by Tim Marquitz
“Someone’s towing it,” Randall said.
“They are indeed.” Albion’s thoughts whirled, wondering what he might be walking his crew into before issuing the order to follow. “Stations, everyone.”
“You sure about this?” Mara asked.
“As sure as I can be,” he answered, then pointed to an open console. “Settle in, and let’s see who’s scavenged our scavenger.” He waited until Mara found her seat, before saying anything more. “Move us to phase, and bring us in behind them, Choi. I don’t want any surprises when we get there.”
The crew acknowledged his orders, and the Excalibur phased and slipped into hyperspace. The dual pressures set Albion’s teeth to aching, but he wasn’t taking any chances. Mara’s story that the Xebedons had abducted her crew was frightening. Vance had been right about one thing, even if he was still an ass, but the aliens had always killed their enemies without remorse. If they’d begun kidnapping humans, there had to be some horrific purpose in mind, and Albion sure as hell didn’t want to think about that.
It did, however, leave some small window of hope that the Ithaca’s crew was still alive, being held hostage somewhere, though he admitted it was unlikely they would stumble across that location. Still, hope was hope.
“Closing,” Choi called out, Albion tightening his grip on his armrests. “Target acquired.”
A moment after the words tumbled from his mouth, the Excalibur slowed and entered core space. And, just as Albion had ordered, Choi had brought them in above and behind the scavenger ship. It wasn’t alone.
Tow beams gleamed between the wrecked scavenger and a type of ship the captain had never seen before.
“What the hell is that?” Lyana asked for all of them.
“System shows no recognition.” Choi leaned toward the view screen, eyes narrowed as if to see the ship in better detail than the scanners. “That’s just weird looking.”
“It’s a freighter of some kind,” Mara said. “You can tell by its bulbous midsection. No logical reason for that other than transport.”
Albion had to agree with her, in theory, but Choi’s exclamation was closer to what he was thinking.
The craft was half the length of the Excalibur, but easily twice its width, its midsection oval in shape, it reminded Albion of a beetle. Two pincer-like protrusions jutted from its fore, though he couldn’t tell if they were control aspects or weapons he simply didn’t recognize.
“Whatever it is, it’s muting our scans,” Randall said.
“What do you mean?”
“Nothing’s getting past the hull, sir. I can’t tell you if the ship is automated or there’s a crew aboard her, or even what kind of alloy its hull is made of. The scans return as void.”
“Leave it, Marek.” Mara spun in her seat, shaking her head. “This is too strange to confront. With no penetration by the sensors, there’s no telling what we’re walking into. This could be a battleship for all we know.”
“Not likely,” he told her. “No battleship would waste its time towing a junker. Besides, if it were a battleship of some kind, there would be—”
A warning ping sounded, the alarm claxon following.
Albion growled. “I need to learn to keep my mouth shut,” he said. “What are we looking at?”
Randall stared at his console, eyes wide, hand trembling, giving Albion a clue before the ensign even found his voice.
“A Xebedon destroyer… No, two of them now,” he called out. “Still in phase. They’re targeting us, sir.”
The last bit threw Albion for a loop. “Wait! You just said they’re in phase.”
“Drop out and raise shields,” Lyana called out in his stead.
The crew followed her directive without question, and Albion just stared as the two Xebedonian ships wavered on their alien scanners, invisible in core space. However, just as Randall had claimed, bolts of energy ripped from out of nowhere, crashing into their shields.
The Excalibur shuddered, lights dimming on the bridge. “Evasive maneuvers,” Albion shouted.
“Damage report!” Lyana’s fingers flew across her console as she assisted the crew.
“None,” Randall replied. “Shields bore the brunt, but we got lucky. Choi rolled with the blow.”
“We need to get more than lucky.” Albion glared out at the empty space looming before the view screen. He’d never pitted the Excalibur against another Xebedonian ship before so he didn’t know what to expect. It was clear, however, they hit them in phase space. But, if they could— “Swing about and turn the cannons on them.”
Choi wasted no time complying. The Excalibur shot forward and dipped beneath the shadowy blips that were the alien ships, sitting side by side without fear. The bridge shook with cannon fire and the view screen filled with blue. An instant later, the bolts collided with the invisible ship, sparks erupting. And then the ship slipped into core space, its starboard side scorched near the rear of the craft.
Albion marveled at seeing it. Though he recognized it as a Xebedonian destroyer, its design was far different than the Excalibur’s. It was sleeker and, clearly, designed to be faster than the model Albion captained.
As he admired the craft, the other ship returned fire, and Choi turned the Excalibur so the damaged alien craft hung between them, providing short term cover.
“Target the engines and fire again.”
Once more the Xebedonian ship was strafed with cannon fire. The ship trembled visibly and immediately began to list.
“Direct hit.” Lyana pumped her fist in the air. “Scanners show she’s dead in the water, Captain.”
“Second ship coming around,” Randall yelled. “We’re locked—”
Pulses of energy crashed into the rear of the Excalibur. The lights flickered and nearly died, but came back gleaming a moment later. It was clear the attack had struck full on, much of it bypassing the shields.
“Minor damage to the engine, Captain,” Choi said, “but we can’t take another hit like that. Shield generators are at 85% and fluctuating.”
Randall fired all guns as the alien ship pulled about behind them, but head on, where the shields were the strongest, the attack did little.
“Give us some space, Choi,” Albion ordered, bringing up the shipwide comms.
Choi veered off, slicing through the wake of the scuttled alien ship to put something between the Excalibur and the still functional alien craft. “Their pilot’s good. He’s on our tail.”
“Good, that’s what I want,” Albion answered.
“Are you nuts?” Lyana asked, then shook her head. “Belay that. I already know the answer.”
Albion grinned. “Crate?”
“Sir?” the engineer’s voice rang across the comms.
“I need fireworks, man, and I need them now.”
Mara glanced over her shoulder at him, and he just winked.
“On it,” Crate answered, the line going dead.
The Excalibur danced once more, catching cannon fire across the shields as the invisible ship tailed them.
“Whatever you’re planning, Captain, it needs to be soon,” Choi said. “I can track the ship by sensors but each time he hits us, the power surges and I lose a split-second in the response identifying his position. Won’t be long until he’s gained enough buffer to avoid everything we throw at him.”
Albion nodded. “You hear that, Crate?”
“Almost done, Captain.”
“Full drop, Choi,” Albion ordered. “Make it look like we’re trying to lose them—”
“We’re not, sir?”
Albion ignored the interruption and went on. “…and then level off with them behind us.”
“So, they’re right on our ass?” Lyana asked, eyes wide.
“Best place for them.” Captain Albion grinned as Choi did as he was asked, the bleep of the Xebedonian ship following on the sensors and moving into position behind the Excalibur. “Now, Crate.”
The engineer didn’t bother to respond, but A
lbion saw a warning run across his screen, the rear trash port popping open and sealing right after.
Randall stared at the readout. “Trash, sir?”
“It was getting a little ripe down below,” Albion said with a grin. “Full shields to the rear.”
“You dumped a mine?” Lyana asked, zeroing in on the two-foot ball that hurtled toward the alien ship. “What the hell is that going to—?”
“Phase it,” Albion called out, watching as the mine disappeared from the view screen as Crate set it into phase space.
“Oh…” Lyana leaned back in her seat as the alien ship ignored the tiny mine.
Albion grinned. He knew they could see it, but as small as the device was, their ship in phase, he knew they’d dismissed it. How much of a threat could it be?
“Weapons locked, sir.” Randall hunkered low in his chair, eyes squinted, ready to get blasted when the mine vanished from the sensors.
“Direct hit,” Crate called out through the comms.
Then the space where the alien ship wavered, the craft dropping from phase space. Where its bridge should be, there was a gaping black hole. Debris and the shattered remnants of Xebedonian bodies spilled from it, floating away as the ship drifted forward with the dregs of its momentum.
Albion chuckled at seeing it. “Excellent job, Crate.”
Lyana spun around in her chair and stared at the captain, eyes demanding answers. He was happy to oblige.
“They could hit us in phase space, and we could do the same with Xebedonian weapons like the cannons. The mine, however, is Covenant tech. As far as they knew, it wasn’t a threat as long as they were phased.”
“Except it phased too, and slipped inside their ship seeing how they had no shields up,” Randall finished. “That’s brilliant, Captain.”
Albion shrugged. “Only because it worked. Wasn’t entirely sure it would.”
“It also helped that I modified the munitions to mimic Xebedonian explosives.”
“It did indeed, Crate. I’d offer you a promotion but I couldn’t afford to pay for it.”
Crate chuckled and the comms went silent.
“Bring us behind and under the other ship,” Albion ordered, pointing at the first ship they’d wounded, and Choi complied, uncertainty etched across his features. The captain ignored him. “Fire on that roundish casing, Ensign Harkon, but keep the beams narrow. I want that thing gone but don’t want you punching a hole all the way through, understand?
“Yes, sir.” He went about doing as he was told as soon as Choi maneuvered them into position. A few short moments later, several shots fired, the lower portion of the Xebedonian ship had broken loose of the rest and floated into space.
“Excellent work, Ensign. Now, let’s go find out what the hell these bugs are doing in our space. Prepare for incursion.”
Eight
Sector 027, Allied Space
After Randall sheared off the rear quarter of the Xebedonian craft, the section that housed the battle bots, the crew were armed and armored and making their way through the causeway into the alien ship, Ares leading the way.
“You sure this is a good idea?” Lyana asked.
“As good as any of my other ideas.”
“That’s kind of my point, sir.”
He chuckled, unable to argue. Still, since they’d lost the tow craft while battling the destroyers, Albion felt it was in their best interest to get as much out of their situation as possible. While the Excalibur would have recorded the confrontation between the alien ships and Albion’s crew, enough proof to shove in Covenant Command’s face, Albion felt he needed more. Vance and the chancellor had stonewalled both him and Mara. Now, he could understand Vance wanting nothing to do with him, but Mara had a stellar record, and her dismissal from the ranks was due entirely to being under Albion’s command and doing what he’d ordered. Vance clearly didn’t see it that way, but the chancellor should have.
Because she didn’t, Albion needed to hit Command over the head with proof. If that meant dragging in Xebedonians, alive or dead, and dumping them on the chancellor’s desk to get her attention, that’s what he would do.
Ares bored through the hull of the Xebedonian ship and dropped them into a corridor near the bridge. As soon as Albion entered the ship, he realized just how different it was from the Excalibur.
Unlike the roundish, smooth halls of the older craft, the enemy ship had a kind of metallic spackling on the walls, the design appearing random as he ran his eyes across it. He touched it with a tentative hand, running his fingers across the wall as they followed behind Ares. He glanced at Crate, who walked at his back. The engineer just shrugged.
“Traction, maybe.”
Albion shuddered as he imagined the Xebedons coming toward them, skittering across the walls and roof, coming at them from all angles. He nudged Randall. “Anything?”
The ensign shook his head. “Scans are clear all the way to the bridge, Captain. They know we’re coming, and they’re waiting for us.”
“At least they won’t have any bots.”
“That doesn’t make them much less dangerous,” Lyana muttered.
“Stow it, Commander,” Albion told her. “We know what we’re getting into.”
She nodded. “Stowed, Captain. Stowed right up…” She grinned as her voice trailed away.
“Bridge ahead,” Ares intoned, the weight of his voice silencing them. They knew exactly what they were getting into, and it wasn’t pretty.
Inside the bridge were six of the aliens, each vicious and deadly in its own right. While Albion had never pitted the Excalibur against another Xebedonian ship before, he’d more experience than he cared to remember going toe to toe with the insectile aliens, and he had the scars to prove it.
Clustered a short distance behind Ares, the narrowing of the corridor was designed to bottleneck invaders who dared the bridge, just as Albion and his crew intended. Albion knew the aliens would be hunkered down inside, waiting to decimate his numbers as soon as the door was breached, but the Xebedons had never had one of their own battle bots turned against them. They were in for one hell of a surprise.
“Do it,” the captain whispered, assured that Ares would hear him and comply. The bot did exactly that.
He triggered the door mechanism, bridge sliding open, and darted inside, weapons flailing. Pulse blasts met him the moment he started in, streaks of blue energy crashing into his armored carapace.
Unlike the last ship they raided, however, Albion didn’t charge in on the bot’s heels. Scavengers were one thing, diving headlong into a firefight with aliens was something entirely else.
He kept a hand raised in the air to keep his crew in place, not that they needed a reason to wait. He peered through the doorway, smoke and weapons fire obscuring his view and causing his eyes to water. Patience wasn’t a strong suit of his, but he knew better than to rush this. He’d made preparations for the fight, and he had to wait it out until the right circumstances fell into place.
Then they did.
As he’d been ordered to do, Ares stormed the bridge and draw the alien’s fire, but there was more to the command than that. He’d swept through the room, working his way behind the alien crew and pushing them back through the open bridge doors.
The plan had worked perfectly.
Two of the Xebedons came out ready, facing the crew, but they were crowded together in the doorway, the same physics designed to thwart boarders working against them. Still, the captain shuddered at seeing them so close.
Built much like Ares, the Xebedons skittered out low to the floor. They carried modified blasters in their forelimbs, which resembled plas-swords, but with wider barrels. Only Albion’s familiarity with the aliens allowed him to pick out the weapons. The pair of multi-jointed limbs behind those carried the same kind of jagged, sawblades Ares used, and they used the rest of their limbs to run.
Unlike Ares, however, tiny, bulbous heads jutted from the armored shells of their bodies. It, too, was
covered in a hardened carapace that surrounded the entirety of its face, with strips of armor stretched across the rest in wide stripes. Four dots or mercurial silver gleamed from between the armored strips, and pincered maws gnashed as they spied the humans.
Albion and his crew let loose a barrage of pulse blasts before the aliens could do the same. They hissed and chittered as burst tore through their carapaces and shredded their soft innards. Limbs flailed as they crumpled, greenish-yellow ooze spilling from their wounds, steaming in the cold confines of the ship. Albion felt sick to his stomach and, once more, he was grateful he couldn’t smell anything through his helmet.
“Advance,” he said, hoping his voice carried none of his disgust. He didn’t need the crew thinking he was ready to vomit inside his suit.
As always, he went first, racing toward the turned backs of the last two remaining aliens standing between them and the bridge. His crew spread out behind him as wide as possible, but Albion put this on himself. At the doorway, not more than a foot from the backs of the aliens, he opened fire. Ooze splattered him immediately after, the two aliens toppling under the hail of close range fire. They crumpled in on themselves, but Albion continued the barrage until they were nothing more than smoking puddles spreading across the metallic floor.
He glanced inside the bridge, unsure of what he’d find. He was glad to see Ares upright and whole near the center console. He was hunched over, pinning a squirming Xebedon to the floor while the body of another lay nearby, ripped into several, gore-covered pieces.
Albion smiled and entered the bridge, looking away from the wreckage of the aliens and focusing on the one Ares had captured alive, just as he’d been ordered to.
“Excellent work, Ares.”
The robot said nothing, but Albion hadn’t expected it to. While Crate had built a personality into it, that personality was largely deadpan, responding when necessary and not too many times outside of that.
“Get to work, Crate, Randall,” Albion told them. “I want every log and system file in this heap uploaded to the Excalibur ASAP.”
The two men went to the consoles and started in while Albion came over to stand before the captured alien.
