The Forbidden Wilds: Crossing the Styx

by Saxon Andrew

  Jingle turned to Alex, “I don’t want this, Alex!”

  Alex’s smile was small, “Jingle, I’ve lost my touch. I’ve not been linked to Brooks for a long time and you have to know you’re better qualified to do this. The only reason I would stand against it is my ego and too many lives depend on us doing the right things. I can’t afford to allow my ego to cause me to make a mistake.”

  Glennon spoke up, “Alright, that’s settled.” Jingle lowered her eyes. Alex’s ego was a huge part of who he is. She had damaged him again and there was nothing she could do to repair him.

  The meeting ended and Jingle rushed out of the conference room. As she passed Alex’s ship she saw ‘Rapids’ painted on the bow. She started crying and rushed into the Clapper. Even when she didn’t intend to cause issues, she still did. She sat in her chair and Jangle said, “It’s not your fault, Jingle. He did the right thing.”

  “But you know how this is going to affect him.”

  “He’s going to have to become a better man, Jingle.”

  “He’s already a good man, Jangle! I never intended to hurt him again.”

  “You need to focus on saving humanity from those aliens. You and Alex will just have to be put aside.” Jingle wiped her eyes and nodded as Jangle added, “At least Brooks is happy about being back with Alex.”

  “Do you know how fast their link is operating?”

  “Brooks says it’s operating ten times-faster than normal.”

  “That’s better than what we had, Jangle.” Jangle was silent and Jingle shook her head and blew out a breath, “Notify Alex we’re lifting immediately.”

  “Order sent.” Jingle flinched at it being an order.

  • • •

  The two ships left orbit and went to full speed. Jingle contacted Alex on her link, “We’re headed directly to the Styx Nebula to determine what’s going on.”

  “Yes Sir.”

  “Alex, please call me Jingle. Don’t make this harder than it is.”

  Alex sighed, “Alright, Jingle.”

  Jangle announced, “We’ll arrive in six days.”

  “But it’s a twelve-day trip, Jangle.”

  “That was then, this is now. This ship is much faster than before.”

  Jingle sat back and after three days, Alex hadn’t contacted her. She sat back and forced herself to focus on how the aliens were detecting their scouts. She looked in Jangle’s data base at everything recorded and closed her eyes and waited for the data to make sense. How were they doing it? It would take more than a billion probes.

  • • •

  Less than two days out from the nebula, Alex linked to the Clapper and saw that Jingle wasn’t in her chair. He started to speak but heard music. He increased the volume and heard Jingle singing. She was standing behind her chair using a cloth to dust the back wall. He listened to her until she turned around and saw him on the monitor. “Jangle, shut off the music.” The music stopped and she turned to the monitor, “How long have you been listening?”

  “I never knew you had a singing voice like that.”

  “Like what?!”

  “Beautiful,” he replied. “What were you singing?”

  Jingle went to her chair, sat down, and shrugged, “Night Changes.”

  “The lyrics are…I don’t know…they say something.”

  Jingle nodded and sighed, “It’s a very old song. But with the new speed of my connection with Jangle, it came to mind.”

  “Why?”

  Jingle sighed, “When I close my eyes, I can see everything the scanner sees.” Jingle nodded toward the viewport, “Look out there, Alex.” Alex looked out of his viewport. “There is no daylight in space, Alex. It’s only one huge black night with distant stars and galaxies being the only light. That night goes on and on for infinity but as large as it is, it changes so incredibly fast.”

  “What do you mean?”

  Jingle lowered her head, “Alex, it seems like it was just a moment ago when I flew past your ship headed for the Forbidden Wilds. A moment later, you and the Union were chasing me trying to destroy me and my ship. The next moment, we were looking for aliens working with Barrow intent on destroying the Union’s fleets. Another moment passed and we were killing two alien warships in the Styx Nebula.” Jingle looked up, “And just another moment ago, you left to go back to the Union.”

  “What are the lyrics to that song, Jingle?”

  Jingle looked at him, “We’re only getting older, baby, and I’ve been thinking about it lately. Does it ever drive you crazy, just how fast the night changes. Everything you’ve ever dreamed of, disappearing when you wake up, but there’s nothing to be afraid of, even if the night changes; it will never change me and you.”

  Jingle stopped and then stared at Alex, “I know you don’t like having to be out here with me and especially with me out-ranking you. You are the man you are and that is not going to change.” Alex’s eyes narrowed and Jingle raised a hand, “Don’t get defensive, Alex. I am also the woman I am and that is not going to change either.” Jingle paused and then continued, “You said when you launched the DD Missile at that alien warship that your mission was bigger than you. You said it again to Admiral Glennon when he refused to allow you to go back to the nebula. Our mission is bigger than either of us, Alex and we must work together in spite of our feelings. You will be in command if we face combat conditions, that is something you have on me; you’re experienced and I’m not. I will not issue orders to you unless I clearly see a real danger. We will operate like we did before and try to find out what’s going on in alien territory. We were a good team back then.”

  Alex stared at her, and then said, “Jingle, I will do all I can to make that happen. Goodnight.” The monitor went dark and Jingle stared out of the viewport into the unending night. She wondered how it was going to change.

  Chapter Four

  Jingle woke and stretched. Her hair was a mess, it had grown out to its former length. She grabbed a brush and went to the bridge. She sat down in her chair getting the tangles out and Jangle said, “Alex wants you to contact him when you got up.”

  “Put him on.” Alex appeared on the monitor and Jingle asked, “Why did you contact me yesterday?”

  “I forgot about it during our conversation. I was wondering if we could try to think of how the aliens are detecting our scouts.”

  “Alex, I’m at a loss.”

  Alex shook his head, “So am I. I know that they’re vicious and look at humanity as just another meal.”

  “Why do you say they’re vicious?”

  “Jingle, Annie said that the alien had one of his crew commit suicide to convince the Executive the disruptor worked on them.” Jingle’s eyes widened. Alex saw it and asked, “What?”

  Jingle’s expression underwent an immediate change and Alex saw her disgust before she responded, “I know how they’re doing it.”

  “Jingle, are you sure about that?”

  “It’s the only thing that makes sense, Alex. They haven’t built any probes; that’s not how they’re detecting the scouts.” Alex’s brow furrowed and Jingle sat back before continuing, “Do you remember that Brooks pulled up an image of a fire ant colony and said the alien structures are organized like it?”

  “Yes.”

  “What if their social structure is similar to fire ants?”

  “Are you saying they’re insects?”

  “No, I’m saying their social structure is similar. In an ant colony, there is only one ruler, the queen. Every ant in that colony only serves a purpose of keeping the queen safe, fed, and secure. If the aliens are similar in their social structure, then their leaders are served by all the other alien beings in the giant constructions they’ve built. The aliens have taken a billion of their workers and spread them out inside the dust cloud with a small scanner and communicator.”

  Alex was shaking his head, “But…”

  Jingle interrupted him, “Alex, it’s the only thing that makes sense. We know their s
pecies can survive in open space. You also suggested that they may be going after the Union because over population could be causing their food supplies to not be enough to feed them. The alien leaders could care less if their workers die and sending a billion of them out into open space would help alleviate some of their population pressures. The ant queen could care less if thousands of her warrior ants die defending the hive. They must operate the same way.”

  Alex was silent and then started shaking his head, “This explains how they were able to establish a detection net inside the cluster so fast.”

  “Exactly right!” Jingle replied. “All they have to do is have them dropped off in open space such that their small scanners overlap each other. When a ship passes between them, they’ll have the ships speed and course plotted and immediately send it to their closest warships.”

  “But our ships aren’t detectable, Jingle.”

  “The wakes they leave are detectable, Alex, and even a small wake can be detected close to the edge of the nebula if they’re inside the range of a scanner.”

  “But how long can they keep up that detection net? Those beings can’t live in open space indefinitely without food.”

  Jingle’s eyes flew wide open, “Oh my God! Jangle, go to maximum-speed and get me to the nebula!!”

  Alex turned the Rapids and fell in behind her, “What’s wrong, Jingle?”

  Jingle ignored him and asked, “Brooks, do you have the frequency of that being you scanned outside one of their space hives?”

  “I do. It wasn’t made of organic substances, Jingle.”

  “Send it to Jangle and enter that frequency into your scanner. Oh, I hope I’m wrong! Jangle, how long before we arrive at the fleets?”

  “You slept a long time. We’ll arrive within thirty minutes.”

  “Alex start scanning the nebula with a long-range scan using that frequency. Jangle, you do the same.”

  Alex saw the wall monitor activate and he saw what looked like a cloud of small specks moving toward the Union formations just outside the edge of the nebula. He also immediately saw that the Union fleets did not have their energy fields activated. He punched the general fleet frequency, “ALL SHIPS, RAISE YOUR FORCE FIELD, STEALTH FIELD, AND DISRUPTOR FIELDS NOW!!”

  A senior admiral appeared on their monitors and glared at Alex, “I will not waste energy by raising my fields. Who are you and what’s going on?”

  “I’m Admiral Berringer and you will immediately raise your fields.”

  “Not until you explain why!”

  Jingle pressed her communicator and Admiral Glennon appeared on her monitor, “Admiral, a senior admiral is refusing to follow the orders we’ve given him.”

  Glennon’s expression turned angry, “Put him on the monitor!” Glennon saw the admiral appear and said forcefully, “Admiral Thorton, you are relieved of your command and will leave for Fleet Headquarters immediately to face a court martial!”

  The conversation was heard by every union ship over the general frequency and they immediately began raising their energy fields. Almost immediately, large explosions began going off just outside the ships’ force fields.

  Jingle punched the general frequency, “I’M SENDING A FREQUENCY TO YOUR COMPUTERS!! ENTER IT INTO YOUR SCANNERS AND START FIRING ON THE OBJECTS YOU DETECT MOVING TOWARD YOUR SHIPS!!”

  Glennon was still on the monitor and he asked, “What’s going on?”

  “Jangle, send him a copy of the conversation Alex and I had.”

  “Sending.” Glennon looked away and started watching the recording.

  “Jangle, send a copy of it to every Union ship.”

  “Sending, Jingle!”

  The Union warships began opening fire with their blasters and millions of explosions were going off in front of their lines. The aliens were vaporized but they continued to pour out of the edge of the cluster. It took more than six hours before the last of them stopped emerging.

  • • •

  Admiral Thorton appeared on Jingle’s monitor and he looked directly at Admiral Glennon, “Sir, I humbly request that I be allowed to continue in my current post. I messed up and I won’t make another mistake, Sir.”

  Glennon was glaring at him with obvious rage and Jingle said, “Sir, Admiral Thorton didn’t know about us coming out here and had no idea of our mission. We need our experienced officers and sending him back will weaken our forces.”

  Glennon looked at Jingle and remembered when she said the same thing to a judge that was going to arrest him. He calmed down and looked at Admiral Thorton, “You will retain your position, but this will go in your record, Admiral.”

  “Yes Sir. And thank you.”

  “In the future, if either Admiral Berringer or Admiral Jingle tell you to jump, your only question will be, ‘how high’! You got that!”

  “Yes Sir! It won’t happen again!”

  Glennon ended the contact and turned to Alex and Jingle, “That was close!”

  “They can’t do it again, Sir.”

  “Why not?”

  “Our ships have the frequency of those aliens and their scanners will detect them long before they can use those backpacks to get close.”

  “Admiral Jingle, I’m beginning to believe you’re psychic.”

  “It was Alex’s comment about how vicious they are that allowed me to see it, Sir.”

  Glennon looked at each of them before responding, “You’re a good team. Keep it up.”

  Glennon disappeared and Alex spoke up, “Jingle, you were the one that saw this.”

  “But I wouldn’t have seen it without your remark, Alex. My connection with Jangle put everything together once you said it. Besides, you knew what to do to handle it. I was fumbling around trying to think of what to do.”

  Alex nodded and smiled…slightly…before saying, “What now? We’ve just accomplished our mission; we determined how they’re detecting our ships.”

  “Alex, we know the alien’s blasters can take out our warships, why haven’t they done it?”

  Alex was silent for a few moments as he linked with Brooks. He looked up and said, “They’re worried about the imaginary alien civilization invading our galaxy.”

  “They want the Union to take them on, right?” Alex nodded. “It’s been more than two years since one of those invading alien’s warships entered the cluster and destroyed two of their warships before escaping.”

  “Are you suggesting we do it again?”

  “If we do nothing, they will decide they have left our galaxy and launch an attack on our fleets. I’m surprised they haven’t done it yet.”

  “Jingle, the optimum time to launch a major attack is immediately after an attack.”

  Jingle’s eyes went wide open and she activated the fleet frequency. “ALL SHIPS, ALL SHIPS! LISTEN CLOSELY! WE’RE EXPECTING A MAJOR ATTACK ON ALL UNION FORCES SHORTLY! THEY WILL LAUNCH A MISSILE BARRAGE AT YOUR SHIPS AND THE MISSILES THEY’LL BE USING ARE CAPABLE OF PENETRATING YOUR FORCE FIELDS! YOU MUST RAISE THE FREQUENCY OF YOUR FORCE FIELD ONE-THOUSAND-HERTZ IMMEDIATELY! THESE MISSILES CAN DETECT YOUR FORCE FIELDS AND MATCH THE FREQUENCY ALLOWING THEM TO BREAK THROUGH! YOU’LL SEE THEM ON YOUR SCANNERS AND YOU MUST OPEN FIRE ON THEM BEFORE THEY MOVE INTO SCANNING RANGE OF YOUR SHIPS, BLINDING THEM! THEY AREN’T CAPABLE OF PENETRATING YOUR FORCE FIELDS WITHOUT MATCHING ITS FREQUENCY!”

  Admiral Thorton appeared on the monitor, “All ships will back away from the nebula three-thousand miles. That will allow us to see them earlier.”

  Jingle smiled, she didn’t think of that.

  “Jingle, I’m doing an active scan of the nebula and I’m detecting large wakes moving through it.”

  Alex immediately shouted over the frequency, “WAR ALERT, WAR ALERT! ENEMY SHIPS DETECTED MOVING THROUGH THE DUST!”

  Thorton appeared on the monitor again, “How are they going to detect our ships in stealth mode?”

  Alex shook his head, “Sir, I believe they’re going to launch enough missiles that they’ll overwh
elm us. If one of them hits a ship, others will home in on the explosion. Move the ships further out!”

  “ALL SHIPS CONTINUE MOVING AWAY FROM THE CLUSTER!! IF YOUR SHIP IS THREATENED TO BE OVERWHELMED, RUN!”

  “What good will that do?” Alex asked. “Those missiles are faster than our ships.”

  “They are inside the cluster, Alex because they’re small and don’t have the resistance of a larger ship moving through the dust. In open space, they don’t have that advantage.”

  Alex thought a moment and ordered, “Brooks, find a place between two of their warships and move us into the edge of the cluster. Jingle follow me into the cluster and attempt to intercept any of their communications.”

  “On my way.” The two ships disappeared into the dust just before a gigantic cloud of missiles erupted out of the cluster’s outer edge.

  • • •

  The Union fleets were backing away from the Cluster and they picked up speed. The warships opened fire on the missiles headed toward them, which gave the missiles an energy source to home in on. Union warships began exploding as missiles locked on their blasters and rushed in. It took more than four of the small missiles to break through the Union’s force fields but there were millions launched out of the cluster. Admiral Thorton stared at his monitor and ordered, “ALL SHIPS WILL GO TO FULL SPEED AND MOVE AWAY FROM THE MISSILES NOW!”

  The Union warships went to full speed and still Union warships exploded. But they went to maximum speed and the missiles fell behind them. After forty-minutes, the missiles ran out of fuel and began self-destructing.

  The Union Fleets stopped and Thorton ordered, “Move back into your lines. If they launch another missile barrage, turn and run! They can waste as many as they want; we know how to handle them now.”

  • • •

  “Alex, what’s going on?”

  “Jingle, the aliens have just launched two major attacks on our fleets. They must be planning another attack with their major warships right behind the missiles.”

  “Why are they attacking now?”

  “Jingle, the Invaders haven’t attacked the cluster for over two years. They must believe that the Invader issue is no longer a problem. We have to dissuade them of that belief.”