by Jerome Kelly
* * * * *
“Something troubling you?”
James had barely noticed Lucy Maguire almost sneaking up on him. He had been sat in the crew lounge for an hour now and was so deep in thought he was almost oblivious to anything going on around him.
“Not at all,” James said without a hint of emotion, “just needed some time to think, that’s all.”
“Well you could have fooled me,” Lucy said, taking a seat beside him, “come on, tell me, what’s on your mind?”
“Just thinking about the mission a little too much,” James sighed, “I was going over everything we’ve learned from the ships that we searched but I honestly don’t think it told us anything that we don’t already know. Someone beat us to it and has erased all the evidence leaving us blind to whatever is going on out here. Then in addition to that, I have my helmsman and my second cousin fighting over who gets to pilot the orbital flyer, I have lovers quarrels between members of the command crew and to top it all off, my wife is down with an illness.”
“You know, you’re quite lucky to even be allowed to have Isha on the ship with you,” Lucy reminded him, “no other military organisation on Earth would allow family to serve alongside each other. You have been given a great privilege here you know.”
“It wasn’t easy getting the admirals to consent to it,” said James, “even Davidson had his concerns. Still… they thought the benefits of keeping their prized asset happy outweighed any negatives that might come from it.”
“Well you’re lucky they’re so lenient with you,” said Lucy, “you would never get away with running a ship like this in any other division of the military.”
“How so?”
“Well, for a start, your crew have way too much freedom to do as they please,” Lucy explained, “you allow them to act freely and speak freely whenever they choose and even drink the night before duty? It’s quite irregular for someone in your position.”
“My crew are my friends,” James told her, “we know each other on a personal level and as such, they trust my judgement and I trust theirs. If we find ourselves in a difficult situation, they will follow their orders without question. You shouldn’t worry about what they do in between missions, worry about what they do when we’re in the heat of battle.”
“Im not worried,” Lucy corrected him, “maybe just a little surprised. I’m used to much stronger discipline in my old division. Officers in my old line of work would be suspended if they behaved the way yours do.”
“I welcome their insight into the mission,” said James, “remember, these guys have all completed their full academy training and excelled as they did so. That is a benefit it never had, I was thrown into all of this before I was truly ready for it. In a way, my crew are better equipped for the role than I am. They know the procedures better than I do.”
“Training is all well and good…” Lucy continued, “. . . but you have something that very few others have… you have already proven yourself in the heat of battle time and time again. Our team evaded capture from Vulian forces for over a year back on Earth. We outmaneuvered and outfought a foe infinitely more powerful than us for over a year and lived to tell the tale. That was just the start for you, you went on to win at Rosian, beating the executor Maholaden himself in battle. You won the battle of the Amarat Station, you won the battle of Churo and even reached and defeated the Vulian leaders themselves in their stronghold on the surface of their home planet.”
If only Lucy, or anyone other than his old crew, knew the truth about what had really happened in Serraha palace that day. James had been reluctant to reveal the actions of Darien in those last heated moments of the battle. If he had, Darien might not have been seen as an improvement on his predecessor. As it was, the people of the galaxy believed him to be in a different mould to the old emperor and James felt it was best that way.
“I suppose you’re right,” James agreed, “still, I value the opinions of anyone on my crew on a mission like this. Not least those of my old crew, even if they do need to get their heads straight and put all their personal issues to one side for a moment.”
“Are you sure you needed to bring so many of them back for this?” Lucy asked, “if you believe this crew is really that good, why bother recruiting the old team again?”
“Trust me, they have skills that we will need on this mission,” James assured her, “Kasha and Kaldun are two of the best officers I have ever known, they have been there and done it for years and lived to tell the tale. Loca is probably the best mechanic and weapons expert anywhere in the alliance, her expertise alone can sometimes be the difference between success and failure on a mission. The you have Kaydenne who is an incredible pilot, she proved that by winning the Gala.”
“Your friend Jaiden Kosare is a bit of a loose cannon though,” Lucy reminded him, “we’ve seen in the past what she is capable of and even though she claims to have renounced her violent ways, we don’t know how she will respond if she gets into a particularly deadly fight.”
“If you knew Jaiden personally, you wouldn’t be saying that,” said James, “her reputation is unfair and does not reflect the person she truly is. She never enjoyed killing, she only did it because she had to do it to stay alive. It was just the fact that she was so good at it that it gave people the wrong impression about her.”
“Well, if you say so,” said Lucy, “she’ll still have some pretty harsh emotional scars from those days though, scars that would leave some people broken.”
“We all have scars, Lucy,” said James, “we’ve all lost friends in battle. It’s one of the harsh realities of war, we’re going to lose people close to us. I hardly need to remind you of all of those that died during the revolution, and the loss of Valeri Castellan weighs even more now that his son is on my crew.”
“But he doesn’t blame you for his father’s death,” Lucy pointed out, “Valeri would have known what he was getting himself into when he went down there, they all would have done. It’s no good blaming yourself for their loss when it was their choice to do what they did.”
“Something you would do well to remember yourself,” James pointed out to her. He knew that Lucy had never quite recovered from losing Benjamin Miller during the campaign across Europe. She had certainly had feelings for him and had things been different, who knows how the two of them might have ended up.
“Let’s not go there,” Lucy said awkwardly, “I would prefer not to bring that up again.”
“You will have to face up to the facts that you were not to blame for his death,” James pointed out to her, “it was an impossible situation we were in, there was nothing anyone could have done. I’ve put the losses I’ve suffered behind me as much as I possibly can. You need to try and do the same.”
“It’s not the same though,” said Lucy, “you didn’t lose someone you had feelings for. Someone you… loved. Can you imagine how you would feel if you were to lose Isha?”
“I don’t even want to think about it,” James said grimly, “if I lost her it would be like the end of the world, it would destroy me.”
“Then you know how I felt,” said Lucy, “and you probably know how your friend Kasha feels about losing his family too. Remember, his wife was with child when he lost her so his pain is even greater.”
“I think he may yet find that something good can come his way,” said James, “if he and Loca can sort out whatever differences they have, they could yet be happy together. Everyone, no matter how deep the scars, no matter what they have suffered, can find happiness somewhere. You never know, Lucy, you may just find it yourself someday.”
“Maybe… I don’t know,” Lucy did not seem to be enjoying the subject of conversation, “I just don’t want to move on from him before I’m ready, I don’t want to insult his memory.”
“You shouldn’t think about it like that you know,” said James, “Ben was my friend too a
nd if I know him, he would want to see you happy, not living in regret like this.”
“I suppose,” Lucy agreed, “these changes don’t just happen overnight though. While we might have the technology to remove physical scars now, emotional ones are with you forever.”
“I know that all too well,” said James, “some of mine will be with me forever and I will never be able to get rid of them. I guess we should be getting ourselves down over this too much, we need to keep our heads in the mission. Might as well make our way up to the bridge, I’m sure we’ll be arriving at our destination very shortly.”
Dragging himself from his seat, James began to walk slowly back towards the bridge. He hoped to himself that all the petty quarrels between members of his crew would finally cease now that they had seen with their own eyes the true grim nature of what they were up against. While they had barely scratched the surface of the overall mystery, the gruesome murders of the Tolian and Churian crews told them that there were indeed in very hostile space. Any issue that any member of the crew had with anyone else would have to wait until the mission was complete.
“Captain on the bridge!” Came the usual call as he returned to his crew, James quickly setting them at ease once more. The rest of the crew were on deck and ready for action, all except Isha and Melina. James was content to let Isha rest for a bit though, she had looked like hell when she had returned.
“How long until we reach our destination?” James asked, “we should be getting close by now.”
“Just eight minutes out,” Daniels informed him, “Your timing was excellent actually, captain, I was just reaching for the comm to call you up here.”
“Well I thought I would save you the trouble,” said James, “did I miss anything while I was away?”
“Nothing to report sir,” said Ivanov, “we’re still trying to piece things together up here. We’re no closer to knowing any more about where we are headed or what we might find there.”
“Just make sure you’re all prepared for anything when we arrive,” said James, “we have no idea what could be waiting for us on the other end…” James turned to face his command crew, “. . . and I’ll need all of you to put aside any other concerns you might have and focus on the mission. This is serious business and one or two of you here have not been treating it as seriously as I would have hoped.”
“I assure you, we’re all focused and ready to do what needs to be done,” Saavoy assured him, “you did pull us from our duties without asking us first though, so you can imagine that some of us may not be overjoyed about the situation that we find ourselves in right now.”
“As long as you promise us you wont do anything stupid,” Kosare added, “we’re all with you on this one, just try not to get any of us killed.”
“Everyone knew the risks this mission posed before agreeing to it,” James reminded her, “but don’t worry, I have no intention of getting anyone killed out here. You can trust that I will do whatever it takes to keep everyone alive while doing everything I can to get to the bottom of this. You have my word on that.”
In reality he couldn’t really promise them anything but he would do his best to protect the people under his command. Nothing was going to stop him completing the mission though, he was determined to end these attacks before they got out of hand and claimed any more innocent lives. It didn’t matter how hard they tried though, there was only one way this mission was going to end and that was in a conflict with whoever this mystery attack was.
“Disengaging warp engines now,” Daniels said eventually, “we’ve arrived at site of the distress call, sir.”
“Go to red alert!” James quickly ordered, “shields up, arm weapons. Get a long range scan of the area, I want to know if there is anyone else in the area.”
The waves of hyperspace faded, the view before them became clear. James had not been sure of what to expect as they arrived on scene but there was one thing he hadn’t been expecting…
“There’s nothing here…”
The area was quiet. There was nothing there. The only thing visible to them was the giant Blue Ring nebula that the Evening Star was now right on the border of. They were now further out from alliance space than any other crew had ever been since the downfall over five hundred years ago. James was surprised at the silence on the scene, perhaps four hours had been too much and whoever had sent the distress call was long gone. The attackers too by the looks of things.
“You’re sure this is the right place?” James asked again, “there’s nothing here, I thought we were chasing a distress call.”
“We’re in the exact place the call came from,” said Ivanov, looking just as confused as everyone else on the bridge, “I don’t understand, we must be too late. Whoever sent that call must be long gone now and… wait a second, it’s back.”
“Back? Where is it coming from this time? Stevens, are you getting any communications?”
“Yes, and I’ve got a location on the signal,” said Elena, “it’s ahead fourteen degrees to the right, we can get there on thrusters sir.”
“Then set a course, lets find them before whoever attacked them returns to finish the job.”
Something felt very out of place. There was no sign of any battle having taken place, no sign of any attackers, no sign of anything at all that would warrant this distress call. James had no idea if anyone else on the crew suspected the same thing as he did but he had a very strong feeling that this was not a distress call at all, it was trap. Unfortunately, as he had learned several times during the revolution, the only way to discover the nature of the trap was to spring the trap.
“The distress call is coming from inside that asteroid field,” Elena warned, indicating to the large field of rocks floating in the space before them, “it’s faint but it’s about twenty thousand kilometres from our current position.”
“Asteroids, great, just what we need,” Daniels grumbled, “just one more hazard this region want to throw at us.”
“Can we safely navigate the field?” James asked his helmsman, “I don’t want this whole thing to end just because we’ve been crushed by some space rocks.”
“It looks fairly low risk, sir,” said Ivanov, “the asteroids are moving too slowly to cause us any danger. Besides, the smaller ones wont even scratch our shields and I’m pretty sure Daniels is smart enough to dodge the bigger ones.”
“Appreciate the vote of confidence,” Daniels said sarcastically, “I’m glad our tactical officer’s ability to state the obvious is still as evident as ever.”
“Easy people, lets stay on track,” James calmed them down, “helmsman, if its safe, take us in, let’s find our missing people.”
Daniels was a talented pilot and dodging the asteroids was not an issue for him. He was looking less than impressed at the fact that entering the field was necessary. No one looked particularly overjoyed about having to go in but no one had spoken up, they were caught between wanting to get to the bottom of the mystery and not wanting to go the same way as those who had been out here previously.
A noticeable amount of static was starting to come over some of the ship’s instruments. Something from inside the field was scrambling their systems, causing difficulty for several of the crew on the bridge.
“Is this interference from the nebula?” James asked, his own screens starting to flicker on and off.
“No, we’re far enough outside the nebula that it shouldn’t be affecting us,” said Ivanov, “whatever is doing this is coming from inside the field itself. Long range sensors and communications are not functioning properly but our short range and internal systems are still working.”
“And what are you getting from them? Can you locate the source of the disruption?”
“No, I can’t get any specifics,” said Ivanov, “I’ve never seen anything like this before, sir.”
“This isn’t standard jammin
g equipment, James,” Morelli piped up, “the systems on this ship are made entirely from Jaiytid technology. Neither alliance nor Vulian equipment would have more than a minimal effect on systems as advanced as these. It would take jamming technology beyond our own to do this.”
“Then we should pull back,” said Ansare, “we’re clearly not equipped to deal with whatever is out here, we should get out of here before we become the next casualty of this region.”
“No, not yet,” James contested, “if this call is genuine then it’s the best chance we have to find out what’s going on out here. I’m not passing it up.”
“And if it isn’t genuine, we are most likely walking straight into a trap,” Saavoy warned, “I agree with Kaldun, we should get out of here.”
James had his curiosity aroused though, he wanted to know what was out here even if he had to flirt with danger to get the answers he needed. If he was going to return to the council with a report, he needed that report to contain every detail of what was going on otherwise the whole thing would just be a waste of time and the Churian and Tolian crews would have died for nothing.
Daniels kept them moving at a steady pace through the asteroid field, the asteroids themselves posing little threat to them as they went. There was no sign of anything unusual as far as they could see but James kept his eyes peeled, the source of the distress call had to be in the area somewhere. The only thing out of the ordinary was a small flash of silver in the distance, certainly not an asteroid or a rock in space.
“Our missing Tolian cruiser?” He asked, “is that the source of the distress call?”
“No,” said Elena, “I’m not getting any transmissions or signals of any kind from it, I’m getting nothing at all.”
“The ship’s signature doesn’t match any in our databanks,” said Ivanov, “doesn’t match the ones we encountered at the previous locations either. I can’t get anything else from it though, the interference is getting worse the closer we get to it.”
