“Status?”
“Sir, I have no control,” the pilot said. “Everything’s been overridden.”
“Weapons?” he asked an officer manning the ship’s exterior gun turret.
“Negative, sir.”
In the space of minutes their captain died, communications jammed, and now they had no control of The Hawking. Liam felt helpless. He’d been in bad situations before numerous times, but he knew he could always fight his way out. This time was different. There would be no shooting his way out of this. He doubted the Z56s could even exit the airlocks and he couldn’t even fire the ship’s own defense system. They lost control.
“Percy, passenger status?”
“My team’s making the rounds. And they made an announcement on the intercom.”
At least they would be safe from the initial conflict. But were there enough weapons on board to defend them all? Not likely, he surmised.
The strange light of the approaching ship slowly grew more discernible. An outline began to take shape. “Rednour, status?”
“One hundred and fifty thousand miles, sir.”
“Okay. We have to assume they will try and board us or possibly send an envoy. We have five Z56s in each of our docking bays. I want three in each to have weapons armed, but to hold fire unless I give the command. Everyone with a gun prepare to move in wherever they board. Nobody fires without my say-so. We may be vastly outnumbered and the safety of the passengers is our priority.
“Percy, I need you to take everyone here and go to the arsenal. Load up and be ready.”
“Yes, sir. You heard him everyone, move your asses. After me.”
The bridge emptied out with the exception of Liam who observed the radar screen. He ran through theories in his mind. Did their presence on Triton trigger a warning system or alarm alerting them of their presence? It’s possible they had a satellite dish of some kind out here that their own scanners failed to pick up. Or maybe they never stopped watching their floating ship for the last thousand years and once it became clear they were awake they decided to come finish the job.
Five minutes after the crew left to arm themselves, the ship was slowing down and entirely visible out the window. It was larger than the one they encountered leaving Earth and it featured a similar design, but now with more hard edges instead of completely curved, almost like they merged their own designs with the STS ships.
Ping. Liam looked down at the radar and saw it was registering a smaller craft on its way from the large ship. The boarding party. “Stand by everyone, they’re sending a ship,” he said on their internal communication radio that still worked. At least they hadn’t taken away everything.
He watched the ship on radar until it was close enough for him to see it outside the window bay. It was similar to the craft he flew to attack the thrusters on the first alien ship, but this one had a bulkier mid-section no doubt for carrying passengers. Its wings looked like an eagle in flight and they were the prey.
“Captain, the outer airlock door is opening at Docking Bay One,” a voice on his radio said.
“Very well. Everyone, proceed to Docking Bay One. Weapons ready, but hold fire. I’m on my way.”
He had no time to pick up his gun from his quarters, but he knew where Jameson kept his in his office, so he grabbed it on his way to the elevators and tucked it in the backside of his pants. The ride down was excruciatingly long, but it gave him a minute to think. The aliens sent only one shuttle. What does that say about the situation? It says the aliens are confident in their superiority. They believe the battle to be already won and only want to demand their surrender. He’d have something to say about that. Or perhaps they’d come to negotiate a truce. He could live with a truce with the proper restrictions.
Every able body of the crew that was capable of fighting packed into the docking bay. Liam fought his way through the crowd—many still unaware of their captain’s fate. As ordered, three Z56s hovered in midair weapons prime. He could see only the top of the alien craft over everyone’s heads. An alien voice broke the prolonged silence. It was a language he only heard once just weeks ago from his perspective.
“If you can understand me, our captain will be here momentarily,” another voice from the front said.
Liam rushed through the crowd, edging between bodies until he saw the back of Percy’s head at the front. He made his way there and stood next to him. The alien craft was two or maybe three times larger than the one he stole. It dwarfed their own Z56s. One alien stood in front of the craft’s open doorway blocking the view making it impossible to know what was behind it.
“I’m here. I am the captain of this ship,” Liam said, trying to sound as authoritative as possible. Confused susurration drifted in the crowd behind him, but he paid them no mind.
The alien in the doorway turned its head to find the one who spoke and replied in its own foreign language. It started to descend the craft’s staircase with long minacious strides. No one dared to speak as it approached Liam. It stopped inches away and peered down with its strange vertical eyes from its impressive seven and a half feet height. Its gray head tilted left and right taking judgement of the man standing before it.
“Do you understand me?”
Before the being could answer, Percy had his gun raised, muzzle aimed at the alien’s head.
“Percy, what are you doing?”
The alien glared at the smaller man with the gun.
“Keeping my captain safe.”
“Put the gun away. Now.”
Percy hesitated. His desire to keep Liam safe conflicting with the order to stand down. The gun stayed up.
“Stop this!” a voice from behind the alien shouted.
A human woman stood in the alien craft’s open doorway.
Chapter 20
ALL HEADS TURNED toward the middle-aged woman with cropped hair wearing a slim dark black dress with an emblem on her right shoulder. She marched down the craft’s staircase to stand alongside the alien and looked at Percy disapprovingly.
“We don’t use guns. They’ve been outlawed for centuries,” she said. Then she turned to Liam, “How did you people even find some?”
“We...um...” He was at a total loss for words. Where did this woman come from?
“Never mind it. We’ll be confiscating all illegal weaponry. What corporation are you with? I assume a mining guild of some sort based on the size of your ship, but we were unable to detect your vessel’s identification signature. And what kind of shuttles are those?” She pointed to the three hovering Z56s. “Do they have weaponry, too? Boy, you all are in trouble.” She gave a signal to someone in the cockpit of her shuttle and instantaneously the three Z56s shut down and eased back to the platform.
Liam stole a glance at Percy who looked as dumbfounded as he felt. He noticed Percy still holding the gun so he placed his hand on Percy’s arm to lower it down.
“You’re a quiet bunch. You say you’re the captain?” she asked, addressing Liam directly.
“I am.”
“I think it’s best we have a word with you. My name is Zale Alday. Please, if you will, accompany me back to our ship for a full debrief.”
“Your ship?”
“Well, yes. I’m with the EPSD if that wasn’t clear by the logo on my uniform. As is my officer here whom you so rudely threatened. Now, come with me. I won’t ask again. Your ship has been locked down—with ease I might say, your security was quite lax—and you have nowhere to go.”
“Can I have a moment to discuss with my commanding officer?” He motioned to Percy who knew well enough to play along.
“Commanding what? No. Get on my shuttle, sir.”
“Very well. Percy, keep everyone calm. And I guess you should explain to everyone about Jameson. After you, Alday.”
Zale and her partner turned to lead Liam to their shuttle. “Liam, what are you going to tell them?” whispered Percy as they trailed behind.
“I have a feeling the truth might be the be
st option. But I’ll play it smart,” Liam whispered back. He patted Percy on the arm. “See you soon.”
Zale was waiting for him at the top of the stairs. He climbed to the top, stopped, and saluted the gathered crew who looked as shocked as he was. Zale pulled the gun out from his waistband and yanked him inside by his arm.
“What’s your name? I don’t believe I caught it down there.” Zale led him inside the shuttle after disposing of the gun in a locked container. The seating reminded Liam of an airplane, but smaller. There were eight rows of four with an aisle spanning its length. More EPSD officers sat inside filling half the available seats. It was a mix of humans and aliens, all wearing black with the same emblem on their right shoulders. They glanced at him disinterested and continued whatever it was they were doing—some worked on translucent tablet screens others sat alone with their hands clasped in their laps.
“Liam Donovan,” he answered.
“Have a seat Mr. Donovan,” she gestured to an empty seat next to an alien.
“Right. Of course.” He took the seat. The alien towered over him paying him no mind. He looked for a safety harness of some kind, but found none. Zale took the seat next to him across the aisle pulling out her own translucent screen from the back of the seat in front of her.
There were no windows, but he felt the shuttle moving—first backward, then spinning around. Moments later it propelled forward. He noticed a small shift in gravity as they left The Hawking behind and only had the shuttle’s less effective artificial gravity holding them down.
The interior of the shuttle was dimly lit making it hard for Liam to study his surroundings. But at the front on a wall between the doorway and the cockpit entrance was a larger version of the EPSD logo lit by its own spotlight. There were two interlocking circles stacked vertically and a singular wavy line straight through the middle. He wondered what they represented and what exactly the EPSD stood for. He turned to Zale ready to ask, but thought better of it. She gave the vibe that the EPSD was a common entity and if he asked, it may tip his hand too early. When he told his story, he wanted it official and on record.
A minute later the gravity shifted again as he entered the EPSD ship that somehow tracked them down so quickly. At once the humans and aliens stood from their seats ready to disembark the shuttle. Liam completely missed how they even knew they were stopped, but he followed suit and stood. The craft’s door opened and the officers in the front exited first.
“Follow me, Donovan,” Zale said.
Liam fell in line behind her. The craft was parked in a row of five identical shuttles. A hundred humans and aliens alike roamed the docking bay in a hive of activity. Many wore the black uniform like Zale’s, others wore red and white. Some featured yellow stripes on their left sleeve, likely signifying a higher rank. Voices echoed through the voluminous room from unseen speakers. Phrases in English followed by the alien language.
Zale led him through the middle of the space where a round pedestal came out of the floor. The pedestal projected a three hundred and sixty degree hologram of an older man wearing the white uniform with three yellow stripes on the sleeve. He tried to listen to what the hologram was saying, but they were walking too fast and the docking bay was too noisy.
Through the ship they went, hallway after hallway passing rooms that provided him with glimpses of their technology. This civilization was far more advanced than he could’ve imagined. Several humans and aliens he passed wore a high-tech form of contacts—yellow and orange light flickered around their pupils. He was curious to know what they were seeing.
They must’ve walked at least half a mile through an endless maze before Zale led him into a bare room with a table and two chairs on either side. Much had changed over the millennium, but an interrogation room clearly was not one of them. Zale took her seat, Liam took his.
“Thirsty?” she asked.
“If you don’t mind. It’s been a long day.”
She tapped on her screen then placed it on the table.
“Water is on the way. Now, let’s get started. What guild are you with?”
“Is this being recorded?”
“Of course, Mr. Donovan.”
“Good. How well do you know your history Zale?”
“I was an average history student. Criminal law is my specialty. I fail to see why that’s relevant to my inquiry.”
“Are you familiar with the STS mission?”
“Of course. It was the launch of our new era.”
“My ship was one of the five. It’s called The Hawking.”
She repressed a laugh. “Nice story. Especially this year of all years when they were scheduled to wake up.”
Liam leaned in. “We did wake up. Here we are.”
“Those poor souls are light years away. The technology of that time would make what you’re saying impossible. There is no way you could have woken this year and made it back to our solar system.”
“We didn’t make it that far. There was a problem with our power supply combined with a software issue caused when the aliens tried to attack us the day we left. We woke up at the edge of the solar system a couple of weeks ago.”
“Attack? What attack? Now I question whether you know your history.”
“Of course the attack. The day we left when three alien ships arrived on Earth. One of them broke rank and tried to bring us down.”
“There was no attack. The day those ships left was the day humanity was saved. Unity Day.”
“Unity Day? No. Earth was dying and we evacuated. Our species was its weakest point and they came to wage war.”
“Humans waged the war—or at least tried to with their foolish nuclear strike. You’re right, though—the planet was on its dying breath. Pollution, disease, and famine. Not to mention all the suicides. They came and showed us the way. Within a decade we’d begun turning things around. Now here we are.”
“Right. The nukes. After they were hit, one of their ships came after us. They tried to hack into our computers corrupting our emergency wake up protocol. When the power failed, nobody woke up because of it.”
“Interesting story, Mr. Donovan. History regrets their failure to return the STS ships back to Earth. Tragic loss. They tried to take control of one ship to stop it from leaving. Unfortunately their technology at the time didn’t allow it. The ship, yours as you claim, got away and like the other four ships had blocked any and all signals relaying their location back to Earth. After unity was achieved, nobody was able to locate them. Space is too big.”
“You found us today.”
“You were trespassing in an historic site. It wasn’t hard.”
“That base on Triton is an historic site?”
“Base? That was a mining colony—abandoned three hundred years ago. The first mining colony in the outer solar system. The Brado Mining Corporation, who still owns the property, alerted us of your presence so we came right away.”
An alien entered the room with a glass of water. It set the glass on the table and left the room without speaking.
“Where did they come from?” Liam asked.
“They?”
“The aliens.”
“To us they’re not aliens. We’ve been living in harmony for centuries. Our home is their home.”
“Where was their first home?”
“Proxima, of course. Why else would the lost ships be a tragedy?”
Liam’s world shattered. He felt dizzy, lightheaded. Tragedy? It made no sense. Years of scientific and engineering research went into building the STS fleet to send them to Proxima, and it ended up the aliens were doing the same? No—she said the aliens provided the tech to save Earth, wouldn’t they have been able to also save Proxima? It conflicted. He was missing a piece of the puzzle.
“You alright, Mr. Donovan? You look pale.”
“I don’t understand. Why did they leave Proxima?”
“Enough of the act. We both know you’re either working for a shady mining corporation or your sh
ip is a rogue mining operation in itself. Why else would you be unregistered and fooling around in an abandoned mining colony?”
“Think about it. Unregistered ship, antiquated tech, and the small fact that I have no idea what the hell the EPSD is! We are an STS ship.”
“Unregistered ships are common with the few criminals we still deal with. Antiquated tech? Again common with those who can’t afford the best. And we are the Earth Proxima Security Division. But you already know that.”
“Fine. The Hawking is written on the side of the damn ship. Big bold letters. Come back to the ship and you’ll find thousands of passengers and the hibernation chambers we slept in.”
“We have your ship in tow as we speak on our way back to Mars where we will confiscate every illegal weapon on board. If we find what you say we’ll find, then you’ll be off the hook considering the circumstances. But if I’m right, you won’t be seeing the sun rise on any planet or moon for a long time. The journey will take several days so get comfortable.”
“Wait, we have a shuttle that was still at the colony. They took off to rejoin us before you caught up to us. You can’t leave them behind.”
“I’ll send a squadron to escort them on board. How many are on the shuttle?”
Saying this out loud hurt Liam more than he was expecting. “One. Another is dead. Our captain before me. His name was Landon Jameson.”
“Dead? What happened?”
“From what we could see, he stepped on an erupting geyser.”
“Tricky things. That’s why the colony was abandoned. They started popping up within the atmo-dome.”
“Just bring her in safely, please.”
“We will. The EPSD goes through great effort to not hurt those we deal with. Your friend will be joining you soon. We’ll see if she spins the same elaborate tale.”
A red alert pinged on her screen still resting on the table.
“Ah, they just found her ship hiding on the far side of the moon. We’re nothing if not efficient,” she said with a smirk.
Proxima Page 21
