Mark Johnson exited the maglovator and re-entered the command deck. He looked around the command deck and saw everyone was wearing their uniforms. The place was alive. Sounds were emanating from just about everywhere as decks were checking in with Ariel.
Mark sat down in his command chair and looked around smiling. On the right side of his chair, a yellow light was blinking. He tapped it and immediately Dan Sledge’s voice filled the area around him. “I found it boss-man. We should be good to go.”
“Good work Danny, now get your butt back up here, I’m going to begin launch procedures.”
Mark noticed every head turn to look at him when he finished talking to Sledge.
“Patch me through to the rest of the ship, Ariel.”
She nodded and clicked a virtual button.
“This is Mark Johnson.” His voice reverberated throughout the ship, “We are about to go into space, but I have to warn you all, this is going to be more than a test flight. There’s a good chance we will be gone for several weeks. If any of you want to stay on Earth due to family or any other reasons, I understand. I’m just going to ask you to exit the ship as soon as possible. We’re getting ready to lift off and I do not foresee us being on the ground for more than another twenty minutes. Once the doors shut, they are shut and you will be with us for the long haul.”
Some throughout the ship looked nervous, some excited, but they all knew what was about to happen. History was about to be made.
Chapter Two
“Engines starting.” The burly engineer proclaimed from his seat on the command deck.
This time there was nothing out of the ordinary. There were no more filling loosening vibrations as the crew had first experienced, no loud noises that froze the hearts of weaker men. Just a very low and slight hum that soon disappeared completely.
Johnson smiled, “Sounds good, Dan.”
“Want me to take her up?” The big engineer replied.
“Not this time Danny. I’ve got it.” Mark tapped a button on the arm display of his chair and instantly a holographic pilot’s display and controls appeared before him. He touched a few of the holographic controls and with small puffs of sand; the ship gently rose majestically from the desert floor.
Slowly at first, then faster as its speed doubled, tripled and then quadrupled within a few scant seconds, the ship rose out of the Arizona desert and pointed its majestic body skyward.
“Ten seconds till we break atmosphere” Sledge reported with a big grin on his face.
A light beeped on Ariel’s display, she turned towards Johnson. “That’s The General. He wants to know where we’re going and why wasn’t he informed the ship was space worthy?”
“Tell him we’ll talk after our rundown flight.”
She paused a moment, then, “He disconnected me. I don’t remember him being this hard headed.”
“Ignore him; we’re in space right… about… NOW!” Johnson finished with a smile as the big manta ray shaped ship broke the final vestiges of atmosphere and left Earth’s last remnants behind.
“Mr. Sledge, the controls are yours.” A beaming Mark Johnson proclaimed.
“Thank you sir.” Dan Sledge replied with a smile of his own, as his controls took over when Mark’s shut down.
A heartbeat later a beeping sound and a corresponding blinking light appeared on Sledge’s display.
“Hey Boss-man, we got company.” Mark was out of his seat and standing next to Dan instantly.
“What is it?”
Sledge waited an instant as the verification software compared long range scans, then furrowed his brow as he replied, “Uh Mark, that’s a ‘Goliath’ class star cruiser. I just received verification; it’s the ‘War-Hammer’.” Sledge swiveled in his chair to face Mark.
“Would Abruzzi send a war ship after us?” Ariel asked in surprise.
“It looks he already did.” Mark replied, as he sat back in his seat. “Eddie just in case, have the solar cannons online. I don’t want to fire on a US Navy space ship, but I’m going to take this ship out of here whether General Abruzzi likes it or not.”
“You do realize if we disobey a direct order from that ship we will automatically be performing an act of treason, right?” Eddie asked.
“Well, under normal circumstances, yes Eddie. But these are not normal circumstances. You’re all going to have to trust me on this.”
As he finished speaking the ship suddenly shuddered for an instant, as a flash of light played across the view screen.
“They just fired on us.” Red shouted from his security console.
“Yeah, we got that.” Eddie replied over the alert klaxons that were now going off.
“Red, kill that thing.” Johnson ordered, and the klaxon went silent.
“The War-Hammer is hailing us.” Ariel stated flatly.
“Let’s see what they have to say.”
Ariel nodded as the view screen turned to an image of the gray haired Captain of the War-Hammer, “This is Captain O’Neal of the USS War-Hammer. You are ordered to return from whence you launched and await General Abruzzi from there. Am I understood?”
Mark leaned forward in his seat and replied, “I’m sorry Captain O’Neal, but this is a private ship and is free to do as I deem necessary. We are under no military jurisdiction whatsoever. Give the General my regards, and you, yourself, have a nice day.” As he finished he slashed across his throat with his first two fingers on his left hand while looking at Ariel. She immediately killed the connection.
“Danny get us away from that ship, then power up the magno-discs to one hundred percent and get us out of here.”
“Already on it, boss-man.” Sledge replied.
“Incoming!” Shouted Red.
A shockingly bright blast enveloped the ship’s command deck for an instant and then passed as the Cagliostro shuddered from within.
“How’s integrity?” Johnson asked Sledge.
“Hull integrity is perfect. That hull armor you insisted on is holding up fine as of now.”
“Now you know why I insisted on fifty feet of it both top and bottom of the ship.”
“Yeah I do.” Sledge shook his head in the affirmative.
“Good, now get the magnetic defense shielding up.”
Sledge turned back to his console and pressed a button, immediately a blue glow wrapped around the ship, deflecting enemy fire easily.
“NOW we’re protected.” Red added.
“Yes, we are. Pilot, it’s time to earn your pay. Get us out of here.” Mark commanded.
Dan Sledge smiled, “With pleasure, Boss.” He ran his fingers up the clear touch screen and the ships engines began to hum strongly.
“We got more trouble.” Red barked, “Another ship incoming on an immediate approach vector. They’re trying to wedge us between them.” He turned when finished.
“What is it?” Mark questioned.
“Rapier class fast attack cruiser.” Red replied.
“Okay let’s rock and roll. Bring us in tight to the ‘War-Hammer’, I want us hugging its skin, then it’s time to go faster than light. Hit it Dan.”
Sledge nodded and brought the engines to full power, as energy blasts were now aimed directly at them and splattering on their shields, rocking the ship as it started to accelerate.
“How are the shields holding?”
“They’re taking a beating from both ships out there. They’re down to seventy-five percent. The way those things are pounding at us, we won’t last much longer.”
“Won’t need any longer.” Sledge grunted as the Cagliostro rocketed along the side of the big War-Hammer. Sliding past it and between the closing Rapier class ship. “Hold onto your stomachs, cause here we go!”
A sudden surge of acceleration pushed everyone back into their seats, and after an instant they were gone!
On the view screen before their stunned eyes the command staff watched in awe as stars and planets were left behind in a ghost-like state. Seemingly nothing
more than an afterimage.
“Whoa.” Eddie DiGenovese whispered in awe.
“Whoa is right Eddie. We are now the first humans to officially break the light speed barrier. Welcome to history.”
“No wonder Abruzzi wanted this for the military first.” Ariel commented.
Mark didn’t say anything, keeping his council to himself.
“Okay so when do I turn this baby around?” Sledge asked.
“You don’t. I’m going to punch in some coordinates. That is where we’re going.” Mark replied as he called forth the virtual instrumentation in front of his Captains chair once again, and tapped a few buttons.
Dan turned towards him when he read the coordinates, his face screwed up quizzically. “This is a pretty damned far trip, you know that right?”
“Yes, I do, Dan. Just get us there.”
Dan shook his head to one side, then murmured “Glad I packed some extra socks.”
Mark smiled as Ariel looked at him strangely once before turning back to her console.
“All right Dan, Eddie, Ariel and Red, meet me in the conference room in five. Ari, call the secondary crew to the command deck while we’re there.” Mark stood up and headed towards the maglovator.
***
“What’s going on here?” Red Robinski asked. “Why are we suddenly flying further into space then man has ever gone which we already have crossed that threshold by the way, and going to some mysterious coordinates that you happened to have in hand the minute we clear Earth’s gravity well?” Red was agitated, as he always seemed to be.
Johnson smiled as he leaned back in his chair at the briefing table within the command room. “That’s why I like having you around Red, you keep me honest.”
Robinski looked at him through slit eyes, “What’s that supposed to mean? What are you holding back from us?”
“Look guys, you are right, I have been holding something back from you all. But this is big, really big actually. Like world changing big. I wanted to tell you earlier, heck I tried earlier today and then the general showed up and it had to wait.”
The four of them focused on him seriously at this point. Johnson sighed and then began, “Last week I had a meeting with the President, and it wasn’t the first one.”
“What about?” Dan asked slowly.
“This is deep, my friends. I tried explaining this earlier before the General interrupted us. There’s a traitor within the government, a mole. This is the part you’re not going to believe, it’s an alien. They know that for a fact. There’s an alien race targeting the United States government and its space program.”
“Why?” Red asked, with a furrowed brow.
“Because they do not want us to perfect interstellar flight. Which I don’t have to remind you, we just did.”
“Again, why the interest in us?”
“The President thinks it’s because we are dangerous. As a race we know one thing very well. That’s how to blow things up, and kill the enemy. The President believes that someone is trying to keep us sequestered in our corner of the galaxy so fifty or a hundred years from now we won’t be challenging anyone for galactic supremacy.”
“Why would they think we would do that?” Ariel asked, obviously perplexed.
“The answer’s obvious,” Red replied, “We’re conquerors. As a race we climb the highest mountain, swim the deepest ocean, etc. We explore until we run out of things to find in any given area and then we move on to a new area and start over.”
“That’s right Red. That was pretty much the Presidents assumption as well. He asked me to undertake this journey, to head up this investigation, and to do it surreptitiously. That’s why us and not the military.”
“Okay, but what about our vaunted spy organizations? Why couldn’t they do it?”
“In what ship? This is the only ‘Faster than Light’ or ‘FTL’ ship on Earth. We have a huge space armada, but none have ever broken the light barrier. The Cagliostro is the fastest ship known to man. It’s also one tough sucker as well. Between our shielding system, which withstood an onslaught from two powerful fleet war ships only a few hours ago, and our deck armor, we are virtually untouchable. At least for a while.”
“So does he have any idea who the spy is?” Eddie asked.
“No. He’s not sure. But he has a few suspicions.”
“So where’d these mysterious coordinates come from?”
“They managed to track a signal that was bouncing off a few of our satellites before being received somewhere in D.C. It was filtered and splashed about so that it had no real recipient that could be found. It hit a wide range of space, before it was received by its mysterious recipient. All we know is it came from the coordinates we’re going to.”
“Which is not the best news I’ve heard all day.” Eddie replied.
“How so?” Dan asked.
“Real Simple, Danny-boy, we have no idea what we are heading into. At all. This could be either a military base, a planet of space-pirates, which by the way, the concept of does not thrill me in the least. A planet of a warrior race, God only knows what else? We are really flying blind right now. We’re heading into trouble.”
“And that Eddie,” Mark began, “Is why we have to be prepared for all eventualities. Look team, we’re going to be in FTL for at least a week until we find this signal’s origin point. Everyone here has to be sharp. We’re going to be running some training scenarios over the next week. We have to be at our best, because not only am I, but the whole world as well is relying on us. We may be the Earths first, last, and best line of defense.”
“So everything is riding on us.” Red finished.
“You could say that, Red. Look, the bottom line is that someone out there set their sights on Earth for whatever reason, and we have to find out why and what for.”
“Do you think there’s an imposter involved?” Ariel asked, “You know what I mean, someone who was planted taking the place of someone high up in the government?”
“I think that’s a definite possibility, Ariel. I even have a few suspicions as to who it may be.”
“Care to share that information?” Red asked as he clasped his fists and leaned forward on the table.
Mark turned toward him before speaking, “No. I’m not going to. It’s best if only I know who is suspected and who is above suspicion.”
“Wassamatter? Don’t trust us Mark?” Eddie asked, with a crooked grin.
“It’s not that at all, Eddie, and you know the answer to that already. The reason is simple, the less people who know who is under suspicion the less that can inadvertently give that information away.”
“Like if one of us gets captured and tortured or something?” Dan Sledge asked.
“Precisely, Dan. If they come for one of us let it be me. Not any of you.”
“Very heroic Mister, but that’s a load and you know it.” Ariel barked angrily.
Johnson sighed and grabbed her hand, “No Ari, it’s not. It’s the truth. I need all of you to be able to do your jobs and I need to know you can all get me out of whatever hell hole they take me to in case I do get captured.”
“So what about these aliens? Do we know anything about them? How long have they been watching us?” Eddie queried, “I mean, up until now, all of Earth’s fleet has been stuck exploring around the solar system. Taking off for years at a time. Sure the ships have been getting faster every year, but they still take literally years to get somewhere. Your magno-disc technology is changing all that, and since this morning it’s no longer even a theory. It’s pure fact. Man has jumped to the head of the class.”
“That’s exactly what we theorize they are frightened of, whoever the mysterious ‘they’ are, that is. Now there’s suddenly competition, and it’s all coming from Earth.”
“But that’s the part I don’t get,” Eddie interjects, “Competition for what?”
“Eddie, it could be anything. Manufacturing ability, mining, science breakthroughs, though personally I c
an’t see them being behind us on that one. It could even be weapons design. Bottom line is we just do not know, but we are going to find out. ”
***
Days passed quietly enough as the Cagliostro continued on through deep space. Its magno-disc engines purring lightly as the ship soared on at speeds that only days earlier were inconceivable to man.
The command crew continued to train diligently every day for whatever might cross their paths. Still, there was an air of trepidation throughout everyone on board. Mark had held a conference with the entire crew that first evening telling them they were on a mission for the government, which was the truth anyway, and that they would be away from home for a few weeks. Subspace messages were sent to loved ones by the entire crew.
Daily, crew members lined up by fore and aft view screens, watching the stars go by in that elongated hyper-light way they now realized stars actually did look like when you were partially phased between dimensions, as the Cagliostro’s magno-disc faster than light technology actually did. Not only was this an indescribable first time experience for everyone on board, it was an incredible visual one as well. Everything was running smoothly.
Until the fourth day.
Red looked up from his display and then back down at it, immediately punching it up on the main view screen. “You better look at this Mark.”
Johnson leaned forward slightly in his chair on the ‘D’ shaped command deck “Looks like we have company. Better move us to yellow status.”
Red nodded and immediately yellow lights spun at each corner of the command deck as well as throughout the ship and for ten seconds an alert tone pinged on every deck.
Behind the Cagliostro three blips were seen gaining on them through the faster than light conduit, or hyper-warp tunnel.
“Dan, can we increase speed?”
“Uh, yeah, Mark, we’re just under halfway to full speed, as you know anyway, but yes, we have a ways to go.”
The Cagliostro Chronicles Page 2