by Terry Frost
Amiik gave Sokolov his ship’s coordinates and asked him to come to his location. Amiik wanted to discuss which system they were going to next. Other than the Hive command center, there was no sign of intelligent life on any of the moons or planets in the Piner System, which was disappointing to Captain Sokolov. A secondary priority of the recon vessels was to use their sensors as they sped near the heavenly bodies for those signs.
After meeting up, the two commanders chose a place on their star charts known as the Centa System, located five light years from the Piner System. Centa’s location was on the general path between Kaptin and Homer Systems and was halfway between the two.
During the Elimination Hive meeting with all commanders, it was decided to look for Hive activity between the two systems. The reasoning for this was because of documentation the Hive had been out as far as Homer and the Aborian planet Abor. With the vastness of space, it was as good a path as any.
****
Back on Colossus, in the lab of Astrophysicist Miley Craft was having a conversation with Admiral Allen about a theory she had been working on, concerning the asteroid belt lying in the Kaptin system, like a first strike arsenal of the system.
Looking at Miley’s computer screen, she pointed at one of the large impact craters the Perseus flew over and said, “I’ve estimated the age of this crater and I believe it to be 45,000 to 50,000 years old.”
She scrolled down to another picture of three smaller size craters spread a mile apart and said, “Now these three I’ve estimated to be only 10,000 years old. As you know we have only scanned around an eighth of the planet, Admiral. With that being said, I’m nervous about the many square miles of tall grass that could easily hide several more impact craters that could be even younger yet.
“Since we’ve only looked at such a small portion of the planet, it is difficult to say but I fear this planet is positioned like Jupiter and is a catch-all for meteors and asteroids and comets. That may explain why we haven’t discovered any intelligent life on the planet, sir.”
“That is not good, Lieutenant. Not good at all. Normally, after receiving a report like this I would order a total scan of the planet in order to gather more data about impact craters and their ages, but with the probable chance of a large asteroid coming this way, I can't do that.
“Besides, even if an asteroid isn’t heading our way, I don’t have either the Striker or the Perseus to perform the flyovers, and Colossus’s scanners can’t penetrate cloud cover as detailed as ships in the planet’s atmosphere could.
“We do have two squadrons of combat wasps and four hornets we could use, but they don’t have the wider scanning capabilities the two Battlecruisers have on board and I would be using too many resources at one time.”
“How far out can Colossus’s sensors see objects out in space?” Miley asked.
“No more than 50,000 kilometers, which is plenty of range to detect an asteroid, allowing for us to get out of the way.
“I’m fairly positive the major part of the sheared off asteroid isn’t too much farther out. It's quite common for the smaller meteors to be out in front of the big ones, Admiral.”
“There could be a monster rock just out of our viewing range as we speak. I’ll have Ensign Cherny keep an active sensor working and if an asteroid comes within our sensors range, we will be ready to get the hell out of its path.”
Allen stood up and walked to the lab’s exit, turned and looked at the lieutenant and said, “I feel confident you are right in your assumption, but I really do hope this one time you're wrong. If not, we will be crossing the beautiful planet off our new homeworld list, Lieutenant. I’ll inform you the second our sensors pick anything up.”
“Thank you, sir, and I hope I’m wrong too.”
Colossus’s sensors continued to sweep space in the direction the probable asteroid would be coming from and had done so for a full eight hours. Helmsman Gordo McManus had relieved Ensign Cherny at the sensor station while she turned in for a few hours sleep. It was 0230 when an alarm sounded from the sensor screen.
Gordo had left the station long enough to get him a cup of coffee and was returning to the station when the alarm sounded. He hustled over to the station and spilled a few drops of the boiling hot coffee on his hand and blurted out, “Son-of-a-bitch, that’s hot.”
At that time of the morning, Command Central had the dimmer night lights on and Gordo and Commander Clive Chalmers, Chief of Security, were the only two present. Commander Chalmers walked over to the sensor station and as Gordo took his seat he asked: “What’s the sensor showing, Gordo?”
“I don’t know, Chief, but it's big, very big. Better go wake up the admiral. I was told by Ensign Cherny we’ve been looking for an asteroid that could be heading on a collision course with our dream planet.”
“Damn it. Disappointing. Very disappointing.”
Chalmers wasn’t looking forward to waking up the admiral but knew he had to. He pushed the intercom button and a sleepy voice answered. “Allen.”
“Sir, Chief Chalmers. Lieutenant McManus has detected an extremely large object heading our way at a speed of 40,000 miles an hour.”
“I’ll be right out.” Allen took the time to page, Lieutenant Craft to inform her that her asteroid finally showed itself, and it was a big one. Allen quickly dressed and hurried to the sensor station.
Gordo stood from the station and let his commander take his seat. The second Allen sat down he said, “Wake everyone, Gordo. We need a full complement of staff in here like now.”
“Aye, aye, Admiral.”
Gordo immediately went to his station and paged all pertinent personnel and the first one to show was Vice Admiral Petrov, then a minute later, Lieutenant Craft came out of the elevator. Petrov walked down a level to the sensor station and stood behind Allen’s right shoulder and asked, “Is that our asteroid, Admiral?”
“I believe it is, Admiral, and it’s a big damn one.”
Ensign Cherny came into Command Central fighting off a yawn. Admiral Allen saw Miley and stood up to give her the chair. She took her seat and both admirals stood behind her looking at the sensor screen.
“Give me details, Lieutenant?” Allen said.
“Sir, it's traveling at 40,000 mph and is 42,000 miles out. Admiral, the asteroid is 500 feet wide and over 800 feet long. Sir, nothing will survive up to a hundred square miles from the impact site.
“Damn it to hell,” Petrov said.
Stepping close to Petrov so he was the only one to hear him, Allen said, “Anatoli, would you mind making a ship-wide announcement as to the planet’s dire situation. They need to know we haven't’ found our homeworld?”
“Sure not looking forward to doing that, Arvin. But, yes, sir, I will.”
“Lieutenant McManus, plot us a course that will take us safely out of the asteroid’s path, but keep us close enough to see the destruction,” Allen said.
“Yes, sir, Admiral.”
Gordo positioned Colossus safely out of harm’s way and everyone sitting or standing in Command Central had a view of the monster hurling towards the beautiful blue-green world directly in its path. Maybe it was just Admiral Allen’s imagination but he thought he could feel the sadness weighing like a thick fog on his subordinates, himself included.
Chapter 35
The USC Striker and her crew were traveling at FTL as they had just performed their sixth jump since leaving Colossus to start their mission to the Homer System, the location of Planet Abor, and they were only halfway to their destination.
Commodore Jeeves was in control of the Striker while Captain Slain was catching a few hours sleep. Colonel Hammer and Burseq Maalik were carrying on a conversation in the ship’s small break room.
“Would you mind if I ask how old you are?” Hammer said.
“Not at all, Colonel. I am approaching my born day and on that day I will be 190 periods old. That may seem old to Humans but I’m considered to be fairly young for my rank in the Daakie mili
tary, and life in general. I have not reached half my life expectancy yet.”
“Unbelievable, Burseq. Humans only live to be one-hundred periods. If we survive all this Hive business I have to find out how you Daakie live so long.”
“Might I ask how old are you, Colonel Jak Hammer?”
“When I first stepped foot onto Colossus I was thirty-four periods old but soon I will turn thirty-eight.”
“You are still young too, my friend. We are both about the same age in our lives. We should have a toast to celebrate our longevity.”
“That would be a great idea, Maalik, but we have no libations on board.”
“You may not have any, but this Burseq does.” Maalik unzipped a hidden zipper on the left side of his battle armor, reached into the hidden pocket and brought out a small, gem-encrusted silver flask. “I have Pompal. I prefer Pompal to Yucklin.”
“Excellent, Maalik.”
Maalik unscrewed the top and took a sip of the contents of the flask then handed it to Jak.”
Jak did the same and handed it back to Maalik and with his throat burning said, “Good, but stout.”
Maalik laughed and said, “I see you have felt the burn. You are not used to Pompal but I’ve grown quite fond of it over the periods.”
“Well, since we still have a long way to travel before we get to the Homer System, how about I teach you a great game called chess.”
Maalik said he would love to learn the Human game chess. One might think the game would take quite a while for Maalik to catch on but to Jak’s surprise, after only three games the Burseq beat him in a game. Jak couldn’t believe the Daakie Burseq picked up the game so quickly and when Maalik won, the good Burseq was quite pleased.
Commodore Jeeves brought the Striker out of FTL and slowed it to a one-half impulse at the request of Captain Slain, who had just woke up from sleeping. The Striker had only been at one-half impulse for no more than a minute when the ship’s sensor alarm went off.
Slain looked at the sensor screen and saw a large six-pointed star signature only one-hundred and fifty miles from their location. The captain asked Colonel Hammer to man the ion cannons because he knew the signature was that of a Hive nest but it wasn’t coming in the Striker’s direction.
Slain slowed the Striker to one-quarter impulse and shut down everything on the ship except the engines and life support. He didn’t want the Hive to pick up their sensor array or any of the hundred or so electronic emissions coming from the ship. The captain’s only concern was the heat sig coming from the engines but for some reason, the Hive nest hadn’t turned in the Striker’s direction.
“Stay back, Captain. Let’s follow the sucker and see where it's headed. It could lead us to something more interesting.” Hammer ordered.
“It's not wise to run without your sensors, Colonel. You are blind to anything that might be within striking range,” Maalik said.
“I understand that Burseq, but I’m willing to take the risk. As long as the nest doesn’t turn towards us, we should be okay.”
They followed the nest for an hour without seeing anything but the Hive nest, but soon the Striker crew could see the light from a distant star. The light gave enough light to show two dark planets in an abnormally close distance from each other. Jeeves looked at the star chart and made note that they were in a system known to be the Imus System.
“Commodore, what is your sense of two planets locked in orbit so close to one another?” Captain Slain asked.
“Highly unusual, Captain. They are evenly matched in size and seem to have enough gravity to keep them apart rather than colliding. I would hypothesize the tug of war won’t last forever. Sooner or later the two planets will collide.”
They continued to follow the Hive nest and it became obvious the nest’s designation was the two planets. What Maalik said about not running their sensors started to we on Jak, he thought I was hoping to sit back and observe the nest but since it is only one, I should turn our sensors back on.
“Captain, turn on everything, including the sensors. Commodore, record our location.”
“Why show our hand now, Colonel?” Slain asked.
“It’s extremely dark here and what Burseq Maalik said is starting to bother me. You know I’ll take risks to achieve a goal, but one nest isn’t worth losing this ship, along with our lives.”
The second Captain Slain powered everything on the ship back up, the sensors close proximity alarms started wailing. Coming from many sides were thirty to forty Hive nests and they were all heading for the two dark planets.
“Commodore, get our next jump coordinates to Captain Slain, and make it quick.”
Suddenly the striker was rocked with two powerful hits aft. There was a Hive nest only ten miles behind them.
“Commodore now would be good,” Jak said.
Jeeves gave the jump sequence to Slain and within five long seconds the Striker jumped out.
“What the hell did we just find, gentlemen?” Slain asked.
“I’m not sure, but whatever it was, it was a major designation for a hell of a lot of Hive nests. Commodore, send a message to Burseq Amiik. Give him our last coordinates and let him know what we discovered.” Hammer said.
“Aren’t we going to give Burseq Amiik a helping hand, Colonel?”
“I would not order that to be so, Captain. This mission is to meet up with the Aborians. Their involvement with Elimination Hive is vital. Amiik is a fine Burseq and he knows how to command a mission. Remember, Captain, his mission at present is to locate and document discoveries of Hive, not to engage,” Bursque Maalik informed.
****
The time for the asteroid impact was only minutes away as it was only two thousand miles from the blue planet. The asteroid loomed large out of the right-hand side of Colossus’s 180-degree Command Central’s frontal space view.
A few miles out from entering the planet’s stratosphere, the asteroid began to change color from coal black to light gray, then it hit the stratosphere, turning blazing red. A minute later the monster rock hit impacted on the east coast of the planet’s central land mass.
The impact caused an enormous fireball to shoot thousands of miles up until it flattened and spread out once it hit the stratosphere.
“Oh, my heavens. How can something so destructive paint such a beautiful picture, Admiral?” asked Lieutenant Craft.”
“It is remarkable, Lieutenant, but only from this location. Nothing down there would look at it so.”
Vice Admiral Petrov turned to Admiral Allen and said, “Admiral, we need to figure out where we are going to continue our search again and once we know, we need to send messages to Burseq Amiik and Colonel Hammer.”
“Sure, we can plot a course to another system, but for the short term we are going to stay right here until members of Elimination Hive return and we hear something from Mission Abor.”
Chapter 36
A few hours after the asteroid impact, Admiral Allen received a call from Burseq Amiik. He told the admiral he received a message from Colonel Hammer informing him of their Hive find in the Imus System. Amiikk was disappointed when Allen ordered him to bring everyone back to the Colossus’s present location. Amiik started to protest but decided against it when Allen informed him of the asteroid impact that dashed the hopes of every Human on the Colossus that thought they had found their new homeworld.
****
The new Daakie King and Queen finally surfaced and when they did Junal contacted Ensign Wolski and asked if she could come visit her in her quarters if she was available. She also asked Margo to contact Dr. Piner and ask her to come to her quarters as well.
Margo was on duty but said she would ask her commander if she could leave her station to meet with Queen Gorvik at the queen’s request. Margo found Admiral Allen and told him about Junal’s request and his response was, “So, they finally come up for air, huh?”
Margo smiled and said, “About time, don’t you think, sir?”
Allen gr
anted her request and she left Command Central and went to Dr. Piner’s office to fetch her.
Meanwhile, King Gorvik went to the cafeteria and asked if someone could find him something to eat because he was famished and trying to do his best not to show how weak he felt from days of lovemaking. Afterall, being the youngest Daakie king in the history of Daakie kings favored his stamina for long hours of sex, but he might have pushed himself a little more than he should have.
While the king was stuffing his face his queen was in Ensign Wolski’s quarters laughing and giggling with her two Human friends. Once the embarrassing teasing subsided, Dr. Piner said, looking at Junal, “You are absolutely glowing, my Queen.”
“Please, Morgan, you don’t need to speak to Junal as your queen. Junal not, how do you say, comfort table with Junal’s friends saying, queen.”
Morgan laughed at the way Junal said comfortable and for her speaking in the third person. “You need to get used to being called a queen. Because that is who and what you are.”
Morgan could feel a change in Junal’s body, then it hit her, she thought she is pregnant. But that can’t be. She has only been with the king for a few days.
Just as she completed the thought Junal said, “I have a surprise for you, Morgan, and you too, Margo. Junal is with child.”
Margo looked at Morgan and said, “That isn’t possible, is it?”
Before Dr. Piner could respond Junal said, “Venic females know when they are with child, and Junal is.”
The three women started jumping around hand in hand in a circle, all filled with joy.
****
“When we get to Abor we need to check the aft part of the ship. Since we took those hits from the Hive nest she doesn’t feel right and I should know, I’ve flown this bird too many times and if I say she isn’t flying one-hundred percent, then you can bet something got damaged when she was hit,” Captain Slain said.
