Discovery (The Niakrim War Book 1)

by David J. VanBergen Jr.

  "We appreciate the offer," Mitch said, "but Violet is right. We don't have time to take care of a pet."

  "Oh, he's no pet," Corbin said. "Think of him as a guardian. You're gonna need all the help you can get when facing these creatures who are, by your own reports, impervious to phasers."

  Mitch shook his head in disbelief. For some reason, he trusted this Corbin Sotar. "But that's it," he said. "No more gifts."

  “Okay, no more gifts,” Corbin agreed. “Oh, and his name is Didder, but you can change it if you want.”

  Dak had already gathered the creature into his arms and was talking to it as if it was a baby. "I think Didder is a perfect name."

  They said good-bye one more time and started the trek back to Proctar. Mitch seemed to shake his head all the way into Proctar, incredulous that he had accepted a robot and a pet into his crew. Violet couldn't stop wondering if this was the same Corbin Sotar that her grandfather idolized as a youth. And Dak spent the entire trip bonding with Didder as if it was a newborn baby.

  "IT'S the same as Proxima," Kublai told the senior officers. "The ship appeared out of nowhere. Nothing picked up on any sensors. They struck quickly, boarded the ship, and kidnapped the warp engineer. On the way out, they destroyed the communications tower."

  "How long before they have the tower repaired?" Mitch asked. He wanted to report in to IMF as soon as possible and get back into space. If Corbin was right, things were going to escalate quickly.

  "It will be weeks before the tower is repaired," Kublai said, "but we should have a temporary galactic transponder operational by the end of the day."

  "Perfect," Mitch said. "That will give us the rest of the day to see what Proctar has to share with us. We'll reconvene this evening."

  Mitch was gone before Kublai could say anything else. The rest of the crew stayed near the space dock where there was ample entertainment and refreshments. They weren't exactly on shore leave, but the crew knew to take advantage of any recreational opportunities presented and quickly dispersed. Violet was soon alone with her thoughts as Dak played with Didder.

  Was it possible that the old scientist was the Corbin Sotar her grandfather had spoken of? She didn't remember a lot of details, and honestly, she didn't know if her grandfather had ever really told her anything substantial or just spoke of the man fondly. She did know that some considered him a genius and others a traitor. Maybe he was both. That would certainly explain why he would be hiding in the desert on a remote planet.

  What it didn't explain was how a man that would be at least a hundred and twenty years old now still looked like he was in his sixties. Most likely, it was just a coincidence.

  Except Violet didn't believe in coincidences.

  "THE RANGE ISN'T GREAT, but we should be able to contact the nearest IMF switchboard," Kublai said. "Are you sure you want to do this?"

  "We've got no choice," Mitch told him. "They've hit three IMF vessels and taken three warp engineers. That ship needs to be stopped."

  "How are they going to stop a ship that can't be seen?"

  "They aren't, we are" Mitch said. "I just need them to be a distraction."

  "You're the captain."

  "Let's get this over with."

  Kublai put in the coordinates of the nearest IMF switchboard into the makeshift galactic transponder. A moment later, the switchboard operator appeared in holographic form.

  "This is Captain Mitch Cooper and I need to be connected to Vice-Admiral Spiraculi immediately."

  The holographic switchboard operator disappeared and was replaced by a spinning IMF logo. They didn't have to wait long.

  "Where the hell are you, Cooper?" Vice-Admiral Spiraculi yelled before his hologram had even completely rendered.

  "Good to see you too," Mitch said.

  "You've got a lot of nerve, Cooper, leaving the scene of an attack on IMF vessels before Galactic Military Police arrived."

  "Somebody had to chase the enemy vessel," Mitch explained. "And it's a good thing we did. They've struck again."

  "Where are you now?" the vice-admiral asked, starting to calm down, at least a little. "There's no signature on your transmission."

  "We're on Prometheus Prime," Mitch reported. "They struck Proctar and destroyed the communications tower. And they hit another IMF ship."

  "How long ago?"

  "About a day."

  "So what aren't you telling me, Cooper?" the vice-admiral demanded. "There's no way you are there by accident."

  "You're right," Mitch admitted. "I thought we could catch them, but I've come to the conclusion that this is job for you."

  "It always was," Vice-Admiral Spiraculi glowered. "The Krim Sprinter is not a combat vessel, despite all the trouble you seem to get into. Now tell me where they’re going and I will handle it."

  Mitch bristled at the rebuke, then pushed his irritation aside. "They’re heading for a black market niakrim dealer on Solari Prime," he told him. "After that, I have no idea so you better stop them there."

  "We'll take care of it."

  "And I know you don't believe me," Mitch said, "but they do have cloaking technology and warp technology."

  "Let me worry about that," the vice-admiral said arrogantly then ended the communication.

  "You withheld information," Kublai stated, no question in his voice.

  "Of course."

  "So where are we going?"

  "We're heading to that first Niakrim deposit," Mitch said. "They're taking warp engineers and that can only mean one thing. They’re building warp-enabled ships and that requires more niakrim than they will ever buy on the black market."

  CHAPTER 8

  CAPTAIN ALEC DUCOTE sat on the bridge of the IMF Star Dust, one of the largest star cruisers in the fleet, surveying the outpost on Solari Prime below. It wasn't the largest space port in the region, but as the second closest outpost to Earth, it was one of the busiest. He had six gunships circling the outpost and twenty surface-to-space photon cannons manned on the planet below. Mitch Cooper was notoriously unreliable, but Alec Ducate wasn't taking any chances with this unknown enemy.

  "Captain, a ship just dropped out of warp a hundred thousand kilometers out," a young officer reported from the front console.

  "Prepare photon torpedoes, full power to shields," ordered the captain. "Let's spring this ambush."

  Every officer on the bridge sprang into action. The captain surveyed his crew with a smile. He had been to battle with these men and women before. They had never lost, not even close. This time would be no different.

  Suddenly, a panicked voice broke through. "Captain, the ship disappeared."

  "What do you mean, disappeared?"

  "It just disappeared," the young man shouted, pressing buttons like crazy. "It was seventy-five thousand kilometers out and it just…disappeared."

  Maybe Mitch Cooper wasn't so crazy after all, Alec Ducate thought. "Alert all the gunships and surface cannons to keep alert. Fire on anything out of the ordinary."

  "What are we looking for, Captain?" the weapons officer asked.

  "I'm not sure," the captain admitted. "You'll know when you see it. Don't hesitate, open fire."

  They didn't have to wait long. A large X-shaped vessel suddenly appeared over the space port. As ordered, every ship and surface-to-space photon torpedo launched. Time seemed to stand still as hundreds of photon blasts slammed into the ship at once. The explosion was blinding.

  The smoke hadn't even dissipated when the first missile emerged from the cloud. Five more followed almost simultaneously. The captain watched, unconcerned, as each missile flew toward one of his gunships. A single missile wouldn't penetrate the shields of an IMF gunship, and would do no damage even if it did.

  Captain Alec Ducate's attention was firmly focused on the enemy ship which was emerging form the cloud of smoke, completely unscathed, when the sky lit up from six simultaneous explosions. He scanned the sky, not comprehending what he was seeing, as all six of his gunships disintegrated in
nuclear-powered explosions. When he looked back, the X-shaped ship had disappeared again.

  "What just happened?" the captain screamed. "I want answers. Now!"

  There was no time for answers. A moment later, the X-shaped ship was right in front of the star cruiser. Alec had not been prepared to face a warp-enabled vessel and could only watch helplessly as a dozen harpoons shot toward his ship.

  The bridge exploded in a shower of glass and metal and the Star Dust was suddenly pulled toward the enemy ship. Alec watched, trapped under a beam, as a dozen aliens boarded his ship. They wore hooded cloaks and breathing masks. They didn't carry phasers, or modern weapons of any sort. Their ancient swords and axes did just as much damage. His officers quickly recovered and scrambled to defend their ship, but their phasers had no effect on the enemy boarding party. They shrugged off the phaser blasts and strode through the bridge, dispatching anyone in their way.

  The captain struggled to free himself to no avail. He was completely unarmed, not that phasers seemed to do any good, and watched in terror as one of the aliens walked toward him while the rest of the boarding party left the bridge and entered the main ship. The remaining alien stopped a meter away and looked down at him, a battle-ax with alien symbols etched into the blade in its hand.

  An explosion suddenly ripped through the bridge, sending the lone alien flying. A moment later, Stasny, his chief security officer, was there, lifting the beam off of his leg.

  "Let's get you out of here," Stasny said.

  "No, get me a phaser," Alec said. "We are going to defend this ship."

  "Phasers have no effect on them," Stasney told him. "The ship is lost, Captain. We've got to get to an escape pod. Someone needs to report this to the vice-admiral."

  Captain Alec Ducate looked around the bridge. He and Stasney were the only ones to survive the assault. He was forced to agree that they couldn't fight the unknown aliens. As they made their way from the bridge, they found the lone alien who had stayed on the bridge laying on the floor, impaled by his own weapon.

  "So those bastards can be killed," the captain said. "Bring his weapon. And keep an eye out for other survivors."

  They made for the shuttle bay, but Alec refused to abandon his ship as long as there might be other survivors so it was a slow journey. They were almost to the shuttle bay when the alien ship suddenly disengaged. With no engines, the star cruiser fell from the sky like a brick dropped off a tall building.

  "Brace for impact," was the last order Captain Alec Ducat gave before the IMF Star Dust crashed into the space port in a massive explosion.

  CHAPTER 9

  MITCH HIRED a shuttle so they could avoid the ten kilometer walk in the dark. That also allowed them to get back to the Krim Sprinter hours faster than they would have otherwise. Preparations to leave began as soon as they landed in the shuttle bay.

  "Belzaire, I want the warp system online within the hour," Mitch ordered as they left the bay.

  "I'll do my best, Captain."

  The captain doled out orders as they walked and by the time they reached the bridge, only Cyrus, Dak, Violet, and C-9 remained.

  Before entering the bridge, Mitch turned to Violet and Dak. "I don't want that thing roaming the ship. You two get some sort of kennel set up to keep it contained."

  "Yes, sir," Dak replied, then turned to Violet with a silly grin. "Looks like we're parents."

  Mitch just shook his head as he watched them walk away. He could still remember the school project where he had had to take care of a robot "baby." There had been an uneven number of girls and boys so he had been partnered with Ivan. Stuck with a science prodigy and a star athlete, that robotic baby never stood a chance. It hadn't lived through the first night. Mitch would never forget the look on that poor teacher’s face when they brought their baby back in a thousand pieces.

  Mitch pulled himself back to the present and entered the bridge. "Plot a course to that niakrim deposit we identified earlier," he told Cyrus, who was already sitting in the pilot’s chair. He then turned to the android. "So what skills do you bring to my crew?"

  "I am programmed to operate all functions aboard any Intergalactic Trade Federation manufactured vessel," C-9 answered, then continued sharing unrequested information. "Did you know that the term intergalactic is a misnomer? Since no ITC vessel, or any other for that matter, has ever traveled to another galaxy and returned, the term intergalactic is categorically incorrect."

  "So you’re one of those robots?" Mitch sighed.

  "I have no idea what you mean, sir."

  "One that corrects every little mistake."

  "I am programmed for perfection, Captain," C-9 responded. "Do you want me to be less than perfect?"

  "No, of course not," Mitch replied. "Just try not to correct things that don't matter."

  "How will I know what matters?"

  "I don't know," Mitch muttered. "I guess I will tell you. From now on, ignore any references to the incorrect use of the word intergalactic."

  "Consider it done, Captain. What is your next order?"

  "Just wait in the back until I need something."

  "I will await your next order."

  Mitch took a seat in the captain's chair and waited for the crew to prepare the ship. He thought back to the conversation he had with the old man who called himself Corbin Sotar. The scientist sure seemed to have the intellect, but the Corbin Sotar had disappeared seventy years ago and would be well over a hundred and twenty by now. He didn't believe in coincidences, though, and meeting that man seemed way too farfetched to be anything other than pre-ordained. And if the Creator of the Universe wanted him to meet Corbin Sotar, he was sure He could prolong his life to make that happen.

  Time will tell.

  THE KRIM SPRINTER raced through the galaxy toward the niakrim deposit that Mitch was betting was the next stop for the unidentified alien ship. They had been traveling for two days now and had only stopped for three hours to let Cyrus and Belzaire rest.

  Everyone on the bridge was lost in thought or dozing when C-9 startled everyone awake. "I know you haven't given me a command, Captain, but I think I have news you will want to hear," C-9 said, moving from his spot at the back of the bridge for the first time since taking up position there two days ago.

  "What news? How?"

  "I can communicate with all of my C-series siblings instantaneously, Captain," he reported. "C-73 is stationed on Solari Prime and..."

  "C-73?" the captain asked. "How many siblings do you have?"

  "Master created four hundred and thirty-two of us," C-9 replied. "I guess you could say I have a very large family."

  "And where are your four hundred and thirty-one siblings?"

  "Some of them have perished," the android said, actually sounding sad. "Five still reside with Master. The rest are scattered throughout the galaxy."

  The implications were staggering. With hundreds of robots that could instantaneously communicate with one another scattered throughout the galaxy, Corbin Sotar would have better information than any intelligence agent in the IMF. Mitch would definitely have to figure out how to use that to his advantage.

  "So what is the news?"

  "As you predicted, the alien vessel went to Solari Prime," C-9 reported. "The IMF Star Duster and six gunships were waiting in ambush. They were all destroyed."

  "How?" Mitch asked, not surprised at the news.

  "The enemy ship was cloaked until the last minute. Once it uncloaked, it was bombarded by the gunships and dozens of surface-to-space photon torpedoes. They had no effect."

  "What do you mean, they had no effect?"

  "The photon torpedoes had no effect on the ship," C-9 responded. "After withstanding the barrage of photon torpedoes, the ship destroyed the gunships by nuclear-powered rockets."

  "Are you sure they were nuclear?" Mitch asked. Nuclear warheads hadn't been commonly used in over a hundred years.

  "C-73 reports they were definitely nuclear. We are equipped with sensors for a
ll types of known radiation."

  "What about the star cruiser?"

  "The IMF Star Duster was boarded and destroyed."

  "Did they abduct the warp engineer again? Were there any survivors?"

  "Unknown on both accounts."

  The news was far from unexpected, but Mitch had hoped the result would be far less devastating. There had been minimal loss of life in the previous raids. Why had this encounter turned so violent?

  "It's time we put an end to this unidentified alien vessel."

  Mitch only hoped they would be capable.

  MITCH COOPER SAT in the Captain's Dining Hall with his most trusted advisors. They had less than a day to figure out how to defeat a ship that was simultaneously invisible and impervious to conventional weapons. Their only advantage would be the element of surprise.

  "Have there been any further updates from Solari Prime?" he asked.

  "C-73 has reported that they found a survivor in the wreckage of the IMF Star Dust," C-9 reported. "He was the chief security officer on the ship."

  "Did he provide any useful information?"

  "He was badly injured but was able to give a statement," the android replied. "He reported the same invulnerability to traditional weapons, but also reported that they killed one of the aliens. It was killed by its own weapon."

  "What kind of weapon?" Kublai asked. "If we know what killed the alien, it might give a clue as to how we can destroy the ship."

  "C-73 described the weapon as a battle-ax with a large blade," C-9 reported. "It was coated with niakrim."

  "What?"

  "Niakrim, sir," C-9 repeated. "C-73 also reports that traces of niakrim were found in the wreckage of the gunships."

  "That's it," Belzaire nearly shouted. "Niakrim interferes with the shield generators."

  "IMF gunships aren't warp-enabled, they are transported on larger ships," Mitch said. "If there were traces of niakrim, it must have come from the missiles that destroyed them."

  "Historically speaking, civilizations war amongst themselves before attempting to conquer others," Violet said. "If they are using niakrim in their weapons, there's a good chance that is what they used to defeat others of their kind. If we can create a weapon similar to what they are using, we may be able to defeat them."