Annals of the Keepers - Deception

by Christiaan Hile

  What awaited me was more stunning than finding a synth for our first contact. Before us was a massive underground cavern. The largest I had ever seen. But how’d we get down here so fast? What was this place?

  The cave was a large, circular dome. Stalactites and stalagmites drove their incredible towers throughout ceiling and floor alike. Pools of green and blue water cratered around the cave. The reflection from the pools didn’t come from an outside source, the light came from white cylindrical tubes that were bunched up on a center platform in the middle of the cavern. The tubes were similar to the one we just exited. They reached all the way to the top of the cavity ceiling. The tops of the tubes near the roof of the cave were encased in some type of crystal lattice structure.

  I was amazed, until I stepped on something that squealed. The soft, spongy surface was slimy.

  I jumped back.

  A slagworm squirmed and struck out at my boot. Its razor teeth caught the ceramite casing, trying to sink its teeth in, “What the–” I quickly used my other boot to step on its body. I pulled back my leg and, with great care, dislodged its mouth from my ankle. I finished it off by stepping on its head, twisting.

  “Nasty aren’t they, Rels. They eat the formations of rock which drip minerals down from above. They live in these holes in the rock.”

  “I don’t care about the slagworms and where they live. You know what? I’m getting a little tired of your surprises and secrets, Mistuuk. . . bounty hunter of information, or whoever you are. It’s time to answer some questions.”

  “Watch out, Rels, there’re more of them,” he warned.

  I side-stepped the slimy worm suckers attached to the rock floor. “Don’t deflect my questions, Mistuuk.”

  “What do you want to know, Rels?

  I pointed my arm towards the center of the cavern, “Like that. What is that? What was the thing we arrived in? And who are you?”

  “I told you about the tubes, they’re–”

  “Trandeshion tubes, yes, I heard you the first time. What exactly are they?”

  “They’re part of the ancient Gashnee transportation network.”

  “Wait a minute.” Things were now getting bizarre. “Gashnee? You’ve known about them all along, haven’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  “You’re not a bounty hunter of information, are you?” I was going straight for the obvious. I’d better get a straight answer.

  “No, Rels. I am not.”

  “Then who are you, Mistuuk, if that’s your real name?”

  The little Cuukzen looked at the tubes in the center. “Follow me, Rels. I will explain everything.”

  “I want the truth.”

  “You’ll get the truth, Rels. I won’t hide anything from you.”

  “I’ll be the judge of that.”

  Data Cell 37

  The mighty command ship was berthed at her station orbiting the planet, Janus. The Orion’s Rage dwarfed her outfit dock as the massive thirty-five-hundred-meter ship made captains of history blush in their eternal slumber.

  Many amazing stories are told of legendary ships and their heroic captains. It was said of many vessels, from those who sailed Earth’s ancient oceans to the ones who voyaged behind her blue surface to the stars, that there is always a place in the hearts of men for ships that were true and strong, and brought their crew safely home. Those are the ships whose names will be sung within the hearts of captains’ souls and held in glory forever. The Orion's Rage is such a ship, a living legend.

  The bridge of the Orion’s Rage was active. Crew members worked amongst holo-boards and light projections. Information was coming in from the fleet and all intelligence sources.

  The port-side lift came to a stop. Commander Shenta Parejas and Keeper Laurenell Renske stepped off in conversation.

  She stopped upon entry, astounded.

  Lieutenant Commander Temin approached, “Your father had the same look. Welcome aboard, Keeper.”

  “Thank you, Lieutenant Commander. It’s quite an honor to be aboard. This is amazing.”

  Parejas steeped up, “I don’t mean to interrupt the moment, but we need to brief.”

  “Yes, Commander,” Droe said.

  They all walked to the center of the bridge near Lieutenant Kansec’s station.

  “Kansec, bring up the latest updates,” Droe ordered.

  “Yes, ma’am,” Kansec responded.

  Four holo-images appeared above the station.

  Droe stepped up, “Commander, we have situation reports on all critical locations.”

  “Continue,” Parejas stated.

  “We just received information from the Flashpoint and Commander Takkar. It looks as though they have encountered unknown ships that emerged from the wormhole. The last update was that these ships attacked a Kryth vessel in the vicinity. It also looks as if the unknown ship is showing possible hostility towards the Flashpoint. Updates are still incoming,” Droe finished.

  The commander was deep in thought. The Keeper looked at him, then over at Droe, nodding for her to continue.

  Droe continued, “The next report comes from Rels Sentel. It says they are on the run from an ambush while meeting with one of their contacts. They will report as soon as they get off planet and reach the rally point,” she said, adjusting the next visual of a space sector map, “Next, the main Kryth Domonius fleet has moved closer to Mydian. They are now in sector D-42. All other fleet assets have stayed in their defensive positions around Dranneous Kor, though.”

  The commander didn’t budge, as he was reviewing the data before him.

  Droe continued, “Finally, we just received an update from Director Bowlan. They have arrived at Earth and have encountered two pirate ships scavenging the Kryth station wreckage there. There were no hostilities and the Kryth ships fled the system. End reports.”

  Parejas turned and walked towards the foredeck. He placed his arms behind his back.

  “Excuse me, sir. How should we respond?” Droe asked.

  The commander didn’t answer.

  Keeper Renske, with a worried expression, moved to approach the commander.

  Droe stuck out her arm and stopped her while shaking her head at the Keeper. “You’ll learn. He likes to be left alone in moments like this.”

  “I see,” Laurenell said.

  The commander just looked out the forward viewport at the planet Janus in the distance.

  A lot of hotspots are happening at a dangerous time, Parejas thought. He knew the Kryth were searching for the Human home world. He also knew he couldn’t thin out his ranks in reaction to every fire that came up. He knew, without a doubt, that tactical responses outweighed emotional ones.

  His decision had already been made. The order would be given.

  Data Cell 38

  “Commander, ion chambers are charged. Reavers are good to go.”

  Commander Takkar looked over at the tactical image of the incoming enemy ships. Two against one, he thought. Hopefully, the Reavers would be enough of an advantage in such a battle, but he wouldn’t know until they were onboard the enemy vessels. Not much was known about their technology, except what was gleamed from the scans of the first ship they were about to destroy.

  The torcon torpedoes launched from their tubes and found the shield less enemy vessel they had been engaging. The massive explosions were too much for its armor, and the enemy ship emerged from the torcon’s destructive path in drifting pieces.

  Strange, Takkar thought. No primary or secondary explosions. No shockwaves. The ship just scattered into large chunks. No matter. It was his next targets that worried him, “What’s our shield status?”

  “Flencer grid at seventy-two percent, sir.”

  “Close enough, Ensign. Prepare to engage the first ship with the Reavers. Link ion control to Reaver Lead.”

  “Aye, sir.”

  The Flashpoint veered into firing position towards the two enemy ships bearing down upon her.

  Commander Takkar sat in h
is chair. His gaze looked over the telemetry and system status to his front. Two against one, he thought. I’ll take those odds.

  “Launch the Reavers. Prepare to fire ion field,” Takkar ordered.

  ∞∞∞

  The launch rails blazed with wild energy. Stray white tendrils arced up to scorch the inner chamber walls as the tubes were thrown into the vacuum of space.

  The Reaver team was catapulted out the front of the Flashpoint as the pods flew towards the unknown enemy ship. They had to wait until they got into the safety of space and away from the launch chamber to initiate the constellation camouflage screens, to mask each of the pods until insertion.

  Kason and his team monitored the information coming from the Flashpoint. Each man was wrapped and cushioned in the protective gel which held them firm, readying them for the insertion into the hull of the enemy vessel.

  Moments later, the Flashpoint fired her ion waves at the lead enemy ship. The blue nimbus of ionized energy streaked passed the cloaked Reaver pods, striking the unknown vessel.

  The intensity of packed energy washed over the incoming ship. The shields collapsed as the ionized energy fell upon the hull like an ocean in storm slamming against rock.

  The Reaver pods fired their entry lasers to cut into the hull before impact. Each pod was only five meters abreast of one another as they made their contact points.

  The pods made an easy entry, the unknown surface structure allowed no resistance to the foreign spear-pointed crafts of the Reavers. Each pod’s interior rocked slightly as their forward momentum was slowed, coming to a not-too-bone-jarring stop.

  Kason monitored the others’ statuses as the pods readied their arrival with the hull sealing foam, but instead, the console issued a green light that it was safe to charge the door release.

  That’s odd, Kason thought. The pods didn’t seal themselves from their entry punctures and the vacuum of space. The systems showed a sealed hull, no openings to outside space.

  Kason activated the door release; there was no time to waste.

  Each of the spear-pointed pod tips wrenched open, exposing the inner hatch. The bolts exploded, sending each Reaver door outward. The Reavers were out of their cocoons with weapons ready.

  Kason immediately scanned his surroundings. He saw that the pods were sealed, not by the pod’s own foam, but by the enemy hull itself.

  The area they found themselves in was a corridor in the center of the ship. The surface was black with a star field pattern to it. Thousands of small, pin-pointed lights made up the celestial structure. There were boundaries that were solid along the floor, ceiling, and wall edges that were gold in color. The corridor itself was lit by unseen sources, possibly coming from the gold railings.

  Kason approached the wall. The surface moved. The star field undulated before him. Kason touched it with his index finger, issuing a rippling effect, as if it was liquid. Only the walls displayed this unusual visual effect. The floor and ceiling seemed solid.

  His HUD flashed the structure’s compound.

  {Unknown}

  “We need to find the power systems now. We are in the unknown here. Stay close,” he called out within his team’s internal comms.

  They continued down the silent corridor. There were no ambient sounds of any given technology. No hum of machinery, engines, or life support systems, just utter quiet.

  As they approached an intersection, a bright white seam of light shown through the floor to their front.

  Their weapons drew upon the opening in the floor. The aperture stopped. The Reavers stood still, keeping their aim on the bright slash in the floor.

  Emerging from the breach was what looked to be a thin sheet of water. It stretched to the full height of the ceiling, even covering the breadth of the hallway itself. It also rippled, just as the celestial wall texture they examined a moment ago.

  “Keep it close and drop mirage cubes. We don’t know what we’re up against,” Kason said.

  “Boss, I’m picking up a large energy source beyond the anomaly in the next room. It’s matching the data the Flashpoint gave us on the shields and engines,” Keelen reported.

  “I’m not picking up any reading on this water thing, boss,” Kercy added.

  Then, in a flash, the water-wall became solid, stopping its rippling effect. It was only a second later that the water anomaly flashed out in an instant towards the Reavers.

  The water-sheet flew, striking the Reavers, sending them against the wall behind. Kason and Keelen were pinned on one wall while Kercy, Maddox, and Ramek were opposite, strapped to the hull by this unknown translucent barrier.

  They struggled to get free from their imprisonment, to no avail. They were trapped.

  Static issued over the internal comms within Kason’s helmet, “Come in. Can anyone hear me?” More static awaited his ears.

  On the far end of the corridor a bright light parted open between the black walls. Two silhouetted figures emerged from the doorway.

  Kason could only make out their height from his distance, but surmised they were easily over two and a half meters tall.

  The bodies were bulky in the upper torso region and slender in the legs. Their form seemed hominid in origin and bipedal, from Kason’s viewpoint.

  As the two forms loomed down the center of the corridor, Kason started to make out some type of weapons slung on each of the beings’ arms. They looked attached, part of the creatures’ physiques.

  Kason began giving hand signals to Ramek and the others across from him and Keelen. His right hand was down near his side, hidden, out of view from the approaching hosts.

  Ramek nodded, understanding what Kason was relaying to the team.

  It was time to get a better look at these unknown beings. They stopped in front of Kason and Keelen, just a few meters away. The Reavers were helpless in the field that held them.

  The aliens before Kason were encased in a similar material of the surrounding walls, but all gold in color. Their heads were large and oblong in shape. There were no discerning facial features, as they wore smooth reflective visors.

  Kason could see himself in the helmeted head of one of the beings as it turned slightly to gaze upon the trapped Reavers.

  The next thought for Kason was the worst scenario he could imagine.

  The beings raised their weapons, pointing at them. They began to glow.

  Kason knew this wasn’t a way a warrior should die, but it was the one that faced him now.

  Data Cell 39

  Mistuuk walked towards the center of the cavern and the large, white tubes clustered together, saying, “This place is part of a larger network within the galaxy, Rels. These are individual transport tubes. This is our way out.”

  He continued up some steps, away from the stalagmite floor.

  “Way out? Was this the exit you were looking for?” I asked.

  “Yes,” the Cuukzen admitted as he ascended to the top of the platform.

  I wanted to run up the steps and punt the little guy off. His dismissive behavior was getting to me, “Continue.”

  Mistuuk stopped in front of what looked to be a control panel. It was made of the same crystal lattice that was above our heads, high on the ceiling where the tubes ended.

  “I have been searching for the Gashnee Ancients for some time. Actually, just around the time your big ship showed up.”

  “What ship?”

  “The Orion’s Rage. I was going to meet up with a Fossari on the Dalyth Outpost near the Sol System. Even though they are a troubled people, they come in handy from time-to-time with useful information. Everything was going fine until you Humans showed up. I was taken by the Kryth. I was never worried about them, since most are a bunch of pitats anyways.”

  “So, it worked out for you?”

  “Yes, very much so. Your race was looking for the Gashnee as well, and you are much better than the Kryth. You don’t smell like a pack of aythras.”

  “I see, so, you already knew where these Ancie
nts were?”

  “Not exactly. I needed Blink. You see, Blink had all the information. Panu was the only contact. The others were decoys. They were placed to throw others off, like our Vrae friend. I was tracking her down. This was one way to get her.”

  I felt betrayed. Was he telling the truth or was it another elaborate hoax? I guess, at this stage, I didn’t really have a choice, “Was I a decoy as well?”

  “No, Rels. I needed you. You have skills. I thought we would make a good team when Commander Parejas mentioned you for the mission.”

  “I’m not feeling skilled at this point. Does the commander know what you just told me?”

  “No. No one knows except you, Rels. I’m sorry I had to hide this from you. I think I will make up for it once we activate the tubes and reach our destination.”

  I guess this was better than chasing down inebriated Human traders. What the hell, I’ve come this far, and we weren’t dead. We just needed to get out of here.

  “So how does this thing work?” I asked.

  Mistuuk activated some controls with varying symbols. Some were similar to the ones on the pillars before, “Once I activate the power source below us, we can then plot our destination. There. Got it.”

  “That still doesn’t answer my question. How does it work?”

  “By phase-shifting.”

  “That tells me everything I wanted to know. It works by phase-shifting. Who knew?”

  “You don’t know about phase-shifting, Rels?”

  “No. No, I don’t.”

  Mistuuk put his finger to his mouth, “I see, you are being kind of funny, not serious. Right, Rels?”

  “I’m glad you are picking up Human sarcasm. Please explain.”

  “The Gashnee figured out how to travel great distances with cosmic dark matter channels that are spread throughout the galaxy. They tune the frequency of these channels with the gravitational forces of mass system objects. The crystals align the vectors and match the outgoing destination signals. It happens really fast and you don’t feel anything. That’s phase-shifting.”

  I knew better than to ask any more questions, but I wasn’t going to further the questioning either way, as something was starting to happen beneath our feet.