"Unknown," answered Lakeisha. "We don't have anything like this in our database."
"Get me a signal to Mars! We've got to let them know what is going on!" Danielle barked.
"I can't!" growled Lakeisha. "Don't you think I've been trying?" Danielle could hear the frustration in her technical officer's voice. She knew exactly how Lakeisha felt.
Suddenly, one of the alien ships locked onto Danielle's Talon and fired. Everything inside the Talon went offline except the primary computer which was shielded and had its own independent power source.
"Weapons systems offline!" Lakeisha began calling out the warning reports. "Propulsion offline! Life support failing!"
Danielle watched helplessly as the rest of Valkyrie squadron was picked off. The large ship they had originally spotted after the Expedition exploded was now maneuvering directly in front of them. Well, I guess this is it. She braced for the impact of a weapon blast, knowing that at this range weapons fire from a ship that size would vaporize them. But instead, it locked on to their ship with some kind of grappling beam and began pulling their disabled craft toward an opening.
"I guess you're going to get your wish, Keisha," Danielle said. "You're going to get to see your 'ghosts'."
"Let's just hope the ghosts are friendly," she replied. "Otherwise, we may end up wishing we'd died out here."
CHAPTER 3
Danielle's ship was pulled into what appeared to be a hanger deck, and the ship was lowered to the floor. There were no other ships in the hanger, no deck crews, nothing. Then the main door opened, and an influx of armored soldiers entered and circled the ship, guns drawn and pointed at them. She counted fourteen of them, all heavily armed. Well, so much for making a fight of it. The thought of not having a chance to fight their way out was disappointing, but not an unexpected outcome considering the circumstances.
A stocky little man in a black uniform walked out from the ranks of the soldiers and stood in front of them. Danielle couldn't believe her eyes! The man's skin was purple, his ears were slightly pointed, and his hair was a shade of light blue with traces of white at his temples! The purple man was a good six inches shorter than Danielle's five-foot-eight-inch frame. His general appearance matched the information given to them by the Rylans years ago. Oh crap! They’re V’drellians! This is bad! A cold chill ran down her spine, and she began having worrisome thoughts about what the future would hold. The man had ten round pins of various colors on the right breast of his shirt in two rows of five. Danielle made the assumption that they were some kind of campaign ribbons, which meant that he was an officer, probably one of the senior officers of the ship, if not the commanding officer himself.
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing? Lakeisha asked leaning forward, her head over the shoulder of Danielle's seat. She could see the fear in Lakeisha's face and imagined it was similar to the look she had on her own.
“Yeah, ghosts. I guess the V’drellians aren’t dead after all,” Danielle replied, a knot forming in her stomach. “You may have been right about it being better to have died out there. According to the Rylans, these guys invented new forms of torture because the old ones weren’t vicious enough.”
The uniformed man began speaking in a language Danielle didn’t recognize. He repeated the same foreign phrase two more times, with a long pause between. Then he stopped. She thought he must be waiting for a reply.
“I think it’s an old Earth dialect,” Lakeisha offered. “I studied ancient languages at the academy my second year. It sounds like the ancient Russian dialect, although I’m not sure how much is Russian and how much is his V’drellian accent.”
The man began speaking again, this time in a dialect that was close enough to the Terran language for them to be able to piece together what he was saying. “Exit your ship please, and form a line. If you do not, we will tear your ship apart and remove you by force."
Danielle pulled the release and pushed the canopy open. She and Lakeisha slowly climbed out and dropped over the side wall of their Talon fighter. The soldiers kept their weapons trained on the two of them at all times. As they walked toward the man, Danielle started trying to memorize the ship layout, just like she was trained to do in the academy. If she knew the basic layout, it would help her with any escape efforts should the opportunity arise. As she looked around, she couldn't help but notice that the ship appeared to be very old. Why would they still be using ships this old? she wondered briefly. The ship had all the hallmarks of an older craft, namely rusty patches along seams and the faint rhythmic hum of a fusion reactor. The Commonwealth hadn't built a ship with a fusion reactor since before the treaty signing with the Rylan Protectorate over one hundred years ago.
“I am Commander No’tok, ranking officer on board the Drah'jik," the man informed them. He had a slight strut in his walk as he paced in front of them. “You have invaded the territory of the V'drell Dominion. You are now prisoners of war and will be treated as such. Who is your ranking officer?”
Danielle took a step forward, head held proudly. If this was the first time a V'drellian was to meet a Terran, she was going to show him that Terran don't cower. “Lieutenant Danielle Hart, Sovereign Angels Battalion, Terran Commonwealth, Number 496131-09”
No'tok turned to face her. “Well, Lieutenant,” he continued. “You have a simple choice to make. Tell me your fleet comm channel codes and I will spare your co-pilot.”
“We each swore an oath of loyalty to our Queen,” Danielle glared at No’tok, “and if we die, so be it. Your threats don't frighten us.” She hoped her expression made her looked braver than she felt.
No'tok gave her an evil grin. "Kill? I never said I was going to kill her. I just said I would spare her if you cooperated. I was going to spare both of you a great amount of discomfort. After all, death would be far too merciful for enemies of the Dominion. Are all of your people so foolhardy and idealistic? I hope not. Let's see if you co-pilot is a bit more intelligent forthcoming, shall we?"
He turned and looked Lakeisha right in the eyes. "Now my dear, please don't be foolish like your friend. You still have an opportunity to save yourself from excruciating pain. What are the channel codes?"
Lakeisha was obviously terrified. Her eyes were wide, and she looked as though her fight-or-flight instincts were about to completely take over. She started to speak, then hesitated. After a moment, she replied, “Ensign Lakeisha Johnson, Sovereign Angels Battalion, Terran Commonwealth, Number 927102-75.”
“Fools!” shouted No’tok. “You will regret your decision to defy me. Secure them below.”
***
Commander Jason Rutledge couldn't help but think that the week was getting worse by the minute. It had been a little over three hours since the Expedition had crossed into the Quarantine Zone. Only minutes later, the station sensors picked up readings of a large explosion, and numerous smaller ones. He had ordered his patrol Lancers to launch and take up positions just inside the border. The station sensor array was then linked to the Lancer's sensor system. The readings they were starting to get were not comforting. "Comms, are we getting any signals? Emergency beacons? Life pods?" He asked the question but felt already knew what the answer was going to be.
"Negative, sir," came the reply from his comms officer. "All frequencies are quiet."
"Sensors, what do you see?" Rutledge walked over and leaned over the shoulder of his sensor officer. He knew he was hovering, but it was one of the things he did when he was waiting.
"Very small unknown contacts, headed in various directions, some towards the border." responded the sensor officer. "They are moving at a very slow rate of speed. Probably inertial movement."
"Thoughts?" Rutledge inquired of the sensor officer. He looked around the command center at the faces of his staff. They all looked nervous. Nothing like this ever happened out here. His mind began to ask the kinds of questions that a person in command ponders when in a combat situation. What the heck was going on here? Is this the prelude to a larger attack? Ar
e they going to attack the station? He gave a small shake of his head and pushed the questions from the forefront of his mind. All they could do is deal with one thing at a time. Let's just see if we can figure out what is happening right now.
"Honestly, sir," answered the officer with a somber tone, "I'm thinking that it's debris from our ships exploding. That's what I think we picked up earlier. The first bits will be floating over the border in a few minutes, and then we will know for sure. I hope and pray that I'm wrong."
"Me too," replied Rutledge, patting his officer on the shoulder.
Sir, Patrol Leader has visual on the sensor contacts, " the comms officer reported.
"Put it on the main panel," Rutledge replied.
The image flickered a couple of times before becoming clear. What they were seeing was definitely debris. Pieces of Talon scout ship and several larger pieces, presumably from the Expedition. A large piece metal came into the camera's view. As it slowly rotated, some lettering was visible. "1-16 C. S. Expe" It was a portion of the Expedition's forward hull. That confirmed their theory of what happened. Then something happened that none of them were prepared for.
"I think I'm going be sick," gagged the sensor officer, as he leaped up and ran off the bridge. At that moment the upper half of a body of one of the Valkyrie squadron members floated across the screen. The look of terror still froze on his face. The sensor officer wasn't the only one. Everyone on the command deck looked ill.
Kill the panel," Rutledge ordered. Then he turned and looked at the comms station. "Comms, tell our pilots to collect anything they can. Regardless of what it is, large or small, metal or organic. The families of Valkyrie Squadron and the Expedition deserve that much. Also, send a message to Fleet Command telling them what happened, and include a copy of our sensor and communication logs. Tell them that we will send any remains once they are collected."
"Aye, sir," replied the comms officer sadly.
***
Queen Constance was pacing on the dais. Her mother would not have approved if she were still alive. A queen does not pace or show any sign of worry before her subjects. She remembered her mother's words. On days like this, she really missed her parents. Not the King and Queen, but rather Johnathan and Kaori. Whenever she would get upset or worried, her mother would always make some tea and mochi, and they would sit and talk through whatever was bothering her. Her mother always knew just what to say to calm the storms that swirled in her mind when she was troubled, and right now there was a huge storm brewing in her mind.
She wasn’t sure if tea and mochi could fix this problem. She wasn’t even sure what the problem was yet. Admiral Hawthorne would be there in a few minutes to give her an update, and she needed to get the pacing worked out of her system by then. She heard the doors start to open, quickly sat down, and waited for the Admiral Hawthorne to approach.
"Please tell me that you have some good news," she said hopefully.
"I wish I could, Your Majesty," came the reply from Hawthorne. "The Expedition held position at the border, launched its Talons, and they made an initial sweep of the area, but found nothing. Then, against orders, Captain Reynolds took the Expedition into the QZ."
"What?" the Queen exclaimed. "I gave him and Lt. Hart explicit instructions! The Rylans did not agree to let the Expedition cross into the QZ, only the Talons."
"Your Majesty," Hawthorne interrupted. "The Expedition was destroyed. So were the Talons. Sentry Command picked up what appeared to be explosions on the sensors from the area where the ships were. Commander Rutledge stationed his patrol ships at the border. Approximately three hours later, some of the debris from the ships started floating back into our space."
The Queen slumped in her throne. "Survivors?"
"None so far," he replied. "Rutledge gave orders to his patrols to hold position at the border to collect all debris for analysis, and to collect any remains for return to families."
"How many did we lose, Admiral?" she asked, not really wanting the answer.
"Between the crew of the Expedition and the attached Sovereign Angels squadron, 218," he replied somberly.
"So, 219 total deaths over the past 48 hours, from a yet unknown enemy," Queen Constance said, as tears began filling her eyes. This had been her fear since the day she became queen. That her people would need her and she wouldn't know what to do to help them. She felt like a timid child in the face of this news, and all she could do is take responsibility for her decision that had cost so many their lives. "I should have been more cautious. It's all my fault. I sent those people to their deaths."
Hawthorne stepped towards the throne, knelt down, and held her hands. "Connie, you made the right call," he reassured her. "I would have advised the same thing. There hasn't been any armed conflict since before the formation of the Commonwealth 300 years ago. You couldn't know what would happen. You had no way of knowing that Captain Reynolds would disobey orders and take the Expedition into the QZ. So, that puts 196 of those deaths on him, not you. Now that we know something is definitely out there, we can start planning a strategy to handle it."
She leaned forward in her chair and hugged him. "Thanks, Uncle Dale," she whispered. Then she wiped the tears from her eyes and stood up. "Admiral," she said in a more formal tone. "Please dispatch a message to the Rylan Embassy. I wish to discuss this matter with them."
"At once, Your Majesty," Hawthorne said as he stood and turned to walk back to the doors.
CHAPTER 4
No'tok was true to his word. For the past four days, they had been tortured and starved. They each had only been given a cup of water daily. Danielle hadn't decided if the one cup was to keep them alive, or just another way to torment them. The left side of Danielle's face was swollen and sore. She was fairly confident that her cheekbone was fractured. Her ribs felt like several of them were cracked, as well as numerous bruises all over her body. All courtesy of No'tok's hospitality. The old stories about the viciousness of the V'drell Dominion were not understated. The first day one of her interrogators even tried to remove her clothes, his intentions obvious, but a voice over the speaker in the corner of the room made him stop before anything could happen. She could tell that it made the man angry because he punched her in the stomach instead. Since then, their favorite technique had been to inject her with small doses of toxin that made her body feel like she was being burned alive. That was when she wasn't being used as a punching bag by one or more of them.
Lakeisha wasn't faring any better. Her lower lip was split and her right eye was blackened and swollen shut. Her dark curls were matted with what looked like blood and dirt. Her brown complexion marred by scapes from the restraints, and her brown eyes had lost their usual spark and seemed distant. If was as though her body was here, but her mind was somewhere far away. Physically, it didn't appear as though she had taken near the beating that Danielle had, but the physical part of torture was just a means to bring about the real goal of the torturer. Unlike Danielle, Lakeisha had not been through 'interrogation resistance' training yet. That was reserved for more veteran officers, due to the nature that ensigns were rarely involved in strategic plans. At the training camps, an officer was taught what kinds of torture to expect, and how to survive them as long as you physically could. Survival was actually less of a physical issue and more of a mental one. The body could only endure so much, then it would start shutting down. Interrogators, a polite term for torturers, knew how much damage and pain a body could take, and usually did not want to actually kill their subjects. They wanted their subjects to suffer because breaking down the body would eventually lead to a breaking down of the mind's defenses. The objective of resistance training was to learn how to block the pain from your mind, focus on the importance of not giving the enemy what they wanted, and most importantly to be looking for a chance to escape. It pained Danielle to see her friend in such anguish.
She hadn't said a word to Danielle about what they were doing to her. In fact, she hadn't said anything since
she returned from her first interrogation session. So, when she spoke it surprised Danielle. "Can we just make up some codes to give them?" Lakeisha begged, the pain both physical and mental apparent on her face. She was breaking down and was at the point to do almost anything to make the pain stop. "Then maybe they will decide they don't need us anymore, or when they realize the codes are bogus they might get mad enough to kill us and get it over with".
Danielle had to admit that things were pretty bad and had no signs of changing in the near future. Yet she was determined not to give No'tok even a glimmer of victory over them. She wasn't going to let that little man have the win. "No. We stay strong," she responded. "We give them nothing but our silence. Or you can tell them jokes. That what I did. Except I got the punch line." She gave a chuckled, and then winced from the pain of her bruised abdomen.
“I’d rather just get out of here,” Lakeisha said downheartedly.
“I would too,” Danielle agreed. “That door seems to be the only way to get out. The vent is too small. Any ideas on the door?” Danielle thought that having Lakeisha distracted by working on breaking out would accomplish two goals at once. Help them escape, and keep Lakeisha focused on something besides the pain.
Hart Of Honor: A Danielle Hart Novel Page 3