Invasion

by Jerry Shepard

  Noah walked into the observation deck and his attention was drawn to a handful of new captains, looking at their ships through the window, who were relaying orders to their subordinates. He envied these young captains with their gleaming ships. He looked out the window to see the ships in dock. He saw quite a few Excelsior-class destroyers undergoing their final fits. He didn't need anyone to tell him which ship was the Titan. He recognized it almost immediately.

  The Titan stuck out like a sore thumb among the new destroyers. It was not only quite a bit dirtier due to its age and many voyages, but it also happened to dwarf the destroyers in size. The Dreadnought-class ship he noted, were known for their ability to dish out punishment and take it. While not as maneuverable as the new destroyers, the Titan was designed to take a pounding. And given its size, it had the largest gun emplacements in the fleet. Which meant it not only could go toe-to-toe with the heaviest ships that the Xen ever threw at them, it would be able to defeat them one-on-one as well.

  One of the captains noticed Noah and elbowed another beside him to gain his attention. Noah caught the movement out of the corner of his eye. He turned and walked towards the datapad for the Titan and as he did, he made a mental note of their expressions, slight amusement mixed with awe was the best description that he could come up with.

  Noah entered his code into the datapad and surprisingly, gained access to the loadout and retrofits for the ship. It appeared that the admiral had already granted him security access to the ship. This was pretty presumptuous to Noah, given that his access had to have been granted before he had even accepted the mission. He chuckled at the admiral's confidence.

  He looked over the main points of the retrofit. The ship was currently being cleaned and the protective coating against the negative effects of gaseous nebulae and solar radiation, would be restored in one day's time. He noticed that not all of the gun emplacements had been retrofitted to the newest in the fleet. The laser cannons were the same ones that were in service before the Xen war. Only the tachyon and plasma cannons, and electromagnetic railguns, were new. He noted that the railguns that were installed would shoot projectiles the size of small buildings. These particular railguns were so large they could not be placed in something the size of a destroyer. But in a dreadnought, they fit perfectly.

  "Not exactly used for hunting mice," he chuckled to himself.

  The last two major parts of the retrofit orders drew his attention. The first was the notation that the computer system had been updated to a new hybrid system. The installation order further clarified that the computer system was now compatible with all Xen computer systems and all Xen navigational charts had been added. He guessed this was done so that the Xen crew would have an easier time getting acclimated to the computer system on a foreign vessel. The second part of the retrofit involved the installation of an experimental fuel system. From the technical readout, he could see that it was a method by which the ship could collect the solar radiation from stars, either by proximity to them or by catching the radiation that was carried by 'solar winds', and converting that radiation into energy for the engines. The result of this allowed the engineers to convert much of the space that was previously used for fuel into ammunition racks and storage for food, medicine and other supplies. Pretty ingenious, he thought. If it worked. But fortunately for them, they were not going to go too far from a station. Even in the Ankarii system, they would only be two jumps away from a station, so they wouldn't need to use this new fuel collections system very much.

  The rest of the reports involved mundane repairs and the delivery of supplies, science equipment and transfer orders for crew members. From the familiar names on those orders, it looked to Noah like quite a few of his former crew were transferring to his ship. Which was odd. Usually, crew were not granted transfers in the middle of their deployments. He made a mental note to check with the Roskan on that when he spoke to him.

  Noah put the datapad down and looked up at the, now three, captains staring at him.

  "Something I can help you gentlemen with?" he asked.

  "We had heard a rumor that you were back in command. Is that true?" the first one responded.

  "Yeah, looks like it."

  "So which ship is yours?" the second captain asked.

  "The one on the end," Noah said. "The Titan."

  "Wait, the Titan? But that thing is so old my grandfather probably served on her!" the third said. "You're going out in that piece of junk? You're braver than I thought."

  "Yeah, or just very, very stupid," joked Noah walking away. "You gentlemen enjoy your evening."

  Noah knew what he needed to do next. He had to get on that ship and check it out.

  DECISIONS

  Noah walked along the concourse while replaying the options in his mind. He wasn't happy about the ship the admiral had chosen. Nor did he relish having a pug as his XO. But thanks to the admiral, he had the chance to command another ship again. He was positively giddy at the thought of pulling a ship out of the dock and jumping to another system. That sense of exploring the unknown still got his adrenaline pumping, even now. But the admiral had to go and ruin it with the other parts of the deal. And that was why the decision was a hard one to make.

  A science mission? That was just glorified babysitting. Nothing worse than having to give a ride to a bunch of scientists. To Noah, all scientists were just young men devoting far too much to their studies instead of living their lives. He had yet to meet one that was more interested in the opposite sex than they were in a bunch of old relics. Still, he could put up with them for a few weeks. In the meantime he had a ship to check out. As Noah boarded the Titan, he passed quite a few workers carrying various equipment such as cables and computer panels. One such unlucky worker had the unenviable job of driving the lifter that carried the plasma coils for the plasma cannons. In order to protect him from any adverse effects, he had to wear a thick contact suit that must've drowned the poor guy in his own sweat. Noah steered clear of him and checked his datapad to ensure he examined the right parts of the ship.

  He was there to give the ship a good going over to ensure that he knew it inside and out. The ritual was an old habit he had learned from his first CAG when he was a newly minted fighter pilot. The lesson was that when assuming command of a ship, a pilot needed to open it up and take a look inside. Because, as his CAG had said "...when bad things start to happen in the void, the pilot who understands what his ship is capable of, is the one that is going to end up alive more often than not."

  Noah's first stop was Engineering. He had brought along his tool kit and quickly opened a few panels to expose the walkways running from the central part of the ship. While exploring the passages, he took notice of the new cabling that had been installed throughout. He bitterly noted that no doubt the new cables were there to accommodate the new Xen technology that had been added.

  He spent the next three hours exploring the inside of the ship. He noticed that the passages from each section were brightly lit, and clean. From this point of view the ship could've been one of the newest in the fleet, instead of being old enough to retire from military service and gain a pension. On his way out of the passageways, he noticed some curious compartments tucked into the front of the ship. He noticed that with these compartments, there were around twenty or so areas that one could conceivably use to hide a large amount of whatever they wanted to. He doubted it was part of the intended design of the original ship. No doubt some industrious former crew member, had removed some panels and used the compartments to smuggle contraband. Noah made a mental note of the locations and sizes of the compartments and returned to topside for the remainder of his walkthrough.

  His next attention was on the layout of the ship's offensive and defensive capabilities. He noted over forty laser cannons, thirty tachyon cannons, twenty plasma cannons and ten large railguns. These weapon emplacements were laid out so that no matter what vector the ship was attacked from, there would be at least two sides of the
ship that caught the enemy in a converging field of fire. The shield generators installed were three Class V shields. Even the Excelsior destroyers could barely handle powering one. His subsequent review of the engines brought a smile to his face as he noticed what looked like six of the most powerful engines that the Alliance had ever built. The engines looked like the famed Merlin engines but with a slight tweak. He noticed a few modifications and some of the Xen symbols on them. Clearly the computer system wasn't the only hybrid component of the ship after all.

  He spent the remainder of the day examining the rest of the ship. O'Malley was right. It was a "bucket of rust", when compared to the rest of the fleet. But it also was serviceable and, with the retrofits, it might not be too bad. Even if he did have to deal with a computer system and engines that were half pug.

  And the XO? Jesus, why did Roskan have to go and ruin a good thing. It was bad enough that they were former enemies. He knew that the Xen were behind Julie's death. No one believed him, but he was going to prove it one day. That fucking Roskan knew that the Xen were responsible. And yet he put one on his bridge?

  As he strolled along the main corridor toward the shuttles to Earth, he had come to a decision. It was a message he needed to deliver to the admiral, in person.

  ROSKAN

  Year: 2564 (Alliance Year: 7), Location: Earth

  Noah pressed the button on the panel to the front door of the very large house. The house was situated in the wealthy, suburban neighborhood that was not far from his own apartment. The perks of high command no doubt. The panel lit up. "Stand still for security scan," sounded the announcement from the speaker. Noah complied with the instructions as the beam of light scanned for facial recognition and the presence of any weapons. Once completed, the panel instructed Noah to enter.

  The admiral was seated in a large brown leather recliner watching football when Noah entered the den. "Beers are in the mini-fridge if you're interested," he said as he looked Noah's way.

  "Thanks," Noah said as he opened the mini-fridge in the wall of the den and retrieved 2 beers. He let the automatic opener take the lids and then handed one to Roskan as he took a seat near him.

  "Who's playing?"

  "Ah, its college football. Alabama and James Madison are playing for the championship," replied Roskan, taking a swig from his bottle. "It's almost over. Looks like the Dukes are going to repeat as champs."

  He pressed a button on his chair and the video feed on the wall screen paused. "So? What is your decision? You gonna take the Titan or not?"

  "Well, I've given it quite a bit of thought. I even went out to the space dock to check out her refits. You were pretty presumptuous to grant me access to the data before I had even given you a Yes or No."

  "Well, I have faith that you'll come to the right decision. As always," replied Roskan.

  "Ok, here's the deal from me. If I do this, you not only do away with the current problem of the courts martial hearing, but I also get my old rank returned to me. With back pay!"

  Roskan nodded. "Okay, I can do that. What else? I sense something else is required."

  Noah took a long swig from his beer and without a breath continued his demands. "Additionally, I want a full investigation into Julie's death."

  "No way!" Roskan said, slamming his beer down. "The Xen will never go for it! It's all political now Noah, there's no way I can get an official investigation going for that".

  Noah got Roskan's meaning with his emphasis on the word official and grinned. "Okay, then what can we unofficially do?"

  "I'll see what I can do Noah, I'll make some private inquiries. And I also know a few investigators who owe me. So maybe it's time to call those favors in. Deal?"

  "Yes. One other condition," Noah said.

  "Jesus, what is it?"

  "I don't want some pug as my XO," countered Noah almost frantically. "I need O'Malley in that position! I need someone I can trust!"

  "No fucking way Noah!" shouted Roskan, losing his cool for a moment. He composed himself again and continued. "A Xen as your XO is non-negotiable. You will have him as your Executive Officer and he will report to you. Otherwise, I'll take you down to the MP's myself and turn you in for insubordination. I'll add that to your list of charges."

  "Okay, okay. Fine. But I'm going to be giving him all the shit details I can..."

  "Not advisable," Roskan interrupted. "Remember, you will be in command of a mixed crew of humans and Xen. Humiliating their senior officer under your command could have negative effects on their performance on this cruise."

  Noah started to protest but Roskan raised his hand to shut him up so he could continue.

  "That being said, it is your command. So you are free to delegate tasks as you see fit. For example, if you feel he needs to brush up on his organizational skills as the kitchen mess officer more often than other human officers, that's your judgement call to make."

  "Fine. Now tell me about this science team I'll be babysitting."

  "The science team is also a mixed team of humans and Xen. There are experts in the fields of Xen biology, Xen archaeology, and Xen mythology, to name just a few of the fields they are experts in. The team also is comprised of experts in starship propulsion, warp theory and computer systems integration. It's a very diverse team. The former will be assisting you with investigating the anomaly. The latter will be examining how the new Xen technology and the new fuel system work on the Titan."

  "Wait, the war only ended a little over eight years ago," Noah said, "and you're telling me that we already have someone who is a expert on the Xen? I can't decide if that's impressive or a colossal waste of time."

  He noticed the disapproving stare from Roskan and sighed. "Okay, and who is running that team?"

  "Well, that would be Dr. Sarduun. Sarduun is the foremost human expert on pretty much everything Xen-related." Roskan reached for the nearby datapad and entered in a few codes. "There, all of the information about the team is now in your private library on the ship. You'll just need to access it from your quarters on the Titan to retrieve it."

  Noah got up to leave and Roskan motioned him to sit back down. "There's one other thing I need to tell you."

  Noah sighed as he sat back down. "What is it?"

  "It appears that a NAV ship is overdue by over two weeks. No communication has been received from them."

  "Well, I heard something about it on the news. And while that's highly unusual, but what does that have to do with this mission?" Noah asked.

  "The Archon is the ship that discovered the anomaly. In fact, just days after relaying the message about the anomaly, it simply disappeared and now has been listed as missing."

  "Wait," Noah started. "The Archon?"

  "Yeah."

  "But that was Sivus' ship."

  "Yeah, he was a good captain."

  "Is a good captain," Noah corrected him. "He's the best mentor you and I ever had."

  "That he was, Noah," Roskan said. "And you're right. He is a good captain. But right now, he is missing."

  "Wasn't he supposed to be retired by now?" Noah asked.

  "He was. He wouldn't take it. I've been threatening to yank him out of his chair for years. But never had the heart to do it to him."

  The timing was concerning for Noah. Usually NAV ships constantly communicated with Fleet HQ on a twelve hour basis. The fact that Sivus' ship had missed over twenty eight straight transmissions to Fleet HQ was very bad indeed. And it made him wonder what, if anything, the anomaly had to do with the disappearance. One thing is for sure, he thought, the Titan's crew will need to be prepared for anything.

  "Gee, you never stop giving me surprises, do you?" Noah said.

  "Good luck Noah," Roskan said as he stood and shook Noah's hand. "Make all of us old captains proud. Don't worry about the trouble going on here. I can stall them for a while. Just get there and back in a month and I can present a good case to dismiss the charges."

  "Who you callin' old?" Noah joked. "Oh, and one mor
e question. I noticed that there were numerous familiar names on crew roster. The reports indicated that they were granted permission to transfer TO the Titan two days ago. What gives?"

  "Hah, I knew that if I dangled a command in front of you, that you would jump on it. And I knew that having a mixed crew of Xen would cause some issues for you, at least at first. So I put the ball in motion to start populating the Titan with a crew that you can trust."

  "What if I had said no?" laughed Noah.

  "Well, your assault of the Xen in that club took care of the No for me, didn't it?" grinned Roskan. "Face it Noah, I outmaneuvered you this time."

  "Alright, alright, I'm beaten. Just please check in on Lily and my parents. I apparently agreed to let them take her to Arizona for the next few weeks."

  "Sure thing Noah. And good luck," Roskan said.

  "Thanks, somehow I think I'm gonna need all the luck I can get".

  DEPARTURE

  Year: 2564 (Alliance Year: 7), Location: Earth's Orbital Shipyard

  Noah walked the gangplank leading to the Titan. As he stopped to gaze at the ship, he looked at her with new eyes. When he had viewed the ship from the observation window 2 days ago, he had seen that it dwarfed the other ships in the fleet. And when he had gone to check out the ship, he was more focused on it that he was on the size of the ship. Now he had the luxury of comparison with its newer cousins. Where the new destroyers had a more streamlined shape, the Titan was bulky. Where the new destroyers had smooth bulges or bubbles in areas, the Titan simply had blocks and triangular shaped sections. The newer ships were undamaged, painted, and clean. Noah was certain they had the "new ship smell". The Titan, while now mostly clean on the outside, was still somewhat battle scarred and despite sections inside the ship where the new cabling and components were installed, there surely still existed some places where the smell of human activity would never be eradicated.