He worked feverishly to stop the containment breach. He rerouted all reserves that had not been physically damage to the core containment. He watched as the containment field strength began to increase.
“Subspace containment field strength returning to operational range. Core Jettison sequence disabled,” the computer said.
“LODAN!” Yasa screamed. LODAN!”
He received no response. He searched frantically screaming for his son. He came across a crew member that was regaining consciousness. Blood was trickling from one ear.
“Have you seen Lodan?” he asked, panic evident in his voice. The crew member seemed dazed. The captain shook him. “Have you seen my son?”
The crew member pointed to the hyperdrive chamber. He rushed to the hyperdrive which was connected to the power core by a large conduit. The conduit was little more than twisted metal and cables after the overload. The deck underneath was twisted and ripped apart as well. Yasa saw the severed legs of a crew member and shuddered to think of how he might find his son.
He climbed over the remains of the conduit down the tunnel to the hyperdrive. He garnered several cuts and bumped his head as he picked his way through the debris and twisted metal. The air was heavy with the smell of coolant and ozone. Yasa pushed a panel out of the way that had once covered a power junction somewhere, that’s when he saw him. His son Lodan was lying next to the controls for the hyperdrive.
“LODAN,” his voice broke and sounded hoarse as he screamed his name. He knelt down and hugged him. “Lodan. Son, are you ok?”
“Dada?”
“Yes son. I’m here,” Yasa broke down in tears. His son had not called him Dada since he was twelve. “Stay with me son. I’m going to get you help. “COMPUTER! MEDICAL ASSISTANCE IN THE HYPERDRIVE CHAMBER IMMEDIATELY!”
“Medical crews have been dispatched and are already in route Captain,” came the computers voice, it too broke in a squelch halfway.
“Did I stop the containment failure Dada?” Lodan asked looking up at his father.
“Yes son. You saved us,” Yasa said barely intelligible through his uncontrollable crying and quivering lips. He sat down and pulled his son close hugging him. “Stay with me son.”
“I’m right here Dada,” he said patting his father’s arm releasing his pheromones.
His father saw him as a child again. This was what his son was feeling as his life faded.
“I’m right here. Can you tell mom and Llih I love them?”
Lodan slumped in his father’s arms. Yasa knew his son was dead. He could feel his soul leave him. He could hear his final words again, Can you tell mom and Llih I love them.
“Tell them for me son,” Yasa spoke in a whisper.
***
With the Parthess damaged beyond repair, its corpse rotting on a far off world, Tomac had opted for a new concept. He would grow a ship. He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought of it before. Telarian scientists grew ships in the past but the program was discontinued because a living ship needed sustenance and they never discovered a way to feed it efficiently. Yasa had found an unlimited power source in subspace energy.
He had discovered vacuum energy as a naturally occurring organic process in microorganisms. It was only after he reverse engineered nature that he derived the mechanical means. After some small scale tests were successful he designed the Tanari. He incorporated his own genome into the DNA he coded to grow the ship. It would be a living organism feeding on a subspace singularity.
It required him to figure out how to grow a hyperdrive. Once he made the breakthrough it became so apparent to him that it was meant to be alive and the engineered version less efficient. He relocated his research facility to the shipyard originally used in the previous program and started his work.
***
Yasa stood in the rain. Before him were the graves of his family. His wife Beya, daughter Llihanan, and more recently his son Lodan. He had brought them to their homeworld to bury them when they died. He needed to know they were safe and secure in the afterlife. It was a torrential downpour but he didn’t care.
Today was the one year anniversary of his son’s death and his wife’s birthday. The last year of his life had been racked with pain, doubt, despair and more recently anger. It’s a dark place he was in. One born of unimaginable loss. He had found a way past the anger and despair when his wife and daughter died. He repaid the blood debt he owed for their death. Or so he thought.
At first he blamed the commander for their deaths but he realized he did not bring the situation to his door, the Union did. In fact, the Union was at fault for the war itself. More specifically, Sean Connor had to die.
Since his darlings died he had poured himself into his work developing the most advanced technologies in the galaxy.
The Parthess was almost complete when they killed his son. That encounter exposed flaws in the design of the Parthess and reminded him what happened when you strayed from the path and became complacent. He should have killed Sean Connor when he first discovered he was involved. Now he blamed himself as well.
Because of his vast knowledge and the recent tragedies Telarian High Command were more than gracious in allowing him time. He could do as he pleased. They stood behind him and with all of the resources of the Telarian people at his disposal he would create an unstoppable fleet of warships and destroy the Union and burn every planet in his path to cinders.
“Beya, I promise you this man will pay for destroying our family. He will die as Llihanan died. I will put him in an air lock and slowly vent the air. In his final moments he will feel the pain, experience the fear,” Yasa spoke to his wife as he pulled a vial from his pocket. In it was a clear fluid. It contained the pheromones from Llihanan’s tiny hands when she died. She was too young to control her release and he could only imagine what his wife had experienced at the touch. Beya had remained strong. Her palms contained no residue, she would not add to her daughters torment when she held her close trying to comfort her baby during their last moments of life.
***
“You have something for me?” Tomac asked.
It had been years since their last meeting.
“I do. I noticed your, um, old acquaintance was still around. I’m willing to hand him to you on a silver platter if what you offer is genuine,” the senator told him.
“Do not mock me. The information I imparted to you last time was worth more than what you provided.”
“Agreed Captain Tomac, I meant no offense,” the senator conceded. “Soon I’ll be in a better position to assist you but I need this peace treaty signed to seal the deal. I’ll be a hero to my people, just like you.”
“I’ll get your treaty signed and you will do whatever necessary to deliver Captain Connor to me. If you cross me, I will make sure we scorch every planet in the Union. Agreed?”
“Agreed.”
***
The Tanari floated through space quietly, invisible, scanning nearby systems for signs of its prey. Its captain, Yasa Tomac, would find his blood enemy, the one who killed his family. He had betrayed his people. He sold their secrets in exchange for information involving this one man. His people the Telarians may have signed a treaty with these filthy humans but he would never trust them, he would forever be at war until he avenged his family. The human, Captain Sean Connor would pay dearly for his trespass. Tomac had him where he wanted him after weeks of searching but he escaped infuriating the Telarian. Little did Captain Connor know, Tomac finally found the lure to bring his enemy to him.
A ship dropped out of hyperspace in front of the Tanari. It was the Admiratus, the Telarian navy flagship. Commanded by Admiral Silas Quell, Yasa’s oldest friend.
Telarian spacecraft were often compared in their likeness to terrestrial predators from the Telarian homeworld. From a human point of view, the Admiratus resembled a hammerhead shark with a flattened body. It was, in fact, modeled after a similar aquatic predator indigenous to Telaria. It seemed life would invariably ta
ke similar forms because there were only so many ways nature could produce appendages, eyes, mouths, circulatory, respiratory and nervous systems.
The Tanari was not as large as the Admiratus but it did not need to be. The Admiratus was constructed before the war in a time when many Telarians still resided in colony ships. In the early days of the war its passengers were delivered home to Telaria and the ship was converted for military use.
What had been rooms with a view became bays for drone fighter craft. The hull bristled with plasma and magnetic cannons of various types. Magnetics fired solid shells while plasma was short range due to the dispersal of the super-heated gases. Each had there uses and technically both used electromagnetic force to propel the projectile.
“The Admiratus is hailing us sir.”
Captain Tomac did not look happy. Space was a big place. The odds of finding someone so easy was negligible. They had to be tracking the Tanari somehow. That would mean he could not trust someone, but who and how.
“Accept the connection.”
His lifelong friend appeared before him in a greenish yellow three dimensional image.
“Greetings Yasa.” He said with a slight bow. “It’s time for you to come home my friend. The council is not happy about your rogue attacks threatening the peace treaty.”
Yasa fumed. He would not return until he had justice for his family.
Silas knew. The council knew as well. His orders were clear. Should Yasa refuse, destroy the ship. Quell had demanded they send someone else and not make him murder his friend. The council, however, viewed it as a mercy killing and the blow should come from a loved one with understanding, it was the right thing to do. Silas would do what was right for the greater good.
“We know how this plays out,” Yasa told him.
“I do. I wish that the situation were different.”
“You could join me.”
The Admiral looked down, he could not meet Yasa’s gaze and shook his head no.
“I’m sorry old friend.”
“And I as well.”
Tomac ended the transmission. “Bring us about. Prepare to jump.”
The Tanari began to spin slowly away from the Admiratus.
Admiral Silas Quell was one of the most decorated and respected veterans of the military. He had been in many battles. He had faced overwhelming odds without fear, confident in his crew and himself. But right now sweat rolled down his brow, his palms were wet. There was a lump in his throat he was trying to swallow so that he could give the order.
“Fire. Fire on the Tanari. We cannot allow them to rekindle the war.”
Yasa knew it was coming. He understood what had to happen. He would not surrender this close to his victory whatever the supposed cost to the false peace. The fire of war would forever burn in his soul.
Balls of plasma belched from the forward batteries of the Admiratus in rapid succession. They struck the aft port quarter of the Tanari as she turned causing the shielding to flare bright orange. It wouldn’t be that easy.
Next came the hard rounds with explosive payloads. They could penetrate the shielding and, depending on settings, explode on the hull or pierce it and explode after penetrating. Of course not all hull plating was created equal. Rounds set with delays could ricochet off hardened plating exploding harmlessly in space. In this case they exploded on impact.
The Tanari had completed its turn and had begun accelerating away by the time the shells came. They could have run, jumped into hyperspace and made a quick getaway. Tomac knew it wouldn’t make any difference. They had found a way to track him. As much as he hated it, it had to end here.
“Bring us about. Malik, make it quick, target the power core with the pulse cannon.” Yasa felt numb, disconnected, as if someone else had said it. A direct hit would rupture the containment field causing the fusion reaction to unfurl. For just and instant the unconstrained plasma would expand into a miniscule sun then wink out of existence and with it the Admiratus.
The Tanari glided around taking the barrage from the Admiratus with grace and ease. The iris like aperture that hid the pulse cannon opened, he lined up the shot and fired.
It happened quicker than the eye could see. A silver streak across the dark expanse led to an instantaneous flash that became a miniature supernovae.
“Target destroyed,” Malik said even though they could all see it on the viewscreen. His deep set eyes and square jaw hung on an emotionless face.
A tear ran down Yasa’s cheek and he quickly wiped it away. Goodbye old friend he thought to himself.
“Set a course for the Nacuru research station. I’ll be in my quarters.”
Yasa Tomac walked down the corridor almost in a drunken state. It was if someone else controlled his mind at times, what had he done? He entered his quarters and as the door closed he fell on his knees crying uncontrollably at the loss of his dearest friend.
He put Silas’ death on Connor as well. In his twisted anguished state of being it all made perfect sense. Every repugnant task was because of him. Connor forced him to do things he would never have done. He was a scientist not a merciless warrior but he found killing in Connor’s name easy. At least until the heinousness of his deeds crept into his morale fabric. Sean Connor had become a venom in the veins of a once loving and peaceful man.
Chapter Six
Adrift
Adrift, (from a ‘on, in’ + drift. (Of a ship or its passengers) floating without being either moored or steered. (Of a person) without purpose or guidance; lost and confused.)
The blue supergiant Rigel bathed the system in a lustrous glow. The sky glittered with a trail of what appeared to be millions of diamonds. The burned out husk of Balin Tor V hung gloomily in its orbit, the moon Oricon was partially obscured on the horizon. The sun glared off the charred surface as the Relentless exited hyperspace and adjusted course.
“Calibration and test of the hyperdrive successful,” Galloway said. “Checking navigation—We have arrived in the Balin Tor system in the neighborhood of the fifth planet.”
“Mr. Deas put us in orbit around Balin Tor V,” Captain Connor said.
“Yes Sir,” Deas acknowledged.
“Kale. What are we looking at?” Sean asked looking at the charred world on the viewscreen.
“One moment Sir, data is still coming in—” Kale studied the incoming data for a few minutes. “Balin Tor V. No atmosphere, charred vegetation, remains of an encampment and wreckage of a capital ship. Also, there appears to be some functioning satellites in orbit. According to records dated one month ago there was a population of two hundred thirteen colonists. The wreckage is consistent with the colony ship Enteritor.”
“Link to the satellites. See if they store information. Is there any possibility someone survived and are hold up on the planet or in the system somewhere?” the captain said.
“The planet is inhospitable to put it mildly, only small traces of oxygen, less than a tenth of a percent. The water must have all boiled off, the immediate area is filled with ice crystals. They are what is causing the glittering effect we are observing.” Kale responded.
“Deploy the drones. Continue your scans. I want a complete picture of the system.”
***
Ryan Anders sat in the pilot’s seat of the Enteritor shuttle. He had his chair turned around looking at the children huddled in the back. A little girl, Anna, sat curled in his lap sleeping. He was trying desperately to keep it together for the sake of the children but he knew they were going to die out here. He pushed the hair back from Anna’s sweaty brow and tucked it lovingly behind her ear. They were running low on food and power reserves. They had been sponge bathing because water wasn’t an issue but it wasn’t sufficient for proper hygiene. The shuttle could recycle all of the water from sweat and waste as long as they had power. But water mattered little right now, the conditions in the shuttle were quickly becoming inhospitable. He was contemplating turning off life support so they could all drift off to sleep peacefu
lly, like Anna, forever.
Tears rolled down his cheeks and he hugged Anna tightly. It broke his heart to watch the children sit there in misery. They were not getting enough to eat, they were losing weight and for what, to die emaciated? A girl in the back coughed. He wanted to hold out hope but watching the light die in their eyes was more than he could bear.
It hadn’t started out this bad. In the beginning he had been able to keep their spirits up. They all played games with dice or cards, and told stories, like a camping trip.
Jessie was the oldest and he helped Ryan with the little ones, the youngest was three years old. Twenty children, ages three to fourteen, it was a challenge for him to say the least.
Ryan had no children of his own and had idea how to deal with children. He was an only child, orphaned in his teens. By the third day he began to treat them as his birth parents had treated him as a boy. He spoke kindly and hugged them a lot, trying to reassure children who lost everything in their little worlds except him and they had just met him the day before it happened.
Rescue, he had hoped, was not far behind. As it turned out no one came. The Enteritor’s last message said “unable.” It played over and over and weighed heavily on him now. The Enteritor must have been trying to say unable to contact Union Command.
In his first years as a Union pilot he had been part of an operation rescuing a helpless shuttle. Those poor souls had been stranded in a much smaller shuttle. It had no jump engine, recyclers or waste handling systems. By the time his rescue shuttle found them they were frozen solid. The emergency kit in any spacecraft could support its given crew capacity in food and water for a week, longer if you rationed wisely. These unfortunate individuals had been left in the lurch nine days. They were using a ration container to relieve themselves. The stench was horrific and he would never forget the terror-stricken look on their faces.
Relentless: Book One of the Union Warship Saga Page 14