by Lewis Dually
“She’s just a caring person. Nothing more than that.” I said. If there was something between the two of them it wasn’t any of our concern so I played it down.
“What’s this I hear about survivors from the Wade?” Sprite asked as he sat down beside me at station two.
We think a shuttle escaped the Wade while we were picking you guys up. If it survived the blast, and I think it could have, then it’s still out there. The EM pulse would most certainly get it so they’re probably adrift with no life support. By the time we exit the warp bubble they’ll be coming up on thirty-three hours with no power. I’ll need your team ready. We’ll try to bring it on board through the main shuttle bay. I think we’ll find the Black on it.”
“Black? On the shuttle? You think they were on the Wade?”
“Yes. It’s the only thing that makes sense. The Wade wouldn’t start shooting over a load of black market parts. But if they were transporting Aliens? That would explain it.”
Sprite looked at his watch. “How long till we exit?”
“A little more than an hour.”
“Ok, I’ll go get my team ready. We’ll suit up for an EVA just in case.”
“That’s what I was going to suggest. Let me know when you’re ready.”
Sprite left the bridge as I opened a ship wide broadcast.
“All hands, report to stations. We will be exiting warp in one hour and will be conducting a search and rescue for survivors of the Wade. Prepare bay one to receive a disabled shuttle.” Then I hung the mic back in its cradle, stood up, and looked at Lieutenant Barnes. “I’m going to sick bay. You have the bridge.”
In the sick bay I found Hirsch sitting at a table playing solitaire. “How’s he doing?” I asked.
“Better now.” He said as he laid down the Queen of Diamonds. “He went into a seizure when we entered warp but I got it stopped by inducing a comma. He’s on the ventilator now. When we exit I’ll think about bringing him out. Just be warned that he can’t handle another jump. It will kill him. If he survives this one we’ve got to get him off this ship.”
“We’ll be seven hours from the U E Two when we exit warp. Can we send him on a shuttle?”
“No. He’ll be on life support for at least twenty four hours. A shuttle trip won’t work. He needs a medivac.”
“Ok. We’ll take him to the station ourselves. How’s my Ensign doing?”
“She’s not doing too well either. I think she and Shaw are more than just casual friends. She’s been holding his hand and talking to him ever since I put him under.”
Looking down the corridor to the treatment rooms I could see Walters sitting on a stool beside Shaw’s bed. She appeared to be praying so I decided not to interrupt. Looking back to Hirsch I said. “Keep me informed if his condition changes and you better call in some help. We’re expecting casualties from the Wade. We think a shuttle escaped the blast but probably got hit with the EM pulse. They’ve been out there for thirty plus hours with no life support so get ready for some serious hypothermia.”
Hirsch laid down the King of Diamonds and then looked up at me. “Are you forgetting something? Walters tells me that shuttle is probably carrying Aliens.”
“That’s what I’m hoping. We know they’re humanoid so treating them for hypothermia should be the same as treating us. Am I right?”
“We’ll see.” Hirsch replied.
I left sick bay and checked on the shuttle bay preparations. Everything was ready. Both our shuttles were manned and ready to assist in the recovery. Sprite had his Seal team suited up and all crewmen were issued a side arm. Then I went back to the bridge and arrived just three minutes before our warp exit so I took to my chair and waited.
“Exiting the bubble now.” Gale announced.
The warp engines spooled down and the stars realigned themselves. Scanning the empty space in front of us I could see nothing left of the Wade. It was completely gone. Any pieces that survived the one million degree reactor explosion would be shooting off in all directions like ripples on a pond. Hopefully none of those ripples had found their way to the U E Two. It would have taken about twenty hours for debris to reach U E Two and in the distance it had to travel the pieces would spread out enough to reduce the chances of impact significantly.
“Start a full sensor sweep and see if you can reach United Earth Two.” I ordered.
After a moment Chaffey responded. “Sir, I’m receiving a call from the Shasta. She’s off our port side at two hundred miles.”
“Put it through.”
“Allen. It’s dang good to see you. Where the crap have you been.” Leland said as he came on the main view monitor.
“We took a little trip. About a three trillion mile trip.”
Leland’s eyebrows shot up and he did a double take. “Three trillion miles? What happened?” He finally managed to ask. “The U E Two sensors picked up an explosion out here and then lost communications with you and the Wade. They called us to check it out. We’ve been here for about an hour. What’s going on?”
“It’s a long story. The short version is the Wade fired on us, we returned fire, she blew up, we jumped to escape the explosion, took heavy damage, just got our systems back on line and here we are. Did the U E Two take any damage?”
“No. They had two large hull sections pass by in visual range but no impact. You have any casualties?”
“One, Petty officer Blair.” I said. “I didn’t get a chance to know him much. He was a new transfer that came in while I was playing space trucker. Dr. Shaw is in bad shape. He’s in a comma. Send your medivac shuttle over and take him to U E Two.”
Leland looked off camera and gave orders for the Medivac to depart. “They’re on the way. What else do you need?”
“We think a shuttle escaped the Wade in time to clear the main blast. We’re trying to calculate their speed, direction and distance from the blast to get an approximate location to search but we don’t know how powerful the reactor breach was.”
Leland picked up a tablet and started scrolling through data. “It was……..here it is. United Earth Two estimated a twenty megaton explosion. Does that help?”
Chaffey started punching the numbers into his equation. I waited a few seconds and then he gave me a thumbs up. “Got it Sir. We need to start our search at 164 mark 21 mark 812 and spread our search out from there. Depending on her drift and speed picked up from the shockwave she could be anywhere from one to one point three million miles from that point.”
“Did you get that Leland?”
“Yes, got it. The Medivac is on its way. Do you want me to head out and start the search?”
“Yes, but you should probably jump over there. They’ve been without life support for thirty three hours now and it will take another three to reach the search zone at full speed. You start on this side of the grid and we’ll jump to the far side to cover more area. Two things before you go. First we think that shuttle has Aliens on board. We think the Wade was transporting the Black to the belt and that’s why they fired on us. Also we think they have a subspace radio. We know the Wade was sending and receiving subspace transmissions when they attacked. It’s safe to assume the shuttle has one but it was probably disabled by the EM pulse. If we can recover it we should be able to build another from its design. When the medivac is gone I’ll head your way. Any questions?”
“Yes. What do I do with the Aliens?”
“Be nice. Let’s treat them like we would anybody else. I know we’re supposed to capture one but we’re starting to think they’re hiding from something other than us. Let’s see if a little diplomacy works and one more thing, maintain radio silence. Only transmit to us on low power AM. I want all this kept secret for the time being.”
“Ok. You’re the boss. I’ll be my most politic self.”
Leland signed off and I called sick bay to get Shaw ready for transport. Twenty minutes later the medivac was away and we jumped to the far side of the search grid. Somewhere in that two hundred
million cubic miles of space there was a forty five foot long shuttle with what we hoped were survivors and a subspace radio. It took eleven minutes to locate that shuttle, right on her projected course but a little farther out than expected. Another fifteen minutes and we pulled alongside the shuttle and lit it up with our port side search lights. There were no obvious signs of damage but the windows were covered in ice on the inside which told me two things. It was very cold in there and she still held atmosphere.
“No answer to hails Sir.” Warren reported.
Chaffey called out from the sensor station. “Sir I’m reading an external hull temperature of two hundred fifteen degrees below zero.”
“She must have an internal heat source or she would be a lot colder.” I said. “Open the shuttle bay and tell Sprite to get to it. I’m heading down. Barnes, you have the bridge.”
This time I skipped the elevator and slid down the ladder tubes to the shuttle deck, then sprinted to the shuttle bay observation port where I found Walters watching the Seals.
“They’re using the jet packs to push her in Sir. Do you think they’re alive in there?”
“I hope so. I spent six hours sleeping before the jump back. That’s six hours they should not have spent out here.”
“Not necessarily Sir. We didn’t find the shuttle data on the sensor recordings until a half hour before you came into the mess hall. It’s not on you Sir.”
“I’m the skipper. It’s always on me. The hull temperature suggests an internal heat source so let’s keep our fingers crossed. Did you see Shaw off?”
“Yes. Hirsch says they will leave him in the comma until they get him to U E Two.”
“I can send you to the station to monitor his recovery.” I offered.
“Thank you Sir, but that won’t be necessary. I have a job to do here.” She replied and then wiped a tear from one cheek. I dropped the subject and we both stood silently watching the shuttle bay activities.
Sprite and his team pushed the Shuttle into the bay and held her down on the deck while Engineer Owens closed the bay doors, turned on the gravity plates and pressurized the bay. As soon as the pressure equalized I opened the hatch and walked in as Sprite and two of the seals went to work on the shuttle door. They were about to cut into it when the door was opened from the inside and slid forward revealing the interior of the shuttle. Laying on the floor in the open door was a person covered in frost and shivering violently.
I started to him as Dr. Hirsch came from the other side of the bay with two corpsmen. “Don’t touch it.” He shouted. “Get out of my way.”
Peering past the person on the floor I could see what looked like five more people in the shuttle.
“We need six gurneys down here ASAP.” I called into my coms badge.
The person in the door of the shuttle looked up at me. His face had the same blocky features and bulbous brow I had seen in the Alien pictures at Groom Lake. His eyes were coal black!
“Do you speak English?” I asked.
“Yes. I speak English very well. My name is Antwon Adolphus. Please help us.”
“We are here to help you. I am Commander Allen Paul and you are onboard the UES Dawn Rising. This is Dr. Otis Hirsch. He will take care of you and your friends. Are you of the Alien species we call the Black?”
Antwon looked at me for a long moment and then said. “Yes. We call ourselves Croiddan. Our home planet is called Croid.”
Hirsch pushed me aside. “You can find out about his folks later, let me get to work.” Then he spoke to Antwon. “I don’t know your anatomy. How similar is it to our own? Your core temperature is eighty three degrees. What should it be?”
Antwon laid back on the floor. “Ninety seven is considered normal for our species. Our anatomy is almost identical to yours except for our eyes and blood. We need a higher blood sugar than you. A reading of two hundred is normal.”
Shaw would be pleased to know his sugar theory was correct. The medical teams spent a few minutes prepping the Croiddan for transport and then took them off to the sick bay. I waited for them to clear the bay and then walked into the shuttle and looked around. In the middle of the deck was a pile of spent plastic cem-heater tubes. Similar to our cem-lights they gave off heat instead of light and they were all spent. Another thirty minutes and there would have been no survivors. Then I saw it. Strapped to the starboard wall was an enormous metal cabinet with a long fold down shelf running most of its length. I open the shelf and found what I was looking for. Mission accomplished. I had six live Aliens and one subspace radio transceiver.
CHAPTER 10: What or Who are the Krueg?
All six of the Croiddan were alive and recovering nicely in sick bay but Hirsch wouldn’t let me in just yet.
“You can start your interrogation after I get them warmed up.” He griped.
The Shasta had pulled alongside of us and Leland was on his way over in a shuttle. Petty officer Warren and Engineer Owens were working on the subspace radio and I was sitting in my ready room staring at my snuff can. Finally I gave in and took a dip while promising myself that I’d quit tomorrow.
The revelation from Shaw and Walters that I was being groomed for command of the Constellation was playing havoc in my head. My Navy career wasn’t exactly text book. I first joined the Navy as an enlisted man serving on the Air Craft Carrier Trump. After four years I received an online degree from Tennessee Tech in business management and received a commission from the Navy as an Ensign. Then I served on the submarine Vincent for six years before I left the Navy and enrolled at Tennessee Tech again to study electrical engineering. Ten days after graduating, the Navy called and I was recalled to take a SWAFS test. Much to my dismay I passed it and the Navy made me an offer I couldn’t refuse, literally! I was reinstated with the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade. Six months later I crashed a shuttle on takeoff from United Earth Two and, to my dismay was promoted to Lieutenant. The review board found that the shuttle suffered a catastrophic engine failure and my actions saved the crew and prevented heavy damage to the station. I made Lieutenant Commander after placing my patrol cutter between an asteroid shower and a disabled shuttle full of returning belt miners. My cutter was destroyed and my six man crew and I drifted in our space suits for nine hours before we were rescued. I made Commander after saving the Wimberley and losing my best friend. That time my ship wasn’t destroyed but it sustained heavy damage. In my mind my career was a series of lucky breaks and crashes. Now they want me to be Captain of the flag ship. The biggest ever built with a crew of six thousand destined for a deep space mission to locate a suitable planet for colonization. Me, a snuff addicted unshaven crash prone hillbilly whose grasp of the English language left much to be desired. No wonder they gave me an aide.
“Shuttle arriving in bay two Sir.” Came a call over the coms. Picking up a gold plated trophy cup from the shelf of my desk I headed for the shuttle bay and entered just as the Shasta’s B shuttle landed. I waited for the bay to pressurize and then walked out to greet Leland.
“Permission to come aboard Commander.” Leland said with a grin.
I grabbed his hand and said. “Good to see you. Welcome aboard.”
Leland eyed the trophy cup and asked. “You going to give me a chance to win that back?”
“Nope. Ain’t got time. I only brought it to remind you of how bad you play poker.” I said and then spit a shot of juice in the cup.
Leland jerked his head back. “That’s a trophy not a spittoon you inbred hillbilly twit!”
“You lost it, I won it, it’s whatever I want it to be.” I said and shot him a sideways grin.
The eight inch tall trophy cup had been awarded to Leland after he won the academy fifty yard wind sprints competition. It was gold plated and engraved with his name. He had lost it to me in a poker game three years ago and had been trying to get it back ever since.
“You beat all, you really do.” Leland snorted.
“I know.” I said while still grinning like a fool. “Come
on, I got someone for you to meet.”
We left the shuttle and headed for sick bay. On the way I spit out my snuff and stowed the cup in a gun locker with my Berretta. Then we entered the sick bay and found our guests doing quite well. Commander Sprite and his eight man Seal team were strategically placed throughout the sick bay. They were all wearing side arms but were doing a pretty good job of not looking like armed guards.
Antwon was sitting on the bed and stood up as we walked in. “Commander Allen Paul” He said as he walk toward us “Please accept this token of our gratitude for coming to our rescue.” He reached out his hand to mine and placed something in it. I looked in my hand to see one of the familiar gold bars resting there.
“Thank you Antwon, but I cannot accept this. It is against regulations for members of the United Earth Space Alliance to accept gratuities. I handed the gold back and Antwon took it without complaint.
“Antwon, this is Lieutenant Commander Leland Fox of the UES Shasta. He assisted us in the search for your shuttle.”
Leland shook his hand as Antwon said. “Very pleased to meet you Commander Leland Fox. I know your ship. You once assisted a shuttle I was traveling on when it lost its navigation system. You escorted us to United Earth Two space station. Thank you.”
“Did you go onboard the station?” I asked.
“Yes. I have visited United Earth One and Two on several occasions. They are most impressive facilities.”
“How is it that you were not discovered?” I asked.
Antwon looked at me with those coal black eyes. “It is not difficult to hide in plain sight when no one is looking for you. We have contact lenses that hide our eyes. When my eyes are hidden I look enough human. It is an easy thing.”
“Neat trick.” Leland remarked.
“It is not that we hide ourselves to spy on you. It is only to protect us from those who would do us harm.”
Antwon took a small black case from his pocket and opened it. Inside were two eye lenses. They were large enough to cover his entire eye and the white part of the lens had faint red blood vessels. The eyes themselves were brown and when the light from the overhead fluorescent shown on them the pupils actually restricted.
