The End of Winter -- Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Conference and Revelation

August 14^th, 2808

The first day of the conference had gone very well, and the Behemoth crew was relaxing in the bar. Behemoth was patched in by comm link. Sitting across from them was a cantilian, not as large as Amazona, but still pretty big at about 6’ 6” height and 500 lbs. Curt was fairly average sized for a normal human male, 5’ 10”, and 180 lbs. He had never gotten into the ‘buff’ thing.

The cantilian made the mistake of pulling Misha’s tail. Curt grabbed his wrist with a grip like a steel vice, and said, “You will apologize to the lady, and cease your offensive behavior.”

The cantilian, a tad bit drunk, said, “And if I don’t…?” In less than three seconds, Curt had the cantilian on the ground, alive, but very badly broken. He casually said to the attendant, “Ensign, this gentleman could use a medic. Sooner would probably be better than later. Could you see to it, please?”

“Yes sir!” The ensign scurried off to find medical help.

Curt sat back down to sip his drink, but the others were all staring at him.

“What?” he said.

“Uh, Curt,” Chimera said, “you don’t see anything…odd… in what just happened?”

“Of course not. I defended a lady’s honor. What’s odd about that?”

“Are you kidding?” Amazona said. “You had him decked faster than I could even see, and I’m a pretty damned good battle observer. He’s almost three times your size, and you didn’t hesitate for a second. You never even had any doubt. That’s not normal, sir.”

“You have Ancient DNA in your system…” Chimera said with fascination, and a tinge of awe.

“Well, what the hell. I whacked a cad. So what?”

Amazona said, “Curt, I have to ask this. A month ago, when I questioned your decision to put Misha in the regeneration chamber…you would have killed me if I had tried to stop you, wouldn’t you have?”

“Without a moment’s hesitation,” Curt said calmly.

“Damn.” Amazona went deep into thought.

“Hey, we just had a great day!” Curt said “Let’s celebrate, and not let some asshole ruin it!”

Gradually, the mood lightened, and the crew was happy again.

When the MPs arrived, they noticed two Admirals were in attendance, so simply asked if all was well. Admirals Jackson and Chimera assured them there was no problem, and the issue ended there.

 

August 16^th, 2808

Curt had called a crew meeting for 8AM, a thoroughly unnatural time for him.  But, this was tour day, and he wanted it to go well.

“OK, there are about 200 delegates at this conference. In groups of ten, 15 minutes each, that’s nominally five hours, but we all know it will take longer than that. The primary issue is security, and I want to overkill the issue. Amazona, have you put away or covered up anything that might give away any useful information?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Behemoth: Are you prepared to be chatty and cheerful all day? Most of these folks from the Modern Sector have never dealt with a machine with your level of intelligence and, well, humanity, for lack of a better term. You may end up as the star of the tour for them. You up for that?”

“Of course, sir! I’m always chatty and cheerful!”

“Uh huh. OK, here’s how this will work. Amazona will lead the tours. Her sheer size will deter most mischief. Now, supposedly everyone is screened for weapons, but I have no faith in the system. Chimera, I want you to follow behind. If you even think Amazona might have a problem, intervene at your discretion. I’d rather you not slice anybody’s head off, but if you have to do it for the security of the ship, then do it. I’ll deal with the resulting paperwork. Are you both clear on the plan?”

“Yes sir,” Amazona and Chimera said in unison.

“Great. In the meantime, I will hide in my office until it’s all over. I hate crowds with a passion. Misha, would you like to join me?”

“Sure. We actually have some things we need to talk about.”

“Indeed, we do.”

Curt and Misha snuck out just before the first tour started.

“OK,” Curt said, “what are you not telling me about our mission? 3 Grand Imperial Starships ‘to maintain order and peace in the sector?’ You gave me that Level 20 clearance, so spill it. What’s really going on here? The renegades can cause mischief, but can’t do any real damage to the Modern systems. They just don’t have the firepower, particularly after our recent encounter with them. What’s the real problem?”

Misha looked embarrassed, and said, “I knew we had to get around to this, but I’ve just been putting it off. After The Swarm (Misha shuddered)….”

“Wait a minute,” Curt said. “The Swarm?”

“A tale for another time. Behemoth, please discontinue monitoring and recording for the rest of this conversation, and then resume when this meeting is over.”

“Uh…. Admiral?” Behemoth asked.

“You are right to ask, but yes, do it. And, as a standing order, unless it contradicts an order I have personally given you, do anything Misha requests.”

“Thank you for that. Some 7000 years ago, there was a disaster that fragmented the Old Empire. Literally trillions died. There’s been no real central government among Ancients since then.”

“So, where does the Imperial Service get its resources?”

“The Imperial Service was always one of the most respected, and corruption free, institutions in the old Empire. We made it clear to all the systems that their priority for protection would be based on their level of funding to the Imperial Service. Once they figured out what that meant, with all the pirates and renegades running around, they were falling all over themselves to give us resources. As their Gross Planetary Product went up, they paid even more. The Ancient Imperial Service is now the richest entity in the galaxy and still largely corruption free. You signed on with a good outfit, Curt.”

“Yeah, I’ve figured that out at this point. But back to the immediate question: what’s the real threat we’re fighting?”

“You remember I told you that some Ancients are good, and some are less so? Well, I was being polite. Some Ancients are downright evil bastards…pirates and dictators. And many of them have Behemoth class ships. Obviously, they can’t maintain the quality of training and maintenance that the AIS can, so if one gets too aggressive, it’s been fairly easy to swat them down. But then everything changed.

“About five years ago, we got a distress call from one of our Behemoth class ships, the Hector, which was on routine patrol, saying they were under attack by pirates. The captain sounded ready to panic. When we found the Hector, it was very badly burned and charred. All the crew was dead. It actually had holes punched in it. It had been in perfect operational condition, shields and all other systems working fine, when it left space dock.

“At least some of these pirates have a new weapon. Fortunately, they fight each other as much as they fight us, so the technology may not have spread far, but it’s out there, and we need to find it. Sure, we’ll resolve local squabbles…maintain peace and order…as advertised. The announced mission is true, but incomplete. Our real task is to scope out this new weapon. The AIS command wants to know what we’re facing at this point.

“And, this is classified Level 20, unless we’re approaching an actual encounter, in which case you are authorized to tell the entire crew. Never a dull moment, eh?”

“Well,” Curt said, “we may get beaten up, or we may get killed, but this is definitely something important, not just spanking local kids who get out of line. I am definitely up for this!”

“Curt, one other thing. I’d like to have your DNA tested and analyzed, to find out what’s going on in there. No one but you and Chimera and I will see the results, unless you authorize further distribution.”

”Yeah, you’ve got me curious now too. I have always been a little different from most folks, even growing up. As long as it won’t go beyond you and Chimera without my approval, let’s do it. We can get together right after the tours are over.”

The tours had been going well all day, until tour #9. Amazona had turned to point out some feature of the ship, and a delegate at the head of the group pulled a blaster from inside her blouse, raised it, and started to point it toward Amazona.

Before she could even level and aim the weapon, it was on the ground--along with her hand still gripping it. She screamed, and the rest of the tour group became agitated. Amazona yelled “Silence!” in a voice louder than anyone present had ever heard. Even Chimera was startled. Then Amazona said in a calm, normal tone, “As you can see, ladies and gentlemen, we take security very seriously aboard this ship. If you will give us just a moment, we’ll get this cleaned up, and continue the tour.” She said it like someone had spilled a cup of coffee, and the group immediately calmed down.

Amazona did a rough and thorough search of the would-be assassin, and found a knife, but nothing else. Chimera said to the comm link, “Ensign Philip, join me at the tour group. Immediately, if you please.” Before anyone could blink, Ensign Philip was there, appearing seemingly out of nowhere.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Have you had full medical training?”

“Yes, ma’am. Captain Keri was very rigorous about all aspects of our training.”

“No surprise there. Very good. Take this woman to MedLab and reattach her hand. Then deliver her and these two weapons to station security. I gave her a sedative, so I expect her to be pretty docile, but if, at any point, you feel the security of the ship is in danger, you are authorized to use any means necessary to protect it. That includes termination of the prisoner if necessary, but I’d prefer to avoid that if possible. She has some rough interrogation to look forward to. Understood?”

“Yes, ma’am. Will do.”

“Very well, off you go. Captain Amazona, please continue the tour.”

The tour group continued, a little nervous, but oddly, feeling a little safer too.

Finally, the last group of attendees left, and Amazona closed and locked the hatch. Curt breathed a sigh of relief and said, “I heard you had some excitement today.”

“Yeah” Amazona said, “A woman tried to pull a blaster on me, and Chimera sliced her hand off. You didn’t need to do that, you know. I could have disarmed her myself.”

“Probably so,” Chimera said, “but you heard Curt’s instructions. If I even thought there might be a problem, I should intervene, so I did. But what you did…you guys should have seen it! The delegates were getting agitated, and with one word--admittedly louder than any voice I’ve ever heard before--Amazona had them calmed down. Then, like flipping a switch, she became the consummate diplomat, and made everyone instantly at ease. I could never have done that. It was awesome to watch!”

“Damn” Curt said “That reminds me. I’m going to need a new Security Officer!”

“Actually, Curt” Amazona said “I think I’ve worked that for you. There’s this guy on the Andromeda--second in command of Akido’s security staff--who I’ve known for centuries. He’s really good. I asked him to ask the Grand Admiral for a transfer. All of this is subject to your approval, of course.”

“Hell,” Curt said. “If he’s good enough for Akido and good enough for you, who am I to argue? Let me know when the decision is made. I assume he’s a cantilian?”

“Uh, that’s in the regs, Curt. All Imperial starships must have cantilian security staff, except under desperate emergency circumstances.”

“Well I’ll be damned. For once, I actually agree with a regulation! See if you can expedite this transfer. I want to get him integrated as soon as possible. And now--Misha, Chimera--we have some personal business in MedLab. Let’s go.”

Once inside MedLab, Curt closed the door. “Chimera, after my little squabble with that cantilian, you suggested I might have Ancient DNA in my system.”

“That’s not what I said. I made the simple statement that you have it, and you do.”

“OK, well, we’re here to find out what’s what. Remember the rules: no distribution of this information beyond the three of us without my approval. How will this work?”

Chimera said, “We’ll get some DNA from a cheek swab, and put it in the analyzer. It should have a full analysis in just a minute or so.”

“OK…do it.”

Chimera took the sample, and put it in the analyzer.

“Guys, this makes me nervous. What if you find out I’m weird somehow?”

“We already know you’re weird,” Chimera said while watching the analyzer. “We’re just trying to characterize the weirdness.”

“Doc, you really need to work on your bedside manner…” Curt said with some exasperation.

The analyzer sounded completion, and Chimera went to look at the results. “This is absolutely amazing. Misha, come look at this. Look here…and here…and this one over here.”

Misha said “This can’t be right. Is your machine calibrated correctly? This is just too weird.”

“Would someone mind telling the experimental subject what the hell you guys are talking about?” Curt yelled.

“Sorry, Curt.” Misha said “In the entire 7000 years since The Swarm, we’ve encountered a grand total of twelve ancient/modern hybrids. Throughout the galaxy, only twelve, in 7000 years. You make the 13^th.”

“That figures,” Curt mumbled.

Misha said “That alone makes you extraordinarily rare, but your composition is unique. Of the twelve found so far, seven have involved humans, and in every case, it was a human/cantilian hybrid. Outwardly human in appearance, but bigger, stronger, more endurance, that kind of thing. There were so few of them, spread out in both time and location, that no humans ever recorded a pattern.

“But you…you’re a double hybrid. Your human DNA, from your mother, is perfectly normal. Somewhat above average intelligence, no genetic defects. But your Ancient half is itself hybrid, half-cantilian, and half…something we created (Misha shuddered again).”

Curt said sympathetically “I seem to be bringing up bad memories for you today.”

“Yes, but I’ll get over it,” Misha said. “It’s part of our heritage, and you’re so high up in the structure now, you need to know what’s shaped our history. We were having a very hard time finding good leaders and managers after The Swarm. Chimerans are the worst, but no race has an abundance of them.”

“We have the same problem finding good leaders and managers on the Modern side too. Humans are actually better than most, but we still suck. We put people in positions of power and authority because they are the best available, not because they’re necessarily any damned good at it.”

“Our problem exactly,” Misha said. “So, we decided to see if we could identify the gene combination for leadership and management, and breed it into people. There were many variants, and most slightly helped, but none very much. Except for one, the strongest, which looked very promising. The test subjects were witty, entertaining, fun to be around, and very persuasive. Almost supernaturally persuasive. Excellent leaders and managers. We thought we had it made, until the side effects started. At about age twenty-five they started to get erratic. They started doing destructive, evil things, while still being able to persuade people to help them. In short, they all went stark, raving mad, with their abilities intact, and were wreaking havoc. We had to put them all down. Almost 1000 were created, before the problem became obvious.”

“So, what does that have to do with me?” Curt asked, more than a little nervous.

“The other half of your Ancient DNA--the non-cantilian half--is the LM gene set. And not one of the wimpy versions either--the strongest, most dangerous version. Yet here you are, at double the age of the onset of problems, without the slightest hint of insanity. You’re gentle, you’re kind, and you’ve dedicated your life to helping people. Maybe it’s something in your human DNA, or maybe it’s the innate calm and stability of cantilians, but you’ve done it. You’ve tamed the beasts in the LM gene set. And yet, you retain your spooky LM powers. It was the cantilian side that gave away your ancient DNA during the brief bar fight, but the signs of LM were there all along. I just didn’t think to look for them.

“Think about it!” Misha said. “A month ago, you didn’t exist as far as the AIS knew, and now, you’re a Vice-Admiral in the most powerful fleet in the galaxy. In a month! An hour after your first encounter with Ancients of multiple species you’ve never seen before, and who had never seen a human close up, you were unambiguously in command. And that dance you did with Quinn. You spun a court-martial into a promotion in ten minutes. That’s just not natural. That kind of thing doesn’t happen in real life.”

“Well, I had some help from Akido on that one…” Curt said.

“Yes, but you didn’t know that was going to happen! To use one of your crude phrases, you were handed a turd, and turned it into a diamond. There are numerous other examples, but I think you get my point.”

“Yeah, it even worked on me,” Chimera added. “And chimerans are immune to the kind of mind tricks that Misha and her Guardian buddies pull.”

“Hmmm….” Curt said. “I will need to ponder this. I don’t know where I want this information going, if anywhere. I’ve never lied to any of you, and never will. I am committed to the lives and safety of this crew, and anyone else I’m responsible for. I am committed to doing good things for people. I guess what I’m asking is that you don’t be scared of me. I’m the same person I was before any of us knew about this.”

“We’re not scared, Curt,” Chimera said. “Just a little in awe, I guess. What the entire scientific community of the Empire failed to do--tame the monster--happens in you naturally through a weird combination of mating and genetics.”

“We’re not scared of you, Curt,” Misha said. “We’re proud of you! And honored to be on your team!”

Chimera nodded in vigorous agreement and Curt blushed.

“Then we can all get back to work, just like it was?” Curt asked.

“Damned right we can,” Chimera said. “And there’s a lot to do, too. You too, Misha. Out! Curt will come out when he’s ready.”

Curt sat and just thought for a few minutes…but just a few, and then he jumped back in the saddle.