Osirion rattled and shook violently, alarms sounding throughout the bridge.
“Shields are dropping rapidly,” Jag announced, his words thick with worry. “Seventy-five, sixty, forty-five, twenty percent.”
The light radiating around them from the main screen changed from blackness to blinding yellow light, prompting Dani to drop out of the hop.
“Shit!” Dani yelled as space slowed around them and they found themselves heading into a massive yellow star. She banked Osirion away from the gigantic celestial body, firing the main engines and the secondary thrusters to full power in an effort to break out of the star’s gravitational pull.
“Shields are at twelve percent,” Jag advised.
“Hull temperature rising to dangerous levels,” Cassia echoed the temperature alarm sounding and flashing through the bridge.
Dani couldn’t respond, as all her strength and attention was focused on not flying into the star. Unable to directly break the gravitational pull, she instead decided to slingshot around the star. She only hoped that she could do it before the ship was entirely compromised.
Using the star’s own gravity, Dani shot around the equator with incredible speed. In fact, readings indicated that they were traveling much faster than the engines were equipped to handle due to the momentum from the wormhole, the jump, and the star’s gravity.
A large solar flare erupted before them, reaching out into space and nearly into their path. The heat could be felt throughout the bridge as sweat streamed down from Dani’s forehead.
“Shields at four percent,” Jag announced.
Almost there. Dani stared ahead as they completed the slingshot and escaped the star’s orbit, flying away from it into a planetary system thick with a significant number of worlds. A sigh escaped Dani’s lips as they sped past the molten planets closely orbiting the star. There were upwards of two dozen planets locked in orbit around the star at varying distances and orbits.
“Temperature dropping,” Cassia announced with a sigh of relief.
Dani quickly glanced at the vitals display, levels for all crewmembers dropping to normal ranges. “How did we come out on shields, Jag?”
“Two percent. That was close. The damn star just about burned away everything we had.”
Two percent was still better than zero, Dani rationalized with herself. “Cruz, see if you can pinpoint our location. I’m going to slow us down and fall into orbit around that larger planet at one o’clock.”
The bell dinged and Dani guided Osirion to the deep blue and purple planet ahead, satisfied it’d be a better choice than the dense cluster of molten planets they passed through. As they fell into orbit at a reasonable distance from the planet, she engaged the autopilot and reached for her mug of water.
“Cassia, why don’t you scan the planet and see what we’re looking at?” Dani stared at the blue surface, sprinkled with patches of what appeared to be water.
Dani relaxed, resting her head back on her headrest, and opened the solar shades to get a better view of the planet. She’d about had it with whatever the black, gelatinous organism was. She glanced down at her console and flipped through the status screens. Shields were holding at two percent, but the tracker orbs were gone.
“I sure hope you can figure out where we are, Cruz, because it might be a while before the Houston can track us down since we lost our orbs somewhere along the way.” Dani waited for the ding of acknowledgement, but it didn’t come. She looked up toward Cruz’s station. He sat still, staring at his display. “Cruz?”
He slowly lifted his eyes and pressed his lips together, furrowing his brow. His eyes caught Dani’s. The confusion splayed across his face caused a feeling of dread to wash over her. Cruz was the most reliable navigator she had ever met, and he had never failed to pinpoint their location before. But this time, the bewildered look on his face made her extremely uncomfortable.
“We’re in uncharted territory,” he signed, confirming her fear.
Chapter 5
Dani stood next to Cruz’s seat, bending over the console with him as they ran yet another scan on the celestial bodies near and far and sighed heavily. “Not a single hit.”
Cruz typically could figure out where they were based on the planets in the system itself. When that didn’t work, he relied on the computer’s system to map out their location in relation to key stars and planets around them while cross-referencing the GC database. Only this time, not even that technique was working.
Zadria peered over her shoulder. “I’m out of ideas, too. This is virtually impossible without a point of reference.”
Dani stood and stretched her back. Only she, Cruz, Cassia, and Zadria remained in the bridge. Howard and Jag were looking over the ship’s systems and engines. The past few hours had been spent running every scan possible to determine their location with no success. The monotony of it all was starting to wear on Dani and the crew.
She walked around to the holographic display of their current planetary system and ran a hand through her hair. “Okay, let’s run through this again. The hop caused us to exit the wormhole prematurely. That leaves us without an entrance point to go back the way we came, which even if we could there’s the matter of the organism.”
Cruz joined Dani and zoomed out on the holographic display. “We can’t get a lock on our location. I’ve programmed the navigation system to try to take account of any possible points of reference, but we’ve got to be pretty far out of the charted areas to have this much difficulty pinpointing where we are.”
Dani nodded. “Okay, now let’s go over what we have going for us.”
Zadria looked up from her tablet. “We have enough supplies to last us several weeks.”
“If needed, we could probably gather more supplies on the planet. Scans indicate a survivable atmosphere as well as water, so the planet is capable of supporting a variety of lifeforms,” Cassia chimed in.
“Well.” Howard entered the bridge, wiping his hands on a cloth clipped to his work-belt. “The good news is that Jag and I made a few adjustments to allow the ship to recharge a little faster.”
Jag had entered just behind Howard and quickly made his way to his station. “Shields are now at nine percent and climbing. The jump drive is charging as well, though more slowly.”
“Good work, guys. Cassia, what else do you know about the planet?” Dani asked as she made her way to Cassia’s station.
“Well, I know you’re going to want to see this.” Cassia leaned to the side to allow Dani a better view.
Dani leaned in and scrolled through the scan details. “Oh, wow. Put it up on half of the main screen.”
Cassia displayed the scan details. The atmosphere was oxygen-rich so they’d have no problems breathing should they need to land. There were also several bodies of water dappling the sphere. The planet itself seemed to lack large oceans; however, the many sizable lakes covered roughly fifty-five percent of the surface. Mountain ranges crested like winding snakes across the globe, dividing the land into what appeared to be different habitats.
A list of resources scrolled across the images of the planet, causing Zadria’s eyes to widen. “Twenty-eight percent of the planet is covered in glowshard. That’s the highest percentage I’ve ever seen. This is a huge find! If other planets in this system are like this then the GC will want to establish colonies here as soon as possible.”
“Huh.” Howard’s fingers ran down the list on the main screen. “Interesting.”
Dani perked an eyebrow. “What is it?”
“Lots of good stuff down there. Especially this.” His finger landed and tapped about halfway down the list.
“Egniorium, isn’t that what they use to power hyperdrive technology?” Jag asked from his station.
Howard nodded. “It is. In fact, depending on the quality of it, I might be able to convert the jump drive to a hyperdrive, at least temporarily.”
Dani smiled. “Well, that’s something. How much do you need?”
> “I’ll run some calculations and let you know.” Howard scratched his chin. “I don’t know how much good it will do us if we can’t figure out which direction to go, though.”
“Let us worry about that.” Dani made her way back to Cruz’s station. “You find out what we need. Jag, go prep the cruiser for a trip down to the planet.”
“You got it,” Jag said as he left the bridge.
“Cruz, can you program a search based on our origin and set it to reevaluate at periodic intervals? Maybe we can figure out our last known location and work from there.”
“You bet,” Cruz signed before getting to work whipping through the screens on his console.
“Hey Dani.” Cassia’s voice wavered slightly. “Can you come here for a minute?”
Concerned, Dani crossed the bridge to Cassia’s station. “What’s up?”
“I’m running a more detailed scan of the surface. There don’t appear to be any signs of civilization.”
“Good. We won’t have to worry about negotiating then.” Dani shrugged.
“But look at this.” Cassia pointed to her central display. “These marks here are lifeforms, reptilian it seems. Their behavior and brain-to-mass ratio indicates they’re also rather primitive.”
“They’re big,” Dani observed, starting to understand Cassia’s nervousness.
“Just wait,” Cassia said as she stroked Carl, who was purring in her lap.
Dani stared intently at the screen, narrowing her eyes. Five large lifeforms slowly circled a smaller creature. Dani pressed her lips together and took a deep breath, holding it. She could already guess where this was going.
Cassia and Dani both jumped slightly as the five larger lifeforms suddenly converged on the smaller one.
Dani clamped a hand over her mouth. “They’re fast,” she mumbled through her fingers.
Cassia nodded, looking distressed.
Dani stood and bit her lip, looking around the bridge. What she thought would be a two-man job was starting to look more like she’d need a small army. Her eyes landed on Cruz across the bridge. His military ground experience would certainly help them out. “Cruz, can you come over here please?”
Cruz looked up from his screen for a moment before leaning back down, hitting a few keys, then making his way across the bridge. Dani couldn’t help but notice the spring in his step that he’d regained with the new prosthetics. Even though working with Patrick could be difficult at times, it wasn’t without its perks.
“Cassia, show him,” Dani ordered.
Cruz watched with a trained eye, not flinching as the hunting pack picked off another smaller creature.
Dani waited until Cruz looked up from the screen and caught her eye. She was relieved that there wasn’t an ounce of fear in his expression.
“We’re going to need a lot of ammo,” he signed. “I’ll go check the armory.”
Dani nodded to Cruz and he left the bridge.
“Dani?” Cassia muttered quietly.
“Yeah?” She turned to her crewmate, her friend. Cassia’s eyes were the opposites of Cruz’s. Instead of a distinct lack of fear, hers were brimming with it.
“Be careful.”
Dani patted Cassia on the shoulder and attempted a reassuring smile before walking over to Howard. “Looks like it could get ugly down there.”
Howard looked up from his calculations. His vantage point would have allowed him to watch Cassia’s screens as they examined the lifeforms. “I wish there were another way, but I am coming up dry.”
“Did you figure out how much of this stuff we’ll need?”
“More or less. I still need to work out a few details but if you can bring back around fifteen pounds, that should do the trick with a little leftover.”
“Oh, well that doesn’t seem too bad,” Dani mused. “How’s everything else looking?”
“Shields are at sixty-two percent, jump drive is just over forty.”
“Good.” Dani blew out a deep breath and gestured to Cassia’s station. “So, I take it you saw?”
Howard nodded slowly but didn’t say anything. He didn’t need to; his feelings on the matter were written all over his face in deep lines of worry.
“I’ll put Z in charge while we’re down there so you can focus on making the adjustments to the jump drive.”
“Sounds good. Good luck, Dani.”
“Hey, Z. You’re in charge. Take good care of the ship. We’ll be back as soon as we can.”
“Yes, Captain.” Zadria stood and saluted.
Dani returned the gesture a bit uncomfortably, as she wasn’t used to saluting in the comfort of her own ship, but she didn’t feel as though now was the appropriate time to come down on the girl. Dani herself remembered her rookie day, fresh out of the academy at the young age of twenty-one. She, too, was eager to please—and possibly annoyingly so.
Dani turned and nodded to Cassia, who she thought might rub the fur off the cat with as quickly as her hand ran down the length of his back, but Carl didn’t seem to mind.
She left the bridge and made her way down to the cruiser. Jag and Cruz were already geared up in protective armor and checking their weapons. Cruz passed Dani a reinforced armor suit, and Jag pulled another rifle and two more handguns from the weapons closet.
“I trust Cruz informed you of the situation?” she asked Jag as she got into her gear and tied her hair back.
“Yup, sounds like we’re going to want to get in and out of there as quick as possible.”
Dani nodded. “Howard says we only need about fifteen pounds of this stuff, so hopefully we can find it all in one place.”
The three of them climbed into the cruiser, Jag taking the pilot seat and Dani taking the co-pilot seat next to him while Cruz clipped their weapons into the secure holder and placed a case marked ‘explosives’ in the cargo area.
“Alright, Cassia, can you hear us?” Dani spoke into her comm.
“Loud and clear,” Cassia replied. “I ran a scan and found a large egniorium deposit. It’s nestled between several lakes and appears relatively isolated from the hunting plains where we saw the predatory creatures. Unfortunately, you can’t land on the doorstep so it will be a bit of a hike. I’ll send Jag the coordinates now.”
“Sounds good. Got the coordinates, disengaging from Osirion now.”
The cruiser released from Osirion’s belly and maneuvered in the direction of the violet planet below. As they drew closer, the purple, silver, and blue cloud cover obscured much of the green-blue foliage below, but not completely. Dani raised the shields on the cruiser to prepare for reentry as Jag guided the small craft toward the planet’s surface. They dove through the thick clouds and into the crisp air below.
“Sensors confirm that the air is oxygen rich. Shouldn’t have any problem breathing here,” Dani reported, happy to see that their original scans were accurate.
The canopy of blue-tinted leaves covered this area of the planet, only breaking away for the occasional clearing. Small featherless flying creatures, remarkably similar to bats with beaks, left the protection of the trees below to swarm around the cruiser.
“Ugly little guys.” Jag wrinkled his nose as he glanced out the window at one of the pointy-nosed, splotchy-skinned fliers.
Not long after, a much larger flying creature took to the air. The tree it launched from shook considerably as the winged beast became airborne. Tufts of scraggly yellow and red feathers ruffled as the creature shrieked and snatched two pawfuls of the smaller lifeform before practically crashing back into the canopy, sending a slew of more featherless bird-like animals into the air.
A second unkempt, winged beast propelled from the canopy, this time toward the cruiser. It soared up near the windshield, bits of flesh dangling from its fanged mouth. It screeched, the remnants from its previous meal falling to the earth below.
“Gross,” Jag mumbled as he split his attention between the creature and the looming mountain ridge ahead.
The rocky peaks
seemed to be relatively innocuous at first glance. But as they drew nearer, the crew could see thick coils writhing around the peaks.
“Pull up, Jag,” Dani ordered as she eyed the shifting ground cautiously. Aside from the large beast flying alongside them, the rest of the flying wildlife had remained over the lush canopy. Dani wasn’t sure if their absence here was due to the lack of foliage or something else, but she didn’t want to take any chances.
Jag complied and the cruiser climbed in altitude. The beast screeched once more and accelerated ahead of the cruiser.
As they reached the summits, Dani could see that the writhing ground wasn’t ground at all but a nest of massive snake-like creatures. Claws along their tails clamped down on the stone as the snakes launched their heads toward the cruiser with snapping jaws, the claws anchoring them from leaving the safety of the cliffs. Thankfully, the cruiser was out of reach, but the flying predator was not.
The first snake made purchase with the animal’s fleshy belly, causing it to jerk in the air and immediately circle around due to the tether created by the snake. Within a few seconds, more snakes sank their fangs into the massive beast and pulled it down to their roost. The screeches instantly went from a sound of aggression to one of pain.
Dani, Cruz, and Jag exchanged glances as the shrieking stopped.
“Good call,” Jag said, his knuckles white as he held onto the yoke.
“Looks like the egniorium deposit is in this valley.” Dani checked Cassia’s coordinates with their current location. “Let’s see if we can find a good place to land.”
“I suggest staying away from the hunting fields,” Cruz signed before pointing to a large swath of land covered in tall, bluish grasses and squat, green trees.
Dani nodded. “Agreed. With what we’ve seen on this planet so far, I don’t want to mess with any of the predators around here. They mean business.”
“Coming up on a landing site.” Jag flipped a switch to drop the landing gear and another to power on the landing thrusters.
The tall grass and shrubs below stirred, causing Dani to shift uncomfortably. Her suspicions were confirmed as a thick, scaly tail rose from the grass momentarily before running in the direction they were flying.
The Complete First Season - Episodes 1-5 Page 23
