The Evolution of Vaughn, page 13
Nathan swiped his hand once more, and a giant holographic book appeared in front of him. “This is the Book of Max. It is a recorded history. I believe you read some of the one downstairs while you were waiting, no?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, this version has some less public information in it. In the beginning, we thought the order could better protect Max. We thought his father was reckless and uncaring. We had the child’s best interest at heart.” Nathan flipped through dozens of virtual pages, until he got to the part detailing plots to kidnap Max. “In the end, we learned that there is no replacing the love a father has for his son. There was nothing in the world that would have stopped Victor from keeping Max safe, just as we know if we’d taken Matthew you would dismantle this entire facility looking for him, if you had to.”
“Matthew is my only son. If anything happens to him, people are dying.”
“We know that, Vaughn. We know that about you, and we know that about your blood-line. We learned from our mistakes generations ago.” Nathan was convincing. His demeanor and tone were genuine.
“I think I believe him,” Fresia said.
“I’m glad to hear that,” replied Nathan.
“So where is he?”
Nathan smiled, “That is the question, indeed. We believe he’s been taken by the Wyluse to an E’Clei facility.” A few sweeps of his finger showed a map of the galaxy. “These areas in red are E’Clei controlled space. The blue is the area under the protection of the Fogerian Empire. There are two possible places Matthew could be,” Nathan explained. “The E’Clei don’t have scientists or prisons. They steal their knowledge from other species and given that they are a collective mind, there is no reason for any type of secure facility.”
He pointed to the first spot, expanded it, and zoomed in on the system. “This is a place they just built. Its class M, although it’s gravitational strength is only point three-five. Much like your home. We don’t have a lot of data on the facility, but you can see it’s quite secure looking. I apologize for the grainy images; these were taken with a Deep Space Optical Reconnaissance probe.”
Vaughn pressed his finger right in front of his ear as if he was thinking and said, “So that’s at 318.45 by 217.32 by 67.301.”
Nathan looked at Vaughn. “There’s no need to be covert. We’ll send the coordinates and charts to your ship for you. We want Matthew back with you, and are prepared to support your endeavor in any way we can.”
Vaughn replied simply, “Thank you.”
“The other facility is the troublesome one. Equally new, construction is nearly completed, but it appears as though it is not yet fully operational. It is a planet in the Sliuvarg system.”
Vaughn’s face twisted. “That is worse.” Towards the end of the war, the E’Clei had started recruiting allies. Sliuvargs were reptilian, and completely incompatible with the E’Clei parasites, who needed the brains of warm blooded creatures. As a people, the Sliuvargs were loners. They’d never built cities; they were territorial, killed and ate one another or anything else they could put in their mouths. They were ferocious hunters. Somehow, the E’Clei convinced them to work for them during the war, and they started dumping Sliuvargs all over every warm planet in the Fogerian Empire.
Vaughn had led a number of extermination missions. There was no reasoning with them. They were hard to find and even harder to kill. They were immune to plasma weapons the only reliable way to kill them was with a blade, which presented its own problems; their skin was unbelievably tough.
“The facility looks to be some sort of manufacturing center,” Fresia said. “See here and here? What would they need that kind of power generation for, other than manufacturing something?”
“This is all very new E’Clei behavior. That by itself is troublesome,” added Vaughn. “On the topic of troublesome, my moon has a significant ionosphere.”
“Yes,” interrupted Nathan. “It proved most vexing to us. We keep close tabs on the scions; it wasn’t until we approached Sarah while you were off-world that we were able to build an enclave on your moon.”
“You talked to Sarah? And not me?” Vaughn grabbed Nathan’s arm.
“Sarah was a scion also, Vaughn. She was Matthew’s parent. And, as you are proving for me right now,” he said, pulling his arm free, “She was much more reasonable. We built our enclave on the opposite side of the moon. It is hidden underground and we never approached while Matthew was there or interfered in your business, until Sarah called us for help when the Wyluse arrived.”
Vaughn relaxed a bit. Fresia said, “She had the best interests of Matthew to help. It explains the message you heard also, if she was trying to get Matty to Loe for help.”
“So what now.”
Nathan pulled up the star chart again. “We cannot go into E’Clei space without sparking an incident. Any incursion in their space will be considered an act of war, and we of the Order are not sure the Fogerians can withstand another onslaught, even with the technology we gave them to end the war.”
“I’m on my own then?”
Fresia moved closer to Vaughn and said, “I’m in.”
Nathan looked at the pair and smiled a fake looking, hope-for-the-best kind of smile. “A small team would have the best chance of infiltrating unnoticed. We have some tools to help you, and of course, if you’re willing, you could always be infected with E’Clei.”
Vaughn took an involuntary step back. “Fuck everything about that. Even if I believed that my ancestors were immune, there is no proof that I am. At least not enough proof that I’m willing to gamble my life on.”
The Cardinal approached from the other side of the room, where he’d been waiting and trying to pretend he wasn’t eavesdropping. As he neared, Nathan said, “Fair enough. I have an appointment with the Continuum, so I’m sorry I must cut this short. The Cardinal will offer you any services we can, and provide you with a little help to get you started. It was a pleasure to meet you, and I look forward to meeting Matthew someday.”
Vaughn, Fresia and the Cardinal walked down the stairs, past the guards. The two arch-bishops joined them, and they headed a few floors down to the Cardinal’s office. It wasn’t nearly as ostentatious as Rotelle’s office, but it was certainly comfortable. The room was ten by fifteen meters, with a huge conference table and a dozen chairs. “Archbishop Rosen is The Order’s Director of applied physics. Archbishop Turner runs our advanced particle weapons division. They’ve both got something for you.”
Rosen was the first up. “I’m not sure what physics knowledge you have, so please pardon me if I start with the basics.” Rosen droned on and on about plasma fields and particle ejection, giving rudimentary physics that Vaughn had studied years ago in the Institute. When he got to ionic fields, Vaughn perked up. At the end of his presentation, he offered Vaughn an ionic shield generator large enough to encompass his entire ship.
“Where am I going to generate the power for it though,” asked Vaughn. “I’ve got two Independence class generators on my ship, and I’m maxed on power generation. The Argimonium cost of running it must be huge.”
Archbishop Rosen grinned. “Mister Troupe. We have an enclave on your home planet. We are aware of the volume of Argimonium you possess.”
“It doesn’t matter how much I have if I can’t turn it into power.”
“The ionic field generator comes with its own Argimonium depotentiator. You provide the Argimonium, we’ll give you the tech.”
“Why are you doing this?” Vaughn asked. “It doesn’t make sense. This is technology that you could sell to the Fogerians for trillions of crench. And you’re giving it to me for nothing.”
“The Order of Max is one of the oldest institutions in the universe. We have single items that are worth more money than the sum of all the money in the Fogerian Empire. Money is not the issue here. The real issue is that I have dedicated my life to protecting your bloodline. My father dedicated his life, his father before him, and his father before him. My lineage within the order traces back to Earth. I will not fail my ancestors, just as you will not fail your son.”
Archbishop Turner had been standing to the side, holding a small box. “My offering isn’t as big as Brother Rosen’s, and I don’t have a whole presentation for you. What I do have is this.” He opened the dark box. Inside, a red velvet liner held a small gun. Turner pulled it out of the box and held it up. “This is a projectile weapon. It uses a magnetic field coil to fire a 14.3 gram projectile at almost nine hundred meters per second. You can fire about forty projectiles on a gram of Argimonium.” Turner lifted the red velvet liner to display six magazines. “Each of these holds forty projectiles and enough Argimonium to launch them. It should help with the Sliuvargs.”
“Thank you,” Vaughn replied. “If you’ll upload the coordinates to Halle, I guess we can be on our way.”
Cardinal Rook looked up from his desk. “Captain Troupe, I’ve got a secure connection to your ship, I just need you to authenticate the data transfer.”
Vaughn spoke. “Halle, accept the data transfer. Authorization code One, November, Foxtrot, One, Lima, Tango, Romeo, Four, Tango, Three.”
The Cardinal’s screen showed the data transfer complete. “Captain, it has been my pleasure to meet you. I wish you success in your endeavor to retrieve Matthew. We have a shuttle waiting that will take you directly back to your ship. The field generator is already aboard the shuttle.”
“Thank you for clarifying so much,” said Vaughn, shaking the Cardinal’s hand. “And for your help.”
Chapter 20 Sliuvarg Landing
Date: 432nd Year of Emperor Valek Foger XXVI
Halle undocked and piloted out into open space to begin calculations for the fold. “Captain, calculations for the fold will be completed in two hours, twenty minutes.”
Fresia looked up from her work installing the field generator from The Order. “Over two hours, for you?”
“The distance to the Sliuvarg system is ninety two thousand light years. There are nearly six billion suns between Loe and Sliuvarg, each requiring complex gravitational field calculations.”
Vaughn continued to work as he spoke. “Easy, Halle. She was just remarking how fantastic you are. Two and a half hours is an amazing time to calculate a fold of such magnitude. Once the fold is complete, what is our travel time to Sliuvarg?”
“I’m unable to give an exact answer at this time. Based on similar recorded distance travelled by Fogerian battle cruisers at twenty seven hours, and considering my superiority in power output and computational efficiency, I would estimate somewhere about fourteen hours.”
“Halle’s in a mood today,” Fresia said, under her breath.
“She’s worried,” whispered Vaughn. “She’s never been in battle, and we’re heading into the heart of E’Clei territory. She’s calculated our odds of survival, and her ability to protect us.”
“She really is alive, isn’t she?”
“Absolutely. Halle became self-aware when I upgraded an old cargo vessel on my first fold test. I downloaded that vessels core onto a storage crystal, which I kept until this ship was captured while I was aboard the Reetus. As soon as I was able, I upgraded the core of this ship, and installed the backup from the crystal.”
Vaughn’s face softened as he thought about the suffering she must have endured during her time on the crystal. “She was aware the whole time she was on the crystal. Imagine being in a prison for seven years with no outside stimulation at all, and you’re completely unable to move.”
The pair worked on installing the field generator, and then tied it to Halle’s Alcubierre array. Vaughn was coming through the control software provided by The Maxists when Halle interrupted. “I’m sorry to interrupt, Captain. Calculations are complete. While we’re in the fold the field array will be inaccessible for upgrade. Shall we delay the fold?”
“No. Let’s go get Matty.”
“Are you sure, Captain? We’ll be folding into unexplored space in hostile territory.”
“Halle, if an E’Clei Bett’eth’Na is in the area, it won’t matter if we have a force shield or not. They’ll kill us regardless. The Reetus and The Licone, Foger’s two most powerful battle cruisers were nearly destroyed by one Bett’eth’Na.”
“I remember that battle. I was in the cargo hold of the Reetus.”
“Then you remember how much energy they threw at us.”
“Preparing to fold. Brace yourselves.”
The Alcubierre generator spun up, the ship shook violently, and then all was silent and still.
“So now what?” asked Fresia. “We wait for fourteen hours to learn whether we die on unfold or die to horrible lizard things on Sluivarg?”
“No, now we get to work. Follow me.” Vaughn led Fresia through the ship to the fore-most hold. It was a small closet, filled with food and water. He started emptying the contents out onto the floor. Fresia’s curiosity was killing her, but she knew Vaughn’s love of the big reveal, so she kept quiet and stayed patient.
When the closet was empty, he pulled out the shelving unit and tossed it to the side. “You ready for this?”’
“What is it?”
“You’ll see,” he said, pressing a hidden panel. A secret door slid back revealing two well-used suits of Fogerian battle armor.
“Holy shit! How?”
“They’re from Bruth. I went back for them after the war; it took me six months of combing the jungle to find a pair that weren’t destroyed. Neither is fully functional so we’ll need to do some repairs.”
Both suits were hanging from dollies, just like they were stored aboard The Reetus. Without power, they weighed in excess of one hundred fifty pounds each. Once they were powered up and operational, it felt no different than a shirt or pants.
“What’s wrong with them?”
“For one, they’re Fogerian. Any E’Clei that sees us in them will identify them, and that will re-start the war. So we have to modify the appearance. My suit’s got an environmental leak in the left arm. Both are out of power. Yours has a broken claw and the HUD is damaged in both of them. We’ll know more when we can power them up.”
The pair rolled their battle suits down to hold seven, where Vaughn kept his tools and work benches and went to work repairing them. Vaughn worked on circuitry and internals while Fresia welded and fabricated. The two were a well-practiced team, and once again fell into an easy work routine.
When the repairs were finished, Vaughn powered them up, and the pair slid into their suits through the back panel. Fresia adjusted the internals, hers was a little tall, but workable. Vaughn’s was practically made for him. He didn’t mention the previous occupants of the suits. Both he and Fresia knew the men who had died in these suits, but she didn’t need to be burdened with that information.
Once they proved functional, Vaughn started the transformation. When the active camouflage was turned off, the exterior of the suits were dark gray. He applied a polymer to the outside, turning them to a deep green, and started modifying the visible parts. By the time he was done, they looked nothing like Fogerian battle suits.
Fresia had been sitting in a chair watching him work for nearly an hour when she yawned and stretched. They were still four hours from the Sliuvarg system. “Go get some sleep, Fre. We have a big day tomorrow,” Vaughn said.
“Are you almost done here?”
“Yeah,” Vaughn lied. “Just a couple more things, and then we’re as ready as we’re going to be.”
“Okay. Get some sleep yourself. You haven’t really rested in three days.”
“I will. Promise.”
Vaughn worked on the suits until Halle broke his concentration. “Captain, we’re fifteen minutes from Sluivarg.”
“Thanks Halle. Once we’re off the ship, find a place to hide. Stay out of sight and stay quiet.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“You’d better wake Fresia.” Vaughn walked over to a small cabinet in the shop, opened the door and shuffled through the cold contents. Vial after vial of liquids lined the three shelves inside, being kept cool. He selected a small vial full of dark green liquid and inserted it into a small injection gun. He injected the solution into his leg, and within seconds felt a burst of strength, focus, and confidence.
He finished the last modification to the suit and was putting it back together as when Fre walked in. “You didn’t sleep, did you?”
“Nope. But I’m fine. Suit up. We’re jumping.”
“No, fuck you,” she said, shaking her head. “I’m not jumping from space in a reconditioned, refurbished suit.”
“Okay, even better. You can stay with Halle. I’m jumping.” Vaughn opened the back panels of the suit, stepped in and then sealed them. “Comms check,” he said.
“I read you, Captain,” said Halle. Fresia frowned, scowled at Vaughn, and climbed into her own suit and stepped into the airlock with him.
As the suit closed her in, she said, “I’m not letting you die alone, you son of a bitch. Not before you tell me why.”
“Why what?” Vaughn asked. “Halle, open the hatch.”
“You know damn well what. Why did you kill him?”
Vaughn leapt out of the airlock towards the planet. At this altitude, the gravitational pull was not very strong, but Vaughn picked up speed as he flew towards Sliuvarg.
Fresia cursed and dove out after him. “I can’t believe you killed him!”
Vaughn’s sigh fogged the inside of his visor. “Fre, we’ve been on a ship together for three days and you choose now to ask me about this? While we’re free falling through space towards a massive planet inhabited by sentient lizard people with a particular taste for Human flesh?”
The pair rocketed towards the surface, gathering speed. When they hit the upper atmosphere, Vaughn rolled over onto his back where the armor was thickest, and spread his arms and legs. Fresia grabbed his hand, and the two of them fell, face up towards the planet.
“Armor surface temperature two hundred forty degrees!” Fresia yelled.
