by Jerome Kelly
“We’ll leave it offline for now,” said James, “I’ll examine it later and see if it’s going to be any use. This is one of the best crews in the fleet and I trust that we can get by on good old human instinct.”
With the ship powered up, Davidson’s shuttle exited the hangar bay and returned to the Titan. That was the cue for them to get the mission started. Daniels started the main engines and detached the ship from the construction dock. The exciting and dangerous mission that James had been craving for so long was finally underway and even if the circumstances surrounding it had been less than convenient, it was a relief to finally get going. All of the old team had settled themselves in, taking up the spare seats in the currently unoccupied posts on the bridge. With the formalities out of the way, even Saavoy and Kosare, both of whom had been reluctant to join up, looked to be warming up to the prospect of their assignment.
“We’ve cleared the docks,” Daniels announced to the crew, “we’re clear and ready for warp.”
“Then you know what to do helmsman,” said James, sitting back in his new captain’s chair, “lock in the co-ordinates the council sent to us and lets get going.”
“Aye sir, engaging warp engines now.”
The once more familiar sight of the ship jumping forward into hyperspace flashed before them. Leaving the Terran system behind, the Evening Star was underway on the long journey out into the uncharted reaches of the Blue Ring sector.
“I thought we would never get going,” Kosare said with a sigh of relief, “your admirals can’t half talk. It’s something like thirty-six hours into the Blue Ring from here though isn’t it? That’s a pretty long time to just be waiting around.”
“It’ll give us some time just to settle into the ship,” said James, “and besides, I think there are a few things we need to go over before we arrive. If we could all make our way down to the briefing room, I would like to go over all the intel the council forwarded to us, see if we can’t dig up anything interesting.”
“You sound as if you don’t trust them,” said Julio, “you think maybe they’ve been holding something back?”
“It is possible,” said Ansare, “I got the distinct feeling that Artennes knew more than he was letting on when we spoke on the council ship. I think there is a lot more to this mission than we have been told.”
“I agree, there are a few things that just don’t add up,” said James, “I want to go over the details and make sure that we haven’t missed anything. There is far too much at stake for us to be going out there unprepared.”
Ever since the moment James had been told about the situation in the Blue Ring sector, he had known that there was something a little out of place about the whole situation. With the ship at warp and on course, James left his command to lieutenant Ivanov and lead his crew down to the briefing room. Gathering his crew around the briefing table, he opened up the data package from the council and displayed the contents on the projector.
“We all know the mission, we all know what the council wants from us…” James began, “. . . but what we don’t know is why… ? What were the Churians doing out there in the first place? What made the council send ships into the middle of an uncharted region without any foreseeable reason and why are they getting so defensive when asked about the situation? Jaiden, you work at the archives, what can you tell us about the Blue Ring sector? What do we know?”
“Very little I’m afraid,” said Kosare, “like the admirals said, the region is almost completely uncharted, I doubt we even have a dozen systems from the region surveyed within our databases. The only thing we really know about the sector is that it has a spectacular ringed nebula at it’s heart. The Jaiytids did have a name for it but those wonderfully original cartographers in Tolassa have simply dubbed it the ‘Blue Ring nebula’ and that’s how the sector gets it’s name. Other than that, we really don’t have a lot to go on.”
“I doubt there is anyone in the alliance who could tell us much about this place,” said Ansare, “ever since the downfall of the Antalaea empire, very few ships have even entered the sector and we all know what happened to those that went in recently. This area is very much the wilderness of space.”
“So what exactly do we know about the location that we’re headed for?” Saavoy asked, “did the council manage to get a fix on where the ships actually went missing or are we going to have to do the searching ourselves?”
“As far as we know, the Churian ships dropped off the grid barely a few hours after reaching their destination,” said James, “its a remote system with one planet in the life-zone of it’s star but from what I can gather it is no more than a frigid world that is barely capable of supporting life. It has a breathable atmosphere, liquid water and a few plant species but there is hardly anything to really recommend it.”
“Seems like a lot of trouble for such an unremarkable system,” said Morelli, “you did mention that Artennes had been to Raylia and spoken to the Iyacs machine though. I imagine he probably wanted to learn about the old empires and the old territories of the Antalaea empire. You have to remember, two of the biggest breakthroughs in our alliance’s history have come from uncovering Jaiytid technology and one of them was by us.”
“You think Artennes found something of a similar potential in the Blue Ring then?” Isha asked. It was something James had also suspected that this might be the case too.
“That’s exactly what I think,” said Morelli, “if Artennes was to learn of the location of anything that could be of major value to the alliance, I think he would want to recover it. You have to remember that even if he is choosing to be secretive about all of this, he still has the best interests of the alliance at heart and he is continuing to do a very good job of holding the alliance together. I think Artennes has uncovered something out there in the Blue Ring and it has turned out to be far more dangerous that he suspected it might be.”
“It’s possible…” said Ansare, “. . . but the manner of the incidents does not fit the theory. We’ve had ships go missing in three different regions so far so this cannot be attributed to a simple discovery on an old Jaiytid planet.”
“All four attacks fit the same profile, the only difference between each one is the location that it took place,” said James, “it seems to me as if we have an unknown enemy that has been hunting down and destroying ships entering this region of space or at least getting close to the borders. Something with a grudge against Jaiytid descended races I would bet.”
“You still suspect the ancient Xerions don’t you?” Isha could tell exactly what he was thinking, “but there hasn’t been any sign of them in centuries, in fact there is no evidence to suggest that they even exist anymore, nor any of the other factions of the empire.”
“The four races of the Antalaea empire were not the only races that existed within the galaxy,” said James, “Iyacs said that there were once hundreds but that the conquests of the factions, wars between the other races and eventually the downfall of the empire meant that many of them are now unaccounted for. If it is not the Xerions, then it is possible that one of these others might be behind this. With a few hundred years to rebuild after the downfall, who is to say one of them hasn’t recovered enough strength to suddenly become a power in the galaxy again?”
“There is one other possibility,” said Kosare, “this could be the work of another Jaiytid descended race. Remember, the Jaiytid faction encompassed thousands of planets throughout the galaxy and we have only accounted for a few of them since the downfall. So far we have sixteen Jaiytid descended races plus Humans who are more distantly related to them. That is a very small percentage of what there could potentially be. Who is to say that somewhere beyond the borders of known space, there isn’t another race that progressed just like the Tolians did? In fact, for all we know, there could be another Vulian empire out there.”
“Let’s hope that isn’t the case,” said James,
“one Vulian empire is bad enough. Still, we’ll need to be on full alert the moment we cross into the Blue Ring sector. Even if we are coming prepared this time, this enemy has taken out too many of our ships already and we can’t underestimate what they could be capable of.”
If the alliance continued to suffer these attacks, all of the hard work that had gone into rebuilding the alliance and the efforts of each race to rebuild their fleets would go to waste. Each time there had been an attack, it had been closer and closer to one of the alliance worlds. With Naisus, Tolis and Comris all within relatively close proximity to the borders of the Blue Ring, it was vital that the attacks be stopped before the enemy reached one of the home systems of an alliance race. A powerful and unknown enemy showing up at an unprepared Tolis would almost certainly spell the end for the entire alliance.
“I guess there isn’t really that much more to say,” James said after a moments pause, “we all know pretty much what we have to do and what we’re up against. Feel free to all go about your business for the rest of the day. I think it’s about twenty-three hours until we cross the border from the Valoran sector so until then, I want to give the crew some time to settle into their new surroundings.”
“And what do you plan to do while we’re en route?” Julio asked.
“I’m going for a drink,” James replied, “the council cut our holiday short so I think we all owe it to ourselves to take some time to relax before we really get down to business. Besides, we have some great crew lounges on board, we might as well make use of them while we don’t have anything better to do.”
It was hardly a typical example of how a captain should go about running a ship in-between missions but everyone in the fleet knew that James liked to go about things a little differently to most. As long as he and his crew continued to work well together and get their jobs done, no one had questioned his methods, even if there were those who may have been sceptical about it. Regardless of what anyone thought though, the ship was in no danger while at warp through the Valoran sector.
James wanted to take at least a few hours just to familiarise himself with the new surroundings of the Evening Star. Many of his old crew from the centaur would not be used to serving with high ranking officers from among the other alliance races and it would be good for them to get used to the experience. James had suggested that Morelli help out in the engineering department for the course of the mission while Kosare assisted the navigation and cartography team that had been assigned to the ship to chart passing systems while the ship was in the Blue Ring, at least while neither of them were busy with the mission itself. James would certainly need both Morelli and Kosare’s skills once they arrived on scene. James had not simply brought the old team back for sentimental reasons, not entirely anyway, he knew that over the course of the mission he would need all of their skills and experience and each one of them would have a major part to play before they were done.
With the ship well on it’s way, James called down his crew, both old and new, to the crew lounge and games room for a little relaxation time. It had been far too long since he had been able to take some time out with them. Even if he was their superior officer, while he was off duty James had no problem in joining them for an occasional drink.
“So…” James began as he had his team gathered around one of the tables in the bar, “. . . how have you all found the Evening Star so far?”
“It handles like a dream,” Daniels replied, “for all of it’s advancements and innovations, it’s remarkably simple to fly. I heard one of the admirals mention the ship has a top-of-the-line orbital flyer too. You’ll have to let me take that thing out for a spin at some point too, it sounds awesome.”
“You’ll have to fight Kaydenne for that one,” James laughed, “she’ll be wanting to take it out too at some point. Perhaps you should race her for the opportunity?”
“Race Melina?” Ivanov joked, “she’s a Gala winner, he wouldn’t even see her tail lights.”
“And what makes you think I couldn’t take her on?” Daniels asked, “I could fly the Gala no problem. If Jamerson wasn’t such an uptight ass, I’m sure I could get myself into a team and fly in the race.”
“Good luck getting him to let you off duty,” said James, “none of us have had any decent shore leave in years and even when we can get away, look what happens… we get sent into the unknown on a virtual suicide mission.”
“Well I think it’s all quite exciting,” said Elena, “our jobs over the past few years have been painfully uneventful, it’s about time we had some excitement in our lives and in our work.”
“Everyone always seems to love the appeal of a certain death mission,” said Markova, “at least, they do up until the certain death becomes a reality and then they don’t look on it so kindly. Plus, it all leaves me with a huge mess to clean up afterwards.”
“Well we’ll try not to get ourselves mangled out there Ana,” laughed Ivanov, “we wouldn’t want to overwork you now would we?”
“Just try not to lose too many limbs if you get into a fight,” Markova scowled, “I had to clean up some real messes during the Vulian occupation and I’ve seen more than my fair share of carnage in my life. I’ve seen how our captain works in the heat of battle so I’m expecting to be very busy once we get out there.”
“Hey, wasn’t my fault the Vulians decided to attack the academy,” said James, Markova never missing a chance to remind him of his part in making her job difficult, “I was an innocent bystander… mostly… at least until I picked up a rifle anyway. I suppose I did leave quite a trail across the country during that year though.”
“Left the hospitals rather crowded you know,” said Markova, “that’s the trouble with soldiers, they don’t think about how their actions affect the doctors and the surgeons who have to clean up after them.”
“Oh lighten up Ana,” said Elena, “you’re starting to sour the mood here. We’re just trying to have a little light hearted chat and then you come in and kill it with all this pessimism.”
“Just saying it how it is,” sighed Markova, “all I’ll say is just try not to make my life difficult once the fighting starts.”
“On that subject…” Ivanov continued, “. . . what do you reckon we’ll end up finding out here anyway?”
“Hell if any of us know,” said Daniels, “for all we know, we could end up meeting something that looks like it’s jumped straight out of a sci-fi movie. God knows what was out here during the days of the old empires.”
It was difficult not to let the mind wander when imagining what could exist out there beyond the borders of known space. One thing was for sure, it wouldn’t be long until they found out.
“How about you Lucy?” James asked his old friend, “how have you been settling in to the ship?”
“Not been too hard,” Lucy replied, “it isn’t what I’m used to but I suppose it’s a nice change from being in the military back on Earth. It keeps things interesting.”
James could sense that Lucy was not quite the same person that he had known previously, there was something about her that had changed from their days of running around Europe being chased by Valdor and his men. When the team had been broken up by Valdor, the man that Lucy had loved, Benjamin Miller, had been killed in the battle that day. She certainly wasn’t the same bubbly character that he had once known, there was now a sadness in her voice that James could not help but notice. Who knew what she had been subjected to once she had become a prisoner of the Vulians though? She couldn’t have had an easy time of it, nor an easy recovery afterwards. James had seen first hand just how the Vulians treated their prisoners with both Amario and Valerian back in the revolution.
Since joining James’s new crew on the recreation deck, the old team had settled into their new surroundings very well and were enjoying many of the entertainments of Earth for the first time. Morelli was over in heated discussion with chie
f Connolly, likely discussing their shared interests of engineering as well as their thoughts and opinions on the new ship. Julio, meanwhile, was sat among the reserve command officers who were trying to teach him how to play poker while Saavoy and Ansare were engaging in a heated game of pool. The entertainments of Earth were certainly appealing to the foreign crew members.
Getting some good banter going between the new and the old crew would be good for developing working relationships that they would sorely need if they were going to pull off this mission. Having the younger members of his crew learning from some very experienced war heroes would do them the world of good and having his crew work alongside such high profile figures could only be a good thing in the long run.
Much of the rest of the day was spent blowing off steam on the crew deck. It had done many of them good to get away from their posts for a while and just have some fun. With Jamerson always shifting them from one assignment to the next without much of a breather, it was hard to find time like this. With the day coming to an end and the Evening Star closing in on the borders of the Blue Ring sector, people began to drift away to get one final nights sleep before the real mission began. With the fun and games out of the way, it was time for things to get serious.
Chapter Six
The Ghost Ships
Thirty-six hours were up. The Evening Star finally dropped out of warp into the uncharted system that they had set out for. There they were, light-years from alliance space, far out from any hope of rescue or reinforcement in an unexplored wilderness of space. There was no telling what they would find out here but one thing was for sure, they were not going to like it when they did.