Reality: The Struggle for Sternessence

by Daniel A. Liut

  Duncan wanted to say something, to apologize in some way, but he could not find the words. The captain was now sitting in front of the tactical screen, fiddling with some instruments, with her back to him.

  The tension did not last long. Within minutes, a familiar voice broke over the communications console.

  26.

  Most of the Intrepid’s instruments were of little, if any, help within the ionized environment. Four short-range, high-resolution sensors had been deployed about one hundred thousand kilometers ahead of the ship—quite close from a tactical standpoint. They were linked to the ship through the N.B.L. system.61

  “Conn/engine room.” Beaver’s virtual console came back up on a TD.

  “C.E.?”

  “Weapons system eighty-eight percent operational, Captain.”

  “Good job, Chief.”

  “Class two contact,”62 Leepardian said. “Bearing zero-one-zero flat relative, range one hundred and twenty thousand kilometers.”

  “Right off the bow?” O’sihn asked.

  “Yes, sir, and it’s moving towards us at a very slow speed, about one hundred kilometers per second.”

  “They may be following our gravitational trail,” Laida commented.

  O’sihn nodded. “I very much doubt they could pick us up otherwise inside this nebula, and at this distance.”

  “We have a very good tetragonalization of the contact, Captain,” Tygrum added from his virtual console. “The gravitic signature is consistent with a Strages class ship. Updating to class one.”

  “Copied.” O’sihn set alert one on his console, and the all-hands-to-battle-stations drill started blaring on all decks.

  “Picking up modulated neutrinion radiation,” Tygrum said. “Updating contact to confirmed status, Captain.”

  “Weapons system locked on target and in stand-by,” Laida reported.

  “Fire all weapons.”

  “Vectors in the ether,” Laida confirmed, as a multicolored display of lights pierced the ionized environment with an unintentional beauty.

  “Cease fire.”

  “Fire ceased,” Laida confirmed.

  “Hard-down starboard rudder, mean escape velocity.”

  “Hard-down star, mean escape, aye, sir,” Foxin acknowledged.

  “Seventy percent direct hits,” Tygrum informed. An icon on his virtual console, displaying the number 69.97, confirmed his statement. “Tango’s still computing—”

  “The enemy is starting to move,” Leepardian interrupted. “Speeding up at a high rate. Course heading three-one-three dash three-four-five.”

  “New course three-one-three dash three-four-five. Match kinematic pattern with the enemy’s,” O’sihn said.

  “Engage energy bursts on target, highest hit probability pattern,” he added, patting Laida’s hand.

  “Acknowledged.”

  “Heat absorbers are starting to saturate,” Laida added with concern.

  “Are we gaining on target?”

  “Negative, Captain,” Leepardian answered.

  “Engine room/conn.”

  “C.E., Captain.”

  “Link auxiliary power to engines.”

  “Hull temperature is reaching twelve thousand KGs. We should’ve blown up already.”

  “Engage auxiliary power to engines, Lin.”

  “Captain, we’re being tracked by three missiles,” Leepardian reported.

  “Lock onto them and neutralize with energy vectors,” O’sihn said, unconcerned about the threat.

  “Aye, Captain,” Laida acknowledged.

  “Strong indication that their energy weapons are out of service,” added Tygrum. The tactical judgment was based on the fact that missile effectiveness was seriously compromised within densely ionized environments, unless a missile were firmly locked on target.

  O’sihn nodded.

  “Missiles neutralized, Captain,” Laida reported.

  “Conn/engine room.”

  “Yes Chief.”

  “Sir, hull temperature twelve thousand, eight hundred KGs . . .” Lin Beaver’s troubled tone was immediately muffled by a violent crack that shuddered the whole ship.

  “Losing speed fast.” Foxin nodded tensely.

  “It seems we’ve hit a gravitational mine,” Tygrum added.

  “Captain, the enemy is also halting!” Leepardian reported.

  “Which weapons remain operational?”

  “I’m afraid missiles alone, Captain,” Tygrum said.

  “Full stop,” Foxin confirmed. O’sihn raised his eyes to Foxin’s console in silence.

  “So has the enemy,” Leepardian added.

  The ship was in serious danger. A long list of unknowns was troubling O’sihn, although he was quickly identifying them and establishing priorities of what had to be done next. “T.O., what are the chances they’ve also stumbled upon a mine?”

  “Unlikely, Captain. We would have detected the explosion.”

  “Their sustained high speed might have crippled their vessel, at least partially,” Laida commented.

  “If so,” O’sihn said, “everything would now depend on who fixes their technical difficulties first.”

  “The enemy is starting to move again,” Leepardian said.

  “R.S.C.,63 Lieutenant.”

  “Range, two thousand kilometers. Collision course, Captain, and gaining speed fast.”

  “C.E./conn.” Beaver’s console became active once more. “The enemy is closing on us very rapidly, Lin. We must try anything possible to bring back the engines. Anything.”

  “Captain! We are being illuminated by tactical scanners.” As the words left his mouth, Tygrum knew he might well have uttered the Intrepid’s final epitaph.

  O’sihn stood up, his eyes fixed on the red spot that glowed brightly in the center of the main TD. It was checkmate, and O’sihn’s expression reflected that. The enemy was closing in at a fast rate, and as it did, every countermeasure alarm in the Intrepid’s bridge was activated, one after the other.64

  Now the captain was about to try a desperate missile counterattack, knowing that the odds of success were extremely low. He had not started working on the activation sequence yet when the hostile red spot on the main screen burst into a bright small sun.

  27.

  The virtual space image on the 3D immediately returned to the natural darkness of space. “I hope I’ve not spoiled your party, guys.” A voice came through a non-military channel onto every tactical console, including the bridge.

  “Captain Foxso’l,” O’sihn said tartly, suppressing a smile.

  “What the hell is the Intrepid doing in this quadrant?” An image of Foxso’l materialized on a virtual monitor. “You respectable people are not supposed to hang around these neighborhoods. By the way, we have a couple of presents for you.”

  “Presents?”

  Foxso’l looked to his left, where Clara stood. A handcuffed Duncan appeared from behind. “It seems the boy caused you some trouble.”

  At that point, the medical department chief, Doctor Raikun, entered the bridge. He approached O’sihn discreetly, in a rather casual manner. “Captain, we need you in sickbay.”

  “I’ll be down there right away, Ray.”

  “You’d better come now.”

  The exchange had been obscured by continuing remarks from Foxso’l. O’sihn turned back. Something was unusual about Raikun’s expression. “X.O., take Lieutenant Commander Clara and Dahncion on board. I’ll be back shortly.”

  “Aye, Captain.”

  “Captain Foxso’l,” O’sihn said, addressing the communications screen. “I must attend to some matters at the moment. You and your crew are very much welcome on board.”

  “I sure appreciate that, Captain, but I understand you are short of time. We’d rather leave your invitation for some other day.”

  “Think it over, Fox’. I’ll be back momentarily.”

  “The X.O. has the conn,” Tygrum said, as the captain left the bridge.

&nbs
p; O’sihn and Raikun headed towards sickbay, which was three decks below.

  “Any casualties, Doctor?” O’sihn asked.

  “No.”

  “How many injured?”

  “Ten, one female in critical condition.” Raikun’s expression was grave.

  O’sihn did not speak for a few seconds. “Who’s she, Rai?”

  “Spacer Aleia, O.”

  There was a brief silence between them. “What happened, doc?”

  “Early this morning, she had been given a training assignment: manually arming and programming the firing sequence of a torpedo at the bow section. During the tactical engagement, some of the bow radiation neutralizers65 yielded, right before the enemy launched the three missiles against us, about half an hour ago. Aleia stayed at her post,66 and after completing the programming sequence, she managed to load her torpedo manually into one of the emergency shafts and launch it. The enemy missiles were intercepted and destroyed by the torpedo, but at a very close range. The bow area was bathed with lethal radiation.”

  O’sihn and Raikun reached sickbay. The captain walked in first and stood before a seriously wounded ossian. She was covered with blankets, which did not hide the severe radiation burns on her face. The young female was in agony. There was no point in asking the doctor whether she would recover.

  “Spacer Aleia, the captain is here,” said Raikun in a gentle tone.

  Aleia smiled, without changing her pained expression. O’sihn approached her bed and stood in front of her.

  Looking into space (she was blind), Aleia spoke in a feeble voice. “T.A.67 five, completed. Nothing to report, Captain.”

  “We all know this, Spacer. You did an excellent job.” O’sihn’s tone was low and exceptionally tender.

  Aleia extended one burnt hand towards the captain. She smiled once more, though now with a last timeless but peaceful expression.

  O’sihn’s face sunk into bitter sadness. The captain of the Intrepid knelt to grasp the young sailor’s hands. Only one other onboard could share his searing grief. For on that day, O’sihn’s and Laida’s eldest daughter had fulfilled her last daily task. In that simple act, she had saved one hundred and thirty-seven lives.

  _______________

  47 Multiple areas of the neighboring space were typically displayed on different TDs, with the appropriate magnification scales.

  48 There was mutual visual contact between the bridge and the different officers of the watch, and among the officers themselves through their VCs. However, the captain could disconnect the bridge from particular virtual consoles, or keep a private link with some of them. Multiple independent groups could also be set and were often set to optimize the flow of information.

  49 Three-Dimensional Stereo Imaging System.

  50 Focusing tactical scanners on a target implied an accurate assessment of its position and kinematic pattern.

  51 Combat Information Center.

  52 The translation “tons” is a scaled adaptation to units we are familiar with.

  53 Chief Engineer.

  54 Kilo-gradients.

  55 Ionization equalizers were ineffective at that speed.

  56 Damage Control.

  57 Present Kinematics Pattern.

  58 The cards were virtually undetectable. Only when activated by a special code through a particular communications channel, would they become visible to instruments. The information inside was meant to provide the causes of the catastrophic events that would have destroyed a ship.

  59 Neutrinion Beam Linkage

  60 Due to the delineated tori features in her appearance, Duncan’s perception of Clara tended to minimize her womanhood. But that was probably not something that only Duncan would experience. To people from Earth, tori features could likely suggest drawing-like traits.

  61 The N.B.L. system (Neutrinion Beam System) was the least conspicuous and most effective data linkage that could be used in the ionized environment of the nebula. The system would minimize the likelihood of giving away the Intrepid’s presence to the enemy while providing a large data transfer rate, with minimal loss of information.

  62 Unconfirmed contacts were classified into three categories according to the estimated probability of dealing with a real enemy vessel. A class one contact was the closest to a confirmed-contact classification. The evidence for it, though not yet conclusive, would be strongly consistent with that of a hostile ship. A class two status meant there was strong evidence for the presence of an enemy vessel in the tactical theater, albeit with some ambiguity involved. A class three contact meant there was reliable data partially consistent with the presence of an enemy vessel in the area.

  63 Range, speed, and course heading. Speed would typically include acceleration patterns.

  64 The bridge had alarms to alert about different threats coming from enemy attack operations. For example, there were alarms to warn about tactical weapons targeting systems, alarms about long-range scanners, alarms about gravitational perturbation waves used to pinpoint the position of the ship, alarms about scanners that tried to tie in on the ship’s communications, etc. As the enemy vessel approached, virtually all systems from the attacking ship were homing in on the Intrepid. As a result, almost every alarm on the bridge was going off.

  65 Radiation neutralizers: energy shields that prevent radiation from reaching exposed areas of the ship, protecting the crew and vital equipment.

  66 In battle, Spacers, which had the status of students, were instructed to move to well-protected sections of the ship, with easy access to escape pods. Knowing that the Intrepid was fighting against bad odds, Aleia decided to remain in the bow area and complete the assignment she had been given: manually arming a torpedo. While she was working, the radiation neutralizers yielded, but she continued with her task while aware of the consequences, not only from a potential attack (as did happen) but from the surrounding radiation coming from the nebula where the ship was navigating.

  67 T.A.: training assignment

  CHAPTER 6

  A Dose of Common Sense

  28.

  Enticing to the eyes and alluring to the heart, there she was. Glittering pink attire covered her body completely. Although the splendid gown concealed most of her female features, her charm was overpowering, as if possessing an irresistible witchcraft.

  She was standing barefoot on a cold lake covered in a silky ethereal haze. Floating over the surface, clouds of fog spread to the horizon.

  Her hands and arms were covered with seductive glossy gloves, which concealed everything within them. Her hair, glimmering like strings of emeralds, fell abundantly over her back down to her hips. Her neck radiated a crystal mistiness that adorned her face with the beauty of a goddess. Yet, it was in her eyes that her power resided. But her eyes were closed. She did not appear to be sleeping; she was standing on the lake. Occasionally, her eyes would move slightly while remaining closed, as if she were staring intensely into herself.

  As he approached, Duncan reached cautiously for his sword. But the glamour of the female vision turned his fear into curiosity, and curiosity into desire. Soon, he had reached the edge of the hazy shore. The woman standing on the lake was close, about twenty paces away.

  Abruptly, she opened her eyes. They were narrow and yellow, their gleam enhanced by the thick silver powder sprinkled over her cheeks.

  Duncan was enthralled by the light in her eyes, which now looked deep into his own. A strong impulse to give in to her and let her be his only guide and reason poured lustily through his blood.

  The woman smiled. It was a ravishing smile. Her lips were moist and red, but Duncan could not see her teeth. The young man’s passion had been captured by the woman’s eyes. “Duncan, if you give me your love, I will be your only guide and your only love. And in loving me, I will love you, and no other, forever.”

  “I would also love you forever,” Duncan said, carried away by her beauty.

  Smiling, the woman lifted up one arm, and one of the clouds
that hovered over the hazy sea became translucent. Six men were revealed looking at her, possessed by passion.

  “Who are they?” Duncan asked.

  “They are the others whom I love, only each one of them, and no other single one, forever.”

  Duncan’s exuberant expression faded. “You said you would love me . . . only me . . .”

  “To be and not to be, so there it be. Don’t think of this, and let our passion also be.”

  The clouds became gray and dense again, and again the woman closed her eyes. Duncan kept staring at her face until she opened her eyes once more. Their color had faded. They had turned glassy, transparent, as glassy and transparent as her new smile. “Duncan, if you give me your love, I will be your only guide and your only love. And in loving me, I will love you, and no other, forever.”

  “Only me . . .” he muttered.

  She nodded and lifted up one arm. Six more clouds became diaphanous. Sixty-six men were there, beholding her in rapture. They seemed to be aware of her and only but her, not of each other, or of themselves.

  “Who are these men?”

  “They are the others whom I all love, to only each one of them I gave my heart, and no other but only one of them I love.”

  The painful fear of having to share her love with other men made Duncan fall to his knees. “What do you mean, you love each one of them and only one of them?”

  “To be and not to be, so there it be. Don’t think of this, and let our passion also be.” The woman closed her eyes, and the clouds rapidly recovered their dense pattern again.

  Duncan was baffled by the creature. Her beauty seemed to have cast an irresistible spell on his soul. He stayed motionless, contemplating the female in awe.

  Now, she opened her eyes. They were completely white. Her face was empty, but still irresistibly seductive. “Duncan, what’s holding you up? I’ve told you, I’d love you and you’d be my slave—you and no other, forever. Why don’t you do like the others and relinquish to me your heart and your mind, so that my mystery can always be your guide? It’s only you, and the others, but only also you, I will love all together, forever.”