to Midgard Base, Commander Rollens. I’m guessing this situation is a surprise
for both of us,” said Molitor.

“Yes,
I guess it is. Where is Commander Colt? I’m curious as to why he isn’t still in
charge of the Base.” Rollens’ voice was casual, and his expression was
friendly. Molitor was able to see that the expressions of the people standing
behind him were not so friendly.

“Oh,
he’s still managing the engineering work going on here, but in terms of the
overall strategic objectives that this Base was built to achieve, that command
function was assumed by Commander Murphy when we lost contact with Earth, and
he delegated that authority to me before he died,” said Molitor in what she
hoped was an equally casual voice.

“I
see,” said Rollens. He looked around him. “Is that your ship, Commander?” he
asked pointing to the Tigershark.

“Yes,
she’s having her armor stripped off so that we can install the new detection
and ECM systems that….” Molitor left the sentence unfinished as she suddenly
realized that Rollens and Gibraltor might really be working for the Empire
while pretending to be from Earth. She didn’t think that was likely, because
she knew all of the Empire ship C.O.s and X.O.s by sight, and she had never
seen Rollens before, but there was something about Rollens that was causing her
intuition to set off alarm bells. “…that we were able to develop ourselves.”
She hoped her explanation didn’t sound as lame to Rollens as it did to her.
Rollens turned back to look her in the eye with raised eyebrows.

“Ah,
somehow I think there’s more to that story than you’re letting on, Commander
Molitor. May I call you Rachel?” Molitor nodded. “Thank you, Rachel. In any
case, I’ve been tasked by both General Masterson and Admiral Chenko to assume
command of this Base AND all operations resulting from it. I have a recording
of that authorization in the case that my assistant is carrying. I’m sure you’d
like to see it. Is there somewhere private where we can do that?”

Molitor
thought fast. “Yes, there is. My team here,” she nodded towards her security
staff, “will make sure all of your people get settled in while you and your
assistant follow me to the conference room.”

“Fine.
Lead the way, Rachel,” said Rollens.

Molitor
relaxed a little bit when it became clear that’s Rollens’ two armed men were
not trying to follow them to the conference room. She was organizing her
thoughts for her intended discussion with Rollens over her status as an
ex-Empire officer as she led the three of them into the small conference room.
Suddenly, Rollens grabbed her right wrist from behind and twisted her arm
behind her back. With her arm on the verge of breaking, she was in too much
pain to say anything as he forced her upper body to bend over the conference
table so that she was lying face down.

“I
was told to be on the lookout for Tigershark and her crew. Majestic’s going to
be very pleased when it learns that you and your ship have been brought back
into the fold, Rachel. Now unfortunately the procedure that my assistant is
getting ready is going to hurt, but you’ll survive.”

As
Molitor struggled to breath again so that she could say something, she felt the
back of her uniform collar being pulled back and she realized what ‘the
procedure’ referred to. She did manage to scream before the pain rendered her
unconscious.

Day
185/2555

Midgard
orbital space:

Coral
Sea

Drake
nodded as Molitor’s face appeared on the main display.

“Nice
to see you again, Rachel. How’s your neck?” he asked as casually as he could.
Prior to returning to Excalibur, he and Molitor has agreed on an exchange of
code words to warn each other in case one of them had been implanted. Molitor
had convinced him that she believed the implant device was sophisticated enough
to prevent the host from voluntarily revealing his or her compromised
condition. Therefore it would not let the host say the agreed upon words, ‘my
neck hurts because of the metal device in it’. Only someone who hadn’t been
implanted would be able to say those words. So if Molitor answered his question
with ‘my neck’s fine’ or something similar, then he’d know that she’d been
compromised. If she answered correctly, she would then ask him about his neck
and wait for his response. Her response surprised him.

“No
need to worry about me, Roland. There’s nothing on my neck. Here, I’ll show
you.” She turned so that her back was to the video camera and pulled her collar
down so that her neck was clearly visible. No metal device was visible. After a
few seconds, she turned back around.

“Satisfied?
How about you? Did the demon Majestic get to you?” Her tone was light, almost
playful, and Drake was struck by the jarring difference between her present
light-hearted mood and the very serious attitude she’d displayed when she
showed him the dead body of her former C.O. The fact that she wasn’t sticking
to the script also bothered him. The struggle against the Empire was serious
business, and she had left him with the impression that she understood that and
could be counted on to follow the procedures they had agreed upon. He decided
to respond in a similar tone. If he said that his neck hurt because of the
metal device in it, her implant might realize that she’d been forced to respond
the wrong way.

“
My neck’s fine too, Rachel.” He was about to
tell her about the change in plans and the evacuation of the Base when a
thought occurred. If it turned out she wasn’t implanted, then she’d have every
right to be pissed at him. “I’ve brought a couple of thousand scientists and
their families. That why I brought seven ships back. Coral Sea will land inside
the Base first. Why don’t you come aboard first so we can work out the
details?”

“Wonderful!
I’ve got something to show you, so I’ll bring a couple of people with me.”

I’ll just bet you have,
thought Drake. “Very
good, Rachel. See you soon. Drake clear.” When he was sure the transmission was
cut, he walked over to the Weapons Station. A quick inspection of the
anti-boarding system’s status confirmed that the knockout gas, designed to
prevent the unauthorized boarding of the ship, was available. Activating the
intercom, Drake said, “Attention, crew. I believe that the Midgard Base has
been compromised. This is what we’re going to do.”

Molitor
walked back and forth as the Coral Sea gently descended into the volcano. The
ship, that had been undergoing modifications, had been moved to make room. She
looked behind her at the now implanted security contingent that was ready to
take control of Drake and his ship. She looked over to the side where Rollens
was standing. So far, his presence was unknown to Drake. She hoped that Drake
had interpreted her responses correctly. It had taken all her concentration to
walk that fine line between giving him a warning response and not alerting her
implant that she wasn’t being co-operative. She seemed to have pulled that off,
but was dismayed that Drake was bringing his ship down instead of following his
own planned response of heading back to Excalibur. If Rollens succeeded in
taking control of Drake and his ships, then Majestic would learn where
Excalibur was and could use the faster ships to send troops there and take over
the Brain Trust too. That would end all hope of saving the Human Race from eons
of slavery and mass death. Somehow she had to come up with some way to save
Drake from his own folly, but she couldn’t think of anything!

When
the ship finally touched down and the boarding ramp started to descend, she
felt that familiar pressure in her head that told her that the implant wanted
her to act.

“Get
moving, Rachel!” yelled Rollens. Sighing, she stepped forward. Her security
contingent followed. With the ramp now down, she walked up to the main hatch
that was sliding open. To her surprise, Drake wasn’t standing in the opening.
Neither was anyone else for that matter. That was unusual. As she stepped into
the ship, she heard Drake’s voice over the intercom.

“I’m
in the main conference room on deck three, Rachel.” Drake watched her team’s
progress via internal video from his station on the Bridge. As soon as she and
her three companions entered the elevator and the doors had closed, he nodded
to his Weapons Officer and put on his oxygen mask. By the time the elevator
stopped at deck three, not only were all of its occupants unconscious on the
floor, but knockout gas was also pouring out of the open hatch into the base of
the volcano. Drake didn’t know if the ship had enough gas to subdue everyone on
the Base, but the knockout gas was heavier than air and would settle into the
lowest levels of the Base. If they couldn’t incapacitate everyone, they could
at least take out most of the Base personnel. When they had used up all their
knockout gas, they vented it clear of the ship, closed the main hatch and
checked Molitor and her entourage.

Fifteen
minutes later, Molitor and her three companions were securely strapped down to
tables in the Medical Bay. Careful physical examination of their necks showed
that each was implanted with a device that had been surgically placed below the
skin so that a cursory examination of the neck would not show anything unusual.
It was time to test the new method for freeing the host from the device’s
control. While Drake was making contact with the Resistance, Lorelei had asked
M2 how an implanted device could be removed or deactivated without killing the
host. M2 had obligingly come up with a design for a machine that would generate
a very high intensity but also localized electro-magnetic pulse that would
overload and melt any electronic circuitry within a radius of a meter or less.
A prototype of that design had been built by the time Drake came back, and he
had taken it with him for use in exactly this kind of scenario. His Chief
Medical Officer wanted to try it on Molitor first, but Drake said no. They
would try it out on one of her companions.

The
test was successful from the point of view that the body didn’t seem to suffer
any adverse reactions from either the pulse machine or the implanted device,
however until the subject woke up from the knockout gas, there was no way to know
if the brain had suffered any damage. While they waited for the test subject to
wake up, Drake checked with the Bridge concerning the situation outside the
ship. As far as the ship’s external video cameras could tell, there was no
movement at all in the Base. If there was anyone still unaffected by the
knockout gas, they were staying well hidden. After a few minutes of breathing
pure oxygen, the test subject woke up and immediately declared that he was free
from the implant’s control. Drake told the medical personnel to use the pulse
machine on Molitor next. It wasn’t long before she woke up and said she was
free too. The final confirmation of that fact was when she insisted that her
implant be removed using local anesthetics. The removal procedure, also
designed by M2, proved to be a complete success with minimal internal bleeding.
Molitor would have to stay immobile for a couple of days to let the wound heal,
but she was awake and mentally alert. She told Drake what had happened.
Everyone on the Base had been implanted by the time his ship arrived. He then
told her about M2’s warning and the pulse machine. He also told her about the
plan to completely evacuate the Base, including all personnel and all
equipment. There wouldn’t be time to upgrade Sorcerer’s and Tigershark’s
hyper-drives, so those ships would have to be abandoned and either disabled or
destroyed to prevent them from being used by the Empire. Moiltor’s obvious
sorrow at losing her ship quickly disappeared when Drake told her that she’d be
getting another command when they got back to Excalibur.