Lost Sols 1: Ancient Treasure

by James Bisceglia

  After hearing the report from his Commander, Hector put his head in his hands. He had failed, and everyone was in danger because of his failure. The Constellation was headed back to space. He issued orders to maintain the perimeter around Cydonia in the event the ship returned. There was nothing else to do except inform the President. He returned to base and saw he had an incoming message. "Mars base, this is Captain Samuels of the Lexington. We have arrived in orbit and are requesting an update on the location of the Constellation. Respond immediately." With the Lexington in orbit, Hector would be able to communicate without a delay. He activated his monitor and called the Lexington. "Lexington, this is Mars base. The Constellation left Cydonia approximately ten minutes ago. It should be back in orbit by now." he said.

  Watching the message from Mars base, Captain Samuels knew his time was at hand. He had just missed the ship at Cydonia and wasn’t planning on missing it again. He had no doubt he would find the traitors now that he was close. "Thank you for the update Mars base. Are you aware if the terrorists removed any weapons or technology from Cydonia?" he asked. "My people on the ground did not see them with any equipment. To the best of my knowledge they left Cydonia without recovering anything. If that is all, I must send a message to Earth." Hector said. "That will be all for now Mars base. Have your people watch for the ship. Contact me immediately if it's located or if you have any other information which will be helpful." he said. "Pilot, increase speed and maintain orbit. We will go as fast as possible until we catch them. I'm betting the Constellation won't leave orbit for at least a few hours. Contact the Kennedy and give them an update. Ask them be on the lookout for any ships traveling in the direction of Earth." he said.

  The Constellation reached orbit and the entire crew was in the command center except for Dalton. Their emotions were mixed. There was a sense of relief as the mystery of the pyramid had been uncovered, and a sense of dread due to the enemy ship arriving. Vincent knew the historical and monetary value of the find was extraordinary and unprecedented. There were hugs all around. "There will come a time when mankind realizes what happened on this day. Right now we are still in danger, and have a job to do. We need more time on the surface to finish our work. Our task right now is to locate the enemy ship and destroy it. Once the ship is destroyed we’ll make more trips and remove as much of the treasure as we can." he said. "Captain there's a problem with that plan. We're burning too much fuel with our planetary engine. We have enough fuel for one more trip to the surface and back." Patrick said. "I guess we will make due with what we have. On the next and last trip, we will only leave two people onboard. Patrick and Sarah you will remain on the ship. Isabella you will join the rest of us." Once we get some of the treasure back to Earth I'm sure we can arrange another trip with a better plan, more ships, and better weaponry." he said.

  Captain Samuels was becoming more aggravated by the minute. It had been almost two hours and he still hadn't found the Constellation. He checked again with Mars base. The base had no new information. The black ship would be hard to spot in the darkness of space. He glared intently at his screen and thought he saw some movement. Looking more closely he saw it again, it was on the edge of his screen around the curve of Mars. He called over to his navigator. "That has to be them. Nothing else is supposed to be there." His navigator nodded in agreement. "Set a course. Get into as low an orbit as possible. We'll come up underneath them and disable any weapons they have."

  "What about those sealed chambers? If the aliens left the other chambers unsealed there must be something truly amazing in the sealed ones." Monique asked. Vincent was getting ready to reply when the Constellation was rocked by an explosion. "What the hell was that?" he asked. "Captain we've lost pressure in the cargo bay. Emergency bulkheads have been automatically activated." Sarah reported. "Captain, I'm not getting any signal from the laser. I think it’s been damaged or destroyed." Isabella said. "Get me video of the cargo bay, and have robot Sammie begin immediate repairs." Vincent said. "Captain they've found us first. The ship is behind and underneath us. They can destroy us right now if they choose to." Sarah reported. "Isabella, get to the missile launcher. Launch the missile as soon as you are ready. Don't check with me and don’t wait for my command." Vincent said.

  Sandy was depressed. When she wasn't sleeping she was playing poker on her entertainment pad to pass the time. Any desire she had to live was gone. She just wanted the Captain to get it over with so she could join her family. As she went to start a new game a message appeared. "One opponent available. Send request?" Nobody on the Lexington wanted to come near her, let alone play poker with her as far as she knew. She clicked on the link and was surprised to see the name which was listed. It was Patrick Weeks. The two of them had played internet poker against each other during their initial training at Leviathan. She didn't think it was possible he could be close enough to be in range. She clicked on his name and sent the request.

  "Captain I'm receiving a communications request from the Lexington." Sarah said. "Put it in the primary screen please." Vincent replied as the image of the enemy Captain appeared. "This is Captain Samuels of the Lexington. Prepare to be boarded. You are in possession of property which belongs to the United States Government. If you cooperate your lives will be spared. If you don't cooperate, we will destroy your ship, and walk over your dead bodies to recover our property. There will be no negotiations. You will either surrender or be destroyed." Vincent was angry he had put himself and his crew in this position. He wouldn't go down without a fight. "You have an interesting interpretation of ownership Captain. We are not in possession of any property other then our own. Do you plan to keep us alive like you did with the crew of the Avenger? Let me ask you, did you look into the eye of your enemy Captain when you slaughtered him and his entire crew? It is you who will surrender. We are in possession of technology you couldn't dare imagine. A member of my crew will be arriving shortly. He will be piloting one of the alien interceptors. Should he arrive and find us missing, he will come find you and kill you. I will give you one hour to surrender. You and your crew will be held in our custody. You will be returned to Earth to face charges of murdering the crew of the Avenger. If you fail to surrender you will leave me no other option then to destroy you and your crew."

  Captain Samuels was impressed with the bravado of the young Captain. He was almost positive his opponent was bluffing. He did have a small worrying doubt. “I know you weren’t able to remove any advanced weaponry from the pyramid. We know about your previous Captain. You placed his body in the interceptor on Rhea. We know he wasn't flying it when it went down. I'll give you your one hour. When your help fails to arrive, you will open your airlock and you will be boarded." Captain Samuels said.

  Patrick was listening to the exchange between the Captains when he received a message on his data pad. "You have a request to play poker with one opponent." He hadn't played poker with anyone since his training days. Who could possibly be asking to play poker at a time like this? He quickly clicked on the link. "You have an internet poker request from Sandy Greyson." He was shocked, he hadn't spoke with Sandy since their days at training. She had to be on the Lexington. Patrick clicked the link to begin the game and went to the chat box. "Are you alright? Where are you? Is there anyone else with you?" he asked. Sandy couldn't believe it when she received the response from Patrick. "I'm locked in a cell alone on the Lexington. I'm alive for now. They killed my crew and all of our families." she texted back. "Hang in there and stand by, I'm going to talk with my Captain." Patrick texted.

  "Isabella what is your status? How soon until you are ready to fire?" Vincent asked. "I'm leaving the airlock now, I should be ready in just a few minutes." she responded. Vincent was interrupted by Patrick. "Captain, I've established contact with a prisoner on the Lexington." he said. "Who is the prisoner, and how did you manage that?" Vincent asked. "She asked to play poker with me, I'm communicating with her on poker chat. She's locked in a cell." Patrick replied. "If she's lock
ed in a cell, I don't see how she can be of any help." Vincent replied. "Captain, let me talk to her some more. If she can get out of her cell let me take the rocket pack and go get her." Patrick said. "It's out of the question. You can't get over there without being seen and someone would have to open the airlock. I don't want to see her die either Patrick. It’s hard to accept but losing one life is better then losing two. It would be a suicide mission and I won't let you do it." Vincent replied.

  Patrick knew there had to be a way. He typed another message to Sandy. "Can you get to the airlock? You won't need an EVA suit. I'm going to try and come get you if you can get to one." he texted. "The airlock is close to the bathroom. I think I can get to it. Just tell me when I need to be there." Sandy replied. "Stand by, I have to talk my Captain into authorizing this plan. Be ready when the time comes." Patrick texted.

  The situation was spiraling out of control. Vincent didn't like losing the upper hand. The only option he had left was the untested alien missile. If it didn't work the battle would denigrate into firearms and hand to hand combat. Patrick approached again. "Captain, Sandy says she can get to an airlock. I think I can get over there undetected. Please Captain, you have to at least let me try. Listen to my plan at least." he said. "How do you plan to get over there undetected?" Vincent asked. "I've got an excellent low tech solution. We have all those large plastic containers in the hanger bay. I'll patch a few together which will big enough to hide the glow of the ETS suit. Then I will paint it black and strap it on. There's no way they'll see me." he said. "Seriously Patrick? You're going to hide in a plastic container? This isn't hide and seek, this is your life. There's very little time as well, we're down to fifty minutes." Vincent said. "Give me the time to try. I'll be off the ship in fifteen minutes." he said. "I'll let you make the attempt on one condition. At the first sign of trouble you abort and return to the ship. Do you understand?" Vincent said. "Thank you Captain, I understand." Patrick said. "Don't just stand there, get moving and good luck. Have Dominic help with the containers. Get off the ship as quickly as you can, and remember to abort if you’re in any danger. Take this, you might need it." Vincent said as he handed him a gun. Patrick began to head toward the cargo bay. “Patrick, wait a minute. I have an idea, check with me before you leave the ship. I’m going to try and send an explosive device with you. Let’s try to take the ship out from the inside if we can.” Vincent said.

  After some trial and error Isabella believed she had the missile properly inserted into the launcher. She activated the display and lined up the shot. If she was reading the display correctly she had a lock on the Lexington. After she double checked her work she was sure of it. This was the moment. It was time to blow those bastards to hell and back. Her headset crackled and came to life. "Isabella, put the missile launch on hold for now. Patrick will be leaving the ship on a rescue mission in a few minutes. Take a visual and let me know how visible he is. He’s going to try to make it to the Lexington undetected to rescue a hostage. Remain on standby with the missile launcher for now. Do we have any more explosives on board? " he asked. Isabella knew what Vincent had in mind. “I made a second fragmentation bomb. It’s the same type we used on Rhea with the Captain. The bomb is designed to inflict the same type of damage as the first one. It may not have enough explosive power to seriously damage the Lexington.” Isabella said. “If it’s all we have then we will use it. Maybe it will be enough.” Vincent said. “The bomb is in the cargo bay along with the trigger. You can set it off once Patrick and his passenger are clear.” Isabella said.

  It was tense in the command center. "What do you think Vincent? Do we have a chance?" Julia asked. "Hopefully the bomb will cause enough damage. It might be enough to compromise the integrity of their hull in a few locations. A catastrophic hull breach would do the trick just fine. If it doesn’t work, it becomes more complicated. We will have to rely on the alien missile." he said. "If our ship is taken the Captain of the Lexington will have access to the pyramid if he can figure out how the ETS suits operate." Monique said. "If it looks like we will lose the battle, I will jettison the ETS suits. I promise you it won’t come to that. We will make it back to recover the artifacts and treasure." Vincent said.

  With help from Dominic, Patrick retrofitted and painted the containers black quickly. Dominic brought him the bomb to plant on the Lexington. He was in the airlock with the bomb just fifteen minutes after speaking with Vincent. He typed a message to Sandy. "Get to the airlock now. I'll be there in just a few minutes. Get out of that cell, and be waiting for me, it's your only chance.”

  Sandy received the message from Patrick. She would do anything to make the Captain and crew of the Lexington pay for what they had done. It was time to summon one of the guards. "I have to go to the bathroom. You better hurry or you're going to have a mess to clean up. You need to get me out of here right now." she yelled.

  She heard one of the guards approaching. "Damn it Sandy, didn't you just go to the bathroom an hour ago? What’s wrong with you?" he asked. "It must be this poisoned food you’re feeding me. I don’t understand why your Captain doesn’t just shoot me. My stomach hurts. I guess he’d rather poison me then waste a bullet." Sandy replied as she was led out of her cell. She closed the bathroom door behind her. She looked around for some type of weapon and tried to rip the metal lid off the toilet. After a couple of minutes she still wasn’t able to pry it off. Running out of options she began to panic and kicked it as hard as she could. The lid finally came loose. "What's going on in there?" the guard asked. "You don't want to come in here right now. I'm done, but I'm having trouble with the latch on this door again. Can you try to open it?" she asked. “Hang on, give me a couple of seconds.” the guard responded. She heard him approach, and prepared herself. The door opened and she hit him across the face as hard as she could. He stumbled back into the wall and she hit him again on top of his head. The guard fell to the floor and didn't move. She made her way as fast as she could to the airlock. She didn’t see any other guards in the area. When she arrived at the airlock she found a message from Patrick on her data pad. "I’m here, open the outer door now." She opened the outer door. As soon as the outer door was closed she pressurized the airlock and opened the inner door. Patrick was in the airlock without an EVA suit. He was surrounded by a light blue luminescent light. He handed her what looked like a white ball. "Press the control right here. This is an alien EVA suit. It’s perfectly safe. I used one coming over here from the Constellation." he said. She activated the device and was immediately encased in the same light blue light. As she looked behind her she saw the guard she had knocked unconscious approaching. He was bleeding. Patrick saw him too and raised a gun. He fired four shots. The shots were loud, and the guard fell to the floor clutching his chest. Patrick quickly pulled something out of his pack and threw it on the floor near the airlock. "Come on, let's go before more guards show up." Patrick said. He had left the jet rocket and the black container hovering outside the airlock. He strapped Sandy to his belt and she held on to his back. Patrick activated the rocket and the two of them were on their way back to the Constellation.

  “Vincent, we have an incoming transmission from Patrick.” Sarah said. “Captain, Sandy and I are clear of the Lexington. You can detonate the bomb.”

  "Captain, the primary airlock has been activated within the last few minutes." the communications officer reported. Captain Samuels tried to contact the guard on duty closest to the airlock. There was no response from the guard. “Tavaris get down there and see what the hell is going on." he instructed. Just as Tavaris got up the ship was rocked by an explosion, and air began rushing out of the command center. After a few seconds everything seemed to return to normal. “Get me a report! I need to know what just happened.” Captain Samuels screamed. “We’ve had a hull breach in multiple locations near the airlock. Emergency bulkheads are holding.” Tavaris said. “Get me the video. I need to see it now.”

  With Captain Samuels and his crew preoccupied with t
he explosion, none of them noticed a barely perceptible dim light traveling in the direction of the Constellation. Patrick new the bomb had been a good idea. Even if it didn’t disable the Lexington, it gave him and Sandy time to escape.

  Watching the video, Captain Samuels saw Sandy knock out the guard. The guard went down hard. He knew it wasn't possible to suit up and get out of the airlock as quickly as she did. He watched as the airlock opened and a man appeared without an EVA suit. "What the hell? What's that light?" he said aloud. A few moments later he watched as the guard got up and stumbled toward the airlock. Captain Samuels became angry when he saw the guard gunned down. He became furious when he saw the man throw what had to be a bomb on the floor. The two of them were gone seconds later. The external video outside the airlock showed the duo heading in the direction of the Constellation. Shortly afterward the bomb exploded and everything which hadn’t been bolted down blew out of multiple holes in his ship. The guard who had been shot was briefly stuck in one of the holes which had been blown into the hull. After a few seconds he was sucked into empty space with the rest of the debris. “If he wasn’t already dead from the gunshots, he is now. What a terrible way to go. The Captain of the Constellation has a lot of balls. We were lucky the bulkheads saved our asses. We need to constantly monitor the Constellation in case they try that trick again.” Captain Samuels said.

  Patrick was ecstatic. He had single handedly rescued Sandy from a certain death. As the two of them arrived aboard the Constellation he gave her a hug. "They killed my crew and my family. They’re all dead." she said as she began crying again. "I'm truly sorry Sandy. Let's go find the Captain, maybe you can help pay them back. I’m sure he would like to talk to you." he said as he led her to the command center.