by Dean Kutzler
“No, I'm afraid.” Elyria sighed for the second time that day. “She’s hellbent on destruction.”
Lieutenant Kohn closed his eyes, slowly shaking his head as if Elyria had dropped the weight of a world on his shoulders.
The new helmsman, Ensign James Brody, looked up from his station with a puzzled look on his face. “Lieutenant Kohn, Sir, if’n I may?”
The door swished open. Lieutenant Vasquez abruptly entered the bridge and quickly assumed his station.
“Go ahead, Ensign,” Lieutenant Kohn said, nodding at Juan as he resumed his station.
“I be a little confused. Engineering is reporting a large shipment of corundum crystals in the hold, but there are no recent reports of any teams returning from mining activities.”
Lieutenant Kohn glanced at Elyria, then quickly said, “No confusion, Ensign. Lieutenant Thorn has just provided us with a gift from her recent reconnaissance mission. Disregard it.”
“Yes, Captain,” he replied, the frown deepening.
“Quite thorough work, Ensign,“ Elyria said, staring at Lieutenant Kohn
“Lieutenant Thorn, meet our newest helmsman, Ensign James Brody.” He shifted in the Captain’s chair, meeting Elyria’s stare. “The Commander recruited him shortly after you left for your mission.”
That explains that.
“Thank you, Lieutenant Thorn. It be an honor to have finally met you. I am proud to serve under the Commander in the name of the revolution.”
She nodded once at Lieutenant Brody, then directed the stare back at Lieutenant Kohn for a few moments before turning back to her station. She tapped the comm bringing up the engineering hold on her console when the bridge door opened.
“Commander on the bridge!” Ensign Brody shouted, standing and snapping his feet to attention.
Everyone stood at attention except for Elyria.
Are we back to this?
Saren walked across the bridge favoring Elyria with a heated stare. “Lieutenant Thorn, in your absence I have brought back standard procedures. We should never have gotten away from them in the first place. Thank you, Lieutenant Kohn, I’ll take the bridge.”
“Yes, ma'am.” He stood at attention for a moment before returning to the science station.
“At ease everyone!” Saren settled into the chair. “Report.”
“Deep space scans show of no signs of Scarab activity.” Lieutenant Kohn was first to report.
If a Scarab vessel picked up the coordinates of a non-Scarab ship, nothing else mattered other than the distance between the two. Seconds would remain to plot a course-outcome before navigating into the void, or the Scarab could lock on to that destination and hope of losing them was gone. It was the only way to escape the aliens. Fighting wasn't an option. No vessel across the known galaxies was even a close match for the Scarab. The crystals could not provide that kind of power.
“All clear on my comm, Commander,” Dezzi Syx reported. “Not a peep from the Scarab, ma’am.”
“Have there been any communiqué from the rebel factions?”
“Not since you last left the bridge, commander.”
“Send a message to all top-level personnel wristcoms. I will be holding a meeting in the war room at the top of the hour. Attendance is required.”
Dezzi’s fingers flew over the comm. “Done, ma'am.”
“Thank you, Officer Syx. Oh and, Dezzi?”
“Ma’am?” Dezzi turned, facing her.
Saren fluffed the sides of her hair and said, “What is that called?”
“Ombré, ma'am.” Dezzi shrunk in her chair, face blushing.
“Ombré?” Saren leaned forward, squinting. “It’s a rainbow. Why—is your hair in the colors of the rainbow? Wait—” She put up a hand. “I'd rather not know! Please, just—just try and tone it down. It’s very distracting.”
“Yes, ma'am. Sorry about that, ma'am,” Dezzi said, turning back to her station, tucking her hair into her collar. She glanced over her shoulder giving the commander a nervous smile, then turned back around.
Elyria rolled her eyes, looking up from her console.
Did she always have to be such a demoralizing bitch?
What difference did the girl’s hair color matter? Elyria liked it. She looked at Juan who ignored her and shrugged her shoulders, returning to her console.
What’s his problem?
“The main plasma disruptor is operating at one-hundred percent, ma’am. All projectile bays fully loaded with Class A BLKGENs, ma’am. Both shields and cloaking fully operational, ma'am.” Lieutenant Vasquez sarcastically clicked his heels together.
Saren bit back her tongue and said, “Thank you, Lieutenant.”
Guess I deserved that.
Juan Vasquez was a good man and damned fine Lieutenant—a vital part of her crew from the start of her command of the Avenger. She hated reprimanding him earlier during the debriefing, but Elyria’s return was disrupting the protocols Saren worked so hard at bringing back. It was the only thing keeping the crew grounded—keeping her grounded. Without a strict regiment, the hope of normal life didn’t stand a chance and Saren couldn’t let that happen.
Especially now, since I’m so close to defeating the Scarab.
“Oh, and Lieutenant Vasquez?”
His face flashed a defiant look, ready for another reprimand. “Yes, ma'am?”
“Excellent work on the BLKGENs! How are you able to fill all the bays? The last I checked, we only had a handful left.”
“Thank you, ma'am.” The look slowing disappearing from his face. “But the credit goes to Lieutenant Kohn. I asked him to see what he could do, and he found a way to slice the black hole core in the generators, and create multiple ones which we refitted into empty generator units.”
Saren nodded with a smile, looking at Lieutenant Kohn. “Ingenious, gentlemen! Let me take a guess. A black hole—is a black hole—no matter the size, correct?”
“That is correct, Commander.” Lieutenant Kohn said, nodding in return. “The impact would have the same effect at any size, being just as detrimental when jettisoned into the path of another ship, pulling whatever portion it comes in contact with into the hole with it. So, in the case of another vessel, such a breach of hull would max out any internal force field the ship’s computer could erect inside to contain the break. It would fail under the constant pull of the black hole and not stop until all matter attached is gone.”
Lieutenant Kohn’s ingenuity was exceptional, even among his people. The production of new black-hole generators ceased with the Scarab reign. The process was too volatile to complete without universal power.
Saren had chosen her crew members carefully. It was Alva’s kind of radical thinking along with her daughter, and Lieutenant Vasquez’s Saren needed if there were any hope of outsmarting the Scarab.
An alert on Elyria’s console sounded, and she quickly muted it.
“What fresh hell hath we now,” she mumbled under her breath, stealing a glance over at the helm and waiting for the newbie to comment, but he remained silent.
“Permission to take a break, Commander? I'm a little worse for wear from the last six months.” Elyria ran her hands through her wavy red locks and grimaced.
“Of course, Lieutenant Thorn. Permission granted. I thought you would’ve headed straight there after the debriefing—for a much-needed enviroshower.”
Saren gave her a wink, pinching her nose and nodding toward the door.
The crew gave a few chuckles.
Regiment didn’t mean she could lighten up once and while. She was starting to realize how important a little fun was for morale.
“Hey! I don't smell that bad!” she said, giving her mother a playful dirty look. “I won't be long, just need to freshen up a little.”
Elyria rose from the workstation and crossed the deck.
“Elyria, keep an eye on your wristcom. Don't forget the meeting in under an hour.”
“You got it.”
She left the bridge
and headed for the engineering hold. She needed to check on the hovertrans of corundum crystals.
And get a handle on those readings.
“Commander,” Lieutenant Kohn said. “Sensors detect a ship in the Valerian quadrant of the Nexus Galaxy.”
“Bridge! On the ready! Ensign Brody, be prepared to enter the void on my mark. Have you ever navigated Void Stream before, ensign?”
“N-no, Commander,” he replied. “But I be well versed in the protocol. The destination must be set before entering the Void Stream, or we’ll be exiting blind when we leave—chancing matter reentry. But more importantly, we need to enter before a Scarab ship has a chance to lock on, or we’ll never lose them. Default course plotted for an asteroid belt in sector nine for emergencies—should provide sufficient cover if needed. Ready to override course with a new destination on your mark, ma'am.”
Saren smiled. He may be green, but he’s read—good.
Entering the Void Stream should be avoided at all costs.
“That’s correct—good work, Ensign. Lieutenant Kohn, have you identified the ship, yet?”
“No, ma'am. I’ve sent a subscout drone to the area. My estimation is the ship is not Scarab. It has made no moves to intercept us since detection. Reports have been coming in from planet Thaylore about pirates scavenging in that section.”
“Pirates we can deal with. Ensign Brody?” Saren tapped the comm on her chair. “I’ve opened the VS drive. Be ready on my command. Lieutenant Kohn, how long until the drone reaches the Nexus Galaxy?”
“Just now, Commander, I’m waiting for the relay information.” He bent down to peer into the data analysis viewfinder. Looking up, he said, “It is not Scarab. The vessel is a Kaldari Warship.”
“The Kaldarians was one of the first races to go up against the Scarab and get annihilated,” Lieutenant Vasquez interjected.
“Which says to me Lieutenant Kohn’s first assumption was correct—Pirates. Ensign Brody, get ready to stretch your Void Stream legs. Set an intercepting course for that warship.”
“Course set, Commander. Awaiting VS drive confirmation.”
The Void Stream had been discovered not long before the Scarab's reign by a brilliant scientist by the name of Pavel Tchaikovsky. He found that a symphony of certain subsonic sounds opened a portal to a black dimension, like the void of space but with the lack of stars. Tchaikovsky learned a ship could traverse distances in a fraction of the time it would take in normal space inside the stream. The only catch was a destination exit point was needed before entering the void, or the ship would exit randomly somewhere out in space, or, in the center of a planet or a red star. There was no discernible pattern.
Since the start of the Scarab’s reign, all exploration into the void halted with the grounding of space travel. Many mysteries along with dangers were lurking in the dark, mysterious depths, waiting for discovery. Traveling was limited to emergency situations since no one knew much about the Void Stream.
Without universal power, it was just too dangerous, which is why the VS drive's fail-safe lock was initially set to open only for the ship’s commander. Once unlocked, the VS drive was open for reassignment in the case where the commander needed to leave the bridge.
Saren tapped a few buttons on the armrest. “VS drive initiated. Get us in front of that ship, Ensign Brody!”
“Yes, ma'am. Engaging VS resonance.”
The bridge viewscreen vibrated, briefly, before a black rift opened in space in the middle of the screen. It was nearly invisible except for the ring of twinkling stars around its border, highlighting its pitch-black center. The blackness started expanding outward towards the edges of the screen as Ensign Brody navigated the Avenger closer to the tear.
“Prepare for Void Stream entry!” He warned.
Once the viewscreen turned black, the reality on the bridge phased for a moment, as if someone had changed the channel and left the Avenger in a sea of black nothingness. Once the shift was complete, the crew members groaned with a collective sigh of relief. The passing phase left an unnerving electrical aftertaste on any life form with a central nervous system.
“Disengaging VS resonance,” Ensign Brody reported, flipping the viewscreen to the rear of the ship. The crew watched the reverse of when entering the Void Stream play out on the screen. A pattern of stars big enough for the Avenger to pass through was slowly being swallowed by darkness until the viewscreen was pitch-black.
“Rift closed!”
“Lieutenant Kohn, report!” Saren barked.
“Dimensional shift completed at one-hundred percent success, Commander. All systems operating at normal levels. Antimatter Propulsion System (APS) is online. No damage incurred.”
“Tactical reports the stream is free of visitors within our range capabilities,” Lieutenant Vasquez added.
“Comm’s still free of static, ma'am,” Dezzi reported, adjusting her shirt collar.
“ETA, Ensign?”
“Two-minutes, forty-eight seconds,” he quickly rattled off.
“Make it happen, Mr. Brody! Let’s get in and out. This place makes my skin crawl.”
“Yes, ma'am.” He fully engaged the APS, and the propulsion system began humming at the maximum speed.
On screen, it appeared as if nothing had happened with the lack of stars to gage visual movement, but the Avenger was traveling at full speed.
“Stay alert, people. You know as well as I do there's no telling what we may come across in here,” Saren said, sitting taller in her chair.
The Avenger slipped through the utter darkness of the void without casualty and was quickly approaching the unsuspecting pirate ship in the Nexus Galaxy. UFWA was no longer the authority of the known galaxies, but that didn't stop Saren from policing the stars when she could. She’d be damned if she’d allow scavengers to pick off defenseless planets.
“Entering the Nexus Galaxy, ma'am,” Ensign Brody reported. “Bringing APS engine down to a crawl. VS resonance is engaging. Prepare to phase!”
The viewscreen shimmered, then a hole filled with stars opened in the center, the view of the Kaldari warship off in the distance. Ensign Brody navigated the Avenger through the rift, and it closed up behind the ship.
The warship was roughly the size of a circular football field, with vertical cannon turrets framing each side. The Kaldari were known for immense planetary firepower capable of razing entire colonies so they could reap the planet’s crust of crystals and precious metals, but tactically speaking the warship was no match for the maneuverability of most ships across the known galaxies. Kaldari warships carried a battalion of Zeppi Runners—one-manned ships—that created an impenetrable field of opposition around the vessel to compensate for the inadequacy.
“I don't see any Runners,” Dezzi commented.
“And you won’t,” Lieutenant Vasquez added. “The Kaldari race is notoriously known for fighting amongst themselves. There probably aren’t enough pilots left to man the Runners.”
“That—and I’m sure the scavengers have sold off the ships,” Saren said. “Hail them.”
“Comm open, ma'am.”
“Kaldari Warship, this is Commander Saren of the Avenger speaking on behalf of The United Federation Ward of Authority. Transfer control of your helm to my ship. Prepare to be boarded and taken into custody.”
Dark swirls of smoke filled the viewscreen as flashes of light revealed an outline of a Kaldari warrior sitting among the wreckage of a battle-worn bridge. Out of the darkness, the bloodied and bruised face of an ogre filled Avenger’s screen as he sat forward into the glare of his viewer.
“UFWAAAAA has been dead for some time,” he slowly growled in a deep, guttural voice. “Who are you to command me?” Snake-like eyes squinted at the screen, then he cleared his throat and spat in distaste. “Human—feeeemale, no less. Are the men of your race cowards?”
Saren muted the comm. “Lieutenant Kohn, are there any Runners on the ship?”
“No, Commander.” Lieutenant
Kohn replied. “Sensors are reading the bays are empty.”
“What are you saying that I cannot hear?” The Kaldarian’s voice boomed across the bridge, startling Dezzi.
Saren looked at the ogre, then her gaze strayed to the background. She unmuted the comm and said, “We were just discussing why you have not transferred your helm.” Muting the comm again, she said, “Lieutenant Kohn, scan the Kaldari ship. How many aboard?”
He peered into the viewfinder and his eyebrows raised. “One Commander.”
A smile slipped across Saren’s face as she unmuted the comm. “Last chance. Transfer your helm and prepare to board my ship.”
Rage filled the Kaldarian’s face as he spat off a bunch of obscenities in Kaldari before the screen went dark.
“Lieut—“
“Already on it, Commander,” Lieutenant Vazquez said, cutting her off. “Kaldari Warship is powering weapons—I’ve had both weapons and propulsion systems targeted since we arrived. On your word Commander.”
“Take him out, Lieutenant.”
Before the words finished leaving her mouth, several bursts of antimatter plasma shot across the screen and hit the Kaldari Warship in various sections.
“Report.”
“The Kaldari ship is toothless and dead in the water, drifting away from the planet.”
“The ship is hailing us, ma’am.”
“Oh—now he wants to talk? Just leave him hanging, Dezzi. He’ll have a lot of time to reflect on the situation floating around space. Send a message to the Chancellor Elderborg on Thaylore. Let him know we’ve taken care of his pirate problem.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
Saren glanced at her wristcom and sighed. “Time to discuss the plan. Dezzi, send a message to all key crew member personnel, war room, ten minutes. Also, alert all Chancellors to be ready for Unilink connection.”
TO THE ALLIANCE!
THE engineering hold door swished closed after Elyria quickly stepped out into the hallway, glancing down both sides and rubbing her ear. She’d almost soiled her battle armor for a hot-second when the plasma-disruptor fired off a few shots moments ago, ringing out over her.
Her wristcom buzzed, nearly causing her to jump out of her armor.