The silhouette analysis showed that there was one nine kilometre vessel that looked like a carrier, several other carriers just under two kilometres in length and dozens of various warships. “They look like Regent Galactic ships,” he said to himself after selecting the menu option to mute all static with a glance at an optically sensitive menu.
He switched his tactical scanner search to start looking for solid obstacles and incoming vessels only. After one quick sweep no cover was found but there were dozens of fighters and a few ships that looked a lot like customs and law enforcement frigates on an intercept course. Their mass and energy readings told him that they were ready to fire and not lightly armoured. The nearest of them was over eleven thousand kilometres away, and they were gaining on him quickly.
“Weapons free,” he said aloud as he selected counter punch missiles and flak rounds. The targeting system immediately began to lock onto targets and as he dumped as much power into the ion engines as they could tolerate he opened fire.
The flak rounds firing off from his main cannons travelled as solid shells as they closed in on their targets then burst in all directions, sending a smattering of shrapnel into the dozens of ships moving to intercept him. One round didn't do much, but hundreds or thousands could tax their shields, interfere with exterior systems and even weaken hulls. He recognized the hammerhead shaped customs vessels amidst the fighters and gunships. They were a mainstay of the Regent Galactic defence fleet and offensive military. Just under two hundred metres long, they were heavily armed with a well protected control center near the rear of the vessel.
If half of what was closing in on him decided to open fire he knew he'd be dust. Time to think. I need somewhere to hide, I need a bargaining chip, something! The counterpunch missiles finished crossing the distance between his fighter and the enemy ships but didn't go off. Their burst of conically focused light, energy and particulate matter remained undetonated as the fires of their engines winked out and they passed between the enemy ships.
“Only one option here. Time to go! Maybe we can sneak in with the Triton.” Without a second thought he diverted energy from his engines, weapons and started charging up to create a short distance wormhole. Just as he was bringing up the navigational calculation console with his left hand a launch alert sounded.
The tactical screen was littered with hundreds of small, highly energized missiles and he knew exactly what they were. “Uriel assist,” he addressed the onboard systems; “seal all openings, power down all systems and move current data into long term storage.”
“Operations will take approximately twenty nine seconds.” The computer replied.
He glanced at the tactical display one more time before it blinked out and saw that he had seven seconds before the electromagnetic pulse bombs would be in optimal range. The only thing he could do as the systems on his fighter powered down, its engine pods flamed out and sealed, and the power plants halted the fusion reaction within before starting to cool down was activate the extra armoured layer of his vacsuit and turn off the control unit on his arm.
“I should have just stayed in bed,” he whispered to himself as he closed his eyes and just tried not to think about what over three hundred electromagnetic pulse bombs going off all at the same time would do to his framework skeletal structure.
He may have saved his eyes by closing his lids, but he still saw a flash and heard a painfully loud, sharp crack between his ears before losing conciousness.
Trading
Lucius Wheeler didn't know how many times the door chimed before he opened his eyes. It was late. He had been accessing General Collins' memories and tricked his body into falling asleep so they could play back at an accelerated speed, so he could experience them just like a dream.
He groggily made his way to the door and answered it. As the featureless door slid into the wall he couldn't help wondering if he was experiencing the same thing Gabriel did when he first made his connection to a large network. Lucius had caught himself forgetting all about eating, hygiene and closing himself off from everyone else. The temptation to just close his eyes and experience another piece of General Collins' life was so intense that he had done it a few times while he was intimate with his old first officer, Gloria. If that's how things were for him after assuming the digital record of one man's experiences, he couldn't imagine what it was like for Gabriel, who had access to entire historical databases, tactical information, intelligence gathering systems and everything else that you'd find in two massive military vessels.
It was Gabriel, who grinned at him with the familiarity of an old friend as the door opened. He looked pristine. His hair had been cut short, his dark blue vacsuit and flight jacket were clean and the glow of good health was returning to the man who just days before looked so spent and scrawny that one wondered how long he could stay on his feet. “Good morning Lucius.”
“You interrupted a flashback. I was dreaming I was having thirty five year old scotch with the High Chancellor of Evora. She was just telling me about her third son.”
“No, you were dreaming you were Collins and you were with Evora. There's quite a difference. Besides, you can always continue where you left off.”
Lucius stepped out of the doorway and the pair walked to the circular seating in the middle of the main room. “It takes some getting used to. Looks like the work they did on you is turning out well though.”
“Oh, you think? A program takes care of all my physical needs for me using a dozen or so different implanted systems. It's like I've taken a whole new step in evolution. I'm never hungry, dirty and soon I'll be perfectly fit. Are you sure you don't want to sign up for it? They just implant a few grams of nanobots and they construct the implants overnight, very simple.”
“That's all right, I'll let you be the great pioneer. Besides, there's something to be said for taking care of your own biological functions.”
“So I've heard. You've been having a few late night visits from Gloria, I couldn't help but notice.” Gabriel said with a crooked grin.
“Still keeping your eye on me?”
It took a moment for him to reply, his gaze becoming unfocused as a result of him looking inward at something in the digital world. “Oh, security earmarked the visual logs. They do that whenever the status of a crew member changes, social or otherwise.”
“Ah.”
Again the man sitting just a meter distant on the opposite seat was mentally drawn much further away by something in the digital realm and Lucius was led to wonder what being connected to the massive ships would be like. The thought faded as Gabriel's attention turned back to him. “That's what makes what I've come to ask you harder than expected. We tried fabricating a bare framework using a high resolution materializer and failed. We were hoping to duplicate a blank template that was equal to you or Gloria so I could avoid this whole messy business.”
Lucius leaned back in his seat. “I saw this coming after taking on Collins' memories.”
“So you know that Jacob Valance's last task was to play physical host to Eve.”
“Yes, and you'd have to disable him, carve open his skull and replace his brain with hers. His body would rebuild itself based on her mental self image.”
“So you know Gloria would be killed in the process.”
“Yeah, so why wake her up at all? I mean you could have left her in the pod until it was time. She'd be none the wiser.”
“If you spent more time accessing the parts of Collins' experiences that mattered, you'd know the answer to that question.” Gabriel's eyes rolled back in his head as he accessed a large chunk of data. After two seconds he looked back at the other man, his features in deep shadow in the dim light. “I'll answer it for you regardless. I didn't know which of you would be more valuable to us. A framework built over a living human template or a less experienced template or someone who had time to age actively, unaware of what and who you were.”