Goddess of the Galacticide Episode 27 - Faith and Firepower

Episode 27

Only two things had remained calming constants in Cha Dzeeny’s life: faith and firepower.

The Shaajis had interpreted the murals, one hand-drawn from memory by each marine, clearing the minds of the young warriors, re-connecting them with their long line of ancestors reaching back to the First People.

Cha had drawn a clumsy depiction of the first mother, unifying the genetic precursors from many worlds to create the human form. Since Vnaas the Cruel’s reign, the mother was drawn as an artificial womb, a laboratory device, but Cha thought of her as a woman, a literal mother. Shaajis Linuka smiled when she saw his mural, a beaming bath of benevolence, fueled by the ancestral spirit she could channel at will.

He clenched his automatic. The worst part of the battle was almost over—the wait. Cha and his marines would need the ancestors to smile down on them today.

Hundreds of spins of planning, clawing their way back into Assembly space one careful warp at a time, dodging detection at darkstring connectors, adapting Oonzu’s transponders, sewing fake uniforms, waiting for their former ship to get rotated into sphere drive array guard duty. The Ṭawːtfé̃ and the Remnants’ battle cruiser were near identical. Despite the Chéé’s awesome firepower, they didn’t want to fight the entire guarding task force, so masquerading as the Ṭawːtfé̃ seemed easiest for an infiltration of the sphere drive’s wide security perimeter.

Cha had witnessed the protocols for ships leaving or joining a task force hundreds of times and drilled some marines to appear as control room operators, rattling down requests and responding to code challenges. Shaajis Linuka’s reality-bending powers would smooth over their arrival shifts ahead of time, code updates they had missed, or minor discrepancies in the Chéé’s hull appearance.

The hangar portal opened, and the next challenge appeared: a shuttle carrying personnel for scheduled ship-to-ship transfer. Cha reminded himself that it was also an opportunity to gain control of a proper fleet shuttle for the second part of the infiltration.

The small craft landed. A short ramp extended from its center lock, and the door hissed open.

Technicians, led by two marines, stepped into the Chéé’s hangar.

“This is the emptiest deck I’ve ever seen,” said the senior marine.

“Off-loaded everything onto the Tsaa,” said Cha, approaching the group, “Iik magii if I knew what that was about.”

The group halted, the marines standing at attention, realizing Cha Dzeeny’s rank.

“Detachment Leader, Line Marine Mdeysha, with 11 specialists to transfer.”

“At ease, Line Marine. Welcome to the Ṭawːtfé̃. Technical personnel, follow Private Kso for intake. Marines, stay with me for a word.”

Cha’s marines led the men and women from the shuttle into a hangar annex that would become their prison for the next few shifts.

“Pilots still on board?” asked Cha.

“No, sir. We flew the cart ourselves.”

“Excellent. You two have to take me back to the Nyuut right away.”

The marines looked at each other. “Are you cleared for transfer, sir? The task force regulations are…”

“Of course I’m cleared,” said Cha Dzeeny. “Priority transport. The eggheads at research want this thing badly.”

Cha held up a metal case, opened it to show a Võmémééř artifact.

“Wow, is that…”

“100% genuine Dark One tech, yes. Was told it’s a control unit for the sphere drive.”

“Follow us, sir. We’ll get you there at once.”

The marines led Cha through the shuttle’s lock, turned left toward the bow section and opened the cockpit door.

“You may have a seat there, sir. We didn’t bring an astrogator.”

“I’ll stand.”

Cha waited until the senior marine unlocked the shuttle pilot controls. When his co-pilot noticed the body collapsing onto the console, Cha’s stun baton already touched his neck, sending him spasming into uneasy slumber.

“All callsigns, Specter-1. Shuttle secured. Ready for departure.”

***

The shuttle approached the research station. The one crewed by humans near their target, the alien intergalactic travel device. Supervising, scanning, analyzing data provided by the only individuals who could make sense of the technology hundreds, if not thousands, of orbits ahead of anything developed in the Akaa Upsa galaxy. Isonomih AI cores had direct access to the strange apparatus, trying to wrestle away its secrets, paving the way for Isonomih, humans and Traaz venturing out into the local group of galaxies.

“All Specters, Specter-2. We’re crossing the projection and scrambler field boundary,” said Fire Sergeant Doyuu.

The projected mirage permitted their transit, although it seemed like they were crashing the shuttle into a battleship.

“Whoa.”

“Keep your admiration off the channel, Specter-2.”

Doyuu touched his temple implant but remained unphased by the reprimand. “Look at this thing!”

Enveloped by an optical illusion and the space-worthy equivalent of a whisper-sphere, the Võmémééř drive array appeared before them in its glorious weirdness.

“It looks like it’s only half there.” Kso looked at Cha Dzeeny. “Is there another field around it?”

“No,” said Cha, “that’s what it looks like.”

“It’s so dark.”

“You could park it next to the brightest star; it would still look like this.”

“What are the wavy things along its axis?”

Cha knew the drive array was a sight to behold, and he remembered marveling at it for spins when it carried them to another galaxy. But without time to waste, the youngsters had to get their fix later.

“No more questions. Focus on the mission, Specters. All Ghost callsigns, ready for separation.”

“Ghost-1 confirms separation.” The voice output the Remnant cores had upgraded themselves with for easier communication during the mission was clear, loud, but somehow jarring.

Three Dark AIs came along, attached to the outside shuttle hull, waiting for the right speed and angle to detach and float toward the Isonomih research annex, sticking out like a little needle from the massive dark-gray intertwined cylinders packed with unpronounceable stuff.

“Our friends are on their way,” said Cha. “Let’s dock with the research station and make sure nobody minds their little system takeover.”

“Boss, if this drive array is working, and the AI cores can control it, why isn’t anyone joyriding it to other galaxies?”

“They want to research the nreedz out of it before they risk breaking it.”

“And we don’t care?”

“The Shaajis does. But you don’t, Marine. You care about getting a nice tight seal on that docking port.”

“Yes, boss.”

***

The airlock controls showed a safe pressure. Cha clenched his automatic.

“Specters to all callsigns. Boarding station.”

Kso pushed the door control. Several wide-eyed scientists stared at Cha’s group filing out of the airlock.

“Hands on your head!”

The woman standing on the left didn’t flinch at his command. Her eyes squinted. Not a scientist. Security? Cha aimed at her. Her right hand darted to her belt attachments. No one dies, had the Shaajis said. But she also said we needed the sphere drive. The woman’s hand grabbed something. A tool? A communicator? A compact sidearm? Cha’s finger closed on the trigger, and the triple burst of projectiles took her down.

“Hands on your head! Step away from your workstations,” he repeated. This time, compliance was immediate.

“Specter-1 to Ghosts. Station secure. Proceed with mission.”

“Ghost-1 to all callsigns. We cannot proceed. The Isonomih annex on top of the sphere drive has no access slots for cores or any other means of physical access.”

That made no sense. “Check again, Ghosts. The Isonomih working on the array must get in and out somehow.”

“Negative, Specter-1. No access possible. Proximity scans show no Isonomih signatures on board.”

“Wraith here. A destroyer patrol noticed the shuttle vanishing into the projected battleship. I am certain they are checking schedules. We’re close to a fleet-wide alert. What’s happening in there?”

The Shaajis. She had remained on board the Chéé, working her magic as far as she could. Cha doubted she could help with this.

“Specter-1 to Wraith. The sphere drive annex does not contain AI cores, nor is it accessible by our Ghost team.”

“How is that possible? Isonomih are the only means of communicating with the drive.”

“Maybe not anymore, Wraith.”

“What does that mean? How are we going to get it out of here?”

Cha checked on the woman he had shot. The projectiles went clean through her shoulder. Painful, bloody, but survivable. She’d live. With a fleet-wide alert, they would not. The drive array had been the exit strategy.

“Getting the drive array out of here, Wraith? We don’t.”

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