Prelude to Extinction

by Andreas Karpf

  As Don’s voice trailed off, Palmer continued, “Fortunately, the enemy ships didn’t see us right away. As a result, I ordered a complete system shutdown. All power, including life support and communications – everything. I was betting that the mix of warm rubble from the battle and our lack of power signature would keep us hidden. It seems that we were successful, at least for now.”

  “What about Alpha?” Jack asked.

  “We’re not sure,” Palmer answered.

  “It’s possible they ran.” Don said. “But, just before we shut down, it seemed like they might have been acting like a decoy to draw the enemy ships away from us. I mean, Alpha’s ship moved away from us, and then just sat there. When the fighters got close, the sphere took off with one wave in pursuit. If it was a decoy, then it looks like it worked. The problem is, with everything off we couldn’t track anything. Palmer said that we needed to lay dormant as long as we could. So we did just that: drifted without power for about six hours.”

  Jack looked at Palmer and had to admit, going dark was a good idea. He then calmly asked, “What about the other wave?”

  “That may be the real problem,” Palmer answered. “They didn’t go after Alpha.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Just before we shut down, it looked like they were continuing through this system without decelerating.”

  Jack continued with frustration lacing his voice, “And where did it look like they were heading?”

  There was a noticeable pause before Palmer answered, “Possibly Earth. We don’t know for sure because we couldn’t track them.”

  “Damn it!” Jack shouted. “What’s our status?”

  Don answered this time, “The IPV’s in good shape. Better than that even.”

  “What do you mean?” Jack asked.

  “When we told Alpha you were missing; they gave us two of those...those things they used to capture us. I guess I’d call them engines. They just attached to the outside of the IPV like before, but this time Alpha interfaced them with our navigation system. Basically we can use them in place of our engines. They’re way more maneuverable than our tech. And they’ll even get us close to light speed; like maybe point-nine-c in a day or so. They also gave us another one of those pods you and Nadya were in. Palmer was considering taking it himself to expand our search just before we found you.”

  “Fine,” Jack said. There were more important things to worry about. “Can we track those ships?”

  “We can’t find them,” Palmer said dryly. “The formation that went through the system was coasting at better than point-nine-nine-c. Without their engines on, there’s no way for us to see them. As for the ones that chased after Alpha, we’ve got no idea. I’m sure they’re running their engines so we should be able to see them. My best guess is that they’re in our only blind spot: the far side of this system’s star.”

  Again, Palmer’s analysis made sense. The problem was, they knew too little and had no time to waste.

  “Jack?” Don said.

  “Yes.”

  “Right now I think it’d be best if you and Nadya got checked out by Helena. We can take care of things in the meantime.”

  Jack just stared at them. The last thing he wanted to do was waste time in sickbay. Before he could protest though, Don continued, “Jack, your face is covered in blood. And Nadya, you’re limping. Just go see Helena first. I’m sure it won’t take long.”

  Jack didn’t move. There was too much to do right now.

  “Captain, I have to agree with Dr. Martinez,” Palmer pressed. “You need to get checked out.”

  Looking at the two of them, he finally said, “Work together. Find Kurt’s ship and get me some data on where those enemy ships are. I’ll meet you on the bridge as soon as I’m done in sickbay.”

  Palmer gave him a quick, “Yes sir,” and turned to return to the bridge.

  Chapter 36 – August 1, 2124; 12:20:00

  Jack leaned forward in his command chair. Time was creeping forward just as slowly on the bridge as it did when he was trapped in the alien pod. Barely an hour had passed since his return, yet it felt like nearly a day. There were still no signs of Kurt, Alpha’s sphere or the enemy ships. All that lay in front of them was a star system cluttered with the debris from shattered planetoids and wrecked enemy fighters. At five meters in length, Kurt’s pod was about the same size as the larger ship fragments, rendering remote radar scans useless. He had Nadya and Palmer searching the region with the IPV’s telescopes. Don was looking for power signatures using broad spectrum E-M scans. This left him to plan their next move. But without any data, there was nothing to plan.

  “Computer, display schematic of local region,” he said softly.

  The main screen showed a collection of yellow specks representing the myriad of planetesimals and fragments that populated the vicinity. The map told him nothing though, and he said, “Highlight metallic objects.” A small fraction of the specks turned blue: they were the remnants of the attacking fleet. Kurt’s ship might be among them, but there was no way to know.

  He needed more information, and said, “Computer, display velocity vectors of each target.”

  A pencil thin arrow emerged from each speck; their rough alignment made the yellow targets resemble a school of fish. They swam to his right, with small, random variations in their orientation. It made sense, though, as this was the general direction of orbital motion in this system. The blue objects, on the other hand, were a chaotic collection of arrows pointing in every direction. This was no surprise either, as violent explosions had sent these fragments careening in all directions. His eyes jumped from place to place; searching for something that stuck out. But nothing caught his attention. His mind slowly grew accustomed to the patterns and they lost their significance. They didn’t give him a hint of what was going on.

  “Computer...,” he started, but stopped as something caught his eye. “Computer, replay – starting five seconds back.”

  Everything seemed the same, except for a single blue dot whose velocity arrow suddenly changed direction. He stared at the map more intensely, and moments later another blue vector changed.

  “Computer, zoom in on and replay the region around the first velocity change.”

  The blue dot quickly grew into a jagged metallic ship fragment drifting smoothly to his left. His eye followed its trajectory until it impacted a small icy body, sending the remnant spinning away to his upper right. “Of course,” he said to himself; the region was littered with debris so collisions were inevitable.

  “Computer, highlight all objects whose velocity changed in the last fifteen minutes.”

  The sea of yellow and blue targets with their pencil thin arrows returned. Scattered among them were a dozen objects highlighted in a bright green, indicating their recent trajectory changes. Jack stared at the map, again looking for patterns to guide him. He only saw the obvious one: all velocity changes occurred in pairs. They were the result of collisions. Aside from that, their distribution was random.

  “Computer, display a wide-field view of the star system.”

  The view zoomed out and the sea of yellow specks was reduced to a hazy, arcing yellow belt surrounding the system’s distant sun. “Highlight velocity vector changes again.” The computer obliged and two clusters of green points were immediately apparent in the belt. Each was centered around a region where the enemy ships had fallen into their trap. Far off to his left, however was a third small group. It was much deeper in the system, near the central star. The answer suddenly leapt to the front of his mind. “Computer,” he said, “Show me only objects with unpaired velocity changes.”

  Nearly everything disappeared, only the group close to the central star remained.

  “Zoom in on the inner cluster,” he said.

  His view shifted to show a small earth-like globe with a large, ring-shaped array of green points a small distance away. “There you are,” Jack whispered. It was the one of the missing waves of enemy s
hips in a defensive position around one of the system’s AGCs.

  “Computer, display all objects with large velocity vectors that are significantly different from the expected orbital motion.”

  A single object, highlighted in red, was emerging from behind the main star. It moved fast enough that he could easily see its motion across his screen. “Zoom in,” he called out.

  The view changed, and he instantly saw that it was Alpha’s sphere. The ship was moving with enough speed that the surrounding planetoids appeared as little more than thin streaks. Its trajectory said it was likely heading back towards them. More importantly, there were no ships in pursuit. Jack immediately wanted to contact them, but it was too dangerous. Any transmission would give away his position. Hopefully Alpha would find him on his own.

  “Computer, display wide field view again.”

  The hazy, yellow belt surrounding the central star returned. A small red dot, indicating Alpha’s sphere, was clearly visible working its way outward. There were, however, no other anomalous objects highlighted – no sign of Kurt’s ship.

  Palmer quietly walked up to him and said, “Sir, I have a request.”

  Jack looked up at the man and said, “I thought you were working with Nadya in the observatory.”

  “Sir, she’s quite capable of doing the search without me. Besides, I think I have a better way to help.”

  He simply replied, “Explain.”

  “I’d like to take the undamaged alien pod and look for Lieutenant Commander Hoffman. Specifically, I want to search the area near KB53.”

  “Absolutely not,” Jack shot back. “The situation’s in too much of a state of flux. I can’t have you out there on your own.”

  “Sir,” Palmer said more forcefully.

  Jack simply answered again with a firm, “No.”

  Palmer, however, continued politely, “I understand, but look at the situation. We’re shorthanded, and too far from that region to see the difference between debris and a small ship. You’re wasting too much time letting me sit here like this.”

  Jack knew what the right move was, but didn’t want to admit it. He already had one missing ship and potential traps all around. He didn’t want to risk losing anyone else. However, they were desperate. Every minute longer put Kurt’s and Janet’s lives in further danger; and he definitely couldn’t leave the ship himself.

  “Sir,” Palmer pressed respectfully, “you need to let me try.”

  Jack looked around the bridge: Kate and Janet were the only others present and was completely focused on their terminal. Looking back at Palmer, he pushed his fears from his mind – one should never make a decision based on emotion. And fear was the worst of them. Taking a deep breath, he finally said, “Go, find them.”

  “Yes sir,” Palmer replied and quickly headed off the bridge.

  His decision felt wrong, but it was painfully obvious that they weren’t making any progress: this was the only logical move. He needed to move on and focused his attention again on the map. However, it told him nothing new: Alpha’s ship was inching outward, a contingent of enemy ships was lying in wait near the inner earth-like planet, and the IPV was still sitting helpless in a sea of debris. He studied their positions but realized it was just a waste of time. Activating his comm., he called out, “Don, respond please.”

  “Here Jack,” was the quick reply.

  “I was able to identify Alpha’s ship. We need to track it.”

  “Yes, I spotted it a moment ago too,” Don replied. “I’ve already extrapolated its course. It looks like they’re heading our direction. My best guess is that they’ll reach us in about twenty minutes. But there’s a problem.”

  “What’s that?” Jack asked.

  “There are enemy ships in pursuit. They’re pretty far back, but are definitely following.”

  “How many?”

  “It’s tough to tell, but I’d guess it’s the bulk of the wave that Palmer and I saw chasing them before.”

  “Send me your data,” Jack said.

  There was brief pause before Don replied, “OK, you’ve got it.”

  “Thank you.”

  He looked up at the main screen, and said, “Computer, overlay Don’s course calculations on the schematic.”

  The screen’s wide angle view of the system changed slightly. A thin, red arc emerged from behind the central star, swinging out into hazy yellow belt of the star’s Kuiper belt before adjusting course and looping toward a white triangle identifying the IPV. Along the arc was a slowly moving red circle identifying the current position of Alpha’s ship. A significant distance behind it was a small cluster of blue points; the pursuing wave of enemy fighters.

  “Computer, highlight the debris field near Kurt’s last position”

  A green ellipse buried deep within the Kuiper belt appeared; it lay about a quarter of the way between the IPV and Alpha’s ship. “Show Palmer’s course,” Jack ordered.

  The machine obediently added a white line leading from the IPV to the debris field. It was immediately apparent that Palmer would reach the region only a few minutes ahead of Alpha. The enemy ships would follow not long after that. There wasn’t going to be enough time for him to do a meaningful search alone. Jack’s frustration eased as he recognized that Palmer’s idea could still prove useful. True, the IPV was too far away to have a good chance of locating Kurt. But instead of sending just Palmer, Jack needed to take the IPV in as well. If they worked their search from opposites sides, they might have a chance. However, this meant assuming Kurt’s ship was near the alien wreckage and giving up on the rest of the system.

  “Computer,” Jack said, “plot a course to the debris field. Calculate a search pattern to complement Palmer’s.”

  A blue line appeared. It overlaid Palmer’s course before diverging when they approached the target region. “Course calculated,” the machine announced.

  “Good, Janet take us in,” Jack said.

  A bright bead slowly climbed along the IPV’s projected course; the alien technology however suppressed any feeling of acceleration. While admiring their progress, the surrounding silence caught his attention. The bridge should have been humming with activity. This, however, was a reminder that half of his bridge staff was dead or missing. Nadya was still running the search from the observatory and lower deck. The rest of the science contingent was pitching in as best they could.

  He refocused his attention on the map. Palmer was closing in on the debris field. With the aid of their alien engines, the IPV was close enough now that their radar scans revealed details in the cloud of metal ship fragments. So far, however, no smooth, oval objects indicative of the alien pods could be seen. He tried to take solace with the thought that at least they were making some progress.

  “Don,” he called into the comm.

  “Here Jack.”

  “Do you have any updated course calculations for Alpha’s sphere and the enemy ships?”

  “Yes. Alpha’s definitely heading towards us. I expect he’ll intercept our position in a little over ten minutes. That’s barely five minutes after we reach the debris field. The other ships, however, are a problem.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It looks like they’re fanning out.”

  “Feed your projections to the main screen up here.”

  “Give me a sec,” Don replied.

  The map changed, displaying a close-up view of the region near the broken up Kuiper belt object KB 53. The scene was dominated by yellow-highlighted rock fragments littering the area, along with what must have been several dozen blue-encircled, jagged metal fragments. A tightly clustered set of lines, identifying the paths of the enemy fighters penetrated deep into the region before starting to diverge. It seemed as if they might try to surround the search area.

  “It looks almost like they know where we’re going. How far back are they?”

  “Only a minute or two behind Alpha at most. It’s seems they’ve picked up some speed.”

&
nbsp; “Captain.”

  Jack sat up straight in his chair; it was Palmer’s voice over the comm. “Yes, go ahead,” Jack replied.

  “I think I may have found them. There’s a smooth five-meter long metal object about fifteen thousand kilometers ahead of me. It looks intact.”

  “Thank God!” Jack said loudly.

  “My ETA to them is about two minutes.”

  “Good. We’ll rendezvous with you there,” Jack answered as he studied the map. They would have barely five minutes to get both pods aboard before Alpha’s ship and the enemy fighters arrived.

  “Kate,” he called out.

  “Yes sir?” she replied.

  “Send a signal to Alpha. We’re going to need their help.”

  “The signal’s been sent,” she replied a moment later.

  Only a couple seconds more passed before Beta’s voice came through, “Captain, we will be in your vicinity in about seven minutes. Our plan is to take your ship aboard ours and outrun the pursuing ships.”

  “That sounds good,” Jack answered with some relief. “We’re going to need your help rescuing our other crew members first,”

  “That is not possible. Rescuing just your vessel is going to be risky enough. We’ll need to come to a stop, deactivate our drive to get your ship inside, and then accelerate again before they catch up with us. Even with pushing our technology to its limits, I’m not one-hundred percent sure we can do it. There will be no extra time to retrieve your other crew members.”

  “I’m not leaving them out there to die,” Jack shot back.

  “You should be more concerned about the thirteen lives aboard your IPV than the three out there,” Beta answered indifferently.

  “Where’s Alpha?” Jack asked.

  “Alpha is no longer available to communicate with you,” Beta answered tersely.

  The response sent a chill down Jack’s spine – he’d underestimated them. For a split second Jack wondered if they’d actually done something to Alpha? Or, were they simply preventing him from talking with them? Before Jack could finish his thoughts, Beta continued, “For us to complete this maneuver, you will need to shut your engines down when we approach. At that point our systems will take control and pull you in. I will contact you when we are in position.”