Point of Origin (War Eternal Book 4) (37 page)

"Do you know what?"

"Not yet. I wanted you to come down here so we could discover it together."

Mitchell stared at Kathy. She looked back at him.

"What?" she asked.

"I didn't know I had a daughter," he said. "Now we're already doing homework together."

Kathy laughed.

Mitchell laughed with her.

It felt good to have something to laugh about.

"Are you sure there isn't a virus on it?" Mitchell asked. "It could be that Watson wanted you to take it and try to read it so he could gain control again. You know, in the event of an emergency."

Kathy was holding the chip up to the core. Thousands of small dendrites were reaching out for it as she did.

"I'm going to sandbox the chip away from the rest of my Secondary's systems. We'll have read-only access, but it won't be able to affect anything internally."

"Okay." He reached out and put his hand on her shoulder. She looked at him, and he smiled. He was finding her so easy to accept as a part of him. He knew they weren't father and daughter in the traditional sense, but nothing about his life since the Shot had been traditional. He was used to that. "Be careful."

"Thanks. I will."

She reached forward, letting the tiny dendrites wrap around her hand, completely encasing both it and the chip in thousands of small, liquid metal threads. The surface of the core changed in front of him, turning into a screen.

"Are you okay?" Mitchell asked.

"Yes," Kathy replied, her voice more robotic. "I am examining the contents. I was expecting something I could display for you, but it appears to be an algorithm of some kind. I don't have the resources to understand it on my own."

"What does that mean?"

"I require more advanced subroutines that are currently only in the main core subsystems."

"You can't allow access to the core."
 

Kathy smiled. "I know, Father."

Mitchell drew back, surprised to hear her call him that. "Father?"

She withdrew her hand, the dendrites moving back to the core and being reabsorbed. "Well, you are, and I figured since we're doing homework together..."

"It sounds like we hit a dead end."

"Not completely. I can copy and alter the algorithms I need to make sense of the data, but it will take some time."

"How long?"

"A day or two."

"Okay. I can't stay. I need to catch up with the rest of the fleet."

"Of course. I'll be down here if you need me."

"I'll send Alice down to keep an eye on you. I don't want you doing anything that has to do with Watson by yourself."

"Yes, sir."

Mitchell stood in front of her, hesitant. Then he leaned in and kissed her cheek. "Thanks again, Kathy."

"You're welcome, Father."
 

Mitchell's eyes lingered on her for a moment more, his emotions swimming. Was he actually feeling happy? It seemed like it had been forever.

"I'll be back as soon as I can," he said before turning and leaving the space.

He made the journey back up to the main part of the Goliath lost in thought. He had to force aside all of the information Kathy had fed him, and all of the implications of what he had learned. There was too much there to digest at the moment, and he had other priorities. He needed to get the fleet reorganized; he had to speak to the Federation Commander, and he had to get them moving forward again. They couldn't afford to waste a lot of time here. Not when the inner galaxy was growing closer and closer to Tetron control.

He returned to the hangar, finding Major Long, Captain Alvarez, Alice, and Singh gathered in front of the Corleone. The Riggers had cleaned themselves up while he had been with Kathy.

"Alice," Mitchell said. "Kathy is down in the core, trying to decipher Watson's data chip. Can you keep an eye on her, just in case she needs you to pull her out again?"

"Of course, sir," Alice said.
 

"What's with you, Colonel?" Major Long asked. "You look different."

"You almost look happy," Singh said.

"We were this close to falling into a black hole today, and we pulled it out. What's not to be happy about?"

"Roger that, Ares," Long said.

"I'm going to head over to the Carver. Major, you're in charge of Goliath while I'm gone. If Kathy needs anything, make sure that she gets it."

"Yes, sir."

"Oh, and no more of those pills while you're commanding her. Clear head only."

Major Long didn't look happy at that, but he nodded. "Yes, sir."

Mitchell headed over to the S-17, sitting in a dark corner of the hangar. The steps extended for him as he approached, and he climbed them and dropped into the cockpit, grabbing the helmet and putting it on. He felt a sense of power when he regained the CAP-N interface. Digger's manual controls had worked well for the Frank. It still wasn't the same.

The starfighter powered up, and Mitchell sent it up and away from the Goliath with a thought. He delighted in the responsiveness of the system, running through a series of flips and skitters, rolls and reverses, before making a path for the Carver.

"Carver, this is Ares. Requesting landing."

"Ares, this is Lieutenant Lewis. Permission granted. The hangar is opening."

"Roger. Ares out."

Mitchell burned towards the battleship, examining the hull as he slowed to wait for the hangar. The ship had taken additional damage during the fighting but was somehow still holding together. It was one of the newest ships in the Alliance fleet, and it was managing well.

"Teal, this is Ares. Is the Federation Commander on board?"

"Ares, this is Teal. Yes, sir. We have a delegation from the Federation on board. I've been communicating the situation to Rear Admiral Ho-chin Bayone. He didn't believe me at first, but when I showed him some of the footage we captured he was at least willing to listen."

"Excellent. I'll be there in a few minutes. Any updates on the fleet?"

"I've organized a salvage crew; they'll be departing in an hour. I also have a more complete view of our operational status. We're pretty beat up, but I'm sure you already know that. We're at about thirty-percent effectiveness. How long are we planning on staying here?"

Thirty-percent wasn't great news. "A day or two at most."

"Roger. I think we can gain another five percent in that time frame."

"Understood. We've got Goliath back, and we'll get her producing upgrades according to our original plan once we know what our next move is. That should help bump our combat readiness."

"Sounds like a plan, Colonel."

"I'll see you in a few. Ares out."

Mitchell brought the S-17 into the hangar, easily finding a space for it. Too few of the starfighters they had launched in the attack had returned.

He waited while the hangar pressurized and then opened the cockpit and climbed out. Rear Admiral Bayone. He didn't know what kind of man the Admiral was, but he did know that no matter what happened he wasn't leaving FD-09 without the Federation ships.

Mitchell met Teal on the way to the meeting room where Rear Admiral Bayone was waiting. The Knife's former right hand looked tired, and the uniform they had hastily arranged for him had a tight fit on his muscular frame.
 

"Teal," Mitchell said, bowing to him.

"Colonel. I'm glad you got here when you did. Bayone has been cursing up a storm about wanting answers. It'll take a little work to convince him the Alliance isn't responsible for the Tetron."

"I don't know what I'm going to say that might change his mind on that. Did you invite Aiko to the meeting?"

"Yes. Digger, too. I thought he might be able to provide more technical input."

"Thank you, Teal."

They made the trip to the conference room together. As Mitchell walked, he noted the lack of activity on the Carver.
 

"Where is everybody?"

"We had a hull breach in Section M, near the reactor. All the techs are down there doing their best to patch it."

Mitchell was impressed the Carver hadn't floundered with damage that close to the power source. The Alliance wasn't known for its starship design, so the results were surprising.

Mitchell peered in through the carbonate window outside the room before entering. He spotted the Federation Admiral immediately by his sharply worn uniform and relatively calm demeanor. He was sitting at one end of the table with another Federation officer, a Captain, on his left, and an empty chair on his right. Aiko and Digger were already present, seated on the other side of the table with Lieutenant Lewis.

Teal entered the room ahead of Mitchell to make introductions. Bayone rose when he saw him, standing stiff and formal at the head of the table. He was a little bit taller than Admiral Hohn, younger and heavier. He had small eyes and a flat nose, his head bald.
 

"Rear Admiral Bayone," Teal said. "This is Colonel Mitchell Williams, the leader of the Riggers."

"Admiral Bayone," Mitchell said, bowing to him.
 

The Federation Admiral looked him over, letting a few seconds elapse before he returned a curt head dip. The message of his assumed superiority was clear, and might have cowed a less experienced soldier. Mitchell simply smiled.
 

"I want you to understand, Colonel," Bayone said. "There will be no surrender. I'll self-destruct all of my ships before I give them to the Alliance."

"Okay," Mitchell replied. "That's a hell of a lot better than the third option."

The casualness took Bayone off-guard. "Third option?"
 

"We've got enough problems trying to fight off the real enemy, an advanced artificial intelligence who call themselves the Tetron. We don't need you giving your ships back to them again."

"What are you saying, Colonel?"

"Please, Admiral, have a seat."

Bayone sat down, still regarding Mitchell with suspicion. When Mitchell took the space next to him, he tensed for a moment. Then he breathed out and let the tension go with it.

"I've seen the stream you captured during your assault. The fact that I have no memory of anything immediately following that odd ship's appearance and preceding its destruction is the only reason I agreed to be transported here. That and Admiral Calvin Hohn's warning. He hailed me from this very ship a few weeks ago, claiming that we were in danger of being enslaved if we didn't turn off our neural implants. I didn't believe him then. I'm a little more open to it now. Where is he?"

"Dead," Mitchell replied. "A hero's death, helping us try to save humankind."

"Explain yourself, Colonel. Explain this artificial intelligence, this ship, this fleet, and what you were doing on this planet. Explain that massive starship that carried the same weapons as the alien ship you claim to be fighting."

"I will, Admiral. I want you to understand your options up front. One: you join our fleet and help us fight back against the Tetron. Two: we ship you and your crew down to the planet's surface and take your ships. Three: you blow them all to smithereens. And don't think we'll let you do three without trying to stop you. We need those ships."

Bayone nodded. "Fair enough, Colonel. I appreciate your forthright approach."

"Lewis, could you see if we have any coffee left in inventory? It's going to be a long afternoon."

Lieutenant Lewis stood up. "Of course, Colonel." He bowed to both Mitchell and Admiral Bayone and left the room.

"I'm going to cut a few corners for the sake of time, Admiral," Mitchell said. "Keep in mind that everything I'm about to tell you is true, and the people here can vouch for most of it. I have a few of Admiral Hohn's officers spread throughout the fleet as well. I can have them sent for to corroborate the truth of the Tetron threat if needed, assuming any of those ships survived."

"Understood, Colonel," Bayone said. "Go on."

Mitchell leaned back in the chair and began to speak. He expected Bayone to interrupt him during parts of the story, especially when he told him about M. Surprisingly, the man remained silent for the entire duration, listening intently to every word while sipping the coffee Lewis and the cook, Private Abor, returned with.