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

“
You are absolutely correct, sir. However, each universe has a wide variety of attendant galaxies. The size of the particular galaxy in which we are engaging in this hostile takeover is less than a third the size of ours. We will have no trouble calculating jumps of several thousand light years... even in the general vicinity of the galactic core
.
”  

"
Excellent, Admiral," Snatch Bait said. He immediately turned his attention to the next admiral in the room and continued polling the various members of the board for their individual statuses.

At long last the meeting was done. Ricky slipped away as fast as decorum would permit. Honey walked a respectful three steps behind him. He snapped his fingers and held up the data pad. She meekly took it from his hand. The ride down the turbo lift was conducted in absolute silence. Neither knew for a fact that the chairman didn't routinely monitor or record conversations within the Syndicate Center headquarters complex.

Thirty minutes later the real Admiral Rockclam awoke with a bit of a headache in a corner booth of a dark drinking establishment he had no memory of entering. He was no stranger to this particular establishment, so he waved to the barkeep on the way out. He would settle his tab later, when his head was
n’
t spinning so much.

***

Fedom was a small creature from a small world located in what he considered to be the smallest and darkest corner of Modos-controlled space. Despite his size, he had big dreams. He dreamed of a time when he and his people were again free. This was a dream that he shared with countless others. The Modos Syndicate had come to their world many generations ago, and yet the memory of freedom remaine
d
… bitter and sweet and completely unobtainable.

His people had tried to throw off their oppressors in the past. The response had been quick and brutal. Legions of Modos soldiers had stationed themselves on his world. What little freedom his people had under Modos rule soon disappeared. Families and entire nest colonies were uprooted and separated. Food, already scarce, became even scarcer. The largest of his people were taken as slaves and personal servants. The rest wer
e‘
pressed into labor camps and forced to produce whatever the Syndicate required.

This was what life had become for his people: a life of servitude, never-ending and absolute. Fedom had spent a lifetime looking for a way out of the bondage. It had always been a dream while the Modos legions were camped in their small little part of the univers
e
… That is, until today.

Fedom watched contrail after contrail form as rockets blasted off from the various legion bases scattered around the major cities of his world. The bulk of the Modos forces were leaving. He did
n’
t know it at the time, but it was a sight duplicated on hundreds of other worlds.

The Modos were leavin
g
… but for where, and would they be back? He turned his back on the contrails and made his way back into his underground den. It was time he reported to the others. Perhaps the day had finally come to take back their planet.

***

Ken Kirkland pushed back from the table. His wife was unquestionably the best cook in the service. Unfortunately, she was also a Lieutenant with advanced degrees in environmental sciences and xenobiology. Her unique combination of skills meant she was invaluable for certain challenges faced by the GCP. As a result, she was on temporary duty assignment (TDY) with a new race called the Yagur.

The Yagur were a desert people who had recently been discovered by the GCP. As a species, they could not tolerate moist atmospheres well. This meant that, although they were oxygen breathers, they would have difficultly serving on most Coalition vessels. In addition, the ability of humans and the
D’
lralu to actively sweat moisture made working directly with these races especially difficult for the Yagur.

Ke
n’
s wife, Lieutenant Rebecca Kirkland, had designed an active-nanite-infused fabric that could filter out H
2
O from perspiration and store it in a reservoir in a pouch located near the small of the weare
r’
s back. A mask provided the same service for exhaled breath. Rebecca was onboard a Yagur starship attempting to develop a similar system that would allow Yagur to visit and perhaps even serve on GCP ships.

The end result for the
Yorktow
n
’
s first officer and chaplain was that he had to deal with his own cooking. Despite holding doctorates in both engineering and theology, he had never taken the time to learn how to cook anything more ambitious than a fried egg or a hotdog. Rebecca had been gone for a week and there were only so many ways to fry an egg or boil a hotdog. Ken missed his wife. The fact that her captai
n’
s mess held the only Michelin star ever awarded to a kitchen on a starship only served to remind him of what he was missing.

His commlink bleeped for his attention.

“
Kirkland her
e
” he answered as he gathered his plate from the table.  

“
Sir, this is the bridge. Admiral Kimbridg
e’
s shuttle is about to dock
.
”

“
Roger that, bridge. Notify senior department heads that there will be a briefing in the captai
n’
s ready room at 16:00. Kirkland out
.
”

***

The next several days were busy for the crew of the GCP
Yorktown
. While Admiral Faragon coordinated with the various member-worlds of the Galactic Coalition to create a coherent defense strategy; Cat worked with WhimPy 101, Captain Takei, and his team, which now included Ricky Valen and his synthetic copilot, Honey. Their mission was to digest the flood of information coming in through the ENOs and to develop a strategy to refocus the Modos Syndicat
e’
s attention away from the Alphaverse.

Ca
t’
s plan centered on the general sense of unrest on many of the Modos-conquered worlds. The fact that the GCP had significant advantages in terms of FTL communications and the limited ability to jump between universes at arbitrary locations was somewhat offset by the sheer mass of the Modos invasion machine. If Cat could convince the various rebel factions to seize this opportunity to rise up against their oppressors there might be a chance of reversing the tide in this conflict. The key was going to be meeting with and convincing as many of the rebel factions as possible that the GCP could and would help them. Many had long histories with the Modos, and they knew that no one had successfully rebelled against the Syndicate. For any uprising to succeed it had to be part of a larger and coordinated campaign. The ability to do this was the carrot Cat hoped to offer these potential allies.

The current meeting, which had been going on for hours, included Commanders Ben and Kirkland, as well as the rebel liaison, Captain Running Stream. Ricky, Honey, and Captain Takei were present as holograms from the Betaverse, thanks to a micro-transdimensional conduit facilitated by the massive and sentient Heshe weapons platform known as WhimPy-101. The table in the ready room was strewn with the remnants of many hours of discussion. This included scattered data pads and a not inconsiderable number of empty coffee cups.

“
So, we are agreed
,
” Cat said, quietly
.“
Naanac is going to be key. The emancipation forces on Naanac regularly take advantage of the normal flow of traffic between the Syndicat
e’
s home office and the older worlds nearer the core. Their leaders are known to the peoples of those worlds
.
”

Captain Running Stream nodded
.“
If we are going to earn the trust of the core worlds we have to first earn the trust of the people on Naanac
.
”

“
So the question remai
n
s
,
” Ben added
,“
how do we aid the opposition? If we supply weapons we have no idea how they will be used
.
”

“
Tha
t’
s aside from the fact that to arm a non-GCP entity with advanced GCP technology would violate several hundred GCP regulations
,
” Ken mused, while pouring himself the last of the coffee.

Cat stood up and smiled, nodding toward Ke
n’
s half full cup
.“
The coffee seems to be done, so as far as
I’
m concerned this meeting is over
.
” Clearing her throat she continued
.“
Ben, I want you to work with the Marines Admiral Faragon was good enough to assign to the
Yorktown
. I want an insertion plan for a support team and whatever equipment they may need. Their objective will be to neutralize any remaining Modos occupation forces. Ken, you and Running Stream are to work out who we need to contact and when on each of our target worlds
.
”

Cat looked over toward the holograms of Ricky, Honey, and Takei. Hakaro smiled and raised his cup
.“
We have plenty of coffee here Admira
l
… any time you want to visit just let us know
.
”

Cat returned the smile but continued issuing orders
.“
Captain Takei, I need you and the
Honey Dipper
to do a special job for me
.
”

“
Certainly, m
a’
am. Will it upset the Syndicate
?
”

“
Most certainl
y
” Cat grinned.

Chapter Fou
r
– The Battle of the Breach...

Debbu carefully hopped from the cover of the moss shrub that had been his hiding place for the last hour.  He was just outside the northern most gate of the sprawling spaceport city of Harromog. At his belt were a couple of small packages. One held several ounces of a newly discovered and highly potent aphrodisiac from the human worlds. Because these worlds were not yet under syndicate control the substance was still exceedingly expensive. As a result is was a very portable and convenient material to use for illicit bribes. Such was the case today.

The three ounces of what the humans calle
d‘
Arabica Roas
t
’ would be used to secure passage to the inter worlds for the second of Debb
u’
s packages. This was a pair of data crystals. They appeared identical and both contained encoded messages. One also held a validation phrase that the rebel leadership could and would use to authenticate the proper of the two messages. The proper message would then be used to retrieve the full and complete message using an age-old technique commonly called a book cipher. The decoded message was finally one of hope. He-that-should-not-be-named had finally blessed his people with the hope of salvation. Salvation in the form of strange aliens with even stranger idea
s
… that all sentient beings have an equal claim on peace and prosperity.

The word-in-the-marsh (and confirmed by visitors from a so-called Galactic Coalition) was that the Syndicate was mobilizing a huge response to the Humans and their allies. The response was of such a size and scope that if properly handled it could represent an opportunity for the rebels that might not be repeated for untold generations. Debb
u’
s resistance cell was looking to coordinate with cells on other planets to best take advantage of this situation.

The problem was of course timing. FTL Communication within the Syndicate systems was limited to the maximum distance one could establish and hold open a hyperfold corridor. The closer one moved toward the core worlds near the galactic center the more limited this distance became. The harsh reality was that communication to the core often took days and was nowhere near real-time. This made coordination a virtual impossibility and yet try they must.

***

Ricky Valen leaned forward in his pilo
t’
s seat and adjusted a dial on the navigation panel in front of him.
The Honey Dipper
was fully cloaked and traveling through Modos controlled space. Ricky could have made the adjustment by sending a mental command to his partner and friend, Honey, who is the shi
p’
s AI but he found he liked the feel of the controls on his fingers. Humans had been using fingers to accomplish such tasks since the Creator had put humankind in the cosmos. There was a satisfaction that tactile feedback produced that a thought-controlled cybernetic interface would never be able to duplicate.

Honey for her part smiled at his movement. She found his fondness for physical switches and knobs endearing. Most ships as advanced as the GCP
Honey-Dipper
employed touch screen, holographic inputs and thought-actuated control systems. In point of fact Honey could reconfigure this ship to use the same in a few minutes but the current configuration was the mode it generally operated in. She supposed the anachronistic fondness for 20
th
century hardware by a man firmly locked in the 22
nd
century was part of his charm.