by James Palmer
“But who are “they”? Surely not the inhabitants of that backwater world.”
“No, I don’t believe it was anyone commanding their forces out of that dust bowl either, General. Somewhere else out there, very well hidden, is our enemy, our true enemy. We have to get back home, and begin retrofitting the fleet with my magno-disc engines but only after we find how deep our doppelganger problem is.
You were right before General, when you said this adventure is far from over. We have a lot ahead of us yet.”
“So what now? Red asked as he rejoined everyone and slid into one of the control seats.
“Find the Cag, that’s where we have to start.”
“Uh, I think we just did that.” Ariel turned in surprise to face Mark. She touched a control on her virtual panel and suddenly the display screen zoomed in and showed an image of the Cagliostro, listing sideways in space, motionless and dead, smoke trailing into space from her hull.
Chapter 11
“What the hell…” Mark rumbled.
“What do you think happened here?” Red asked Mark.
“No idea, maybe they were overrun by enemy forces. I could see the Cag holding its own and beating one of those big war ships, but against two or three?” He left the question hanging pregnant in the air.
“You think that’s what happened?” Ariel asked.
“See the scarring along the hull?
She nodded in the affirmative, her face stern.
“The Cag was in a battle, and a prolonged one too, against several ships. Are you getting any life signs?” Mark turned and asked Red.
“Looking now. Doing a scan. Nothing so far, also no power anywhere on the ship it’s completely out.”
By now the Stargrazer had slowed out of hyper-warp and slowly pulled up near the much larger ship.
“She doesn’t appear damaged, Mark, not badly at any rate, just powerless.”
“When we first battled that war ship as we were heading to the sand planet, they hit us with something that drained our power and energy stores. Multiple hits of that from multiple ships would have drained her dry.”
“We have to get inside.” Red growled.
“What’s going on?”
Everyone turned to find Danny standing in the doorway, rubbing his head dry with a towel. Then he stopped as he saw the view screen and cursed almost silently.
Dan slid into his chair and Mark returned navigation control to him. “Line up our belly hatch with the side of the Cag right there.” He pointed at a spot as Dan slowly guided the smaller ship up to the side of the much larger one. The Stargrazer turned sideways and floated in, securely bumping into the side of the Cagliostro.
“Magnetic locks activated.” Dan called out.
Mark was out of his seat in an instant and walking towards the center of the small spacecraft. Then he changed his footing to the wall of the ship standing on it and activating the irising portal that was on the floor of the Stargrazer.
The portal irised open and revealed the blank wall, which was actually a hatch on the outer hull of the Cagliostro. Mark picked up a heavy cable from a supply outlet on the Stargrazer and began to attach it to a mating port on the side of the door on the Cagliostro. Dan walked over and joined Mark. He took the heavy cable from Mark’s hands and finished the attachment, twisting the cable until it snapped into place.
“All set.” Dan nodded at Mark.
“Good. Ariel, begin power transfer.” Mark called to the front of the ‘Grazer. The General walked over to join them.
“Do you men need any help?”
“When we get aboard we’re going to have to go through ten decks one at a time to make sure we didn’t pick up any passengers, so yeah, you’ll be needed General. Grab a gun and sit tight for a minute or two more.”
Mark tapped a staccato pattern on a flat keypad under the same cover that the power conduits inlet was hiding beneath. After a second a retina scan read his eyes, and a DNA scan read his hand. One final code was introduced on the flush keypad and then the door slid open with power supplied by the Stargrazer.
Within the Cagliostro was darkness. Mark tapped out a pattern on the sleeve of his uniform and immediately his sleeve produced a beam of light that cut through the darkness.
The General snorted, “Too bad you couldn’t make that thing into a weapon.”
Mark turned to him and smiled grimly, “Who said I couldn’t? Problem is too many men would blow their hands off if I did. I would probably forget from time to time myself.”
The old man nodded grimly in agreement, “Valid point.”
“So do we all go? Does someone stay with the ‘Grazer? How do you want to play this?” Eddie asked.
Mark Johnson did not answer immediately as he read one of the small handheld scanners they had used earlier on the planet itself. “Atmosphere reads normal. Eddie, you stay here. Close the hatch behind us and be ready to open that hatch at a moment’s notice if we come running.”
“You think there may be some surprises left for us?”
“I wouldn’t doubt it, but you never know. I’m probably just being overly cautious, which in this case is not such a bad thing. When we make it to the command deck, I’ll power up the magno-discs again and restore power to the ship. Once that’s done we’ll open the docking bays and you can get the Stargrazer back onboard. In the meantime, hang tight.”
“Sounds like a plan, boss.”
“All right, General Abruzzi, Dan, Red, and Ariel with me. Ariel are you okay enough to scan for survivors mentally as well as linking us? I know you took a beating these past few days, but I have to rely on you hon, I’m sorry.”
She smiled as she looked at him, “I’m fine, don’t ‘Mother Hen’ me. I’m really okay, I’m not just saying it, I promise.”
He leaned forward and kissed her quickly. They both smiled before turning and walking into the ship, flashlight beams from their uniforms sleeves were brightly illuminating the corridor they walked through. Everyone had taken a pistol before they left the Stargrazer, including the General. They all walked with their pistols drawn and ready now through the pervading darkness.
Nothing stirred.
Red took point as they walked, Dan stayed at his shoulder scanning right while Red looked left. They looked at each other and shrugged, then made a right turn down a corridor that led to the command deck.
By now enough power had been drawn from the Stargrazer to operate doors and minor systems before restarting the magno-discs. As they approached the maglovator doors to the command deck they slowly slid open. As with the rest of the ship so far, the command deck was empty.
“They fought to the very end here.” Red commented while he was looking at blaster burn marks along the walls and ceiling.
“Yes, but gratefully I don’t see any bodies left behind.” Mark replied as he seated himself in the Captain’s chair. Dan sat down in the engineers’ seat and began touching virtual controls that dimly sprang to life before him.
“It’s amazing they even drained the emergency energy storage cells with that weapon of theirs. If not for the Stargrazer being hooked up to us, we wouldn’t even have power for the control interfaces.”
“I know Dan, and I purposely gave those their own power supplies when I designed this ship.”
“Let’s try a re-start; we should be able to do it now. It’ll be just like jumpstarting a car, with the ‘Grazer attached.” Dan replied.
Mark touched his sleeve, “Eddie, do you copy? We’re going to restart. Be prepared.”
“Will do, boss,” came his crisp reply.
Sledge touched a few buttons on his slightly brighter glowing control panel and suddenly there was a slight rumble as the great ship flared to life about them.
Instantly everything came online as the magno-discs powered up and began supplying energy to all the systems.
“Air filtration and life support back online.” Dan advised.
“Which brings up another curious point,” Mark no
ticed, “The air in here was not stale. This couldn’t have happened too long ago.”
Dan and Red both nodded in agreement.
“Eddie,” Mark spoke, “disconnect the Stargrazer from the Cagliostro and proceed to the docking bay.”
“On my way, boss.” Eddie’s voice replied clearly.
“Red, you and General Abruzzi start making a deck by deck sweep of the ship. Holler the instant you see anything out of the ordinary.”
“Danny get down to engineering and make sure everything there is okay. I felt a small rumble when the magno-discs kicked in. Let’s make sure everything is still aligned properly. If you need help, I’ll be there immediately.”
“Eddie, when you get back on board make your way directly to the command deck, I want to go over weapons command with you to make sure everything is okay here as well.”
They all agreed and within a few seconds only Ariel and Mark were left aboard the command deck.
“What do you think happened to our people?” She asked quietly while staring straight ahead.
“Whoever did this took them. That’s what you and I are going to work on right now. Access the command deck’s cameras and begin displaying content from about twenty four hours ago.”
She nodded and touched a few controls. Upon the main view screen a video of the command deck began to play.
“Nothing there.” He fingered his chin and the stubble that had grown upon it the last few days. “Move ahead two hours.”
Silently she complied.
“Still nothing.” He remarked after a few minutes. “Move ahead two more hours, please.” Ariel nodded silently and did so. This happened several more times until finally at the ten hour mark they discovered the command deck had been in a state of bedlam.
They both watched silently as the secondary command deck crew fired weapons against enemies displayed upon the view screen as four of the same war ships that had attacked the Cagliostro previously.
“Every time they hit us, our power reserves were emptied.” Mark spoke quietly. “How long did this go on for?”
“Recordings stopped about six hours ago.” Ariel answered.
“So all power reserves were run dry by then. That means they fought for four hours against four ships. They must have put up a helluva fight,” he remarked grimly.
Eddie exited the maglovator then and quietly took his seat at his weapons console.
“Everything okay, Eddie?”
“Yes boss, at least as good as could be expected considerin’. The Stargrazer is secured and clamped to the landing deck floor. I also checked on the shuttles they’re locked in place as well. They were never touched.”
“All right, thanks for the information. Go over your weapons console. We need to be prepared for these aliens when we encounter them again.”
“What are you going to do about that energy draining ray or weapon or whatever it is?” Ariel asked.
“I’m going to study what information the sensors were able to gather on it as well as the video of its use and come up with a counter measure.”
“Just like that?”
“Yes Ariel, just like that.”
“Pretty sure of yourself again aren’t you? We are out in the great unknown out here.”
“Yes sweetheart, I am sure of myself, I have to be. I have to be damned sure of myself because everyone’s life depends on me now.”
“I wonder where they took our crew?” Eddie asked.
“We’ll find out. The external sensors should have been able to pick up a hyper-warp trail from our friends out there. That should have been done before the fighting even started. If we can find that trail we can follow them right where we need to go.”
Ariel swiveled her seat to face him, “You have this all figured out don’t you? Aren’t you worried about ever being wrong?”
“I was wrong already, Ari. Look about you for the wreckage I left behind by being so wrong.”
She hesitated then and sat up taller in her seat, pushing against the back of it, “Mark I didn’t mean anything- I- I, This isn’t your fault,” she stammered out finally.
He sighed and slumped slightly in his chair, “Ari, of course it’s my fault. These people weren’t military people. Most were scientists and engineers with a small security detail. If my people are dead it’s all my fault. I shouldn’t have agreed to do this.”
“Boss,” Red’s voice, uncharacteristically hollow and distant came over the internal comm system, “You better get down to the gymnasium.”
Just by the tone of Red’s voice Mark knew it was bad. He ran from the command deck and into the maglovator, which sped him to the recreation deck. As the doors opened he smelled the stench of death. He knew what he was running to face before he even saw it, and he despaired.
The doors to the gymnasium slid open as he approached and he found Red staring at him, while the General looked away, his face a mask of solemn resolve.
Along the walls of the basketball court that comprised this section of the gymnasium were hanging the bodies of forty people. All tortured, all dead. And there, hanging at the foremost spot was the body of Miles Jefferson, his second team commander. Mark sank to his knees; his vision swam as despair washed over him, followed by blackness.
Chapter 12
Mark Johnson sat in the commissary of the Cagliostro. There was no one else in the room with him. He was drinking bourbon straight up, in an almost pitch black room staring at a view screen that showed empty space. Normally it piped in an image of the ship at hyper-warp. Now everything was still and unmoving on the view screen. Nothing moved. Not anything in the view screen, not even the Cagliostro itself.
The lights suddenly went to full brightness in the room. Annoyed he covered his eyes. “Shut those damned lights off, and then leave. I told you all I wanted to be left alone.”
“No. I don’t care what you told us. We’re almost a million light years from home, and our Captain and boss is nowhere to be seen. He’s in here hiding and sulking.”
Mark turned towards the sound of the voice behind him, anger oozing from his pores. “Dammit Ariel! I caused the death of forty people because I had to be out here playing Captain Kirk or Flash Gordon or whoever. It’s my fault they’re all dead. They were not soldiers. They were all civilians, just a bunch of regular guys.”
“And every one of them knew what they were getting into. You gave everyone on the ship a chance to get off before we left Earth. Those that were afraid did. The rest took their chances and were brave souls who wanted an adventure. Now, like I told you before, there are over sixty people being held somewhere. We are their only chance of survival. So get it together, mister.” She smacked him on the back of the head as she finished. He turned towards her angrily, and then shook his head.
“I’m not abandoning them, Ari; I’ve been sitting here trying to work out a defense to that energy draining ray they used on us. I’ve been going over that data for two days while we did repairs on the ship. Even the General is getting his hands dirty helping out Dan. I haven’t given up, not at all. But we have to defeat that power draining device they have, whatever it is before we go after them.”
“Well how long are you going to wait? My God those people have been in some enemy’s hands, and we don’t even know who they are. We can’t just sit here and do nothing.”
He stood up and stared at Ariel, “What would you like us to do? Just go in guns blazing, hoping we take them out before they destroy us? That’s not going to work.”
“What do you think will?” She asked, looking straight into his eyes, her expression neutral.
“Here’s what happens when that energy siphon, which is what I’m calling it by the way, hits us. It establishes a connection through that energy beam through the ship’s hull and drains our energy stores. I believe it acts like a sort of heat sink, just siphoning, in this case, our energy level away.”
“So what happens to that energy? Is it just shunted off into space? Or are they storing it
somewhere and re-powering their weapons with it?” Asked Dan Sledge as he walked in the sliding doors of the commissary and sat down with Mark and Ariel.
“You tell me Danny. What do you think? My best guess is they are storing it and re-using it against us.”
“I did see a power fluctuation when I was scanning them as they attacked us with it the first time.”
“Yes, but it just punched through our shields like they weren’t there. So how do we shield ourselves from that?” Ariel asked.
“How about we don’t?” Mark replied, smiling suddenly.
“What do you mean, boss?” Dan reacted, while Ariel looked on with a confused look on her face.
“What if we could generate enough energy to keep us protected from their draining effects by overloading their system?”
“What?” Dan asked.
“Think Danny, You’re a trained engineer and brilliant at what you do. Now, when they depowered the Cag they used three, maybe four ships with that siphon ray being broadcast from each of them. If we come upon them we have to be able to withstand that. One ship, maybe two, I’m not that concerned with. I think we can destroy them if we have to. We have the firepower. But it’s the energy siphon that’s going to be our weakness against these guys.”
“So what are you thinkin’? Don’t leave me in suspense.”
“I’m thinking we take a page from their book and use it against them.”
“What? You want to siphon their power? With only a handful of us I don’t think we could come up with the tech fast enough to do that. We’d need a full crew in the machine shop and science labs.”
“No Danny,” Mark began smiling, “that’s not what I meant. They used more than one ship against us, we’ll do the same to them, but they won’t know it.”
“Huh? How? We don’t have any invisibility device onboard, unless you’re not tellin’ me everything.”
“Nope, not what I meant. Now listen closely, this is what we’re going to do.”
