Zenith Escape
“Captain, we’ve tentatively identified two artificial structures on the scope, one is extremely large, one of the largest we’ve identified beside a Quarg structure, but the other is roughly the size of a middleweight freighter.”
Captain Orin Phelps perked his ears. Discovering a megastructure was a once in a lifetime opportunity, however, the possibility of a derelict alien ship was even more exciting. It was one thing to explore and analyze a broken down alien station, but actually fly an alien vessel meant experiencing a little piece of their day to day lives, it was like a bit of culture which could be understood without greater context. Not much excited the cold hearted captain but this went a long way. Unfortunately, his hope was quickly dashed.
“We’ve identified the smaller object. It’s a Hai lightning bug flying Unfettered colors. Should we send people to combat stations, Captain?”
“No, not immediately. Scan and hail it.”
A chittering, angry voice came in over the communication link. “You are one of the Humans who have been sent to track and kill me, are you not?”
Orin, in his usual manner, was nonplussed. “This is the D.S.S Argos, we aren’t here for combat. Scans show your ramscoop has been badly damaged and you’re out of fuel. We do not have the equipment to repair it nor enough fuel immediately available get you back to Hai space, however, we can allow you to join us until we return to around Human space, from there you will be able to return to your people.”
The Hai were a race best described as oversized rodents (similarly, they tended to characterize humans as bald apes). They were highly energetic and surprisingly similar to Humans, fitting since, unusually, their space was connected to that of Humanity’s. Most believed that Human and Hai society would more or less merge together within the next century. Similar to Humanity, the Hai also had rebels, the Unfettered Hai.
Orin had spent some time as an intelligence agent. He left and became an escort for research teams after being troubled by conspiracies and problems in human space for too long, seeking peace for himself after having to look the evil in the world in the eye for so long. Very aware of how so-called revolutionaries and anarchists behaved, he expected the Unfettered to gleefully accept assistance from the authorities.
“No, I will not accept handouts from the enemy. Leave me alone.”
Orin shrugged as if the Hai on the other side of the audio line could see the gesture. “Can you tell me why you’re so deep in space though? Your ship is chewed up, you clearly had to cross a lot of dangerous ground to get this far.”
“I will never talk to someone like you.”
Orin shrugged again and ordered the crew to continue on to the megastructure and begin taking measurements, disinterested in the uncooperative Hai.
Distant space was unnerving but beautiful. Very few people had the opportunity to descend from human space into the unoccupied, alien parts of the galaxy, not many would even want to for fear of becoming stranded, captured, irradiated, or dead. The rewards though, high technology of other races, ancient, forgotten wonders from disappeared civilizations, natural wonders like novas and stars unfolding beneath you. This star, particularly, had an enormous station that ringed around a gas giant, pink and tan, Rulei construction. The Deep would be thrilled for data on this.
The study was interrupted by the arrival of another ship.
“Orin Phelps, Republic navy captain, Free Worlds militia captain, member of the Free Worlds Security Office, resident of the anarchist world Freedom, and now a member of Deep Security. You have a long and illustrious career despite flipping between sides so often, anyone would have been glad to work with you. Such a shame you turned out to be an Alpha.”
It was a Republic carrier painted Free Worlds green, captured during the civil war in Human space by killing its original crew and replacing them with wolf pack militiamen. There was no question who it was.
“Why are you following me, Inman?”
“I’m not following you, it’s just a strange coincidence that I’ve run into you again, I’m here for that Unfettered vessel.”
Orin signaled for combat positions. “The lightning bug is with Deep Security, you can go back to Glaze and tell the Free Worlds council that the situation was more complex than you realized.”
A period of silence followed, punctuated by Inman’s assent. “Alright, I won’t get in the Deep’s way then. Going this far out makes me sick anyway. Goodbye, Orin.”
The F.S.S Faustus jumped out of the system. Orin immediately recalled the research probes and hailed the Hai ship.
“You’re coming aboard to discuss strategy.”
“I will not take handouts!”
“Then listen to me from there, we both need to get out of here and find good places to hide. That was a member of Free Worlds intelligence named Inman piloting that ship, he was originally part of Republic Intelligence and he was overwhelmed by the things he was exposed to as part of his job. He eventually found solace by totally giving up on innocence. He sold his soul to the devil and he did it for a high price.”
“So, we are going to take him down?”
“No. He has some dirt on me from our time in the service together. Now that he knows I’m out here he’s going to use that as a reason to get a battlegroup from the Republic and hunt both of us down. We need to find places to hide until this whole thing is over and we’ll need to move fast.”
Bashing and clanging noises started coming on over the comms. “I will NOT back down, I will NOT run from anyone or anything! I came here to find something to reignite the Unfettered and I will NOT be stopped now!”
Orin scratched his head. “Dock with the ship, prepare to refuel and repair, send men to bring the Hai onboard. Tell them to carry ballistic shields.”
The Hai was dragged up to the bridge kicking and screaming. However, once he saw Orin he became quiet and well mannered. The overgrown squirrel which had just been chittering obscenities at the crew standing tall, puffing out its chest, and giving a stern face was nearly impossible to take seriously by anyone, much less the eight foot tall Orin. It did not help that, despite the strong face, the Hai was visibly vibrating.
“So-”
“You’re an Unfettered human.”
Orin was irritated. “Yeah, I’m an Alpha, a genetically engineered sociopath, we nearly ended human civilization in a huge blowout war. It’s not a good thing. Tell me your name.”
“Hevru.”
Orin extended a hand and after a moment of hesitation Hevru returned the gesture with its paw. A bridge officer spread out a starchart in front of them.
“Now, Inman is going going to find the fastest route back to human space that he can that he would consider safe, his goal is going to get a battlegroup assembled as quickly as possible to limit our options for escape. He’s replaced his carrier’s standard scram drive with a jump drive. That means two things. One, he has to come to a stop relative to the star he’s orbiting to initiate a jump, and two, his ship is very fuel inefficient. First, that means he’s going to have to avoid as much of Bunrodea and Korath space as possible for one thing, if he gets knocked off course just long enough for reinforcements to arrive then he’s SOL, and secondly he’s going to have to take a route that allows for the most ramscoop collection. Old stars, nebulas, binary stars, anything which would create a sufficient field of particulates to pick up on.”
Hevru’s eyes darted from the map to Orin, then back again.
“We have the advantage in speed, the Bactrian is a practically ancient ship, designed for colonizing distant stars. That means it has a lot of fuel capacity and ample space for ramscoops. Additionally I’ve outfitted the Argos with a hyper drive as well as a jump drive for the extra efficiency.”
“So that’s why we’re using a paper starchart instead of a screen or hologram?”
“Exactly. No how modernized this ship may be we still have to do things how they did them centuries ago.”
Orin leaned across the chart and pointed out a region marked Korath Space. “Given the state of your ship I assume you’re aware of the Korath and Bunrodea?”
Hevru winced, Orin carried on.
Orin grinned and stood up straight. “Inman is very smart, don’t get me wrong, but he’s also hasty. The reason he left so quickly was because he didn’t stop to scan your ship, he didn’t know you were derelict. I can’t fight a Carrier in a Bactrian but I can absolutely slip away before he can disable me. He immediately decided that unless he left and got backup he might lose us for good, so he raced off.”
He stepped away and queued a printout of the specifications of the Republic carrier design. He handed it to the increasingly energetic Hai. “This is what you’re up against, likely the single toughest ship produced by Humanity yet, able to go toe to toe even with Hai shield beetles, and that’s not even including its compliment of drones and fighters. It’s a beast.”
Making a printout of the Hai lightning bug’s specs, he continued. “Unfortunately, you haven’t got a shield beetle, you have a light warship, weak even by human standards. Going after it at all is a death sentence for you. However, I can easily get you back to Hai space before he could catch you. You disappear back to Wah Ki and I go back into hiding in the Deep and that’s the end of it.”
He turned, smug, fully expecting to have demoralized the rodent enough to make a good decision. Instead it was fuming.
“The Unfettered are lost, they take food and medical aide from the fake Hai. They purchase jump drives from sociopathic, purposeless, ‘unfettered’ humans like you. I went out into space searching for something that could remind them of why we started fighting, to get them to stop relying on handouts from the enslaved. If Humanity hates the Alphas as much as they say, then now they think that the Unfettered have been dealing with them. As much as I hate it, the Unfettered will never win a war against Humanity, even if the enslaved Hai helped them.”
“Why do you keep calling them enslaved?”
Hevru started beating on the table, if he gained any more steam he might have started bouncing off the walls of the bridge. “They call them enslaved because they believe the old story about the Drak and the Archons modifying the Hai genome. I think that’s just a myth. I call them enslaved because they’re stagnating, they have no military, they’re allowing themselves to dissolve into Humanity with no resistance, they’ve lost all sense of purpose, they’ve lost all sense of themselves. I can speak English, almost any Hai can speak English, have you ever met a Human that can speak in Hai?”
Orin grimaced. “You’ll never find any peace with such high-minded ideas. You won’t convince anyone, people are derelict. They don’t care about anything, they just want to feel like they do. You’ll just take a ton of hits, then you’ll die without ever having achieved something lasting.”
Hevru picked himself up. “My life is currency to spend on something meaningful, it doesn’t matter if it doesn’t take or not, the only thing that matters to me is whether I do it. That’s how I made peace with myself. Let me go back to my ship.”
Orin nodded passively and motioned for an officer to take him away. He went back to his chart to plan a course to somewhere he could hide out, maybe Far Monad. His mind went elsewhere however.
He idly watched as the Lightning Bug disappeared. At one point he had been that idealistic too, although he was a disguised Alpha activated like a latent gene on a remote system in the far north, part of a sleeper cell plot, optimized for sociopathy. He felt like something was missing though, no matter how blunted his emotions could be. Eventually he decided that what must be missing was a purpose to fight for. He joined the Navy, a nexus for upright, honorable men. He took some solace in it but still felt lost.
Eventually he joined Republic Intelligence, that was where he met Inman. In their first few days they got hit by the most grim and disheartening things there were to know about humanity. The Syndicate nuclear program, bioweapons, the plan to frame the Free Worlds to sabotage them before they could declare independence, neither could take it.
Orin and Inman defected to the Free Worlds together, hoping for something more pure. Instead they found the unfortunate connections between the Free Worlds and piracy around the rim. Tomek had rushed and occupied the pirate stronghold and infamous slave market Greenrock. He was removed from the Free Worlds council for his trouble, put on house arrest, and after the war militia forces were withdrawn from Greenrock and it reverted to piracy.
Inman gave up by that point, he joined a pirate wolf pack which planned on stealing nuclear weapons from the Syndicate to force the Republic to surrender.
Both sides had weapons far more terrible than nuclear weapons, engineered viruses, ecological kills, simply strafing cities with plasma weaponry, even Alphas. Nuclear weapons, though, occupied a special place in the Human conscious. They were the first and most basic WMD to be discovered, they were a symbol of fear and destruction above all else, nuclear disarmament was never about preventing lives from being lost, it was about symbolically putting away senseless destruction. The long period of total disarmament was now dead, destruction was back on the table. Inman’s way to restore his sense of peace about the world was to accept that ultimately, all you could do was threaten destruction or be destroyed. If someone was going to hold a nuclear weapon above someone else’s head, he would hold the nuke.
Orin found a different answer, he searched for a whistleblower, it would only take a single Syndicate defector to end the war, anyone who could prove the existence of the nuclear program. He succeeded, thwarted Inman’s plot, helped end the war. Success was short lived though. The Syndicate remained in power, just under more scrutiny. The whisteblower was assassinated after the war, as were many other people who either exposed or worked against them. The rest fell in line after that, even when it came out that an Alpha enclave was supporting the Syndicate’s black projects.
Losing faith in the high minded ideals of Humanity, he retreated north to Freedom, a league of anarchist colonies which had sustained a long resistance against the Republic. His tenure there did not last long though, sick of seeing pirates and banditry on a daily basis, watching food and medical shipments from Republic charitable organizations accepted with open arms, it was all hypocrisy. In a sense it wouldn’t have mattered what they believed had they actually been earnest about it, but just like everyone else, they weren’t as pure as he had hoped. Then, the Navy arrived and bombed Zenith with a real weapon of mass destruction, shattering the surface, exposing another Alpha enclave hoping to overcome Human space. Disgusted with himself and with Humanity, Orin took up a contract with the Deep as an excuse to leave Human space. They gave him a jump drive and a Bactrian. He got to leave for the wilderness and in return he sent them back data on distant space.
Orin gazed out the bridge windows, looking at an immense structure, second only to Quarg ringworlds. It encircled a gas giant, unfathomable, men would die just to have the chance to witness it. Space made a man realize just how small he really was and just how much beauty he was blessed to see. Despite all of that though, he found it disinteresting. He could not pull his mind away from Hevru, the impulsive Hai, doomed to get himself killed hunting down a carrier he had no chance of destroying, willing to die just to inspire others.
Maybe he really did have a chance.
Hevru circled Piadenli. If Inman was going to take the route Orin suggested then he would likely pass through here. However, the Bunrodea found him first. A battlegroup centered around a Chigiriki, the largest ship the Bunrodea produced, warped into the system. They were on him before he could jump out, the ship was disabled in seconds. Hevru braced for the worst. The fleet, however, simply held position. Eventually something new arrived.
A black, iridescent warship warped into the system. As if they were waiting for it to arrive and wanted to allow it space to work the Bunrodea departed. He had never seen a design like it before, it looked half like a ship and half like a living being, complete with wings and elegant arcing fixtures almost like feathers.
“This is the F.S.S Jason. Prepare to be boarded.”
The airlock opened revealing none other than Captain Orin Phelps. He picked Hevru up by the scruff of his neck and sprinted back into the Jason, leaving the lightning bug behind. Hevru did not resist this time, not that it would have done much for him anyway.
“How did you know about the Bunrodea fleet?”
“Knew about it? I ordered it. I didn’t know if you were about to do something rash so I called in a favor. They may not be friendly to you but they know me a bit better.”
Dropping Hevru on the bridge he hastily unrolled the starmap and signaled the crew to get ready for a jump, then immediately begin combat.
“We haven’t got much time, so listen up.”
Orin drew a line between three isolated stars on the map.
“You couldn’t have known this, but I was a bit wrong on Inman’s route. I asked the Bunrodea to tell me once they detected something matching his description moving through their space. They tracked him passing through Urba Pest. That means from there he’s most likely jumping to Persitar, refueling, then passing through Faronektu into Sayaiban.”
Hevru’s eyes went wide. “That is the star with those nanomachines around it, the ones that dissolve your ship while you are sitting in it. That Archon stationed there warns you about them.”
“Exactly. It seems that Inman knew I kept my old flagship from the war here, he was afraid I’d try to intercept him with it. Credit to him, he really did mix me up, I didn’t expect this at all. However, like all people who’ve given up on humanity, he’s got a self destructive streak, another fault of his. Heavy drinker, heavy smoker, I’m kind of the same. He’s concerned but not too concerned about his health and safety. The carrier is probably the sturdiest model of ship produced in Human space, he won’t sweat shedding some of his hull to get home faster, so long as he doesn’t die on the way. The Bactrian would not last, however, a Remnant Albatross might.”
Orin lovingly stroked the black, almost breathing, hull. “You have no idea how hard it is to get one of these things. It’s my sword and shield, it got me through some real dirty jobs during the civil war. I never thought I’d fly it again but I guess these are wild times.”
Hevru was vibrating again. “Why did you come back?”
“I like the Deep because they like outer space. They think it’s beautiful and compelling, more so than any other wing of humanity. That’s why they’re the center of Humanity’s science community, if something’s beautiful you want to take it and understand it. Nature is beautiful, so if you’re open to beauty you reach out and try to understand it. Even more than that, they think other people are beautiful, that’s why they’re the core of human culture these days. You make me realize, you don’t get peace from running away from what troubles you, you get it from facing things bravely for the sake of others.”
Orin took his place at the head of the bridge and motioned for Hevru to take the position next to him. “I’d never sleep well again if I let you die alone out here doing something I was too bitter to do myself.”
They finished the jump to Saiyaban moments before Inman could arrive. Both hulls immediately began sparking, glowing bright yellow and orange as the nanoprobes chewed their way through shields and armor.
The comms crackled to life. “You caught me, huh? Can you stop me now though? Run away while you still can, I’ll have you dead within a week, you’re a coward who couldn’t take the heat.”
The Faustus prepared to jump. Orin called out. “Open fire! Run him down!”
Four huge red beams shot out from the radial turrets. Two thick, purple bolts launched out from the fixed guns. Faustus’s engines shut down and it began be shoved backwards uncontrollably as the Jason chased it down.
“Korath repulsors and detainers. I picked these up on a research trip and kept some for myself. I wasn’t sure if I could prevent him from jumping out, so instead I’m letting the nanomachines do the work.”
Hevru noticed the Archon on scope.
“Why isn’t it doing anything? Doesn’t that Archon care that we’re fighting to the death out here?”
Orin shrugged. “They call it an internal political issue, the Alpha conflict I mean. I don’t think the Drak or their Archons are very interested in Humanity. They seem to think of themselves as gardeners more than anything, they let the plants grow and cut them back if they get overgrown.”
Inman’s voice, distorted and difficult to understand, began rambling over the commlink as he realized he would not be making it out of Sayaiban. Orin could only make out one clear sentence.
“I always hated you, since I met you.”
Eventually, finally, the carrier’s hull gave way before the albatross’s could. Cutting it down to its vital components finally, the beam weapons burst, ripping apart the front and back of the hull in colorful flame. Then the missiles went, popping one after the other like a fireworks show. Finally, the hyperspace fuel ignited, reducing the ship to scrap. The scrap glowed and shrank until it disappeared, fully atomized, and that was the end of Inman.
“Jump, now! Get us out of here!”
The jump drive roared to life… then fizzled out. The Jason had taken too much damage, it was dead in the water.
Orin wiped his brow, reached down, and took out a cigarette. Before he could light it Hevru smacked it out of his hand and pointed to the scope. “We can still make it.”
“It’s not gonna listen.”
“You listened. Try it!”
Orin hailed the Archon, it was a grey, scaly, beady eyed thing that hung in space. It had no electronics, it spoke psychically when it felt like it and remained silent when it did not. It obviously did not have a radio but hailing it seemed like a fair enough way to get its attention.
Orin spoke into the air. “We shot that ship down because it was going to start a war with the Hai. I didn’t want that to happen.”
Silence.
“To be honest, it doesn’t matter to me whether we fight the Unfettered or not, they’re criminals and pirates, they’ve caused a lot of destruction. There’s a Hai onboard here though who was willing to die just to help them, because he loves them and wants them to turn it around. I didn’t want him to die so I helped him, but it didn’t work out. Please, assist us.”
The Archon spoke back to him. “Your internal political matters aren’t our concern. I am only here to warn captains about the dangers of this sytem.”
“It’s not an internal political matter.” He pointed up into the air as if the thing could see it. “We want peace for Humanity and for the Hai, a real peace, a peace from purging evil, not from running away from our problems or deciding that evil is our whole existence. You’re here guarding people’s lives, the Archons guard the whole universe from wily races overstepping their boundaries, so surely you recognize that a sentient life is the most beautiful thing of all and the most worthy thing of protection at all! The whole cosmos exist for the benefit of those who’ll reach out and understand it! So, help us, please!”
The Archon was silent again, but then as if it were deliberating, it lazily moved to the Jason and (somehow) began to repair it. It extended its shield over them and the attacks from the nanoprobes faded away. Finally, the ship was together enough to jump. Orin already knew what the thing would say to him next and ordered an immediate jump back to Bunrodea space.
The whole crew collapsed from tension, deep breaths, doing their best to calm their beating hearts. Determined to be a strong for everyone, Orin matted his hair down, took a deep breath, and tried to ignore the powerful feelings gripping his chest. Hevru jumped up and tapped his shoulder.
“Where will you go next?”
“Well, I like the Deep but I think the Free Worlds may need my help. The Confederated Councils of the Outer Rim is gaining power again from what I’ve heard.”
“Can I join you? I don’t think I can help the Unfettered yet.”
“Of course.”
Orin set a course for the nearest spaceport for repairs, nursing a sense of peace he had never felt before.