Frontier's Destiny: A Space Opera Adventure, page 15
“Argo to Jason,” Kevin’s voice rang out on his commband.
“Jason here.”
“Something’s happening down here. It’s as if our systems are being hacked.”
“Join the club.”
“Perhaps they’re figuring out what’s happened here,” Yurich told his CO.
It’d been the smartest thing Jason had heard the Sabre’s XO say. “If that’s the case, we have to tread carefully.”
“Professor Petit, would it be conceivable for them to access our systems and take control of the ship?” Shila asked.
Petit and Rao conferred with each other, and the professor nodded. “With what we’ve seen so far, I wouldn’t put it past them.”
Shila turned toward the command station, and just as she was about to speak, all the monitors resumed normal service. “Report?”
“It seems all our systems are back under our control,” Yurich said, checking everything over.
Rao nodded. “I’m not detecting anything out of the ordinary.”
“They haven’t left something behind? A computer virus perhaps.” Shila asked.
“Nothing apparent.”
“Captain.” Yurich directed her attention to the scanners. Three Company ships broke off and headed toward them to join the other. “They’re on an intercept course, directly for us. We should bring our weapons to bear.”
“No.” She shook her head and leaned in.
Jason knew she was a levelheaded commanding officer when he’d served under her. This had confirmed it.
A bright-red burst of light fired from the lead ship. It zipped throughout the Sabre and then disappeared just as quickly as it came.
“What the hell was that?” Jason asked.
Another beam blasted from the Company vessel and washed over them.
“They’ve latched on to us,” Rao said to his captain.
The ship moved, and Jason grabbed hold of the console. “It must be some kind of tractor field.”
The rest of the Company fleet circled around and headed to the vortex that the Seekers had created. The ship towing the Sabre yanked them along with them and followed.
Everything happened so fast that Shila couldn’t give another order. They entered the vortex, and Jason rushed to a seat so he wouldn’t blackout on his feet. But what would normally happen didn’t eventuate. He stared at Petit in shock.
“Professor, why as we still conscious?” Shila approached him. “Has this got something to do with this tractor field pulling us along like a fish on a hook?”
Petit tapped away at his console. “That first burst they fired appears to have drenched the hull in an unidentified energy particle. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s acting as a barrier to the effects of the corridor.”
“That’s…nice of them. I suppose.” Shila checked the scanners. “The question is, what do they want with us?”
The colors swirling around them were almost hypnotic. Jason struggled to remember a time when he’d seen anything so beautiful. Ever since their first journey through trans-space, he often wondered about the races that mastered it and if they had the same impediments they had when traveling through the corridors. His question had finally been answered. He activated his commband. “Jason to Argo. Are you okay?”
“Argo here,” Kevin replied. “I don’t know how, but we’re all conscious down here.”
“Uh, Captain…” Dyson said.
Shila peered across to the communications officer. “What is it, Ensign?”
“The Company fleet. They’re sending out a commlink.”
“Let’s hear it.”
He pressed in the commband, and a voice rang through the speakers. “Captain Shila of the UECS Sabre. Captain Jason Cassidy of the Cargo Ship Argo.”
Shila attempted to speak. “This is—”
“Your presence is required on the flagship of the Company fleet.”
Yurich tapped her on the shoulder and indicated to the command console as a blip headed in their direction.
“A transport ship is being sent to bring you aboard.”
Everyone remained in silence for further instructions, but none were forthcoming.
“Is that it?” Shila asked Dyson.
He checked his monitor and nodded. “The commlink has ceased.”
“The Company transport is maneuvering toward one of our starboard side airlocks,” Yurich told her.
Shila glanced at Jason. “Well, Cassidy, are you ready?”
“You’re not considering going over there, are you?” her XO wailed.
“We’re not in a position to say no, Commander. If we don’t take them up on their invitation—”
“Allow me to go in your place.”
“They invited me.”
“Then at least take some Marines with you,” he pleaded with her.
“No.”
Yurich frowned, and Jason smirked.
“Look after my ship, Commander,” Shila said to him.
He nodded, and Shila led Jason out of the pit. “You’ve dealt with these people before. What should we expect?”
Jason chuckled. “The unexpected.”
Thirty-Nine
“Why do you have to be so heroic all the time?”
Jason stared at Marissa with bemusement. It sounded like something he’d said to someone else once. “What do you mean?”
“I mean you keep getting yourself into situations that you’ll never come back from.”
“I haven’t died yet.” Jason glanced at Captain Shila by the airlock. She looked in the other direction, doing her best to stay out of the squabble.
Marissa shook her head. “There’ll be a time you do, and then…”
Jason put a reassuring arm around her. “Do you think the Company has gone to all this trouble to bring us aboard their ship to kill us? They could’ve blown the Sabre and the Argo out of the stars with a single shot, but they didn’t.”
“You don’t know what they’ll do to you over there.”
“I have a feeling about these things.” He didn’t really, but he wasn’t sure what else to say. “This isn’t where it ends.”
“I hope not.”
“Don’t worry, I’d never leave you and Benjamin.”
“Marie,” she corrected him with a smirk as the airlock shuddered.
“It appears our ride has arrived.”
The airlock cycled through the pressurization process, and the door parted. But no one stepped out. Shila took point while Jason followed her in.
The internal architecture was similar to that of the crashed Company zoological vessel they’d found on the planetoid a few months earlier. Ironically, it was just as empty, albeit without the kwigalark this time.
“There aren’t any controls,” Shila observed, putting a hand on the back of a pair of vacant chairs.
“You have entered an automated Company transport ship. Take your seat and prepare for departure,” a computerized voice boomed over the speakers.
Jason and Shila shared an ominous look, and the doors closed behind them.
“Please sit down.”
They both did so and the soft hum of the engines permeated through the hull. The ship then detached from the Sabre and began its voyage, pulling away from the CDF ship and heading toward the Company fleet.
“I didn’t have time to say sorry about your brother,” Shila said, breaking the awkward silence between them.
Ever since leaving Rixiia, Jason hadn’t had a moment to take in everything that had happened. “I saw Tyler happier than ever. I can’t fault him for not wanting to leave.” He offered her his own condolences. “I’m sorry about the fleet—”
Shila stopped him in his tracks with the wave of her hand. There was clearly a heavy heart beneath her normally cool exterior. As a former officer, he understood it was something she’d have to live with for the rest of her life.
The pair remained in silence for the rest of the voyage until their transport brought them inside an elaborate hangar deck aboard a Company ship with other similar craft. It docked, and the doors opened. They stepped out into darkness. Then something hummed around them.
“We’re on an elevator,” Jason surmised.
It slowed, and they entered another murky area. They both put up their hands to shield their eyes as several spotlights washed over them.
“Captain Shila. Captain Cassidy.”
“Yes?” she said.
The spotlights winked out, and the rest of the area lit up with softer illumination. A single figure stood before them in a closed-off room.
He approached and examined them. “What can you tell me about the incident in the Bolan-Yerus system?” the tall, purple-skinned alien asked.
“The Bolan-Yerus system?” Shila furrowed her brow. “You’re talking about the system with the asteroid field?”
He nodded.
“We believe a weapon destroyed it. One of unimaginable power.”
He turned to Jason. “What do you know about this weapon?”
“Very little,” he said. “Apart from the fact it’s powered by an ancient relic.”
The alien went to say something else, but Jason interrupted him. “Why are you asking these questions when you have the answers to them already? You did, after all, hack into our computer banks.”
“Data can be falsified. What comes out of one’s mouth cannot.” The faintest hint of a smirk appeared on his face before it quickly disappeared. “My race, the Anooki, has the uncanny ability of being able to sense when someone’s lying.”
“And what’s your assessment?” Shila crossed her arms.
“You are being truthful.”
“Can I ask you a question, Mister…?”
“I am Commander Zumari. And you may.”
“What do you want with us?”
“Your records informed me that your people discovered the power source of the weapon that destroyed the Bolan-Yerus system.”
“We may have found it, but we didn’t hand it over to the Seekers,” Shila said, making their innocence abundantly clear.
“The Seekers?” Zumari raised an eyebrow. “You speak of the Kalceni?”
Jason and Shila eyed one another while the Company commander continued. “The Kalceni were all but a myth. Millions of years in the past. It was a surprise to us when we discovered their fleet.”
“If they’re some legend, what are they doing here now?” Jason asked.
“All we know is what’s written in fables.” Zumari paced the room. “They were a race hell-bent on chaos and destruction, thought to have died out in a war like no other millions of years ago. The Alliance represents order in the galaxy. By their actions at Bolan-Yerus, they want to tear down all that we’ve built.”
He stopped and faced them. “Unfortunately, the thousands lost here won’t be the last of those who perish. We’re pursuing the Kalceni fleet through their own trans-space corridor and have ascertained they’re on course for Junina Prime. It’s an Alliance world with a population of two billion people.”
“What do you plan to do about these Kalceni?” Jason asked.
“Another sizeable Alliance fleet will meet us there, including a deterrent of our own. One we hope can destroy their prized weapon.”
“What can we do?” Shila interjected.
Commander Zumari chuckled dryly. “You and your people have done enough. If it weren’t for finding the sphere beneath the surface of the planet you designate Orion V, the Kalceni wouldn’t be slicing through our territory. When we reach Junina Prime, we’ll open a trans-space vortex for you to return to the place you call Earth. We’ll deal with the Kalceni threat on our own.”
It seemed like a lifetime ago Jason had thought about the distant blue jewel. The problem was, he didn’t know whether he was ready to go back.
Forty
Cargo Ship Argo
Jason stepped through the hatchway of the Argo’s engine room and approached the primary maintenance junction to find Aly’s legs poking out of it.
She slid out of and wiped the grease from her hands, throwing the messy rag at him. “So, they didn’t hang, draw, and quarter you after all.”
He caught the rag and rolled his eyes. “Unfortunately, you still haven’t been promoted.”
“As if I’d want this thing anyway.” Aly’s jovial smile faded. “It’s falling apart, remember.”
“Lucky we have the best engineer in the galaxy to keep her in one piece.”
She blushed and pulled herself to her feet. “This ship…she’s a tough old bird.”
Jason walked to the other side of the engine room and leaned against the bulkhead, rubbing his temples, doing his damndest to get rid of his headache.
“We never got to talk about what happened on Rixiia,” Aly said. “How are you holding up?”
“Crappy,” he replied. “How about you?”
“Same. No one could’ve guessed we’d find that when we arrived on Rixiia.” Aly smiled. “But the look on his face when he was with his wife and daughter…”
“It was incredible, wasn’t it?”
Aly frowned. “This hasn’t made you feel any better, has it?”
“Not in the slightest.”
They both chuckled and stared at one another.
“Anyway,” Jason said, “how’s the ship looking? The Company told us once we reach the end of the trans-space corridor, they’ll open another vortex and return the Argo and the Sabre to Earth.”
“Uh, we’re okay mostly.” Aly narrowed her eyes. “Though, I’m a little surprised we’re heading back.”
“There’s nothing more we can do. We’ve overstayed our welcome out here.”
There was silence for several moments until Aly asked the most pertinent question. “What do you think will happen when we go home?”
“I’m not sure yet.” He bit his bottom lip. “Captain Shila will hand us in, I suppose. I’ll have my crimes to answer for.”
“Against a stacked jury picked by President Jarret…”
Jason understood the consequences should he ever return to Earth. He hoped he’d be able to take the fall for everyone, while the Argo was allowed to continue on her way. With any luck, Marissa could raise their child in peace.
His head thumped. He’d dreamed of buying his family’s old house in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and taking Marissa and the baby with him. He wanted to rebuild it and create a life for himself there, much as Tyler had done on Rixiia. At this point, it seemed like nothing more than a foolish pipedream. “I’m sure I’ll figure it out,” he said, doing his best to reassure her.
Aly didn’t look so convinced. She opened her mouth to say something, but a voice interrupted them outside the hatchway.
“Can I have a word?” Kione asked, stepping over the threshold.
Jason nodded and handed Aly back her greasy rag, leaving her alone to continue her work.
“I heard what happened on the Company ship,” his friend said, leading Jason into the galley.
“I’m not sure how, but when we’re sent back to Earth, I’ll get you to safety before—”
“What happens to me when we return is the furthest thing from my mind,” Kione cut him off. “The Company. The Alliance. They don’t know what they’re getting themselves into when they face the Seekers at Junina Prime.”
Jason sat at the head of the table. “They claim to have reinforcements en route to assist.”
“They’ll be useless against the weapon ship.”
“We can’t be certain of that.”
“I can,” Kione said matter-of-factly.
Jason furrowed his brow. He wanted to know how the alien knew the things he did, but would likely get nothing more than a vague explanation, because in truth, even Kione didn’t seem to understand how he had such knowledge. Whatever the sphere was doing to him was both remarkable and unexplainable.
“Commander Zumari told me they also have a superweapon of their own at Junina Prime,” Jason said. “I’d like to think if their fleet can’t take care of business, their weapon might.”
Kione placed his hands on the chair in front of him. “There’s only one person who can render the sphere useless.”
“You?”
Kione nodded.
“You say these things, yet you can’t tell me how you’ll do it.” Jason rubbed his pounding forehead. “If you and me go over to the Company vessel and inform them of our plans, they’ll laugh us off their ship.”
“The Seekers are ripping through the heart of their territory. They’ll lay waste their entire civilization.”
Jason stood and opened the door of the cabinet, longing to find something to dull his headache.
What I wouldn’t give for some hooch right now.
“The Alliance are infinitely more powerful than us, with resources we can’t comprehend.” Jason pushed some containers and bottle aside. “I’m sure they—”
“This isn’t like you, Jason,” Kione said.
He found some aspirin and turned, filling a glass full of water. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“From the first time we encountered the Seekers, you realized they had to be stopped at all costs. You understood the risk they posed. Now it’s as if you’re giving up.”
“We’re nothing but a small cargo crew.”
“The last few months have proved we’re so much more.”
Jason gulped his aspirin and drank down the water. “We’ve made our sacrifices. Let’s leave this one to the professionals.”
“That’s it, isn’t it?” A hint of realization appeared in Kione’s eyes. “You don’t want to lose any more people…”
Jason slammed the glass on the counter, shattering it everywhere. “Of course I don’t!”
“You believe if I go over to the weapon ship, I’ll never come back.”
Jason calmed himself and did his best at cleaning the mess. “You and me both know you’ll never step foot back on the Argo if you go over there.”
Kione stood mute, confirming what Jason suspected.
All the pair could do was stare at one another.
Susan turned to the sound of Javier’s feet clopping on the deck. He entered the infirmary and leaned against the medical counter.
