Ep.#3.6 - Evolution , page 22
“Maturo has returned,” the Atlantis AI reported.
Nathan glanced at the displays above the forward view screens. Between the data displayed on the contact itself, as well as the enhancements around the target on the view screens simulating windows, he instantly had a full understanding of the enemy cruiser’s position and movement relative to both the Traverna and the Atlantis. One of the screens even showed an animation of the Traverna, as if a camera were only a few hundred meters away. It was all the same information that he had access to from the Aurora’s command chair, but somehow, it was far quicker and easier to understand. There were even multiple views of the enemy ship, as well as several possible attack paths it could take, all of them provided by the ship’s AI and based on all available data for the engagements thus far as well as historical battle intelligence on Zhulati warships. That’s when Nathan realized it. Displayed before him was everything that he always saw in his head during such engagements. It was even things he felt. But it was all laid out in front of him so that if he lost his concentration, he could easily regain his situational awareness without effort. Somehow, the Ghatazhak had created the perfect combat AI for General Telles and the Atlantis.
Nathan’s train of thought was suddenly derailed.
“Maturo is launching more boarding pods,” the Atlantis’ AI reported. “They are launching combat drones as well.”
Nathan noticed the concern on the general’s face. “What is it?”
“Those drones will be targeting both our drones, and our boarding teams.”
“Then we should abort,” Nathan urged.
“We cannot allow the prototype to return to Alliance control,” the general insisted.
“Then put a nuke in that ship and we all go home.”
“We still have one trick up our sleeve,” the general insisted.
Nathan looked at the tactical display as the enemy drones began their attack. Just as the general had feared, the Zhulati drones fired on both the Ghatazhak drones, and their boarding teams as they coasted toward the Traverna. One by one, icons representing both drones and soldiers began disappearing from the display as the enemy drones destroyed them. “They’re dropping like flies!” Nathan exclaimed. “You have to abort!”
“Captain,” General Telles warned calmly. “It will be okay.”
“How can you say that?”
“Those icons are the CMUs, not the soldiers themselves.”
“But they’re connected to the soldiers!”
“They were,” the general explained, another confident near-smile appearing on his face.
Jessica watched in fear and amazement as drones and their CMUs were picked off in front of them, one by one. The Traverna was getting closer, and in seconds, they would be touching down on the exterior of her hull, assuming the enemy drones did not kill them first.
As they closed, the dance between combat drones was no longer in front of them, but all around them. Energy bolts streaked past from all sides and in all directions, any one of which could easily hit them. The Ghatazhak combat suits had incredibly good shields, but they couldn’t stand up against multiple blasts from drones designed to attack ships.
Every instinct told her to activate her suit’s automated defenses in order to fight back. But that would only attract the attention of those drones. They were tiny blips of human flesh encased in composite armor that was undetectable by typical sensors, especially against the infinite void of space. But the moment they reached the Traverna, their bio-signatures on the outside of its hull would make them easy to spot.
Jessica scanned the approach quickly, picking out all the other members of their assault team. None of them were so much as flinching as they drifted through space toward the disabled cargo ship. Every one of them probably felt the same way, wanting to go to guns.
The first of the Ghatazhak reached the Traverna, touching down confidently and immediately moving to cover positions on the outside of the hull. Still, they did not open fire on the enemy drones. Doing so would cause the focus of the drones to turn to the ship itself and would lead to Ghatazhak deaths. Furthermore, as long as their people were not being targeted, there was no reason to fire. The mission was more important than any one of them.
So instead, as they touched down, the Ghatazhak found cover, then found the existing breaches in the Traverna’s hull, disappearing through them one by one.
As more Ghatazhak reached the Traverna, a few of the Zhulati drones seemed to take notice and began targeting the intruders. But the Ghatazhak moved quickly and surely, moving from one bulge in the hull to another, reducing their exposure to the incoming fire as much as possible.
But more and more drones were refocusing their weapons toward the hull of the Traverna. Unfortunately, Kit’s team was not yet down, and Jessica was behind them, the last to touch down. She spotted Mori and Kit, trapped in a depression in the Traverna’s hull, unable to move due to a Zhulati drone that had taken up a stationary position only a few meters away from the ship.
Jessica powered her suit back up, raising her arms and opening fire with her wrist-mounted plasma cannons. In seconds she destroyed the drone, followed by two more before she finally touched down herself.
Unlike the others, Jessica didn’t bother to take cover, instead choosing to run like hell along the hull, reaching one of the existing breaches and dropping into it just as one of the Zhulati drones peppered the area in which she had last stood.
“Goddamn, that was fun!” she exclaimed, now safely inside the ship. “Shake your ass, boys! We’ve got work to do!”
“The Maturo has returned,” Commander Sonoda reported from the standing operations station just aft and starboard of the command chair.
Nathan glanced at the overhead displays again, quickly scanning the windows next. The Traverna was dead ahead and slightly below the Atlantis, who was holding position about five hundred meters out. Despite its proximity, it still appeared quite small. But it was encircled by a data ring projected on the view screen by the ship’s AI, making it easier to spot.
This time, the Maturo was at a bearing of zero four zero mark one five and was just over a kilometer away from the Traverna, putting her about sixteen hundred meters from the Atlantis. Without that data ring, she would have been difficult to discern against the starry background.
“They’re launching more boarding pods,” the commander added.
“Status of our boarding teams?” the general inquired.
“All seventeen of them are down and entering the Traverna. No one left in transit.”
“Atlantis; all weapons on the Maturo. All drones on the boarding pods,” the general instructed calmly.
There was no acknowledgment from their AI. Everything that was happening was displayed on the view screens. The targeting data and power settings for every one of their guns was available, as were the results of every impact of every blast fired. He could even see the status of the Maturo’s shield strength, broken down to every panel. Even the announcements from his subordinates were more of a formality than a necessity. The captain was already aware of the information before its report was completed. The Atlantis was a top-notch warship, designed for one purpose and one purpose only…to win battles.
“Maturo has jumped away,” Commander Sonoda reported. “Six boarding pods were launched, four have been intercepted. Two more are still attempting to get around our drones.”
“They will fail,” the general stated confidently, looking at Nathan.
“Thank God you guys are on our side,” Nathan stated.
Jessica stood guard just under the hull breach she had dropped through. Flashbacks of defending against men that had dropped through this very same breach two days ago kept popping into her mind. She had killed four men in this very spot. Had they not spaced the bodies, they would still be there. Instead, there were only the stains from their blood and tissue that had been blasted all over the walls.
Kit came dropping through the breach next, taking a position facing forward, opposite Jessica. He glanced back, spotting the gruesome markers of the previous battle. “Your work?”
“It wasn’t pretty.”
Mori was the next down through the breach, falling in next to Jessica. He also spotted the blood. “I see you’ve been here before.”
Kit looked forward, spotting another area further down the corridor covered in even more blood. “You do that too?”
“That one was mostly Nathan,” she replied. “With a sword, no less.”
“No shit,” Kit chuckled as Jokay and Abdur dropped in.
“Last ones in hold here,” Kit instructed. “Mori and I will go to the reactor room and figure out how to get the pod out.” He moved over to Jessica and Mori. “Since you already bloodied the place, you may as well lead the way.”
The threat alert indicator on the center overhead view screen flashed. As the newly arrived target was encircled on the main windows, details on the contact filled out on another overhead.
“Maturo has returned,” the commander announced calmly. “Four more pods have been launched.”
The Atlantis had already begun firing on the returned Zhulati warship, sending streams of energy bolts its way.
The general glanced at the status screens, noting that their combat drones were already on their way to intercept the incoming Zhulati boarding pods.
“They are determined,” Nathan commented.
“Not because they need that pod,” Breyanna, who had been mostly silent until now, said. “They can always make another. They just don’t want us to have it.”
Nathan suddenly became more concerned. Up until now, this had seemed like a cakewalk for the Ghatazhak and the Atlantis. “If they can’t get in and capture that ship…”
“They’ll destroy it,” the general finished for him. “Do not worry, Captain. We have anticipated this, as well.”
Jessica advanced aft down the main corridor, quickly but cautiously, her weapon held up and ready. When she reached the power generation room, she paused at the hatch, waiting for Kit and Mori to take their positions for entry. Once they were set, Jessica moved inside, sweeping the compartment, finding it empty as they had hoped.
Kit and Mori entered next.
“Is that it?” Kit asked, pointing at the pod tucked under the power reactor.
“That’s it,” Jessica replied.
“It’s bigger than I imagined,” Mori admitted. “How are we going to get it out?”
“Well, they got it in here, so…” Jessica said.
Kit turned and looked back at the hatch. “It looks like the entire hatch bulkhead can be removed. It would fit through then.”
“Two, One,” Captain Rezhik called over comms. “Status?”
“We found the pod, right where Jess said it would be,” Kit reported. “But we’re going to have to disassemble the hatch bulkhead to get the thing into the main corridor and back to the aft loading hatch.”
“How long?”
“Five, maybe ten minutes.”
“Strike, Telles,” the general interrupted. “Can you blow the bulkhead?”
“Negative, sir,” Kit replied. “Heavy-duty, radiation shielded. We’ll have to kill the gravity just to manage the damned thing. The amount of explosive force needed to blow this bulkhead would destroy everything in the compartment.”
“Get moving, then,” the general instructed. “Rezhik, do you need additional manpower?”
“Negative,” Captain Rezhik replied. “I’ll send a couple of men from my team to help them. Just keep those boarding pods away.”
“Will do.” Kit looked at Jessica and Mori. “Grab some power wrenches.”
“Vasya, Rezhik. I’ll send two men to relieve Jokay and Abdur so they can help you.”
“Sounds good,” Kit agreed as he picked up a power wrench and joined Jessica and Mori. “Jokay, as soon as you get relieved, find engineering and figure out how to shut off the gravity.”
A split second after the Atlantis’ sensors detected the Maturo’s return to the area, its main guns opened fire, sending a barrage of red-orange plasma and rail gun slugs pouring into the Zhulati cruiser’s shields.
“You have to give the credit for their perseverance,” Commander Sonoda declared. “They’re launching eight boarding pods this time.”
“They can’t have many left, can they?” Nathan asked.
“The Maturo is their flagship, but I can’t imagine they could hold that many more. They’ve already lost sixteen pods.”
“That’s sixty-four men,” Nathan said, shocked.
“Assuming they loaded each pod to the maximum, yes.”
Nathan just shook his head.
“Do not worry, Captain. Everyone of those men have backup host bodies, just like us. It is one of the perks of being a Zhulati,” the general explained.
“Cloning is illegal in Alliance space,” Breyanna stated.
“Loopholes in Alliance law,” General Telles explained. “In the interests of ‘national security’.”
“Maturo has jumped away again,” the commander reported. “One boarding pod has reached the Traverna. Ventral side, just forward of midship. Captain Rezhik has been notified.”
“Have they breached?” the general asked.
“Unknown,” the commander replied.
“Warn Kit.”
“Already done, sir.”
“Is this a problem?” Nathan asked.
“Shouldn’t be, as long as no more boarding pods make it down,” the general replied.
“How do you plan on getting that pod out of there?”
“Same way they got it in,” the general told him. “Assuming there is time.”
Captain Rezhik and his team made their way around the outside of the Traverna’s hull, making their way to the Zhulati boarding pod that had attached itself to the underside of the ship, just forward of her midship line.
As the captain crested the ventral edge, he could clearly see the boarding pod. With two of his men on each side, all of them opened fire, blowing the pod open with unexpected ease.
“Strike Leader to all Strikers,” the captain called over comms. “Bandits are inside, repeat, bandits are inside.” He turned to the rest of his men. “Second squad enters here and chases. First squad with me. No more pods can get through.”
The Atlantis bridge suddenly rocked violently, rocking again two seconds later.
“Zhulati battleship,” Commander Sonoda announced.
“They opened fire the moment they came out of the jump,” Captain Kellen said.”
“The Maturo must have fed them precise tracking and targeting for them to jump in so close,” the general added as he tapped his comm-panel. “Rezhik, Telles.”
“Go, general.”
“Party crasher, heavy. Anticipate heavy push to take target. Possible Jaxak.”
“Understood,” Captain Rezhik replied.
“What’s a Jaxak?” Nathan asked, gripping the side rail tightly to avoid being knocked off his feet by incoming fire.
“It’s our code for a full mission abort and escape to recovery positions.”
“But if they get that pod back…”
“They will be producing bio-synth Zhulati by the thousands in a few months time and replacing citizens within a year.”
“Shield strength falling,” their AI reported.
“Capturing that pod keeps us on an even footing,” the general continued. “We can never match their hardware production, but that pod at least ensures our survival by vastly reducing the cost and complexity of creating and maintaining cloned reserve host bodies.”
“Not to mention the ability to adjust genetics as needed,” Breyanna realized.
Nathan looked at her, unsure of her meaning.
“I’d never held a gun before now,” she explained. “Nor had I ever physically attacked and incapacitated someone. Yet I was able to do so like I had been training for years.”
“And she is just an existing consciousness transferred into a new host,” the general said. “Imagine if they figure out how to create a consciousness to put into it.”
“You’re talking about creating life,” Nathan realized. “Intelligent, sentient life.”
“Preprogrammed to be loyal, obedient, and lethal,” the general added. “Atlantis, time to shield failure?”
“Five minutes, thirteen seconds, at current rate of fire.”
“They could fire more?” Breyanna wondered, also holding onto the rail to stay on her feet.
“They’re holding back because we’re so close to the Traverna,” Nathan explained. “They’re afraid debris will take it out as well.”
“Atlantis, turn into the target,” the general ordered.
“To reduce target size, right?” Breyanna realized.
“Correct,” Nathan confirmed.
“I shouldn’t know that,” she admitted. “I shouldn’t understand any of this!”
Smoke began pouring out of Mori’s power wrench, causing him to abort his efforts. “Damn! This isn’t working, Kit. The bulkhead must be tweaked for the bolts to be this locked up.”
Jokay tossed his power wrench aside. “This one’s burnt out as well.”
“Jesus!” Kit exclaimed. “There’s only six bolts left!”
“The only way to get these bolts free is to torch the heads off,” Mori explained. “Even then, we’re going to have to pry the bulkhead off.”
“Shit,” Kit cursed, tapping his helmet comms. “Rezhik, Vasya. This is a bust. We can’t get this thing out of here in less than half an hour, at best.”
