Small cracks of light emitted from the meteor as the resonance charges began to crumble it into smaller pieces. The ravaged meteor struck the first stage of the netting and was instantly purified into positively charged stones and dust fragments. Once the remnants reached the second stage, the negatively charged nodes pulled on the particles and all momentum was lost. Only a large field of stones, iron chunks, and particles remained behind the electromagnetic netting.
Chloe’s heart pounded against her ribs. Her last-ditch attempt had turned out as she had hoped. She was successful. They were safe. She flipped up her visor and smiled.
Gwen yelled over the radio, "Chloe, that was terrific!"
"I would say yes, but I had to live through it," Chloe said softly. "I wouldn’t forgive myself if anything happened to you guys."
"We knew you wouldn’t let us down," Gwen radioed back.
Seth pulled his ship beside hers. "Chloe, attach to the Protector. I’ll do the cleanup. Your ship needs repair."
She wasn’t about to let him steal her moment. "I’m coming in to help with the cleanup."
"That’s a negative, Omega," Eamonn ordered. "Attach to us. Your ship needs repair. Seth can handle this cleanup alone."
Jinx. She sighed. "Right away, Captain."
As the rest of the crew concentrated on gathering the meteor stones and filtering them into the cargo hold, Gwen was busy turning the frequency dial and flicking numerous switches on her display screen, trying to find a channel to Lunara. With all the excitement and activity, she had noticed, only in the last few minutes, that the connection had been broken from the other end. She scanned the communication logs and found they had been out of contact for approximately half an hour.
"Lunara Colony, this is Communications Officer Gwen Arwell aboard the Protector. Do you copy?" She adjusted her frequency again and made another unsuccessful attempt.
Eamonn approached from behind her. She turned to him. "Captain, I can’t contact Lunara. They just aren’t replying."
"Maybe one of the relays is down," he said, as his eyes narrowed toward the viewscreen. "Try another one."
"Already did, all the relays are down. Maybe it’s a problem on their end."
"They all can’t be down, that isn’t possible." He snatched the communications receiver and switched to a security priority channel. "Lunara Colony, this is Captain Eamonn Dalton of the mining ship Protector. Do you copy? Priority one message. Please reply." There was silence, and the captain’s mouth twisted in anxiety.
Gwen wondered aloud, "Maybe the same problem is affecting the long-range scanners. Some kind of malfunction or virus."
"Who would plant a virus on the Protector? I see no evidence of it, and the security relays are all static. Unless you fly to the relay and upload new memory card data, they have unchangeable source code. Our dish or a natural event is the cause . . . a solar flare perhaps."
"Solar flares wouldn’t affect us this close to the Earth. The magnetic field deflects the particles, especially on the dark side."
Eamonn rubbed the scar along his brow. "I didn’t believe myself either. Have you tried to run a diagnostic routine on the relays?"
"Yes, they all return a signal on this side of the planet. I can’t reach anything on Lunara’s side. Let me try to send a ping to the Black Widow web grid." She punched in the commands and sent the signals to random relays on the Black Widow system. Where were they? Something should be giving chatter, away from Lunara. The Ares construction team was constantly chattering. But the communications relayed only static and dead air.
Gwen’s throat muscles tightened. She swallowed.
"No information coming in. Nothing! It’s as if they aren’t even there," she said. Her mind stabbed with the thought of something happening to Lunara, a catastrophic explosion at the meteor refinery or the fueling depot.
"I don’t like this at all," said Eamonn. "Run a full diagnostic on the communications systems. I’ll rush the crew, and we can head back to Lunara within the hour."
"The diagnostic routine will take a half hour to run. I’ll let you know the results right away."
"Good work, Gwen. You should consider dropping the diplomatic title and becoming a starship technician."
"I would," she said. "but my father might have a heart attack."
He laughed. "You are probably right, Princess."
"You know I hate that!" she shouted, jokingly.
Forty minutes later, Parker secured the last of the clasps in place, and the cargo was ready to depart. The bridge was quiet, even the control gauges and monitoring displays. Everything checked out for departure.
Eamonn nodded to Jan.
She eased on the accelerator. The ion engines blazed a bright blue streak and gained momentum toward the horizon on a course straight to Lunara.
Chapter 8
"We should be coming around to the near side of the Earth in a few minutes," Jan said.
Eamonn sat back in the captain’s chair looking over the data received from the comm diagnostic. He was anxious to contact Lunara. The missing comm signal made him feel alone and insecure. Space, even so close to the Earth, was an isolated place without the tether of communication to the nearest station. He had hidden his apprehension from the crew well and ordered them to minor jobs to keep them busy for the time being.
Parker and Roche were figuring out how much metalor they had retrieved on their run. Seth and Chloe had moved down from their starwings to the bridge, helping Gwen troubleshoot the communications problem. Chloe sat beside Gwen scanning different frequencies and relay systems, trying to contact Lunara. Seth worked hard on opening electronic compartments underneath the comm terminals, looking for physical malfunctions in the system.
"Nothing is wrong with wiring or the hardware. All the readings check out positive." Seth sat up and tossed his gloves into the supply box.
"The diagnostic states we passed all the standard tests." Eamonn shook his head. "Gwen, did you find anything yet?"
"Nothing yet, Captain. We should be able to get a line-of-sight transmission to Lunara as soon we round Earth."
"Rounding in a few seconds," Jan added.
The Protector orbited the Earth, and the crew looked out with amazement in their eyes. The gray-white glare of the moon’s reflection lit the bridge, and the craters formed into a visible shape. The sight meant they were close to home.
Chloe’s eyes widened and her mouth slowly opened. "So beautiful."
Her reaction created a similar excitement in Eamonn’s gut. He never found it customary to view the moon edge out of the Earth’s shadow; it was one of nature’s great awe-inspiring marvels.
"Gwen," Eamonn said. "You should be able to send that transmission now."
Gwen let out a quick breath. "I’m not picking up the homing ping from Lunara. Let me scan all frequencies."
"Don’t bother," Chloe muttered. "Something isn’t right. The airwaves are jammed," She gazed far off toward Lunara.
"What do you mean?" Eamonn said, turning to her. "What’s wrong?"
Her eyes glazed over, and her head bobbed. Her face turned a ghastly pale.
"Are you okay? Do you need to lie down?" Seth said as he put his arm around her waist.
Her head fell to Seth’s shoulder. "The thoughts are overwhelming . . . strong emotions cluttering my mind. Horrific emotions." Her voice was lighter and sounded empty. "Lunara is under attack."
A low growl rumbled from Jan’s throat.
Ty sprang to Eamonn’s mind. Is he safe? Is everyone safe? Something caught his eye on the viewscreen—three large objects and several small ones buzzing around Lunara. "What is that? Those aren’t mining freighters. I don’t like this."
"War cruisers!" Jan said, raising her voice. "But nothing I have seen before. Whose are they?"
"What does radar say?" Eamonn said.
"It isn’t picking them up, neither a physical signal nor transponder codes. This ship is going haywire." Jan smacked her palm against the con
sole.
Eamonn looked down at his console. Blips emerged from between the far-reaching towers. Something was there. Then, suddenly, everything disappeared.
Instantly, he turned to the viewscreen. The cruisers floated above the colony still. Perhaps the Protector was malfunctioning. He shook his head at that thought. Parker didn’t find any errors in the diagnostics. Plus, he never let anything happen to the Protector.
"Parker," Eamonn said, flipping his comm on. "Anything wrong with the radar?" A first time for everything.
"I see that, too," Parker radioed. "Or I should say, I don’t see it. Radar is working fine. The Earth and moon are sending signals."
Eamonn peered down at this control. The Earth and moon shone like bright beacons in the far corner of the screen. On his first glance, he took them for granted.
"Thanks, Parker. Nothing more." He flipped off the comm. "Anything on the channels?"
"One sec," Gwen said.
Eamonn switched on the Lunaran beacon that automatically sent out their identification signal. No one replied.
Gwen hastened with the communication controls. She pressed her hand against the earmuff of the headset. "Sir, I have a looped transmission from Lunara Colony. I think you had better listen right away. Ty is transmitting; he says Lunara is in trouble."
"Put it on the main screen."
A picture unscrambled of Ty’s face. " . . . under attack . . . help . . . taken over . . ."
"Can we clean up the static a bit?"
"On it, sir."
They all watched in horror the last of the transmission. "Eamonn . . . get to Mars . . . No, don’t."
The butt of a gun jarred Ty’s head. The soldier’s figure flashed on the screen and then disappeared even faster.
The bridge was quiet. No one wanted to speak, and they fixated on Lunara as the surreal tragedy unfolded. The awkwardness made everyone shift in their seat.
Eamonn’s mind raced with possibilities. No obvious reasons came to mind, and nothing Ty had said to him recently would indicate any danger to Lunara. He squared his jaw and turned to Seth. "Look out the windows and fast. We are not alone!"
Seth sprang to his feet and ran toward the portholes to the back of the bridge, but as the hull groaned and the ship rattled, he stumbled to one knee. He grabbed a support above him.
"What was that?" Chloe exclaimed.
Gwen turned to Eamonn, her face taut and anxious. "Incoming transmission. They’re asking for our surrender . . . and to cooperate with the escort back to Lunara. If we resist, we will be destroyed."
"Captain," Jan said, "the radar picked up their plasma fire. The blasts came from the port side. At least two ships, maybe three."
"Why doesn’t radar pick them up? I hate this." Eamonn slammed his fist hard on the radar controls, demanding they give him the information he needed. The screen remained blank.
"They demand a reply," Gwen urged. "What should I tell them?"
Eamonn turned his captain’s chair to the main viewscreen, giving no hint of his thoughts. They stared at him as he gazed toward Lunara. He had to make a tough decision and neither of the alternatives appealed to him. He could either leave Ty and go to Mars for help or fight for Lunara against a massive fleet. He ran a few calculations in the terminal attached to the arm of his chair. He refused to look any of the crew in the eye because he knew they all wanted to stay. He couldn’t allow himself to be influenced by their emotions.
"Sir," Gwen said with more urgency in her voice this time. "They want a reply."
"Signal them and say we’ll follow their orders and offer our unconditional surrender."
"Sir, we can’t just surrender," Gwen pleaded. "What about Ty and the others?"
"Miss Arwell, you have your orders. Shall I have Miss Jones send that transmission?" His tone was uncharacteristically harsh.
"No, sir," Gwen said. Her body cowered back into her chair. She turned on her communications channel and tuned to the correct frequency. "Unidentified fighter, we offer our surrender. Send us the escort route, and we will cooperate."
Gwen listened for their reply. "They want us to lead them into Lunara."
"Very good," he said. "Seth, go to the rear compartment. Get the plasma gun prepared for deployment but don’t swing it out until I give the word.
"Chloe, go with Seth and get Roche ready to release the meteor stones at a moment’s notice. Have Parker charge up the weapons systems, but quietly. Don’t go too fast or they will see the spikes. We don’t want to spook them. Jan, fly as close to the surface as you can without making it look suspicious."
The Protector made a slow approach toward Lunara, escorted by what turned out to be three enemy fighters. Two of the ships flanked the Protector while the third trailed closely behind to form a V pattern. Three battle cruisers hung over the colony and countless short-range fighters weaved through the towers.
From Eamonn’s vantage point, coming in from the western edge, the four towers of Lunara reached high into space. The command tower, the tallest of them all, was the central feature of the colony. The three other towers formed a semicircle to the south and controlled the docking bay and the processing plants. Eamonn, though still far away, couldn’t spot any damage to the residential bubbles situated on the western edge of the colony. But the main complex that surrounded the main tower had a few spots of charring, most noticeably where the communication dishes used to be.
The bridge crew sat in silence, observing the happenings through the main window. The hum of the engine and small creaks in the hull punctuated the silence.
Eamonn’s mouth was dry, his heart labored, and his hands sweaty; a part of him wanted to return to Lunara to learn of its fate. Dreadful scenarios ran through his head, twisting his heart in sorrow. Ty had given him so much, and now he had to abandon him, but Ty had also ordered him to Mars.
His screen flashed.
"Sir," Gwen said. "They have sent the coordinates to follow for our access into Lunara."
"Confirm those orders. Jan, be sure you are ready to turn the engine on full and follow my coordinates," he said. "Follow their vector for now."
Gwen keyed in her radio. "Unidentified fighters, this is Protector. We are changing course."
He flipped on the rear comm. "Roche, open the release valves as soon as we reach maximum acceleration."
"I hope she’ll hold," Parker replied.
"She will," he said. He did not entirely believe it, but the Protector had proved repeatedly that it was a tougher ship than he had given it credit for, and Parker’s upgrades had honed the toughness even further.
Jan lowered the ship’s altitude. The moon was a few thousand meters below. Visible ahead, the giant battle cruisers awoke, threading their way through the peaks of the towers of Lunara. One of the cruisers arced away from Lunara, roared its engines, and started to converge on an intercept course. Somehow, Eamonn didn’t think the hulking ship was a welcoming committee.
However, he wasn’t going to allow the cruiser to board or even come close. He strapped himself tightly against his seat and dumped power into the weapons system—a paltry pair of turbo lasers on the front and an ancient turret gun in the rear. On his screen, the lunar surface grew closer to the belly of the Protector. He waited; the hairs on his arm stood on end. The timing of his ploy had to be perfect. A little more. A little more.
He looked over to Jan. "We are as hidden as we are going to be." He took in a long breath. "Jan turn to coordinates eleven mark four, full acceleration."
The Protector lurched to the left, groaning as its weight pushed back. The maneuver cut off one enemy fighter, sending it into a dive into the lunar surface.
Jan straightened out the ship’s arc, and a long trail of blue exhaust blazed a path behind them.
The other two fighters accelerated to match the Protector's speed. The cruiser and the escorts plodded toward them, still too far away to do anything to help.
Threats from the fighters, ordering them to shut down engine
s and surrender, bombarded Gwen’s headset.
The frontward fighter moved in front in an attempt to cut off the Protector, but the weight difference in the two ships made it a futile effort.
The Protector bullied its way forward. Not wanting to tempt fate any further, the fighter shifted to a position beside the Protector.
"Parker, Roche, you’re up," Eamonn said, knowing this last trick had to be enough to pull them away from the ever-closing battle cruiser.
The fighter to the stern flew in close, trying to disable the engines with a precision shot from the forward sonic cannon. But before the fighter could align the shot, the mouth of the Protector sprang open and out poured tons of meteor stones. Caught in the stream, and before the pilot could attempt to maneuver out of the path of the oncoming debris, the fighter exploded in a flash of light and fire.
The sudden drop in weight jolted the Protector forward, ahead of the remaining fighter. The jolt sent the entire bridge crew lurching backward with a chorus of colorful curses.
Shortly after, the much smaller and more nimble fighter caught up to the Protector, but the Protector had gained valuable distance from the cruiser.
Eamonn slammed the control panel to his left, sending the plasma shielding spilling across the hull. He was pleased with the escape so far. The Protector had bullied the fighters as intended, yet he hadn’t thought of what to do beyond this point. Whether it could be called a legitimate plan or not, improvisation was his next course of action. He chewed on his lower lip as he stared at the rear display.
After a few jockeying moves for position, a second fighter streaked up to the port side; it was the same one that the Protector had sent into a nose dive. The attacking fighters seemed to have gained confidence, perhaps feeling they were more maneuverable. They dropped back and fired streams of bullets around the Protector. Jan twisted and turned the ship, avoiding their bite. The bullets’ blue streaks zipped into the emptiness of space.
In the rear compartment, as the last of the meteor stones exited out of the cargo bay, Seth deployed the turret gun out of the right side of the ship. He returned fire as soon as he received confirmation that the gun had locked in place.
Lunara: The Original Trilogy Page 6