Point of Origin (War Eternal Book 4) (11 page)

"Neither sounds easy," Teal said.

"No, it won't be, whatever we do. We have to do it to the best of our abilities. Calvin, do you have what you need for both approaches?"

"For the most part. The people of Asimov are from both nations, so we have a supply of Federation clothing and uniforms. There are also a few Federation starships in orbit. I spoke to the captains. The Kemushi is legally registered and should have clearance to launch a transport to the surface."

"Do we know who the ground team is?" Teal asked.

Mitchell looked at Calvin. "Have you decided on a team?"

"We need to keep the group small to avoid suspicion. The two of us, Colonel, though I suggest doing something to alter your appearance in the next two weeks. There is another former Federation member, Joon, who I believe will be valuable. If we choose plan B, we will require Aiko as well."

"Me?" Aiko said. "I'm not a soldier."

"You're the best data technician we have," Calvin replied.

Aiko looked at Mitchell, her face pleading. "I can't do this, Colonel. I'm good with data and machines, not espionage."

"I want you to come along either way," Mitchell said. "I'm sorry, Aiko, but even if we capture a Federation operative, we need someone to tell us if they're trying to be deceptive. We'll have two weeks travel to the planet. I can give you some basic training."

She bit her lip, her face pale. "But, Colonel-"

He shifted to face her, keeping his voice gentle. "Aiko, if you want to protect the people of Asimov, this is the best way to do it. I know it is a scary thought, but Calvin and I will be with you, and I've done this sort of thing before."
 

Of course, he was lying. He had never participated in any kind of undercover operation before. He was a soldier, not a spy. The words still seemed to ease her mind, at least a little bit.

"What about if the Tetron have already taken the planet?" Teal asked.

"Then we'll drop whatever we need to get to the data stores and see if anything is still there to take. We salvaged a few mechs from Hell, in addition to Digger's Franks. If there's a Tetron on the planet, we abort and come up with something else."

"What if there is nothing else?"

Mitchell had wondered the same thing himself. If there were a Tetron embedded in the planet they chose, they wouldn't be able to overcome it, which would leave them high and dry in finding Tio's brother. Without Pulin, without Goliath, and months behind the Tetron invasion of Earth, they were going to lose, plain and simple.

"We'll think of something else," Mitchell said, and he meant it, despite the dark thoughts churning through his mind. "We don't give up. We don't give in. Not until we're all dead."

"This isn't how I had ever envisioned things happening," Mitchell said. He was sitting in the cockpit of the jumpship Fortitude, piloting the starship away from Asimov and towards the hangar of the battleship Carver. "At the very least, Steven was supposed to be here with me."

"You said you admired what he did," Calvin said from the co-pilot seat.

"I do. That doesn't mean it feels any less odd. The Carver is his ship."

"Lieutenant Lewis seemed a capable commander to me."

"I hope you're right."

Twelve hours had passed since his meeting with Aiko, Teal, and Calvin. The evacuation of Asimov had been well underway since then, with the smaller ships loading up on passengers and ferrying them to the waiting starships. It was a bittersweet procedure for the people of Asimov. They had spent years helping the Knife bend the rules and break numerous laws to slow the progress of intelligent machines, and now that those machines had made themselves known, they were being forced from their home. That they were leaving to fight back was the only consolation they could find. It was also a strong motivator.

"I haven't been off of Asimov since I arrived," Aiko said. "Fifteen years ago."

"You look too young to have come here that long ago," Calvin said.

"I was only a teenager back then. My parents were imprisoned by the Federation because my father refused to work at Omicron Corporation. He doesn't believe in violence, and they wanted him to help them develop weapons. Mr. Tio's wife had heard of the situation through their network, and she found me and took me away."

"Are your parents still alive?" Mitchell asked.

"I don't know. I haven't heard anything in all of that time. Mr. Tio allowed me to search for them in the data we received, but I was always too afraid I would discover they were dead. For me, it has been better to hope that they are alive."

The Fortitude reached the end of the tunnel leading out of the asteroid, accelerating out and away. More than two hundred ships hung in the space around them, illuminating the entire area in the glow of their lights. It was a sight that made Mitchell's breath hang for a moment in wonder. A sight that for a moment gave him hope that they could fight back and win.

It slowly faded as he turned the jumpship and vectored it towards the Carver. The Alliance battleship was easily the largest starship in the fleet, as well as the newest and most powerful. It was also heavily damaged, the metal hull scored and dented and scraped almost everywhere. Large swaths of protective shell were missing along the side, slagged metal and wires hanging into nowhere, the interior levels the gaping wounds led to closed off by emergency bulkheads. There had been no time to fix the most egregious damage. Not when so many of the ships needed repairs, and the Carver had the strongest shields by far.

"I can't believe she can still fly like that," Mitchell said.

"It is a good design," Calvin replied. "Not quite up to Federation standards, but serviceable."

"Thanks, I guess."

They continued their path, vectoring up and over the top of the Carver towards the only functional hangar that remained. Mitchell slid the Fortitude into it gracefully, bringing the ship down for a soft landing in its designated location. The clamps locked onto it, and then the hangar door began to close. Mitchell abandoned the cockpit, heading towards the back.

"We have everything?" he asked Digger. The mechanic sat next to the Mule that was still carrying the medical equipment. The Avalon's doctor, Jameson, was next to him.

"All of the shit you helped me pack, and then some," Digger replied.

"The Carver's infirmary lost pressurization during the last fight. The hull is patched, so we've got air in there again, but the doctor Steven thought he would loan you is dead. We've been so rushed and chaotic getting our army together again that he never knew."

Digger's face twisted at the news. "That sucks, big time. I guess it's just you and me, Jameson."

"We'll have to manage," the doctor said.

Mitchell heard the airlock finish closing, followed by the intake of air in the space outside the ship. A moment later the light over the jumpship's main hatch turned green. Calvin and Aiko joined them at the rear as they opened it and descended into the Carver. Lieutenant Lewis was approaching from the other side, with two other Lieutenants in tow.

"Colonel Williams, Admiral Hohn," he said, bowing to each of them. "I'd like to introduce you to Lieutenants Roberts and Atakan. They'll be helping me fly this beast."

"Lieutenants," Mitchell said, returning their bows. "Any word from Teal?"

"Yes, sir. You're the last ship in."

"Asimov is empty?" Aiko asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Lewis replied.

"She's ready to be blown to shit if needed," Digger said.

"I've already provided the coordinates to the fleet," Calvin said.

"We're ready to jump at your command, sir," Lewis said.

"If there's no reason to stay, then let's get going," Mitchell replied.

"Follow me."

Mitchell let Lewis lead him and the others up to the Carver's bridge. It was a journey lengthened by the need to circumvent part of the ship that was still exposed to space. The other crew members bowed as they passed. Mitchell couldn't believe how few there were.

The hatch to the bridge opened, and they stepped inside. Lewis moved right to his regular station, sitting and entering commands on the screen ahead of him.
 

"Channel is open, sir."

Mitchell stared out of the Carver's viewport. Asimov was invisible ahead of them, a former home for thousands now even deader than it had ever been. They were surrounded by starships of different shapes and sizes, a fleet that had the distinction of being the only one capable of doing anything against the enemy threat.

"Riggers," Mitchell said, forcing his voice to come out strong and clear.
 

He opened his mouth again to begin saying something motivational and then stopped. He let silence fill the channel for a few moments. On the bridge, the assembled officers turned and stared at him.

"Let's give them hell," he said, motioning towards Atakan, who had taken Captain Rock's seat. Atakan reached forward and tapped the panel in front of him.

One by one, every ship in the largest free fleet in the galaxy began to move.

Kathy slipped between two thick strands of the Tetron known as Watson, careful not to touch either as she passed deeper into the Goliath. She was further now than she had ever bothered to go before, way past the bunks and the hangar, past where they had set up the infirmary, and out towards the nose of the massive starship.
 

It had been two days since she had taken the neural chip. In the beginning, she had stayed close to Watson to listen to his ranting and raving. She had delighted in his upset and the difficulty she had caused him. She had savored his frustration with Tio and his encryption, and the time he was losing while he fought to regain control of the starship.

He had managed to get into the command system and take the Goliath from hyperspace a few hours ago. It was that moment that had sent Kathy from his vicinity to find a new location to wage her war. The human configuration and the secondary were becoming more synchronized, and if she stayed too close to the core, she would be easy to discover.

She would return there again. She would have to in order to start fighting back against the Tetron. Not yet. For now, she needed to stay one step ahead of him, maintaining control of the neural chip he so badly wanted and remaining in a holding pattern while she waited for him to find Pulin. Her only hope of being reunited with Mitchell and returning the Goliath to him was to ride the storm for as long as she could.

She moved through a dark passage, one that was nearly empty of the secondary's millions of axons. It was a small corridor that her nascent memory of the ship identified as leading to the never used science laboratories. There would be a lot of old equipment down there, machines that she hoped she would be able to use to access the contents of the neural chip. She wouldn't have known how to do it before. She did now. It was one of the skills she had gained on her awakening.

The others were so much more violent. It went beyond the ability to fight. She had what her mother had known she would need. Things that no child should know. Not that she was a child. Not in so many ways. The human part of her was, she supposed. It was one of the things that made her different. She was created as a human embryo, made from a single cell that was allowed to grow and form the way any human would. Unlike a human, there was something more to her. In simple terms, it was pure data, directly interfaced into her mind. Some of that data was available to her, and she had used it her entire life without knowing. Other parts remained off limits, untouchable until the time was right.

When would that time be? She didn't know and didn't care to know. She only knew the data was there. Waiting.

She reached the end of the corridor. It split in three directions here, and she looked down each branch, deciding which way to go. This level contained all of the Goliath's laboratories, each outfitted for different uses and studies and research. Biology, geology, botany, and more. When the Goliath had been made, its future had been in not only discovering the stars but learning everything they could about them and humankind's interaction with them.