Roweth Sinclair was a man with a secret. He was very good at keeping his secret. He did not like to draw attention to himself for fear his secret would be discovered. Then he was selected to be the master of arms for the Daedlus. So far no one suspected his secret. He believed he was safe so he did not act like a man with something to hide. That was the best way to keep the secret hidden.
“Excuse me Mr. Sinclair?” said Janessa as she entered the armory. As a pilot she had access to areas other crew members did not.
“Please call me Roweth,” he replied, “did you need something? I hope you did not come for a gun because they are only for emergency situations like if the ship is boarded by the enemy.”
“I wanted to ask you about the kite weapons.”
“I explained everything the first day and you all seem to have the handle of them in your first battle. But what would you like to know?”
“How do they work?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean what is the science behind it all,” said Janessa, “how do the laser claws work?”
“They fire a high powered laser and they have an AI guidance system to tracks enemy movement so they know when to react.”
“But how can something that small fire such a powerful laser on its own? What kind of power source does it use and how do they make it so small?”
“Each laser fang has a composite battery.”
“What the hell is a composite battery?”
Roweth set down the data pad he was using to check over the ammunition supply again. He thought it over a moment then said, “do you want to know what I really think?”
“Yes I do.”
“Some of this technology did come from Solar Fleet projects, but only some of it. Most of this technology is way too advanced. I do not even know how it works. I would ask an engineer but there are no engineers on this ship.”
“I’ve noticed that.”
Roweth was a little excited to finally have someone to talk to about this, “There is only one place these advancements could have come from. It must be alien.”
“Alien? As in Spectral Horde?”
“It must be,” said Roweth, “at some point someone must have captured a Spectral Horde ship and reverse engineered what they found.”
“Don’t you think that’s something we would have heard about? A captured horde ship?”
“Not necessarily. If someone could reverse engineer horde technology then they would own patents no one else in the world has. If they could successfully beat the horde with their own weapons, afterwards they would be the most powerful military force anywhere. Think about it. There is a good chance that when we finish this mission, that when we get back to Earth, Vanz Kerrigan will rule the world.”
“You think Kerrigan wants to rule the world?”
“Not necessarily but it might happen.”
“Don’t you think we should do something if that’s true?”
“Do you really think the alternative is better? There would be a war over control of the technology. Kerrigan may not be my first choice but there are plenty of worse alternatives for ruler of the world. I know he can be a prick. He tried to make me do some stupid interview with that blonde girl. But back on Earth he has done a lot of good. The African Alliance basically exists because of him. Without his efforts the continent would still be controlled and torn apart by corporate bureaucrats. He runs homes for orphans and children of wars all over the world. We could do a lot worse than a man like Vanz Kerrigan.”
Suchin Markjon was looking at data. Suchin Markjon had a secret. It would not ruin her career if anyone found out. It was mostly just embarrassing. But she worried her peers would judge her for it so she did her best to keep it a secret. Her research was going nowhere so she welcomed the distraction when Janessa Kepshawn came by.
“So what are you working on?” asked Janessa.
“I’m trying to decode Spectral Horde signals,” said Suchin, “but I can not make any sense of this data.”
“Where did you get this from?”
“Well we have a couple different signals that have been intercepted over the years. Remember a few years ago when some horde ships tried to attack the Earth directly.”
“I remember that. They never managed to attack anything; they were shot out of the sky as they tried to enter the atmosphere.”
“I do not think it was meant to be an attack. I think they were sent to gather information. They transmitted a huge data burst before they were destroyed. The horde battle cruiser we just blew up sent a similar signal before it blew up. They knew they were going down so they tried to pass on as much intel as possible before they died. But even working on that theory I can not crack this.”
“What’s the problem?”
“I am good with languages. I can figure out complex puzzles and decryptions in my head. It is a gift. Languages have patterns and structure. I can not find and pattern or structure in the horde transmissions. It is like it is all just raw information. I can not find a reference point to start from to analyze it properly. It is all just too alien.”
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