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  The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles #3, Exploration

  Andrew Beery

  Copyright 2013 by Andrew Beery

  Kindle Edition, v1

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  I’d like to thank my wife Lori and my two daughters CJ and Jackie for putting up with me while I wrote this next book in the Kimbridge series. Any similarities between people in this book and my immediate family and friends is purely intentional. I’d also like to thank my twin brother Peter for putting in months proofreading and concept tweaks. Of course, I wouldn’t be much of a pastor if I didn’t acknowledge God–to Him be all the glory!

  NOTE from the author

  This release of Kimbridge #3 is a lightly edited draft. A fully edited version will be released as soon as it is back from the editors. One of the advantages of KINDLE is the ability to update. It allows readers to get access to a book they have been waiting for sooner (and cheaper) than might otherwise be possible. Please help my editors by posting any corrections, missing words, wrong words, etc. to my Facebook page setup for that purpose. The direct link is here:

  BeerysBit Author's page

  The Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles, #3: Exploration

  Chapter One: Baiting the Hook...

  Personal Log

  2124 was an interesting year. I was court-martialed, demoted, and sentenced to perform hard labor for the rest of my natural life. Then things got rough…

  "Commodore Catherine Kimbridge; it is the judgment of this court that, for crimes against the people of the Galactic Coalition of Planets—namely a wanton dereliction of duty in allowing the murder of a head of state in your custody—that you should be demoted in rank to private and transported in chains to the Sagatori asteroid penal colony in the Ashkelon star system. There you will remain for the rest of your natural life."

  Admiral Bud Faragon slammed his gavel down.

  "This court is adjourned and may God have mercy on your soul!"

  That had been six days ago. Cat closed her eyes and leaned back as far as her restraints would allow. The prison shuttle's seats were not designed to be comfortable. The trial had been broadcast across the entire Coalition, twenty-six planets and inhabited moons in all. It had been quite a media spectacle. But then, that was the point. The GCP wanted as wide a coverage as possible.

  The GCP was under attack. Ships had been disappearing for the better part of six months. Always the ships were low priority cargo haulers or unprotected civilian transports. In the last month, however, various prison transports had started disappearing. Two weeks ago a penal colony in D'lralu space had been attacked by an unknown race and the youngest, healthiest, and highest profile prisoners led away in restraints by the unknown invaders. Since that time, four other penal colonies and transports had been hit. The attackers seemed to have a new-found interest in criminals.

  Remarkably, despite several thousand people missing, there were reports of only a handful of deaths, and these appeared, for the most part, to be accidental. Whoever was orchestrating these kidnappings obviously wanted live prisoners.

  Recognizing that the GCP needed more information than was currently available to them to deal with this threat, Admirals Faragon and McMullen hatched a daring, high-stakes plan. A plan that involved an elaborate fishing expedition, and the perfect bait.

  Cat's recent activities in KayBee space provided an ideal set-up. The KayBees were a hive society that had been brutally victimized by an ancient race called the Uruk. The Heshe had stepped in and saved the KayBees by moving their entire civilization forward in time to 2123. Unfortunately, as a result of the attacks the KayBees had become hyper-aggressive.

  Capable of forming a gestalt numbering in the billions, the hive queen lost control of her super-mind when the collective became too big. The GCP became involved when the enraged hive attacked a GCP Exploration ship.

  A Bowman class starship called the Heidman, under the command of then Captain Mike Jeffries, had fallen victim to that hive onslaught. Only the efforts of a whole host of brave people, including the man who was now the GCP ambassador to the KayBee Collective, Mike Jeffries, as well as the selfless sacrifice of a noble self-aware AI known as WhimPy-23, had freed the KayBees from enslavement of their own making. Unfortunately, the queen who was responsible for creating the gestalt was unable to live with the knowledge and consequences of what she had allowed to transpire. Cat had been unable to prevent her suicide. Her death, while regrettable, presented the GCP with an opportunity.

  The trial of a notable GCP officer was as high-profile as things got in the Galactic Coalition. It was certain to catch the attention of anyone looking for high-value convicts. It was of course a sham... Cat was bait. The only question was whether or not the fish were biting.

  ***

  Sassi tweaked a control on the shuttle's communication console. His low frequency antenna twitched in agitation. Whoever the intruder was, they were not responding to his hail. He tried a different channel.

  "This is Ashkelon Prison transport Torn Wing. Please state your intentions. You are in controlled airspace."

  The console crackled, and a strangely accented voice responded. "Torn Wing. I am Captain Running Stream of the Modos Syndicate on board the MS Bluefin. You will heave-to and prepare to be boarded."

  "Negative Bluefin. We are on official Ashkelon business, and I do not recognize your authority to board us."

  "To whom am I speaking?" The crackly voice inquired.

  "I'm Lieutenant Sassi of the Ashkelon Space Exploration Corps. I must insist you veer off. We are a prison transport on official business."

  "Lieutenant Sassi. I applaud your sense of duty. But I have a seventy-five TeraJoule particle beam trained on your vessel. I have no desire to damage your cargo, but I will have it for my own. Am I clear?"

  "Sir, as I indicated, I am carrying prisoners. I have no cargo for you to take," Sassi said while inching the VASMR thrusters to maximum yield.

  The shuttle had no hyperfield drive. Not that such a drive would have helped. The Ashkelon system, like all GCP star systems, was thoroughly blanketed by hyperfield dampeners that prevented FTL travel within the system. This was a necessary safety measure that mitigated the threat of hyperfield planet-buster weapons called SJ rounds. Unlike the shuttle, GCP military vessels had a special beacon that allowed them to operate with minimal microjumps within a planetary system despite the dampeners.

  If, Sassi thought, he were really trying to evade pursuit, he supposed he would at least try to fire his chemical thrusters. Since he needed to make a good show of it, he opened the exterior ports on the reaction mass drives in preparation to fire those thrusters.

  "As I said, I have nothing of value on this ship. I'll just be on my way," the young officer said.

  "Nothing of value? Oh but I beg to differ... you have slaves, the most valuable of all cargos. A cargo I would hate to damage if I am forced to overload your drive systems with a plasma burst. Please be so kind to back off your thrusters, and do not fire your reaction-mass drives. I will not warn you again."

  To accentuate his point, the Modos captain fired a plasma beam that passed close enough to the Torn Wing's port engine that proximity alarms blared through the small cockpit where Sassi sat in his control nest. The Ashkelon officer reached forward and flipped off his thrusters. At the same time, he triggered a distress buoy. The small buoy separated from the shuttle and fired control thrusters in preparation for a high-speed burn once it was far enough from the shuttle.

  Predictably the hostile craft fired a quick plasma burst that destroyed the buoy. If Sassi had been human, he would have smiled. Everything was going according to plan. The buoy was very old technology. The GCP had mastered faster-than-light communications by taking advantage of an oddity in physics kn
ow as quantum entanglement. Central command was completely aware of what was happening to the Torn Wing. Events had been engineered with the hope of just such an encounter.

  Sassi, a consummate actor, had a role to play in a very carefully orchestrated performance. He toggled his commlink.

  "STOP FIRING! I'm shutting down my engines! I have no weapons! I surrender! I surrender!"

  The radio crackled. "It's good to see the Ashkelon people teach their young officers the value of wisdom. Prepare to be boarded. Bluefin out."

  ***

  Cat was human... so she did smile. Her quantum link provided her with a real-time feed from Sassi's control nest. It appeared the fish were biting after all.

  She checked her biometric monitors. She carefully adjusted the field emitters. There was a nanite mesh that wove itself throughout her body just below the uppermost layer of her skin. She had worked with her embedded AI, Cal, to develop the mesh to fool medical scanners.

  Her body, although human, was a highly modified Heshe construct with an ultra-advanced adaptive Heshian nanite system. By virtue of her Heshe tech, she was capable of truly superhuman feats of strength, speed, and recovery. The nanite mesh provided what was, in essence, a sensor cloak. Someone using a medical scanner would see a perfectly normal human being complete with the normal distribution of bumps and bruises. More to the point, a simple scan would not detect her quantum entangled commlink.

  Cat looked across the small cabin of the prison shuttle. Six other inmates sat locked in restraints. Three were D'lralu, two were Hoppers, and the last was a human male named Dexter McFarland. All were truly convicts. The Hoppers had been convicted of smuggling saffron. It was a powerful aphrodisiac for the Hoppers. The D'lralu were a mystery. They were part of an underground movement that opposed interaction with the GCP and humans in particular. The D'lralu were not an especially tolerant race. Political dissent was simply not accepted.

  Cat smiled as she remembered a conversation she had a month or two back with her cybernetic D'lralu friend Commander Ben. The GCP promoted a basic set of fundamental rights for all self-aware intelligences. These core values included the right to dissent. That the D'lralu forbade political dissent was a serious problem for the alliance.

  Ben had carefully explained to Cat that in the D'lralu society, political dissent always took the form of political assassination, and it was for this reason such dissent was not tolerated. These three D'lralu had literally attempted to murder their political agenda into power.

  GA-THUMP!

  Cat's reverie was interrupted by a sudden bump that would have shaken the prisoners out of their seats had they not been strapped into them.

  "I think we might have some visitors," one of the female Hoppers said in a pristine English accent. She, like all members of her Hupenstanii race, looked very much like an iridescent green-feathered kangaroo with a nub tail. She turned to face Cat. "I'm Geda by the way. In case we don't get a chance to introduce ourselves later Commodore."

  "I'm afraid it’s just Private now," Cat said. "I take it you know who I am?"

  "Everyone knows who you are. Frankly, if I'm using your terminology correctly, you were screwed over royally. And, what's the human phrase? 'Thrown under the bus.'"

  "Well, if it’s any consolation, my defense lawyer would agree with you. I'm still processing how I managed to get myself in so much trouble with so little effort!"

  The three D'lralu began a coarse barking that Cat had learned to associate with laughter. "We at least had to work for our crime. All you managed to do was get yourself in the wrong place at the wrong time."

  "There is that," Cat agreed. "But in fairness to the GCP, a commander is responsible for all that goes on under his or her command."

  There was a popping sound as the shuttle's airlock cycled and the hatch opened, causing a sudden rush of air as the pressures equalized. The figure that came through the hatch was not what Cat expected to see. What entered through the airlock was some type of mobility suit for a creature that was not designed for an oxygen atmosphere. To Cat's eyes what walked out of the airlock looked like a silver crab with a glass bulb for a body. Inside the bulb was a pinkish gray squid with four tentacles that ended in pincers.

  Cat toggled her fully cloaked internal FTL commlink. 'Admiral... are you seeing this?'

  In her mind, she heard Admiral Faragon's reply from the Bridge of the GCP Yorktown. "Sure are. Jason and Ken both think it looks like a crab of some sort.”

  Jason was Caption Jason Ruck, the new captain of the Yorktown. Ken was Cat's close friend, pastor, and former First Officer, Commander Ken Kirkland.

  'I couldn't agree more. There is an algae and salt smell. My guess is we are dealing with an aquatic species. Can I assume my orders stand?'

  "Absolutely. We need to know what is happening. We'll monitor your ocular and auditory feeds, no matter where you jump in this universe. As soon as you see a star pattern we'll calculate your location. The sooner we can figure out where our people are going, and why they are being taken, the sooner we can put a stop to it."

  'Understood, Sir. I may be put in a position where I need to establish my loyalties.'

  Admiral Faragon looked at Captain Ruck who was sitting in the command chair of the Yorktown. Jason looked pointedly at the rest of the Bridge staff. The Admiral nodded and said, "Captain, you and Ken stay; otherwise, clear the Bridge."

  Captain Ruck stood up and took one step forward so his voice would carry better. "YOU HEARD THE ADMIRAL! CLEAR THE BRIDGE. MOVE IT! MOVE IT! MOVE IT!"

  When the doors closed behind the last member of the dismissed Bridge crew, the Admiral addressed the ship's AI. "Cal, lock and restrict all recordings. Please confirm request."

  "All recordings are locked and restricted Admiral."

  "Thank you Cal." The Admiral nodded to Ken and Jason. Gentlemen... What I'm about to say stays in this room. Understood?"

  "Yes, Sir!" they both echoed.

  "Cat, by order of the GCP Admiralty Board, effective this date, you are promoted to the rank of Rear Admiral. You are authorized, at your discretion, to act in the best interest of the Coalition without regard to the letter of the law; if, in your estimation, the greater good is served. This grant shall remain in effect until it is revoked by a majority vote of the Admiralty Board or myself. Is that understood?"

  'Sir, yes, Sir!'

  Chapter Two: Setting the Hook...

  Cat watched the metallic crab shuffle up the main aisle of the shuttle. Her cybernetic D'lralu friend Commander Ben, who had volunteered to serve as security for Cat's trip to the penal colony, stood at the front of the shuttle with a plasma rifle called a 'pointer' held ready. His teeth were bared, and Cat knew instinctively that his cultural interface was in full D'lralu mode. This was no smile.

  Their visitor was obviously familiar with GCP rank because he addressed Ben as commander after seeing the three pips on his collar.

  "I trust you will not be using that weapon Commander. My suit is quite impervious to most projectile weapons as well as laser and plasma beams. I might also add that my suit is equipped with a number of offensive weapons that you would be well advised not to test."

  Without warning, one of the pincer legs shot forward and gripped the pointer midway down the barrel. There was a brief struggle for control of the weapon and then the alien squeezed the pincer and literally cut the weapon in half.

  Ben took a step back and looked at the two pieces in disbelief.

  "As I said... You do not want to test my capabilities or my determination to acquire what I have come to acquire."

  Without a word, Ben placed the destroyed weapon on the ground and held his two front paws out to the side in a sign of submission.

  "Lieutenant Sassi, if you would be so kind as to join us in the main cabin we can conclude our business this afternoon."

  Sassi triggered a system purge, not that there was any information in the shuttle's primitive computer core that could or would be valuable to their capt
ors. He did it because it was the type of action that would be expected. When the purge was complete, he removed his sidearm and fired two high-speed projectiles into the interface console. He then stepped out of his control nest and placed the weapon in plain view on top of the nest. When he entered the main cabin, his appendages were clearly empty.

  Captain Running Stream chuckled in an oddly human fashion as the moth-like Ashkelon Lieutenant entered the cabin.

  "I trust you fulfilled your duty by destroying your navigational computer and systems log. I hope it provided you with a sense of satisfaction. It will be your last action as an officer in your Corps. From this moment on you and the Commander are slaves of the Modos Syndicate and, more to the point, all of you are now my property.

  ***

  Captain Ruck leaned back in Cat's command chair. It was funny. He knew he had been given command of the Yorktown; but he still knew, at an instinctive level, that this was Cat's ship and always would be. The forward view-screen was playing a live feed from the newly promoted Admiral Kimbridge's ocular and auditory implants.