A brush landed in her hand. Lisi wrinkled her nose. “You might as well look your best for a first meeting.”
“I’ll be on board a spaceship traveling more than a quarter the speed of light. My hair won’t matter.”
“What if they teleport you onto their ship?”
“What!” She turned to stare at her daughter. “What makes you say that?”
Lisi shrugged. “Just saying. We don’t know what they’re capable of. Might as well look your best.”
“Oh for Pete’s sake!” Vigorously brushing her hair, she asked, “Are we sure they’re intelligent?”
“Mom, they’re flying spaceships.”
A deep sigh escaped her. She straightened her shoulders, handed back the brush, and smoothed down her outfit. “Then, let’s go meet and greet.”
***
Upon entering the bridge, she noticed her crew huddled around a monitor where Tate was giving instructions. “So what’s the suggested protocol, Tate? Show me the setup.”
Tapping his console, her comm officer said, “Everyone, watch your monitor.”
Five dots appeared before a field of stars.
Elise inclined her head. “Are we sure …”
“Captain, asteroids don’t change direction that quickly, emit heat or have a smooth metal composite as their outer surface or disable a probe… for starters.” He raised an eyebrow at her.
“Ah, okay.”
Smiling, he concluded, “So, we’re saying intelligent aliens inside.”
“Great. Go on.”
“Four of us move forward. The New World, The Explorer, The Valiant and The New Found Hope.” Four points of light appeared facing the dots that represented the aliens.
Tango leaned forward. “All the armed ships in front?”
“Yes. The rest of the fleet stays back until we ascertain the situation.” Thirty points of light popped up on the screen far behind the four forward ones.
“Now,” Tate rubbed his hands together, “we slow our approach and signal them.”
Elise raised her head and smiled knowingly. “What did Tate suggest?”
“Normal radio communication is out. Most likely the equipment is different and, of course, the language won’t be the same. Can’t use music like in that movie we watch on ship.”
“Sound doesn’t travel in a vacuum.”
“Right.”
At the helm, Tango spun around to stare at her. “But light does.”
Tate nodded. “Yes, we use light to signal. We can even arrange for different colors of light to broaden meaning—that is if they can visualize color.”
“Who signals?”
“Why Dad does, of course.” The clone smiled proudly. “All his life he has wanted to talk to aliens, and this is his chance. Tate promised me that I could, later on, if the opportunity arose.” He grinned widely, revealing his own excitement.
From engineering, Carter reported, “Drones are prepped and ready. Stars, I hope we never have to use them.”
Finally, over the ship’s comm, she announced, “All personnel prepare for possible hard maneuvers. We are at meet and greet, and we don’t know how these aliens are going to react. It may go smoothly or it may not. This is a historic moment for humanity, but we must be prepared for any eventuality. So, secure yourself and all possessions for possible strong G-force changes in any direction. I will keep you updated as best I can. Captain Fujeint out.”
Elise straightened her top and fiddled with the headset. She swept fingers unconsciously through her hair and patted it in place. Tango sat helm, Jazz and Tate at comm, Jensen and Dane monitored navigation while she commanded the captain’s chair with Lisi in the co-captain’s seat to her right. Her bridge and her ship were as ready as they would ever be.
Bridge screens displayed a forward view as the five alien ships kept on an unwavering course toward them. Soon they would be within weapons’ range. There was no way that they were unaware of the oncoming fleet. The only question was: how would they respond?
In her headset, she heard Commander Reardon say, “All right, they’re coming in our weapons’ range. Move out our frontline. The rest of the fleet stays back. Frontline slow your rate and approach carefully.” His voice cracked. “We’re at first contact, people. This is a pivotal point in the history of humankind. So, let’s play friendly, and make it a success.”
Front jets spurted out hot exhaust to brake the forward ships.
The aliens’ reactions were immediate.
Lances of fire erupted from the front of their ships and shot toward the fleet, each missile revealing an ultra thin trail of light behind it. To Elise’s left, The New World became a ball of sparking light, its magnetic shield fried.
A second volley burst from the alien ships.
Elise grabbed the comm and ordered, “Deploy drones!”
The New Found Hope spit out drones that soared toward the advancing missiles. Her display showed the New World, at their center, being hit a second time and taking on extensive damage.
Off, left of New World, a flash of bright light indicated a hit to The Explorer.
Directly in front of her ship, drones diverted an incoming missile, detonating it too close for comfort. Blinding light lit the bridge. Tango’s fingers danced across his board, and the ship dove right to avoid another incoming missile. G-forces slammed her back and sideways in her chair. She blinked, feeling lightheaded with her eyes blinded by afterimages. All around her, the ship groaned in protest.
Drones released from The Valiant on her immediate left spit toward the advancing ships.
“Bring us back up,” she ordered Tango. “Aim and release projectiles!” she commanded engineering.
The New Found Hope lifted as a stream of projectiles erupted from her ports. Another flurry of drones spilled out of the airlock. One alien vessel exploded, while three undamaged ships swept past and headed directly for the fleet. A fifth damaged alien ship limped behind, trailing debris.
In her headset, she heard Tate screaming on the bridge of a badly damaged New World, “Get the Commander into a lifepod. All personnel, evacuate now!”
Around The New World and from The Explorer, lifepods shot out like dandelions exploding in spring. Her headset recorded chaos reigning on The New World’s bridge, which meant she now held fleet command.
Immediately, she broadcasted through the fleetwide comm, “This is Elise Fujeint, your acting Commander. Storage Locker, activate an immediate Jump! All ships prepare for Jump. We are in a full scale retreat. All ships jump at will.” Her mouth went dry and her hands shook as she ordered a full-on retreat through the wormhole.
The fleet scrambled for positions forward of the emerging gate.
Alien ships closed in for the kill.
“Come around. Come around,” she shouted at Tango.
She left The New World and The Explorer foundering in her wake. Life pods scattered in all directions, hazards in ships’ paths. Behind her, the damaged alien ship self-destructed, taking with it The Explorer and The New World and a large number of helpless pods. She gasped at the sight of so much destruction.
Elija’s young voice crackled in her headset, “Form up with me, and let’s get the bastards.”
“Go! Go! Go!” she commanded.
Tango yanked the ship around, sliding in next to The Valiant, and they headed after the aliens, pumping out kinetic rounds as fast as their ports could cycle.
Ahead, the Jump hole bloomed, a coruscating circle of violent energies. Frantically, the fleet formed a bunched up line, each ship crowding the entrance. Storage Locker jumped. Dangerously near, Pilgrim’s Pride plunged in. Frantically other ships followed, most too close for safety.
Nipping at the fleet’s heels, the three remaining hostiles fired at those rendered helpless by the clogged wormhole entrance. It was like shooting fish in a barrel. Toward the back of the disorganized line, three fleet ships exploded into fireballs, their antimatter containment fields compromised by alien fire. All a
round Elise, space filled with debris from exploding ships and desperate lifepods.
“Remain calm. Watch your spacing. Pick up any pods you can,” she yelled, going hoarse. She would lose ships and people from sheer stupidity and panic if they didn’t take care. Even as she tried to bring order out of chaos, more drones spit out of her airlock, attacked one of the alien ships, and disabled it. Momentum carried the damaged vessel into the wormhole, sweeping it forward, endangering everyone inside as it became caught up in the swirling energies.
Next to her, Elija let out a barrage of fire, hitting and destroying the two remaining alien crafts as they harried the back end of the fleet. Dangerously close to the wormhole’s entrance, they exploded.
She held her breath, hoping the gate didn’t collapse or mounting debris block the entrance. Either disaster would leave the two of them stranded on the wrong side.
“We have three closing pods, hailing the ship, Captain. What should we do?”
“Haul them in and any others close by. Then prepare for Jump.”
Circling as she waited for the opening to clear, she saw The Valiant collect several lifepods.
Finally, the last ship vanished into the maelstrom, enabling them to enter. “Go when able,” she ordered The Valiant. It sucked in the last of its local pods and disappeared into the crackling torrent.
At communications, Jazz was warning all on-board personnel to prepare for an immediate hard Jump.
“Shuttle Bay, what’s your status?”
“One more pod, Captain. Give us a minute.”
“That’s about all you have.”
Putting up her hand, Elise ordered, “Ready for Jump.”
At the helm, Tango responded, “We are go for Jump.”
“They’re in,” panted a voice from shuttle bay.
“Go!” she husked.
Violent energies whirled all around as antimatter ignited the fusion reactor, propelling them forward, and they leaped across the universe into the unknown.
Chapter 38
Aliens
They emerged on the other side of the wormhole and assessed damage. Ten lifepods, each from The Explorer and The New World, had made it safely on board. The good news was that Tate was alive in her shuttlebay—talking nonstop about the experience with an excited stutter. The bad news was that Captain Reardon and Charles Dance were dead. Their lifepods had been too close to the exploding alien craft to survive.
In the midst of sorrow for so many dead, Tate alive filled her with immense joy. However, Reardon’s death made her Commander of the Fleet, and her brief joy got smothered by the weight of responsibility. Immediately, she called for a census and a memorial service for those lost.
Surprised, they discovered a damaged alien craft, floating powerless among the fleet. Sucked through the wormhole, it had somehow survived. She ordered Trajan to put together a boarding team, wearing quarantine suits, and shuttle over to investigate.
She monitored his progress from the bridge.
“I’ve secured the vessel,” he reported back, “and it contains a live but badly wounded alien. I await your orders. All other lifeforms appear dead.”
“Secure him. I’m coming over.”
“Captain, it may not be safe. He’s alive and most likely dangerous.”
“Then make it safe.”
After a short interval, a reluctant Trajan signaled that his team had secured the vessel. She donned a quarantine suit and shuttled over. As she entered, she didn’t know what to expect.
Soon she was drenched with sweat due to the unusually high heat on the bridge. The cooling unit in her space suit labored to keep her temperature normal. Evidently, the aliens liked things hotter. The alien bridge held strange equipment and oddly shaped seats, but otherwise it followed a recognizable pattern.
Elise stared down at an alien being that glared back up at her. Observing, she noted a head that rested at the top of a body with centered nose and mouth. The right side mirrored the left, with two opposing limbs attached at the top half, a torso, and two lower limbs below. She envisioned a rough outline of what might be considered a human form that looked like it had been badly squashed or mangled.
But the creature wasn’t human, at least not what she thought of as human …and it lived.
Furious black eyes glared from a ruined face, limbs twisted grotesquely, and crooked digits flailed wildly at odd angles. Grey skin covered exposed hands and face. But because there were faint outlines of a human form, the distortions made it appear even more jarring. Its crew mates slumped on either side. One was headless, the other also lifeless, both soaked in a brown blood-like liquid. She wondered if they had died in combat or been purposely killed to avoid capture.
Elise surveyed with interest the odd panels of equipment, which served as the ship’s bridge. She wondered what technology she might uncover within its blinking banks.
The creature followed her gaze and surged forward with a growl as if protecting his property.
Guarding his captain, Trajan leaped between them and, with a shout, took aim at the alien.
Following Elise through the airlock, an excited Tate entered the hot bridge. Her friend, the original Tate, had survived to manage his life-long dream of talking to an alien. He put up both hands, palms out, and murmured soothing words as he eyed Elise. “Captain, please let me try to communicate with it.”
“Be careful.” She stepped aside and observed.
The distorted head of the alien tilted at an angle and studied the new arrival. A line wrinkled at the top of what they called its face. It bawled out a comment.
Tate flipped his palms upwards and said, “We want peace.”
A guttural growl emerged, followed by a distinctive snort.
The creature stared at the weapons pointed in its direction by Trajan’s team and paused. It gazed back at Tate. What passed as shoulders drooped. Garbled sounds muttered from the distorted mouth.
Tate eagerly faced her. “Let me find out what I can here. I can communicate with it, I’m sure. You’re our commander and have a responsibility to the fleet. The fleet’s in turmoil. You should go back and handle that crisis. I’ll report back to you whatever I discover.”
Elise acknowledged to herself that the fleet did need her attention, and she had seen what she had come to see–her first alien. “That thing’s dangerous and most likely desperate,” she warned, with a glance at the gruesome creature. “Be careful.”
“Trajan and his team will protect me.” Tate gestured at the boarding team with confidence.
She considered the situation. “Find out what you can, but treat it with care. I want it alive. I want to know about that world, and if that world we saw is where it lives—and what else might live there. Secure the ship, and at the end of this shift, bring it on board The New Found Hope. Make sure you keep it quarantined. We don’t know what diseases it might carry, what weapons it might have hidden, or what it is capable of doing.”
“Copy that, Captain.” Trajan nodded sharply.
She turned to leave. The alien barked a series of abrupt sounds. She could only guess if it was a polite farewell or a spate of curses. Signaling her team, she headed back to the shuttle and her ship.
***
On board The New Found Hope, she asked Jazz to engage fleet-wide communications. Wriggling to get comfortable, she clicked on the mic. “All fleet personnel form up near The New Found Hope and report in.”
She watched as slowly the remaining ships congregated nearby, and reports came in. She flicked a glance at Jensen. “Where are we?”
“Working on it,” Jensen mumbled.
Dane rubbed his head and then shook it. “We believe we’re still in the Milky Way Galaxy, but we’re not a hundred percent certain.”
“Well, let’s get a hundred percent certain.”
“Captain! Look!” With alarm, Tango pointed out the viewport.
On her screen, a fireball burst dangerously close by. The ship swayed unexpectedly, and the magnet
ic protection field around it crackled.
Tango grunted in surprise and grabbed the helm.
“What in the world?” She jerked forward.
Jazz turned a horrified face toward her. “The alien ship blew up and fatally damaged The Invictus.”
She stared at glowing debris where the two ships had once been. “No!” she exclaimed. Shock surged through her as she realized who had been on that alien ship and what she had lost.
“Oh no!” gasped Tango.
A fog of grief enveloped her. Emotion overwhelmed thought.
“Captain.”
All thought went blank.
“Captain.”
She had no idea of what to do next. She couldn’t move. Dimly in the background, Tate’s clone babbled, hiccupped, babbled, and sobbed.
Trajan. Tate. The alien…lost. All lost.
“Commander!”
Tango’s voice cut through her darkness, and she raised a ravaged face.
Commander.
She tried to speak but couldn’t form words.
Every light on Jazz’s comm board flashed while Jazz stood staring at her. “What do I say?”
Tango spun around. “Tell them to get clear of the debris field! It’s dangerous and spreading fast. Tell them instructions will arrive momentarily.”
She felt the ship accelerate and slam her back in her seat. A hand reached out to grab her arm. Lisi.
Staring at his monitor, Jensen said, “We’ve located a system close enough to reach in two jumps. I don’t recognize it, but it carries a good-sized sun and twelve orbiting planets. Do you want to head there?”
The idea of forward motion shook her out of her stupor. She needed a sign, a reason to head in a given direction. The fleet was lost, running out of fuel, and hope. Desperation and shock would soon permeate the remaining ships if she didn’t take control. Two Jumps, possibly three, were all they had left in the tank. Too many lost. Limited resources. She had to do something. She had to prove all those deaths hadn’t been in vain.
“Holy shit!” Tango’s voice shouted, joined by exclamations from Jensen and Dane. “Look at that!”
A World Too Far (Terran Trilogy Book 1) Page 23
