Ancient Hunter

I hoped my theory was wrong. Both Kelli and Denassi moved away from the ship. They were unarmed and unarmoured and the most vulnerable if something happened. Jervic sidled up to Freyhilda and her squad their weapons at the ready. The crystal ship was nothing like the Stepping-Stones. It seemed to be made of the same material but the shape was different. Stepping-Stones were flat disks on the floor this ship was like a quartz crystal all angles and a sharp tip.

“Kelli and Denassi fall back!” I ordered the two.

Denassi pulled back Kelli back behind the Valkyrie. She was still on her comms filling in Xenai on my alert. I’d sure look foolish if I was proved wrong. With things being as they were I’d rather look foolish than the ship in danger.

There was a flash of light emanating from the tip of the ship. It was like travelling through the Stepping-Stone. A creature emerged from the light and for a moment the situation teetered on a knife-edge. I acted instantly drawing my weapon and firing my enhanced reflexes reacting to the appearance of the creature. Without my orders Jervic and opened fire a combination of both conventional and explosive rounds. They literally blew the creature apart spraying viscera and body parts across the bay.

“Fall back and blow it out the bay before more appear!” I yelled. I didn’t know why more hadn’t appeared straight away. I could transport a number of people when I used the Stepping-Stones. With our weapons pointing at the crystal we backed away to the door. Someone pulled me through as I was the last one to leave. Denassi stood by the bay console which was located beside the door. Above it was a view screen. Denassi typed furiously on the console his fingers tapping on the console’s keyboard. I like everyone else watched the screen. It showed the inside of the bay with the crystal and the bits of body scattered around it. As I watched there was another burst of light and a new creature emerged into the bay. Before it had time to move the hanger doors at the back of the bay opened. With a whoosh of air the creature and the crystal ship disappeared in the vacuum of space. At that moment warning lights flashed red and the alarms sounded the ship was under attack.

“We’re being attacked!” I announced worried about another assault on the ship. I don’t know how much damage this the Valorous Star could take.

Kelli shook her head her eyes on her comms bracelet. “Xenai’s gone to red alert as a precaution. She wants us to join her in the conference room.”

“Let her know we’ll get there ASAP.”

“On it Gwen.”

We hurried through the ship with Jervic taking point and Freyhilda and her squad flanking Kelli Denassi and me. We passed Marines stationed at strategic locations and other crew all at a state of readiness. There were two Marines guarding the conference room. They let us pass without comment. Entering the room I saw Xenai at the far end Lieutenant Thorda at her side. The conference room was a long room dominated by a table at the centre and places for at least twenty people. It was in a pristine state compared with other parts of the ship. Xenai was in the middle of a discussion with an older looking Ezaran his fur streaked with grey. Xenai glanced in my direction before speaking.

“Chief how long will it will take you to patch out the holes?” She said to the greying Ezaran.

It was obvious he was the Chief Engineer. Ezarans were common on most Confed ships as engineers.

“Eight to ten hours with pressure suits and remotes,” the Chief replied.

I assumed he was referring to remotely controlled drones. Things the Empire used with a lot of reluctance. Us Imperials were taught to fear AI after the AI wars where our technology went crazy and almost destroyed Human civilisation. I was on the bad end of some AI technology but at least I knew where it was a necessary evil. I’d be a cripple if not for the nanobots swarming in my blood. They boosted my speed and healing rate to be better than that of the Cell Stitchers the Confeds used to fix injuries.

“With Demeros shipping us the materials I will endeavour to get the repairs done as soon as it can,” the Chief added.

“See to it Chief.” Xenai turned to me. “Take a seat I’ll hear your report in a moment.”

I sat feeling rather crowded with Freyhilda and her squad looming over me.

“Captain Lessolas status of your command?” Xenai asked the commander of her shipboard Marines.

I’d spoken with Captain Lessolas a few times for a T’Arni he seemed unfazed by me being on his ship unlike Lieutenant Gant who had issues with me.

“I’ve lost more that a few good men and women but we’re not out of the fight.”

He nodded towards Freyhilda. “With a squad of Valkyrie at my back we’ll win through.” He looked at Xenai. “We’ve been bolstered by squads from the Axon and the Elafi. I’d like to continue that arrangement if I can ma’am?”

“I’ll see that it is done,” Xenai said firmly then turned her attention to me. “We got lucky I had the rest of those… I’m at a loss as what to call them?”

“Transporters?” I suggested after some old science fiction vid I’d watched as a kid.

“A good as any other name for them,” Xenai agreed. “I had most of those Transporters removed from the ship. The one left was the one I had you investigate. Do you have a report?”

“I have a theory but Kelli and Denassi did all the hard work.” I nodded to the two of them.

“We did a deep scans of the Transporter.” Kelli flicked her eyes to me before continuing. “And found nothing in fact it refused to be scanned. I was planning to bring in heavier equipment. But that point is rather mute now.”

Denassi carried on from where Kelli had stopped. “ There was no indication of any propulsion system or anyway of manoeuvring the Transporter once it is in motion. In all appearances it looked and acted like a kinetic railgun round minus the explosive.”

“Lieutenant Hunter, how did you guess it was a transport device?”

I noted Xenai had refrained for calling me Gwen but this was a formal enquiry and she had to follow protocol. “It was made of the same material as are the Stepping-Stones. Although it was only a theory at the time I know how the Stepping-Stones work. I urged my team to be cautious and fortunately that proved to be true. My new theory is that it is only one way. The Stepping-Stone on Demeros has a range of five hundred kilometres and that is site to site. There are other Stones around the galaxy but I can only guess at the ranges of those.” The exact thing I hadn’t wanted to do. I wasn’t going to be some lab rat of either the Confeds or the Empire.

“Couldn’t you ask your friends?” Xenai asked me.

She was putting me on the spot. I did really understand things from her side. She didn’t have much of a choice. Her whole command was relying on and her she’d lost crew to these creatures. I could see from the expression on her face that she hated to put pressure on me.

“The ones that could answer that are the ones that are missing.” Adding truthfully. “The ones that remain don’t know anything.” Moon Shadow and the others had no idea about Jennifer’s Unpronouncables or UP as I had named them. It had been millions of years ago that the First ones had wiped the UP out. I had tried and failed to access the computer under Saros. It had been too alien for me to understand. “I can’t access their computer either.” A thought occurred to me. Joyce had the data rod I’d got from the Keepers. “Professor Joyce Neilson has a data rod how about we ask her?”

“I’ve already commed the Professor,” Xenai told me. “ She’s on the way as we speak.”

At least that was one relief.

“And your other friend?” Xenai said looking directly at me.

It took me a moment or two to work out what she was hinting at. She was referring to Jennifer the First One masquerading as the Vice President of Saros. The President was the other First One. Their task had been to watch over the last of the Keepers. Come to think of it I hadn’t heard from the other First One. All my interactions had been with Jennifer. “I can’t say. She contacts me and not the other way around.”

“Can’t your other friends contact her.” Xenai was grasping at straws.

I knew that feeling all too well. “As I’ve stated the only ones that could do that are the ones missing.” A terrifying thought crossed my mind. Was it possible that was a link to all this? I shivered at that wondering where we went from here?

“Then we wait for Professor Neilson. I need answers to why this ship was vulnerable to the Ulkoi attack. We used the technology the Thousand gave us and we have no way of contacting them.”

Ulkoi was a lot better than I calling them Unpronouncables was. I had no idea who the Thousand were but it sounded like an ancient race from before the T’Arni war of freedom thirty thousand years ago. The T’Arni had been slaves of the Rhosani and rebelled. It had been the First Ones that finally freed the T’Arni and built gift worlds for them. All we had to do was wait until Joyce showed up.

The door to the conference opened and Joyce entered she was accompanied by two of her Marines. She was wearing brown coveralls, around her waist was a tool belt. Over one shoulder was a canvas strapped to a canvas case on her back.

“Thanks you for joining us so promptly Professor Neilson,” Xenai said to her.

Joyce nodded to the people assembled in the conference room. Good to see you unharmed Captain Xenai and you to Gwen.” She glanced around and added. “Condolences on your losses,” she said to Xenai. “Now how can I help?”

Xenai detailed her on our predicament and my evaluation of the Transporters. Joyce listened without comment her face nodding at Xenai assessment.

“This may stretch Roddy’s capabilities but we can only try.” Roddy was what she had named the data rod. She pulled the canvas case off her back and opened it.

It was a black hexagonal rod with glowing green symbols on it. I recognised at the one the Keepers had swapped it for. The other was supposed to have been a peace offering to the Guardians on Melanos. But the Guardian’s hatred for the Keepers had been too great. They tried to use me as a weapon to kill the Keepers. They had implanted a device in me to make me attack the Keepers. It had sent me crazy Digger one of the Keepers removed it. For that First Ones had the Guardians punished.

Joyce laid the rod on the table nesting it on the canvas case. She tapped a few of the glowing symbols on the rod. I think she was doing that for show. She could speak to the rod and it would activate for her.

“You have the data from the quantum entanglement transmitter?” she asked the Chief Engineer who had accompanied Xenai into the conference room.

He handed over his datapad. “This is what we have.” He looked shocked as the data disappeared from his datapad. “What gives!”

“Roddy is processing the data. You’ll get it back in a moment.”

“Oh its back,” the Chief said surprised.

“OK Roddy track the data back to its origin. It may take a while until the data is processed.”

We would have to wait. I wasn’t certain how long that would be.