too late: Klaus
was already dead; his research destroyed. After questioning Klaus’s uncle,
Gruber, they’d learned two things before the man had succumbed to the wounds
sustained during questioning. The first was the general process Klaus had used
to develop the Kinemetic conversion—the Kinemet had to be ‘primed’ somehow.
Secondly, Gruber told them that Major Justine Turner had been converted to a
Kinemat and was on the way to Canada Station Three, where Alex Manez was kept
under military protection.
Chow Yin glanced at Sian, who sat at the main computer
terminal. The programmer had been able to monitor the communications between
the Earth Council and Canada Station Three, and learned about the injunction
against Kinemetic research. He’d also picked up a message that the Arab
Conglomerates were sending a team of observers to CS3—Chow Yin, knowing Alex
and Justine’s history, made a guess that they wouldn’t just sit idly by and
wait to be put under a microscope. “We need to be ready to intercept them,” he
told his crew, and General Leong put in a course for CS3.
His hunch had proved correct: Alex and Justine were trying
to get away from CS3 before the observers arrived, and Chow Yin ordered General
Leong to pursue them.
“How many of the Kinemetic torpedoes do you have on board?” he
asked.
“Three,” the general responded. “If we use them, we’ll
destroy their ship.”
“That’s the idea,” Chow Yin said. “According to Captain
Gruber, no one knows Klaus’s process; the secret died with him. The last thing
we need is for someone to leak the information; we cannot have competition. In
order for us to control space, we need to have a monopoly on the technology;
anyone who is undertaking research must be eliminated.”
“Understood, Sire,” General Leong said, but their efforts to
destroy the Ultio and its passengers fell short when, to everyone’s
surprise, their first Kinemetic torpedo detonated before it impacted. When the
general ordered the launch of the remaining two torpedoes, the Ultio quantized
and disappeared from normal space.
The silence on the bridge stretched out for several minutes
before Chow Yin finally spoke.
“Well, there is no help for it.” He turned to General Leong.
“We must return to our original plan.”
The general nodded, and gave the order to his pilot. “Lay in
a course to Qin Station.”
Chow Yin swore under his breath, “It’s time I took back what
is rightfully mine.”
∞
Over the following four years, Chow Yin wrested control of
all space operations in Sol System through a combination of force and
misdirection.
His greatest asset was to use the paranoia of Earth’s
nations against them. Before he launched his first strike against Luna Station,
he arranged for the detonation of a Nepali nuclear warhead on Bhutan soil. Key
members of the PRC Parliament, as directed by Chow Yin, called for immediate
sanctions against Nepal.
India, a long-time ally of Nepal, called for sanctions
against China, who then declared war on India. Within months, nearly every
nation on Earth was taking sides, and military conflict was at an all-time
high.
Once the superpowers withdrew the bulk of their military
forces back to Earth, Luna Station was Chow Yin’s for the taking. The most
tenuous moment in his plans for empire came when the United States Space Force
launched a major offensive to retake their four mining stations near the
asteroid belt—which was important to the war effort, since asteroid mining was
the only way to replenish their stocks of metals. Earth had been depleted the
majority of their resources long ago.
Instead of protecting those mining stations, Chow Yin
ordered their complete destruction—which served as a warning to any other
nation that attempted a similar action.
In a public relations move, he relocated all the personnel
on those stations to the Qin Station. He made it a point to have the news feeds
report that there had not been
was already dead; his research destroyed. After questioning Klaus’s uncle,
Gruber, they’d learned two things before the man had succumbed to the wounds
sustained during questioning. The first was the general process Klaus had used
to develop the Kinemetic conversion—the Kinemet had to be ‘primed’ somehow.
Secondly, Gruber told them that Major Justine Turner had been converted to a
Kinemat and was on the way to Canada Station Three, where Alex Manez was kept
under military protection.
Chow Yin glanced at Sian, who sat at the main computer
terminal. The programmer had been able to monitor the communications between
the Earth Council and Canada Station Three, and learned about the injunction
against Kinemetic research. He’d also picked up a message that the Arab
Conglomerates were sending a team of observers to CS3—Chow Yin, knowing Alex
and Justine’s history, made a guess that they wouldn’t just sit idly by and
wait to be put under a microscope. “We need to be ready to intercept them,” he
told his crew, and General Leong put in a course for CS3.
His hunch had proved correct: Alex and Justine were trying
to get away from CS3 before the observers arrived, and Chow Yin ordered General
Leong to pursue them.
“How many of the Kinemetic torpedoes do you have on board?” he
asked.
“Three,” the general responded. “If we use them, we’ll
destroy their ship.”
“That’s the idea,” Chow Yin said. “According to Captain
Gruber, no one knows Klaus’s process; the secret died with him. The last thing
we need is for someone to leak the information; we cannot have competition. In
order for us to control space, we need to have a monopoly on the technology;
anyone who is undertaking research must be eliminated.”
“Understood, Sire,” General Leong said, but their efforts to
destroy the Ultio and its passengers fell short when, to everyone’s
surprise, their first Kinemetic torpedo detonated before it impacted. When the
general ordered the launch of the remaining two torpedoes, the Ultio quantized
and disappeared from normal space.
The silence on the bridge stretched out for several minutes
before Chow Yin finally spoke.
“Well, there is no help for it.” He turned to General Leong.
“We must return to our original plan.”
The general nodded, and gave the order to his pilot. “Lay in
a course to Qin Station.”
Chow Yin swore under his breath, “It’s time I took back what
is rightfully mine.”
∞
Over the following four years, Chow Yin wrested control of
all space operations in Sol System through a combination of force and
misdirection.
His greatest asset was to use the paranoia of Earth’s
nations against them. Before he launched his first strike against Luna Station,
he arranged for the detonation of a Nepali nuclear warhead on Bhutan soil. Key
members of the PRC Parliament, as directed by Chow Yin, called for immediate
sanctions against Nepal.
India, a long-time ally of Nepal, called for sanctions
against China, who then declared war on India. Within months, nearly every
nation on Earth was taking sides, and military conflict was at an all-time
high.
Once the superpowers withdrew the bulk of their military
forces back to Earth, Luna Station was Chow Yin’s for the taking. The most
tenuous moment in his plans for empire came when the United States Space Force
launched a major offensive to retake their four mining stations near the
asteroid belt—which was important to the war effort, since asteroid mining was
the only way to replenish their stocks of metals. Earth had been depleted the
majority of their resources long ago.
Instead of protecting those mining stations, Chow Yin
ordered their complete destruction—which served as a warning to any other
nation that attempted a similar action.
In a public relations move, he relocated all the personnel
on those stations to the Qin Station. He made it a point to have the news feeds
report that there had not been
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