Antagonize (From the Logs of Daniel Quinn Book 2)

by Thomas R. Manning

  “I’m sorry Tress,” I said, my mind blank for any other response. I, myself had been isolated from my own kind for years, but humanity was still together on their inhabited planets and space stations. I couldn’t even imagine what we would do if Earth was forced to evacuate, the billions of people sent out in different corners of the galaxy.

  I looked over at my navigational display and keyed in the coordinates for the solar system known as Gamma 32. Terra and Gaia were about an hour away from each other, assuming you traveled at the speed of light. Tristain was farther away, about two additional hours, but the Belle would be flying close enough by it that we could make a pass-over. I altered the plotted course marginally.

  “We’ll swing by your planet and take a look, but my priority is to get to Terra. Once we unload Damon and find out what’s going on, we’ll investigate your problem further, okay?”

  Tress’s mood changed instantly. He opened his eyes, which shifted color to bright white.

  “Thank you Daniel!”

  The two of us spent the next two days making minor repairs to the ship. Tress was curious enough about how the Belle operated, so I figured why not put him to work? We cleaned the rooms that were tossed in the battle with Granak, the cargo bay being the most demanding. I didn’t have any active cargo deliveries, but I still kept a supply of boxes and crates in case they were needed. We even managed to fix the engineering door. Afterwards I taught Tress some of the controls on the bridge. I kept him away from the communications, since he only knew a few English words up to that point, but he got the hang of the weapon systems quickly.

  I knew that our time together was short and our first meeting didn’t go so well, but I felt a sense of trust for Tress. He was eager to learn, and he looked up to me like I was some kind of icon for him. No one ever looked up to me like he did and I couldn’t help but feel good about it. I suppose he could be doing this to gain my trust only to betray me later, but based on his actions, the way he moved and spoke, I didn’t think that was possible. I’ve been proven wrong before though.

  During his weapon’s training, I taught him some of the English words associated with the weapons, like plasma, missiles, mines, and shields. If we ended up in another skirmish, I didn’t want to have to evade enemy weapons while trying to translate my orders.

  The lack of Al’s presence certainly caused a hole in my life. I kept expecting him to respond to my comments with attempted jokes or sarcasm. I never had to correct myself because Al always did it for me, so if I accidentally misspoke to Tress, I waited for Al to chime in, only to not be there. Despite this, having Tress on board was a welcome presence. I rarely had passengers on the Belle, and when I did they always had ulterior motives, like the assassin Cessa. Her job was to shadow me and make sure I did my job, but during our time she showed me a side of herself that was broken, that I was led to believe I could fix. Then I realized she played me the entire time, waiting for the right moment to take advantage.

  I almost felt more like a Captain now than ever, with Tress acting as a member of my crew. The second morning, the day we would arrive at Gamma 32, I woke up to a status report. Tress was too excited to let me know he checked over all the ship levels and operations, one’s that he knew of anyway.

  Food was scarce. I kept a supply of rations on the ship, but living off those wasn’t entirely satisfying. We managed to nourish ourselves with some grain and fruit. It wasn’t bad, but the first thing I wanted to do when I arrived at Terra was get some meat, preferably a cheeseburger.

  When the Belle passed into the solar system I turned up the communications signal. I needed to get a message to Terra and let them know we’re coming, but it couldn’t reach out far enough. I kept Tress focusing on the sensors just in case any ship, namely Granak’s, moved to intercept us. Every time I thought of my Leondren adversary my nerves trembled, but my blood boiled. His love of toying with people and his utter lack of morals irritated me to no end. It didn’t help that a lot of money was riding on his capture.

  We were a few minutes from visual range of Tristain. Tress stood behind me, leaning over my shoulder to get a good view of it. A small dot outside the shield window grew bigger over time. I pulled back the slingspace lever and we dropped back to thruster power, the Belle groaned and clanked as we slowed.

  “Sorry girl,” I muttered to her. I just need one more jump after this, and then we’ll take care of you.”

  Tress pointed excitedly as we saw the entirety of his home planet. White clouds covered a lush green surface. I was admiring the view when a red light blinked on my console.

  “Tress,” I said, checking the sensors twice. “Does your planet have a militarized defense grid?”

  He didn’t answer me, but looking at his face, his mouth was pursed and forehead scrunched up. I took that as a no. I tried scanning through the grid to detect life signs or power emissions from the surface, but some kind of deflector blocked me. I couldn’t tell what was going on down there.

  “We never used any devices like that in the past,” Tress said after a couple minutes of silence. “Something is not right. I hope my family is okay.”

  There was nothing more I could do. With a defense system activated I wouldn’t be able to pass through without proper authorization, and I had none. I felt guilty as I turned the navsphere away from Restran, but I promised Tress that we would figure out a way to get on the planet.

  He left the bridge after that and didn’t return during the rest of our journey. I spent the few hours alone on the bridge, going over Damon’s data. There was so much. With Al he could have analyzed all of it and given me the most important details, but without him all I could do was look piece by piece.

  The peace council was founded by six members of each planet’s government. A security force called the Sentinels was tasked with protecting them as they made multiple attempts to call off the war that plagued them for years. Apparently Damon was the lead advisor to the council, handling all of their correspondence and information. Now someone was trying to put an end to the prospects of peace. Someone wanted the war to continue. Killing off members of a peace council seemed to be a great way to do just that.

  The two planets, during the time of colonization, were terraformed differently. Terra had an abundance of metals and other elements that allowed it to evolve into a technological marvel. Cities spanned the globe and they exceled at industrial manufacturing. On the other hand, Gaia was rich with vegetation and plants with medicinal properties. Humans were colonized there to build a thriving utopia of farming and horticulture.

  Two planets, both with vastly different ecosystems; I imagine they were built this way to strengthen each other. With Terra sharing its technology, and Gaia its herbs and market of fruit, vegetables, and other delicacies, this solar system would have been close to a paradise for humanity.

  Instead of sharing, these two planets degraded into selling their exclusive items. Fights broke out among them. I read testimonies of raids being performed on each other to steal equipment, until finally Terra and Gaia declared war on each other in an attempt to control everything.

  Somehow I was supposed to help put an end to this. The thought nearly made me laugh out loud. I didn’t want to dishonor Damon Derringer, but what was he thinking when he came to find me? I wish I knew. In some ways I wish I never raised my gun to him. Maybe with an additional few seconds, I could have gotten more answers.

  No. The past is the past and I often have trouble realizing that. I turned my eyes away from the articles and rubbed my eyes, trying to coax the soreness to go away. When was the last time I slept? I leaned back in my chair and put my feet up on the console. Every time I did this, Al would make a comment about my feet unintentionally hitting a button and causing a malfunction. Normally I would tell him to shut up, but now all I wanted was to hear his voice, to tell me to put my feet down like some kind of robotic parent.

  My mind drifted towards thoughts of Earth and how my family was doing. I tried not to
think of them, or else my eyes water and a dive into a deep depression of loneliness, but sitting there in silence I couldn’t help myself. Plus, with Al damaged, there was a good chance the only person who could repair him was his creator, my father Alexander Quinn. By now he was probably hiding somewhere on Earth, staying quiet so he doesn’t arouse suspicion from the Earth Star Alliance. It’s funny how one man can set out to change the world, only for his experiment to cause chaos because others see it as a way to gain more power and influence.

  After I escaped from the Echelon and the clutches of Sarah King, I never knew what happened on Earth. My father’s best friend and my former captain, Gregory Smithson, told me my family would be safe, but I wouldn’t be able to count on my hand the number of times I wanted to fly the Belle back to Earth. The only thing that stopped me was King. After she framed me for murder, the news would have traveled to the entire fleet, and now I was a wanted man within the distance of my birthplace.

  I disengaged the slingspace and the Belle trembled. She was a damn good ship to me. Now I had to take care of her, otherwise the next time we jumped into slingspace she would spit me out like rotten meat. I searched through the Derringer records until I found the frequency to contact the Sentinels on Terra.

  The power on the communications console cut out momentarily, until my fist hit it. It lit back up and transmitted the signal I sent out.

  “Unknown vessel,” a man grunted out as if his mouth was stuffed with food. “This is Terran Orbital Command. Transmit access codes for clearance to land. Any hesitation on your part will result in the destruction of your vessel and crew.”

  Flux. No warning whatsoever? These Terrans were strict, though I suppose I understood given the extremity of their circumstances. I quickly sent the codes through. The Belle was in no condition to dodge cannon fire.”

  After a couple of minutes of what I guessed was a verification process for the codes, another man came on the line.

  “This is Commander Harold Scott of Sentinel command. Identify yourself.”

  “This is Captain Daniel Quinn of the Kestrel Belle,” I replied. “I’m requesting permission to dock.”

  “Quinn?” He said, sounding perplexed. “Do you have Damon Derringer with you?”

  Had Scott been expecting me? I assumed I’d be getting the usual interrogation when landing on a planet for the first time. What’s your business on the planet? What cargo do you currently hold? What’s your ship’s registry number?

  “Um, in a manner of speaking,” I said. “Damon Derringer is dead.”

  Silence. At first I thought the line went dead or my power cut out, but all other lights were on and there didn’t seem to be any disruption across the line.

  “Access granted,” Scott said. “Proceed to docking tower B-4, but I highly recommend you alter your course. I see your ship on sensors and it –”

  The signal definitely went dead that time, but it wasn’t my console. Sensors detected some kind of dampening field that we passed through, which was odd. Dampening fields are used to cut out outward or inbound communication, but it’s usually when someone wants to jam your signal intentionally.

  A knot tied in my stomach and I checked the radar for Granak, thinking that maybe he followed me here, but instead of one red blip on the radar, I counted a dozen. All of them were straight ahead.

  “Tress,” I jumped out of my seat and opened the bridge door, calling out for Tress. Sound carried well through the corridor and he would’ve had heard me. By the time he joined me on the bridge, I could see flashed of blue and green among the white stars ahead.

  “What is that?” He asked.

  “Trouble,” I said. “The war between Terra and Gaia is happening, right now, directly ahead.”

  Six

  Stars above, I thought as we neared a battle zone of starships. Smaller crafts shot out from bigger ones and engaged in what looked like a fireworks show. Ships exploded and spread fire and debris among the stars. How many lives were being lost right in front of me? It was one thing to be told that Terra and Gaia were at war with each other, but to see it in plain sight was nothing less than horrible.

  “Is there a way around this?” Tress whispered. I nodded, unable to speak. We had to give the zone a wide berth to stay clear of weapon fire, and I didn’t want to fly through that mess. I cleared my throat and blinked a couple times to find my resolve.

  “Tress, sit at the tactical station. Remember how I showed you? Power up the deflector shield just in case.”

  I waited for the hum of the shield activating, but nothing came. Tress turned up the dial multiple times to no avail. Shields were offline.

  Don’t bang your head against the console . . . Don’t bang your head against the console . . .

  We just had to stay far enough away from the battle and we’d be fine. Unless, of course, one of the ships mistook me for the enemy; in that case one well-placed missile or plasma burst would obliterate my ship and the two of us. No worries, right? I grabbed the navsphere and twisted it starboard. As the ship turned, I found myself glued to the battle. One of the larger ships took on heavy fire and pieces of the hull broke apart in various sections. Flames shot out from the bow, traveling all the way to the stern until the hull expanded like a balloon and exploded.

  No thoughts formed other than numbers; thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people could fit on a ship that size, and all their voices were suddenly silenced in the darkness. The battle fanned out and ships altered their maneuvers, a couple moving close to my position. I quickly shifted my course to increase distance between us.

  I hummed, not a song I knew of, but just a melody I was creating at that moment. I never realized how much music could affect a person’s mood until I made first contact with the Dawnian race, who literally spoke in musical intonations. Their voices had the ability to manipulate emotional responses within a person. I noticed for the last year I tended to hum to myself during difficult situations. Sometimes it helped, and sometimes not.

  I concentrated on its melody as I took the Belle past the battle. Weapon fire from both sides continued and two smaller ships rammed each other, resulting in another explosion. A couple rogue missiles came toward the ship, and I eased the navsphere forward and dropped the ship below them.

  A couple of times I glanced back to see if Tress was still there, and he was, but was so silent I couldn’t hear him breathe. He couldn’t look away from the battle, from the death.

  Something changed. One minute the bridge was silent and the next a distress signal sounded throughout the room. Whatever ship emitted the dampening field must have either been damaged or destroyed. I hit the button that allowed the message to play over the speakers.

  “Can anyone hear me? This is medical freighter Zolo, requesting assistance. A Gaian attacker is pursuing us. Our energy levels are weakening and shields are almost out. Please, we have no weapon capability.” The voice was shaken, soft, and female. Her words stuttered. I pushed the sensors to their limit, scanning for the source of the message. There, about two thousand meters away, a ship was flying towards Terra with a second ship following it, firing its weapons.

  The Belle wasn’t in any condition to pursue, but the thought of more people in danger, especially defenseless people, nagged at me. I checked the radar for any additional ships that were moving to intercept.

  None.

  Damaged or not, I couldn’t keep the Belle from danger and allow more people to die. I set course toward the two ships and turned the navsphere.

  “Tress, at the tactical station there is a green gauge on the top right corner. Tell me how full it is.”

  I kept my eye on the enemy ship as Tress moved behind me.

  “Under half,” he said.

  There was enough power for a few plasma rounds, but I had to make them count. The Belle closed in on the attacking ship, which continued to lay into the Zolo with its weapons. I used my bionic eye to zoom in toward the source of the weapon fire. Port and starboard ther
e were two disruptor emitters. Each had to charge for a few seconds before it could fire.

  One blast. One, two, three, four, five, and then a second blast, I thought, counting out the durations between the two emitters.

  I opened a sensor display of the enemy ship, a rounded edge saucer with two small wings, and touched the two sections of the ship from where the weapons fired. Red circles zoomed in on the area until the word ‘LOCKED’ appeared on screen.

  The three of us advanced toward planet Terra, and the sight distracted me. I assumed the planet would bear some resemblance to Earth, but the entire sphere was colored a variety of gray and white. There were some blues and greens, but sparse and spread out. Terra could have easily been a giant metal ball if it wasn’t for the few shades of color.

  The Zolo entered into the atmosphere, which gave the attacker a perfect chance to hit them and overload their hull armor. The ship would burn up in seconds. I had to make my move now. I allowed the first blast to fire and hoped the Zolo survived.

  “One, two, three, FIRE!” I shouted and jammed in the trigger on my weapon’s console. Green plasma erupted from the beak of the Belle toward the enemy ship. Time seemed to stop as I waited and watched to see if I landed a hit. The enemy ship, either unknowing or uncaring about my weapons, fired their second attack, but my plasma hit them as their weapons fired. An explosion of green and red tore through the ship as it spun out of control. Small human-shaped figures were sucked out through its hull. One of them, a man, floated past my window, half his body scorched and his eyes wide open and lifeless.

  “Stars above,” I whispered. This wasn’t my war, and by looking at the carnage around me, I had no idea how Terra and Gaia even agreed to peace talks. Even by saving a medical ship from being destroyed, I killed a number of men and women to do it.

  I kept on course for Terra as the communicator on the bridge spurted out static, and then the woman’s voice came back online.