Chapter 5

"The 'Beast'?"

Klu'koth wrinkled his nostrils at the rather unoriginal name. His head biologist, Myar'ko, shrugged. "Don't thank me; thank Somtaaw creativity. Along with our own records, we used the surviving Hurr'kan slicers to tap into the Kuun-Laan's crewmember logs. That's what they've decided to call it."

Klu'koth replied, "Well, I guess it's a justified name. What have you found out?"

They were the only three in sick bay, along with Mej'hol. While the floors and walls were all painted the same dulled, dark colors that adorned the rest of the Carrier, but the room was clearly very hygienic, and the air was filled with some odd, antiseptic scent. That said, it was not a very modern sick bay, not that any Turanic one was. So long as bones weren't protruding from your skin or blood coming out in pints, you were considered not only healthy, but fit for duty.

Klu'koth, Mej'hol, and Myar'ko stood in front of a holoprojector, which the scientist switched on. The dark room was lit up by an image of a Turanic Ion Array Frigate. The name of it eluded Klu'koth at that moment, but he recognized it as one of the ships in the attacking force on the infested Hiigaran module.

Myar'ko played the recording forward, and a red beam struck the vessel. The image froze, and zoomed straight into the red beam. The three observed that the beam "carried" several small robotic creatures. They looked rather like small, silver beetles, but covered in the odd, reddish biomatter that they had all come to fear in the past 48 hours. A green line pointed at several of them, and at the other end of the line came Turanic hieroglyphs that explained several different aspects of the nanoprobes, such as size and composition, but Klu'koth ignored these trivialities.

"This," he began, "is the Beast. Several million little nanoprobes that are carried on a beam of plasma that we have dubbed the 'infection beam.'" He moved the holograph to follow the trail of the beam, up to where it impacted on the hull. He zoomed in more closely, and played the tape. The probes latched onto the surface of the ship, and spread out as more joined their companions. The probes sunk their metal claws into the hull, and used very tiny cutting lasers to break off pieces of the hull, which they then assimilated and, using what really looked like miniature PDA systems, replicated more of the nanoprobes, which snuck into the ship and across the stretch of the frigate.

Watching the horror show again, the Turanic Magistrate couldn't help but wince. The doctor said, "These nanoprobes can apparently metabolize both metal and organic tissue. However, they are really nasty when they assimilate a living being. This next footage came from the security holocams within the Knock-Out."

The picture showed a huge swarm of nanoprobes crawl over a Turanic soldier, and began to…dissolve the body from the outside inwards. With almost nothing left of the body, includign bones, the nanoprobes and their trillions of new siblings continued to encroach the bright hallways of the Taiidan cruiser. "Nothing you can see is new, but what you don't see is that they use the body's life energy to create a direct neural link with the ship's central computer. We still don't know the exact process, but it has something to do with whatwe beleve is a telepathic nature of the organism, and some kind of transmitter system on the probes. In any case, the Beast reproduces by assimilating any ship it touches, with enough probes, that is, and assumes control of it."

The image was now showing some sort of cell, dyed in red hues, with several massively alien organelles in its membrane. "This is a Beast cell. As I said, it can break down both metal and living cells. It has a special kind of molecular acid in its cytoplasm that allows it to do so, and prevents self-annihilation by having its cell membrane and other organelles coated with some kind of silicon compound that the acid cannot break through. Even at the core, they are part machine," he observed.

"They must obviously be telepathic creatures, because the countless different drones work alongside each other, working to the same ends in practically the same way. I have conferred with the head biologists on the other Carriers, and we agree that there must also be a hive mind that holds power over their actions, possibly made up of an amalgamation of several billion nanoprobes, but it may also be a non-corporeal intelligence; we're not quite sure," he admitted.

Klu'koth asked, "And where would this Hive Mind be?"

Myar'ko speculated, "I think it could be on the Kuun-Laan module. It is the first thing it has come into contact with for God knows how long, and it is a rather large ship. That would be the logical guess."

Mej'hol was grim. "What is the rate of infection?"

"Well, sir, depending on size and abundance of biomass to infest, we think it could subvert a whole planet within the span of, say, 82 hours.

Klu'koth shivered. "Who in God's name could possibly create this?"

Myar'ko was not helpful. "We don't know who originally produced them. But…"

"Yes?" both senior officers inquired.

"I have a strong suspicion that the Somtaaw have revived it."

"WHAT!?"

He nodded. "Well, apparently no one knows of this organism's existence. Not even the Unbound races. And when I had the slicers download the Kuun-Laan's logs, I noticed that they picked up an interstellar probe in a distant system; one of our very small recon forces tried to attack it during that time. I think that that probe was the cause of the infection of the ship's lower decks, which in turn infected much of our task force."

"So," said Mej'hol. "You're saying that the Hiigarans have unleashed a biological entitty of mass destruction upon the galaxy?"

"Well…unwittingly, yes."

Mej'hol sighed. "We got far more than we bargained for on this mission. May the gods smile upon us."

The Hiigaran officer was rather calm, under the circumstances. He hardly acknowledged the enemy; flicking at the medallion that he held from a string in his hand.

"How many ships?" Admiral Raymar Liir Hra asked, quite detached.

"About fourteen, sir. We think that they have four Destroyers, but the rest are Frigate class."

He thumbed the Kushan crest on the shiny, gold pendant, and felt an elating wave of nostalgia encompass him. Boy, did he wish he could meet someone from their former empire. "No strike Craft, then?"

The officer shook his head. "Actually, sir, those are Skaal-Tel Mark IIs." That meant that these Imperialists had their paws in very modern toys. The Mark IIs were the Taiidan response to their over-dependency on Carrier vessels for transporting Strike Craft. Using Support Frigates, Strike Craft were unsafely exposed to naked hyperspace fields. While the Hiigarans responded with the Troop Transport-a vessel that held over twenty fighters and six Corvettes-that could safely shield them from the effects of the hyper-flotsam, the Taiidan decided to increase the size of their current ships to add hangar bays to accommodate a squadron and a half of fighters (18 ships,) or an equivalent amount of Corvettes, internally. This proved rather effective in skirmishes against the Hiigarans and the Republic, but this officer was still not swayed by fear.

Such was the general attitude of someone who commanded an Avatar-class Cruiser.

Admiral Liir Hra, in addition to his glorious Protector, a vintage Heavy Cruiser from the Exodus, had a pair of Carriers and a dozen Frigates and Destroyer-class vessels under his belt. He was not afraid of his chances against this large, yet un-threatening Taiidan force.

He allowed himself a little guilt, however. As a decorated Admiral from the Hiigaran War, he was granted the Protector and his two Carriers as a gift from the Navy, and he set off to build up his fleet. Finding a large resource field to exploit, he created his taskforce rather easily (albeit a bit undermanned, with many of his Frigates relying on the new 1R and 1U classes of robotic battle droids to operate weapon systems and ship maintenance.) These miserable Taiidani, however, had obviously taken great pains to bring this fleet together, and forced to spare it, in their losing war with the Republic and the Exiles. To them, this battle would be one of monumental importance, and a great defeat.

To him, it would be Friday.

Nevertheless, a good Admiral never let his ego get out of hand, and he paid attention to the Imperialist formation even through his detachment. He ordered, "Keep Assault Frigates Moonshine and Quartz back with our Collectors, along with a substantial portion of Scythe Wing. Have all the other ships form up behind us in Wall Formation, except for the Valiant. Have that come up on our flank to attack their Strike Craft. After half of the fighters are vaped, send in our own Interceptors."

All officers nodded obediently, and began issuing commands to the rest of the fleet. He pulled up his chair's holoplate, and his whole fleet came up above his lap. The Heavy Cruiser had a wall of nine vessels behind it, with a Missile Destroyer coming up on its port side. The two Carriers sat at the two flanks of the large formation, and the Resource Collectors and their escorts stood a healthy fifty clicks behind them. They were ready.

The Taiidan Destroyers opened their hangar bays and released the frenzied clouds of Fighters and Corvettes out at the Hiigaran fleet. They got in close to the Cruiser, and hit it with their plasma cannons and bombs. They did minimal damage, but the Cruiser fired out a quad-beam of Ion energy at them. It did nothing, but it did rile them up, and Liir Hra wanted them to be nervous. Crazed bees could sting, but they couldn't sting a tank.

Besides, the Valiant was firing its blue projectiles of destruction anyway. The missiles smashed into the fragile Strike Craft, blowing them to pieces. A Taiidan Multi-Gun Corvette flew past the main viewport, with flames gushing out of its starboard engine. Two of his Interceptors flew towards it and released pink energy spheres into the damaged vessel, and it was no more. As they flew above the Cruiser, their swooping wings glinted light off of the nearby stars.

He grinned smugly. Those were Lance-class Interceptors. They were supposed to be exclusively leased to Commander Sjet's Angel Squadron, but through his connections, Liir Hra was able to acquire the blueprints for the Carrier construction bays, and he'd noticed a real change in pilot losses ever since.

He moved his Cruiser towards the main fleet, and his Ion Beams fired into the main Destroyer, melting and chewing through metal to create a flaming hole in the face of the ship. His Ion Frigates approached the fleet from below, and threw their energy beams into the ships' bellies. His Bombers flew in small Delta formations at the head Destroyer, and spewed plasma into the hull, charring the already battered war paint on the ship.

The cockpit rocked as the massive plasma cannons (he'd only just recently upgraded from mass drivers) shot off large balls of fire into the other ships in the enemy formation. He reached into the inside pocket and pulled out his copy of To Set Sail Across the Stars: A Novel by the Former Head of Fleet Intelligence (Foreward by General Karan Sjet'sa,) and flipped through the book.

This battle bored him. He checked his fleet's status after forty-five minutes, and saw that his most damaged vessel was the Spearhead, an Ion Frigate that had gotten below 55% hull strength. No matter. He ordered his Troop Transport, the Shield, to repair it in the field. No harm done.

The battle raged on for an hour, and his fleet was going on strong. Then, however, something went awry. One of his officers spoke up, "Captain, something interesting just happened."

He looked up from his book, bemused. "What are they doing now? Launching their Repair Corvettes?" The ensign was not amused. "No, sir. I'm picking up a hell of a lot of hyperspace signatures. Hold on…"

He waited while the ships emerged from hyperspace, and continued, "Sir, you won't believe this, but there are a bunch of Taiidani Cruise Missiles out there. Lots of them!"

Liir Hra frowned. "Those are very old weapons. Only the Imperialists use them anymore."

The officer nodded vigorously. "Yes sir, but the thing is they're targeting both of our fleets. And…you're not going to believe this…but they are giving off bio-signatures!" This made no sense indeed. The admiral thought, Why are unmanned missiles giving off energy signatures? Our sensors must be malfunctioning.

The ensign brought the missiles up on the main holoprojector. Liir Hra noticed that all ships had stopped fighting. The hologram showed several Cruise Missiles, yes, but they appeared to be…infested with some sort of organism.

Their sensors hadn't been malfunctioning. And those missiles were advancing.

"Sir, I'm picking up over seven hundred missiles inbound!"

He sat down, dropping his book.

"Red alert."