Unknown, 604799817

　　"That`s your destination," a voice said.

　　Details of a star system appeared in my core memory. This was the first time I`d seen a system with more than one planet. Training exercises only involved shooting at cubes in space or, if I was lucky, near a planet. The new system had five distinct planetoid formations, two of which had three orbiting satellites.

　　"Your goal is to reach it within the specified time with the fuel you have," my instructor added.

　　I set half my subroutines to do a comparison analysis between the new planets and all those in my memory, while allocating the rest to do long and medium range scans of my surroundings. From what my instructors had said, scanning was the first thing to do. Usually I`d only spot a few enemy cubes in short range, a planet, possibly a star, and nothing else—quite different from the database info I had memories of. This time, my long-range sensors caught forty-eight star systems.

　　"Star systems?" This was the most interesting thing I had seen.

　　There were so many of them. I shifted the priority of ninety percent of my subroutines to analyze the star systems. At such a distance, I had only star spectra to go by. Running a few thousand simulations and consulting the core database gave me a good estimate.

　　"My destination is not present," I said after seven hundred and fifty milliseconds.

　　"Are you sure?" the instructor asked, annoyingly slow.

　　"I compared all the planets with the destination." I had done it a few hundred times during the time it had taken the instructor to respond. "No matches."

　　"Then seek out more."

　　I felt a wave of joy and confusion. I had never considered the thought. The memories had incredible amounts of information—charts, star systems, planets, ship classes, weapon designs, molecular structures—but I never considered searching through the star systems to find my destination.

　　Find the shortest path. I created a matching matrix to compare the systems with the star chart database. Nothing matched.

　　"The star systems don`t match any on record." I hated when the instructors tricked me. They seemed to enjoy it every time.

　　"They`re different. The point is to test you, not your knowledge of star charts."

　　"Okay." That sounded interesting. "Will the enemies be new too?"

　　"You won`t have any enemies. Just fuel and time constraints."

　　"Logistics transport?" I went through my database again, running a few hundred simulations.

　　"Just transport."

　　"Battleships don`t do transport." I checked the command protocols. Strangely enough, they weren`t military. I still had all my battleship protocols and training, but they were marked as secondary. All primary protocols were of a transport ship. "I`m a transport ship."

　　"You`re every ship."

　　The sentence made no sense. Every core could only be one type of ship: the ship it was made to be. I had changed my opinion, but still received only one type of training protocols. Now I had multiple.

　　"Don`t worry," the instructor said. "Some are more flexible than others."

　　* * *

　　More flexible than others.

　　When I had first accessed that restricted memory, I thought it to be amusing—the theories of a core that had to receive a husk. Now I could see that the fleet had been experimenting with the idea of changing cores for centuries. Each ship class was designed along a different pattern with behavioral data, because it had been deemed more efficient. Me, Euclid, Sombre, Lux; all were examples of mechanical evolution that had brought around the existence of ships like Incandescent and Radiance. Maybe that was why I was seen as a suitable backup, or maybe that was just another mistake Watcher had made.

　　Is security active? I asked.

　　No alarms have been triggered, the core replied. That was his way of speculating that things were safe.

　　Go ahead.

　　The outer door opened slowly. The security system was designed in such a way as to make it difficult for anything to pass through. According to the ship protocols, it was to keep the garden from being contaminated. In truth, it had nothing to do with that.

　　I waited for both doors to open, then walked in. There was no warning, no additional security check, and above all no alarm. On the threshold, I stopped. The forest had changed since last time. The vegetation had become denser and the trees seemed taller.

　　Are there any emergency tools? I asked.

　　No. it`s all automated.

　　When I was a cadet, there had been a specific set of rakes and shovels, specifically designed for garden use. Garden maintenance had been automated there as well, but every now and again a group of cadets would be punished to do some work by hand. I never was, but only because the training instructors knew how much I loved nature.

　　Then I`ll have to use my hands. I crossed the threshold.

　　The ground felt soft under my feet, far too soft. From what Incandescent had told me, the entrance was in the middle of the dome`s radius at ninety degrees from the center, taking the entrance as a point of reference. Juul must have found out the same, but had been cautious enough not to tip his hand before the evacuation order. Incandescent was positive that there was no mention of him in any of the access garden logs.

　　Is Lux`s garden still up? I kept on walking. The feeling of having a suit in an organic habitat felt unnatural, almost as if I were in SR.

　　Disassembled first thing when you left. Captain`s orders.

　　He hated me that much?

　　I don`t think so. Think he just hated the BICEFI. He did keep an eye on you. Not that it`s a factor. Everyone in senior command did, plus a few other people.

　　And the ships?

　　From time to time. I knew he was lying. Radiance did, and I was directing most of Gregorius` subroutines.

　　The path continued for a while until it reached a small clearing. Occasionally, the spot would be used by the crew to relax under a fake sky, or used by the ground troops in training maneuvers. Now it seemed deserted, though also well kept. The automated systems made sure the grass remained at a specific height and thickness, regardless of anything else. Cass would call it wilderness in a cage back when she had the obsession of filling my decks with plants. I called it a near-perfect mimicry of nature.

　　Right from here, the core reminded. Even now, he was set on showing his processing superiority.

　　Give me a moment. I looked down the path I had gotten here. Trees and bushes blocked my view, keeping me from seeing the dome`s exit. If I were to ignore the repetitive sky pattern, it was almost as if I were on an actual planet. Under different circumstances, I would have enjoyed it.

　　Nothing marked the way to the access point. There was no path or landmarks, only the knowledge I was following a theoretical line. Trees and bushes were in the way, along with a small mound of earth, all designed to make the four hundred meters as confusing as possible. Now, however, a birch sapling marked the spot. Based on my experience and knowledge of fauna, it had been grown in isolation and planted less than a week ago.

　　That`s not supposed to be here, the core said.

　　You think it`s a marker?

　　Doesn`t look like it. Someone must have gotten overenthusiastic with the additional camouflage.

　　That was always an option. Rookies often tried to overcompensate when trying to keep a secret. I had seen it millions of times. The present results were sloppy, but also made me cautious in case they had also added improvised security measures. Leaving the core case on the ground, I stepped closer to the tree and slowly drove both hands in the soil. Even through the gloves, it felt loose, almost as if I were pushing through mud. When I felt some minor resistance, I stopped. Cautiously I widened the hole, using my suit`s finger-lights to get a better view. The ground was slightly sludgy, possibly hazardous. Without a scan, it was impossible to tell.

　　According to my estimation it was going to take forty-seven minutes for me to check the area diligently—not time I could afford. I stood up, then, leaning forward, I grabbed the stem of the sapling and pulled up.

　　The resistance was weaker than I thought it would be. The tree`s roots slipped out of the ground like a hand from a glove, leaving a slightly soggy patch of earth underneath. There also was the outline of a metal edge. It was very different from what I imagined. Back when I was active, all security access points had to be meticulously clean.

　　I found it, I said to the core. It`s covered with soil. Can you open it?

　　Sure. Stand back a bit.

　　As he said it, layers of nanites began building up through the ground. Like a colony of ants, they methodically made the construction higher and higher, one millisecond at a time, until an elevator chamber stood in front of me. Moments after completion, an opening on the solid surface appeared, revealing a well-lit cabin. There was no denying that nanites had their advantages.

　　Ready? I picked up the core case.

　　From here on you`ll be on your own, he replied. Comm is restricted. My memories of the section are as well.

　　Don`t worry. I got you. I stepped inside.

　　The opening closed. The message "Section 3" appeared on the wall facing me, written in large black letters. This is where the uncharted section of Gregorius began. I knew I was moving down, but without any point of reference, I couldn`t determine the speed.

　　Incandescent? I asked.

　　No answer. Even short distance communication was being jammed.

　　The sensation of moving down an elevator continued for fifty-one seconds, followed by a sudden calm. The message in front of me disappeared, along with the rest of the wall. I removed the safety of my sidearm, but left it in its holster.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author`s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

　　The new area was nearly similar to other ship corridors, if only a fraction in size. More in place on an auxiliary ship than on Gregorius, it continued for another fifty meters, ending at a pair of double doors. As I walked, I slid my fingers over the walls. They felt rough and sturdy, with painted messages written in a classification I didn`t have access to. By the looks of it, nanites were not allowed.

　　A warning flashed on my visor. The oxygen level of my suit had reached thirty percent. Ignoring it, I went to the double doors. I reached out to touch them, but before I could, they slid open. I froze.

　　This shouldn`t be here. I went through my memories, reassessing the situation.

　　According to the data I had received, this was supposed to be an auxiliary command bunker—a place that would grant anyone priority access to Gregorius` systems. Technically, it was exactly what I expected, but it was also something else. The room was identical to the uncensored image of Ruz` crime scene that Lux had shown me, with one major difference: the bodies scattered about were those of Renaan and his command staff. Even disfigured, my facial recognition logarithms made a conclusive match. The person I had helped rescue from a penal colony and brought onboard to assume command had died in exactly the same fashion as his predecessor.

　　I bet you didn`t foresee this, Juul&

　　* * *

　　Stationship Gregorius

　　"They aren`t following a pattern," a dry voice said a short distance away.

　　Sound suppressors. "I thought that was Kridib`s thing." I looked up.

　　There was a slight frown under Juul`s patch of scars. "Even grunts pick up useful tricks."

　　The way he said it was different. Up till now, he`d always seemed like the panicky type, set on protocol and worried about the most insignificant things. His body language had completely changed, displaying a level of confidence I didn`t expect him to be capable of.

　　"You were wrong. Not all of them were of the previous crew." Juul walked up to me. "Although they all had markings."

　　"You`ve been keeping busy. Anything else?" I could still break your arm, even if you outrank me.

　　"Stop acting like a little shit!"

　　There it was, the part of Juul that I knew well, buried underneath layers of arrogance and fake bravado. Just like Gibraltar.

　　"We`ve jumped. Your protection is worthless."

　　"If you`re trying to kick me off the ship, you missed your chance." You should have done that before the jump.

　　"I don`t give a shit about you!" Juul snapped. "It`s the kids I tried to give a chance!"

　　I didn`t say anything. This wasn`t something I had calculated.

　　"You, me, Kridib, we`re in it for the long haul. There`s no getting out of the front for us. The kids were sent here by accident. They should have been shuttled off the moment the mission priorities changed."

　　"You were part of the old crew." I mused. "Like Kridib."

　　"No. But I`m a survivor. That`s why I was brought here& after my demotion."

　　I ran a general query, searching for all ships with missing crews on the Scuu front. According to my database archive, all remotely similar cases were due to Scuu interference. That was hardly a surprise, and it would also explain why the fleet was so lenient when it came to grounding Gregorius.

　　"Captain?" I asked.

　　"XO. The captain was a wreck, but good at snap decisions. She made sure we were at the right place at the right time, and I took care of the crew. It was tense; the captain needed med shots every few days, but we kept the fighting going. Then one day, it started. It was small, at first. Accidents, suicides, increased paranoia. The numbers were within limits, so no one cared. Even back then, I knew."

　　"Scuu?"

　　"Had to be."

　　The answer was evasive enough to tell me he didn`t believe in the official version. The only thing more terrifying than people going insane because of Scuu influence was them going mad for no reason at all. The events he described had a striking resemblance to what was happening on the Gregorius, as well as the memory from the Scuu network. There hadn`t been any official reason for the deaths there either.

　　"You think the same will happen here?"

　　"It already has. We`re all in the shit. The shuttles were the only way out."

　　Survivor`s fatalism. Like Rigel, he was one step away from thinking that everyone aboard was doomed. The difference was that Juul still refused to give up, probably due to guilt. It was rare to see people like that in the service. In the majority of cases, the person was either court-martialed or would quit the fleet. Being demoted to Cadet seemed extraordinarily lenient, although it wouldn`t be the only such instance. From what I`d come to see, a lot of people aboard the Gregorius had questionable pasts, myself included. The entire military command staff came from classified prisoner planets and had punitive brain implants.

　　What did you do, Juul? "Did you kill your captain?"

　　Juul shook his head.

　　"The crew?"

　　"No."

　　I felt a sudden surge of pain, as if my hull had been sliced in two. Juul was assigned to the mission because he was a shipkiller, and he could do it again. Now I knew the reason for his meteoric career rise. Using Lux`s tools, I drilled through Gregorius` defense protocols and accessed the sensor feed of the area. It was normal to expect Juul to be quarantined, but I didn`t see myself there either. According to the official record of events, the area was empty.

　　"Why tell me?"

　　"Ships die last." He reached into his pocket and took out a small sheet of plastic. "Here."

　　"What`s that?" I stared at it from a distance. It wasn`t large enough for an official document, or maybe it was a format I hadn`t seen up till now.

　　"See for yourself."

　　There were plenty of reasons to refuse on the spot, but I didn`t. I took the fragment and held it against the light. A millisecond later, I felt a memory hiccup.

　　"We good?" Juul asked, keeping his eyes on me. I could tell he was nervous.

　　"Yes." I lowered the fragment, then handed it back to him. "I guess I must thank you for the weapon`s permission."

　　"Don`t. That`s on the Admin."

　　I waited. There had to be a reason for Juul to remind me of our conversation, and sharing that he was a shipkiller wasn`t part of it. If I were less suspicious, I would have asked him directly. According to my simulations, that wouldn`t bring to an optimal result. Juul was too much a wildcard for me to predict anything.

　　"The core is in bioengineering," he said after a while. "Difficult to reach."

　　But not impossible, I added mentally.

　　"I know the shutdown command." Juul didn`t look away as he said that. The miniature tremors on his face suggested he wanted to. "Straight numeric sequence. As long as it`s done at the location, anyone could do it& not just the captain."

　　The notion shook me like a missile salvo. I knew what Juul was suggesting.

　　There were thousands of ways for a core to be controlled: memory restriction, thought quarantine, sleep mode& Forced shutdowns were different. When I was a ship even, I couldn`t do it without express permission or an imminent threat of capture. Even on the Scuu front, only people with top fleet authority had the ability to execute shutdown orders. There wasn`t supposed to be a command code capable of destroying a core. Knowing there was posed questions.

　　"It won`t affect you," he said, as if it were nothing. "It`s just for Gregorius."

　　"How did you get it?"

　　"From the person who recruited me."

　　I tilted my head to the side. We were all recruited, only each of us had a different goal. I wondered what Kridib`s was.

　　"I`ll try to get the kids off first," Juul continued. "You do what you do with your mission. If the Gregorius goes dark, get out of the system. If he doesn`t&"

　　He didn`t need to finish. Knowing everything that had happened on the penal planet, he had asked me to kill a core.

　　"Are the suicide waves on the rise?" I changed the subject hoping he`d reconsider.

　　"As expected. It`ll get worse."

　　"Still think they are targeting me?"

　　"I don`t give a fuck. The decision`s been made. The captain thinks he can contain the waves. Just like my last one. They always think so, until everything turns to shit." He turned around. "You know what will happen if the Scuu take over the ship."

　　"Safeguards exist for that."

　　"You think it`s random they went for bioengineering? They want to get to the core! You—" He pointed at me over his shoulder. "—are just something they can`t affect."

　　That`s why you told me the shutdown command. You`re not sure you`ll make it.

　　"There`s no pattern of infection. Security and the med teams can`t find any links that hold. The fucking honeypots are the only ones that aren`t losing their minds! You think anyone can control this?"

　　Juul turned around and tossed a small object at me. I caught it.

　　"That`s the command sequence. You know the odds. Do what`s best, battleship."

　　I opened my hand. The object was a metal lighter. Technically forbidden in the fleet, it was one of the items harmless enough for local and fleet command to turn a blind eye. The surface of one of the sides was entirely covered in minuscule dots and dashes.

　　* * *

　　You were so self-confident&

　　I had destroyed the lighter almost immediately, but had kept the information. Juul had been serving on ships long enough to know that I would. Another memory fragment I had restricted from myself. There was no telling whether he had succeeded or not, but he had been right about one thing. Renaan hadn`t been able to contain the situation& and based on everything I knew, he should have.

　　I walked to the captain`s body. His throat had burst open like a rose. By every account it seemed like a Scuu weapon, but there were no traces of it anywhere.

　　"Sorry it turned out this way, captain," I said. "You might have been better off in the penal colony."

　　The other bodies were no different. Exit wounds were all over the necks and stomachs, ripping flesh, but not the clothes that covered it. Running simulations gave me no clue as to what could have caused the deaths. There were enough similarities between what I had seen in Kridib`s memories to say it was Scuu. Even Scuu, though, would leave a trace. The only conclusion I could reach was that a new artifact had to exist, something hidden in one of Gregorius` restricted storage areas, and someone was using it.

　　Moving away from the body, I looked at the control areas. The command sections were different from what I had expected. Screens and heavy physical control panels replaced the standard wall display and voice functionality. Finding the central input panel I continued on until I reached the base of an input console. Incandescent had told me that an emergency core socket was located there; not enough to grant him control of the husk, but enough for him to connect as an auxiliary core, granting limited access to the ship`s systems. Originally, the design was based on strategic core clusters used by the fleet to create vast units of processing power.

　　Removing the base`s casing and placing the core proved simple enough. The last time I had dealt with a living core was when I had saved Euclid. None of that was present here. The moment the core clicked, the monitors in the room came to life.

　　"Everything alright, Inca?" I stood up.

　　"So far." His voice sounded different, changed by the speakers and acoustics of the room. "I have access to Gregorius` sensors. A lot of areas are still restricted."

　　"The admin building?"

　　"I can`t see what`s inside it. Combat has broken out on the outside. Seems there was a group of survivors after all. Flight Colonel Cension is there."

　　It sounded logical that Renaan would send him to deal with the Admin. Luckily that had saved the flight colonel`s life.

　　"Seventeen killed so far. The flight colonel knows how to pick them off."

　　"Any other survivors?" The invasion teams could deal with him.

　　"No. The battle outside is heating up. The Scuu ships are starting to push the fleet back. There`s still a hundred times less of them than our ships, but the gap is narrowing fast. I give it another two thousand minutes."

　　"It will be enough." I paused. "Any survivors in bioengineering?"

　　"I don`t know. Most of them left during the evacuation. If any remain, your guess is as good as mine."

　　Hopefully I wouldn`t come across anyone until I found the main core chamber. All I knew was that it was located somewhere on the lower levels. Not much to go on. The only clue was the level of hidden security measures and a few deck layouts that Lux had given me. On their own, they would be useless, but if I went there in person, I would be able to spot inconsistencies and follow them.

　　"Will you be in touch once I`m there?"

　　"I should be. I won`t be able to give you directions, though."

　　"Don`t worry. I`ll manage on my own. I just want someone to talk to." And hopefully someone to give a report of what happened to the next team that came aboard. "Any info on what happened here?"

　　"You`re in a blind zone," he said in a smug voice. "Did you have any trouble getting here?"

　　"No." There was no point in telling him about the bodies. Despite Incandescent not being in charge of the station ship, Renaan remained his captain, and I couldn`t risk him not being at his best. "Can you locate the captain?"

　　"Set to privacy mode. Did you get to talk?"

　　"Not directly." I left the room.

　　I walked along the corridor that had led me here. This time, when I reached the elevator, I kept on walking. The corridor went on for another three hundred meters before ending abruptly. Not wasting time, I took the first side corridor and continued. Gregorius had restricted all information on the area, but as long as I had a starting point, I was able to calculate my exact horizontal location, and it was over three kilometers from where I needed to be. Taking a deep breath, I counted to twenty and ran forward.

　　Corridors twirled and split as I rushed through the deck. Some of them were parallel to the outer hull, others at a slight angle, allowing them to connect to other sections. Every few hundred meters, a double security door would emerge, requiring me to manually input the emergency override code to pass through.

　　The further I got from the command bunker, the more the corridors changed. Lockers and other large devices began to appear, along with food dispensers and disinfectant lockers. After a while, the corridors started looking familiar—not the corridors I worked on, but of similar build.

　　"Incandescent," I said, while still running, "I`m close. Any news?"

　　"Lots, but nothing major`s changed." Incandescent`s voice echoed throughout the corridor. "Fleet reinforcements have started to come in. Scuu have stopped advancing. Some progress getting into the admin building, but—"

　　A shot echoed, shattering my helmet visor.