by Kord Stone
“Sounds good. See you later then.”
Jerren stood. “Well, it looks like it’s time to go. Use the life monitor to contact us if you need anything.”
“Life monitor? I was going to ask what Alise meant by that, but I forgot.” Justin said.
“The watch you’re wearing. It monitors our health and will send an alarm if something happens to us. As you know it also makes a good walkie-talkie,” Jerren said.
Jerren walked over to Calia and pulled her into a hug. “It was a pleasure to meet you. I just knew you couldn’t be as mean as Justin said you were.” Jerren smirked at him over her shoulder.
At that statement, Calia blushed. “I was confused and didn’t want to accept the new situation at first.”
Jerren let out a barely audible chuckle as he hugged him. “I have to be on my way. You take care of her now.”
Justin whispered in his ear, “Stop being an ass,” then let out a chuckle of his own.
Jerren no sooner left the ship when Calia turned and gave him a stern look. “So you think I am mean?”
Justin grimaced and said, “I went to the master control room to clear my head after we argued before and I told him you didn’t like me and refused to talk. He only brought it up so we could hash it out if we still needed to. We’re past that, right?” he finished with concern.
Her stern look changed to a smile. “Yes, it is behind us. I was just messing with you.”
He sighed and said, “I’m going to head back up to the observation level. Would you like to accompany me?”
She let out a peaceful sounding sigh and replied, “That sounds nice.”
Chapter Eleven
Calia and Justin had been in the observation room often over the last three days. They were currently lying back and relaxing, and Calia was finding it hard to stop her examination of Justin. He was staring into the vastness of space, and she took the time to make a detailed analysis of him. He was a handsome man. A little over six feet tall with a chiseled jawline, dark hair and captivating blue eyes. He was nicely proportioned in musculature and had an interesting sense of humor.
Being honest with herself, she found that she really liked Justin, and once she let her guard down, she was happy to see he had opened up to her. She had feared that after her behavior when he first came aboard the ship, it would take much longer for him to be at ease with her. But apparently Justin was not the type of person to dwell on the past or hold a grudge even.
Calia let out a sigh and figured this might be a good time to see where his interests lay. Out of the blue she asked, “Have you been in many relationships?” She had no idea where that question came from and was about to say never mind, when to her surprise he answered her.
“I’ve been in a few relationships in the past but nothing I would consider serious. I had girlfriends in high school and a couple after the military. When I joined the military, I didn’t want to get too involved just in case I was killed. I didn’t want a wife and kids to have to go through that torment.”
Justin seemed to be thinking about something a moment, then added, “You see there was an accident when our mother was pregnant with us. She was struck by lightning and we were rushed to the hospital. She died during childbirth, and Jason, Jerren and I were raised solely by our father, at least for the next nine years. I know what it’s like to not have a parent and I didn’t wish to impose that on any children I might have. I told you we had wandered off and disappeared for three months?”
She nodded and he continued. “Well after that, our father got married again. But it always felt like she resented us and we ended up becoming more like the live-in babysitters for our half brother Tim, and I never felt right about putting future children in a situation like that. Anyway, over the last seven years, I just didn’t meet any woman who felt right to have a long-term relationship with.” He sounded a bit forlorn.
She said, “It is forbidden for a commander to be married.”
Justin nodded solemnly. “Jason told us that, and that was one of the reasons I was hesitant about being the commander.”
She could feel the emotions emanating from him when he said that and she could not keep herself from saying, “If you ever decide to get married and have children, you will have to find a replacement commander, but with the chlorophyll you have in your system, you would have to live on a planet with a race that has had the same procedure.” She found it hard to breathe and felt as if there was a compression squeezing her chest. She had never had that reaction to the thought of losing a commander before, and it vexed her.
He looked at her sadly, and Calia could feel that she had struck a nerve and decided to change the subject. “So, Jason is the oldest brother?”
Justin’s expression turned playful and he had a glint in his eyes as he said, “Yes, Jason is thirty-five years old and Jerren and I are thirty-four.”
She nodded, and realizing she never got an answer before, she asked, “What did you do for entertainment?”
“Growing up my brothers and I would play sports, go camping, hiking and fishing but Jerren got me hooked on skydiving after the military. He did a lot of it in the service and talked me into trying it one day. The first time I went skydiving I was scared out of my mind. We jumped together in a tandem jump and after that, I persuaded him to get me certified.
“Lucky for me he is an AFF instructor. Otherwise it would have cost me a bloody fortune to complete all the required jumps. My highest jump was from twelve thousand feet.”
Calia could not believe what she just heard and had to ask, “Okay…am I to understand you jumped out of an aircraft and plummeted to the ground for fun? You did at least have an anti-gravity belt or something on to prevent a fatal impact I would hope.”
“No, our technology hasn’t advanced to that point yet. We used ram-air chutes that would self-inflate when deployed, with a backup in the event the primary chute failed to deploy. There are still rare occurrences where a person dies, but overall it’s a safe hobby.”
She was absolutely dumbfounded at the notion that anyone would find that entertaining and was about to comment on that when Justin continued.
“Jerren used to perform HALO jumps. That’s where you fly to extreme altitude, jump, free fall or long-range glide onto a target area and then open the chute at near danger levels. I think he said the highest jump he’s allowed to admit to was 52,000 feet. I love skydiving and wouldn’t mind doing a high altitude jump, but I think I would limit it to an HAHO, which is deploying the chute at a higher altitude.”
His last statement got her heart thrashing and she could not stop herself from asking, “Are all of the people on Earth insane now or is it just the two of you?”
Justin let out a booming laugh. “Actually, Jason has joined us on a couple of jumps, and while we do have our fair share of insane people on Earth, I don’t believe my brothers and I would be counted among them. Besides, I think that little bit of recreation is going to be behind me now.”
“You had better believe it! We will have a lot of dangers to face without you deliberately trying to find ways to kill yourself,” she said with a growl.
Justin let out a chuckle. “I didn’t think you cared.”
“A couple of days ago I might have agreed with you. Now I seem to be getting unusually worked up at the thought of you dying. We need to change the subject. Do you enjoy any recreational activities that do not include the possibility of death?”
Justin said, “I love to travel, but I don’t like being apart from my brothers. That was the main reason I joined the Air Force with them on the buddy plan. I hoped I would be able to travel the world, but as you know I ended up stuck in a box. It’s funny, I’m the farthest away from them than I have ever been now, but I’m at ease with it because I know they’re just on the other side of the master control room if they need help.”
His glint was back in place and Justin said, “After we resolve the TDS 5 issue would you like to—”
She kn
ew exactly what he was alluding to and snapped, “Absolutely not!”
Justin laughed, “How did you know—”
“That you wanted to take me skydiving? I could see it in your eyes.”
“I was just playing with you. I could tell the thought of it is not appealing to you.” He chuckled at her response.
“What is the appeal to you anyway?” she asked.
Justin had answered without hesitation, “It’s the closest you can come to flying like a bird. It’s liberating and for the brief time you’re up there, you have the true feeling of freedom.”
Calia felt the pleasure he experienced when he explained his reasoning, and she thought that if he could feel that much pleasure at a mere memory, the experience had to be seriously intense. Although she would not openly admit it anytime soon, when he said “freedom” and the emotion poured out of him, she was almost ready to take him up on his offer.
Justin closed his eyes and focused on their location, and standing up he said, “We should arrive at Daregon in a little over two hours. I only have the technical knowledge of how to connect to the pyramids generator. Would you like to have the honors in connecting us? And I’ll observe this time.”
Calia nodded and said, “It would be my pleasure. We—”
Justin was smiling at Calia one moment, the next he felt as if his head were about to explode again. Inola’s voice rang out, “PROBE DAREGON!” His hands shot to his head as he dropped to his knees.
Calia got a panicked look on her face and asked, “What is wrong?”
He took several deep cleansing breaths trying to force down the pain before he squawked, “Send a probe to Daregon.” He took a few more breaths, then remembered his brothers were going to meet him there. He activated his life monitor and said, “Jason, can you hear me?”
Calia moved to help him to his feet as Jason responded.
“Yes, what can I do for you?”
“Inola’s voice just exploded in my head and said to probe Daregon. That’s all I know at the moment.” He looked to Calia questioningly, and she nodded. “Calia launched the probe and we should know more in a few.”
Jason said, “We can be there in a little over an hour if we increase our speed.”
“We still have a few minutes until we get any data back from the probe. We’re at a zero TD and power is at a minimum so if there’s a threat, our probe won’t last long.”
“You need to reduce your speed and wait for us to get there,” Jason stated.
“I don’t think I can. If Inola wanted me to wait, I think she would have just said so. I think she needs us to be there for some reason.”
He heard Jason sigh and talk to Alise. “We need to get there faster. Okay, Justin, how long until you arrive?”
“At our current speed, we’ll arrive in two hours. Once I see what awaits us with the probe I’ll let you know.”
“Okay, we’re going to phase shift and bounce back a few hours before you arrive. Keep us posted,” Jason replied.
“Jason, do not time jump. Just stay out of phase for the moment. I’ll check the data from my probe and get right back with you.”
“Okay, you have the lead on this one little brother.” Jason didn’t sound happy about it, but for now, Justin didn’t want to second-guess Inola.
* * * * *
Justin and Calia made it to the mission prep console and began reviewing the data, but nothing seemed to be amiss. The probe had enough power to time shift six hours in each direction, but the area was clear. Justin was about to call it off when he remembered Jason saying the probe could scan in multiple phases.
Justin moved to the science console that monitored spatial anomalies and that is where he found the problem. He immediately called his brother. “Jason, do not enter orbit. The entire area is laced with phased mines.” He asked Calia, “If the bombs are phased, we should be safe in real time, correct?”
“Yes, but I don’t understand. We always charge in real time. Why would they put the mines out of phase?”
Jason responded, “Okay, we’re going to stay in real time for the time being. What are your thoughts on a strategy?”
Justin said, “They must know our procedure is to charge in real time. There’s more than likely a proximity alarm to let them know when we arrive. Calia told me that when they were attacked, they would usually phase out and run. I think their plan is to wait until we’re charging, then either de-phase the mines or attack and let the mines blast us when we attempt to run.”
Justin took in the configuration of the mines and grinned as a plan came to mind. “Jason, the mines are phased out at multiple TDs ranging from positive .55 to negative .55, the readout shows about fifty thousand explosives set up in a directed conical configuration, with its perigee at 2.5 KK in GEO with an apogee of 5.53 KK GEO and a radius of 50 KK. The focal point is directly over the GEO for connecting to the pyramids generator. It would appear they want to blast this ship into the planet’s atmosphere. We cannot phase so we’ll need you to shift through the TDs and destroy the explosives from a distance. Have Jerren go to the master control room and see if he’s able to monitor TDS 5 yet. I want to know if they’re involved in this. After you clear the mines, we’ll set a trap for whoever set them.”
Jason laughed over the communications. “Damn that is the most technical information I’ve ever heard out of your mouth at one time. I’m surprised I understood it… Okay, that sounds like the plan. What’s our next step?”
Justin smiled at Calia and replied with two words: “Wounded duck.”
“Got it… I’ll let you know when we’re ready,” Jason replied.
Calia muttered, “Damn, how did you figure all that out and devise a plan so quickly? I was still computing the probabilities and just came to the same conclusion after you detailed the plan to your brother. And what is wounded duck?”
Justin chuckled and replied. “I don’t know how the plan came to me. It just seemed logical, and the wounded duck is going to be us.” She was looking at him with a glint of something he couldn’t place. He was pretty sure it wasn’t affection, but if not that, then what?
Pulling himself back to the plan he added, “Once the mines are cleared, I’ll set this ship to appear as if we had a loss of power and give us a mild inertial spin. When they come in for the attack, Jason will take care of them. If I’m right, it’s going to be the Toralins or one of their consortium. They’ve been messing around with time-phased explosives. The fact that they turned them into a minefield does not surprise me. Either way they were warned to stay away from these ships.”
Chapter Twelve
Justin and Calia had been slowly spinning in the upper orbit of Daregon for about two hours when the fleet arrived to collect their spoils. He saw them approaching and decided to give them one last chance to save themselves, and he opened the communications. “You and your people have been warned to leave this ship alone. You need to vacate this solar system immediately and never approach this ship again.”
The leader of the fleet responded mockingly, “Your ship is powerless and adrift. We claim it under our interstellar salvage laws.”
Justin deactivated the communications and spoke to his brothers and Alise, who were all listening in. “It looks like they have no will to live. Calia, when the weapons are charged enough, open fire. Jason, once we begin firing that will be your cue.”
Calia nodded and he heard Jason reply, “We are standing by.”
Justin reopened his communications and replied to the Toralins, “You have got to be the stupidest race that has ever made it out into space.” He waited for another second for them to be in range then he stabilized the ship and spoke again. “If we’re powerless then how are we able to communicate? And as for being adrift, you should check again.” He waited for their response.
As he expected, the Toralins immediately opened fire. Taking a few quick breaths, Justin positioned his hands on the wall and the weapons console as he had before and allowed the energy
blasts to course into their system. The blasts from the prior attack were bad, but the energy coursing through him this time had reached an almost insane level with the increased number of ships firing. Before long, a melodic tone surrounded him, and Justin realized Calia was asking him something.
“What?”
Calia asked, “Survivors?”
He just realized what she was asking through the fuzziness that was rising and falling in his mind. “If they flee then…let them go but otherwise no. I will not allow these fanatics to encroach on the people of Daregon,” Justin said.
She nodded. “Agreed.”
Calia began targeting the Toralin ships and firing, and Jason’s ship came out of phase on the backside of the attackers. It was obvious at once that the Toralins were no match for the TDS ships, and if it were not for the fact that the Toralins were hell-bent on killing them and not willing to back down, Justin would have let the remaining ships flee.
A few minutes into the battle Jerren’s voice sounded over the life monitor. “You were correct in thinking TDS 5 was involved. TDS 5’s display wall just activated. It arrived as the attack began and is just out of range, watching the battle unfold. They seem to be in communication with the attackers, but I can’t hear what’s being said.”
Justin shook his head and between blasts of pain that were surging through him, he replied. “Okay thanks for the info… just keep an eye on them.”
After ten minutes of continual weapons fire, the frequency of the incoming blasts decreased and with it the charge to TDS 3’s weapons system as well. The attackers had dwindled down to a few dozen ships from the nearly two hundred they had arrived with. Those ships remaining began scattering in all directions.
One ship shot past TDS 3, making a beeline for the pyramids generator and Justin knew what they were going to do. It was a suicide ship on course to destroy the generator. Their power was getting low and he told Calia to target that ship.
Justin focused as hard as he could on forcing what energy he could into the weapons. He closed his eyes, the fuzziness from the hum that had been around him seemed to lift, and the pain of the electrical jolts peaked. A bright orange light flashed. He felt an enormous surge of power within him, which immediately discharged into the system like a capacitor discharging its potential. Then everything went blank.