Discovery (Terran Chronicles)

by Jackson, James

  John turns to Andrew and Joe and after a short conference, he confidently ramps up their speed.

  “Setting speed at factor six.”

  Cindy grins as the ship seems to be operating smoother than ever. She taps her console.

  “Reactor control, how is our status?”

  Olaf answers with his usual Russian gruffness.

  “Everything is good down here.”

  “Great,” she taps her panel again.

  “Patrick, how are our repairs holding up?”

  Patrick has been running up and down stairwells looking at levels they removed and others that were completed using Gamin plating. The crews have succeeded in removing every piece of plating that had been installed on Earth. All those months of work undone in weeks.

  “There is no buckling on any of the joints, but the real test will come when we slow down.”

  Andrew and Joe glance at each other, then they both look at John. He notices the attention and finally can’t ignore them any longer.

  “Don’t worry, we will be shutting down the main drive near planetary bodies as often as we can. Just in case we need to augment the repairs.”

  With little do but wait, the bridge crew returns to their usual routine. Edwards takes the helm, indeed command of the bridge, as he is starts to fit in. Very few Kord visit the bridge, making Golward almost their sole representative. They spend a lot of time in the zero-g room which seems to keep them quite happy, considering.

  Many hours later the standard crew is back in control as they plan to shut down the main drive. John has been paying careful attention to the projected flight plan and at the exact time stipulated, he shuts down the main drive.

  Cindy suffers a moment’s trepidation as a slight tremor is felt coming through the floor. When no reports of damage make their way to the bridge, she starts to feel better. John finally relaxes when he slows the ship to a relative crawl as they approach the first of many planetary stopovers. He deftly taps his console one more time.

  “Slowing to twenty percent of light speed, we will achieve a high orbit in thirty minutes.”

  A beautiful bright red atmosphere fills their view screen as they approach the massive planet. It has no moons, and is supposedly habitable, according to the Gamin systems. Andrew shakes his head as he stares at the crimson colored clouds that swirl angrily around their first stop.

  “Well, I hope we don’t have to go down into that soup.”

  Cindy finally relaxes, she feels a renewed confidence that they will make it home. She turns to George’s terminal and is surprised to find that he is just standing there quietly. He is oblivious to her stare as he monitors the ship’s systems, deck by deck, looking for problems. Just as Cindy turns back he surprises them all by speaking up.

  “We should examine the outer hull while the capacitors charge up.”

  Cindy has to admit this is a prudent idea.

  “John, you want to take George out once we’re safely in orbit?”

  “Will do.”

  Cindy turns her attention to Peter who has also been rather pensive of late. As she turns away, she has no idea that his quiet demeanor is hiding a myriad of private thoughts.

  Peter does not even notice her attentive gaze. His thoughts keep rolling back to the past. Everything he thought was important, pales in comparison to the greater community out amongst the stars. And yet for all the differences, what has he found? Destruction on a scale never before conceived. The Gamin are at war with a race that make entire planets uninhabitable, even those belonging to their allies. Having witnessed the destruction of the mighty space station by the epic-sized carrier, stands testimony to the hazard of this section of the galaxy. His calculating mind is hard at work putting together pieces of the puzzle.

  The examination of the outer hull goes smoothly, and quickly. What started as a nervous inspection is fast becoming a routine checkup. Once they return to the bridge George is most happy to report his findings.

  “The outer hull is showing no signs of stress.”

  Cindy smiles as she enquires.

  “How many stops until we arrive at Golward’s planet?”

  Andrew quickly checks his notes.

  “Six more, but only three of these will be near planets.” He shrugs his shoulders, “best we could come up with.”

  With news of the ship being fine spreading fast, the crew’s morale noticeably improves literally overnight. Once again, the crew of the Terran falls into a normal routine. The next leg of their journey also puts them over another planet, this one just a small watery ball in space. The next two recharge locations put them between the stars, and still the Terran is showing no signs of wear to any of the repairs conducted.

  Free Fall

  Once again John disengages the main drive, the Terran slows down to a fraction of the speed of light. Everyone’s attention is drawn to the planet before them. It’s blue color and white clouds remind them of Earth. Cindy puts a hand to her chin. Be a shame to be this close and not study it.

  “Joe, what’s the status of the planet’s atmosphere?”

  Joe taps on the Gamin console then on his laptop. It takes GUS a while, but finally it processes his request. Reviewing the data, he whistles in exclamation.

  “WOW. Everything looks great, almost Earthlike in every facet.”

  “Well, let’s park this ship in orbit, and go down check it out.”

  It takes forty minutes before John has the Terran in a high orbit. Once again, Edwards takes command. Andrew and Joe toss a coin. Joe wins, grinning widely as he gets up to leave. Andrew slumps and stares out the view screen despondently.

  “Hey! What’s that?” He calls out in surprise.

  Joe does not even look, “not falling for that old trick, mate!”

  “No really. What is that?” He says, pointing forward, his voice becoming anxious.

  Cindy follows his finger and instantly frowns as she spots a small object on the ship’s hull. Another can be seen coming in to land near the first. The hairs on the back of her neck raise up.

  Golward steps closer to the view, then suddenly twists around.

  “Effen Raiders.”

  Joe raises an eyebrow and checks his translator. Yep, that’s what he said.

  Cindy picks up the fear in Golward’s voice.

  “Tell me what you know.”

  Golward spins from Cindy back to the view in a total panic.

  “The Effen Raiders are pirates of the worst kind. They kill everyone on the ships they attack, then strip everything out of them.”

  Cindy frowns as she gazes at the pair of ships resting against the forward hull.

  “Would they know that this is a Gamin ship?”

  “Yes, yes, we must leave.”

  “Why would they land in plain sight then? What’s normally in that area of the ship?”

  George turns from his console and replies.

  “One of the main hatchery areas.”

  Cindy grins as she understands what’s going on.

  “That’s a decoy, to distract us. I bet they’re going for the main hangar.”

  Golward is quite agitated, and paces the bridge restlessly.

  “We must leave!”

  Joe stands up and puts a hand on Golward’s diminutive shoulder.

  “The second they landed on the hull, their ships were safe. Even if we accelerate, the navigational shields will just extend around them, as they would any small addition to the ship.”

  Cindy turns to Radclyf and Hayato, both have been waiting for a decision.

  “Main storage?” She says questioningly.

  Radclyf nods, then spends mere seconds in a quiet discussion with Hayato.

  “Maintain radio silence, do not let them know we have noticed them.”

  The pair of combat veterans have barely left the bridge when the speakers crackle to life.

  “Something just cut a hole in the roof.” The panicky voice continues, “We’re being…” the voice quits mid s
entence.

  Cindy gulps, so much for not letting them know we spotted them. She taps her console.

  “Attention all crew. Evacuation protocol, this is not a drill, I say again, evacuation protocol.”

  She hopes the crew is able to make their way to the command levels, and with a bit of luck, avoid any confrontation with the invaders.

  Peter rises from his chair then leaves the bridge.

  “Going to help Radclyf,” he states simply.

  Golward paces even faster, his distress obvious.

  “We must evacuate the ship, the Effen Raiders do not take prisoners.”

  Cindy feels for the small furry alien that has become their newest friend.

  “We do not have any way of escaping, so we must find a way to make these raiders leave.”

  Pure chaos reigns in the hangar deck. Three holes appear in the ceiling as massive circular sections fall to the deck far below. One piece lands between two of the space shuttles, the chunk so large it comes up to the orbiter’s windows. Deck crews are alarmed to see armor clad humanoids dropping through these holes. The invaders freefall the twenty levels, landing smoothly in crouched positions, their weapons raised. As these three move out, more invaders land behind them. Soon there are nine armor clad invaders forming a defensive circle. Their weapons cover everything. A tenth lands in the middle of the circle. The central raider’s armor is pitted and scored, making him look even more fearsome because of it. Two terrified deck hands sprint toward a nearby corridor. Energy bolts cut them down within a few steps. The only sound being their short screams.

  Akira is on the uppermost level, creeping forward on his stomach. His high powered rifle with its attached scope at the ready. Sighting one of the invaders, he pulls the trigger. A single fifty caliber round impacts with devastating force upon the invader’s helmet. The bullet shatters, a scratch all that remains to signify its passing. Akira fires a second round, aiming at the invader’s upturned visor. Another small scratch is all the damage that the most powerful weapon at their disposal does.

  The central armored figure points at Akira’s position. As Akira scrambles back, the walkway before him vanishes in a volley of energy bolts. His eyes go wide as the remaining section sags, then falls completely away. He makes it to the passageway, his mind racing. He then does something he has never done before in his life. He drops his weapon and runs as fast as he can. Need something bigger. Grabbing his radio he finds it’s also useless, every channel issues loud static, merely giving away his position. He throws it to the floor as he sprints down the passageway.

  As one, the ten invaders expand their circle, cutting down five more unarmed crewmen in the process. Within minutes, they have the Terran’s ramp open. A single crewmen lays beneath the shuttle Enterprise, his heart beating so hard it threatens to burst from his chest. His fear is telling him to run, but his eyes are transfixed on the seven dead. One has almost been cut in two, his innards spilling out from what remains of his torso. The sight of this makes the man wretch, the barest of sounds escape his mouth. Looking back at the invaders, he sees one with a weapon pointed straight at him. Ohh no. As the barrel of the weapon glows, the man soils himself. Even before he becomes aware of the growing wetness in his trousers, a blinding light strikes his upturned face. The energy bolt easily passes through the man’s head, exiting with so much force that viscera splatters the shuttle above.

  Akira is sprinting as fast as he can to Daitaro’s position and catches him just as he is about to break cover. In silence they exchange hand signals. It is enough, Daitaro slowly lowers his sniper rifle. His many years of demolitions experience are about to be tested. The pair stealthily retire out of sight.

  No less than five weapons are trained on the passageway that Daitaro was about to exit. Radclyf breathes an inward sigh of relief as the assailants lower their weapons. Having witnessed the ineffectiveness of the sniper rounds, he has been wondering what their best course of action should be. As slowly and silently as is possible he retreats, then heads to the weapons lockers.

  Meeting up with Akira and Daitaro, he watches as they build a makeshift bomb.

  “Think that will do it?” He asks doubtfully.

  Daitaro replies seriously. “There is enough explosive here to even damage this ship.”

  Peter joins them, “I thought this was where you were headed.”

  Radclyf has been considering a backup plan.

  “If this fails, I am going to recommend we drop the navigational shield and purge the hangar deck.”

  Meanwhile on the bridge, Cindy is sitting apprehensively, their communications systems rendered useless somehow. Joe has sealed as many bulkheads as he can, but without any reports as to what’s going on they are all operating in the dark. George has connected his suit to the main systems as he tries to glean as much information as he can. Finally a crew member makes it to the bridge.

  “What’s going on?” He asks totally bewildered.

  Cindy stands and looks at the crewmen, for the life of her she can’t recall his name.

  “We have been boarded, our soldiers will take care of them.” Even as she says the words with confidence, she casts a figurative glance at George. She has no idea what the man could do, but so far he has managed to save them from pretty much every disaster. Inwardly she is more scared than at any other time since the launch. The unknown is eating away at her.

  A dull booming sound makes its way to the bridge, the noise echoing throughout the ship. A faint vibration accompanies the sound, then dissipates with it. Cindy glances around the bridge nervously, she is met by frightened faces. The minutes drag on as still no reports are forthcoming. Suddenly, they can all hear a scraping and rasping sound. Joe gulps, then rises from his chair. He gets to the entrance to the bridge just in time to see Peter dragging a badly injured Radclyf inside. Peter has blood flowing from his ears, his clothes are covered in blood and gore. In obvious pain, he puts Radclyf down and holds his ears.

  “Daitaro and Akira are gone. All the explosion did was knock the raiders down, and put a fair sized dent in the hangar deck’s floor. A couple of raiders are making their way through the ship, killing everyone they see, and there is nothing we can do to stop them.”

  Cindy looks over at Golward, he is so scared he looks to be crying. She then turns to Joe.

  “Shut the navigational shields down. Vent the ship.” Unbeknownst to her, this was Radclyf’s contingency plan as well.

  Joe taps his console, nothing happens. He taps it again, and again. Turning to Cindy, his mouth opens, but he is unable to speak. George suddenly steps back from his own console, surprised that his access has also been denied. A distant scream reaches their ears, it’s a long blood curdling scream. George can’t take it any longer and strides out of the bridge. No one says anything, there is nothing to say.

  Minutes later, George is standing on a balcony overlooking the hangar area. He is bewildered by the sight. The three circular holes in the ceiling look like dark maws leading into an abyss. The ramp is open, and the navigational shields are operating. A group of six armor clad humanoids are ferrying objects down the ramp and pushing them through the shield, and out into space. One of the space shuttles is missing, another is being moved, revealing the corpse beneath it. He recognizes the maintenance man as the one that used to drive a jeep, the same man that Johnny often talked about. At the thought of his son, he is suddenly overcome by emotion. Other bodies come into view as he leans forward. A massive smudge mark and dent score the opening to one of the ground level passageways. Another pair of raiders come into view, they are absorbing objects in a similar fashion to the Gamin body suits.

  The pair of them look up at George, and ignore him. His anger boils to levels he has never before experienced in his life. Bolting down the stairwell as fast as he can, his feet clang noisily on every step. He arrives on the ground level, coming face to face with one of the intruders. The raider’s visor conceals its face, but the intent is clear as a weapon is b
rought up to bear. Still in a rage, George charges as the weapon’s barrel glows, then glows again. George stumbles as his suit becomes unwieldy and collides with the raider. As they fall clumsily, George strikes the armed intruder with his elbow. They both crash to the floor. George rises to see four raiders, each with weapons trained on him. The barrels glow as they fire, his suit suddenly feels very cumbersome, then normal again. George is elated. Their weapons can’t breach this suit, maybe the Gamin have had dealings with these Effen Raiders in the past.

  In sheer desperation George crafts a specialized cutting tool, one designed to cut and absorb the most dense of materials. Rushing forward his unexpected bravado surprises them long enough for him to slice at one with his makeshift weapon. The raiders suit unexpectedly splits open, expelling a pale green gas mixed with a dark red liquid. The wounded raider clutches at his chest desperately trying to stay the inevitable. His associates watch, stunned, as their injured colleague falls to the floor. The surprising turn of events allows George enough time to slice at another, who suddenly clutches at a unexpected gash that appears. Falling to the floor, green gas mixed with red liquid seep out from this raiders ruined armor as well.

  Peter looks down from his vantage point with fascination. With two of their kind dispatched in seconds, the invaders are clearly stumped. Ohh no, he thinks as they from a circle around George. As they rush in Peter puts a hand to his mouth, there is nothing he can do to save his friend. The group form a tangled mess of armor clad bodies. Out from the mess rises George. Peter is about to cheer, until he sees that George is being lifted up, and carried on his back. The group hurries down the ramp then tosses George through the shield, and out into space. Peter is momentarily stunned by what he has just witnessed. He looks at the chaos on the floor far below, two dead raiders, but now George is gone. Looking up he grins like a mad man as a wild idea comes to mind. After one more glance downward he bolts as fast as he can to the bridge. May fortune favor the foolish, is what crosses his mind as he sprints as though his very life depended up it.