by J. N. Chaney
“No movement detected,” said Sigmond.
“Watch the surface,” I said tensely. “If you see any sign of movement, we’re gone. Whatever they have down there, it’s not worth dying for. Not yet.”
“No movement detected, sir,” informed Sigmond. “Like the scout ship earlier, it appears abandoned. I will continue to monitor the situation, however.”
I stood, shoulders squared as I watched the holo. The only reason I hadn’t given the order to retreat immediately was because, thus far, I hadn’t seen the enemy at all. Just hints. Clues. Nothing but proof they had been here at some point in the past.
These creatures were brutal. They might’ve been human once, but all of that was long gone. There would be no compassion for us, no hand extended in hopes of peace. Only death and slaughter.
The fact that we were still alive gave me cause to move ahead.
I studied the planet-sized structure. This thing was huge, and I was certain there had to be something down there. Whether it would save us or kill us—that remained to be seen.
7
A hush fell over the bridge as we watched the flawless construction on the holo before us. I stiffened, studying the surface, expecting it to spring to life at any moment.
“Why hasn’t it fired?” Freddie asked.
“You got a death wish all of a sudden?” I shook my head. “Your first thought is hey, why aren’t we dead, yet?”
“Well, it’s a fair question,” Abigail pointed out.
I looked at her over my shoulder. “Whose side are you on, exactly?”
Abigail tilted her head in mild annoyance. “Jace, we’re still alive despite being within weapons range of a man-or whatever-made object larger than any other I’ve ever seen. I didn’t even know something could be built this big, and yet it’s just floating there, not moving or giving any indication of life. That doesn’t raise any red flags for you?”
“Of course it does,” I said, returning my attention to the holo. “It’s the only reason I haven’t given the order to retreat, Abby.”
“I wonder if that’s abandoned, too,” said Freddie. “Like the scout ship was.”
“Don’t get too comfortable with the idea,” I warned as I paced the holo, mind racing while I debated our options. There weren’t many choices to pick from, and I didn’t like any of them.
One—retreat. Fold and get up from the table, all while hoping to the gods themselves that what we had in the cargo bay wasn’t useless crap.
Two—land. Set foot in a megastructure that we knew nothing about, except that it had a loose link to the Celestials. And any connection to the Celestials did not bode well for our odds of survival.
That was about it in terms of choices.
Briefly, I shifted my gaze toward Rackham, who studied the faces around him on the bridge instead of monitoring the holo like the rest of us. It struck me as a tad odd that a Union officer wasn’t jumping at the chance to shove his opinion into the conversation, but that was just the truth of Lieutenant Oberon Rackham. The man was okay with silence and uncertainty, which I could respect. Right now, though, I wasn’t so sure I liked his silence. He was monitoring us, observing us, seeing what we would do. I suspected he already had a plan in place, were he to steer the ship instead of me. I could see the wheels turning in the man’s head, and the calculating glint in his eye gave me pause. Suddenly, it was a problem that his men were in the cargo bay, out of my sight.
“Bolin, report,” I said quietly into the comm in my ear.
“Nothing new, Captain,” Bolin said through the private link. “Dr. Dressler hasn’t made new progress. She keeps mumbling to herself, though. Sometimes it sounds positive, but I can’t really tell with her.”
“Yeah, she does that,” I muttered. “And our guests?”
“They’re behaving themselves.”
“Good. Keep me posted.”
“Yes, Captain.”
By now, Bolin knew me well enough to know what my command really meant—I had quietly raised the alert, and I wanted him to keep a closer watch on our tense new alliance.
“We’re in this together, Captain,” Rackham said, his eyes shifting toward me as he stood, arms crossed, on my bridge.
“That we are,” I agreed, narrowing my eyes slightly to emphasize the warning.
“What do we do, Jace?” asked Abigail, leaning her palms on a nearby table as she stared me down, quietly demanding an answer.
I already knew exactly what we had to do. I just didn’t like it, and I wanted to check on something before I gave the order. “Siggy, get me Leif.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Captain?” Leif said through the ship’s comm. “What is this thing? Is it a planet, or—”
“I was hoping you could tell me,” I said. “Was this monstrosity here when you all were on the space station?”
“Absolutely not,” he said, the barest tremor in his voice. “We would have left immediately, slip tunnel to Earth or no.”
“So, this is Celestial, then?” I asked, my chest tightening. “You’re sure?”
“I’m not,” he confessed. “It’s just not a risk we would have taken, Captain. I have no idea who this belongs to, but it’s not Eternal.”
“And it’s definitely not ours,” Rackham said under his breath.
“Yeah, no kidding.” I studied the surface of the megastructure. “All right. Thanks, Leif. Ask around your crew, see if anyone knows anything.”
“Yes, Captain.” The transmission cut out.
I pointed at the megastructure on the holo. “Siggy, enhance this to the best resolution you’ve got for me.”
“Right away, sir,” said the Cognitive. “How’s this?”
The image adjusted until I could see the fine lines of portholes and docking bays along the planet-like ship. Everything was polished and smooth, without so much as a blinking light to indicate there was anyone alive on board.
“I’ve been implementing every scan I can currently access,” said Sigmond. “So far, I’ve scanned the vessel thirteen times, and the results are consistent. As far as I can tell, there are no heat signatures, no movement, and no life forms anywhere aboard. It appears to be utterly abandoned.”
“Wouldn’t that be nice,” I muttered. “Siggy, get Dressler up here, and loop Leif back in.”
“Right away, sir.”
“I’m back,” Leif said. “Any new theories?”
“A few, I’d reckon.” While we waited on Dressler, I began to sift through what few facts we had about all this. “I’ve got an idea as to what’s going on, but I don’t think I’m right.”
“That would be a first,” Lucia said, smirking as she leaned against the wall.
“What is it, Captain Hughes?” asked Freddie, interrupting me as I eyed the old woman, ready to retort with a cheeky response.
I gestured toward the general direction of the cargo bay. “The scout ship we’ve got on board was damaged by something, right? We assumed it was from the slip tunnel opening, but what if that’s not the case?”
“You think there’s something out here destroying Celestials?” asked Abigail, looking incredulous.
“Honestly, no,” I said. “But it’s a theory. We’ve got next to nothing to go on, save for us not being dead right now.”
“We don’t know of any civilization with that ability,” Leif pointed out, speaking through the comm link to the bridge.
“I’m not saying it’s likely, just that it’s possible,” I added. “Hell, maybe these are rebels the Celestials took out and left to rot in the void. I’ve got no idea, folks. My point is, we don’t know anything about this mess, but what we do have suggests that megastructure is abandoned.”
“It just doesn’t make sense,” said Abigail, frowning slightly. “Something that big is going to have valuable information on it. No one would just leave it floating through the black.”
“Exactly,” I said with a nod.
Her eyes widened slightly. “You want us t
o go down there, don’t you?”
“Want is a strong word,” I said. “But yeah, that’s the road I’m leaning toward taking.”
The door to the bridge slid open, and Dressler stormed through with an impatient expression on her face. “Captain? I’m in the middle of—what is that?” Her eyes drifted to the holo, and it took me a moment to remember that Dressler hadn’t seen the megastructure yet, with her continued study of the scout ship demanding all of her attention.
“That,” I said, casually, “is our next job. Care to head down?”
“I’m tempted,” she admitted, her eyebrows lifting slightly.
“We should form an away team, head down, and extract whatever we can while the opportunity is present,” Rackham said, the thus far silent military man finally interjecting his thoughts. He leaned toward the holo, studying it in detail. “There could be something we can use, intelligence that could turn the tide of a war or, at the very least, give us further insight into what the enemy is doing.”
“Could being the operative word,” Freddie pointed out. “It could also be a trap.”
“Have you made any progress on the ship, Doc?” I asked, turning my attention toward Dressler. “Anything useful in that busted up piece of shit we’ve got stowed in the hold?”
“Nothing so far,” she admitted, clearly frustrated. “We’re still working on decoding the system. It’s another species, another language. The good news is that Celestial technology is still grounded in the same original design as old Eternal tech, so I’m confident we can break it soon. Not before we leave, but eventually.”
“So, you’re coming with us, then?” I asked.
She smiled. “Of course I am,” she remarked. “I don’t trust any of you to know what to do when you arrive there or what to do when you find what you’re looking for.”
“That’s fair,” said Freddie.
“Besides,” continued Dressler, “Sigmond and Athena can continue my work on the Celestial ship’s system. We’ve already developed an algorithm to—” She paused, looking around the bridge. “Never mind. The point is, it’s being handled.”
“In other words, that ship is nothing more than a pile of scrap for the time being,” I said.
“For now,” agreed Dressler. She nodded toward the holo. “But this shows promise. That little scout ship is nothing compared to what may lie beneath the surface of this structure. Something as large as this likely holds vast amounts of data just waiting to be extracted.”
“Well, I guess that’s that.” My shoulders tensed with the weight of what I was about to do, and I leaned on my fists against a nearby table as I watched the megastructure. “We’ll reconnect with Earth one last time before heading down there. After that, we’ll suit up.” I tapped the side of my chair as my eyes danced around the room, everyone else’s fixed on mine. “If ever I needed your best, this is the time to give it.”
8
As we waited beside the slip tunnel opening for the check-in with Earth, I sat in the captain’s chair on the bridge. Lucia and her soldiers were in the ship’s break room, preparing for what would likely be a warzone, while Freddie and Petra discussed additional plans with Leif to ensure his team was ready as well.
I had sent Abigail and Rackham to the cargo bay, mostly to keep the Union man busy. I didn’t need him sitting in on every conversation I had, especially not the ones I had with Alphonse.
On the holo before me, the countdown to the scheduled check-in time ticked ever closer to zero. Apart from a handful of the bridge crew, I was alone up here, and that was how I wanted it for the time being.
The holo came to life, displaying the ship’s line-of-sight. With a sudden burst of crackling green light, the slip tunnel to Earth’s core opened right on time. As the hole in slipspace thundered before us, the connection to Earth was instantly established.
“Siggy, put me through to Al.” I gestured to the holo. “And let him see my pretty face this time.”
“At once, sir,” said Sigmond, not getting my joke. I shook my head in disappointment. That had been damn funny, and I hadn’t even gotten a pity laugh.
Alphonse appeared on the holo, replacing our view of the sizzling green storm of slipspace. “Good to see you’re still alive, Captain.”
I feigned a sarcastic little bow. “I try.”
“Any updates?” he asked.
“Some. How’s Earth?” I replied.
“Nothing new to report. Vick has been behaving—”
“Sir,” interrupted Sigmond. “I’ve discovered a transmission going through the tunnel from onboard our ship. Shall I intercept it?”
“Let it transmit for now, but let’s listen in,” I said, pretty sure I already knew who was sending it. “Mute us so they don’t know we’re listening.”
“Right away, sir.”
The voice came in immediately. “…discovered a large structure in the void, Vice Admiral,” Rackham said through the line. “It appears to be abandoned, though Captain Hughes isn’t convinced.”
“He’s not a total idiot, then,” Vick said, and I could virtually hear him sneering. “Color me surprised.”
“I think he’s warming up to me,” I muttered under my breath.
On the holo, Alphonse listened with a tense expression, his eyes glossing over slightly as we monitored the conversation.
I wondered where Abigail was, since she was supposed to keep an eye on the lieutenant. For Rackham to sneak off and have such a sensitive conversation, she couldn’t be anywhere around, and that gave me pause. “Siggy, is Abby—”
“She’s safe, sir,” said Sigmond. “It appears Rackham is transmitting from a bathroom, which would suggest he fabricated a bit of a lie to avoid her monitoring his conversation.”
I let out a relieved breath. “I swear, I’ll attach a drone to that man’s forehead if I have to,” I muttered.
“Get me a body, Lieutenant,” Vick snapped through the line. “Something viable to dissect. These things could give us the final advantage we need, far superior to even the Eternals. I don’t care how you get it, just get it. Don’t come back without one. That’s an order.”
Rackham hesitated, and the silence felt far longer than it really was. I could practically hear the steam coming out of Rackham’s ears as he bit back all the things he wanted to say to the Vice Admiral. “Yes, sir,” the Union officer eventually said, cutting off the transmission.
I raised my eyebrows, admittedly none too surprised by this little development. “I really hate that guy.”
“I’m fairly certain that feeling is mutual, Captain,” Alphonse said.
Truth be told, I didn’t blame Rackham for the secret conversation. The man had to work with the cards he’d been dealt, and that unfortunately left him at the whims of an asshole.
“So, you encountered an abandoned megastructure?” asked the Constable.
“It would appear we did,” I said with a nod. “It seems as though that’s where the Celestial sent its distress signal. Dressler says the scout ship is no good, which means this thing is the only lead we’ve got.”
“And you intend to land on this ship?” asked Alphonse, lifting one eyebrow in mild surprise—or disappointment. With him, sometimes I couldn’t tell.
I scoffed. “Well, I certainly don’t intend to come back empty handed, Al.”
“It’s better to come back empty handed than not at all,” Alphonse said easily.
“Okay, Ma,” I said, gesturing sarcastically at the Constable. “The plan is to stay alive, after all.”
“I should hope so,” said the Constable. “Regardless, I have to confess that it sounds like the best decision. If the scout ship can’t tell us anything, perhaps this ship can. Are you sending Titan back through, now that you have a slip tunnel made?”
I shook my head, frowning at the choice I had to make on this one. “No. Titan stays. As much as I hate to leave Earth without Titan’s defenses, I need the firepower and extra soldiers. We don’t have the space on b
oard this boat to host them.”
“Athena’s locked into Titan,” Alphonse pointed out. “If anything happens to that ship, we lose her.”
“I’m aware of that, and like I said, the plan is to not die. I need Titan and the Nebula Prospect both out here, at least for now.” I hesitated, glancing at Alphonse with concern. “Unless Vick’s getting ideas?”
“He seems patient,” Alphonse said, waving away my concern with a flick of his wrist. “For the moment, anyway. We’re fine without Titan for the time being.”
Good, because I really needed that ship if this plan of mine was going to work.
“However,” added the Constable, “I suggest you allow Sigmond to bring over some of his drones for protection.”
“Not a good idea,” I said, lifting my hand to emphasize my point. “Those drones need to guard Earth from the armada in our orbit. I don’t trust Vick, even if he is pretending to play nice so he can get a Celestial. He’ll settle for the Eternals we’ve got back home if he gets the chance, and he’ll carve them up same as the Union tried to carve up Lex.” I gritted my teeth at the thought of the kid shackled to one of those Union medical bays as doctors in white coats stabbed her with needles. My grip instinctively tightened on the armrest, and I took a slow breath to release the tension. She was safe on Earth, and I needed to focus.
“I agree that Vick’s a threat, Captain,” the Constable said calmly. “However, this megastructure you found concerns me. With your permission, I’m going to send a few extra drones through in a moment. Vick won’t even realize they’re missing from the fleet, so you don’t have to worry about him trying anything. We have twenty on standby near the tunnel already, and they will appear on your end shortly.”
“Okay, I’ll trust your judgement,” I conceded. “You’d just better hope this doesn’t come back to bite us in the ass.”
