Orion's Dawn: A Gritty Space Opera Adventure (Frontier's Reach Book 1)

by Robert C. James

  She smiled. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

  Susan exited his quarters into the corridor. She leaned back against the wall, her heart beating just as fiercely.

  What just happened in there?

  *

  October 14, 2213

  Decium Ore Mining Facility - Orion V

  “Thanks, Gene.”

  Erik Koeman licked his lips as the large bowl of steaming hot chicken soup was handed to him. Behind him, he noticed the queue in the vast mess hall getting steadily longer. He hurried to the side, grabbed the shaker of pepper, and plied a nice thick layer on top before getting a spoon and finding a table.

  It’d been his first meal of the day after skipping breakfast, and with the climate-control network having issues in the past couple of days, he was looking forward to a nice hot meal. Erik stirred it around and brought a large spoonful to his mouth.

  “Operations to Koeman.”

  Erik closed his eyes in frustration. He fought the temptation to throw his spoon across the table but thought better of it. He activated his commband. “What is it, Bloch?”

  “There’s an anomaly on our scanners up here.”

  I can’t even get something to eat anymore.

  “Fine. I’ll make my way up.” He got up from his seat and headed to the door, throwing his soup in the garbage.

  Bloch was sitting at the scanners when he arrived in the operations center.

  Erik tugged at his collar. “Why’s it so warm in here?”

  “The techs downstairs have been getting the climate-control back to capacity again, but they can only do it a few sections at a time. I may have told them that the operations center was top priority,” Bloch told him with a cheeky grin.

  “Of course you did.” Erik couldn’t complain. At least it was up and running again. The malfunction was among a litany of faults that had reared their ugly heads throughout the facility.

  “What was it you wanted to show me?”

  Bloch pointed to one of his monitors. “Look at this.”

  Erik grabbed an empty chair from the adjacent station and took a seat next to him.

  “These readings have come through from our satellite in orbit to Orion VIII.”

  The tracking satellite was the facility’s quasi-early warning system to incoming ships entering the system. But the question was: why was he looking at it? Erik only saw an empty screen. “And?”

  “Watch this.” Bloch pressed in a few keys, and a small blip appeared on the outer edge of scanning range. Then just as it appeared, it disappeared. “This came across our scanners two hours ago. And then this thirty minutes ago.”

  He brought up another reading of the blip showing up again at the edge of scanning range, but in a different position. It promptly disappeared. “Both sets of coordinates are just on the outer edge of the Orion System.”

  Erik furrowed his brow. “It seems to be little more than a blur.” He moved over to the monitor on the wall near the door. It had a list of outgoing and incoming ships scheduled for Orion V in the next three months.

  “We don’t have a supply ship due for three weeks, an ore transport two weeks after that, and the Vanguard’s still eight days away. What in the hell could it be?” Erik pondered. “A glitch perhaps?”

  “It’s possible.”

  Erik returned to Bloch and watched him replay the scans on the monitor. “Is there any chance it could be Marauders?”

  Bloch brought up a file on his monitor. “The last reports we received from the CDF was that there was heightened Marauder activity about two light-years away near the Collus System. Would they venture all this way?”

  “We’d be a tempting target,” Erik said. “The question is, would they be ballsy enough to hit us?”

  Bloch shrugged. He had no more answers than Erik did. “If it is Marauders, I’m glad the Vanguard isn’t far away.”

  Erik nodded. “Okay, keep an eye on it. If you pick up anything, let me know.” He patted the young man on the shoulder and headed out of the operations center.

  As Erik made his way toward the elevator, he couldn’t help but think back to a year ago to when they’d found that… thing down in Worksite Fifteen. The secretive project beneath surface had taken its toll on him and all his people. The last thing they needed was Marauders knocking on their door.

  The Vanguard can’t come soon enough.

  Chapter 13

  October 20, 2213

  Cargo Ship Argo

  Jason lay on his bed, staring up at the same stain on the ceiling that’d been there since he was a kid. Even back then he’d never been able to figure out what it was. Most likely relay lubricant. Apart from the stains and smells of the old ship, he was astonished at the condition of the Argo and how it was still hauling cargo after so many years.

  He wanted to get up, but he’d been feeling lethargic the last few days. Six months had been a long time. He never remembered being exhausted when he was in the service. Perhaps it was because he was always doing something. Like staving off a defeat from some Centauri battle squadron.

  Jason looked over to his bedside table where his unopened bottle of Blue Jacket bourbon sat. He’d be lying if he hadn’t had a drink since he’d come aboard, but he hadn’t drunk to excess. No wonder I’ve been having all these sweats. He’d been tempted more than once, but this mission was far too imperative not to be at his best.

  “Bridge to Jason.” It was Kevin.

  Jason whacked the intercom on the wall beside his bed. “I’m here.”

  “We’ve reached the coordinates.”

  He dragged himself up and leaped off the bed like a tiger and hurried out the door, taking the elevator to A Deck. Suddenly he didn’t feel so tired anymore.

  On the bridge, Tyler was sitting in the captain’s chair. “Disengage the FTL engines,” he instructed Kevin at the helm.

  Jason strapped himself in at the operations station, and Kevin pushed in the commands. The old ship groaned, pulling out of FTL and going to sub-light speed.

  Tyler turned to him. “Frontier’s Reach.”

  Jason unbuckled himself and stepped toward the viewport at the front of the bridge. It was often said the Reach felt even more vast and mysterious than anywhere else. There was a darkness about it that was indescribable. “Here be the dragons.”

  Tyler ambled up beside him. “What now?”

  Jason surveyed their position on the scanners. They had indeed arrived at the coordinates that’d been transmitted to him by David Ortega. “Now it begins.”

  With the first initial sweeps of the area on the scanners completed, data rolled in. Space was a vacuum, but it was filled with all kinds of matter that scanners could detect when so charged to do so. When the minutes started stacking up, he realized there was no sign of what he’d come for.

  “I’m not detecting any Iota particles.” Jason didn’t let it phase him, though. “We need to start a concentric search pattern.” Forgetting himself, he glanced at his brother. “With your permission, of course.”

  Tyler gave the go-ahead, nodding toward Kevin to plot a course. Within moments, the Argo was on the move.

  Tyler peered over Jason’s shoulder. “Don’t forget we’ve got a consignment to deliver. I doubt we’ll get another extension. You’ve got forty-eight hours.”

  Jason nodded, keeping his eyes firmly on the scanners, while his brother left the bridge.

  “The helm’s on auto.” Kevin got out of his chair. “You might have to make an alteration here and there. If you need anything just—”

  “I think I can still remember the buttons.” He smiled at his first flight instructor. “Thanks.”

  “Good luck.”

  Jason hoped it wasn’t needed.

  *

  The minutes turned into hours. Aly came along with some coffee. Then some biscuits. Then some lunch, all the while seeing if he’d had any progress. Kevin even dropped by from time to time, to check on the Argo’s course. But Jason knew he was really comi
ng to check on him to see if he hadn’t lost his mind.

  He knew they saw his frustration mounting while the clock continued to tick. As long as there was still time, there was hope.

  “Any luck?”

  Jason looked up and readjusted his eyes after straining them for so long. Tyler was standing by the door.

  “Not even a bite.” Jason frowned. “I now know why this area of space has been left for so long. There’s just nothing out here.”

  “Well, there’s still time,” Tyler said, appearing upbeat. “I know you’re pretty focused up here, but I thought you could use the company.” From behind the door, Tyler revealed their father’s acoustic guitar. “You told me you wanted to learn how to play.”

  Jason chuckled.

  Tyler walked over the threshold and took a seat on the captain’s chair. He strummed the guitar. “I can show you a few chords. We’ll start with the basics.”

  “I’m probably a lost cause.”

  “That I already know,” Tyler said, tongue-in-cheek. He put the guitar beside the chair and threw a deck of cards at Jason from his pocket. “Poker then.”

  Jason smiled. “All right.” He opened the pack and shuffled. He dealt three cards to Tyler and three to himself. “Okay, this is difficult without chips, but you’ll get the idea.”

  He spent the next few minutes going over the basics of Cerberan Poker and then began.

  Tyler glanced at his cards. “I know it’s probably not something you’ll want to discuss, but have you thought about what you’ll do if you find nothing out here?”

  Jason looked at his three hidden cards. “I haven’t thought that far ahead, to be honest.” He placed the two community cards in the middle on the command console between them. “I’m broke, but I guess I’ll head back to Odyssey Station. I still have business contacts who could find me work to tide me over.”

  Tyler studied the community cards. “So, this is the point where we can either keep our cards or replace them, right?”

  Jason nodded. Tyler mucked one of his cards, and Jason handed him a replacement. After viewing his cards again, Jason decided to keep them all. He had a flush draw.

  “It doesn’t seem like you’ve planned this out.”

  “I guess not.” Jason put the third community card down. “You probably think I’m nuts.”

  Tyler struggled to hold back a smile. “Traveling halfway across known space to find a particle that may or may not have something do with a friend’s death. I don’t think nuts is quite the word for it.”

  Jason scowled. “You wouldn’t understand, the man was like a brother.”

  Tyler glowered at him. “Is that the kind of lengths you’d take for your own family?”

  It was only in that moment that Jason realized what he’d said. He felt immediate guilt as he dealt the last community card. “I’ve traveled to Frontier’s Reach for my best friend. If it were you, there’d be no ship fast enough to take me where I’d need to go.”

  Tyler was speechless.

  “Just because I left, didn’t mean I ever gave up on my family,” Jason continued. “Cassidys all the way. Right?”

  There was a small grin on the side of Tyler’s mouth as they both looked down at their cards.

  “Now if both of us would have bet to this point of the game and not out-bet each other at this round, we’d have to flip our cards. “What have you got?”

  Tyler revealed his hand. He had two tens, which matched up to another on the board. “Are these trips?”

  “Beats my nothing,” Jason said, revealing his four clubs. He raised an eyebrow at his brother. “You sure you don’t know how to play this game?”

  Tyler smiled. “Shut up and shuffle.”

  Chapter 14

  October 22, 2213

  UECS Vanguard

  The Vanguard disengaged its FTL drive and smoothly entered sub-light. Nicolas looked at the scanners on the central command station. Navigation’s calculations had dropped them just outside the gravitational field of Orion V.

  Perfect.

  He turned to the helm. “Ensign Worthington, plot a course toward Orion V and commence orbital insertion.” With a touch, he activated the ship’s intercom. “Engine Room, shut down the FTL engines and let them cool off.”

  “Gladly, sir,” Chief Engineer Devers replied from below decks.

  Nicolas watched the deathly cold orb of Orion V appear through the command deck’s forward viewport.

  “Approaching orbit, sir,” Worthington informed him. “Orbital insertion in five seconds.” The young ensign deactivated the maneuvering thrusters and let gravity do its thing. “Orbital insertion established.”

  “Thank you, Ensign.” Nicolas turned to Commander Perera joining him in the pit. “Are our guests ready?”

  Perera nodded. “Doctor Tai and the Marines are on their way to the hangar deck with the package as we speak.”

  “Good. Ensign Xi, Open a commlink to the mining facility.”

  She keyed in the command. “Commlink open, sir.”

  “This is Captain Marquez of the UECS Vanguard.”

  “Welcome to Orion V, Captain Marquez,” came the voice from the planet below. “This is Administrator Koeman. I trust your journey was a pleasant one.”

  “It was… long, but uneventful. Thank you, Mister Koeman.”

  “How soon can we expect you?”

  “We’ll be down within the hour.”

  “Good. I understand you have the correct protocol to follow, regarding the container’s transportation to the surface.”

  “The Marines will escort the container to the surface along with Doctor Tai. Only I will accompany them.”

  “Very good. I’ll see you when you arrive. Koeman out.”

  The commlink ceased.

  Perera pointed down at the surface scans on the monitor. “I hope you packed warm.”

  “Lucky for me I have no plans to go for a stroll outside.” Nicolas made his way out of the command pit. “The Vanguard is yours. Don’t break anything while I’m gone.”

  “I’ll do my best, sir.” Perera gave his CO a casual salute.

  After taking the elevator through the heart of the ship, Nicolas arrived on the hangar deck, and waiting for him was Deck Chief Klapecki.

  “Is everyone aboard?” Nicolas asked him, looking at the transport pod sitting in the middle of the deck.

  “Yes, sir.” Klapecki handed him a large blue jacket.

  “Where would I be without you?” Nicolas put on the thick jacket and zipped it up. He felt the warmth of the lined thermal packs inside.

  “Maybe HQ could pick a tropical planet for us to visit next time,” Klapecki quipped. “Big sun. Big mai tais. Big b—”

  “Yes, I get the picture.” Nicolas chuckled. “I’ll see what I can do.” He walked into the rear airlock of the pod and passed by the Marines who were buckling themselves in. He squeezed past the container and took a seat next to Susan at the helm.

  “You want to take the stick, Doctor?” Nicolas said with some amusement.

  She had all her piloting certifications. He knew because he’d been the one to teach her. Though he wondered how long it’d been since she’d last flown.

  Susan looked at him with a deadpan expression and pushed in a series of keys on the console in front of her. All the helm controls transferred to her station. “Ready to go when you are, Captain.”

  Nicolas smiled. He turned to the Marines in the rear of the pod. “Are we ready back there?”

  Major Ripken, the team leader, checked over his men before giving Nicolas a nod to the affirmative.

  “Well then, let’s go, Doctor.”

  Susan put her hands on the controls, and the pod lifted off. With a push of a button, the landing struts retracted. She fired the rear maneuvering thrusters and launched the small vessel out of the hangar deck’s large external door. She strafed the pod over the dorsal hull of the Vanguard and descended gently toward the planet.

  The dark-gray clouds lin
ing the atmosphere below caused Nicolas to shiver and the lightning made him want to reconsider why he was going down there in the first place. Luckily for the team on the pod, the weather appeared clear toward the mining facility, which was just north of Orion V’s equator.

  Susan skilfully controlled the pod’s drop. Breaking through the upper atmosphere, there was a slight vibration through the hull while the planet fought against them. A deep-red warmth emerged on the ventral heat shield, taking the brunt of the descent. After smashing through the worst of it, Susan leveled off, dropping the pod through the cloud cover.

  The main rectangular-shaped building of the facility rose from the ground in the middle of a broad valley. It was twelve stories tall, but Nicolas knew it branched out like a spider beneath the ground, with an extensive network of subterranean rail joining up several worksites to the central location. It was an incredible feat of construction so far from civilization.

  Nicolas could make out the landing pad on top of the roof of the complex as they got ever closer. The retractable ceiling opened to allow them in.

  Susan slowed the pod’s descent and aimed for the landing markers. She fired the ventral thrusters and extended the landing struts. With a gentle thud, the pod landed.

  Nicolas turned to Susan. “You’ve still got it.”

  She did her best to hide her smile, waiting for the retractable ceiling to close above them. “It helps to have a good teacher.”

  With a hiss, the atmosphere recirculated, and a green light gave them the go-ahead to depart. Susan flicked the switch on the airlock, and it burst open. The Marines were the first to get out of their seats. They unlocked the container from its harness and walked it out onto the landing pad with the help of a hover lifter.

  Nicolas and Susan followed. A chill hit them before the facility’s climate-control pumped the landing pad with warmer air. Nicolas pulled up the collar of his jacket.

  A door opened at the side of the building. A man dressed in olive-green coveralls stepped out. “Captain Marquez, welcome to Orion V,” he said. “I’m Erik Koeman.”