123 - Unity
"I haven't heard back from the Emperor yet," Grimthorn said, frowning. He and Kinnit were sitting in their office.
Kinnit shrugged.
"He's a busy guy. Probably tying up loose ends across the galaxy."
"Maybe. This was a top priority though, straight from him. When I sent him news about the Aberrant, I figured we'd at least get a thumbs-up or something."
"It's only been a few days."
"Yeah. I suppose." Grimthorn frowned at his console. "I'm just fretting, I guess." His mouth tightened. "I'll contact the Cryptographers as well. For all the good it'll do, the cowards."
"You can ask them for more information about the Feeders."
"I can ask them to go to Geina," he growled.
"Sir," Kinnit said with a warning tone. "That's not productive."
Grimthorn snorted. "Neither is abandoning your post." He held up a hand. "But I take your point. I'll ask them."
They each turned back to their respective consoles, working away.
"Oh!" Kinnit said, perking up.
"What's wrong?"
"We got some reports from the infographers. Those Feeder scans that Minius sent us? They were able to parse out an energy signature from them!"
"Can we follow their trail?"
Kinnit scanned the document as quickly as she could.
"No," she said. "The energy signature is still too imprecise. We can get a general direction, but they can just... go anywhere. They don't have to use jumpholes. It would be like looking at a ripple for a half-blink and using that to know where somebody threw a stone in a pond." She sighed. "If only they'd use jumpholes! They'd be easy to track, then."
"That's probably why they don't," Grimthorn said. "Can you imagine our ability to launch a surprise attack if we could come into a sector from any direction, without using jumpholes?"
"Hmm, I guess. It doesn't seem fair, though."
"Fair is for skin and board games," he replied. "We just have to deal with them."
Maggie Hartford pulled her purse further up her lap. She'd been planning this vacation to Techterra for years, and she should be excited. This was the final leg of the journey, and she should be anticipating her vacation. Instead, she was fretting about her seatmate.
She shifted in the narrow cruiser seat. There wasn't much room to escape from the man next to her. He was scruffy and wild-eyed. His hair was matted, and his beard was a crazy nest. And he smelled bad. She'd believe he was homeless, but she didn't know how a homeless man could afford business-class berth on a transport ship to Techterra.
He looked over at her with wild eyes. She made the mistake of meeting them with hers.
"Why do you seek out Techterra?" he asked. His voice was ragged, strained, as though it were on the verge of crazed laughter or uncontrollable weeping.
Maggie grinned uncertainly. She didn't want to engage with this man, but she did feel the need to be polite.
"I'm going on vacation," she said. She cleared her throat. "Why are you going to Techterra?"
"I bring a warning," he croaked. "I am Elias. I am come from the judgment of Brolla. I have seen the empty cities, the devastation, the death of Brolla. Now I bring my warning to the galaxy." His eyes rolled. "Techterra is wicked, and judgment is coming. Judgment is coming for them. The planet will be empty, the streets bare, all life stopped. No more will they laugh, nor dance to music, nor buy, nor sell, nor any more love nor fight. They will scatter across the stars. Judgment is coming."
She huffed and settled back in her seat. "Sorry I asked," she said snippily. Her lips pursed with distaste. It had been four years since she'd had a proper vacation, and it was simply not fair that she had to deal with this lunatic at the very start of it.
Well, hopefully the rest of her vacation would go more smoothly.
Admiral Stonefist walked through the Engineering section of the destroyer ISS Aegis. He moved swiftly through, glancing over the essential areas of the ship.
He was trailed by Kinnit, who was poking data into her scanner, and by Captain Thurstan, who was disciplined enough to keep his concern concealed under a stiff expression of military alertness.
They reached the end of Engineering, and Grimthorn paused. Kinnit looked up at him.
"Anything to gig, sir?" she asked quietly. They'd stepped up inspections throughout the Ninth Fleet. Admiral Stonefist wanted the fleet at peak combat readiness. Ordinarily, during inspections, Grimthorn would call out infractions, or things that needed attention, but they'd just gone through the Aegis in near-silence.
Admiral Stonefist turned to Captain Thurstan.
"I've found nothing of concern," he said. "Your ship is satisfactory, Captain. Well done."
Kinnit's mouth dropped open. She looked from Grimthorn to the Captain. Captain Thurstan relaxed visibly.
"Thank you, Admiral," he said, saluting.
"That's the first--" Kinnit stopped herself. Grimthorn would probably not appreciate her pointing out that the ISS Aegis was the only ship she'd ever inspected with Grimthorn that did not receive a single corrective action report.
It wasn't as though he were passing over infractions, either. She hadn't seen anything amiss, but Grimthorn was usually able to pick out minor issues she'd glossed over. To hear him come back with a satisfactory report was a new experience for her.
"Your ship is very well run, Captain," she said. She glanced at Grimthorn. "Uniquely so."
Captain Thurstan nodded tightly.
The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.
"Thank you," he replied. "We've been putting in extra effort lately to maintain combat-readiness. When the crew saw the videos of Brolla--"
Grimthorn frowned.
"That's classified data," he said. "How did your crew get access to that?"
Captain Thurstan held up his hands. "Not through official channels," he said hastily. "Some of the videos have been floating around the network."
"Nothing has leaked out of the Naval network, I hope. We don't want to start a panic across the galaxy."
"I-- it's hard to say, Admiral. I don't know where anybody got those vids in the first place. But I've seen a couple." Captain Thurstan's eyes grew distant, haunted. "They're... eerie. They've got the crew spooked." He cleared his throat and saluted. "We'll maintain full combat readiness, Admiral!"
Grimthorn nodded slowly.
"Perhaps, then, it's not so bad that some of the videos leaked." He saluted the Captain back. "All hail the Imperium."
"All hail!" the Captain replied.
Kinnit hurried after Admiral Stonefist as he strode through the halls of the ISS Pilum Magnus, the flagship of the Third Fleet. His step was faster than usual. Though his face was set in its usual dour expression, she could see the nervousness in his movements.
"Are you worried about this Council of the Admiralty, sir?" she asked.
"I'm hoping we can use this time to coordinate the fleets. To work together. We have to stand strong against this Feeder threat." His face set in a frown. "We don't have time for the usual posturing and nonsense."
"I know you'll bring them together, sir," she said brightly. Grimthorn's swift walk slowed, and his face slowly melted into thoughtfulness.
"You could bring them together. I'll just make them angry." He slowed further, then stopped. He looked at his wife full in the face. "You know how to make people do what you want. What would you say to them?"
She shrugged uncomfortably.
"It's... not like that, sir. I don't make people do things. But I believe everyone wants the best outcome for the Imperium. We don't always agree on how to do it, but we do share a common goal. That's what I believe."
"Huh. I believe people are bunch of self-serving idiots that couldn't find their way out of a paper bag without a map. That's why you have to keep them in line."
"Respectfully, sir, that mindset probably comes through in your speech. I think it's hurting your ability to communicate effectively."
He raised his eyebrows.
"You think that comes through?" he asked.
Kinnit paused. Was it possible he didn't know?
"Yes, sir," she said carefully. "Maybe you could try assuming that everyone's working for the good of the Imperium? That might help?"
Admiral Stonefist frowned thoughtfully.
"It's an interesting theory," he said. He started walking again. "I'll see what I can do."
They arrived at the meeting room. Grimthorn handed Kinnit his coffee and she handed him his data chip. He walked in.
Kinnit joined the other Admiral's Assistants who were gathered nearby.
"Kinnit, hi!" Lieutenant Solborne said.
"Hi everyone!" she replied. "It's been a while."
"Yeah, I haven't seen you since the wedding," Solborne said. "How's married life treating you?"
Kinnit blushed.
"Oh, it's wonderful! I love it!"
Lieutenant Solborne laughed.
"That's our Kinnit, always so upbeat." She shot a look at the other Assistants. "If only some other people had bothered to show up for the wedding."
Lieutenants Voth and Daos grinned uncomfortably.
"I had bridge duty that whole week," Daos said uncomfortably.
"I hate weddings," Voth said. "No offense, Kinnit, but I'd rather lick broken glass. If I wanted to dress up and be uncomfortable, I'd sign up for exosuit shifts in Engineering."
"Well, your honesty is refreshing," Lieutenant Solborne said.
Kinnit laughed.
"It's fine," she replied. "It's fine. It was a good time."
The group folded Kinnit into their ranks, chatting animatedly.
Admiral Stonefist sat stiffly in his seat as Admiral Cora Din read out the notes from the previous meeting. They walked through the administrivia. Cora Din finally wound down, then the meeting proper began.
"Is there any priority business that needs discussion?" she asked finally.
"I have some," Admiral Stonefist said. All eyes turned to him. He paused to consider his words, his conversation with Kinnit still buzzing in his mind. Ordinarily he would have started by excoriating them over their many failures. But right now the Imperium needed unity. As much unity as they could manage.
"By now I'm sure you've all seen the reports from Brolla," he said. "There is a new enemy in the galaxy, the Feeders. They're a threat like we've never seen before. We need to discuss how we can defend against such an enemy."
"Is there any evidence they're still in the galaxy?" Admiral Dermot scoffed. "There have been no more reports."
Admiral Stonefist grabbed hold of his patience with both hands. He wants what's best for the Imperium, Grimthorn reminded himself. But he still just sounded like an idiot.
"I think the extent of the devastation means that we need to be prepared for the possibility that it could happen again," Admiral Stonefist said carefully.
"I agree with Admiral Stonefist," Cora Din said. "Even if the likelihood of another attack is low, the impact is unconscionable. We must be prepared if this enemy shows back up."
Dermot frowned. "How, though? We can't chase these Feeders around the galaxy. We can't even find them. According to reports, they don't even use jumpholes!"
"Actually, our infographers have been able to isolate their energy signature," Admiral Stonefist said. "We can detect them on passive scans now. Unfortunately, we can't use it to track them."
Dermot leaned forward. "Then use your brain, Stonefist. Why don't we re-jigger the Imperial relays to watch for the signal?"
Admiral Stonefist bit back the reply that reflexively sprang to his lips.
They want to protect the Imperium. Protecting the Imperium is all that matters. Not Dermot's sorry attitude.
"I'm afraid I don't understand, Dermot," Grimthorn said as mildly as he could manage. "Could you explain what you mean?"
"Look, every populated system has a relay, right? Communications and traffic and such." Dermot scoffed. "You said we can detect the signature with a passive scan. Just have the relays scan for this energy signature, and send an SOS if it detects your Feeders."
A hundred objections crowded Grimthorn's mind. Not all relays were the same. Developing an algorithm to automatically detect the Feeders would be complicated and error-prone. The chance for false positives was high. Deploying a new algorithm across every relay in the galaxy would be a monumental undertaking. And yet...
"That is an idea worth fleshing out," Admiral Stonefist said carefully. "It would be difficult to implement, but such an early warning system could save countless lives."
Admiral Dermot had the gall to look smug. Grimthorn let it pass.
"However," he continued. "The detection algorithm would be complicated to develop. It could take weeks to build and test such a thing. Maybe months."
"I have some very talented infographers on board the ISS Striker," Admiral Cora Din piped up. "Some of the best in the galaxy. I can set them on this task as a top priority." Her eyebrows rose, and she practically flooded the room with her superior attitude. "What would take any other team of infographers weeks will only take mine days."
Admiral Stonefist nodded to her graciously.
"That would be extraordinarily helpful," Grimthorn said. "Your cultivation of talented infographers show good foresight. What of deployment, though? The Imperial network could send the algorithm to the relays that support these kinds of upgrades, but that's only supported in the latest relays on the most populated systems. Maybe a quarter of the relays out there? How do we get it to the rest of them?"
"Relay engineers," creaked old Admiral Balia. Every eye turned to him. He didn't speak much in these meetings any more. "Before your fancy deployment systems, we had an army of engineers that could find and manually tweak every relay in the Imperium."
Grimthorn's eyebrows rose.
"Where are these engineers now?" he asked.
"They're all in the Third Fleet," Balia said. "I kept them. You never know when you'll need them."
Grimthorn nodded.
"Well we need them now. That was wise of you, Admiral Balia We could have them start outfitting old relays with the new deployment tech. Or simply replace them with newer relays. Then, when the algorithm is ready, it can automatically deploy to all the relays in the Imperium."
Grimthorn drew in a breath. A small hope flickered within him. It was coming together. The Council of Admiralty was working together. It was actually working.
Was this what Kinnit felt like all the time?
"Now," he said. "Let us discuss how the fleets will respond if the Feeders are detected."