Infamy (The Mythrar War Book 2) Page 4

  "You did your best," Wellard said, loosening his grip. "If it weren't for you, we wouldn't know how deep this issue goes."

  "Do we?" Bremerton replied. "All we know is that the Xandar are somehow involved. How and why is another matter entirely. As far as we know, this one was on the ship when it was taken."

  "I seriously doubt that. The Xandar rarely step aboard ships that aren't their own. If he was on that ship as an envoy, there would've been more than one."

  "Perhaps there was," Richards stated. "I was only able to access one camera. If I could've accessed more, we could've known for sure."

  "I think you've found enough. The fact that the ship self-destructed no sooner than we got a clear image of the Xandar speaks volumes. We know the anomaly works to block communications to, from, and on the ship. They likely realized they had a data leak and killed the breach by destroying the ship."

  It was the only explanation that made sense. The ship hadn't taken significant damage, and while many of the weapon systems had been disabled, they were still a threat to the Endeavor. Not only that, it left the Artemis, which they had been protecting, out in the open though it had self-destructed shortly after the Aplin. Onscreen the fighters were mopping up the remaining drones, most of which seemed to focus on making suicide runs on the Endeavor. A few of them got through, damaging packets of the lower decks. So far they appeared to focus on the areas of the ship that had taken the most damage which limited the casualties to a handful of damage control workers.

  "I still think it was a coincidence," Bremerton said. "One Xandar on the ship doesn't mean they are conspiring with the Mythrar."

  "And it doesn't mean it doesn't," Wellard said, finishing his sentence. "While I agree it is too early to make a judgment, we have to be open to the possibility that the Xandar aren't all that they seem. The fact we saw one at the helm of the Aplin suggests they aren't as pacifistic as they try to claim."

  Bremerton shrugged but didn't add to their conversation. While he understood the captain's stance on the Xandar, he wondered why he was questioning him about it. It wasn't like he was suggesting they go to war with them. Just to be open to the possibility that this conflict was much deeper than it seemed.

  He needed to get this information back to the Admiralty as fast as possible. They needed to not only know they'd found the Aplin but that they had evidence of a Xandar on the bridge. What they would do with that information was something else entirely and far too above his pay grade for him to care.

  "Bridge to Engineering."

  After a few minutes, Vaughn's familiar voice chimed over the comm. "Engineering."

  "Vaughn, how are the repairs on the thrusters coming? I'd like to get moving at full speed, but not listing towards port."

  "It'll be a few hours at least. The bastards did a number on two of them. I have to rewire half the electronics on the rear of the ship to handle the extra current."

  "Is that safe?"

  "Won't blow up on us the next few days, if that's what you mean," Vaughn said, though he sounded like he wasn't so sure about the statement. "When they find out how I've patched her together, they're going to want to drydock her for a while to wire her up nice and proper."

  "Sounds like that wouldn't be a bad idea, but for now let's keep that little detail to ourselves. I have a hunch we won't be docking for long."

  "I'm all for pushing things, Captain, but if fleet believes these patches are unsafe, I'm inclined to agree."

  "I understand," Wellard said, sighing. "I'm not asking you to lie if they ask, but to keep from giving up the goods unless you have no other choice."

  "Oh, I hear you, Captain. Just bracing you for the possibilities."

  "Good. Let me know the moment the thrusters are ready to go. We'll sit here and let the boys patch the ship up in the meantime. Wellard, out."

  Wellard didn't sit before he noticed the frown on the face of his young XO. The kid didn't like what he was willing to do in the name of defending humanity, but he'd be damned if he'd sit out of any major actions on account of some rigged wiring.

  "Don't give me that look," Wellard said, taking his seat. "Vaughn isn't the type of guy who'll take gruff from anyone, even his commanding officer. If he doesn't believe the ship is safe, he'll be the first to tell me." Bremerton opened his mouth to protest, but Wellard silenced him by waving his arm. "Don't think he won't. I've been with him since damned near the start of my career. I keep him around because he is one of the few people willing to shut me down if I'm going down a bad path or if he feels my actions are putting the crew in jeopardy. He's done it before and won't hesitate to do it again."

  Bremerton exhaled slowly, then nodded. "Where are we headed?"

  "New Earth Station. Need to fill the admiralty in on our findings and have them patch up a few things while we're there." Wellard stood up and strode towards the exit. "The bridge is yours. Let me know when we're about to take off."

  Bremerton nodded. "The bridge is mine."

  Chapter Ten

  Gibraltar Sector

  Bridge, Infamy

  The captain of the Infamy poured over the data his team extrapolated from Gibraltar Station earlier that day. Before destroying the base, they'd pulled as much information from the computer systems as they could. It was far less than he'd hoped for, but since their initial attacks months ago the NEC was learning to adapt.

  They had no way to know what they were taking, the fact they'd left little of the station left was enough to limit that information from getting out. Still, that wouldn't stop a witch hunt from happening sooner than later, making it more important than ever to find what they were looking for.

  Destroying the bases was all right as far as strategy was concerned. Limiting the number of places the enemy could use to refit and refuel between attacks was vital if they were going to finish what they'd started decades ago. But it would only go so far. To hurt humanity and eliminate their ability to fight back, they had to find their shipyards and destroy them. Only then would they come in with their limited, albeit powerful fleets and subjugate humanity once and for all.

  But for as limited as their technology was, the humans made up for it with brash determination. The further you pushed them into the corner the more likely they were to fight back twice as hard as before. They'd learned that lesson on Earth as they were still working to eliminate pockets of resistance around the planet. All this time later and they still hadn't rooted out survivors back on their home planet. Still, the number of survivors were dwindling. Soon, the only humans left would be those that welcomed the rule of the glorious Mythrar Contingent.

  "Did you find what you were looking for, Vice-Imperator?" one of the lowly humans asked, head bowed in subservience.

  "I'm afraid not. Your species loves to hide such information deep within their cores, locked up behind layers of bureaucracy. It makes it difficult for most of them to find information that should be commonplace to the people. Why they are intent on hiding the locations of their bases and systems from other human beings is beyond me."

  "We are rambunctious and ill-tempered, my lord. We are as likely to attack our brother as we are our enemies."

  "Which is why it was wise of you to submit to our will. Your species needs guidance if they are to survive. Behind us, your species will thrive like they never could on their own."

  He knew that was true better than anyone. In his short life, he'd already seen the transformation of nearly a dozen races. Some submitted without so much as a fight, others fought to defend their way of life for a while before giving in to the Mythrar's might. But humans, for all their flaws, were not easily cowed. Sure, some had given in at the first threat to their lives, but the rest had proven resilient, like Berethian kettlebugs back home. Able to survive things most other species couldn't imagine.

  "Dispatch the Scavengers. Three dozen of our best crews are to depart immediately."

  "Their orders sir?" the human asked, head still bowed.

  "They are to
split up into groups of five. Each group is to head a different direction to scour for signs of either a new base or shipyard. Make sure each crew is filled with our staunchest supporters. We cannot afford for any of the Scavengers to go rogue during this mission as doing so could alert the humans to our intentions. They must only find out what we are up to after we have done it when it is too late to retaliate."

  "Understood," the human said. "I'll captain a vessel myself."

  "No," he said hesitantly. "You will remain on this ship with me. Your council will be invaluable in the coming days, I am sure."

  "As you will, my lord." The human bowed, as a show of respect and admiration.

  "As I will." He nodded and bowed as well, though not as low as his subject.

  Chapter Eleven

  New Earth Sector

  Conference Room, New Earth Station

  The door opened, and Admiral Flannigan stepped into the room. Deep bags lined her eyes showing through the light makeup that covered her face. She held her large datapad in one hand and an old-fashioned notebook and pen in the other. Striding through the large conference room, she stared at each of the staff as she made her way around the table. She stopped momentarily behind Captain Wellard and placed a frail, shaking hand on his shoulder before continuing onto her seat.

  "I hear you have vital intelligence for me," she said, voice sounding confident as always, if not a little tired.

  "We do, Admiral." Wellard produced his datapad from his coat pocket and slid it over to Flannigan. She stared at it in disbelief.

  "This is a big allegation to make, Captain. We can't go to the Xandar leadership on hearsay alone."

  Wellard nodded, he was prepared for her to say it based solely on his written report. While Flannigan was decisive, she was not quick to come to such decisions, often deliberating for days or weeks before making her move. He was sure her decision on the Xandar would take more time than any decision she'd ever made.

  Producing another datapad from his pocket, he turned back to a station aid standing against the wall a few meters away. "Could you put this video up on the main screen?"

  Her aid nodded before taking the datapad and inserting it into the console in the back of the room. The image onscreen was the same image they'd seen when Richard's accessed the Aplin's system for the first time. A view of the empty bridge.

  "Before we start, Admiral, I suppose we should give the video some context. I'm sure you've already read my report about my encounter a week ago?" He waited for her to nod before continuing. "In that report, I told you the details of that encounter, from how we found the Artemis, the unexpected arrival of the Aplin, and everything in between. I left no stone unturned in that document."

  "You've never been one to skimp on the details," she agreed. "Still, it doesn't explain this new data or the image we are looking at."

  "Getting there," Wellard said, shifting in his seat. "One piece of information I left out of that report was how one of our engineers, Richard Vaughn, hacked into the Aplin computers and secured the imagery from the bridge."

  "To be fair, Admiral, I was trying to access the computer systems themselves to keep them from being able to destroy the ship," Richards said.

  Wellard nodded. "We intended to bring this one back home, or at least cover the ship long enough for help to arrive. The ability to take and question prisoners notwithstanding, I thought the procurement of their FTL drive to be important enough to risk damaging the Endeavor to achieve." Wellard motioned for Richards to continue.

  "After I accessed the computer system on the Providence, I've been working on creating a program to allow us to access critical systems in the hijacked ships in case another anomaly was present and couldn't be destroyed. I believe by accessing their systems, I can override the programming put in place by the anomaly which should allow me to control their ship. For a short time, at the least."

  "Long enough for us to put a few platoons of marines into their ship allowing us to take control the hard way," Wellard amended.

  "So far, however, I haven't been able to disable the self-destruct mechanisms on any ships we've come across. Every time we run into one of these ships we gather a little more information. Eventually, I'm sure I'll be able to succeed."

  "I hope you're right. We're finding our missing ships only to watch them explode before our eyes."

  "He's proven himself more than capable, Admiral. I'm sure he'll come up with something," Wellard said, nodding to Richards. "As you can tell, the image on the screen is from one of our bridges. Without an extensive scan of the image, it is nearly impossible to distinguish it from any other ship, but the design is clearly our own."

  "What the bridge looks like is hardly relevant, Captain. Please get to the point."

  Wellard nodded. "Play the video." He waited until the image was to the end where they'd seen the Xandar on the bridge for the first time. He'd seen the video enough times to know when to pause the video for maximum effect. Once it was there, he signaled for the aide to stop the video. The aide was slow in his timing, but still ended pausing on a grainy image of a Xandar sitting at the helm of the ship. Its blackened skin with dark reddened tattoos standing out against the off-white backdrop of the Aplin's bridge.

  "We'll I'll be damned. Looks like the rabbit hole is deeper than it looks. If you don't mind, I'd like to forward this footage to President Alvarez immediately. She'll want to know about this first thing."

  "I wouldn't jump to conclusions," Bremerton said, speaking from the corner of the room. "As far as we know the Xandar on the bridge could be a puppet of the Mythrar, or perhaps even a prisoner. It would be foolish to act on this video without further evidence."

  Flannigan glanced over at Bremerton before shifting her gaze back to Wellard. She shot him a look as if to question why his XO had spoken out against him, but Wellard shrugged it off.

  "I, like you, was quick to dismiss the commander's thoughts, but the more I think about it, the more I believe he has a point. We've spent the last month reacting to threats and are now grasping at the first twig we find that has a little fruit. It may look ripe and ready to eat, but without further evidence, it may very well be rotten or filled with worms."

  "What are you suggesting, Captain? That we not brief Alvarez on your findings?"

  "Not at all. I believe she should be informed immediately, but that she should not act on the video until more evidence comes in. We're already fighting a guerrilla war against our own ships, there's no reason to provoke the Xandar's wrath until we have to."

  "Very well. I'll see that the information makes it her way. With the commander's suggestions." Flannigan scanned the room, eyes stopping on each person in the room as if trying to study them with her eyes. She made two passes before taking in a prolonged breath.

  "Problem Admiral?" Wellard asked, noticing the unease in his superior.

  "Not exactly," she said. She took in one more long breath and exhaled. "I assume you haven't heard about the attack on Gibraltar Station?"

  "Why would anyone attack Gibraltar Station? There's nothing out there but a bunch of gas giants and worthless asteroids. Last I checked nobody goes out there unless they have to."

  "Yet someone thought it was important enough to attack." She reached into her pocket and pulled out a datapad of her own. Handing the device to her aide, she waited while he put it into the machine. The screen shifted to an image of a dozen capital ships docked with Gibraltar Station while a single, solitary ship hung back a few dozen kilometers away. Without saying a word, the image focused on the ship before the screen zoomed in, stopping on the ship's markings.

  "Holy hell," Wellard said, his hand covering his mouth.

  "That's what I said when I saw the image. Yet from our reports that ship was the mastermind of the attack. Seems the York is more pivotal to their entire operation than you initially thought."

  "Seems that way," Wellard said. He pounded his fist against the table, nearly spilling his drink from the force of the bl
ow. "And we let it get away."

  "Given what you were working with, you made the right choice. At that time you didn't know the full treachery of Vice President Landry. If it wasn't for your intervention, it could've been the Providence leading the attack instead of the York."

  "Perhaps, Admiral," Wellard said. "Perhaps not. The only thing we know about the York is that it tried to ambush a handful of ships at a jump gate and that it took off the moment the fight was no longer in its favor. The only thing we can say with any certainty is that the ship is hostile and working for the enemy, whoever it is."

  "Right, which is why I want to send you out to find the York. Ideally, I would like you to disable the ship and bring back prisoners, but at this point, I'd settle for the damned ship to be off the radar for good. You are authorized to use any means necessary to bring the ship down. Though, I would like to ask your technician to try to get a scan of the bridge before you do. I'd much like to know how deep our problems truly are."

  "Yes, ma'am," Richards said, nodding.

  "Good." Flannigan stood up and retrieved the datapad from her aide. "Sounds like the Endeavor will be docked for a few days while they patch her back up. While you wait, I suggest you take the time to review the information we have on the attack. Everything we have about it is on the datapad, including full passenger manifests of every single person and ship that was docked at the station, not to mention the manifests from the dozens of ships that were orbiting the station waiting to dock. If the data is remotely pertinent, you can bet it's in that report."

  Wellard took the datapad and nodded. "I'll make a few copies and distribute them to the staff to study while we wait on the ship."

  Flannigan nodded. "Wouldn't be a bad idea." She pulled herself back to her feet, her shaky arms struggled to hold her weight. Before she could collapse back into her chair, Wellard stood and held her up.

  "You going to be OK?"