by Frank Carey
“Aye, Captain,” Crewman Smythe replied as she reconfigured her scanners for life form detection.
“ETA two minutes,” Akira said glancing once more at the master chrono.
Fiona hit the intercom. “Nyla and Resh to Airlock Three. Prepare for rescue operation. ETA one minute thirty seconds,” she said as the ship prepared to drop out of FTL.
Seconds later, the Hippolyta dropped into real space in a shower of photons as the ship's computer used the shields to bleed off kinetic energy.
“Status,” Akira ordered. Images appeared on the main viewer accompanied by sensor data.
“There's the beacon,” Fiona said, pointing to what looked like a large piece of ship's hull floating in the lower left quadrant of the view screen.
“Ma'am, we're getting life signs. Human, female. Looks like she's unconscious.” Natalia grimaced as she looked at the readings.
“Nat, what's wrong?” Akira asked as he moved over to her position.
“Beacon is not with the woman, Sir. It’s about one hundred yards above. It’s pacing the hull section.”
“Helm, full stop. Nat, tight-beam sensor scan, two hundred yards radial from beacon,” Fiona ordered as her hackles went to maximum attention.
“Aye, Captain,” Nat and John said.
“Reading full stop, Captain. We are within one hundred feet of target,” John reported as his left hand hovered above the throttles, ready to go to full power at a moment's notice.
“Scanning...” Natasha said as she hunched over her console. “My scope is clear, Captain... Ma'am, the beacon is gone. It stopped the moment I initiated the scan.”
“I concur, Sirs,” Joanie said from the defensive systems station. “There was a beacon out there a moment ago, but now there's nothing.”
Fi and Akira looked at each other. Akira shrugged and said, “At this range Joanie's equipment would pick up a cloaked ship, no matter how good the cloak was.”
“And at this range we would already be sitting ducks. John, forward, dead slow. Stop and maintain station when the object is alongside Airlock Three,” Fiona said as she hit the intercom button. “Resh, Nyla, we'll be alongside in a moment. There is one life-sign. Get her and get out.”
“Roger that, Captain,” Resh replied before killing the link from his end.
“In position in three...two...one...full stop!” John said as he tapped the forward thrusters, killing their forward velocity in the process.
Before they could continue, a voice boomed from the radio. “Save her.”
“Liz, where the hell did that come from?” Akira yelled to their comm officer.
“I've got nothing, Sir. It was completely omni directional. No point of origin.”
Fiona shrugged and said, “In for a penny,” as she tapped the intercom button. “Airlock Three, go!”
###
“Airlock Three, go!” came from the intercom. Resh looked out the window and saw a piece of ship sitting directly outside the hatch, slowly spinning in the dim starlight.
“I think John's getting better,” Nyla said as she and Resh sealed their suits before cycling the outer hatch open. “Yet he can't parallel park a car. Go figure.”
“I heard that,” John said over the radio.
Once outside, Resh reached over and pressed a button on the hull which extended the universal lock shroud. The shroud was a long, segmented tube with a large lip at the open end. While he prepped the shroud, Nyla jetted over to the ship piece where she attached several small boxes she had on her belt. Once attached, she jetted back and pressed a button on her belt, igniting the computer-controlled attitude jets. In moments, the object's spin was gone. It hung there with one blank wall facing the Hippolyta. She and Resh got into the tube, and with her help, Resh pressed the lip of the shroud against the blank face, creating a powerful seal.
“Bridge, seal established,” he said as he floated over to the blank wall. He pulled out a scanner, pressed it against the alien metal surface, and pressed a button. The scanner bleeped then a green light flashed. “Scan says it's safe to go in.”
“Proceed,” Akira said over the intercom.
Nyla pushed-off the metal wall and through the airlock. She returned a moment later with a breaching tool---basically a cold-cutter on magnetic wheels--which she placed off to one side of the metal wall. She pressed a button and the tool traced out a large circle. When it got halfway around, Resh glued a hinge across the gap. In moments, they had a new door into the object.
Nyla swung the door open and locked it in place with a collapsible work pole while Resh floated in and scanned the interior. “Over here,” he said, pointing to an unconscious figure on the floor in one corner. “Her leg is trapped,” he said, referring to a large piece of equipment.
Before he could get closer, Nyla floated over and pushed the offending object out of the way while being careful not to harm the unconscious woman further.
“That piece of equipment massed about a metric ton, show off,” Resh said as he gently picked the woman up and scanned her. “She's fine, but out. We're bringing her back,” he said over his suit radio.
The two of them carefully transported the woman back to the lock. Once inside, they closed the outer hatch. From the panel, Resh detached the shroud from the object and retracted it while ordering the thrusters to move the object away from the Hippolyta.
Once the airlock was re-pressurized, the inner door opened to reveal Dr. Siatar, the ship's Alturan physician, and Sheila White, the ship's medic, waiting for them.
“Get her on the gurney,” Doc said as Sheila handed her a stethoscope. Resh and Nyla gently laid the suited figure on the gurney. Once the patient was secured, Sheila used a cutter to open the suit and remove the helmet revealing a young human woman with brunette hair. “She's got a heartbeat. Get her to sickbay, stat!”
###
“Bridge, she's alive. We're taking her to sickbay,” Doc said over the intercom.
“Thank God,” Fiona said. “Nat, any other life signs?”
“No, Ma’am. Nothing within a hundred thousand clicks. Odd, we’re not picking up any bodies either. Computer says there’s enough debris for three-Protector-class war ships, but there isn’t a single body out there… Wait a minute. We're being scanned.”
“From where?” Fiona asked as she looked at the sensor output repeater screen next to her chair. It showed clear.
“From directly above us, Ma’am. It began at the bow and is making its way aft. Wait...it stopped. Now, it’s scanning Sickbay.”
“Bridge! What the hell is going on up there?” Doc asked over the intercom. “My systems are going haywire down here.”
Before Fiona could reply, Nat yelled, “Ma'am, the scan has stopped. Something is decloaking directly above us!” she said as she switched the view screen to a dorsal camera. An image of a ship appeared above them as its cloaking field collapsed.
“My God, Joanie, how big is that thing?” Akira whispered.
Joanie was speechless as she looked at her readouts.
“Joanie!” Fiona yelled.
“Sorry, Ma’am. Almost three-miles long, one mile wide, and approximately a third of a mile high. I'm detecting over three hundred blaster batteries, one hundred missile batteries, and shields which could take it into the chromosphere of Sol.”
“Life signs?” Fiona asked, expecting thousands.
“One, possibly two, located deep inside.”
They watched as the immense ship slowly moved off.
“Cora, track it,” Akira said. Cora pressed a button and fired a small tracker puck at the behemoth. “Got it. No reaction. Either they didn't notice, or they don't care. Heading 118 degrees by 27 degrees positive. Ma'am, it's heading directly for Earth.”
“ETA?”
“Three hours at our best possible speed.”
“Dammit. Liz, load all our logs and recordings into a courier and send it to Earth at max speed. We must warn Space Command. Oh, add that we tagged it.”
&nb
sp; “Yes, Ma’am,” crewman Streng said as she pressed buttons. Moments later, a small ship ejected from the Hippolyta and immediately dropped into other-space. “Courier away, Captain!”
“John, set a pursuit course, but don't get too close. Liz, drop a disaster buoy so that search and rescue can find this place. I'm heading to sickbay to talk to our visitor. Akira, you have the Conn,” Fiona said as she got out of the chair and exited the bridge.
CHAPTER SIX
Adm. Fenstrom sat behind his massive desk and read reports on the day's activities at the annual training exercises out in the Elspeth Expanse. Most of the League fleet, including most of Earth's Defense Forces, were out there beyond the edge of League space playing spacers and aliens, though nowadays there were no more aliens, only League members.
A knock at his door disturbed his reverie. “Come!” he ordered.
“Gruff this morning, Joshua?” Adm. Trisha Washington said as she walked in and plopped a pile of reports on his desk.
“Sorry, I was just reading about the war games. You know what I think of war games,” he said as he read one of the new reports.
“I know, I know. You want more exploration and less boom. Speaking of exploration, a courier drone docked at Station One and I think the techs messed up with the download or someone has a really odd sense of humor.” She stopped when she saw the set of his shoulders. “Joshua, what's wrong?”
“This drone is from the LTV Hippolyta out of Dublin. I know the two Captains, Akira and Fiona Hisakawa, and their families. Akira doesn't have a sense of humor. He is completely by the book, like his father.”
“Hisakawa? Wait a minute, you're not talking about the Hisakawa wunderkind are you?”
“Akira's brother and sister.”
“Damn. Wait, that means...”
“It means this is for real.” Adm. Fenstrom pressed a button on the desk. “Capt. Proil, bring the station to general quarters. What Starguard ships do we have available for a deep space mission?”
“Sir, the Rescue Ship Zheng He is on-station preparing to join the war games.”
“Not today. Have its Captain report to my office on the double for a mission briefing.”
“Sir, if I may ask. What the hell is going on?”
Joshua explained the contents of the courier drone.
“By all that's holy. Should I wait for confirmation, Sir?”
“Captain, if I read this report correctly, the only confirmation we'll get is when that thing appears in orbit. Contact Rimwatch and have them keep an eye out for strange FTL fields, big ones.”
“Aye, Sir. Anything else?”
He looked up at Trisha. “If you're wrong, they may just execute you outright,” she said.
“Thanks for the resounding vote of confidence. Captain, recall all Earth Defense Force ships and have them proceed to Earth at best possible speed. Who do we have in port?”
“Nova, Sir.”
“I want to talk to Haruki, now, and get Space Command on the horn ASAP!”
“Yes, Sir. Right away, Sir.”
“Man, when you stick your neck out you do it with style,” Trisha said, shaking her head.
“If I'm wrong, I go down in flames, but if I'm right...”
They both looked out the station windows and saw earth slowly turning beneath them.
“We might lose another planet,” Trisha finished for him.
CHAPTER SEVEN
“Captain's on the Bridge,” Cmdr. Jenna Stone said as she vacated the command chair and stood at attention.
“At ease, Jenna, and stow the formality. I know it’s your first day, but we're more like family here,” Captain Notosh said as he sat in the chair and activated the ship-wide intercom. “This is the captain. Prepare for immediate departure. This is going to be a fast run to a disaster involving a previously unknown alien race. Prepare for bridging event. Notosh out.”
“Yay! Finally get to try out the new drive system,” Helmsman Raatar said while rubbing his palms together.
“Let's just hope your people figured out how to stop it from going boom,” the captain said to the Erdexi lieutenant.
“Boom, Sir?” Jenna asked as she looked around the bridge, scanning the consoles for problems.
“Oh, forgot that was top secret. Earlier models of this drive system sometimes exploded. The Erdexi assure us the problem has been solved.”
“Oh. Good to know, Sir,” she said satisfied all was well.
“Jenna, does anything ever phase you?”
“Yes, Sir,” she replied. She stopped and listened to her earpiece. “Sir, engine room signals ready. All stations signal ready.”
“Very good. Navigator, has control given you the coordinates of our destination?”
“Aye, Sir. They're plotted and on the board.”
“Comm, request departure clearance.”
“Aye, Captain...We have clearance and the yardmaster says, 'God's speed.'”
“Helm, clear all moorings and head out at one-half thruster.”
“Aye, Sir, one-half thruster... Sir, we have cleared the dock and are free and clear to navigate.”
“Initiate jump drive on my mark... Mark!”
The ship was instantly elsewhere.
“My complements to the manufacturer. Engineering, time to recharge?”
“One hour, Sir,” Chief Engineer MacLeish replied.
“Sir, disaster beacon dead ahead,” the navigator said.
“Identity?”
“LTV Hippolyta out of Dublin, Sir.”
“Well, not only did we make it, but we're in the right spot. Jenna, set the ship to General Quarters Condition R1.”
“Condition Rescue One, Aye,” she said as she tapped her earpiece. “General Quarters Condition R1. I repeat General Quarters Condition R1. This is no drill.”
The ship came alive as it went to work looking for survivors while it proceeded through a sea of debris and radiation left over from some monumental battle. Equipped with the finest scanners to come out of the research labs of the Cube, the Zheng He searched through every nook and cranny on every piece of debris within one hundred thousand kilometers of where they entered the area. After an hour of searching, they found absolutely nothing.
“What do you mean you found nothing? Not to get morbid, but bodies exposed to space-ambient vacuum generally do not pick up after themselves and leave the area.”
“I can't explain it, Sir. We've picked up a ham sandwich and pot of coffee, but not bodies or body parts. It's like the crews disappeared.”
“Sir! The sensor officer yelled. Multiple contacts. Bearing 297 degrees.”
“A direct line away from Earth. Details?”
“Warships, about two hundred, all heavily armed and of unknown design.”
“Tie in the UT, set it to try Earth languages, and hail them.”
“Aye, Sir. Unidentified fleet, this is the League of Planetary Systems Starguard Rescue Vessel Zheng He, please respond. We are on a rescue mission. I repeat, we are on a rescue mission. Please respond.”
The view screen shifted to show a young human woman wearing a uniform of unknown type and origin. “Rescue Vessel Zheng He, this is Capt. Rachel Myrene of the Olympian Republic Warship Penthesileia. We understand. Three of our cruisers are missing and presumed lost. Our scanners show the debris is from those ships.”
“Capt. Myrene, this is Capt. Notosh in command of the Zheng He. We understand that this is your party, but we'd like to assist. We've scanned out to one-hundred thousand kilometers and have found no trace of the crew.”
“Our scanners confirm, Zheng He. We appreciate your help greatly. Captain, did you happen to see another ship pass through here? It’s about...”
“Almost three miles long and bristling with weapons?”
“You've seen it?”
“It is on a direct course to a planet called Earth, with one of our freighters close behind. By the way, Captain, that freighter is carrying the only survivor of this massacre. She was trapp
ed in a piece of hull. They reported that the big ship watched over her until they arrived.”
“What? That's impossible. Who is this survivor?”
“Don't know, Captain. The freighter crew didn't say,” Capt. Notosh replied.
“Captain, we can't delay any longer. I'm going to leave the Corvette Illiska to help with the search,” Capt. Myrene said.
“Thank you, Captain. I plan to head back to Earth straight away after one more sweep, and I'll bring Illiska back with us.”
“Thank you, Captain,” she replied as she stared at the Storen Captain.
“I'm from Stora, Captain. A lovely forest world not far from Earth,” Notosh explained.
“Forgive me, Captain. I've never seen a non-human species before.”
“Now you have. Good hunting, Captain. Zheng He out,” he said as he killed the connection, returning the screen to its view of the alien fleet. They watched as, one by one, the ships dropped into their version of other-space.
“I wonder what they were fighting if they never saw a non-human race before?” Jenna asked as she signaled the comm officer to establish communications with the Illiska.
“Good question. After seeing their reaction to me, I wonder what they'll do when they meet the Orta?” he said with a smirk. “Helm, coordinate with the Illiska and return to searching.”
“Aye, Captain,” the helmsman said as the navigator laid in a course for the next leg of the search.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Cmdr. Andromeda Clyemne slowly regained consciousness, her bruised and battered body protesting every inch of the way. She felt something akin to warm smooth rope wrapped around her wrist. Curious, she opened her eyes and saw a tentacle coiled around her arm. She looked up and screamed, “Kraken!” as she beheld Doc.
“Nice,” Doc replied as she released Andie's arm and picked up a stethoscope, which she pressed against the frightened woman's chest. “I will have you know I am Alturan and a member of the Council of Physicians, now take a deep breath.”
Andie inhaled as instructed. “Where am I, and how are you able to speak my language?”