by K. D. Mattis
“Admiral to security.”
“Go ahead, Admiral.”
“Bring Commander Hong to the bridge, please. I have something I need him to see.”
“Yes, sir.”
A few minutes later, Hong was on the bridge with two security officers and a translator. He stuck out his arm as if to offer a handshake to Asher.
“Commander Hong,” Asher said, “is that what attacked your ship?”
He had to look close to see it, but Hong nodded slowly. “There’s no question. That’s what attacked us. What are you going to do?”
Asher walked over to the scanning consoles. “We don’t intend to destroy it, Commander.”
Hong stepped forward. “I don’t think you understand. If you don’t destroy it, it will destroy your ship.”
“The USSC has strict protocols regarding alien. We don’t know what they want or why they’re here, so we have an obligation to figure that out.”
Hong’s breathing grew faster, and his eyes grew wide. “Admiral, I beg you, if you won’t destroy it, then at least get out of its way.”
Moving over to Lieutenant Card’s side, Asher said, “Hong, I understand your concern. I do, but we have an opportunity here to make first contact with an alien species for our nation. We may be part of our country’s military, but we are also ambassadors to this new species. We will try to make contact.”
Reaching over Card’s shoulder, Asher intentionally kept her back to Commander Hong as she worked.
“Card, I want you to start broadcasting in all frequencies. Start basic. If they’re receptive, move on to a full greeting.”
Harris reached over to his co-pilot and put his hand on hers to keep it from shaking. “Admiral, this thing is coming right at us. Should we move out of the way?”
“Yes,” Asher nodded, “but only out of its immediate path. We don’t want them to think we’re trying to force them to make a course correction, but I don’t want us to go unseen either.”
The shaking in Gonzales’s hand stopped almost immediately as she activated the thrusters to move the Explorer.
A Corpsman at the scanning station said, “They’re moving toward us. They appear to be slowing down, but they’ll be on us within sixty seconds.”
“Let’s hope that’s a good thing,” Asher said.
Card didn’t look so certain. “We still haven’t received any response from the alien vessel.”
Asher jerked her head back. “Are we scanning everything for contact?”
“Yes, sir, but we’re still not seeing anything. I’m not sure if they’re receiving our messages, but we’re broadcasting in every way I know.”
Asher sat in the command chair. Her fingers gripped the arms tightly until they turned white.
After several seconds, Holt broke the silence. “Admiral, do you want us to prepare any offensive measures?”
“No. If they detect it, they may misinterpret it as a sign of aggression. Just be ready if you’re needed.”
When the vessel came within a hundred yards of the Explorer, it came to a complete stop. A small port opened on the front of the vessel, and a long device pushed out through it. The device sent out a wide beam of light that went up and down Asher’s ship.
As the light went across the ship, the bridge crew froze in place. Some made their way to a viewport to get a first-hand look at the alien vessel. Others made a point to get into their harnesses in case the ship tried to attack.
Ever since her childhood, she hoped she would someday meet someone from an alien world, but never thought she really would. She remembered countless nights sitting at her telescope, hoping for the clouds to clear enough for a nice view of Saturn. Her dad often joined her with a blanket and some hot chocolate while they talked about what alien life forms might look like. Now, here she sat, living just another part of her dream. As fantastic as it felt, none of it seemed real.
“Admiral,” said a member of the sensor team.
Asher didn’t respond.
“Admiral, we’re detecting something.”
Asher turned back. “What are you detecting?”
“We’re reading an energy spike coming from within their ship. We’re not sure what it is.”
“It doesn’t look like any form of communication,” Card said, “but I could be wrong.”
“That’s no communication. You should have listened,” Hong said.
Six more ports opened across the alien vessel. Each glowed brightly.
Even before receiving the order, Lieutenant Harris moved the ship to the right as fast as it could manage. As six beams of light raced forward, only two glanced off the Explorer.
“Tactical, fire!” Asher shouted.
Holt and Tran worked their fingers as fast as they could. In seconds, the space between the alien vessel and the Explorer filled with missiles and flashes of light.
“Admiral, nothing’s getting through. Their weapons stop everything we fire.”
Asher grabbed her radio. “Guardian, get in the air immediately. Get them to spread their firepower.”
One of the sensor team shouted out, “We don’t see any open ports on the side of their vessel!”
“Fantastic,” Asher said. “Harris, get us off to the side. Scanning team, keep checking for any weak points.”
As the Explorer moved, the alien vessel turned. The Guardian took advantage of this and bombarded the side of the alien vessel with a barrage of missiles.
Four of the six weapons ports on the alien vessel pointed directly at the Explorer when they fired again. Asher grabbed her seat as tight as she could.
The four beams of light ripped through the Explorer. Pieces went flying off into space and explosions rocked the bridge.
The aliens ejected a small cylinder out of a port at the back of the vessel before jumping back to speed, continuing on its path to Earth.
Command Hong stood with a shocked expression on his face. His eyes locked onto the cylinder on the screen and he muttered quietly to himself.
The cylinder began to spin, slowly at first. But the spinning sped up, turning the cylinder into a sphere. The sphere then exploded, releasing a wave of blue light in all directions.
The bridge went dark.
“Give me answers,” Asher shouted, unable to see anyone. “Comm. Tactical. Helm. I need answers.”
Groans met her ears and the admiral heard people starting to move about.
10
“Rewind the video feed. Make it as large as you can without ruining the image,” Gibbs commanded.
The sensor team displayed troubling video. A bright flash of light enveloped the Guardian and Explorer, leaving them helpless.
“What was that?” whispered lieutenant Card.
“Is anyone detecting power signatures on either ship?”
“Negative, sir.”
“Tactical, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
“Electromagnetic pulse bomb?”
“Exactly.”
Holt looked at his console. Looking through his database, he pulled up everything available about EMP bombs. He turned to the commander. “Sir, that’s what it looks like, but it can’t be. We’ve never seen an EMP bomb release a visible blast.”
Gibbs shook his head. “That doesn’t change anything. We’ve never seen it on Earth, but there’s no telling how the alien technology works. We need to assist, but tell the engineers to do their best to shield us against a similar blast. It looks like our current shielding won’t be good enough.”
“Sir, we’ve never seen an EMP blast strong enough to get past our shielding before. How can we prepare?”
“I don’t know. Have them work on it. If worse comes to worse, I want you to discharge everything holding a charge if it looks like we’re going to be hit with a blast.”
“That will leave us sitting ducks.”
“We’ll recover in a few minutes if one hits. It’s better than nothing.”
The pilot, an ensign, turned back to the commander.
“Should we prepare to confront the alien ship?”
“No,” Gibbs said, his stare piercing through the monitor. “Set a course for the Explorer. Do everything you can to avoid the aliens.”
“Sir, wouldn’t the admiral want—”
“That was an order, Ensign.” Gibbs tightened his harness. “If the Explorer couldn’t handle the alien ship, we don’t stand a chance.”
“Sir,” the pilot said, “we can get close to the Explorer, but without power, how can we dock with it?”
Gibbs looked at the crippled Explorer. The alien weapons left definitive marks on the hull. In several places, the weapons hit with such heat as to melt the outer plating of the admiral’s ship.
“The landing platform,” Gibbs said, “is it damaged?”
“No sir, but we can’t get close enough to land. It’s not safe.”
“Can it be done?”
“I have no doubt that it can, sir. But… permission to speak freely?”
Gibbs nodded.
“I don’t think I can do it safely.”
Gibbs knew he had only one option. “This is a ten-man crew. Communications and the helm are the only vital stations. Everyone else will help me board the other ships. The Guardian is smaller and has fewer air reserves. Without life support, they won’t last long. Find them.”
The pilot nodded and cautiously moved the Protector toward the Guardian.
“Tactical, prepare to launch tethers to the Guardian. Helm, I want us to go belly to belly with them.”
“Sir, what’s the plan?”
“Both ships have an airlock at the bottom, so they can dock with the Explorer. If we tether together, we should be able to create a seal and open both airlocks. To be safe, everyone should seal their flight suits and confirm airflow.”
The tactical officer shot his head up. “What about the crew on the Guardian?”
“Without life support, their suits should have automatically closed. If not, there’s nothing we can do for them.”
When it flew close enough, the Protector shot out four tethers that stuck to the Guardian.
“Reel them in,” Gibbs said.
The ships collided with a dull thud. Gibbs braced for the impact, but it wasn’t enough. He tightened his core just before his head was thrown back into his headrest.
When the ship stabilized, Gibbs and his team entered the cargo hold and continued into the airlock. After passing through, they faced the task of forcing the Guardian’s airlock open. When the command system didn’t work, they moved to the manual override hatch at the side. A man on the team worked quickly to remove the cover and exposed the series of levers inside. After bracing themselves against the frame of the airlock, they pulled with all of their might until the metal bars holding the door in place finally gave way with a lurch.
Gibbs could barely see through the smoke. “You four, get those engines running. Everyone else, help me check the crew.”
“Sir, it’s the capacitors,” said one of the engineers. “The power surge blew them. We have spares for half. We can repair the rest, but it’s going to take a few hours to rebuild them, not including the time it takes to charge them.”
Lifting Commander Cole from his seat, Gibbs said, “That’s time we don’t have. Each capacitor has a redundant partner, correct?”
“Yes, but we need both—”
“No, we don’t. The key word is redundant. We only need one in each part for them to work. Replace one from each set with the spares we have. We’ll work on rebuilding the spares later.”
“And the charging, sir?”
Gibbs stopped to think for a moment. “Have you ever used jumper cables?”
Confused, the engineer laughed. “On my car, sure. A spaceship is something else entirely.”
“Yes and no. Tell the others about the capacitors. Then you and Corpsman Ellison,” Gibbs motioned to an engineer, “go create a makeshift jumper cable. We need to hurry.”
Gibbs looked at Cole’s oxygen supply. The tubing was damaged. He looked around quickly, spotting the parts locker. He hoped there was a spare as he rifled through the locker. There it was. He grabbed it and ran back to Cole, replacing the damaged parts with the new.
“Wake up, Cole.” Gibbs said.
No response.
“Cole!” Gibbs shouted, shaking him. “Damnit, Cole, wake up!”
He had Cole by both shoulders, shaking him violently when Cole finally opened his eyes.
“Is it safe to assume the aliens are hostile?”
“Yeah, I’d say so,” Gibbs replied, smiling at him. “Right now, they’re getting away. Every second we waste is a second they make it closer to Earth.”
Cole clenched his eyes shut and coughed deeply, clutching his body as he did so, moaning in pain. When he opened them again, Gibbs saw determination and resolve. He rose, stumbling to the next person to wake them. In a matter of minutes, the crews of both ships worked together to breathe new life into the craft.
“Start the main generators,” Cole ordered the engineering team.
“Starting the generators,” replied the highest-ranking engineer. “Pumping the starter. One, two, three. It’s a no-go, sir.”
“Try it again,” Cole said.
“Attempt two. One, two, three.”
The engine turned over several times before slowing to a halt.
Cole grimaced. “At least we saw something that time. Try it one more time. Keep going until it spins on its own power.”
The engineer pumped the machine six more times before it kicked off with a loud whirring noise. “That’s it, Commander. Turning on life support.”
“Perform normal start-up procedures. Ensure life support is working. We’ll worry about everything else later. We need to move.”
Gibbs left Cole to command his ship and returned to the Protector with the rest of his crew. “Pilot, get us over to the Explorer.”
“Yes, sir. How will we board?”
“Unless you have a better idea, we’re going to dock manually.”
11
Asher woke up to Commander Gibbs calling her name. A medic knelt by her side and shined a light into her eyes.
“What happened?”
“Sir, we saw the aliens approaching us. Then we saw the blast, but we hadn’t heard from you yet, so I had the Protector swing back by to make sure everything was all right. I’m glad we did. We were able to get the power kicked back on for the Explorer and Guardian.”
“That light. What was that light?”
Holt, who was working on checking all the consoles across the bridge, said, “It was an EMP bomb. Brilliant really. It would have left us dead in the water if our ship wasn’t shielded against it.”
“If we’re shielded against it, why did it knock out the power?”
“Because we weren’t prepared for a blast that strong,” Holt said. “We shielded the ship from the size of EMP blasts we’ve seen on Earth. Theirs was a bit stronger. Not strong enough to destroy our electrical systems, but enough to knock them offline.”
Asher stood and pushed past Gibbs and the medic. “Reynolds, status report.”
“I’m almost done with it, sir.”
“Is there anything that will keep us from pursuing them?”
Reynolds sighed. “Do we need a working engine to go after them?”
“You’re kidding me.”
“No, sir,” Reynolds said, shaking his head. “Our engines took a beating. I’m not sure what’s wrong with them, but it has something to do with the power flow.”
“Anything else go wrong?”
“No. Nothing that we can't fix, anyway. Their weapons pierced our hull in several places, but I already have crews working on patching them up. If we’re lucky, it’ll be done in a couple hours.”
“Admiral, I think you’ll be glad to know that the Guardian only suffered minor bumps and bruises,” Gibbs said.
“Is it fully operational?”
“Yes, sir. I had it dock with the Explorer. I
figured we could use all the manpower we had to complete repairs.”
“Agreed.” Asher turned her attention to her communications officer. “Card, get Central Command on a link immediately.”
“Yes, Admiral.” A moment later, she continued, “Central Command, sir.”
A booming voice filled the command bridge over the intercom. “This is Charles Robinson of Central Command. We read you loud and clear.”
Asher looked around her. Her haggard crew still had so much to do before the Explorer could be on its way. She ran her hands down the front of her uniform, brushing out the wrinkles that formed.
Asher took a deep breath. “Command, I trust you’ve been informed that we were set to intercept the alien vessel?”
“Yes. Has interception happened?”
“Regrettably.”
“And what were the results?”
Asher cleared a lump in her throat. “Not good, sir. The Explorer and the Guardian were knocked out by an EMP. We’ve since recovered but must repair the engine before we can continue pursuit.”
“And the status of the Protector?”
“The Protector is safe. Commander Gibbs and his crew managed to restore power to both ships.”
“Is it safe to assume the alien vessel is still on its way to Earth?”
“Yes, sir. It looks that way.”
“Do we know the estimated time of arrival?”
Asher looked at her sensor team. One of the crewmen looked up after running through some data.
“Two weeks if they maintain the speed and direction they used before.”
Robinson said, “What are the odds that you’ll be able to beat them here?”
“I don’t know,” Asher said. She smoothed back her hair nervously.
“Admiral, I’m going to lay everything on the line for you. We’ve spoken with the Chinese, Indian, and Russian space agencies. The fact is, even if we utilize all our resources and theirs, we don’t have the assets to counter an alien threat.
“The Chinese lunar base does have some basic weapons. Their weapons are great for maintaining security, but it’s certainly not enough to hold off an alien attack.