The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles #4, Retribution (2 page)

If Takei was successful in planting a swarm of self-replicating quantum entangled nanite observers (ENOs) in the boardroom of the local corporate headquarters in the capital city of Harromog, then the ENOs would latch onto every major player in the Syndicate. The GCP would have an intelligence bonanza. They would know what the Syndicate was doing almost before the Syndicate did.

***

Ricky Valen looked at his reflection in the small cabin's mirror. Try as he might, he could not see through his current disguise. He was every inch the spitting image of a Suhtii Bearephant. He even had the requisite Modos mounted on his right shoulder. In actuality, his suit was a massive array of microscopic holographic projectors embedded in a nanite second skin designed to follow his movements in real-time. The projection was augmented with micro-field emitters that simulated surface textures.

Honey stood next to him and smiled. He responded by wrapping an excessively hairy arm around her waist. The two had formed an interesting bond. Honey was a synthetic being. Ricky was human. Ricky had wondered about the ethics of a romantic relationship with an AI. Did Honey have a soul? If she did, what did that mean about the nature of the soul? If she didn't, what did it mean about the nature of their relationship? In the end, he put the question aside. He'd ask God about it when he eventually got to heaven. For the moment he was content to love a very real woman, even if she was an AI.

"The holo generators are learning to sync with your movements. In a few hours the chameleon effect will be impossible to detect."

"It is impressive. Even the trunk looks real. How functional will it be?"

Honey reached out to touch the lightly furred appendage.  "I
t’
s fully robotic. The same AI controlling your holographic skin also controls it. The behavior should closely mimic the trunk on a real Suhtii. I wouldn't use it for heavy lifting, but other than that it should pass."

"It's the 'shoul
d
’ part that has me worried. Remind me one more time how I'm supposed to pull this off?"

"It's a piece of pie...
,
” Honey began.

"Cake"

"What?"

"It's
a‘
piece of cak
e’
... the saying i
s‘
it's a piece of cake
.’
"

Honey placed her hands on her curvaceous hips. "That doesn't make any sense... but it doesn't matter. You know what I meant. It's easy... you and I grab our target. I slap a cranial interface on the Modos and you have access to his surface thoughts. Once I get him back to the
shuttle I'll keep him lightly drugged and cooperative. You go about your business as if you were him. Piece of cak
e—
or pie."

Ricky took one more look at himself and nodded half to himself. "Okay, then I guess I'm ready. Captain Takei's information says the shuttle departs this evening. If we are going to be on it we need to leave soon."

Honey slipped out of his grasp. "You just want to see me in my slave outfit!" she teased.

As he watched, her skin shimmered and changed back to the light blue shade the two of them had adopted weeks ago, when they were pretending to be members of a fictional race known as the Aenar. He nodded his approval. She placed her hands on her hips and winked. The nanites under her control changed her hair to snow white at the same time her jumpsuit transformed into something far less practical an
d—
uncoincidentall
y—
far more revealing.

Ricky whistled in appreciation.

"I take it you approve?"

"What's not to like?" he said, with a wolfish grin, as he scanned her from head to toe... stopping periodically along the way.

"Hey...
,
” Honey said in a teasing voice. "Eyes on the horizon, sailor... we have an admiral to kidnap."

Chapter Two - Friends Bearing Gifts...

Cat walked down the gangway from her shuttle to Orbital One's primary executive landing pad. This particular pad was reserved for high-profile visitors. Cat would never have used it, except that Admiral Faragon had insisted. It seemed admirals, especially ones who had just been awarded the GCP's Meritorious Service Medal, were required to make a good show for the cameras. Of course, that meant wearing a Class-A uniform. Cat ran a finger around the front of her collar. It didn't matter how advanced mankind's technology became, it seemed Class A's were fated by the Creator to be uncomfortable.

As she reached the end of the ramp, she saw Lieutenant Commander Sherry Melbourne, also dressed in a Class-A uniform. Sherry was a good friend, and the administrative assistant to her commanding officer, Admiral Bud Faragon. Somehow, Sherry looked completely comfortable in her Class A.

"Well, if it isn't my favorite racquetball partner," Cat said, as she returned Sherry's smart salute.

"Greetings, Admiral. From your comment, can I infer an order to book a court for later? I'm sure we could find somebody foolish enough to take us on." Sherry looked meaningfully at Commander Ken Kirkland and Captain Running Stream, who followed closely behind the Admiral.

Cat grinned. "Absolutely... that is if the powers that be will grant us mere mortals a recreation break."

"The powers that be are waiting for us in the upper observation deck, Admiral" Sherry prompted while gesturing toward the turbo-lift.

"You are going to insist on calling me Admiral, rather than Cat, aren't you?"

"While we are in public that is correct, ma'am... at least until my promotion to Admiral comes through!"

"I have no doubt you'll get there," Cat said, winking. Cat noticed Captain Running Stream out of the corner of her eye. She gestured for him to step forward.

"Lieutenant Commander Sherry Melbourne, allow me to present Captain Running Stream, formerly of the Modos Syndicate and currently our liaison to the resistance movemen
t—
the Modos Liberation Front."

"Captain," Sherry said, while extending a hand to shake. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."

Running Stream hesitantly reached forward to take her hand. This form of interspecies touching was still somewhat strange to him. It seemed humans would shake anything that had a hand as a way of greeting.

"The pleasure is mine, Commander. Your Admiral has told me much about your people and Earth. I look forward to our peoples growing closer."

The turbo-lift swished open and the small party stepped on to the gravity plating. Sherry touched the control bar and said, "Observation One."

The trip through the station was quick, as the executive landing pad was located close to the primary conference room known as "Observation One." The turbo-lift swished open again, and Commander Melbourne ushered the others out.

Admiral Bud Faragon stood off to the side of the chamber, near the nanite-reinforced transparent aluminum observation window. He was gesturing toward the orbital shipyards and talking quietly, but with obvious passion. A Suhtian delegation was listening intently to the GCP Admiral.

The delegation included several individuals Cat had met on the Suhtian flagship, the
Divine Purpose
. This included two senior diplomats: Admiral Tuti and Elder Farnin. In addition, there were three other Suhtians present. Cat knew the female was Farnin's mate, a middle-aged Suhtian named Dela-Ti. The other two were a mystery. Both were young, and if Cat had to guess they would be administrative assistants with functions not unlike those of her friend Sherry. When Admiral Faragon saw them, he excused himself and walked toward Cat.

Cat smiled as she saluted one of her oldest friends. Bud Faragon returned the salute, and opted for a hug as well. It violated numerous written and unwritten rules, but Cat had become like a daughter to him.

"So, the Prodigal Daughter returns," Admiral Faragon said, with a broad grin.

"Indeed I d
o—
and I bring friends. Admiral, allow me to present Captain Running Stream... my captor and friend."

"Sir!" Captain Running Stream saluted the admiral in a close approximation of what he had seen Cat do.

The Admiral returned his salute. "A pleasure to finally meet you, Captain... although I must admit, when your name first came across my desk this was not the meeting I envisioned."

"Our people have a saying
:‘
Strange days make for strange friends
,’
" Running Stream replied, while extending a hand to shake the one offered by the admiral. "I was sharing with Cat a few minutes ago that kidnapping her was the best thing the resistance could have done."

Admiral Faragon chuckled. "We have a similar saying... one of our greatest writers, a man named Shakespeare wrote, 'Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.' I gather from her reports that targeting Admiral Kimbridg
e’
s prison shuttle was not an accident."

Running Stream smiled as he walked with the others back toward the Suhtian delegation. "You baited a fine hook, sir! Our goal at the time was to gather intelligence that would eventually lead us to potential allies. Never did we imagine we would have such a capable ally in our midst."

"Well, I can't say I'm happy to have a problem like this land in our lap, but at least it comes with a new set of allies."

"Speaking of problems...," Cat interjected, "Mr. Zimmerman informed me just prior to leaving the
Yorktown
that we are expecting an incoming message from our Naanac sources."

"Indeed," Admiral Faragon agreed. "It came in a few minutes ago, right on schedule. I was going to brief everyone together in the CIC's ready room."

***

The Command Information Center (CIC) for Orbital One was the
de facto
electronic nerve center for the GCP. All tactical information, reports, communications, and intelligence data ultimately made it to this room. The ready room was an adjacent conference room. The term "ready room" was an archaic term that had, in the past, meant a fighter pilot's stand-by lounge. The term had been usurped by, of all things, a science fiction program in the late 20
th
century; the term now meant a command officer's executive conference room, usually right off the bridge of a starship.

The ready room was spacious without being huge. There was ample seating for Admiral Tuti, Elder Farnin, Dela-Ti, and their two aids, Lieutenants Khimbr and Maasin-Tuk. The Tuk designation was apparently the Suhtian equivalent of a doctorate in Applied Sciences. In addition to the Suhtian delegation, The GCP was represented by Admirals Kimbridge and Faragon as well as Commanders Kirkland and Melbourne. The sole representative from the Modos resistance was Captain Running Stream.

“
The message from Naanac indicates we can expect a fully committed assault
,
” Faragon said, as the group was seated.

“
‘
Fully committe
d
…’ What are we talking in terms of numbers
?
” Cat asked.

Admiral Faragon turned to look at Running Stream. The Bearephant rose and extended a trunk to point to a section of a floating three-dimensional image that hung in the middle of the conference table.

“
The intel we are getting from our embedded spies on many of the occupied slave worlds is that there has been an unprecedented pullback of occupation force
s
… and not just on the well-established worlds. We have reports of the same thing happening on worlds that have been under Modos control for less than fifty of your years
.
”

Elder Farin studied the map carefully. The universe it depicted had birthed his people. He sighed and leaned back.

“
How many
?
” he asked
.“
How many are coming
?
”

Running Stream paused before answering the elder statesman
.“
Conservatively we are probably talking something on the order of hundreds of thousands of ships. Entire battle divisions
.
”

“
Good Lord
,
” Faragon muttered
.“
Once they start coming through the wormhole, they will not stop coming for months. It will be like a faucet we ca
n’
t turn off
.
”

Cat looked at Ken, who nodded he was ready. She stood and walked toward a clear section of floor
.“
Perhaps i
t’
s a faucet we do
n’
t need to turn off
.
”

At her command, Ken triggered a second holographic display. This time it was a recreation of the launch of the Suhtian starship designated 4400 from the original Suhtian home world in the Betaverse. This was the ship Cat and the others had discovered on that abandoned world. It had been built by the ancient Suhtians as part of their diaspora fleet.