Once he reached the top he turned left and spotted another staircase, which was much longer than the first set he ran up. He guessed it might have been seven stories worth of stairs before they reached another level of the ship. This level had tight and small corridors with many doors. It reminded him of the halls of a cruise ship on Earth where the rooms were located. Straight ahead was another set of stairs except these stairs were wider and textured. Still the same weird lack of uniformity with the size and length of each step.
Alex looked over his group which was arriving to his level with mixed results.
“Who are you?” Alex asked a woman who was panting heavily as she reached them.
“I ran with you.” She managed to say. Then Alesti arrived panting for air.
Alex looked down, Stovner was still struggling to ascend the stairs. Beyond him he could see the two soldiers struggling as well.
“Behind you!” Alesti shouted.
Alex spun weapon in hand ready to fire. He saw a soldier swing and thrust his stick at Iesala. She jumped back and arched her body to avoid touching the stick. At the right moment she landed a solid punch to the throat. The soldier dropped the stick reaching for his throat as he collapsed to the floor. Iesala poked him with the stick and he curled into a tight ball. Stovner finally reached them as he slumped against the wall breathing heavily.
“I need a minute.” He managed to say.
“Commence lockdown procedures for launch.” Someone said from speakers hidden somewhere on the ship.
The ship started vibrating.
“We are running out of time.” Alex shouted as he looked at the new set of stairs and bolted up them.
He was glad these stairs were much shorter than the previous ones, perhaps two floors worth before he reached the next available floor. Once he reached the floor he knew immediately that it was a bridge or command center. Dozens of screens lined the walls, everyone sat in large oversized chairs. The room was shaped like a very long oval.
“Guards!” someone shouted.
Two men stood up from nearby seats and approached Alex. He fired his weapon and killed both men easily. The furthest most chair slowly spun around and faced him.
“Who are you?” The man shouted still seated in the chair.
Alex removed his headwear revealing his Earthly domed head, free of bone crests.
“I’m from Earth.”
The mans eyes got wide, his mouth opened wide. The shot placement wasn’t intentional, but Alex managed to fire his other weapon at the man, the round entered the mouth and killed him instantly.
“It’s over.” Alex said, as many people in the room turned their seats to look him over.
Alex was shaken off his feet as the floor shook harshly.
“We are launch!” One of the people in the chairs said.
“Well un-launch us!” Alex shouted over the growing noise.
“I can’t, we are roboticly.”
“What?” Alex asked, but the noise drowned him out. He ended up flat on the floor as he didn’t have the strength to do anything else.
“We are experiencing heavy G forces.” Symboli said. Alex blinked hoping it would end soon. He looked up towards one of the many screens, the all too familiar sight of leaving a planetary surface shown on the screen.
It was a few minutes later before the pressure on his body relaxed.
“Separation.” Someone shouted.
There was a big boom on the ship, which Alex also felt. The screen now showed a large section of the ship detaching from itself.
“Separation complete.” Someone said.
“So… whos in charge now because I need authorization to launch sequence two.”
“What is sequence two?” Alex asked from the floor.
“You have authorization.” An older voice said.
“Wait.” Alex coughed out and attempted to stand up.
The floor once again was not his friend as his feet couldn’t find it. Instead his back hit the wall hard.
“I suspect thrusters were engaged.” Symboli said. Alex almost couldn’t hear it because his headset was almost knocked off.
“Quicker than light travel in three..two..one..”
“No, wait!” Alex grunted.
The viewscreen looked like it morphed and the familiar sight of FTL displayed on the screen.
“Guards, take this man to interrogation.” Said someone, Alex couldn’t tell who had spoken as almost everyone was turned away from him at the moment.
“Sir, he killed the guards.” Someone else responded.
“What?”
One of the chairs began to spin around and Alex waited for a face to appear as soon as it did he fired several times, killing the man.
“Does anyone else here think that I am not in charge?” Alex said as he slowly got on his feet and walked to the center of the room.
There was complete silence.
“Good, can someone tell me where are we going, why we didn’t let more people board the ship, who’s piloting this thing?”
“I am the pilot, we are on course for our home system we should arrive in twenty days and there wasn’t space for our population.”
“That’s a lie, I must of passed tons of space on my way up here.” Alex responded as he watched Alesti crawl onto the bridge.
“Sir, most of that space you passed is gone now, that was the rocket section of the ship. There was no other way to get the ship in orbit, sir.”
“What about those people I came onboard with?”
“You mean from the boarding ramp? Sir, those people are still in orbit. In the rocket section.”
“Ok, turn us around, we are going for the rest of the people we left behind.”
“Sir we can’t get anyone. This ship cannot enter another atmosphere. It’s not able to do it and our people don’t have a means to enter orbit at least not anytime soon.”
Alex’s mind raced. “Can we at least go back to the rocket section and get those people?”
There was a quiet in the room.
“I don’t see why not.”
“Then do it, once we pick up those people we will make course for your home planet.”
“You killed the Master.” One of the females on the bridge said. It wasn’t a question but a statement of shock, Alex thought to himself.
“Yes, your people call it Vali Justice yes? Well he had it coming to him.”
CHAPTER 21
NEW ARRIVALS
(Station Commander Bixi)
“SIR!”
Commander Bixi was busy catching up on the daily activity reports when his sensor operator interrupted him.
“Go ahead.” Bixi sighed, tired of the daily mundane routine.
“Sir I have the Huvalla on our screen sir, she’s approaching the station.”
The name struck a familiar chord in his mind but he couldn’t place the name.
“What of it?”
“Sir, shes been missing for four hundred annuals. They are requesting communication.”
“Send word to command and connect us.” Bixi sat higher in his chair.
The main screen flickered and a male appeared on the screen missing his bone crest.
“Well that explains it they were captured by aliens.” Someone near the commander said under their breath.
“Hello, my name is Alex I have rescued a number of your citizens from an ancient crash site and I would like to return them to you.”
Bixi pondered for a moment.
“What do you want in return? And I will need proof that you have our people.”
“Of course, perhaps we can discuss compensation over a meal, perhaps some simple modifications to this ship. As for your people,” The camera zoomed out to give a wide shot of the bridge and over a dozen people were standing there, more than a few were smiling.
“Proceed to docking platform one. I look forward to meeting you.”
The screen went dark.
“Update command, prepare platform o
ne for standard quarantine procedures and first contact protocols.”
“Sir, should I have the third fleet return to base, they only just left.” One of his subordinates asked.
“Armaments?”
“Nothing on scanners, sir, it’s a small ship. It doesn’t match the profile of the Huvalla only the ID codes.” The sensor operator responded.
“Negative, station patrol should be able to handle this.” Bixi rubbed his highest bone spur as was his habit when he was thinking too hard.
* * *
(Alex)
The next few days were tediously slow. The Huvallins approached first contact like a person tiptoeing into cold pool water.
Those that had survived the trip disembarked onto the station, for them it was like visiting an alien world. The homeworld went to great lengths to provide care and rehabilitation, to get the people reintragrated back into their society.
Alex was surprised that the Huvallins seemed very genial. They deeply appreciated bringing their people home. Over the course of a few meals, Alex managed to work a deal. They would supply him with a modern ship. He would hand over the ship he has now and the coordinates so they can rescue the rest of their people from Terrineia.
In terms of technology they weren’t that dissimilar from Earth. They did have a few things such as stock to matter converters. They have the technology to turn a stock of functional nutrients and molecules and turn it into most things edible. Also they had a special fabric that was soft as silk and strong as steel. Alesti took great interest in that.
In turn Alex explained some of the basic principles of collecting dark matter and using it for propulsion. He also provided all the data he had on the A.I., their destructive fleet, and arrival estimate provided by Symboli.
The ship the Huvallins provided was a larger than average patrol craft outfitted with an FTL drive that would get him to Earth in less than a year. It also came with a few other things that Alex was really excited about. He could have used the ship that had got him there but it all came down to FTL speeds. The one he arrived in would have taken him three years to get back to Earth.
Then came the time he had to say goodbye. He looked over his crew roster. Alesti was of course going and Symboli had her undergoing rigorous training and classes to get her up to speed with the technology. Iesala was staying behind and would be part of the rescue mission going back to the planet to get Bromi and the rest of the survivors. Which left Stovner, who also decided to stay behind. The only other person who asked to go to Earth was Orlock. Alex started calling him Master Orlock as sort of an inside joke between the two.
The first thing Alex did was go back to Terrineia. He would have loved to go to the surface, but then he would be stuck there. Instead he began a search for Squalm and the others. Just in case they crashed on a different planet in the system. After a few weeks of searching and finding nothing, he decided it was time to head to Earth.
Alesti and Orlock spent much of their time mastering each system of the ship. How to operate and maintain the piloting controls, sensors, navigation, internal systems and more. Once they got underway Symboli put up a countdown clock on the main view screen of when they would arrive to Earth. Ten months, four days and sixteen hours.
CHAPTER 22
JOURNEY HOME
(Alex)
NINE MONTHS, TWENTY days and ten hours remaining.
“Symboli, is this right?” Alesti asked.
Alex had dozed off from the overly comfortable command chair. He wiped his eyes and adjusted the screens around his chair. Curious, he pulled up the active screen Alesti was using.
Symboli responded from the ships speakers.
“Diagnostic confirms system is running properly.” Symboli responded.
Alex already knew what it was, but decided to let Alesti come to the same conclusion. He skipped ahead and used the sensors to determine where the signals had come from. They originated from a star slightly off course, and would be passing it soon.
“Captain, we have detected electrnoic signals from a nearby star system.”
“Can you show me which one?” Alex asked testing her abilities.
After a minute the main screen lit up with a view of the star. Which then morphed to a 2D representation of the local orbiting planets. The sensors were powerful to be able to get those kinds of scans from the system light years away. It couldn’t provide much more information than that, however, at this range.
“Alter our course and take us to the outer edge of the system.” Alex asked and watched Alesti input the commands.
The ship dropped out of FTL, adjusted its heading and reentered FTL.
“You’re getting better!” Alex said noticing the time to make the adjustments was significantly less than the last time she made the attempt.
She didn’t respond. Which caused Alex to frown. He looked over towards her.
Closing his eyes he plunged into her mind, something he was getting really good at however no matter how hard he tried or practiced it always took nearly a minute to be able to do so.
If I keep asking for help from Symboli I’ll never be able to do this on my own. I need to become as good as..- He read from her thoughts and withdrew.
Reading minds became an odd taboo with Alex. His desire to know would overrule whatever issues he had with it, but as soon as he got what he wanted he always felt guilty and withdrew as soon as possible as if the less he read from their minds the more respect he was providing them. In turn this had to be the one secret he would tell no one. Even he still found it disturbing.
“There must be some kind of excitement happening.” Orlock said as he entered the bridge.
“Picked up some signals from this star, we’re going to check it out.”
“Should we be avoiding those kinds of things? I mean if you want to get home as soon as possible?” Orlock responded.
“Might as well just check things out since we are out here.” Alex replied as he watched the clock adjust for the delay this would cause.
“Have you guys tried the sweet germaine brusk yet? It’s delicious.” Orlock said.
Alex cracked a smile. Orlock had been sampling the entire list of possible choices the food stock could provide and they were nowhere near the end of their options. Alex saved the choice onto a list he had to try later. Most of Orlocks finds were good.
“What’s the point of trying all these new foods if you never go back to enjoy the ones you find?” Alesti asked.
“Well, when I’m finished, I will program the system to rotate through each of my picks.” Orlock said smiling to Alesti.
Alex discovered early in the trip that Orlock was crushing on Alesti. Since he never had before Alex assumed it was due to lack of options. Alex struggled to reason out why it bothered him, it’s not like he wanted to pursue a relationship with her.
“Arriving.” Alesti said as the screen returned to normal.
“So what do we have going on in this system?” Alex asked out loud.
After a few minutes the scans were complete.
“We are receiving a transmission.”
“Put it on.” Alex said perking up.
“Prgshht gosrlosnack baht das poo bought.”
“Did he say poo?” Alex chuckled.
No one laughed, belatedly Alex realized they wouldent get the joke.
Alex rolled his eyes. Alesti and Orlock were amazed about the bodily functions of the human body, and found it disturbing if not revolting. It become something of a taboo.
“Alex, I suggest we move on, they dispatched a few ships. They appear to be sublight vessels and it will take me quite some time to translate their language.”
“Ok, well forward them our language database, also provide them the data from the galactic threat. Alesti return us to our course.”
“Yes, Captain.” She said smiling at him. Orlock noticed and frowned as he turned away.
It’s going to be a long ten months, Alex thought to himself.
&nb
sp; * * *
Eight months, seven days and five hours remaining.
Alex stood in the empty cargo bay.
“I just thought there was more material available.” Alex said dismayed he had this oversight.
“I also accept blame, I knew the material would be low after your project. I calculated that you knew already.” Symboli said.
“What the feasibility of obtaining more material?” Alex asked.
“You do not have the required gear to mine or harvest ore. Your remaining options is scrap or purchase.” Symboli responded from the headset.
“What would we need to scrap to get the material required for the final components?” Alex asked.
“About five hundred kilos should be sufficient or in another way two bulkheads. The difficulty after would be cutting it down so the machine can use it.”
“I’m not gonna start taking apart the ship. We will have to find another way.” Alex turned and left the bay.
He had started a project of creating a dark matter collector dish, but had run short of materials before it was finished. A very novice mistake, which flared his temper.
Alesti nearly crashed into him in the corridor as he turned a corner.
“Oh, hi.” Alesti said. Her conversion into fluent English was well underway.
“Hey.” Alex responded still tempered by his recent mistake.
“I was thinking tonight we could do a private dinner just the two of us.” Alesti said.
“Uh… no I really think we should keep that mealtime mandatory attendance for all three of us. How about we do lunch instead have you eaten?”
“You mean now?” Alesti appeared stricken.
“Or later… I don’t know this is your idea.” He said as they neared the dining room.
“How about fifteen minutes?” She asked.
“Sure.” Alex replied as Alesti took off at a run.
Recently, they had staggered their times awake so at least two of them were always up, with dinner being the only time all three of them were. It was Symboli’s idea after it noticed a decline in morale. When Alex was asleep, Symboli was in charge.
Alex was learning engineering during the downtime. Classes given by Symboli. Before he didn’t have the patience and concepts seemed out of reach to his understanding. Now everything was falling into place quickly in his mind, and he figured there was not much else to do between the stars.
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