by Sid Kar
A few hours later Starship Conquistador was smoothly and successfully parked in the orbit of the rocky planet Gertrude and the magnetic beam was finished suctioning up the spaceship from the planet’s surface. Raptor was preparing to order his flight and navigation crew to launch the ship back towards their route when his screen lighted up with the face of Capitan Styx, the officer-in-charge of Starship Guards, the force that was responsible for maintaining order and internal security of the ship.
“What is it Capitan?” Raptor asked.
“I think you should come meet this man before you ask me to give him a vetting,” Styx said. There was an awkward grin on his face.
“Hold it, I will be right there,” Raptor said.
He walked down the stairs and VC Barryett came over to him with a worried look, “Any problems?”
“I doubt it,” Raptor said, “I am off to meet the guest. You have temporary command; get the ship back on the route at our previous cruise speed plus adjustments to make up for the lost time.”
“Yes sir,” Barryett replied and walked over to the flight officers’ station.
Raptor passed Tollvyk and as much he wanted him on his side, he had to treat him like a subordinate and not a friend, at least in public. He hitched a hovercraft and flew to the containment chamber where armed guards with laser guns saluted him.
He saw Capitan Styx standing next to a man in his mid-forties with a stocky built and comb over hair on his forehead holding a suitcase in his one hand and an envelope and a metallic card in another. Raptor got off the hovercraft and as he walked closer he thought he recognized the figure and his jaw almost hit the metal floor when the person’s identity dawned on him.
“Commodore Antrar Wyft, am I right?” Raptor said.
“Former Commodore. It’s been years since I have worn that uniform,” Antrar pointed to Raptor’s shirt, “I am a full civilian now.”
“I started on Com. Antrar’s starship,” Styx chimed in, “I don’t believe I should be the one to give him a security examination.”
“Nor should anyone else to one of our living war heroes,” Raptor said, “Styx, you and your guards are dismissed. I will escort him to guest quarters.”
“Yes sir,” Styx and guards saluted him and left the area. Antrar waited for Styx to depart then said to Raptor, “No offense to Mr. Styx, he is a decent man, but I did write him up for quarreling a couple of times. How did they make him your Capitan of Starship Guards?”
“Beats me,” Raptor said and both of them climbed in the hovercraft and Raptor punched the numbers for the guest quarters.
“And for this ship too, what a marvel this is. We had Starships half the size, roughly speaking,” Antrar said.
“A new one, frankly surprised myself,” Raptor said.
“You are humble, they don’t give first-in-class starships to mediocre officers,” Antrar placed his hand on Raptor’s shoulders and smiled. Raptor had an uneasy grin on his face as he remembered Star Commander’s words once again.
“I have to ask…” Raptor said.
“Oh yes,” Antrar handed him the envelope and the metallic card, “You will find a letter authorizing my presence and mission signed by a member of the House of War and the card contains further details.”
“Your mission?” Raptor wondered wasn’t this man retired.
“My work,” Antrar laughed, “old military habits die hard. I am currently working for Moryett Plasma Company that manufactured and installed the plasma weapon on this ship. I help them with testing and simulating the weapon under battle conditions and I am here to witness and collect data on your live drills with that weapon.”
“Alright, I don’t doubt you Com. Antrar,” Raptor said, “But just to square with the army regulations, I will have to run the letter and ID through the computer. Please confine yourself to the guest quarters till then. I will run the verification right away.”
“Thanks,” Antrar said as their hovercraft came to a stop in front of the guest section of Starship. It was guarded by the soldiers of Starship Guards who prevented any guests from wandering off without permission.
“Our estimated time to destination is two weeks. This week we are running operations drills,” Raptor said to Antrar who got off the craft, “Next week we will begin the weapons and battle tactics drills.”
“Great,” Antrar said and as he was led by the soldiers to a guest room, Raptor flew his hovercraft back towards the command room. He dearly hoped that Star Commander had not managed to recruit a war hero as his spy.
Chapter 12: Whisper
Capitan Jag Manus sent his authorization codes over to the Whisper Station and after they were verified he docked his spaceship on its guest bay. As he got out of his spaceship he looked out of the window at the small black circle in distant space around which light was skewed. It was the only black hole that existed inside the Nestorian Space.
The Whisper Station was an orbital structure built and owned by the Nestorian Army that orbited that black hole from a considerable, safe distance. A single vertical tower in the center constituted the operational part of the station and a circular disc that hosted spaceship bays and living quarters surrounded the tower completely in the center.
Jag walked over to the guarded gate, presented his credentials and was cleared. He was told to wait for an escort and a few minutes later a man in black suit and pants and a white shirt with round, chubby face walked over to him.
“Capitan Manus,” he said extending his hand, “I am Portus, the tour officer here. You will forgive our overbearingness but I must accompany you wherever you go.”
“I understand,” Jag said, “But I am conducting an investigation and I will need some time alone with a computer.”
“That you can have without me looking over your shoulders,” Portus said, “but you can’t go wandering around here.”
“In that case please direct me to your signals archive, I am in need of nothing else,” Jag said.
“Follow me please,” Portus said and led him further inside the station. He walked over to an elevator bank, swiped his card and allowed his iris to be scanned and the doors of one of the elevators slid open. Both of them stepped inside and Portus closed the door.
“Which signal do you wish to analyze?” Portus asked.
“I want to do a search through all the long range directed signals sent across our frontier space into Starfire Empire’s Zarrvyk Province, specifically their regional capital planet Bravo,” Jag replied.
“Hmmm…” Portus scratched his chin, “May I ask the significance of it.”
“Sorry,” Jag smiled, “Republican Guard secret. I report directly to the Vice-Chancellor Remus himself.”
“We gathered as much from your credentials.”
“And he is a very close ally of General Bakus, the head of all Nestorian army units including this Whisper Station.”
“I am aware of that,” Portus said, “If you could tell us more; we could help you identify the particular signal you are looking for.”
“If I can’t find it myself I will ask for help,” Jag said.
Portus turned to the keypad and entered a code followed by the floor number and the elevator came alive with suction-like noise.
“Are you able to catch all the signals sent across the frontier space?” Jag asked as the elevator slowly made its way up.
“Unless the signal was weak in which case it would fray before reaching its destination…”
“It almost certainly reached its destination,” Jag said.
“Then our automated signal gathering machines would have caught it,” Portus said, “Are you aware of the basics of signal gathering in space?”
Jag shook his head. He had never taken any interest in the technical matters.
“This black hole is the best piece of good luck for our country,” Portus said, “The sheer gravitational power of the black hole means tiny fragments – and I am talking nanoscale fragments here – of signals sent across space ge
t caught and pulled towards the black hole. We try to grab them before they enter its event horizon. We can spy on all the interplanetary communications within the core regions of Nestorian Republic and we can catch fragments of signals from the frontier regions but only if they are very strong. In this case, they would have to be to reach Starfire space.”
The elevator came to a stop and Portus exited first. There were guards in front of a computer room and Portus gave them his ID and they let both of them through. The computer lab was filled with around twenty computers and all of them were individually separated from the others by a private glass booth. Portus opened one of them for Jag and said, “Take your time. I will be outside.”
Jag entered the private booth and locked it from inside. He started the computer and began the search for long-range signals sent to Planet Bravo and entered the date range around the time of VC Remus’s visit. He had a theory that whoever sent the assassin must have sent a final, confirmation signal. An assassination with huge political consequences was not something any conspirator would take lightly and would want to keep his options open till he thought there was no other way for his aims. His past as a police detective had taught him that criminal masterminds did not take haphazard actions.
His search came up empty but he was not surprised. Next, he entered the authorization codes of VC Remus which would have in theory provided him access to any signal archived on this station. This time the search returned a single record of a signal that met the query criteria and he tapped it with his finger. Once again he took a photograph of the detail. The signal had originated from Planet Nectar which was not surprisingly located only one star system over from Planet Beacon.
He hit the key for ‘Analysis’ and the computer spit out ‘No Analysis Possible’ message.
Jag tapped on the glass and called Portus over. He pointed to the screen and asked, “What is this?”
“Not sufficient signal fragments were captured to allow for an analysis,” Portus said, “We have a saying: people talk loudly but we hear whispers. Signal capture declines with the distance and Planet Nectar was the frontier planet just two generations ago.”
As Portus walked out of the booth, his words lingered in Jag’s mind and he had a hunch and typed in ‘Location of Boutrous Golus offices’ in the search and on top was the message ‘Headquarters: Planet Nectar’.
Jag Manus smiled and shut off the computer. He allowed Portus to escort him to his spaceship and then took his leave. After he was cleared for takeoff, he accelerated away from the Whisper Station and punched in the coordinates for Planet Nectar in his navigation computer. If Boutrous Golus was installing long range gravitron scanners to monitor the frontier space than it would have definitely had major offices on the frontier planets.
One more line of inquiry and he would return to VC Remus with his findings.
Chapter 13: Fight
Former Commodore Antrar Wyft was examining the interior of Starship Conquistador and was impressed by what he had seen so far. It was the best constructed ship in the Starfire Fleets that he had the opportunity to examine. And he knew something about starship design and build up because besides having been a Starship Commodore, he was also a structural engineer who had participated in the construction of a multitude of spaceships.
It had been four days since he had come on board and Com. Raptor had been quick to get his ID and mission verified. But he had nothing to do till the battle drills began and thus spent his days strolling the vast interior of the starship and watching the crew perform their task. Their discipline and efficiency weren't up to the standards of his crew however his soldiers had been through the biggest space battle in the lifetime of the current generation and hardened through it. He couldn’t expect other starship crews to operate near the same level.
He started walking to the plasma weapons chamber. He had eschewed the hovercrafts because he actually needed to pass the time. Plasma Weapons Drill was scheduled three days down the road and Antrar hoped he could participate in other weapons and tactics drills as well. After all he had the experience that this ship’s crew would find useful.
He came upon the corridor leading to the Plasma Weapons chamber and saw a large, two sided metallic door that prevented access to unauthorized personnel. Every day for the last three days he had stopped by this place before moving on to one of the restaurants further down the corridor.
He turned around and started walking back when he saw an officer coming down from the other side who smiled at him and tipped the front visor of his hat as he passed him by. Antrar informally saluted him and kept walking and then suddenly stopped. A thought had occurred to him. He turned around on his heels just in time to watch the officer slide his ID card at the card reader outside the plasma chamber and the large metallic doors slowly opened inward.
“Officer,” Antrar said and the man turned around a bit surprised, “You can’t go in there.”
“Excuse me,” the officer said, “you are who?”
“You are wearing the uniform and insignia of an infantry officer,” Antrar said, “Starship capital weapons are off-limits to those who are not Starship officers or technicians.”
“Mind your own business. What would a civilian guest know of army regulations,” the officer said and turned back towards the door.
“Furthermore,” Antrar said quickly walking towards him, “Only plasma section staff can go in the plasma weapons chamber.”
“Go to hell,” the officer said.
Antrar reached near him and placed his hand on the man’s shoulder and said, “Show me your ID card or better yet let’s get the ship’s plasma officer here.”
“Yeah right,” the man turned around with a massive swing of his right hand but Antrar was ready and quickly stepped back. The metallic doors closed behind as their timer for remaining open ran out.
The officer pulled out his laser pistol from his belt and raised it towards Antrar who kicked his hand and the pistol went up in the air in an arc. The officer reached for it with his right hand but Antrar stepped forward and punched him in the face. The man fell down and this time Antrar went for the pistol but the man swept his legs and Antrar landed on the ground on his lower back.
The officer reached forward and quickly grabbed Antrar’s right leg and wrapped both of his own legs around it and twisted his ankle the other direction. Antrar yelled with pain and tried to yank himself backwards but couldn’t escape the leg lock. His pain subsided when the micro-machine embedded in his skull came active to counter the pain and reduced the signal to his brain.
Antrar tried to kick the officer with his free left leg but the officer leaned the other direction and avoided the kicks. Antrar remembered that the infantry assigned to Starships weren’t regular soldiers who received the same physical combat training as he himself had. Instead, they were elite troops who were masters of combat and he wasn’t going to defeat this officer in wrestling or fighting.
He had to think of an unorthodox move. The man was trying to break his ankle so he could get to the pistol before Antrar and finish the matter. Antrar reached down his left leg with his left hand, yanked a thread and unraveled his lace, and clicked off his boot. Then he threw it with all his might at the man’s face who was smacked straight in the nose and he let go Antrar’s right ankle for two seconds. Time enough for Antrar to pull himself back and try to stumble to his feet.
As Antrar was trying to stand up on the leg that was still hurting and he was trying to balance himself with the help of the wall, the officer quickly got up and looked at the pistol. He moved towards it. Antrar could not walk but the man was not too far away so he jumped and speared the man in the waist and slammed him on the metallic floor. Antrar started throwing punches at his face while still pinning him down with his other hand. The man started punching Antrar back with both of his hands and twisted and turned to try to slide out from under Antrar. Both of them were bleeding profusely from their nose and mouth.
Footsteps were he
ard coming “What is going on there?” a voice yelled out.
Antrar turned around and saw two starship guards approaching with their laser long guns drawn. The other man found his opportunity, slid away from Antrar, shoved him and ran down the side corridor.
“Get that imposter,” Antrar yelled. He tried to stand but stumbled. The two guards held him from either side and stabilized him. The man had crossed the short corridor and disappeared around the corner. The guards were stunned and had stood there frozen. He was not surprised. If they had seen a civilian guest beating on an officer who was on his back on the ground they would have detained the civilian on the spot. But they knew this particular civilian was a former commodore and a war hero. No doubt their dilemma in deciding who was the villain here had paralyzed them.
“Imposter?” a guard asked, “he wasn’t an army man?”
“He was,” Antrar said, “But an infantry officer who somehow opened the door to the plasma chamber.”
“That’s not possible,” the other guard said.
“I saw it with my own eyes,” Antrar said.
“You should tell Commodore Raptor,” the guard said, “Actually, he sent us looking for you. He wants you in the command room right away.”
“I am on my way,” Antrar said and wiped the blood on his face with his shirt sleeve. Having a red shirt albeit of a different shade would prevent it from drawing attention to itself.
“Wait, we have brought a hovercraft for all of us,” the guard said.
“No, you two must stay here, the imposter could come back,” Antrar said then hesitated, “and do whatever, espionage, sabotage, whatever he had in mind. I am on this Starship to test this new, secret plasma weapon. No doubt foreign powers would want data on it.”
“But if what you say is right we can’t let you go alone. He could ambush you.”
Antrar knew the guard was right. It was a long distance to the command room and he didn’t know this starship at all. The intruder could very well get another laser gun and be waiting for him in ambush.