Theo recovered himself enough to be helpful. “A couple of them are elementals and Addy is a dryad. Try searching for anything that might be unusual. Also individuals in cryo stasis don’t have life signs. I know of some people that have tried that trick before.”
“The water throughout the ship is uniform PH balance. The deuterium oxide water is normal accept for some weight variance in backup reactor number seventeen.” Alec paused and scowled.
“Heavy water is isotopic so it has different weights normally.” Kendra offered a little advice.
“That I am aware of. However it is not natural for the atomic weight to be uniform in an approximately humanoid shape.” Alec brought up a three dimensional image of a roughly humanoid liquid shape. Also there is a drop ship in one of the hangers that is docked but disconnected from the mainframe and shielded from scanners. Alec shook his virtual head. “There is a cooking fire in the commissary that is not using enough fuel to account for its BTU output.”
“Terra.” Kiyan scowled even harder.
“We have not confirmed her presence however it is entirely likely given what we know.” Alec appeared to have accepted the fact that he was a hopeless liar.
“Oh I’m sure she is here. In fact I think she orchestrated the entire thing. She is the only one that could have orchestrated something this elaborate without you overhearing anything. If she managed to collaborate with Sapphire then she could have convinced Luke to help. Isn’t that right Luke?”
For the first time Luke spoke up. “I really think you are taking this the wrong way. You should be thankful that you have such a loyal crew. It isn’t every crew that will sail into an alien universe with their captain willingly.”
“So you hid everyone I was trying to protect on my ship?” Kiyan was exasperated with Luke’s lack of denial.
“Don’t be ridiculous. I couldn’t cancel the Thoran diplomatic conference and so of course Savos had to go. Kronos volunteered for an escort mission before we left so I didn’t have to worry about him.” Luke's attempt at innocence failed miserably.
“Just a minute, let me confirm that.” Alec’s comment made Kiyan throw his hands up in the air. “Kronos’ drop ship went into subspace but that doesn’t mean he didn’t come back out again under cloak.”
“Where might a drop ship have been hidden that I can escape your scans?” Theo inquired.
“I would have detected the vessel even under cloak until we were entering the portal. After that point if he had managed to dock near the drive section his cloak might have hidden him.” Alec began running intense scans across the exterior of the ship. In a moment the ghostly outlines of the drop ship in question were visible against the neutronium plates.
“Look on the bright side. At least you won’t be alone.”
------
“So now that almost my entire crew is here.” Kiyan directed a glare towards Luke’s hologram. “We only have one option available to us. To move forward with the plan.”
“It wasn’t entirely Luke’s fault. We made him do it so if you must be angry with someone then be angry with me.” Terra sounded annoyed.
“That defeats the purpose.” Kiyan was content to continue brooding.
“And how is that?” Terra wasn’t about to let Kiyan play that game.
“I can never stay mad at you for any length of time. Besides how did you know what I was planning?” Kiyan already felt his bad mood slipping despite his best efforts.
“I had a dream about a bad place and you were in it. Your actions when I visited you confirmed that it had been your dream not mine. I was naturally suspicious when you blocked me out of your mind and went to Sapphire who talked to Luke who...” Kiyan threw his hands into the air in despair.
“Alright! I get the point.” Kiyan couldn’t help the slight smirk that erased the last of his bad mood.
“No you don’t. The point is that we are never going to abandon you. You are stuck with us for good.” Terra crossed her arms and waited for Kiyan to acknowledge her comment. Theo and Kendra were watching the proceedings quietly with the rest of Kiyan’s crew.
“So back to what I was saying. We need to figure out where the portal is from the dark universe.” Kiyan was holding onto at least a portion of his dignity not giving in to Terra. He knew that she would extract a promise from him eventually but not in front of his friends
“The way I see it.” Kiyan feared that Theo would make another comment concerning the loyalty of his crew. “We shouldn’t go back to the past until we know where the portal is. Surely there is more information available now than in the past concerning it.”
“Sadly the individual drakken drones will only know what they were programed to know. The only ones that might have any knowledge about it are the dark lords and their private databases. Last time I checked they were all fiercely competitive and untrusting so they should all have the necessary data with each dark lord.” Luke also seemed glad for the changed conversation topic.
“That could well be true. From what I have observed, the drakken drones seem to operate with some sort of hive intelligence. Like they are connected on some level. You saw how they reorganized the fleet of ten thousand ships like it was nothing. I suspect that the ships under the employ of each dark lord are also connected in a like manner. If that is the case then I would only need access to the mainframe of one of their ships.” Alec offered his analysis.
“Why not just see if you can find the carrier signal they are using for the connection and log directly into the primary server?” Kiyan wasn’t anxious to reveal his presence in the universe.
“I have been trying to decrypt that signal since we got here but I don’t expect to be very successful. Like Luke said, the dark lords do not trust each other. They are using rotating fractal encryption algorithms. Without the original equation and the progression timestamp I don’t have much chance breaking the floating code block.” Alec explained the necessity of having an actual drakken drone ship. “With a ship, I can get the decryption data from their mainframe and use the carrier wave. “
“Alright Alec, we understand that you need a ship and that fractal encryption is bad.” Kiyan poked a bit of fun at his ship’s resident AI.
“Rotating fractal encryption with a floating code block. It is only bad if your enemy is the one using it.” Alec was being literal again.
“What if we managed to scramble their com link first? We would be able to seize the ship without them making any distress broadcast betraying our presence.” Corban seemed to light up with a new idea. “In fact with a civilization as large as the drakken, they would have to mine the stars to support their energy consumption. If I am right then a stellar mine would only need a few drones to operate.”
“Actually, that is a pretty good idea. What do you think Alec?” Kiyan liked the idea but wanted a second opinion.
“I concur. There is probably little in the way of piracy in these parts to blame a missing ship on. A stellar mine on the other hand. I can block any transmissions from the mine while a team infiltrates the facility.” Alec was busy running the idea through his supercomputers.
“A team? I want to go.” Terra looked at Kiyan as if to dare him to deny her.
Kiyan swallowed hard before speaking. “I’m sorry but your powers would have little effect against a drone.”
“Then I will go.” Corban stepped forward. “As the commander it is your duty to remain onboard the ship and as the first officer the job falls to me to lead this mission.”
“We both know that will not be happening. I could use your help but what if they blow the self-destruct with us inside? I know I can survive the vacuum until rescued but what about you?” Kiyan tried not to remember the eons he had spent in the aforementioned vacuum.
“I’m a fire elemental. I know a normal fire requires oxygen but an elemental is fundamentally different. For that matter Sapphire could go. I think she has reached a sufficient level of skill.” Corban protested Kiyan’s attempt to diss
uade him.
“My analysis indicates a three person team would have the best chance of success.” Alec entered the discussion.
“That just leaves room for me.” Fred piped up this time. “I want a chance to metal bend some of those tin heads.”
“And what does Addy have to say about that?” This time it was Jeremy.
“She says that if I don’t come back unharmed she will kill me. I am fairly sure that I can talk her out of it so I am willing to risk her wrath.” This earned Fred a glare from the dryad.
“So it is decided?” Alec queried and continued after a nod from Kiyan. “My sensors have detected a stellar mine on a star only a couple light years from here.”
“Good, then let us be on our way.” A few seconds following Kiyan’s order the Avenger was in subspace approaching the stellar mine.
--------
I was expecting something more alien. Fred seemed disappointed. The avenger had dropped out of warp next to the station and had begun jamming the interlink signal. Alec was sure that the solar activity frequently interrupted the connection so the short interval would cause minimal suspicion.
“The drakken were a semi humanoid race of organics only a short while ago. It stands to reason that they would have certain architectural characteristics that bear similarities to human kind.” Kiyan listened to Luke’s explanation without comment. The large ring shapes structure was above the surface of the star far enough beyond the corona to only require minimal reflective shielding. The ring manipulated gravity to pull matter from the core of the star. Once the core material reached the ring the heat was drained off and stored as energy while the matter was condensed and moved into storage. A star this size certainly had reached a fusion level that produced carbon. If all the plasma gases were to blow off and the core cooled there would have been a giant diamond left behind. As it was the carbon was processed to produce advanced materials for the construction of the endless fleets the dark lords marshaled.
“It is going to be hot in there.” Corban gave Kiyan a sidelong grin. Kiyan wasn’t relishing the prospect of walking inside the station. The Avenger’s sensors indicated that due to the non-organic nature of the workers there was little in the way of temperature abatement. In fact there was not even an atmosphere aboard the station.
“It only makes it easier for us.” Corban was right. The original design of the station had been for living drakken and as such provided numerous walks throughout the station that exceeded what the drones required for movement. Kiyan had his own force fields and environmental system with his implants. When Fred was shifted his body transferred to a metallic silica from a carbon base. In that state he metabolized metals instead of oxygen. Corban metabolized pure energy in his elemental form so an atmosphere was merely a convenience.
“I found a hole in the solar shielding unstable enough for me to transport you through. There are a number of drones operating but I have disabled their links with each other so hopefully they are unable to operate on any level that might offer resistance. Are you ready?” Alec looked everyone over for the last time.
“Yes we are ready. Initiate transport when you are ready.” Kiyan nodded to Alec and the trio disappeared in a shivering wave of light.
“You know that the two of us could have gone over and completed the mission with ease.” Theo had watched the preparations and departure of the team.
“Indeed but then that would have stolen all the fun from our son. He is a lot like you at that age.” Kendra looked up and Theo placed his arms around her shoulders.
“You never met me at that age.” Theo gave Kendra’s shoulders a squeeze. “It wasn’t for a few more decades that you met me.”
“Like you don’t know what I mean.” Kendra was silent for a moment. “He almost pulled it off without us knowing. If he succeeds with his plan you realize what could have happened.”
“The timelines would have reset and the war would never have happened. We would have had no knowledge of what our son becomes.” Theo summarized what they were both thinking. “The time vortex could have done so many things to the one that was instrumental in so much change.”
“I have already sensed an unusual amount of temporal energy around his time stream.” Kendra reached up and held Theo’s hand on her shoulder. “If he succeeds, the worst or the best thing, depending on how you look at it is that we all forget about this and he lives a normal childhood before his powers claim him.”
“We both know that there are worse things that can happen. Time doesn’t like paradoxes.” Theo had a grim edge to his tone that made Kendra look up into his face.
“He is already a paradox. I have seen him slip backwards in his own time stream and undue the future. You don’t think that....” Kendra dared not speak aloud her worst fears as if uttering them gave them substance.
“Just in case I will be the one closing the portal. I have had centuries of life while he is yet young. There is much left for him to do.” Theo felt Kendra’s muscles tense under his fingers but was relieved that she did not argue with his decision
-------
“This feels weird.” Fred’s attempts at speech in the vacuum were futile but Kiyan was able pick up what he was thinking.
“Get used to it.” Corban had lost the flames that had enveloped him before the transport. Now he just glowed like a coal in the heart of a fire.
“We need to find the mainframe.” There was a slight blue tint to Kiyan’s skin that indicated the shields were protecting him from the radiant heat that surrounded them. The vacuum meant that no protection was needed from the convective heat carried by air.
“Split up or stay together?” Fred gave up trying to speak out loud.
“We could search faster alone but we don’t know what we are up against so let’s stick together for now.” There was sound logic in Corban’s words and Kiyan agreed so they moved out together. Kiyan made a move to act when two drones rounded the corner of the corridor that the trio was in.
“This should be easy.” Fred stepped forward and waved his hand at the drones. The effect that Fred had been aiming for fell short of his goals. The metal construction around the drones rippled momentarily betraying Fred's intent.
“What the...?” Fred was standing with his hand still stretched out towards the drones. The two drones added to the surprise by raising what stood for their forearms toward the trio. Small panels slid open and curious devises snapped into position. The purpose for these devises became apparent an instant later. With mechanical precision the drones unleashed a hail of plasma at the intruders. Kiyan reacted and tried to blast cold fire at his attackers. The lack of atmosphere eliminated the fire aspect of the attack but the cold worked in spite of the vacuum. Motion ceased even on the atomic level as the kinetic energy was sapped away. The blasters gave only a couple more pulses before stopping their menace. The frozen drone gave a final attempt to move before Kiyan drained the last remnant of heat away. Without even the energy to maintain molecular bonds the drone dissolved into a pile of black dust that sifted through the grate that made up the floor.
Fred had bent the metal from the corridor around his antagonist and was constricting the metal bands around the drone. There was a bright flash as an energy cell gave way under the strain and the drone ceased struggling.
“Is everyone alright?” Kiyan glanced at his companions.
“I'm fine, just have to scrub these scorch marks off.” Fred gave Kiyan a wry grin. “By the way, what was up with those things?”
“A little plasma never hurt a fire elemental.” Corban responded to Kiyan's interrogative glance. “Wasn't Alec disrupting their network? They should all be offline.”
“I'm not sure but I think that they are designed to be able to act autonomously in the event of a network failure.” Kiyan stepped forward and rubbed a finger in the black dust that was covering the grate. “I think they are made out of carbon.”
“That would make sense this being a carbon star mine.” Corba
n moved to the still metal bound drone to Kiyan's other side. A thin beam of confined heat extended from his finger for several inches. With a neat motion Corban sliced the drone in two with his heat blade. “The way these things are built even our kind would be hard put in the event of an invasion.”
“An emotionless killing machine. The crowning jewel of the dark one's creations.” Kiyan stood up and looked down the corridor both ways. “We need to get moving. We can expect every one of these to attack us on sight so stay sharp and undetected if possible. Without the network they won't be able to warn the others about our presence so let's find the computer core and retrieve those codes.”
“These drones will complicate things so let's get a move on.” Fred shook a kink out of his shoulders.
“Alright, let's go.” Kiyan picked a direction and strode down the corridor. After the initial surprise encounter Kiyan had expected more. Despite his expectations the station seemed to only need a few drones to operate due to a large amount of automation. There was no markings that would give them any clue where the data core was located. From the Avenger the ring shaped station hadn't looked so large but the illusion was quickly dispelled as they navigated endless corridors.
“So it looks like the main part of the station on the inside of the ring is composed of the plasmasized carbon processing facilities. The data core would be located in a shielded section of the outer ring.” Corban was thinking out loud in a sense. “If we only had a map. It could take a day to search the whole thing.”
“I might be able to help with that.” Luke elected to remain a bracelet on Kiyan's wrist due to the fact his nanites performed poorly at the high ambient temperatures. “Just get me access to a drone.”
“Will do.” Kiyan relayed the idea to the rest of the group. When they next found a couple drones they tried to sneak up on them. This task was not that difficult because both drones were busy welding a section of the station structure. The true purpose of their plasma weapons became evident as they directed a stream of the plasma against the portions of the metal being welded. When they had gotten within range Kiyan signaled to his companions. Corban flashed forward and struck at the first drone with his heat blades. A moment later it was little more than shreds. Meanwhile Fred had imprisoned the other drone. It managed to release a blast of plasma at its attackers from a free appendage. Fred readjusted the bands and slammed the drone against the wall in the process. When Fred released his hold on the metal that held the drone it dropped to the floor and remained motionless.