John wasn’t scared, only concerned for the alien’s well-being. He took the Yearden’s hand in his, and the young captain could feel how frail it was. John looked at the Yearden, but could not see his face hidden behind the white veil.
“The path will be difficult,” said the Yearden in a low raspy voice. “Never forget you are not alone. You will never be alone.”
John was speechless; he didn’t know how to respond to the Yearden’s words. He just looked at Aldarian, waiting for him to clarify himself, but nothing more was said. The elder alien removed his frail hand from John’s and continued his walk down the corridor. The young captain could only watch as the Yearden walked away. Should he be scared or worried? Was those words supposed to comfort him?
It was late, and John was too tired to think about what the Yearden meant. He just wanted tomorrow to come and with it, the opportunity to start fresh.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
PHOENIX picked up the Screen energy signature of the outpost as it was passing through this part of space. No sooner did the ship exit its jump it was met by a squadron of fighters. PHOENIX chased the fighters backed to the outpost, no doubt to lure the massive human vessel in range of the outpost’s weapons platform. Although the outpost weapons were stronger than their fighter counterparts, it still took a significant effort on the Screen’s part to crack an opening in PHOENIX’s shields, and even then the breach was minor.
“Captain, we have minor damage to deck twenty-two, port side.”
“Deploy damage control teams,” said John from his command chair.
“Damage control to deck twenty-two,” ordered Alex’sis from the operations table.
The four Screen fighters turned around for another attack to take advantage of the shield breech they created.
“Reroute Beta Squadron to engage fighters on port side,” ordered John.
“Order confirmed,” said Julie, who was standing on the other side of the operations table from Alex’sis. “Sir, Virgo squadron has eliminated the outpost fighter group.”
“Have Virgo Squadron fall back and support Beta,” said John. “Arm particle beams and target outpost. Priority targets are the weapons platform.”
“Acknowledged,” said Julie.
With only one fighter group left to finish off, PHOENIX was now free to engage the outpost.
“Particle beams charged,” reported Alex’sis. “Fighter groups are clear of firing trajectory.”
“Fire,” ordered John.
PHOENIX’s particle beam emitters activated, sending several energy beams towards the outpost. The Screen weapons platform was decimated in the first onslaught.
“Weapons platform destroyed,” said Alex’sis.
“Captain,” said Bret. “I’m picking up a transmission from the outpost. They may be trying to issue out an SOS.”
“Lieutenant Brandus, fire one particle beam at the outpost as a warning,” said John. “Private Michaels, issue an order of surrender to them.”
Alex’sis targeted the outpost once more as Bret sent the message. The particle beam struck the outpost head on, but the blast resulted in the destruction of the outpost.
“Lieutenant!” said John alarmed. He didn’t want to destroy the outpost, just to disable it.
“I don’t understand, captain,” said Alex’sis. “The beam’s power setting was too low to cause the outpost’s destruction.”
“Captain, Beta and Virgo Squadrons have reported all Screen fighters have been destroyed,” said Julie. “All enemy combatants have been eliminated.”
John sat back in his chair, relieved that the battle was over. PHOENIX had proven itself again in a fight, defeating the Screen with relative ease. He looked at the damage report coming in on his command console and saw the ship’s damage was minor.
“Casualty report?” said John.
“No injuries reported on the ship,” said Julie. “We lost two fighters from Beta squadron in the fight.”
“Stand down from battle condition,” said John. “Lower shields and recall all fighters.” John stepped down from his command chair and joined Julie and Alex’sis at the operations table. “Are there any Screen fighters out there still intact?”
Julie checked the sensors. “I’m picking up a lot of debris that’ll take some time to sort through. I recommend sending some REPOs out to check the debris field.”
“Deploy three REPOs,” said John.
“Captain,” said Alex’sis. “I discovered why the outpost was destroyed. Sensor logs show a three hundred percent increase power allocation to the particle beam emitters.”
“I didn’t authorize additional power to the emitters,” said John. “Who shunted the power?”
Alex’sis traced the log activity back to the source. “Engineering, sir. Access code shows Professor Donavin reallocated the additional power.”
Donavin, John should have known. It seemed the professor had chosen, yet again, to take action by himself. This was a golden opportunity to capture not only a Screen fighter, but one of their outposts. Now, because of the professor’s actions, the opportunity was lost.
“I want a status report within the hour,” said John. “Have Professor Donavin report to me when he’s finished evaluating engineering’s status.”
“Captain,” said Julie. “I know what Donavin did was unacceptable, but we did good here. We survived another battle with the Screen.”
John smiled at his executive officer, grateful that she reminded him of the positive outcome of the fight. “You’re right, the ship and crew performed admirably. Thank you, commander.”
An hour later, John went over the ship’s status report. The REPOs were still conducting survey operations of the battle debris. PHOENIX only suffered minor hull damage around deck twenty-two, nothing serious. The only major loss was the deaths of the two fighters from Beta team. Chris Anne had already contacted John and informed him he would be handling funeral services for the dead fighters. John was grateful for Chris. He was turning out to be an excellent morale officer for the crew.
Now the captain had to conduct some unpleasant business. Standing in front of him in his office was Professor Donavin. Julie was present as well, at the request of John. The professor was fidgeting in his stance, clearly nervous about the lecture he was expecting from the young captain.
“Why didn’t you notify Lieutenant Brandus or Commander Olson to get clearance to increase power to our active weapons?” said John.
“We were in battle,” said Donavin. “I didn’t want to bother any of the command staff.”
“Yet you took it upon yourself to execute a tactical maneuver,” said John.
“Captain, as an engineer…”
John slammed his hand on his desk. “That’s right! You’re an engineer, not a military officer. You were in no position to execute a move that would have an effect on our engagement with the Screen. As a result of your actions, a Screen outpost was destroyed and an opportunity to examine one of their facilities lost.”
“I was just doing what was best for the ship.”
John snapped his fingers. “That’s the problem right there. You think you have all the answers because of your intelligence. You just don’t seem to get it. This is not the first time you’ve tried to do things without my consent. So, going forward, you will continue to be head of engineering; however, anytime the ship goes into battle condition command of the engineering department will revert to Mr. Ecerson.”
Donavin’s eyes widened. “Captain, you can’t demote me…”
But John wasn’t in the mood for Donavin’s whining and cut him off. “I didn’t ask for your opinion, I’m telling you. If you feel you cannot abide by this arrangement, I will accept your resignation and reassign you as a maintenance tech. I won’t have you further endanger this crew with your arrogance, but I also won’t accept anyone remaining on this ship without contributing in some way. I’ve already notified Mr. Ecerson about this new arrangement. You can either report back to engin
eering or return to your quarters.”
“I…” Donavin wanted to say something, but realized he could not protest. “I understand. I will return to engineering.”
“Very well, dismissed.” John and Julie watched Donavin, looking defeated, leave the office.
“I hope that’s the last of his antics,” said Julie.
“I wish I could have found some common ground to work with him,” said John. “But some people have to learn the hard way.”
“Lieutenant Brandus to Captain Roberts,” said Alex’sis over John and Julie’s pips.
“Go ahead.”
“Sir, REPO Six is reporting they’ve picked up a Screen fighter pilot.”
John’s heart jumped as Julie’s eyes grew big. “Is it alive?”
“Unknown sir, but they’re reporting no movement from the alien.”
“Have REPO Six return to the hangar bay immediately. Notify medical and initiate quarantine containment of environment between hangar deck and medical. I also want a full security escort with the Screen as it’s brought in.”
“Yes sir,” said Alex’sis.
“This is the break we’ve been looking for,” said Julie excitedly.
“Alive or dead, we’re going to finally learn some things about the Screen,” said John. “Come on.”
The two headed to medical and en route John contacted Drix, Thresha, and Martin Everold to join them there. When the two commanding officers entered medical, they found the medical staff working feverishly in their preparations for the Screen’s arrival. John and Julie joined Doctor Myers, dressed in a quarantine suit, at a medical console, where Martin was already waiting for them.
“What’s the status of the Screen?” asked John.
“He’s been off-loaded from the shuttle and is being brought here as we speak,” said Myers. “Chief Sandoval had the Screen placed in a containment tube in the hangar, eliminating the need to quarantine the path to us.” Drix had worked with the medical team on developing a containment pod that had its own environmental system and could serve as a mobile quarantine chamber. Drix built the pod with some maintenance techs and it was successfully tested a couple of weeks ago. John had completely forgotten about it, but was glad the chief remembered.
“We should have the computer visually match the Screen we have to the ones Lieutenant Everold recorded when he found the Screen outpost in the asteroid field,” said Julie.
“So can I ask why you want me here?” asked Martin.
“I’d still like you to identify the Screen we have to the pair you saw coming out of the outpost,” said John.
“Understood, captain.”
“Security to medical,” said Sandoval over their pips. “We’re approaching the entrance to medical. Standby to receive us.”
“Acknowledged,” said Myers. “Proceed directly with the subject to the main surgical bay.”
“Got it,” said Sandoval. A few seconds later the doors to medical opened and in came ten security officers, wearing battle armor and equipped with pulse rifles. A cylindrical tube floated in between them, hovering with the aid of an antigravity field. The top half of the tube was transparent, and everyone could see a figure, encased in a black suit with large tubes running around it.
The security team didn’t stop for anyone and pushed the containment tube directly into the surgical bay. Doctor Myers and his team entered from the other side and, once everyone was in, the doors on both ends slid closed.
“Main surgical bay now under quarantine effect,” announced the ship’s computer.
“Computer,” said Julie, who couldn’t take her eyes off the Screen. “Does the individual in the containment pod match the profile of aliens recorded on reconnaissance video Virgo Leader One?”
“Profile is an 87.7% match,” said the computer.
“The suit looks exactly like the ones the other two were wearing,” said Martin. “I remember those black tubes running from the front of their faces.”
“I wonder what it looks like inside?” said John.
As they watched the medical team conduct their initial scans, Drix and Thresha entered the medical bay. They stopped and looked at the Screen in the containment tube.
“Has Myers Doctor determined if the Screen is alive?” asked Drix.
Julie shook her head. “The examination process has only begun.”
They watched as the medical team removed the Screen from the containment field. Using antigravity emitters, they transferred the Screen from the containment pod to the main surgical bed.
“No indication of movement from the subject,” said Myers. He looked over at the bioscanner. “We’re not picking up any life signs, but the subject’s environmental suit may be interfering with sensors.”
“If you see any movement, I want your team to back off,” said Sandoval. “We don’t know what we’re dealing with until the computer has finished its scans.”
“I understand,” said Myers.
Thresha approached the observation glass, placing her hand on it. John noticed she seemed unusually focused on the Screen, as if no one else was around her.
“What is it?” John whispered to her.
“I do not sense anything from the Screen,” said Thresha. “There is no emotion, nothing. It is as if the Screen is no longer there.” She turned and looked at the captain. “I do not think it is alive.”
John was disappointed. He wanted the Screen alive for interrogation, to learn as much about them and, more importantly, find out what the Screen had planned for the human race.
John gently patted Thresha on the arm. “The suit may be able to block your telepathic senses as well as our sensors. Let’s wait to see what the medical team finds.”
The Aldarian nodded and the group continued to watch the examination.
“I can’t seem to find any seams on the suit,” said Myers. “There doesn’t appear to be any area that would indicate how to remove any portion of it.”
“What about its helmet?” said Sandoval. “It has to removable.”
Myers checked again but found nothing. He consulted with the medical scanners but they too turned up nothing. “It appears the suit is one piece.”
“That’s impossible,” said Julie. “The suit has to open up for the Screen to get in it.”
“The suit may utilize a technology we are unfamiliar with, Julie Commander,” said Drix.
“Doctor,” said one of Myers’ nurses. “We’ve been able to modify sensors to penetrate the suit.” Myers checked the wall monitor for the data.
“Well, there is a body in there,” said Myers. “Unfortunately, the subject is deceased. I’m picking up no active life signs within the suit.”
“Could the suit be fooling the sensors?” asked John.
“No,” said Sandoval. “I recognize the pattern. The suit is scattering the sensor field. It’s not emitting a dampening field, but rather whatever compositions that makes up the suit is distorting the medical scanners.”
“Chief Sandoval is correct,” said Myers. “Fortunately, the sensors can at least tell us the subject is dead, but I won’t be able to obtain biometric data of it until we can open the suit.”
“We can try using some high powered lasers to slice it open,” said Sandoval.
“This is the first Screen we’ve recovered,” said Julie. “And it may be the last one for awhile. Until we capture other Screens, we need to preserve this one as best we can.”
“Commander Olson is right,” said John. “Doctor, continue scanning the Screen until you find a means of opening the suit the way it’s meant to be opened. If we capture another Screen down the road, we can consider slicing this one open.”
“Yes, captain.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
With the Screen debris field thoroughly searched and an actual specimen now on board, PHOENIX jumped away back along its path through space. John was in his quarters, along with Drix, Thresha, Chris Anne, Julie, Bret, and Kevin. John wanted to discuss the Screen, but didn�
��t feel right doing it in an official capacity in the board room.
Alex’sis had some duties to attend to and Myers was resting in his quarters after spending twelve hours examining the Screen in medical. Sandoval, although reassured by Myers that the sensors showed no traps on the suit, remained unconvinced and stayed in medical, watching over the dead alien.
“I want to thank you all for how you handled the fight with the Screen,” said John. “It’s been awhile since we came across them, but the crew performed admirably.” He looked at Thresha. “I also want to express my appreciation to your people, Thresha. I heard how they didn’t hesitate to help out the crew.”
“We are happy that we could assist,” said Thresha.
“Too bad no one from medical has been able to figure out how to open the suit,” said Bret. “It would have been nice to learn at least something new about the Screen.”
“I can’t believe the salvage teams couldn’t find any viable wreckage from their fighters,” said Kevin.
“I share your disappointment,” said John. “But I’m sure we’ll be able to get that suit open down the road.”
“The captain’s right,” said Chris as he handed out glasses of champagne to everyone, except Drix, who was given a cup of coffee. Drix did not like wine but couldn’t get enough of coffee. “We should celebrate this victory.”
“Chris has a point,” said Julie, holding up her glass.
Bret was the first to speak after the toast. “Drix, you said in your experience that anytime the Screen appeared they attack.”
“Correct, Michaels Private. That is from my own experience as well as what others have told me.”
“Is this normal, coming across the Screen so infrequently?”
Drix never considered it and thought it over. “Now that you have brought it up, it does seem odd that we have not had very many encounters with the Screen. Given the distances PHOENIX has traveled, I would have expected to come across them more often.”
“Explain,” said John.
“Travel through this part of space is only done under absolute necessity,” said Drix. “There has always been a significant risk of encountering the Screen in open space. PHOENIX has visited multiple star systems; therefore, encounters with the Screen should have happened more often.”
Phoenix Among The Stars (Exodus) Page 20
