by William Wood
“Yes mistress, I would be happy to,” Ion said. “We should also run diagnostics on each part again to make sure they are functional.”
“Yes, that’s what I intend to do.”
“You have the bridge, captain,” Astra said, and kissed him on the cheek.
“Yes ma’am,” Calvin said. Astra left the bridge with Ion.
CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX:
THE COMING STORM
Calvin woke up in a great mood. The dark shadow hanging over him was gone, and he felt a fresh feeling of hope. The task ahead didn’t seem as daunting. Astra said yes.
After breakfast, he headed to the medical bay to check on Dev, certain that nothing in the galaxy could ruin his mood. Sadly, MD-71 informed him Dev’s condition hadn’t changed; he was still clinging to life and there was no improvement. But at least Dev was still alive. There was still hope. It was barely a glimmer, but it was something to hold onto.
After that, Calvin headed to the bridge. The air was still and quiet. It felt nice. He climbed the stairs to the top and walked down the corridor to the bridge. The lighting was set low, and half of the lights were off. There were usually no shadows, since the light came from a set of lights that ran the length of the corridor. But halfway to the bridge, he saw something that made him stop; a long patch of darkness stretched down the right side of the corridor, about a hundred feet from the bridge. He was about to dismiss it, thinking it was just a harmless shadow, then he wondered; what was casting a shadow? Calvin stared at it. Mesmerized, Calvin walked under the light and waved his arms around, trying to locate the source. He moved forward until his own shadow lined up with the mysterious patch of darkness. He examined the two, side-by-side. It looked like an outline of a person, but much larger.
Then, without thinking about it, he stepped into it. A cold chill enveloped him for a brief second, he shivered. What was that? He stood there, not moving. Nothing else happened.
“I must be losing my mind,” Calvin said to himself. “Or I’m just tired.” Shaking his head, he continued to the bridge. The door closed, and he sat down. For some reason, he didn’t want to turn his back on the door, but he did.
Normally he would have found comfort in the quiet solitude, but not now. There was a strange feeling in the back of his mind. He felt uneasy, and he didn’t like it. He decided to pull up details on the ninth segment on the main computer to give him something to take his mind off of what was probably his imagination running wild.
He didn’t notice when the door opened, and someone walked in. It was Nils.
“Hi Calvin,” Nils said. “Are you OK? You look worried.”
“No, I’m all right,” Calvin said. “I just saw the strangest thing out in the corridor. Did you see a shadow out there?”
“No, I didn’t see anything unusual.”
Calvin shook his head. “It’s probably just me being paranoid.”
“Is that the ninth segment?” Nils asked, pointing at the screen.
“Yeah, look at that.” Calvin transferred the image to the large monitor. It was a large asteroid in the middle of a massive asteroid field.
“The Alerians sure built their bases in interesting places,” he said.
“They wanted them to be hidden,” Calvin said. “So they built them in places most people would stay away from, where they thought would never be found.”
“I see that.”
“Look at this one; a rock, floating in the middle of a thousand other rocks, out in the middle of nowhere. The only way to find this one would be if someone stopped right next to it and just happened to stumble on the right rock. The odds of that must be too high to figure out.” Calvin zoomed out and looked at the star map from further out. There was nothing in the area for a dozen light years.
“What a lonely place,” Calvin said. He highlighted the asteroid. “I’m feeling good about this one. In and out; easy.”
“You know,” Nils said. “You really should stop saying that. Every time you do, something very bad happens. Why don’t you just say, it’s going to be next to impossible, and we probably won’t survive.”
“You think that would help?”
“It couldn’t hurt. Maybe the opposite would happen for once.”
“Or maybe I just shouldn’t say anything,” Calvin said. “I’ll just say, there it is. Let’s go get it.”
“Good idea.”
“How have you been, Nils? We haven’t had time to talk much recently.”
“I’m sorry, I guess I prefer the company of robots. I don’t know why.”
“I think I can understand that, robots are less complicated.” Calvin said, even though he couldn’t. Except for Ion, Calvin couldn’t imagine spending time with only robots. They were cold and emotionless and offered no help in bad situations. They were simply things to command.
“I suppose. I haven’t had a good reason to leave the engine room. Ion has been teaching me how to maintain Alerian engines. I love Alerian technology. It’s elegant; easy to work on.”
“I’m glad you found something to keep you busy,” Calvin said. “We haven’t had any problems with the engines, so obviously you’re doing a great job.”
“Not with these engines,” Nils said. “They’re amazing. They require very little maintenance. Well, every system on the ship really. Speaking of the engines, I think I’ll go back and make sure everything is all right down there. See you later.”
An hour later, Calvin was on his way to the dining room to meet Astra for dinner when he passed the dark shadow again. He walked by it slowly, looking at it closely. He didn’t stop, instead he wanted to show it to Astra. Maybe she could figure out where it was coming from. Strange, he thought. It looked like it was closer to the bridge.
After dinner, Astra followed him to where the shadow was, but when they got there, the shadow was gone. Calvin walked back and forth along the corridor.
“I don’t understand it,” he said, slightly embarrassed but mostly very confused. “I swear it was here; right here.”
“It’s OK sweetie,” Astra said, with a forced smile; Calvin thought he knew what she was thinking.
“You don’t believe me,” Calvin said.
“I’m sorry,” she said gently.
“Maybe you’re right. I don’t know.” Calvin followed Astra to the library, not sure if he saw the shadow or not.
The next week went slowly, but to Calvin, that was a really good thing. Once again they slipped in to their familiar and comfortable routines. Everyone stayed busy, and seemed happy. For his part, Calvin trained in the simulator. He'd found another advanced training course, that, according to Astra, only a few people had completed. It was the most difficult course he'd ever taken. Whoever designed the course had clearly summoned their worst nightmares, discarded the laws of physics and felt a need to take out their frustrations on whoever was foolish enough to attempt it.
That became clear as soon as the canopy closed and Calvin was flying though a wide featureless tunnel. Gravity shifted downward suddenly, and his fighter dropped down, the ship scraped on the metal surface before he could yank back on the stick. His fighter exploded in a spectacular fireball.
“What was that?" Calvin asked out loud. He hadn’t died in the simulator in a long time. Determined not to be beaten, he tried again. This time he was ready. He blasted through at full speed, hoping to make it through as quickly as possible. It didn't work. He eventually hit a wall and died as quickly.
It took him seven attempts to get through the tunnel. Later that evening, he complained about it to Astra.
"What was the point of it?" Calvin asked. "When am I going to have to fly through a tunnel, or over a planet with shifting gravity?"
"You must be talking about the star compression missions,” Astra said.
“Yes, those are the ones. I beat everything else.”
“Well, first of all, those are mostly to improve your reflexes, and build on your combat skills. So, how many times did the first one take?"
"Two; I d
id it in two."
"Wow, that's impressive. You beat the great master flight instructor Lars Stryker. He holds the record; he beat it in four tries."
"Well, it was more like seven,” Calvin said playfully.
"I thought so," Astra said with a grin.
For the next week, Calvin focused on the new simulator courses. They were evil, putting him in situations he knew he would never need. But he refused to let the machine beat him. Each day he checked on Dev. To his dismay, there was no change.
Eight days after they set out for the ninth segment, the simulator canopy opened and Calvin climbed out, nearly dizzy, having spent so much time in the simulator. He stumbled to the library to find Astra.
“I did it!” He announced. “I beat the simulator. All twenty star compression missions.”
“No way,” Astra exclaimed. “No way, you did?”
“Yes,” Calvin said proudly. “I earned a level twelve rating, gold space wings.”
“Oh my gosh, I can’t believe it.” Astra said. She stood up and hugged him. “I mean, I can believe it, you’ve worked hard, but do you realize only sixtyfour people in history have achieved that rating.”
“Really? Sixty-four?”
“That I know of. Pilots usually don’t live that long. Calvin, I’m impressed.”
“Thanks, I didn’t think I was going to make it. The last one was the worst; I had to escape from the inside of a planet that was imploding. Gravity was all over the place. Right in the middle of that mess, several worm-holes formed around me. How crazy is that? How did you finish that one?”
“Actually, I never finished the compression missions,” Astra said. “But you did sweetie, so we need to celebrate.”
She walked to the food processor and produced two glasses of sparkling white liquid. Against the background of the open windows, in full view of the blue hyperspace cloud, Astra handed him the glass. He took it, and stared into her eyes.
“To you,” she said. “And your magnificent accomplishment.”
“Thank you,” Calvin said. “And to you, my best friend.” They clicked their glasses together. Calvin was about to take a drink, when he saw out of the corner of his eye, the blue hyperspace cloud wrapped around Azure Frost dispersed. A large Goremog spaceship hovered just outside the windows, its laser cannon pointed directly at them. Explosions rocked the ship. Calvin stared out the window in complete shock. Thousands of laser bolts filled the air; fighters swooped by.
“Calvin!” Astra exclaimed. They dropped their drinks, splashing white liquid into the carpet. Calvin and Astra ran as fast as they could to the bridge. A massive explosion burst in front of the ship; followed by a shock wave that rocked them from side to side. Calvin made his way unsteadily to his seat. Astra joined him, shouting the whole way, “Ion, get the shields up! Is the cloak activated?”
“The shields and the cloak are activated and operating at full power mistress,” Ion reported. “However; there is a great deal of weapons fire in the vicinity. I am concerned that if we’re hit by a stray shot, the energy disruption on our shields will be visible.”
“Then let’s not get hit by a stray shot!” Calvin jammed the throttle forward and pulled up. He wanted to take them away from the battle, so he looked at the short-range sensors to get an idea of where he needed to go. The entire screen was red, not just red dots but large red splotches.
He looked back up and got the shock of his life; space was full of ships; fighters, bombers, corvettes, cruisers, frigates, destroyers, carriers and battleships; all were blasting each other to pieces. Calvin turned the ship hard to port to avoid entering the battlefield, but it was too late. They were in the middle of the battle. As they turned, several shots intended for other ships splashed against the Frost’s shields.
“It’s the Goremog and No’Rath!” Astra shouted.
“Two massive fleets,” Ion stated. “I suggest we take evasive action immediately.”
“I’m working on it!” Calvin said. “Someone tell me why we stopped here!”
“There is a strong anti-hyperdrive field operating in the area,” Ion said. “It forced us back into real space.” The ship was jolted by the impact of more laser hits. Calvin yanked the controls hard to starboard to avoid hitting a corvette. As they passed, the corvette opened fire on them, hitting their forward shields. Calvin looked at Astra, about to ask her a question.
“Our shields are holding,” she said. “I think they can see us now.”
“They were wondering why an empty spot in space had shields,” Calvin said.
“Yes, now they are targeting us!”
“Red alert!” Calvin shouted into the comm system. “Everyone to your battle stations! Man the turrets!” Calvin turned to port again, hoping that the enemy had lost them. But, his hopes were dashed when red dots started converging on their location, including one very large contact.
“Calvin, get us out of here!” The reason for her panic was clear. A very large battleship was directly behind them, and energy readings from the sensors were spiking off of the scale; it was getting ready to open fire on them. Calvin pulled up. He wanted to increase speed, but they were already going as fast as they could go. Astra brought a rear view up on a monitor. Calvin’s heart almost stopped beating when he saw what was on it. The biggest, scariest looking battleship he had ever seen. It was so big; the laser cannons on front almost filled the whole screen.
“Calvin!” Astra screamed. Calvin pushed the controls as far as they would go to port, but the laser cannon moved with them. Suddenly a blue light filled the bridge. A beam of light shot out of the barrel of the laser cannon. Calvin pulled up suddenly, just as a giant laser blast shot under them.
“Oh my gosh, that was close!” Astra exclaimed. He jerked the controls again to the right, and narrowly missed another volley. He successfully dodged the next two, but another laser blast hit the Frost from the side. Calvin tried to dodge it and pushed the controls down, right into the next massive blast from the battleship. The bridge lit up. Calvin and Astra had to cover their eyes briefly until the glass windows automatically adjusted. Then the blast came. The ship shook violently. The beam only lasted a few seconds, but the effects were devastating.
“Our shields are down to eighty percent strength,” Astra said. Azure Frost was faster than the battleship, and managed to move away, but other ships didn’t have trouble keeping up. The shields took a beating. Several fighters made strafing runs on Azure Frost, unleashing a storm of laser fire.
The battleship nailed Azure Frost in the back one more time before it was out of range.
“The shields are now at seventy percent,” Ion stated. “That last hit damaged three power converters in the auxiliary power generator. “
Out the side window, Calvin watched as a small bomber wheeled away after unleashing a volley of small but powerful missiles, two of which slammed into Azure Frost starboard shields. After the bomber turned away, it exploded in a bright light. Wexton’s victory shout could be heard among the battle sounds.
Calvin turned to port, only to come face to face with another shock. A Goremog titan was heading directly towards them. The space ahead lit up with bright red lasers. Behind it, four No’Rath battle cruisers were unloading everything it had on the titan. A torrent of destructive energy impacted the front of Azure Frost. Ion was trying to say something and Astra was screaming. There were several bright flashes on the bridge, and a shower of sparks from a computer panel near Ion.
When it quieted down, Calvin was able to hear Ion say, “Our shields are down to fiftynine percent!”
Calvin desperately wanted to find a way out, but the only thing he could do was head to the area he thought contained the least amount of ships and get there as quickly as possible.
“We’re being followed,” Astra said. At least six small cruisers followed Azure Frost closely, and poured a continuous stream of laser fire and missiles.
“Master Calvin, if you can get us away from the main battle, we should
be able to get back into hyperspace.”
“I’m working on it,” Calvin said.
“There are six hundred and twelve ships out there,” Astra said. “And I am only detecting seven life signs.”
“What?” Calvin asked. “How is that possible? Are you saying there are only seven people directing that entire battle?”
“Yes, and the rest are robots,” Astra said. A bright flash covered the screen as a battleship exploded with the brilliance of a sun going supernova. Several smaller ships got caught in the blast and disintegrated.
“This is no place for us to be,” Calvin said. “Ion, are we clear yet?”
“Almost sir,” Ion said. “Just another minute.”
The scanner was covered with red dots; Calvin had a hard time seeing where they were going. Suddenly an opening appeared in front of them, and Calvin shot through it. Horror filled him as he saw why; three large No’Rath battleships blocked their way. All of them opened fire on the Frost. A dozen beam weapons zeroed in on them. Explosions filled the air, the smell of smoke followed and a rancid aroma of burning metal.
“Are we on fire?” Calvin asked. A quick glance at the internal sensor screen showed three fires burning out of control on deck one and two.
“Our shields are collapsing!” Astra screamed. Laser shots were coming from all directions. Calvin saw some shots coming from the Frost. Wexton and Nils and the combat robots were in the turrets going crazy shooting at targets. Calvin tried to take them under and between two battleships, in hopes they wouldn’t shoot for risk of damaging friendly ships. He was wrong, it seemed their fire intensified.
“The forward shields are down!”
The next few shots hit the front of Azure Frost directly. Consoles exploded. Each blast caused savage damage to the ship.
It was a rough ride and it seemed to last forever. Calvin did his best to steer away from incoming shots, to keep them away from the totally vulnerable front. One good hit on the bridge would kill them instantly.
Azure Frost took a beating the whole way. When they were clear, Calvin took the ship in to hyperspace. He was surprised the hyperdrive engines still worked. Calvin felt a surge of relief when the stars changed, and they sped away.
