by GARY DARBY
Alena confronted the man and demanded, “All right, what’s the message? Make it zip, mister, I’ve got work to do.”
He widened his smile and brought up his weapon. “As do I—” and fired point-blank.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Star Date 2433.060
Interstellar Space, Near the Helix Nebula
Tossing and turning in his cocoon bed, Jadar had his eyes closed, but sleep wouldn’t come. He couldn’t help but think and worry about a young novice who traveled somewhere Out Here on his own harrowing mission.
He realized that in the cosmic realm of interstellar distances the two of them were almost side by side, but at the same time they were so very far apart.
Jadar ran a hand through his hair and thought to himself that he hadn’t done this much agonizing since the first time he had led a scout team to a just discovered planet.
He flinched a little in recalling that first mission. A giant Rock Tarantula had sprung from its camouflaged lair among the boulders and seized him in its bone-crunching mandibles. Only quick action by his team had saved him from almost certain death.
But it was on that same mission that they had discovered the Goldilocks Unicorns. Tiny and delicate, the sociable little pony like creatures had pranced among the humans, sometimes bumping into legs and knees as if seeking attention.
The golden curls of their wool-like coats were soft on hands and cheeks. It took quite an effort to leave such gregarious and pleasant animals behind.
He sighed to himself and thought of a Star Scout ditty that plebe cadets jogged to at the academy:
Walk the trail the Star Scout way
Walk the trail night and day
Walk the trail so full of awe
Walk the trail in danger’s jaw
Walk the trail of starry nights
Walk the trail in midst of fright
Walk the trail eyes of wonder
Walk the trail of fire and thunder
Walk the trail night and day
Walk the trail the Star Scout way
That was the way of it, the majesty, the glory, the wonder but also the danger, the menace, and peril. But he had to admit, he would give it all up if he could change one heart-wrenching episode in his life.
Brisk footsteps approached. “Sir, are you awake?” Lengley asked.
Jadar raised himself up. “I am. What do you have?”
“Sorry to disturb you, but Colonel Tuul asks that you come immediately to the pilot pod. We’ve received a distress call.”
Jadar pushed the cocoon’s ribbing away and swung his legs out. “Please inform Colonel Tuul I’m on my way.”
The young scout turned on his heel and made his way forward. Jadar splashed water from a small water dispenser onto his face, fastened his forest-green tunic and strode toward the command flight deck.
Sliding into the pilot’s seat, he asked, “What’s up?”
Shar gestured at the console. “Came in a few minutes ago. Spacer’s auto-distress call, no verbal communication.
“I’m guessing that their regular comms might be knocked out. I haven’t heard anyone respond to their hail, so we might be the closest craft.
“The signal’s identification code doesn’t register on our data banks.”
Jadar grunted and peered at the console. “Odd. We’ve got all of Star Scout, Navy, SciCorps, plus registered civilian ships info cached in those data files.”
“Could be a new vessel,” Shar suggested, “and hasn’t made it into the system wide records pool.”
He paused before musing aloud, “Or it could be OutLand outlaws or the Faction, trying to lure someone into their net.”
Jadar shook his head. “Doubtful. We’re too far off the standard space lanes. They operate in closer to the major commercial routes for such things. No, like you said, most likely its registration just hasn’t made it into the system.”
Jadar ran his hands over the keys, fine-tuning the reception. He then stated, “I’m reading it at Mark 125 up ten. The Doppler oscillation is tight, so the signal source is ahead and not behind.”
Shar gestured toward the stellar map. “Looks like they’re in the nebula’s central quadrant. The signal’s degraded, so my assumption is that they’re either inside the cloud envelope or in the hollow core.”
Jadar studied the star map. “I do believe you’re right, Colonel Tuul.”
He considered the situation and then observed, “If it’s a civilian job, what are they doing way out here? You don’t go messing around in uncharted nebulas.”
Frowning, he said sourly, “Unless it’s one of the corporations trying to sneak into the nebula. If it is, I vote to let them drift, let their corporate brothers bail them out.”
Shar turned and gave Jadar a frank stare. “Ever since the general gave us that one-two about interstellar corporations yapping to open up the nebula you’ve been pretty bitter. Ease up, Jadar, they’re not all like that, you know.
“In fact, most of them are good, honest businesses run by fair-minded citizens who play by the rules. Don’t judge all the ponies in the corral by a few wild mustangs trying to break down the fence.”
Jadar was quiet before saying, “You’re right; I’m out of line. Of course, we’ll help, whoever it is.
“But I would’ve preferred to crack the Helix’s outer envelope in company with some of Bartley’s gang since they’ve charted a clear path in the upper quadrant. But a distress call is a distress call.”
He ran a finger over the nebula’s stellar map. The nebula covered several thousand light-years in diameter. Powerful cosmic winds coursed through the gas cloud resulting in the coiled dark-green protuberances that gave the nebula its distinctive outer ring.
Unexplored except for a small inner portion that Bartley’s battalion now investigated, the majority of the nebula still lay open for discovery.
Shar nodded toward the screen and asked, “What’s your plan?”
Jadar deliberated over the image and accompanying data before saying, “Since we’ll be going through an uncharted area, we’re going to have to feel our way through.
“Cross your fingers that no hidden dark masses or proto-stars lie in our flight path. An encounter with one of those would make for a very bad day.
“If we go sub warp about a million kilometers from the interface aspect, we should be able to detect any dense mass and evade. It’ll take a little longer to get through, but without navigational aids, we’re going to be flying pretty blind until we break into the clear.”
Shar nodded in response. “Sounds good. Do you want to handle the helm? I’ll take stellar sensors.”
“Okay,” Jadar answered. Since Jadar had the most piloting experience, Shar’s idea made perfect sense.
“LT!” Jadar called out.
“Yes, sir,” the young man acknowledged from the compartment entrance.
“We’re taking a little detour,” Jadar explained. “That distress call seems to be coming from the nebula. In about an hour, we’ll penetrate the outer envelope, so, as they say, batten down the hatches; make sure everything aft is shipshape and secured.
“Going in we can expect to hit strong gravity waves. I don’t want stuff flying around, including you.”
“Roger,” Lengley replied and turned to begin checking the trim little craft’s interior.
“Gravity waves, huh?” Shar grunted. “Never actually rode through one.”
Jadar let his fingers play over the flight controls. “I learned about their destructiveness the hard way. Shipped on the old Chinook, a Nav troop transport ‘bout ten years ago. Our course put us close to the Orion Nebula.
“Navy captain decided that instead of an arc around the nebula, she’d take a shortcut and slip through one of the cloud’s thinner filaments—at hyper speed.
“All things considered a pretty rational decision since transit time through the filament would be less than a minute. So much for rationality.
“Gravity waves pounded u
s just as we hit the strand. Our velocity coupled with the harmonics intensified the wave’s pressure field and neutralized our phasic shield.
“Just about shook the old tub apart before the captain could drop us below light speed. But not before we lost most of our flight controls, artificial gravity, and damaged the n-space drive.
“We limped along at sub light in weightless conditions before a Nav repair ship showed up. All total we spent about five days in no-weight.
“Some scouts lost their lunch within the first few minutes of weightlessness and boy, was that a mess. Little gobs of stomach contents floating everywhere. But at least we were alive.”
Out of the corner of his eye, Jadar saw Shar shudder at the thought of spending that much time without gravity.
Shar turned his head toward Jadar. “Maybe we should slow down now, just to make sure we’re far enough out.”
Jadar chuckled. “Don’t worry, I’ve calculated a more than adequate safety margin.”
Just before the clock approached the hour countdown, Lengley reported, “All secure aft, sir.”
“Roger,” Jadar replied. “Strap yourself in tight, n-space emergence in five minutes.”
At the time mark, Jadar powered down from hyper light velocity to sub light speed. Ahead of them the nebula’s massive gray-green walls rose like mighty ramparts and filled their vu-screen.
The two Star Scouts gazed at the forward viewer somewhat in awe before Jadar became all business and checked their flight status. “Ten seconds to contact,” he murmured.
Seconds later the craft slipped through the cloud’s first wispy entrails and into the dense dust and gas particles. With nimble fingers on the controls, Jadar wove them between thick columns and wavy masses of interstellar debris.
The minutes passed, with the vessel powering through the grayish-green darkness.
After two hours of tense silence, broken only by sensor updates between the two pilots, Jadar observed, “Getting close to break through, looks like you’re not going to meet your first grav-wave.”
Shar nodded. “I could go my entire career and not be ashamed to say that’s the one thing Out Here I haven’t experienced.”
Jadar started to reply when the ship shuddered and rocked from side to side.
Once. Twice. Three times the craft rolled from the pounding of intense gravity waves before the vessel settled down to an even keel.
Jadar gave Shar a slight smile. “Whoops, guess I spoke too soon.”
Then, as though a giant, rippled dark lime colored curtain parted, the small ship shot through the cloud wall’s last thin vestiges and into clear space. In the distance shone a bright yellow star with just a tint of green in its light.
Jadar leaned back, the tension ebbing out of his body. “See?” he commented to Shar. “That wasn’t so bad.”
“Well, I guess I can add that to my Star Scout dossier,” Shar replied with a small smile. “But once is enough, thank you very much.”
Jadar called out, “LT, you okay?”
“I’m good, sir,” the young scout replied.
“Great, let’s—” Jadar started when the ship heeled to one side before righting.
Numerous red alarm lights began blinking on the console while the compu started squawking, “Warning! Power loss, port-side main engine, breach, compartment eight delta—”
“That wasn’t a gravity wave!” Jadar shouted.
Lightning-quick, Shar reached out and hit the acceleration control. The ship jumped forward like a racehorse from the starting gate.
“Ion cannon!” Shar exclaimed. “Look at the aft vis-screen.”
Jadar gaped at the aft viewer. A Zephyr closed on them from behind.
The Zephyr fired another volley from its forward ion weapon. Jadar heeled the craft over before the full ion stream hit the ship.
A sliver of the powerful blast caught them amidships and forward of the engines, slewing them to one side. More red lights appeared, each signifying severe damage to the transport.
Shar shut off the computer voice and opened the universal comms channel. “Zephyr craft. Cease fire. Cease fire. This is Colonel Tuul, Star Scout Command. I say again, cease fire!”
In answer, the attacking ship fired another salvo from its ion cannon that caught the unarmed ship near the port side n-space antenna array, preventing them from transmitting any n-space messages.
With that blast, the two Star Scouts just looked at each other. That shot could only mean one thing: no quarter in a battle to the death.
“Can we outrun them? Go to hyper speed?” Shar asked anxiously.
“Not a chance,” Jadar stated with a grimace. “We’re venting from the drive. We’ve got sub light, but that Zephyr’s got more juice than we do.
“They’ll close the gap, and we’ll be a sitting duck for their cannon. I can buy us some time with evasive maneuvers, but not for long.
“I have to give'em credit,” he grated through clenched teeth. “They knew exactly where to hit us. First the drive, and then the n-space antenna. We're lucky we still have artificial gravity. Another hit and we might not have that.”
He heeled the craft over and yelled, “Lengley! Get up here!”
Wide-eyed, the youthful lieutenant appeared in the hatchway. “Yes sir?”
“We’re under fire and they’ve hit us pretty hard. Check the escape pods, all of them,” Jadar ordered. “Make sure they’re undamaged and ready to discharge.”
He pushed the transport hard into in a series of wrenching S-turns. “We may be using them in a bit.”
“On it, sir!” Lengley replied and whirled to head amidships to the four escape pods that sat snuggled against the ship’s outer bulkheads.
“You thinking we may have to jettison?” Shar asked.
“Can’t,” Jadar replied. “After they finish this ship off, they’d just home in on the escape pod’s transponders and blast us. No, we stay and ride this one out. But as my great-uncle John Paul Jones once declared, I have not yet begun to fight.”
An ion blast caught the small craft’s stern, slinging it sideways from the violent strike. Jadar didn’t have to look at the console to know the damage. From the way the vessel's velocity plummeted, the shot had damaged another of their sub light engines.
Shar eyed Jadar and remarked lightly, “At this point, I'd much prefer you had a great-uncle Houdini.”
“LT!” Jadar bawled over the ship’s communicator. “Report!”
“Checking the last two pods now,” Lengley replied. “Starboard one and two secure and operational.”
“Roger that,” Jadar responded. He caught sight of the blazing sun just ahead. “Shar, are you showing any nearby planets on the sensors?”
Shar nodded. “Closest one is at Mark 238, down six degrees from the plane. Call it a little under five million kilometers.”
“Got it,” Jadar replied and programmed the navigational controls to head for the nearby planet, coaxing every bit of speed from the remaining engine that he could.
“What’s your idea?” Shar asked.
Jadar danced the ship through a series of evasive maneuvers before he answered. “We can’t outrun them. The nebula’s out; the ship’s barely holding together. If they hit us full bore again with that cannon, well, it would be pretty messy.
“So, we make for that planet, maybe it’s got a moon or two that we can use to hide behind or at least put some rock between us and them.
“In the meantime,” he said, “I’ve got an idea. It’s not much and could get us all killed, but there’s always a chance it’ll get them off our necks long enough to find a place to set down.”
Lengley stuck his head into the command compartment. He reported in a breathless voice, “All pods ready, sir.”
“Very good,” Jadar replied. “Hunker down and pull those bars tight back there, it’s going to get a little rough.”
Jadar pushed the ship hard, whipping the craft around in frenzied movements, trying to stay one jump ahead o
f their attackers.
But no matter what he tried, the distance between the two ships closed. It wouldn’t be long before the attackers would strike and finish them off.
Jadar lifted his head to take a quick peek. The nearby planet loomed closer with every passing second and their plan must be evident to the Zephyr by now.
Peering at the alien world, Jadar couldn’t help but think that the verdant greens, blues, browns, and tan coloring were similar to Mother Earth.
Even the white cloudlike formations that skirted the surface reminded him of Terra. He tore his view away from the captivating scene and back to the business at hand.
His fingers played across the flight console, trying to maintain the best speed he could while not letting the Zephyr draw a clean bead on them.
“Anything nearby that we can make a run for?” Jadar asked.
“Working on it,” Shar replied.
The distance between the adversaries shortened before Shar spoke up. “Four moons, the biggest is on the far side, the other three are pretty small. The nearest is at Mark 162, three degrees up. At our current rate, about four minutes away.”
Jadar sighed. “We haven’t got the minutes.”
He glanced over at Shar with a bleak expression. “So we go with the alternate plan.”
Jadar took a quick look at the vis-screen and the pursuing Zephyr. “They’ve fired their cannon quite a bit and probably just about drained the power pack,” he observed.
“I’m betting their next shot is with a missile. But they want to get a little closer before they fire.”
He called Lengley forward and outlined his plan.
With a little whistle invoking open skepticism, Shar rejoined, “That’s pretty imaginative, Jadar. And you realize that if it doesn’t work, we’ll be smack in the center of their bull’s eye.”
“I do realize that, sir,” Jadar admitted. “But do either of you have a better idea?”
Shar looked at Lengley. “Now’s the time to impress us, youngster. Any ideas?”
The young scout gulped. “Sorry, sir.”
Shar shook his head and met Jadar’s eyes. “I admit it, I got nothing. Looks like it’s your show.”
