by Gary Caplan
Razel said as she smiled, “It was very inconvenient for me, and I am a master-level knight. They monitored me to check on my activities after my first escape.” Leaving that section they both looked over into the central chamber and saw that Ares was moving swiftly, trying to dance around the two Calyx to avoid their stun devices.
Natariss said, “Yes, Ares is keeping them occupied so I could extract you.”
Razel said, “Well then, let us free my crew. They are over in the adjacent areas.”
Natariss followed her and observed now as Razel tried to help her crew escape their chambers using telekinesis and some form of discipline similar to the technique he used to short circuit and open the locks on the detention cells. However, she seemed to be moving slowly, and she may have also been sedated somehow. Natariss looked for another holding area and found more crew to let out.
Sheppard got up as the Calyx that had stunned him began to move toward Razel, who was opening some chamber doors. Natariss, after opening another chamber that contained a few of Razel’s crew, moved quickly over toward Sheppard.
Then the Calyx stopped and moved back. One of them said, “The Keeper has indicated you are free to leave.”
Razel gathered her crew and then they gathered their equipment from some storage lockers while she shrugged off some of the lethargic effect of whatever else they had done to her.
Looking at Sheppard, Ares said, “Sir, what happened?”
Sheppard said, “Garfield must have gotten through to the stubborn Keeper.”
Natarris said, “That’s good news. I was worried when I felt an unusual and strong energy buildup not long ago.”
Razel came over, “Yes, I felt strong energies too, even inside the dampening field area.”
Razel and her first officer came over and greeted their rescuers. “Thanks for the rescue. I think it’s time my crew and I got back to our ship.”
Sheppard said, “Glad we could assist. I am Commodore Robert Sheppard of the Alliance of Worlds Sixth Fleet, and a senior-member Star Knight. This is my security officer, Lieuteant Commander Ares. Fleet Captain Natarris you have met.”
She gave him a Star Knight salute, which he returned.
“What happened that stopped you from escaping?” asked Ares.
Razel replied, “The Keeper would inhibit me when I used my abilities. Later, when he became more occupied, his people placed a dampening field near my chamber.”
Natarris said, “That is why you appear exhausted.”
Razel said, “Yes. Trying to work against the dampening field, and I think they may have put some sedative in the food.”
Natariss and Sheppard nodded, then Sheppard got a notice on his commlink from Garfield.
Ares asked, “Should we head back to the ship, sir?”
Sheppard said, “Yes, and let’s make sure Razel and her crew can get back to their ship.
Once they arrived back on the Zeloc, they headed to the bridge and shortly thereafter were met by Garfield. Sheppard looked over at his former mentor as he moved to the command console and began to interface with the navigation controls.
Sheppard asked, “How did things go with the Keeper?”
Garfield smiled and said, “He finally decided to join the group.”
Sheppard raised an eyebrow.
“I think it’s best we leave now,” Garfield added. “I think it’s going to get interesting once we rejoin the Sixth Fleet. The Phoenix will arrive at the rendezvous with Admiral Peregrine and the other fleets soon.”
Sheppard said, “Then it’s time to set course.”
Sheppard realized that the Zeloc’s jump drive was starting. He felt the vibration that preceded a hyperspace jump. Sheppard and the others took one last look at the beautiful and expansive triple helical structure surrounding the star, the Arkology of the Keeper. Then the Zeloc moved into hyperspace.
Chapter 17
Split Space
The few remaining Alliance of Worlds reinforcements from the surrounding sectors had been trickling in after the negotiations with the Ceyloom and Talcon had started. Commodore St. John arrived and brought in four task forces to add to the Second Fleet’s strength. The negotiations stopped for a short time and continued once the Talcon leader, Prince Kyr, arrived aboard an impressive dreadnaught carrier.
Prince Kyr had arrived only a few hours ago and requested to have an audience with the senior Ceyloom commander.
Fleet Admiral Peregrine was in his command station, using the interlink to access and evaluate all the incoming data and reports arriving to his command station. He had been working with his tactical officers on possible strategies if the second set of negotiations failed. He was notified when the Phoenix and its supporting task force arrived and told that Sheppard had still not returned to his flagship. Peregrine arranged for one of the tactical captains under his command to send the Phoenix and the task group its new orders.
Fleet Admiral Braddock had arrived recently with a good portion of the Second Fleet as well and requested a meeting. His image formed in the interlink, and after a salute he leaned back in his chair. Peregrine saluted back.
Braddock said, “I was given a briefing on the way here by Commodore St. John. So the Ceyloom have become involved since the Talcon’s Prince Kyr, or his ministers and advisors, decided to take possession of one of the Ceyloom’s former systems, even though, as far as we can tell, that system only had some automated facilities. The Ceyloom have a treaty with the Varlon, and they’re both categorized as arthropod-like races. I wonder why they’re seemingly working with the Varlon now. They might have similar interests in food supply or environmental needs. They could have been potential enemies of the Varlon because of the Varlon’s expansionist nature.”
Peregrine said, “I’m not sure. Perhaps they have had some nonaggression pact between them for centuries, although I think the presence now of the Talcon in one of their old star systems may have caused them to shift toward the Varlon.”
Braddock said, “Like the enemy of my enemy is my friend, or something?”
“Could be,” replied Peregrine.
Braddock said, “Well, I understand the last set of negotiations is going on, so maybe something positive will happen.”
Peregrine said, “We can hope. While talking with some of the Hegemony senior officers, I found out that the Ceyloom are not expansionists and don’t usually move into an aggressive mode like the Varlon. They can be territorial, however, especially if the system or planet has some value to them beyond minerals.”
Braddock said, “Maybe there is more here in this system than we can detect, something like the Hegemony’s larger-on-the-inside COMNET and similar facilities.” Braddock turned his head toward his view port to look out at the Hegemony ship, actually an Estrian cruiser, that was acting as a neutral vessel to host the Talcon and Ceyloom.
Peregrine, realizing what Braddock was doing, looked out at the Ceyloom starcraft that had arrived to negotiate with the Hegemony representatives.
There was little Alliance intelligence on the Ceyloom’s capabilities. The Ceyloom starship was some kind of carrier, as large as the Varlon H-class and probably as deadly. Like the Varlon the Ceyloom had a very organic structure to their starcraft. It looked almost as if it was spun from some kind of fibers.
Peregrine said, “Interesting you should mention that; my more gifted sensor operators have been submitting reports of subspace disturbances near a few of our ships, but the data doesn’t resolve. It’s different from the confusing data the Varlon’s chameleon field sets up.”
Braddock said, “And that could mean something is going on.”
Peregrine said, “It could mean that or nothing. I’ll have them continue to monitor, and you should have your senior sensor officers look for anomalies near your area. With so many ships here, it’s intense work for the operators, even with commlink to the main computer for assistance.” Peregrine looked at his console. A message was waiting, and he glanced at it.
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nbsp; Braddock replied, “I’ll have some science officers here look into that and maybe have Commodore St. John work on surveying that issue deeper in this system.”
Peregrine said, “Notify me if you find something interesting. I have been informed the negotiation representative we sent is returning and Ambassador Ariana wants to speak with me. Keep vigilant, Admiral Braddock.”
Braddock’s image faded as the link to the Alliance ambassador began to connect.
Ariana’s image took form in Peregrine’s office, and Peregrine asked, “Ambassador, how did the negotiations go?”
“Not as well as I would have expected, Admiral. Once Kyr arrived he wanted some more influential delegate from the Ceyloom to be present. He was a bit upset when that didn’t happen.”
Peregrine made a high-pitched sound that was meant to convey mild exasperation. “So, what about the proposals you made to the Ceyloom?”
Ariana said, “I tried to use the occasion to talk with the Ceyloom ambassador about trade with the Alliance of Worlds and sanctions against the Varlon.”
Peregrine tried to look hopeful. “Were they interested?”
Ariana said, “The Ceyloom will not participate in sanctions against the Varlon. He would only say that they would make a decision about the opportunity to trade with us at a future council meeting.”
Peregrine said, “So then, they are the Varlon’s trade partner and will likely be providing the Varlon access to trade resources.”
Ariana responded, “That is very likely, and the Varlon may have trade with a few others that we have little influence over.”
Peregrine said, “That makes our problem difficult. We don’t want to anger the Ceyloom by accidently attacking their trading ships en route to Varlon space or offloading cargo or goods at a Varlon colony.”
Ariana said, “That would be a future problem, Admiral. For now Prince Kyr is supporting an aggressive stance for his negotiator and with his military commanders. The Ceyloom also commented on the constant arrival of new ships. They mentioned they could bring other groups to the negotiation table, and their ships too. It seemed like a joke to me at first, but it was mentioned again after that last large group of starships from the Second Fleet arrived.”
Peregrine said, “That could mean they’ve called reinforcements as well.”
Captain Calder, one of the task force captains, linked in. “Sir, you wanted to be notified once acting Vice Admiral Sheppard and Karratin Vice Admiral Garfield returned. The Zeloc has just come out of hyperspace, and a coded message has been sent to us.”
Peregrine said, “I have to go, Ambassador. Perhaps we can continue this conversation later.”
Peregrine shifted his link and used the decoder from the Hegemony. The message read:
Mission to locate missing species successful. Minutes ago while en route to this location, detected Varlon and Accadian ships in transit to same system.
Peregrine opened the commlink to his bridge. “Go to red alert, and order all task forces to battle stations. Varlon and Accadian ships’ arrival imminent.”
Sheppard, Natarris, and Ares emerged from the transmat as the last actuator ring pulled up into the secure enclosure. Sheppard nodded appreciatively to the transmat technician and then reactivated his commlink to the bridge, indicating his status as returned to the Phoenix. Sheppard said, “Captain Wilder, I am back on board. We have Varlon and Accads en route. The Zeloc informed us before we left hyperspace.” Sheppard continued to head for the bridge.
Wilder said, “How far away, sir?”
Sheppard replied, “They were several minutes behind and using stealth, but the Zeloc detected them. Enough for a complete Varlon war fleet, not the smaller occupation fleet. More details were not actively obtained so as not to alert them to our presence. Garfield thought there might be a Jiyharri ship in their group.”
The sound of the battle stations and red alert beacon sounded off and rang through the starship.
When they got to the bridge, Wilder said, “Sir, it’s good you’re back safe. I have sent you status reports for task force One.” Sheppard nodded and gave a half smile as he moved from the turbolift, he was worried about what he imagined might be happening. Sheppard headed to the command alcove, but Sherman intercepted him and said, “Welcome aboard, sir. Fleet Admiral Peregrine must have been alerted to the situation somehow. He’s already ordered our fleets to red alert.”
Sheppard said, “We have more trouble arriving, and it’s not just the enemy fleet.”
Wilder came over into the command alcove area and reported, “The task force is at readiness, sir.”
Both Sherman and Sheppard nodded, and Sherman asked, “Did you find out what was behind the specimen disappearances?”
Sheppard said, “It was a Calyx calling itself the Keeper who operated an amazing Arkology of specimens on a triple-ring system about the main star. I have some images for later briefing.”
Wilder asked, “Sir, you said our trouble wasn’t just the arrival of the enemy fleet?”
Sheppard replied, “Garfield didn’t elaborate but said it’s ‘an enemy of us all’ just before he left his bridge.”
It was then that the first of the vanguard of enemy ships exited hyperspace, including Varlon accompanied by some Accadian ships. There were already some Varlon starships in the system orbiting one of the planets deeper in, but only a small contingent, not a complete fleet. They were at extreme sensor range and didn’t have their chameleon fields active, but as soon as the fleet arrived, the Varlon contingent left orbit and activated their chameleon fields. Ambassador Ariana hadn’t found out during the negotiations why the Varlon were in this system. The ships exited and just stayed in that area. They didn’t move toward any Alliance or Talcon ships…yet.
Sharon was at her science station, working with Commander Andor as he scanned the immediate area, as he had been doing since the request from Fleet Admiral Peregrine came in.
“Mr. York, could you come to my station, please?” asked Andor. York moved to Andor’s area as Andor began to explain the sensor readings. “I think we may be in imminent danger—there are areas of subspace with increasing gravity being detected.”
Lieutenant Commander Darani looked over and stood to see Andor’s station. “I read about something like this happening several centuries ago when the Ceyloom were fighting a Cynz fleet before the nonaggression treaty they now have. Some of my people kept journals of their life as allies of the Cynz, and one of the support fleets was trapped in some kind of hyperspace zone. If the Cynz hadn’t rescued them, then Ceyloom might have taken them prisoner.”
Wilder kept his ears open and said, “That could be a problem.”
Andor said, “These readings could indicate a potential collapse of local space is probable.”
Darani said, “I’ll try to look for a safer area to patrol, sir.”
Taylor said to Darani, “Let me send you the analysis map we made. It shows forming distortions.”
As he moved to the command alcove looking for Sheppard, Wilder said, “Sir, we may have a problem.”
Andor followed and gave the same report to Sherman and Sheppard.
Sherman said, “We can contact the Cynz representatives to see what information they can provide.”
Sheppard said, “I’m sure one of the Hegemony starships may have some information on this event as well. I’ll go to my office and talk with one of the Hegemony.”
The crew went back to work. They noticed brief sensations of heaviness and some occasional pulling that only lasted moments before the inertial dampeners began to offset any sensations of gravity changes, although over the next few minutes the effects increased in frequency and were felt for several seconds.
“Captain Wilder, the inertial dampeners are being overstressed,” said Andor.
Wilder said, “What do you mean?”
Andor said, “Sir, if we remain in this area too much longer, the stress will increase until most humans will find it difficult to move.�
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Wilder said, “Navigation and helm, work together to locate some safer travel course.” Wilder watched as the crew worked to find a solution. He began to feel a bit heavier in his chair as if in a rapid acceleration.
York asked, “How did this happen?”
Taylor said, “It’s very subtle. The changes have been gradual; that’s why the system has not sent warnings.”
Andor said, “The inertial dampeners have been compensating, and the automated warning notified the science section then. When the system was at eighty percent of maximum capacity. That was when I investigated.”
Sensors began to send warning signals, and within minutes the adjacent area of space the Phoenix had just passed through began to collapse as if a heavy gravity zone were there for a moment, then gone. Sensors read a subspace collapse occurring—a rare event, according to astrometrics. The effect was that ships fell into a gravity well and were exposed to a burst of high radiation. Movement was reduced, and in some cases in a few ships, the gravity shear caused a destabilizing of the sublight propulsion systems.
Lieutenant Commander Sterling said, “Sir, reports from our task force coming in…there are several gravity vortexes affecting small regions in space. The tactical map shows that some of our task forces were unaffected. There seem to be more Talcon starships affected.”
Andor said, “Captain, actually from looking at the sensor information, the intense gravity effect appears more clustered around the Talcon and those of our ships nearest theirs.”
Taylor said, “It may be due to our well-dispersed forces across the system that more of our ships were unaffected.”
“Or maybe the Talcon are being specifically targeted,” said Ares.
York said, “Both of you could be right. In any case we’re at the edge of one of the zones. I think Andor’s early warning and Darani’s maneuvering kept us out.”
Wilder asked, “What are the Varlon and Accad doing.
Sterling said, “Most seem to be moving around the collapsed zones, and a Kad’jiah-class is with their contingent.”