by Wilson Harp
“Almost clear,” Daack said. “Go ahead and start heating the drive, Williams.”
Alex held his breath. The two minutes between the drive heating up and the point where there was enough power to make the jump was when the ship was at its most vulnerable.
“Drive initiated,” Williams said.
A red dot appeared on Alex’s system.
“We have something hot,” he said as he locked his weapon on it. Three more dots appeared. “Belay that, we have several somethings.”
“Thrusters on full,” Daack said.
The ships comm unit crackled to life and Cowboy spoke.
“All hands, we have company. Prepare for engagement.”
“Transmissions from their vessels,” Greenaway said. “They’re dialing out.”
“Daack, keep an eye out for cruisers. Gunny, don’t let them block our way,” Cowboy said.
Alex shifted half of his weapons to Peterson at the secondary station.
“You have targets 6, 8 and 9,” he said.
“Got ‘em, Gunny.”
“Two ships dropping out of warp, dead ahead,” Daack said.
“They were waiting for us,” Jii muttered.
“Doesn’t matter,” Cowboy said. “We can hold them off long enough to jump.”
The lights in the ship dimmed.
“What was that?” asked Greenaway.
“Captain, warp engines just cut out. I need to recalibrate.”
“What?” asked Cowboy.
“They have an interdiction ship,” Jii said. “We will need to disable it before we can jump.”
“Daack, go to point 2. We’ll get between the cruisers and the largest group of fighters,” said Cowboy
“Sending energy readings to gunners. The interdiction weapon is probably the hottest points,” Greenaway said.
“I see them,” Alex said. “Peterson, switching out systems. You handle the fighters, I’ll take the two big guns and see if we can’t get cleared for jump.”
Alex spun the big guns toward the cruiser as Daack flew toward it. The Otina fighters realized what the Enigma was attempting and started firing.
“Kill the drive for now, Williams. Power up those shields to max,” Cowboy said.
“We have missiles incoming,” Alex said as he saw the cruisers launch their defensive weapons.
“We’ll pick them up,” Fuller said from the secondary weapons station.
The Enigma unleashed a barrage of energy pulses as all of its guns started pounding into their selected targets. Peterson destroyed two of the Otina fighters as they made their initial attack approach and the secondary battery destroyed all of the missiles which threatened their vessel.
Alex’s guns, though, did not seem to penetrate the energized shielding around the Ortina cruiser.
“Greenaway, can you see their shield?” he asked.
“Their shield is at maximum and their capacitors are fully charged.”
Alex swore under his breath. “We aren’t going to be able to punch through, Captain. We will need to clear the skies and try all of the guns at once.”
“More missiles incoming,” Hendricks said.
“And we have a new set of ships coming in. Three more Otina cruisers.”
“Another interdictor as well,” said Jii.
“What do we do?” asked Daack. “Head back to the asteroid field?”
“No,” said Jii. “They won’t stop this time. They’ll come in after us.”
“Can we outrun them?” Cowboy asked.
“Unlikely,” said Jii. “But that may reduce the power they have for their shield.”
“Let’s do it. Set a course for clear skies, Daack.”
Alex watched as the Otina tried to maneuver to intercept them.
“It’s not right,” Cowboy said. “They are corralling us. We’re going where they want us to go.”
“More ships coming in right ahead of us,” Daack said.
“Close with them, it will take them a few more seconds to get their weapons online,” Alex said.
Daack accelerated directly at one of the cruisers as it dropped out of warp.
“Jam in close to it, the other cruisers won’t be able to fire on us,’ Cowboy said.
“I’ll run on the skin of its shield,” Daack said.
“Do we have a count on those fighters?” Cowboy asked.
“Five left,” Peterson responded. “They’re holding back.”
“If we can get through their line, we might have enough time to get our warp engines up. I’ll plot a small jump and we can try to find the course from there,” Jii said.
“Williams, on my mark, drop power to the forward shields and redirect to the engines,” Cowboy said.
“Standing by.”
The ship skimmed along the energy shield of the middle cruiser. The secondary battery took out the few missiles the Otina were able to launch, but Alex and Peterson held their fire. They needed as much power as possible to dump into the warp engines once they got clear.
“Williams, now!” said Cowboy. The shifting of power from the forward shield generator to the warp engines was dramatic and for a second, Alex’s targeting system blinked out. When it came back up his heart sank and his mouth went dry.
Greenaway let out a string of expletives. “We have five more cruisers dropping right on top of us!”
“Forward shields!” Cowboy said. Williams had already shifted the power back by the time Cowboy gave the order.
“Fighters closing with us,” Peterson said.
“New cruisers came in hot,” Greenaway said. ”Their weapons are fully energized.”
Alex could feel beads of sweat roll down the back of his neck. There was no way to close with the cruisers in time.
“Evasive maneuvers,” Cowboy ordered.
The cruisers fired. Their heavy weapons arcs toward the small Earth vessel.
“They… they just took out three of the fighters,” Peterson said.
“Four of the cruisers have opened up on the ones we just left,” Greenaway said.
Alex spun his targeting system to look behind the ship. There he saw one of the Otina cruisers breaking up from the fire of the new arrivals.
“Williams, keep those shields up, but be ready to charge the engines,” Cowboy said.
“Sir, we have five more cruisers coming in behind them,” Daack told the Captain.
“We are getting a hailing request from one of the ships,” Greenaway said.
“Send it to my station,” Cowboy said.
Alex watched the battle unfold behind them on his system. The Otina ships which had trapped them were being systematically destroyed by the newcomers.
“Jii, I need you in the command room,” Cowboy said.
“Should we make a run for it?” Daack asked.
“If so, I’ll start heating the engines,” Williams added.
“Heat the engines, but it looks like we may have some friendlies here,” Cowboy said.
Alex checked the area for any ships which seemed hostile, but all ships were travelling away from the Earth vessel into the maelstrom of motion behind them.
“Our engines are hot, Captain,” Williams said.
“Good. Head up to the command room, Williams. Ramirez, I want you up here as well.”
Alex acknowledged the order and transferred control of his weapons.
“I’ll be back after… whatever this is,” he told Peterson as he left the room.
“This is odd,” Williams said as he met Alex in the corridor.
“Yeah, I never thought I’d be called to a meeting in the middle of a battle.”
The door to the command room was closed when they approached.
“After you, Doctor” Alex said.
Williams nodded, smiled and opened the door. Alex followed him in and paused. Williams walked around the table and sat in the furthest chair as Alex noted the room. There was something wrong. He knew he should follow Williams and sit down in the seat to his left, but
it was wrong. Cowboy and Jii watched Alex. They didn’t watch the screen which displayed another Otina. In fact, the other Otina watched Alex as well.
“Fascinating,” the Otina on the screen said.
Alex let out a breath and took the seat nearest the door.
“Can they all do that?” the alien on the screen asked.
“I believe so. They have the potential, anyway,” Jii said. “Ramirez here is the most adept at it. And as you can tell by his confusion, he can’t even describe what he did or how.”
“It’s inate,” Ramirez said. “I think I instinctively resist impulses which are external in nature. That confused me at first, because I assumed mosar was affecting the chemical process of my thought, but it isn’t. It’s affecting the electrical field of my neurons. Right?”
Cowboy raised his eyebrows at Ramirez and Williams nodded.
“That’s our theory,” Jii said. “I’m impressed you came up with it.”
“It was Greenaway. He had some ideas along those lines, and I was able to piece it together,” Alex said. “So, who’s our friend?”
“This is King Drosphi. He is an Otina from what we call the Weilcos sector. He knows about my mission and is willing to help us get to Oracos,” Jii said.
“Although I strongly urge you to abandon this foolishness and come to my kingdom. We can build new facilities and you can experiment in safety.”
Jii shook his head. “There is no way I can replicate the lab. It would take thousands of years at least. Right now I believe we have the best chance at discovering the cure.”
Drosphi lowered his head. “I’m beyond trying to reason with you, Jii. You are determined to go forward with this foolish mission, and I cannot dissuade you. But, at the request of the Earth Ambassador, I will inform the senior crew of the ship about the Inado.”
“No!” Jii said. He rose to his feet and glared at Drosphi. “You must not!”
“I must. Captain Jackson, Warlord Jii intends to take you into a quarantined system. This system is the original homeworld of the Otina and has been completely consumed by mosar. The space around the system is patrolled by a race called the Inado.”
“I’ll tell them,” Jii said. He sat down and looked at the humans around the table.
“The Inado are a race dedicated to the war against mosar. They guard the systems which are under quarantine.”
“So they won’t let us in?” Alex asked.
“No, they’ll let us in,” Williams answered. “They won’t let us out. That’s how you keep a disease contained.”
Jii nodded. “If we fail in our mission, there is no chance the Inado will let you return to Earth. They will view it as too big of a risk.”
“Even if you succeed, they won’t,” Drosphi added. “Even if you find the key to cleanse mosar, you know they will not allow any transfer of that knowledge. They won’t allow anything from Oracos to go beyond the system itself.”
“You don’t know for certain. If we are successful, we can convince the Inado what we have is the weapon which will win the war.”
Drosphi shook his head. “You should know how the Inado think, Jii. Do you believe they will take that chance? Maybe five thousand years ago. But not now. Not now.”
“I have a question,” Alex said. “Why are you here? Don’t get me wrong, you saved our bacon, but Jii told us he was an outcast from the general population of the Otina.”
“He is. His way of fighting the war is not the way we see it successfully ending. He has been contentious and irrational for centuries now. But he is also our eldest and there is respect for him. It pains me to declare it, but that is the truth. We have long suspected we would hear from the Inado of him going back to Oracos. There would have been very little surprise in such news. But the human pleaded with us to aid him with the Inado. I decided this was something I could reasonably do.”
“And these other Otina?” Jackson asked. “They oppose his mission?”
“Those were ships of King Heban. He has been taken, sadly. He can no longer control or resist mosar. One of the reasons we are willing to assist your mission to Oracos is because mosar opposes it. The movement of ships and communications we have intercepted show a massive search for Jii. I must admit I am surprised you have survived after Heban found you. He has a keen tactical mind. I would not want to be the prey when he’s on the hunt.”
“Can you escort us to the system?” Cowboy asked.
“No, for several reasons. For one, our warp signature would be detected and mosar would be able to intercept us again. You are safer going alone. Your ship is small enough it should be able to avoid detection,” Drosphi said.
“How did they find us in the first place?” Williams asked. “If they couldn’t detect us, what happened?”
“They were informed of your departure and your intent,” Drosphi said.
“How?” Alex asked. “The mosar in our system isn’t developed enough to communicate according to Jii.”
Drosphi shifted. “From what I was told, someone from Earth attempted to negotiate with mosar. They approached King Heban and told him of this mission.”
Jii covered his face with his hands. He made sounds Alex assumed were the Otina language. Even though Alex didn’t have the smallest skill with xenolinguistics, he knew Jii was swearing up a storm.
“King Heban knew, so mosar knew. Because he has been taken by mosar,” Cowboy said.
Drosphi nodded. “You understand what we are up against.”
“And even if the signature would be small enough, you traveling our course would have the mosar in you communicating our exact position the whole way,” Williams said.
Drosphi’s eyes widened.
Jii laughed a bit. “See? See why I have faith this will work? The humans are not like the Esuraks or even the Inado. They have just been told they cannot survive the voyage. Stripped of hope. And yet they fight on, seeking to understand what they are facing. The humans are the real threat to mosar.”
“I just have to ask a question,” Cowboy said. “If the mosar in you and Jii can instantly communicate with mosar as a whole, then doesn’t it already know where we are going, Jii? Hasn’t the mosar in you already informed the... other mosar?”
Jii shook his head. “No. And it is quite upset about it.”
“Yes, I feel the irritation as well,” Drosphi said. “You must have infused the ship with particles from the moon you discovered.”
Jii smiled. “Yes. That was the intent and why our mission will succeed.”
“What happens now?” Alex asked.
“The battle is over, and we will leave you. We will travel far enough away so our ships won’t be able to detect the point at which you make your jump.”
“So now all we have to do is convince the Inado to let us leave the system when we are done,” Cowboy said.
There was an awkward silence.
“Good luck, Jii,” Drosphi said. “I hope you discover a way to defeat mosar. I shall not see you again.”
“Thank you, Drosphi. If you do see me again, perhaps you will find faith we can defeat this enemy.”
The video screen went dark.
“He doesn’t believe we have a chance, does he?” Williams asked.
“No. Nor do I suspect any other Otina believes so.”
“This mission scares mosar,” Alex said. “So we would do it even if we knew it would fail. I like scaring this monster.”
Chapter 17
The Enigma raced through space enclosed in its warp bubble. It was small enough not to be detected unless it came within a hundred thousand kilometers of a top quality sensor. And Jii had plotted the course carefully enough that he was certain they would not be discovered.
“What do you think it will be like when we get back home?” Alex asked.
Williams shrugged. “I don’t know. If Wu has tried to make a deal with mosar, we may not get a ticker-tape parade in Time’s Square.”
Greenaway looked over at Williams. “What?”<
br />
“A ticker-tape parade. It’s something they had back in the early 20th Century.”
“What’s ticker-tape?”
“Yeah, I was always confused about that as well,” Alex said.
“Oh, for crying out loud,” Williams said. “Don’t they teach history anymore?”
“History? Yeah. Weird stuff that sounds like you just made it up? Not so much,” Alex said.
“Why are you even in here?” Williams snapped. “We have work to do.”
“Take it easy,” Alex said. “I didn’t mean anything by it. Neither did Greenaway.”
“Sorry,” Williams said. “Just feeling a little stir crazy. Did you know we passed four months since we left Earth yesterday?”
Alex knew it. Most especially because Williams said it three times yesterday. The first time right after Cowboy posted it on the daily report board in the common room.
“Yeah,” said Alex. “I think I remember.”
“I’m surprised you aren’t more edgy, Alex.”
“Well several months in an Otina prison and seven years in Leavenworth seems to have tamped down my aversion to long term enclosures from which I choose not to escape.”
“But you didn’t escape,” Greenaway said. “You had to be rescued from the Otina prison and from the history I took,” he shot a look at Williams, “General Martin pulled you out of Leavenworth.”
“He was a Colonel at the time and—Wait. You learned about me in history class?” Alex asked.
“Yeah, I needed a three unit social science class for my degree, so I took alien history. The first week was about the first contact mission with the Hedali and the start of the Iltia’cor war.”
“Wow. I don’t know how I feel.”
“What did they say about me?” Williams asked.
“Uhm,” Greenaway said. “I think your name was listed.”
Williams turned to look at Greenaway. “What? My name was listed?”
“Well, I don’t think you were even on the Hedali ship, were you?”
“No, but that’s because we had to fix the hatch on the shuttle. Jackson never went on the Hedali ship either.”
“Yeah, but he was the Captain of the Fletcher. And the Hemingway.”
“He got mentioned twice in your class?”
