The shipboard psionic had long entered a state of deep focus to maintain the overshields. Her pale face twitched with each successful shot that impacted against the overshields, while her cybernetic implants glowed along with parts of the seductive robe she wore. The colors that radiated away from her reminded Foster of the mysterious alien tattoos that had covered her body, they too began to emit traces of light. It was a worrying thought, as she had no idea of the level of change her body had undergone.
A direct hit to the forward overshields caused the psionic to groan, her mind was getting weak. The blockade facing the wormhole had begun to unleash their wrath, adding to the random salvos of tachyon beams hitting them from elsewhere in the system. FTL weaponry was a major game changer.
Hashmedai words became a roar from all members of the bridge crew, none of it seemed promising given their tone of voice. Pierce, once again, listened and gave his translation. “And now they’re arguing, sounds like the captain and first officer were only promoted because of unexpected deaths,” he said. “Oh, and they don’t have a helmsman, seems the only one trained to fly this ship is dead.”
A crew that didn’t work as a team was a recipe for death in a situation like this. Foster gazed at the novice captain and the worrying look on his face. She swallowed her pride, all of it, and approached him amongst the sudden vibrations and computer stations erupting with sparks and explosive blasts from the attack.
“What kind of escape you got going here, pal?” Foster asked Peiun.
“Most of our officers were killed days ago in battle,” Peiun said. “The plasma cannons were offline earlier since we needed to divert its power to the shields. However, it is clear we will need weapons to make our escape. We don’t have a gunner; our psionic, Alesyna, has been using her mind to remotely power the plasma cannons.”
“Her powers aren’t focused then,” Foster said. “She’ll be able to form a stronger overshield if she just concentrates on that.”
“We don’t have any other option; the rest of our crew aren’t trained for bridge operations.”
“I could do that,” Vynei said as he stepped in front of the tactical station, interacting with its flashing holographic buttons and screens. “These controls aren’t much different from the ones Radiance uses.”
“Since when did you know about such things?” Eicelea said, gazing up at him.
Vynei continued to type commands into the console. “I used to be in the navy, it’s where I learned how to shoot.”
Foster looked at the Hashmedai that sat at the helm, remembering what Peiun had said about their real helmsman being dead. Whoever the Hashmedai was, he was no pilot and guided the ship with the same level of skill Peiun used to fly the transport. Peiun nearly crashed the transport trying to land it in the docking bay. The Hashmedai at the helm was poised to crash the ship into one of the invader ships . . . or the lip of the wormhole gate.
“Let me take the helm,” Foster said.
Peiun’s face became flabbergasted. “You?”
“I was a starship captain,” she said as she stepped next to the acting helmsman. “Can’t get in the captain’s chair if you ain’t never spent time at the helm.”
Peiun ordered the Hashmedai at the helm to surrender it to Foster. His command was met with furious hissing noises. Peiun hissed back louder and pointed his finger at the psionic, Alesyna. Foster wasn’t sure what Alesyna had to do with anything, but it made the Hashmedai step away and attend to the communication station, giving Foster access to the helm.
Pierce ran behind her as she sat down. “You can’t be serious about this?”
“Can’t be all that hard,” Foster said, looking at the controls and holographic screens. “I think these are the maneuvering thrusters.” Her hand went for the commands she thought were the thrusters.
The entire ship came to a full and complete stop, making the invaders’ job easier.
Foster’s face flushed. “I meant to do that!”
“Maybe we should get a Hashmedai officer to fly the twenty-second century Hashmedai ship?” Pierce suggested.
“Just translate what all these labels mean, and I’ll get us out of here.” The invader blockade and wormhole behind it began to grow larger on the view screen as speed was restored. “And I’ll do it without slamming into the invader ships.”
Pierce pointed at several controls that had words written in the Hashmedai language across them, translating to Foster what they were. Following his words, she quickly caught on to the operation of the helm controls as they weren’t that different from those of the Carl Sagan, or other Earth ships.
All Earth ships, at least those that were in service during 2033, were built using reverse engineered Hashmedai and Radiance technology. Furthermore, Hashmedai technology was originally given to them by Radiance, since it was them who uplifted the Hashmedai race from their homeworld and taught them how to build ships. All technology used by Radiance, Hashmedai, and the UNE had their origins from Radiance and so operated in a similar manner.
Everything Foster needed to fly the ship was at her fingertips. The commands she needed to access were just in a different location and had several other functions that were new. Understandable, given that she was now operating a ship from an entirely new century.
With Alesyna tasked with fewer responsibilities, the Rezeki’s Rage moved forward to the blockade at sub light speeds and a marginally stronger overshield. Vynei’s skills as a primary gunner helped take the pressure off the ship as balls of plasma burned the flesh of the organic ships during their close approach.
“Strap yourself in, boys and girls!” Foster jubilantly spoke, for their journey through the gauntlet leading to the wormhole had just begun.
The Rezeki’s Rage carefully maneuvered past a multitude of invader ships in a no-fear attempt to reach the wormhole. Tachyon beams deflected off the overshields, plasma balls soared and crashed into tachyon cannons, destroying them, or damaging them enough to disrupt their energy output. Weapons fire from across the system became less frequent as they pushed deeper into the blockade, the invaders weren’t going to risk friendly fire.
With three ships left to zigzag around, and an overshield down to 24 percent, Foster pushed forward as a clear and somewhat straight path to the wormhole neared. She could see a fleet of UNE warships on the other side in formation, pondering their next move she figured. Now, more than ever, since a lone Imperial ship was on its final approach.
Lightning bolts struck before them, and a cloud of exotic gases from a storm cloud in space expanded outward rapidly, enveloping the sight of the wormhole, cutting off their escape. From the storm cloud maelstrom, came a fleet of invader ships entering the system single file alongside thousands of wing-flapping wyverns.
“You gots to be kiddin’ me . . .” Foster moaned and forced the Rezeki’s Rage to pull a sharp turn away from the maelstrom now blocking the wormhole.
The clouds of the maelstrom shifted out of sight to the left via the viewer, only the stars of space appeared along with the odd tachyon strike.
A second maelstrom appeared.
Foster silently cursed as the Hashmedai crew spoke.
“Two maelstroms are feeding us two more fleets of invader ships,” Pierce translated. “Whatever that means.”
The Kapteyn’s Star system was poised to be overwhelmed by not one, but three fleets of invader ships and dragons. It got Foster thinking. The Empire, Union, and UNE were all attacked by one fleet, meaning the invaders had at least three known fleets operating in the galaxy. What was playing out before them, could very well be all the ships used to attack Earth, Paryo, and Aervounis. One fleet nearly brought down Earth and Sol, and now there were three, three that were aware of their presence and cut off their access to the wormhole.
I knew I should have stayed in cryo . . .
“They use those maelstroms as a means of interstellar travel,” Peiun said to Foster. “Try not to get too close, there’s a gravity well that could pu
ll us in.”
The Rezeki’s Rage remained on its approach toward the second maelstrom. In truth, Foster had no idea what else they could do, they were exposed to tachyon fire from all invader ships once again, and the wormhole was no longer an option, neither was an FTL escape. Light reflected off her face, partially illumining the darkened corner of the bridge she sat at. Looking down she saw the source, her alien tattoos. They began to glow blue colors like a Christmas tree. Even the tattoos covered by her uniform had their light bleed away from it. The closer they got to the maelstrom, the more intensely her tattoos reacted to it.
“We can’t get to the wormhole from here, not with all those ships coming out of the maelstrom,” Foster said. “I’m going to assume you guys have experience navigating through the maelstrom?”
“It’s dangerous to stay within it for a long period of time,” Peiun said as a rear computer console burst into flames amid a violent rumble of the ship, thanks to a direct hit from a tachyon beam. “But, if we’re cut off from the wormhole . . .”
Foster held onto the helm’s console to minimize the swaying of her body during the assault. She looked back at Alesyna’s weakened face and her body partially slumped over onto her workstation. The overshield was almost gone, and from what Foster was able to make out from the controls, critical ship systems were on the way out.
“We ain’t got no other choice,” Foster said. “Settin’ a course.”
“Those ships,” Peiun said, bringing Foster’s attention to an invader ship with a large green sack up top and another on the underside of it. “We call them the charybdis; they can open and close the maelstrom at will.”
Foster eyed the charybdis ship as it left the maelstrom while they approached it. “So, without them we’re stuck inside?”
Peiun nodded. “Quite possibly.”
“It’s a long shot, but I might be able to goad a few of their ships to follow us in,” Vynei offered.
Foster adjusted their course. “Worth a shot.”
The Rezeki’s Rage made a close approach to the charybdis ship, unleashing a nonstop barrage of plasma into its side, before propelling to the maelstrom.
“That got its attention,” Vynei said.
He was spot-on with his assessment, the charybdis and six other smaller invader capital ships changed direction, opting to chase the fleeing Hashmedai frigate as it accelerated as fast as it could into the now swelling maelstrom clouds.
Foster felt her body temperature rise thanks to the tattoos pulsing rapidly the closer they got. The view screen was dominated by majestic clouds of the maelstrom as the last wave of wyverns flew out while the Rezeki’s Rage flew in. Lightning flashed, briefly lighting up the darkened bridge and smoke from its fires slowly burning out of control.
Foster briefly brought her hands to her face to examine the tattoo’s glowing light. It caught Peiun’s attention. “May I ask what it is you’re doing?”
“I have absolutely no idea whatsoever,” Foster said drily.
The view screen switched to an aft view as the Rezeki’s Rage crossed the threshold into the maelstrom. Normal space and time appeared as a small shrinking circle of black with specks of white amongst the ethereal clouds of the realm they entered.
That’s when Foster realized something critical.
The opening leading back into space wasn’t shrinking because they were flying further away from it. It was shrinking because it was closing, closing without the charybdis following them in as planned.
“They didn’t join us . . .” Pierce said with concern as the vortex closed, officially trapping them within the maelstrom.
Pierce went to say something more, but his words became muted along with everyone else. Foster saw his lips move, but no sounds were made, or rather none were heard by her. Foster’s tattoos began to glow brighter than before, enough for everyone on the bridge to take notice and speak, but, like with Pierce, she heard no sounds, other than the pulsing thumps of her heartbeat.
And it was beating way too fast.
Then it wasn’t beating at all.
Foster heard the soothing waves of the clouds outside, the thundering noises of the lightning strikes, and the hum of the Rezeki’s Rage as it flew through the maelstrom, a maelstrom she felt at one with. She envisioned what felt like a tunnel the ship was traveling through, tunnels that led to several locations throughout the universe. These tunnels . . . they collapsed slowly over time when not in use, and so she was only able to detect recently used tunnels. She sensed where some of them could lead and a network-like map leaped into her head, navigational data to traverse the maelstrom.
In some way, the tunnels were similar to a subway system. The invaders, from what she could tell, used them to bore through this alternate realm that existed in parallel to the known universe. Traveling here allowed them to bypass detection, stars, planets, asteroids, and other ships, all while arriving at a destination faster than it would take to use FTL.
Foster sensed tunnels that led to the Hashmedai homeworld of Paryo, another that led to the Aryile homeworld and capital of the Radiance Union, Aervounis. Four other tunnels were detected, one, as expected, led to Earth, another to the Kapteyn’s Star, being the one they were currently traveling through, another to the Arietis system. And a final tunnel . . . it hadn’t been in use for some time, and, as such, it was collapsing. Its entry point was a location from beyond the edge of the Milky Way.
As fascinating as the dark energy tunnels were, they needed escape.
“I don’t think we need ‘em,” Foster said, as her mind partially returned and navigated the Rezeki’s Rage through the tunnels and the vibrant clouds ahead of them.
Her thoughts left her body again as she watched the Rezeki’s Rage move through the tunnels like an ethereal creature. It arrived at a fork where she guided the ship into another tunnel. Upon reaching the end of the cloud tunnel, Foster reached out, almost as if she was trying to touch the clouds themselves. A tear in the fabric of space-time appeared and the star-filled skies of space welcomed them back into the normal universe. How she was able to make that happen was another story.
A maelstrom appeared at the edge of the Arietis system. The Rezeki’s Rage was the sole ship to appear from the vortex of clouds as they slowly retracted back into nothingness. Foster’s tattoos became dormant immediately afterward, and her skin began to cool down, thanks to the chilly air of the Hashmedai environment.
“Alrighty, folks, new rule,” Foster said, staring wide-eyed at the view screen. “We don’t do that again.”
“Sweet Jesus, where are we?” Pierce said.
Peiun consulted with Alesyna and revealed. “This is the Arietis system according to our psionic.”
Silence fell upon everyone while Foster sent the Rezeki’s Rage on a course to Amicitia Station 14, almost a day away from their current position. Her face turned a shade pale upon realizing the invaders had direct access to the system yet were never seen.
Or so they thought.
28 Odelea
Abyssal Comet, Infirmary
En route to the Luminous system wormhole, Arietis system
August 9, 2118, 19:30 SST (Sol Standard Time)
Odelea’s forehead flared with mild pain during her recovery on one of the seven Radiance medical beds in the infirmary of the Abyssal Comet. She kept her eyes shut and tried to recall what had happened that would have resulted in her admittance into the infirmary. She remembered freeing Tolukei from his bindings, and teleporting onto the human homeworld, Earth. The two had stood on a mountain, and then she woke up back aboard the Comet.
Her HNI logs revealed a tremendous amount of data corruption moments after the teleport down to the surface, followed by a period where it ceased to record anything until now.
A cold set of fingers slid across her face, down her neck.
And neared her chest.
She leaped up from her rest having realized how vulnerable she had become.
“Oh, did I wake you from you
r attempt to sleep the guilt away?” Queenea stood next to Odelea, giving her a flirty glare. Odelea gave her a frown back.
“Attempt?” Odelea said, rubbing her forehead. “My head feels as if it has been pureed in a Hashmedai food processor.”
Odelea’s voice lured a doctor over to scan her body. She was given the okay to leave afterwards. She pushed her fragile frame off the bed, took one step, only to be yanked back by Queenea and her firm hold of her arm.
“Hold on, I’m not done with you,” Queenea said. “The captain, Crimei, and I aren’t pleased to know you made this ship a target to the humans, and the council isn’t pleased to know you might have jeopardized our relationships with their species.”
Odelea double-checked her HNI’s recorded data to ensure she didn’t miss anything. There was nothing of value. Whatever happened on Earth with her and Tolukei must have not gone smoothly.
“My Gods, Tolukei, what happened to him?” Odelea asked her.
“He’s back in his cell, along with your captured specimen,” Queenea said. “That specimen is the sole reason why we’re not making you join him.”
Odelea’s exhale brought relief to her thoughts. “Thank the Gods.”
“You better thank them, because you’re going to need their assistance once Tolukei finds out how we’re going to spin this.”
“Spin this? What do you mean?”
“The official story will be that he kidnapped and forced you to the surface of Earth, being the devious and sinful Muodiry that he is.”
“But—”
Queenea silenced Odelea by placing her fingers across her lips and smiling with perverse lust. “I suggest you keep your distance from him when that story goes live. He will kill you.”
Queenea escorted Odelea down the vibrantly illuminated, white, shiny hallways of the ship. Her previously calmed thoughts flared back up to the previous level of panic and terror.
“Queenea, there must be another way?” Odelea asked.
“There is another way. The council exiles you,” Queenea offered. “Iey’liwea was born an exile, and she’s told me stories about that kind of life. It’s not the exciting adventure human movies make it seem to be. And with the young pretty body you have now, pirates will make you hate all men for years to come, like they did to her.”
Celestial Incursion (Edge of the Splintered Galaxy Book 1) Page 28