Earth to Centauri: The First Journey (Captain Anara - Antariksh Book 1)

by Kumar L

  23rd June 2117

  Hostilities

  The proximity alarm was blaring in Ops and alert sirens rang across the ship as the crew raced to their stations.

  ‘What do you have, Narada? Get it on holo immediately,’ ordered Ryan. Some of his key people had been sent off to rest when the alarms had sounded but they would be running to their stations he expected. He was glad of the drills in the recent weeks which had at least ensured the personnel would respond fast to the threat. He was relieved to see Manisha enter Ops and take her position at conn. He need her expertise in case they had to run or land in a hurry. He had sent Madhavan to the power plant and the Major’s deputy, Lieutenant Keisham was at the defence station.

  ‘We have a single contact, Commander, distance 2 million kilometers closing in at cruising speeds. Vessel size and configuration same as that of M2575 we encountered earlier. Data transferred to holo,’ reported Narada. A new red symbol for M2982 appeared on the holo with distance, velocity and vector readings showing below it.

  ‘Manisha, send an urgent message to the Captain. The enemy is back. We are going to try and keep it away from the planet and awaiting her instructions. Narada, program and send data to the pod above the pole.’

  ‘Message sent, priority 1. No response as of now.’

  ‘Lieutenant Keisham,’ he addressed the Major’s deputy, ‘get the guns prepped and ready to fire on my command. Madhavan, get the power up to full capacity. We’ll need it soon.’

  ‘Yes, sir,’ the Lieutenant and Madhavan acknowledged simultaneously. The Lieutenant had trained with the Major over the last few weeks and they had practiced to get the weapons operational within 10 seconds.

  The preparations complete, everyone’s attention was drawn back to the red symbol on the holo which was inexorably drawing nearer. At ten thousand kilometers out its speed decreased to a hundred kilometers per second as it drew nearer and nearer.

  ‘Ready for action, people. Manisha, programme evasive action if required and transfer control to Narada,’ ordered Ryan. The AI would be able to respond much faster in this situation.

  Manisha’s hands moved over the pad inputting commands while her eyes flitted between the holo, her display and the image on the view screen. She had handed over controls but could take them back immediately if instructed.

  This time the enemy did not even wait to get close. It made its intentions clear while still many kilometers out as a red flash of laser lanced towards Antariksh, which immediately lurched to one side. This split second timing still resulted in the laser beam connecting briefly with the hull before being deflected. More alarms sounded across the Ops room as damage data from sensors flowed onto the screens.

  ‘Time to fight, people. Narada, all damage data to be available only to engineering for now. Keep the screens in Ops clear!’

  Ryan decided to hold fire, his guns would not load fast enough for him to manoeuvre and shoot at the same time. He needed to put space between the two ships.

  ‘Narada, new evasive heading. Keep us pointed towards the enemy,’ he ordered. He needed his line of sight absolutely clear.

  A second red flash came from the enemy ship and again Antariksh lurched as Narada moved them aside.

  ‘Lieutenant, fire one shot. Full power,’ Ryan ordered. Time to play games.

  Blue laser beams shot out of Antariksh and the enemy ship managed to dodge them.

  ‘They seem to be prepared as well and that ship looks more manoeuvrable,’ stated Ryan more to himself than to the other. ‘Load projectile cannons. Fire one. Fire two.’ even though the range of the projectiles was limited, Ryan hoped the explosions would distract the Others. He would need to economize the projectile cannons because he had a very limited supply but maybe they would not be expecting HEs from Antariksh.

  ‘One and two fired,’ reported the Lieutenant, as two HEs were launched. Both travelled a short distance and exploded several kilometers in front of the ship.

  There was no impact on the incoming ship, not that Ryan had expected it to. This was just another show of force.

  The third volley from the enemy ship moved across space towards them and once more they dodged it. Ryan was getting worried, clearly these guys had come prepared for a full scale engagement this time. His ship was an explorer, it was just not designed for combat. The extra firepower notwithstanding, it just did not have the manoeuvrability required.

  ‘Captain on the comm, Sir,’ said Manisha.

  ‘Captain, we are under attack! I am not sure how long we can hold out. They seem to be hell bent on coming for us this time. We are in orbit above your position and will try and draw them away,’ Ryan shouted as the ship lurched again to avoid a fourth volley.

  ‘Ryan, you first priority is to the ship and the crew on it! Get out of her! The tactical situation is in your hands. Do what is necessary. Don’t worry about us. Leave us here if you need to and come back later,’ ordered Anara.

  ‘Understood Captain, but you may not have much of a ship to come back to if this goes on. I’ll keep you patched in as long as possible! Ryan out.’

  ‘Narada, plot an escape route to the asteroid field. We may need it. Lieutenant, full spread all cannons and two more HEs.’

  The shots from Antariksh exploded near the other ship and it wobbled as the shockwaves hit it. It seemed to hesitate and slowed its approach. Then an answering barrage exploded from the ship and this time Antariksh staggered in space. Power all over the ship went off and emergency lighting came on.

  ‘Commander, we have been hit! Power distribution throughout the ship has been cut. I need time to set the circuits back,’ came Madhavan’s panicked voice over the comm.

  They were sitting ducks. Ryan needed to get the ship out.

  ‘Narada, do we still have steerage and thrusters available?’

  ‘Yes, Commander. We can do limited movement and the projectile cannons are also online.’

  ‘Transfer conn back to Manisha. Manisha, get on it. Full thrusters on the course to the asteroid field,’ Ryan ordered. ‘Lieutenant, two more HEs spaced apart to give us some cover.’

  ‘What about the people on the surface, Commander?’ cried out Manisha.

  ‘We’ll be back for them. I’m not abandoning my people come what may. Right now our priority is to save the ship. Hard about, let’s get some distance!’

  Antariksh vibrated as all thrusters were fired and started moving towards the asteroid belt. A final volley from the enemy followed them but just missed them by a small margin.

  As Antariksh gathered speed, all eyes were fixed on the holo to see whether the other ship was following them. But instead it once again seemed to have stopped in the position occupied by Antariksh a short time back.

  “I think they just wanted to scare us off, Commander, otherwise why let us go?’ commented Manisha.

  ‘You may be right, Manisha, but we can’t take that chance not in the state we are in right now. ETA to the asteroid belt?’

  ‘One hour to the outermost reach, Commander,’ she answered.

  ‘Find me a big one to land on safely, that will help carry out outside repairs. Narada, get me a full assessment of the damage sustained. Also estimated time to repair with current resources. Lieutenant Keisham, keep an eye out for hostile activity. I’ll be with Madhavan,’ said Ryan getting out of his seat and moving to the door. He stopped and turned, ‘I think we have done well all things considered. Let’s see why we cannot come up trumps next time around,’ he said.

  As Ryan walked fast toward the power plant, Narada came on the comm. “Assessment complete, Commander. Estimated time to repair - forty eight hours. We will need three EVA teams to repair the hull damage.’

  ‘Well let’s hope the Captain can buy us that much time,’ Ryan remarked. ‘These bastards seem to get the better of us every single time!’ He was fuming inside - all their preparation and bravado had come to naught. Antariksh had been beaten again and it was once more running away from a fight, tail between i
ts legs. Why couldn’t he catch a break? - thought Ryan and slammed a panel in the corridor.

  As he entered the plant, he could see the chaos caused by the firefight. Alarms blared and red warning lights were on every display. Madhavan seemed to have restored some power here anyway and he could be seen frantically calling out orders to his team.

  ‘You got the assessment, Madhavan?’ Ryan asked as he pulled the engineer from the din to a relatively quiet corner.

  ‘I’ve got it, Sir. Narada’s estimate of forty-eight hours is valid only if I put every member of my team on the job and pull all non-essential personnel from every other area of the ship,’ answered Madhavan wiping sweat from his brow.

  ‘Do whatever is needed. We have a full team down on the surface at the complete mercy of these aliens. We need to get back as soon as possible. Do you have the spares you require?’

  ‘That is not much of a problem, Commander, I have most spares and anything else needed can be printed out. The bigger issue is that the hull plating has been damaged here, here and here,’ he said, pointing out the areas on the display. ‘We can repair these for short flight but these will not work for FTL.’

  ‘Understood, let’s get the ship moving first. FTL is still some time off. At least get sub light back on track.’

  ‘Yes, Commander.’

  ‘We need a new battle plan as well. These guys have become bolder than when we met last and I need a couple of more tricks up my sleeve when we meet again.’

  23rd June 2117

  Contact

  Here we go again, thought Anara a she finished her message to Ryan and raced towards the field shelter. She needed to warn her people and get them safe. The HuZryss would come later, she very much doubted that they were in any danger.

  She was glad to see the full surface team inside the shelter except one security person. Hopefully he would have found a safe place to observe and report whatever was happening.

  ‘We have another incoming ship, people! It has already attacked and possibly disabled Antariksh. We should expect them to land shortly. Let’s get the place cleaned up. I don’t want to leave any information lying around for them. Doctors, get your data encrypted, transmit to the pod and shut down your systems. Full lockdown, now!’

  The science and medical teams jumped into action and to their credit did not waste any time in remonstrations or questions.

  ‘Major, we will execute the plan now. Listen up everybody, so far as any other alien is concerned we are just a group of scientists who have come to collect samples and report to the ship. We are not decision makers or senior personnel. Is that clear?’

  Everyone replied in the affirmative while they continued cleaning up the systems and securing their equipment.

  Anara went out of the tent and into the communal hall. She sought out Joe and Lucy from among the crowd and pulled them aside. They were surprised at her sudden entrance and her agitation.

  ‘Listen, we have another ship in orbit and it is attacking my people. Do you have any idea who they are?’

  ‘Attacking you ship. No Captain, we have no idea but this must be the Others. They know where we are located. It was only a matter of time,’ replied Joe.

  ‘Only a matter of time? But you pulled us to this place. You were the ones who said we will be safe here. What has happened to that commitment?’ she exploded.

  ‘Believe me Captain. You will be safe here. They will not harm you. We have already sent a message to the Guardians. They will come.’

  ‘I am starting to think your bloody Guardians are a figment of your imagination. How come they are never around when needed? They have bloody well left you to rust on this forsaken planet,’ she was getting angry at their complacency. This was however not the time to turn against the only friends she had in this system and she composed herself.

  ‘Tell me something quickly. Will these people also be speaking English?’

  ‘That is possible but not likely, Captain,’ answered Lucy.

  ‘Well then I need to understand them and to communicate with them? How do I do that?’

  ‘We will .. translate for you.’

  ‘Not good enough. I need to know exactly what they say. A couple of words can make all the difference in a crisis. Do you have any translating equipment?’

  Anara was not surprised to hear them saying no. Well too bad, they will have to be her translators then. She hoped she would have enough time to open a dialogue and hoped the aliens were not ones who would shoot first and ask questions later. Her inter-ship comm was quiet. She hoped desperately the ship had gotten away. Commander Ryan was good, he would ensure the safety of the crew, she was sure of that.

  They were running out of time. She needed to do one more thing. The HuZryss needed to know the truth.

  ‘Is there anything else you guys want to share with me about the new people?’ she prodded Joe and Lucy. ‘You must know something.’

  ‘We have told you everything we know. We don’t know much about the Others but they were responsible for us having to leave Kifrwss. But they will not hurt us.’

  Yeah, but can’t say the same for us, thought Anara. ‘Listen, I have something important to tell you but you need to keep to yourselves for now. We have completed the tests. It turns out you are humans after all. You are not the product of genetic modification but probably were conceived naturally.’

  ‘What does that mean. I don’t understand,’ said Joe looking at Lucy blankly.

  ‘I don’t have time to go into details. Just know that we are all related. There is much more to discover but for now you cannot share this with anyone especially not the Others. Do you promise?’ It was like asking a child to keep a secret. She wasn’t sure why she had told everything to the two of them, but if anything was to happen to the people from Earth, she did not want the discovery to die with them.

  ‘Captain!’ the Major called out. ‘Looks like the Others are here. Their ship is coming in to land.’

  She sighed and brushed off dust from her EVA suit. Might as well make herself presentable to make real contact with aliens for the first time and be a diplomat, she thought. Then she remembered her ship was probably still in danger. She needed to resolve this situation quickly and get back to Antariksh.

  Joe and Lucy led the group out of the hall. It was twilight outside and they could just make out the shape of the ship coming in to land.

  Anara and the Major stood side by side. Whatever preparations they could manage had been done. They now needed to wait and see how the events unfolded. The Major fingered the gun on his hip. He was a crackshot but would prefer not to use his weapon. His job would be to protect the team on the planet and hope Ryan was up to doing the same job in space. He was now totally focussed on one goal and that was to get everyone safely off the planet. He had two highly trained people with him who would follow every order he gave. They were his secret weapons.

  As they watched, the ship landed slowly on the pad. The door opened and a few vague shadows stepped out. It was difficult to make out any details but they noticed the markings on the ship were exactly the same as the one on the ship which had attacked them. At least this time they would be coming face to face with their real antagonists.

  There were five of them who approached the group near the communal hall where conversation died completely. Rawat saw that the Others were not in EVA suits and were carrying a lot of equipment any of which could possibly be weapons. He wished his team had also converted their bright EVA suits, at least they’d have a better chance to blend in with the crowd if required, but the Captain had overruled him. She wanted them to face the enemy with dignity and ‘pomp’!

  Anara adjusted her display and zoomed in on the visitors. The face and body structure of the Others became clear as they reached nearer. Anara had half expected to see human faces again but her first view of intelligent alien life did not shock her as much she had feared. Instead she was fascinated. This was proof that evolution had worked in different ways on di
fferent planets.

  The Others she hoped were representative of the larger population of Kifrwss. These ‘real’ aliens were vaguely reptilian with vestiges of that nature visible. A thicker looking grey green skin, longish faces and with mismatched limbs. Some of them dropped and moved on their six limbs as well, before getting up and walking upright. The tallest of them stood around six feet tall. It was impossible for her to tell their gender if they had any differentiation that is.

  So evolution had missed the proverbial asteroid hitting their planet, thought Anara, and the reptiles had prevailed in this place. She wondered if the conflict the two species were facing today was a result of their natural aggressiveness or was it driven by some other reason. Still she was fascinated by the new arrivals and inwardly hoped she would be able to resolve the current situation peacefully.

  The group reached the communal hall and stopped. One of them, presumably the leader stepped forward and addressed the HuZryss in a soft tone which belied their overall appearance. Joe and the others responded in the same language while the Earth people looked on bemused. This was not going as they had been expecting.

  ‘These guys look completely relaxed - what the hell is going on?’ whispered Anara to Rawat through her comm. He shook his head seemingly as perplexed as her.

  The alien leader turned toward her as if in response to her whispering and said something. She wished she could get inputs on translation from her ship. For now she looked at Joe looking for him to translate.

  ‘It says - We don’t want you here. Go back where you come from,’ translated Joe.

  The alien seemed to realize that the Earth people could not under it directly. It turned around and spoke something to one of the people behind it, who in turn handed over a few small objects. This was in turn passed on to Anara who looked at it mystified.

  The alien again addressed Joe, who said ‘It’s a translator. Please use it.’