Infinity (First Colony Book 13), page 1
Copyright © 2022 by Ken Lozito
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INFINITY
KEN LOZITO
CONTENTS
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Author Note
Afterword
About the Author
Also by Ken Lozito
1
The command deck of the Infinity was almost silent but for the soft background sounds of environmental recordings. The bulkheads were invisible beyond the projection of star-speckled space and the grayish landscape below the lunar shipyards. Noah glanced about, going through his own mental checklists for the hundredth time.
“Cargo shuttle has departed, Captain. Shipyard control has cleared us to leave,” Markovich said.
“Thanks, Chief,” Noah replied. “Secure all moorings. Let’s put some distance between us and home.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Comms, send our current flight plan to COMCENT,” Noah said.
“COMCENT has confirmed receipt of flight plan, Captain,” Jessica Yu replied.
Noah’s stomach didn’t quite do a full flip-flop, but it was damn close. This wasn’t the first ship he’d been on, but it was the first one he’d commanded. The old adage about being careful what you wished for had been banging around his head since he’d gotten approval.
A large portion of the crew was former CDF, but the Infinity wasn’t part of the colonial military. With a crew of a hundred spacers, the civilian exploration ship, Infinity, was the first of its kind.
The Infinity’s main engines engaged at five percent power, and they slowly left the lunar shipyards behind. Once they were far enough away, the power draw of the main engines increased as they settled into cruising speed.
Markovich turned toward him, eyebrows raised.
“This was the easy part,” Noah said.
Markovich smiled. “Nothing fell off.”
Noah grinned. “I think we can set the bar a little higher than that.”
Reconfigured over the last year, the Infinity’s hull was an appropriated CDF frigate that massed at seventy thousand tons, had a length of three hundred twenty meters from tip to stern, and was fifty meters across the beam. The entire ship had been reconfigured by removing primary weapons systems, adding a hangar bay, and expanding the sensor array to accommodate a more robust platform. They’d removed all the systems that made it a warship, turning it into something more suitable for long-term exploration that met the Infinity Drive’s power requirements.
“Agreed. I was just trying to take the edge off,” Markovich said.
Noah stood. “We’ve got several hours before we really depart. I’m going to check on our last-minute additions to the crew. You have the con.”
“Aye, Captain, I have the con.”
Noah walked off the bridge toward the main hangar, entering the lift and selecting H deck. The brightly lit corridors were a pale gray, and his internal HUD marked the hangar’s location in front of him. He disabled the guide function of his HUD. He knew every bit of the ship.
He palmed the door controls to the hangar bay, and they opened onto a space that was nearly the width of the ship. Two Pathfinder shuttles were secured off to the side. A platoon of CDF soldiers in blue uniforms were moving several platforms of equipment that had been offloaded from the cargo shuttles.
His deck officer, Peter Blood, was speaking with two of the soldiers. Noah recognized one of them instantly, even if he didn’t quite believe he was here.
“We’ll need them stored in accessible locations near the standard comms drone-deployment tubes,” Colonel Sean Quinn said.
Blood frowned. “I need to know what’s in those crates before I can approve their use in the deployment tubes. Whatever’s in there is shielded, and I can’t get a reading on my scanner.”
“You won’t. They’re shielded for your protection. I can take this up with your captain.”
Blood saw Noah walking toward them. “Excellent. Captain, Colonel Quinn has something he’d like to discuss with you.”
Sean turned toward Noah and smiled a little.
Noah arched an eyebrow and looked at the metallic crates for a few seconds. “Well, you didn’t get demoted to be here,” he said, ignoring the crates.
Sean shook his head. “I volunteered.”
Colonel Sean Quinn commanded the CDF fleet. He’d served in two wars and was a decorated hero in both of those wars. He had short dark hair, was of average height, and had an athletic build. He was also one of the bravest men Noah had ever met, and he was a friend.
“Uh huh,” Noah replied. “Are those new toys?”
Sean nodded. “They’re new attack drones.”
Noah’s eyebrows raised, intrigued. “A prototype ship needs a prototype weapon?”
Sean shrugged. “You need something more than a pair of mag cannons and some point-defense systems. The ship doesn’t have any missile tubes, so this is the next best thing.”
Noah looked toward the dark crates again. Several soldiers stood next to them, waiting. “Let’s have a look,” he said and strode toward the crates.
The nearest soldier looked past Noah, confirming whether he should stop him.
“Open one of the crates,” Sean said, following him.
Two soldiers lifted one of the long dark crates off the pallet and set it on the ground. The locking mechanism flashed green, and several latches appeared on the side. The soldiers opened the crate.
Noah peered inside. The attack drone was two meters in length with an elongated, bronze-colored head. The bronze color became black toward the opposite end, and the drones were as thick as one of his thighs.
“I can detect multiple energy signatures. It’s almost as if they’re individual power cores, but they’re not active?” Blood asked.
“You’d know it if they were armed,” Noah said, and Sean flicked his eyebrows. Noah regarded his friend for a moment. “I didn’t think these were in use anywhere.”
“R&D has had a lot of success reverse engineering them, but it was the subspace comms that really gave us an edge. Targeting can be maintained from your ship’s nav computer,” Sean said.
Blood held up his hand. “I’ve heard about Krake attack drones. They burn as hot as a yellow star and can penetrate armored ship hulls. How are we supposed to launch them without damaging our own ship?”
“First, you won’t be launching them at all,” Sean said, and held up his hand when Blood began to speak. “Not without training and certainly not without one of my people with you. To answer your question, they launch in stages. They have a passive active state, which will be used as part of the arming sequence. Once they’re away from the ship, we can arm them fully.”
Blood considered this for a second and looked at Noah. “Captain, given what we’re about to do, should we really increase the risk to the ship by having these aboard?”
Sean didn’t respond but instead waited for Noah to speak.
“It’s a risk, but there’s no evidence to suggest we’re in more danger by having them aboard,” Noah replied.
Most of his officers knew how the Infinity Drive worked, but that didn’t mean they trusted the technology. He could reject clearance to allow the attack drones on his ship. It was an option, but he’d anticipated the arguments raised in support of bringing them along. Since the I-Drive hadn’t been installed on any CDF warship, Sean had chosen to bring at least some weapons capability with him. If Noah chose to reject them, Sean would report this to COMCENT. Then the CDF brass would report a lack of cooperation from a certain civilian mission commander, and Noah would be told to accept the cargo or possibly be relieved of command. He didn’t know exactly why Sean was here, leading one solitary platoon of soldiers, but the CDF hadn’t sent one of its most decorated commanders without certain contingency plans in mind.
Noah looked at Blood. “Give them our full cooperation, Mister Blood.”
“Understood, Captain,” he replied.
“Excellent,” Sean said. “Mister Blood, you can work with Lieutenant Jesse Rhoades.” He gestured toward a nearby soldier, who gave Blood an agreeable nod.
The soldiers closed the container and set it back on the pallet.
Noah looked at Sean. “I think you and I need to talk.”
Sean nodded. “That would be a good idea.”
Noah led them out of the hangar bay and headed toward the lift. Once the doors were shut, he regarded Sean. “So, if you’re not demoted, then what are you doing here? I was told Captain Davis was leading the platoon.”
“He was, but I wanted to come.”
Sean was toying with him, and he wasn’t in the mood for it. “Sean, give me a break. You command fleets—multiple-ship engagements. You’re not here simply to lead a platoon of soldiers on my ship. Why are you really here?”
“I’m the most qualified for the mission.”
Noah scowled but didn’t say anything. The lift doors opened.
Sean looked at the corridor beyond and frowned.
Noah waved a finger at him. “You thought I was taking you right to the bridge. We’ll get there, but I figured you’d want to see main engineering first.”
They stepped out of the elevator and Sean lingered behind.
“Noah, I know this isn’t easy. I’m here to help you with the mission.”
“You’re here to take over the mission if I mess things up.”
“If it comes to it, I am to take command.”
Noah exhaled a long, resigned sigh. “What are your orders?”
“They’re confidential.”
Noah gritted his teeth and rolled his eyes.
Sean grinned. “I’m kidding. Geez. You’re the one who always liked joking around. I’m just trying to loosen up the tension a little bit.”
Noah lifted one of his hands into the air. “I don’t think this is funny.”
Sean shrugged. “It’s not funny. Noah, I’m here to help you. I’m not going to take command away from you. You’re still the mission commander. I’m here in case the situation becomes hostile.”
“We lost contact with the Ark II, but that doesn’t mean they were attacked,” Noah said, praying that wasn’t the case.
“They might not have been, but I’m here in case they were. I’m to do a tactical assessment and then help you return home.”
“I don’t need a babysitter.”
A grin bubbled out of Sean’s chest and became a full-on laugh. “When did you get so uptight? No, hear me out. You convinced Governor Mullins that this ship should remain under civilian control, and this was after you appropriated one of our ships to be fitted with the Infinity Drive. You’re venturing out into the unknown. Take it from someone who’s done it before—you can never bring enough fire power with you. This is a compromise between the CDF and the colonial government.”
Noah considered it for a few moments. “What about you?”
Sean pursed his lips. “Me,” he said and smiled. “I’m the bonus.”
“Bonus! Are you serious?”
Sean sighed. “You’re starting to make me feel like I’m not welcome.”
Noah frowned and gave a quick shake of his head. “It’s not that. I’m glad you’re here. It’s just that I had to jump through so many damn hoops just to get this mission off the ground.”
“I know. It was quite impressive to watch.” Sean smiled, which came easier for him now. It hadn’t always been like that. War with the Krake had taken a toll on him.
“I guess I should thank you for coming along.”
“That would be a good start. It’s Oriana you have to worry about.”
“Your wife loves me.”
“She does, but you’re taking me three lightyears away from New Earth. She said you better get me back in one piece. Plus, it’s not fair that Kara gets to come.”
Noah exhaled forcefully and rubbed his palm through his hair. “You can’t be serious. There was no way she was going to miss this. She helped me build the I-Drive.”
“Oh, I know. I got an earful about that.”
“It’s the price we pay for marrying brilliant women.”
“So, ‘I-Drive’?” Sean asked.
Noah nodded. “It’s less of a mouthful than Infinity Drive.” They walked down the corridor. “I really am glad you’re here. I had no idea who Captain Davis was, and sometimes you just don’t know how capable someone is until they’re in the thick of it.”
“He would have been fine, but you need the best. And lucky for you, you got it.”
Noah shook his head. “Are you going to be like this the entire time?”
Sean shrugged. “I don’t remember the last time I was on a ship that wasn’t in my command. This is going to be like a vacation for me. I’m going to enjoy being a passenger.”
Noah sighed heavily. “I hope the Ark II is okay. Even if their subspace comms suffered some kind of failure, they should have been able to fix it by now. It’s been months since we lost communication.”
Sean nodded grimly. “We need answers.”
Over ten years ago, the Ark II had left New Earth with five thousand colonists aboard. During that entire time, the ship’s computer system had checked in regularly, but shortly after they arrived in the Zeta-Alpha star system, communications had stopped. They had no idea why or any indication of what had happened.
Noah had made several breakthroughs with faster-than-light technology. The Infinity was the first ship to be fitted with what he called the Infinity Drive. Some of the engineers had begun referring to it as the I-Drive, and it stuck. The I-Drive enabled them to travel many times faster than the speed of light. The only problem was that he’d only successfully tested it with test drones. No human-crewed vessel had ever made the journey. When Noah learned about the loss of contact with the Ark II, he worked himself tirelessly to finish construction of the Infinity. This ship would give him the answers he needed. He had friends who were part of the second colony mission aboard the Ark II, and he would never accept that five thousand of his fellow colonists had simply disappeared.
2
Noah led Sean into main engineering. If the bridge of a ship was the brain, then main engineering was the heart and soul. A young man with short, curly hair and the barest hint of a mustache spotted them and walked over.
Sean snorted a little so only Noah could hear him. “Does he know that fuzz of a mustache makes him look even younger than he probably is?”
Noah twitched his eyebrows once and threw a nod toward the young man. “Mister Leiter, this is Colonel Sean Quinn of the CDF. He and his team will be joining us for the duration.”
An easy smile lit up the young man’s face and he extended a hand toward Sean. “Xavier Leiter, Colonel Quinn. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
Sean shook the proffered hand and gave him a cordial nod.
Xavier looked at Noah. “Is there anything I can help you with, Captain?”
“I’m looking for my chief engineer.”
Xavier nodded and gestured toward an adjacent corridor. “She’s at the computing core. They were getting the last of the processing arrays installed.”
“Thank you, Mister Leiter. Carry on,” Noah replied.
Xavier waived and returned to his workstation.
Noah looked at Sean as they walked down the corridor. “You’ll get used to it.”
“You mean the nomenclature of a civilian ship? It’ll just take a little while. The jobs are similar, anyway. When will we be far enough away to use the I-Drive?”
