The Apprentice Starship Engineer: Book One The Link

by Hanks, Daniel

  Tanat looked at the man. “Commander, he’s right. We must go.”

  The man got to his feet and moved slowly to the door. I herded them gently to the control room. The woman stopped crying, and the man talked, asking Tanat questions about old shipmates.

  “Romnel lives.” The woman cried.

  “Yes, he lives with his three sons and four daughters as well,” Tanat said.

  “Zertal, you and I have two daughters to care for. Remember! I won’t oppose joining our families,” the man said.

  “Thank you, Tamal, I always liked you, and I know it was never your plan to have children,” Zertal said, giving him a nod. She took his hand.

  “Romnel, I’m sure I’ll come to like him,” Tamal said.

  “Well, he’s your husband now. I hope you come to love him as I do,” Zertal said.

  I gave Tanat a glance, not knowing what to think about the exchange. He looked preoccupied. Maybe Margret would explain it to me, as my imagination was freaking me out.

  Tamal turned to me. “You’re an alien. I didn’t attack you of my own volition. It was the Link. If I would have attacked you, I would have won. I’m a Myonisa warrior and a Mashon. I’m in your debt. You freed me. Now I’ll free our people.”

  After entering the control room, he froze in midstride and pointed toward the front viewer. “Thormston,” he said. He ran toward a panel and shouted orders to Tangent, who replied that the order was denied.

  “Tangent, give Tamal command privileges,” I said, scooping up Margret as I joined Tamal. “What are we doing, Tamal?”

  “Battle. That’s a battleship, and we want to board her in one piece.” His hands flashed across the control panel. “Zertal, take our friend and get him into a combat suit with full battle weapons.”

  She touched my arm. “Come, we must hurry.” We passed the doorway of the control room, and she broke in to a run. I followed into a strange room with suits hanging on the walls next to lockers. “Strip, take off your clothes,” she said as she opened a locker and pulled out a weapon that looked like an old-time rifle.

  She handed me pants. They were thick and had straps and hooks hanging off of them. I pulled them on. She reached down the back of them and retrieved a plug. Then I pulled on the top, and she helped me fasten them together. Even though it was thick, the suit was light and comfortable. We worked fast now. She handed me boots. She passed me shin armor, then knee and thigh armor. Soon the light suit gained weight. As I hooked on a breast plate, she fitted my elbow plate. Sweat dripped off her nose as she fastened a belt of weapons around me while I put on armored gloves. After attaching my environmental pack, she handed me a helmet and looked me over, adjusting a couple armor plates.

  She smiled. “Walk around. See how it feels, then run and jump over a few things. See if you can fight in it.”

  Tamal came running in. Zertal ran over to his locker as he pulled off his clothes. They were going twice as fast as I had. Taking her advice, I walked around, then jogged and jumped over a few benches, dove and rolled across the floor, amazed everything stayed in place.

  Tamal was suited up. Zertal gave him a kiss and then handed him his helmet. I walked over. He nodded to me. “Stay close,” he said, putting on his helmet.

  Zertal went with us. We entered a strange room with odd-looking rockets in it. They were hanging nose down with long doors and a place for someone to stand on both sides. He motioned for me to climb in one of the sides while he climbed into the other. I looked at it with horror. The rocket was about fifteen feet long and four feet across. The nose was pointed, and in the rear was the motor. We’d stand in the middle, facing each other. I had a bad feeling, but they were both waiting for me. What could I do? Cursing, I climbed into the death trap. Tamal and I were strapped in face-to-face. We couldn’t move.

  Tamal’s voice broke my death trance. “Drake, I’m loading your suit with a map of the Thormston, showing you possible routes to the communication center in case we get separated.” He paused. “In just few moments, Tangent will release fifty decoys and forty missiles along with us. Then in the confusion we’ll get through and smash our way inside. We’ll get out and work our way to the communication center where we’ll stop the Link. Oh, hit the fourth button and you can see where we’re going.”

  I hesitated. Maybe I didn’t want to know what was happening. I moved my curser and then pressed the button. On my helmet visor a picture from the nose of our rocket was displayed. I could see a tube. We entered it. After a few moments, I felt acceleration, and we were in space headed toward a small dot. I looked around. I saw we were surrounded by many other rockets.

  “Isn’t this great? We’re the first. No one has ever tried what we’re doing. Oh, we’ve launched dummies and computers into another ship, but never a person, and never in anger. Aren’t we lucky? Don’t you feel excited?”

  “Yeah, that’s me. Excited.”

  Shit, he’s going to kill me, I thought. Our engine fired again, and the rockets wove about. A few shot ahead, dumping clouds of dust. Bits of debris rattled across our rocket as beams of light reached out from the Thormston, blowing up a rocket near us. I swallowed the bile rising from my stomach as we sped up. A rocket shot ahead, dropping more dust to fool the Thormston’s sensors. I prayed for its success. I was just able to make out the Thormston and then all hell broke loose. Another rocket exploded.

  Beams played back and forth in all directions. Our craft shook from a nearby explosion of another rocket and more debris tapped our sides. Tamal said something that reminded me of swearing. Our rocket moved around the beams as they tracked us, but we stayed ahead of them. We were close. I could see the Thormston’s side going past as beams from different batteries tried to hit us. Then we turned, and I gritted my teeth. We went right in, crashing into the big ship. There was a jolt and vibration as we ground to a stop. The door popped open. I scrambled to my feet, bringing my weapon up, panning the area.

  Tamal joined me. “This way,” he said.

  We moved out. I heard the roar of air leaking through the hole we’d punched in the hull. We hit anyone we saw with a sonic blast and kept moving. At a main hallway, a crowd of people came running toward us, yelling and screaming.

  “Drake, we have to go this way. Fire grenades now.”

  I aimed ahead of the crowd, creating a cloud in front of them. Most of the people were on their hands and knees when we reached them. I followed Tamal, and we jogged past and down the main hall. After passing an intersection, an explosion knocked me off my feet. I looked over and saw a light-armored vehicle approaching. Switching weapons, I attacked it, scoring several hits to its turret. Dodging and rolling, I stayed away from its weapons. I sprinted past it, slapped several explosive charges to its side and dove for cover into a small shop. The explosion was satisfying, breaking the vehicle in half.

  I looked around for Tamal and found him lying in the main hall. His suit said he was in stasis due to injuries. I grabbed him and pulled him into a room off the hall, hiding him behind a desk. After checking his suit and making sure he was stable, I continued down the main hall, but made a turn, taking a different route to the communication center.

  The hallways seemed deserted. I only had to blast two men. Moving fast at a light jog, I arrived at a heavy door. From the suit’s display, I knew it lead to the communication center, and set several explosives. After stepping back around a support beam, I detonated the charges, making a loud roar and crash as the door fell to the floor. I ran, jumping over the smoking wreckage. Then dropped to the floor and rolled, coming up in a crouch. I fired at four armed men, knocking them down with the sonic blaster. I looked around for other targets.

  The communication center was a huge dome with a large antenna and several smaller arrays mounted on swivels. I went down the metal stairs to the lower floor below the antennas. Looking across the dome as I ran down the stairs, I saw a group of people running toward me. After arriving at the lower level, I sprinted across, hiding behind machinery.
I watched as the group took positions around the stairs, waiting to ambush me.

  Carefully, I moved away, leaving them waiting. I took another flight of stairs to a lower level and came to a large equipment room with rows of electronic cabinets. I worked my way around them, coming to a large empty area with a pyramid in the center with a ball on top. From the ceiling another pyramid hung upside down, touching the ball. A group of children came running into the room with weapons. I stepped back, taking cover.

  The leader, an older girl, stuck her weapon into the face of a small boy. “Come out or I’ll kill him,” she said.

  “Please do as she says or she will kill her little brother,” a voice said.

  I moved quietly away, circling to the side of the line of children.

  “I know where your home world is. You should give up now. You’ll be placed higher than your fellow humans. That’s what you call yourself, isn’t it? Human? I’ll place you at the top of your species. You’ll be like a god to the other humans. You have just a few seconds before poor Narista kills her beloved brother.”

  That silver gray ball, it just doesn’t belong, I thought. I lifted my heavy rail gun, took aim and fired a stream of sub-light projectiles into it, sending bits of glass and plastic raining down all over the room. Narista dropped her weapon and grabbed her brother. She started crying. The other children looked stunned. Most dropped their weapons. I came out and picked them up and took them from the children still holding them.

  “Do you know who your parents are?” I asked. Narista and a few of the other children nodded. “Narista, help everyone find their parents. If you can’t find them, keep them with you. Understand?” She nodded.

  I called Tangent and learned where he’d be docking. With a nod to the kids, I left, hurrying to get Tamal before the leaders of Thormston got their act together. Most of the people I passed looked stunned. Several walked as if they’d been drinking. Others talked to themselves. Only a few looked sharp and awake. I stopped those people and told them what was happening.

  “Get to medical. Get your receiver removed so you’ll never get caught in the Link again,” I told them.

  After returning to Tamal, I pushed the desk out of the way and then pulled him onto my shoulders. I headed to Tangent. Zertal and a very nice-looking woman met us at the airlock door with a stretcher for Tamal.

  As we moved Tamal to medical, I looked at the woman. “Who are you? Where did you come from?”

  “Octella. I was made by Tangent and Margret,” she said.

  “What? Made you?” I looked her over. She was half a head shorter than me with thick orange hair. She was very feminine-looking with long legs and body. She blushed at my inspection. “I didn’t mean to stare. You’re pretty.” She really blushed then. I helped Zertal with Tamal, loading him into the auto doc. Octella tapped on the controls.

  “I know all about you from Margret. She told me everything. It’s nice to meet you,” she said, giving me a quick smile as she looked me up and down. I felt myself blush. She smiled again and went back to making an entry to the auto doc. “Margret, he’s even better looking in person,” Octella said. Margret swore. Octella turned toward me and took my hand. “Let’s get you out of that combat suit.” She led me into the armory and helped me undress. She did so without embarrassing me, but I was still relieved to put on a pair of coveralls. After I was dressed, she grabbed me and kissed me on the lips. “I’m part Margret, and I love you as she does.”

  “You have to know I’m madly in love with Sandra and won’t leave her.”

  She hugged me and sighed. “I’ll take whatever I can get when I can.”

  I patted her shoulder. “Sorry, you’re a nice woman and don’t deserve this.” I left her and headed toward the command center.

  Chapter 13: Sandra Wilson, a fleet soldier

  I called Sandra. I heard the concern, worry and anger in her voice. “We’ll talk later,” she said, leaving me feeling uncomfortable. Well, I thought, how many conversations had I ever had with her that were comfortable?

  Tamil landed Tangent near the camp where Sandra met us in a transport. She wore a fleet uniform with four strips on her sleeve. “Get in. We have to get going,” she said.

  “Damn, Sandra, you make that uniform look good,” I said as I climbed in.

  “Yeah, I’m active again. This is going to suck. Our orders are clear. If we meet hostile aliens, we’re to activate all ex-military personnel.”

  “So, Mike took charge?”

  “Yeah, he did. He held the rank of Major when he retired. Drake, he wants you to tell everyone what happened at our staff meeting in the cafeteria in twenty minutes.”

  I looked at Sandra as she turned the transport around. “How bad was it? Did anyone get taken by the Link?”

  She looked down. “Seventeen were taken. One of them was a navigator. The Link knows where our home is.”

  The tables were stacked against the wall and the chairs were lined up in rows. Everyone wore fleet uniforms, except for me. Sandra sat me in the front row. I felt out of place as I raked a strand of hair out of my face. Everyone else had short hair and looked very proper. I rubbed my unshaved chin.

  What sounded like a bang startled me. Everyone stood, except me. I started to get up, but as Mike came to the front of the room, he told everyone to take their seats. He stopped in the middle and took a seat behind a table, facing the audience.

  “Thank you for coming. We’re all on active status. Pay and benefits will start from today,” he said in a commanding voice. “As you’re aware, we’ve encountered an aggressive alien race. Seventeen of us have been subjected to a mind link, one of them a navigator. We must assume the aliens now know the location of our home worlds. Drake was on one of their ships. I haven’t had a chance to debrief him. I thought it best if everyone heard his report firsthand. Drake, would you mind sharing your adventure with us?” He pointed at a chair at the end of his table.

  After walking over to take the chair he’d indicated, I took a seat. I gave them a brief account, telling them how I’d found the transmitter. “After Bachnon attacked Sandra, I received a report of strange radio signals. Inspecting him, I was able to find his receiver and remove it. He led me to the alien ship where I met Tamal, and we disabled the alien transmitter.”

  Mike frowned. “How did you gain control of the ship?”

  “Bachnon gave me the password.”

  “Where was the transmitter?”

  “On a large battleship in orbit.”

  He frowned again. “Tell us about the aliens.”

  “They’re being controlled against their will by what they call the Link. They’re in our debt, as we’ve released them. I believe they’ll help us.”

  “Thank you, Drake, you’re dismissed for now.”

  I went to return to my seat, but was escorted into a nearby office by a crewman, who stayed with me.

  Sandra entered the room and dismissed the crewman. When the door closed, I whistled. “You do look awesome in that uniform,” I said.

  “Don’t try your smooth talk with me. You went alone. What were you thinking?”

  “Sandra, there were thousands of aliens marching toward us. I had to stop them.”

  “You? By yourself? Alone?”

  “Ah, well, I didn’t think it’d be as hard as it turned out to be.”

  Whack. My head rang from her hit. I shook off the shock. “Think would be the operative word. You didn’t think. You should have taken Mike’s men with you.” She looked down at me with her hands on her hips. She gave me a hand up and then wrapped her arms around me. “I was so worried. I didn’t know where you’d gone.” She squeezed me tightly. “The aliens will be arriving shortly. Get cleaned up. You’ll be meeting them with Mike in one hour.” She gave me a quick kiss. “I have a lot to do. I’ll see you when I can tonight, I hope.” She gave me another kiss and then left the room.

  Showered and clean shaven, I won a smile from Sandra as I joined her on the edge of a clearing
. My friend, Tamal, and his wife, Zertal, joined us. “Drake, my friend, I’d introduce you to my family, but I don’t know their names yet.”

  “Tamal, my wife, Sandra,” I said.

  “So good to meet you. Your husband is a brave man, a great warrior. He rode with me on a spike. He’s the first to ride one into a ship in battle. You must be very proud of him,” Tamal said.

  Sandra looked at me and scowled. “Yes, very proud. He’s too brave at times.”

  “I owe him my life, twice. Once for rescuing me from the Link, and the next, for hiding me when I was hurt.”

  “Tamal is modest. We’d have never gotten past the Thormston’s sensors. He’s a master at sensor countermeasures,” I said. “Tamal, you must show me how you fooled them.”

  Tamal blushed. “Such an honor to be praised by a brave man.”

  “Tamal, you were in that spike. You’re as brave as I.”

  “There,” someone said.

  We looked up, and just over the trees, I saw the contrail as the shuttle turned in an S curve, losing speed and altitude.

  Sandra gave my hand a squeeze. “I have to go. You need to be with Mike.”

  “Okay.” I looked around and found Mike. I walked over to him. He nodded as I approached.

  It was a large shuttle. It filled the clearing. We had to move to allow it to settle. The door in the side opened and ten armed men rushed out, taking flanking positions around the door. Mike tensed at the maneuver.

  I whispered, “Mike, these are our friends.”

  A tall handsome man came down the ramp. He walked up to Tamal, who introduced him to us. “This is Tasorl. He’s the captain of the Thormston,” Tamal said. Turning to me, he said, “Captain, Drake Wilson. Drake is the hero who released us from the Link, and Mike is their leader.”

  Tasorl bowed. “You saved us. Ask us anything and we’ll give it to you. My family is yours.”

  “Thank you. When the Link is gone, I hope to spend time getting to know you and your family,” I said. He seemed happy with that answer.