Unsanctioned Reprisal

by Eddie R. Hicks

  The XSV Johannes Kepler had become a household name.

  “This is the XSV Johannes Kepler to Amicitia Station 14 ops, requesting clearance to dock,” Chang spoke into his opened communication screen with the station.

  “Copy that, Kepler, you are cleared to dock at IESA hangar one-seven-five, located on the UNE arm.”

  Chang inputted the course adjustments and guided the ship to its landing spot. “Understood, ops.”

  “And welcome back, Kepler, good to see you’re still in the fight.”

  The hangar bay doors of their assigned landing spot slowly slid open. The Kepler drifted in, passing through the self-irising force field, into the environment-controlled hangar. The lack of movement on the viewer signaled to Foster and the bridge crew their trip had, at last, come to an end.

  For now.

  “All right, folks, be sure to check out the storage bays two decks down on the station,” Foster announced. “Rivera managed to find some of y’all personal belongings from the Carl Sagan.”

  The sleepy-eyed crew began to disembark, after the all the refugees of course. The wait for them to clear out was like leaving a plane full of people and you were on the backseat. Foster spent much of the wait watching the survivors from the colony via the view screen as UNE medical personnel helped them move into the station. Once the hangar was clear of people, Foster made her way out and frowned at how messy some of the corridors within the Kepler had become thanks to their passengers.

  Good thing EVE doesn’t mind cleaning up during downtime.

  Foster stepped off the entry ramp of the Kepler and entered the hangar bay, nodding to various station crew personnel attending to a number of cargo containers lined up before the walls. Beyond the containers was Saressea standing ahead of a small squad of Radiance rangers decked out in combat armor, and Radiance personnel wearing their familiar grey jumpsuits, the new recruits she spoke of. Saressea was giving them a speech by the sounds of it, hard to tell as Foster didn’t understand their language.

  Foster grimaced as she moved past them. Shipboard security would most likely be in the hands of Radiance rangers. It made her miss the brief time Chevallier was her go-to girl for combat situations. Had the two not had a falling out, she’d ask her to join the team.

  Forklifts moved cargo containers across the floor of the wide hangar, their noises combined with sounds of workers talking back and forth to each other helped soothe Foster’s thoughts. It was a sign that a sense of normalcy existed someplace in the galaxy, where people worked, chatted with co-workers, then clocked out to have a beer at the local bar before going home.

  Twenty minutes after Foster left the Kepler, she arrived at the storage warehouse she instructed the crew to visit earlier. She recognized some of the crew leaving with packages filled with personal items found within the Carl Sagan’s crash site, what was salvageable at least. The pictures Rivera sent Foster of what remained of the ship and its habitat ring wasn’t promising. Foster acquired the box shipped to her from the crash site. It contained her father’s telescope, amongst other valuables, and a note letting her know which vet on the station was looking after her pet cat, Starlet.

  An hour later and after a tearful reunion with her cat, Foster left the entry ramp to the Kepler once again, having secured her belongings and her feline friend in her quarters. Her wrist terminal beeped seconds later. There was an incoming transmission.

  She took the call, and the holographic image of a man wearing a UNE navy uniform appeared. His hair was brown and short and, unlike most people she met in this century, his face showed a few signs that five years or so had gone by since his thirtieth birthday.

  “Ah, Captain Foster?” the man asked.

  She nodded. “That’d be me.”

  “I’m Commander Brice Blackmar, commander of this station.” She bit her lip, replying to his message slipped her mind. “I’m not sure if you got my message, but would you be free to meet me in ops? I’d like to chat with you about a few things.”

  “I’ll make my way there.” It was the least she could do, having forgotten to get back to him.

  “Good, I’ll be waiting.’

  Amicitia Station 14 was huge, easily the size of five cities. Ops was located in the middle of the station and the hangar was located at the far edge of the UNE arm. A number of trains, elevators, and escalators needed to be traversed to arrive at the lifts that would take her to ops. It gave her the chance to give the city within the UNE arm a better look, as she glimpsed out the train’s window. When she was last there, her thoughts were full of doom, gloom, and hopelessness. The Johannes Kepler’s victory over the Draconian attack in Sirius changed that and her mindset. There was hope for the future, and best part of all, she got her command back and a brand-new ship.

  The skies above the city her train travelled through were fake. Holograms were built to make it seem as though the city was on Earth, and not inside one of the five station arms. There was a fake holographic sun that rose in the morning, hung in the skies, then set during the evening, and darkened the faux skies like now.

  Environmental controls sent gusts of winds throughout the city at random times to simulate Earth winds. The temperature of the city remained at a consistent twenty-two degrees Celsius. At one moment, Foster thought she was back on Earth. The small evergreen forest below the elevated train tracks didn’t help. It wasn’t until she saw the gardening robots below, she remembered where this city was. As real as everything seemed, there was no rainwater that touched the city. Trees, grass, and other plants had their needs for rainwater taken care of by the robots.

  The train arrived at last in the central section of the station. Foster rode an escalator down off the raised platform, as passengers looking to board the train she left rose upward on the opposite escalator. Holographic advertisements danced along the walls, some had the balls to speak to people that made eye contact with it. Familiar brand names from the twenty-first century were still around according to the ads. Tesla, Sony, Coca-Cola, Nike, they still existed.

  Foster took two steps away from the train station when a sharply dressed man approached her. “Excuses me,” the man said, forcing her to stop and face him. “You’re Captain Rebecca Foster, correct?”

  “You’s the second person to ask me that today,” Foster said crossing her arms. “And yes.”

  The man created a holo window with his HNI, and then tapped a number of commands into it. A camera drone disconnected from the side of his belt and lifted into the air, shining light across Foster’s face, making her eyes squirm for a bit until they adjusted.

  “I’m Lawrence Mitrovica, Galactic Broadcasting Corporation news,” the man said. Then it hit her, this was the other qmail she didn’t get around to replying to. “I was wondering if you had the time to answer a few questions.”

  “Uh, I’m kinda on my way to ops to speak with the Commander,” she said scratching the back of her short brown hair.

  “A secret meeting with Blackmar? Well, all the more reason why the people within the galaxy must hear this story!” A red light blinked on top of the camera drone, he was recording. She felt like running. “So, Captain, your name has been appearing on headlines across, not just UNE-based news organizations, but Radiance and Imperial ones as well. How does it feel awaking into the twenty-second century, not as an explorer, but the woman that has been placed at the tip of the spear to end this conflict?”

  No turning back now, he already has my face on camera . . . “I’m just doing my part in saving lives and restoring the galaxy to the peaceful place it was once before we awoke.”

  “Some people still argue that humanity isn’t ready for deep space expansion, and an incident like the Carl Sagan vanishing is proof of that, as it may have led the invaders, now known as the Draconians, to Earth. Do you have any regrets about your choices made during your Sirius expeditions?”

  “None, we’s liberated the Poniga and Undine from the Architect, prevented his forces from escaping the sy
stem, and uncovered new technology we all use.”

  “But its technology the Draconians claim we stole from them, is it not?”

  “Possession is nine-tenths of the law.”

  “Would it be possible for you to give us greater details about the new tattoos that are on your body?” Lawrence said, as Foster realized he didn’t need a mic to speak into. “We know that you didn’t have them after your extraction from the Carl Sagan but did shortly around the time you took command of the Kepler. The public has been left in the dark about them; some rumors claim that they are of alien origin.”

  “Eh, that’s somethin’ I can’t really talk about right now,” Foster gestured to the lifts she was about to walk to in the distance. “And I really gots to get goin’”

  “One last question,” Lawrence pleaded. “To our knowledge, the Kepler recently returned from a mission within the Kapteyn’s Star system, bringing with you survivors from the colony.”

  “Yes, that’s true,” Foster reluctantly replied. “But I can’t reveal the nature of our mission at this time.”

  “That’s fine, we’ll figure it out eventually,” Lawrence said. “However, what became of the UNE fleet assisting you? To our understanding, only the Kepler has returned to station.”

  “Well we’s got fastest ship in the cosmos,” she gloated. “We probably just beat ‘em to it.”

  “Some of the survivors we spoke to talked about fighting, and a deadly struggle to escape. Yet the Kepler, according to our sources, took minimal damage, and made it back.”

  “We had survivors that needed to be protected. There was no way in hell we was gonna take the Kepler into a combat situation with them aboard.”

  The light from the drone dimmed, and it lowered itself for Lawrence to grab onto and reattach it back to his belt. “That’s it for now, thanks. If you’d like to chat more one-on-one, especially after your meeting with Blackmar, let me know. I’ll be here on the station for a while.”

  Foster gave her reply; a shrug followed by silence. She marched to the lift. She arrived at station ops minutes later and took a moment to gasp at how large it was. There were dozens of computer work stations, each one attended by the station’s UNE staff. Some monitored the station’s systems, and others kept an eye on security cameras. Another set was dedicated to space traffic control, directing all outgoing and incoming ships to and from the system. The ceiling was adorned with flags from all the nations of the old Earth, a reminder of where the UNE originated.

  Being at the highest point on the station meant the windows that covered the dome-shaped area, gave everyone a flawless three-sixty-degree view of the station, its five arms, and the expanse of space beyond. If you tilted your head high enough, blocking out the computers and station personnel from your line of sight, it would feel as though you were in space.

  “You got lost on the way up?”

  Foster turned away from the view of ops and found Blackmar standing behind her. She had to look up, way up, to see his grinning face. Blackmar must have been at least six foot seven.

  “Journalist pestered me for an interview,” Foster said while the two shook hands, she held back a cringe. His firm handshake crushed her hand.

  “Enjoy it while it lasts. Half the UNE views you and your crew as our saviors.” Blackmar guided her into his office next to ops, and free from ears that didn’t need to hear what the two had to say. “And the other half questions why President Anderson is investing so much into you rather than the military.”

  “This ain’t a war we’s gonna win punching and kicking,” Foster said, admiring the layout of his office. It looked like a living room, complete with a bookshelf. “Unless you plan on forcing every man, woman, and child to enlist and fight, which is pretty much the advantage the Draconians have.”

  “Is that so?”

  “Have you ever heard of a dragon that opted to be a doctor or lawyer in life? They’re born and serve one purpose. Take a guess at what that purpose is currently.”

  Blackmar offered her a seat on one of the leather couches. She took the time to peek at the photos of his family on the walls, and a football helmet, ball, and trophy on a rack. Next to the rack were old photos of him dressed in football equipment, standing next to who she guessed was his coach.

  He returned holding two mugs. They had mist lifting away from them carrying the fresh scent of lemon into the air. “The reason I called you here is because I’d like to get your personal opinion on the safety and security of this station.”

  “Eh, why me?” Foster asked and took a sip of the fresh tea. Once again, she forgot for a split second that she wasn’t on a space station over a hundred light-years from Earth. “Couldn’t the navy help you with that?”

  “I don’t trust them right now.” Blackmar pointed to the window. “Just a few weeks ago, you and the Rezeki’s Rage came waltzing in here from a maelstrom. And, according to your reports, those vortexes are like gateways the Draconian fleets use to travel long distances.”

  “Yeah, it’s how we were able to escape from the Kapteyn’s Star system the first time around,” Foster said, after taking another sip. “I found a tunnel within the maelstrom that brought us here.”

  “And that’s my concern,” Blackmar said. “There was a tunnel that led directly into this system, which meant the Draconians sent ships here without us knowing or made plans to do so. Both you and I know the navy, EISS, and President Anderson himself are aware of this, and nothing has been done about it. Since you and your friends traveled through it, I was hoping maybe you could tell me something everyone else . . . forgot to tell me.”

  “I ain’t got nothing else to say about it. I found that tunnel and it was empty. For what it’s worth, when tunnels in the maelstrom aren’t in use, they collapse and become unusable.”

  “How long does that take?”

  “No idea, just when a ship passes through it, it kinda renews the life of the tunnel.”

  “Right, so, when you used the tunnel that led to this system, you inadvertently renewed its life?”

  Her tongue pushed against the inside of her mouth. “Yeah, guess so.”

  “I’m not blaming you for that; you had to do what you needed to do to survive and escape.”

  “But I see your predicament,” Foster said turning the cup around on the table before them. “You got an entry point to the maelstrom at the edge of the system that could let Draconian forces in at any time.”

  “And after your victory in Sirius, the UNE had you and your crew conduct your operation in Kapteyn’s Star system,” Blackmar said then gulped his drink. “All while dedicating a number of ships to that, not assigning new ones to protect the station,” he added.

  “We’s done there now, maybe those ships will be reassigned here.”

  “Only, they’re not.” Blackmar sighed and placed his cup on the table. “Nobody has heard from that fleet.”

  “That journalist mentioned something about that . . .”

  Blackmar grimaced. “Shit, even the press knows . . . that didn’t take long. What the hell happened out there, Foster?”

  “Things got crazy and we had to flee,” she said. “The Kepler is faster as you know, so we outran them and made it back to UNE space first.”

  “You’re only twice as fast as the fleet. They should still be en route or being redirected elsewhere. They aren’t from what we’ve been able to gather. I don’t think the fleet made it out of Kapteyn’s Star, and if they did, they didn’t leave Gliese 1061 the system with the connecting wormhole.”

  “Did the Draconians follow us through the wormhole?”

  “Nope, even if they did, we would have shut it down right away to stop them,” Blackmar said. “That fleet, as far as I’m concerned, is gone, and the navy isn’t talking to us about it.”

  Foster left her seat on the couch and stood at the window, gazing out into space. Her mysterious tattoos on her hands emitted a faint but noticeable glow in the reflection on the glass that shot back.
>
  “I really hope this system doesn’t turn into a battleground,” she said.

  She saw Blackmar’s tall reflection on the glass stand to join her.

  “Over twelve million humans and aliens live on this station, and just outside of it are wormholes that lead to the capitals of Radiance, the Empire, UNE space, and the Morutrin system,” Blackmar said. “Losing this system and the station would be a major blow to the galaxy. Foster, I need your help to prevent that since the navy doesn’t seem to care.”

  “Doctor Pierce and Odelea did uncover some data that might help us understand how their ships communicate.”

  “Excellent,” he said, putting his cup of tea to his lips. “That might help out immensely with a side project I’d like you to help us test.”

  19 Pierce

  Pierce’s apartment, UNE Arm

  Amicitia Station 14, Arietis system

  October 14, 2118, 23:47 SST (Sol Standard Time)

  Travis Pierce couldn’t shake off the awkward experience he had prior to arriving at the station. He thought back to his past life when he was thirty years younger, and counted the dozens of missed connections with women, dates he could have gone on, experiences he could have had, and paths in life he never had the chance to walk. All leading up to his memories of Pernoy, the most elegant Hashmedai woman he’d ever met.

  He made a loud moan when he stepped away from the elevator in the newly constructed apartment within the UNE city of the station. IESA was kind enough to provide Pierce with housing that wasn’t dorms he was given to live in last summer. When you’re a member of the team that’s expected to save the galaxy, you get a few benefits.

  He was delighted to see familiar sights that surrounded the outside of the high-rise apartment, such as office buildings and apartments, and cars flying back and forth under the nighttime skies, even though it was just a hologram. The city’s skyline was brightened with lights and hologram advertisements, and behind all that, if you looked closely, you could see an artificial mountain range with its flowing pristine rivers and boreal forests standing watch. A city, mountain, and a forest inside a space station, it was truly a remarkable achievement.