“You know of this ship?” Uthor looked down at them in surprise.
“I wrote my dissertation on this ship,” Captain Fey commented without thought.
“Everyone knows about the Paladin,” Jim explained. “It was an Arc ship, designed to transport huge amounts of people to Century. It became one of those old mysteries you know; where did the Paladin go? What happened to the crew? It hit sub-space and never reappeared.”
Captain Fey turned to Uthor. “That ship disappeared over two hundred years ago.” That thought gave birth to new fears for the captain. The original crew would surely all be dead by now, leaving the current occupants to be shipborn descendants. Who knew what they would be like after drifting through space for so long. No wonder they were hostile.
“Wait,” Lieutenant Worth sounded confused, “you said it only arrived here two days ago, from sub-space. How is the Solar Drive still operational?”
“Perhaps its plotting random courses periodically?” Jim mused.
“In which case; we have no idea when it might jump again,” Sharon replied with urgency.
“But it should have run out of intrinium by now,” the lieutenant finished his point.
The small Ch’kara spoke up again. “We have scanned their engine. It appears to be brand new if a little ancient in its design.”
The humans looked at one another in confusion. The Paladin was becoming more of a mystery by the second. As the Nautallon continued to glide around the human vessel, the captain noticed a Conclave-looking ship attached to the starboard side, near the bow.
“What is that?” Fey gestured to the alien ship.
Uthor puffed out his wide chest. “Our strike team is in position, but their ship is also serving as a docking station. You will be flown across shortly and from there, the strike leader will help you to gain entry.”
“Should you begin a dialogue,” the Ch’kara explained, “inform them that we have engineers who can fix their drive. Hopefully, we can get them back to Conclave space.”
The captain nodded her understanding and turned to her human companions. “This sounds like it could be more dangerous than originally thought.” She looked specifically at Jim and Sharon. “Neither of you has UDC training and so I don’t expect you put yourself in harm’s way. If you wish to stay behind I will understand.”
Both Jim and Sharon looked at each other before turning back to the captain. “We’re not missing this,” Jim spoke for both of them.
It wasn’t long before the humans were escorted across the gap and granted access to the Conclave ship, attached to the Paladin like some sort of leech. The ‘air-lock ship’, as it were, was some kind of transport ship for the strike team, filled with weapons and tech. A circular door to the port side was all that stood between them and the Paladin.
Fey was surprised when Uthor had insisted on his coming too. She wasn’t sure whether the Raalak was feeling protective or simply curious. Ever since the incident with Professor Garrett Jones, the High Charge had become more of an ally to the human population. Kalian and the others had explained everything they knew to the Raalak after he commandeered the Gommarian. Over time it had apparently become clear to Uthor that the humans were really trying to help, and that the real enemy was hiding in the shadows, as well as in plain sight where Protocorps was involved.
A Novaarian wearing gold armour from head-to-toe approached Captain Fey and Uthor. “Greetings of peace, Captain, High Charge.” The Novaarian had a two-handed weapon in both his upper and lower arms.
“This is Norvak, my strike leader. Has there been any activity?” Uthor asked.
“No, sir. Our scans show that a small team has taken up positions at the end of the corridor. I recommend opening the hatch and presenting no visible targets. Make contact audibly first, something we have been unable to do due to language barriers.”
Captain Fey nodded in agreement. “I bow to your expertise, Norvak.”
Norvak’s team of five took up their positions around the craft, out of sight. They had assured Fey that all of their weapons were non-lethal since they were dealing with an endangered species. Using one of his four arm-bracers, Norvak hit the controls that sent the circular door spinning to the side. An acrid smell of ozone filled the captain’s nose as she stood slightly out of frame. Lights flickered sporadically in the corridor, more evidence to the brief firefight that had taken place.
Norvak lifted his upper arm and presented Fey with a three-dimensional hologram of the corridor and the six humans that occupied it. She could see that three men had taken up positions on the right, while a man and two women were positioned opposite them. All were armed with what the hologram identified as projectile weapons.
Captain Fey cleared her throat, ready to project her voice. “I am Captain Fey of the…” she still wasn’t used to having no ship under her command, “of the United Defence Corps.”
There was a pause while the holographic men and women looked at each other. Fey waited another moment, giving them time to decide what to do.
“How do we know it’s not a trap?” a female voice shouted back.
Captain Fey looked to Lieutenant Worth, who could read his captain's intentions and responded with a look of caution. As her subordinate, he could do nothing else but watch, as Fey stepped out into the middle of the air-lock.
“I’m unarmed.” Fey held her hands above her head and stood very still, giving the humans time to assess her. “Like I said, my name is Captain Fey of the UDC. Who is in charge of this ship?” Fey knew that the original captain had been Jedediah Holt, a relatively average man by his service record, who had fought through the last battles of the Corporation Wars.
There was another pause on their end, with only whispering to be heard. One of the male members broke cover from the shadows and dashed out of sight. Fey squinted into the darkness in hopes of making out the others, but they were just as good as the Conclave team at hiding. The only thing she knew for sure was that their guns would be trained on her.
“Hold one!” the female voice cried back to the captain.
Those were the words of a soldier, not a shipborn, though it was possible that the language had been passed on from one generation to the next. Thinking through the details she wrote about in her dissertation so long ago, Fey tried to recall if there had been a strong military presence onboard. The Arc ship had been transporting predominantly families and young professionals, ready to tackle a new world.
The shadows moved when the male soldier returned with someone else. The metallic bulkhead under their feet thundered slowly as this new person made their way into the flickering light. For the second time that day, Captain Fey was overcome with surprise.
“My name is Jedediah Holt. I am the Captain of the Paladin.”
The man’s dark complexion made his features harder to distinguish in the flickering light, but Fey had seen enough pictures of the Paladin’s captain to know it was him.
“I am Captain-”
“Fey, I know.” Captain Holt glanced back at the concealed team. “Is that your ship out there?” Holt’s expression told of his disbelief.
Seeing the ancient captain had disorientated Fey. “No, not exactly.” She noted Holt’s observations of her, taking in what must have been a strange uniform to him, though even Fey wondered whether there was still any point in wearing it.
“Forgive our caution Captain Fey,” Holt continued, “but you’re not the first person to walk through that air-lock, and calling it a person is really stretching the facts. It was seven-foot tall with four arms and a lot of firepower by the looks of it.”
“That was a Novaarian,” Fey replied. “I realise that makes no sense to you right now, but there’s a lot you need to know. Beyond that air-lock… is a very different universe to the one you remember.” The captain could see that Holt was looking past her, to the Conclave vessel, searching for any sight of the aliens. “Lieutenant?”
The captain’s call brought Lieutenant Worth into v
iew, along with the councillors. Captain Holt’s team made the subtlest of sounds, adjusting their weapons to track the newcomers.
“I promise this is no trick,” Fey continued. “This is Lieutenant Worth and councillors Jim Landale and Sharon Booth. Jim here was actually born on Century. That’s where you were going wasn’t it?”
Captain Holt took a couple of steps back. “What’s going on here? How did you find us? Our navigation system is down, but the star charts would suggest we’re a long way from home. Humans have never travelled this far before. We’ve been lost for two days in wild space and then a group of humans conveniently arrives after that thing showed up. It doesn’t add up, Captain Fey.”
Fey half turned to the air-lock behind her. “High Charge Uthor. Seal the door and take the ship back to the Nautallon.”
Uthor’s monstrous-like voice replied from out of sight, “That would put you at great risk, Captain. There is also the radiation to consider.”
Jedediah Holt took another step back, with an expression of guarded terror on his face. To him, Uthor’s words would be unintelligible, as no one aboard the Paladin possessed a translator behind their ear. Fey could only imagine what a Raalak’s voice sounded like with no context.
“Return for us in an hour,” she replied. “I’m sure you can cure us of a little radiation poisoning.”
“This was not what I had in mind,” Uthor’s tone was grave. “Bear in mind Captain, you will be exposed to small amount of radiation, but the crew of the Paladin does not have much longer before sickness sets in.”
“Thank you,” was her only response.
Norvak closed off the air-lock, eliciting another reaction from the team hiding beyond Holt. A distant thoom echoed through the walls of the Paladin and the conclave vessel detached from the hull.
“Like I said,” Captain Fey continued, “this is not a trick. I have a lot to tell you and an hour isn’t going to be long enough, so perhaps we should get started?”
“You know about the radiation?” Holt asked, the deadly waves clearly on his mind.
“Yes. And after you’ve decided to trust us, perhaps you’ll let us fix it.” Fey locked her gaze on Holt’s dark eyes, taking a measure of the man. The radiation leak would be at the top of his priorities since it currently threatened every life onboard his ship.
Holt looked over the Lieutenant and the councillors. “There’s a conference room not far from here. The Raiders will escort you there.” The shadows gave birth to a small group of elite soldiers, all heavily armed. “I’ll join you momentarily, Captain Fey.”
“Please, call me Li.” The captain hoped a familiar term would stir trust between them.
Holt didn’t reciprocate but simply offered a nod in return, before standing aside and allowing the Raiders to move them on.
Jed waited until the corridor was clear before accessing the comm panel on the wall, outside the air-lock. “Captain Holt to the bridge.”
“Vale here, Captain.” Sam’s voice was quick to reply over the comm.
“How’s Grenko doing with the radiation leak?” Jed wasn’t holding out much hope. Grenko, his new chief engineer, had been quite clear about the catastrophic damage to the Solar Drive.
“No luck yet. What’s going on down there? I saw people on the feed.”
“Give Maloy the conn,” Jed ordered. “I want you down here for this. Meet me at conference room two on the double.”
“Aye, Captain.” Vale closed the comm.
Jed stroked his face and felt forty-eight hours of stubble prickle his skin. How had everything spiraled out of control so fast? Whatever was about to happen, he knew he would have to take any help offered to him. The lives of over a hundred thousand people were in his hands, and right now they were trapped in a metal tube filling with radiation.
Colonel Ava Mathews was waiting for him outside the conference room. Her sleek Raider armour clung to her body like a second skin, though it was currently occupied with an array of grenades and weapons. He blonde cropped hair was spiky in the middle with a shaved patch on the left side, where the colonel had several Mandarin tattoos that arched over her ear. It was an ancient Earth language that had been replaced with Central over a hundred years ago and Jed couldn’t read any of the symbols, but he had been told by Ava that it meant go fuck yourself. Jed had found, in the short time he had known the colonel, that it reflected her personality quite accurately.
“Are you out of your fuckin’ mind?” Matthews planted herself in front of the captain.
“Colonel?” Jed furrowed his brow, still unaccustomed to being addressed this way.
“That air-lock was a choke point. They could have shoved an army through it and my Raiders could have kept them at bay. Now four of them are inside the ship!”
“If your threat analysis is anything like mine, Colonel, you can see that they pose no danger to us.” Jed tried to move past her but Ava remained in place.
The colonel’s scrutinising blue eyes looked up at Jed.“For all we know, they’re aliens. You saw what came through that door, Captain. Who knows what they’re capable of.”
“What I know is that our reactor is leaking. The effects from that will start showing soon. Radiation is a slow and painful way to go, Colonel, and I’ll do everything I must to ensure the children and families on this ship don’t have to go through that. Of course, the radiation is only one thing on our shit list; there’s also the limited rations to think about, the dwindling fuel supply and our ability to keep the cold of space out. Oh, and we’re completely lost in space!”
Jed turned away to compose himself. Above all, he had to maintain control or at least the appearance of it. He wasn’t part of Ava’s chain-of-command, but while she was on the Paladin the colonel and her Raiders would report to him, making him her commanding officer. If he showed any sign of weakness now he would never keep control of them. Commander Vale walked around the corner and stood in the middle of them, already aware of the mounting tension between the captain and the colonel.
“Thank you for your input, Colonel Matthews.” Jed gestured for Ava to wait inside the conference room.
“Everything okay?” Sam asked after the door closed behind Matthews.
“We are so far from okay I can’t even see it.” Jed sighed into his hand. “Let’s get some answers.”
Captain Fey was enjoying the human design of everything around her. Human chairs instead of self-molding seats that could accommodate a variety of aliens. A room size that didn’t take the height of a Novaarian into account, or the bulk of a Raalak. Just seeing new human faces was a treat for the eyes. The Raiders guarding them were wearing familiar uniforms and armour, if a little dated.
The door opened again, this time followed by Jedediah Holt and a woman that Fey assumed to be his second-in-command, though her name escaped the captain’s memory.
“This is Commander Samantha Vale, my number one.” Holt introduced the others to the Commander. “And this is Captain Li Fey, though we are yet to determine what you are the captain of…”
Fey took a deep breath and gestured at the chairs on the other side of the roundtable. “You might want to sit for this.”
Holt and Vale both took a seat, while the six Raiders remained standing behind them, ready for anything.
Captain Fey interlaced her fingers on the surface of the table and considered her words with great care. There were a hundred places she could start, but the beginning would be the simplest way to recount history.
“I suppose we should get our timelines straight before we go on…” This was more complicated than the captain had first thought.
“Timelines?” Both Holt and Vale asked at the same time.
“This isn’t going to be easy to hear.” Fey glanced at the Raiders, beyond the two officers. “To you, it’s late twenty-seventh century, but in fact, its actually early thirtieth century. The Paladin left Earth-dock a little over two hundred and fifty years ago.”
Captain Fey sat back and left
her words to be absorbed for a minute. Though shocking, the time difference was a minor detail when compared to other revelations. She could see Holt and Vale trying to work things out in their head, comparing what facts they had with everything they had seen and heard in the last forty-eight hours. Trying to get them to believe this was a big ask when she had no physical proof to hand. It was barely perceptible, but Fey noticed the Raiders steal a glance at one another, unsure what to make of the news. If any of them had family or friends back on Earth or even Century, she had just told them they were all dead.
“Bullshit!” A young woman with spiky blonde hair stepped forward from the Raider ranks.
“Colonel!” Holt turned his head but didn’t look the Raider in the eye.
The colonel ignored her captain. “I think we’d notice a couple hundred years go by!”
Holt looked to his second-in-command as the two silently conceded to the colonel’s point.
“Can you prove this?” Holt asked, looking at each of the boarding party.
Fey shook her head gently. “I can only tell you what happened after the Paladin disappeared, but it's all just as hard to understand as the time difference.”
Jim interjected, “And we can’t even explain your sudden appearance right now. The Conclave can probably help us to figure all of this out.”
“As well as fixing the radiation problem.” Sharon Booth was visibly shaken, no doubt concerned with the rising levels of invisible radiation.
A moment of guilt overtook the captain, until she reminded herself that the councillor had put herself forward for the mission, as well as being on the council in the first place. There was always risk in a position of leadership and Fey knew that Sharon had to get used to it. How many times had Kalian and Li’ara put themselves in harm’s way for them? Li didn’t like to think about the death of Li’ara; another great loss to humanity and their cause.
“What Conclave?” Commander Vale asked skeptically.
Now for the unbelievable part, Fey thought. “The Conclave is a galactic community made up of twelve alien races.” It all sounded so ridiculous out loud. “Just under a year ago, in our time, Earth and Century were attacked by a superior enemy, the Gomar. We believed they were aliens, but in time it was discovered that they were in fact human. They came from the other side of the galaxy - where our race originated, apparently.” Fey winced adding that last part. She was giving them too much information at once but they needed to hear everything. “At the same time we were also contacted by another alien race; the Novaarians, who are part of the Conclave. For all their technology, the Conclave was unable to prevent both of our solar systems from being... wiped out…” Fey paused, aware that she had just said perhaps the most unbelievable thing. “The Gomar launched a weapon designed to destabilize the internal pressure of a star. Until today, we thought there were only seven thousand humans left alive… You can imagine our elation when we saw the Paladin.”
The Terran Cycle Boxset Page 99
