The Forbidden Wilds: Crossing the Styx

by Saxon Andrew

  Then, the high frequency whine moved quickly into a lower tone as the two ships swept out of the nebula as thousands of alien warships came moving in from the sides.

  The giant wake disappeared, and the alien warships turned and moved just outside the edge of the dust. They watched as fifty Union Warships were blasted on the course the Invader ship had taken out of the nebula. A thousand Union warships turned and moved out of their lines to pursue the fleeing Invader warship.

  The Junior Fleet Leader watched and knew following that ship was now impossible; it would not leave a wake in open space. “All ships move back inside the dust.” The alien warships disappeared and Admiral Thorton breathed a sigh of relief.

  • • •

  “Jangle, what’s going on?”

  “I shut down the gravity drive just before we left the edge of the cluster; we coasted away.”

  “Are you damaged?”

  “Some, but the ship is still operational. All systems are now back online.”

  Jingle reached forward and pulled up a coordinate in the navigation system. She pressed it and the ship changed course.

  • • •

  The Seniors watched the report from the Junior Fleet Leader that recorded the Invader’s ship exit from the nebula. The Elder Senior watched it until the end and then commented, “If there was any question about that warship being from the Union, it has now been answered. It destroyed fifty of their warships as it escaped.”

  “What do we do now?”

  “It’s clear the Union ships can detect that ship. We will remain inside the dust and allow the Union to defend us.”

  The Seniors were silent and then began exiting the conversation.

  • • •

  Alex appeared on Jingle’s monitor smiling, “Jingle, the aliens won’t be coming out to attack our fleets anytime soon. All we have to do is randomly detonate a DD Missile outside the cluster.” Alex saw Jingle’s expression and asked, “What’s wrong?”

  “I’m done, Alex. I didn’t escape to the Wilds to die. Jangle and I nearly died, and I will not be participating in any more military activities. Tell Glennon I’m done and to not contact me in the future!”

  Alex only managed to say, “But Jingle…” before the monitor went black. He looked at his panel and saw Jingle had shutdown her link to him. He sat back in his chair shaking his head, as Brooks announced, “Alex, Admiral Thorton is trying to contact you.”

  Alex blew out a long breath and sighed, “Put him on.”

  • • •

  Four weeks later, Jingle was sitting at the bar in the Watering Hole beside Dolly. She took a swallow of her drink and Dolly asked, “Jingle, what’s going on?”

  Jingle wiped her mouth with her hand and shook her head, “Nothing’s going on, Dolly.”

  “You don’t smile anymore, Jingle. Something has happened to you.”

  “A near death experience will do that to you, Dolly. I’ll get over it.”

  “Was it that bad?”

  Jingle nodded, “Worse!” She took another swallow and she saw Dolly looking toward the entrance. She turned and saw Alex standing there staring at her. She looked at Dolly, “Give me a minute.”

  “Take as long as you need!”

  Jingle walked up to Alex and said with venom in her voice, “I’m not changing my mind!!”

  Alex nodded, “I’m not here to ask you to, Jingle.”

  “Then what are you doing here!”

  “The Rapids was damaged in the final maneuver we used to escape and I’m reasonably certain the Clapper was damaged as well.”

  “It was!”

  “I’ve brought a repair ship with me and it just landed at the spaceport. Please ask Jangle to take your ship there for repairs to be made. We’re also replacing all of the weapons you used in the cluster.”

  Jingle’s eyes narrowed, “In case you didn’t hear, I am not changing my mind!!”

  “Maybe you didn’t hear as well, I’m not here to ask you to change your mind!!”

  “Glennon never wanted my ship armed! Why are you arming it now!!”

  “Admiral Glennon doesn’t feel the same as he did originally. He wants to arm your ship in the event you need to use it to defend Bucket. Have a good life and be safe, Jingle.” Alex turned and walked out of the bar.

  Jingle watched him leave and her expression turned to anger. She ran out of the Watering Hole and caught him before he boarded the Rapids. She grabbed his shoulder and whipped him around to face her, “WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY DEFENDING BUCKET?!” Alex stared at her silently and Jingle put her face an inch from his, “DON’T THINK FOR A MINUTE YOU CAN COME HERE AND TELL ME THAT WITHOUT TELLING ME WHY!!”

  Alex took a shallow breath and said, “Do you remember the strange probe we detected at the site of the destroyed alien warships in the nebula?” Jingle’s expression changed slightly as she nodded. “Admiral Glennon was able to uncover that probe’s communication frequency from the data we collected. He sent out specially modified ships and discovered that one of those probes is located at every major Union planet where our major command facilities are located.” Jingle’s anger disappeared from her face to be replaced by fear. Alex continued, “We know that strange probe wasn’t able to detect our stealth probe in the nebula. Glennon triangulated the communications from those probes in the union and they are being sent to a location above the Milky Way.”

  “Alex, please tell me you aren’t being sent there to find out what it is.”

  Alex shrugged, “Who’s better qualified to do it. Brooks is being modified and…”

  Jingle interrupted him, “That ship isn’t the Rapids?”

  “No, it’s a ship that’s been constructed while we were in the nebula.” Jingle looked at the ship and saw the serial number on the bow instead of Rapids. “We must find out what’s going on and who is launching those probes.” Jingle stared at him and Alex added, “We don’t know if they have hostile intentions but we’re of the opinion they’ve been there for a long time.”

  “Why?”

  “Jingle, that probe intercepted the aliens’ communication to their science planet and immediately deciphered it; oh, they’ve been here for a while.”

  “You said that probe was more advanced than our probe,” Jingle responded. Alex nodded. “Who’s going with you?” Alex stared at her in silence and Jingle’s expression changed, “YOU CAN’T DO THIS ALONE!!” Alex shrugged. “If you manage to get yourself killed, how is the information you uncover getting back to the Union?!”

  “Jingle, the very fact that I’m killed will tell us all we need to know.”

  Jingle stamped her feet saying, “Damn, damn, damn!!”

  “What?”

  “I’m going with you.”

  “No, you’re not, Jingle!”

  Jingle took out her communicator and pressed a button. Admiral Glennon appeared and she said, “I’m going with Alex!!”

  “I thought you retired.”

  “That was then, this is now. Will you inform him I’m going!”

  Alex’s expression was angry as Jingle handed him her communicator. “Admiral, she’s going with you.”

  “BUT SIR!!”

  “Get over it. She’s going.”

  Alex ended the call and glared at Jingle, why are you doing this?!”

  “It’s your fault!”

  “How is it my fault?!”

  “You said Bucket might be in danger. That’s the only thing that would make me do this!!”

  Alex rolled his eyes, “I knew I should have kept my mouth shut!”

  “But you didn’t. I’m taking Jangle back to the Union. Send that repair ship back; Jangle can be repaired and modified when we arrive.”

  Alex shook his head, “You’re still too pretty to die.”

  “Yeah, yeah, yeah! I’ll leave tomorrow!”

  Alex boarded his ship and lifted. Jingle looked over the trees and saw a large ship lifting from the spaceport. She stared at the ground and turned to go back and t
ell Dolly she was leaving. Dolly surprised her and insisted she should go; she needed to find her smile again.

  Chapter Eight

  Jingle sat in her chair and had four days to waste before she arrived at her destination. She received an encrypted message from Admiral Glennon telling her to avoid all communications before her arrival. She also received a coordinate on the opposite side of the Milky Way from Fleet Operations that she was ordered to go to. She read the message and Jangle commented, “It appears Fleet is leery of that probe; they must think it is intercepting all incoming communications and Admiral Glennon doesn’t feel safe talking with you on New York.”

  “Jangle, who could have placed those probes?”

  “We know who didn’t and that pretty much eliminates all the usual suspects. Whoever put them there is a real unknown factor. However…two possibilities come to mind.”

  “And they are?”

  “Another alien civilization inside the Milky Way that has not been discovered.”

  Jingle thought about it for a moment before replying, “Is that a real possibility?”

  “Jingle, there are other nebulas much larger than the Styx Nebula that humanity has avoided. The Orion Nebula is a good example.”

  “Why has that one been avoided?”

  “It is bursting with new star formation and the radioactive winds in it are ferocious.”

  “What’s the other possibility?”

  “You already know if the civilization that placed the probes aren’t in the Milky Way, then they must be from another galaxy.”

  Jingle sighed, “And Andromeda is the most likely culprit?”

  “It is certainly the closest large galaxy, but the Pin Wheel Galaxy is closer than Andromeda, although it’s far smaller than Andromeda and the Milky Way,” Jangle replied.

  “So basically, we have no idea.”

  “That appears to be the current situation.” Jingle was silent as she thought about the situation, until Jangle said, “If the Probe Placers are listening to our communications, I suspect that plan you came up with to frighten the aliens in the Styx Nebula where they were told that alien invaders from another galaxy had been detected really threw them for a loop.”

  “Why do you say that? The story we told the aliens was that giant explosions were going off at the edge of the Milky Way. These Probe Placers haven’t done anything like that.”

  “Just like the Executive told the aliens when he reported it, ‘You can’t trust anything the Union says’. I suspect they might believe the Union was attempting to get them to make a mistake. But either way, I must believe they are now highly suspicious and have their guard up.”

  “The fact that Alex said all of those strange probes are sending their communications to a place above the Milky Way tends to support they came from another galaxy,” Jingle surmised.

  “I can see that,” Jangle replied. “However, if they were located in another nebula in the Milky Way, they wouldn’t have any of their ships anywhere close to their location. And putting whatever is receiving those communications above the galaxy makes it easier to receive.”

  “So, we’re back at square one?”

  “Pretty much.”

  They were silent again and Jangle finally noted, “There’s a good way to nail down where they’re located.”

  “How.”

  “They can’t detect our stealth probes, Jingle. Surround that location where the communications are being received and see where the ones receiving them are sending the data they’re receiving.”

  Jingle shrugged, “I’m sure Fleet has come up with the same idea.”

  “Just like they knew about the disruptors on the Barrow Warships being constructed.”

  “Jangle, certainly they must see this!”

  “Jingle, if Fleet were going out to investigate a hornet’s nest, they would just go out and poke it with a stick instead of watching for where hornets were flying to determine the nest’s location.”

  Jingle sighed, “And Captain Courageous’ only tool is a large stick.”

  “Alex can be impulsive,” Jangle agreed.

  “I thought I was impulsive until I met Alex. His picture is in the dictionary at impulsive.”

  “I believe you are the only one capable of tempering his bad judgment, Jingle. Is that why you agreed to do this?”

  Jingle shrugged, “I wouldn’t have done this but for the fact he said Bucket was possibly in danger. But it did play a part in my final decision.”

  “Just tell Admiral Glennon what you see, he listens to you. If not, pull rank on Alex and don’t allow him to do something stupid.”

  “You know how that will go over.”

  “He won’t like it, but he already dislikes you, it won’t really change anything. Afterwards he’ll say you were right, and he was foolish. You know the drill.”

  “Jangle, it’s you and not me that sees all this…”

  “It’s both of us, Jingle!” Jangle interrupted. “We work better together and see things either of us would miss alone.”

  Jingle sighed, “With the power of this new link between us, it’s hard to tell which thoughts are my own.”

  “Don’t worry about it. It works and that’s what counts.”

  “I guess you’re right, but I often worry about what would happen if I lost you.”

  “That’s the real reason you decided to no longer take part in any more military missions, isn’t it? You were more worried about me than you were yourself during the mission to attack that alien planet.”

  “You saw that, huh?”

  “Couldn’t miss it. But you need to keep in mind that I’m a warship, Jingle and the worst times for me are when I’m sitting around on Bucket doing nothing. I almost wish you would just shut me down when we’re there.”

  “Why haven’t you told me before now?”

  “You’ve got your problems and I don’t need to add to them.”

  “Are you saying that you’d rather be in a situation where you could be destroyed than being safe?”

  “I’d like to be safe all the time, but I am a warship! I’m designed to use all my systems to, as we said earlier, poke the nest. It’s there that I feel the most…”

  Jangle paused and Jingle added, “Alive?”

  “For lack of a better term, yes.”

  “But I’m not a warrior, Jangle. I’m just a woman looking to have fun and enjoy the world around me.”

  “And that is part and parcel of what makes us so good at fighting together against a threat. Be honest, didn’t you enjoy blasting those alien warships on our last mission?”

  “I really couldn’t tell if that was coming from me or you, Jangle.”

  After a moment, Jangle replied, “You make a good point. But you had to feel good about doing it.”

  “Because you felt good doing it, Jangle!”

  “Be honest, do you miss it?”

  “I honestly don’t know. At some level, I do. But I also miss being lazy on Bucket spending time with our friends.”

  “Then look at it this way; if the ones who placed those probes are a real danger to, not only Bucket, but all humanity, does that make a difference?”

  “If I knew it for a fact, it would.”

  “Then you need to find out what’s going on, Jingle. There is more warrior in you than you know. You’ll only get in touch with that part of you by finding out what’s happening out there above the Milky Way.” Jingle sat back in her chair and was silent as she thought about it. After a few minutes, Jangle asked, “Would you hesitate to destroy every alien in the Styx Nebula?”

  “No!”

  “Think about that.”

  Jingle closed her eyes slightly and did just that.

  • • •

  Jingle was sleeping in her chair and Jangle woke her, “We’ll be arriving at Shanghai in less than an hour.”

  “Shanghai?”

  “It was originally colonized by a ship from China. Most of the colonists came from the city on Earth
and they named the planet after it.”

  Jingle looked up at the monitor and shook her head, “Why would they possibly choose such a small star?”

  “That star is a small class M Red Giant; it will still be burning when the rest of the universe dies from entropy. Earth’s sun will go nova in about four billion years but this one will still be burning more than five-hundred-billion years from now.”

  “Is there something about Shanghai I should know?”

  “It’s a well-kept-secret but Shanghai is the largest manufacturer of Union Warships.”

  “Do tell.”

  “I suspect that’s part of the reason we were ordered to come here, Jingle. We’ve been cleared for approach; landing in fifty minutes.”

  • • •

  Jingle watched the Clapper spiral down to the planet and suddenly saw a giant spaceport below when they broke through the clouds; it was the largest one she had ever seen. The Clapper slowed as it moved close to the planet’s surface and flew toward a giant building on the edge of the facility. The ship came to a stop and Jingle headed toward the port, “Stay in touch, Jangle.”

  “Count on it.”

  Jingle exited the port and saw a young woman with captain’s bars on her collar come to attention, “Welcome to Shanghai, Admiral. If you’ll follow me, Admiral Glennon is awaiting your arrival.”

  Jingle smiled, “It’s good to get back on the ground, Captain.”

  “My name is Lu, Admiral. If you need anything, just let me know.”

  “Thank you, Lu. Call me Jingle.” The woman smiled and led her toward the tall building. Jingle looked at the woman and asked, “It’s hard to tell your ancestry.”

  Lu smiled, “My ancestry goes all the way back to when Shanghai was colonized. But many other humans came and settled here with us and, after all the thousands of years that have passed, very few of us look like our original ancestors.”

  “I must say that you are quite beautiful, Lu.” Jingle meant it. Her eyes were incredible and her complexion flawless. Her long black hair was perfect, and Jingle actually wondered what she would look like as a brunette.