Jump Starting the Universe Book Bundle

by John David Buchanan

  “Captain, you may want to see this,” requested the pilot.

  “What is it?” replied Captain Mason, who turned to his communications officer and asked, “do we have those codes yet?”

  Our sensors detected another ship near our destination coordinates,” said the pilot, who asked the officer next to her if he had completed the long range visual scan.

  “Just now.”

  “Put it on the forward screen. Captain, there’s our new ship. I believe that belongs to our visitors.”

  Everyone in the command deck except the communications officer turned toward the screen.

  “Officer Chanan’s hunch was correct.”

  The image on the main screen was clearly an attack fighter, but unlike any they had ever seen before. Like the first alien ship, it appeared to be made of ice crystals, suggesting it was made from the same, or similar, silicon carbide matrix. But this ship was sleek. Its nose was drawn out in front, and its wings were bent farther back than most. It looked fast, and there was no mistaking the missile ports.

  “I want a full scan on that ship ASAP,” said Captain Mason. “Do we have those codes yet?” he asked the communications officer. “Hail them again and tell them the window of opportunity for their boarding just disappeared. It’s now or not at all.”

  “I’m on it Captain.”

  Mason turned to another officer, “Contact Captain Warrington on the Alpha and apprise him of the second ship. If they’re not monitoring this it could be a nasty surprise.”

  “Captain, I have codes.”

  “Tell Captain Wilson he has approach authorization and tell him to speed it up.”

  The communications officer on the Alpha received the message from the Magnus as Officer Chanan’s new scan results were completed.

  “Captain Warrington, the Magnus reported a second alien ship near our destination coordinates.”

  “Verify,” yelled Bert, as he looked across the com deck toward Ellen.

  “Verified Captain, there is a second ship. Same construction, but fully armed.”

  “Contact close support. I want every stealth fighter in a launch bay within five minutes, and put a gunner in every cradle,” he yelled. Then he picked up a com set and made an announcement to the ship.

  “Attention all personnel, this is Captain Warrington. We have detected a second ship near our destination coordinates. Based on its appearance and capabilities, we are now in Readiness Condition 2. I’ve ordered all fighters to the launch bays and gunners to their cradles. Pilots, hold your positions, we have NOT issued launch authorizations at this time. I repeat, we have NOT issued launch authorizations at this time. Gunners are free to engage any approaching hostiles. I repeat, gunners are free to engage.” Bert then turned to his communications officer, “Tell Captain Mason to hurry it up.”

  “What does that mean, based on its appearance and capabilities? Mark asked Gary.

  “It means an attack craft appeared and its carrying live ordnance.”

  Gary stopped at a computer on the launch deck and accessed the gunner unit’s program. “That’s not good,” he said, and he picked up a com set. “Chris, I need you to transfer to cradle 17 ASAP. John is in his bunk with a fever and he failed medical clearance. I’ve transferred your security codes to 17. Your cradle? I’ve got it covered.”

  Gary placed the com set in its rack and turned to Mark, “I need your help, come with me, you’ve been reassigned.” He jogged down the hallway toward gunner position seven. When he got there, he explained the situation to his brother Hank.

  “So, I’m going to put Mark in cradle 17. That’s right next to me. Is 17 tripped out? I know Chris likes to play with the swing response times and firing specifications. Are they too aggressive?”

  “Probably so, Chris is a madman.” Then turning to Mark, he said, “McLeod is one of our best gunners.”

  “What do we need to do?” asked Gary.

  “Go to your cradles. I can access the system from the controls behind this panel. By the time you’re settled in, it will be done.”

  “What about protocols and clearance?”

  “I’ll transfer the swing response and firing specifications information we collected during Mark’s practice round at G-7, the rest I can hack from the mainframe’s files.”

  “Told you he was the best,” said Gary to Mark. “Let’s go.”

  When they arrived at G-17 Mark realized Gary’s cradle, G-16, was literally right next door. The control screen was lit up and the upper left-hand corner was flashing the name of its gunner – Mark. “That didn’t take long,” said Mark, as he leaned forward, touched an icon on the screen and the cradle became accessible.

  “You learn fast,” said Gary. “Notice the line of sight is angled to the right while mine is angled to the left. That lets us cover the entire zone. Do what you did during practice and you’ll be a hero.”

  “How do I keep from shooting down one of our own fighters?” asked Mark nervously.

  “You couldn’t shoot one of ours if you tried. Our ships have a beacon that prevents our own guns from locking on. If things get crazy and you accidentally aim at one of ours, your targeting screen will flash red, beep twice, and the cannons won’t respond. Otherwise, you’ll have the green screen – like in practice.

  I realize you weren’t mentally prepared for this, and I’m asking a lot of you Mark, but consider this; in this situation, incoming hostiles are most often remotely controlled drones, or they are piloted by computers. Beings with the intelligence to design and build close combat fighters are smart enough to not to be in them when they attack an Alpha class gunship. Odds are you’ll be shooting at an unmanned flying computer.”

  “Good to know.”

  The screen at G-16 flashed and posted a message for Gary – Magnus is inbound and will dock in one minute.

  “What about the shields, Gary? How do we shoot if there’s a shield protecting the ship?”

  “Good question. The gun turrets are connected to the mainframe computer that controls the shield array. Every movement of the turret is uploaded to the computer where it constantly calculates the angle of the gun and distance to the shield. Then, using the known velocity of our bullets, when a round is fired, the program anticipates where and when it will hit the shield and in milliseconds opens and closes a hole allowing the bullets to exit.”

  Mark and Gary’s casual discussion in the gunnery couldn’t have been more contrary to the scene on the com deck, where changes in their mission status had resulted in a state of controlled frenzy. Seven more invader ships had been detected and all of them had offensive capabilities.

  “Attention all gunship Captains, this is your mission commander, Captain Warrington. In five minutes, we will arrive at our destination. All ships will phalanx and interlock shields as soon as we’ve dropped out of translocation. Your assigned positions have already been uploaded to your navigation computers.”

  “We will not initiate an offensive until we’ve had opportunity to contact the invaders. All ships are granted full defensive postures using your onboard gunnery only. At this time, all stealth cruisers should remain in their respective launch bays. One more thing,” said Bert, “the fully interactive captain’s coms should be activated for the remainder of our mission.”

  Bert placed the hand com set in its rack and put on the Captain’s headset that allowed mobile communications to all other ship captains simultaneously. “Until we arrive, that is all.”

  Five minutes later, twenty Centorian Alpha Class gunships, each with a full crew and ten stealth fighters, dropped out of translocation drive into a phalanx formation to take advantage of their overlapping shields. They were now ready to contact the invaders.

  “Hail on all frequencies,” Mr. Goode.

  “Auto all-frequency hailing transmissions are active, Captain.”

  They waited in dead silence. Everyone was on edge and the tension in the room was palpable. One minute passed with no answer. The two-minute mark cli
pped by without a reply. Then, the silence was cut like a knife.

  “Captain, we have a security breach, we’ve been boarded,” said Officer Kulla. An alarm sounded throughout the ship and the doors to the com center began to close automatically.

  “Where are they,” asked Bert.

  “Here Captain, on the com deck.”

  Everyone wheeled around looking for the intruder. Officer Chanan was the first to see it and yelled, “By the doors, Captain.”

  The space inside the com center doors where the intruder stood, seemed to shift and bend. Whatever it was it didn’t appear to have a corporeal body and its translucent edges billowed in and out like a sheet of clear plastic blowing in a mild breeze. They couldn’t see through it, but they couldn’t see it either. It was like the space where it stood was partially missing.

  The billowing mass began to change. The edges shifted slowly, becoming more distinct and the form of a humanoid body began to emerge where the shifting, billowy vacuum had been. Two officers on the com had already retrieved weapons from the gun safe and were pointing them at the alien.

  “Hold you fire,” said Bert as he approached the intruder.

  After the being was fully formed a thin watery gel-like substance swirled around its exterior. The intruder turned toward Bert and a whispery tenor voice drifted into the com, “You must not interfere.” The translucent humanoid form retained its watery exterior; constantly shifting and shimmering as they watched.

  “Come, it is imperative we speak,” it whispered, and motioned for Bert to come near. “I will not harm you.”

  When the being motioned at Bert, one of the armed officers released the safety on his weapon and set it on stun. The weapon sounded an audible alert indicating it was ready to be fired. As if triggered by the weapon’s alert the humanoid shape resumed its previous billowing translucent appearance, and then expanded. Before anyone on the com could react it engulfed Bert and he vanished into the billowing mass.

  One of the command deck officers gasped audibly. Everyone’s eyes were fixed firmly on the spot where Captain Warrington vanished without so much as a trace. Inside the vacuum, Bert found himself surrounded by a shifting watery-like substance, yet he could breathe and he was unharmed. Looking for the intruder, he turned around quickly and faced him, waiting for an explanation.

  The alien intruder apologized for his intrusion on their ship, and indicated he would not be onboard long. “Without balance, everything on both sides of the gateway will fail. We will only take what we need to harmonize our dimensions.”

  “What you call balance we call murder and genocide. I was sent here to prevent the destruction of planets in the Sote-kiliet and the massacre of innocent beings. Those are my orders.”

  “Understand this Captain, if you stop us, your universe and mine will cease to exist.”

  “I have no way of knowing if what you say is true, but I’ll take it under advisement when I’ve been notified you are no longer harvesting populated planets.”

  Outside the billowing mass the com crew initiated standard emergency procedures. “Implementing Protocol 13,” yelled the assistance captain.

  “Agreed,” hollered communications officer Goode. All the other officers agreed. Goode picked up the ship’s com and addressed the crew. “All crew members be advised, circumstances on the command deck require Assistant Captain Williams take command of the ship and fleet in accordance with Protocol 13. As he turned toward Officer Williams, he racked the ship’s com. “It’s all yours Captain.”

  Williams took a few steps toward the center of the ship and spoke to the billowing mass inside the security doors. “You don’t want us to intervene. I hope you can hear me, because you have five minutes to return Captain Warrington.”

  He reached over the counter, picked up a handset for the ship’s com and hailed the head of ordnance. “Tom, Jake Williams here,” he said. “Prepare and load an A-90, statim. Your approved key code is O-66. I repeat, the approved key code is O-66.”

  “Confirming order prep and load one A-90 Silencer missile with approved key code O-66,” repeated Tom.

  “Mr. Goode, apprise the fleet commanders of our status.”

  “That’s a big ship you brought with you,” said Williams as he racked the handset and turned toward the intruder. “In three and a half minutes, I’m going to launch a missile capable of destroying it in one blast. Capiunt? I want our captain back, alive and unharmed.”

  The ordnance bay was suddenly full of activity. The backup alarm on a pull truck was beeping loudly as it neared an A-90 missile. Two yellow-shirts guided him to within five feet of the missile’s trailer. On a walkway overhead, Tom stood next to the missile with a technician explaining what he wanted done.

  “Sir, that key code activates the missile flight program, but prevents the missile from detonating. We might as well throw a rock at them.”

  “I understand Clyde, but their sensors will show a missile with an enormous payload has been activated. That may be all we need. But just in case, add a secondary inflight key code. Make it O-16.”

  “Yes sir. I need thirty seconds,” he said as the A-90’s control panel opened.

  Back in the gunnery, Mark leaned over in his cradle to watch Gary. In his position as the head of the gunnery unit he was privy to all the ship’s com transmissions. “What’s all the ruckus in the ordnance bay about.”

  “Something must have happened on the com deck after the intruder alert,” said Gary as he leaned toward Mark. Jake Williams is acting Captain and he authorized an A-90 prep and load. If our uninvited visitors are scanning our ship they’ve got to be a little nervous right now. Nothing survives The Silencer. Be on the ready, we may be in the middle of a shooting war in a matter of minutes.”

  Back on the command deck the situation was fast reaching critical stage of no return. The near silence was interrupted by the ping of the ship’s com. Officer Goode listened intently through his headset and relayed the status. “Captain Williams, ordnance is at Stage 2 in the silo.”

  “Williams looked across the room at his communications officer, “Tell them to proceed to Stage 1, open the silo hatch.” Then, he turned back toward the intruder, “You have approximately two minutes.”

  Williams flicked on the fleet com headset and put it on. “Captains, be advised, we are two minutes from an A-90 launch. Remain in your current location. All fighters should be in their launch bays until further notice.”

  The space inside the com center doors where the intruder stood began to shift and bend, and the translucent edges of the billowing mass began to change again. The edges shifted rapidly, becoming more distinct, and the form of two humanoid bodies emerged; one with a thin watery gel-like substance swirling around it. The other one was Fleet Captain Bert Warrington.

  “You must not interfere,” repeated the translucent humanoid, “all will perish if you interfere,” and then he vanished.

  “Status,” asked Bert.

  “Protocol 13, Captain Warrington,” replied Williams.

  “What is your plan?”

  “Fulfill our directive, Sir.”

  “Pursuant to Protocol 13, I relinquish the command deck, Captain Williams. I’ll be in my cabin until I’m cleared for return,” and he left the bridge.

  “Captain Williams, we have an incoming transmission from Centoria, but the signal is garbled. I’m not sure what the aliens are doing out there, but incoming communications are completely scrambled. This transmission makes no sense.”

  Williams considered their situation then responded. “It will be several hours before Captain Warrington can return to the bridge. We have a mission plan to fulfill, so let’s get to it. Mr. Goode, issue a launch command to our close-support squad. I want 20 stealth cruisers prepped to engage and destroy the intruders’ close support fighters. When that is done, we’ll board their command ship.

  “What about the A-90, Sir?”

  “Leave it in the silo. If they’re scanning us they’ll recogniz
e the open hatch. It might pave our way to the negotiation table once we clear off their close support. Mr. Goode, have our pilots target only unmanned fighters.

  “Our scans indicate they are all unmanned, Sir.”

  “Good, then let’s get to it.”

  CHAPTER TEN

  THE COMPETITION

  After their unannounced visit, Blackie, Joules, Wayne and Amelia left the Chancellor’s office building and walked casually down the street chatting about their plan.

  “He kept sizing me up while Blackie was speaking. I’m sure he’s wondering why I’m the second and not Wayne,” said Joules. “He’s in for a surprise, isn’t he?”

  “So,” said Amelia, looking at Wayne, “you want to find a library, and dinner?” repeating what he had said earlier.

  “Like I said, I’m starving.”

  “And a library?” asked Joules, who could tell by Amelia’s tone it was time for some lighthearted ribbing.

  “Where else are we going to find an antidote for Listirna leaves.” Wayne, shrugged his shoulders and mumbled to himself, “I’m starting to sound like a cross between Mark and Blackie.”

  “Yeah, we could start calling you Mackie,” teased Amelia.

  “Or Blark,” added Joules.

  Although he wanted to, Blackie resisted the temptation to pile on, and suggested they have dinner at a restaurant up the street. Everyone was agreeable to an early dinner and after looking at the menu posted on an easel outside, they went in. The hostess found them a table by itself, so they could talk freely. Before they finished eating, Amelia commented on how all the wait staff seemed to be nervous. It was then Wayne noticed a face outside the nearest window staring at them.

  “I can’t be sure, but I think that’s Soe standing outside the window.”

  “That is Soe,” agreed Amelia, who turned sideways in her chair. Motioning for him to join them, she waived at the window.