by AZ Kelvin
“Give me what? What is this?” He took the crystal.
Crissi paused for a moment and slowly said, “Caull liissst thaur cryssscaunn.”
“A call list—for the cryscomm?” CJ perused the contact list. He recognized Cantankerous Base and Outlook Station among the many listings. “How stellar is that! Are you on here?” he scanned through the crystlinquency listings.
“Taut othh liissst.”
CJ poked the icon at the top of the list that read, ‘Rhhkt’tau Aurrinn,’ and a small info screen brought up a description of the selected contact. An image of a Keect’nian ship with a thumbnail of Crissi’s portrait in the top right corner was displayed for this contact. The name of the ship appeared across the top with a Human translation, or as close as it could come, in parenthesis below it.
“Rick Toe Owrin?” CJ slaughtered the Keect’nian name terribly as he tried to read it.
“Rhhkt’tau Aurrinn,” Crissi tried to correct him. “Nie sshhiit.”
CJ suppressed a quick laugh at the unintentional use of a Human curse word. “This is your ship?” he indicated the ship in the image.
The ship had a central fuselage, for lack of a better word, that was surrounded by an elliptical web-like structure of interconnected arms. Dozens of struts connected the fuselage to the outer structure. The texture of the hull surprised him, as he looked over the image. He always thought of crystals as shiny and smooth, but in reality, crystals can be many different sheens, shapes, and textures. The Keect’nian ships were almost unimaginable in design, ranging from smaller solid ships, to ships with grand, elegant spires glistening brightly in the dark of space.
The fuselage of Crissi’s ship was several shades of dark colors, like blue, green, black, and grey, with a satiny finish to most of the sections. The crystalline structure surrounding it stood in stark contrast to the inner fuselage and looked very similar in design to Lenntau Zeen, the crystalline sheathing inside the Altered Moon’s hull plating, except it had a bluish-white iridescent sheen.
“The Pearl of the Stars,” he read the translation and gave an appreciative whistle. “Crissi, she’s a beauty.”
Crissi’s eyes swirled with the deep rose of love as she gazed at the image of her ship.
“Thanks, Crissi, for this, but just for being a friend, most of all.” CJ smiled at her.
Crissi swirled blue and green with a little deep rose that mixed in as well. She held out her arm with her hand curled. CJ laughed as he, very gently, hit her fist with his own. “Naa T’keerr, Seeshaay.”
“Naa T’keerr, Crissiael.” He managed to pronounce the Keect’na farewell without too much trouble.
Nelson and Tad without Snow, who undoubtedly waited just outside the door, exchanged greetings with Crissi as she left just when they came in. CJ helped load the last of the supplies and luggage onto the cargo platform.
“So, Nelson, that’s a pretty thing you got stashed away in Dry Dock Two over there.” CJ gave him a sly look.
“Eh? What, what? Oh, that…” Nelson dodged the question. “Just an RV of sorts.”
“Yeah, recreational vehicle, or research vessel?” Boss asked with a narrow eye at his friend.
“Ah, what a beautiful day, yes?” Nelson avoided the question again.
“Nelson, we’re inside a dead planet,” Boss said, trying to pin him down.
“Yes, yes, but beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” Nelson tried to lead the conversation further away from the construction in the next dock over. He turned his attention from them to the ship. “The Altered Moon, now she is a true beauty.”
“Yes, she is,” Boss said, as he and CJ shared a look of well-meant suspicion about Nelson’s elusive behavior.
Tad became very interested in the ship as well when CJ turned to him for answers.
“Okay, shut us out, you guys. Keep your secrets,” Boss said, with an ‘I don’t care’ look, which couldn’t be further from the truth.
“It will be a tale for your return,” Nelson promised.
“We’re loaded, Captain,” Pene said, as she approached the group.
“Thank you, Pene.” CJ turned to shake hands with Nelson and Tad. “Well, gentlemen, we’re outta here. Thanks for putting us up and everything else. I’m glad we came here when we did.”
“It was an honor to have you all,” Tad said. “We stand ready to assist, should you need us.”
“Yes yes, please, send updates.” Nelson shook his finger. “The cryscomm is monitored constantly. Also please, return to us soon and safely.”
“Pass on our regards to the rest of your crew, Captain,” Tad said as CJ and the others stepped onto the cargo platform and rode it up to the Altered Moon’s cargo bay.
“Will do, Tad, you guys take care!” he called down to him.
Cal waited in the cargo bay to help stow the last of the gear. He gave CJ a meaningful nod, as he stepped off the platform.
“You get what you needed?” CJ asked him.
“Aye, sir,” he said, with a sneaky smile.
“Good, you can brief me later.”
CJ and Boss continued on to the bridge, where GABI and Gina had operations at flight-ready status.
“GABI, status?”
“Cargo bay doors are closed, Captain. The ship is pressurized and sealed. We are ready to get underway.”
“Ah, very good.” CJ couldn’t believe how good it felt to be back aboard the Altered Moon, as he slipped into the captain’s chair at the command station. He poked the engineering icon. “Chief, you ready to go down there?”
“She’s powered up and ready to roar, Captain Crucible, sir!” she called back playfully.
CJ scrunched his face together. He pictured her grinning like the Cheshire Cat on the other end of the line.
“Thank you, Chief, and bite me,” CJ said and switched the channel over to ship to ship. “Cantankerous Base control, this is the Altered Moon, how do you read?”
“Loud and clear, Altered Moon. What is your status?”
“We are snug and ready to bug, Control.”
“Roger that, Altered Moon, you are clear to depart after depressurization,” the operator answered and came back after a few minutes. “Dry Dock Three is depressurized and you are clear to the outer doors. Safe travels, Captain.”
“Copy that. Thanks for your hospitality, CB. Gina, departure is at your discretion.”
“Aye, sir, engaging thrusters.” Gina compensated for the pull of the planet’s gravity and the Altered Moon lifted off and moved forward through the hangar doors and into the massive access shaft. People once again lined the viewports along the corridor to watch the newly rebuilt ship pass by. Gina increased forward velocity as they cleared the gigantic outer doors. “We’re clear, Captain.”
“GABI, here’s where I want to go.” CJ pushed a set of coordinates to GABI’s station. The destination was outside of the star system where the Find of the Century awaited them.
She entered the jump coordinates. “Ready at your command, Captain.”
CJ hit the 1MC icon. “Attention crew, this is the captain. Prepare for quantum jump.” CJ closed the channel and sat back in his chair. “Okay, let’s go find the war. GABI, jump the ship.”
*~*~*
Chapter Twenty-Five
Two days passed while CJ kept the Altered Moon outside of an unlisted star system, which not only sat outside of the Marlacuer Empire, but was beyond the far edge of the Arzian Alliance. The area of space was originally held by the Keect’na decades ago, but then the advance forces of the Kang war machine arrived and the quadrant was plunged into the stormy seas of war. The Arzian Alliance became aware of the conflict and first met the Keect’na, when refugees of occupied systems found their way into Arzian space. The Arzians sent in rescue forces intended to help the refugees escape, but they eventually were drawn into the conflict themselves.
The Keect’na and the Humans were both surprised at how well their military forces meshed with each other’s. Although they had c
ompletely different physiologies, thought and perceived along completely different lines, the two species worked toward a common goal and the results were astounding. The weaknesses of one species were covered by the strengths of the other in almost every aspect, from practical sciences to warfare. The Keect’na soldiers were called the Shaar’aarraad, but the Human soldiers soon dubbed their new compatriots ‘The Crystal Guard.’ The ranks of the resistance grew as soon as the Marlacuer Imperial Forces and the Arzian Star Guard ceased military actions against each other two years earlier and joined forces to fight against the mutual threat of the Kang.
The combined Keect’na and Human offensive had won victory after victory in the recent conflicts, and the Kang had been driven back to a star system designated by the allies as ‘TRQ one-eight-two.’ The inherent tendency of the Altered Moon’s crew to land face-first in a steaming pile of bilge goo was in full bloom, as the star system they have been sitting outside for the last two days was none other than TRQ one-eight-two. Several close patrols forced them to sneak off to different positions, as they listened in on the coded messages of both sides and waited for the hostilities to move on.
Cal had been trained by the Arzian Star Guard and worked with GABI, who was able to decrypt the encoded messages. The Kang messages were still a mystery. The logic cyphers only worked when a language was known and uploaded into the data matrix.
The Kang language was a mix of hisses, guttural growls, and quick heavy snaps and chomps. The small amount of the language in the military messages GABI recorded wasn’t enough to put together a complete understanding of it. The Kang military communiqués had most certainly been encoded and encrypted, which made them double hard to crack. Cal and GABI were able to keep track of where things were happening and how intense it was according to the amount and speed of the chatter at certain times and by what the encoded Human messages were saying.
So far, they’d had to wait because the battle action on and around the planet they needed to get to was too heavy. The duty shifts ran one after the other, with CJ, Cal, and GABI on first shift, and Boss, Gina, and Cat on second. Pene kept the galley stocked around the clock with quick on-the-grab meals and cooked for the different shifts. She made it well known she really missed the size of the galley back on Cantankerous Base, now that she had to deal with the kitchenette aboard the Altered Moon. Katy had her hands full with the maintenance of the Dark Matter Engine, which was high maintenance to begin with and even more so, given they’d never run it for two days straight before. CJ took them well outside of sensor range a day earlier to run up the main power and recharge the life-support systems before they returned to the DME and snuck back in. The Altered Moon and her crew sat like predators in the shadows, waiting for its chance to strike.
The chance they waited for came halfway into the third day when the system-wide grip the Kang had on TRQ one-eight-two finally broke and the war went to individual planetary battles and ground fighting. The discussion among the crew at the all-hands meeting was whether to go in with the Altered Moon or Moonshadow.
“The DME doesn’t have the thrust to deal with planetary gravity,” Katy said. “So, we can’t go in without main power.”
“Besides, I want the Moon to stay benched for the duration of this game,” CJ said. “We don’t have a visual of the coordinates, just the location. Maybe a recon is in order, but either way, we want the smallest target possible. The goal is to get in and out without anyone knowing we were there.”
CJ knew from the expressions of the crew what they all thought: ‘easier said than done.’
“The turbulence of entering orbit will be the greatest chance of detection,” GABI said.
“Cal, what’s the chatter around the planet?” CJ asked.
“Kang patrols: two ships, twice a day, and twelve hours apart.” Cal brought up the display of a star system with ‘TRQ one-eight-two’ in an opaque readout at the bottom. Eight of the fourteen planets had red backgrounds, which indicated where the main engagements were located. “The main battles are on the far side of the system, for now.”
“What about the planet?” Cat looked at Boss.
“Well, Century Four is ro—” Boss began when CJ interrupted.
“Century Four?”
“Yes, he’s taken to calling this the Century Star System, since it wasn’t named already,” Gina said with a smile.
“Ah-ha-ha. I guess we’re lucky he didn’t name it the Keltzer system.” CJ laughed.
“As I was saying, Century Four is roughly eighty-six kilometers across with twenty percent higher gravity than standard. It is capable of supporting Human life, but not ideally due to the overabundance of moisture. The planet is wrapped with a heavy moisture-laden atmosphere.”
“Prolonged exposure without filtration, in the case of this planet, would actually result in a fatal accumulation of fluid in the lungs inside of an hour,” Cat said.
“You mean you drown—in the air?” Pene asked in surprise. “Who’d wanna live there?”
“Lots and lots and lots of plants and animals,” Boss told her. “It’s basically a planet-sized rain forest. Whatever isn’t covered by water is covered by a thick canopy hundreds of meters above the forest floor. I use the word ‘floor’ only as a frame of understanding, because there is no true ground. Instead, there’s a kilometer-deep mass of roots over roots. Wetlands, swamps, and large growth forests cover the planet and even extend out into both of Century Four’s two oceans. The thick canopy is the reason why we can’t get eyes on the target.”
“We prep the shuttle for the game,” CJ said. “We go in to do a recon if, and only if, things are clear. Then we proceed. If there is any doubt, then we run video and come back to look for a different strategy. We’ll go in just after the early patrol goes by. Boss, GABI, Katy, Pene, Cat, will stay aboard the Moon. Gina, Cal, and I will take Moonshadow in.”
“Captain, I request permission to come along,” Cat spoke up.
“I’d like to have you there, Cat, but if both you and Cal are with me that would leave Boss without a tactical officer. I can’t do that with possible hostiles in the area. I’ll get you out on the next one, Doc, I promise.”
“Understood, sir. Anybody comes near us will have me to deal with.”
“I feel sorry for them already.” CJ winced playfully. “All right, Cal, show us the CQB gear.”
“What’s CQB?” Pene asked.
“Close Quarters Battle,” Cal explained while he brought out several pieces of thin black body armor tops and pants. “It’s when ya have to fight your opponent up close and personal. This is OnyxTec ballistic fabric, what that guy, McCarthy’s full-length jacket was made of.”
CJ picked up the lightweight body armor top that had thinner material around the flex points. It was reinforced with front, side, and back flex armor plates that wrapped around the torso. The elbows and shoulders were covered with heavy patches and there were attachment points everywhere. “Sorry, ladies, no time to leave the room.” CJ stripped off his jacket and shirt to try on the body armor.
“Mmm, we’re not,” GABI said in a husky voice.
“GABI!” Pene gasped. GABI’s statement seemed to take her by surprise, and she blushed red to her ear tips.
The snug ballistic shirt was surprisingly flexible. “Doesn’t feel like it’s going to stop a lot.”
“Most projectiles and it’ll stop a plasma bolt from burnin’ a hole through ya—…once,” Cal said with an enthusiastic nod.
CJ noticed a cobalt-blue head-on silhouette of the Altered Moon had been emblazoned on the left chest. “Nice touch.”
“These are your batons, Cap.” Cal handed him two palm-sized packs with a small finger hook that stuck out the sides of the sheaths.
CJ reached behind his back until he felt the baton sheaths lock into attachment points just below his kidneys. He released the locks and drew the batons out. The batons extended out fifty centimeters and then ended with rounded knobs. He stepped back to quickly swing
the batons in two overlaid figure-eight patterns in front of him. He collapsed the batons and stashed them back in their sheaths. “Stellar. Thanks, Cal.”
“I have a bunch of hide-away stuff too: sheaths, holsters, weapons if the rest of you want to come by and pick something out.” Cal looked to everyone else. “I have full body armor suits for everyone, even Pene.” Cal pointed at her, and she seemed surprised. “But, no guns for ya unless the Cap’n orders it.”
“Cool beans!” Pene had picked out her own favorite from Boss’ ancient Earth expressions to use as her own.
“When does that early patrol go by?” CJ asked Cal.
“Zero-seven-hundred, ship time.”
“Okay, that puts mission prep at zero-six-thirty.” CJ looked around his group. “Be on station at zero-six-hundred. Questions, comments, complaints?”
“Yeah, my ass is sore from all this sittin’ around, Cap,” Cal said to be funny.
“Oh? Here I thought it was from those cheek-less chaps of yours.” CJ grinned slyly.
Cat’s eyes widened a bit, but she didn’t look up, nor did she give any sign that she knew anything about chaps of any kind. Cal was struck rarely speechless, as he sat surprised and probably wondered how CJ even knew about those chaps. The rest of the group passed amused looks around the table. CJ just smiled silently.
“Okay, so everybody, see Cal when you have the time, for any special close quarters bedroom gear—er, I mean, battle gear.” CJ couldn’t keep a straight face as he continued, which caused the whole group to break out in laughter.
They broke up the meeting to resume their normal duties while Katy hung back to talk to CJ.
“Here, I made these.” She handed him a slender and short strip of thin material. “One for each of you.”
“What’s this?” CJ asked as he looked over the item.
“A locator strip, of sorts,” she explained. “It has two tin aerials joined by a diode; they make it resonate at a certain frequency. It’s a passive beacon, so there’s no battery and it never has to be turned on or off. It can be picked up within a sector of its location, and no one else should even know to look for it, so it should go unnoticed. Just activate the seal and stick it under your belt, or something.”