The Raygin War

  “Lieutenant Muween, determine where the unknown ship will exit its gravity well.”

  “Yes sir. If conditions remain the same the unknown ship will arrive in our space 4,828.032 meters off our starboard side.”

  “Mr. Tucker, contact security. Have them clear personnel from storage bay four. Unlatch the heavy equipment and lock the inner air hatch.”

  “Ensign Rolan, how long before you have the probe ready for launch?”

  “I need about another minute sir.”

  “Lieutenant Muween, watch Ensign Rolan. When he launches the probe, use the thrusters to move us starboard. I’ll use the stabilizers to stop the ship. On my command, be ready to engage the singularity drive.”

  Commander Tucker looked at the captain and shrugged his shoulders. “What are you going to do, captain?”

  “We may not have any weapons on the Nomad, but we are not defenseless. When we launch the probe I suspect they will track it, and make sure it’s not a threat to their ship. If they are military, I’m guessing they will lunch something to chase the probe. For a few seconds, if we’re lucky, the probe will distract them. The nomad will shift right. Open the cargo doors, shut down the grav field, stop, release the heavy equipment, and jump.”

  The captain knew it was a long shot, but this maneuver was all he had. If he lived through this, he would press for a few changes. Future transport ships will need some kind of defensive weapons on them. After hearing the captain’s plan the crew was wide-eyed and focused. Their lives depended on the next series of maneuvers.

  “Captain, I’m ready to launch the probe,” said Ensign Rolan.

  “Lieutenant Muween, as soon as the probe clears the ship, activate the thrusters.”

  “Aye, Captain.”

  “Launch the probe Mr. Rolan.”

  “Launching the probe captain.”

  As Lieutenant Muween moved the ship to the starboard, the captain opened the hatch door. He released the grav field, stopped the ship, and the heavy equipment floated out the bay into the emptiness of space. When he tried to close the bay door, something was wrong. The bay door indicated no seal. The grav field wouldn’t work with the door unsealed. Too late, they had to leave now.

  “Jump, Lieutenant Muween.”

  “Aye sir, jumping.”

  The drive popped and the ship jumped light years ahead. Chaos ensued in the colonists’ quarters as they lost gravity. The captain’s control panel lit up. Alarms started sounding on the helm, the colonists’ quarters, and various passageways. Security reported a hold down chain did not fully release. It stopped the bay door from closing. Also, a large ground dozer got hung up on the chain causing it not to float out. When they jumped, the dozer hit the inside wall of bay four. The damage caused the colonists’ quarters to lose their gravity.

  The ghost ship released a small fighter to chase down the probe. The next jump put them into the space the Nomad had vacated. The captain pictured the alarms going off on the ghost ship. He hoped their repair teams would be busy assessing the damage. The ploy worked. But the damage to the strange looking ship of war was minimal.

  After a few more jumps the ship chasing them was now waiting for them and fired a barrage of plasma weapons. The salvo took out the Nomad’s ion propulsion engine and the singularity drive. They were floating in space with no method of propulsion.

  “They’re going to board us,” said the captain, “otherwise we would already be dead. There’s still hope.”

  Not all the crew on the bridge heard the captain. They were focused on the strange military looking ship moving in front of them. The design was not human. It looked like a sleek bug with four appendages. It had a wide body with two shorter arms in front extending forward. Two large legs at the aft end extended rearward. The ship’s design made it look like it was leaping through space. The jet-black color blended well with the blackness of space. Weapon mounts bristled across the surface. As the Nomad crew watched, more weapons seemed to appear. They must have been retractable.

  The captain flipped a switch on his chair, activating Nomad’s com system. “Nomad, this is the captain. It appears an alien ship of war will be boarding us within minutes. They have taken out our ion propulsion engine and our singularity drive. If they wanted to destroy us, we would already be dead. Do not shoot at them with hand weapons unless they fire first. We still don’t know their intentions.

  The crew on the helm watched as the alien vessel fired its thrusters and maneuvered over the Nomad. The crew heard a loud clang.

  “Captain, this is crewman Tiggs from security team six, in the colonists’ quarters. They have boarded us - I don’t know what the hell these things…”

  The sound of weapon fire interrupted their conversation. Tiggs had left his com open. The color drained from the crewmembers faces. The captain looked at Lieutenant Muween and saw she was rocking back and forth in her chair.

  “Crewman Tiggs. I said don’t fire unless fired on.”

  “I know captain. As soon as the aliens saw us, they started shooting. We returned fire, but they are wearing some kind of body armor. We lost five crewmembers. We’re retreating toward engineering. A few colonists exited their quarters and were cut down. They weren’t armed sir. I couldn’t tell how many colonists they killed. The aliens look like big bugs that walk upright. They won’t talk to us. I don’t even know if they can hear us. I’m sorry, but we can’t stop them sir.”

  “Nomad, this is the captain. Do not engage the aliens. They are hostile. Lock yourselves in your rooms and do not exit.” The captain hoped by clearing the passageways the killing would stop. I wish we had real weapons and body armor.

  The captain stood up. He walked over to Lieutenant Muween at the navigation station, and said, “Aren’t you a linguist?”

  Grasping what the captain was about to ask her she said, “I can’t captain. The aliens are killing us. I can’t think straight, I’m too scared.”

  “We’re all scared lieutenant. If these walking bugs come to the bridge, you may be able to save a few of us if you can communicate with them.”

  The lieutenant looked around the bridge and realized the captain was right. Everyone looked scared. She took a deep breath, exhaled. “I’ll try.”

  “Walk me through what you’re thinking lieutenant.”

  “Well, since they attacked us, and they shot unarmed colonists, I’d call them an aggressive species. I’m sure they have a strong sense of survival. Most bugs do. Avoid eye contact. If they evolved from insects, we have nothing in common communication wise. Many bugs use chemical scents to communicate. Some can make noises with their bodies, but nothing like what we are used to. The lieutenant’s eyes went white as she thought about what she learned in school. “Many bugs are omnivorous, captain. What if they see us as food?”

  Sparks started flying from the heavy security barrier on the bridge. The massive door began to melt like ice on a hot day. The crew watched in fear.

  “Everyone, stay seated. Keep your eyes on me, or Lieutenant Muween. Whatever you do, do not stare at the aliens. Security, put your weapons on the floor.”

  The door melted and made a molten mess on the floor. An alien in body armor stepped forward followed by two companions. Their job seemed to be to secure the bridge. One stood on the liquefied metal as if unconcerned. The alien armor design appeared to be stronger than human armor.

  The captain hoped the lieutenant could keep her composure. The aliens were butt ugly. They had long antennae hanging forward over their heads. Their arms and legs ended in fingered claws. Instead of a neck they had a thorax followed by a hard-shelled abdomen. Hissing noises were coming from the bodies of a couple aliens on the bridge. Six more entered, followed by an alien with a red decal on its body armor. He appeared to be the leader.

  The alien with the red decal reached up and removed a partial helmet, exposing two large black eyes. It moved its two maxillary palp appendages, designed to help cram food into its big mouth. The creature walked up to Lieutena
nt Muween and stood inches from her face. She breathed in, trying to calm her nerves. The smell emitted by the bug leader was like thousands of sweet flowers. It was too much for the lieutenant’s olfactory senses. She turned her head and vomited.

  The aliens started hissing from tiny holes in their bodies. The leader turned to look at his crew, as if proud of what he did. The captain figured the hissing must be the way they laugh. Oh great. These repulsive looking bugs are assholes too. So much for advanced civilizations.

  The bug leader stepped forward to confront the captain. The smell changed to resemble the aroma of a sweaty armpit. The monkey’s ass smelling leader stunk like hell, but the captain refused to let it get to him. The leader’s arm started to twitch, as if the captain had irritated it somehow.

  Lieutenant Muween decided to intervene. Without looking into the alien’s eyes, she tapped her chest with both hands and said, “Muween”. She tapped the captain’s chest and said, “Cutter”. She opened her arms as if to include the entire crew and said, “Humans”.

  The alien leader looked at his crew and hissed. The crew hissed back. This went back and forth for about a minute. The Nomad crew experienced a bouquet of smells. Some seemed pleasant, and others, not so pleasant.

  The alien leader moved both his clawed arms towards his crew in an encompassing motion. It hissed while clicking twice. The bug spun around and left its crew to gather up the humans.

  The crew from the bridge found themselves escorted down their own passageways. They joined with other crewmembers, who were accompanied by their own contingency of armed aliens. Some yelling and screaming could be heard. It was coming from the colonists’ quarters. Every few seconds a plasma rifle fired. The screams were frightening.

  The aliens herded the captives forward.

  The colonists were screaming, “Where have you taken the children? I want my child back!”

  Muween looked at the captain as they walked through the passageways. She started crying.

  “What is it lieutenant?” asked the captain.

  She sniffled. “Some species of bugs who attack other insects will often destroy the nurseries first and eat any larva they find.”

  Blood soaked the passageway floors near the colonists’ quarters. Plasma-burned human bodies laid everywhere. The bugs shot or mutilated any human attempting to stop them from taking the children. The surviving humans shuffled onto the alien ship. Their heads hung low, not one eye was dry, except for those of Captain Cutter. He put his training to use. He observed how the crew manipulated the various controls hoping they might be able to use the information later.

  CHAPTER THREE: The Trip

  Mikal Kozlov, the next hand picked governor of Rayne, was observing the loading of Argosy. The Nomad, Argosy’s sister ship disappeared over six months ago. There was no sign of either the ship or any of the colonists. A commercial ship discovered a com probe from the Nomad. The military took possession of the damaged equipment. Whispers of slavers operating in fringe space could be overheard in all the outermost space stations. How could anyone lose an entire ship and its contents?

  Both the Nomad and Argosy were colonist transport ships. They had no weapons other than some small planetary arms. After finding the probe, United Fleet Command decided to refit the Argosy. They added several laser canons. Against the governor’s wishes, 3 light armor platoons also were assigned to duty on Rayne. Rather than using a military transport, the soldiers would travel with the colonists. This had become a standard practice to spare the expense of traveling long distances.

  The three platoon’s commanding officer, like the governor, was hand picked for the job. Both individuals were social climbers from connected families. If they did well, their next job would move them further up the ladder. An unbelievable opportunity, considering neither had leadership or command experience.

  The next morning at zero eight hundred, the Argosy left load orbit over Trinity Prime. With the new drive developed by the military, the trip would be cut to a few months verse several years. During the voyage the colonists will occupy themselves by getting to know each other and practicing with the new equipment. The military, well, they do what the military always does – prepare for war.

  First Lieutenant Phlop attended the initial kickoff muster for the soldiers. He wanted to make sure Sergeant McCormack paid homage to him in front of the troops. They had to learn right off, he was their leader, not the war hardened sergeant. He walked up to the sergeant who spun around and stood at attention. With a voice echoing across the storage-deck, he said, “ATTEN HUT”. Representing the troops, the well-seasoned sergeant saluted the young first lieutenant.

  The green lieutenant forgot to salute back. He turned to the troops and shrieked in a squeaking voice, “At ease!” The first lieutenant started pacing back and forth as he talked. The troops had a hard time hearing him. “I’m your commanding officer, First Lieutenant Phlop. Please remember the ‘O’ is spoken as in the word flow. I will not tolerate jokes about my name.”

  Mac shook his head. No better way to get young troops to start something than to plant the seed in their heads. A name like Phlop begged to be poked fun at. Many troops died because a military officer’s ego was too big to allow them to listen to those with experience. Mac saw the troops under his care as his children. He would let nobody bring unnecessary harm to them, not even their commanding officer.

  The lieutenant squeaked on. “I have an open door policy if you need to talk to me, but make sure you make an appointment. If you follow my orders we won’t have any problems. I have a lot to do so I’ll leave you in the hands of Sergeant McCormack. Umm good bye.” Lieutenant Phlop turned around and walked away.

  Mac positioned himself before the troops and said, “Everyone relax! Let me give you a few insights and rules. First off, call me Mac. You will find colonist duty to be informal by military standards. Unlike many of you, I chose this assignment. You military ground pounders forced to be here, life sucks and you got a shitty billet. Don’t whine to me about it. Next, as long as we aren’t in a firefight and the lieutenant gives you an order like, get me coffee, bring me a pen, or order this part, do it. If we are in a firefight and he tells you to do something, don’t do it. Tell him he has to go through me.”

  “By a show of hands, how many of you are conscripts.” Out of 60 troops, fourteen held up their hands. This didn’t surprise him. Young fleet soldiers all wanted to see action, not watch plants grow while on colonist duty. The military filled in with conscripts when they didn’t have enough regulars. Most conscripts would become Third platoon and get special attention. “How many of you have been in action?” Half the troops raised their hands. Mac shook his head. “I mean real action. Where you had to shoot at an enemy because they were trying to kill you. Show me those hands again.” This time, ten people held up their hands.

  Mac looked at all ten experienced troopers. “Tinker, is that you.”

  “Yeah Mac, it’s me.”

  “Well ain’t that the shits.”

  Everyone laughed.

  Mac smiled. “How’d you wind up here?”

  “I volunteered when I found out you were here.”

  Mac used a hand signal telling Tinker to not say a word. “Did everyone hear what he said? Now there’s someone who knows how to suck up. Come see me after this training session. You troops with experience, I’ll be expecting lots of help from you. For now, put on one of the backpacks by the door and follow me.”

  As expected, Tinker was the first to move toward the backpacks. Close behind him was a female with a tattoo on her forehead. The rest of the class followed. Mac knew in time, these two were going to be his leaders. He wanted the troops to understand he would never ask them to do anything he wouldn’t do himself.

  “Ugh,” groaned Tinker as he watched Mac pick up a backpack. Mac never did anything half assed. The workout would be grueling.

  If nothing else, you could always count on Mac giving his all. The workout pushed the troopers
to their limit. As people dropped out, Mac made them return to the classroom, relax, and have some water. Many troopers couldn’t believe the salty sergeant didn’t yell at them for not pushing on.

  By the time Mac stopped the physical training session, Tinker, three experienced troopers, and tattoo girl were the only ones left. He looked over the troopers. The single trooper not sucking air was tattoo girl. He remembered a time when no one could keep up with him during his physical training sessions. Were the anti aging drugs he took in his youth beginning to fail?

  “Nice job everyone. Meet me back at the training classroom.”

  “Fuck,” said a trooper, “I’m beat. What’s his problem? We’re on colonist duty, not the front lines of a war zone!”

  Tinker looked at his fellow troopers. “Mac’s old school. He believes preparation for the worst scenario will help you to survive in most circumstances. But even with the best training, he says sometimes you draw the short stick, and you’re just fucked.”

  Everyone laughed at the wisdom in the statement. Another trooper said, “At least he sounds honest.”

  When everyone settled down in his or her assigned seats, Mac started a lecture. Communication was the topic; it was nothing like what the students expected. As Mac talked he used hand gestures to describe different pieces of equipment. For no apparent reason, Tinker pushed his seat back, and ran into the hallway. The class fell silent. Some students looked at the door. Others looked at Mac with a furrowed brow, waiting for him to comment.

  “How come no one else left the room?” The class looked at each other. Mac waved for Tinker to come back in.

  A brave student said, “No one told us to.”

  “I didn’t tell Tinker to come back in the room, yet he did what I wanted him to.”

  “Yeah, but you waved him back in.”

  “Yes,” said Mac. “You are correct. I used nonverbal communication to get him back in the classroom. I used nonverbal hand commands to get him to leave. Your problem is you didn’t recognize it. I want everyone to learn combat hand commands. Each daily cycle we are aboard the Argosy you will have homework.”