Tau Ceti - The Phage by M. D. Cooper & Lisa Richman

Author:M. D. Cooper & Lisa Richman [Cooper, M. D. & Richman, Lisa]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: The Wooden Pen Press
Published: 2018-11-07T16:00:00+00:00

* * * * *

Jason was running late, a glitch in one of the shuttles having filled his morning with repairs. He’d told Terrance not to hold the debrief for him, so it was in full swing when he stepped off the lift onto the bridge.

Instantly, his attention was arrested by the sensationalist headlines Kodi had on display from the Tau Ceti feed. ‘Freeze on Cryo’, ‘Government Rolls Dice on Human/AI Lives’, and ‘Lotto-Mania Strikes Ring!’ were the first three that caught his eye as he walked toward the pilot’s cradle.

“Really, people?” His voice, laden with disgust, announced his entrance. “Panic much?” He could see his sentiment mirrored on the faces of those around him.

“Whoever thought holding a lotto for the system’s remaining cryo pods was a good idea?” Calista’s derisive voice sounded from where she sat at navigation.

“Just wait,” Jonesy informed Jason in a disgusted tone. “It gets better.”

<You mean worse,> Kodi muttered.

“You got that right,” Jonesy agreed, his gaze riveted to the streaming clip. “Hey, Kodi, didn’t you say there was some chatter about the Federated States of Tau Ceti putting an interdiction on Ring Galene?” The engineer sat up suddenly, his gaze growing more intent.

<Well, they’re thinking about doing it, but no ruling’s come down yet. Why?>

“Because I think Galene’s going to need interdiction soon from someone like the FSTC, if this is what’s starting to go down.”

<What do you mean by—? Oh, shit….> Kodi’s exclamation had everyone on the bridge turning to stare at the holo.

The feed showed an image of a small transport ship boosting hard toward a station just past Maera, Galene’s moon. As the ship neared the station, messages were transmitted, warning the ship away, but the little craft ignored them all.

Warning shots were fired across the ship’s bow, prompting those within to break their silence and finally talk to the people trying to turn them away. Shannon gasped as the optics from within the ship revealed humans clearly infected with ‘the phage’, as it was now commonly called.

The woman at the helm of the ship pleaded for clemency from the inhabitants within the spire, holding her infant child up to the sensor pickups. Her plea was cut short, as the habitat’s point defense was loosed against the ship, shredding its hull. The observers were given a brief view of rounds tearing through the bridge, and heard the screams of the crew onboard, before the feed cut out, returning the holo to a view of nearspace.

The bridge of the Avon Vale was silent for a three-count, and then Logan’s voice cut into the stillness.

“The latest we have from Galene is that the cities at the base of both elevators have been subjected to forced evacuations, with the GSC announcing a mandatory air gap of forty kilometers between the elevators and the quarantine camps.”

He paused and, in the silence, Landon added quietly, “It’s being enforced by a scorched earth policy. The city at the base of Galene’s main elevator—Hokkaido—will be nothing more than a pile of rubble soon, if it isn’t already.

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