“Do you think these Dracos will return?”
“I would have to say yes, absolutely admiral, and in greater numbers, in fact I would bet my wages on it.”
The admiral stroked his bearded grey flecked chin, “what do you suggest?”
“Well, since there are no colony worlds out this far, the threat to E.O.C. A citizens is minimal, however it is still an incursion into E.O.C. A territory, and they have attacked E.D. F shipping. I would recommend routing patrols to include this area of space, sir. From what we have learned, the Dracos are only interested in this one planet because of the Eye of the Dracos built upon it. From what I have been able to gather they have labelled it as a halo world, a world of special significance to their people, thus it would be a high priority for re-capture.”
“So, this Eye of the Dracos is basically an enormous, super advanced geothermal power plant, extracting energy from the core of the planet itself, and then hurling it out into space.”
“Yes, admiral.”
“Any way we can adapt it, for our own use?”
“Unlikely; from what we have found, the facility used to fire its beam in regular bursts to a collector stationed in orbit. However, the whole place was shutdown and abandoned some three hundred years ago, as the Dracos fled from Solarian attacks. The collector has since burned up as its orbit decayed, and that is why the beams are being shot out into space, as the base still thinks the collector is there. Plus, we’ve seen how the Dracos react to anyone studying their technology, they hunt them down mercilessly.”
“True, but it’s a heck of an opportunity to pass up, captain. A facility capable of producing virtually unlimited energy, that would solve E.O.C. A energy needs practically overnight.”
“I agree sir, but at what cost, the facility itself is so far removed from standard E.D. F systems and technology, that we would have difficulty integrating it and defending it.”
“It’s a damned shame, all that power on tap, and virtually for free too, what’s your plan then, captain.”
“We shut the facility down, just as the scientists found it, and then seal it, so that it stays shut. Perhaps in the future E.D. F scientists may be able to integrate it into our own systems, and the Dracos may be more amenable to us using it. Until that day however, it is simply too dangerous, and right now beyond our level of expertise.”
The admiral sighed noticeably as a few tense seconds passed, finally after seeing that there was no other option, Montrose agreed. “Shut the place down captain, and lock it tight.”
“Will do admiral, I have one final request to make, sir. It is one of a more personal nature.”
“Go ahead?”
“The survivor we rescued, Kathryn Jacobs, is a former medical officer of the Liberty and personal friend to me. She had requested some time to be allowed to bury a very dear friend of hers, who was killed by these Dracos before we arrived.”
“You have five hours captain, then I want those ships back at Charlie gamma base for repairs, as well as the final testing of the Liberties new systems.”
“Understood, thank you sir; Alexander out.”
Montrose nodded as Michael ended the transmission.
Another intensely bright burst of energy, shot forth from the surface of the planet once again, close to the Liberty, it shot past Michaels personal porthole, briefly coating his entire quarters in a bright orange glow, “sweet Jesus that thing’s bright,” he cursed to himself as he shielded his eyes.
He eventually emerged from his quarters with a new sense of purpose.
“What’s the word, cap’n?” Kinraid asked.
“We have to go back down to the surface, to seal off the facility. I don’t want to have to do it to her, because Kathryn has had enough of an ordeal already, but she is the only one who can guide us to the central control room within that place in order to shut it down.”
“I hear ya’, sir.” Kinraid replied, concerned more for Kathryn than anyone else.
“I also want Lieutenant Logameier to come up with suggestions, as to how we can shut this thing off, permanently.”
“I’ll get right on it,” Kinraid replied.
“I’m off to see Kathryn, hopefully she is awake now, to tell her the good news, you’re in command until I get back Quinn.”
“Understood, sir. I’m sure little Kathryn’ll be delighted to find out she’s goin’ back down the rabbit hole again.”
Michael looked at Quinn, “she’s one of ours, she deserves better after what she’s been through.”
“I know, Cap’n, I know.”
Michael left the bridge, and entered an adjoining elevator, which deposited him on deck four, he made his way through the Liberty, passing various crewmembers making repairs to still-damaged systems, and who all regarded him with the kind of respect one would give a good friend. Eventually, he found the temporary inter-connecting corridor between the Liberty and the Eisenhower, he hoped it would be the last time he would have to make this crossing.
As he made his way back to the med-bay of the other ship, he bumped into commander Fontain again; informed her of the new orders and requested the use of a shuttle. The commander duly granted him the request; he also paged Nikolai through his wrist comm. asking if he wanted one last trip down to the surface. It turned out that the colonel was packing ready for the trip back, yet ultimately agreed.
Michael carefully entered the med-bay to find Kathryn awake, although still a little drowsy, he sat quietly beside her.
“How are you feeling?”
“A little sore, and I keep getting this strange tingling sensation in my leg, but I’m okay I guess.”
Michael smiled, repressing a slight chuckle, “the tingling is the micro-static therapy working, something you’ll have to get used to for now I’m afraid.”
“You mean they put little implants inside me, why I ‘oughta.”
Michael chuckled again, “well you seem in better spirits anyway.”
“I’m just so glad that I’m finally free of that horrible nightmare, I’m glad you came back for me,” she reached over from her hospital bed and kissed Michael tenderly on the cheek.
“You are one of ours, as well as one of my closest friends, I couldn’t just stand back and let you die down there.”
“I know.”
Kathryns levity, and emotional state made what Michael had to say next all the more difficult, his face sunk into one of concern as he struggled within himself how to tell her.
She studied him intently, “I think I know you well enough by now, to recognise that look, what’s wrong Michael?”
The Liberty captain grimaced as he realised that there was no easy way to tell her this, “we have to go back down there.”
Kathryn recoiled in shock, “No! I can’t, I won’t, I won’t go through all that again Michael!”
He silently regarded her with patient eyes, “we have five hours Kathryn, in which to bury your friend, and to finally shut that thing down, for good.” He looked at her again, and pleaded with her as he whispered, “you are the only one who can end this.”
With that, Michael got slowly to his feet, nodded respectfully to her, and left the med-bay and Kathryn to think over what he had just said.
Over the next four hours, Michael went through the details of the mission, the team was to be made up of himself, Lieutenant Logameier, Colonel Vargev and four of his commandoes as well as Kathryn, if she was up to it, if not, they would have to find some other way to shut the facility down.
Hopefully, that wouldn’t include sending a torpedo straight down the main aperture and destroying its collider.
He spoke to the men arrayed ahead of him in the briefing room of the Liberty. “So is everyone clear. It’s a simple, go in, shut down, seal it off, and get out again.”
Nikolai spoke to his men, “commandoes will be taking the same armaments as before, we did a quick sweep of the base when we went in the first time. But we could have missed a few, so stay frosty and remember, we
are on their turf comrades.”
A loud shout of “Ooooragh!” came back at the colonel.
“Okay let’s gear up and get ready; dismissed.” Michael said.
Just as the assembled men went to leave, the doors slid open to reveal a lone, dark figure, silhouetted against the bright lights from the corridor to the Liberties bridge behind, and clutching a walking stick.
She stepped through the doors, it was Kathryn, she hobbled unsteadily towards the assembled men in the tiny briefing room, “you’ll need me with you, if you want to find the central control room of the base quickly.”
Michael gave a broad warm smile, almost wanting to punch the air in delight, she had come around, although in his heart he knew she would. “Thank you so much Kathryn.”
“It’s time to finally end this,” she replied, “besides, I’m a sucker for punishment.” A mischievous grin played across her features.
The others all respectfully filed out of the small room, leaving Michael and Kathryn alone together.
“What is going to happen to Rachthausen, he deserves a proper burial?”
“His body has been taken out of cold storage on the Eisenhower, and loaded aboard the shuttle as promised. As soon as we shut down the facility, we will all bury him with full military honours, you have my word.”
“Thank you.”
“It’s the least I can do, have you given any thought as to your next posting?” He probed gently.
“Not yet; I’m just trying to take things one day at a time right now.”
Michael smiled knowingly, “I understand, take all the time you need, although I’m sure a warship like the Liberty would be in need of a planetary geologist, somewhere down the line.” He winked playfully at her.
Kathryn chuckled slightly and smiled in return, “I’ll give it some thought.”
“Well,” Michael said with a little sigh, “I had better get ready for the mission myself.” He smiled as he made to move past Kathryn and leave the room, as he did so however, she leaned forward and kissed him tenderly on the cheek, “thank you.” She whispered.
He looked down at her tender features, the long dark hair swaying over her shoulders, betraying just the hint of an occasional grey strand. He wanted so much to kiss her back, but it wouldn’t have been right, he knew there was a closeness between them, though with what she had gone through he didn’t want to pressure her. He didn’t know if she really had feelings for him or not right now, with the burial of someone she loved looming he knew that now was not the best of times, and he did not want to sacrifice what they already had for one stupid impulse.
“You have nothing to thank me for,” he replied with a curt smile as he left the briefing room for his quarters.
Kathryn headed back to the Eisenhower’s hangar bay to join the rest of the team, she knew she was in good hands at last, but was still terrified of returning to those long dark corridors once again.
Michael gathered his belongings, changing into his full military landfall uniform for the first time in five years. Surprisingly it still fit, Nikolai had warned him that the surface of the planet was particularly cold and windy, and that his naval uniform would not be ideal for spending more than a few minutes on the surface at best. He took a pulse pistol as a sidearm and tucked it into a holster on his hip, picked up his breathing apparatus, and once he was confident he was ready, left his quarters and stepped out onto the bridge. He felt a little silly, stood out as he was in his camouflaged combat fatigues and heavy military boots, while all the other officers around him were in typical royal blue naval uniforms, yet it was necessary.
“Quinn.”
The commander turned, and stopped him in mid-sentence, “Yes I know cap’n, I’m in charge until ye’ get back.”
“Good man.”
With that, Michael left the bridge, and quickly made his way over to the Eisenhower also, soon meeting up with Nikolai, Kathryn, and the others in the hangar bay, “hopefully this will be last time we will have to go down to Auriga III for a while, has the body I requested been stowed onboard?” He asked as he turned to Logameier.
“Yes sir, I saw one of the Eisenhower’s crew load it onboard not ten minutes ago.”
Kathryn hobbled onto the shuttle itself helped by Michael, while Nikolai, his four accompanying commandoes, and Logameier all followed behind.
Michael sat at the controls and began working them, the rear door closed tight and sealed shut, the craft began to power up again, controls and displays all lit up in front of the pilot’s and navigators seats where Logameier was sitting. A dull thrumming groan reverberated around the interior of the bay, slowly increasing in its intensity as the shuttle’s gravitic engines began to gradually kick in.
Michael keyed in another control, “shuttle alpha-zero-one to Eisenhower, requesting permission to depart.”
“Shuttle alpha-zero-one, request is granted, opening bay doors now, happy travels.”
The communications ceased as the giant hangar bay doors slowly opened, once again revealing the starry blackness of deep space.
He increased power to the shuttles gravitic engines, and the craft began to levitate and gently taxi along the wide central aisle of the hangar bay once more, before Michael brought the boosters up to full power, and, with a loud roar, the shuttle shot forth from the hangar bay, and away from the huge form of the E.D. F heavy cruiser.
“You know, sometimes it can be hard to comprehend the true vastness of space,” Logameier said, staring out from the shuttles cockpit into the stars beyond. “Just when you think that space, with all the peoples, planets, asteroids, phenomena and everything else is such a crowded place, it shows you something like this, and then you realise that space itself is a whole lot bigger than you ever imagined.”
“I agree lieutenant, space is wondrous in its vastness.” Michael said as he swung the shuttle around, lining up to fly the craft in the channel between the vast bulk of the Eisenhower and the Arizona again, thereby revealing the dirty beige colour of the planet below in all its horrible glory once more.
“ You know, I think I’m going to miss this world,” Vargev said from behind them.
“You have got to be joking!” Kathryn retorted, finding the colonel’s remark in mildly poor taste, after what she experienced on the surface.
“Actually; I am, I hate the place, its cold, windy, there’s no breathable air. I have to admit, apart from the muddy, rain soaked battlefields of Gamma IV, this has to rank as one of the worst places I’ve ever been assigned, the place is one utter shit hole.”
“Ditto,” Michael replied simply, as he took the craft into a dive as it neared the planets atmosphere. The hull began to heat up quickly, flames and super-heated plasma began trailing across its bullet-like hull. A thick contrail of smoke followed the craft as it plunged ever deeper.
Inside, the occupants were jostled in their seats as the craft rocked and shook from the effects of atmospheric entry.
Once the shuttle glided through the thick methane cloud cover, Michael set the craft to atmospheric flight mode, and the ubiquitous delta wings emerged from underneath the main fuselage once again, the small winglets slid out from either side of the cockpit, the twin tails lifted up and the shuttle gently flew on course for the Eye of the Dracos.
Another beam of intensely bright orange energy surged skyward heralding another release from the Dracos installation, it burst through the cloud cover with ease and careered off into space. The brightness of the energy burst almost blinding the occupants of the approaching shuttle.
The E.D. F craft gently set down a few minutes later, near to the remnants of the devastated Dracos assault landers, its small landing lights illuminating the ragged twisted black metal of the downed craft.
While the shuttle was on the surface, the four Dracos imprisoned within the Eisenhower’s brig had plans of their own in mind. Their suits only had another twenty four hours worth of power left in them, and they did not wish to waste it being confined to this pri
mitive vessel’s detention area.
They had lost their uplink to the Blade of Rhovanion when it departed the system, so they were alone, and although the E.D. F guards had removed their eviscerator rifles, wrist blades, and silencers. They were not altogether unarmed, one of them looked up, seeing a small grille supplying fresh air into each of the cells. Using the still functioning magnetic properties of their suits they slowly, quietly crawled their way to this grille, and, taking the greatest of care not to make a sound, opened it. The lone guard hearing nothing untoward, continued to stand with his back to them.
The four Kallan silently crept out from their cell, and made their way along this tiny air duct, barely large enough for them to crawl inside.
There was an opening to the main walkway of the ship’s brig, where the guard, still unknowing, stood below them, weapon in hand.
The Dracos though, had more than just wrist blades, as the guard would soon learn to his cost, one of the warriors flicked out two small, yet incredibly sharp blades from the front of his boots. The warrior waited for the perfect opportunity, as the guard scanned the walkway and corridor beyond, for just the instant when the hapless soldier would look away. Eventually he did so, and immediately the Dracos warrior sprang into action, bursting from the grate in a blur of black bodysuit, he swung from it with both hands, before launching himself, and slamming his feet hard into the startled soldiers chest. The blades bit deep, the victim hardly had time to even blink as he fell backwards in a spray of blood from the impact.
He took the troopers weapon, sidearm and passkey, while the unfortunate soldier was still convulsing and gurgling on his own blood, much to the delight of his assailant. With a gentle whisper of “shush now,” the Kallan placed both hands either side of the man’s head and twisted sharply, the sickening crunch of neck snapping rang out loudly, the victim lay silent, and the Dracos had found a new hunting ground.
Michael, Nikolai, and Kathryn emerged from the just landed shuttle, donning full breathing apparatus and flanked by the four E.D. F commandoes accompanying them.
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