Illuminae (The Illuminae Files #1)(10)
All of it happening in perfect, absolute
silence.
Debris was speeding toward us on the edge of the blastwave, pattering on my blast-shield like rain, colliding with Kerenza VII’s atmos and burning through every color of the rainbow. I could still hear Prophet’s voice on comms, but I can’t remember what he was saying. Maybe he was still asking for an explanation. Maybe he was praying. I honestly can’t tell you.
I could still see the shuttles streaking toward us, came to my senses, like someone turned the universal volume back on. I could see other Cyclones popping up on my spatials—more flight groups scrambled from Alexander. I’d tried hailing the lead shuttle on open comms, on the day’s secure frequencies, on universal. Nothing. But someone had to be flying them—they’d been moving too erratically for autopilot scripts. And then AIDAN spoke again.
“Major Hawking, intercept Osprey Group and destroy. Acknowledge.”
I heard Dreadnought talk on open comms, then. That’s when I knew we were in real shit.
“Jah … ,” she said. “Jah, help us.”
Prophet requested confirmation. “AIDAN, say again? You want us to fire on civilians?”
“Quarantine breach in motion. Class Alpha Zero pathogen. Intercept Osprey Group and destroy. Acknowledge.”
“Oh, god … ,“said Carlin.
“Quarantine breach in motion. Class Alpha Zero pathogen. Intercept Osprey Group and destroy. Acknowledge.”
“Intercept Osprey Group and destroy. Acknowledge.”
“Intercept Osprey Group and destroy. Acknowledge.”
“Intercept Osprey Group and destroy. Acknowledge.”
In the six months since we left Kerenza, we have been pursued by the BeiTech vessel BT042-TN, the ship we know as the Lincoln. We owe the Alexander, her crew and the United Terran Authority military a great debt of gratitude for their protection.
We are still several months from reaching a jump waypoint, and the Lincoln will use any means within her power to prevent us from reaching that safe passage, and telling the rest of the galaxy of the atrocities perpetuated by BeiTech on the Kerenza colony.
It is with deepest regret I inform you all that last night at 21:15 (shipboard time), the Lincoln launched a surprise assault on our fleet, resulting in the destruction of the heavy freighter Copernicus.
I know many of you had friends, family and colleagues aboard the Copernicus, as did I. Survivors aboard nine shuttles were rescued during the assault by the Alexander’s Cyclone pilots, and we extend to them our heartfelt thanks for their heroic efforts.
Due to the health concerns on the Copernicus in recent times, the survivors have been quarantined aboard the Alexander. This has slowed our efforts to compile a list of names and details, however, please rest assured we understand the urgency of this task.
We are renewing our efforts to make good time toward a jump waypoint, and safety. Please assist and support those around you who have lost family, friends or colleagues. Memorial and pan-denominational services will be arranged shortly, and details posted in the mess halls.
ByteMe: u seen the PIR? it’s bullshit
CitB: huge surprise, the brass r lying. KNEW this was coming
ByteMe: u psychic now?
CitB: should have started digging when they took down civilian comms on the Copernicus. maintenance, my ass.
ByteMe: so they were hiding something, let’s work out what
CitB: you got any gen?
ByteMe: working on it now.
CitB: u still there?
ByteMe: trying to get past the ICE wall, takes a while. systems are SO busy over there. seems like they have their main engines off, but that makes no sense. we should be accelerating fast as we can, before the Lincoln gets busy again.
CitB: tick tock tick tock
ByteMe: u can do any better, feel free
CitB: sorry. r u ok?
ByteMe: fine. found a court martial list
CitB: …
CitB: say again?
ByteMe: they’re court martialing the pilots that heroically saved all the people on the Copernicus shuttles
CitB: what the f*ck?
ByteMe: got the records here. u tell me why they do that if the pilots were under orders
CitB: not the only mystery, grasshopper. i’m hunting for any scans or records showing Lincoln got close enough to us to take a shot. nothing so far. it’s still way behind us, far as i can tell
ByteMe: so no attack from Lincoln, and they’re court martialing our pilots. are we saying it was our guys who took out the Copernicus?
CitB: f*ck me
ByteMe: ew no
CitB: this is getting weirder and weirder. but that can wait, trying to find u a survivor list first
ByteMe: don’t need one
CitB: course you do
ByteMe: i don’t want to talk about it
CitB: you need to know who made it off
ByteMe: i need to know who shot down the Copernicus, that’s the real mystery here
CitB: look, we both know i have no social skills, but if you need to talk about it
ByteMe: need you to tell me what you’re finding
CitB: …
CitB: finding something weird.
CitB: I can’t get a read on AIDAN. thought I was just hitting ICE walls but it’s more like nobody’s home …
PILOT IDENT: Cayla Alton (UTN-924-776ad)
RANK: Major
CALLSIGN: Sting
FLIGHT GROUP: Delta