44
Ranix had confirmation from the last of the ship's stations and departments that they were ready to depart the docks, and all systems were a go for their return mission to Terra. Looking around the bridge, Ranix was still trying to get used to all the new crew stations, some of which were vacant and waiting for the humans to fill. Yuli, the ship's navigator, was on his right, while the Detection Technician Jonas was on his left. Those two plus Rais were the trio that was most critical to getting them into the stations jump-box.
“Jonas, any enemy contacts?”
“Negative. Scope clear.” Came the reply
“Yuli, coordinates for a jump to Terra plotted into the ships jump-drive?”
“Jump planned and ready to execute.”
“Comms, request clearance for departure from station control.” Ranix couldn’t remember the newest crew member that had taken his old station, his mind was too occupied with trying to nail departure protocols on the first go.
The reply came in over the bridges intercom. “Epsilon, you are green for departure.”
Ranix nodded to himself. “Rais, cut the moorings and take us out to the jump-box.”
Rais moved his hands over his instrument panel like the seasoned master that he was. Within seconds of being given the orders, there was a slight jolt as the ship came free from the stations hold and started to slip out into open space.
The jump box was several thousand kilometres from the station, and there was a queue of ships ahead of the Epsilon waiting to jump. Some ships entered the jump-box together, while most entered individually, and jumped away to far off destinations.
Ranix spun his command chair around so he could see the engineering station at the rear of the bridge by the assistant engineer, Valerex. “How are the engines?” Ranix asked.
“Running well.” Came the reply. “All systems appear in the green. The ship is ready to jump at your command.”
Ranix nodded and turned his chair back to the front of the bridge. It hadn’t been that long since the Epsilon had left Terra, but much had changed in their absence, and this time they were on a diplomatic mission, and this was even reflected in a new paint scheme that had been applied to the hull, in keeping with Imperial regulations for diplomatic vessels during a time of war. When he had been told that such markings were being added he shook his head in disbelief. He didn’t for one instant think that they would dissuade the Coalition from launching an attack. No matter, new mission, new crew, new possibilities.
“We are next in line for the jump box.” Rais reported.
“Understood.” Ranix replied with a hint of trepidation in his voice. This was the first time that the crew was jumping the ship since their emergency jump that resulted in them crashing on Terra. He knew that the repair and maintenance crews had jumped the ship after the jump coils, and jump systems had been restored, but he was still on edge.
Ranix watched the main view screen. A large tanker was preparing to jump and lumbered into the jump box. A pair of small escorts flanked the enormous ship that was filled with 90 million gallons of fresh, purified water able to refuel ships throughout Alliance territory. The ships entered the jump-box, and accelerated sharply, whatever speed a ship jumped at, they would arrive at. A rolling jump was often considered the sign of a ship jumping into a hostile environment. Just before the ships reached the boundary of the box, the three ships disappeared. Considering the size of the escorts, they could have jumped anywhere within 300 light years.
Ranix sat and watched as Rais manoeuvre the ship into the jump box. A top-down hologram was floating just off to the side of the command chair. The space station, plus all the other ships in the system were marked on the display. Ranix had always wondered why the fleet had bothered with making ships jump in jump-boxes near stations or planets. The jump field had no ill effects on nearby ships or structures, so it always baffled him that they were required to go through a sluggish, and slightly antiquated system.
“In the box, ready for the jump.” Rais reported.
“Yuli.” Ranix looked to his navigator, her long red hair pulled back in triple pony-tails. “Report.”
“Ready to jump.” She tapped a few keys at her station, the last released a small compartment to her front, and pulled out the jump key, which was a glowing purple pronged device that was coded so that only crew members could initiate a jump. Bringing the key to a position above the key system, Yuli reported ready.
“Jump the ship.” Ranix ordered.
Yuli slid the jump key into the console and pushed it home.
Instantly the ships onboard broadcast system went into action. “Jump in ten, nine, eight.”
Ranix sat back into his command chair and held on tight. First deployment as a Ship Master, don’t screw it up.
“Jumping.”
The second the Epsilon jumped into the Sol System the communications channels went haywire. “This is Sol Control. Epsilon, proceed along your current heading and stop at the following coordinates.” The voice boomed over the bridge's speakers.”
Ranix snapped his head around to the new communications officer, “Shut that off!” He snapped. It was an amateur move to allow off-ship communications to broadcast ship-wide.
Taking a deep breath, he brought his attention back to the front view screen. “Rais, did you receive those coordinates?”
“I did. It’s a position roughly in between Terra’s moon and the planet. I think there is a tanker there.”
“Confirmed.” Yuli reported.
“Very well.” Ranix replied. Well, they were back. Back to the planet that had put his name on the lips of some of the most senior members of the Alliance. Every member of the crew had received a decoration upon their return to Alliance space, and now they were on their first mission. Back to where it all began.
45
The duffle bag was laying half full on the bed in front of him, but Joe was still struggling with what he needed to bring with him. He looked down at his right hand and shook his head. He was holding onto his Kimber Raptor II with a brushed finish and a fully loaded seven round magazine with a tight grip. It had been a present from the head of the Montana-based company after Joe had mentioned the company in an interview with Guns and Ammo magazine a few months ago.
Setting the pistol down, he picked up two spare clips and loaded them with .45 calibre ammunition, then shoved them, the gun and a full box of 230 grain jacketed hollow-points into the duffle. He knew that if he were caught with the weapon, he’d face a shit storm of galactic proportions, but he never travelled down range without protection.
Dumping a few more items into the bag, Joe zipped it closed and dropped it onto the floor. It was around half past nine in the morning, and their transport was expected shortly after ten. He and Rhea had spent the bulk of the morning enjoying each other's company, not sure how much privacy they would get once they left Earth.
Walking out of his room, he spotted a concerned looking Doctor Ji-woon running down the corridor, a bundle of freshly washed clothes in his arms. He smiled as he continued on his way to get a drink, and he thanked God for all that discipline the army had taught him, and that he wasn’t made to be a civilian.
46
The journey from British Columbia had covered just under five thousand kilometres, and the route it had taken had kept the Freightliner as far away from the US border as possible on its run to the wilds of Quebec, along frozen roads and through sub-zero temperatures.
It was three days before Christmas, and there had been significant snowfall already on the ground surrounding the Tohil facilities that lined the otherwise deserted lake that was on its way to freezing over.
John Robert had tracked the movement of the semi all the way from British Columbia with an almost like obsessed devotion. The weather at this time of the year had required that the truck to move at suboptimal speeds, and a variety of measures had been put in place to ensure that there was no interference from local or national law enforcem
ent agencies along the trip. It helped that the truck had been camouflaged as a delivery truck for a major electronics company, which would be making last-minute deliveries before Christmas.
When the semi turned off the last paved road within ten miles, it lowered its speed to a crawl, carefully negotiating the potholes and divots on the poorly maintained dirt road, but that was all part of the charm about the Tohil facilities that Robert wanted to exude.
After their ignominious departure from Paraguay, which had ended in a considerable amount of bloodshed when Tohil security forces had attempted to recover some of the assets and monies had been given to the local politicians, John Robert had immediately started planning his next move, waiting for the next opportunity to present itself, and when it did, he pounced.
Halfway down the frozen dirt track, the truck was met but a pair of Toyota’s that escorted the large vehicle the rest of the way to the Tohil main gate, which was nothing more than an old wooden fence, which looked completely in character with the surroundings. Two hundred yards beyond the wooden fence was a tall wire fence that ran the entire circumference of the lake and the facilities. Another hundred yards the last checkpoint was met, this in the form of a large steel gate and wall that rose twenty feet into the air and also ran around the secret facility.
Once through the final gate, the truck moved under a canopy that eventually became a tunnel and started to descend into the thick frozen Canadian permafrost. From above ground, the Tohil facility looked no larger than a football pitch, underground it occupied several levels and covered hundreds of sub-terrain metres.
When the truck finally came to a halt, it was twenty metres underground. Cutting the engine, the four drivers that had been driving in a non-stop rotation all the way from British Columbia got out of the cab to a hero’s welcome. There had been much concern that the truck would suffer some form of calamity on its journey from the west coast, but nothing had deterred their effort. John Robert stepped forward and congratulated each man for their services. A smile beaming from his face.
The head of Tohil was attired in an almost identical fashion as he had been in Paraguay, his RM Williams boots still shined to a high standard, and his long Mac coat still worn on top of a thick roll-neck. Without saying a word, he indicated to his assistant that it was time to see what had been brought back from the other side of the country.
Moving to the rear of the truck, the double doors were opened revealing a floor to ceiling stack of television boxes, all part of the disguise. Hitting the ramp at the rear, a team of engineers rode up to the raised rear compartment and started handing the large boxes down. Once they were cleared, a screen with a printed image of an empty chamber faced the engineers. It wouldn’t have fooled anyone upon a close inspection, but at a distance, it might have.
Hitting a small button on the side of compartment the screen slid to the side.
“Lights.” John Robert ordered, climbing into the back of the big-rig.
A series of switches were thrown, and slowly the rear compartment was brought to life in a burst of white light revealing the charred remains of a heavily damaged Coalition drone.
Stepping forward, John Robert slowly reached out towards the drone. He could feel some heat that was still resonating from the machine. Closing his eyes, he rested his hand on the hull of the machine and allowed a big grin to come across his face.
“Christmas has come early.” He joked to himself.
47
When the Epsilon finally came to a halt on the exact spot it had landed months ago after its flight from Paraguay, it did so looking like it had just come off the showroom floor, or at least that was how Joe saw the situation. The reception party consisted of the entire VLT, most of the Alliance Contact Team, Lord Soturi, several camera crews from around the world, and the ever-present Sentinel Commander, who was going to accompany the ship back to Alliance space.
As the flashes went off from the journalists cameras and reporters attempted to describe the atmosphere, the hanger bay doors on the Epsilon finally opened, and a long ramp lowered itself to the frozen Lasqueti ground, but instead of the customary Floxian Joe had been expecting to see, an alien that he didn’t recognise exited the ship in a full environmental suit.
Joe looked at Dinalis who was standing in between him and Rhea with a questioning look on his face.
“The crew hasn’t taken moulding tablets just to be on Terra for a few minutes. Once onboard, your team will be isolated in a Terra like environment for you to take your moulding tablets that have been coded to your bodies.” Dinalis commented.
“I was expecting Ranix.” Joe said.
“Alliance guidelines state that a Ship Master must remain on the bridge of their ship when landed on a celestial body unless the ship is completely powered down.” Dinalis gestured to the Epsilon. “As you can see, the Epsilon is merely idling.”
Joe looked back at the ship and nodded. Looking to his right, he watched as the SC was handing the VLT members bags to someone aboard the ship. Joe was praying that they weren’t inspecting them for contraband since he was fairly confident that his .45 would fall into that category.
With the last bag loaded, the mighty autonomous robot climbed into the ship and disappeared from view. While Joe stood with Dinalis, some of the other team members gave their farewell addresses to the media before boarding the ship. Everyone was attired the same for the outbound trip, a pair of lightweight khaki trousers, a white cotton dress shirt and a World War 2 A2 aviator styled jacket on top. The footwear had been left to each team member, and Joe had opted for a fresh pair of red Chuck Taylors.
Joe turned to Dinalis. “Sector Prefect.” He put out his hand for the alien to shake. “I trust you and Doctor Beck can keep things under control here.”
“I hope so. I just hope that Lord Soturi doesn’t do anything too drastic during your absence.” Dinalis reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device with a strap. With one quick motion, he slipped the device onto Joe’s right wrist, allowing the device to tighten automatically.
Joe looked at the device and examined it. There were two small nipples at the 3 and 9 o’clock positions, and what seemed like another button under a thin plastic screen in the centre of the device. “What’s this?”
Dinalis moved closer to Joe. “It’s an emergency beacon. If something should happen to you, hit these two points.” He pointed at the device. “The screen will come off, then hit and hold this centre button. It has a range of ten light years, and will be picked up by the Sentinel Commander.”
“Jesus. That’s one hell of a range.” Joe gave the device another look. “Should we expect trouble?”
“That is not what I am suggesting, but accidents happen, and you want to be prepared.” Dinalis said. He put his hand on Joe’s upper arm and gave a squeeze. “Not everything you will see in the Alliance will be as simple as it appears.”
Joe nodded. “Thank you.”
He looked at Rhea who was standing nearby. “So, shall we?” He gestured to the Epsilon.
Rhea looked around the property where she had spent so much of her youth, then back to Joe, then the Epsilon and nodded. Joe reached out and took her hand, and they started walking together towards the ship, and towards the future.
At the bottom of the ramp to the ship, Joe looked back one last time. Doctor Beck was standing by a bank of cameras and reporters and gave them a final wave. Dinalis also waved, a big grin on his face. Standing alone, ten metres behind the rest of the observers was Lord Soturi, a stern look on his face, and in the back of Joe’s mind, he could hear him asking the question: “What are you hiding from me, Colonel?”
Taking that as his queue, Joe squeezed Rhea’s hand and charged up the ramp and into the belly of the ship. Once inside they were met by the friendly face of Master Doctor Prure who was also in a full environmental suit.
“Welcome on board.” He smiled at the pair as they walked deeper into the hanger.
“Prure, nice to see you
again.” Joe said as Rhea moved forward to give the member of the crew she had probably spent the most time with a warm hug. “What’s the plan?” Joe asked.
“Good to see you, Colonel, and Doctor Stokes.” He gestured for the pair to follow him. “We’ve been able to simulate Earth’s oxygen in the dining facility while you acclimate to the moulding tablets.” He led them down the short distance from the hanger to the dining hall where Doctor’s Jannsen, Ji-Woon, Chan were already waiting, along with the team cameraman Jose Berenguer.
The dining hall looked just how Joe remembered it, clean in design and stark, like much of the Alliance facilities that were purely functional.
With the team sat down, Prure stated his final pre-jump procedures with the humans. “I trust you all have your moulding tablets?” Prure asked. The team nodded in response. “Okay. This is going to feel a little,” he paused. “Weird.” Then he smiled, pacing up and down in front of the group that was sitting much lower than his gaze. “First, pull out the moulding tablets.” He waited as the team pulled out their own tablets. “Excellent, remove the protective cover.” He waited as the team pulled the plastic coating off the pills.
Before Prure could continue, a hologram of Ranix flashed to life in the middle of the floor in front of the team. “Colonel Hunt! Welcome back.” Ranix was smiling from ear to ear.
“Good to be here, Ship Master.” Joe replied, equally excited.
“I want to thank all of you for joining us on this incredible diplomatic mission.” Ranix’s gaze shifted from the team. “Take us up, Rais.” He ordered.
Joe couldn’t feel anything, but he knew that the ship was probably rocketing skyward at an absurd rate at that point.
Ranix brought his attention back to the VLT, “I want to let you know that our journey to Mechcharga will be under twenty Earth minutes, but we’ll stay in orbit once we’ve arrived until you’ve adjusted to the moulding tablets.” He smiled. “I’ll keep you patched into the bridge communications channel, but now I’ll leave you in the hands of our Master Doctor. Enjoy the journey.” He smiled again before the hologram disappeared.
Horizons Page 21