A Cyborg: (CORPORATION WARS Book 8) by Stephen Arseneault

Author:Stephen Arseneault [Arseneault, Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
Tags: space battles, galactic empire, series, aliens, alien, intergalactic war, star wars, hard science fiction, scifi adventure, action thriller, space travel, military scifi, scifi, adventure space, super human, scifi action adventure, alien worlds, space opera, scifi series, mens adventure, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, alien abduction, science fiction, military
Published: 2021-11-06T00:00:00+00:00

— Chapter 19 —

* * *

We entered the Earth system to a shock. There, surrounding our colony, was the fleet of Thomas Goodall. Alarms blared on the cockpit console as the nav image turned into a screen covered with red blips. I brought the fleet to a halt as the number of ships belonging to the opposing fleet ticked up, quickly surpassing our own.

Gil and Ben came to stand behind me as I stared at the display.

Gil took hold of my shoulder. "Don't rush. They are already there and they've already seen us."

I ordered a defensive posture from my drones before taking the captain's seat in the cockpit. "We continue to make mistake after mistake. Are we that dumb? Or is Thomas that smart?"

Ben leaned in. "We did what everyone thought we should do, Colonel. Including your AI and Garber. Look. Look at the display. I don't see any colony ships or any transports. He still has our people somewhere."

Gil gave a nod. "We need to find out what the situation is on the ground."

I replied, "Can't. They have comms jammed in and around the planet."

An alert showed a single ship approaching from behind us. It quickly turned green on the display. It was the Freedom.

A comm came in from Garber. "You have returned. And none too soon."

I asked, "What happened? How long have they been here?"

"Nine months. Long enough for them to take control and for everyone on the ground to once again receive Thomas' implants. We escaped by luck, having been out at the asteroid belt scanning for minerals. Jan, Nate, Boyd, and Rachel are with me and in cryo. The others have been captured."

"The crew?"

"The crew was given shore leave. I was manning all the stations. Jan was in her lab on the ship when the invasion began. There was nothing we could do."

"What of the drones we left to defend? And the new units being built?"

"Captured. The new comm encryption you have was not in use here. We retained the old, just in case you were captured. It seems they had broken that encryption. Our ships turned on us within the first few minutes of the attack."

"How many drones did we lose?"

"One hundred forty thousand. But all is not forfeit. We may still have advantage."

Gil growled. "Looks pretty forfeit to me, Colonel."

I held up a hand to quiet him. "Garber. What did you mean by that?"

"I took the liberty to construct several partial AI processors. Two were placed on a pair of our drone ships for just this situation. If they maintained functionality, they should have been recording all comm traffic of The Corporation ships. Including any commands coming from Thomas Goodall. Give the word and those units will transmit those recordings over the general comm channels. After, those drones will self-destruct."

"Can they be used to break the encryption on their main comms?"

"That would not have been possible without detection. They should have been able to record shipboard comms before those were encrypted and broadcast. If so, you and I will have nine months of comms to study.

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