The Arwen Book one: Defender

by Timothy Callahan

  “Captain,” Commander Lipton said, “Fran might be useful in this meeting.”

  “Fine, bring her too.” Captain Cook, Commander Lipton, and Professor Ricter walked into the elevator. No one said a word. When the elevator stopped, Kel stepped off, leaving Professor Ricter alone with Captain Cook. The professor cleared his throat before talking. “Marjorie, I know that you think it was the Gyssyc, but I can assure you—”

  She cut him off with a raised hand. “I can’t believe they attacked either, but the evidence is overwhelming. I don’t want to draw any conclusions until I have solid facts, but—”

  He interrupted her before she could complete her sentence. “—but it doesn’t look good. You know things are never this cut and dry.”

  The elevator door opened and the two stepped out into the hallway and toward the conference room. Captain Cook was surprised to see the professor following her; she had expected him to head to his room first. “Aren’t you going to get your stuff?”

  “No need. I have it all in my head.”

  “We all can’t be blessed with photographic memory, so if you don’t mind, I’d like to look over the reports.”

  He didn’t respond and kept a respectful distance from her as they entered the conference room. A computer rose from the table when she took a seat. “Send me all information on the Gyssyc.”

  The Gyssyc were at one time the dominant race on the planet of Ulliam. They had reached scientific heights greater than any race the Earth Alliance had encountered. They had a short lifespan and long gestation periods. Because of that, most Gyssyc spent their short lives contributing to the betterment of Ulliam. They needed help with day-to-day living so they modified the genes of the Ulliam, the only other intelligent race on the planet, to make them smarter.

  Through purposeful manipulation of a few rouge scientists, Merriam was born. Merriam was an Ulliam/Gyssyc hybrid who was just as smart as the Gyssyc. He led his race in a rebellion that killed millions on both sides. The Ulliam had an advantage of higher numbers, and, even though the Gyssyc had greater firepower, they lost the war of attrition.

  It was decided to leave in a spaceship they had disguised as a comet. The plan seemed to be to return in a thousand years when Merriam and all his deeds had been forgotten.

  While in wormhole space, a sun close to the system of Regal went supernova and forced the comet out into real space. The computer, damaged from the supernova, calculated the planet of Regal was Ulliam and made its way toward the system. Thinking the comet was going to collide with their planet, the Regals asked the Earth Alliance for help in stopping the threat. The Corps sent the Arwen into the system. It didn’t take Professor Ricter and his team long to realize the true nature of the comet. It was Professor Ricter who figured out the comet would move once it thought it was on a collision course with an object. It was also Professor Ricter who spent the past three weeks studying everything they had downloaded from the comet’s computer while his team was exploring. The professor was the leading authority on the Gyssyc. Something he wouldn’t hesitate to tell anyone who asked.

  Marjorie looked up from her computer to see Professor Ricter staring at her intently. “Something I can help you with?”

  “Yes. I think until this is sorted out we shouldn’t call each other by our first names.”

  “Oh?” she asked, curious where his train of thought was going to lead.

  “It might set a bad example to the crew. I don’t mind if we exchange names in private, Marjorie,” he said, saying her name playfully. “But in public I will acknowledge you as Captain Cook, and you call me Professor Ricter.”

  It was her turn to be playful. “Okay, Theo.”

  The door opened. Commander Lipton and Doctor Mercury walked in with serious looks on their faces. “I filled Fran in on the situation.”

  Doctor Mercury’s face reflected the mood of the ship. Her eyes had no life in them. Her walk was slow and measured as if she were trying to will herself forward. “The entire fleet gone? How many people is that?”

  “Too many,” Commander Lipton replied with an angry whisper. His hands were trembling and his eyes burned with fire. He reacted with rage. His voice and mannerisms tried to hide it but Marjorie wasn’t fooled.

  “I agree, too many. For now, we need to figure out what happened. I’m sure another fleet is on its way and we need to give them as much information as we can.”

  “Captain,” Kel said, “I suggest we go to red alert. I can get a boarding party ready within an hour.”

  “For what purpose?” Professor Ricter asked. “Do you want to invade the comet?”

  “They attacked us! That’s an act of war!”

  Captain Cook slammed her hand on the table causing everyone to jump. “You will both shut up. Kel, we’re going to red alert. Professor, I have no plans on any hostile actions until we know more. We’re going to have to wait for them to contact us.”

  “Can we trust anything they tell us?” Commander Lipton snapped with an angry tone.

  “Why shouldn’t we?” Captain Cook asked calmly, hoping her cool would resonate outward toward her commander and the professor.

  “How do we know they didn’t attack first?”

  “That seems highly unlikely,” Professor Ricter retorted.

  “Why? These people are their sworn enemy.”

  “Even if they had hostile intent, our fleet wouldn’t let them attack,” Captain Cook said.

  “Are we really that arrogant?” Professor Ricter asked, leaning back in his chair. The normal air of arrogance that surrounded him seemed to dim a little. He normally kept his emotions close, but this crisis brought them to the surface. “The Ulliam are our friends, sure. But we know they are capable of misleading us. Before we found out about the Gyssyc, we thought the Ulliam were the only intelligent species on the planet. Now we find they chased the other one off the planet through a bloody war. How would we react if suddenly we found out our greatest demons were returning?”

  “We’d want to destroy them,” Fran, who has been quietly listening, replied.

  Captain Cook sighed. “I don’t need to remind you we don’t know what happened here and I will not jump to any conclusions.”

  “What are your orders?” Kel asked.

  “We’ll continue on this course toward Ulliam. We’ll continue to try and hail both Ulliam and the Gyssyc and we’ll wait for our reinforcements to arrive.”

  The communication panel in front of Marjorie beeped. “Captain, this is the bridge. We’ve just picked up a distress call from the Milgard. We did a quick scan and found some life.”

  “Set a course for the Milgard.” She looked at Kel. “Commander, get a team together and head to that ship. I hope Admiral Norrin survived and he’ll have some of the answers we’re looking for.”

  ~*~

  Marjorie felt the tension ebbing from Kel’s body like heat from a fire. He walked a few steps ahead of her, his body language tight and closed. “Commander, is everything okay?”

  He slowed down to let her catch up. “I’ll be fine.” His reply didn’t convince her.

  “That’s not what I asked. You’re not only my first officer, you’re also my friend. You can talk to me.”

  “I know,” he replied coldly. “When I have something to talk to you about I’ll let you know. Now Captain, if you’ll excuse me I have to get a boarding party ready.” He hurried down the hallway where he turned a corner and disappeared.

  While Marjorie tried to figure out her first officer, Fran briskly walked past. “Doctor Mercury, can I have a word with you?”

  She turned and quickly replied, “I don’t know what’s wrong with Kel, I’m sorry.”

  Marjorie seemed a bit taken aback. “You noticed it?”

  “I did. He was fine up until he found out about the fleet.”

  “Could you talk to him? Find out what’s wrong?”

  Fran lowered her head and folded her arms across her chest. “Captain, I don’t mean this in a bad way,
but if I do find out I’m not sure I have the right to tell you.”

  Marjorie considered this for a moment. “I agree. Things said between two lovers should be kept there. If you do get him to talk, be sure you remind him of his duty.”

  “I don’t think that will ever be a problem with him. May I go now?”

  Marjorie dismissed her with a nod and then headed for the elevator that would take her to the bridge.

  Professor Ricter waited for her in front of the door. “Captain, I would like permission to observe on the bridge.”

  “Fine,” she replied. “Your insight might come in handy.”

  “It always does. I noticed your first officer is behaving uncharacteristically angry today.”

  “He’ll be fine,” she replied curtly. Professor Ricter got the message and didn’t press the issue any further.

  The elevator opened and she walked onto the bridge. Professor Ricter walked over to Kel’s station and took a seat while Captain Cook sat in her captain’s chair.

  “Kel, can you hear me?” Captain Cook asked.

  “Yes, sir. We’re almost ready to depart.”

  “I want constant contact. Do you understand?”

  “Understood. Commander Lipton, out.”

  Chapter Sixteen

  “Commander,” Captain Cook said. “Our sensors tell us the life signs are growing weaker.”

  “Roger,” Commander Lipton replied robotically.

  Kel avoided the larger pieces of debris and concentrated on the burnt out shell of the flagship. Like all the other ships, the Milgard looked as if something had carved it with a very sharp knife. Commander Lipton noticed, upon closer inspection, the cuts were clean. The sections tumbled and he was able to catch a glimpse of the exposed decks. It reminded him of the time his father took him to a shipyard. The prefabricated sections were lined up next to each other waiting to be assembled onto the mammoth hulls of ships they were designed to fit.

  He eased the throttle forward in an effort to pick up speed when something large slammed into the shields. He slowed down after three similar sized objects bounced away reducing his force field strength by half. He flew toward the section where the distress call had come from. It was in the denser part of the debris field, forcing Commander Lipton to slow down considerably. The slower speed provided details he wasn’t able to observe before. Details he wished he never saw. Hundreds of bodies blocked his way. He brought the shuttle to a near stop. “Captain, I found causalities. Most seem to have gathered around the hull. Probably being affected by its gravity.”

  There was a long pause and then Captain Cook replied, “Acknowledged.”

  Kel eased the throttle forward. To avoid damaging the bodies he would inevitably hit, he brought his shields down to their lowest settings. Powerful lights from his shuttle bounced off the reflective surface of the Milgard’s broken hull. He slowly came to a complete stop. A misshapen slag of metal rolled passed his window. He studied it. Wires and pipes dangled out like roots from a tree. There were no lights in the few windows he could see and he wondered if the Arwen’s readings were correct.

  After a careful inspection, he found a door and decided that would be the best place to dock. “I’m going to dock now. I don’t see anything that would indicate life but I’m still holding out hope.”

  “Copy that. Be careful, Commander.”

  He waited until the door passed by his window again before maneuvering the shuttle next to it. With the help of his computer, he managed to line the door up to the shuttle’s exit in the back.

  Commander Lipton unbuckled himself from his chair and walked into the rear of the shuttle. Two of his crew stood waiting for his orders. “I found a door. Extend the shields out so we can enter the ship. Keep your force field suits ready just in case we run into a section with no air. We don’t know what to expect once we get over there.”

  One of his men walked over to a computer and activated the shield control. The computer did a quick calculation before extending the shuttle’s force field, creating an airtight seal. Commander Lipton opened the door. Air from the shuttle whooshed past him as it filled the vacuum between the back room and the door. He pounded on the Milgard’s door with his fist. “This is Commander Kel Lipton of the battle cruiser Arwen. Is anyone alive in there?”

  He waited a few seconds before pounding again. After a few more seconds without an answer, he pulled out his small communicator and spoke into it. “Captain, I’m not getting an answer.”

  “Find a way in there.”

  Commander Lipton pulled out the gun he always had holstered. “I’m setting the gun to torch. That should slice the door open.”

  He pointed the gun and pulled the trigger. An invisible beam of high energy hit the door. A thin section melted under its power. Kel slowly moved it in a circle to form a small hole. He looked through to see a darkened hall. He pulled out a flashlight from his belt and shined it into the room. Furniture and other debris free floated around. “Captain, we’re going to head in now. I don’t see any indications they have gravity and I still don’t see any lights.”

  Kel and the two other men floated across the force field and into the darkness. The calm unnerved him; a ship should never be quiet. There should always be the soft hum of the engine, the rhythm of human feet walking down the hall, and the sound of people. He waved his men forward and then pushed off the wall toward another door.

  He pounded on the door and before he could say anything he heard a hoarse, barely auditable reply. “Help me.”

  He pulled opened the door and shined light into the room. Three people floated amongst discarded food and water packets. It took Kel a moment to realize they managed to survive for as long as they had because they were trapped in what was left of the galley. Food and water would be plentiful as long as it was rationed between the three. “I found three survivors.” He turned to one of his men. “Get them to the Arwen right away. I’m going to continue searching the ship.”

  One of the survivors, a woman, looked at Kel and said, “Thank you.”

  Kel nodded in acknowledgment. “I’m going to keep looking around. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

  He walked over to another door, opened it and then waved his light into the darkened area. It looked like one of the main hallways. The end was too far away for his light to reach. “Rachel, are you here? Please, tell me you’re here!”

  The only reply he heard was the section moaning in protest of its current situation. He continued to float through the rooms, shoving drifting debris out of his way and looking into dark corners. He found bodies that had died a long time ago. All that seemed left were the ghosts of the Milgard’s crew. He closed his eyes and willed the tears away. “Captain Cook, this is Commander Lipton. The rest of the ship is empty. I found some bodies but nothing else. I’m coming back. I’ll give you a report when I return. Commander Lipton, out.”

  ~*~

  Kel walked into his room, took off his shirt and threw it onto the bed in frustration. He paused at the foot of his bed where a metal chest lay. Inside were the only belongings he carried from assignment to assignment. They were items he didn’t want to part with. Items he hoped to pass down to his children. Kel gathered his inner strength and opened it. Digging through a few items, most of which were metals and commendations he won since being the Arwen’s commander, he pulled out a small memory chip. The chip was six inches in diameter and two inches thick. He turned it. The image of a smiling, dark haired, and dark skinned woman appeared inside a holographic field generated by the reader.

  He had no new holograms of Rachel and knew nothing of what her life was like now. In this hologram she was young and wore a yellow dress he bought for her birthday. On her head was a brown hat he had gotten her to protect her head from the harmful radiation of Mars’s thin atmosphere. “Hello big brother and happy birthday! I thought you’d like to see me wearing the dress and hat you got me.” She did a little pirouette that caused the bottom of the dress to resemble
the bottom of a bell. The lower gravity of Mars prevented the dress’s hem from falling quickly. She continued to talk as it slowly fell back into place. “Mom and Dad are doing okay. Expect a holo from them shortly. We really miss you and hope you get some time off soon. Don’t be a stranger, okay?”

  The hologram faded. He reached into the chest and pulled another disk from the bottom. He played with it in his hands for a few moments as he contemplated turning it on. Watching the last hologram produced a knot in his gut. A knot that worsened the more he thought about it. As unbearable as the pain felt, Kel wanted to respect Rachel’s memory. He needed to see her on her best days. He turned the memory chip on. A younger version of him cradled a delicate infant in his arms faded into existence. He looked up at the person holding the camera. “She’s so light.”

  The deep voice of his father replied, “She’ll grow faster than you know.”

  The younger Kel looked back at baby Rachel. He whispered something into her ear.

  “What did you say to her?” the voice from behind the camera asked.

  “That’s between me and her.”

  He remembered what he told her that day, what he always told her when she was sad or scared. She never had to worry about anything because her big brother would take care of her.

  Most of the time she didn’t need his help. She was a strong girl, determined not to take anything from any bully. She was a protector of the schoolyard, keeping those too meek to defend themselves safe from the people who tried to keep them down. It helped her become a strong woman and someone who would become a perfect officer.

  There was a soft knocking on the door. “Kel, can I come in?”