Into the Battle

by Rosone, James

  “Ah, I see. A wise guy, eh?” Reynolds joked as he broke some of the tension. “OK, yeah, we’ll see in an hour. In the meantime, are we showing any signs of humans down on that planet?”

  “Our sensors indicate some level of activity on the planet, but we aren’t detecting a lot of electronic emissions,” Ethan replied. “If there are people down there, it’s a less advanced society than ours or the Sumerians’.”

  An hour later, the planet rotated to reveal a decent-sized body of water. Some flat fertile lands were near the water and extended out several hundred kilometers before they ran against a vast tall mountain range that appeared to cover a considerable percentage of the planet. It was obvious why the planet appeared to be arid. The moisture from the body of water was trapped on one side of the mountains, leaving the opposite side to become a desert.

  The lush green areas looked like they had dozens of cities all linked together by road networks, maybe even trains. But there was no evidence of anything that flew.

  Reynolds ordered them to settle into orbit and continue to study the planet and people for a bit longer. They decided they’d spend two days observing the planet and the life-forms there. It was hard to do that from orbit, but they did the best they could. From what they could tell, the society appeared to be about as developed as Earth was in the 1800s or early 1900s—industrial age, but not yet using electricity.

  *******

  Toward the end of their second day of observations, Reynolds commented to his bridge crew, “I wish we had teleportation capabilities or a shuttlecraft. It’d be great to go down to the surface to study the people down there. We could see what they look like, what kind of language they speak, what kind of religion they practice, and if the Zodarks cull their society like they do the Sumerians.”

  Ethan spun his chair around. “I don’t know, Skipper. If we went down there, how would we know what kind of clothes they wear? I mean, maybe we could observe from a distance, but there’s no way we could get close to them.”

  Reynolds shook his head dismissively. “Always the party pooper, Hunt. You’re no fun.”

  The others on the bridge laughed. They joked about how they’d sneak their way into one of the cities and what it would be like to walk around a town that looked like it was a time capsule from four hundred years ago. Even the best cameras and sensors the Franklin had could only give them a glimpse of what the cities and people on the surface looked like.

  The five of them on the bridge joked about how easy Hollywood made it look on Star Trek when the ship’s crew would beam down to the surface and automatically be wearing whatever clothes were worn by the native people to help them blend in. In reality, it obviously didn’t quite work like that, but it was fun to joke about.

  A buzzing noise suddenly interrupted the jovial banter. Ethan turned back to his station. “Captain, we’re getting an alert. A new ship just entered the system. I’m still waiting to see if it’s a Zodark ship, but I don’t see how it could be anyone else. What are your orders, sir?”

  Crap, just what we need, thought Reynolds. He did not want to get spotted by a Zodark ship while in orbit.

  “OK, set condition one, battle stations,” ordered Reynolds. “Hunt, get us up to full speed and break orbit. Get us positioned on the opposite side of the planet and FTL us to the next stargate as quickly as possible. We need to get out of the system before we’re noticed.”

  A flurry of activity transpired over the next twenty minutes as they sought to get themselves out of orbit and away from the Zodark ship. Reynolds crossed his fingers that if they stayed behind the planet, it’d prevent the Zodarks sensors from spotting them.

  “We’re ready to engage FTL,” Ethan finally announced.

  “Do we have a firm idea on whether or not that ship is a Zodark vessel?” Reynolds asked. This deep in uncharted territory, it really could be anything.

  “I can’t say for certain, but its electronic emissions match those of a Zodark ship,” Ethan replied. “Once they entered the system, they went active with their sensors, so that’s how I’m able to make an educated guess.”

  “They went active with their sensors?” Reynolds asked, the pitch of his voice rising in concern. “Is it possible that they already detected us before we could get positioned on the other side of the planet?”

  Ethan didn’t respond right away. He was crunching some numbers at his terminal. Finally, he replied, “It’s possible, sir. But they don’t appear to be racing toward us, which leads me to believe they don’t know we’re here.”

  Nodding at the logical assessment, Reynolds remarked, “OK, I’ll buy that. In the meantime, FTL us the heck out of here.”

  “Copy that. I’m setting a course for the nearest gate. This one will take us to system 3PPT-9,” Ethan called out as he engaged their warp drive.

  The warp field formed around their ship, and then they were gone—shot like a bullet as they were squeezed between the time-space fabric around their ship.

  The Franklin stayed in warp for roughly eight hours before emerging right in front of the next stargate. When their ship dropped out of warp, Ethan switched their engines over from FTL drive to their MPD thrusters. This was a significantly faster process on a small frigate like theirs than on the larger cruisers or battleships. Just as they were approaching the gate, an anomaly occurred in front of them.

  “What the heck? I’m detecting another ship materializing near the gate!” Ethan announced in a panic. His hands raced over to the electronic warfare board.

  “Battle stations! Get our weapons spun up and ready!” Reynolds barked at his weapons officer. He turned to Ethan. “Get ready to jam whatever that ship is and get us through that gate as quickly as possible.”

  This was the worst-case scenario a ship captain feared—jumping to a gate only to find an enemy ship waiting for them before they could get away.

  A bright shimmer of light blinked, and then a ship suddenly emerged. The unknown ship was no more than eight hundred kilometers from their current position—practically on top of them.

  Several people on the bridge audibly gasped. Reynolds’s jaw hit the floor. This wasn’t a Zodark ship. This was something vastly different. The vessel was a sheer white color, dotted with small lights all along its sides. Their sensors told them it was roughly a thousand meters in length, but looked incredibly sleek with soft, rounded, smooth curves. It was completely different from the types of starships they’d seen up to this point.

  “What the hell is that?” Ethan said aloud to no one in particular. He hadn’t started jamming it; his hand was frozen over the controls of their EW system.

  Reynolds was the first to react. “I don’t know, Ethan, but get us through that gate. Hold off on jamming them unless it appears they’re trying to target us. We have no idea if they are friendly or hostile, and I’m not going to sit around and find out.”

  Ethan steered them further away from this unknown ship and applied maximum power to their thrusters. Then a chirping noise emanating from Ethan’s station told them they were being hailed by.

  Ethan turned to Reynolds. “Sir, they’re trying to talk to us—what do you want me to do?”

  Reynolds furrowed his brow; he wasn’t sure. His first thought was to get the hell out of Dodge, but he was curious why a hostile ship would try to hail them.

  “Patch it through the bridge intercom,” Reynolds finally replied.

  The message came through garbled and unintelligible at first. Then the AI went to work deciphering it. It quickly identified the language as Zodark, but with a different accent.

  The message said, Unidentified ship, please identify yourself.

  “What do you want me to say?” Ethan asked.

  Reynolds thought it really unlikely that a hostile ship would ask them to identify themselves. They could have just shot first and asked questions later, he thought.

  Reynolds cleared his throat. “Um…tell them that this is the Republic Navy starship Franklin. We are explo
rers. We mean you no harm. Send that message in Zodark, Sumerian, and English,” Reynolds concluded. He hoped he’d said the right thing.

  Their ship continued approaching the gate. Three minutes more, that’s all we need before we’re close enough to jump, thought Reynolds.

  “We’re receiving another message. Patching it through the AI translator,” Ethan announced.

  The message played over the bridge’s intercom. “We mean you no harm. Please do not jump through the gate. We are a species called the Altairians. We would like to talk further. What are you called?”

  Now Reynolds was confused. They were in Zodark-controlled space, heading down a dead-end system controlled by the Zodarks, or so they thought. Was this really an entirely new species?

  Everyone on the bridge stared at Reynolds, asking with their eyes what to do next. Finally, Reynolds replied, “Hunt, relay this to them. We are called humans. We are from a star system very far from here. Are you allied with the Zodarks? The race that controls this system and the nearby systems?”

  At this point, Ethan had slowed down their speed towards the gate, but he still kept the engines ready to accelerate if needed.

  A few seconds later, the intercom relayed their response. “We are at war with the species you call Zodarks.”

  Reynolds grinned. He grabbed the coms handset so he could speak directly with this new ship. “My name is Commander Joe Reynolds. I am the captain of this ship. Our race is also at war with the Zodarks. Is it possible for us to talk further with you about a possible military alliance to fight against the Zodarks together? Our sensors show there is at least one Zodark ship in this system. It may not be safe for us to stay here much longer.”

  A second later, the alien ship replied. “Our sensors show the Zodark ship in the system is a transport ship. It is not a threat. The nearest Zodark warship is several systems away. We are safe to continue talking here. If a Zodark warship jumps into the system, our ship is more than capable of destroying it.”

  This was the best news Reynolds had heard in a long time. Reynolds depressed the talk button on the hand mic. “I would welcome the opportunity for us to continue talking. Are you willing to accept an electronic file? My people have put together a package of data that explains more about our race, who we are as a people, and some history about us. This is part of what we call our first contact protocol. Would you like to receive this exchange of information?”

  A moment later, the Altairians replied. “Yes, please send the information. We will review it. We also have a similar package of data we can send you. In the meantime, let us continue to talk. How did you first encounter the Zodarks?”

  “We first discovered the Zodarks almost seven of our years ago,” Reynolds answered. “We encountered them on a planet we call New Eden in the Rhea system; the Zodarks call this planet Clovis. They had enslaved another human race called the Sumerians there. We liberated the enslaved Sumerians on the planet and have been fighting the Zodarks ever since.”

  For the next hour, the two ships sat at the gate, talking and exchanging information. That hour turned into six hours. Eventually, it turned into three days. The Altairians then offered to use their advanced form of travel to transport the Franklin back to the Rhea system. They said they would like to speak in person with the leaders of the humans and determine if an alliance could be formed.

  At first, Reynolds wasn’t sure what to do with this proposal. This was an incredible opportunity, but what if this new race didn’t really want an alliance? What if they just wanted the location of the human forces so they could destroy them? This was a major dilemma.

  Crap, I already told them we encountered the Zodarks in the Rhea system, Reynolds chided himself. At least I didn’t tell them about Sol.

  The Altairians agreed to transport them to the stargate in Rhea. They’d stay near the stargate until a meeting was secured. A short while later, the Altairians’ ship generated a wormhole, allowing both vessels to pass through it. Moments later, they appeared a hundred thousand kilometers away from the stargate in the Rhea system, a distance that would have taken the Earthers three months to travel.

  As soon as they jumped into the system, the Franklin’s sensors lit up like a Christmas tree—eight human ships on guard duty near the gate painted their ship, and presumably the Altairians’ ship, with their targeting lasers.

  Grabbing the ship’s mic, Reynolds announced over an open channel, “This is Lieutenant Commander Joe Reynolds, captain of the RNS Franklin. Identification code Zulu-Niner-Niner-Zed-Lima-Charlie. Stand down weapons lock. This other ship is here under my protection. I am requesting to speak with Vice Admiral Halsey immediately.”

  A few seconds passed as the human ships near the gate all changed their lazy circling patterns around the gate to form up into two distinct attack groups.

  “We’re being hailed,” Ethan announced. “It’s the O’Brian.”

  Reynolds smiled. He knew the captain of the O’Brian. They had gone to officer candidate school together many years ago.

  “Joe, is that really you?” asked a familiar voice.

  “It’s me, John. Don’t blast away at us. I need to talk to Admiral Halsey,” Reynolds replied.

  “The O’Brian just sent a stand-down order to the rest of the ships,” Ethan announced, clearly relieved. “They’ve authenticated our codes. They’re sending a message back to New Eden, sir.”

  Jumping into a heavily militarized stargate with an unknown starship in tow wasn’t exactly a smart move. Reynolds didn’t know how else to do this, though.

  “The O’Brian is asking to speak with you in private,” Ethan told Reynolds. “Should I patch it through to your communicator?”

  “Yeah, send it.”

  A second later, Lieutenant Commander John Blanch came over the radio. “Joe, what the hell is going on, and what is that unknown ship? Our sensors are showing they locked us all up as soon as it jumped in.”

  “Did they unlock once you stood down?” Reynolds asked.

  “Yeah, they did. What’s going on?”

  “It’s a long story, John. Let’s just say we fell down the rabbit hole and came out the other end with a potential new friend,” Reynolds replied cryptically.

  A short pause ensued.

  Reynolds looked at the main monitor and the tactical screen on the bridge. He saw his friend had redeployed his squadron in a defensive position. They weren’t lining up for an attack anymore, but they were positioned to pounce on them if things went sideways or didn’t pass the stink test.

  “You’ve been gone, what, three months, Joe?”

  “Yeah, something like that. Have any of the other scouts reported in yet?” Reynolds’s asked.

  Their ship wasn’t the only frigate out doing deep space reconnaissance. Four other scouts had been sent in different directions with orders to travel for two months in one direction and then return with the information they’d discovered. Space Command was doing its best to get a better understanding of who and what was on the other end of these stargates. It was a daunting task, and a risky move considering there was virtually no help coming should their ships run into trouble.

  “Not yet, Joe. You’re the first one. I must say, we weren’t expecting you to appear as you did. Our sensors told us a space-time hole or something like that appeared, and then these two ships suddenly popped out. What the heck is going on, Joe?” His friend pressed.

  Reynolds sighed to himself, then explained what had happened when they were exploring Zodark space. He told him about the discovery of the Sumerian home world, Sumer, and the other human world. He explained how this other ship had appeared right in front of them near a stargate, and they had started talking. He and John talked privately for maybe ten more minutes before a hail finally came in from the Voyager, Admiral Halsey’s flagship.

  There was a bit of a time lag in the message, but they could still talk. “Commander Reynolds, this is Admiral Halsey. I just received a flash message from Commander Blanch tha
t the Franklin and an unknown starship just appeared out of nowhere near the gate. What the hell is going on, Commander?” There was a bit of steel in her voice as she questioned him.

  The only time Joe had ever met Admiral Halsey was when she had awarded him, Ethan and three others a Silver Star medal and promoted them all one grade. Even at his rank, he didn’t usually talk to officers with as many stars on their collar as she had.

  Reynolds explained what he had just told his friend. He also ordered Ethan to send her the data packet of information they’d both collected on their mission, and the packet they’d received from the Altairians. The time delay was killing Reynolds. There was roughly a ten-minute delay between when he’d ask a question and receive a reply.

  Eventually, the delay got annoying to the admiral as well. She requested that Reynolds escort this new ship to New Eden. She’d meet with them in person.

  Reynolds relayed the information to the Altairian ship, who said they’d follow the Franklin to the destination.

  “Do you need us to send you the coordinates?” Reynolds asked.

  “Our sensors have already identified the ship that the admiral is on,” the Altairians replied. “We’ll follow you to the location.”

  That information unnerved Reynolds. It meant this race was probably a lot more advanced than the Zodarks.

  God, I hope we found a new friend, Reynolds thought. He didn’t think the human species could survive another hostile enemy like the Zodarks.

  *******

  RNS Voyager

  “What can you tell me about this unknown ship?” Admiral Halsey asked her tactical officer. The Franklin and this new ship had dropped out of warp. The two of them were now approaching the Voyager and her meager fleet around New Eden.

  They’d received some preliminary information from the guard force around the gate, but they were still trying to make heads or tails of it. All they knew thus far was the ship could travel via temporary wormholes they generated on their own. Their sensors also appeared to be more powerful than theirs or the Zodarks.