Space Corps - Explorer (Book 1)

by K. W. Matthews

  Gibbs turned toward the exit of the bridge. “As do I, but if there’s still a risk, I don’t want to leave you shorthanded.”

  “You have your orders, Commander. The Explorer has a great tactical team,” Ashley nodded toward Holt and Tran, “and we’ll still have the Guardian.”

  “Admiral, I hope I’m not saying too much, but there’s something you’re not telling me.”

  Ashley’s face flushed. She hated that he was right. “Fair enough, Commander. I’m having you go ahead of us, because if the aliens are hostile and our ship is attacked and left helpless, I want you to come back for any survivors. The Martian lander was lucky we were in the area to assist as quickly as we did.”

  “And you’re afraid the Explorer won’t be as lucky?”

  Ashley nodded.

  Gibbs snapped into a salute. “I hope it doesn’t come to that, but if it does, you can count on the Protector.”

  As the commander walked away, Ashley heard a rumbling in her stomach. She neglected to eat for quite some time and it finally caught up to her.

  “Cole, you have the bridge,” Ashley said as she left.

  While she walked, Ashley reached up to the top of her head and pulled a band from her hair. Shaking, her hair flew about in wild fashion. Strands stuck up in every direction. Though she brushed it down, her hair didn’t stay in place long.

  On the way to the mess hall, she passed the barracks. Looking in, almost a third of the bags contained a sleeping crewmember. Ashley didn’t want to disturb anyone, but noticed one young man had his bag only half sealed. He lay awake with a picture in his hands. His eyes glossed over from staring at it for so long.

  “Who is that?” Ashley asked, pointing to the picture.

  Startled, the young man said, “My wife, sir.”

  “May I?”

  The crewman placed the picture in Ashley’s extended hand.

  “She’s pretty.”

  “She’s the most gorgeous woman I know,” said the crewman. “She was pregnant before I left. I got a message earlier today. Apparently I’m a father.”

  Smiling, Ashley said, “Congratulations.”

  “Thanks. I just wish I could have been there.”

  Ashley wrung her hands together. She didn’t know what to say.

  “It’s alright, I suppose,” the crewman said, “but I’ll always regret it.”

  “That’s the life of a soldier. We go where we’re told, when we’re told to go. We have a duty, and sometimes it gets in the way of our lives,” Ashley said. “It’s sad, but it has to be done. In the end, a soldier’s life is about sacrifice. Can I ask you something?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Isn’t it worth it?”

  Chapter 11

  First Contact

  “Admiral, we’re here.”

  The words of Lieutenant Harris snapped Ashley out of a daze.

  “Sensor team, I need to know if the aliens have been here.”

  Working together, the sensor team on the command bridge of the Explorer worked quickly. The five-man team needed to digest a lot of information, but they knew all of it was crucial to their mission. After several minutes, one of the crewmen popped his head up from his console.

  “Admiral, the energy signature isn’t showing up here.”

  “Are you saying they never came this way, or that they haven’t arrived yet?”

  “We don’t know. We’re working to figure that out.”

  Members of the sensor team worked with a purpose and fervor rarely required for their job. They wouldn’t disappoint their admiral or country in a time of need.

  Another crewman stood. “Admiral, it looks like the alien vessel did maintain its projected path, but hasn’t gotten to this point yet.”

  “And what makes you say that?”

  The crewman pushed her console readout to the secondary monitor at the front of the room. The image showed the location of the Explorer, the projected path of the alien vessel, and the energy signature they followed to find the aliens.

  “Sir, if you look closely, you’ll see that the energy signature is very close to where we currently are, but hasn’t reached this location yet. However, it’s still steadily growing toward us.”

  Ashley’s jaw dropped. “Are you telling me we can—?”

  “See them? Yes, sir. We’re trying to focus our cameras on them now.”

  On the primary monitor, the computer projected an empty image of space. Every few seconds, the image flickered slightly as the camera tried to focus on something. With great effort, a dark grey outline seemed to form out of nowhere in the middle of the screen.

  “Admiral, I present you with your aliens.”

  For a moment, Ashley stood perfectly still. Unremarkable, the alien ship showed a round base at the front, but came to a bit of a point at the top. A disturbing color, it looked as though the aliens designed it to blend in with the background of the dark emptiness around it. If it didn’t block out a number of stars, they would not have noticed it at all.

  “This is the admiral to security. Please come in.”

  “Go ahead, Admiral.”

  “I need you to bring Commander Hong of the Fu Zing to the bridge, please. I have something I need him to see.”

  “Yes, sir. We’ll have him there shortly.”

  A few moments later, Hong was on the bridge with two security officers and a translator. He stuck out his arm as if to offer a handshake to Ashley, but after looking at the security officers, he withdrew it before she accepted.

  “Commander Hong,” Ashley said, “is that what attacked your ship?”

  He had to look close to see it, but Hong nodded slowly. “There’s no question. That’s what attacked us. How are you planning to destroy it?”

  Ashley walked over to the scanning consoles. “We don’t intend to destroy it, Commander.”

  Stepping forward, Hong said, “I don’t think you understand. If you don’t destroy it, it will destroy your ship.”

  “I hope you’re wrong. We can’t just attack a ship that hasn’t done anything to us. We don’t know what they want, or why they’re here.”

  Hong’s breathing grew faster and his eyes grew wide. “Admiral, I beg you, if you won’t destroy it, then at least get out of its way.”

  Moving over to Lieutenant Card’s side, Ashley said, “Hong, I understand your concern. I really do, but we have an opportunity here to make first contact with an alien species for our nation. We may be part of our country’s military, but we are also ambassadors to this new species. We will try to make contact.”

  Reaching over Card’s shoulder, Ashley began typing something into the console. She intentionally kept her back to Commander Hong as she worked.

  “Card, I want you to start broadcasting in all frequencies to the alien vessel. Start basic. If they’re receptive, move on to a full greeting.”

  Harris reached over to his co-pilot and put his hand on hers to keep it from shaking. “Admiral, this thing is coming right at us. Should we move out of the way?”

  “Yes,” Ashley nodded, “but only out of its immediate path. We don’t want them to think we’re trying to cause problems by forcing them to make a course correction, but I don’t want us to go unseen.”

  The shaking in Gonzales’ hand stopped almost immediately as she activated the thrusters to move the Explorer.

  A crewman at the scanning station said, “They’re moving in toward us. They appear to be slowing down, but they’ll be on us within sixty seconds.”

  “Let’s hope that’s a good thing,” said Ashley.

  At the communications console, Card didn’t look so certain. “We still haven’t received any kind of response from the alien vessel.”

  Ashley jerked her head back. “Are we scanning everything for contact?”

  “Yes, sir, but we’re still not seeing anything. I’m not sure if they’re receiving our messages or not, but we’re broadcasting every way I know.”

  Ashley sat in the command c
hair. Her fingers gripped the arms tightly until they turned white.

  After several seconds, Holt broke the silence. “Admiral, do you want us to prepare any offensive measures?”

  “No. If they detect it, they may misinterpret it as a sign of aggression. Just be ready if you’re needed.”

  When the alien vessel came within a hundred yards of the Explorer, it came to a complete stop. A small port opened on the front of the vessel, and a long device pushed out through it. The device sent out a wide beam of light that went up and down Ashley’s ship.

  As the light went across the ship, the crew of the Explorer froze in place. Some made their way to a viewport to get a first-hand look at the alien vessel. Others made a point to get into their harnesses in case the ship tried to do something.

  Ashley froze, just like everyone else on the ship. Ever since her childhood, she hoped she would someday meet someone from an alien world, but never thought she really would. Yet here she sat, living just another part of her dream. As fantastic as it felt, none of it seemed real.

  “Admiral,” said a member of the sensor team.

  Ashley didn’t respond.

  “Admiral, we’re detecting something.”

  Ashley turned back. “What are you detecting?”

  “We’re reading an energy spike coming from within their ship. We’re not sure what it is.”

  “It’s not looking like any form of communication,” Card said, “but I could be wrong about that.”

  The translator was too awestruck to do his job. Commander Hong said in Chinese, “That’s no communication. You should have listened.”

  Six more ports opened across the alien vessel. Each glowed brightly.

  Even before receiving the order, Lieutenant Harris moved the ship to the right as fast as it could manage. As six beams of light raced forward, only two caught a glancing blow of the Explorer.

  “Tactical, fire!” Ashley shouted.

  Holt and Tran worked their fingers as fast as they could. In seconds, the space between the alien vessel and the Explorer filled with missiles and flashes of light.

  “Admiral, nothing’s getting through. Everything we fire is stopped by their weapons.”

  Ashley grabbed her radio. “This is the admiral to the Guardian, get in the air immediately. Try to get them to spread their firepower.”

  One of the sensor team shouted out, “We’re not seeing any open ports on the side of their vessel!”

  “Fantastic,” Ashley said. “Harris, get us off to the side. Scanning team, keep checking for any weak points.”

  As the Explorer moved, the alien vessel turned. The Guardian took advantage of this and bombarded the side of the alien vessel with a barrage of missiles.

  Four of the six weapon ports on the alien vessel pointed directly at the Explorer when they fired again. As soon as she saw the glow, Ashley grabbed her seat as tight as she could.

  The four beams of light ripped through the Explorer. Pieces went flying off into space and explosions rocked the hallways. Harris did everything he could to get the vessel out of harm’s way, but to no avail.

  Out of a port at the back of the alien vessel, a small cylinder ejected. Once clear, the alien vessel jumped back up to its previous speed and continued on its path for Earth.

  Commander Hong stood, shocked that he and most of the crew of the Explorer were still alive. How the Explorer fared better than the Fu Zing was beyond him, but he couldn’t take his eyes off the cylinder the aliens left behind. He hadn’t seen the cylinder after the lander’s run-in with the aliens, and wondered what it could possibly be.

  The cylinder didn't keep Hong waiting long.

  While the crew of the Explorer did their best to scan the object, it began to spin. Slowly at first, but the spinning sped up to the point that it looked like a small sphere. The sphere then exploded, releasing a wave of blue light in all directions.

  The explosion left the Guardian and Explorer to float in space. The once intense light from the engines slowly faded away into darkness.

  Chapter 12

  Admiral’s Foresight

  Gibbs couldn’t believe his eyes.

  “Rewind the video feed. Make it as large as you can without ruining the image.”

  On the monitor at the front of the main area of the Protector, the sensor team displayed troubling video. A bright flash of light enveloped the Guardian and Explorer, leaving them helpless.

  “What was that?” whispered the comm. officer.

  “Is anyone detecting any power signatures on either the Explorer or Guardian?”

  “Negative, sir.”

  “Tactical, are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “Electromagnetic pulse bomb?”

  “Exactly.”

  The tactical officer looked at his console. Looking through his database, he pulled up everything available about EMP bombs. Frustrated, he turned to the commander.

  “Sir, that’s what it looks like, but it can’t be. We’ve never seen an EMP bomb release a visible blast.”

  Gibbs shook his head. “That doesn’t change anything. We’ve never seen it on Earth, but there’s no telling how the alien technology works. We need to provide assistance, but tell the engineers to do their best to shield us against a similar blast. It looks like our current shielding won’t be good enough.”

  Tactical still couldn’t find anything useful. “Sir, we’ve never seen an EMP blast strong enough to get past our shielding before. How can we prepare?”

  “I don’t know. Have them work on it. If worse comes to worst, I want you to discharge everything holding a charge if it looks like we’re going to be hit with a blast.”

  “That will leave us sitting ducks.”

  “At least if one hits, we’ll recover in a few minutes. It’s better than nothing.”

  The pilot, an ensign, turned back to the commander. “Should we prepare to confront the alien ship?”

  “No,” Gibbs said, his stare piercing through the monitor. “Set a course for the Explorer. Do everything you can to avoid the aliens.”

  “Sir, wouldn’t the admiral want—”

  “That was an order, Ensign.” Gibbs tightened his harness. “Besides, if the Explorer couldn’t handle the alien ship, we don’t stand a chance.”

  “Sir,” the pilot of the Protector said, “We can get close to the Explorer, but without power, how can we dock with it?”

  Gibbs looked over the crippled Explorer. The alien weapons left definitive marks on the hull. In several places, the weapons hit with such heat as to melt the outer plating of the admiral’s ship.

  “The landing platform,” Gibbs said, “is it damaged?”

  “No sir, but we can’t get close enough to land. It’s not safe.”

  “Can it be done?”

  “I have no doubt that it can, sir, but I don’t feel I can do it safely.”

  Looking around the Protector, Gibbs knew he had only one option. “This is a ten man crew. Communications and the helm are the only vital stations. Everyone else, you’re going to help me board the other ships. The Guardian is smaller and has fewer air reserves. Without life support working, they won’t last long. Find them.”

  The pilot nodded and cautiously moved the Protector toward the Guardian.

  “Tactical, prepare to launch tethers to the Guardian. Helm, I want us to go belly to belly with them.”

  “Will do, Commander, but what’s the plan?”

  “Both ships have an airlock at the bottom to dock with the Explorer. If we tether together, we should be able to create a seal and open both airlocks. Just in case we can’t, everyone needs to make sure their flight suits are sealed and that the airflow works properly.”

  The tactical officer shot his head up. “What about the crew of the Guardian?”

  “Without life support, their suits should have automatically closed. If not, there’s nothing we can do for them.”

  When it flew close enough, the Protector shot out four tethers that
stuck to the Guardian.

  “Reel them in,” Gibbs said.

  The ships collided with a dull thud. Every crewman braced for the impact, but it wasn’t enough. Several barely avoided slamming their heads into their consoles.

  Entering the cargo hold of the Protector, Gibbs and his team continued into the airlock. After passing through, they faced the task of forcing the Guardian’s airlock open. With brute force, the men succeeded and opened the hatch.

  The air in the Guardian was stale and tainted with smoke. The team found it difficult to see, but immediately went to work. Half ran back to the engines, and the rest set about checking on the crew.

  “Sir, it’s the capacitors,” said one of the engineers. “The power surge blew them. We have spares for about half of them. The rest we can repair, but it’s going to take a few hours to rebuild them, and even more time to charge them.”

  Lifting Commander Cole from his seat, Gibbs said, “That’s time we don’t have. Each capacitor has a redundant partner, correct?”

  “Yes, but we need both—”

  “No we don’t. The key word is redundant. We only need one in each part for them to work. Replace one from each set with the spares we have. We’ll work on rebuilding the spares later.”

  “And the charging, sir?”

  Gibbs stopped to think for a moment. “Have you ever used jumper cables?”

  Confused, the engineer laughed. “On my car, sure. A space ship is something else entirely.”

  “Yes and no. Tell the others what to do about the capacitors. Then, you and crewman Ellison,” Gibbs motioned to an engineer that looked lost, “go create a makeshift jumper cable. We need to hurry.”

  Looking at Cole’s oxygen supply, Gibbs saw the tubing damaged. Acting quickly, he replaced the tubing with a spare from a parts locker. After several heavy shakes, Cole woke up.

  “The aliens, they really got us, didn’t they?”

  “They sure did,” Gibbs replied. “Right now, they’re getting away. Every second we waste is a second they make it closer to Earth.”

  Cole clenched his eyes shut. He did so in pain and frustration. When he opened them again, he opened them as a new man. Without pause, he hurried around the room to wake his men. In a matter of minutes, the crews of the Guardian and Protector worked together to breathe new life into the craft.