Transmission Lost

by Stefan Mazzara

  As the day stretched into early afternoon, Jack began to fear that it would be yet another fruitless hike. While he was certain Aria was leading him in the correct direction, he still saw no evidence of her ship. Just as he was about to ask a question, Aria abruptly halted, quickly kneeling down to the ground.

  “What is it?” Jack asked her. He watched, bewildered, as Aria brushed her hand through fallen leaves and needles. He was going to repeat his inquiry when she straightened up, a small bit of something grasped between her fingers. “What have you got there?”

  Aria turned to him, holding the item out to him. “Clue.”

  Taking the item from her, Jack looked at it, turning it over in his hand. Cold and sharp-edged, it was a small piece of twisted metal. The chunk was painted black, with a small bit of red paint visible on one edge. The metal was slightly charred, evidence that it had passed through intense heat. “Is this what I think it is?”

  “Yes,” Aria said, nodding. She appeared calm through her expression, but her tail was whipping back and forth rapidly behind her, betraying her excitement. “Is piece of armor plating from my ship. We close, I think.”

  As they continued walking, they found more and more evidence that Aria's ship had come down in the area. Pieces of metal became more frequent on the ground, and were getting larger. About an hour after finding the first piece, they came across the broken barrel of one of the cannons from the patrol ship. Aria stopped, looking around. Then she looked up, towards the tops of the trees.

  “Look,” she said, pointing up.

  Jack followed the direction of her finger, gazing up to the tree tops. What he saw there made a jolt of excitement shoot up his spine. Branches had been broken off, leaving scars along the trees. Charred bark on the trees told him that something very hot had caused the damage. Like, say, the scorching hull of a crashing ship that had just rushed through the atmosphere at terminal velocity.

  “We're real close,” Jack breathed. He could scarcely believe that their journey was finally near its end. It seemed too good to be true. He looked ahead of them, and saw that the damage to the tree tops followed a more or less straight path. “If the ship was low enough here to hit the trees, it shouldn't be far away at all.”

  “Yes,” Aria agreed. “Come.”

  They followed the path of destruction, finding more and more bits of wreckage. The trees were starting to thin out, and Jack kept expecting to see the hulk of the wreck ahead of them. But so far, there was nothing to be seen. Finally, they came out of a grove of trees and found themselves on the top of a sloping ridge, overlooking a green valley.

  Down below, the most beautiful thing Jack had seen in many days, was the twisted wreckage of Aria's ship. The angular, predatory lines of the patrol vessel had been torn and broken to the point that it was hardly recognizable as the same ship that Jack had fought before. Apart from the pits and scars visible in the armor from his own ship's attacks, large chunks of it seemed to be missing, doubtless having been peeled off during the descent or knocked off during the crash itself. Still, it had landed on its belly, and the cockpit area was damaged far less than the engine area.

  “We find it,” Aria hissed, her voice shaking with triumph. “Knew we going right way. Ha le Cha'la'fa se'ka...”

  “What did you just say?”

  “Ah! Excuse me,” Aria apologized. “Was just...saying hello to ship. Her name is Cha'la'fa. Is difficult to translate, but...come close to 'Dream Runner'.”

  “Cha'la'fa,” Jack repeated. “Nice name for a ship.” He adjusted his grip on his rifle, starting to step forward. “Well, what are we waiting for? Let's get down there and-”

  “Stop!” Aria barked at him suddenly, reaching out and grabbing the back of his jacket. She jerked him down to the ground, falling forward onto her front as well. Placing a hand on the his back, she forced him flat against the grass. Jack struggled, alarmed by what she was doing.

  “What the hell are you-”

  “Sala!” she hissed at him, clapping a hand over his face and muffling his voice. For a long moment they lay there, not moving. Aria's ears were twitching rapidly, and she was sniffing the air. “Something not right...”

  Slowly, Aria crawled forward towards the edge of the slope. Following her cautiously, Jack strained his ears for what it was that might have Aria on the alert. He could hear nothing yet. Looking down into the valley once again, he could see nothing, either.

  “Aria, I don't think there's anything there...”

  “Sala,” she hissed again, more insistent this time. “Be still. Listen. Even you can hear soon.”

  Quiet, barely breathing, Jack listened carefully. Aria was right. At first, all he could feel was a low thrumming in the air, a deep bass that reverberated in the pit of his stomach. Then he heard the unmistakable sound of ship engines. For some reason he felt fear, instinctively knowing that the noise was not a welcome one. The noise grew louder and louder, and it became clear that whatever ship was making the noise was coming closer to them.

  Next to him, the Ailian pressed herself into the ground, and Jack followed suit. A moment later, over the tops of the trees behind them, a large ship came into view. Blocking out the sky above them, it cast a shadow over the pair as they tried to make themselves as invisible as possible. The ship passed, descending into the valley. Landing a short distance away from the Cha'la'fa's wreckage, it settling on the valley floor with a soft thump. Jack raised his head slightly, looking down at the newcomer.

  “That's not an Ailian ship,” he said slowly. “That's one of ours...Looks like one of the same kind of ships the UN Navy uses for transport.”

  “What?” Aria whispered sharply. She looked over at Jack. “Human military?”

  “I'm not sure, but it could be...”

  Growling dangerously, Aria lifted her rifle and pressed a switch on the side. The barrel extended further out from the body of the rifle and section of the top flipped up, exposing what appeared to be a telescopic sight. She gripped the weapon tightly, settling into a prone position on the ground and looking through the scope. Jack waited, holding his breath, not quite certain what she was planning to do. Surely she wasn't rash enough to try to attack a ship with a rifle, especially when it could conceivably be filled with soldiers. Aria was silent for several long minutes, breathing slowly and steadily.

  “Not have military markings,” Aria said finally. “I not recognize symbol painted on ship...”

  “...Can I have a look?”

  Aria moved aside, letting Jack take her place on the rifle. His smaller hands had difficulty manipulating the grips of the Ailian weapon, but he managed to get into a position where he could look down into the valley through the scope. He focused on the landed ship. The craft was painted the same slate gray that most human military ships were, so no difference there. He scanned over it, and his extensive experience with piloting did allow him to see some telltale signs that this was not a military vessel. The engines seemed to have been modified. They were larger than what would have been found on this type of vessel's standard model, which cut down on storage space but allowed for better speed and maneuverability. That armaments seemed a lot more formidable than a standard transport ship. Just from looking at the outside, Jack could see missile ports, heavy particle cannons, and a few swivel guns mounted underneath the cockpit area.

  He searched the hull, trying to find any sorts of markings. Then, on the side hatch that should have led into the crew portion of the ship, he found a painted logo. His blood went cold when he saw what it was. A red triangle with a gold lightning bolt through it, the bolt piercing the outline of a human skull underneath the triangle. Any cargo pilot who had been on the job for more than a day knew that symbol.

  “Pirates,” Jack said, the fear obvious in his voice. “That's the insignia of the Scorpion Guild. Before the war started, they were the biggest threat to shipping in human space. They still operate throughout the war zone and all over the galaxy. They're part of the reason that
the military has a shortage of transport vessels. I bet that's one they stole.”

  Aria growled. “Pirates.”

  “Hang on a minute...someone's coming out of the ship.” Jack watched as the hatch on the pirate ship opened, and three people walked out. They were dressed in nondescript, military-style clothing with black berets for headgear. All of them were armed. One of the trio, a woman, seemed to be the leader. She was waving her arm at the wreck, and the two men in her company walked towards the Cha'la'fa.

  “Look. My ship.”

  Jack shifted his view to look at the Ailian vessel. A hatch was creaking open, laboriously, near the cockpit. Two other people dressed the same as the trio of pirates walked out. They were carrying crates, and from the way they were moving the crates appeared to be very heavily packed. The pair met the other two men halfway between the two ships, and they started carrying the crates together.

  “It looks like they're setting up some kind of salvage operation,” he said slowly. “They're carrying some stuff out of your ship. I can't tell what it is from here.” As he watched, another two women emerged from the pirate ship, carrying what appeared to be camping supplies. Dismayed, Jack realized that they meant to stay there overnight.

  “Scavengers!” Aria snarled, sounding very angry indeed. “My ship!” She reached for the rifle. “Give me weapon. I kill them all.”

  “Are you crazy?” Jack asked her. He kept a hold of the Ailian weapon. “There's seven of them down there right now, and who knows if there are more of them in that ship? If you start shooting they'll know we're here and then we'll be in serious trouble.”

  With a soft growl, Aria glared at him. “But they will strip her. Leave nothing of value. If they strip her, they surely take radio. Will not be able to call for help then.”

  Jack rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “You're right about that...” He thought hard for a few minutes, watching the pirates work as they set up their camp. They had to do something about that, but Jack knew the two of them would have trouble in a stand-up fight against a band of pirates. “I might have an idea...One of us could sneak down there when it gets dark. They've got to have radios with them. If we can't get at the Cha'la'fa's radio, we can use of the pirates' radios.”

  Unsure, Aria cocked an eye at him. “Well...Is possible. But dangerous.” She looked down into the valley, the tip of her tail twitching in thought. “But maybe is best plan. Very well. We do it you way.”

  “Alright,” Jack said. The next part of the plan was harder, and he knew she wouldn't like it. “So I'll need you to wait up here when I sneak down there.”

  The Ailian whipped her head around to stare at him. “No! Is not good idea. I not allow that.”

  “Be reasonable,” Jack begged her. “I'm smaller than you. I might not be as stealthy, but I'll be less noticeable. And I know you.” He grabbed her shoulder, shaking it a little. “You know that if you get down there, you're going to want to kill them all. That's not going to do us any good with that many of them, and if they have comrades in space nearby that'll raise the alarm and get us in even more trouble.”

  Aria bared her teeth at him, and she looked as though she was going to lose control of her anger. Jack braced himself for what was to come, but she closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths. When she opened her eyes again, she looked more calm.

  “I still not like,” she cautioned him. “But...you right, I think. You sure about this?” Jack nodded. “Very well...We wait until they sleep, then you go down. And if you fail...”

  “I know, I know,” Jack said, grinning. “If I fail, you'll kill me.”

  ******

  With a plan in place, the pair used the rest of the afternoon and evening to rest, since they would be up during the night. They ate a meal together and retreated into the trees to get a few hours of sleep. The entire time, Aria kept trying to convince Jack to change the plan, but he stubbornly stuck to it. The Ailian had a forceful personality, but Jack knew he was right this time, and he wasn't going to let Aria change his mind. By the time darkness had completely fallen, she had resigned herself to the fact that it was going to happen.

  Jack waited another hour after nightfall, until they couldn't detect any more movement through the scope of Aria's rifle. At that point, he began his slow descent down the sloping ridge. Before descending, Jack removed his belt and the sling from his rifle, along with anything else he was carrying that might jingle or rattle. This, of course, meant that his only armament for his mission would be the thirty rounds that the rifle held. While nothing to sneeze at, thirty rounds in an automatic rifle was not very much in the scheme of a firefight.

  As he descended the slope, moving carefully and slowly lest he slip on the grass, Jack remembered what Aria had said to him before he left:

  “I wait here, but I not patient for long,” she'd warned him, a hint of heat to her voice. “You not back in three hours, and I start killing pirates.” Then she'd turned her back to him, sitting down on the ground and crossing her arms, seeming to sulk in the fact that she was left out of a chance for a fight.

  Jack grimaced as he reached the bottom of the slope. He paused, crouching down low and taking a moment to look and listen. There was no noise from the pirates' campsite, and no signs of movement. They hadn't bothered to light a fire, so it was likely they'd come more prepared for cold than Jack and Aria had been, since they'd probably had a chance to survey the planet. Whatever the case, that was good news for him. The blue-pattern camouflage that Jack was wearing wasn't as good as woodland colors might have been, but in complete darkness it did just fine.

  He still wondered what the pirates were doing here, and how they'd found the wrecks. Jack found it hard to believe that they were part of an organized search effort. More likely, they'd been cruising through the area and their sensors had revealed the signs of the crashes. With the complete absence of technology or civilization on this planet, two crashed ships would have stood out like white on black.

  Well, whatever, Jack thought to himself. Not like it really matters how or why they're here. More important to find a radio and get away without being detected. And while I'm searching, I might find some answers.

  Jack switched on the light attached to his rifle, playing it around the pirates' campsite for a few seconds, just to get a feel for the area. He quickly switched it back off so that the likelihood of detection was minimized, and then moved to another position so that if anyone had seen the light, they'd be looking for him in the wrong place. Then he stayed still again, listening and looking around. There was no sign of movement, so he felt safe enough to start exploring.

  He headed into the pirate camp, each of his senses on edge for any sign of detection. With a little bit of skill and a lot of luck, he'd be in and out long before Aria's three hour deadline. He hoped.

  - 9 -

  Jack slowly and carefully made his way through the pirates' campsite, his senses on high alert for any sounds that would tell him that his intrusion had been detected. All he could hear was the occasional rustling of the grass as a breeze blew by, or a distantly faint chirping of some insect or another, but apart from that all was silent. He fingered the grip of his rifle nervously, his eyes darting around. The human knew he didn't have nearly as good night vision as Aria, but his eyes were gradually growing used to the pitch blackness. That was good; he wanted to use the flashlight attachment on his weapon as little as possible.

  Creeping through the camp, he kept a sharp watch for a radio which he could snag and take back up the ridge he'd just descended so that he and Aria could signal for help. But whether the pirates hadn't brought one out of their ship, or they just kept them better secured than he'd hope for, he had no luck. What he did find was evidence that the pirates planned to stick around for a while. They'd set up power generators in their camp which were not easily moved, and these seemed to be trailing wires into many of their tents, possibly to power portable heaters or other modern conveniences.

  Makes sense, if th
ey're going to make this a salvage job, Jack thought to himself. They're going to want to strip everything of value from the ship, and that means staying here for at least five days or so.

  What troubled Jack was that the pirates hadn't bothered to keep anyone awake on sentry duty. He wasn't sure what that meant. Maybe they weren't too concerned about the local wildlife, which made them stupid. Or perhaps they had sensors set up around the camp which would automatically raise an alarm, in which case he was already screwed. Jack figured that unlikely because if they had such sensors he probably would have been set upon by the pirates already.

  After nearly forty minutes of carefully searching the pirate camp, Jack was certain that he wouldn't find a radio anywhere easily accessible. That meant that the only other places to find one would be in Aria's wrecked ship, the Cha'la'fa, or in the pirates' ship. Since Jack hadn't the foggiest idea of the interior layout of the Cha'la'fa, or how he would separate the radio from the ship if he did manage to find it, he decided to try looking in the pirate ship first. He'd been inside a ship of that type numerous times before and was familiar with the layout, so he'd be able to get to the radio and do what he needed to do quickly.

  With that decided, Jack picked his way towards the pirates' ship. The ship was very large, easily three times as big as the ship he'd come to this planet on, the Star's Eye. Blocky and unattractive looking, the pirate vessel was a fairly standard military transport that had been modified with larger engines and upgraded weaponry. Basically, it was a large box with a smaller, rounded box attached on one end for the bridge area, with six large, cylindrical engine blocks on the other end. Weaponry bristled from numerous points on the exterior of the ship, and Jack was certain that there would be hidden weapons elsewhere. All in all, nothing too terribly impressive but definitely not something one would wish to face in combat if it could be avoided.