Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles 7: Renegades Read Online Free PDF Page A

happen. We will jump in thirty seconds. Everyone strap in and report any anomalies to the First Officer. Kirkland out.”
    “Ziggy, signal the Relentless we are ready to go.”
    Ken swiveled his chair to look at Cat. She nodded. Ken turned back to face Sassi. He paused a few seconds to give the crew time to batten down the hatches as it were. Finally he said, “Helm, if your board is green you are cleared to jump.”
    “Aye Captain,” Sassi chirped.  “Jumping in three, two, one…”
    As the Ashkelon Lieutenant hit the jump button the lights on the bridge dimmed slightly and the ship shuddered in a way that caused Ken’s teeth to hurt. Suddenly the world flashed unimaginatively bright colors that felt cold and warm at the same time. Sounds that had smells associated with them filled the room. The synesthesia Ken was experiencing left him feeling disoriented and dizzy. The pain in his head was debilitating. He tried to scream but the sound was transmuted to light flowing from his mouth. He fought a losing battle to stay aware of his surroundings. His last thought before losing consciousness was - Is this death?  
    The GCP Yorktown was enveloped in an undulating violet hyperfield nimbus. The ship slipped through space-time and arrived at its proper destination… a point less than one tenth of an astronomical unit from their previous location. Unfortunately as a result of the jump every sentient entity on the ship, to include the AI, was rendered unconscious.
    They remained unconscious for the better part of thirty minutes. Thus they missed the message from WhimPy-101 declaring an emergency in the Mardarus system.
    ***
    WhimPy-101 struggled to make sense of what was going on. A massive ship of Uruk design had entered the Mardarus star system. The ship was a relic out of Uruk/Heshe distant past. Unless WhimPy-101 missed his guess… this ship was Alpha . The first of the planet killers the Uruk had created. It had run amok and the Uruk had destroyed it millennia ago… or at least that what they had believed.
    Alpha had appeared near the Antares jump point. It had immediately scanned the entire system with a high intensity sensor sweep. A series of collimated anti-proton beams lashed out from hundreds of weapons ports on the massive ship. Each one targeted a different ship or outpost in the immediate vicinity of the jump point. In each case the outcome was the same. The target was destroyed. The massive ship began to accelerate towards the larger population centers with the Mardarus system.
    WhimPy-101 moved to engage the hostile ship. He attempted to hail it using longed stored Uruk codes but Alpha refused to respond. WhimPy-101 swept his own sensors over the aggressor. This elicited an immediate response. The WhimPy’s communication nodes were flooded with a powerful broad spectrum broadcast that threatened to burn them out.
    “WHO?” The language used by the aggressor was an ancient dialect of Uruk. To humans it would appear as a series of undulating chromophorematic color patterns on the surface of the ship.
    WhimPy-101 loaded the appropriate language subroutines and responded in the same dialect. “I am weapons platform number 101. This star system is under my protection. Stand down.”
    “WHO?” Alpha repeated.
    WhimPy-101 analyzed his sensor data. Numerous systems on Alpha seemed to be heavily damaged. The platform was actively engaged in repair protocols but they seemed to be poorly coordinated. It was possible that the ancient weapons platform was unable to receive and/or interpret the response to its own query.
    WhimPy increased the intensity of his response by increasing the luminosity of his external chromophores.
    The Alpha platform spun on its axis and presented a new less damaged face towards WhimPy-101 . Again a powerful sensor beam swept over 101. Again his communication nodes were overwhelmed by a powerful transmission from the ancient ship.
    “RESPONSE IS NON SEQUITUR. ERADICATION PROTOCOLS