“I hope so as well,” Spectre said as the Blade pulled up beside the larger ship. He made a cutting motion again, indicating that the sound should be turned off, and looked over at the XO. “Marines are on standby?”
“Yes, sir,” the XO said, turning his face away from the cameras. “In repel boarder positions. One platoon in armor. SM-9s are hot.” With the ship pointed “up” towards the aliens, all Spectre had to do was order “fire” and all four of the missiles would launch across the short distance to the alien ship. It would probably destroy the Blade, as well, so it was a penultimate choice. The absolutely last ditch involved the three keys, held by the CO, the XO and the astrogator, that had been inserted into locks and turned. All Spectre had to do was flip up a cover and hit a button and the drive would go critical, causing an explosion equivalent to a nova.
“Keep all the cameras going.” He motioned for the communicator to be turned back on. “I’ll be honest. We’d like a look at one of your… unreality generators. It is a technology we wish to explore.”
“Why?” Kond asked. “Yours is far superior. You do not require a squee to enter unreality.”
“We didn’t get that last squee,” Spectre said. “How do you go faster than light?” Only the central monitor was on the view from the alien ship. The rest were trained on the exterior of the alien ship. Aliens in suits and a group of what looked like robots had exited and were approaching the Blade, but only heading for the wing behind the sail. Of course, the main hatch to conn was right by it. That was probably a bad move.
“We approach a squee, open it and enter. You seem to create your own squee.”
“At a guess something like a wormhole,” Bill said, nodding. “But those aren’t supposed to be in every system. They’re actually supposed to be fairly rare.”
“Is this the same system the Dreen use?” Spectre asked.
“Yes,” Kond answered. “It is why they’re heading here. They wish to use the unreality node to jump to the next star. Unfortunately, as they have been doing for many squee, this battle group is following our trail. We cannot seem to shake them; they’re worse than bloodhounds.”
“So it can’t get unreality node on three tries but it knows what bloodhounds are,” Spectre said, shaking his head. The aliens and their robots were working fast. They already had the wing detached and moving across the intervening space. Spectre could back away at any point.
“You did not fear we would try to take over your ship?” Kond asked as the wing was lowered onto his ship.
“You’ve been awfully friendly so far,” Spectre said, trying not to grin. “And so have we. Why cause problems?”
“Because your ship is pimped,” Kond replied. “It’s fast as a thief and twice as hard to follow. Your tech is so much better than ours, the only reason I allowed this was necessity. I know you can destroy us at your leisure, that you could probably take us over without really trying. I have made preparations against that, but I figure they’re pissing in the wind. I thank you for not doing so.”
“You might be surprised,” Spectre replied dryly. “What we don’t have, I’ll admit, is that weapon you fired at us. I don’t suppose we could borrow it.”
“No,” Kond said. “It’s tied into the deep structure of the ship. But surely your weapons far surpass it.”
“Actually, they don’t,” Spectre said.
“Sir!” the XO snapped.
“Our drive system that you like so much is an artifact we picked up,” the CO continued. “This is the only ship we have. Your technology is far in advance of our own. Going to try to take us over and steal it?”
“No,” Kond said after a long pause.
“The situation is the reverse of what you thought,” Spectre pointed out. “You might be able to take us and get our drive. It would make you fast as a thief and twice as hard to find. Are you sure?”
“Yes,” Kond replied. “You have played fairly with us. We shall do the same. On my honor as ship master. Our people try to do all things in honor and fairness. It is our way. You may keep your drive.”
“Thank you,” Spectre said.
“Besides, I’m sure you have made preparations if I try to take it,” Kond added.
“Yes, we have,” Spectre said. “But it’s why we’d like to look at the unreality generator and your other technologies. Ours are much lower. This ship is great, but we have no others. And our weapons technology is very inferior. If that’s in any way shaking your honor, be aware that the drive can be used as a weapon. A suicidal one, but you’re not taking this ship or finding out where our homeworld is and any attempt to do so will destroy both of us.”
“We understand each other,” Kond said. “If we reach our fleet, if we can shake the Dreen, perhaps we can talk.”
“Where is this unreality node?” Spectre asked.
“Here,” Kond replied. “Where we lie, all dissed up.”
“Astro?”
“Not picking up anything unusual, sir,” Bill said. “There’s a lot of hash from their power systems and ours but as far as I can tell, this is just empty space.”
“So we can’t even detect these things,” the CO said, sighing. “Well, this isn’t getting the Dreen beat. What about dropping some mines in here? They have to come here, right? So what about mining it?”
“They will sweep it before they enter,” Kond replied. “We will leave some, but only to tick them off. I do not expect them to stop them. They have a seriously pimped ship.”
“It’s big,” Spectre said. “Is that the biggest they have?”
“No,” Kond admitted. “There is another, a mind ship. It is much larger, much more pimped. It carries a true Dreen. The task force that follows us is controlled by a squee. There are at least two destroyers and the dreadnought left. There was another dreadnought with a squee commander as well as many lesser ships. They were all destroyed. But the dreadnoughts simply assimilate their organics and continue on. With enough organics, special materials and another squee the dreadnought could even twin.”
“I’m not getting the squee.”
“One such as you or I who is converted,” Kond said patiently.
“A sentient?” Weaver asked, fascinated. “Something that can think for itself?”
“Yes, a sentient,” Kond replied. “A thinking being. They can take such a one and make it a thinker for them. They squee him, enter him, make him half Dreen. The only true sentient Dreen are the hive minds. We think so, anyway. We were defeated so swiftly we could find out little about them. Hive minds travel in mind ships, vast beyond belief. But we know that smaller fleets, such as this one, require a converted sentient to control them and make higher decisions. There is such a one on the dreadnought. It may be the squee or the squee or even the squee. There may be other races as well. Those are the three that we have encountered who are converted.”
“I wish we could sit down for a face to…” Spectre said, then paused, realizing suddenly that diplomacy was not his strong suit.
“I wish I could sound you as well,” Kond replied.
“Your system must be getting better,” the CO replied. “That was a colloquialism that actually works. Okay, since we still have trouble with scientific and military details, we’re going to go survey this oncoming vessel. Given what you’ve said, we may not be able to attack them, but the reverse is also true as long as we stay in warp.”
“You can sense out of unreality?” Kond said. “A most excellent ability.”
“When we get to be friends enough, our government will probably show your scientists our drive,” Spectre said. “We have one other race we are allied with. They do not understand it either. Perhaps you can figure out some theories on it. But that is for later. And it assumes we all survive. We’re going to go recon, find out where they are and find out if we can slow them down. Probably not, but I’d like to give you guys some time. Any suggestions on things that they have trouble with?”