by John Walker
Marooned
Legacy War
Book 4
John Walker
Copyright © 2018 John Walker
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.
DISCLAIMER
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, business, places, events, and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental. This story contains explicit language and violence.
Blurb
A Ship in Crisis
While on a mission to deny their enemies a powerful artifact, the Gnosis is dragged to the surface of an alien world in a remote corner of the galaxy. As they evaluate their damage and attempt to discover what has happened, they discover they are not alone.
Other ships have been stranded in the same way and their crews are desperate to escape. They converge on the Gnosis, ready to claim her as their own. The only hope seems to lie in an ancient facility built by the former inhabitants of the planet. With overwhelming odds and little to go on, the human crew must struggle to survive against the possibility they may be grounded for the rest of their lives.
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
Epilogue
Prologue
Red emergency lights burst on overhead as the alarm blared throughout the ship. Captain Desmond Bradford gripped his chair tightly as the ship rattled and shook, jarred by an unseen force holding them fast. He turned his attention to Lieutenant Deacon Neville, the current pilot operating the helm of the Gnosis.
The young man’s hands flew over the controls. He maintained his composure despite the dire situation and, considering their predicament, Desmond couldn’t have been more proud of him. Though the thought certainly felt out of place given what they were going through. Traumatic moments tended to produce odd reactions.
“That thing is holding tight,” Lieutenant Salina Gold said. She sounded like they were casually flying through space. Desmond hadn’t seen the event that could shake her, not entirely. “Full thrust has not budged us even a meter. In fact, we might want to throttle back as the engines are beginning to overheat.”
“Are they holding us here?” Desmond asked.
“I …” Salina paused. “I cannot answer that. It may be true, yes, but if we can’t break free, then I’m not sure we’d be able to defy it either.”
“Throttle down,” Desmond ordered.
“Yes, sir.” Deacon didn’t sound as if he agreed with the order but he tapped the controls, his hand trembling just before he completed the process. Instantly, the ship lurched forward, bucking as it careened toward the surface of the third planet in the system.
Desmond nearly toppled from his chair as they entered the atmosphere. “Full shields!” He yelled. “Make sure they stay on, Deacon!”
“We’re going to make landfall in less than two minutes!” Salina called. “We might need to use the thrusters as I was clearly wrong about holding us up there.”
Desmond kept his mouth shut about that part but turned to Deacon. “Fire the retro rockets and slow our descent the best you can. I’d recommend you do it in increments but make it quick! You don’t have a lot of time.”
Deacon obliged and the ship trembled every time he hit his controls. Salina called out how it was doing, letting them know that the descent had slowed, albeit barely. She gave them a countdown before they would hit the ground and by the time she got to a thousand feet, Desmond really wished she’d just stop.
I’m not sure anyone on the bridge wants to know the exact moment we’re possibly going to die. The last thing we’ll hear is twenty feet and be gone.
Deacon smacked his console hard and held his fingers in place, discharging the retrorockets in a continuous burst. Moments before they made landfall, Salina called out something about how their velocity seemed to be within an acceptable safety margin but whatever that meant didn’t matter when the crash came.
An earsplitting groan erupted as the lights flashed out. Someone shouted and Desmond bumped his head on his chair hard enough to dazzle him. He looked around, feeling drunk and ill at the same time. His blurry vision made it impossible to see any details and he mercifully collapsed to the ground, consciousness fading fast …
Chapter 1
Voices seemed to drift to Desmond from the ether, echoing as if they came from a gymnasium with high cement ceilings and a polished wooden floor. Their words blended together as if oversaturated by the reverb in the air. When he focused, he realized he’d been talking to Admiral Garlan Reach.
“We found a gold mine with all that Tol’An intel,” Reach said. “We understand many of their plans and know where they’re hiding some of their most valuable assets.”
“Are we going to hit them?” Desmond asked. He felt confused for a moment by the conversation but didn’t seem to show it. Not while talking to the admiral. “I don’t know how we’d be entirely effective with military action if we only have one ship. And the sister vessel to the Gnosis isn’t even remotely done.”
“No, but close. We have the Pahxin ships here to help and provide a little more security. That certainly helps.” Reach sighed. “No, we’ve discussed another idea for the Gnosis. Something that you have proven to be far more effective at.”
“What’s that?”
“Infiltration. Smaller targets will be perfect for us to send you in, grab an item and get out. Your forces should be more than adequate for the next assignment, in fact. We’re tracking several key items that the Tol’An are interested in procuring. One of them is on another seemingly dead planet.”
Desmond groaned. “Those aren’t proving to be dead, sir. Each one we’ve visited has proven to have a bunch of crap left behind, most of it malfunctioning and dangerous. We’ve lost more men to those automated defenses than we have to actual combat. I’m exaggerating but not by much.”
“I understand but in the grand scheme of usefulness, I need you and your people to be out there taking care of something. They placed a particular importance on this planet so that’s why you’re getting it. Don’t worry though, you’ll have some Pahxin backup should you need it. Commander Ulian Hataran has agreed to be on standby.”
Desmond liked the sound of that. Ulian proved to be an efficient officer and a hard core soldier. He started out rough around the edges in regards to their partnership but once the Gnosis proved itself, he came around. If that guy was going to be available, then there wasn’t much to worry about.
“When will I get the intel on the planet?” Desmond asked. “And the action plan? I need to make the arrangements with the crew and check on our repairs after that last battle. We don’t want to hop into this kind of unknown and have anything on the verge of breaking down on us.”
“Of course.” Reach nodded and tapped his computer. “I’ve sent you the soft copy of everything you need. Brief your people, gather what you need and get moving. I’m sure you’ll find some serious action out there but I have every confidence that you can handle it.”
The scene faded
and blackness replaced it. Desmond tried to sit up but his whole body ached, forcing him to remain still. Silence pressed at his ears but then something began to whine off to his left, building up until it reached a crescendo and remained steady. A bright light replaced the darkness.
“Captain?” A voice echoed in his ears and Desmond had to focus to understand it. Glancing up, he saw Commander Vincent Bowman hovering over him. “Can you hear me?”
Desmond nodded but didn’t respond.
“I think he’s okay,” Vincent said. “At least nothing’s broken. Where the hell are the medics?”
“Overwhelmed,” Salina replied. “I’ve upped the priority and they’ll be on their way soon. I’m reaching out to engineering. We need scans back online right away.”
“Weapons would be nice,” Deacon called out. “Just in case.”
Vincent started to say something but Desmond faded out again, losing track of what they were saying. He found himself standing beside Doctor Harper in the laboratory, looking over a star chart generated from the Orb. The information on the screen blurred and he turned away, listening to her.
“We took the intelligence you received from the Tol’An and cross-referenced it with the Orb. That allowed us to bring up this star chart … which is quite detailed. Now that we can put some of these in perspective to our current location, they’re proving to be useful. We’ll probably still need to do some physical visits to fill in the gaps, but this is a great start.”
“I agree,” Desmond replied. “And these numbers are safe? We’ve checked them?”
“Well …” Harper sighed. “We did the best we could. Salina and Lieutenant Commander Caplan went over them and seemed confident. I’m not worried about the coordinates though, I’m worried about what you’re going to find. Many of the worlds we’ve researched through the Orb have some history … a little data to talk about what they used to be like.”
“This one doesn’t?”
Harper shook her head. “I’m afraid not. The second Orb we have might be able to help but we’ve only scratched the surface of what’s in there. It’s going to be a while before we see anything real out of that device.”
“I see.” Desmond hummed, turning to the screen. It was painful to look at and the blur worsened until he found himself waking suddenly back on the bridge. Doctor Jason Holland crouched beside him, pressing his hand against his shoulder to keep him in place, holding him down.
“Just rest easy,” Jason said. “You’re fine but you don’t want to hop up right away.”
“What happened?” Desmond asked.
“You got jostled about but there’s no concussion and no broken bones. If you give yourself a second, you should be able to get back to things.”
“I need … a report. Vincent?”
Vincent stepped forward. “Here, sir.”
“Give me a status update.”
“Um …” Vincent looked at Jason who shrugged. “We’re grounded right now, sir. The ship has been brought down to the planet’s surface and according to Salina, we’re still being held in place. We’re gearing up the marines to run a scouting mission and engineering is working to bring all systems back online.”
“How bad is the damage?”
“We were very lucky,” Vincent explained. “Deacon hit the rockets and slowed our descent. The shields also helped. That’s not to say we didn’t come away unscathed … We’ve got a lot of work to do but it’s achievable and we’ll be able to leave this place when we’re done.”
“So right now, we couldn’t launch?”
Vincent shook his head. “Even if we didn’t have that beam holding us in place, we’d be stuck here until we bring the engines back online and several other key systems. Even life support is malfunctioning at the moment but luckily, the planet’s atmosphere supports human life.”
“Is Thayne okay? Cassie?”
“They’re fine, sir, and trying to ascertain what’s holding us here.”
“Perfect.” Desmond hoisted himself up and sat in his chair with a groan. “Jason, do you have anything for this headache?”
“I thought you might ask,” Jason muttered. He pressed a hypo against his neck and it hissed a moment later. A cool sensation floated through his body, instantly alleviating the pain.
“Why didn’t you do that before?”
“Because I wanted to sneak as much rest out of you as I could,” Jason replied. “I have other patients to attend to now, but if you need me, come down to the medical bay.”
“Thanks.” Desmond rubbed his eyes, trying to clear his head. The objective of visiting the planet involved denying the Tol’An some kind of item. The others performed some analysis of it while they were in hyperspace. He needed to gather their report and see what they discovered. It might hold the key to what happened to them. “Repair ETA?”
“Engineering has the scans back up,” Salina said. “I’m trying to restore the interface so that matters. It’ll be another ten minutes at most. I have to replace some parts in here … and a few others require tweaks. If you saw this mess …”
“Thanks,” Desmond interrupted. “I’ll believe you.” He glanced over and saw both Deacon and Zach at the piloting station. They were discussing something, looking down at the lit screen. “What’re you two doing? Why’s the ship not tilted?”
Deacon replied, “I managed to get the landing gear down and righted us at the last second. I half didn’t think they’d deploy considering I’m not sure we’ve used them before.”
“As far as what we’re doing,” Zach said, “when we first arrived in this system, our computer updated our start charts with current data. Right now, we’re checking the other planets for signs of life and technology. Maybe we can figure out what’s holding us here and if it might be coming from another planet entirely.”
“Thank you.” Desmond rubbed his head again. “And good job, Deacon. Very impressive. I’m going to get some water and be back in a moment. Vincent, gather a full systems report while I’m gone and prepare to give me an overview of what we need to do and how we’re prioritizing our efforts.”
“I’d like to understand what systems are in the worst shape and which ones can be restored swiftly.”
“I’m on it, sir.” Vincent nodded, grabbing his tablet.
Desmond stepped over to the elevator and paused. “This is working?”
“Yes, sir.” Salina replied. “Basic systems were restored while you were napping.”
The deadpan delivery of her comment annoyed him but Desmond just sighed and let it go. He boarded and hit the button to go to his quarters. A quick refresher and a drink should get him back to mostly normal, he thought. The next few hours would be a scramble, especially once they had all the data they needed to make some decisions.
And then we determine how screwed we are and whether we’re ever getting off this rock.
***
Agent Cassie Alexander stumbled to her feet, holding a nearby console tightly to avoid falling over. The tech bay was in shambles, wires sticking out of the ceiling and sparks dancing from torn panels, the twisted metal covering bulging where they absorbed some internal concussion blast.
Wow … Cassie blinked away the blur in her vision and scanned the area for Doctor Thayne Rindala, their Pahxin scientist. He was lying on his stomach near the door. A chair was resting on his legs and he didn’t seem to be moving. Considering the state of the room, she wasn’t surprised but panic still compelled her forward.
She stumbled along, shoving aside debris in her quest to reach him and when she arrived, she dropped to her knees. Pressing her fingers against his neck, she forced herself to calm down and breathed a sigh of relief when she found a pulse. Thank God. Crawling to the wall, she stretched to reach the communicator above her and tapped it.
“This is the tech lab,” Cassie said, a sense of nausea gripping her stomach. She slumped, slurring her words. “Need … medical assistance … Thayne … and me … I …” Pain overwhelmed her. Voices pip
ed through the speaker but she couldn’t make them out. Consciousness faded but she didn’t quite pass out.
The sounds of people speaking above her brought her back to a meeting before they left Earth, a quick gathering with Christina Dawson and Beaumont Dulain. They wanted to speak before the Gnosis left the system, another chat with the Applied Intelligence Association. She remembered not looking forward to the briefing, especially after what the other agent went through.
“It’ll be simple,” Dulain said. They sat in a conference room, for once forsaking a clandestine location. “You’re going to get the item, I have no doubt. The problem is, I’m sure there’re more artifacts you can locate. If not, gather all the data. We can do a lot with alien information at this point.”
“I recognize that,” Cassie said, “but going off mission with these people is more difficult than you’d think. They’re quite …”
“What?” Dulain asked.
Cassie shrugged. “Militant. They have processes and rules, regulations … You know what I’m talking about.”
“She’s right,” Christina added. “I’ve seen their type in action and they’re not easy to fool around with.”
Dulain waved his hand. “Okay, then use your authority I granted you.”
“I think we need a better reason than that.” Cassie shook her head. “Maybe I can convince them it’s part of the mission without pulling out my trump card.”
“Whatever you do, get us something more than the paltry mission objective.” Dulain rolled his eyes. “Christina knows how to turn a calamity into opportunity. Otherwise we wouldn’t be going to that planet, right?”
Christina shrugged. “To be honest, that was all luck.”
“Well, luck is just an opportunity seized.” Dulain turned to Cassie. “We won’t be able to try my experiment with the Orb this time around. Going into the unknown with our tech is out of the question so the next time we make a quick trip, I’ll be sure to push harder. I think they’re excited at the prospect and the scientists agreed with me this time.”