HOMEWORLD2: WRATH OF THE GODS
CHAPTER 14: SECRETS
Since their first entry during the Homeworld Wars, the Hiigarans have made countless more quests into the ship graveyard at Karos. Many science ships have since been dispatched there to unlock its mysteries, but nothing valuable was found.
It was only during the Vaygr Wars that the Karos Graveyard was discovered to be a realm of Progenitor origins. Having been pulled there by the influence of the Oracle, the Pride of Hiigara found herself surrounded by hostile Movers. Karan's journey went one step further, nearly encountering destruction at the hands of the merciless Keeper. But the prize they got was a priceless one. An intact Progenitor Dreadnaught was discovered, and it remains in service to the Hiigaran Navy till today.
And yet, it is quite obvious that the Hiigarans have done little more than to encounter the tip of a very large iceberg. Many more light years of the graveyard remain uncharted and unexplored due to the various hyperspatial anomalies in the area.
Perhaps some secrets are best left hidden.
Onboard the Gatekeeper of Sajuuk, hyperspace transit:
Captain Soban watched the blue streams of hyperspace streak past his ship. If everything went well, this would be his first trip into the mysterious Karos Graveyard.
He had heard many stories about this unexplored place, like the Mothership's first encounter with the Junkyard Dog on her epic homecoming journey. Research had later determined the Junkyard Dog to be of Progenitor origins, and that many more existed in isolated pockets throughout the graveyard.
There were also spooky tales of the mysterious disappearance of several science ships over the years, only to have them turn up empty at the outskirts of the graveyard, the fates of their crews unknown. Soban shuddered at the thought and forced himself not to dwell too much on possible supernatural theories.
He looked at his crew, who were still busy going about their tasks on the bridge. However, there was a slight sadness in the atmosphere. Everyone was still very much affected by the departure from Hiigara. Soban wasn't surprised, for he too was worried about Hiigara's fate at the coming Vaygr attack.
The computer console brought him back to reality with its beeping. Soban took a deep breath and returned to his chair.
"Alright, everyone prepare for hyperspace exit at Karos."
Onboard the Legacy of Kharak, Karos Graveyard:
"Synchronised hyperspace jump successful, we have arrived at the Karos Graveyard."
"Looks like we've made it, Yuno. Congratulations."
"Yes, Eefrit. But Hiigara…"
"… I think you can count on Hyll to protect Hiigara, even if it's against the full force of the Seven Crusades. For now, we need to worry about the task at hand. We should start resourcing operations immediately to prepare for the long journey ahead."
"Why of course. Dispatching resource collectors now."
The Exodus Fleet responded by launching swarms of the tiny resource collectors, which descended on every asteroid in range, digging out piles of valuable minerals and material. The Kuun Lan and Faal Corum remained motionless as they scanned the immediate vicinity for other resource locations. Upon completion of their scans, the Somtaaw mining fleets made a micro jump to another region about nine thousand kilometres from the main fleet.
"I am worried, Eefrit."
"About what?"
"The Pride of Hiigara is still running on automatic. That is to say, Karan has yet to exercise remote control since her hyperspace escape."
"She's probably busy. Having an entire Progenitor assault fleet on your tail will take quite a bit of your attention. Unless…"
"… The Sajuuk has jumped beyond the maximum transmission range?"
"Let's face it, Yuno." Eefrit walked over to the hologram and looked into her glowing eyes. "Karan's having enough trouble as it is. We'll just have to find another way to control the Pride of Hiigara."
"You know you're asking me to do the impossible."
"But we can help lighten the load. Artificial Intelligence has come a long way since the first Mothership, and you could delegate some tasks to the AI software we have in both motherships."
"Agreed, but it is still a formidable task…"
"Yuno, you are capable of many things, perhaps even more things than Karan herself. You are special, for you are not bound by a physical body like all of us. You are completely free of such chains, as you exist solely in virtual space. This opens up many possibilities that other Unbound can only dream of."
"I was not here by choice you know. But since you said so, I will try my best. No harm doing so, I'm sure."
Yuno gave a sigh and promptly vanished from her holographic projector. Eefrit turned back to the watching crews of the bridge.
"What are you waiting for, let's get to work!"
Yuno was standing before the corrupted data. She stared at its complexity and shook her head. Repairing such corruption was going to take much time and processing power. With a wave of her hand, she summoned up the best of Hiigaran utility software, and they began analysing and repairing the decrypted data.
She was about to leave the databanks when suddenly, an isolated strand was repaired and popped free of the corrupted mess. She turned around in surprise, for she didn't expect results this soon. Yuno read the data in moments, and was left with another mystery.
Sajuuk, Qwaar Jet, Koshiir Ra
That was all there was to it. The rest of the data was corrupted beyond repair. Puzzled, Yuno thought of investigating further, but stopped short when she remembered her priorities. Sighing, she dropped the data into a directory and disappeared from the databanks.
Yuno's virtual self reappeared moments later in the communications network. She rarely ever came here, since the entire network was managed automatically by innate AI programming. All she had to do was send a command to this network, and the AI did the rest. Yuno was bewildered by the loads of data being shunted through the network. Blips of light were rushing at breakneck speeds in every direction and as far as she could see.
Yuno took a deep breath and closed her eyes.
Onboard the Pride of Hiigara, Karos Graveyard:
The officer woke up with a start when the computers came to life. He stared in shock as the automatic systems went offline, and algorithms deactivated themselves. Alarmed, he yelled to his equally dumbfounded colleagues.
"The computer systems have just come alive! What's going on here!"
"We're registering algorithm shutdowns in all operating systems, all automatic controls going offline!"
"There's no signal from Sajuuk, it's not Karan!"
"Are we being hacked into?"
"Do not be unduly worried. It's just me."
Now all the computer screens flickered as Yuno's virtual face shifted into focus. The bridge holographic projector lit up, and Yuno materialised into her full body hologram. The officers could only stare in awe.
"Wow. Is that really you, Yuno?"
"Who else could it be?" she replied, giving a wide smile.
Onboard the Oblivion, hyperspace transit:
"My lord, I fear that there is no way for us to catch the Sajuuk."
"And why would that be so?" asked the robed figure coldly.
"The power of the Three Cores has clearly given it the advantage. It is moving with a hyperspace transition speed that is many times greater than our own. We are losing distance quickly."
"Then we will track it with our long range sensors, and continue our pursuit nonetheless. The Sajuuk may be capable of far jumping, but I doubt if it has the energy reserves to keep jumping indefinitely."
"There is also another problem, this time regarding our experimental viral project. It appears that the pilot at hand has been infected successfully and is well under the virus' control. However, we have lost contact with him since the failed attempt."
"I see. How did Karan Sjet survive?"
"From the transmissions we have acquired, it would seem that he was thwarted by a certain Hiigaran with the powers of telepathy and telekinesis. It would comfort you to know that the subject is in a deep coma right now."
"Coma or not, so long as he exists he will return to thwart us another day. We must find him and eliminate him before he masters his abilities. Where is he?"
"Intelligence points to two possible locations – the Sajuuk itself or their Legacy of Kharak mothership. Our sensors indicate that they managed to escape to the Karos Graveyard. Unfortunately, interference of the debris there has lost us the signal."
"Karos? That was a foul event. Our ancestors were brutally defeated at the hands of the Elders in that place. I would think it wise to dispatch some of our forces to finish the Hiigarans hiding there."
"I'm afraid that would be a risky affair. We have just received word that the battlecruisers at Hiigara have been destroyed, and the Kadeshi have been forced to retreat. They report that a certain ship was at their disposal, and that ship is currently escorting the Legacy."
"It must be the Gatekeeper of Sajuuk. These Hiigarans are indeed something, to be able to use not one but two of the Elders' craft. This is more reason to nip the problem in the bud. What are our reserves in the nebula as of now?"
"The shipyards report the construction of eleven Keepers with infection ability, seven battlecruisers and twelve heavy cruisers. The Keepers are also armed with their full complement of assault drones."
"Then send the whole lot to Karos. Make sure nothing survives."
"At once, my lord."
Kadiir Nebula:
The imperial forces were fighting valiantly to defend their base against the plague, but it was in vain. Of the fifteen attacking frigates, only three had been destroyed despite the firepower they were throwing at them. This was due in part to the fact that the frigates were emitting some sort of protective shield. Though nowhere near the power of the shields that defended Progenitor vessels, it was definitely enough to let the frigates take the upper hand against the Imperials, who even had a battlecruiser with them.
The frigates moved in closer, their modified ion beam turrets slicing into the defenders. Still, the Imperials stubbornly refused to retreat, and continued firing back despite taking heavy losses. Now only two heavy destroyers, one battlecruiser and several frigates remained to defend the station.
The Imperial battlecruiser fired its energy burst cannon again, taking down another frigate and crippling two others. The frigates responded by burning into the battlecruiser with their ion beams, leaving ugly scorches across its hull. But the frigates didn't seem intent on killing their victim. Instead, one of them moved at full burn and smashed into the side of the battlecruiser.
Screams filled the frequencies as the virus moved swiftly to subvert the battlecruiser and its crew. The death of another two frigates brought with it the infection of the two heavy destroyers. The remaining Imperial frigates turned to flee as the subverted capital ships began firing on them.
Minutes later, it was over. All surviving ships were either subverted or destroyed, with the station being successfully infected. As the smoke cleared, the uninfected Acolyte II fighter swept in to dock with the infected Imperial base.
The pilot that was once Luca Paktu stepped calmly out of his strike craft, which remained untouched by the infection organism.
As of now, he would do things his way.
Onboard the Sajuuk, Tenhauser Gate:
They had only emerged from hyperspace seconds ago, but Karan was already thinking of their next destination. She mentally sent a query to the Sajuuk's control core, and it came back with an energy reserve reading of ninety percent. They still had the power to jump nine more times consecutively without stopping to recharge.
After scanning the star charts, Karan quickly inputted the coordinates for the Northern Fringe. They would go north now, and lead the Progenitors as far away from Hiigara as possible. As the ship slipped into hyperspace once more, Karan closed her eyes to communicate with the Pride of Hiigara. Upon seeing that it was well under the control of Yuno, she smiled and broke the connection.
"Sajuuk, take us far away…" she mumbled.
Onboard the Legacy of Kharak, Karos Graveyard:
"Why are you suddenly giving me a test on religious knowledge?" Eefrit was perplexed by Yuno's seemingly irrelevant questions, "What has religion got to do with what we're doing now?"
"Let's just say I have this sudden interest in religious theories."
"You're weird to just ask about these things out of the blue. You sure it isn't in the Mothership Archives?"
"Nothing beats getting the info from a real live religious person."
"Oh come on, you know that I took Religious Studies only because I couldn't take anything else other than Military Strategy… Alright then, I won't elaborate on Sajuuk since that one is pretty well known. Qwaar Jet was the God of Pain and Enslavement back in the days of ancient Kharak."
"I see, and what about Koshiir Ra?"
"If I remember correctly, Koshiir Ra is the Taiidani God of Protection, which is also an apt name for their defence fighter. You're hiding something, aren't you?"
"No I'm not, I'm just refreshing my own knowledge…"
"Quit giving me that crap. I'm pretty sure this has something to do with that data you got from the Grand Core, am I right?"
Yuno didn't answer, but Eefrit continued to stare into her hologram eyes until she relented.
"There's no hiding anything from you, Eefrit. Yes, this has got to do with the Grand Core data."
"What about the data?" Eefrit was now keen to learn more.
"So far, I managed to repair a little bit of it. All I got were the three names."
"Sajuuk, Qwaar Jet and Koshiir Ra?"
"Yes, I'm sure you know what the implications could be, given that Sajuuk is the name of a battleship?"
"Wait… now why would the Progenitors build three ships like Sajuuk if they only had three Cores to power one ship?"
"I have no idea myself. But the possibility remains that there could be other ships with the capabilities of Sajuuk out there. We could use them to our advantage against the Progenitors and the Vaygr."
"Hold on a second, we don't even know if this data is true, or just some random babble from a religious text!"
"Which is why I am working on repairing the remaining data. As more of the data becomes readable, the mystery should be solved soon enough."
"Well, if this holds true, then I'm really stumped on why the Progenitors have to make ships for people to worship as gods…"
"I'm going back to check if any progress has been made on the data."
Yuno vanished again, leaving Eefrit to ponder over the questions raised by the Grand Core's data. It was then that the comm channels buzzed with activity. Eefrit went to check it out.
"This is Admiral Eefrit of the Legacy."
"Hi Eefrit, Soban here. Just called to tell you something – ultra long range sensors picking up multiple Progenitor ships inbound from Kadesh via hyperspace, ETA twenty minutes."
"Holy Sajuuk, thanks for the info!"
"No problem, Soban out."
"Yuno, get back here now!"
No sooner had he said the words did Yuno rematerialise on the holographic projector.
"What is it?"
"Soban just called to say that they've picked up incoming Progenitor ships. I guess they tracked our hyperspace trajectories."
"Then we shall have no choice but to move deeper into the graveyard to evade detection. Transmitting orders to the Paaura, Kuun Lan and Faal Corum to return immediately for wake jump."
"Wake jump?"
"There're too many hyperspatial anomalies in the graveyard to just hop in on standard hyperdrives. I have set a course for the unexplored regions, which also happen to have the highest derelict density in all of Karos."
"I see. Looks like the Somtaaw are back," commented Eefrit, as he saw the command ships re-emerge from hyperspace beside the Legacy, "Let's go now."
"Roger. Fleet, this is Yuno. Abort all resourcing ops and stand by for emergency wake jump! Repeat, abort all ops and stand by for wake jump!"
Minutes later, the collectors had all docked and the fleet assembled in Military Parade formation. Yuno activated the Grand Core for the first time and the Exodus Fleet disappeared from realspace.
The Grand Core's performance was as legendary as its name. The jump was nearly instant, and they were soon back in realspace approximately a hundred light years from their previous location.
"I don't believe this – a one hundred light year jump completed in just under a second!" Yuno reported.
"That's some Core the Progenitors built," exclaimed the astonished Eefrit, "No wonder we can't let it fall into enemy hands. This is uncharted territory, we had better get some scans up."
"I already have. This place has so many quantum waveform irregularities it would be impossible to jump in without the Sajuuk or the Grand Core. Interference here is also at an all-time high, I'm having trouble compensating. Complete scans will take considerable time."
"No hurry. We'll just leave the fleet on stand by until you get it done."
While Yuno busied herself scanning the surrounding space in detail, Eefrit looked at the viewscreens. They were surrounded by Progenitor wreckage of various shapes and sizes. Catching a glimpse of a whopper twice the size of the Mothership, Eefrit shuddered at the thought if it were online.
It was then that something caught Eefrit's eye. He thought he had caught a glimpse of movement among the hulks. He squinted at the derelict in question, trying to catch the movement again, but to no avail. Eefrit shrugged, dismissing it as mere imagination.
Onboard the Paaura, Karos Graveyard:
General Qwaar was unnerved by the wreckage around them. They were effectively blind here, as the ruins were blanking out all their sensor sweeps. He prayed for Yuno to jump them out of here as soon as possible.
The command ship was drifting at the rear of the Exodus Fleet, covering the tails of the Kuun Lan and Faal Corum. His fleet remained at high alert, ready to meet any unexpected attack. Seeker II class recon fighters had already been launched to supplement the Paaura's sensor arrays, which were now next to useless in the presence of all the interference.
Hearing no word from Yuno or other ships in the fleet, Qwaar decided to take a short break in the crews' lounge for a few minutes. He was about to leave the bridge when the comm channel crackled to life.
"This is recon one-one-eight, picking up incoming enemy ship signals from the derelicts!"
Qwaar turned back immediately, as the other officers tried to get the details from the recon pilot.
"One-one-eight, we need details. Can you confirm?"
"Pinging the derelicts now… Kiith's blood, they're Movers! They're all around us, and are moving to attack! I count at least two hundred…"
The officers turned to speak with the General, but he was already at his console, talking into his comm transmitter.
"General Qwaar to fleet, we have incoming Movers, prepare to engage! We must protect the Legacy at all costs!"
Onboard the Gatekeeper of Sajuuk, Karos Graveyard:
"This is Yuno of the Mothership…"
"We know already. You'd better concentrate on coordinating the fleet's defences, Yuno. We'll move in to engage all targets of opportunity." Soban replied.
"Very well then, just don't get yourselves killed out here. Yuno out."
Soban turned to his seasoned crew, who were already carrying out the necessary preparations for battle. With a loud hum, the Gatekeeper's shields sprang up to cover the ship in a protective yellow glow.
"Sir, I'm picking up several hyperspace signatures, some Keepers are hypering in!"
"Do they have the infection ability?"
"No sir, these are the graveyard Keepers. They do not belong to the Progenitor invasion fleet. Nonetheless, they seem eager to finish us off. We are already being enveloped by a massive hyperspace inhibitor field!"
"With the Grand Core around we needn't worry about avenues for escape. Let's show these things what we can do!"
The Dreadnaught moved towards a Keeper which had its ion beams targeted on a Hiigaran battlecruiser. Suddenly, the ship stalled and the shields vanished as the computer screens started flickering, displaying nothing but garbled text.
"What the hell's going on?"
"Unknown, it seems we're getting hacked into!" responded an officer desperately, "We've lost total ship control!"
"Damn it!" Soban yelled, bringing his fist down hard on his scrambled console.
Onboard the Legacy of Kharak:
Eefrit and the rest of the bridge officers stared at their computer screens, which showed line after line of garbled characters. Eefrit turned to Yuno for help, but she too was gone from the projector. All that remained were flickering blips of light floating around the device.
Yuno raced through the virtual world of the Mothership, beset from all directions by the invading AI of the Keepers. They reached out in an attempt to capture and erase her, but she eluded them and dived behind the protective firewalls of the Legacy's databanks. As the AI descended upon the firewalls, Yuno quickly did a remote scan and traced the hacking back to the Grand Core.
Wasting no time, Yuno raced to the Grand Core data and dumped everything, corrupted and repaired, into a storage key. When the transfer was complete, she ejected the storage key to isolate the data from the Mothership's computer systems. The sudden ejection of a storage key from the computer console alarmed the operator using it.
The firewalls gave way as the AI cracked the code, forcing Yuno to run again. She saw a nearby port and jumped through it, taking care to close it behind her to buy some more time. Now she had to find a way to tell Eefrit to isolate the Grand Core electronically.
Meanwhile, the lights on the bridge flickered as the hacking spread to the power control systems. Eefrit and his crew worked feverishly to switch systems to manual control before the Keepers subverted everything. Outside, Acolyte IIs and pulsar gunships raced around to destroy the attacking Movers while the frigates and capital ships pounded on some thirty Keepers that were attacking from all directions.
As the last essential system was switched to manual successfully, Eefrit and the bridge officers roared in celebration. The emergency lighting kicked in just as the bridge lights flickered out. There was a loud groan as the Legacy was raked by several Keepers' ion beams, sending vibrations through her superstructure. Eefrit checked the status of the cryogenic subsections and was relieved to see that it was operating on the backup power pylons.
At that moment, Eefrit's wrist comm buzzed as a message struggled to get through.
"This is Eefrit, who is this?" yelled the admiral over the noise.
"Eefrit, this is Yuno!"
"Yuno! What's going on here? Where in Kharak are you now?"
"No time to explain, you have to isolate the Grand Core electronically, the Keepers are using it as a gateway to hack into the Mothership's computer systems! They've somehow found a way to subvert any and all Progenitor technology in range!"
"Huh? Is there any way to counter it?"
"Sure there is, but we don't have the time to find that out right now. I have to go quickly, staying here is much too dangerous! Yuno out."
Yuno was in the Legacy's communications network, which was grinding to a halt due to the Keepers' hacking. This was causing massive confusion within the Exodus Fleet, as messages were barely getting through. She saw the AI moving towards her, reaching out to grab her. She dodged in the nick of time and leapt into an outbound data stream. Moments later, she was in the Pride of Hiigara, and Yuno quickly cut off all computer contact with the Legacy.
"This is Yuno, and I'm currently onboard the Pride of Hiigara. All ships, update command registries immediately!"
Seconds later, the Exodus Fleet had rerouted everything from the Legacy to the Pride, and began functioning as one coordinated strike force.
Eefrit was now running down the corridors with a few engineers towards the core containment section. The ship was still shuddering and jolting occasionally from the weapons fire of the Keepers. But the armor, reinforced during their stay at the Second Scaffold, held stubbornly in the face of the assaults.
After running for what seemed an eternity, he barged into the large hall that held the Grand Core. It was simply massive and connected to the Legacy's computers via an array of wires leading out of the containment unit. The engineers moved quickly to set the Core operating systems to manual while Eefrit whipped out a knife and started slashing at the wires.
As the last wire came away, sparks flew from the wall computer consoles and sent an engineer flying hard into the Core. He slumped unconscious and Eefrit ran to his side to help him up, calling for medical assistance on his wrist comm. While the engineer was being carried away on a stretcher, Eefrit spoke into his wrist comm again.
"Yuno, it's done. We've isolated the Grand Core from the Mothership's computers. What next?"
"Good, I'll take it from here."
Yuno summoned up a Sjet hacking program and proceeded to hack back into the Legacy of Kharak. Once she was in, the AIs leapt at her, eager to erase her and get into the Pride of Hiigara's network. But she was prepared now. The program activated a powerful erase command and proceeded to clean the entire sector free of the invading software. When that was done, Yuno left the rest of the work to the security programs, which moved to erase the last bits of the Keepers' presence in the computers.
The Legacy's systems rebooted and the lights came back on. The Mothership was back to normal, literally an empty shell since much of her automatic algorithms and processes had been corrupted by the invasion. There was a lot of reprogramming work to be done.
Outside, the tides of battle had been turned. Three Keepers and twenty Movers remained to provide insignificant resistance. The Gatekeeper drifted aimlessly through space as Soban and his crews had managed to disable the computer systems of the Dreadnaught.
When the last Keeper finally succumbed in a flash of light, all onboard the Exodus Fleet gave a sigh of relief. The colonists in the Legacy's holds were safe and sound, and that was all that mattered. Marine frigates moved in to assist Captain Soban in his repairs on the Gatekeeper, which was now without a brain.
As Yuno checked the databanks for inconsistencies and errors in data, she stumbled upon an abandoned data block left behind by the AI. She opened it with a translation program and was surprised by what lay within.
Keeper Directive three-six-six: Invader has found Grand Core and crucial data. Objective is to eliminate Invader and liberate Grand Core.
Keeper Directive three-six-seven: Upon elimination of Invader, objective is to move Grand Core and Koshiir Ra to secure location.
Yuno couldn't believe her eyes. Koshiir Ra was indeed a Progenitor ship, which could only mean that Qwaar Jet too was one! After the initial excitement died down, she regarded the data grimly. Now that the existence of the Koshiir Ra was confirmed, many complications would definitely set in. The implications of a ship equal to Sajuuk would not be good if it fell into enemy hands.
There was only one thing to do, Yuno decided. They must get the Koshiir Ra first.