by Joe Crouch
He slid into his seat aboard the bridge and stared out the window, watching as the slip energy washed it. I wonder how the press are back on Earth he chuckled to himself, I bet they’re going mad looking for me. His slip into a burst of delusional laughter was gradual, it started off weak before eventually, it grew into an uncontrollable fit where tears streaked down his cheeks from how hard he was laughing. The crew turned to stare at him as the strange Earthling held his stomach and wiped away the tears.
“Are you alright, Ambassador?” asked one of the closest officers.
“Am I alright he says?” Sean laughed rapturously as every muscle began to ache in his body, “Am I alright?” he slowed, wiping away the final tear, “No, I don’t think I am,” he sighed, crashing face first down into the console. For a moment, he laid there, his entire face covered by his crossed arms and sobbed, he sobbed for the fallen, the incapable, but mostly he sobbed for himself.
He felt a sudden foreboding wash over him as he pictured his death at the hands of a Xuron, a creature that months ago his world had no idea existed. This was his new reality. The daily grind and worry if it would be his last, but with a sniffle, something clicked in his mind, a certain acceptance of the inevitable. There was a choice he had to make, stay and fight to the end or return home, the public would see him as a coward but that wasn’t how he felt if they saw the horrors of the battlefield no sane Human would want to stay.
Time passed slowly as he stretched out on the bridge, he helped the ailing officers as much as he could in their time of need, but the matter of Cestos came to him. “Fez, about Cestos,” said Sean, “There’s something we gotta discuss.”
“There is,” replied the captain, swivelling in his chair, “I heard about your altercation down in the mess hall, this cannot happen on a fleet vessel, Sean, you and I both know this.”
“Firstly,” he started, raising a finger, “I didn’t do a thing, secondly, that idiot deserved everything he got and thirdly,” he said with an inflexion to his voice, “Thirdly, that wasn’t what I came to talk to you about.”
Fez sat back in his chair, “What did you need to speak about, then?” he asked.
“Before we went down to that Chaon planet, I heard him…” Sean was interrupted as the navigation officer turned and informed them that they would be exiting to Caladrius within moments. Waving him away to go and get secure, he left with a disgruntled feeling and strapped into his seat. A countdown begun as the crew began to relax.
“Three… two… one… exiting.” With a crash, the Mar’Ell slipped into the Caladrius system in a burst of bright, wasted energy that snaked away from their ingress point. The systems aboard took a moment to recalibrate before flashing back into life.
“Unexpected contacts!” came a cry from off to the side as Yumie snapped out of his sleepy state.
“Elaborate,” demanded Fez.
“Double checking my readings… confirmed. An Ioution fleet is in orbit around Caladrius III, but they are not alone, a small contingent of Terran vessels are orbiting the planet, too.” At the mention of Terrans, Sean bolted upright in his seat and turned.
“Terrans?” he asked, “Triple check those readings, what the hell are they doing out here?” Yumie took a moment, carefully scouring over the computer’s readings before reconfirming the presence of four Terran vessels. “Well I’ll be damned,” he smiled excitedly, almost proud that his race had made it out this far, “But again, what the fuck are they doing in Caladrius? I thought only we knew about this place.”
“Well, my reports do go to the Ioution High Council,” Fez reminded, “It is entirely possible they wanted to investigate the presence of a new technologically advanced species, it only makes sense.”
“No,” Sean sighed, “The Ioutions make sense, sorta, but why are the Humans here?” Fez ignored the question as he waved over the only Terran aboard. The captain brought up a display of the system on his terminal and zoomed into the Human ships. A box of known information scrolled down alongside the visual representation of the craft as they flicked through the different ships.
“Two cruisers, one frigate and a small carrier,” Fez said, nodding his head in appreciation, “I do have to admit, your race is immensely resilient, Sean, not six months ago you had sustained massive losses with the loss of orbital stations and shipyards and look at you now.” He couldn’t help but beam with pride, even for the briefest of moments, but the pressing matter of their sudden appearance still loomed. They waved through the immediate readings upon exit and found only trace signs of battle, which they put down to the point defences.
“Feghouli,” the comms officer shouted, “We have two separate incoming transmissions, one from the Ioution admiral and another from a captain within the Terran contingent, how should I proceed?” A glimmer twinkled in Sean’s eye that Fez took notice of, with instructions to answer the Human’s communication first the officer got to work.
“That’s kind of you,” Sean said, patting the captain on the shoulder, “Letting me speak to my own race after spending months away from them, you do have a soft side.”
With a raised eyebrow Fez looked up, “I do not wish to speak with my superiors,” he replied, “It will be a lot of hassle.” Shaking his head, Sean stood and watched as the holographic projector at the centre of the room flashed into life with a cool, blue beam which spread down from the ceiling. Block-by-block it built an image using the Terran’s archaic holographic information until eventually the figure of a stocky, well-built man with shining silvery hair stood before them.
“Well, well, well, look who I’ve stumbled across,” the man said in a friendly tone, his image wavered and stuttered as he shifted from foot-to-foot, “I’m captain Nathan Kelly of the TEF carrier Alexandria, I must say it’s an honour to finally meet the fabled Sean Maguire of Earth,” he smirked playfully.
“As it should be,” Sean smiled while crossing his arms, “That’s a nice ship you have there, Captain, isn’t it a bit early in its lifecycle to bring it out this far?” The captain gave him a look of scorn as he turned and spoke to his crew aboard the Alexandria.
“She’s a ‘beaut, isn’t she?” replied Nathan, avoiding the question, “The high command back on Terranus is chomping at the bit to properly test her capabilities out, know of any good spots?”
“A few,” said Sean as he became suspicious of the captain’s true intentions, “Tell me, and be straight, Human to Human, why are you here? Caladrius is hardly on the galactic road map of best spots you gotta see, so how did you find it?”
“Caladrius, eh?” Nathan smiled, writing down something on a notepad, “That’s what you call it? I like it, it sounds… old. The Veterum are an odd bunch, aren’t they? Parading their military about in desperate displays of force to a non-existent or uninterested enemy, it reminds me of Terranus in centuries past.” Hearing that word, Terranus, brought back memories of his time in the navy, they preferred to use Earth’s military designation to promote a sense of detachment from their home, they thought it bred a better crew.
“Stop avoiding the question, Captain Kelly, four Earth ships don’t just rock up to a well-hidden system that has evaded detection for millennia.”
Sensing that the fun had ended, captain Kelly took a more serious stance as his brow furrowed, “You’re an important asset to the navy, Sean, and when you just up and disappeared stories spread like wildfire of you defecting to the enemy, forlorn lovers on distant worlds, and my personal favourite, that your Ioution second half devoured you in a ritualistic ceremony of joining.” The way he said it, Ioution, there was a brief but distinguishable moment of disgust from the captain that threw Sean off. “So, with your well-being in mind we tracked your transmissions back home, and let me tell you when the higher up’s saw that you were ‘off the grid’ and so far outside normal space, they threw a fit, where were you exactly, may I ask?”
“Exploring,” replied Sean coldly as his breach of privacy began to sink in, “I hope me bad mouthing
upper management wasn’t read, I would never want that to happen. But how did you find me, I never once gave away my location.”
“You underestimate us when we need to find something,” said Captain Kelly, “This Caladrius isn’t too far from Terranus, a short hop in the galactic scale of things, we thought we should come check it out after seeing the Mar’Ell was stationed here for a time. This whole situation is of your own creation, too, Sean. If you reported back to the command about your activities and your whereabouts, we wouldn’t have had to track you down. The discovery of Caladrius is the exact sort of thing we as a species need to know about, you’ve left us in the dark and left us with no other option.” Sean grew angrier as he clenched his fist, he took a deep breath in a futile attempt at calming himself.
“Alright then,” he began, scratching the layer of stubble which built up around his face, “Why so many ships? One cruiser, hell even a scout probe would have been enough, you don’t just roll out a carrier for no reason.”
Seemingly agitated at the constant questioning, the captain massaged the top of his forehead for a moment before replying.
“We didn’t know what to expect, and quite frankly ambassador, as a civilian you have no right to know the military's or navy’s actions and what they signify. Why can’t you just be happy to be close to your own people again? Either way, we got here and made contact, after a brief skirmish, with the Veterum. They let us in on your little mission to, what was it, Chaon? Building relations with a new race and forming a potential alliance in the future should be your job, but seeing you run errands instead I’m not sure what your use is.”
Sean clenched tightly to the top of Fez’s seat as he gritted his teeth together, he would have enjoyed nothing more than to tear into the smug captain that holographically stood in front of him.
“The Veterum seem very interested in us,” the captain continued, “If we could form an alliance separate from the Galactic community we could begin to control a small portion of the ebb and flow of trade and technology, you have to admit, it’s enticing, isn’t it?”
“Captain,” sighed Sean, “You have your reasons for being here, and if you were as clued up about my mission as you think you are, then you’d know it was hardly a romp filled with joy and flowery fields.” Fez looked up at Sean wide-eyed, urging him not to give away too much. “We can talk later, captain, over and out,” with a nod to the comms officer he cut the transmission.
Fez’s display blinked with a second incoming transmission, this time the Ioution fleet admiral looked for a formal debrief. The captain stood and straightened his uniform before opening the commutation. In a flash, a highly detailed holographic image was projected from the ceiling. Floating an inch off the ground was the female Ioution admiral dressed to the nines in a dark blue, snuggly fit fabric uniform that was decorated from head-to-toe with lavish gold inlay. She was battle worn and experienced, three scars were scratched down the side of her face which, to Sean, looked as if she had been attacked by something rather than someone. Her light, purple skin and long, blonde hair reminded him so much of Taris as she stood stoically with her hands behind her back.
“Captain Feghouli-Azer-Taren, I am admiral Sha’mi-Assira-Dema of the Ioution fleet carrier Porion, I am happy to see that you are in one piece,” she spoke softly. Fez brought up the local scans once more and looked over the Ioution vessels in orbit. An entire battle group of thirteen had made the trip to Caladrius, a mixture of carriers, battlecruisers, and a single battleship sat in orbit around the third planet.
“Dema?” asked Fez, “Your age does not show, admiral, what generation are you currently?”
“Third,” she smiled taken aback by the odd compliment.
“Impressive,” Fez replied. Sean watched him with a curious eye. “What can I do for you, Sha’mi? I see you have an impressive fleet accompanying you, it may be a slight overkill for the current situation but the reinforcements are always welcome.”
“That is good to hear,” the admiral said, pulling down her jacket to straighten it, “We’ve received your reports, although curious in nature, they led us here.” Fez sat up straight and raised an eyebrow.
“I have not submitted a new report for a while,” he said, “The last one was regarding bringing the Veterum, Remulus, aboard, and asking for her to be given refugee status for the time being, Caladrius was only mentioned by name.” With a confused look the admiral looked down at her console, within seconds the terminal beside Fez began to beep. With a single command, he accessed the incoming file, a text log flashed into view and scrolled down the screen. Dates, times, and locations had been recorded along with a comprehensive log of the Mar’Ell’s actions taken and tasks they were currently engaged in. “This is not mine,” Fez said, panicked, “I did not send any of these.”
“But they are digitally signed by your own personal console,” the admiral replied, her face a picture of confusion, “Either these are yours and your mind has begun to degrade, or there is a security problem aboard your ship, both are equally problematic. I take it your new members have suitably reduced access across the cruiser?”
“Of course,” he took a moment to think about it, “I am not sure what’s going on, but I will get to the bottom of it, I’ll assign…” he was cut off as the admiral was bathed in red and her audio signal was filled with the sounds of blaring alarms.
Over the comms channel came the muttered speech of her officers, the admiral’s confused face was soon a picture of vengeance as she turned back to the holographic projector. “I’m afraid we have to cut this short, Feghouli, our advanced scanners have just detected approximately twenty-five to thirty Xuron ships about to exit slip space, I hope you’re ready for a fight,” she grinned, elated at the fact…
Chapter 21
“Comms, cut the channel with the admiral and helm, bring the ship about,” ordered Fez as he settled back into his seat. Sean watched as the captain was a picture of professionalism, the Ioution flicked through the various readings of the system to gauge the situation but the cruiser lacked the advanced technology the admiral’s carrier contained. In a flash of action, the alarms aboard the Mar’Ell began to ring out.
“Contacts!” yelled Yumie as he was head down into his console. The outer edge of the system became awash with the wasted energy of the sea of slip tears which formed. Space-time split apart as the brown, organic noses of Xuron ships began to squeeze out from the rips. Exit tears continued to form around the initial ingress point as more ships began to slide into the system, their cephalopod limbs flailed about to provide an intimidating sight. They continued to flow out until a huge armada took up formation out of weapons range, the admiral was right about their numbers and an engagement seemed inevitable.
“Wow…” Sean groaned as he looked down at Fez’s display, “How are we gonna get through that?” While the Mar’Ell and her crew dallied on their options, the admiral’s fleet had begun to move into position. They skated through space as each vessel was pushed to its limits. To his surprise, the Terran ships seemed to burst into life as their energy signatures increased five-fold. He watched as they, too, began their initial manoeuvres to get into some semblance of a battle line. Each fleet seemed to have the same idea, form a blockade around their carriers and protect them at all cost.
The point defences at the edge of the system burst into life and opened fire on the Xuron presence. Tight beams of energy lashed out from their dual-cannons as they tried to tackle the ships before they got too far, but it was no use. Xuron armour and defensive technology had advanced far beyond the scope of the Veterum since their last engagement hundreds or possibly thousands of years ago.
Once destructive defensive turrets now had little effect on the thick outer skin of the enemy’s hull as they only managed to dig through the first few layers of their armour. With enough time and increased outputs, they may have been effective, but not today. Xuron treated the emplacements as little more than flies buzzing around their heads as the di
stant sky was lit up with bright shades of green as plasma fire lanced out from their weapons. One by one the defences were brought to their knees as the Veterum scrambled their ships into position to form a response. Their standing navy was vast and impressive, but if their first showing was anything to go by, the joint task force of Terrans and Ioutions couldn’t rely on them. Sean was unsure if the Ioutions could even rely on his own people, the fight could become incredibly one-sided he knew.
Terran and Ioution forces attempted to join together and form a collective. The large, lumbering ships danced about one another in a display of a failed communication as Ioution ships quickly darted out the way of the steam-rolling Terran vessels. On the other hand, the Veterum were well drilled and carried out their battle preparations immaculately as they drifted into a staggered formation that resembled the sharp teeth of an animal.
Sean looked towards his captain confused, “Fez, what’s the plan, man, everyone is waiting, the fight is gonna pass us by if we do nothing.”
“I know,” the stalwart captain replied, “Set a course for the Ioution vessels, maximum speed, catch them up and we can join their battle ranks.”
“We have time,” Yumie replied, “They aren’t fully organised yet.” Small, nimble Ioution craft zipped past their front window as they raced towards the front line. The Mar’Ell sacrificed her speed for distance when they fit three new long-range slip engines on the rear of the ship. Admiral Sha’mi moved her flotilla into a specific formation, the short range, heavily armoured plasma casters sat neatly at the front while the more lightly armoured energy ships sat behind. They formed around the imposing carrier which sat centrally, controlling the flow of the battle by itself.