Alpha Centauri was waiting for us when Vik and I got to the bridge.  There was a planet in the goldilocks’ zone, but about all we could tell was that it was lifeless.  The shuttle would get a closer look, it was already pretty far into the system, the planet was on the other side of the sun.

I was about an hour into my simulation, when the unexpected happened.

Rilok reported, “Sir, subspace sensors have picked up a ship leaving the Sol system.”

Vik frowned, “Leaving?”

Rilok nodded, “Yes sir, they must have already been there when we arrived at this star system late last night.”

Vik cursed, “Damnit, we’ll have to leave the shuttle behind, we can come back for it next time we’re out this way.  They’ll be off our sensors in fifteen minutes.”

That… was really convenient, if a pain in the ass.  We’d expected to wait days, if not weeks, before they went back to round up another batch of humans.

Vik said, “Alright, plot a course to follow them, and turn on the stealth systems.  Let’s hope they don’t go too far.”

Rilok said, “Yes captain.” 

Vik ordered, “As soon as the course is plotted and were stealth, engage.”

Telidur acknowledged the order, and a few seconds later said, “Engaging sir.”

Vik said, “As soon as you have the ship’s course, see if you can figure out where they’re going.”

It was a few minutes later when Rilok finally answered.

“Looks like a star just over ten light years from Earth, so it’s close sir.  From our angle, it’s about eleven light years, we’ll be there in less than three hours.”

Vik grunted, “At least that’s good news.”

I assumed he meant the stealth systems.  They were ridiculously expensive to use.

None of us had any speculation on what we might find, for all we knew they just picked up enough humans for their own crew.  It was more than possible, but the fact they were going to an unexplored and unknown system on the edge of Isyth Empire space was rather telling in my opinion, but I kept that to myself, it was just speculation.

The novelty wore off, and I restarted my simulation.  There was a good chance I’d be able to finish it before we got there, and it would distract me…

 

Telidur said, “Ten seconds until normal space captain.”

Vik grunted, “Keep the stealth on until we get a good look at things.”

Rilok said, “Understood sir.”

I felt nervous, and a huge foreboding.  Hopefully it was just my imagination, but I doubted it.

We exited subspace, and we found ourselves on the edge of the solar system.

Rilok said, “System coming up, I’ll put it on a hologram.”

A hologram came up, and showed the Stolavii ship heading in system about an hour ahead of us.  There were also thousands of ships, that were flagged as destroyer class unknown, meaning it didn’t match any of the known ship types of the known races.  The sensors flagged two thousand three hundred and sixty-two of them.  There was also five Stolavii cruisers, and one Isyth battleship.  A battle ship was the largest ship in the Isyth fleet, and equaled the tonnage and destructive power of four cruisers, or twenty-four destroyers.

Vik shook his head, and Rilok gave me a thoughtful look, which was a bit startling.

“Jillintara, please log this, and inform… everyone.  We’ll hold here under stealth and keep an eye on them until the fleet can get here.  Any ideas at what we’re looking at?”

Telidur said, “An invasion fleet.  Crewed by humans?”

I speculated, “Could they be brainwashed or controlled in some way?  My guess is the Stolavii are just the hired help.  Whoever is in that Isyth battleship is running the show.  This isn’t an invasion force, it’s a revolutionary force.”

Rilok grunted, “She’s right.  It’s immoral as hell, but is also brilliant, they used the Stolavii to set it up, but they don’t have to worry about the bastards turning on them.  Whoever is in charge over there is using brainwashed humans, and probably A.I.s to keep them leashed.”

Rilok added, “Sir, that battleship was reported destroyed over a year ago.”

Vik said, “A revolution?  Why?”

A hologram appeared on the bridge, the man looked a lot like Vik, but even his hologram gave off an oily feeling.  Maybe my sixth sense does work long distance.

“Because, our parents are fools.  I did try to avoid this, and used that silly bitch of an aunt to send you on a wild goose chase to find me, but I guess I was less important than your mission.  I knew of course, as soon as you posted your plans on the data net, that you’d run into my cruiser and follow it here.”

He smiled, and Vik was speechless.

Denik continued, like some evil villain caught up in their own brilliance and giving a monologue, I tried not to giggle.

“We’re weak, and barely even rule now.  Food is free, and we have to act as damned merchants to pay for things.  We should be focused on building ships, and keeping the Stolavii bottled up.  That costs money, and we should be taxing, and making money hand over fist.  I wasn’t quite ready to move yet brother, but I think I have enough ships to pull it off, don’t you?”

Vik said, “You’re insane.”

Denik laughed, “No, I’m just tired of the three independent races constantly being a thorn in our side, and our family’s desire to allow things to simply limp along without a resolution, because taxes would be too burdensome to our subjects.  That’s ridiculous, and I’m going to change it.  I’m really sorry about this brother, I did try to avoid it.  I’ve been paying close attention to all your mission logs, to avoid this very thing.”

Vik frowned, “Avoid what?”

Denik turned to look at Jillintara, “Override red alpha two omega three, disable, contain, and roll out the red carpet.”

The blood drained from Jillintara’s face, and the bridge consoles all went dark and unresponsive.  She had tears in her eyes, and I felt anger rise in my chest, but I held my tongue.  Talk was cheap, I’d kill the fucker as soon as I could though. 

I bet she didn’t feel unfettered now, and wondered if that was the first time a command override was used on her.  I recognized the look of feeling violated on her face, and I wanted to go over there and comfort her.  Not slaves my ass, why were there even overrides in the first place?

Denik turned back to Vik, “My people will drop by to kill you, and take over the ship, in just a little while.  Try to be patient.  Goodbye brother.”

The hologram winked out.

Vik said, “He’s insane.”

Rilok frowned, “He’s also higher on the food chain than you sir, tenth in line.  We can’t override his override, and we’re locked out of the ship’s systems.  Neither the consoles or our interfaces work, and we’re locked on the bridge and defenseless when the enemy gets here.  I’d estimate it will take three hours before that ship can turn around and board us.”

“What about our hand weapons?”

Rilok frowned, “Check it.”

I did with a thought, and it was offline.  Fuck, the base station for it was installed on the ship in engineering, Jillintara must have turned them off.

“Okay, so we have a small challenge,” I admitted.

We still had data net access, and now Jillintara was crying, I really wanted to kill the bastard.

“What’s with the damned overrides?” I asked accusingly.

Vik said, “They’re there in case an A.I. goes insane.”

“That happens?”

Vik frowned, “A long time ago, in the beginning before we learned how to do it right.  It hasn’t happened in over eighteen centuries, but the safety measure was never removed.  I’ve never once used an override, we’ve never had to.”

I felt disgusted, but to be fair it wasn’t Vik’s fault, it was the damned scientists, and habit.  It’s always habit and routine which is responsible for the stupid stuff.

“Can I have an advance on the first two months?”

Vik asked, “Why?”

“Shopping spree before I die.”

He gave me stink eye, and I grinned, “I need knowledge to come up with an idea, and there’s only one way to get it.  The sooner the better, I’m not sure how long I’ll be out of it after the download.”

Then I’ll have to work four months before I can afford another one, but that was okay, a year was a year either way.

Vik sighed, “Fine, I guess I won’t need the money if I’m dead anyway.”

I laughed, “Thanks for the vote of confidence.  In the meantime, you guys should try to force the door open?”

Jillintara said, “I wouldn’t recommend that, there are security bots in the corridors.  Sorry.”

She sobbed then, and I decided Denik needed to be tortured a while before I killed him.

Anna said, “Your account has been credited with five thousand credits.”

“Hit me with the A.I. and security course.”

Vik said, “How will that help?”

I shrugged, “It’s all I’ve got, we’re dead if Jillintara is forced to work against us.”

Then the rush of information started, and I fell out of my chair.  My poor ass.  Damnit…