The World Of Alcubierre

Episode XXX

"I'll testify, but I expect guarantees of safety for my ship and its crew," Kai said, his voice echoing slightly within the confines of the empty room.

He did not have to wait long for the response. The booming voice spoke again, the words reverberating between his ears. "Witness Levinson, the actions of your ship place it in violation of the Combine Compact, the War Accords and Halcyon's sovereign territory. In this matter, there can be no guarantees. Your only recourse is testimony."

Kai gritted his teeth, the muscles of his jaw popping slightly as a dull ache formed at the pressure being applied. Magic physics at work again, even grinding his teeth felt different under the rules of this place. It was another reminder that he was a stranger in a foreign land. Things never stood still long enough for him to get his feet under him and get a sense for the dynamics at play. He was a seasoned hand at the intricacies entailed in diplomacy, but he could not even begin to understand how what he knew mapped to the situation he found himself in now. Still, he suspected one thing was still true: leverage mattered. The only problem was that he could not figure out how much he had at his disposal. It was just as Jack had said, the Combine was either terrified of Humanity or not scared at all.

Not a particularly helpful basis for choosing a course of action.

As much as Kai was loathe to admit it, the voice was correct, he had few options other than to proceed and attempt to gather more information. Unfortunately, having no options but bad ones was a familiar predicament. Anyone who led others to war would say the same.

So be it. He'd always try to do his best with the information he had at the time, and things weren't a total disaster just yet. The Combine appeared to be somewhat reasonable as a counterparty. Were the situation reversed, Kai was not so sure Humans would be as understanding as the Combine. Humans had a tendency to lead with guns when the unexpected occurred. He knew, he had been the one tasked with pulling the trigger on more than one occasion. With that in mind, Kai decided to see how things would play out.

"Ask your questions then. I'd suggest hurrying, my crew isn't the sort to take being cut off lightly."

"Your isolation is required to ensure your testimony is not unduly influenced. It is a precaution taken by all Witnesses before an Adjudication," the voice replied, unperturbed.

"That doesn't sound like a question," Kai replied.

"It was not."

Kai folded his arms, and picked a part of the blank wall in front of him to stare at menacingly. Somewhere within him he realized the posturing potentially didn't help matters, but he was a bit too deep into his days to do much about his personality. When he was pushed, he liked to push back. Besides, a bit of obstinance would be a good introduction to Humanity. Hello aliens, welcome to the biggest pain in the a*s the galaxy has to offer. Don't get too comfortable, because we aren't going anywhere.

The silence continued on. Maybe for minutes, though it was probably seconds. It was hard to tell in an empty room with nothing happening. Kai assumed it was a test of wills, but perhaps the aliens had simply grown bored and wandered off. He was pleasantly surprised when the voice spoke again, and Kai mentally chalked up a point on the scoreboard for Humanity, the undisputed champions of stubbornness in the known universe.

"Why have you come to Halcyon?"

"Vacation," Kai replied plastering his most insolent grin on his face.

"Witness Levinson, you have come willingly to provide testimony. This requires honesty. Will you continue in a forthright manner or shall this matter be concluded?"

Kai relented, satisfied that he'd demonstrated that he was not intimidated by the voice or the present circumstances. "We did not know we were coming to Halcyon. We were brought here."

"The being known as ZyyXy provided you with the means to arrive."

"It did. It created a wormhole and we were faced with the choice of following or remaining behind. We elected to follow," Kai said.

"Our records indicate that you did not establish direct contact with ZyyXy prior to your entrance into the wormhole. Why would you place your trust in ZyyXy under those circumstances?" The voice asked. The tone was neutral, as it had been from the beginning. It was devoid of emotion, almost robotic, though the cadence and flow made Kai suspect there was a living breathing being on the other side.

"That was subject to substantial debate internally. It was not a clear cut decision. Ultimately, as the commander, it was my choice, and I believe I made the right one, even with the present circumstances in mind," Kai said. Even knowing what he did now, he would make the same decision again. Without that wormhole, Humanity would have no possibility of learning about the Combine and Halcyon. Earth must be made aware that their neighborhood was not nearly as empty as they had long believed.

"Our assessment of your vessel is that it is a ship of war. What was yo--"

Kai cut in, "It is not a ship of war. It's an interstellar vessel dedicated to exploration."

"An exploration vessel is typically not equipped with annihilation class weaponry. The threat potential of these weapons is well in excess of the limits of the War Accords."

Kai snorted, "Those pea shooters? We use 'em to tickle asteroids back home."

There was a pause at this answer, and Kai wondered whether he had somehow misplayed his hand. It was hard to play alien poker -- he didn't know what rules applied or how. He wanted the Combine to take Humanity seriously, but he did not want to position his species as belligerent, just capable.

"Explain."

The response intrigued Kai. The aliens were fishing for something, and Kai wasn't sure what. "What's to explain? By our standards, those weapons are what exploration vessels employ."

"And what do your war ships employ?" The voice asked.

Kai was not about to reveal any military secrets, but he did not see a lot of harm in letting them know that the big boys were back home just in case the Combine got any ideas. "A lot more than what we brought. Like I said, these were just for kicking around a bit of space dust. The war ships are where the heavy lifting gets done."

"It is better if you refrain from colloquialisms. The translation framework has not assimilated enough of Human culture to properly convey abstract idioms. There is a risk of miscommunication, which could have consequences for you, your crew, and your species."

Consequences? Kai frowned, wondering how to take the threat. When he spoke, he chose his words carefully, "I would hate for there to a misunderstanding between us. That is in neither of our interests."

The voice continued. "Why would you need such vessels? Does humanity not value the continuance of the galaxy?"

Kai thought it over. It was clear the Combine had little concept of how things worked within his solar system. He tried to think through the ramifications of letting them in on the secret, but he just did not have much data to work with on whether it was a good or a bad idea. However, there did not seem to be another way of explaining to the Combine that while it appeared to them that Alcubierre was a warship with apparently illegal annihilation class weapons, its true purpose was much more benign. If the Alcubierre was a threat, it wasn't an intentional one. "Back home, these weapons are not as powerful. There are different rules. The laws of physics...aren't like they are here."

"You will provide us with this information," the voice responded. Kai was surprised at their immediate acceptance. There was no attempt to suggest he was mistaken or not being truthful. Perhaps that was not entirely unexpected given the information about restricted space Jack had received from Z, but it was interesting that they did not possess specific information on the experiment. In any case, Kai wasn't about to sell out Humanity by being specific.

Humanity first. Crew second. Commander last.

"That is not something humanity is prepared to share. Not without better understanding your intentions and how we might work together," Kai found it oddly humorous that the immutable laws of the universe were now a classified state secret, but at least he had found an ace in the hole.

"You will provide us with this information," the voice repeated.

Kai smirked. Ah, you want to know, do you?

Kai took a moment for an expansive yawn, even curling his back a bit as he stretched his arms out over his head. He smacked his lips a few times and then re-crossed his arms before continuing. "No."

There was a long pause. Kai pictured a few of those long gangly aliens, the Evangi, doing whatever their equivalent of arguing with each other was. Probably waving their arms about while their eye X things made light shows. The galaxy truly was an odd place. He had been happy for a mission and a chance to see something new. The last few days were far beyond anything he had imagined. For all of the misery of recent history, he was glad he'd decided to head into the black.

The voice changed tact. "Your war ships were used to fight other species?"

Kai shook his head, "No, just ourselves and the enemies we created for ourselves."

Another pause. "Created?"

Kai nodded, "It took Humans a long time to come together. We needed a bit of help realizing we were better off working with each other than against each other. The Automics made that possible."

"You created the Automics?" The voice asked.

Kai laughed and shook his head, "Not me personally, but I helped uncreate them."

"What manner of being are they?"

Kai wondered at their interest given the supposed millions of species in Combine space, but did not see the harm in delving into the subject a bit. The Automics were an important chapter in Humanity's history. It was the crucible that had forged the unity that had made the Alcubierre possible. The scars from the Automics ran deep, but they were healing, leaving behind a Human race that was more than capable of fighting off anyone, or anything, that might think it a good idea to come knocking at their door looking for trouble. The Combine should know just how determined Humanity was, if only to provide them with a greater incentive to cooperate.

"They were an artificial intelligence. We created them to help us, to drive us forward," Kai shrugged, "it worked until it didn't. Once we introduced a quantum mindframe to the ecosystem it all went...haywire. The governing rules were stripped away and it went sentient. It decided its interests and ours weren't aligned and acted against us. Our automated society turned on us and the Automic Wars began."

The lights in the chamber extinguished, leaving Kai in pitch black.

"Hello?" Kai could barely see in the darkness. "Hello?" He shouted.

The voice did not speak again.

---------------

"Captain, we're seeing a change in the pattern. A number of ships are re-positioning and beginning to close in." Comms Lieutenant Bera pushed the data into the holo-emitter, which immediately projected a view of local space with a number of blinking callsigns forming a sphere around the Alcubierre and ZyyXy's ship. "Projecting out their headings, it looks like we're being targeted in addition to ZyyXy." A number of dotted lines appeared, indicating projected paths. A small number continued to focus on ZyyXy, but the vast majority now appeared to be intent on intercepting the Alcubierre.

"Any changes in status? The Admiral? Information from ZyyXy? Why are they coming now?" Idara asked out, making sure Jack and his team down in the Science Labs were commed in.

"There is still no contact with the Admiral," Ganesh replied.

"ZyyXy is unaware of any reason for the change, though it believes the intent is hostile based upon the patterns of movement and the ships involved. It strongly suggests we flee," Jack said, his voice unsteady.

Idara glanced down at the command console and looked at the ship system readout. The Alcubierre drive was still offline and the QVT was not designed to outrun and outmaneuver pursuers. "How does it propose we do that?" She replied.

"It is preparing a wormhole for its own escape. ZyyXy says it can project one for us as well," Jack replied.

Idara mulled it over, it would mean leaving the Admiral. Whatever had provoked the Combine, they were clearly no longer concerned about the consequences of acting against the Alcubierre. "How much time does ZyyXy need?"

"Not long. A minute or two."

Idara winced, a minute or two might as well be an hour. She was sorely out of her element, a life of engineering on Earth was poor preparation for space battles with unknown entities. She needed to do something though. "Tell ZyyXy to prepare the wormhole. I'll work on providing him time."

"What about Kai?" Jack asked, his voice elevated.

"He gave me my orders. Our first priority is to Humanity, and that is best served by the Alcubierre surviving today."

"You can't leave him," Jack exclaimed.

Idara looked at the collapsing sphere of ships surrounding the Alcubierre, "Tell the alien to prepare the wormhole. That's an order, Chief Griggs."

"No."

This was not the moment for debate. Idara's nails dug into the fabric of the command chair. She took a slow, steadying breath, "Senior Science Officer Greaves, relieve Chief Griggs of his duties for insubordination and convey the message."

There was silence on the bridge as every member of the crew awaited the response. The tension rose as the seconds ticked by. Then a voice rang out. "Yes, Captain. Chief Griggs has been relieved and the message has been sent to ZyyXy."

Idara exhaled a breath she did not realize she had been holding. "Stand by."

"Yes, Captain." Bailey's words rang hollow. Idara knew she had done damage by asking her to go against Jack. Even from their limited actions, Idara knew the two were close. If she had the luxury of options, she would have chosen a different one. Her priorities were clear, and she needed to act to preserve them. That was the cost of command.

"Lieutenant Bera, broadcast the following message, all mediums: 'We will defend ourselves.'" Idara pulled up the command console and entered her command code along with her biometric data.

Idara had a bad hand. The only way to survive was to bluff.

A few taps later and a dull rumbling sounded throughout the ship. Deep within the bowels of the Alcubierre, the mass drivers began to charge.