Shadow of the Blue Ring

by Jerome Kelly

  “That’s all I can get,” said Morelli, shutting the system down, she and James both taking a moment to reflect on the broken up fragments of the Tolian captain’s logs, “Artennes trying to handle forces he can’t control? Wonder what he meant by that.”

  “He means the council has a dirty little secret,” James grumbled, “I had a feeling Artennes might have had his eye on something interesting out here, any mention of what it might be?”

  “No, everything else has been wiped clean,” said Morelli, “that’s all we’re going to get I’m afraid.”

  “Would there be anything on the bridge that might tell us what they were on about?”

  “Not likely, it’s the same system all throughout the ship. If it’s been wiped here, it’s been wiped clean from the ship as a whole. I don’t think we’re going to get anything else from here, we should get back to the Evening Star. If we’re lucky, the team on the surface will find more than we did”

  As far as investigations went, this one had been pretty brief. They had learned one or two things though, Artennes had definitely been keeping information from them, he was after something in the region, something worth a great deal of trouble to want to find. Only problem was, there was someone else out here who was not making it easy for them to find.

  “Remember that ship that was lurking around when we first arrived?” said Julio, “I’m guessing they must have been the ones who erased the ship’s databanks. I heard the captain mention something about there being two distinct factions in his log, which one do you reckon this was?”

  “No idea,” said James, “it could have been the attackers covering their tracks or it could have been another faction trying to salvage the ship and steal the information stored in the ship’s computer. We’ll wait and see what the team on the surface turns up. If they find any leads, we’ll follow them, if not, we’ll have to improvise.”

  Leaving the carnage filled briefing room behind them, James lead the group back down to the shuttle bay so they could return to the Evening Star. With any luck, Isha would have a little more luck with the Churian ruins on the surface of the nearby planet. He could not deny that he was happy that they had concluded their business there quickly.

  * * * * *

  “Kaydenne, will you slow down!”

  “Come on Isha, this is fun!” Melina laughed as she darted the shuttle at a sickening speed across the surface of the planet. She was flying very dangerously and it was making Isha feel sick to her stomach, her cousin’s superior flying skills making her a little overconfident and causing her to show off. Even Saavoy was looking a little pale at the sickening speeds Melina was reaching with the Mantis flyer.

  “Ok, here we are.”

  The sudden reduction is speed almost threw them out of their seats as Melina brought them to a stop. Regaining her balance, Isha was able to see the wreckage of several small Churian ships on the surface nearby, one of them a protector class warship while the others looked like simple exploration ships, none of them heavily armed and all of them clearly overwhelmed by the enemy force.

  “There’s a clearing near that warship,” Saavoy pointed out, “set us down there, we should find what we need in that ship’s main computer.”

  “Already on it,” Melina chirped back, taking them in for a landing right where Saavoy had pointed out. Isha was glad that the ride was over. Melina’s flying, while always under control, was a little too fast for her liking.

  “You look almost as pale as me,” Ansare noted the draining of colour from Isha’s cheeks, “are you feeling Ok?”

  “I’m fine, just not used to such a brisk flight, that’s all,” she replied, “I’ll be fine once we’re on the surface.”

  The planet itself, while not exactly thriving with biodiversity, had it’s share of plant life and it maintained a comfortable, breathable atmosphere. Compared to the planets of the Freedom alliance though, it was positively barren, lots of jagged rocks sticking up from the ground, plenty of dust and dirt covering a lot of the surface. Not all of it looked natural though, there were signs that the planet was once inhabited and, similar to Malorii, it showed signs of heavy bombardment, although it would have been many years ago and nature looked to be doing it’s best to reclaim the barren and scarred landscapes.

  “That was fun,” Melina beamed as she lifted herself from her seat and joined the rest of the group in the back, “wow, you guys don’t look so good.”

  “Call it travel sickness,” Isha scowled, “not so fast on the way back please.”

  “Yeah Ok, whatever you say,” Melina resigned, “shall we get going then?”

  “Yes, grab your gear and lets get moving, I don’t want to spend any more time down here than I have to. Frankly this whole region gives me the creeps.”

  Grabbing their gear and disembarking the shuttle, Isha, Melina, Saavoy and Ansare made their way across the slightly broken surface and in the direction of the ruined Churian warship. The ship was barely in one piece, there were large hull breaches across it’s structure and a large split on it’s port side where it had hit the ground on a series of large rock formations. There was no sign of any bodies though, no sign that there had been anyone alive here at all, it was little more than a quiet, starship graveyard.

  “It’s like a cemetery down here,” said Saavoy, “you think anyone survived the crash?”

  “Not from the condition these ships are in,” said Isha, “I doubt anyone could survive an impact like this, especially after the beating they took from whoever attacked them.”

  There was debris from the crash scattered everywhere and it was slowing their progress. Isha wondered what must have gone through the minds of the crew in their last few moments as the ship had been ambushed and sent crashing to the surface of this barren and unknown world. She felt nervous enough just being stood on the surface of this planet. It was making her feel nauseous and there was a slight sickly feeling in her stomach that was more than just the result of Melina’s flying, she was terribly on edge.

  “This planet really doesn’t look like anything special,” said Melina, “what do you think made Artennes so desperate to send a team out here?”

  “It does look like this planet was inhabited once,” said Ansare, “if you look around, you can see signs of some old ruins, probably ancient Jaiytid.”

  “You mean like the one we found on Raylia?”

  “Possibly, another discovery like that would certainly be enough to warrant an exploration crew coming all the way out here. If Artennes thought it could be an even more valuable find than the old one then I can bet he would want to get a team out here to search the place.”

  “It’s still a long way to come,” said Isha, “there is still so much we can learn from Raylia, it seems a bit pointless to come so far for something we already have back in the Galante sector.”

  “We should probably assume that whatever Artennes is looking for is more than just ancient Jaiytid technology,” said Saavoy, “something that he couldn’t find on Raylia or on any other world in alliance space.”

  “Some old ship blueprints maybe?” Melina suggested, “or maybe another underground hangar with some unused warships in them. That would be worth salvaging, we could use a few extra ships to add to our fleets.”

  “I get the feeling it’s something else entirely,” said Isha, “something Artennes wanted to keep secret, something that he doesn’t want us to know he is looking for.”

  “Like a weapon?” Ansare suggested, “something left over from the Jaiytid-Xerion war?”

  “Something that would make him go to a lot of effort to find and a lot of effort to try and hide,” said Isha, “he must have told the crew of this ship something though. They must have known what they were coming out here to find. The captain will probably have made a record of it in his logs.

  Isha carefully climbed up the ledges on the rock face next to
the breach in the crashed Churian ship. There was a gap that all four of them could comfortably fit through to reach the interior of the ship. It was no easier once they were inside though, the interior of the ship had been torn apart from the crash. Corridors and ceilings had collapsed in, there were still some small electrical fires burning and the whole place looked like a total mess in general. The ship looked to still have some minimal power flowing through whatever circuits were still just about intact but it was not much.

  “Good luck trying to get anything working in this wreck,” said Ansare, observing the extent of the damage the ship had suffered.

  “Churians are known for building their ships to last,” said Isha, “they always have some kind of backup system separate from the rest of the ship that should start up in a situation like this. We could probably have done with Loca being down here, she would know what to do with this mess. We’ll just have to make do with what we have.”

  Moving on from the breach, Isha lead the group further into the interior of the ruined ship. The damage to the interior of the command deck was not as severe as the rest of the ship but it was still pretty torn up and navigation was still problematic. Isha noticed once more that there was no sign of the crew, there were no bodies to be seen.

  “James was right, it’s like a ghost ship,” Isha said nervously, “I wonder what happened to the crew here. Surely we should have seen some sign of them by now.”

  “Prisoners most likely,” said Saavoy, “the only other explanation is that whoever attacked the ship came down here and collected the bodies. I dread to think what for though.”

  “Just keep an eye out, maybe one or two survived or were left behind.”

  Making their way through another two debris filled corridors, they finally arrived at the ship’s central intelligence centre next to the bridge. Remarkably, the room seemed to be almost intact and one of the consoles was undamaged. Whether it would have power or not was a different matter though.

  “It’s pretty banged up but I think I can get it working,” Melina said as she had a look at the command console, “I just need to re-route power from the bridge’s backup generator and I should be able to get into the ship’s logs, give me a minute.”

  While Melina put her hacking skills to good use, Isha took a moment to have a look around the derelict ship’s bridge. Most of the room had collapsed in on itself from the crash, it was one big mass of rubble. As she made her way over to examine the bridge controls, she felt herself trip over something lying on the floor in front of her. Quickly composing herself and turning to see what had caused her to stumble, she felt the colour drain from her face and sickly feeling in her stomach return.

  “Oh my… guys! Over here!”

  “What is it?” Ansare asked, he and Saavoy making their way over to her.

  “I… I think I’ve found the command crew.”

  There were five bodies lain across the floor of the bridge, most trapped within the rubble but one of them lying in the middle of the room next to the captain’s chair. From his uniform, he must have been the captain. It was not the uniforms that caught Isha’s eye though, it was the state of the bodies.

  “They’ve been… mutilated,” even a war hero such as Saavoy seemed disturbed by the state of the bodies left lying around in front of them, “I cannot believe that any intelligent race would leave leftovers such as these.”

  The victims’ faces and torsos had been marked in a very unusual and very disturbing way, as if certain markings had been scratched into their skin. Isha was desperately hoping that this had not been done while the victims were still alive.

  “Why would anyone do this?” Isha could feel her stomach turning at the sight, and the smell, of the dead bodies, “what do they gain from leaving bodies in this state?”

  “Fear tactics,” said Saavoy, “it’s a warning. This kind of display is meant to strike fear into the hearts of any who discover them, probably in an attempt to keep us away. But the extent… there is no need for the bodies to be left in a state quite like this, I suggest we get back to the command centre, I’ve seen enough.”

  “Hold on…” Ansare stepped forward towards the body, having a closer examination than Isha was willing to, “. . . I know this man.”

  “You know him? From where?”

  “He’s been to Naisus a few times, he was in charge of the Churian support force that was to guard our borders in case of Vulian incursion,” Ansare explained, “he was captain Arion Carmona… he was a good man, a good captain. I guess that must mean this ship is the CES Narena… they were a good crew, they did not deserve this… no crew does.”

  “If you know him, I don’t suppose you know anything what his assignment was out here?” Isha asked, “maybe one of them mentioned something while they were still assisting your people.”

  “No, Churian support team was reassigned two years ago once Naisus’s defences were all in place again,” said Ansare, “this mission was very recent, they wouldn’t have known about it back then. Carmona was a smart captain though, if he knew he and his crew were doomed, he would have made some kind of effort to preserve information for any search and rescue crews that came looking for them.”

  It was such a waste of a good crew and a good ship to have sent them out into this region only for them to end up being shot down and so brutally murdered. While there was no way that Artennes could have predicted this when he sent them, it was still irresponsible on his part not to at least scout or survey the area first.

  “Isha, you really don’t look so good,” Ansare noted once more, “are you sure you’re Ok?”

  “Just not used to seeing things like this,” she said faintly, “I’ve seen dead bodies before just nothing like this.”

  “We should get back to Kaydenne,” said Saavoy, “hopefully she’ll have managed to get the power back online by now.”

  Right on cue, as they returned to her at the command console, the lights flickered back to life and some manner of power was restored to the room.

  “Just as I thought,” said Melina, “Churian crews always carry a survival generator on their bridge in case of crash landing on an uninhabited planet. It should be able to generate enough power for the whole command deck for a couple of weeks but its really badly damaged, we might only get an hour or two out of it.”

  “An hour is better than nothing,” said Ansare, “you think you can find what we need in that time?”

  “I can try,” said Melina, “I’m not exactly a pro at this but I think I can access some of the logs, they’re encrypted but I can… hey, what’s this!?”

  “You found something?”

  “I think the captain must have installed some kind of fail-safe system,” said Melina, “there is an emergency programme in here, it was installed just seven hours after this ship left Churo.”

  “Carmona must have known something,” said Saavoy, “either that or he was expecting trouble when they got here.”

  “Well he left a message here,” said Melina, “I’ll try and get it working, one second…”

  She fiddled with a couple of wires and the holo-projector sparked into life. The image was a little blurry but it was clearly of captain Carmona himself. His projected-self began to speak. There was a little bit of static in the background but they were still able to make out what he was saying.

  “My name is captain Arion Carmona…” it said, “. . . my crew and I are currently on our way into the Blue Ring sector on a mission from the leader of the alliance council, Lord Jovan Artennes. It is likely that if you are finding this message, then I and my crew are all dead and it is as I feared, this mission was far more dangerous that the council were prepared to admit.

  “Three days ago, the council approached our government, asking for the use of a small flotilla of scouting and research vessels for a mission that they branded as ‘above top secret’. They did not giv
e reasons, nor did they give details, they only declared that it was of utmost importance that they get a team into the Blue Ring sector as soon as possible. It was only as we were about to leave for our destination that were we finally told what it was that we were to do in this region. A partial data fragment was recovered from an old database salvaged from the underground hangar on the planet Raylia. It spoke of a device, something that was lost during the final days of the war between the Jaiytid and Xerion factions, something that could have changed the fate of the entire Jaiytid faction. Artennes would not tell us what this device could do, hell I don’t actually think he knew full well himself. All we know is that the council wants us to track this thing down and find it, along with any other valuable Jaiytid technology we find along the way.

  “The Narena is escorting the exploration fleet as we speak. Artennes did not say whether or not to expect trouble but I am prepared for the likelihood that this mission may turn sour at any given moment and if this log has been found, my fears have come to light. To whoever is now listening to this message, you must find the tactical burst sensor cluster we installed within the Narena’s command console. It was designed to activate a high tech scanning pulse on contact with an enemy ship and store all tactical information gathered in a packet designed for easy retrieval. Take this information to the council so that they know what we are dealing with and ensure that our sacrifice was not in vain. Also… tell my wife and my daughter, Jennia, that I love them very much and that… I’m sorry.”