by Kris Powers
“Are you going to be okay?”
“I’ll be fine.”
“You disobeyed orders,” Elliot said.
“Don’t worry.”
“And now you’ve helped us. I don’t know what Catherine’s like, and she is your mother, but God knows what she’ll do to you. Come with us. You can ask for sanctuary.”
“I can’t. They’re still my people.”
“Please.”
“I told you not to worry. It’s because of you that I’ll be okay. You’ve given me the perfect alibi! How can I possibly have done any mind probes if the detainees had been taken?” Nadine said and gave him an improvised look of innocence. “I did all that I could, but those Alliance bastards got to them before me.”
Elliot took her hand in his with the deep desire not to leave her behind.
“I’ll be fine,” Nadine said, squeezing his hand. She placed the palm of her hand to his cheek and brought his face to hers. She backed away from his embrace and smiled to him with a trust he had never seen in her. “Go. I’ll see you at Phoenix.”
Nadine turned away and walked down the curving corridor towards a door that led away from the ships. He watched her retreating back and spoke softly to her beyond her hearing range.
“I’ll see you soon.” Sobering to the reality of his surroundings, Elliot quickly turned on his heel and ran after the group, who were surely close to the ship by now. He caught up with the cautious team of Ferine and soldiers creeping down the corridors towards a hatch.
Elliot caught up to the group and made his way to the front.
“Report,” Elliot whispered to Madison.
“Love is in the air.”
“Report on your situation.”
“The airlock is over there. We’re not sure about the hallway in between us and the hatch.”
“Major, advance to the corridor and take a look. Be careful,” Elliot said to the soldier who grunted a “Yes Sir” and proceeded to a corner just ten feet short of the airlock. He carefully extended a small mirror mounted on a metal spine around the impediment to his sight.
A shot of energy took the mirror and much of the spine with it. The Major threw the heated remains away from him and backed off to the large gathering of Alliance citizens.
“I think they know we’re here.”
“You don’t say?” Elliot asked with a raised eyebrow.
“Sorry, Sir.”
“What is the best approach for this, Major? We have to get to that airlock.”
“Just ten feet. That’s all we need.”
“What of your new shields?” Elliot asked.
“Mine’s only got a few seconds left on it but they’re good for about a minute and the rest of my men have them. I think I’ve got it, Sir. We’re going to need the Ferine in a line down the centre of the hallway.”
“You’ve got it, Major,” Elliot said, and whispered the order to Madison who relayed it through the ranks. The Ferine obediently moved into a narrow line of two abreast down the dim corridor. The Major used a chain of hand signals, and in short order had the soldiers divided into two lines along each wall.
“We’re ready.”
“Wait,” Elliot said and then turned his attention to the earpiece hanging from his lobe. “What is your situation, Josh?”
After a moment of silence, Joshua came through in a lowered voice. “I think it’s the same as you, Eli. We’ve got soldiers waiting around a corner. We step out there and they’ll turn our escape into a shooting gallery.”
“The Major over here seems to have come up with a solution. He’ll brief your military XO right now.”
“Captain,” the Major said into his own piece, “make it the revolving door march like on New Terra. Got it?”
The Major listened for an affirmative and then nodded to the Admiral.
“What do you need?” Elliot asked.
“Wait for my signal and start sending the Ferine towards the airlock. You’d better let them know to expect a lot of noise but not to panic. Just go right up to the airlock and walk in. A few of you should go ahead of them just to take out anyone inside of the ship. Got it, Sir?”
Elliot nodded and turned back to the group in a long line behind him. Madison stood at the front of the group with her PBD at ready.
“Madi, as soon as the Major gives you the signal, you’ll head in behind him and help to secure the ship. The Ferine will be right behind you. Lathiel?”
“Yes?”
“As soon as Madi moves, so do you. Follow her into the ship and pass this back through the line: follow the person in front of you. Focus on the deck and ignore anything you hear. Just keep moving until you’re in the ship, okay?”
Lathiel nodded nervously and recited his lines to the two Ferine in back of him, who nodded as well, and passed the information on to the couple behind them. Elliot turned around and faced the Major, who was at the forefront of his men in the center of the corridor. The Major had exchanged his PBP for one of the hefty plasma assault rifles that Elliot had examined earlier. He had his back to the corridor and waited for Elliot’s go ahead.
Elliot gave a silent nod to the officer. The Major turned around and raised his arm, bent at the elbow, with his forearm pointing to the ceiling. The soldiers watched him intently until the arm dropped forward.
The first five officers activated the personal shields on their belts and walked at a quick march into the corridor. They brandished their rifles and each line of officers turned away from each other to face the unknown down the two ends of the corridor. The air crackled as several pulses of destructive energy began to converge on the men who leveled their rifles at a large group of soldiers on either side of the passage. They returned the assault with discharges from their own weapons. Their shields absorbed the incoming fire and several Coalition men collapsed face down to the floor.
As the buzzing of fire played in the background, the Major leveled the experimental weapon at the heavy reinforced hatch. The Major aimed and discharged a brilliant beam of yellow starlight into the airlock door. The hatch glowed from the stream of energy rushing into it and soon after melted. A large hole with uneven edges grew into existence. The Major let go of the trigger in satisfaction of his handy work and turned to Madison in triumph.
Madison nodded with an appreciative smile at his simple approach and followed him at a quick pace into the interior of the Ferine ship. The Ferine took their cue and followed Madison into the ship. As each soldier’s shield began to weaken, he exited the line. They were thankful that the forty standing two abreast were able to leave the station in a short time considering there were only a dozen soldiers on each line. Two separate lines of soldiers became a crescent receding into the airlock.
The last soldier into the airlock discovered that his first sight of an alien ship was Elliot.
“You’re the last one?”
“Yes Sir,” the Second Lieutenant answered.
“Good,” Elliot said and slapped the button to close the ship’s interior door. The melted door of the station didn’t pose a problem for the ship’s hatch which closed with a swift movement.
“Seal that hatch,” Elliot ordered. The officer obeyed and set his rifle to a solid beam. The right side of the door turned into a bubbled vertical line under the weapon’s heat.
“That will buy us some time. Major, it’s time to secure the ship.”
“What do we do with the Connies that are onboard?” the Major asked.
“Stun them and put them all in the shuttle bay. We’ll keep them there until we’re home. Are our scanners working yet?”
The Major held up a rectangular device that had remained dark throughout their travails on the station. It now showed a schematic of everything within three hundred feet.
“They’re working.”
“Then it’s time to use them. Have your men locate all the Coalition people on board and escort them to the shuttle bay. It shouldn’t be a problem now that we can detect them. If they don’t want
to go,” Elliot began.
“Make them into paper weights. Yes Sir,” the Major finished and divided up the dozen men with him into pairs of two. The half a dozen teams moved off to find the glowing bodies displayed on their scanners.
“Major, come with me to secure the bridge. Lathiel, you and Danniack will accompany us. Madison, stay here with the rest of the Ferine until the ship is secured.”
A chorus of “Yes Sirs” answered him. Madison stayed behind while the small task force headed for the command center.
They found the double door entrance quickly. Danniack pressed his long fingered palm to the small panel glowing bright yellow and the doors begrudgingly opened with a rattle from the damage they had sustained from the seizure of the ship. Danniack jumped behind the two officers, who had surprise on their side as six stunned Coalition scientists looked up from the stations they were attempting to get functioning again.
Elliot stunned the man bent over the helm console from behind. His body slumped across its amber displays. To Elliot and the Major’s surprise, these scientists were armed and already drawing PBDs from their belts.
“Stay out here,” Elliot breathed before both he and the Major dove for cover inside the bridge.
Elliot jumped for the nearby couch at the side of the bridge, while the Major crouched next to the science station. The Major smartly took another man down with a quick shot to the chest, but both found it difficult to hit the remaining men without sacrificing his limited cover. The Scientists were firing lethal rounds and Elliot did not have a charged personal shield to aid him.
The Major activated his shield that had just seconds of charge left and dove into the fray. The personal force field absorbed four shots from the remaining men. He took advantage of their momentary confusion and took out two of them with pulses from his PBP. Elliot exploited the distraction and was able to incapacitate another man at the communications station.
The Major’s shield overloaded and winked out, having reached its limits. The last man took aim at the Major who had no cover and was open to attack. Before Elliot could intervene, a lightning bolt of green energy struck the scientist in the chest. He crumpled to the floor, paralyzed from the shot.
The man, intent on the two officers attacking him, hadn’t noticed a tall Ferine at the doorway with a drawn PBD in his hand. Elliot and the Major looked behind them to see Lathiel, frozen in place from his actions.
“I didn’t know you had it in you,” Elliot said.
“Neither did I,” Lathiel said and slowly lowered his gun.
“Captain Danniack, can you bring the bridge back up?” Elliot asked.
“Right away.” Danniack accessed the nearest station and within seconds, the bridge hummed to life. The amber monitors and panels glowed again with their nearly organic light.
Having listened to reports over his earpiece the Major relayed the information to Elliot.
“Both ships are secure, Sir.”
“Good news. Major help to remove our guests to the shuttle bay,” Elliot said. The Major nodded and went to the nearest scientist. He hefted his bulk onto a shoulder and left the bridge.
“Madison,” Elliot said into his earpiece, “tell the Ferine they can move freely now. Let them know that we’ll be departing soon and it’s best for them to report to their stations so that we can get out of here.”
“You got it.”
“Lathiel, we need to get those docking latches released,” he said to the Ferine. Lathiel marched to the station. A quick set of commands from his fingertips brought a distant hum into existence. “The shields are weakening the clamps. They’re starting to fail.”
“Excellent. Joshua, are you still there?” Elliot asked of his earpiece.
“Alive and well. We’ve taken the ship and Ranik’s cut the clamps with the shields. We’re ready to go whenever you are.”
“Well?” Elliot asked unsure of their status. He waited for Lathiel’s next words while Ferine men and women streamed onto the bridge and took their stations.
“The clamps are compromised. We’re floating free.”
“We’re ready to go,” Elliot said.
“Then I’ll see you back at the Excalibur,” Joshua said.
“See you then, I’m signing off,” Elliot said, and shut off his earpiece.
“Where are we going?” Danniack asked.
“Coordinates are eighty—five point seven two five degrees, fifteen point two up bubble,” Elliot replied.
“Distance?”
“Seventy million miles,” Elliot replied.
“I’ve got it,” the hulking helmsman said from his console.
“Execute,” Danniack said.
Two small blue ships pulled away from the station and turned towards a mutual point in space some distance away. The ships jumped to their maximum sub—light speeds to meet the Excalibur. In defiance of their escape, two heavy particle beams slapped the ships before they could go beyond its effective weapon’s range.
“The stern shields just took a beating,” Lathiel reported. Elliot joined him at the engineering console and looked at the monitor displaying the status of the ship’s shields.
“Down to half strength.”
“I’m picking up small ships leaving the station,” Lathiel said. The primary monitor at the front of the bridge showed a group of tiny, olive colored craft appear around the station. It looked as though a donut shaped hive had just spewed out a swarm of angry insects.
“Fighters,” Elliot sighed. “What’s your maximum sub—light?”
“Ninety—seven percent the speed of light.”
“Bring your sunlight engines to maximum. Can you transfer power from the bow shield to the stern shield?” Elliot asked.
“Yes.”
“Put as much into the stern shield as you can. Communications,” Elliot said to the female Ferine on the opposite side of the bridge.
“Yes?” She looked withered from her stressful time on the station.
“Can you signal the Excalibur? I’d like to talk with her commander.”
“Yes, yes, I can do that,” the disheveled Ferine replied, and turned back to her station. She pressed a series of buttons with trembling hands. The bridge speakers crackled to life and a familiar female voice was heard.
“This is Excalibur.”
“We’re on our way Maria, but we’ve got about twenty fighters chasing us,” Elliot said.
“Acknowledged. Come in on a wide course and stay out of our firing solution. Have both of your ships fly under our wings and we’ll bring you home.”
“Yes Ma’am,” Elliot replied and nodded to the Ferine at Communications. She complied with his signal and shut off the signal.
“The fighters have divided into two groups. We have twenty ships chasing us and their catching up fast,” Lathiel reported.
“Were you able to put the extra power to the shield?”
“All three weapons generators are connected to the stern shield now,” Lathiel replied.
“Let’s hope it’s enough to get us to back to the Excalibur.”
“Here they come.”
Has humanity learned anything from its First Contact with alien beings?
We have the immediate result, that’s for sure, but what of the age old problems of hatred, bigotry, racism, homophobia, and everything else that is on the list?
The Ferine gave us an insight into the galaxy. They showed us that all of our interior problems were a result of internal Human fear, but many didn’t give up that fear in the greater realization that we weren’t alone in the universe. Some of us merely expanded our fear to a greater sphere.
Did we learn to hate with a greater passion?
First Contact: A Lesson or a Matter of Speculation?
by Anders DeVries
Chapter XVI
“Arm forward weapons,” Maria said and stood up from her command chair on the bridge. The weapons officer complied and bent to fulfilling his task. “We’ll make short work of them.�
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“Ma’am,” Phelps said from his place at the right side of the command chair, “can I have a moment?”
“Not a good time, Commander.”
“It’s urgent.”
“Alright, make it quick.”
“Are you planning on destroying those fighters?” Phelps whispered once he had closed to within a foot of her.
“I wasn’t planning on just swearing at them.”
“May I remind you of Admiral Nelson’s orders to avoid any fatalities on either side?” Phelps asked.
Maria swiveled her head towards him in response and looked back at him with her electronic eye.
“No, you can’t, Commander. Deaths can’t be avoided at this point.”
“You know that’s not true Maria. The particle grid can be adjusted with pinpoint accuracy. The fighters can just as easily be disabled.”
“Screw the grid.” Maria began to turn away to issue further orders to her tactical officer. In an almost violent gesture, Ben Phelps grabbed her by the arm with a firm grip and swung her back towards him.
Maria kept herself in check and resisted the impulse to slap him for his presumption. The cold stare from a single green eye nearly penetrated Phelps’ skull, but she said nothing.
“I am not going to lose the finest officer I have ever served with at another Court Martial that she would certainly lose this time.”
The statement stopped her desire for vengeance. He continued to stare back at her in silence while she felt her conviction begin to slip away.
“Flattery?” Maria said. “Well, I guess it’s better than threatening me with relief of my command.”
“I wouldn’t have to do that because you know better.”
“You have more confidence in me than I do then,” Maria said and then raised her voice the rest of the crew. “Weapons, arm the primary grid and set it for twenty simultaneous pulses. Adjust their strength to disable the Coalition fighters.”
“Yes, Admiral,” the Weapons Officer said.
“Now,” Maria said looking to Phelps, “can I have my arm back?”