Chapter 13
Subject: Agent Jim Crawford
Jim sat in the command deck on the Wraith, chewing a toothpick; watching the ship’s crew working diligently to parse through he sensor data sent over by the Bastion. The records the Bastion’s intel officer, Estevez, Jim noted, were fantastic. She’d done a hell of a job watching the Adversary and turning her observations into tactical data. Jim was gonna poach her for his crew, no doubt. Jim spit the worn toothpick into an empty cup and it replaced it with a fresh one.
Many things about the sensor data were troubling. The alien ships, dubbed the “Adversary”, came out of the rift. The rift gate system was humanity’s first solution overcoming the universal constant, the speed of light. The gates opened up an extra-dimensional portal to a place where the rules are different. In this case, a place where space was physically smaller than real space.
Human society was built around the rift gates. It would be simply impossible for the sprawl of the Dominion to work if the gates were suddenly shut down. Warp jumps at 30 light years a piece was simply too slow for the vastness of space and the hundreds of Dominion systems, and the Alcubierre system was far too unreliable and inaccurate over long distances.
The public transit rift lane that led to the Oasis system is one of the oldest and most trusted rift lanes. It’s thought to be a pocket dimension, as opposed to a dimension that mirrored our own. There was very little known mass there, and everything was greatly compressed. Traveling a kilometer in the rift space could translate to some untold thousands of kilometers in real space.
Dozens of dimensions had been evaluated to be safe for humans, but only a few had conditions favorable for FTL travel. Rift travel research was notoriously dangerous, every new domain a roll of the dice. You could just as easily open a door to a domain full of cotton candy and unicorns as you could open a door to hell.
The weird-shit in other dimensions threatening humans was actually perfectly in Jim’s wheelhouse. It was his main job. The Special Investigations Unit had a front facing responsibility to stop pirates and known alien civilizations from messing with rift travel; and that they did. But the known threats were only the tip of the iceberg.
“So, Wraith, let me just think out loud for a minute and you let me know if I missed anything,” Jim said, speaking to the ship’s AI. It was tradition to name the AI after the ship.
“I think that would be a helpful exercise, Jim,” the AI responded, it’s voice perfectly gender-ambiguous and neutral. He’d tried to order it to be more fun, but this was as best he could get out of the thing.
“Alright great, all of you,” Jim spoke up, inviting the rest of the ship’s staff to participate, “let me know if I miss anything. Group discussion before I start saying shit to the locals.” A round of ‘yes sir’s’ and ‘aye sir’s’ greeting him. Fleet tradition was to be formal when talking to civilian leadership. It was ingrained, you couldn’t stop it.
“So the Adversary; we’re calling it that by the way. It sounds fucking scary and I like it. Anyway, they come out of the gate one at a time; all at exactly the same speed, at exactly the same interval.” Jim decided to start the recounting at the beginning, adding in what they now knew.
“Correct, well below the safe mass transit threshold for the rift gate, however the interval at which they entered was the interval at which gamma radiation emitted by the gate would have returned to baseline following the previous transit,” Wraith added, patterns in the data only an AI would find that quickly.
“So, that means the damn things don’t know how many ships they could push through at once and they didn’t want to test their luck and break the gate. They also waited until they had a force large enough to crush the defenders on the other side before attacking.”
“That is my belief as well. I would like to add, I believe that they did not understand what human defenders were capable of when they initiated the attack. They destroyed navigation buoys and one of the Adversary ships was killed by a railgun strike. Later engagements show that the Adversary was able to quickly adapt to the tactics utilized by Rear Admiral Nilson and his flotilla, however the tactics worked astonishingly well until the Adversary developed countermeasures.” Wraith sounded kind of excited, Jim thought. That’s good, developing a bit of personality would make it better to interact with.
“Yeah, I was gonna get to that. Nilson used asymmetrical tactics and they were extremely effective. Those ships should have wiped the floor with this group of ships commanded by any regular admiral, but the way Nilson engaged them was inventive. It worked. But, it doesn’t look like the same trick works twice.” Jim was genuinely impressed. Nilson didn’t even have a proper flagship. Even though his losses were substantial, he’d won every engagement he’d been involved in.
“Let’s back up a hair Wraith, just confirm for me that we don’t have any weird alien ships going INTO any of our gates outside of this system,” Jim knew the answer but the inquiry had to be documented. He had full transit logs for every rift gate updated continuously through SAECOM, up until they’d lost connection when the local gate self destructed.
“Correct. All transits into and out of rift space are accounted for. The Adversary ship’s passing through the portal had a unique signature as well, and there is no other documented transit which matches this signature,” Wraith confirmed.
“So that means one of two things. Either the Adversary has their own means of accessing our rift lanes OR, they live in rift space.” Jim’s toothpick was destroyed. He spat it out and grabbed another.
“Both are unlikely,” Wraith responded.
“Why, do you have another option?” Jim scooted up on his seat slightly, excited to hear that the AI had uncovered something he hadn’t yet known.
“Negative,” Wraith stated flatly. Goddamn thing, Jim thought.
“Well fifty-fifty odds it is, one of them happened. Have we ever seen ships like these before? Or anything close?” Jim scanned the room. Everyone shook their heads no.
“Hull scans, weapons, and propulsion are all unique as are gravimetric, radar, and hyperspectral signatures. There is no known human or alien ship which matches any of the criteria used to identify ships.” Wraith was convinced these were new aliens. Jim agreed.
“Alright, and we have no wreckage to look at. Here’s something that’s bothering me and I want insight on. When those Adversary ships were fighting above Oasis III, and they had a break from the jamming, the immediately launched those spikes at the planet. They didn’t even clear the threats to themselves; they focuses on launching those things like that’s what they came here to do. Wraith, what the fuck were those?” Jim had suspicions, but he wasn’t sure.
“The ‘spikes’ as you call them, appeared to be ballistic impactors fired through a gravimetric accelerator. The Adversary craft fired seven spikes each for a total of fourteen impactors. All fourteen were spaced evenly to create a ring that centered over New Carthage, the primary human colony on the planet. Each impactor dissolved in the troposphere at a consistent altitude of fifteen kilometers above ground level. There was no known damage to infrastructure or human life.” Wraith’s excitement seemed to be momentary. Maybe Jim had imagined it.
“It wouldn’t be out of character for the bastards to screw something up on their first try… wait. You said 15km above ground level? Not sea level?”
“Correct. When terrain is accounted for, each spike broke apart at exactly fifteen thousand four hundred and twelve meters above the terrain below it. Terrain in the area varied several kilometers in height,” Wraith said.
Jim’s eye twitched. He started speaking as his brain put it together. “So, not impactors then. They broke apart at the same altitude regardless of friction heating on each individual one. This is more like.. more like a means to disseminate something into the planet’s jet stream. The Vengeance has something like that, it spreads chaff in the atmosphere to fuck with comms planetside.” Jim stroked his beard.
“You have a point which I had not considered, Jim. I will contact science resources on the ground and request meteorological data for the planet and create an aerosol plume model. I will also request medical data from the New Carthage Hospital and attempt to determine the potential of it being a chemical weapon.” Wraith was excited again, Jim was certain. “Communications from the planet have not been impacted, and there have been no reports of unusual activity aside from the rapidly spreading wildfires and civil unrest, however we are not connected to planetary systems.”
“Yeah, get a list of shit to ask for together. We need to call the planetary admin and formally request permission to do all that but feel free to listen in.” Jim pondered for a moment. “Am I forgetting anything?”
“Aside from the remaining Adversary ship in the system, I believe that is a comprehensive recap. You have a full schedule today, Jim. You need to contact Estevez, Nilson, and the planetary administrator soon.” If Jim didn’t know any better, he’d swear the AI sounded impatient.
“Goddamn, okay. Call Lieutenant Commander Estevez on a private channel,” Jim ordered. Poaching Estevez would be a lot easier if she agreed to it, and Wraith was right that doing it now was the smart move. The view screen on Jim’s center display lit up with an outgoing call.
“Agent Crawford,” she answered, the video screen showing a young woman straight out of a fleet recruitment ad. Everything about her, from her posture to her hair to her uniform was crisp and perfectly squared away.
“Jim please,” Jim asked. “I want to offer you a job, Estevez.” He could have swore she blushed, but that was probably an illusion cast by his own inner desires.
“I’m flattered, but I’m the Bastion’s XO now, I can’t just leave Admiral Nilson without a second,” Estevez protested, “I don’t think the Admiral would approve of a transfer anyway.”
“Okay, two things Estevez. Thing one, this is a temporary reassignment to my support staff aboard one of the Darkstar destroyers. I need you there to help me unravel what’s happening around here. Thing two, I’ve got a job offer for Nilson too, it’s just not as immediate as yours.” Jim didn’t mention thing three; that actually, he was in charge of the system now and he could do whatever he wanted. Fleet officers were used to being the ultimate authority, but Dominion law was pretty clear about threats to intersystem commerce.
“I see,” Estevez said, pursing her lips and at a loss for words.
“Estevez, I’ve pulled your file and looked over your reports and reviewed how kicked ass all across this system. Your career doesn’t end with a posting aboard a security flotilla on the edge of nowhere. You have potential, Estevez. This assignment is the doorway to that. I’ll get Nilson’s blessing if that makes you feel better, but I want you to pack up your shit and get ready to come aboard the shuttle I’m sending over.”
“Yes sir, Jim, Sir,” she was stammering, “if Admiral Nilson says he can do without me and you think I can better serve humanity on your destroyer, I’ll accept the reassignment. I’d like to be involved at a higher level anyway.”
“Very good, I’ll call Nilson now,” Jim said, and ended the call. Estevez didn’t know this but she’d already been on a short list for recruitment.
The Bastion, her home ship, originally came through Oasis on it’s way to a classified mission a few systems out. Oasis wasn’t important beyond it’s utility as a jumping off point for a series of missions aimed at trying to figure out what happened kill this region of space. System after system had ancient ruins of civilizations long gone, all apparently terminating around the same time. The Bastion’s former captain was spooked by the briefing he’d received, lost his cool, and started babbling mission details to the crew. He’d been arrested, of course, and a cover story claiming he’d lost his mind was easy to plant since everything he leaked sounded like crazy talk. The Bastion was reassigned due to the lack of qualified leadership and Nilson had scooped it up as his flagship. If the Bastion had stayed on course, Estevez would have been brought into the fold much sooner.
Jim stood up, stretched his legs, then say back down. New toothpick. “Alright, call Nilson. Private connection again please.”
“Sending connection request,” Wraith said. Minutes passed without the request being accepted. Jim was starting to worry that he’d called Nilson while he was sleeping. But, Nilson did answer. He looked like shit.
“Nilson! Is this a bad time?” Jim genuinely felt bad for the man. He’d had his ass kicked.
“Well, that depends on what you’re calling to talk about,” Nilson tried a joke. Jim decided a technique he called the ‘compliment sandwich’ was probably the right approach.
“Nilson I wanted to congratulate you on your performance during this crisis,” Jim started. Nilson scoffed at the compliment. “Really, you were up against impossible odds and you came out ahead. I’ve been looking over the battle data and those Adversary ships were about as badass as they come. That beam weapon is diabolical and their point defense is just about impenetrable. A lesser Admiral would have met them with standard fleet tactics and been wiped out.”
“Well, thank you for coming in and giving us a path forward. And truly, thank you for saving the crew of the Rahvan. That weighed on me,” Nilson said, a look of exhaustion across his face. The Rahvan was currently docked to the Vengeance and rescue operations were underway. That big ship was designed to carry loads of soldiers and had plenty of space for a few hundred spacers. Plus, it was on the way.
“Nilson, I called with an agenda. I’m a busy body. Always got something going on, you know?” Jim chuckled to himself, trying to lighten the mood. “There’s a shuttle about to launch from my ship over to yours. It’s got a SAECOM link on board that’s paired with the Wraith. You’ll get instantaneous access to all our sensors feeds system wide.” Nilson perked up at that.
“How do you have a spare link? The relay is dead,” Nilson asked. The SAECOM links were pairs of nodes filled with quantum entangled pairs of subatomic particles. Quantum entanglement meant that manipulating the particles on one side caused the same change on the other side, instantaneously. Done right, this meant that information could be shared instantly, regardless of distance. Rift travel severed the entanglement, so new pairs had to be created after a rift jump. That was typically handled by relays, who’d use massive particle accelerators to weave together pairs of particles and pair new nodes. The relay would house one end, and all the ships and other relays would house the other. The Wraith, being the badass stealth intelligence ship that it was, had the first generation of node pairing equipment that was miniaturized enough to fit on a starship.
“That’s classified,” Jim growled mischievously. “Damn near everything I do is classified, Nilson. You’re in the need to know on some stuff but not that one.”
“You’re a weird bastard, Jim. But I’ll take the help,” someone had handed Nilson a cup of coffee, and the life seemed to come back to him as he drank.
“I want to mix up the crew around here a bit Nilson, and I wanted your input before I made any big changes,” Jim said, pausing while Nilson took a sip from his cup, then nodded. “Here’s the plan, I’m a civilian, so I’ll take charge of the planet. They’ve got fires and shit going out of control and it’s just a matter of time until we’ve got to move and do something down there. You’re senior ranking fleet, but my warships are special to me, you understand?” Jim waited for Nilson to nod again before moving on. “I’m going to give you command of the two battlecruisers moving down the well. The Vengeance has capabilities I want to keep for myself, so I’m hanging on to that one. The destroyers on the other hand, well,” Jim chuckled. This was the real trade for Estevez.
“Those are a new type of warship I’ve been testing out and they are bad ass,” Jim smiled his best used-ship salesman cat smile. “They’re a new class of stealth destroyers, called the Darkstar class. There’s four of them in this system and I’ll bet you a thousand credits you can’t find em. That’s because they’re stealth, like the name says. They’re also carrying a ton of firepower and a suite of sensors like none other. They’re commanded by one Senior Captain Aleki Anae, he’s aboard the UHDN Pulsar. The UHDN Blazar is coming down here to help with intel and coordination. I’m keeping that one to myself too. The other three are out searching for the last Adversary ship. I want to find and kill that fucker without losing any of my badass warships, and I think you’re the man for the job.”
Nilson didn’t say anything for a moment, apparently absorbing the information. “You on board, Admiral?” Jim prodded.
“I’m on board,” Nilson replied.
“Good man!” Jim exalted, “I’ve got a favor to ask in return. That intel officer you’ve got, Estevez, I want her working aboard the Blazar. She’s got insight and experience that I want working for both of us. Plus, I want to tell her secret shit that I just can’t say if she’s on the Bastion. No offense.”
To Nilson’s credit, he didn’t balk. He knew it was the right move in the big picture. “Sounds like a solid plan, Jim. I’m on board. How long until we can get started?”
Jim smiled, genuine this time. “More than enough time for you to hand off command to someone and get a full night of sleep. It’s three days for the Vengeance to get down here and I don’t want to organize a posse until we have everything ready to go. The shuttle is on it’s way though, and the Blazar has been lingering around here keeping an eye on the Wraith. I’ll get Estevez settled and get you a system wide sensor feed.”
Nilson nodded and signed off.
Alright, Jim stood again, growing tired of toothpicks. One last call. “Wraith call the planetary admin.” Lets make this one quick. The call was answered immediately. A short, angry, red looking fat man with a profound mustache answered.
“I swear, I’ve been calling you fucking assholes for days trying to figure out just what the hell is going on up there! The whole colony is going to hell in a hand-basket!” Spittle flew out of the man’s pig mouth, his voice was nasally and irritating. Jim hated him immediately. “The whole colony is up in arms and they’re angry at me! Like I had something to do with your incompetence!”
“Take it down a notch,” Jim growled. “I’m SIU Agent Jim Crawford, Systems Intelligence Division.” The fat man paled at hearing the name of Jim’s employer. “I’ve declared a system wide emergency and I’m taking charge. I’ll send an update down to you and you can share it among the colony. Anyone gets uppity, you send them to me, got it?” Jim smiled.
“SIU… it must be worse than I thought. Did corporate send you?” The fat man asked. The SIU was jointly managed by the Dominion government and the ISD. A development corporation that controls both the rift gate network and the colony here on Oasis. Hell, they control most of the Dominion if you looked past the thin veneer of democracy.
“No, I was in the neighborhood,” Jim sighed, then continued. “You’re staying on lockdown for now but I promise I’ll start providing updates that are worth a damn. Fleet is paranoid about saying too much, I ain’t. I’ll also need access planetary systems, of course.” Jim was ready to fire the bastard and take charge, but he had to make sure his decision was defensible to the politicians back home. It was better than way. “You got it?”
“That would be great! Listen I’ve done an admirable job of holding things together, I’m sure you’ll make sure to put that in any report or anything back to the development board, right?” The fat man asked, sniveling.
Jim suppressed his displeasure. “Yeah. You got it.”
