A Bellicose Dance

by Patrick M J Lozon

  * * *

  Aviore was up on the elevated walkway. She was looking at him so strangely, it gave him the chills.

  "What?"

  "I just have this bad feeling."

  "Don't worry, we'll handle this right. We're not going in unarmed, remember."

  "I know," she resigned, worry still echoing in her voice.

  "Oh, and I've got something to show you!" she announced, a little on the happier side.

  "What? You've invented a juicy steak," Ryan kidded.

  "Don't be silly," she dismissed his humor. "It's in the hydroponics room, but I want you to close your eyes."

  "I won't be able to see."

  "Here, take my hand."

  They walked through the ship. It tested his knowledge of where everything was. He only tripped but once.

  "Come on you big lug," Aviore told him affectionately. "You must know this ship pretty good by now if you can walk through it with your eyes closed."

  "You told me to close them."

  She laughed slightly and turned him to face a certain direction.

  "OK, you can open your eyes now."

  Ryan did. He didn't see anything unusual at first, just the rich vegetation of edible plants and the thick moss that covered the walls and ceiling. He was already feeling the heat from the bright, hot lighting and high humidity.

  "I don't see anything."

  "It's right in front of you."

  He looked down at the compost vat in front of him. Perched in the middle of a red cherry vine, was a single yellow flower. It resembled a daisy.

  "What? This little flower?"

  "Yes. Isn't it something," she said cheerfully.

  "Yeah, I guess. So what's the big deal?"

  Aviore was beginning to form a cross look upon her face. "You think I planted it there? It grew by itself. I found it when I was picking the cherries. It's absolutely incredible."

  "It's just a plant. A stray seed, so what."

  "When is the last time you've ever seen a flower with pedals like that? I remember my biology. This flower shouldn't be here."

  "I agree, but I'm weak on biology. We'd better get it out of here before it interferes with the other plants."

  "No way! Leave it alone. Don't you get it? This is an amazing find. That flower is a desert dwelling plant, its root system should have broken down by now."

  "How do you know so much about this one plant? What’s so special about it?"

  "Well, for one thing, it comes from Signus. I know as I used to have one growing at home. If you watered it, you would have killed it."

  "This plant? If I remember right, I've seen thousands of them all over the Xeronian parks."

  "Yes. I saw them there too. That's precisely the point. This particular plant is a Xeronian version. I've examined it fully. It's exactly the same plant that is on Signus, almost. Everything is identical except a small mutation that has allowed it to adapt to the different soil. Its cellular makeup is almost an exact match.

  Ryan was totally disinterested now. He walked over and checked the flowmeters and the circulation monitors. "Well, everything looks OK here."

  "Well, don't act so damned... disinterested!" she said, frustrated at him.

  "Look, I'm not…" He cut his sentence short.

  "Not what?" she demanded.

  "I'm not interested," he stated flatly, with a slight smile.

  She gritted her teeth at him, seething, not saying a word.

  Gem spoke up. "You are not communicating effectively, Captain."

  "I noticed. She didn't like my little joke," he replied.

  He tried to sound apologetic. "If you find this so important, you study it. It's possible one of the Xeronians visited..."

  "No Xeronian mission has visited Signus," refuted Gem, to both of them.

  "OK, then a Signite ship visited Xeronia. Or an identical plant evolved on both planets. I don't know. If you find something out, tell me... I've got to check on the anti-gravs, one's acting up a little."

  "Fine!" she said firmly, and a little loudly.

  Ryan left, glad to get out of the heat, literally. He kept himself busy in the main drive room almost all day. Aviore never even came out to check on him. Gem informed him that she was busy doing a full study of the flower. She was helping her with the analysis.

  He knew she was mad at him, but couldn’t fathom why. For the life of him, he'd never figure out the opposite sex.

  They retired early, 10 hours away from the Maskaffa Spider. She lay on her side of the bed, not talking.

  "You didn't call me so we could have dinner together," Ryan said, sounding hurt.

  "No big deal, it was just salad."

  Silence followed.

  "Did you find out anything interesting... about the plant?"

  "Why are you interested now, you weren’t before?"

  "Aviore, why don't you tell me what's really bothering you?"

  She turned, facing him. "I don't know. I just have this bad feeling."

  "What about?"

  "I don't know," she said, exasperated. She moved in closer. "Just hold me."

  * * *

  They arrived at the Maskaffa uneventfully. Ryan could not take his eyes off the awesomely strange spectacle before them.

  "The Xeronian archives did not give this justice," he said softly. Aviore nodded in silent agreement. Using the Xeronian libraries for reference, he guided the Dancing Queen through the maze, the other ships following closely. Aviore helped navigate, monitoring the tracing scanners.

  "You don't want to make a mistake going through here," she said. "It could be fatal."

  "Yeah,” he glanced over to starboard at a disturbance that was registering on the instruments. He had seen that same imprint before – a miniature black hole. “I noticed."

  "I understand the ancients engineered this… thing."

  "How?"

  "I really don't know," Ryan replied. He thought about the fleet inside, sitting there, abandoned for centuries. "Yeah, it's a regular Pandora's box," he said aloud.

  "I believe we are almost through," Aviore reported quietly.

  They emerged out of a thick cloud of blue gas. Floating before them was the long-abandoned Flukken fleet. The ships were scattered about, pointing in all directions. In the very center of the collection floated the mothership, sitting dark and ominous.

  As the seven ships approached, they were dwarfed by the gigantic vessel’s sheer size.

  Aviore stared in utter amazement. “I didn’t know…”

  “That it was so big?” Ryan interjected. “Now you understand why I think this will answer our problems.”

  General Ranton's face came up on the com monitor. "I must say, Commander, an incredible find."

  "Agreed. Start your scans, Captain. We'll convene on McClary's ship and discuss our strategies."

  Ryan brought the Dancing Queen up to an entrance hatch on McClary's ship and docked, activating the life tube extension from the airlock as soon as they were secure.

  "Are you going to be alright?" he asked Aviore.

  "Yes, I'll be fine, don't worry about me."

  "I think I've heard that before."

  He kissed her and was gone.

  Aviore decided to do her own tracing scans. She had Gem start with the standard life-form identifiers. She waited for the results nervously, staring at the dead hulk of the ancient ship, watching the tracing readings as they passed along the monolithic vessel.

  * * *

  "Now that everybody's here," Ryan announced, staring at the three other captains and officers, "It's time to review what we have so far."

  "Something that big could take at least a week to do a thorough search," McClary offered.

  "Our scans of the ship reveal nothing. No life-forms. No unexplained images. Nothing at all. Are you sure that we need to do this search? This will take up valuable time," Ranton complained.

  Ryan felt a little defensive. "I expected that we would not be able to spot anything on
normal tracing scans. I’m sure this thing was engineered to be transparent to such scanning methods. We will assume this hostile life-form exists until we confirm it doesn’t."

  “Very well, then I recommend three armed parties, Commander. One led by McClary, one by me, and the other by Dorftal."

  "What about your technical guys, Ranton?"

  "As you know, we also have a Xeronian among us..."

  "No, I didn't know," Ryan said, irritated that he wasn't told.

  "Forgive me," came a voice. It was Tmaurau. He stood in the entrance-way, not quite sure if he was invited in. "It was a quick decision on my part. I felt that news of my presence should remain quiet until we arrived."

  "I see,” Ryan said, smiling. "Maybe you thought I would disagree? Regardless, we can certainly use your help, my friend."

  Ranton continued. "We have estimated that it will take as many days to review the ship's systems as it will to search it, and at least as many days to run prestart tests."

  Ryan shook his head. "We can't afford the prestart testing time, and we have all these other ships to stage up as well. We’ll need to run multiple shifts."

  He thumbed a display control on the semi-circle table. A holographic image of the large ship came up. “I present to you - the mothership. Tmaurau, could you do us the honors?"

  Tmaurau nodded, grabbed a holographic pointer and approached the front. The group studied the holographic image with honest amazement. The mothership’s triangular fuselage was approximately 40 kilometers long and 10 kilometers at its widest. The front section sloped to a point, lined with portholes, and somewhere, along there, was the bridge. Two thick rectangular wings jutted out mid-way down its length. They were as thick as the full height of the ship and about 25 kilometers, tip to tip. Along the front of these wings ran the matter collection vents, which charged the ship's systems. The wings were as wide as a full quarter of the ship's length. Along the last quarter ran a thinner section of wing. That section was covered in a mass of external conduits and lines that led to an array of burner plates on the top, bottom, sides, and rear. The rear burners were the largest of all. The top of the fuselage ended in a sharp cone just above the main rear burners. A spaceship bay jutted out from on top of the wing section mid-fuselage. It was a little over five kilometers in width, with entrances fore and aft, easily as wide as any of the Signite ships. This is where they would dock.

  The mothership’s hull was covered with strategically placed laser cannon turrets and missile launching ports. Four main cannon were located at each end of the square wings. This was clearly a ship of war. The Ancients did not arrive at the Flukken system defenseless.

  Tmaurau moved the tip of his pointer to the sloping front of the ship, near the top. He began his instruction. "Within this section, you will note there is a main bridge area where all ship's functions are controlled. There is also a redundant battle-bridge ahead of the engineering area, near the stern. Either will be of use to our team."

  "We should start with the battle-bridge," Ryan announced. "It's more accessible from our point of entry." The others nodded in agreement.

  Tmaurau continued, bringing his pointer to rest on the exposed fuselage along the burner wing area. "Main Engineering is located here. We believe this area is guarded by a number of dispersion fields, some of these may still be engaged, though highly doubtful. Care must be taken as contact with a dispersion field will burn a victim severely. In the event one was to fall through a field, he would come out the other side as ash. The location of these fields should be clearly marked by this sign."

  A small red icon appeared above the ship's image. "Remember it," he warned.

  "Once we have arrived at both destinations, work can begin to test and bring up the individual ship's systems. Our preliminary investigations have shown that there is a suitable, breathable atmosphere within the ship, even now, but I suggest all initial infiltration be conducted with the use of environmental suits. There is a very real danger of suspended viruses or poisonous gases."

  "Everyone will be in combat suits," announced Ryan. "With full vid-relays and body monitors. Everyone’s feeds will be relayed to central control."

  "The initial parties are to move in and secure those two areas. Then we'll begin a systematic search throughout the ship. Nothing can be missed. Any questions?"

  “About this thing - what do we look for?”

  “Anything from live creatures to dormant seed pods. Just look for anything suspicious or unusual.”

  "Where do we dock?" asked McClary.

  Tmaurau pointed to the bay area. "Each one of these bays should open once a certain coded signal is transmitted. The bay control systems should have sufficient power remaining to open. We believe we have that signal and the possible range of codes. Each bay is a completely independent section, closed off from the others."

  Ryan pointed to the first six bays. "We'll use these six, and begin a coordinated deployment. Once each ship has deployed their teams, they are to secure all locks. Break up the men into groups of 20 or so and secure each level as you move down. Each of you will be in charge of your teams. Keep your approach in-line. Move uniformly. I don't want to have a group isolated from the others in the event of an attack. Remember, assume we have a hostile on board. Take all precautions and be prepared for anything. Any more questions?"

  None came.

  "All right, let's move."

  Ryan and Tmaurau headed to the McClary’s ship. On the way, he relayed a message to Aviore. "Everything's set. I want you to break off from the ship and bring the Queen out to a surveillance distance."

  "Alright Ryan," came the reply. "Just be careful – and remember we board together."

  "I’m not boarding the mothership. I’ll be coordinating from here."

  When they arrived on the bridge, Kanook was there to greet them. "We have all the reconnaissance teams on the tactical display. They'll be ready in a few."

  "Good. Keep me informed."

  "Your ship has disengaged," reported Kanook.

  "Let's get underway, then. All ships move in," he ordered.

  The ships drew up slowly to the spaceport bay entrances. On the bridge of Ryan's ship, the main viewscreen was filled with the sight of the immense bay door in front of them.

  "Issuing signals," reported the com officer.

  Nothing happened. Ryan glanced over to the com officer. "May take a few moments to run through the possible combinations, Sir.”

  They waited.

  “The other ships report their doors are opening, Sir."

  Tmaurau spoke up. "The problem may lie within the mothership. I suggest we try another bay."

  "Agreed. Helm, reposition us to the next bay, and we'll try again."

  The ship moved around to the adjacent bay. To their relief, the door opened, sliding up slowly, revealing darkness inside.

  "External illumination and move in."

  The internals of the bay was a mass of equipment, scattered in all directions. The docking deck came into view.

  "Helm, deploy grav lines."

  They pulled into the docking bay and came to a full stop.

  "Testing seal now, Commander," said Kanook. "Seal complete."

  They moved over to the holographic tactical display in the middle of the bridge. Kanook brought up a display of the immediate area in the mothership, small corridors outlined by thin blue lines.

  "Com, patch me into all troop feeds. Tactical, I want full monitoring of everyone's signal. Ranton, McClary, Dorftal, are your groups ready?"

  "Ready as we'll ever be, Commander," came McClary's familiar voice. "Open those doors before I change my mind."

  Ryan gave the order and the doors opened into the docking corridors. The bridge crew watched them from the primary tactical image feeds. The troops, signified by little red dots, began to move. Vid-feeds relayed from the individual troop channels.

  "Airlock secured, compression sequence keyed. Inner hatch ready to open." They went through a status
roll call. "Group 1 ready. Group 2 ready. Group 3 ready."

  "Open hatch on T-minus 3..2..1."

  The red blips moved into the ship's corridors. No attack. Ranton's voice came over. "We are in the corridors. No signs of residual power in the lighting banks. Beginning dispersion into groups."

  The three blobs of red dots divided into six and moved through the corridors.

  “Pull in the signals from the other ships’ search teams,” ordered Ryan.

  A small army of red dots disbursed across the search area, progressing forward. A few moments later, another report came over. "Level one secured. Beginning next level."

  The red dots moved deeper into the ship, the second level, then the third. Three of the groups broke off and headed toward the engineering section. The other half continued moving down. An hour later the two key areas were secured. No sign of a creature. Ryan felt relieved, but that old familiar nagging was bothering him. The feeling of dread was still there.

  McClary's voice came on the intercom. "Commander, we've secured engineering. We haven't met up with anything strange, other than some damage in the corridors. My Signite techs are going over the battle bridge controls to see if they can get these old systems powered up. Apparently, they're like nothing they've ever seen."

  "We’ll see if we can help remotely." He looked over to Tmaurau. "You know more about this than we do.” Tmaurau acknowledged with a nod.

  "McClary, Tmaurau will guide the engineering teams. Proceed with section by section. Keep your eyes open. I don't have a good feeling about this just yet."

  "Right-oh, me lad. If we do find something, I'll bring it to you on a plate."

  Ranton was next. “We've come across some notable damage. Radiation hatches torn open. Whatever did this was incredibly strong."

  "Acknowledged, Captain. Check the area closely."

  "Already done, we’re secure. Continuing with the search."