Gateway (Gateway Series Book 1)

by Brian Dorsey

  TC led the two into the crew entrance and past the open door to the reactor bay. Rickover’s curses echoed through the passageway as they moved aft. The Scapi stopped outside a small stateroom.

  “I hope these quarters will do. If not…well, it’s all there is so it will have to do.”

  “It’s fine,” said Mori. “Thank you.”

  “I will let you two get settled while we make preparations for takeoff.”

  As the massive Scapi ducked to leave the room and closed the door to the stateroom, Mori turned toward Stone. “At least he didn’t say, Enjoy your stay.”

  “It’s good to be getting out of here, but we’ve got a long way to go.”

  “Do you really think it will work, Ty?” asked Mori.

  “I hope so. If anyone knows what is going on in the Navato system, it’s Dominotra Varus. If we can capture him, or at least get him to talk, we won’t have to go into Navato blindfolded.”

  “And we can get rid of the bounty hunters too,” added Mori.

  “Hopefully. If we can make it to his estate we will have to take out his communication center and deal with his security team. Luckily, I know my way around his estate.”

  “The prodigal son returns, eh.”

  “Not quite,” laughed Stone. “We should get some sleep. We will need the energy when we get to Alpha Humana.”

  ***

  The gut-wrenching, nauseating deceleration threw Stone and Mori onto the deck from their slumber. Following them to the ground was everything in the room not tied down.

  “What the hell was that?” asked Mori as she struggled to catch her breath and push herself off the ground to her hands and knees. “It-it’s too early to come out of a jump.”

  “I don’t know,” huffed Stone. “We sh-should check it out.” He tried to stand but was too dizzy and fell back to his knees. “As s-soon as I can…” He exhaled heavily. “…stand.”

  In a few seconds he was able to rise to his feet. Taking a deep breath, he turned to help Mori but she was already on her way out the door.

  They sprinted down the passageway to the cockpit.

  “Captain Orion, what happ…” Stone had to take another breath as his stomach was still settling. “What happened?”

  “We had a rapid deceleration. Not sure why, yet. It happens sometimes. We’ll check our position and reset our course for another jump. Engineering, this is the captain, report status of engineering systems.”

  Rickover’s angry voice came over the intercom. ‘It wasn’t my fault. There is nothing wrong with the reactor or—damn it! Wait a minute. I have a small fire...let me…’ There was a short pause. ‘It’s out,” he continued. “Like I said, it’s not engineering. What did that big blue bastard do?’

  The squeaks from TC almost conveyed his annoyance before the translator echoed his sentiment. “There’s nothing wrong with my NAVSYS, jackass.”

  “What caused the deceleration, TC?” asked Orion.

  “Checking.”

  TC disconnected his translator. High-pitched squawks filled the cockpit as he worked the navigation system.

  Orion looked back toward Mori and Stone. Their faces were pale and they were breathing heavily. “It must be your first de-cell,” said Orion. “Don’t worry, it gets better after about a hundred of them.”

  “I think one will be enough,” replied Mori, exhaling heavily.

  After a few moments of squeaks and manipulations of the navigation systems, TC activated the translator again. “It looks like we’re in the Sierra system, about halfway there. Magnetic fields pulled us out of the jump. That’s odd,” said TC after a slight pause. “The new upgrade should have helped with that. Let me check. These fields are huge and there are a lot of them. There are some neutrino fields too, but weak. Just a minute and we should be in visual range.”

  “Engineering, make sure we’re ready to jump again,” said Orion.

  “I’ve been ready the whole time,” came back over the intercom.

  “I have plotted a quick jump course out of the system if we need to get out of here fast,” reported TC.

  Outside the cockpit window small specks appeared, then more. A few more seconds and distant objects began to become identifiable. “That’s a Humani battle cruiser,” exclaimed Orion. “TC, get ready to jump.”

  TC reached toward the navigation controls, but Mori stopped him.

  “Wait,” she said as she placed her hand on his massive shoulder.

  “What do you mean wait?” said Orion, as she looked toward the ship. “Oh,” she added.

  “There’s a Terillian battleship right beside it…or part of one,” said Mori.

  “Son of a bitch,” said Stone as the scene became clearer. “There has been a fight here—a big one.”

  “Great,” said Orion. “We have decelerated in the middle of a battlefield.”

  At first a few, then dozens of abandoned and wrecked ships came into view. A Humani battle cruiser with several hull breaches was visible in the distance. Dozens of massive fires created an orange pulsating glow in the hangar as they burned up any oxygen left onboard. As they passed through the wreckage, each new sight was more shocking than the last.

  “Over there,” said TC as he pointed toward the forward end of a Terillian battleship that lay behind the Humani battle cruiser hulk. “It has been split in half. And there’s a Terillian corvette embedded in its forward end.”

  “It must have either lost control during the battle and collided with the battleship or drifted into her afterwards,” said Orion.

  As they moved deeper into the wreckage, more carnage unfolded. Capital ships wasted, Terillian Foxtrots and Alphas drifted past them as did Condor fighters and Eagle bombers. Then there were the bodies—the vacuum of space had horribly distorted the already torn remains.

  “The Terillians must have tried to take back the Sierra system,” said Stone, his eyes glued to the devastation outside their small ship.

  “We won’t be able to accelerate for a jump until we get clear of this mess,” said Orion. “I have never seen anything like this before. So many dead.”

  “It looks like at least two grand fleets fought it out here,” added Mori. “That’s tens of thousands of naval personnel and perhaps a corps of infantry on each side.”

  “It looks like both sides suffered heavy losses,” said Stone in a low voice as his heart sank. “All of these people have died for a lie. On the whim of a few powerful Humani and their Xen masters, an entire generation of two civilizations will be sacrificed.”

  Mori placed her hand on Stone’s arm. “We will find a way to stop this.”

  As Orion skillfully piloted her way through the minefield of wreckage, Mori pointed out more wreckage to Orion. “Over there, that orbital destroyer,” she said.

  In the distance an orbital destroyer, its hull weakened by internal fires, exploded in a brilliant flash of orange and red. The wave of debris from the blast was visible as it radiated outward from the explosion.

  “Look at that,” Mori continued.

  “Crap,” exclaimed Orion. “Engineering—I need full power now!”

  “What’s wrong?” asked Stone.

  “That explosion just released enough force to accelerate everything out here.” As she spoke a body flew past the cockpit. “TC, keep your eyes open.”

  The tail section of a condor fighter passed over the ship. A dull but piercing screeching sound could be heard as it grinded over the top of their ship. Another body slammed into the cockpit, disintegrating in a puff of red mist.

  “Son of a bitch,” said Stone as he and Mori buckled themselves into the chairs behind Orion and TC.

  “Damn it!” yelled Orion. “TC, give me a hand with the controls.”

  As Stone looked up from the clasp on his harness he saw the hulk of Terillian corvette tumbling bow over stern toward them.

  “Look out!” he shouted.

  Orion and TC pulled hard on the controls to take the ship vertical. Stone felt Mori’s
hand grip his wrist. They could hear metallic clangs as small pieces of debris whacked against the hull of the ship and the occasional sickening thud as non-metal objects slammed into Hydra.

  “Did we clear it?” asked Stone.

  “I don’t…” Orion’s response was interrupted by a massive jolt and the deafening sound of metal crunching. Stone felt his stomach do somersaults as the Hydra flipped over and spun violently to port.

  “Give me thrusters to the port,” ordered Orion.

  “Not responding,” reported TC.

  “I’m taking starboard thruster to one-third. Initiating reverse pulse. Stabilizer to full.” Orion was not a good pilot—she was a great one. Before long the ship was leveled and righted.

  “Navigation, report status.”

  “Navigation system ready. Jump computer online, still recalculating jump coordinated to Alpha Humani. Short jump programmed for 500,000 kilometers.”

  “Roger. Engineering, report status.”

  “Online. Small fire in auxiliary propulsion room. Automatic organic halide flooding system has extinguished Charlie fire. Delta under control. Port thrusters inoperable. No known hull damage. Intermittent warning lights on aft stabilizer and O2 scrubber stations. Recommend putting down for hull inspection. I’m sure something else is f’ed up.”

  “Roger, Engineering,” replied Orion. “Damn it,” she continued while contemplating her options.

  “To your starboard!” warned TC.

  Orion lunged the ship forward and down as she took evasive action against a large chunk of metal that used to be a magnetic main battery. “We need to get out of this crap,” she declared. “I’ll turn and try to match our speed with the debris until we reach orbital range of Sierra 7. When we’re there, I’ll slingshot us around on a tangent and take us back around for a landing with the planet covering our approach.”

  Turning Hydra, Orion and TC worked to calculate the speed of the debris and quickly matched it. Once they were in equilibrium with the speed of the system, Orion let out a sigh of relief. “So have either of you ever been to Sierra 7?” asked Orion. “It’s beautiful from the sky.”

  Stone looked over to Mori, who was smiling. “Sierra 7. I think we may have been there before.”

  ***

  “Captain, coming up on Sierra 7 gravitational field in 40 seconds,” reported TC.

  “Mark the tangent line,” ordered Orion.

  “30 seconds to mark,” reported TC.

  “30 seconds, aye. On my mark, standby to initiate full thrusters and hard to starboard. Let’s hope she’s got enough left in her to make the turn.”

  “15 seconds to mark…10…5…”

  “You two should get ready. This is going to be a bumpy ride,” said Orion. “Engineering, standby for acceleration and hard to starboard in 3…2…1…Mark.”

  Stone could feel the force of the acceleration pushing him into the seat. It was almost as powerful as the initial acceleration into a jump. A powerful force pressing his body outboard told Stone the bank to starboard had started. Turning at full thrusters with the added acceleration of the gravitational pull of Sierra 7 had the Hydra at almost jump speed.

  “Hold on,” said Orion. “Here comes the gut buster.”

  “Securing thrusters, full port-180 Z-plane-NOW!”

  Stone and Mori lost consciousness. Orion grunted as she struggled to keep her focus and control the ship through the maneuver. As the ship rapidly decelerated and full stabilizers placed a downward force on the Hydra, Orion shifted the controls downward and quickly pulled back. The maneuver caused the ship to tumble nose over tail. As it completed its revolution, Orion engaged full thrusters and leveled the ship, now traveling at cruising speed and heading inbound to Sierra 7.

  “Whew! I wasn’t sure that was gonna work,” declared Orion. “I guess TC’s buying drinks back on Port Royal.”

  “Maybe,” said TC after the squeaking was decoded. “If we make it back alive though, Rickover will owe us a drink so it’ll be a wash.”

  “How are the passengers doing?” asked Orion.

  “What the hell did you do?” huffed Mori.

  “Looks like they’ll make it,” laughed TC.

  “Sorry for the acrobatics, but we needed a quick way to get out of the debris path and on the safe side of the planet,” explained Orion.

  “That…was insane,” said Stone.

  “No,” answered Orion. “That was necessary. Your suicide mission to Alpha Humana is insane. Either way the money’s still worth it. Besides, it hasn’t been boring. And if there’s anything I hate…it’s boring,” she said as she looked back toward the two and smiled. “TC, let’s get this bird on the ground so Rickover can work his magic.”

  Hydra entered the atmosphere over the Great Sea and moved swiftly toward the plains and mining villages. Before the plains came into view on the horizon, large plumes of smoke could be seen in the distance.

  “Wonder what that is?” asked TC.

  “I’m not sure but it doesn’t look good,” answered Orion. “We will set down just short of the Red Moss on the other side of the ridge at the end of the plains. That should be the safest place if there are any Terillians or Humani still around.”

  While the crew was concentrating on the columns of smoke dotting the horizon, Mori was scanning the foreground. A large object appeared near the rapidly approaching shoreline. The mangled steel structure was still recognizable. “Look at that,” she said.

  Half-submerged, the wreckage of a Terillian carrier jutted out of the water only a few hundred meters from shore. Hydra passed over the shipwreck seconds later and continued on toward the smoky columns.

  “The fighting must have extended to the planet,” said Stone. “Terillian carriers don’t just fall out of orbit.”

  “And towns don’t just disappear,” added Orion as they flew over what had been the trading post town of Farland.

  Vaporized by main batteries from either the Terillians or Humani, nothing but ash and debris remained. As Hydra sped over one destroyed village after another, the magnitude of the damage began to sink in to the crew. Passing over the remains of Slocum City, the ship pitched upward to clear the volcanic mountain marking the entrance to the Red Moss fields.

  “We’ll set down as soon as the Red Moss fields come into….”

  “I don’t believe it…” uttered Stone. “It’s gone.”

  In place of the Red Moss fields lay a blackened wasteland. The bloody confrontation that had taken place in space had been mirrored on the plains and fields of Sierra 7. “Unbelievable,” muttered Orion as she settled herself. “We still need to set down and check Hydra for external damage. I guess this place is as good as any.”

  Hydra slowed to make its landing a few hundred yards from where the fields would have begun.

  ***

  “I guess we should go outside and take a look,” said Stone as he unlatched himself from his seat.

  Orion, Stone, and Mori stood at the outer door of Hydra preparing to exit.

  As the outer door opened, Mori and Stone quickly moved to the right and left flank, rifles at the ready. Orion moved straight ahead.

  The smell of charcoal and death filled the air. As far as Stone could see, everything was dead save the groups of scavenger birds feasting on the carnage.

  Orion choked against the odor. “It’s all gone. Everything,” she said, placing her undershirt over her nose and mouth.

  “The infantry from the fleet we passed must have fought here,” said Mori in a hushed tone. “There must be thousands of dead…tens of thousands.”

  “I knew that both the Humani and Terillian had the power to destroy entire worlds but I never thought I would see it,” said Orion, still covering her nose from the horrible smell.

  As Orion, Mori, and Stone stared emptily across the land, a rustling noise from the burned debris caused them to instinctively react. All three turned and trained their weapons toward the noise.

  “It’s coming from that fo
xhole,” said Stone.

  The butt of his rifle firmly secured against his shoulder, Stone moved toward the sound. His finger rested on the trigger guard as he moved slowly. His body crouched down to present a smaller target and to allow him to stay compact and coiled if he had to react. In his peripheral he saw Mori circling toward to flank the position while Orion took up a defensive stance. When he was close enough, he stood fully erect and leveled his weapon at the source of the noise.

  After a quick glance he looked over toward Mori, lowering his rifle to his side and motioning for her to do the same.

  “What is it?” she asked as she rushed toward Stone.

  “A wounded tiger,” he answered.

  The tiger looked up at Stone, its mouth open and ears flattened. In a feeble warning, it let out a low growl. The gaping wounds on its thigh and side made it obvious that the growl was only for show.

  “Damn,” said Mori as she reached the foxhole. “I wonder—”

  Stone raised his hand to quiet Mori. “I hear something.”

  At first the sound was almost inaudible. Stone slightly shifted his position to get a better viewpoint.

  “She has cubs,” reported Stone. “They must have followed her into the foxhole.”

  “They will stay there until she dies and then they will starve,” added Mori as she stood beside Stone.

  Stone did the only humane thing. Taking careful aim, he fired three shots. Lowering his weapon, Stone stepped away from the edge of the foxhole.

  “What is it?” shouted Orion as she made her way to the foxhole.

  “More victims of Xen deception,” replied Stone coldly.

  “What is he talking about?” asked Orion as she looked toward Mori.

  “Nothing. Nothing is out there,” replied Stone. “Maybe that’s what it will take to make things right again.”

  “What are you talking about?” asked Orion again.

  “Maybe we all just need to be wiped away,” he continued.