Free Catherine Kimbridge Chronicles 2: Redemption by Andrew Beery

visitor."
    "I told you we can't. Our AI lost most of its linguistic database."
    Cat reached a hand towards a communication console and touched it. Immediately the tip of her fingers turned silver.
    Out loud she said, "Cal, link up with the Heidman's AI. Archive any data since the ship entered this system and effect repairs on the AI itself."    
    " Archive complete. Repairs complete. " was the near instantaneous response.
    ***
    Lieutenant Commander Sherry Melbourne adjusted the trim on the combat incursion shuttle, the GCP Dante . The craft, which was a recent addition to the GCP Yorktown, was built for stealth and robustness.
     
    The entire exterior of the shuttle was studded with Hyperfield nubs. These nubs were tied into one of the GCP's most capable AIs. Some of these nubs warped space in an overlapping field of meter-sized spheres. Another set of nubs detected minute perturbations in this field. Anything smaller than a few grains of sand, down to a single photon,that impacted the surface of the field would b e‘ folde d ’ through space to the other side of the shuttle, its momentum and vector intact.
     
    Larger objects would signal the shuttles' systems to instantaneously phase the shuttle out of space-time and allow the object to pass. If any object succeeded in breaching the field, a third set of nubs were set to reverse the momentum of the offending object.
     
    The result was a nearly invisible and undetectable craft that was also impervious to most forms of attack. The greatest vulnerability of the GCP Dante was during atmosphere travel when its invisibility cloak was rendered useless and it was solely dependent on its momentum shields.
     
    Commander Ken Kirkland sat in the copilot's seat next to his friend. He rubbed his hand across the small bronze plate mounted on the wall next to his control panel.  It read: " Lasciate ogne speranza, voi ch'intrate." He softly muttered the translation, "Abandon all hope, ye who enter here."
     
    Sherry smiled as she tweaked a control. "The Admiral's sense of humor at work again."
    "I suspected as much ," Ken confirmed.
    "He had hoped we would never have to build the Dante . That war and fighting had finally become a thing of the past for us. I guess he views its construction and use as entering the nine circles of hell."
    "Well, he may be right , but I prefer to think of this as simply a step along the path towards paradiso in the creator's ow n‘ Divine Comedy ,’ " Ken mused. "How long until we reach orbit?"
    In response Sherry activated the internal comms. "Attention crew. We are jumping into planetary orbit in sixty seconds. Once we arrive we will deploy our full complement of stealth probes in orbit around Kepler-47b. Be prepared for debarkation fifteen minutes after that. Melbourne out."
    The Dante currently held two landing skiffs with fifteen fully-armored, combat-ready soldiers each. Ken would lead both teams from the skiff designate d‘ Gol d ’ while Chief Wroblewski would handle th e‘ Re d ’ team from his skiff.
    Ken keyed his internal comm unit. "Chief, you ready?"
    "Born ready , Sir!" Wroblewski answered. "You give the order and my guys and gals will go on a bug hunt."
    "We don't know why we were attacked yet. Until we do and until I determine a defensive  need, we do this a quietly as possible. Remember, non-lethal force unless we have no choice. Clear?"
    "Roger that Sir... bug repellent only."
    ***
    Sassi, the Ashkelon communications officer from the Silver Fledgling wondered what he had gotten himself into. He was embedded as an observer in Chief Wroblewski's Red team.  There had been some question about whether or not it was even possible for him to join the expedition. The Ashkelon physiology was considerably more fragile than that of the other races they had met. A heavy world like 47b would quickly crush his internal organs.
     
    The issue had been resolved by a specially designed encounter suit that incorporated a Higgs Field dampener.