Darkness: Book One of the Oortian Wars

by Iain Richmond

  Captain Jack Falco stood and twenty-six men and women rose to meet their leader. “It is time for warriors, it is time for greatness. Harness your fear and stand together as the guardians of Station Pluto and that which lays behind her.”

  “Commander Shar’ran the room is yours.” Falco saluted his officers, knowing for many it could be the last time and punched the hatch release, leaving the Pluto Room to the final checks and briefings of Commander Shar’ran and Chief Tenzin.

  They are ready, Falco thought. He moved down the corridor to begin his final inspection and ensure all were prepared. He came to an abrupt halt as a crewman pushed a squeaking cart towards him.

  “Sir.” The young woman had fire in her eyes, a sense of purpose. Falco realized he had only nodded towards her direction, his eyes moving from her intense gaze to the neatly stacked med-suits piled high on her cart.

  Each jumpsuit was flat and fashioned from a polymer weave that held thousands of thin, pliable bands stacked one on top of the other from the ankles, up to the neck and down to the end of the long sleeves.

  They were an innovation made possible by the United States’ booming Nano-Technology industry. Med-suits worn by contractors building Station Pluto had saved hundreds of lives by stemming the flow of blood and treating mild injuries on the job. Feather-light with a gentle pressure, the suits monitored every conceivable bodily rhythm – organ functions to bowel movements and hundreds of other processes.

  Ensign Holts suggested the gruesome benefits of using the med-suits by occupants of the Battle-Cubes. Falco reluctantly agreed, but there were only enough suits for half of the Cubes’ crewmen and both rail guns. If anyone knew of the potential damage a malfunctioning suit would cause, no one in their right mind would wear one, Falco thought, but this situation is different. We must survive at any cost.

  He allowed the true purpose of the med-suits to take hold, determined not to hide from the carnage that lay ahead. Each of the hundreds of compression rings lining the suits had two functions. Firstly, to monitor and alert the operator of the suit and the observer of the computer system they were linked to of a potential problem. Secondly, its function was that of a tourniquet. Each band was capable of restricting its contents, the human body, to stop blood flow. The bands could deaden nerves, severe a limb, and cauterize the wound within seconds. A crewman could keep working, living and above all else, fighting after sustaining unthinkable bodily damage.

  “We have movement, Captain.” The closest COM-Box rang out and Falco realized he had not moved since the cart squeaked by.

  “On my way back.” Looks like the Oortians have had enough. He spun back around and quickly moved towards the Pluto Room. Skirmishes were now over, he thought as he reached the hatch, punched the release and entered the chaos.

  “Sir, we can now join with the Battle-Net of 10th Fleet.” Commander Shar’ran was sitting next to the hologram and continued to work the control pad in front of him.

  The hologram showed seven massive discs moving away from the endless dark wall and towards the retreating 10th Fleet. Captain Falco’s eyes remained locked onto the speck that was the Lie Gong. She continued firing a steady stream of projectiles. Each heated mass pierced a different disc and the rail-guns continued their assault in a brutal circular pattern. Death by a thousand cuts.

  “What in God’s name are they pulling behind them?” Falco pointed to the seven long tubes that trailed behind the discs into the black field. Growing longer and longer, each covered with strangely shaped pods.

  71

  Captain Fei

  the Black Field

  The fog burned off, turned into a pink haze and a searing bright light shot through Captain Yue Fei’s skull. Pressure – he felt a heavy wet blanket, thick with heat pushing on every square inch of his aching frame.

  SNAP…

  “Captain… Captain… it’s wearing off. You are in the Med-lab. You’ve been injured.”

  Fei could not place the voice.

  “Hold still, sir, almost finished.”

  Soothing. His boat the Kwan Yin lived up to her name, the Goddess of Compassion. She must be the voice from above, willing me back… but from what? Fei felt his words float through his mind, but he could not feel his lips, his face, just the paralyzing pressure.

  “Almost there, Captain, you’re going to be fine. I’ll release the sedation-field momentarily.”

  This time the voice took on a masculine quality. Fei’s thoughts found order, his senses where returning and the harsh scent of antiseptic assaulted his nose.

  SNAP…

  “One more, sir, and I will begin the release.”

  SNAP…

  “All finished, Captain Fei. We will bring you out now. Please keep your eyes closed until I tell you to open them.”

  Pressure rolled up from his toes, slowly releasing parts of his body back to his control. Fei’s thighs sank into the cool padding and with an immense sense of relief, a cool draft reached his groin. His torso was light and his arms heavy, yet strong. Fei began to roll his solid shoulders, left and right as his neck and head were still under sedation.

  And the scene flooded back, the attack on the Kwan Yin and his crew. The boom of a combat shotgun firing on the bridge and the stench from the discharge of its gas cartridge, the warm wetness that followed…

  “Captain,” the soothing voice was gone, replaced by the gruff ship’s doctor. “Sir, it’s okay. I am going to release your neck and head now.”

  Fei relaxed, composed himself.

  “Sir, I needed to give your mind a moment to return to the present, shed off any lingering effects of the treatments. You are going to feel a brief discomfort.” The doctor waited another moment then fully released the sedation-field.

  “You can slowly open your eyes now, Captain Fei.”

  Pain briefly pulsated through every nerve ending, his body now fully connected to his brain. Each muscle flexed and contracted. Two fuzzy human forms appeared. A pinch, the prick of a needle followed by a moment of euphoria and Fei’s body relaxed.

  “That should help, sir.”

  The two fuzzy men merged into one. Fei opened and closed his eyes over and over until a clear and heavily wrinkled Doctor Jampa was staring back.

  “I need a report!” Fei shot up and swung his tingling legs over the table. “Commander? Where is Commander Zhu?”

  “Slowly, sir.” Doctor Jampa placed a steadying hand on each shoulder. “He is on the bridge, Captain. Much has happened since the attack.” Jampa held Captain Fei upright and continued to inspect his handiwork.

  “You have a direct line to his station. Commander Zhu has assumed control until you are able to return to the bridge.” Doctor Jampa kept a hand on Fei’s shoulder and pointed to the COM-Box. “Set to voice control. He wanted a direct line to you.”

  “How much longer, Doctor?” His hands found the sides of his aching head. “Everything feels, wrong, distant.”

  “Five minutes and you will have full control,” he gave Fei a gentle nod, “and you’ll be cleared to leave.” Jampa paused and waited for a rebuttal. None came. “Good. I suggest you lay back down for a few minutes and use the COM from here.”

  Doctor Jampa had been close to Fei’s family. A much younger version spent many dinners at his childhood home, smoking cigars and drinking bourbon with his father. He had also witnessed Fei as a brash, wild child storming from one mischievous escapade to the next. The old man was family.

  Doctor Jamba eased the captain down to the soft slab. Fei’s hands again rose towards his face, an uncontrollable itch consuming his entire head.

  “Keep your hands away, Captain!” Jampa glared down at Fei. “A few minutes more and they will be healed. It took me hours to fix that mess.”

  “Was anyone else injured?” Fei thought of the hull exploding above him. No, it was torn and again the feeling of his body covered in a warm, sticky mist. Nausea flooded over him. He swallowed hard and waited for his old friend to answer.

&n
bsp; Doctor Jampa looked down to the invisible deck and the dark field below. He followed the swirling black that cradled the Kwan Yin, the brackish ocean the crew was now used to. The blackness that concealed the predators that moving through it.

  “Doctor?”

  Jampa raised his silvered brow and looked at his captain’s healing wounds. “Your pilot, Lieutenant Ko, was killed. He sat one meter from your position. Died on impact.”

  “Where is his body? Why is he not here, washed, and prepared for an honorable burial? Why is he not cared for as a hero of the People’s Navy?” Rage briefly blinded him. “On the seventh day, how will his soul find its way home!” Fei’s voice grew stronger with each word until it filled the womb-like medical center.

  Doctor Jampa calmly reached for a small steel bowl that contained dozens of glistening white shards the size of large slivers. “This is what I pulled out of your face, your arms and your chest.”

  “But where is Lieutenant Ko, Doctor?” Captain Fei still drew breath, his pilot did not.

  “Captain,” Jampa’s face fell ashen and loose, “these are bone fragments from the lieutenant. The impact from the…” Jampa fell silent.

  “From what? The impact from what?” Fei again tried to rise.

  “From the ‘creature.’ The thing that punched through the Kwan Yin shattered his body and ejected most of it out the other side of the hull. Part of its body is stuck in the mending epoxy on the bridge.”

  72

  Admiral Chen

  the Oortians

  Admiral Chen and 10th Fleet continued their fighting retreat from the Oortians. They had destroyed one of the massive Oortian discs, but now seven more were in pursuit. Chen monitored the hologram in the center of the bridge. “What are they, Commander, armor of some sort? Protecting what?”

  “Some type of transports, Admiral, or possibly a carrier-type craft.” Commander Lee continued to scan the data feed from the linked Battle-Net. The Fleet’s spread formation gave them better data from its dispersed points. Nine cruisers and three dreadnoughts of 10th Fleet scanned the maximum zones around them. The seven colossal discs continued to push away from their protective camouflage, towing what looked to be long solid poles with various sized spheres attached at random positions along their length.

  The Battle-Net screen lit up like a Christmas tree.

  “There are four types of spheres attached to the poles. Each type has almost the exact surface area. I believe the slight variation is from the sphere itself.” Commander Lee continued, “The seven discs are blocking our sensors from seeing directly behind them, but based on what we can detect further back, there are thousands of them, Admiral.”

  “Hull Pounders?” Chen wanted them all to be the small cannonballs, but four types meant there were Oortians they had not encountered yet.

  “Yes, the smallest type is a close match to the Hull Pounders. Another looks to be the size of the larger Oortians that hit the Anam Cara and Captain Falco, the size of combat suits.” Lee fell silent, his hands tapping and moving across his data-pad. “The other two types are much larger, the biggest is a sphere similar in size to our Vipers.”

  “Distance from Fleet?” Chen had 10th Fleet pushing their bow thrusters to failure in a desperate attempt to put distance between them and the Oortians. At least that is what he needed them to think, Chen thought. Away from your impenetrable lair you must go, far from safety and into open space.

  “Seven hundred klicks from the Viper line.” As if reading Admiral Chen’s mind Lee added, “Fifty-seven klicks from the dark field and increasing.”

  “Yet still, these lines they’re towing, one end is still coming out of the field. Fifty-seven kilometers of orbs on each and growing.” Chen glanced at the hologram and what remained of 10th Fleet. Our destiny is closing in, Chen thought. The Oortians were moving exactly ten percent faster than 10th Fleet’s thrusters could push them away.

  “Adjust the Fleet for blast-radius, Commander Lee,” the admiral kept his voice low, “and do it slowly.”

  Chen followed the gradual progress while each vessel remained in the Phoenix formation, but added extra space between them. Every crew-member aboard knew what was happening. It was a commonsense adjustment when preparing for the worst. Planning for the possible destruction of any of the Fleet’s boats by spreading them out of the path of their neighbor’s blast radius. It was a chilling reminder of the size of the Oortian force pushing towards them.

  “Dreadnoughts in position. Cruisers in position.” The commander waited for the final flashes from the Viper laser beacons. “Patrol boats in position, The Fleet has achieved blast spread.”

  “Battle-Net has lock on seven shields and tracking 4,300 objects attached to the trailing poles, numbers increasing, but we cannot surmise what is directly behind the discs,” Commander Lee said.

  Chen marveled as they kept coming out of the field. How many waited behind the dark wall, he thought, and what of the orbs that were the size of Vipers? He could no longer wait. They had to hit them before they released their contents or worse. Thousands of Oortian vessels could overrun the Fleet’s defensive systems even when linked to the Command Ship’s Battle-Net and fighting as one. It’s now or never. The moment had arrived.

  “Dreadnoughts, load Dragon missiles.” Chen pulled tight on his harness. Each dreadnought carried two Dragon missiles and under normal circumstances they would never be used or even threatened for use.

  “Yes, Admiral.” Commander Lee held his gaze, then turned and sent the order.

  Chen scanned the bridge and understood the command he had just given. He was going to use the most destructive non-nuclear weapons that existed in humanity’s arsenal and the crew of the Qing Long fell under a heavy silence.

  Six Dragon missiles, Chen thought, never to be fired, only for appearance, peacekeepers. They were twenty meters long and packed with a deadly high explosive yielding the equivalent of ninety tonnes of TNT. Dragon missiles were designed to remove all life from their blast radius in two stages. First the missile releases and spreads a vast cloud of explosive material near the enemy force. Then a blast ignites the cloud and a fiery hell follows that nothing can survive. A fiery hell with a 500-meter radius that can be aimed in any direction.

  Each was housed in an aluminum shell painted in the People’s Red and would soon be unleashed on an enemy that only days before, was unknown to them.

  “Dragon-Fire missiles ready to launch. Battle-Net tracking 5,400 objects and counting.” Commander Lee swallowed hard. “Seven carriers, six missiles. Targets, Admiral?”

  “Drop them behind the seven Oortian Carriers. One as close to the aft side of the group as possible. The other five spread every 1,000 meters along the center of the trailing poles,” Chen felt ice creep into his veins, “and, Commander, prepare cruisers and dreadnoughts for full-burn. Lie Gong and patrol boats remain, defensive firing line.”

  “Admiral?”

  “Commander Lee,’ Admiral Chen emphasized his surname, the timber in his voice deepening, “prepare for a full-burn.”

  “Yes, sir!” Lee sent the order over the COM and flashed it to the Viper line, each patrol boat flashing back within seconds.

  10th Fleet continued to fire their bow thrusters while the seven Oortian carriers slowly closed the distance, gaining ground on the Fleet, but traveling further from their dark field, and further from safety.

  Admiral Chen sat rigid in his command chair and prepared to release the fires of hell.

  The Oortians kept emerging from the dark field, pod after pod pulled into space by seven discs... with no end in sight.

  73

  Captain Fei

  the Black Field

  “Captain on bridge.” Commander Zhu stated rather than used his customary yell and gave his friend a curt nod.

  Their eyes met for a moment. Fei raised a weak hand. “I’m fine. No need to worry, Commander.” But I realize I look like I’ve taken a partial compression-round from an M40 to the face. Fe
i gathered himself.

  “According to Commander Zhu, Lieutenant Ko…” Fei paused, straightened his posture, “… before he passed, Lieutenant Ko was able to position the Kwan Yin close to the edge of the black field. We have moved back a few hundred meters to stay out of the thinning area close to open space. If our sensors work, even at a limited capacity near the edge, so can the enemy’s.” Fei took a few deep breaths and continued. “Before moving back, fully into the field we were able to pick up faint signatures matching vessels of 10th Fleet. Estimated at a few hundred klicks beyond our bow.

  “Lieutenant Ko is a hero, we owe him our lives.” Fei’s bruised face, covered in small, sutured-wounds, looked to each and every crewmember on the packed bridge. Hope had replaced uncertainty on most of their faces. He lowered his gaze to the swirling black under his feet. “May Lieutenant Ko live well in the next life and may we all be fortunate enough to know him again. To your stations.” The crewman quickly dispersed and Captain Fei carefully moved towards his captain’s chair.

  The Commander strode to the center of the bridge and stood behind the pilot’s station. “Captain, Ensign Ang has temporarily taken over for our pilot, Lieutenant Ko.” His eyes found the deck, “With your approval Sir, Ensign Ang will take over all duties and responsibilities as pilot of the Kwan Yin.”

  Fei knew it was little more than ceremony and nodded to his Commander. “Ensign Ang,” the muscular pilot turned to look at her captain, “You have the controls. Carry on.”

  “Yes, Captain.” Ang turned back to her duties.

  And a new cog has been placed, Fei thought, another brave crewman is dead, another one takes their place. “Ensign Ang, systems report.”