"Excellent," GooYee responded.
"I've also programmed the GPC on our sister ship, the Verbinna, to mirror our flight path. Provided there are no hiccups, both scout saucers should arrive simultaneously at our destinations."
GooYee appeared satisfied and began to walk toward his science instrument panel when Doug asked, "Dr. GooYee, I want to know why you gave me these specific coordinates for the intervening destinations. What's their significance?"
Pausing for a moment as if he was trying to form the right words, GooYee answered. "Both sets of coordinates are colonization worlds where I worked in the past. The first is the Ponndomer system. It's 15 light years from Chrysalis and had a population of 2,000,000 Chrysallamans when I completed my tour of duty there 50 years ago.
The second is the Cuddlur system. It's 15 light years from Chrysalis but only 7 light years from Ponndomer. At last count, Cuddlur had a population of 1,500,000 Chrysallamans. It was my last tour of duty before being assigned to the Earth colonization fleet. I spent two of the best years of my life on that planet improving the overall strength and endurance of my signature combat vest."
Chellsee noticed a troubled look ghost across GooYee's eyes and asked, "What happened on Cuddlur, Jamins?"
GooYee sat down at the science panel and crossed his arms. A watery mist began to form in the corners of his eyes, and he blinked in an attempt to stem the tears beginning to run down his cheeks.
"I had several Cuddlur assistants in my laboratory. They were very intelligent creatures, and after a while I became friends with them. Marrylynne was my favorite. She was so gentle and caring. I looked forward to being with her."
"Then one day there was a Cuddlur uprising. In many ways, they were just as independent as Humans. Captain Tuurket Axxdo was the commander in charge of the region where my lab was located."
Slamming his fist down on the top of the science panel, GooYee cried, "Axxdo wore my improved combat vest and used it to tear Marrylynne apart right in front of me! He tortured her unmercifully until she died. I still wake up sometimes to the memory of her screams of pain and terror."
Looking toward Whatsit and Chellsee, GooYee said, "I want to see if Tuurket Axxdo is still in command on Cuddlur. If he is, I want to use the weapons on this ship to blow his sorry ass to Hell!"
Walking over to Dr. GooYee, Doug placed his hand on the doctor's shoulder and said, "You don't have to worry about Tuurket Axxdo, buddy. We waxed him on his mother ship the day we conquered Hisspat Zeck. He's nothing but a greasy spot on the Devil's playground."
Staring wide-eyed at Doug and not understanding a word he said other than mother ship and Hisspat Zeck, GooYee looked over at Whatsit for help.
Whatsit shrugged his shoulders, curled the left side of his lips up in a half grin and said, "Axxdo's dead."
Returning to the pilot's couch, Doug flipped the ship-to-ship communicator switch and asked, "Colonel Yuri-Milost, are you ready for the first leg?"
"All systems active. My GPC is slaved to yours. Where you go we go." she replied.
"Very well," Doug acknowledged.
Turning to Chellsee, Whatsit said, "Time for you to leave. This mission should take no more than five days. As soon as we return, I'll come find you."
Gazing into Whatsit's eyes, Chellsee reached up and stroked his cheek. "You better come back to me."
All at once she wrapped her arms around him and hugged him. Then she turned and ran from the control room. Staring after her, his eyes wide with wonder, Whatsit looked down at his chest and noticed a damp spot on his coat where her cheek had been.
"You old dog you," Becky purred. "I thought she warned you never to touch her again when she tried to stab you on the Destinnee?"
With a serious look on his face, Whatsit replied, "You're correct; however, I took your advice and watched the love and romance movies '10 Things I Hate About You' and 'Mean Girls'. My education is now complete on how the female mind works."
Becky almost doubled over with laughter, and the sly grin on Whatsit's face was proof he didn't mean a word he'd just said.
Doug took that moment to chime in, "I think we better get this show on the road before a shovel is needed to remove what is piling up on the deck."
Twisting the tuning knob on the FLR transceiver panel to 'Home', Doug said, "General Blunt. Salteer and Verbinna are a go. Any final orders?"
"Just remember Doug," Tom replied, "I want Intel not dead heroes."
"Understood Sir."
Looking around at his colleagues and seeing the excited anticipation in their eyes, Doug poised his finger over the GO button on the GPC, flipped the ship-to-ship communicator switch and said, "In the words of my friend Alexander Fields, activation in 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1. GO."
***
The view screen display instantly changed from a stunning high orbital depiction of Earth to that of a black background filled with a sea of stars. Doug had been expecting to see a planet and his alarm was evident.
"What the Hell? Where's Ponndomer?" he blurted.
"Calm yourself Colonel," GooYee said.
Ignoring the Chrysallaman, Doug checked his sensors and found the Verbinna floating less than 500 feet off his starboard side.
Flipping the ship-to-ship communicator, he said, "Yuri-Milost. Report your status."
Yuri-Milost responded and confirmed all her systems were still in the green.
Viewing the updated information from the master computer as it identified local star systems, GooYee said, "My coordinates are correct. You should be picking up a signal from the Chrysallaman solar system ID beacon confirming we are within ten light minutes of the planet Ponndomer."
"I'm receiving a ping corresponding to the Ponndomer beacon," Whatsit announced. "He's correct. We're exactly 10.3 light minutes from the solar system."
"I don't like surprises," Doug fumed. "I was expecting to see a planet, not empty space."
"Think about it Colonel," GooYee said. "We don't want to appear from nowhere close to a planet that may be occupied by Chrysallamans or Asiddians. At the very least our arrival would be seen as unexpected by Chrysallamans and at the worst an act of aggression by Asiddians. I thought the whole point of this expedition was to gain intelligence covertly."
"He's right Doug," Becky said.
Still visibly tense, Doug ordered, "Yuri-Milost, take a position 1,000,000 miles off my starboard side and maintain separation. Passive sensors only. Don't get any closer than 750,000 miles from the planet."
"Roger that," Yuri-Milost confirmed, and the Verbinna disappeared.
"I'm going to FLIT to a location on the dark side of the second Ponndomer moon," Doug said. "We'll use the moon to hide our presence. I want to get as close to the planet as possible and see what we can pick up with our sensors."
"I'm not receiving any Chrysallaman radio transmissions," Whatsit advised. "Don't you think that's strange, Dr. GooYee?"
"Not necessarily," GooYee said. "According to the Emperor's records, in preparation for the Asiddian attack, Chrysallamans limited military communications to unidirectional lasers with burst transmissions. Omni-directional radio was deemed insecure."
"Destination coordinates are set," Doug announced. "Here we go."
The view screen went dark black except for a thin circle of light. According to the instruments, the Salterr was in a fixed orbital location 200 miles above the far-side of Ponndomer's second moon Wando. The circle of light was caused by the eclipse of the Ponndomer sun by Wando. As long as they stayed in the shadow of the moon and limited their electronic emissions, the Salterr should remain hidden.
"Miguel, release the Bowler and send it to the transition zone. Start with visual and radio reception only."
"Aye Sir"
Miguel had developed a spy drone for the mission. It looked like a black bowling ball even down to the standard three finger holes. McPherson had christened it the Bowler. The three holes were a powerful telescopic HiDef video camera, a multi-function instrument for scien
tific and electronic analysis and a MA weapon. Powered by two miniature FLIT gens and controlled by an FLR, the Bowler was a formidable tool.
Guiding the Bowler under a rock overhang on the transition zone where the light side of the moon met the dark side, Miguel routed the visual feed to the main view screen. GooYee gasped as the image was revealed.
The planet looked like an eyeball suffering from several ruptured blood vessels. A huge scorch mark covered an area on the planet comparable to the dimensions of an iris on an eyeball. In the center of the iris was a coal black circle similar to a pupil. Red cracks in the surface of the planet radiated out from the dark pupil to the far edges of the globe. The red cracks seemed to glisten with movement, and they realized the cracks were filled with bubbling, flowing magma. It was obvious the planet had been subjected to a tremendous explosive force that cracked it like an eggshell.
No one uttered a word. The scale of the destruction was beyond belief. Finally Becky broke the silence.
"Have you scanned for lifeforms?"
"With the current instrument package I need to be within 500 miles of the surface," Miguel responded.
"Do it." Doug ordered.
"Dr. GooYee, have you ever witnessed this kind of devastation before?"
"Never," GooYee said. "The force necessary to crack the crust of the planet and penetrate to the mantle is beyond the weapons capability of Chrysallamans."
"This is freaking unbelievable," Becky whispered.
Opening up ship-to-ship communications, Doug asked, "Yuri-Milost, have your sensors detected any spacecraft or power sources in the solar system?"
"None. It's as if the entire system is dead."
"Very well. Home on our signal, and FLIT to our location," Doug ordered.
"Roger."
The Verbinna appeared less than 500 feet off the starboard side of the Salterr.
"There are no detectible life signs on the planet," Miguel announced. "There may be insects, but I can't find any mammals, reptiles or birds. It appears all water on the planet was vaporized when the atmosphere was blown away by the explosion. I'm afraid whatever hit the planet was an extinction event."
"We need to proceed to Cuddlur," GooYee declared. "There's nothing more to discover here."
Miguel swiveled his seat around and said, "I sent the Bowler to retrieve samples from the center of the impact zone. We may be able to determine what caused the disaster. It's back in its launch cradle, and I'm ready for the next leg if you are."
Nodding, Doug confirmed the GPC on the Verbinna was slaved to the Salterr and pressed the GO button. The view screen flickered and showed an endless black space sparkling with the lights of distant stars. Checking the coordinates, they determined the ships had arrived 10.2 light minutes from the Cuddlur solar system. Once again, the Verbinna took up a position 1,000,000 miles away from the Salterr and reported no spacecraft or energy signatures were detectable in the solar system.
Cuddlur had no moon so their approach to the planet was going to have to be slow and careful. Ordering Yuri-Milost to increase her separation from the Salterr by another 2,000,000 miles, Doug goosed the GPC in short hops until the Salterr was within 300,000 miles of the planet's surface. Passive sensors and telescopic visuals of Cuddlur revealed nothing. The planet had a thick cloud layer which prohibited them from seeing any details of the planet's surface. As with Ponndomer, they couldn't detect any radio transmissions or energy output.
Doug was about to move closer to the planet when Yuri-Milost opened a channel and said, "An Asiddian ship just appeared from around the back side of the planet. You should be able to see it now as it comes around the rim."
Sure enough, all eyes in the Salterr locked on the speck moving into view. Becky locked a targeting icon on the speck and enlarged it on the view screen. The Noogoora burr aspect of the Asiddian ship was unmistakable. As they watched in stunned silence, the cylinder shaped burr angled its bow toward them and began to get nearer.
"I thought this was supposed to be a covert mission!" GooYee cried.
"Time for discussion later! Do we run, or do we defend ourselves?" Doug asked.
"One of our mission parameters is to get whatever Intel we can about the offensive and defensive weapons of the Asiddians," Whatsit declared as he pulled his sombrero off the back of his shoulders onto his head. "I wonder if the Asiddians have an ass we can kick!"
Grinning at Whatsit's remark, Doug, Becky and Miguel turned to their control panels and began keying entries into their weapons and scientific systems.
GooYee was thunderstruck. Instead of withdrawing from a battle they might lose, these damned Humans jumped at the opportunity to confront the danger. Sinking into a spare seat next the Miguel, GooYee felt his gut tighten as he prepared himself for death.
"Weapons ready," Whatsit said.
"Sensors on full scan. Data will be sent to the Verbinna for backup," Miguel confirmed.
"Power systems at optimum," Becky said. "Secondary FLIT gen is sequenced."
Doug activated the defensive navigation computer and confirmed the defensive screen around the Salterr was out of standby mode and fully powered. The Asiddian ship closed the distance between them like a predator stalking its prey. Instead of using light speed to reach them in the blink of an eye, the dark spacecraft closed on them like a great jungle cat; confident it couldn't be defended against and able to outrun any attempt at escape.
As it closed to within 25,000 miles of the Salterr, a red laser beam lanced from the tip of one of the spines covering the ship and struck the FLIT gen powered defensive screen. Instead of slicing a chunk off the Chrysallaman craft, the red beam deflected away from the force field as if it had impacted a convex mirror. A second red laser beam flicked from the tip of another spine on the Asiddian ship and merged with the first. Again the red laser deflected off the force field bubble. A third laser beam joined the first two and once again the triple powered beam glanced away at right angles, but now with the combined power of three spines acting in unison, the defensive screen protecting the Salterr appeared to become gossamer.
Becky raised her voice and said, "The FLIT gens are both overheating! The screen's not going to hold! We need to move NOW!"
Just as four more red beams merged with the first three burning at the Salteer's defensive screen, Doug punched the GPC touchscreen ESC icon, and the Salterr FLITed three parsecs away from the battle scene.
Chapter 13 - Encounter
Captain Hannah Wren was self-absorbed as she exited the lift into the Command Center of the Asiddian battleship Winged Death. Unlike the rest of her crew, Hannah was bored. Her ship had been on station almost 24 months in the Cuddlur System and had only encountered one unarmed Chrysallaman freighter. The ease with which Winged Death exterminated the freighter was particularly unsatisfying. Here she was, Captain of one of the most powerful spaceships in the galaxy, and she couldn't find anything to destroy. The situation was maddening! To make matters worse, her ship was being rotated back to Home Base tomorrow. Her next opportunity for possible conflict wouldn't come for at least another fifteen years after her ship was refurbished at the Chrysalis base.
Hannah was considered beautiful by Asiddian standards. She was a slender 6 feet 10 inches tall with dark black hair and light blue skin. Her beak shaped slender nose was seven inches long. As with all Asiddians, the bones of her face angled and sloped toward her nose as if her Creator had softened the middle of her face and pulled on the end of her nose to stretch it as far as possible away from her eyes. The result was a bird-like facial appearance. Her eyes were at least two inches in diameter and looked like luminous brownish-yellow tiger eye beads. Her fingers were tipped by black claws half an inch long, and she kept them needle sharp and tipped with a yellow dye in keeping with current fashion trends.
The hair follicles on an Asiddian's head could be controlled by scalp muscles. As a result, Asiddians could either flatten their hair around their head like a swimmer's cap or stand their hair on end so
their heads appeared twice as big. In hand-to-hand combat, an Asiddian would screech and fan its hair into a giant fright wig. The non-Asiddian opponent would be so startled by the frightful sight, he'd freeze in shock long enough to be killed by the crafty Asiddian. Hannah had used the technique many times in her career.
As required by strict Asiddian military standards, she wore white combat body armor that doubled as a spacesuit. In the event she was exposed to the vacuum of space, the suit automatically enveloped her head with a clear bubble of nanoglass. Protected by the armor, its wearer could survive outside a spaceship for up to 24 hours. Even though no Asiddian ship had ever been damaged to the point the body armor was necessary, the Regs still demanded the suit be worn by all command personnel.
Dawn of Chrysalis (The Origin of F.O.R.C.E. Book 2) Page 15
