Sisterhood of Suns: Widow's War Read online

  Sisterhood of Suns

  Widow’s War

  by

  Martin Schiller

  Pantari Press, Seattle Washington, USA

  Copyright © 2012, 2016 Martin Schiller

  All rights reserved.

  Cover Illustration Copyright © 2016 by Martin Schiller

  Photo Model: Erika Noble

  ISBN-13: 978-0692753637

  ISBN-10: 069275363X

  Dedication

  For “Emily”, Lilya, and all the others whose names we will never know. Mere gratitude is not enough, but it is all that we can offer you. Rest well.

  Table of Contents

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER 1

  CHAPTER 2

  CHAPTER 3

  CHAPTER 4

  CHAPTER 5

  CHAPTER 6

  CHAPTER 7

  CHAPTER 8

  CHAPTER 9

  CHAPTER 10

  CHAPTER 11

  CHAPTER 12

  EPILOGUE

  Ships of the Sisterhood and the History behind Their Names

  PROLOGUE

  By 2445 BSE, Humanity had colonized hundreds of worlds. With this great expansion, the very definition of what it was to be ‘human’ was transformed through the efforts of the Biosyncronism Movement and genetic engineering.

  What no one anticipated was the MARS plague. Within a decade, the airborne, gender-specific virus had claimed the life of every human male. Only females managed to survive, saved by advanced genetic manipulation and artificial reproductive techniques.

  And in the wake of the greatest plague ever encountered by the children of Gaia, the warlike Hriss invaded, igniting the First Widow’s War. Ultimately, Womankind won the conflict and the United Sisterhood of Suns was born. Motherthought became the new philosophy, and ‘man’ had become a memory.

  Now, more than a millennia since these tumultuous times, the Sisterhood enjoys some of the most advanced technology and the highest standard of living in the Far Arm. But change, the only true constant in the galaxy, is in the offing.

  Human males, called neomen, have been reintroduced by the radical Marionite Church, and are slowly gaining a foothold in society. The Hriss are poised to wage yet another war, and unknown to the average woman, contact is being established with a human star nation wholly unlike the Sisterhood. A survival of the pre-plague diaspora from Old Gaia, it is a place where men and women still share civilization together.

  How these complex factors will affect the Sisterhood or its interstellar neighbors is anyone’s guess. What is certain is that the year 1043 ASE is a troubled and dangerous time…

  USSNS Pallas Athena, Calandra System, Sagana Territory, United Sisterhood of Suns, 1043.03|24|04:16:67

  At 04:16:67 hours, Commander Lilith ben Jeni’s psiever reminded her of an important event. She put down her cup of tea and opened up a channel to address the entire battle group.

  “Attention Battle Group Golden,” she announced. “This is the Commander. Today marks the anniversary of the First Widow’s War. All personnel not involved in essential tasks will now observe a moment of silence to commemorate the brave women who gave up their lives in that conflict, and in all the wars that followed it. Their sacrifices kept their daughters safe.”

  An alert chime sounded, and as a group, everyone on the Athena’s Bridge who wasn’t handling something vital, stood at attention. Lilith rose and joined them, while the national anthem, “United Are We” played out in all corners of the ship. The same scene was repeated on the Artemis, the Demeter, and on every ship in the Sisterhood Navy, wherever they where in the Far Arm.

  Even though more than a thousand years had passed since the conflict, the experience of the First Widow’s War had become graven in the racial memory of humanity, and it’s annual observance still exerted a powerful effect. The conflict had led to the deaths of billions, the loss of entire planets including Old Gaia herself, and had engendered the birth of the Sisterhood. It was impossible for Lilith, or anyone else standing there, not to feel a lump in their throat, or to avoid shedding a tear.

  Finally, the song concluded, and a collective sigh sounded around the Athena’s bridge as the assembly turned their attention back to the present, and their duties.

  With the raider base destroyed, the Athena and her sister ships had resumed their original task of monitoring Hriss communications, along with any other traffic that had the potential of yielding valuable intelligence. This included local conversations between Sisterhood ships, and everyone else in and around the Sagana Elant.

  Just before the moment of silence, an odd exchange had begun between the Sagana Territorial Marshals and a T’lakskalan merchant ship. When Navcom saw that Lilith had reseated herself in her command chair, they patched the conversation up to her.

  She listened to it carefully as she sipped at her tea. At the moment, the Lead Marshal was speaking.

  “Ssalaksso, are you in distress?” the woman asked.

  “We do not require your asssistansse,” the captain of the Ssalaksso replied in a rasping lisp that was characteristic of its race whenever it tried to speak Standard. “We have already called for one of our own ss-ships to respond to our ss-situation.”

  “Ssalaksso, we are monitoring your ship and your number one engine is offline. Your number two is also showing signs of immanent failure,” the Marshal responded. “At your current power-levels, your orbit will decay completely in six hours.”

  “We do not need your help, human!” the T’lakskalan retorted angrily. “One of our ss-ships is ressponding and we are confident that they will arrive in time to render asssistansse.”

  Lilith called up a holodisplay. According to the data that she saw, the nearest T’lakskalan held planet was at least eight hours away by Null—at best. In the meantime the Ssalaksso was in orbit around a J-Type gas giant, and at the present rate of power loss, it was patently obvious that the ship would plunge to its destruction well before any of its fellows could arrive to save it.

  Lilith’s Third, Mearinn d’Rann, reviewed the data at her own station, and shook her head in dismay. “Their captain has to be completely klaxxy,” the Tethyian remarked. “Or hiding something.”

  “I think that we should drop by and see what we can do to help,” Lilith said with a sardonic smile, “in the interests of galactic fellowship of course. Don’t you agree?”

  D’Rann nodded with a roguish expression of her own, and advised the Artemis and the Demeter to remain on station. Then she ordered the Helm to take the Athena into Null.

  An hour later, the warship came back into normal space near the gas giant, and the crippled alien ship. At Lilith’s orders, the Athena had come out in stealth mode and it would remain that way until the situation dictated otherwise. In the meantime, the dialogue between the Marshals and the Ssalaksso was still on going.

  “Ssalaksso, your number two engine is now at 23%,” the Marshal warned. “We have rescue personnel on hand and we can offer you a tow to the nearest safe location.”

  “Negative, human! We do not want a tow, or your asssistansse. Go away!”

  Lilith sighed tiredly and had Navcom contact the Lead Marshal. “Good morning, Marshal,” she said when the woman’s holo appeared. “We overheard your conversation. Can we be of any help?”

  “Good to see you, Athena”, the officer replied. “We would appreciate anything that you can do for us. The Ssalaksso put in at Thenti with trade goods, and after they sold them off, we thought that they’d left our space. But then we picked them up here.”

  “I see,” Lilith said. Although the T’lakskalans had a well-deserved reputation for piracy and trafficking in slaves, there were just as many Te
e-Laks that did legitimate business as merchanters. The problem was that even the most honest of them sometimes opted to combine legal and illegal cargos in order to increase their profit margins. Given their dire situation, the odd behavior of the Ssalaksso’s captain certainly appeared to be pointing in that direction.

  The Marshal continued. “We think that they may have had something to do with the disappearance of a four woman Astrosurvey team that was working this system a week ago. But we can’t prove anything, and as you know, they’re refusing help. I would have insisted on boarding them, but we don’t have the numbers or the equipment to force the issue.”

  “Well”, Lilith answered, sitting back and steepling her fingers. “It just so happens that we do, Marshal. And I completely agree with you; the situation is highly suspicious and clearly warrants further investigation. Keep them occupied, would you?”

  “My pleasure, Athena. And thanks again.”

  Lilith ended the communication and sent a message to Col. Lislsdaater to join her on the bridge. When the Marine commander arrived, she briefed her on the situation.

  Shortly after this, two Marine assault shuttles left the Athena, headed for the Ssalaksso in stealth mode. When they were close enough, they took up positions over the ship’s hull, one fore and the other aft. Then they extended their docking tubes, and quietly mated with the alien vessel. That was when Lilith decided to bring the Athena out of stealth and had Navcom hail the T’lakskalan ship.

  “Merchant ship Ssalaksso. This is the United Sisterhood of Suns Naval Ship Pallas Athena”, the Comswoman announced. “We are responding to a request for assistance from the Sagana Territorial Marshals. You are instructed to comply with an inspection of your ship and its cargo. Respond please.”

  “This is the Ssalaksso. We do not need your help–leave us!”

  “I don’t think the captain quite understood our message,” Lilith remarked. She cut in and spoke directly to the Ssalaksso’s Captain herself.

  “Captain, I am Commander Lilith ben Jeni, and we are not here to offer you our help. You have already refused that from the Marshals, and personally I don’t care one nano if you drop to your deaths or not.’

  “Before that happens however, we are entitled by treaty and by our own sovereign laws—which, by the way, you are subject to by being in our space—to make an inspection of your ship for safety violations, and any contraband. You will comply with this, or we will board you by force.”

  “Do not attempt that Athena!” the T’lakskalan Captain hissed. “If you try to come aboard our ss-ship, we will consider you to be pirates-ss, and we will resissst you with armed force!”

  His bluster was so outrageous that Lilith laughed aloud. “And the night dared to call space dark!” she replied, quoting an old Nyxian expression.

  “What does that mean, human?”

  Lilith composed herself. “I’ll explain it to you shortly, Captain—very shortly.”

  With that, she ended the conversation and signaled to Col. Lislsdaater. Whether the Ssalaksso and its captain wanted to or not, they were going to cooperate.

  ***

  Corporal Kaly n’Deena and Trooper Lena n’Gari had been chosen along with a dozen other Marines to take part in the boarding. The operation, which followed standard protocol for dynamic entries, also involved two Marauder Teams. They would make the initial breach, and then secure vital areas of the ship.

  The job of troopers like Kaly and Lena was to follow them in, and not only hold what they had taken, but also render medical aid and assistance to any hostages that the teams managed to locate. They were also responsible for taking prisoners into custody, and towards that end, two additional groups of Navy paramedics and Security Policewomen were part of the boarding party.

  Although the troop compartment of the assault shuttle was large, everyone was crowded around the specialized pressure hatch set in the center of its deck. This device employed shaped charges to cut a hole in a ship’s hull, and suspended above it was a battlebot, its metal legs folded underneath it like a gigantic arachnid. Once the explosives created the opening, the ‘bot would be the first thing to drop down into the vessel. The Marauders would go next, and then everyone else would follow.

  As they waited for the ‘go-signal’, no one spoke, or moved any more than was absolutely necessary. This was for security reasons; now that the shuttle had mated with the T’lakskalan ship, any vibrations that they created could carry through the hull and alert the alien crew. Even radio and psiever traffic had been forbidden. All communications were limited to command and emergencies. Or hand signals.

  Unable to do anything more than wait, Kaly remained still and alone with her thoughts. She was scared—she readily admitted this.

  Training was one thing, but reality was far different. All of her instructors in Basic had hammered in the fact that unlike an open battlefield, the tight corners of a spaceship could easily hide any number of lethal surprises. And although she had always done well in the simulated assaults, she couldn’t help but feel trepidation when she looked down at the pressure hatch.

  Her Battle Sister was even more nervous than she was. Lena hadn’t been the same since the ground action on CD48 2259, and at that moment, Kaly would have given anything to say something to her, or even think a few words of reassurance, but she couldn’t do either.

  We’ll get through this, Lena, she thought privately, studiously avoiding any activation of her psiever. We’ll be all right.

  As if she had heard this, Lena looked over and smiled. It was a wan expression though, and Kaly found herself hoping that once the action started, that her lover would be able to keep herself together.

  Lena wasn’t the only one showing signs of stress; a new Trooper, fresh out of Basic, had also been selected for the boarding party. Kaly hadn’t memorized her name yet, and had to use the HUD display on her helmet visor to call it up. ‘N’Dalla, Gwyn’.

  N’Dalla seemed positively ill, and Kaly reminded herself that she was Troop Leader Da’Saana’s responsibility, and not hers. And she didn’t envy the NCO one bit. Green Troopers could get everyone killed, including themselves.

  Goddess, she thought, suddenly hearing herself, I’m thinking like I’m an old hand already. This brought a depreciatory grin to her face. She was still pretty fresh herself, Corporal’s arrow or not, and she was in no position to call anyone else a ‘greenie’.

  Her smile vanished a second later when the order came to breach the T’lakskalan hull. She felt a brief shock under her feet as the charges went off and then the pressure hatch opened and the battlebot dropped.

  Its legs extended as it fell through space, and like a kaatze, it landed squarely on the decking below with a metallic ‘clank’. It paused there for a moment, ranging its guns around, and when it found nothing to engage, the ‘bot stepped out of the way to take up a guarding position.

  The Marauder Team descended next, weapons at the ready. Then, after another brief interval, one of them gave Kaly’s group the ‘all-clear’ to descend and join them.

  The explosives had sliced out a thick, heavy portion of the ship’s outer hull, and this was lying on the decking, still smoking. When Kaly jumped down onto it, she realized that a T’lakskalan had been standing directly underneath the section when it had blown. What parts of its body that hadn’t been pulverized into jelly were sticking out of the edges of the heavy plating, including its head and neck. The creature’s forked tongue was protruding from its mouth, and it had a look of total astonishment on its reptilian features.

  As she took this in, Troop Leader Da’Saana landed next to her, and shook her head at the mess. “Goddess! Talk about the Lady fekking up your luck! She must have really hated this one!”

  “Yeah,” one of the Marauders laughed. “I think that just might be a permanent injury.”

  Horrible as the spectacle was, Kaly found herself laughing right along with them. It really was funny she realized—in a gruesome way. Either that, or her combat experienc
es were starting to alter her sense of humor. She wasn’t sure which, but because it broke the tension for an instant, she didn’t really care.

  The rest of the Marines assembled around the Troop Leader, and as the Marauder Team and the battlebot moved off to secure their objectives, Da’Saana signaled them to begin consolidating the immediate area.

  Everyone pulled out hand scanners from their belts and started down the hall, waving them over the bulkheads and the decking.

  It was a common practice for smugglers like the T’lakskalans to hide their contraband in secret compartments, but the Marines weren’t looking for illicit substances. Instead, the Trooper’s were looking for hostages and hidden assailants. The same spaces that could conceal contraband could hide either just as readily. And until every centimeter of the ship had been scanned, searched and cleared, it wouldn’t really be considered secure.

  A few minutes into the process, Kaly heard the two Marauder Teams announce that they had completed their objectives. The first Team, who had entered the ship just aft of the Bridge, reported that all the T’lakskalans there were in custody, including the captain.

  The second one, which had been aboard Kaly’s shuttle, had worked their way back to the engine room, and after taking out one hostile, were also in control.

  The Ssalaksso was going nowhere. But so far, no one had found anything that had justified the captain’s recalcitrance. Not even a minor safety violation. Even so, Kaly was as certain as everyone else that there had to be something incriminating aboard.

  Her squad continued moving and when they reached a junction, Da’Saana had them split off into two groups. Kaly, Lena, and the new Trooper, N’Dalla, went portside while the rest went to starboard. The passage that Kaly’s group entered ended after only a few meters and it seemed harmless enough—at first glance.

  But something about it raised the hairs on Kaly’s neck. She had learned in training not only to look for the obvious when searching a ship, but also to consider a space based on its function and its relationship to the rest of a vessel.