Other than a few random words, he sound coming through his comm was pure static. He banged on the unit, hoping it would get better, but it never did. Whatever the problem they were having back at the shuttle bay was going to have to wait until he got back.
Or until the damned communications systems got back in order.
Bremerton paced the halls of the sixteenth floor, hoping the young engineer he had on his team could piece together the mystery of the missing vice president. They had tried six different rooms since the first with differing levels of success. The problem was that none of these people had access to the main computer system, just the parts of the system that made it easier for them to do their jobs. What they needed was to find the officer's quarters. Then they would have had access to anything they could need.
Richards exited the room after a few minutes, face as flustered.
"Nothing?" Bremerton asked, already knowing the answer.
Richards shook his head. "Not so much as a crumb. If the vice president is on this ship they have him locked up pretty good."
Bremerton agreed. It was standard protocol, but this was well beyond ridiculous.
What made matters worse was the lack of crew on the Providence. They'd run across a single person on the ship making it feel like a ghost ship than a modern space cruiser.
"Let's make our way up another level," Bremerton suggested. "We have to run into something soon."
"Or someone," Adams suggested. He released her grip on his blaster, allowing the support straps to hold its weight as he wiped a bead of sweat from his brow.
"It's like they all disappeared," Richards said. "I mean, I realize the ship took damage, but there should be more people around than this."
"Maybe we could ask the next person we run into where the damage is located," Adams said with a wink.
Bremerton shuffled out of the room and made his way to the staircase at the end of the long corridor. The hallways were eerily silent, making their footsteps sound like rolling thunder in the empty hall. They checked each room as they passed for people, but much like the previous two floors they found most of them locked. The ones that were opened were empty, save for a bed, a dresser, and a small night stand. Each of the rooms also had a console, but without an occupant they were all disabled.
Once they reached the end of the hall, Bremerton opened the stairwell door and walked inside. The rest of the group followed close behind. Before heading up to the next level, he took a glance down the stairs. Given the communications issues on the ship, he wanted to make sure his people were still in place. If they weren't going to be with him on his search, he wanted them to be in place for a long distance game of telephone.
Jacobs noticed him peering over and waved his arms to get his attention.
"There a problem?"
"Sir, the Endeavor has been trying to reach you. They said something about new contacts in the sector."
Great, Bremerton thought. The last thing they needed was a time limit on their search.
"I hope they're friendly," Richards said.
Bremerton agreed. "Has Captain Wellard sent us new orders?"
"Nothing yet. He just asked that you speed up your search. Something about not wanting to be around when those ships get close."
"Send a message back. Tell him something strange is going on over here. See if they can scan the ship for abnormalities." He hated sending a message like that, but he didn't have a load of options. Either relay the information through his makeshift chain, or head back down a half-dozen levels and send the message himself. Considering the captain's last order, the message chain seemed like a minor concern.
The marine barked his acknowledgment before running down the stairs three levels to reach the next part of the chain. Bremerton watched the man as long as he could, then stood by listening to his rapidly fading footsteps until they were gone. He held that position until he felt a hand touch him on his shoulder, breaking him out of his daze.
"Shall we?" Richards said before taking the first few steps. Bremerton held his position for another moment before following.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Atroxxin Sector
Bridge, NECS Endeavor
"Captain," Midshipman Ritter said. "The Madrid is back on line. Captain Phillips asked if we wanted him to stick around, or if he could limp the ship back to New Earth."
"Tell Phillips to get the hell out of here. Not like the Madrid is in fighting shape if those new contacts aren't friendly."
McRee barked her acknowledgment and sent the transmission.
Wellard studied his console, specifically watching the blips that represented the new contacts that had entered the sector nearly an hour ago. He also watched the blips that represented the York and Concord as they rushed across the sector as fast as they could go. The new contacts were set to intercept the ships within the next twenty minutes, Wellard imagined.
He figured he would have a better idea who's side the new contacts were once they did. If the York was still in one piece after the new blips passed, they were on the same side which meant they were in for a world of hurt. If they destroyed the York, or if it joined their movements, well, he'd have to cross that bridge when it happened.
"Any luck reestablishing connections with the away teams?" Wellard asked.
"Yes and no," Wilson said. "We can reach the two marines stationed in the flight bays, but beyond that is a mess."
"The communications chain isn't working?"
"From what I hear, no. They are having to resort to passing messages manually."
Wellard sighed. Passing messages in person meant the away teams had been divided between searchers and message runners. In short, it meant they couldn't scour the ship like he had hoped, especially with the unknown contacts heading their way. As much as he hated the waiting game, there wasn't anything else left to do. Not unless he was willing to sacrifice the leaders of his junior staff in order to turn tail and run, which he wasn't.
Not. The only option he had was to wait. Get his ship back into fighting shape, sure, but there was nothing more to do until they returned.
"Sir. Incoming transmission from the Achilles."
"Onscreen."
The image of space was replaced by the view of Captain Nelson on the bridge of the NEA Achilles. A fine layer of dust covered his uniform and face, making him look more like an engineer than a captain of a ship. Other than a small jagged cut on his cheek, the man looked good, which was more than he could say about the rest of the scene.
Wires, steel girders, and other building materials littered the bridge. It had taken a direct hit, but looked as if things were getting under control.
Various personnel rushed behind Nelson attempting to piece the ship back together the best they could. The fact they fixed communications was a good sign. It meant they had patched up the other necessary systems first, meaning the ship was capable of movement.
"Travis, glad to see you survived."
The older man nodded his thanks and returned the gesture. "I assume you are aware of the new contacts?"
"I am. Midshipman Ritter tells me she expects the ships in firing range in about two hours. I don't know about you, but I intend to be out of the system before they get that close."
"I feel the same way, but what about the Providence? There's no way we can leave its precious cargo here."
Precious cargo. Wellard laughed at the thought. Vice President Landry was hardly precious cargo. The man had a way of making everyone underneath him feel like a cog in his wheel. Their only purpose to fulfill whatever desire he could come up with at any given time.
If it was up to Wellard, he would've left the damned man in an escape pod for the new contacts to fight over. Luckily for him, it wasn't an option. His job was to train a new set of recruits. As tempting as it was, the young crew needed to learn to respect the authority of their elected officials, even if you don't agree with their position.
"I have two teams scouring the Provi
dence for him as we speak. They've been onboard nearly an hour. I'd give you an update, but they've run into a communications issue over there, so I'm in the dark as well."
"Communications issue?" he asked. "Something is blocking transmissions between the two ships?"
Wellard nodded. "And apparently blocking transmissions on the ship. The two teams are acting like it's the wild west again, passing messages the old way."
Captain Nelson broke into a low, rumbling laugh. "We can fly these massive ships anywhere in the galaxy, but still have issues talking to a guy a few decks away."
"Things never change," Wellard said. "What is the status of the Achilles? I know she took a pounding from the York and Dachshund earlier. Are you capable of defending yourself if those contacts arrive?"
"Vince, I know she looks bad, but my techs promise she'll be fully operational in the next thirty minutes. And by God if they want to play it tough my crew will be ready for a fight."
"Let's hope it doesn't come to that."
One of Nelson's techs rushed onto the screen and whispered something into his ear. Nelson nodded a few times before the tech left the screen, leaving the captain alone once again.
"Vince, I have to go attend to a few issues. Please keep me apprised of the status of your away teams. I'd very much like to get back to New Earth as fast as we can."
"Will do," Wellard acknowledged. "The moment I know something, I'll pass it along."
Nelson thanked him for the promise before cutting the transmission.
No sooner than the screen blinked back to a view of space around the ship, Commander Wilson got Wellard's attention.
"We've received a transmission from the Providence."
Chapter Thirty
Atroxxin Sector
Bridge, NECS Endeavor
"Scan the ship for abnormalities? What are we supposed to be looking for?" Wellard asked.
"Commander Bremerton wasn't specific. He just said there was something going on with the ship and asked if you could look into it."
Wellard glanced at Wilson, who responded with a slight shrug. Moving his gaze across the bridge he noticed the rest of the command staff was as confused as him.
"Tell Bremerton we'll do what we can from out here," he assured. "On another note, how goes the search for Landry?"
"Slow, sir. Barely finding traces of people on the ship. And worse, the computer systems seem to be down. They are currently casing the ship looking for a terminal with command access."
"The override codes?" Wellard asked, more to himself than to the marine on the other end.
"Yes, sir. He was hoping to pull up the passenger manifest to figure out where his quarters were."
"Why the hell wouldn't he ask somebody. Someone over there has to know where he is."
"That's just it. We haven't seen anyone on the ship."
Odd, Wellard thought. They should've run into hundreds of people by now.
The marine cleared his throat before continuing. "It's like the ship is back in dry dock. Like someone is preparing the ship for something."
"But what?" The ship should've been bustling with activity with various damage control teams repairing the ship, or at the very least by the crews working to get everyone closer to the escape pods in case the new contacts arrived before the ship was capable of movement. By the law of averages they should've seen something by now.
"Wilson, have you had any luck contacting the other team?"
"Negative sir. Nothing in or out in the last twenty minutes."
"Marine. Tell Bremerton we will scan the ship. In the meantime, relay a message to him for me. Tell him we have picked up three additional contacts on the other side of the sector rapidly moving our way. We expect contact in roughly two hours."
"Sir?" the kid's voice wavered, sounding almost frightened.
"You heard me, marine. Tell the commander to speed things up. We aren't going to be alone much longer."
The young marine nodded, then formed a salute. Wellard did the same before cutting off the transmission.
"Midshipman Ritter, I assume you are already working on the scan?"
"I am, Captain. Other than heavy damage on the upper decks, I'm not finding anything out of place."
"Keep it up for a while," Wellard said. "Inform me if you come up with anything."
"Will do."
Wellard ran through the situation in his head. The longer things went on, the stranger things become. It started with the attack, but since then things hadn't improved. At least back during the attack he knew what to expect. Now, he was as clueless as anyone else.
Then glancing at the screen he thought he noticed something on the Providence. A small rectangular object affixed to the hull near the center of the ship. From this distance it almost looked like part of the ship, but to his trained eye he knew better.
"Amplify the image of the Providence. Focus on the center section of the hull."
"Captain?" Ritter asked.
"Pleasure me, Midshipman."
She nodded, then enlarged the image of the ship and let out a small gasp when she too noticed the spot he'd seen. The spot in question was a rectangular box affixed securely to the side of the ship. The paint scheme, while rough, matched the rest of the surrounding ship, as if it were equipped with active camouflage. He'd heard rumors of this technology existing, but had never once seen it used in person like this.
"What the hell is that?"
"My guess says that's the reason for all the problems with the Providence. Focus your scans on that area of the ship and tell me what you see."
Ritter did, and in a matter of moments the look on her face told Wellard all he needed to know.
"Find anything?" he asked.
"Our scanners cannot penetrate the armor on that thing. It's like whatever is inside was supposed to stay hidden."
"How large would you say it is? If you had to guess."
"Easily twenty meters tall and nearly as wide. It's hard to tell how deep at this angle, but I suspect it's probably close to forty meters."
"Large enough to hold a few platoons, on top of the jamming equipment?"
"Easily," she agreed.
"You think that thing is causing all the trouble over there?" Wilson asked.
Wellard nodded. "I do. It would also explain why Bremerton hasn't run into many people over there. Throw up the signal jammers while a few hundred men assault the ship."
"That would mean..." Wilson started, but was quickly cut off by Wellard.
"That there was a lot more to this attack than we thought." Wellard pressed a button, opening a channel to the CAG. "Valarie, I need a dozen of your best fighter pilots for a mission. And three of your best shuttle pilots for another."
"For what?" she asked. "I thought the battle was over."
"It has only just begun."
Chapter Thirty-One
Atroxxin Sector
Bridge, NECS Achilles
"How long until our weapons systems are back online?" Captain Travis Nelson of the NECS Achilles said while staring at his console.
"Conventional weaponry will be back up in the next fifteen minutes. Laser batteries are another matter entirely," his XO said, grim as ever. He ignored her tone of voice and focused more on her words since the damned woman could find a way to make sex sound boring.
"Fill me in."
"I think it would be better if Brown told you himself."
Nelson sighed. Was it so damned hard to tell him without playing comm tag? Nevertheless, he pressed the button on his console opening a channel to engineering.
"Brown, Commander Lewis tells me there's a problem with the laser batteries. Care to fill me in?"
"Sorry, Captain. Like I told Lewis, we are having an issue with routing power from the capacitor banks. As of now we have the ability to power a few systems at a time."
"Meaning?"
"Meaning we can either focus our power on the laser batteries or on the armor modulators. Not both."
; "How long until that problem is fixed?"
"Fixed?" Brown asked, sounding completely perplexed. "The ship is likely going to need an extensive rewire to fix the problem. Until then I suggest we try to stay out of another firefight."
"Too late for that, Rick. There are three contacts moving out direction as we speak. As we have no way to tell if they are friendly or not until they get closer, I suggest you do what you can to get them back online."
"We'll do what we can Captain, but I can't make you any promises."
"That'll do. We expect the ships to be on top of us in approximately ninety minutes. I hate to put you on the clock like that, but we don't have another choice."
"I understand Captain. We'll do our best."
Nelson nodded and cut the transmission. He was about to bark another set of orders when his XO informed him of an incoming transmission from the Endeavor. Without hesitation, he ordered his XO to open the transmission.
"Vince, I hope you have good news."
"Afraid not, old friend. We just heard back from the away team lead by my XO. Playing his hunch, we did a full scan of the Providence trying to find the source of their problems."
"And?"
"If you look closely at the starboard side of the ship, you'll notice a section that protrudes from the hull. We believe that is what is causing their problems."
"Jamming equipment?"
"And a sizable boarding party."
"They were trying to take the ship?"
"At this point I'm assuming it was more than an attempt. I believe the only reason they haven't made a move is because of the damage to the bridge."
"Saying that is the case, what is our next move? Are you planning on destroying the Providence?"
"In an ideal situation, no," Wellard admitted. "But that is a possibility."
"Then what?"
Endeavor (The Mythrar War Book 1) Page 10