Celestial Incursion

by Eddie R. Hicks

  “Distress signal?” Agatha stood behind him with her arms crossed, the lights from the ceiling shining down upon the flag of France on her UNE navy uniform. “Are they not here in Sol with us?”

  “Yes, Admiral, they are.”

  “Put them through.”

  “Aye, Admiral.”

  The lieutenant’s fingers tapped a command on his holo screen. It sent a signal to her Holographic Neural Implant (HNI), in which she forced the computer implant in her brain to create a small projection in front of her. On the projection was the captain of the Edward Codrington, sitting on his captain’s chair on a bridge full of choking smoke, raging fires, and despair.

  Her mouth twisted at the spectacle.

  “This is Captain Francis of the ESV Edward Codrington, to all UNE ships in the area,” the projection played. “We are under heavy attack. I say again, we are under attack by an unidentified—”

  Static drowned out the sound of his voice and blurred the holographic projection.

  “Can you clean that up?” Agatha asked the lieutenant.

  “I’m trying, ma’am.”

  Taking a seat at her post, she asked, “What is the Codrington’s location?”

  “The Codrington should be with the eighth fleet near the Kuiper belt station.”

  “That’s what I thought,” Agatha said, stroking her chin. “Why haven’t the other ships sent a distress signal?”

  The Commander used his HNI to create a hologram showing the edge of the solar system. Pulsing blue dots were scattered across the projection representing the approximate location of all UNE ships. There were no red dots present. “I’d like to know why none of us have detected ships entering the system,” he said.

  Agatha grimaced and directed her attention to the navigator. “What do we got on long-range scans?”

  The navigational officer looked down at her holo screen. “Well . . .”

  “Well what?” Agatha snapped back.

  “I’m getting a lot of interference, Admiral.”

  Agatha pivoted her chair to the aft of the bridge, where two personnel with heavy cybernetic modification on their bodies worked at their station. “Psionic team, what do you got?”

  One of the psionic officers shut their eyes, forcing their brain to touch the hulls of ships and stellar objects in real time, unlike scanners, which after all the years and technological advancements, still travelled at the speed of light.

  The psionic ended their ESP trance and gave their report. “I sense the same, something isn’t right.”

  Agatha sighed as her patience with the matter was growing thin. “Can we be a little less vague, people?”

  “I sense ships entering the system, yes, but,” said the psionic. “They are not entering Sol via FTL, or sub light, for that matter. It’s like they’re just appearing where the eighth fleet is.”

  “Ships appearing out of nowhere . . .” Agatha grunted to herself as she turned to face the main view screen. There was only one group in the galaxy that could force a fleet of ships to materialize out of nowhere. “So, the Empire has broken their truce.”

  The Hashmedai Empire with their space bridge technology can teleport ships from one location to another anywhere in the galaxy, bypassing the need for direct FTL flight, thus avoiding detection until it was too late. The UNE was capable of bringing ships into a system without space travel, but such a task would require the use of the wormhole network which was heavily guarded by UNE ships, especially the gates that linked to Sol.

  It was highly doubtful the Empire sent a fleet through the UNE wormhole network to Sol. The Empire would have taken massive losses before they arrived at the necessary gate, and word would have gotten out to the UNE fleets as well.

  “Contact the fourth and fifth fleets,” Agatha ordered her crew. “Tell them to rendezvous with us at these coordinates.” Using the implant in her head, she obtained a set of coordinates and transmitted them to her helmsman and communication officer.

  “Aye, Admiral,” the helmsman replied as his HNI confirmed to hers he’d received the data.

  “Inform all ships in the system to be on alert and inform command what has transpired,” Agatha said.

  “Aye, Admiral.”

  “How soon can we be ready for an FTL jump?”

  “Full power now.”

  “Let’s move!”

  The ESV Julius Caesar, Earth’s largest warship, broke away from the orbit of Neptune entering FTL speeds capable of traveling at one light-year per month. Not that it was necessary for them to travel that far out, the Kuiper existed just beyond the orbit of Neptune. The location in question was a solid two AU away from Pluto’s orbital path.

  The Julius Caesar seemingly appeared out of nowhere once they exited their FTL jump, followed by a number of ships from the fourth and fifth UNE fleets that appeared in the blink of an eye, one after another.

  Ahead of the two fleets was a growing cell of red- and magenta-colored storm clouds. It was a storm in space. It didn’t make sense to Agatha, or her crew, who looked at it via the primary view screen. White-hot bolts of lightning flashed from the storm as burning UNE battleships were adrift in front of the storm. The remains of the Edward Codrington drifted past the Julius Caesar as they ventured closer to the strange anomaly.

  Ships of an unknown design emerged from the center of the storm cloud in space. Bursts of energy beams soared away from the strange ships, cutting a swathe through retreating Earth ships, vaporizing escape pods and fighters with one hit. Nothing was spared, not even civilian transports that happened to be in the area.

  Agatha’s hands held onto the arms of her command chair, squeezing hard until they flushed. “What the hell . . .”

  “That doesn’t look like a space bridge jump,” said the commander.

  Agatha shook her head. “It must be something new; the Empire has been experimenting with MRF technology.”

  “These don’t feel like Imperial ships, Admiral.”

  “Then who the hell is it?!” Agatha snapped with rage. “It can’t be Radiance, it wouldn’t make sense for them to attack us.” She continued to watch the strange ships in the viewer as they enlarged in size. If she didn’t know any better, she would say the hulls of their ships were made of flesh. “Pirates are too stupid to pull off something like this. It’s a secret weapon from the Empire, it has to be.”

  “Why would the Empire break their truce after all these years?”

  “We’re about to find out.” Agatha grinned, and checked the readiness of the crew with her HNI. All stations were manned and on alert. “All hands, battle stations!”

  “Aye, Admiral.”

  The ceiling lights of the bridge switched from a soothing white to a deathly, dark red, while blaring alarms sounded. The communication officer called for all hands to enter action stations. Less than a minute later, the Julius Caesar, along with the two fleets, charged into the fray, carriers launched all fighters and buzzed around the imposing ships like angry bees. Battleships ejected bursts of white-blue particle cannon blasts, destroyers released a barrage of plasma missiles guided by the telekinetic powers of their shipboard psionics.

  “Admiral!”

  “What is it?”

  The navigator paused to review the new findings that appeared on their holo screen. “I’m detecting a UNE IFF within the storm cloud.”

  Mild tremors were felt throughout the ship as it took three direct hits from the enemy, dropping its shields by 20 percent. “It’s probably one of our disabled ships,” Agatha concluded, refusing to take her focused mind off the battle.

  “No,” the navigator said, sharing his findings with her via HNI. “It’s coming out of the cloud along with the ships; it’s an old IFF at that.”

  The holographic image of the ship appeared in a superimposed projection over her eyes. It looked Earth-made but had a rotating habitat ring, meaning it was built before the invention of artificial gravity. It was an old ship, way too old to be in service in this day and
age without a refit. “Which ship is that?” she asked.

  “Admiral, if I’m reading this data correctly,” he paused while his eyes opened wide at the discovery he made. “It’s the Carl Sagan.”

  2118 . . . the year the galaxy changed once again. Everything we thought we knew about quantum mechanics was wrong. Everything we thought we knew about dark matter and energy was wrong. Everything we thought we knew about metaphysical science was wrong. Everything we thought we knew regarding threats to the galaxy . . . was wrong.

  Fear was about to clasp its chilly grip around the galaxy.

  Fear from the edge of the . . .

  Splintered Galaxy.

  1 Foster

  ESRS Carl Sagan, Cryostasis Chamber

  Approaching Earth, Sol system

  August 2, 2118, 15:18 SST (Sol Standard Time)

  Blurry white mist lifted away from Captain Rebecca Foster’s cryostasis pod. Her hands pushed along the sides of her pod, ejecting her out into the weightless environment of the cryostasis chamber. Red lights flashed in sync with emergency alarms, the worst thing one could expect to encounter when you exit cryo as it usually meant the ship had run into unexpected problems during its sub-light-speed journey.

  The rest of the crew had entered their first stages of their cryostasis revival. She was alone in the chamber from what she could tell after she took a quick glance at the time, 15:18 SST. The glass casing of one cryopod next to her reflected her face, her brown hair had been cut short. She thought it looked cute but had no memory of ever getting it cut. Come to think of it, she had no memory of entering cryostasis.

  “There are two things I can’t stand in the morning,” Foster said, her tired Tennessee accent echoing within the empty chamber. “Alarm clocks and battle station alarms.”

  “Greetings, Captain,” said the Carl Sagan’s AI over the speakers. An Electronic Versatile Entity commonly referred to as EVE.

  “EVE, what in the hell’s goin’ on?”

  “Automatic emergency revival protocols have been activated, Captain.”

  “I can see that, EVE . . . why?” Foster double-checked her appearance in the cryopod’s reflection now her vision had completely cleared. “And what happened to my hair?”

  “The Carl Sagan is being boarded, Captain, until the rest of the crew has been revived I recommend you arm yourself,” EVE said. “And, as for your hair, I do not know, but . . . it is very nice.”

  Foster gripped onto various handlebars and pulled using the momentum to force her body to drift over to the exit of the cryo chamber. “Why are we in cryo? I don’t recall giving that order.”

  “No data is available, Captain.”

  “The hell you mean no data’s available?”

  “Alert, the intruders have boarded, you are still currently the only crew member awake. You must reach the armory as soon as possible.”

  “Hold ya horses, I’m goin’.”

  Foster exited the cryo chamber and continued to pull and drift her way through the corridors of the ship toward its aft section, and the location of the habitat ring elevators. On the elevator ride up, a spectacular view of a blue planet she thought she’d never see again in years appeared before its glass windows.

  Earth.

  And it was on fire in certain parts.

  Above Earth were ships, Earth-based she figured from their designs, though they looked a hell of a lot different. The alleged Earth ships lacked habitat rings, and some fired energy-based weapons at a fleet of alien ships. The alien ships looked strange, almost organic in nature and some had green, glowing, bulging sacks along their sides.

  It didn’t take long for Foster to draw the conclusion that the organic ships were the ones responsible for the growing damage spreading out across Earth’s surface. She began to wonder if what she was seeing was similar to what would have been seen during the Hashmedai Empire’s failed invasion of Earth many years ago.

  “So . . . EVE?” Foster said slowly, keeping her eyes on Earth while the elevator continued to rise.

  “Yes, Captain,” EVE’s computer voice played on the speakers once again.

  “Why are we back at Earth?”

  “No data is available, Captain.”

  “We did leave Earth at one point, right?”

  “That is correct, Captain.”

  “And then we arrived in the Sirius system, right?”

  “That is also correct.”

  The centrifuge gravity generated by the habitat ring gave weight to Foster’s body as the view of Earth was replaced with the interior layers of the ring, and then later hallways of the habitat ring when the doors slid open.

  Looking both ways, Foster saw nobody in the halls. She was in the clear for the time being and made her way to the armory. “Okay, good to know I didn’t dream that fiasco.”

  “Alert, the intruders are on their way up to the habitat ring. It is highly probable they have detected your presence; you do not have much time left.”

  Foster cursed softly upon realizing she had made a wrong turn at a four-way intersection. The armory was by no means a place she frequently visited. After backtracking three times, she asked EVE. “We made it to Sirius, set up the colony, dealt with Marduk, then what happened until now?”

  “I do not have any data regarding ship wide events that transpired from June 2050 until now.”

  June 2050, it was Foster’s last memory. The Carl Sagan was en route to investigate something . . . something important within the Sirius system. She tried to reflect back on what happened, and what would have prompted the crew to enter cryo and return to Earth so suddenly. Nothing came to mind and it clouded her head with frustration, it was like trying to remember a fading dream seconds after waking up.

  After effects of a bad cryo sleep, perhaps? she mused before entering the armory and its weapons lockup.

  Inside, she helped herself to an ePistol and eyed a suit of Hammerhead-issued combat armor. Its hard material and personal shields would keep her alive a lot longer than her IESA uniform. Problem was, Foster was no soldier, or navy personnel for that matter. She was an explorer, one that was not trained to use such equipment.

  “Captain, the intruders are closing in on your current location. ETA is two minutes seventeen seconds at their current speed.”

  Foster activated the ePistol and it emitted a soft humming noise. “I’m gonna assume they’re runnin’.”

  “That would be a correct assumption,” said EVE. “Perhaps you should do the same.”

  “Naw, I was thinkin’ of taking a slow stroll, ya know? To admire the view of Earth getting bombed ‘n’ shit.”

  “That would be an ill-advised course of action.”

  With intruders inbound, Foster left the armor with haste, armed with only an ePistol. Even if she knew how, there wouldn’t have been enough time to get into the armor. Hell, she didn’t have time to find and equip herself with an eRifle, which was next on the to-do list.

  Her feet moved quickly, almost as quickly as her heartbeats as she heard the intruders nearby. They were fast. She arrived at a four-way intersection within the halls and hid behind a wall. She peered back down the hall she had traveled from, the hall where the intruders were moving through to follow her.

  She caught a glimpse of them, four to be exact. They were covered head to toe with full body armor. They were humanoid in appearance and each one was armed with a weapon she guessed was a rifle. Their helmets were dotted with red lights, four on the left, and four on the right. It was far from a comforting sight.

  One of the intruders noticed her and aimed their weapon at her. Shit!

  “Captain, they are hostile,” said EVE’s voice. “Please defend yourself at once.”

  “Duly noted.” Shoot first, ask questions later. It was the way of the south where she was born and raised.

  Her pistol did the talking from that point on. The intruders weren’t listening to it, however, as they stood and watched her magnetically accelerated bullets repel off their blue
, glowing energy shields. Foster didn’t bother to stick around and retreated through the halls as she heard their stomps follow behind her. The elevator, it was her only hope now since fighting her way out was officially a bust.

  She crisscrossed her way through the halls, hoping the random turns she made at intersections would throw them off. It didn’t. She began to wonder how much longer it would take for the crew to revive and EVE to direct them up, because, as it stood, she was doubtful she would make it back to the elevator without any holes in her head.

  She heard what sounded like a struggle, and then the stomps of the four intruders stop in their tracks. Something, someone, got their attention enough for them to end their pursuit, it was a way out. Foster gasped in relief and examined what had stopped the intruders from their chase. She saw one of the intruders hold their hands out in front of the other three as if to say stop where you are. She figured it was their leader forcing them to stand-down, but why? They were so close to getting her. One carefully aimed shot to the back of Foster’s head as she ran down the hall would have done the trick.

  The lead intruder faced away from their now docile minions and faced Foster. It held onto the sides of its helmet, lifting it up and away from the suit of combat armor. The face that was beneath the helmet was human, a woman of Asian descent with bobbed black hair.

  “Captain Rebecca Foster?” the woman, the leader of the intruders, called out to her.

  “Who wants to know?” Foster yelled back.

  “I’m Gunnery Sergeant Park, EDF-17,” she said. “Please stand-down we don’t want to fight you.”

  Foster continued to hold onto her pistol, while placing her back to the wall from around the corner. “Ain’t ever heard of EDF.” She took a quick peek around the corner to ensure it wasn’t a trick to get her to lower her guard. “Ain’t never seen humans with that crazy get up either.”

  “Standard EDF equipment, it stands for Extrasolar Defense Force,” Park said. “Look, I can explain everything, but you need to stand-down, we’re on the same side.”