Fourteen Days Later. November 29th, 2267. 09:45 Sherman Oaks Shopping Center
Elias and Nemo were on grocery duty this morning. They had food enough for lunch today, but there wasn’t enough food in their base beyond that. He needed to get out of the building so Elias gleefully offered to take on that task after breakfast duties were over.
Things had generally been on the up and up in the last two weeks. There was a minor setback with the void teams, but those teams were able to correct the issue. With that fix, the slip gate was now finished. All that it needed to begin operations were some command-and-control nodes and three power units, which were being transferred from home. They just needed to be plugged into the device.
No progress had been made in understanding the death of Dale though. On the one hand, good riddance, Elias thought. On the other hand, they had sunk so much money into him and his causes that their return was utterly pitiful. Admittedly that money was stolen from within the colony, but his failure still stung. It was about as bad an investment as they could have made.
Yet somehow and some way, the gate was built. That was a relief off of his back. But he felt like the mission was overall a failure. Too much blood had been spilled, accidental or otherwise, to make it a success. He was curious about his superiors’ opinions on the matter, but Elias felt his career was effectively over. From the brief discussions he had with them, they seemed to be focusing solely on the gate, their lives and efforts didn’t matter so long as the gate was functional.
His leaders might have viewed his team and him as expendable units to a puzzle. That was a stomach-churning notion that he thought about. Elias was determined to go home safely, with what was left of his team. Nothing else really mattered to him at that moment.
It was for that reason that Elias felt deeply uncomfortable about being away from their base. Of course, when that feeling came to the forefront, he was facing some lettuce and peppers. It was unlikely that anything would happen, but every time he thought something would be unlikely it eventually happened. He shook his head and began loading his cart with produce.
“Elias, Castor has been begging for some snacks,” Nemo said.
Elias shrugged, “Very well, the man-baby amongst us will get his treats finally. Please just find something that isn’t full of sugar. I don’t need him bouncing off the walls when he and the rest of us are trying to work.”
Nemo nodded and then disappeared into the store. Elias continued acquiring all of the vegetables that the team needed. He then moved on and picked up some fruits, of keen interest to both he and his team the jamberry. It was a local fruit that was a beloved breakfast treat. True to its silly name, it could be spread on a piece of toast with ease.
When Elias got to the meat department Nemo appeared back with several bags worth of snacks. He stood there staring at his subordinate. Then he coughed to get his attention. Unfortunately for Elias, Nemo had no shame and was not going to bring anything back. Elias shook his head as the borderline illicit snack goods were placed in the cart.
That was when Nemo expertly transitioned to piling meat into their cart. Elias was annoyed but no additional discussion was had regarding the snacks. The pair went from department to department. About a third of the way through their trip Nemo went to the entrance and got a second cart.
The two discussed going shopping the next weekend, but instead decided to get two weeks’ worth of food. Before Elias had a chance to tell him no, Nemo just vanished from site, not unlike a small child who got distracted by something shiny or interesting, and then came back with his cart several minutes later. Most of it was useful items, but even more, snacks were included in the cart.
Elias could win this argument, but it was only going to end poorly for him. Like a tired and defeated father, he just accepted it for what it was and went with the flow. The pair spent seventy-three minutes going up and down the aisles. Every item they had on their list was accounted for and then some.
Nemo was bagging up the items and putting them back in the cart when he noticed the final price. He was glad he didn’t have to pay for that, even if they were using stolen credits to pay for it. And he was comfortable knowing the snacks accounted for less than, although only just, ten percent of the final price. The grin on his face did not go unnoticed, Elias shook his head with some slight disapproval.
Then it was just a matter of piling everything into their car. Nemo then began to wonder if the car had enough storage space for everything that they bought. His concerns were proven true to an extent until he and Elias began playing a real-life version of Tetris in both the trunk and frunk. The back seat was also piled high with bags of groceries.
The drive home was terrifying to Elias. Mundane things seemed dangerous to him. He was the driver this time. While the autopilot was engaged, Elias kept his head on a swivel watching for any danger heading their way. Despite his overt cautiousness and general wariness, the pair arrived home without issue.
The garage door opened, and the car pulled straight into the oversized stall. Elias got out and stretched as Nemo sauntered over to the frunk and opened it.
“Holy shit we bought a lot. What was the damage?”
“Twenty-two hundred credits, no thanks to your snacks binge,” Elias said with a tint of sarcasm in his voice as he opened the back seat door, “Let’s start bringing stuff into the kitchen.”
Nemo already had both hands full of bags as he looked back at his boss. He walked over to the door inside the building but awkwardly fumbled with the handle. Not wanting to set things down and do things normally he proceeded to fail opening the door for about a minute before he was able to successfully open the door.
The pair began setting down the bags in the kitchen. After just the second trip Elias was told that there was an incoming transmission asking to speak to him. He left the remaining work to Nemo. Ellie would step out of her office from time to time to help put things away in the fridges or freezers that they had as those were near her office.
Elias walked to the second floor and entered the small spare room next to the offices. They had turned that room into their private meeting or secure communications room. He locked the door behind him and activated the communication system. He leaned in and placed his hands on a scanner. It accepted his encryption key.
Immediately after that, the system connected him to the grim visage of Admiral Marcus Dives. The seasoned veteran of the Xenuian Navy was the right-hand man to their grand admiral. The man wasted no time the moment the connection was made.
“Tribune Mendicate, it warms the heart to see you. Tell me of your progress.”
Elias bowed before looking back up at the admiral, “The initial construction phase has been completed. All that awaits are the components you are bringing. Everything that we’ve reviewed is that they’ve constructed the gate to our exacting specifications.”
“Excellent, the heathens made good progress. How fares the team?”
“I believe we are beset by both bad luck and an enemy agent. Though on the latter front, there is only circumstantial evidence supporting that theory.”
The admiral nodded before pressing a button on his terminal, “I want maximum allowable speed toward the planet,” the admiral then looked back at Elias, “I want you and your team to lock yourselves down. We can’t have any more loss in life.”
“Thank you, sir, we just restocked our food stores this morning.”
“With our updated speed we should make it there in fourteen days.”
Elias nodded, “Sir, while the system is supernaturally calm, slip space outside of the sun’s gravity well seems to churn up the area more than normal. We experienced nearly five days of delays getting to the world when we got nearer to it.”
“We will endeavor to power through it. Please send me any updated reports you have so we can broadcast them back to the home world.”
If you spot this tale on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
“I will sir and thank you.”
“Before we are done, can you confirm that there are no Confederate Naval assets in the system?”
Elias nodded, “The last time the colony was visited by a naval vessel was last month, and she was a frigate that had a trio of corvettes escorting her. The local militia doesn’t expect another visit for several months more.”
“The local militia, what is their fleet made up of? I wasn’t aware there’d be any hostiles…” Admiral Dives trailed off looking concerned.
“Fear not sir, they have dozens of shuttles and a few corvettes. They aren’t built to handle anything more than typical pirate scum.”
“Understood, I was ordered here without sufficient escort. The intel suggested there’d be minimal resistance. Still, it is reassuring to know the actual type of resistance we could be expected to face,” The admiral exhaled loudly as he leaned back in his chair, “Two weeks Elias, lay low and we’ll get you evacuated to safety.”
“Thank you, Admiral, safe travels.”
The admiral nodded then the communication cut. Elias too exhaled loudly and smiled. He was getting some good news for a change. They desperately needed that.
Elias’ mood changed when he left the secure room and heard frantic voices from the first floor. “What now?’ ran through his mind. Then he more clearly heard the voices and the utter panic in them. He ran down the hallway and very nearly tripped down the stairs.
Silvia was crying on Bacchu’s shoulder. Alberic was watching the scene in abject horror. Ellie and Castor were on the ground next to the prone form of Nemo. But wasn’t moving and didn't look like he was breathing either. Ellie looked up and saw Elias, she meekly shook her head.
“What in the hell happened? I was gone for like five minutes?” Elias said incredulously.
Minutes Later. December 17th, 2267. 12:54 Vosture Prime – John’s Homestead
John looked over at Elias with a hint of disbelief. He thought it ironic as Elias felt much the same way when he spoke to him about his actions. But another member of his team was dead due to bad luck. Obviously, it happened, and he didn’t kill Nemo, but how in the bloody hell was this happening?
“Whose Cheerios did y’all piss in to acquire that much bad luck?” John said sarcastically, “I should thank them, they did a ton of work for me.”
“Before we get into Nemo’s passing, I must confirm my suspicions.”
John chuckled, “The police and colonial government investigators are at odds over Dale’s cause of death. William knows I murdered him but lacks the necessary evidence to charge me. The police are certain it was a suicide.”
“His wife left him the weekend before. He was served with divorce papers when he got home that morning from a jog. We found that out after reading one of the police reports we had access to,” Elias shook his head, “How did you leave no evidence behind? Surely there would’ve been something.”
“What kind of gun was he shot with?”
Elias frowned as he tried to remember the report. He wasn’t gifted with perfect recall like his insane captor. The manufacturer started with a B.
“Baretta Smart Ten…” Elias’ eyes opened wide.
It was a smart gun. John had already proved himself capable of hacking theirs, which were of Xenuian make and origin. If he could do that to unknown, relatively speaking, equipment then it ought to be an act of child’s play to do the same to firearms manufactured in their territory.
“You were in the house with him, but he didn’t know,” Elias cocked his head as he worked out his theory in his head, “He took his gun. Oh, my goodness, he wasn’t going to kill himself, but you engineered his death anyway.”
John nodded.
“Please, you have to explain to me how you did it.”
“Well, Naval Intelligence has all of the encrypted keys that the manufacturers use for smart guns. As you are aware firearm ownership is fairly common, but some colonies are a bit more restrictive with their use and ownership than others. Handguns in this world must be smart guns and have kill switches that can be remotely activated.”
Elias nodded.
“Now, back to Dale. You are right. He was not in a great state of mind. But he still had his wits about him, relatively speaking of course, because he was putting a gun to his temple, but both the gun’s safeties were active.”
Elias shook his head, “Then how did you get him to shoot himself?”
“Well, with the gun’s electronic safety engaged nothing will cause the firing pin to strike the primer. It’s physically impossible to do. Now, the mechanical safety can be disengaged but if the electronic safety is on, nothing happens. Baretta is a good manufacturer, but the mechanical safety in this model is deficient.”
“How? The mechanical safety ought to prevent anything from happening.”
“If the system was built correctly, I’d agree. When the electronic safety is disengaged, it rotates the mechanical safety about seven degrees inside the gun. That’s just enough for the firing pin to strike the primer in a chambered round. I could draw you a picture but it’s unnecessary, basically the weak spot in that ‘smart gun’ is electronic safety. The likelihood that such a scenario could ever happen is effectively zero unless someone is fucking with the electronic safety.”
“You triggered the gun to fire.”
John shook his head, “I disabled the safety. He pulled the trigger, but he did so knowing, or at the very least presuming, that the gun was safe. He did my job for me.”
“What if they find out the truth?”
“My orders are a literal get out of jail free card. They can do precisely fuck-all to me. I wouldn’t do this, because I do enjoy my career, but I could go into the colonial congress and shoot William dead right there and not get so much as a slap on the wrist.”
Elias took a deep breath. He wasn’t disappointed to see Dale murdered. He was an awful human being and cost them a fair amount of money. But the way he died was just so stupid and incomprehensible to him. Suicide was greatly taboo in their culture, but it happened occasionally. He had a hard time contemplating what could be so bad to justify taking one’s own life.
John noticed Elias was having an introspective moment and interrupted it, “I take it suicide isn’t something your people do?”
Elias shook his head, “It happens but it’s exceedingly rare. Taking one’s own life is oftentimes how your body isn’t laid in the family crypt. It’s viewed as a deeply selfish and dishonorable action by my people.”
“While it is selfish, the depths of hopelessness some people feel cannot be overcome. Obviously in this case Dale was quasi-suicidal. I just made him suicidal. I’m sure you felt like you were in a dark place with your relationship imploding. Now imagine where you were but in a much worse place. Death would feel like a release,” John said softly, “I don’t condone it, but I can understand why some people may see that as their only way out.”
“You are a monster and a vile murderer.”
“Thank you. I am well aware of that,” John said with a smile, “What happened to Nemo?”
“He tried to empty the car in as few attempts as possible.”
John nodded, “At least our far-flung cousins behave in ways similar to us. Though that could be something wired into men at a genetic level.”
Elias sighed as he shook his head, “In doing that he tripped on a step in the garage. As you may or may not have noticed, there is a curb inside the garages here. He lost his balance when he tripped with his leading foot stepping onto that. He fell sideways then landed, headfirst, onto the very same curb.”
“I’d say that shouldn’t kill him; the curb wasn’t sharp.”
“He fell and no one noticed it for about five or six minutes. And I agree, I didn’t think the curb by itself could cause that much damage. But it did.”
“What did your team doctor find out?”
“Nemo, and his family after we looked into their records, suffered from a mild case of brittle bone disease. In Nemo’s case, much like his father’s, is focused on his skull,” Elias shook his head, “His family had been trying to fix that issue for four generations and had minimized its risk, but hadn’t outright eliminated it.”
“And unlike an arm or a leg, you can’t really grow a new skull and use that instead,” John said, “Though that is more evidence that your group playing god with our genome isn’t a good thing.”
“And yet you are evidence that such a thing is possible. Assuming of course what you’ve told me is true.”
John nodded, “You are both right and wrong. My familial history includes genetic modifications, but I was a natural birth, with no modifications. The same for both my birth parents. My genome is stable, despite the damage I’ve done to my body. It’s stable because there weren’t so many attempts to tweak this or that. It’s not as simple as switching one thing on and another off and you get the desired result. For everything that is modified, something else is changed, but what that may be isn’t always clear. There is more than sufficient evidence to prove to you that your genetic modifications are not at all stable or permanent.”
“We are going to bring mankind to the pinnacle of their capabilities. That is our manifest destiny,” Elias spat back.
“No, you and your beliefs will bring us low, destroying us just as we are beginning to reach our potential,” John said, “Just as this war you want to start won’t end in the way you think. If we are lucky no war will happen. And in two or three generations your people will be no more due to your actions.”
“That will never happen,” Elias said in an obstinate tone.
“Anyways, I must say your engineers designed a beautiful ship. Well, ships I suppose, every class and variant I’ve seen is just fucking gorgeous.”
John was pointing at the screen. Elias cocked his head and then slowly looked at the screen. On the right-hand side was a live feed of the dreadnaught in orbit. On the left-hand side was telemetry data. In two hours, the dreadnought would arrive at the slip gate. There was a shuttle that was quickly closing on the large vessel, its transponder code was well known to Elias.
“Why are you so focused on that shuttle?”
“Before that, what is the armor made of on those ships?”
“Quadsteel, is an alloy that is exceptionally durable, light, and easy to work with. It also has some elastic qualities so it’s able to return to its normal forged look after taking damage.”
“Self-healing or does it just snap back?”
“It snaps back,” Elias said with a puzzled look on his face, “You possess self-healing armor?”
“No, not yet anyway. Our research and development teams have been trying to build an alloy that does that, but it ends up being quite brittle once it’s healed itself. Its uses are limited to civilian use at this time,” John paused, “Is that alloy used only for the armor?”
“It is. The internal skeleton and deck plating is a ceramic-titanium alloy, not that dissimilar to your dura-ceramic alloy that is in widespread use in your fleet,” Elias looked over at John again, “Why are you asking?”
“Curiosity primarily, I was wondering if basic shipbuilding diverged much between our societies.”
Elias said, “That isn’t the only reason you asked.”
“I’ll admit there are some ulterior reasons why I’ve asked.”
“What have you done?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?” John answered back sarcastically.