The Definitive SpaceFed Trilogy (SpaceFed StarShips Trilogy).: A thrilling, action-packed Sci-fi space adventure. (SpaceFed StarShips Series Book 8)

by Gerry A. Saunders

  We will be holding a mission familiarisation day tomorrow which will include a briefing on new weapons and equipment. You will then join your ships the day after.”

  Verdick paused, looking at everyone, then added. “Now, those of you who have been on recent missions may think you don't need to attend. But everyone must have a good understanding of this particular mission. Therefore, attendance is mandatory,” he finished.

  “Oh, and for those of you who were asked to make a recording, please ensure that you put your recorder in the compartment next to the exit on your way out,” he added.

  “Pilot, release the seat belts,” he ordered then beckoned them all. “Come, follow me, please. I will take you to your assigned quarters now.”

  Feeling slightly subdued, they all followed him. With Jenny quickly dumping her recorder in the slot as she went, feeling relieved to get rid of the stupid recorder.

  As they reached their allotted cabins, crew members were dropping out of the group, one by one.

  Frank and Susanna unpacked their luggage into a tiny closet. “Well, this really is basic, bed, chair shower room, and this small wardrobe,” Susanna said, with Frank nodding his agreement. Then, suddenly, part of the room’s wall transformed into a screen and Professor Verdick’s face beamed out at them.

  “Captain Richardson, please come to room seventeen, in ten minutes. Do not be late,” he ordered.

  “No rest for the wicked,” Susanna muttered.

  Ten minutes later, as Frank entered the conference room along with his captains he saw an officer he didn’t know, coming towards him.

  “Good afternoon, sir. I’m Captain Serrell of the Argonaut,” he said, introducing himself.

  “Glad to meet you,” Frank acknowledged, shaking his hand, just in time, as a large wall screen lit up.

  “Good afternoon everyone, an anonymous man’s voice, announced, with the voice appearing to come from the direction of the screen.

  “The subject of my lecture is Basic Atomic Structure. I realise that all of you know about atomic structure, but please bear with me,” he said as a moving image of an atom appeared on the screen.

  “The moving picture shows the makeup of the atom’s core, which is made up of positively charged protons, and neutrally charged neutrons. With negatively charged electrons orbiting around this nucleus.”

  The anonymous voice then continued. “There are basically three primary bonds that hold atoms together. They are chemical, covalent and ionic bonds.

  All objects are made from combinations of atoms. This is very complex and I won’t go into it in detail. But, metals are made from metallic, or ionic bonding. Whereas, a chemical bond forces the atoms and ions together to produce other materials.

  So, now you can probably see where this is leading us, to molecular co-adhesion. Let me give you an example; if the molecular bonding of the human body or even a spaceship, is disrupted, then its molecules will naturally drift apart and scatter into nothingness.”

  The relevance of this statement was entirely clear to Frank, and to the captains who had been on the last voyage to Delta Pavonis with him and had seen the dramatic results of molecular disruption.

  The lecture went on for another hour or so, by which time, most of them were glad to get back to their cabins and freshen up for the evening meal.

  The following day was to be a mission familiarisation day. Professor Verdick hadn't said familiarisation with what, but everyone was keen to get involved.

  At 10 o’clock the next morning, Andromeda’s crew were directed to and assembled in a demonstration ‘chamber,’ where Verdick was waiting.

  The chamber was about 30 metres in diameter and had a curved rail just inside the entrance that was designed to protect the participants. The rail was 10m long and spaced away from the wall.

  In the centre of the chamber was a big lump of steel, which was mounted 2 metres off the ground. Above it, a black sphere was attached to a one-metre rod, suspended from the ceiling.

  Professor Verdick began by explaining what was going to happen, then warned them not to go beyond the security railing, for their own safety.

  “We will be demonstrating this effect to personnel from the other shuttles every hour so it won’t take long,” he added.

  “The object in the middle represents a ship. Or it could equally as well be a human being,” he said. Pausing as everyone murmured.

  “As already explained to your captains, molecular adhesion holds all things together. That adhesion exists in many forms, but all forms have the same effect.”

  He stopped again, then checking that everyone was behind the rail, ordered. “Activate, now.”

  Nothing happened for three seconds.

  Then a bluish beam, emanating from the black sphere, bathed the metal target. Within two seconds, the target had crumbled into dust, which gently floated to the floor.

  “This lump of steel could have been any one of your ships with all of you included,” he said. Everyone gasped realising the implications of what had happened.

  “All right,” Frank said. “We all got the point, but what about counteracting it?”

  “Well, that’s the problem. We can't, as yet; that's why your fleet will be accompanied by your new ship, the Argonaut.

  The Argonaut, being primarily a science vessel, will work on solutions to the problem while you’re doing what you do.”

  “Great. Oh, sorry to confront you mister blue-globe, go ahead and destroy us now, we can’t stop you,” Mark exclaimed.

  A murmur of discontent spread throughout the group.

  “I know, it’s not a perfect situation,” Verdick said. “But we can create the effect now. So, I'm sure we’ll be able to counteract it soon.”

  “Yeah,” a few whispered unbelievingly.

  “Don't forget, we have a two-pronged attack aimed at solving the problem. With the Argonaut in space and our scientists, both here and on Mars all working to find a solution.”

  He waited for another murmur to die down, then continued.

  “Your ships have been updated to include many new weapons and systems. Computer scenarios have also been designed to help you in combatting this new enemy. All of which will give you a fighting chance until the solution is found and implemented.”

  No one spoke.

  “OK. That's all we have for you here. Next, you need to acquaint yourselves with the new weapon’s systems that have been installed on your ships. Full information on these systems is available for you in the main hall, together with some working units.

  Dinner will be served at 8 pm and don’t forget that you need to be at the reception area in the embarkation dome tomorrow, at ten sharp. Good luck to all of you.”

  “We'll need it,” Susanna said, under her breath.

  Later that day, Frank's transceiver-implant came live. “Captains briefing at 16 hundred hours, in conference room number four,” a voice announced.

  “Sorry Sues, I’ve got to go to. I'll see you later in our cabin.”

  “OK,” she replied kissing him on his cheek.

  Frank saw six men sitting at a round table in the conference room, all of whom were familiar to him. Facing the men were his captains.

  “Take a seat Commander,” Trump said. “You know most of us here.”

  “Yes indeed,” he replied, having noticed that he was the last to arrive. He nodded at them and sat down between Derrick Patterson and Tony Crisp.

  Next to Tony was Harry Blacksmith and Barry Winston, then the fifth Captain, Hector Serrell.

  Mertoff started the proceedings. “For those of you who haven’t met us before, we are representatives of the Space Federation. I am Director Mertoff. Professor Trump and Doctor Murillo are sitting to my left. With Professor O'Banion, Director Tompkin, and Professor Verdick on my right.

  However, before we continue with the details, Director Tomkin has an announcement, to make.”

  “Yes, thank you Director Mertoff,” he said, then began.

&nb
sp; “As you know, just over sixty years ago, the Earth Federation banned all military organisations from operating in space. And, entrusted the task of exploration and scientific space research to us.

  However, Earth’s Federation, although jittery about continuing to restrict military presence, made a concession for a military space hub around Earth.

  Now, the Earth Federation has increased our funding yet again. Additionally, you will be glad to know that our existing concession for the contingent of space marines on all ships still stands.” He paused, then continued.

  “But, there is a catch to all this. Because of the recent Crillon engagement at Dpav4, there is now, even more, pressure on the Earth Federation Council, to militarise our ships in the future.” He said, then sighed before continuing. “However, that’s still some way off. For now, we must concentrate on the coming expedition.

  So, gentlemen, Captain Richardson will be in command for this trip.

  I’m sure you all know that Frank is a very experienced Captain, particularly in battle situations. As group OIC, he will make the final decisions. We expect all of you to respect and support him,” he added, then paused briefly.

  “Now, about the two new ships. I’m pleased to announce that we have appointed Captain Barry Winston to take charge of the Repulse. While Captain Serrell, who is new to you, has been named to captain our new science ship the Argonaut.

  We have two more ships under construction, but these won't be commissioned for another nine months,” he ended.

  “In any case, we're thinking of keeping them in our planetary system for added security,” O'Banion interjected. “You understand I'm sure,” he added.

  Tony Crisp went to say something, but Mertoff put his hand up.

  “Yes, as Director Tompkin said,” he added, looking daggers at O’Banion. “We were going to wait for the next two ships, but things have changed now, so we can’t.

  Let me explain. Some time ago our drone at Zeta Reticuli picked up a garbled message from the Crillon commander Tripicac. Unfortunately, it took weeks for us to make sense of the message, I‘ll tell you about that shortly.

  First. It appears that the Crillons have found a new way to communicate with us.

  They have determined that when an artificial wormhole closes, a one-centimetre diameter thread or tube remains open. More importantly, this thread remains open for quite some time. We know this because the Crillons used the thread to send their message to us.

  So, as long as the Crillon’s wormhole thread remains open, it may also be possible for us to use their thread to communicate with each other, and with them.

  The message from Commander Tripicac has also given us new information relating to the blue globes that the Crillons believe are the ships of this newly discovered alien species they call the Solverons.”

  Murillo interrupted, and elaborating said. “The Crillons have had run-ins with the Solverons for years.” At that statement, a gasp of amazement was heard.

  “The Crillons have also told us that they can't destroy the Solveron’s ships when they are in space, as the Solveron’s molecular destructor weapons are active and create an impenetrable field around their globes.

  They have also found that the only time the Solverons are vulnerable is when their ships are sitting on a planet.

  Unfortunately, unlike the Solveron’s, neither we nor the Crillons can land ours on planet surfaces or take-off again.

  The Solverons can also track a ship when it’s going through a wormhole. They can predict exactly where it will exit, and be there just three minutes after it exits the wormhole,” Murillo finished, taking a sip of water.

  Tommy Trump then continued. “Second. We now know that the defunct natural wormhole at Zeta Reticuli seems to be folding and causing a very deep depression in the fabric of space. And, if the folding continues the two walls will come closer together, and the natural wormhole will definitely re-establish.”

  “Well Gentlemen,” Mertoff said, taking over again. “All this information from the Crillon’s has been uploaded to your ships, which I’m pleased to say are well prepared for this mission.

  You have additional warp-drive crystal units, and our crystals are also interchangeable with the crystals that the Pavonisiens grow. Therefore, if you have to go all the way to Kepler and back, you know that you’ll be able to buy more warp-crystals from the Pavonisiens.

  With regard to weaponry. As you know, formerly the positively charged particle beam weapon dispersed naturally, thus limiting its useful range. However, development of this has come a long way since Andromeda’s launch. The particle-beam weapon has been further upgraded and enhanced by adding a nuclear element to it.

  I don’t know enough about the technical side. Only that it’s like an old fashioned nuclear-tipped shell which holds the particle beam together longer, making the weapon more efficient.”

  “Gentlemen, you can see we have been busy working on all of this for you,” O’Banion interjected.

  “I’m pleased to announce that there is another advancement in our predictive-jump software, gentlemen,” Mertoff continued, with a smile on his face.

  “As we all know, calculating jump co-ordinates is a nightmare. Luckily, in multi-jumping the computation is easier and takes almost the same time as a warp core takes to recharge.

  We obviously can’t change the speed of light. However, the new software speeds up the calculations to determine how long the light from a star has taken to reach your ship. It then predicts where the star will be when you exit the wormhole.

  Naturally, the closer you get to the star, the more accurate the exit point will be. And, like most things in life, the variables become less important the more times your vessels jump. With more information, having been gathered on the stars predicted movements with each jump. Therefore, the calculations become faster and more accurate as time goes by.”

  “Excellent, this upgrade should certainly speed things up gents,” Tommy Trump put in. Then added. “Finally, gentlemen. Your five StarShips are heavily armed and ready for battle. So, it’s vital that you protect the Argonaut, as its scientists may well find a solution to this Solveron disruptor field before we do.

  You leave tomorrow and you will be boarding the shuttles at 10 o'clock, sharp. If you have any questions, you may ask them now.”

  There were a few queries and the meeting continued for a while.

  Chapter 4

  A Meeting of Minds.

  Day Three.

  At 10 o'clock, the crew members started boarding their shuttle via the transfer tubes that connected each of the shuttles to the reception dome. Frank and Susanna could sit together while Jenny sat further back and next to Jonathon from the Drone Systems Control Department.

  From their windows, they could see their transit-tube slowly retracting back, and into the shuttles body. But the other transit-tubes remained attached to the dome, as their crews were still boarding.

  When everyone was seated the mandatory straps and arm rests auto-locked into position, and the shuttle was readied for flight.

  The cabin pressure increased noticeably as Frank and Susanna sat holding each other’s hands while waiting impatiently for the other ships crew members to finish boarding their own shuttles.

  Finally, the ‘secure for lift-off’ order was heard over the comms system and all the shuttles lifted off together, with each shuttle, kicking up a cloud of Martian soil.

  Their view of Mars shrank rapidly as they climbed up into space, passing by the orbital spacedocks and travelling on towards their waiting ships.

  Almost ten minutes had passed before the six StarShips became visible to their crews. The ships looking like golden points of light against a star-studded background. Then quickly expanding in size each appearing like a cigar shaped jewel, almost orange in colour as the light from both the sun and Mars reflected off the hull.

  Although the ships were each a thousand metres apart, Frank could see that one of them was different appeari
ng to be larger and blunter.

  ‘The Argonaut,’ he thought and continued watching as two of the other shuttles came into view for a moment, then swung away to their designated ships.

  No one spoke as the majestic shape of Andromeda seemed to drift ever closer to them. Frank could see the force-field emitter blisters all over its hull and noticed that although formerly in single rows the blisters were now in pairs.

  “More upgrades,” he remarked to Susanna as the shuttle turned in, to stop at the open holding bay door. He could see that some of what he had thought were extra blisters next to the forcefield emitters, were instead small black spheres with shiny reflectors behind them. A shiver ran down his spine as he recognized the black sphere shaped objects from the demonstration chamber on Mars.

  The transfer tube extended from their shuttle and sealed around Andromeda’s holding-bay door; enabling the bay to be re-pressurised. Then an announcement sounded over the shuttle’s comms system.

  “Please take all your belongings with you. Good luck. Have a safe expedition.”

  As soon as everyone had got off the shuttle and into the ship, the holding bay door closed, and the shuttle’s transfer tube disconnected and retracted. The shuttle then headed back to Mars, while the crew of the vessel went to their individual cabins to settle in and prepare for duty.

  As they left the holding bay, Susanna pulled Frank aside and making sure no one was watching, kissed him tenderly. “See you later darling,” she said. Then turned and left for her own cabin, leaving him standing alone. Both having agreed that it would look better if the crew only saw them together as professional colleagues.

  Frank could already feel Andromeda’s AI’s emotions building up as he walked towards the control room, even though he hadn’t yet activated his transceiver implant link with her.