The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles #5: Liberation Read online

  Cat jumped slightly as she heard the ship’s captain, Ken Kirkland grumble behind her. She had grown so accustomed to her enhanced Heshe senses that having her senses scaled back to merely human levels was making her feel vulnerable. She imagined it was what someone who suddenly lost their ability to see or hear might feel. While it was true she still had all her senses, their acuity was a fraction of what she had become accustomed to.

  “The question,” Cat added over her shoulder, “is how will the crew respond in an emergency now that so many of the automated systems either do not exist or are severely hampered by this forced lobotomy of our ship’s AI?”

  “As per standard protocol, we’ve been running contingency drills every few weeks simulating the loss of various automated systems. The crew understands how to run the ship without those systems. The real question, I suspect, will be ‘How will they handle everything if this is indeed the new normal?’”

  Cat turned to face her friend. She could see the first telltale signs of greying in his beard and hair. He handled the strain of command well but even in the best of times being the captain of a ship tended to age a person. These were certainly not the best of times.

  “My concern is manpower. The Yorktown is a finely oiled machine when all the pieces are fit together correctly. Even with Ben’s engrams running a scaled back AI, the ship is not going to be able to respond as quickly to emergencies…”

  “Which means the crew will have to be that much more proactive in dealing with them,” Ken finished by way of agreeing with the Admiral.

  Cat toggled her newly implanted standard issue GCP internal commlink. “Ben, can you give me a status update on the downgrades?”

  The ship’s AI, now a functional clone of her father’s memory engrams, answered immediately. “The conversion is proceeding on schedule, Admiral. I estimate we will complete the required work in just under a standard week which will put us well ahead of the schedule set forth by the Agur.”

  “Have you given any further thought to picking a new name? Calling both you and the commander by the same name is too confusing.”

  “I am in consultation with my brothers on the Mador, Exeter and Relentless. There is some thought to adopting names that reflect the ships we are serving but no definitive decision has been made. As soon as the retrofits are complete we will reach a consensus and let you know… assuming of course this is acceptable to the Admiral?”

  “Thanks Ben. The retrofits take priority. Where is Commander Ben at the moment?”

  “My ‘Avatar’ is currently in main engineering – teaching Lieutenant Peterson the finer points of D’rlalu cursing. Apparently the Lieutenant took the Commander too literally when he instructed the young man to, and I quote, ‘Make the damn thing fit’ with regard to a delicate phase inverter.”

  “I see,” Cat said smiling. She knew Commander Ben… now in human form, hated being called the ship’s avatar – a point the Ship’s AI was keen to pick up on. That said, if the D’rlalu were experts at anything besides advanced power systems… it was cursing. She genuinely felt sorry for the young Lieutenant. In the D’rlalu culture, dressing down a subordinate had evolved into an art form. Cat also knew that Ben was a completely compassionate individual and once the dressing down was done he was just as likely as not to invite the victim out for a beer. “Tell the Commander I have a cup of hot chocolate in my Ready Room if he will agree to spare the young Lieutenant’s life and can join Captain Kirkland and myself at his earliest convenience.”

  ***

  Private First Class Jimmy Stevens was a bit of a xeno-bigot and a bitter man very much bent on revenge. He knew this to be true about himself and he was completely comfortable with it. His entire extended family had died on Mars during humanity’s war with the D’rlalu. Wreckage from the battle in space hit the red planet at near relativistic velocities. The result was that the surface of Mars was virtually sterilized. The bitterness that defined his life for the next few years transformed him into the man he was today. He never forgave the D’rlalu as a people. He dedicated his life to visiting his view of justice on the D’rlalu and those traitorous humans who had the audacity to befriend them.

  He joined the GCP, not so much because he agreed with their vision of a united and peaceful universe, but because this placed him in a position to strike at the very core of the organization that had welcomed the murderous D’rlalu into their midst. This latent hatred made the private a prime target for Modos Syndicate infiltration forces. The Syndicate’ covert operations teams actively recruited and financed malcontents within the ranks of the GCP. Jimmy Stevens had been recruited as a double agent several months earlier. He was one of a handful of similarly recruited individuals on several of the GCP’s ships.

  The deliberate ‘downgrading’ of critical systems within the Yorktown presented an ideal opportunity for sabotage. Per his handler’s instructions, Jimmy carefully inserted several Modos supplied electronic packages into control systems located in both engineering and the auxiliary bridge. The packages contained small microprocessors that were programmed to probe the environment they were connected to in an effort of infiltrate control circuits. Not every unit would find a meaningful system to highjack but with enough of them placed in the vicinity of high value targets chances were high that at least one of them would hit gold.

  Normally his presence in either of these rooms would have raised all sorts of red flags. But, in the current environment, there were dozens of teams working feverously throughout the ship… one extra Private with a personal agenda went unnoticed.

  ***

  Captain Vigit Purohit of the GCP Relentless stood next to his friend Jason Ruck. The two had arrived on the Yorktown at nearly the same time from their respective ships.

  “It seems a bloody shame,” Vigit complained as the two rode the turbo-lift to the Yorktown’s command deck and their meeting with Admiral Kimbridge. “The Relentless has been out of space dock for less than a week and already we are tearing out most of her advanced systems.”

  “Trust me, my friend,” Jason said while clasping him on the shoulder. “Ken and I feel exactly the same way. Truth be told, I suspect our respective counterparts in the Syndicate share our angst. No captain worth his salt likes to see his ship hobbled.”

  Vigit nodded while at the same time shaking his head. For Jason, it was a very familiar gesture. He smiled inwardly. His friend Vigit was the half-brother of the late Captain Debu Ramchindani. Jason had served with Captain Ramchindani briefly on humanity’s first interstellar capable starship the Bowman. At times like this Vigit was the spitting image of his brother.

  The turbo-lift doors opened and the two captains stepped out and on to the Yorktown’s command deck. A pair of marines could be seen guarding the entrance to the bridge. Another pair stood by the entrance to the Admiral’s ready-room. Jason recognized both as members of the Admiral’s permanent security detail. Sergeants Ramirez and Williams saluted as the officers approached the conference room.

  “Sirs, the Admiral and Captains Kirkland and Takei are expecting you,” Ramirez reported briskly as he actuated the door’s control. It swished open and allowed the two men to enter.

  Ken Kirkland with his tightly trimmed red beard was seated at the conference table. Admiral Kimbridge was at the coffee dispenser pouring herself another cup. Captain Hikaro Takei stood next to her with his own cup of coffee in his hand.

  “Gentlemen,” Cat indicated her cup. “Can I pour a cup for either of you?”

  “Thank you Admiral,” Jason answered with a smile as he handed her a cup to fill. Their hands touch and he winked at her. If she saw she gave no indication of it.

  “Vigit?”

  “No thank you, Ma’am. I’ll stick to my tea.”

  Cat smiled and nodded towards the table. Having anticipated his response she had ordered a pot with hot water and a selection of tea bags brought to the ready room earlier. Vigit’s personal preferences had already been uploaded to an embedded micropr
ocessor within the pot so that it would hold the temperature of the water at exactly the 39 degrees Celsius that he preferred.

  “Admiral, I want to thank you for agreeing to transfer Commander Trifa to the Relentless,” Vigit said before taking his seat.

  “I think the thanks should go to Captain Kirkland. He only agreed to the transfer if I would approve the promotion of Commander Ben as his replacement.”

  Vigit nodded his thanks to Ken.

  “Gentlemen,” Cat continued as she sat down at the table. “We have a lot to talk about. I want to personally brief you on the full extent of our latest meeting with the Agur as well as get an update from each of you with regard to the mandated modifications to your ships.”

  ***

  Cat stretched as she listened to Jason finish his report. His ship, the GCP Mador, along with Vigit’s Relentless, Ken’s Yorktown and Hikaro’s Exeter were well on their way towards the goal of finishing the primary refits required by the Agur. Normally, if the situation could be considered normal, this news would have pleased Cat but Jason’s report contained alarming news as well.

  An unexpected problem had been raised by the internal security systems. At Cat’s insistence the Heshe systems tied into the ships internal monitoring and environmental had been the last to be disconnected. Just prior to going offline the security services on the Mador had detected unusual tampering with a guidance computer. At first Jason had dismissed it as an anomalous reading but a routine inspection as part of his ship’s standard investigational procedures revealed a small foreign device of unknown origin and intent. A subsequent inspection of other critical systems had discovered three other such devices. It appeared to be some type of sabotage. Whether it was by Modos agents that had somehow managed to infiltrate the Mador or if it was something the Agur had done was anybody’s guess. Either way the situation was not good

  Jason had kept the news of the tiny devices limited to only a few select and trusted officers. Whoever had planted the things were likely still in a position to plant more. Cat used her embedded commlink to send a new set of orders to the AI’s on each of the three ships. They were all clones of Ben’s AI component and although they were not as powerful as their Heshe AI counterparts they were more than capable of systematically monitoring a handful of critical systems.

  “We need to check each of our ships… just in case the problem extends beyond the Mador,” Cat said quietly. “Jason was on the mark to keep this ‘need-to-know’. The fewer people who know that we know what is going on… the better the chance we can catch the perpetrators and figure out what their end game is. Have any of these little surprises you find sent over to the Yorktown for analysis.”

  The others nodded but Cat noticed Ken’s face remained pensive. “What are your thoughts?” She asked him.

  “The Agur have no reason to plant these things on our ships. Unless, of course, you think their role in all of this is something different then they have let on to. On the other hand it’s hard for me to believe the Modos would be able to sneak on board a Coalition starship unnoticed...”

  “The implication being that the operatives that planted these devices are in fact GCP personnel with independent objectives,” Cat finished.

  Vigit shook his head. “We cannot possibly win this war while questioning the loyalty of our own people.”

  “Agreed,” Cat said. “But perhaps we can follow the advice of an American president from before the turn of the century. Ronald Reagan’s famous ‘Trust but verify’ would seem to be the order of the day.”

  Chapter Six – The Enemy Within

  PFC Jimmy Stevens tried his best to look bored. In point of fact, he was terrified. The Modos-supplied remote control nodes he had planted were at risk of being discovered. Two days before the retrofit was scheduled to be complete the word had come down that there was to be a system by system search of the ship. Apparently one of his compatriots on one of the other ships had gotten careless.

  The worst part of his current ordeal was that he was assigned to the search detail with Security Chief Agnes Brodhead. The woman was a hardcore patriot and outspoken critic of all things that threaten the GCP. She would have her team scour every inch of the Yorktown to find any potential threats. Jimmy had no illusions about what would happen once they began to find the little devices he had planted. His DNA was all over them. There was simply no way to place them covertly and avoid such contamination.

  There were several other teams deployed searching the ship. They did so quietly under the guise of inspecting the retrofit for completeness as far as the rest of the crew was concerned. That filled Jimmy with a small sense of optimism as it was clear the Captain and Admiral were taking precautions to insure the perpetrators were not alerted to the discovery. Unfortunately they apparently underestimated a lowly PFC in their midst. It was typical… officers rarely saw the potential in those they lorded over.

  Still Jimmy had a problem. The next room on their list was AuxEng -the auxiliary engineering power control room. He had planted one of his little gems in a cabinet next to one of the computer interfaces. By now the automated device would have snaked out a control tentacle and usurped control of the interface. He spent as much time as he could checking every nook and cranny in the power conditioning room that he was currently in. He knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that there were none of the Modos packages in this room… at least none planted by himself.

  His only hope was to delay as long as possible and pray that something else would happen on the ship that would cause the team to abort the search. He knew even as he was thinking it… that the hope was a thin one at best. Finally, it was apparent that the chief was getting impatient to move on. She had checked the room herself three times. The stern look on her face could melt lead. He decided he could delay no longer.

  The AuxEng power control room looked like he remembered leaving it. This was no surprise as the Modos addition would only become apparent once the correct panel was open. More importantly there was a tool chest with several large spanners strapped to its side. If he could only get the Chief to turn her back to him he could take her out of the equation and figure out what to do with the body later.

  He moved about the room checking various locations for anything unusual. Unfortunately for him she seemed to be watching his every move with a slightly demented half smile on her face.

  “Oh for heaven’s sake!” She finally said and moved directly towards the panel he had been so careful to avoid.

  He seized the opportunity to covertly grab a wrench from the tool bench. As she started to work the panel free to expose his illicit handiwork he inched closer to her.

  As the panel came free she pulled a small canister from her cargo pocket and began to spray the inside of the small compartment. Jimmy was mystified by her actions. Surely she saw the foreign device nestled in between the other components inside the cabinet. He couldn’t wait to figure out what she was doing. He had to act now or lose the opportunity. He started to raise the wretch when her words suddenly stopped him.

  “Put that damn thing down before you hurt somebody!” She didn’t even bother to look at him as she continued to spray the inside of the control cabinet. “I’m spraying a quick acting protein degrader that should act on any DNA you might have left on our little friend. We wouldn’t want anybody to find it and trace it back to you.”

  She finally finished and turned around. “You can close your mouth now Private. Surely you didn’t think you were the only agent on this ship?”

  “I never…,” Jimmy began.

  “What type of spy would I be if it was obvious?” She asked. “What we need to do now is decontaminate the rest of our little friends here. I’ve got several of my own to hit. You take this canister and hit the rest of yours while I meet up with Bronstead’s team.”

  “Is Sergeant Bronstead also one of us?” Jimmy asked.

  “That stuck-up male chauvinist pig? Don’t make me laugh. The Modos have to have some standards afte
r all.”

  “Why are you meeting up with him then?”

  “Private, you sure as hell ask a lot of questions… for a private. The truth is the idiot is getting too close to some of my plants. I need to redirect his team until I can get them cleaned. Does that satisfy your curiosity?”

  “Yes Ma’am,” Jimmy said as he put the spanner back with the other wrenches. “I’ve got three more out there. Two on this deck and one on the hanger deck. I’ll clean them up right away. Then should we meet up and plan our next steps?”

  “There’s no planning to do,” she answered. “As soon as we get the word we act. Not a moment sooner and not a moment later.”

  ***

  “Do you think he bought it?” Ken Kirkland asked. He, Commander Ben and Admiral Kimbridge were watching everything from a microscopic camera secreted on Chief Brodhead’s rank insignia. In point of fact the camera was a normal, if not well known, part of her security forces standard kit.

  Cat looked at her friend and patted his shoulder. “Captain, I don’t ever want to play poker with your security chief. She had me convinced she was working for the Modos. In a few minutes our saboteur will lead us to each of the devices he planted and deactivate them with those disassembly nanites.”

  “Should I have Agnus pick him up?” Ben said while sipping his coffee.

  Cat turned to look at her friend. It was still strange to see a younger version of her father where she was expecting to see a six-legged D’rlalu canine. “I think our Chief has done a good enough job that we ought to encourage her to explore her thespian gifts a little while longer.”

  “In other words,” Ken responded, “a known enemy is infinitely preferable to an unknown enemy. Let’s watch him and use him to feed misinformation if we can.”

  ***

  Captain Nicked-Tail hated his new body. The twice-cursed Agur had insisted that all the Uruk-enhanced Modos revert to organic hosts. A pool of hosts were kept on board but even the best of them paled in comparison to the synthetic host he had become accustomed to. The very fact that he had to rest and feed the beast was galling. The creature he had mounted was a young docile female with some nascent mating urges he found doubly bothersome. He would have the creature spayed as soon as he could but in the interim he was forced to rely on special medicinal preparations that rendered the Suhtii more biddable.