Voyage of the Hayden (The Adventures of Christopher Slone Book 1)

by Donald Nicklas

  “Alaya how good is your stealth mode?”

  “In our galaxy we would be invisible. Let’s hope it is the same in this one.”

  “I suggest we head to intercept and see if we can get some of them off their tail. We could both then make a run for the wormhole and get out of here.”

  “Good plan.” Alaya agreed. “Paul, how long till we can intercept?”

  There was a moment’s delay and then the navigator replied, “a little over an hour if we can slingshot around the moon’s gas giant.”

  “Ok let’s do that. Stay in stealth and head for an intercept.”

  The navigator complied and they headed towards the gas giant. Dane returned to his men and the door to the bridge closed. Slone asked Tom Gardner to put a hail through to the Hayden.

  “This is the Hayden. Good to hear from you captain. We were concerned. Was the mission accomplished?” Hans Stueber, the first officer replied to the hail.

  “Yes it was. Hans take the Hayden to the wormhole but change your course to be more perpendicular to ours so we can intersect your pursuit. Any contact with them yet?”

  “A few came at us from a different direction and tried to board but we charged the hull and they fell off without damage.”

  “Good, let’s keep it that way. We do calculate that they will overtake you close to the time we can intercept so we may have a fight of it. No matter what, keep heading to the wormhole and we’ll make a dash for it as well. If we can get through, the guard vessels in the Bickle system can help us with the pursuit if there is any.”

  “Aye, sir. Changing course now. Captain, we do not see you on the tactical display.”

  “Stealth mode. Let’s hope it’s the same for the methane breathers.”

  “Roger, sir. See you in an hour.”

  Alaya turned the ship over to the navigator and she and Slone went into the common room to check on the marines. As they entered, they could see body armor strewn throughout the room with weapons and ammo belts piled in one corner. Several marines were tending to their own wounds and helping the wounded comrades. The most severely wounded were in the sickbay area being tended to by marine medics. There was a very somber mood in the room. The usual banter from a successful mission was missing. Too many had been lost. In the corporate skirmishes back home, these marines were the elite and were not used to taking punishment. They gave it. However, in the methane breathers they had met their match. Yes, they got what they came for. However, this was no walk in the park and all the bravado had been knocked out of them. Dane was the most morose of all, since for the first time it was evident that they were a long way from home and help. Slone did not care much for Dane and his arrogance and was secretly glad he was brought to reality. It was just a shame it had to be on the deaths of so many good men. He had to admit though; Dane’s use of the oxygen bomb was genius.

  “How are your men doing?” Slone asked Dane.

  “Two severely wounded, the rest are fit for duty if they get some rest.”

  “Ok, rest up then. We will overtake the Hayden and the ships following her in an hour. I may need you then if we have to repel boarders.”

  “We’ll be ready,” Dane replied, a little of the old bravado back in his voice.

  Alaya chatted with the wounded marines as Slone walked into the sickbay area. There a marine medic was overseeing the placing of the two most severely injured marines into stasis. Slone looked at the medic who shook his head, indicating he did not think they would make it. Two more casualties related to this quest for a memory core. Slone had not given much thought about what was on that core; he had accepted what Sinclair and Alaya told him. The core contained ship information and that was why the methane breathers were able to reproduce our designs. Now he was not so sure that was the whole story. They must have downloaded that information by now and stored it in their own computers. So, why risk so much, to get something that was so easy to disseminate. The other question that kept nagging in the back of Slone’s mind concerned the methane breathers themselves. They lived in a cave and had no outward signs of technology, yet they flew advanced starships and had small pursuit ships. Nothing in this galaxy seemed to add up. Slone was still ruminating on these inconsistencies when he and Alaya were called to the bridge. He entered after her and could see that the gap between the Hayden and the pursuit ships was closing. When the Hayden turned to intersect with the scout ship, the pursuing aliens closed the distance a bit.

  “What’s happening?” Alaya asked.

  “There is an anomaly coming from one of the slipstreams entering the system,” reported Paul McMann from the navigation console.

  “From the wormhole?” asked Slone.

  “No sir. There is an incoming slipstream between the wormhole and us. I think there’s a ship coming through, but the sensors indicate it is larger than anything we have ever seen.”

  “A ship from this galaxy? Just what we need, more methane breathers. Contact the Hayden and let them know what’s happening, though I’m sure they picked up the anomaly as well. How long before she exits the slipstream?”

  “About fifteen minutes. Much sooner than we can reach the Hayden.”

  “Ok put me through to the Hayden.”

  Tom Gardner at communications put through the hail and Hans Stueber came on. Slone immediately began to issue orders. “Hans, there is a large vessel entering the system from the slipstream between us and the wormhole.”

  “We see it, Captain. The methane breathers are also catching up. What’s the plan?”

  “The unknown contact will breach the slipstream in less than fifteen minutes. I say we sprint for the wormhole and hope for the best. Don’t worry about us; we'll come through in the scout. Good luck.”

  “To you as well, Captain. Changing course for the wormhole, Hayden out.”

  The communication went down and Alaya changed course towards the wormhole with her normal copilot in the second seat. Slone could do nothing more now than watch the events from his place on the bridge. The Hayden fired her engines for an extra boost and made a beeline for the wormhole. At their distance, it was still hours before they would reach their destination. The scout was a little faster than the Hayden but also was farther back. If they both made it to the wormhole, the Hayden would pass through an hour earlier than the scout would. Slone knew that meant the pursuit ships that did not go through with the Hayden would be waiting for them. The stealth technology worked well at a distance, hiding the ship from sensors, but they were not invisible. If they passed close enough to another vessel, they could be seen, though they were as black as the space behind. The ballet between the Hayden and the pursuit ships continued to play out as the fifteen minutes ticked by.

  “Unknown vessel breaching the slipstream now,” McMann reported.

  “Can the sensors identify what kind of vessel it is?”

  “No, sir. Unknown configuration. This thing is huge. I am putting it on screen at maximum magnification.”

  Everyone on the bridge stared at the images on the screen. They could see the Hayden, magnified. The pursuit ships were too small to be more than points of light even under magnification. Ahead of the Hayden, they could see the ship coming out of the slipstream. Though the stream was much further away than the Hayden was, the ship could be seen with the same magnification. This meant it was gigantic. The unknown vessel took a full minute to completely exit out of the slipstream. What they saw was a bright, silvery vessel that was about the size of the Hayden on the screen, but allowing for the difference in distances between the scout and the two vessels, the new ship must be more than five times the size of a dreadnought. There was nothing in the arsenal of any corporation that size. Even the largest ore carries would still be dwarfed.

  “Look at the size of that,” Alaya said; almost forgetting she was not alone on the bridge. “Roger, break stealth long enough to get us a complete scan of that ship and then go dark again.”

  Umgabe scanned the vessel and put the results on the
screen. The scan was basic, given the distances involved but it was clear that this was an alien ship. There were at least twenty decks with an elongated, cylindrical shape. The front and back ends were flat, rather than the teardrop shapes of corporate capital ships. Scans did not reveal any weapons, but at this distance, that was no surprise. There were no visible sails to fold, so how she traversed the slipstream was a mystery. The Hayden hailed them on a scrambled, secure channel, rather than the open one they had been using. Hans Stueber knew his craft. There were never any electronic emissions from the methane breathers before so there was no indication of inter-ship communications, but when the new vessel came in the system was suddenly filled with electronic signatures indicating communication technologies. As per regulations, the Hayden switched to cloaked communications that would not give away the location of the scout craft.

  “The unknown vessel is huge but doesn’t seem to be hostile. We can’t detect any known weapon signatures,” Stueber reported.

  “We’re not picking up anything here either but you’re much closer to her than we are. How long before she catches up to you?”

  “We calculate about the time we reach the wormhole. It will be close. We have a little more than twenty-one hours to the wormhole. The pursuit ships are starting to catch up a bit again.”

  The space ballet continued for another hour, when it became obvious that the unknown vessel was closing faster than first thought. She was approaching the group of pursuit ships. There was a sudden burst transmission from the Hayden. “They’re activating weapons. The signatures are different from anything I’ve seen but our long-range scanners confirm that they are some type of weapon by the concentration of energy.”

  Both the Hayden and the scout vessel had the aliens on maximum magnification. Suddenly, multiple large lights appeared along the side of the large vessel with bursts of light flying across the gap from the new player, not towards the Hayden, but rather towards the pursuit ships. As each point of light impacted a ship, there was a flash and the ship exploded into a cloud of dust. After half of the pursuit ships were eliminated in this fashion, the rest broke off the pursuit and headed back to the methane moon. The large vessel did not break her stride, but continued to move in the direction of the Hayden. With the group from the planet out of the picture, there remained only the scout vessel, the Hayden and the unknown newcomer. Slone had to admit, he was confused. At first, he thought the new vessel was, at last, the solution to the missing technology of the methane breathers. Now it had fired on and destroyed a number of them. Not exactly what he had expected. Could it be that they were going to make contact with yet another alien race? If they could make it to the wormhole, he would never know.

  "Alaya, the alien vessel is hailing the Hayden," Tom Gardner reported.

  "Hailing? In what language?"

  "Earth standard, open broadcast. Let me put it on speaker."

  "Unknown vessel in this system, we mean you no harm. We are aware of your origin and wish to discuss your incursion into our space. You are in great danger from the Urk'Radi," said the alien vessel.

  “I know that voice,” said Alaya after a moment’s contemplation. “That’s Stryer, leader of the first scout mission. I hope that means his crew is also alive. They may have been rescued by whoever is flying that ship.”

  “Alaya I have to get back aboard the Hayden but I want you to stay hidden and see what develops. I’ll take a portable communicator and call you if I need help. I saw a boarding sled in the cargo hold; I can use that to get over there.”

  Alaya acknowledged the plan and Slone headed out of the bridge into the common room. The marines were still there, tending to their equipment and minor wounds. The crew had received word earlier that one critical marine had died; putting a further pall over the remaining landing party. All aboard knew about the strange ship and heard all communication, since Alaya had kept the bridge door open. Slone nodded to Dane as he walked to the cargo hold. Up against the back wall of the hold, there was a boarding sled on brackets. The scout vessel and the Hayden had moved closer but it would still take an hour to reach the ship. Slone considered this a plus, since he would not be visible to the Hayden sensors until almost on top of the vessel. He was hoping that would also be the case with the alien vessel. Slone put on an environmental suit and made sure he had two hours oxygen, in case he had to stay out longer than expected. He sealed the hold and evacuated it. As soon as all the air was out, he opened the hatch and left the ship. Alaya closed the hatch once he was clear and he was alone in the blackness of space.

  He accelerated to the speed he needed to reach the Hayden in an hour. By taking his time and keeping the engine off when drifting, he would maintain his invisibility and not reveal the presence of the scout vessel. His spacesuit communicator was tuned to the frequency used by the alien ship to hail the Hayden. The same voice continued to warn the Hayden about her danger. The alien also continued to try to get the Hayden to heave to and stop her run for the wormhole. The Hayden continued to respond that she meant no harm and was heading out of the system. Thus, the ballet continued with the alien vessel slowly closing the distance to the Hayden. Slone’s ship was well in range of the alien ship’s weapons, yet she did not fire on the Hayden.

  Slone settled in for his long sled ride and looked at his surroundings. He could see the gas giant and the methane moon in the distance. They hung silently like great, colorful marbles against a black background. In all directions, there were the stars of the Andromeda galaxy and covering a large part of the heavens was the great Milky Way galaxy. Upon seeing it tilted slightly upwards from his vantage point, Slone got a pang of homesickness. He covered the distance to the Hayden in less than the hour he had projected and he was finally noticed by her sensors. He sent a short transmission of a few dots and dashes in the old Morse code, feeling the aliens would not understand it even if they knew it was a transmission. The Haden send back its recognition letters in Morse code, indicating they had picked him up. The alien craft was still gaining and the Hayden was still running for the wormhole. It would be close. Slone gave the sled a slight adjustment and a quick engine burst to send it towards the hangar opening. The sled passed through the energy shield and Slone brought it to rest on the deck. A tech took the sled after Slone dismounted and he removed his environmental suit. Chief Halac was the first to greet him.

  “Welcome aboard, Captain,” the chief said as she saluted.

  “Thank you, Chief. What’s the condition of the ship?”

  “The Methane Breather’s got close enough for their forward ships to discharge several boarders. They breached the hull just forward of the engines and we have been fighting them since. Last report was that Major Sardac and her marines had them cornered and were mopping up. There’s been minimal damage to the ship.”

  At this point, the Chief Engineer came over to Slone. Stravinsky looked haggard with concern on his face. Slone turned to him and said, “What’s our status?”

  “Glad to have you back aboard, captain. The ship’s in good shape, but I’m still worried about the weakened bulkhead. This race to the wormhole is putting a lot of stress on our patch. If it collapses, the ship will buckle near engineering and we’ll be adrift.”

  “Keep an eye on it and let me know if it starts to buckle.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  Slone made his way to the bridge and took over from Commander Stueber. He could hear the chatter over the open line to the marines fighting the boarders. Major Sardac finally reported that all boarders were dead and engineering put portable force fields around the breaches and set to work shoring them up. Slone asked Sardac to report to the bridge. She arrived shortly afterwards with char marks on her body armor indicating a difficult, close quarters fight.

  “Report, Major.” Slone ordered.

  “Good to see you again sir. We repelled the boarders. There were five in all and they put up stiff resistance. I lost four marines and have six wounded, though none life threatening. The
boarders were armed with different weapons than the methane breathers we encountered in our galaxy. They had some kind of energy pulse weapon that hit with devastating force. I lost most of my casualties in the first encounter with the unexpected weaponry. Once we realized what they had, we threw out smoke screens and blocked their energy bolts. Our explosive ammo finished them off and the danger was neutralized.”

  “Well done, Major. Go and get yourself cleaned up and relax. We may need you later.”

  Slone looked at the tactical screen and saw the location of the Hayden and the location of the wormhole. He could also see the location of the giant alien ship on an intersect course with the Hayden and the Wormhole. It would be a close race. The voice of Alaya’s lost colleague continued to drone over the open communications channel, always repeating the same phrase. Slone would almost welcome some change to break up the monotony.

  Chapter 6 - Scout’s Honor

  Alaya sat in the pilot’s seat of the scout vessel and continued on a parallel course with the Hayden. The scout vessel was slightly faster than both of the larger ships were and was slowly making up the time she was behind the Hayden and would soon be on a matching course out of sensor range. The stealth mode was still doing its job and there was no indication that either of the other ships knew their location. Alaya had maintained radio silence after the last message, which Slone had sent in Morse code confirming his arrival. The scout was also using only passive sensors. They were now so far from the methane moon that it was only a small light in the distance with no evidence of activity from that direction. The voice over the communications console still transmitted its message of concern for the danger from the Urk'Radi. They had concluded that was the name of the methane breathers and suggested that the large alien vessel belonged to yet another race of beings. Alaya realized they were the first humans to discover the second race and was not sure how to handle the revelation. She did not want to provoke a race that was obviously powerful and she was not sure of their disposition to her people.