Chapter Forty-Three
Cascade
“Let’s assume whatever Cyrus is going to do, he’s going to do it big, and he’s going to do it fast,” Hellena told the gathered forces. “The Chief Marshall is spot on; we have been incredibly quick to affect his operation. He won’t ignore that.”
“Crush is fine,” Crush told her.
“Or Boss,” Prim added.
“Do you mind getting off his lap?” Hellena glared at the cent, who was perched happily on Colby’s lap with the smile of a Cheshire cat. “This is a combat ship, not a cat house.”
“Meow,” Prim said, settling deeper into Colby’s arms and winking.
“Prim,” Crush said.
“Yes, Boss,” Prim sighed theatrically loudly and stood up. She stared Hellena directly in the eye as she took three steps to one side and sat down next to Colby.
“As I was saying,” Hellena went on. “We can expect reprisals, and I do not believe it will be in Forest’s Hush.”
“Why not?” Berenice asked, “They have a lot of resources there and are still mostly on his side.”
“Because no one gives a shit about wood when the slugs start flying,” Hellena said simply. “The only person who gives less of a shit about Forest’s Hush than Cyrus is me. It just isn’t important.” When no one interrupted, she went on. “Ember’s Hearth is unlikely because they would have to go through a compromised system to get there. That means we are looking at Autumn or Sand being hit.”
“Why not both?” Crush asked. “Hitting one is risky.”
“Which is what everyone would expect,” Hellena nodded. “Hit both places and double your chances of a win while denying reinforcements you would face with a single system attack. I know my father, and he knows me. He trained us all from an early age. In this kind of situation, you always hit both systems. Always.”
“Which is why he’ll hit one,” Crush nodded. He understood what Hellena was thinking and agreed with it. Cyrus knew how the enemy would think, so doing the opposite was a natural advantage. “But we need to look like we are defending both.”
“All three,” Berenice insisted. “You need to look like all three are defended, just in case.”
“He won’t attack Forest’s Hush because it doesn’t get him anything,” Hellena waved the comment away.
“Except for a distraction or an easy win.” Berenice insisted. “He has to have spies and shit out our way, so we put everything in two systems; he’s going for the third just because it is a free win, right?”
“Shit,” Hellena paused. “That’s probably right.”
“We need more ships,” Crush sighed.
“We can always strike a deal with the Star’s Song,” Tri offered. “Service in exchange for… something.” He shrugged.
“Trading rights?” Quad asked. “Privateers going legit.”
“I happen to have a number of ships available,” Berenice grinned. “I’m sure a deal with the Star’s Song Alliance for favorable tax rates can be arranged.”
“That is a good start,” Hellena nodded. “But we still don’t have many capital ships.”
“What about… no, never mind,” Prim sighed.
“What?” Crush asked.
“Well, we have a lot of destroyers, right? More than we can use, I mean?” Prim asked.
“True, but destroyers aren’t going even to scratch the hull on a capital,” Hellena countered.
“What about one packed with explosives and a spare power core or two?” Prim asked. “Remote pilot them, engines to full, stuff it with bang, and let her ride right into the side of the capital, or even the engines.”
Hellena started to laugh, and it was not a pleasant sound. It was the cackle of the fox who had just found the henhouse door open.
/===<<<>>>===\
Dean Fairleigh stood as the black-robed woman entered his office, the same shock hitting him as every time she had ‘visited’ the Benediction. Black hair was rare in the Sagacity, and Price's blue-black shade was even rarer. It matched her robes perfectly, creating the optical illusion of a hood.
“Examiner Price, I trust you come bearing good news?” Fairleigh was in no way trusting of the woman or the chances of good news, but it was the polite thing to say. Politeness was very important to the Sagacity.
“Of course not, you moron,” Price sighed as she sat down, “Quite the opposite. But you knew that, so let’s not waste any more of my time.”
“I see,” Fairlegh felt himself grinding his teeth but forced a polite smile anyway. “Then perhaps we should move immediately onto the report.”
“Good,” Price nodded. “Get Hopkins in here as well, will you?”
“Propriety would suggest I make that decision after I have heard your report,” Fairleigh said sternly. “Secrecy must be maintained as much as possible.”
“Oh, right,” Price chuckled darkly. “Secrecy, the cornerstone of Sagacity professional ethics. Very well, but I will be leaving immediately after giving you this report, so you will have to relay the findings to Hopkins yourself.”
“You are leaving the Benediction so soon?” Fairleigh asked.
“No, I’m leaving the Sagacity,” Price said flatly. “I am hoping to get a position with the I.P.A. before all of this breaks.”
“What?” Fairleigh asked. Price had a high position of respect within Sagacity. There was even talk of her becoming the High Examiner or even the Chief Examiner of a spiral soon. To leave now would make no sense.
“You heard me, Dean Fairleigh,” Price replied. “Shall we?”
“Of course,” Fairleigh decided to return to the topic once the investigator’s report was over. Surely, he could convince her to stay within the Sagacity, even if it was not as an Examiner.
After all, how bad could it be?
“The Sagacity has a long history of trade with its neighbors,” Price began. “This fact proved crucial in what happened. Cyrus was well aware of the societal norms preventing open discussion of projects and research between spirals or even within professors within the same spiral. That same secrecy was the weak point that he exploited.”
“He used the private nature of our people to kill them?” Fairleigh asked. “I suppose it would be rare for murders to happen in public—”
“I’m not talking about the murders,” Price snapped. “The murders were only a secondary crime. The originating offense was much greater.”
“Greater than almost fifty murdered professors?” Fairleigh countered. “I have no idea—”
“Precisely,” Price said with an angry smile. “So perhaps let me finish?”
“Go ahead,” Fairleigh glowered.
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“Cyrus has had a pair of larger projects going for the last few months. It would have taken much longer in any normal situation, but he was smart. By spreading the research among multiple specialists, the entire project was broken up into bite-sized chunks that were able to be solved very quickly. I’d respect it, and I did at first, but when you see the entire package… no, just no.” Price paused for a moment, her eyes tight and distant before she went on. “The first project is fairly simple, if horrifying. He has been trying to replicate the design of the Harbinger. It won’t work as well, but it seems he has solved many of the structural problems of a ship that size.”
“I imagine several systems are working on that,” Fairleigh said gravely. “The arms race for the biggest ship was something we hoped had died out, but our neighbors have clearly inspired a new policy.”
“No doubt, although most will take much longer to deal with the research aspect of it, something Cyrus farmed out to us. Normally, we would have caught on to his goals and worked to slow the results from being sent or published. This time, those safeguards simply did not engage because no one person was working on enough to raise any worries.” Price rubbed her forehead angrily. “An oversight, but honestly, I wonder how many other places are using the same approach to make us the brain farm for their nightmare projects. If one person thought of it, others have definitely done the same.”
“Sanctions against Cyrus would be in order, but the sanctions from the murders will override them anyway.” Fairleigh frowned. “Still, one large ship is hardly a ‘nightmare project,’ as you put it.
“No, it would not,” Price pursed her lips for a second, an expression of extreme distaste written large across her normally calm face. “In fact, I suspect that was just another layer of camouflage. It was undoubtedly the first secret I uncovered. If I hadn’t dug any deeper, well, I would personally have been able to sleep the last few nights.”
“Can you get to the point?” Fairleigh asked, his polite calm cracking slightly. “All this talking around the supposed nightmare, and you have yet to say anything really horrifying.”
Price’s eyes narrowed slightly before she blinked slowly and took a deep breath.
“You are right, Dean Fairleigh; I apologize.”
The Dean smiled at the welcome return to formality, but she went on before he could take advantage of it.
“Cryus has had over three dozen professors working on the origins of the Exo-System travel and the opening of Transit Space corridors,” Price leaned forward, her hands clasped so tightly he could see her pale knuckles whitening. “More specifically, the opening of the initial tears.”
“Those were disasters,” Fairleigh noted drily. “Whole planets were lost in those first few experiments. If he is planning to make a fresh try at….” He trailed off as his ears caught up to what he had just said.
“Quite,” Price nodded.
“He’s not insane, is he?” Fairleigh found himself suddenly standing, his head spinning.
“Honestly, I have no idea,” Price shook her head. “What matters to us is that he has weaponized the opening of Transit Space. More than that, he intends to use it.”
“We are sure of this?” Fairleigh asked, desperately hoping this was all some sick joke or massive overreaction.
“Completely,” Price said, her voice flat and emotionless. “We were the architects of the devices, after all. We even supplied the materials at a discount.”
“We did what now?” Fairleigh sat down again, wondering why his legs felt so weak suddenly. His heart seemed to be racing faster and faster each second.
“Oh, yes,” Price said with a savage smile. “We gave him a discount on materials in exchange for ongoing research contracts. The Sagacity is the research center of record for the greatest act of genocidal horror yet to be enacted. Honestly, it was quite, quite brilliant. When he acts, we will have so much blood on our hands that we will be dragged down with him.”
“But then why did he start killing our people?” Fairleigh asked.
“Oh, he didn’t,” Price shook her head. “Someone has started to act against him, and they did it. I personally suspect it’s the Imperium, but good luck proving it.”
“You found no evidence?” Fairleigh asked.
“I never looked,” Price laughed. “I had seen enough to know it was someone I did not want to find.”
“But your duty…”
“Can go fuck itself,” Price stood. “You will find a copy of my report on file. Now, if you will excuse me, I am booked on the next private transport out of the Sagacity.”
“You can’t just go,” Fairleigh insisted.
“Oh, I can,” Price shrugged off her robe, revealing a standard shipsuit underneath. “I intend to be far, far, FAR away before the bombs go off and the rest of the galaxy wipes us off the map right along with that sick bastard Cyrus.”
Fairleigh leaped from his chair as she turned and strode from the room, took a single step, and his chest exploded in pain.
The medical alarms went off as his vision blanked, and he collapsed to the floor, unmoving.
/===<<<>>>===\
“Why do I have to do this?” Nellie whined. She was well aware she was whining, but she was the Queen, right? A little whining now and then had to be allowed. Besides, she was only whining to Salem. If you couldn’t whine to your best friend, who could you complain to?
“Lucy has been fielding her visits for the last couple of weeks, but Aria-Seven is more and more desperate to repair the damage as she sees it,” Salem said with a sympathetic smile. “She just wants to know that the situation is salvageable.”
“Of course it is,” Nellie groaned. “I just don’t want to deal with it. We have some important things going on right now. Why don’t I do this in a couple of months when things calm down a little?”
“When have things ever calmed down for us?” Salem laughed. “We were at peace for about five minutes before we started running a puppet state.”
“Fine,” Nellie sighed, knowing when she was beaten. “I just kind of miss solving things by shooting at them.”
“Me too,” Salem nodded, “But I do enjoy not being shot at.”
With that, they were outside the doors to Nellie’s office. A quick second to plaster a smile on her face, and the doors opened.
“Aria, nice to see you again,” Nellie lied, noting the large, ornate box sitting on the desk immediately. “How can we help you today?”
“I come to offer an apology for my misunderstanding,” Aria-Seven bowed deeply. “And perhaps offer hope for good relations in the future.”
“Our relations are fine,” Nellie said, sliding in behind her desk before Aria could come in for a hug. “There is no need to apologize.”
“I am glad for your understanding,” Aria said, looking anything but glad. “Yet, I must insist on giving you a token of my appreciation in the form of this small collection. I can only hope they will be accepted.”
“If it makes you feel better, then sure. I accept.” Nellie smiled. With any luck, this would be a quick way out of this meeting, and she could get back aboard the Harbinger. She was sort of there now, with her attention mainly focused on the CIC, but it was different when she was there in person.
“Excellent,” Aria visibly relaxed. “It is my hope that you will see these as a worthy addition to your population and mark a new start for both our peoples.”
“Wait, what is this?” Nellie asked, tapping the box with a tendril of nanites.
“Of course, allow me,” Aria tapped a sequence onto the top of the box. It opened with a hiss, a faint fog of cold air gathering instantly. Inside, there was a set of nine small grey and silver orbs marked with occasional flashes of blue light. Little arcs of electricity sparked between them, static discharges of what was definitely not something she had ever seen before. To Nellie’s improved senses, they were small supernovas of overlapping auras and signatures. The energy readings alone were off the charts.
“Are they some kind of power core?” Nellie asked, already thinking how useful the design alone would be. If they could recreate it—
“No, they are Intelligence Catalysts. We use them to create new Silicate Intelligences,” Aria-Seven replied in a worried tone. “If you would prefer power cores…”
“No!” Nellie yelled, making Aria flinch. “Just. Explain. These can make new intelligent creatures?”
“Of course,” Aria said timidly. “Most Silicates breed in a more traditional way, but some prefer this method. They are also used to create other forms of life, of course. I hope they are acceptable. They are, of course, reusable, and I did make sure they were compatible with the energy from Nano-Forge technology.”
Nellie stared at the box, seeing not the orbs but an entire race of people—Imperium citizens—literally, her own people.
“I thought a gift of new life would be symbolic,” Aria asked hopefully.
“Aria, I’m going to hug you right now,” Nellie beamed. “Honestly, I can—”
“Ma’am,” Salem burst into the room. “I’m sorry, but you have to see this immediately.”
Nellie didn’t bother asking questions; she just nodded, and Salem gestured to the wall screen. A figure appeared on it, with the markings of an open comm broadcast on the top corner.
“My fellow citizens of the galaxy,” The bald, heavily tanned man spoke slowly as if weighing each word before letting it out into the world. A large platinum diamond shape was set into the center of his forehead. “I am the Grand Archivist of the Sagacity, and I am talking to you all today to bring a grave threat to your attention.”
“Those little fucks,” Nellie growled. “If they are trying to shut down our—”
“The situation in the Confederated Planets is worse than we knew. The nefarious Cyrus of the Falling Waters Clan has used the venerated institutions of the Sagacity to create a devastating weapon. While the details are too horrifying to speak of, I am including a design and damage estimation in the tail of this message, which will be repeated for the next two days.”
“Ostie, they figured it out,” Nellie said, surprised for the first time in a while.
“Action must be taken, and immediately. We are calling for representatives of all the neighboring systems to meet at the Sagacity Spiral Benediction for an emergency meeting. To be clear, we are calling for immediate action. If you are not able to react quickly, it will be too late.”
The image vanished, and a design flashed on the screen; a series of projections followed, each more horrifying than the last.
“Well, it looks like we have a meeting to attend,” Nellie said, clapping her hands happily.
“I will begin preparations for the fleet to move out,” Salem nodded. “As soon as you give the order, we will be ready.”
“No, not this time,” Nellie said. “This time, I am sending my Herald to the meeting. I’ll lead the Fleet myself.”
“Really?” Salem asked. “I will be speaking for the Imperium?”
“No one I trust more,” Nellie said with a smile. “Lucy? Mind watching over the Imperium while I go pay Cyrus a little visit?”
“Consider it done,” Lucy’s voice came over the comm line.
“Thanks, honey,” Nellie said.
Finally, she was going to get back into the command chair and do what she did best.
Deal with a problem. Permanently.