The Arwen Book one: Defender

by Timothy Callahan

  “I’m very familiar with those,” Marjorie replied as the door opened. She was surprised to see several Gyssyc officers talking to each other in the middle of the room. They stopped talking when Lincoln walked up to them. He said a few things in his own language. They looked over, nodded, and walked out.

  Lincoln walked over to one of the many computers and sat down. He motioned for them to follow and they did. He waved his hand over a few controls causing a hologram to project above them. It was the fleet, a thousand strong, approaching in a sphere formation.

  “We were able to listen in to the communication between the ships. I’ll isolate the transmissions from the ship called Milgard; we believe that was the flag ship.”

  “It was,” Marjorie replied, trying to harden her voice. She hadn’t thought about Admiral Norrin and the Milgard in a while. The thought of her friend’s death still jabbed at her soul.

  “Gyssyc ship, welcome to Ulliam space. We approach you in peace and hope to establish a useful dialog.” The message repeated in Ulliam, then again in standard.

  “We were about ready to respond when this happened.” Lincoln pointed to group of ships.

  Ships of Ulliam design broke off the formation and headed away from the sphere. The voice of Admiral Norrin, sounding a bit concerned, said, “Ulliam ships, get back into formation.”

  The Ulliam ships, she estimated the number to be around two hundred, continued away from the sphere to form their own formation, a broadsided square. Norrin, now in full panic, shouted, “Ulliam ships return to the formation at once!”

  The Ulliam fired with a deadly energy broadside followed by a full volley of missiles.

  “Battle stations!” Norris yelled. “Formation square alpha.”

  The powerful gamma beams from the Gyssyc sliced through the Ulliam ships as the remaining taskforce formed the large square formation. Within moments the Ulliam part of the formation was nothing more than large chunks of silver debris. Marjorie wanted to yell at the admiral to not fire, to leave things alone, but he was true to his duty to support his ally and ordered all Corps ships to fire.

  The Gyssyc ship now turned its attention toward the Corps fleet and the slaughter began anew. It seemed as if dozens of beams fired at once. Shields were useless against the assault. Reflective hulls only managed to bounce the gamma beams into other ships that were then destroyed.

  “Battle formation line five!” Norrin ordered. She heard the panic in his voice.

  The Corps fleet, now half the strength is was before, staggered into a line which seemed to curve a bit as each battleship lined its guns up to the comet. Blue, green, red, and white colored energy blasts fired. The Gyssyc ship shook as the beams hit. The Gyssyc ship continued its systematic attack, breaking more ships apart as the beams sliced through them. Norris ordered the remaining ships to fill in gaps created by destroyed vessels.

  Marjorie imagined what was going through her friend’s mind. The battle was lost, he must have known that, but he wanted to hold off what he thought was the inevitable for as long as he could.

  She watched, stone-faced, as the battle progressed. The blasts seemed to hit the Gyssyc ship less often, the gamma beams dropped to a few and the debris field filled with large, rotating pieces of destroyed vessels.

  The last ship to remain was the Milgard. Its engine broke off and floated away. It continued to fire until the remaining beams sliced it into pieces. No more beams fired. The once mighty fleet had been destroyed in less than ten minutes.

  “We had to defend ourselves.”

  Marjorie, surprised by the tears that had formed under her eyes, wiped them away. “You could have replied to the message. You could have held off a bit longer before attacking. You could have stopped once you destroyed the Ulliam fleet that did attack you.”

  “We didn’t know who was who,” Lincoln replied, his voice sounded regretful. “Once we studied the battle we knew we had made a grave mistake.”

  “Is there anything else you need to show me?” she asked sharply.

  “No, we will take you back to your shuttle and you can go back to your ship to discuss the next move with the Ulliam. Be sure they know we will not back down from a fight.”

  Marjorie felt lost in her thoughts as they escorted her through the hallways. Mason must have remembered how she got and knew not to even try to start a conversation with her. Her mood was sour, angry, and regretful.

  She couldn’t see a way in which she could convince the fleet not to side with the Ulliam. Was that a bad thing? Didn’t the Gyssyc show they are not only able but willing to kill thousands? She could justify it was to protect their own race but it felt as if it was more than that. There was a genuine hate between Ulliam and the Gyssyc, mistrust so deep that when the Ulliam attacked, the Gyssyc didn’t even try to reason with them. They opened with both barrels and kept firing until they were the last one standing. Professor Ricter told her it would take a lot to destroy this ship from the outside; they had the time to wait before attacking.

  Yet, she couldn’t get the thought of genocide out of her mind. If the Corps decided to side with Ulliam and they did managed to destroy the comet, they would make one of the most intelligent races she had ever met extinct. Could they do that? The blood of many races was on the Corps’ collective hands, but they always stopped short of genocide.

  The honor guard that had met them hours earlier now surrounded the ship. Lincoln followed them through the hanger and to the back of the shuttle. Marjorie banged on the door several times and ordered the guards to open it.

  Lincoln’s long, boney fingers wrapped themselves around Marjorie’s shoulder. He said, “Remember what I told you. We will defend ourselves should you or the Ulliam attack.”

  Wordlessly, Marjorie nodded. As the door opened, all four guards stood with their rifles drawn, looking around, mindful of a trick of attack. “At ease,” Marjorie said as she and Mason walked up to the ramp.

  Fran ran up to her, excitement in her voice. “Captain, we discovered—”

  Marjorie held her hand up and mouthed ‘not now,’ then turned to face the Gyssyc. “I’ll do my best,” she said, then pressed the button to close the door.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Kel lay in his bed, sleep seeping into his eyes. He had been up for too long, worried too much about Fran and the captain while mourning the death of his sister. Exhaustion was sure to follow and when he closed his eyes he fell asleep.

  The slumber didn’t last long. The communicator next to his bed chirped. In a tired voice, he said, “Commander Lipton here.”

  “Sir, we have wormhole activity near where Captain Cook disappeared. It’s the shuttle.”

  “I’ll be right there.” The captain was back, that was good.

  Walking out of his room, he felt a bit more awake than before. As he continued down the hallway, the cobwebs slowly ebbed away. By the time he arrived on the bridge he felt alive. “Give me a report.”

  “The captain wants to talk to you,” his communications officer said.

  Kel nodded and looked at the large monitor in front of him. Captain Cook’s face appeared. She looked serious. “Commander, is everything on the Arwen good?”

  “Yes, sir. We’ve been keeping tabs on Ulliam and the Gyssyc, and, except for your disappearance, there is no change.”

  “There’s been a lot of big changes but none you could have known about. We’ll land on the Arwen in a few minutes. Get Professor Ricter and meet me in my office. Also, make room for two guests, one Ulliam and the ambassador.”

  Kel raised an eyebrow and wanted to say something but Captain Cook disconnected the communication before he had a chance.

  “Tell the professor to meet me in the captain’s office.” Kel stood from his command chair and headed off the bridge.

  He hurried down the hallway toward her office. When he arrived, Professor Ricter, looking as grumpy as ever, waited. “Commander, it’s good to know the captain is safe.”

  “She looked a
ngry when we spoke,” Kel said, opening the door to her office. The two walked in.

  “I would be too had I been kidnapped,” Ricter replied, sitting in a chair.

  “I think it’s more than that. I don’t think they just let her go without wanting something.”

  “Maybe,” Ricter replied. “Or, they could be trying to negotiate a peace. We won’t know until she tells us, so I think we should stop speculating.”

  Kel nodded in agreement and the two men sat in silence waiting for Captain Cook to arrive.

  ~*~

  After the shuttle landed and the back door opened, Marjorie, Fran, Ducket, Mason, and the four guards walked out onto the deck. Marjorie turned to the guards. “Thank you, gentlemen. I’ll be sure to put a high commendation on your records. You saved our lives on Ulliam.”

  They smiled, saluted, and walked away talking to each other. Marjorie looked at Fran. “Are you sure you’re right?”

  “The only way to be sure would be to actually talk to Merriam. All I can tell you is what I suspect. His casket is a hibernation chamber and I think he’s not only alive but leading this.”

  “Would you mind if we had Professor Ricter look at your evidence?”

  Fran stiffened. Marjorie was sure she hurt Fran’s pride but this was too important to not have someone whose opinion she trusted explicitly take a look. “That would be fine,” she replied and handed her computer over to Marjorie.

  “Thank you. Get yourself together. I’ll send Kel down to see you as soon as I can.” She then turned to Mason and Ducket. Both looked uncomfortable. “As for you two. We’ll have rooms ready for you.”

  “What will happen to me?” Ducket asked.

  “I’m afraid we’ll have to keep both of you in your rooms until this is over.”

  “I see,” Mason replied. “If you need me or if you just want to talk or maybe have dinner together, you’ll know where I’ll be.”

  Marjorie smiled. “Mason, when all this is over I’ll be more than happy to play catch-up. In the meantime I have a meeting to go to.” She shook Mason’s hand, and then shrugged at Ducket who shrugged back.

  Moments later she walked into her office. Professor Ricter and Kel stood to greet her. Both shared the same look of relief on their faces. “Welcome back, Captain,” Kel said.

  “It’s good to see you, Marjorie,” Professor Ricter replied.

  Kel glanced over at him and his smile faded just a bit.

  “All right, gentlemen, we have much to discuss. Please, take a seat and I’ll summarize what I know.”

  She handed Professor Ricter Fran’s computer. He opened it, his face scrunched up, studying the information on the screen. “Fran believes Merriam is still alive. She showed me the evidence and I’m compelled to believe her. Professor, I want you to take a look—”

  “I agree,” he said, handing the computer back.

  “Did you even look at the evidence?”

  “All I had to do was look at the casket. It’s a hibernation chamber almost identical to the ones we discovered at Regal. Plus, it’s the only way to explain the odd behavior of the Ulliam. Of course, I won’t know for sure unless we have some real, physical evidence, but all signs point to him being alive.”

  “Fran said the same thing.”

  “She’s a quick learner,” Ricter replied with a smile.

  “I can’t argue with the evidence either, so we’ll have to assume Merriam is alive. If that’s the case, then we’re going to have to contact him before the fleet arrives.” She looked over at Kel. “Has anything happened since I’ve been away?”

  “I sent a shuttle out into the debris field to see about getting Milgard’s computer core.”

  “Good thinking. Do you know when they’ll return?”

  “In a few days.”

  “Okay, that gives us time to assimilate what I saw.” Marjorie proceeded to tell the two of them what Lincoln had showed her.

  When she finished, Professor Ricter spoke up. “They have technology that we could use. They know things we can’t even fathom yet. If that’s not a reason to try and solve this problem peacefully then nothing is.”

  “I agree. But the choice isn’t really ours.”

  “One thing doesn’t make sense to me,” he continued. “You said the ship had only 150,000 Gyssyc on it and most of them were soldiers?”

  “I don’t know if they were all soldiers. Is that important?”

  “Yes, I think it is. If you were leaving Earth, the last of your kind, would you put all your eggs in one basket?”

  “Do you really think there are more out there?”

  Professor Ricter waved the question off. “I’m speculating. I should apologize. Without evidence they are just thoughts.”

  “I want to hear those thoughts,” Marjorie said. “Your insight into things has always amazed me.”

  It didn’t take much prodding to get the professor to talk about his theories and he started without another word of provocation. “I was looking over the reports from our first encounter with the Gyssyc. I made some calculations and some rather bold assumptions. I thought to myself: ‘why would such an intelligent race realize they were fighting a losing battle so late in the war?’ With this new information, I can say with some confidence this is too small a force to be effective unless it was some sort of scouting expedition.”

  “I don’t buy it,” Kel said. “We don’t know if this ship is filled with just warriors. When their leader said they could call on them to fight it could mean anything. Even the Corps can call on its citizens to fight if they’re needed.”

  “I agree,” Professor Ricter replied. “I don’t have enough evidence to say one way or another. I was merely speculating.”

  “Thank you, Professor,” Marjorie said. “It’s a scary thought and one we should consider. This meeting is over for me and Professor Ricter.” She looked over at Kel. “As for you, we have other matters to discuss.”

  Professor Ricter stood from his chair and carried Fran’s computer out with him.

  Marjorie looked at her second, her eyes boring a hole into his soul. He tried to hold the gaze but quickly folded and his shoulders slumped a bit, defeated. “Fran told you about Rachel?”

  “No, she kept her word to you. I guessed it. Why did you hide it from me?”

  “Would you have trusted my judgment if you knew?”

  She pursued her lips before responding. “Probably not. In fact, I would have dismissed you until I knew it wouldn’t affect your judgment. I guess the question is: has it?”

  Pausing to collect his thoughts, he let out a sigh. “I wanted blood; I wanted to kill the Gyssyc. When we figured out the Gyssyc had kidnapped you, my first thought was to follow my orders and not do anything aggressive.”

  She regarded him carefully. His first instinct was to follow her orders even though he was itching for a fight against the Gyssyc. That was enough for her. “Okay, Commander. You’re dismissed. But if you ever hide anything like that from me again, I will suspend you and order you to your quarters. Go see how Fran is doing. I expect to see you on the bridge in an hour.”

  Kel smiled, stood from his seat, saluted and walked out. He seemed to have a spring in his step, something she hadn’t seen from him since they first arrived in the system.

  ~*~

  It was time to contact Merriam. Marjorie sat on the bridge. Professor Ricter, Kel, Ambassador Simpson, and Ducket had all been conferenced into the communication. Marjorie made sure they could only see the communication between her and Merriam and were not be able to speak. She wanted to do this her way and made it clear to the others there would be no argument against it.

  “Okay, we’re all ready,” Marjorie said. Her heart raced with anticipation. If Merriam was alive, it would narrow her options down considerably. “Communications officer, open the line. Give me a direct connection with President Packard’s office.”

  “Communication established. I’m not getting any replies to my request but they can hear you.�
��

  She waited a moment before speaking. Using the tone and inflection she used when offering an enemy ship the chance to surrender, she said, “This is Captain Marjorie Cook of the Arwen. We know Merriam is alive and we demand to talk to him.”

  She waited. Minutes of silence passed. The communications officer stared at his computer. The static of a dead line danced on the screen.

  Then, almost a full ten minutes after the first communication went out, an Ulliam unlike any other she’d seen appeared on the screen. Looking at him, it wasn’t hard to see what she had suspected: he was part Gyssyc, part Ulliam. A half-breed. “I didn’t think it would take long for you to figure it out, especially after raiding our library for information about me.”

  “Finding out you were alive was not the reason for our search.”

  He nodded and shrugged. “I wouldn’t think so. What did you hope to accomplish?”

  “We needed information since you weren’t very forthcoming.” There was something very powerful about this Ulliam. His confidence was intimidating. His tone of voice hinted at an arrogance that made him more dangerous than she first guessed. She could see why so many Ulliam marched to their death under his command.

  “Did you need to take our ambassador and cultural advisor with you? Did you need to kill three Ulliam while running away?”

  Marjorie never gave thought to the Ulliam chasing her. They were obstacles in her way to the ship and her guards did what they needed to protect their captain. “I regret anyone was killed, but you left us no other choice. The ambassador and Ducket came along willingly.”

  “Is Ducket watching now?”

  “No,” Marjorie lied.

  He leaned closer to the screen. “It’s a shame because she should be loyal to her race. She should do what all Ulliam need to do when there is a threat. She should fight every last one of you until you’re out of our system.”

  “Is that what you want?” Marjorie asked. “For us to leave?”