»They wouldn’t dare!« one of the generals shouted, but fell silent when he noticed Friedberg’s reprimanding look.
Senitschko’s appearance was nothing out of the ordinary. His hair was unkempt, his physique was slim; he seemed to come across as a calm and quiet person.
»Since you’ve been transferred here, you haven’t provided any constructive suggestions or new ideas that I remember,« Friedberg provoked, trying to assess the man’s response.
»This is my first crisis meeting with your staff, Sir,« Senitschko replied dryly. »With their advanced technology, the strangers obviously didn’t enter normal space inside the Asteroid Belt by chance. They did it to send a signal. They want to shock us and show what their ship is capable of. They’re saying if we pick a fight with them, we’ll be defeated!«
Suddenly, Friedberg’s personal aid-de-camp stormed into the room.
»Sir, the intruder has penetrated outer security perimeters and is heading for Earth!« he announced breathlessly. »Our units are holding as ordered, but …«
»But, Captain Jones?« Friedberg wanted to know … he rose from his seat.
Jones had a fine web of sweat on his forehead as he replied, »It’s Horkland, Sir. If we don’t do anything then we have a catastrophe on our hands!«
I’m sorry
Uma Boos was considered an authority in the field of interplanetary mining. She was responsible for the classification and smelting of the different ores delivered to Horkland. Raw materials arrived at the large orbital industrial platform in containers and tugged by small spaceships to the platform’s receiving stations. The selection process classified them by their expected yield in gasses, metals or chemicals. There was no waste produced after the final processing stages. Horkland was built into a dual oval shaped platform resembling a dual propeller rotating on its axis; measuring 1,200 by 800 meters it was even visible from Earth. Its rotation created an artificial gravity so that the workers, technologists and scientists could work under almost Earth-like conditions.
The complex in its far out Earth orbit was not only a workplace for more than 3,000 men and women, but also served as a space habitat.
Freighters and containers arrived at Horkland daily to either deliver or pick up goods. The platform was kept running 24 hours, maintained by engineers and technicians on a well devised shift system.
Uma Boos had just finished her shift and was ready to relax in her quarters. She had stripped off her heavy work clothes and had taken an ultra-sound shower. While she was eating she looked out her small window and watched the greenish discharges of the Dimensional Shield in the distance. Her cabin wasn’t very spacious ; it reminded her of cabins on passenger ships and ocean liners on Earth a couple of decades ago.
›Horkland isn’t much different,‹ she pondered. ›We’re like a huge oceangoing vessel, except that our ocean is a sea of stars. There are no icebergs here … but the comets can be killers too!‹
Uma smiled at her thoughts.
›Where is the scientist in me?‹ she wondered, and reflected on her past working shift as the door buzzer sounded.
Uma took a deep breath. She didn’t want to be disturbed and she ignored the buzzer.
The uninvited person kept sounding the buzzer until Uma finally got up. The door spy showed her who it was disturbing her peace.
›Well … who else?‹ she thought, irritated as she recognized the face on the other side of the door. It was her ex-boyfriend, who was now calling out her name.
»Uma, open up, quickly!« he demanded. »I know you’re in there!«
»Patrick, what do you want?« she shouted back at him. »Stop buzzing me and leave me alone! I’m tired and don’t want to talk to you right now!«
»Uma! Please, listen to me!« he shouted back. »If you don’t open this door, I’ll kick it in!«
Uma laughed out loud.
»Huh … seriously? I’ll tell sick bay to stand by, because you’ll break your foot! The door is made out of steel!«
Suddenly, sirens sounded throughout the space platform.
Uma paled and forgot all about Patrick.
›Space Alert?‹ she thought.
»You should’ve listened to me, Uma. Now it’s too late. People will kill each other for a seat in one of the rescue pods!« screamed Patrick.
›Uh … shit …Patrick works in command central,‹ she remembered. ›He must have received a message and he was trying to warn me. What is it, though?‹
Patrick was gone as she threw open the door and looked outside. He had vanished amidst the knot of people pushing their way through the corridor. Other co-workers were standing before their cabins, looking on nervously. Some people were already running in panic toward the outer sections and the rescue pods.
Uma twitched as the sirens became louder, indicating that the unknown threat from outside the platform was coming closer.
»What’s going on here?« she yelled. »Why are you all running away?«
Nobody stopped and offered an explanation; mass hysteria had set in.
Instead of following the crowd, Uma returned to her cabin and opened the emergency cabinet. Experienced, she slipped into a spaceworthy protective suit. If the platform decompressed she wanted to be prepared. She turned and walked into the corridor toward the outer sections.
Several rescue pods had already been launched into space. With a capacity of 4 people per pod, there weren’t enough rescue pods available for all the workers on board Horkland.
As Uma arrived at the rescue pod hangars, people were fighting over who was first to board them.
Uma still didn’t know what had caused all the havoc, but if there was a serious danger, transport ships would arrive soon to pick up the remaining workers.
›They’ll have to come and get us!‹ she told herself hopefully.
Horkland might be on a far out orbit, but it was still within reach of some Fleet installations.
›Help is coming soon,‹ she tried to convince herself. ›Don’t make the mistake, Uma, of following the pack!‹
Uma forced herself to remain calm. She saw an older, gray haired man who was just sitting on the floor with his back to the wall. She walked over to him.
»Come on, get up. These people will stampede all over you and squash you to death,« she invited the man; he only made a tired hand movement dismissing her.
»I’m too far away from my cabin. I don’t have a suit like yours and I’ll never be able to find a seat in one of these pods. Look at these people … half an hour ago, we were working side by side, now they’re like animals. One of my former colleagues hit me over the head so he could queue up closer to the pods.
Now Uma saw that the man was bleeding from a head wound. She pulled out an ointment from one of her outer leg pockets and administered first aid. The man was moaning in pain as she applied the temporary, liquid band aid. She managed to get the bleeding stopped.
»Screw that bastard! You can bring him up on charges when we get out of this,« she suggested to the old man. She looked around. »What’s wrong with these people … and why the space alert?«
»Take my advice, dear, and get yourself to safety,« he suggested. »Just before the official alert was issued, word leaked out that Horkland is under attack from extra-terrestrials!«
Uma twitched suddenly and pulled her head between her shoulders in a reflex motion. A couple of Nova-Hawks had just passed the transparent dome above her with flaring jets. The people still on board the platform screamed in surprise.
»Our boys will hold them off!« the old man triumphed, pointing toward the dome’s zenith with a relieved smile.
»Who?« Uma asked quickly. »Who will the Hawks prevent from coming here? Globusters? Here, this close to Earth? Tell me, what you know?«
Plasma weapon discharges were clearly visible from where Uma was standing as she looked through the transparent dome into space.
›For Heaven’s sake!‹ Uma thought, alarmed, her eyes wide. ›They really mean it!‹
Somewhere out in space, a flash of an explosion was visible, then the first Hawks in closer vicinity exploded. The remaining people on board Horkland watched with horror.
»They’re shooting down our Hawks!« somebody yelled.
A fast approaching dot became visible in space. Something about it made Uma shudder.
›What is that?‹ she asked herself. ›An alien spaceship?‹
She stared at the object, fascinated. She had forgotten all the screaming and yelling people around her who were beating each other for the last available rescue pod seats.
»It’s gigantic! A battleship – and we can’t defend ourselves! It’ll run into us!« the old man prophesied.
»Run into us? That doesn’t make sense. Why should they do that? This is a non-military installation! Who told you that?« Uma yelled at the old man and looked around with rising panic. She was looking for a safer location or a way out. If this spaceship really hit the platform then thousands of people would die.
»My daughter …,« the old man explained, »… I know it from my daughter. She called me directly from Fleet HQ and told me to leave here immediately, but I had to tell the others, I couldn’t let the women and children …«
All of a sudden a huge shadow fell on the platform.
›It’ll be all over in seconds …,‹ Uma thought.
»I’m sorry,« she said quickly to the man, then turned around and ran to a garbage container about 20 meters away. She opened the container and climbed inside, locking the lid. Moments later, the platform was hit by a titan’s fist! Uma was thrown around, slammed her head against the steel walls and lost consciousness.
Submission
»The bolide’s holding its course!« Major McIntire announced via tactical frequency. His Hawk squadron had come too late to help with Horkland’s evacuation. »Not even trying to evade – damnit, why is the platform not dodging?«
Friedberg listened to the communication without a twitch.
»Horkland is not a spaceship, it only uses correction diffusers – way too weak for a fast change of position,« a communication officer told the Hawk leader.
Pictures of the unfolding events were transferred by the Hawk to the tactical holo. Friedberg watched the transmission with ice-cold eyes.
»How many got out?« he asked the room.
»Not enough, Sir …,« the comm-officer replied, »… not enough early warning time. The enemy ship is going to run into the platform! There’s panic over there, people are falling all over themselves.«
Friedberg overheard the Hawk leader’s commands to his wing units.
»What’s going on up there?« Friedberg tried to contact directly the Hawk leader. »I hope you’re not thinking of playing hero? Follow your orders, Major!«
»Admiral, with all due respect, my crews and I are on the same page. We’ll hit the enemy ship with everything we have! We can’t abandon the people on Horkland. Maybe the bolide will change course after all!«
»You will pull back, now! That’s a direct order!« Friedberg shouted. »It is too late to help them. If you attack the alien ship you’ll just add your names to the death toll!«
»Major McIntire has interrupted the comm-link, Sir, and assumed attack formation,« Major Higgins, the staff tactical control officer, announced.
Seconds later, energy discharges were detected.
Friedberg glared at the tactical holo.
›Maybe they can do something anyhow …,‹ Friedberg thought – in vain: the Hawks’ tactical ID’s vanished, including the units which had already been on an escape vector. The enemy was utterly merciless!
»They didn’t have a chance in Hell, Sir!« Senitschko commented aloud. »We need to hold off on any military action.«
Friedberg almost lost his composure at Senitschko’s blunt comments, but the man was right. He considered having all land-based laser batteries and missile launchers on Earth and Moon open fire at the intruder. He bit that back and clenched his fists as the enemy ship rammed the Horkland and kept flying through the expanding wall of fire as if nothing had happened.
The admiral’s staff was shocked; nobody had expected anything this ruthless.
»The bolide isn’t even scratched!« General Clark of the Strategic Defense Department remarked. »Sir, the ship is decelerating rapidly; seems to be taking position above the North Pole!«
Friedberg awoke from a daze at the general’s words. His hands were trembling.
›They’re showing us how inept we are,‹ Friedberg thought.
»Admiral, open message from the enemy!« a communications officer announced. »Do you want me to transfer it to the conference room?«
»Go ahead!« Friedberg barked.
The audio-visual message appeared on the main holo above the conference table. A strange-looking being starred at them from the holo. Friedberg had never seen a being like this.
The extra-terrestrial was small, not taller than 30 centimeters, almost looked like a hedgehog, but with a beak on what Friedberg assumed was its head. Four bundle-like extremities supported the alien. Friedberg was wondering how he could possibly establish a meaningful communication with this being when it began to speak. Its voice sounded artificial, poorly modulated.
»This is the bolide Blosphor, commanded by Circle General Revenger. We have one question: Resistance, or submission?«
Friedberg looked at the being with scalding eyes. He thought about all the unprotected orbital stations and factories, and the cities on Earth, submarine and on the surface. He hesitated with his answer, remembering not only the Horkland but also Nuri Jawa’s warning.
»S u b m i s s i o n …,« he pronounced slowly, and sighed.
»That is well,« the circle general on the Blosphor replied. »You will do what we tell you or bear the consequences. To make sure that we understand each other, we will show you an example …«
Friedberg paled and clenched his teeth, expecting the worst.
Don’t waste time
»They’re all over the place, harassing our people,« Nuri Jawa whispered to Nok.
She looked at the Circle observers in the command central and the crew’s every move.
»Two more dead!« Nuri added.
Nok Daralamai studied the strangers with disgust. If the consequences to her people and base weren’t so dire, she would have ordered a full attack.
»How did that happen? I gave strict orders not to resist. I’ll have to hold the section leaders personally responsible!«
»There was no resistance … they were murdered! Just like that,« Nuri whispered.
Nuri turned her head quickly away as one of the strangers wobbled toward them, raising one of his trunks. His voice was unpleasant and scratchy. It was one of the underlings, possibly some sort of minor officer. She remembered him as being particularly offensive earlier.
»There is a discrepancy between your technical standard and the technology in use,« he remarked, snarling. »Circle General Destroyer will be interested to hear that. Explain to me how you obtained advanced tachyon communication technology … beyond what even we understand … and I can spare you some very unpleasant interrogations.«
Nok Daralamai wanted to tell him to go to Hell, but she felt a soft push from Nuri on her arm. Nuri gave Nok a stern look, then spoke to the alien herself.
»I’m the spokesperson for our commander,« she said softly. »Torture isn’t necessary. We’ll answer all your questions. After all,« she added sarcastically, »we are Circle servants now … just ask General Destroyer.«
»That might be true, but Circle General Mindbreaker might not see it that way,« he snarled. »It’s better for you and me if you tell me.«
›Saliva sucking bastard!‹ Nok thought in revulsion. ›All he wants is to look good to his general.‹
»Think about it while you have time,« he demanded and walked back to the comm-section.
»The name Mindbreaker worries me,« Nuri whispered. »Their names seem to reflect their actions, and so far we do
n’t know squat about this Mindbreaker. The connotations aren’t good, though.«
Nok Daralamai shuddered.
»They’re acting like they’ve never been defeated. With their insufferable arrogance and the name: Circle of Victors!« she muttered low to Nuri, »I don’t care who or what they think they are, they will pay, I swear on my grandfather’s grave!«
Nuri was pondering for a moment.
»The term: “Circle” implies that we’re dealing with different intelligences or groups of people, maybe an alliance of aggressive species, flying around the galaxy to plunder or wipe out entire planetary systems.«
Nok grimaced.
»That would be nightmare enough, but I think there’s more to it. It’s not that simple.«
Nok looked around suspiciously.
»Ever since they arrived, they’ve been searching the base. Their third battleship is on the tachyon platform, but nobody’s set foot on it yet. It’s like they don’t know where to start. Sure, they have us beat with technology, but they must have some weak spots we can exploit. We just have to find them … fast!«
Nuri’s eyes seemed to shine at Nok’s words. That was when Nok realized the unusual color of Nuri’s eyes.
»Hmm … your eyes … you are a Hybrid!
Nuri seemed embarrassed.
»Well, there’re medical methods to change the iris color, you know. You do still trust me, don’t you?« Nuri replied uncertainly.
»If I didn’t you wouldn’t be here,« Nok reassured her. »Please, finish your analysis. If we can’t beat them with technology then we need to find different ways. Don’t waste time – because if they murder any more of my crew I can’t guarantee a thing!«
Burning pain
Uma Boos awoke with a pounding headache. She had been thrown against the garbage container walls – several times – and suffered some slight injuries.
›The container was thrown around and then a wall collapsed and pinned me down!‹ she thought in pain.
It took her several attempts to free her legs. She tried to grope for the hatch lock, but the lever didn’t work.
NEBULAR Collection 4 - Second Reserve: Episodes 17 - 21 Page 24
