Chapter 23: Chapter Twenty-One Counter-Contamination Protocols

 

The older captain stared at the complication that had appeared. This was supposed to be a nice easy mission. One that was worth quite a bit of political prestige, but easy nonetheless. It had seemed like a good final mission to him. The elderly captain had been quite looking forward to his retirement. Of course, none would have predicted a precursor warship appearing during a recovery operation, even if the target of that mission happened to be a precursor warship. Of course if one did show up, he would have expected an Altean vessel. Not a Solean vessel, as the ship had apparently identified this newcomer.

He glanced at the young man that had interrogated the computer. “Anything else you think I should know before that ship arrives?”

The man nodded, “There is quite a bit I think you should know.” He glanced over at a nearby screen, “Unfortunately we don’t have time to go over it all. The highlights are that the Constellation is more than a match for any vessel here, even the Inquisitor.”

He scoffed, “Stating the obvious now Boy? Of course, the Inquisitor is no match for her. She is a crippled dreadnought, while the Constellation is fully operational.” After a pause, he asked, “Does the ship have any significant tactical vulnerabilities we can exploit?”

“According to the Inquisitor’s computer, no. I did take a few notes, but they may be of limited help. Solean vessels are apparently capable of completely reconfiguring their module layout in the field. Although a fair amount remains the same regardless of configuration. I’m not sure what you would find noteworthy, though.”

“Just hand me your notes,” he responded, “I’ll look through them.

The young man handed him the notes, and he skimmed through it. He noted that the firing arcs for its weapons were well balanced, and the mounts were well positioned. The Constellation could focus the majority of its firepower in almost any direction except directly aft. Its aft quadrant was weak, but that wasn’t unusual. Many ships possessed significant vulnerabilities in the aft quadrant. Unfortunately the only weakness there was the Constellation’s limited firepower.

The ship had great armor as well, with no significant vulnerabilities. Very thick too, and that thickness was pretty uniform across the entire hull. Except at critical zones, where it had been reinforced with extra plating, secondary shields, hardened bulkheads, and additional SIF generators. He did note that the main bridge was not very deep in the hull, it was located dorsal center on the elongated saucer, on deck four. The weird part was this blank spot near the very center of the ship. Other than it being the most heavily protected part of the ship, nothing was there. It was even perfectly sized for the main bridge. Why put the bridge on deck four, when you have a perfectly good spot located in the center where it would be better protected?”

He pointed that out and asked about it.

“I noticed that weird blank spot as well. The computer wouldn’t tell me. Whatever is there, is apparently classified.”

That was interesting. Especially since the information had been pulled from the computers of an Altean ship, and not a Solean one. He didn’t have time to think on that though. What he needed to consider was how to survive a battle if one broke out. Personally, he just hoped they didn’t have to fight. Not with the ships he had. He had thirteen ships counting the Inquisitor. His flagship was a Halc VII Class Heavy Cruiser. A respectable ship class to be sure, but no match for a precursor battleship. Neither were the other ships in his task force, which amounted to a half dozen light cruisers, four destroyers, and a science cruiser. They weren’t even outfitted for engaging heavy capital ships like the Constellation, as they had not been expecting any real conflict. This was never a combat mission, but a scientific mission.

He didn’t have long to plan for hostilities before the precursor battleship came out of warp several million kilometers from their position. Well outside of weapons range, at a distance far greater than he would have expected, but then he glanced at the notes. They were well outside of the range of his weapons, but they were just outside of the weapons range of the Inquisitor. Both ships could exchange drone fire though. He remembered seeing mention of the Constellation occasionally being outfitted with the same type of drone weapons as the Inquisitor.

His sensor officer reported, “The Constellation is holding position, sir. We are receiving a very low-energy signature from the ship. She has not charged weapons or raised shields, yet.”

“Good, that indicates she isn’t about to blow us up. I want you to concentrate every scanner on her. The moment that ship so much as twitches, I want to know about it.”

“Aye, sir.”

His sensor officer had barely acknowledged the order, when his operations officer announced, “The Constellation is signaling on frequency seventeen, sir.”

“Open frequency, on the main screen,” he answered.

A moment later a dimly lit alien bridge appeared. Settled into the command chair was a winged alien female covered in scales, and lightly dressed. Yet, she somehow managed to give off a professional air. “I am Megumi, Primary AI of the Solean Imperial Battleship, Constellation, and you are?”

“Fleet Captain Irqu, captain of the Vorinae Heavy Cruiser, Zari. I can’t say I have often had the honor of speaking to the ship before the captain.”

“My ‘captain’ is currently unavailable. You will be dealing with me instead.”

It was rather weird, but not the first computer he had spoken to. This one seemed more... natural, less robotic than any he had spoken to before though. His mind was working on other things, more pressing concerns. He didn’t think it was a coincidence that the Constellation had appeared mere days after they had discovered a remarkably intact, if crippled precursor warship.

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“I’m guessing this is about the precursor warship off my bow?”

“You would be correct.”

“If you were sent to recover it, I am afraid we were here first. We have salvage right,” he replied.

She nodded, “Yes, you do. However, your civilization is still fairly young. Your people are not ready for the secrets that the Altean vessel might unlock. In time maybe, but for now, I can not allow you to keep that wreck.”

That complicated things. That complicated things immensely. Now he was faced with a choice, and not a very good one. Either he let her take the wreck, or he fought her and she took the wreck anyway. Neither option was appealing, but maybe he could convince her to back down.

“And what right do you have to decide that? Many cultures develop in part by studying the artifacts left behind by others.”

“Besides my superior firepower? The wisdom, experience and knowledge of my people. Not to mention history. History that frequently records that races that gain knowledge before they are ready almost invariably use it foolishly. Often to the detriment of all around them. I believe you are familiar with the great war fought in this galaxy long before you reached the stars, yes?”

He nodded, “I am. Artifacts from the Great Precursor War can be found scattered throughout the galaxy. Not to mention all the decaying ruins, and shattered worlds.”

She shifted in her seat, “What do you know about it? DO you know the factions of that war? Which races were allied with each other, and who their enemies were?”

“Not particularly. Intact records are rather hard to come by. Although we do know that you were allied with the Alteans.”

“That is only true after the war began. Before the war began the Empire was actually at war or in a state of conflict with a number of her allies. That includes the Alteans. Our alliance with the Alteans was monumental and historic. However that is not what is important, what is important is the cause of that alliance. Our opponent, the Darakation Infestation. They were created by a race very much like your own in terms of development, but with technology, they did not develop. Rather it was technology they stole and were not ready for. Highly advanced biotech to be specific. The fools created a weapon, a parasite they could not control. One that was able to reproduce at a prodigious rate, was naturally transcendent, and highly adaptive. It took over their entire race, and then it began to spread. It consumed first one galaxy, then the next and the next. This parasite threatened all, and naturally, the races banded together in historic alliances to combat the menace. Although not all joined the same alliance. While others didn’t join any alliance, such as the Iridex.

“In other words, a single race gaining knowledge they were not ready for was the beginning of a crisis. While I doubt you would be foolish enough to do what they did. Few civilizations make mistakes of that magnitude, but I still can’t allow you the Altean secrets. There is much harm you could do both to yourselves, and others if that knowledge was used foolishly.”

“We have plenty of experience working with dangerous technology, and substances. Just take antimatter reactors for example. They are potent, highly efficient sources of energy, but they are also dangerous. A miscalibrated containment field for example could lead to containment failure. The resulting detonation could not only claim the ship but any vessel too close. Such a detonation in orbit could do far worse than simply scramble electronics like a nuclear detonation. If there was enough antimatter it could ignite an atmosphere.”

She gave him a look. “Altean power modules are far more dangerous than Antimatter, but they are not the Altean technology I am worried about you misusing. The Alteans have far more dangerous devices on the Inquisitor than that. Now are you going to depart, and allow me to deal with the Inquisitor or are we going to have to do this the hard way?”

At that moment, his sensor officer reported. “I am reading minor energy fluctuations from the Constellation. I’m not sure since the readings are surprisingly faint, but I think she is charging weapons.” The officer paused glanced at his screen, and calmly reported, “The Constellation just raised shields, sir”

He understood, the ship was telling him she was willing to fight for the ship. Something he was not prepared to do. The elderly captain knew full well when to cut his losses, but since they were still talking he could try something to appease his superiors.

“No, we aren’t going to have to do this the hard way. I will need time to get our personnel off the Inquisitor and anything you might allow us to take with us. Speaking of taking, is there anything you would allow us to take?”

She leaned back, “I will allow you to take what you can. I am sending drones over to monitor your evacuation. They will prevent you from taking anything you should not have. I expect you to be gone within the hour though. More than enough time to evacuate your people and collect a few artifacts, choose wisely.”

His sensor officer dutily reported, “Multiple launches from the Constellation. She is launching shuttles and drones.”

It seemed she was keeping her word. He would do his best to keep a battle from starting. Hopefully, everyone cooperated. He turned to the screen and ended the conversation with appropriate pleasantries. As the channel closed he turned to give orders. Glad that he was able to get a few artifacts without risking irreplaceable lives.

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