by C. S. Harte
4
Six months later, 22-year-old Commander Jonas Barick, first officer of the Discovery-class Commonwealth of Man Ship (CMS) Endurance, sat in the observation deck after another night of troubled sleep, the fifth night this week. Dark, violet bags sagged under his eyes, a stark contrast to his brilliant ocean-blue irises with emerald flecks. He stared at the underside of his right wrist, activating his Fleet-issued Biological Information Panel or BIP for short. Bright green and blue LED lights shone through his skin, projecting his current health status, date and time, and a means to access his neuromods and other biological enhancements.
04:00 hours. Might as well stay awake for the big morning evaluation. Commander Barick stood and began stretching, forcing blood to flow into his muscles. He exercised alone in the domed room of the observation deck, peering through the crystal clear, silicon-composite ceiling, watching razor-thin streaks of stars converging into a visual symphony of prismatic, iridescent lights.
The Endurance was in warp-space, nearing the end of its month-long journey from the Yarilo system to its destination, the Telmun system. Both were on the fringes of human-explored space. Its current mission was to explore the Telmun system in the Delta Quadrant of Commonwealth space, to chart the unknown, to protect the citizens under the rule of the Democratic Republic of the Commonwealth of Man.
Watching the stars fly by in faster-than-light speeds usually helped Barick with insomnia. But not tonight. He had an official evaluation with Captain Weyer at 08:00 hours, his first of five needed to secure his status as First Officer of the Endurance. By all accounts, Barick was a stellar officer. He graduated first in his Academy class, excellent tactical mind, gifted at scientific research, and was an above average hand-to-hand fighter.
There were some crew members on the ship that thought him undeserving of the role. At 22, Barick was one of the youngest First Officers in Fleet history. Many believed a guiding hand helped him reach his position. The same crew members felt Lieutenant Commander Hank Tien, who served his entire 16-year career on the Endurance, was the rightful First Officer of the ship.
An uneasy feeling whirled inside Barick's stomach when he thought about the Captain’s evaluation. He applied for the First Officer position not expecting to receive it. It shouldn’t matter how I got this commission. I'm here now. I’m going to do the best job I can while I’m here. I’ll win the crew over. Somehow…
A notification sound in his ear communications implant went off. He looked at his right wrist. The BIP displayed:
New message from Commander Nolan Barick, Ostia Station.
Nolan? Barick had not spoken to his brother in years, not since he joined Fleet Academy around the time their sister disappeared from a supposed kidnapping. Old anger bubbled to the surface of his consciousness. His first instinct was to delete the message. He abandoned us. The family. Me. I had to pick up the pieces and play the adult. Prevent Mom from killing herself. Hundreds of memories flashed through his mind, competing with each other for attention and misery. Barick unclenched his fist after realizing a pain from his nails digging into his palm. He began pacing the room, trying to walk off the adrenaline.
Still, part of him was curious. His brother wasn’t always a coward. When they were kids, Nolan was his best friend, even though they were ten years apart. All the highs in Jonas’ life were because of Nolan. Nolan took him to his first holoball game. The Chitra Ploms vs. the Endiku Uxirs. Nolan taught Jonas how to fly in a stolen shuttlecraft. And Nolan brought Jonas along when they visited the pleasure planets of the Minte system. A smile wormed its way across Jonas’ lips. He glanced at the rest of the message. “Urgent and private,” he whispered to himself.
It's been five years and counting since Jonas last spoke to Nolan. Not now. Not today. I have to prepare for my evaluation. He resigned to look at the letter later in the evening, after his bridge shift. Jonas headed to his personal quarters and after a quick aero-shower, switched into his bridge commander uniform, red and black with gold trim around the shoulders and waist.
At precisely 08:00 hours, Jonas walked into the ship’s briefing room to see Captain Weyer and Lieutenant Commander Tien in a spirited conversation about the star maps displayed on the screen. His eyes were immediately drawn to the yellow triangle on the bottom left corner of the screen, representing Delta Quadrant and the current location of the Endurance.
“The Fifth Fleet will easily crush any alien incursion into Alpha Quadrant,” Tien said while pointing to the green dots in the upper left corner of the screen. “We’re the most advanced beings in our corner of the galaxy!” His booming voice did not lack for conviction in his words.
“I hope you’re right Hank,” the Captain said as he grabbed Tien’s elbow. “I’m more worried about what the Alliance of Faith would do if they hear about another alien species entering our borders.”
Barick coughed, announcing his presence.
“Commander Barick,” Captain Weyer said with a smile. “Have a seat,” he pointed to a chair in the center of the briefing room table.
“I’ll be on the bridge, Captain,” Tien said.
Weyer nodded. “We’ll continue our discussion later.”
“Yes, Captain,” Tien said and nodded at Barick. “Commander.”
“Lieutenant.” Barick nodded in return.
Jonas sat as instructed with his back perfectly straight and his hands folded in front of him on the table. “Good morning, Captain.”
“At ease, Barick. This evaluation is just a formality. I am well aware of the splendid work you’ve done thus far.” Weyer paused to stare at Barick’s face. “Having trouble sleeping again, Commander?”
“Not more than usual, Captain.”
“Be that as it may, schedule a visit with medical after your shift today.”
“Understood, Captain.”
“Right, let’s get to it then. I have already submitted my evaluation to Fleet Command.”
Barick's eyes opened wide. “Captain?”
“I find these evaluations silly, wasteful, and most importantly, a pain in the ass. You’ve been an exemplary officer since you’ve come aboard. Furthermore, I’ve placed a commendation in your discovery of a new type of aerobic bacteria on Yarillo Prime. I think if we’re able to implant them in human digestive flora, we’ll finally be able to eliminate gluten-based allergies, among other things of course.”
“Sir… I don’t know what to say,” Barick replied. He felt a tingle in his arms and legs.
“You also have a sharp mind for strategy and combat based on your Academy scores. I feel that your talents are best suited for battle command. Which begs the question…”
Barick shook his head as he spoke. “But sir, I like research and…”
“How much did you overhear between Lieutenant Tien and me?”
“Sir, I apologize. I didn’t mean…”
“No son, I allowed you to eavesdrop. I take it you heard us discussing the Mimic incursion in Alpha Quadrant.”
“Yes, Sir.”
“I have a bad feeling about this species and any species with the capability to mass procreate. Do you have an opinion?”
Dots started to connect inside Jonas’ mind. Alpha Quadrant. Nolan. Urgent letter. I should read Nolan’s letter the first chance I get. He shook his head. “There’s not a lot of intelligence on Mimics, Sir. But thanks to the Katok's technology infusion, we should have a technological superiority over them.”
“Technology is a guise for hubris, son. There is no substitute for understanding the enemy.”
Barick nodded.
“No matter. In about one hour, we will reach the Telmun system and begin our surveying mission.”
“Yes, Captain.”
“Late last night, we received a secondary directive from Fleet Command.” Weyer stood and walked to the screen.
Barick followed him.
Using his fingers to control the screen, Weyer zoomed into the Telmun. “We are to monitor the progress of the colony sh
ip CMS Venture on its way to Galli System.” He pointed to the section of space, one system over. “There’s been reports of pirate activity in that system.”
“Pirates attacking a Commonwealth ship, Sir? Is there an Entrent on board?”
“How astute of you, Commander.” The Captain paused as if reliving a memory. “Let me tell you something, son. I’ve fought in the War of Faith when I was your age, you know, before the Alliance of Faith split with the Commonwealth.”
“I know, Captain. I read your file before I joined.”
“The sheer, visceral hatred I felt from Alliance members… All because we accepted the Katoks into our Republic. There were some things…” His eyes began to drift before refocusing on Barick. “But the most unnerved I’ve ever felt in my life was when an Entrent stood in the same room as me. Having another creature tapping directly into your mind, pushing and pulling thoughts out of your head.” He shivered.
“It doesn’t seem pleasant, Captain.”
“Captain to the bridge,” Tien said over the ship’s intercom.
“We must be ahead of schedule. Let’s head to the bridge.”
They walked in silence as they made their way to the bridge.
Jonas kept his thoughts on his brother. But work had priority over old family wounds.
The decktram doors opened. Barick waited for Weyer to exit first.
“Captain on the bridge,” announced Lieutenant Renna Voight, the short, dark-haired, olive-skinned, Chief Security and Tactical Officer of the Endurance.
“At ease,” Weyer directed. “How much longer?”
“10 seconds,” Tien replied.
The streaks of light on the viewscreen began to slow and separate into individual stars.
The Endurance exited out of warp-space inside the gravity well of the Telmun star.
Alarms blared across the bridge.
“Sir, proximity alert,” yelled Tien. “Unknown ship-sized object sitting 250,000 kilometers to our port side.”
5
“Put the ship on the viewscreen,” the Captain ordered.
“Yes, Captain,” said Lieutenant Commander Tien, sitting at the navigation terminal.
The viewscreen updated to show an egg-shaped object, 2500 meters wide in the same orbit as the Endurance.
“Do we have long-range scanners yet?” Weyer asked.
“Our advance computer systems are still coming online. Ten mins, Sir,” replied Tien.
Barick fixated his eyes on Telmun. “Something isn’t right…” he muttered to himself and ran to a science terminal to run an analysis on the star.
“What is it, Barick?” Weyer asked.
“Sir, Telmun is supposed to be a stable G7 V Yellow Main Sequence type star,” said Barick as he watched his console update with raw data.
“Are you suggesting we’re at the wrong star system?” Weyer asked and looked over at his navigator, Tien.
After scrolling through his input logs, Tien replied, “I double checked, Sir. According to our star maps, this should be the Telmun system.”
Barick’s screen flashed green. “Captain, we may have a problem.”
“Well, spit it out, Commander,” said Weyer with a pinched expression on his face.
“It’s possible that our initial star charts were wrong, but I cross-referenced the absolute positioning of the other stars in nearby systems. That star next to our ship is Telmun, but the size of the outer diameter suggests it may be in the process of transforming to a red giant.” He took a breath before continuing, “My analysis suggests an 84% chance that an expansion event is imminent. I strongly suggest we get the Endurance out of here immediately, Sir.”
Weyer nodded. “Navigator, ion engines. Get us to the edge of the system.” He turned to face Lieutenant Voight. “I want shields as soon as possible.”
“Yes, Captain,” Voight began charging the shield emitters.
“Setting course for the edge of the system at maximum available speed, one-quarter ion thrust,” Tien said.
“How long will it take us to get to the safety limit of the expansion?” Weyer asked Tien.
“As soon as we get full power back, 40 minutes.”
“40 minutes?” Barick whispered to himself. “We may not…”
Crash.
Something smashed into the ship, causing the Endurance to rumble violently.
Alarms blared throughout the ship.
Automatically, the ship entered red alert status. Fluorescent crimson lights turned on in every corridor of the Endurance.
One bridge crew member slammed his head into a terminal, passing out.
Barick immediately checked on the status of his fallen crewmate. He tapped his ear comm and said, “Medical, this is Commander Barick. Emergency team needed on the bridge.”
A frantic voiced replied back in his ear, “Commander, we’re getting casualty reports from all over the ship!”
“Captain, hull breach in decks one through four,” yelled Lieutenant Voight.
“Dammit!” seethed Captain Weyer. “Where are the shields?”
“Sealing off the affected decks. Waiting on a full list of casualty reports from department heads. Shields are still charging, 60%,” Voight updated.
“Did that alien ship attack us? Someone tell me something!” barked Weyer.
Barick ran back to his station and began frantically typing into his console. “I have partial long-range scanners, running scans now.”
“Should I deploy repair drones, Captain?” Tien asked.
“Not yet. We have to make sure whatever is attacking us has stopped. Shut off the inferno alarms for now!”
Tien nodded, “On it, Sir.”
The alarms still flashed, but Tien muted the sound.
“Captain!” Barick waved the Captain over. “I have initial scan results. It seems I was right about Telmun star transitioning to a red giant. My guess, we were hit by a solar flare. I predict an expansion event probability at 98%, Sir. We have to get out of the danger zone. Now! Right now!”
“Shields in 60 seconds,” Voight said via hurried speech.
Crash.
The entire ship rumbled and shook. Parts of the ship's hull broke off and drifted away. The walls of the bridge became undone. Bulkheads fell from the ceiling.
Barick fell backward and hit his head on a railing. He felt a wetness in the back of his skull and touched the spot with his hand.
Blood.
All sounds, screams, and shouts seemed muffled and distant to him. The world moved in a distorted fashion, sometimes in slow speed, sometimes fast, rubber-banding between the two. He closed his eyes and tried to focus on the Captain’s voice, but could not find his note in the chorus of chaos.
A pretty face, light chestnut eyes, and lips curled into a frown appeared in front of Barick. She mumbled something. Her voice sounded slurred in his head. Then suddenly, clarity. Time and sense returned to normalcy inside his mind.
“Sir. Sir. Sir!” Voight shrieked.
“Lieutenant Voight.” Barick closed his eyes and shook his head.
“You’re the captain now, Sir.”
A headache began rippling through his brain, throbbing as it reverberated in his skull. “What… Where is Captain Weyer?”
“This is Engineering. Ion engines are offline,” said a voice over the intercom.
Too many things going on at once… Too much information! Barick pressed his palms to his eyes as panic rose in his chest.
“Sir! The Captain and most of the bridge crew disappeared.” Voight took out a can from a med-kit and sprayed a light blue powder on Barick’s head injury.
“What? I’m sorry, I feel as though I misheard you.” Barick rubbed his temple. “Where is the Captain of this ship?”
“There was…” She vacantly stared as she spoke. “There was a bright flash. I closed my eyes, and when I opened them, only me, you, and Lieutenant Tien were left.”
Barick's eyes grew wide. The loss of the Captain finally sunk into his awar
eness. “That’s not possible! Run a ship-wide censor sweep! Find the Captain!”
“I… I did, Sir. We’re missing over half our crew…”
Barick saw her eyes welling up with tears. He pushed himself up. His legs felt unsteady. His vision blurred as he tried to focus on his console. That unidentified ship. It must have attacked us. Could it control the solar flares from the star? Who could possibly have that kind of technology?
Voight gripped Barick's arm tightly, steadying him.
“What’s the shield status, Lieutenant?”
“Fully charged but some of the emitters went offline. We’re at 70% shield strength.”
“Lieutenant Tien, are we still inside the expansion zone?”
“Yes, Sir. We have about 300,000 kilometers to go before we reach safety.”
Barick tapped his ear comm. “Engineering. We need ion engines. That’s priority number one.”
“Engineering. We had a power surge in our energy grid. Ion engine offline for at least 30 minutes while we reset the flow capacity.”
Barick shook his head. “You have 10! Get it done somehow. There might not be a ship after that.”
“Understood. Engineering out.”
“Lieutenant Tien, send out repair drones. Priority is to fix the hull integrity and shield emitters.”
“Yes, Sir. Sending repair drones now.”
“Captain, I have a final list of casualties,” Voight said.
“OK, give it to me.”
“Two-thirds of our crew are missing and unaccounted for. Another 22 dead from trauma or jettisoned into space. Total 44 crew members left.”
“44? That’s one-fifth of our ship…” Barick felt a numbness in his chest. “So many people lost…”
“Sir, we need to find out more about that mystery ship,” Tien said. “I suspect they may have kidnapped our fellow crew members.”
“Lieutenant Tien, pull up an image of the alien ship, maximum magnification.”