Imperium: Contact Read online

  Imperium: Contact

  By Malek Kabbabe

  Text Copyright © Malek Kabbabe

  All Rights Reserved

  This book is dedicated to my friends and family, for their support and encouragement. To all those who provided feedback and helped me edit it. A special thanks also goes out to my mother. She spent hours reading to my brother and I when we were children. It introduced me to the wonderful world of books and my life has been so much richer for it.

  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

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Chapter 42

  Chapter 43

  Chapter 44

  Chapter 45

  Chapter 46

  Chapter 47

  Chapter 48

  Chapter 49

  Chapter 50

  Chapter 51

  Chapter 52

  Chapter 53

  Chapter 54

  Epilogue

  Prologue

  Captain Archabold sat in his office, watching the view screen on his desk. He stared at the inky blackness of space and sighed. Two weeks of this and they still had nothing to show for it. His ship, the frigate Dominance, had been deployed to this remote region of space to search for an anomalous sensor contact reported by an automated Imperial intelligence outpost.

  Archabold ran both hands through his short blonde hair and sent dark thoughts towards whatever data-pusher at Imperial Intelligence had sent them on this wild goose chase. He looked back at the view screen, at the system’s sun glowing brightly in the distance. A simple main sequence star, with two rocky planets in close orbit. Further out, three large gas giants made up the rest of the system’s planets. There was also a large asteroid belt between the second and third planets in the system.

  The report he’d received from the outpost had indicated the signal was moving, in other words, it had come from a ship. So how did anyone expect a single frigate to find a moving target in all this empty space? They could spend years searching and never find it. That was assuming the damn thing was still in this system, for all he knew it could be half way across the galaxy by now. This, ‘anomalous’, sensor contact was probably just some scrapheap a shengyet pirate gang had managed to cobble together. Chasing it down would be an utter waste of time and resources.

  The com panel beeped, it was Commander Jenkins, his second in command.

  “Captain, report coming in from recon drones, no contact.”

  “Very well,” Archabold replied wearily.

  “Deploy them to the next sector.”

  “Aye sir,” Jenkins replied.

  He hesitated, then said.

  “Permission to speak freely Captain.”

  “Go ahead,” Archabold told him.

  “Sir, is Imperial Intelligence aware of how futile this mission is? I mean we can only scan a small area at a time. If what we’re after is a ship, it can simply move into an area we’ve already scanned.”

  “I understand your misgivings Commander,” Archabold assured him.

  “But we have our orders, continue with the scanning, I’ll be joining you on the bridge shortly.”

  “Aye sir.”

  The Captain got up from his chair and walked towards the armored pressure door at the far end of his office. He stepped out into the hallway beyond. Crew hastily saluted as they hurried past him. He casually returned their salutes as he made his way to the elevator that would take him to the command deck. Jenkins was right of course, but as the Captain he had to keep up appearances for the sake of his crew. They were already bored and frustrated enough. The last thing they needed, was for their Captain to start showing that same frustration.

  The elevator came to a halt and the doors slid open. Archabold stepped into the hallway running down the length of the command deck. He turned to his left and walked towards the massive bridge door. The door slid open at his approach and he stepped onto the Dominance’s circular bridge. At the side opposite the door, the main view screen curved and wrapped two thirds of the way around the entire bridge. In the center, it showed a tactical view of the system. Tiny blue dots, each one representing a recon drone, moved across the display. On the left side of the screen, data from the drone’s and the ship’s sensors appeared. The right side displayed the status readouts of the ship’s systems.

  Archabold examined the status of his ship. All systems were functioning at one hundred percent efficiency. They were running low on fuel though, he made a mental note to order a flyby of one of the gas giants to replenish their hydrogen reserves. As the Captain examined the status of the ship’s systems, he was reminded of just how amazing a piece of technology she was.

  Frigates were the smallest capital ships in the Human Fleet, but even they were a force to be reckoned with. The Dominance’s hull was composed of nanite armor plating. Trillions of microscopic machines, that interlocked and formed an almost impenetrable barrier. Thousands of conduits transferred power from the ship’s reactors to every single nanite. This allowed them to create powerful magnetic fields, that not only held together with tremendous force, but also acted as radiation shielding.

  The ship’s artificial gravity system could be adjusted to compensate for even extreme amounts of acceleration. Which was necessary, since the Dominance’s main thrusters could accelerate the ship to over ninety percent the speed of light. The ship’s hull was shaped like a giant rectangle, that grew wider as it tapered down, making the bottom about a third wider than the top. The rear of the ship was flat, with the two main thrusters protruding from it. The nose of the ship sloped down from its top towards the bottom, the underside jutting out in front.

  Near the front of the ship, were two enormous rectangular pods, one on each side. Short, forward facing cylinders, protruded from them. These were the firing systems for the ship’s main weapons, a pair of type two ion beam projectors. The faint lines of closed hatches covered the hull. Beneath them, were recessed hundred millimeter gauss cannon turrets and anti-missile pulse lasers.

  Commander Jenkins was over at sensors, talking to Lieutenant Manning.

  “Was there any indication of a malfunction?” He asked.

  The Lieutenant shook his head.

  “No sir, the drone was reporting all systems green, then it went dark.”

  “What’s going on Commander,” Archabold demanded.

  Jenkins turned to face him and saluted.

  “Sir, we’ve lost contact with one of the recon drones.”

  The Captain glanced up at the tactical display, which now showed a red dot among the blue ones.

  “Move the ship to that area on the double,” he ordered.

  “And sound general quarters.”

  The
bridge crew hesitated for a moment, then they sprang into action. The Dominance spun and the deck beneath them rumbled as the main thrusters engaged.

  Lieutenant Takagi looked up from the ship’s systems station.

  “General quarters sounded,” he announced.

  Ensign Jacobs tapped in commands at navigation.

  “Course laid in, ETA thirty seconds.”

  Archabold felt himself being pushed slightly backwards as the ship’s artificial gravity system struggled to compensate for the sudden acceleration. He turned to the young woman manning the weapons console.

  “Lieutenant Keating, begin charging the ion beam capacitors. Remove safeties from all gauss and laser turrets.”

  “Aye sir, safeties removed, ion capacitors charging.”

  “In range,” Manning called.

  “Beginning scan, contact!”

  Archabold clasped both hands behind his back.

  “Let’s see it.”

  Sensor outputs scrolled across the main view screen. The Captain frowned as he scrutinized the data.

  “Are the sensors working correctly Lieutenant?” He asked.

  “Yes sir,” Manning assured him.

  “For some reason our scans are being bent around the object.”

  “Are we close enough for visual?” The Captain demanded.

  “Yes sir, one moment.”

  The center of the view screen flickered and showed a dark sleek silhouette.

  “No running lights or drive glow,” Jenkins remarked, gazing up at the screen.

  “It must be powered down.”

  The words were barely out of his mouth, when the dark shape turned and moved towards them.

  “We’re being hailed,” said Manning.

  He turned around in his seat.

  “Sir, it’s in English.”

  “Acknowledge the hail Lieutenant,” Archabold replied.

  “And open a channel.”

  “Aye sir, receiving a message, audio only.”

  “Let’s hear it.”

  A strange voice boomed from the bridge speakers. It had an odd echoing quality to it, almost like there were many people speaking at the same time.

  “Humans, this is your first and only warning. Leave now or be destroyed.”

  The Captain cleared his throat.

  “This is Captain Archabold of the Human Imperial ship Dominance. You have violated Imperial territory, identify yourself.”

  The bridge was completely silent.

  “No reply sir,” Manning informed him.

  “They’ve cut the channel and are coming about, headed straight for us.”

  “All hands, prepare for combat,” Archabold ordered calmly.

  “Seal all pressure doors, divert auxiliary power to nanite armor. Target ion projector one on incoming ship.”

  “Pressure doors sealed,” Takagi reported.

  “Computer has target lock,” said Keating.

  “Fire,” Archabold ordered.

  “Firing.”

  Inside the left ion projector turret, specially designed fusion reactors released a charge of super heated plasma. It entered the turret’s magnetic firing system and was accelerated to almost the speed of light. The Dominance shuddered slightly from the recoil as the beam of ionized plasma shot out into space. The blue-white lance of destruction connected with the incoming ship.

  It smeared and rippled across the ship’s hull, then dissipated. The enemy ship seemed completely unharmed.

  “What the hell happened?” Archabold demanded.

  “I have no idea sir,” Keating admitted

  “Some type of energy shield,” Jenkins suggested.

  “Impossible,” Takagi chimed in.

  “Never mind,” Archabold cut across them.

  “Make ready to fire both projectors simultaneously.”

  “Sir!” Manning exclaimed.

  “Enemy launching…launching something at us.”

  “What do you mean, something,” Archabold demanded.

  “Sensors can’t identify sir, all I’m getting is a massive thermal reading.”

  There was fear in the man’s voice.

  “Navigation,” the Captain said calmly.

  “Evasive maneuvers, activate point defense system and target incoming projectile.”

  “Going evasive,” said Jacobs.

  “Tracking projectile,” said Keating.

  “Target lock, firing.”

  Hatches near the front of the ship opened and four gauss cannon turrets popped up. They fired, peppering the incoming projectile with hundred millimeter slugs. The shots impacted and promptly dissolved into globs of molten metal. The Dominance banked right, as Jacobs tried to evade the incoming threat. The projectile turned to follow and slammed into the side of the ship, punching a hole clean through the engine compartment.

  On the bridge, alarms blared and red warning lights flashed.

  “Main thrusters off line,” Takagi shouted.

  “Hull breaches in the aft section on decks five and six. Main reactor down, no response from the engine room.”

  “Power loss to both ion projectors,” Keating announced.

  “Capacitors at ninety percent and falling.”

  “Cut those damn alarms!” Archabold shouted.

  “Navigation, can we maneuver?”

  “Yes sir,” replied Jacobs.

  “Good, turn us so we’re facing those bastards. Takagi, reroute all non critical power to the ion projectors.”

  “Aye sir,” replied Takagi, his hands flying over the controls.

  “Done!”

  “Ion beam capacitors charging,” said Keating.

  “Five seconds to full charge.”

  “Incoming!” Manning exclaimed.

  The next instant, something slammed into the front of the Dominance. It ripped through the outer hull and inner decks. It went clean through the entire length of the ship, bursting out through one of her rear thrusters. Atmosphere and debris vented from the crippled ship, its running lights flickered and went dark.

  Chapter 1

  The sky over Imperial City was bright blue and the sun glittered off the many skyscrapers that made up Earth's capital. Located on an artificial island in the South China Sea, blue waves lapped gently at its shores. One side of the island consisted of forest, interspersed with small lakes. The other side was completely taken up by the city itself. On the city’s streets, people went about their daily lives. Merchants and business people, hurried from one meeting to the next. Tourists and shoppers sat on the patios of the hundreds of restaurants and cafes. Driver-less cars and taxis moved in perfect order and synchronization through the city streets. Overhead, Maglev bullet trains whizzed from one skyscraper rooftop to another. The vast majority of the beings in the city were humans. Although every once in a while an alien privileged enough to be allowed on Earth popped up amongst the throngs.

  In the center of it all stood the headquarters of the Imperial Military. It was a massive building that towered a good fifty meters above everything else. A lush park with benches and several restaurants surrounded it. Around the park was a high security fence with armed guards posted at regular intervals. The main lobby of the building was a huge room that glittered with gold and platinum inlays covering the walls and ceiling. Massive slabs of black and white marble covered its floor.

  As impressive as the building was however, it was merely the entry way. Beneath it was a massive bunker buried hundreds of meters beneath the surface. Composed of reinforced concrete and solid nanite armor, it stretched outward for miles, making it more of an underground city. The entire Empire could be run from inside for over six years without anyone ever having to leave it.

  Deep inside the complex, was the server room used to store archived information for Imperial Intelligence reports. A massive room, filled with rows of quantum computer banks. Halfway down one of these rows, Sarah typed rapidly at one of the diagnostic stations. She kept glancing over to the door at the far end of
the room. As a Major in the Imperial Intelligence service, she certainly had the clearance to be in here. However the last thing she wanted was for someone to spot her and start asking questions about what she was up to.

  She tapped in a last line of commands and a warning message appeared on the screen. She ignored it and hit enter. Sarah checked the system, no sign of the files she’d just deleted. She switched off the console and hurried for the exit. As she stepped into the armored hallway beyond, her wrist pad beeped. She tapped it and a holographic screen projected from the device. Damn that was fast, she hadn’t expected the military high council to convene this quickly. She reached into the pocket of her black and gold uniform. Pulling out a small data stick, she hurried down the hallway.

  Major Sarah Clark walked towards the massive doors that led to the military high command’s situation room. She took a deep breath and tried to swallow the lump that had been forming in her throat. She glanced down at the data stick she was holding. As an Imperial Intelligence officer, she was used to handling sensitive information. The information on this stick however, had the potential to ignite a firestorm. One that would destroy anyone foolish enough to get caught in it.

  “And that’s exactly what you’re planning on doing,” she said out loud.

  “Not the smartest move you’ve ever made Clark.”

  She had reached the doors now. Sarah stopped in front of the retinal scanner on the wall next to them. She moved her face in front of it and waited. The scanner beeped and the massive doors swung inward to reveal the room beyond. The situation room was shaped like an amphitheatre. At the far end sat Admiral Constantine, head of the Imperial Military. He sat in a leather lined chair, an ornate oak desk in front of him. Slightly curved desks radiated outward from his position. The floor of the situation room sloped down towards where he sat, so the desks in front were always slightly lower than the ones behind them. Stairs ran down the center of the room from the doors all the way to the Admiral’s desk.

  Heads turned as Sarah began her descent, which seemed like it was taking forever. Finally, she came to halt at a small podium just to the left of Constantine. She snapped to attention and saluted.

  “Major Sarah Clark reporting as ordered sir.”