Kalrea connected into the Treitan computers and downloaded their contents while James listened, captivated by the conversation going on between Kalrea and them, even though he couldn’t understand a word they were saying. Kalrea’s voice had changed to Koptinop male.
I’ve just accessed their ship’s communications system…, Kalrea’s voice said, over the top of her other conversation. They’re very nervous. They’re trying to stall us until the main cruiser arrives.
What’s our status, Kalrea?
The Aurora systems reported back in his mind.
‘FRONT REACTOR ONLINE. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT CAPACITY.’
‘STARBOARD REACTOR ONLINE. ONE HUNDRED PERCENT CAPACITY.’
‘PORT REACTOR OFFLINE. EIGHTEEN PERCENT CAPACITY.’
‘ALL EVENT HORIZON DRIVES OFFLINE.’
They know this isn’t a Koptinop ship. Kalrea paused for a moment. They think we’re the Pulsora.
So much for your disguise, James thought.
The internal emitters aren’t the problem, Kalrea replied. The Koptinops are extinct.
What do you mean?
The Treitans have wiped them out, Kalrea said. They tracked every last one of them down.
I don’t know what to say, James thought. What would make them do such a thing?
‘INNER EVENT HORIZON DRIVES ONLINE.’
Right, Kalrea said confidently. It looks like the hull is going to get an early test.
What are you going to do?
What do you think? I can’t let them escape!
The inner drives of the Aurora started and the ship turned towards one of the Treitan ships.
Each Treitan ship fired a small energy missile.
‘INCOMING!’
James nervously followed one of the Treitan missiles howling through space. It stuck the Aurora’s hull, just before another, on the far side of the ship. There were two harsh thuds. The hull flexed inwards before returning to its original shape and rings of coloured light, like petals of a flower dispersed across its surface. That’s beautiful, James thought. Look at the colours.
Kalrea targeted both ships.
As the Aurora came to bear, the front multi-directional laser fired once. James saw a bright flash, and the scout ship was carved in two.
What… what happened?
Fragments showered the surrounding space.
It’s gone!
The other scout fired two mechanical missiles and turned away from the Aurora. It accelerated hard.
‘JAMMING!’
The rear multi-directional laser fired; there was another burst of white light and the second scout ship was destroyed.
That wasn’t so hard, Kalrea said, showing no feeling for what she had just done.
It may not have been for you. I’m not sure about what you just did. Was it necessary?
We’d better not hang around. That cruiser will be here any minute, Kalrea said.
Wait! We’re not leaving until we sort this out, James said, a little irritated.
All right James, but they won’t think twice about destroying us. Remember what I just said. The Treitans killed every Koptinop. They are extinct, Kalrea said.
It’s not right to kill anyone or anything!
No, it’s not, Kalrea replied. But with the Treitans it’s kill or be killed. There is no other option. If you run they’ll track you down, then you have no choice.
I’m not sure I can do this. James felt trapped and pressured by Kalrea.
When you are put in a position where there is no option, then you will. We must move, Kalrea said, with urgency in her voice. They have to be very close now.
I know and you’re probably right—
I am right, James. Kalrea’s voice was very assertive. I’ve read all the data files from the scout ship, James. There’s nothing left on Qintaino.
James was stunned. There must be!
I wish I had more information, Kalrea said. The data files mention that Qintaino is no longer a threat; it sustains no life. The Treitans have control of the whole region. Look, we must go. We don’t have much time! I’ll tell you more once we are out of here.
All right, Kalrea.
Instantly, the Aurora accelerated.
Time to light speed? James asked.
Twelve seconds to jump, Kalrea replied.
Suddenly, just off the port side of the ship, James glimpsed a flash of light, signalling a Treitan cruiser had dropped from light speed. It turned towards the Aurora and fired a spread of plasma missiles.
‘THREE INCOMING!’
We’re entering light speed. James felt the ship shudder violently. One of those energy missiles just hit us, Kalrea! Is there any damage?
Not a scratch, Kalrea answered back smugly. It’s a pity Ka Glia Plyane isn’t here to see it.
Because of the Plyane hull, the Aurora no longer needed to twist and turn to avoid any space debris and was now able to hurtle smoothly through space at an incredible speed. The view of passing stars blurred together, creating an almost white tunnel around the ship.
Are they following? James asked mentally.
No, they lost us when we entered light speed.
James exited the seatra, sighed and slumped in one of the console seats.
‘I feel totally drained of energy,’ he said.
‘You did a lot of work in there,’ Kalrea said over the ship’s address system. ‘Your mind is still very young. Too young, so you’ll have to be careful for a few more years, yet.’
‘Kalrea, I want to know why we had to kill those Treitans,’ he asked. ‘What have you found out from the computers onboard those scout ships? What do you know of Qintaino?’
Kalrea replied, ‘It only took them the equivalent of six Earth days to flatten Qintaino. All the cities were destroyed. They killed everyone there.’
‘But there must have been survivors?’
‘James, they killed everyone,’ Kalrea repeated, deliberately slowly.
James was surprised.
‘They took no prisoners. Why?’
‘As I said, James, the Treitans are evil and must be stopped. They would not think twice about killing you. They just want to destroy every other form of life.’
‘What about Earth. Are they likely to head for Earth too?’
‘In time, every planet in this galaxy will be theirs. So yes, I believe they will.’
James sat in stunned silence. He felt confused and saddened.
How could I question Kalrea killing those Treitans when they had killed millions on Qintaino, he thought.
Kalrea continued,
‘The attack on Qintaino wasn’t easy though. The Treitans committed twenty carriers and over eighty heavy cruisers to the attack. They lost seventy-three ships. I’m sorry to say, every ship defending Qintaino was destroyed.’
‘How many?’
‘Fifty-two. Those that made it away from Qintaino fled to Tetrol, but two sykals later they were attacked again and Tetrol felt in the hands of the Treitans too.’
‘I can’t believe everything’s gone.’
‘Not everything. They’re still trying to hunt down over forty of our ships and nine Telecan ships. Our people are scattered throughout this sector of the galaxy.’
‘Have we fought back?’
‘Those remaining ships are still attacking the Treitans. We have to join them.’
James was feeling completely out of his depth.
‘I know we’re at war and we have to fight them, but I’ve never had to kill before. This isn’t easy for me, Kalrea.’
‘I am here to help you, James.’
‘I know, but you just seem to kill without any feelings.’
James felt disappointed with her.
‘James, I’m sorry if it appeared that way. I can assure you I didn’t like what I had to do, but there are times when we have to make hard choices. They would have waited for that cruiser to arrive and then tried to destroy us.’
Kalrea paused for a moment.
&
nbsp; ‘I just chose to hide my feelings from you. I now know I was wrong to do that, because you are now thinking I’m very cold and callous.’
‘I’m not sure what I think.’
‘James, I feel I’ve let you down. I’m sorry.’
‘What else do we know, Kalrea? Do they mention your sister ship, the Pulsora?’ James asked.
‘Yes, but they have reported it missing, like the Aurora. It’s not part of the Qintaino fleet. There’s a reference to the Aurora and Pulsora leaving from a military base called Rinaf on Qintaino when the war began, and Treitan command ordering their perimeter cruisers to attack them.’
‘What’s a perimeter cruiser?’ James asked.
‘They’re heavy cruisers. They wait on the rim of the planetary system, while the main force is attacking. They destroy any weakened ships that survive the main assault,’ Kalrea informed. ‘I managed to avoid detection with help from the Brenostar, but the Pulsora was intercepted.’
‘But the Pulsora must have made it. Otherwise they wouldn’t have mistaken us for it,’ James replied, sounding confused.
‘It hasn’t been seen since it was attacked by two of the perimeter cruisers,’ Kalrea said.
‘Do you know what happened to it?’
‘They chased the Pulsora for five light years, but lost it in a system called Tylom. They searched the area but couldn’t find it.’
‘So it could still be safe, like the Aurora,’ James commented.
‘I don’t want to be negative, but I think you should first view this recording from the scout ship data logs. It was made by one of the cruisers that tried to destroy the Pulsora,’ Kalrea said.
The monitor brightened. There was snow for a moment, then it cleared.
The view on the monitor was from the front of the Treitan cruiser. The Pulsora was twisting and turning about half a kilometre ahead. In the far distance there was a very thin band of grey splitting the screen in two. Data bars at the base of the picture indicated that they were not travelling at light speed.
The camera zoomed in on the Pulsora for a moment. It was scarred with laser burns. Some had penetrated the hull. Suddenly, there was a flash of orange light and the camera zoomed out. Two plasma missiles had hit the Pulsora. There was a massive explosion from the port and rear of the ship. Fragments showered the camera.
When the picture cleared once more, a large section of the Pulsora was missing. The port engineering section was gone, and the contents of the cargo bay were slowly being blown out into space. Out of the corner of the picture there was a blue flash from a jettisoned reactor. The port event horizon drives gave out a plume of orange plasma just before they stopped.
The grey band now filled the whole screen, and James realized that it was an asteroid field, where the Pulsora was heading for cover. The cruiser was far too large to follow.
The Treitan cruiser slowed and in desperation fired a final volley of missiles at the Pulsora, which was now disappearing behind the wall of asteroids. Some fighters from the cruiser continued the pursuit.
The recording stopped.
‘The Pulsora made it through the asteroid field and evaded the fighters,’ Kalrea said. ‘They couldn’t keep up with it, but with that kind of damage it couldn’t have gone far.’
James felt saddened by the news.
‘Did the data say why they attacked Qintaino?’
‘I’m afraid it doesn’t.’
‘We’ve got to find out. We must try to find some of our ships that survived, Kalrea. Are any other planets mentioned?’
‘No, only Qintaino and Telecan.’
‘Then that’s where we’ll start. Let’s head for Qintaino first,’ James instructed Kalrea.
The Aurora slowed slightly, rotated and banked onto a new heading.
‘Kalrea! How long will it take before we reach Qintaino?’
‘At our current speed of Q2.5, 36 hours. This is the first time this ship has been above Q2 and I need to balance the event horizon drives. I’ve calculated our maximum speed will then be Q3.4; that’s faster than any other Qintaino ship.’
James sat staring ahead at the monitor for a moment.
‘Is there anything wrong?’ Kalrea asked concerned. ‘Are you still disappointed with me?’
‘No. No,’ James repeated. ‘I was thinking back to Normia.’
‘You did fine—’
‘Thank you, but that’s not what’s on my mind. When we were travelling through Normia, something strange happened. Normia seemed to disappear. Did you read anything on the scanners?’
‘I was out of action for some time. Tell me what you saw?’ Kalrea asked inquisitively.
‘I’m not sure what I saw. Normia disappeared for a moment. There was an erm… an orangey space. No, more of an orange mist, moving around the ship. It was probably me seeing things. After all, I was trying very hard to control the ship at the time.’
‘Amazing! Not many people have seen what you described. You see, Ka Glia Plyane made an astounding discovery whilst testing at Normia. To be able to refract vast amounts of energy, the Plyane hull exhibits signs of resonance at a molecular level, causing the hull’s properties to phase out in and out of this space. Some of the Plyane test ships resonated so much that they actually disappeared.’
‘What happened to them?’ James asked in fascination.
‘To this day, no one really knows what happened. Ka Glia Plyane did try to find out. He had two missiles constructed with Plyane hulls and a single event horizon drive. Both had several scanners onboard to transmit data back and tracking equipment to guide them home. They disappeared within Normia the instant the resonance of the hull reached what the scientists called “critical phase”. At that point the missile’s temperature was so high that they were no longer in harmony with the universe and entered an inner-space. The scientists kept recording data transmitted from the missiles, but the communication was interrupted three microseconds after their disappearance. No debris was found at Normia, and the data transmitted back was not enough to explain what happened. Pictures showed an orange and yellow swirling space.’
‘That must be what I saw!’
‘When we travelled through Normia we must have got closer to the core than I planned. The hull would have heated to such a degree that the Aurora almost left this space. However, that’s not the end of the story; two sykals later one of the missiles started to send a transmission again.’
‘So it survived?’
‘Not exactly. Parts were found but on the other side of the galaxy. Somehow, it travelled there through inner space. There was also something unusual in the telemetry data recovered. The internal chronometer was only twenty-three minutes on from when it entered at Normia.
‘But you said it was found two sykals later…?’
‘Ka Glia Plyane believed that they had entered another dimension and hypothesised that it had travelled forward in time, by means of a kind of hyperspace. Some scientists believed that there was a more sinister explanation: something evil. They began to speak about this hyperspace as if it was hell and should never be visited again. Some others instead believed the inner space was the creation of a superior being.’
‘God…?’
‘There was no evidence to support any of these radical theories. There was only one thing about the telemetry data on which all the scientists were in agreement.’
‘What was that?’
‘All variables measuring light and energy in the inner space were following very regular patterns. This convinced the scientists that the inner space had been artificially created. A group of them, including Ka Glia Plyane, began to call it the Paradoxica.’
‘Kalrea, you said Ka Glia Plyane believed that missile travelled forward in time. We just happen to have a diary that’s travelled backwards in time.’
‘Yes, strange coincidence that.’
‘Could there be a link?’
‘There’s nothing to support that at present. Maybe the diary will tell us once I
have some data from it.’
‘Well, the sooner you break the encryption the better,’ James said.
*****
James still felt uneasy with Kalrea and realised he needed to get to know her better, so he spent as much time as he could talking with her while the Aurora sped towards the Ulio system.
Chapter Nine
James, wake up! Kalrea said loudly, in his head.
Wa… What… What’s happening? James thought drowsily.
He felt disorientated for a moment and wanted to open his eyes, but was unable. He suddenly remembered he had been asleep inside the seatra.
It’s gone, Kalrea said.
James looked quickly around outside the ship with his mind. Kalrea, you’re not making sense. What’s gone? James thought.
There was a very faint signal being transmitted from the Pulsora.
Are you sure? Sorry, don’t answer that! Of course you’re sure.
I’ve located it again.
Kalrea, slow down or we’ll be light years away from it in minutes. Where’s it coming from?
The Aurora slowed.
The source of the signal is now only 0.3 light years from our current position, somewhere in the Tylom system.
Show me.
Kalrea projected a star chart into his mind.
Do you want me to change course? Kalrea sounded eager.
How far are we from Qintaino?
3.7 hours.
Well, I suppose we can take a slight detour. Another few hours won’t make much difference. All right then! Head for the Tylom system!
The Aurora banked to the right.
Scanning the area for any ships, Kalrea said.
The Aurora vibrated when the drives reversed, decelerating the ship rapidly.
The scanners are clear. No ships detected, Kalrea reported.
Any sign of the Pulsora?
The signal is getting stronger, but the scanners haven’t located it. I’m triangulating its position.
The Aurora was now at the heart of the Tylom system and quite close to the signal source.
James, I’ve found it, Kalrea sounded excited. The Pulsora is 4.6 million kilometres away, directly ahead.
The Aurora coasted towards the rim of the system.
The Aurora (Aurora Saga, Book 1) Page 9
