Ch1 Extraction [3] – Nemo
Actually, I had twenty-eight, but there was no need for them to know that. My seed base was not as productive as it could be, because I ordered very minimal environmental impact, and to reclaim the shipyard once they were done building. Stealth was the main objective here.
The Lurker-class submarine was the most basic submarine unit of the ARM, tried and tested across countless worlds and oceans. It was considered slow and only useful for enemies without anti-submarine equipment – such as Battleships and Carriers. It was slightly more expensive, resource-wise, than a Crusader-class Destroyer; which had the benefit of a twin plasma battery and depth charges for dealing with submersibles.
But Lurkers had their uses. Though slow, they could dive very quickly. Their internal nanolathes could flash-forge torpedoes relatively quickly and had limitless endurance underwater. Careful management allowed them to sneak past sonar stations and destroy enemy shipyards. Lurkers were surprisingly effective in shallow waters, allowing them to operate around inlets and hide inside lagoons. Send them out with sonar jamming support subs, and they could crash a sea-based economy before anyone realizes something is happening.
Most importantly, though considered slow, they were slightly faster than the Hulk-class Transports. And the Hulk Transports at maximum speed could travel three times faster than Foils!
Eight of the escorting submarines breached the surface, showing off the broad protruding planes from their bow that gave them a faintly scorpion-like appearance. They spun in place, impossibly agile for their size. They began to circle the Matilda, silent and menacing, making sure that the Morgan Gatling Foils had no avenue of escape.
I felt the muzzle of a gun pressing against the back of my head. "Call them off."
"Are you ready to sell your life, officer?" I asked. "If you're thinking of using me as a hostage, it won't work. If you kill me, everybody dies." I turned towards the Gaians. "Sorry."
Most of them just shrugged in response.
"But more than that… you can see my submarines out there, right? Forget the torpedoes for a moment. They have communication systems. And what they can do is receive everything I'm recording right now."
Yeah. Sorry. Turns out I'm a voyeur after all. There's a lot you can learn about people from unguarde
"Say hello to the birdie!" I wiggled my arms up so that I could wave with one hand towards a blank wall.
"You're bluffing…" the MSF officer spat.
"You're bluffing." the radio repeated his words.
"Yyeeeeah. Two foils. Eight subs. Do the math. Even if you're willing to die for your paycheck, the truth will out. Everything that's already happened here? Backed up into eight different black boxes. There's no covering this up. Both the Spartans and Gaians will receive the recording, and they'll be able to verify it by fishing out our corpses.
Can you say diplomatic shitstorm? Can ya? Can ya?!"
For the Spartans had borders against the Gaians to the north and the Morgans to the east. It would be very bad if suddenly the Gaians were suddenly allies with the Spartans, since just because you're a pacifist that doesn't mean you can't supply large amounts of foodstuff to those who are more willing to fight. This is logistics. The less the Spartans needed to support by themselves, the more of their population they could throw into the war.
I rocked my head back to push his gun away. I half expected him to fire by reflex.
However, by the time I turned around the MSF troopers had lowered their guns. The MSF officer that a few moments ago had been so eager to break my face had stepped back several paces. "If you cooperate, you will not be harmed." he said in a much more neutral tone.
"Yeah, I'm done with you." I spoke with with sneer. Or half of one, anyway, my busted lips were beginning to swell up. "I want to speak to your commanding officer."
I pulled my arms apart, breaking the cuffs with ease. That startled them, but again I ignored any danger they represented to start operating the communications console instead.
"Morgan Foils, this is the ARM Free Ship Matilda, are you receiving? Who's in command?"
After a while, the radio crackled with "… this is MSF Lieutenant Commander Perkovic of the MSF Oranje. Matilda, you are advised to cease this provocation or face the consequences."
"How about: Words adding up to. Fuck You. I'm Closing The Straits of Prometheus."
Yeah, say goodbye to that valuable, valuable foreign trade from the Gaians, the University and the Peacekeepers, J.P. Morgan. Everybody else below the ladder is going to face the axe.
"In case you think I'm bluffing…? Snake one! Snake two!"
Two Lurker-class submarines ARM torpedoes were wakeless, of course, but at traveling high speed near the surface it's enough to throw up a white dagger upon the waves. One of the Gatling Foils panicked and tried to pull away. The other, presumably the one with Lt. Com. Perkovic in it, stayed flush to the Matilda's side.
The first of the two torpedoes detonated early, lest it blow up the Morgan Foil. The ocean erupted into a white pillar. The shockwave from the explosion threw back the Foil trying to flee, slamming it against the Matilda's side with a teeth-jarring clang.
ARM torpedoes were tipped with antimatter.
The other torpedo made a full lazy circle around the Matilda, before detonating precisely in line two hundred meters away from the MSF Oranje and the Matilda. The much smaller ship bobbed up and down and scraped against the Hulk's hull.
"Have I made my point clear, Lieutenant?"
I glanced behind me to see the Gaians were staring at my back in shock. Nobody on Chiron had the wherewithal to build any submarines just yet. A stupidly huge barge such as the Matilda, that was within the boundaries of probability. But submarines…? Now that required established infrastructure and a vast reserve of manpower. Scientists, engineers, and trained crew don't just appear out of nowhere.
"You have. What are your demands, sir?"
I sniffed. Being suddenly so respectful isn't going to make me forget you're all worthless sons of bitches. Still, I did not want to start indiscriminately murdering innocent civilians for the sins of their politicians. "Stay where you are until further notice. Turn on your engines and die. Shoot at me and I'll laugh. The Matilda is far, far too big to sink with your tiny little Gatling Lasers.
Behave. We have… things… to discuss with your Morgan masters."
I switched off the radio and huffed. As I turned around, I happened to catch Captain Nobel's suddenly much more calculating gaze. I stood up straight, jutting my chin out slightly. Then I turned aside to bare my teeth again at the MSF officer that assaulted me.
"Hey. Captain. Would it be... really petty of me... to punch back this asshole?"
"Yes." was Nobel's response. Then, a second later "Do it anyway."
I whipped my right fist into a classic straight punch into the MSF officer's faceplate, right over where his mouth would be. The intimidating matte black mask, made out of tough ballistic-proofed plastic, cracked and splintered inwards. He toppled back, unconscious before he hit the deck.
"Get off my ship."
I sat cross-legged on the deck while Jennefer Marsh daubed antiseptic at my puffed lips and purpling cheeks.
"That was very brave of you, sir. Thank you." she whispered. "You saved our lives again."
"Was it really necessary for you to let yourself get beaten up like that?" Captain Nobel put in. "Are you some sort of masochist?"
"That is not my fetish!" I replied quickly.
Perhaps a bit too quickly.
Jenny's medical ministrations remained careful and gentle as ever. Wait. What's with that pitying look?
"It's not!" I insisted. I puffed my cheeks mulishy and winced at how it opened the wounds. Jennefer clucked and put her left hand around my jaw to keep it closed as she wiped away the fresh blood. "Ish not."
"I'm not really sure I believe that, Nemo."
"Watsh with you, old man? I thought we had a good thing going. You're just full of piss and vinegar today, ain't ya?"
"That was before I realized you were a kid with more mouth than brains. I know showboating when I see it."
"What, you're not at all bothered by how I have submarines?" From him I looked to the other Gaians. They were much more guarded with me now, but seems like there's a grudging protectiveness too. I guess there's a meaning in 'bleeding together' to encourage camaraderie.
"An idiot with attack submarines is still an idiot."
"Fair enough."
Despite what happened on the bridge, we were still headed towards the nearest Morgan base. Jennefer asked the obvious question, obviously dreading the answer. "What do you intend to do now?"
"Not much. I'm still serious about joining you Gaians. More than ever, really, if it means being able to screw with the Morgans and the Spartans." That brought some grinning from the crew.
"The Embassy will be happy to receive you, of course." Said Captain Nobel. "You said this ship… that it's a gift. And I do know the classics. You wouldn't happen to be Greek, would you?"
"The Matilda's not a wooden horse any more than you make dynamite in your spare time, Captain Nobel."
He chuckled. "That's fine. But I doubt that the Morgans will be so willing to let submarines pass through or dock into their ports."
"Unless they have ASW craft, they're out of luck. Fuck them."
"This ship isn't stolen, isn't it?" Nobel let out a strangled little laugh. "Your people… what do you really want from us? There's no reason to defect, you know. A diplomat can live in Gaia's Landing without any issue."
"I am defecting for… several reasons, some philosophical, others material. The forces with me… well, they're going along to make sure I live to make that dialogue with Morgan, with Deidre, and then later with Zakharov."
Nobel's eyes widened. "Zakharov? What do you want with Zakharov?"
"His research, of course. I have… questions… that need to be answered. I have avenues of research that I want to see realized." I tilted my head slightly. "But I don't think I'd be able to work with Zakharov without a buffer. His type pisses me off too much. I do know that the Planet's best biologists and xenobiotic experts are with the Gaians."
Jennefer silently put her medical tools away and bowed slightly as she left.
"Is… is it human genetic engineering that interests you?" Nobel asked.
"No." I shrugged. Honestly, after everything, I couldn't care any less about the human genome and how to modify it. ARM spliced anything to everything, as long as it might prove any advantage against CORE. But if there's one thing we knew, it was that the galaxy belonged to mankind simply because it was devoid of any other intelligent life to contest our claims.
I continued "Chiron is full of ancient alien artifacts. It's the aliens that interests me. I can't research their technology alone, and I don't want to have to deal with the University's brand of prima donna academics."
Jennefer turned on her heel, returned, and leaned far too close with a strangely hungry on her face. "Wait, really? You want to look for alien artifacts?"
"Um. Yes?"
She clapped my shoulders as we sat knee-to-knee. "Welcome aboard! We're happy to have you working with us, brother!"
I could only nod as she exuberantly clapped my shoulders several times. Whap. Whap. Welcome. She bowed again, then left. She and a group of other Gaians went into a huddle and began to talk excitedly if unintelligibly.
"… but… it's my ship?" I mumbled in a lost voice. Nobel just coughed into his fist and looked away.
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MEMSTOR keyword "Construction Ship":
- retrieved:
A Construction Ship, like the ARM Commander possesses a nanolathe - in fact, the most powerful nanolathe among the T1 Builder Units. Because its hull is larger than Construction Kbots and Vehicles, it can store a larger amount of Metal nanobots in its tanks. It can only build sea-based structures and floating defense platforms, except for a Light Laser Tower on shorelines.
Its nanolathe has a much narrower cone designed to reduce nanobot dispersion at great depths. It can build all the essential structures needed for a sea-based economy, such as Tidal Generators, Floating Solar Collectors, Underwater Metal Extractors, Metal and Energy Storage, and Floating Metal Makers.
It has a top speed of 90 km/h. It is completely defenseless, but it can reclaim wrecks and debris with its nanolathe to turn them back into Metal.
MEMSTOR keyword "Advanced Construction Sub":
- n retrieved:
The Advanced Construction Sub has all the benefits of a deep pressure hull for stealth and the ability to build in areas the enemy usually do not patrol. They cannot build basic economy structures like the Construction Ship, but have the plans for more advanced critical structures like the Underwater Fusion Plant and the Underwater Metal Maker. These could be built in deep trenches very far away from the combat zone.
Many aquatic worlds were ignored early on in the war, secretly funneling the resources needed to continue the conflict. However, this strategic advantage was later nullified by newer Seaplane platforms with advanced Sonar and air-dropped Torpedos that could detect and destroy deep-water assets.
The plans for the Underwater Metal Maker and Underwater Moho Metal Extractors were lost by both sides in one of the great digital wars that happened concurrent to the physical battles between the ARM and CORE. Advanced Construction Subs thereafter had very limited blueprints compared to their Advanced Construction K-Bot, Vehicle, and Aircraft contemporaries, but retained the second strongest nanolathe next to the ARM Commander.
With the plans for both the basic Shipyard and Seaplane Factories, Construction Subs were relegated to harassment duty.
