Lieutenant Dolohov let out a derisive snort.
“You honestly think the Emperor will agree to this?”
All eyes turned to her.
“This whole thing is ridiculous,” Dolohov continued scathingly.
“The only thing the Emperor, or the Senate for that matter, will do is send a fleet to obliterate these abominations!”
Dolohov was glaring, in disgust, at the young woman standing before them.
“That will be all Lieutenant!” Snapped Major Clark.
“This is madness,” Dolohov snarled.
“To even suggest negotiating with this alien scum is treason!”
No one said anything for a few moments, then Major Clark spoke in a calm voice.
“In that case Lieutenant, you can report us if we ever make it back to Earth. Until such time however, I am your commanding officer and you will remain silent.”
Dolohov glared at her, but said nothing.
Major Clark turned back to the young woman.
“The one problem that remains is sending a message to Admiral Constantine.”
The young woman, who had been watching Dolohov, looked at her.
“That is indeed a problem,” she agreed.
“We have ways of sending messages over great distances, but none that are compatible with any of your communication systems.”
“If you could get us out of here,” Major Clark suggested cautiously.
“We could contact Admiral Constantine from the nearest Imperial outpost.”
The young woman shook her head.
“Although I could probably get you onto one of our ships, I am not sure what would happen if an Imperial outpost saw such a ship approaching.”
Clark nodded.
“No, you're right, they'd most likely panic and open fire.”
“What about the Twilight?” Asked Anna.
“Yes, what happened to it?” Chimed in Lieutenant Graham.
The young woman hesitated for a moment.
“We did bring the Twilight with us,” she began.
“However, it was quite severely damaged. We have begun repairs but they will take time.”
“Perhaps our Engineer might be able to speed up the process,” suggested Clark, throwing a quick glance at Nolan.
“He would undoubtedly be noticed by the others working to repair your ship,” said the young woman.
Everyone was silent for a moment, then Major Clark spoke.
“How long will it take you to repair the Twilight?”
The young woman shook her head.
“I have no idea.”
“Well it seems we have no choice but to wait until it’s fixed,” said Major Clark.
“Yes, but what happens then?” Anna wanted to know.
“We’ll need to get to the ship undetected and then get out of, wherever we are, without being stopped.”
The young woman thought for a moment, then a slight smile spread across her face.
“I don't think that will be a problem,” she assured them.
“Just leave it to me.”
Chapter 26
Vice-Admiral Jones watched on the bridge's main view screen as the tunnel of swirling light dissolved into the blackness of space. To the right of the screen, a tactical display showed the other ships in his fleet maneuvering into formation. The gargantuan form of the Dreadnought settling into the center.
“Carriers, launch fighters,” ordered Captain Gerard.
“Do a sensor sweep, maximum range,” he said turning in the direction of the sensors officer.
“Sensor sweep, maximum range, aye sir,” the Lieutenant replied.
“Increasing power to sensor arrays, scanning.”
The Lieutenant started imputing commands into his station.
“Contact,” he reported.
“Various small debris fields detected, material corresponds to Imperial fighters.”
“Well it appears we've discovered what became of our missing fighter squadron,” Gerard remarked
Jones said nothing.
“Lieutenant, focus on that debris,” ordered Gerard.
“Hang on sir, I've got another contact,” the Lieutenant informed him.
He squinted at his display, then his eyes widened in surprise.
“Sir, it appears to be an Imperial frigate.”
“A frigate?”
“Yes sir,” replied the Lieutenant, still scrutinizing the display in front of him.
“She's crippled, completely offline. I'm not getting any signals, not even a transponder code.”
Gerard turned.
“The ship is the HS Dominance,” said Jones.
“Admiral?” Inquired Gerard, looking confused.
“How the ship ended up here and what disabled it are classified Captain.”
“I see sir,” replied Gerard a bit uncertain.
“The details are not your concern,” Jones assured him.
“Keep scanning everything in the system and report any anomalies. Detail a squadron of fighters to do an in-depth scan of the Frigate and I want additional squadrons to search any nearby star systems.”
“Yes sir.”
“If you come across anything else, I want to know immediately, I'll be in my office.”
Vice-Admiral Jones exited through the armored bridge doors. The corridor beyond bustled with activity. Various crew members hurriedly moved through it, stopping just long enough to hastily salute him as they passed. Jones barely even noticed them, mechanically returning their salutes.
He had been surprised but pleased when he'd found the message beacon that had led them here. Despite her seemingly random side trips, it had looked like Major Clark was indeed off to investigate the wreak of the Dominance. But now it appeared that he'd gotten here too late, Clark was long gone. Of course it was possible the beacon had been a decoy, designed to lead him off course. That however, seemed extremely unlikely. For one thing, if it wasn't for the beacon he'd have been just as lost as he was now. For another, it made no sense for Clark to hide the shengyet in the same system she placed a decoy for him to find.
Jones had reached the elevator doors that lead to the ship's other decks. The doors opened and he pressed the button for deck two, where his office was located. As the doors slid shut and he felt the elevator descending, he ran through the various possibilities. Major Clark wasn't here, although he had very good reason to believe that she had been here at some point.
The elevator came to a halt and Jones stepped into the corridor that housed the officer's and guest quarters. There was the slight possibility that the Twilight might be hiding in one of the nearby systems or even in this system, she was a stealth ship after all. But he doubted that, even a stealth ship wouldn't be able to hide for long with so many ships intensively scanning every cubic meter of space.
The Admiral had reached the doors to his office now. The two guards on either side snapped to attention as he approached. Jones walked past them, pushing open the doors to his office and closing them behind him. He made for the drinks cabinet, poured himself a glass of scotch and sank into his desk chair.
So, he would assume that Major Clark had been in the system. He would also assume that she had scanned the wreak of the Dominance and gathered all the information there was to be had here. The question was, what had she done then? Presumably Admiral Constantine had sent her here with the mission of somehow diffusing the situation, perhaps even making contact with whoever had attached the Dominance. The debris of the destroyed fighters, suggested that someone other than Clark had recently been in the system. The Twilight was a reconnaissance ship, with virtually no weapons to speak of. It was impossible that she could have destroyed a squadron of fighters on her own.
It seemed logical to conclude that whatever had dispatched those fighters, had been here at the same time as Clark. Which meant they had met and since he had found no debris belonging to the Twilight, he could conclude that Clark had gone with them. Whether or not she h
ad gone with them willingly, was another question. He decided that for his purposes, it didn't really matter. If she had gone with them against her will, she was a prisoner and negotiations had already failed. If Clark had gone along willingly, then it was simply a matter of ensuring that her negotiations came to naught. The easiest way to achieve that, would be for Major Clark to never make it back to Earth.
Jones took a sip of his scotch. He already had his extensive spy network feverishly looking for any sign of the Twilight. All his agents had orders to alert him instantly upon receiving any information pertaining to the ship or Major Clark. That however, didn’t guarantee he would be able to stop her before she could contact Admiral Constantine. The optimal situation would be if he could predict from where Clark would try and make contact. If he could draw her to where he wanted her.
Jones lowered his drink onto the desk and turned on the computer station built into it. He hailed the bridge, a moment later Gerard's face appeared on the view screen.
“Vice-Admiral.”
“Captain, have your scans turned up anything?”
“Negative sir, nothing new in this system or any of the neighboring systems.”
“I expected as much, how far is the nearest Imperial communications relay?”
Gerard thought for a moment before answering.
“We're pretty far out here sir,” he said slowly.
“So the Twilight would've had to jump to another system to contact Earth,” Jones concluded.
“Undoubtedly,” agreed Gerard.
“Very well Captain, recall all scouts and as soon as the fleet is ready, plot a course for the nearest Imperial outpost.”
“Very well sir, Gerard out.”
Jones leaned back in his chair as the view screen switched off. He sat there running through the tentative plan he had been formulating. It was far from perfect, but it was the only lead he had.
“Sooner or later, you'll have to make a move Major,” he said out loud.
“And when you do, I'll be ready.”
Chapter 27
Commander Anna Jackson leaned back against the wall and closed her eyes. She let out a long breath, then slowly opened her eyes again. They had been stuck in this room for what felt like hours, although according to the data pad on her wrist it had only been forty minutes. Anna surveyed the room before her. Four gleaming white walls, ceiling and floor, with beds scattered around it. Virtually identical to the room they had stayed in on the alien ship. The only difference she could detect, was that this room appeared to be slightly larger.
In the center of the room stood Major Clark, she was talking to Lieutenant Graham. The others were clustered nearby, except for Dolohov, who stood slightly separate from the group. As Anna watched, John and Saskill separated themselves from the group and came over to where she was sitting, they both sat down next to her.
Anna turned to Saskill as he too leaned back against the wall.
“So, what do you think of all this?” She asked.
Saskill cocked his head, the shengyet equivalent of a shrug.
“To be honest, I have no idea what to think.”
Anna nodded.
“I know what you mean, so much has happened I still haven't really taken it all in yet.”
The sound of approaching footsteps made them look up. Sergeant Williams was walking towards them. He stopped a few steps in front of them, then sat down facing Saskill.
“I didn't get a chance to ask earlier,” he said.
“How are you felling?”
Saskill regarded him for a moment.
“I am fine, whatever they did to fix me up, it certainly did the trick.”
Sergeant Williams said nothing for a while.
“That's good,” he said finally.
A slight grin crossed his face.
“I'd hate to see you die on me after all the work I did, dragging your heavy ass out of there.”
Saskill snorted.
“It's not my fault you humans are so undersized and weak.”
“Hey,” John protested.
The Sergeant's expression turned suddenly serious.
“So, what chance do you think this plan has of succeeding?” He asked.
Saskill cocked his head.”
“Well, getting us out of this room and to the ship, that shouldn't be a problem.”
“Unless the wrong person spots us and raises the alarm,” John added.
“True,” agreed Saskill.
“But I don't think that will be the hard part. The difficulty lies in getting from wherever we are now, to an Imperial outpost undetected.”
“Yeah,” said Anna.
“The Twilight's stealth systems are useless against our host's sensors and there's no way they could miss a ship opening a dimension vortex anywhere near here.”
“Our new friend seems to think we'll be able to do it,” said Andrew.
They were all silent for a moment, then Anna spoke.
“If you ask me, the hardest part of all this won't be getting away from here, it'll be what happens afterward.”
“What do you mean?” Asked John.
“Well, let's say we do get away clean and then manage to contact Admiral Constantine, then what? He'll have to convince the Emperor to negotiate with a completely new alien race. A race of which, only some of its members actually want to negotiate. We have no idea what percentage of their population our new friend represents and even if Constantine manages to convince the Emperor, all he can do is get the ball rolling. It'll be up to the Senate to actually negotiate, if they even decide to do so.”
Andrew turned to her.
“You really have the ability to suck all the optimism out of a situation,” he commented dryly.
“Oh she was always like that,” Saskill chimed in.
“Even as a child, always so serious. Whenever the other children got too loud and boisterous, she would glower at them like a reproachful Kana beast until they quieted down.”
Andrew smirked.
“I bet she was really intimidating,” he said.
“Oh you have no idea,” said John.
“The other children and I would call her-,”
“Hey! I'm sitting right here,” Anna cut him off.
Andrew watched the three people in front of him. He found that he slightly envied Anna and John. He too, had lost his parents. In his case it had happened when he was only a year old. He had no idea what had happened to them. The caretakers at the orphanage where he’d grown up, told him that he'd been found abandoned on the streets. A police officer had found him and when no one could determine who the young boy's parents were, they had sent him to the orphanage. Anna and John had lost their parents too, but they had found a new home with Saskill and his clan. They may have spent their childhood hiding and running from the Imperial military, but they had a family that loved them.
The sudden silence in the room interrupted Andrew's train of thought. He turned to look past Major Clark and the others. At the far end, he could see the young woman standing in the doorway. She threw a nervous glance behind her before entering, the doorway sealing itself as she stepped through. Major Clark walked towards her.
“It is done,” said the young woman.
“We have readied your ship for departure, we should move quickly, before anyone else notices.”
Major Clark nodded, then turned to face the room.
“You heard the lady people, let's move.”
Chapter 28
Lieutenant Harbid swore loudly and tried to wipe the sweat from his face. Instead, his gloved hand bumped against the helmet of his environment suit. The suits were made for soldiers, to let them operate in toxic atmospheres or in a vacuum. What they were not designed to do however, was attempting to repair one of the most complex pieces of technology ever created by humans. On a moon, whose average surface temperature was several hundred degrees Celsius. A fact that he was becoming all too familiar with at the moment.
A voice crac
kled over the speaker built into his helmet.
“Let me take a wild guess,” said Katie.
“It’s not going well.”
“What gave it away?” Harbid replied irritably.
“The cursing, or the fact that I've been at it for over two hours with nothing to show for it?”
As always, his sour tone just seemed to slide off her.
“Look on the bright side,” she replied cheerfully.
“What bright side?”
“You get to go out and about, see the sites, instead of being cooped up in the shuttle.”
“Oh yes, it's just lovely out here. Sweltering heat, with great views of the deadly lava flows and the most tedious, futile activity you can think of.”
Harbid sighed and stood up from the access panel he had been crouching over.
“I'm sorry Ensign,” he said wearily.
“Didn't mean to snap at you.”
“I know James,” replied Katie.
“Look, we both knew it was most likely pointless, but it had to be tried.”
“I know,” said Harbid.
“I don't think there's anything more you can do James.”
“Yeah I know, okay I'm coming back in.”
He sealed the access panel he'd been working at and picked up the shuttle's emergency tool kit. Making his way to the front of the shuttle, he keyed in the airlock sequence for the shuttle's airlock, located just behind the cockpit. The outer doors hissed open and he entered. The outer doors slid shut and the compartment pressurized, the inner doors opened. Harbid entered the passenger compartment, unlocked the seals of his helmet and wiped the sweat from his brow.
The shuttle's insulation was far more substantial than that of his environment suit and Harbid enjoyed the feel of the cooler air on his face. He set about taking off the rest of his suit. He had taken off his uniform jacket before donning the suit, but his undershirt was drenched in sweat. Harbid noticed someone approaching him and looked up to see Katie.
“You look like you've just come out of a swimming pool,” she remarked.
“Well it got pretty hot in this thing,” said Harbid, now removing the lower section of the suit.
Imperium: Contact Page 22
