by D. M. Pruden
“What kind of wreck, Mister Kaine?”
“It looks like the remains of a UEF heavy cruiser, sir.”
“Great, now we are going to hide from the monsters in a graveyard.” Pavlovich drummed his fingers on the arm of his chair. “Kwok, set course for it. Best speed.”
Hayden reexamined the sensor logs, praying he wasn’t sending them into something worse.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Hide and Repair
THE JOURNEY TO the wrecked ship took several hours. Unwilling to leave an energy trail for their attackers to follow, the captain ordered all but essential power shut down. Though it risked making them blind, the bugs were retrieved as well. Their remaining engine was pulsed once, then deactivated to let inertia carry Scimitar to the debris field.
“Okay, people,” announced Pavlovich, “now is the time to earn your pay. What is our distance to that wreck?”
“We are just inside of five thousand klicks, Cap’n,” replied Kwok.
“Marvellous. Mister Kaine, please deploy the sensor drones.”
“I already launched them, sir.”
Hayden’s blood froze when Pavlovich’s gaze bored into him, a critical eyebrow raised. After a few seconds of focussing withering attention on him, the captain said impatiently, “Well, what are they seeing?”
“There are low-level EM emissions from the largest section of the ship.”
“Are they strong enough to mask our signature?”
“If we shut down all nonessential systems, I believe so.”
“Some luck, finally. This plan may not be such a harebrained idea after all, Kaine.” A subtle smile, mostly concealed by his beard, curled up the edge of Pavlovich’s mouth.
Gravity plating still not functional, Cora floated to peer at the readout over Hayden’s shoulder. Despite the dominant smell of grease on her skin, he could detect a faint residual scent of lavender.
“That section is still intact, and our sensors show infrared hot spots,” she said. “Life support might still be active aboard.”
“You mean survivors? How long has this ship been here?”
“Three warships were sent into this system a year after the attack and were never heard from again,” said Pavlovich. “This wreck has to be one of them, so almost forty years. I can’t imagine how any of the crew could be alive.”
“Raiders, then?”
“Well, they won’t be a problem to us if they’re forced to live like this. Any more of those static emissions?”
Hayden shook his head. “Nothing detected.”
Cora floated over to the captain’s command chair.
“Cap’n, raiders or not, that section of wreckage could save our asses. I can scavenge a lot of what I need to repair our damage.”
“Assuming it wasn’t stripped bare decades ago.”
She smiled. “You forget what I can do with junk parts, sir.”
Pavlovich returned her smile. “Okay, Cora. We’ll play it your way. Assemble your teams. But they aren’t going in until the place is swept. Gunney, prep a tac team. I want every cubic centimetre of that wreck cleared by your Rangers.”
“Aye-aye, Cap’n.”
He faced Hayden. “Time for the training wheels to come off, Mister Kaine.” He made no attempt to hide his amusement. “I’m putting you in charge of the sweep mission.”
Gunney glared at the equally surprised XO.
Was the captain out of his mind? He had access to Hayden’s file and should know he had only basic EVA combat training. Was this some kind of a joke?
“Yes, sir.”
What else could he say? Pavlovich was probably still annoyed by his deploying the drones without orders, even though it was the obvious course of action. Was this a way to knock him down a few pegs—put him in his place?
It was a critical mission, far too important to screw around with. Certainly not a routine teaching opportunity suitable to humble a young officer who had overstepped his authority.
Perhaps it was something else. Maybe he intended to assess Hayden’s leadership potential—justify his decision to make him XO? Why now? Was he willing risk the lives of the boarding party to satisfy his curiosity?
Pavlovich continued to appear amused. “You’ll need to get fitted for a combat suit, Lieutenant. Gunney’s boys are a lot bigger than you, so you may have to dig around to find one that fits.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The Rangers
TRUE TO THE captain’s prediction, Hayden had difficulty finding an endo-skin that he didn’t swim in. He settled on one designed for a woman that still hung loosely on his shoulders. Since it only had to provide a connection medium for the battle armour, he wasn’t too concerned. Still, he thought it best to get it covered by the exo-layer before the Rangers arrived. They were a rough lot and would give him a hard time if they saw him struggling to put it on.
Built of seamlessly linked armoured panels, it weighed over a hundred kilograms before any weapons were attached. Fortunately, the weightless conditions made the job of dressing a simple one for him by himself.
With the two layers now covering him, his implant initiated the connection between the endo-skin and the outer battle layer. He flexed oversized, armoured hands and selected an arm cannon from the rack.
Now he wished the gravity was active. The combat suit was designed to augment his strength by over tenfold, and the weapon weighed in at over two hundred kilos. He wanted to enjoy effortlessly lifting it with one hand. As it was, he barely had time to attach it when the hatchway opened. He self-consciously floated away from the equipment rack to give the new arrivals all the room they needed.
Like Gunney, the Rangers tended to keep to themselves in their own dedicated section of the ship near the armoury.
It took a moment for him to realize that the first soldier that entered was a woman. Two metres tall, she outweighed him by at least fifteen kilos of muscle. A jagged scar ran from her right ear to the base of her lantern jaw. Her close-cropped dark hair revealed a tattoo of the Ranger coat of arms on her scalp. Her movements in the weightlessness were graceful for a woman of her size. She showed signs of augmentation. One eye was artificial, and her entire left arm, which at first appeared normal to him, had bare connector patches along it.
She was followed by a male, even larger than Gunney, if that was possible. Unlike the woman, his face was unmarked and handsome. He wore his hair longer, though the tracings of a similar tattoo could be made out in places beneath, and he showed no obvious cyborg enhancements.
Hayden was taken aback by the next two who entered the armoury. About the same size as the man, they were obviously synths. Their unremarkable faces were identical, and their inhuman eyes did not give him the impression of the intelligence he knew lay behind them.
Combat AIs were the norm, rather than the exception on most ships. Human Rangers, augmented or not, were rare and had not been regularly deployed by Earth Forces for the past fifteen years.
The woman floated closer to him. He stifled the urge to flinch as she saluted.
“Lieutenant Kaine, I am Chief Warrant Officer Atan.”
She dutifully held the salute until Hayden realized she waited for him to return it. He raised his armour-encased right arm and tried not to strike his face. Before he could compose his response, she continued with the introductions.
“This is Corporal Enders,” she indicated the man, then pointed to the synths, “and these are Ten-K-five, and One-K-two, though we call them Tin-key and Win-key.” They saluted Hayden.
Self-conscious, he said, “Very good. Please carry on.”
“Aye, sir.”
She nodded to the others. They immediately moved to the racks and began donning their own combat gear.
“If I may, Lieutenant?”
“I’m sorry?”
She discreetly removed the cannon from his sleeve and turned it around to point in the opposite direction.
“Oh, I see. Um, thank you, Chief.” His cheeks warmed.
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Her smile was reassuring, despite her scars. “Don’t worry, sir. Almost everyone does that at least once.”
“I did it twice,” said Enders from across the room.
She laughed. “That is true, he did.”
She turned to rejoin her men. Hayden called her back. “Look, Chief. We both know how green I am. I may be the ranking officer in this little boarding party, but I’m just as likely to get everyone killed if left in charge...”
She nodded. “You want me to take command without letting the bridge think you aren’t? I understand, sir. Your reputation is safe.”
He protested that wasn’t his intention when she continued.
“I want to thank you, Lieutenant.”
“For what?”
“You recognized your limitations. Some officers would boldly assume command. That doesn’t end well for them, or for my men.”
He smiled. “You should get prepped, Chief.”
She returned his smile. Somehow, she managed to pivot around in the zero gravity and drifted toward the equipment lockers.
He glanced over to where Enders minded his own business, adjusting a fitting on his helmet. The two synths also ignored him.
Even though he was still in zero-G, the armour and weapons seemed a great deal lighter.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Discovery
THE BOARDING PARTY stood before Scimitar’s airlock, their magnetic boots holding them securely in place. Hayden was connected with every member of the squad and the tactical station on the bridge through his helmet’s HUD.
At his signal, the hatch was opened to the connection causeway between Scimitar and the other ship. Tin-key and Enders released their mag locks and floated down the tunnel to the closed airlock at the other end. After a minute, they signalled the all-clear, and the rest of the team followed.
By the time Hayden and the others arrived, the outer doorway to the wreck was open. Enders and Tin-key awaited them inside.
“It looks like gravity plating is active over here, sir!” said Atan.
Despite her warning, he was unprepared for the abrupt transition. He struggled to maintain his poise as he settled to the deck and wondered how foolish he appeared.
Seeking to distract from his awkward entrance, he said, “Did you get that, Scimitar? Gravity is functioning.”
“Acknowledged,” replied Pavlovich. “Proceed as planned. Exercise extreme caution. Oh, and Kaine?”
“Yes, sir?”
“If you are smart, you’ll let Atan take control of the situation from here.”
Hayden smiled. He had just been tossed a lifeline for his reputation with the crew. Had that been the test? Did the captain anticipate how big a mess of things he would make all by himself?
“That is a very good suggestion, sir. I believe I shall do that very thing.” He heard Pavlovich exhale with relief.
“Chief Atan, as per the captain’s order, I defer to your good judgement. Please assume command.”
“Aye-aye, Lieutenant.”
Hayden couldn’t see her face through her tinted visor, but he assumed she wore a knowing smile.
She closed the outer door, automatically initiating the airlock’s compression cycle.
At least the ship’s systems are operational, thought Hayden.
After one final check that her team was in position, Atan said, “Sir, it is probably best if you hang back and allow my men to ensure the ship is safe to enter.”
He nodded and moved behind the squad. When everyone was ready, she activated the doorway mechanism, and the hatch swung open.
One by one, weapons raised, the team advanced through the opening, leaving Hayden alone. After an anxious minute, his headset crackled with Atan’s voice.
“All is secured, sir. We’ve found something you need to see.”
He stepped into the interior of the old warship. The few lighting panels in the walls that were active flickered intermittently and shone on stirred up dust, making it sparkle. Despite the internal cooling of his suit, he sweated profusely.
Thirty metres down the hallway, two of the Rangers had their guns trained on something. As he moved closer, he saw they had their weapons pointed at a frightened middle-aged man and a young woman. They were both on their knees in the dust, hands clasped behind their heads.
Hayden’s implant kicked out an image from the ship’s database that identified the older man.
He was none other than Doctor Ishmael Gabriel, the missing scientist.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Ishmael Gabriel
THE MAN AND woman were brought aboard Scimitar and placed in isolation. Over the following twenty-two hours, the medical synths poked, prodded, and took samples until the pair was cleared of carrying pathogens. They suffered from nothing more serious than malnutrition. Genetic tests confirmed the man to be Ishmael Gabriel, and the woman, while not in the database, tested as his daughter.
When Hayden caught up with them in medical, they were wolfing down a meal and appeared more energetic than when he first encountered them.
“Doctor, I am Lieutenant Kaine, first officer of the Scimitar. The captain sends his regrets and asked me to debrief you.” He had no idea what commanded Pavlovich’s attention and wondered if this was another kind of test.
“Yes, yes, of course,” said Gabriel around a mouthful of food. He was short and rail-thin. His scraggly black beard was peppered with ample amounts of white, and his long, greying hair was tied into a neat bun. He invited Hayden to sit across from them.
The scientist wiped his mouth and then directed Hayden’s attention to the young woman. She appeared to be in her late teens, small-framed and thin. Her unkempt, mousy brown hair fell over her eyes, which regarded him with suspicion.
“This is my daughter, Stella.”
“It is nice to meet you,” said Hayden, extending his hand to her. She stared at him for a moment then returned to her food tray.
“Please forgive her, Lieutenant. She hasn’t met many people in her twenty years, and I’m afraid I was lax in teaching her the social graces.”
“She’s lived out here her entire life?”
“She was born out here. Her mother died when Stella was an infant, and I raised her myself.”
“Neither of you had any other human contact in all that time?”
“I didn’t say that. We’ve had occasional encounters with some of the other survivors.”
“How many are there, and where are they?”
“Not as many as there once were. A few hundred, maybe? My wife and I were trapped here when the light-gate went offline.”
Hayden swallowed, recalling his own anxiety when Scimitar lost contact with it.
“We are scattered through the system, scraping together a nomadic existence with whatever resources can be salvaged. We all stay on the move to evade the Malliac patrols.”
“The what?”
“Oh, that is what I named them. They are the race who destroyed Dulcinea.”
“They are still around? How did you avoid them?”
Gabriel laughed, and Stella smiled, sharing a private joke.
“Space, even in a planetary system, is big, Lieutenant. Was it pure luck that we avoided them? I don’t know for sure. They rarely return to a location they’ve searched, as far as I can tell.”
“What are they searching for?”
Gabriel shrugged. “Alas, I do not know. When they encounter a ship, they disable it and rip it apart, killing anyone they find. We’ve learned to watch for any sign of their approach and take actions to hide.”
“What kind of signs? Do they possess stealth technology?” Hayden’s thoughts were drawn to their own attacker.
Gabriel’s eyes stared off into space while he considered the question. “I doubt they think of themselves as having such.”
“You’ll have to explain that to me, Doctor.”
“To the best of my knowledge, based on my study of the Glenatat ruins on Dulcinea, the Malliac are n
ot like us. They come from regions of the galaxy composed of dark matter.”
Hayden tried to recall his physics classes. If their ships were built of the stuff, it explained why only the rail gun had any effect on them.
“How is it you came to be here, Lieutenant? Is the light-gate active again?”
“It was but has stopped talking to us since our arrival. Do you know anything about that?”
Gabriel shook his head. “Believe me, if I knew why it isn’t working, the majority of my time would be spent trying to locate and repair it. It seems to function well enough to guide ships across to this side, as evidenced by your presence, but once here, they become trapped like flies on fly paper.”
“I beg your pardon. I don’t understand what you mean.”
“Sorry. I’m a historian and archaeologist. It’s a reference to an obscure nineteenth century technology for catching insect pests.”
Stella seemed amused by Hayden’s confusion.
“So you think these Malliac wait near the light-gate to waylay any ships that enter the system?”
Gabriel nodded and after a moment’s consideration spoke around a mouthful of half-chewed food. “Mmmm...that is one theory. But based on their wider-ranging activity, I think they may be looking for something. We just give them a wide berth.”
“Why were you aboard the wreck of the UEF Odyssey?”
“Well, to hide, but I thought it a wonderful opportunity to study the history of a ship from that era.”
“There was life support in the section we found you in. Was it active when you boarded?”
Gabriel’s laughter filled the room. “Oh, no, Lieutenant, most certainly not. We got the environmental system running again. Stella is adept at engineering solutions.”
Hayden regarded the famished pixie who continued to stuff herself with food.
“How long had you been there?”