Primal Darkness Read online

  What developed was an interstellar chess match, a standoff that wasn’t a draw, but that didn’t have a clear winner. Most of space travel and combat came down to a matter of energy. The amount of energy necessary to fold space and complete the jump was enormous, powered by the ship’s capacitors. Most jumpers, including the Destiny, had only enough energy to make two jumps. After that, they had to recharge.

  The problem was, the same energy needed to jump was used to defend the ship. Destiny used a full complement of missiles and point defense lasers for self-defense, but her main weapon, a single large laser, was powered by the same capacitors as the jump drive. It left Captain Absalon with a choice. He could take one free shot with the laser, but after that, if he took any more, it cost the Destiny a jump. Likewise, if they jumped twice in a row without recharging, they would only have one shot with the laser.

  They weren’t alone in their problem, though. The Hellbringer had the same capacitors as the Destiny, so she was always forced to make the same choice.

  What developed from these facts was a slow and ponderous chase, an interstellar game of chicken to see who would break first. Right now, both captains were playing a conservative game. They would jump once and recharge at the next system, always leaving the maximum amount of power in their capacitors.

  There were risky ways to win, but so far, neither captain seemed willing to take the chance. If they wanted to, the ships could jump into empty space, not towards an inhabited system. The option was more and more likely as they left central space and reached the frontier, but it was a chance no one wanted to take. If something went wrong, there wasn’t an easy way of getting rescued. The Destiny carried one jump-capable emergency beacon, but even so, it would be weeks, at the very least, before they were rescued. No one wanted their jumper to break in the middle of empty space, so both captains would try to keep their ships near stars.

  Regardless, the pressure of the interstellar chase was wearing on the crew of the Destiny. Kindra could see it on the faces of everyone she saw, and she knew that before long, something would have to happen. Humans simply couldn’t keep themselves under this type of tension for long before they broke.

  It was only a matter of time.

  Kindra awoke from her jump meds to complete chaos. The klaxons were sounding and everything in her room was flashing red. It wasn’t easy to come to awareness after any jump, but to awake to such a cacophony was debilitating. Kindra fought the urge to throw up as she stumbled out of bed.

  Just as she had her feet underneath her, the entire ship rocked, and the artificial gravity gave out for a moment, sending her on an arcing trajectory her mind couldn’t work fast enough to process.

  The commands came through her neurodisplay. Battle stations, all pilots to their exosuits. Kindra opened the channel to Tev, the vomit still rising in her throat.

  “Tev, are you awake? Are you okay?”

  “Yes.” His voice was as calm as ever. She wasn’t sure how he managed such composure under these types of situations.

  “You have been ordered to get into your suit as fast as you can.”

  “Derreck already told me. I am on my way now.”

  Kindra tried to get her legs under her, but her foot gave out as soon as it touched the floor. Something was wrong with her ankle. There wasn’t any way she would be able to help Tev.

  “Tev, I’m hurt. It’s not serious, but I won’t be able to assist. You must get into your suit on your own.”

  “I will. Be safe.”

  Kindra could tell from the tone of his voice that he didn’t want to be talking with her. Right now he would be focused on what he needed to do. That was okay. He had gotten into his suit on his own dozens of times. He didn’t need her help, even though she liked to think he did. Her orders were clear. She needed to report to the bridge. Derreck, now healed, was being used as an exosuit pilot, which put Kindra in temporary command of the Vigilance. Kindra called for a hover sled to come take her to the bridge.

  While she waited, she felt herself pressed into the floor once again. Kindra wanted to call up the information on what was happening outside, but in a moment of panic, decided that she would rather not know, at least not right now. If they were making such sudden moves, it could only mean they were in combat.

  When the hover sled arrived, Kindra strapped herself onto it and left for the bridge. It would take her a few minutes to get there, and she finally faced her fears and looked at what was happening outside the ship. If she came onto the bridge without knowing what was happening, her career would definitely be over.

  The information she pulled up didn’t reassure her. The Hellbringer was only a couple thousand kilometers away from them, practically spitting distance in interstellar terms. She had launched a series of missiles at the Destiny, and at least a few of them had gotten through the point defense lasers.

  Kindra was confused. She thought that no one ever fired directly on jumpers. They were the only devices capable of connecting humanity throughout the stars. Had the rebellion fallen so far that they would stoop to such depths just to achieve their objective? Another glance at the monitor showed her that she had been incorrect. The Hellbringer had launched missiles at Destiny, but they had all been non-nuclear, and they had all been aimed at the dropship ports. Hellbringer wasn’t trying to kill Destiny, she was just trying to tear out her claws. If Destiny couldn’t launch any dropships, its capability to defend itself and attack the Hellbringer would be severely limited. Hellbringer would be more or less invincible.

  Kindra had just reached that conclusion when the hover sled entered the bridge. Captain Absalon looked at her with a cool, appraising eye. “Are you fit for duty?”

  “I am, sir.”

  “Good.”

  The captain turned back to his screens, and Kindra was impressed by the lack of noise and activity in the bridge. She had thought that during combat people would be yelling out orders to each other, but she realized just how foolish that was. The mechanics of space combat were incredibly intricate, and Destiny’s AI was far more adept at combat than any human on the bridge. There were decisions to be made, but they were few and far between. Most space combat was triggered by humans and then waged by their AIs. There was little for the captain to do but watch and issue commands as necessary.

  Kindra wasn’t sure what was expected of her, so she found a corner where she could be out of the way and observe the proceedings. While she did, she pulled up more information on the attack. In the last star system the Hellbringer had jumped out first. As had become the tradition, Destiny had followed as soon as their capacitors were fully charged.

  When they reached the current star system, they had jumped dangerously close to Hellbringer. There wasn’t any way of knowing exactly where the other ship had jumped to, so the AI, when making its calculations, had simply chosen one of the known jump points in the star system. Apparently this particular system had two points within close proximity to one another, and the ships had chosen them. While the humans on Destiny had been in their drug-induced sleep, the other ship had launched a missile attack, seeing an opportunity to gain the upper hand.

  Destiny, not needing to sleep like the humans onboard, had fought against the attack as well as it was able. For the most part, it had been successful, but one missile had gotten through and struck the port where the Vigilance was housed. There was damage there, but nothing that couldn’t be repaired in time. That must have been the explosion that happened right after Kindra had come to.

  She watched as her display showed the dance of missiles happening in the space between the two jumpers. The Hellbringer had more missile tubes, but Destiny’s defense systems were managing to keep pace with the difference.

  Finally, the words she had been waiting for echoed in the bridge.

  “Destiny reports that all attacks have ceased. She wants to know if she should switch to offensive capabilities.”

  Captain Absalon seemed to consider his options. Kindra watched him
as he glanced into the corner of his vision, checking for some information only he could see. “Does it look like they are planning on launching any dropships from any of their ports?”

  “No, sir. Hellbringer is quiet.”

  There was a silence on the bridge as Absalon debated what he wanted to do. “No, don’t launch an attack. Keep the ship running on code orange. We don’t have the missiles necessary to get past that ship’s defenses.”

  Kindra looked around the bridge. Was that all there was to the battle? It seemed anticlimactic. Perhaps it was just because she had watched too many holos, but in her mind, a space battle should have been far more dramatic.

  Kindra’s thoughts were broken by the communications officer. “Sir, we’re being hailed by the Hellbringer.”

  “Put it up.”

  An image floated onto the viewscreen, visible to the entire bridge crew.

  “Hello, Captain Absalon. My name is Captain Nicks of the Hellbringer. We are in the middle of periphery space, and we both know from here on out it only becomes more desolate. I’d like the chance to meet with an officer from your ship to discuss the cessation of hostilities.”

  Absalon didn’t reply, and Kindra figured he was trying to work out Nicks’ play. Hellbringer outclassed Destiny, but even though it had every opportunity to take Destiny for her own, she held back. There was something going on that Kindra didn’t understand, and she suspected that Absalon didn’t either. They weren’t in a position to negotiate. Vigilance was trapped in her berth, and if Hellbringer was serious about taking the Destiny, there was little they’d be able to stop it. The fight would become an exosuit battle within the corridors, and there was no telling who would win that.

  Absalon’s voice interrupted her concentration. “You’ll guarantee safe passage?”

  Nicks nodded.

  “Verbal, please.”

  “Yes, your officer will have safe passage.”

  Absalon nodded. Ultimately, Kindra decided, he didn’t have a lot of options. He had to take what was presented to him, or he might lose his ship completely.

  The viewscreen cut out, and Absalon looked around the bridge crew. “I need strategies for defeating that ship in combat. Take everything we’ve learned from the latest exchange. I want Destiny working on why Hellbringer hasn’t tried to board us yet, and I want your most creative suggestions for taking that bastard down.”

  Absalon’s eyes focused on Kindra. “It looks like you will be making up our diplomatic mission today.”

  Kindra froze, and Absalon grabbed her arm, almost pulling her out of the hover sled. Together they left the bridge and headed towards the shuttle bay.

  Kindra’s mind was flooded with questions, but the only one she could get out was the obvious one. “Why me?”

  “Frankly, because right now you’re the highest-ranking officer we have who’s expendable.”

  Understanding stabbed into Kindra like a knife. Everyone above her on the ship was ranked as an exosuit pilot. Only she wasn’t qualified for combat. They had plenty of suits. Their mission parameters had seen to that. What they needed was pilots, and she wasn’t one. Absalon’s logic made sense, but she didn’t like it.

  “What am I supposed to do?”

  “Not much. Go over there and see what they want to talk about. Whatever their offer, simply say you aren’t in a position to make concessions and that you must return to the Destiny for a final decision. If they are as good as their word, they’ll let you come back.”

  “And if they aren’t?”

  Absalon paused and looked at her. “Let me be clear. I don’t want to lose you, but if I have to choose between this ship and your life, my decision is easy. I’ve got confirmation that they guaranteed safe passage, so if they refuse it, their ship and everybody onboard becomes war criminals. Perhaps that’s a risk they’re willing to take, but I doubt it.”

  Kindra was hardly reassured by the captain’s explanation. “Is there anything else?”

  “Yes. Gather as much information as you can. Store the memories in your nanos from your approach to the moment you leave the ship. Anything you see or hear might be important to us, so bring back as much information as you can.”

  Kindra nodded, trying to look far more confident than she felt.

  There was little fanfare as they got to the shuttle bay. Kindra’s hover sled brought her as close to the pilot’s seat as it could, and she was able to hobble the rest of the way. Absalon had given her a small shuttle that looked like it might fall apart if she made too much noise, further increasing her discomfort with this new plan. It was clear that although Absalon didn’t wish her harm, he was risking as little as possible.

  Just before he closed the hatch behind him, Kindra remembered something and turned around. “I’m not a pilot. Aren’t you sending someone with me?”

  “Normally, yes, but I don’t want to risk any pilots. It’s a standard operation, and I’ll have Destiny guide you in.”

  With that, Absalon shut the hatch and Kindra could feel the pressure on her ears changing. Moments later, the shuttle powered up and began a launch sequence with absolutely no input from Kindra.

  The sequence didn’t make Kindra feel any better. She didn’t mind AIs. Modern life would be impossible without them, but all the same, she wished she had a little more control over what was happening.

  The shuttle launched, and moments later, Kindra was flying between the two jumpers. She tried hard not to think about the fact she was crossing the space that less than half an hour ago had been lit up with spherical explosions and destruction. The space between two jumpers that had been in combat just a while ago was not a relaxing place to be.

  But there was nothing for it, and as her shuttle approached Hellbringer, Kindra used the nanos embedded in her mind to start recording her memories. It wasn’t something she did often, as the results were often somewhat unpredictable, but she had a good two hours’ worth of recording capabilities in her head if she needed them.

  As she approached the Hellbringer, she couldn’t help but feel that the ship hadn’t been named well. From the glances Kindra had seen in their viewscreens, the ship appeared to have beautiful lines, and now that she was so much closer, she saw them for herself. Many jumpers, like Destiny, cared little for aesthetics. They never entered atmosphere, and they were rarely called upon to execute dynamic in-system thrusts, so they were often built in whatever way was cheapest. Because of this, they weren’t too pleasing to look at.

  Hellbringer was different. Kindra didn’t know why the ship was designed how it was, but it was a sleek ship, with graceful lines that reminded Kindra a little bit of Vigilance. It made her respect the ship more than she expected to. It was hard to be mad at the rebellion when they flew ships like this.

  “Kindra, we’re handing you over to the Hellbringer right now. Good luck.”

  Kindra didn’t bother responding. The handover between the two AIs was seamless, and she didn’t even notice when one computer took over from the other. Her tiny shuttle docked on the Hellbringer without a problem.

  Once aboard, the shuttle doors opened, and Kindra was greeted by three people whom she assumed were officers. All of them wore sidearms, but none of them appeared hostile. Kindra realized she hadn’t even thought about bringing a weapon with her. Another reason Absalon had chosen her: She was about as nonthreatening as a human could be.

  “Ma’am, if you’d please come with us, Captain Nicks is expecting you in his office.”

  Kindra nodded, and they led her through the ship. Remembering her mission, Kindra did her best to look around at everything she could, trying to take in as much information as possible. She didn’t have a military upbringing, so to her, everything appeared much the same as it would on any other jumper. If she hadn’t actually known better, she’d say there wasn’t much difference between the two ships.

  She chastised herself. Again she had been led astray by holos that portrayed the rebellion in different ways. Of course the ships wo
uld run largely the same. The differences between the leftover rebellion and Fleet were political, but ultimately, there were only a few ways to run ships in space.

  Kindra didn’t notice anything of importance, and before she knew it, she was at the captain’s office. The door opened and one officer gestured for her to step in. Mindlessly, she obeyed.

  Her first glance at the room stopped her in her tracks. Captain Nicks’ quarters were a joy to behold. There were relics from the past, beautiful paintings, and even a wonderful sculpture within. It was one of the most impressive collections Kindra had ever seen, and seeing it in a rebellion captain’s office was disconcerting. She couldn’t help but stare.

  Captain Nicks himself stood to greet her. He was a man of middle age, about fifteen years older than Kindra, if she had to guess. He approached her with several smooth steps and extended his hand in a warm welcome. Kindra took it, not sure what protocol in these types of situations was.

  “Welcome, commander.”

  Kindra frowned. Apparently the captain already knew her rank, which meant he knew who she was. He was more prepared for this meeting than she was, although that didn’t take all that much.

  Nick saw the look of confusion on her face. “Don’t think too much of it. Fleet personnel records are public, and with just a little work, it’s easy to know who everyone is on one ship. Once control of your shuttle was handed over to our AI, your personnel folder popped up, and I was able to browse it. I was interested to see who they would send over.”

  Kindra was at a loss. She didn’t know what she was supposed to do here. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, sir.”