She realized she had allowed her train of thought to slip into the hyper processing mode where time slowed down for her. It would not have been but a second or two but it would have been quite embarrassing for her if she had not for she would have appeared frozen in time to Captain Connor. It would be equally embarrassing if he knew her thoughts at that moment and she felt ashamed again at letting such things dominate her mind.
“Well I’m off to the bridge to see how the command crew is getting used to their new chairs. I will see you later,” he said with a smile.
His last words seemed deliberately emphasized almost as if he knew it was her coming to him at night and it was a secret between them. She blushed noticeable as he turned to leave.
***
Daxton Deas was quite at home in the pilot’s seat. It fit him perfectly and the controls were right where they should be. It was like he designed it for himself. He liked the pod concept it was cozy. Dax was very impressed with a helm station that allowed him a view around the ship as if he were in a fighter cockpit. He thought it would be interesting to see if the inertial dampers could compensate for the maneuvers this ship could perform with those monstrous engines. The morning had started out a little rough for him. He had stayed up a little too late with one of the technicians of the female persuasion, Mina, he smiled thinking of her now. His train of thought was broken by Lieutenant Lokae.
“Is everyone ready to run the first tactical scenario?”
“Hell yeah! Let’s fake fly this mutha,” Dax exclaimed. “Woo Hoo!”
“Always over the top. It’s a training exercise. It will be our first time operating this ships systems as a team Mr. Deas,” Lokae responded to his fake, sarcastic excitement. The blast door opened and the captain entered the bridge.
“We were just about to start our first tactical training scenario Captain. You are just in time if you care to join us,” Lokae said to him as he entered.
“I’m just going to observe for now. I’ll take command of the ones we do in free space once you guys have gotten a little more familiar with your positions,” the captain said.
“As you wish captain and I think I can speak for all of us when I say we are proud to serve under you aboard this amazing ship,” Lokae said to him quite sincerely. “Beginning simulation.”
The Captain took his seat in the center of the bridge and watched as his crew ran several tactical scenarios designed to teach them how to use their consoles and controls efficiently.
“Looking good guys. We take her out of stardock tomorrow,” the captain informed his bridge crew. “I expect everyone ready for a busy day. I’ll be making my rounds the rest of the day to confirm everything is on schedule.”
***
Captain Connor started another day waking from yet another dream of Akema. He didn’t know why he had adopted this obsession for her but she was all he could think about anymore. It was insane but he was infatuated with a holographic representation of his dream girl. It was not unheard of for men to frequent establishments with holographic show girls. They worked for free and could appear to be whatever you wanted, it was a booming industry. Sean was not a person to visit such places. He felt a strong connection to Akema all the same.
He would go through his morning routine with thoughts of his dreams with her. It was a welcome change of pace from those haunting dreams of Kara and the guilt he felt about not having gotten in touch with Rena as promised.
He donned his nanotech uniform for the first time. The first layer was moisture wicking body glove designed to keep the wearer comfortably dry. The exterior layers were a thicker rather flexible and light material. The suit was a charcoal gray or graphite color. Armored pants and sleeves went on first. The chest and back armor fit over the head, interlocking with the sleeves and latched on the sides and around the waist to the armor bottom, it fit well and felt comfortable. He strapped on the boots that latched onto the pants about mid-calf. The effect of the latching systems integrated the suit into a seamless suit with no gaps in protection. It had unified electronics suite that could feed a heads up display in a linked helmet or to the armband. It could receive feeds from multiple exterior sources to allow for many tasks including anything from terrain mapping to environmental analysis of a battlefield. He put his commlink in his ear and walked up the stairs to his office. He grabbed his tablet from the desk there and left to the bridge.
His command crew was already busy making preparations for the day’s departure and testing. He walked down and around to his seat. Taking the arm rests he settled in for the first time ready to command his ship and crew as one.
“All stations report ready, go or no go, for scheduled testing,” the captain said. Around the bridge his crew sounded off.
“Deas. Helm. Go.”
“Sotaki. Operations. Go.”
“Lokae. Tactical. Go.”
“Pendrie. Medical. Go.”
She was listening over the commlink from sickbay.
“Galloway. Engineering. We are a go.”
“Brice. Command. Go.”
“Relentless. All systems are go for launch,” Akema finished.
Ensign Deas stood up from his post.
“Would you like the honor of taking us out sir,” he asked the captain.
“No Mr. Deas. Take us out, one percent sublight,” he responded.
The ensign took his seat.
“Docking clamps released. We are go one percent sublight,” Ensign Deas called out.
It was procedure during testing that certain protocols be followed. Calling out operations as they were performed left out the guess work about what tasks crew members were performing.
“We are clear of the stardock. We are go one quarter sublight.”
The acceleration was smooth and quick. The repairs to the engine had worked.
“Mr. Galloway, initiate the hyperdrive calibration.”
“Yes sir. We are go hyperdrive calibration. Ensign Deas, full sublight.”
The ship accelerated to full sublight. A shimmering portal similar in shape to the profile of the Relentless appeared in their path. It was like a window to another world. To the crew it appeared as a negative like an old photo at first. The stars appeared as black dots on a light blue white background.
Once the ship entered the portal the black dots turned into streaks until the background blurred into a deep purple and black undulating tapestry blotted occasionally with green, orange and red.
As quickly as they entered another portal of similar size and shape appeared and beyond was normal space.
As they exited Galloway barked instructions to Deas.
“Turn heading two hundred seventy degrees.”
As the turn completed another window and familiar short journey ended as the first. This continued several more times before Galloway confirmed he was ready for a real test.
“Mr. Deas. Plot a course for Balin Tor V and make the jump to hyperspace. We can kill two birds with one stone on this one,” the captain instructed.
He had been thinking about the colony the past few days when he wasn’t thinking about everything else. The news had mentioned a communications failure but now Sean knew better. Paradisus had been attacked. He hoped they were in time to save any survivors.
The ship entered hyperspace and this time it would stay for a much longer duration. If the calibration went as it should they would exit hyperspace at the intended coordinates.
Chapter Five
Tomac
Tomac, (from Tomache, Telarian first era surname meaning “intelligent and cunning”)
Beya was sweating profusely. This labor was taking more out of her than her previous birth. She cried out in pain. Yasa frowned, he hated seeing her in pain. A bead of sweat rolled down her cheek. He held her hand and wiped the sweat from her brow with a cool cloth.
“You are doing wonderful my love. The baby is almost here,” he whispered in her ear. The baby’s head was crowning, her long labor was at its end.
“Push,” the doctor said forcefully. “Once more and it will be over.”
She grunted as she pushed, her face flushed red. Beya crushed Yasa’s hand as she held the push as long as she could, he seemed not to notice. She felt the baby’s head pass and with a sigh of relief she slumped back. The doctor pulled the infant the rest of the way from the birth canal. He held the child up for the parents to see.
“It’s a girl,” he told them excitedly. He cut the umbilical cord and placed a clamp on the stump. He wiped the baby’s face clean, she was beautiful he thought. “What are you going to name her?”
“Llihanan,” a tear of joy rolled down Yasa’s cheek as he spoke the name. “Llihanan.”
His heart swelled with pride as the doctor handed him his daughter. As was tradition, Yasa kissed his daughter on the forehead and placed the baby in her mother’s arms and kissed her mother’s head.
“I love you my darlings,” he cried as he hugged them both gently.
***
Llihanan ran down the corridor in front of her mother. Her brown locks bounced as she skipped excitedly so full of joy. She stopped at a doorway and pressed the button to open the door. Inside she saw her father sitting at his desk.
“Dada, Dada!” she exclaimed. “Guess what?”
“What my darling?” he asked innocently as she hopped into his lap. He caught the whiff of flowers, she had some in her hair.
“I’M FOUR,” she said as if he didn’t know. “Today’s my birthday. Yesterday I was three. Today I’m four.”
“Really?” he exclaimed, feigning stupidity. “Four? Four years old? WOW!”
“Yep. Four,” she said quite triumphantly. “I’m a big girl now.”
He reached down beside his desk and produced a wrapped present.
“This must be for you then.”
“How did you know Dada?” she asked him surprised.
“My darling. I was there the day you were born. I will never forget your birthday,” he said to her lovingly as he hugged her tight and kissed her cheek.
Beya watched the exchange with a smile. Yasa looked up at his mate and returned her smile. She was among the most beautiful of Telarian women. He had always considered himself lucky to have won the affections of this brown eyed queen.
Yasa was a wonderful father and Llihanan loved him so much Beya thought. She watched as her daughter tore through the wrapping paper to expose the doll she had been asking for. She jumped with joy screaming her gratitude.
“Thank you Dada! I love you so much,” Llihanan exclaimed and she jumped down and out the door.
“You spoil her too much Yasa,” Beya scolded him.
“She will not be our baby forever Beya. I want her to have a beautiful childhood that’s why I have tried to shelter our family from the war. I don’t like this assignment, I don’t like making weapons of war but it keeps our son and daughter safe so far away from the fighting,” he spoke earnestly.
“I know Yasa. We have sacrificed much for the safety but she is bad. I can barely handle her when you are not around,” Beya said to him jokingly. “She wags her finger at me and tells me ‘wait till I tell my Dada on you,’” she giggled. “It’s too cute but infuriating as well.”
“Go catch up to her before she gets into trouble. I’ll be along shortly,” Yasa said to her and kissed her forehead. “I love you my darling.”
“And I, you Yasa,” she said to him lovingly.
As she turned to leave she looked back. He could see the sparkle of love in her eyes. He was, as always very much in love with her. His feelings for her often brought tears of joy to his eyes, as they did now.
He sat back down and went back to work on the mathematical models for his zero point energy generator. These ideas, along with many others were the reason he was here.
He was a brilliant theoretical physicist. It had won him much prestige among his people. He was often approached by the Telarian military to develop new weapons and defenses for them. Yasa had always refused. Now with the war against the Union in full, their home world had become unsafe. He had approached them and offered to develop new technologies for the military in exchange for a research facility as far away from the Union as possible. They agreed.
He did feel secure here. A gravity sensor net, the most advanced research stardock with a multitude of weapons and a Juggernaut class warship was always in the system. He had just made a breakthrough in his calculations yesterday. He was double checking his work before he submitted it for approval to begin a prototype. The hull of the ship was already well underway. The Parthess would be a force to be reckoned with when it was completed.
The lights dimmed. Flashing yellow bars of light sprang to life along the walls. He thought it odd that no alarms accompanied the flashing lights.
“Computer. Why have the emergency lights activated?”
“The silent action stations command was set manually,” the computer responded.
It was probably one of the many drills that were a regular event but he was normally informed of planned drills. He decided to go to the command and control center to find out what was going on.
He walked at a brisk pace. He was passed by many armed soldiers going both ways as the lights continued to flash. When he reached the control room he could see the Commander staring at the operations table. He approached him.
“What is going on?” he asked the commander.
“We detected a small contingent of craft. Two fighters and a drop ship most likely, according to the jump signatures. They are running silent and approaching the station. We are preparing a little surprise for them.”
“Why not just blast them out of the sky?” he asked incredulously. “My family is onboard this station. I’m not into playing games. Destroy those ships.”
“In military situations I do not take orders from you or have you forgotten? We will all be safe. Their passive sensors will show this area to be empty. They will breach the empty cargo area somewhere along here,” the Commander informed him pointing to an area on the schematics. “It’s well away from your family. And do you really think anyone could make it from here to there without being cut to ribbons by our automated defenses?”
“I suppose not but what if they breach somewhere else?”
“They will not. They will look for areas with the least life signs. I have made sure no one is in the direct vicinity. They will not send another insertion team after I am done with this one,” he said to Yasa confidently.
They watched silently as the shuttle made its way along the hull to where the commander had predicted and made a soft seal. The commander smiled at Yasa. Seeing that the commander was correct in his assessment Yasa relaxed visibly. They watched as the boarding party appeared on the schematic.
“They have achieved soft seal and entry Commander,” someone said to him. “They have exited the cargo bay and are heading aft.”
“Seal the cargo bay and slowly vent the atmosphere,” the Commander instructed him. A smile curled on his lips. The cargo bay began to flash yellow on the schematic and after several minutes became solid yellow. “Their pilots are dead. Have they reached the kill zone yet?”
“They have and they have begun to hack the terminal,” the soldier responded.
“Set to full automated defense and set up teams to keep them boxed in down a path back to their ship,” the Commander instructed him.
The corridor began to flash yellow as weapons fire erupted. They continued to watch the schematic as the little bleeps continued to move slowly down the corridor under a full onslaught of weapons fire. The scenario unfolded on monitors as well so they could see the soldiers as the first one was shot in the head. The four bleeps became three as his life was snuffed out. The commander looked up and smiled. Yasa met his gaze but did not return his smile, he felt sick. After several agonizing minutes the boarders had been herded back to the cargo bay were they blew the door. The little bleeps flew inside like rag dolls as the assault teams advanced continuing
to fire upon them. Yasa could see the last soldier dragging his dead companions, no one left behind.
The Commander had not prepared for what happen next. The enemy shuttle jumped away. Its jump wake crumpled the station along that side and buckled supports in many adjacent areas including crew quarters. Yasa saw the alarms for hull breach light up and he took off running as fast as he could to his living area.
Panic gripped him. He could feel them slipping away. He knew he would not make it in time. As he ran artificial gravity faltered then came back. It only served to make him stumble before it disappeared completely and he was floating. The lights flickered. He propelled himself down the corridor to his quarters. He tried opening the door. It objected at first until he hit the override.
His living area was slowly venting atmosphere and the door would seal soon. He pushed himself off the bulkhead towards the bedroom. Yasa had to dodge the now floating furniture and trinkets. Llihanan’s new doll bounced off his shoulder as he went. It spun away. When he reached the door he could see them through the portal and he could feel their life slipping from them.
The entire exterior wall was buckled. The windows were shattered there was no way to restore the atmosphere. He tried frantically to open the door but it would not override. He beat on the hatch. They would not hear him in the vacuum. All he could do was watch as their life slipped away. He saw Beya grip Llihanan tighter in an attempt to shelter her from the cold with her last ounce of life and then she was gone.
“NOOOOOOO,” he screamed. “NO, NO, NO! Don’t leave me darlings,” he begged, tears flooded his eyes, began to bead up and floated away.
The alarm sounded on the living area exterior door. The override was about to expire. He didn’t care about life anymore. His had slipped away with theirs. He curled up in agony crying uncontrollably.
Relentless: Book One of the Union Warship Saga Page 12