“Attention on Deck!” All in the cramped Engineering spaces stood to attention at Captain Gital’s entrance. No matter how many times he mentioned this wasn’t a Military Transport, his crew still gave the full military courtesies due a Captain. “Carry on!” was his sharp reply as he locked eyes onto the Dromedary’s Chief Engineer Ardis Roes. “What’s got your PBM in such a bunch you called me down here Roes?”
When the Engineer looked up from the main hardlight display, Gital knew he wasn’t going to like the answer to his question. “Captain, I had both the Engineering Team and DROMEDARY run some follow up diagnostics after finding that fluctuation in the FTL simulations. The simulations were correct. If we hadn’t made corrections for the Faster Than Light Systems there was a three percent probability of a glitch occurring during a jump.”
Gital was stunned. Drives eventually wore down and parts needed replacing or entire systems required overhaul. Even when such systems neared the end of their prime functioning phase there were fail-safes which alert the Transport’s AI well in advance of the system’s failure.
The FTL Systems aboard DROMEDARY were well within their five hundred ESY lifecycle. To have a three percent probability of a glitch occurring during an FTL jump was unacceptable! “Three Percent? What’s wrong with the System? The FTL Array should not be prone to glitches. Not this early in its prime functioning phase!”
Engineer Roes turned back to the display then pointed at an interactive graph and said, “That’s not all Captain. There were fluctuations in the Cargo Bay Security Fields while we were in Bubble Time. I’ve got Pandora logged reporting the high security field in the Main Cargo Bay being down and then being back up. If she were gestated, I might have thought she was fooling around. I ran a couple of checks and her claim was correct. For ten ESM the field was down. Strange thing, DROMEDARY didn’t detect it.”
Frowning hard Captain Gital replied, “How in the Core did DROMEDARY miss something like that?” The Engineer looked up from the display and said, “You want the bad news or the scary news Skipper?” Gital put up a hand to halt any further statement from the Engineer as he saw his stress levels peak into the red on his PHUD. Normally he didn’t like his PBM altering his moods, but when the flow of artificial endorphins caused the tension building in him to abate the Captain was thankful.
“Go ahead... hit me with all of it.” Passing his hands over the Engineering Display, Roes brought up the visual analysis for Gital to see. “Son of an ‘Airlock Popper’!” Nodding the Engineer agreed with the Captain’s vulgar assessment of the analysis. “I would rather have some bastard open an airlock while I was unprepared for the vacuum than face what it looks like we’re up against. Somehow the Cargo Bay Security Field was breached. If that isn’t bad enough, the FTL Generators are experiencing Data Corruption.”
The very mention of ‘Data Corruption’ made all within earshot look up from their duties. Before anyone could say anything Gital shouted, “Get back to work!” After a long pause, the Captain sent a request for a Secure Link to Engineer Roes.
“Shit Roes! A saboteur aboard DROMEDARY? Are you fucking sure?”
“It’s the only explanation Gital. Security Fields don’t just turn the fuck off by themselves. I’m not going to ask specifics, but were we carrying something off Manifest on this run?”
Gital immediately knew what someone might want to get their hands on in the Cargo Bay that was off Manifest. He stepped abruptly to the display and called up Dromedary’s Security Logs. Quickly running through the viz feeds, the Captain saw some disturbing things. Checking the timestamps mentioned by Roes, he saw the Security Field ripple slightly once and then once more within a three ESM period. During that time, there seemed to be some activity with the strange unmarked Transport BOX. Zooming in on the location, Gital could not make out any cause but he did recognize the holographic display of the BOX’s Manifest!
The other thing that caught his eye was the frequency at which his companion Pandora 001 approached the Security Field where the BOX was staged. She never made any effort to touch the field, but one incident where Pandora leaped backwards in obvious fear was most notable. She visited the Cargo Bay numerous times afterwards to work on the Escape Pod. However, Pandora never got close to the Security Field again until she called in the discrepancy.
“Hmmm. Anyone else seen these Roes?” Shaking his head Engineer Roes replied in the Link, “No Captain.”
Gital looked at the Engineer as he stepped away from the display. Without prompting, Roes stepped forward and put the viz feeds from the period examined by the Captain under a Security Seal. “Roes, how long do you think it will take to lock down the ‘problem’ with the FTL System?” Turning to face his superior the Engineer replied, “Seven Local Days Skipper.” Shaking his head Gital countered. “We can’t afford to miss our arrival window at PEGASUS Station in the BERELLOPHON System. You’ve got seven ESD’s no more.”
Gital patted Roes on the shoulder hard. “Get this shit squared in time. We’re fucked if you don’t!” Giving the only answer he could, the Chief Engineer responded with a firm, “Aye, aye Captain.” Roes didn’t wait to see his boss leave the Engineering Deck before he turned to his department and shouted, “Sorry folks! Planetcall for all Engineering and System’s personnel is cancelled until further notice.”
Roes tuned out all the groans and exclamations of disappointment. Seven days Local Time would have been ten ESD’s. Instead, he had half as much to not only find what should not be in the FTL System, but fix it when he did! It was a sour deal, but as an MHG-1.3 being Chief Engineer aboard a working Corporate Transport was the best position he could possibly get in EPIMETHEUS SUPPLY Co-Op’s fleet. If missing out on a great planetcall was the price of keeping his Transport operational, so be it. “I was damn sure looking to get registered in AIPOTU’s ‘Three-Mile High Club’.”
****
MWGA FURY-Class Attack Transport, WHIPLASH
Twenty extra hours spent in Bubble Time and an additional six in Real Space placed Operations Officer Rewar Talvi and his Recovery Team sixteen ESH’s behind the DROMEDARY after an inspection team of Mech Manu’s scoured the WHIPLASH for evidence of Exotic Weapons. As he expected, the Outer Marker Station did not have the capacity to properly scan his team’s Transport BOX for its Exotic Weapons load.
He did have to assuage Captain Listes’ concerns. She had been legally ordered to aid him with the interception of the DROMEDARY and securing the Transport BOX carrying the deadly W.O.E.S. Software. Not until after the WHIPLASH was underway did Talvi alert the Captain of his Team’s mission and their cargo. Secretly Transporting Exotic Weapon Systems into a Star System violates over fifty MWGA Galactic Mandates.
Had the Manu’s been able to penetrate his Transportable Bolstered Olla’s security measures the WHIPLASH and all aboard fates were not optimal. One outcome was the Transport would be towed under restraining rays on their way to the local system’s Maximum Security Facility. The other equally unpalatable outcome was their being pursued by every available Attack Transport in the System. That being after he and his team commandeered the WHIPLASH and destroyed the Receiving Station. Fortunately, his encounter with the Captain on the Phys Con Deck seemed to purchase the Operations Officer some benefit of the doubt thus avoiding such poor premature conclusions to this mission.
Within two ESH, the WHIPLASH will have completed its FTL jumps and arrive at the planet AIPOTU. Sixteen hours was a horrific amount of time for the Transport BOX to be unaccounted for. Since this entire operation was covert, calling ahead to put a hold on their objective would not have been feasible even if they weren’t too late to do so. Also, putting a hold on DROMEDARY transporting cargo was not an option. Therefore it would be necessary to send in a small Recovery Squad to extract the BOX covertly. If the damn thing was still aboard the Transport!
The Squad would be comprised of Technicians Espan, Vell and himself. They would transport aboard DROMEDARY in Cloud Mode and assess whether the BOX was still aboard and still intact. If it was, their job would be relatively simple. if it wasn’t, then it would be a manner of covertly tracking its location. Should the BOX prove to have been successfully breached....
Despite her protests, Talvi put Altea in command of the Secondary Squad. Normally it was her task to lead covert incursions. However, the Operations Officer wanted her unflinching ability as a Manu to follow orders should it come down to implementing the P.U.R.G.E Protocol. It was imperative the Transport BOX be secured intact or use all means necessary to prevent the contained W.O.E.S. from finding their way into the Galactic Network. Talvi was more than willing to sacrifice himself, every being, Transport, Station and Planet in the HESTIA System to make certain the W.O.E.S. were destroyed.
In the meantime, Altea and Technician Cais were currently conducting system prep for the P.U.R.G.E. Initiator. In the fifty-three Earth Standard Centuries since its inception, the P.U.R.G.E. Protocol had only been initiated twice. Once it was deployed against the home system of the extinct ‘Mdkvc’. The other was against the TAENARUS 06 Research and Development Station.
Upon first contact, the Mdkvc were as the Umberiae in their heyday as an interstellar species. The Mdkvc possessed technological capabilities thousands of ESC’s ahead of humanity and they were determined to end human expansion into the Galaxy. There was no possible way to win against so powerful and implacable an enemy in open conflict. When word of the Mdkvc sweeping through human held systems with little effort reached the Milky Way Galactic Authority, two tried and true weapons were deployed against the new threat.
OO Talvi smiled as he remembered seeing the ancient campaign flags proudly displayed in Captain Listes’ compartment. Several of those flags represented ‘battles’ during the ‘Mdkvc Campaign’. Yes, there were fifty thousand Attack Transports deployed to the edge of Mdkvc held space. But when the enemy sent in one of their nigh invincible Autonomous Dreadnaughts to engage the Fleet, MWGA High Command delivered one cubic meter of Nickel Iron from a planetary core into orbit over the Mdkvc homeworld via Particle Wave Transmission sans safeguards.
The resulting explosion destabilized the system, but the Mdkvc’s far superior defenses kept their homeworld and several other populated worlds from being obliterated. The Fleet at the system’s edge, made short work of the damaged Dreadnaught as it was no longer being controlled by the Mdkvc then pressed on to attack the weakened homeworld. Devastated as those worlds were, the MWGA was unwilling to grant so powerful an enemy opportunity to rise again.
Secured aboard the Flag Attack Transport was a Bolstered Olla Level Ten (BOX) containing W.O.E.S. Software to be used against any remaining resistance offered by the Mdkvc. However unknown to the Attack Fleet Flag Commander, another of the Transports carried a new Exotic Weapons System called ‘Preemptive, Unilateral, Ranged, Gravitational, Excision.’ The P.U.R.G.E. protocol was so secretive that to date, only Military and Corporate operational personnel classification level 600M and above with ‘need to know’ ever learned of it!
In essence, initiating the PURGE Protocol via a controlled collapse of a Warp Bubble, created a rip in the local fabric of space and time. The ‘rip’ expanded to a specified size causing all matter within the disturbance to be excised from the known Universe to an unspecified Dimension! Once the PURGE was activated, anything less than a Massive Black Hole was doomed. However, there was a failsafe built into the PURGE Initiator System. There was always a ‘countdown’ when the system was activated.
When the Attack Fleet moved to engage the remaining Mdkvc Forces, they met with formidable resistance. The WOES were deployed against their Automated Defenses and the Mdkvc found those systems turned against them! Even with the favorable turn of events, the Mdkvc still proved to be an implacable enemy. The Attack Fleet sustained heavy losses, yet one payload of WOES was delivered to the surface of the Mdkvc homeworld. The result was catastrophic for both sides of the conflict.
After coming into contact with Mdkvc Technology at the source, the WOES became sentient and attacked the Fleet and the enemy. In the event of such an occurrence, the PURGE Initiator secured aboard one of the Support Transports was set on an inevitable countdown. Should the normal protocols to neutralize the WOES fail or the Mdkvc proved to be undefeatable by conventional means, there would be a decisive end to the conflict.
The last known communication from the Fleet Commander stated, ‘The Fleet had been infiltrated by the mutated WOES Software. Uninfected Transports were preparing to retreat from the system, but were pursued by WOES infected Mdkvc Automated Dreadnaughts.’ The transmission ended abruptly after the Commander’s report. Though there were no survivors, a research station studying spatial anomalies recorded what looked to be an entire region of space ‘collapse’ upon itself. Due to the entire Mdkvc System having been removed from real space, the gravimetric disturbances present caused that entire region of space to be quarantined as unfit for space travel of any sort.
The complete loss of the Fleet and any potential acquisition of Mdkvc technology or territory were not considered, ‘negatives’ for the MWGA. An intractable enemy had been annihilated and the most powerful weapon ever devised was proven in combat. Two thousand years later, when the remote high security TAENARUS 06 Research and Development Station lost containment of its WOES sample, the MWGA did not hesitate to initiate PURGE Protocol.
More than thirty-two ESC’s later, OO Talvi stood on the Control Deck of WHIPLASH wondering whether he would initiate another massive loss of life in the Galaxy to prevent the destruction of all mankind has struggled to achieve in the past sixty-five thousand years? With his Combat Grade PBM attracting the occasional concerned looks from WHIPLASH Officers and Technicians, Talvi hoped for their sakes and everyone within the HESTIA System that decision would not need to be made....
****
Captain Gital stood in his compartment with arms folded as his PHUD filled with graphics representing the many points of suspicion brought up by recent events. In the Short amount of time he’d served aboard DROMEDARY Gital saw many odd passengers and cargo on and off Manifest. Yet, this run was strangest of all. First his Transport was tagged to deliver a completely off Manifest Transport BOX to PEGASUS Station the last outpost in this section of the Galaxy. Anything transported to PEGASUS had to be headed out into the Spatial Abyss and the far-flung stations hidden in the Dark Matter Clouds.
Then the next odd occurrence came with the announcement he’d been chosen as the Beta Tester for the corporate miss-mash of ZEUS INTERSTELLAR, PROMETHEUS GROUP and HEPHESTUS CORP’s new joint-project Android ‘Pandora’. There were also a number of odd passengers who came aboard from OASIS 10. Most notable was the Cybernetic Human ‘Da Vinci.’ Humans and gestated aliens from low economic backgrounds received cybernetic limbs instead of having them regenerated. On the other hand, even those prosthetics were never so obviously mechanical looking as Da Vinci’s were. That and he was guardian of four gestated children headed to AIPOTU was also strange. Gestated children rarely traveled in space until they were modified to their maximum potential and had their new genetic makeup stabilized.
Strangest things of all were the Security Field in the Cargo Bay being down and the Engineer finding a glitch in the FTL Initiator System from possible Data Corruption. Data Corruption was nearly impossible in systems built in the last fifteen thousand years. Yet, it wasn’t improbable. The Engineer mentioned possible sabotage to the Security Field. Gital wondered, ‘Could there have been sabotage involved with the FTL Initiator System? Lastly, was Pandora connected to all these strange points?
“DROMEDARY.”
“Yes Captain Gital?”
“Is Pandora still aboard?”
“No Captain. Pandora 001 transferred down to AIPOTU Terminal ten ESM ago. Would you like me to recall her?”
“No DROMEDARY, that won’t be necessary.”
“I would remind you Captain of your rendezvous with the EPIMETHEUS SHIPPING Coordinator in 1.5 ESH.”
“Crap! Thanks DROMEDARY.”
“Would you like me to reserve a Particle Wave Transport pad for you Captain?”
“No, I will be taking one of the ‘Pods down planetside. Have a suitable docking station at the Terminal reserved for me please.”
“Captain I estimate at your current rate of activity, your arrival time by that antiquated Escape Pod will be within 1.4 ESH. I recommend you take a more prudent method of transport.”
Something was off about all of this, but it just wasn’t registering. Whatever his suspicions, they would have to wait while he took care of company business planetside. Gital chuckled then replied, “I’ll take that under advisement. In the meantime, prep the Cargo Bay for an old-fashioned ‘Planet Drop.”
To be concluded in The PAnd0RA Ultimatum EPISODE FIVE: Ultimatum
© 2013 H. Wolfgang Porter. All Rights Reserved.
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