The Jumpgate

by Robert Stadnik

  “Lieutenant Block, I have reviewed your service record and have a question. May I pose my question to you?”

  “Sure.”

  “You were instrumental in rallying your people for the PHOENIX mission to find the Screen. It was a natural progression for you to serve on PHOENIX; however, you only did for a short period. You then served at the Mars communications facility, again only for a short time, before coming to SOLARA. Why?”

  David was caught off-guard by her first statement. “What makes you think I had anything to do with the PHOENIX Movement?”

  “It is clear in the general reports I read about your people,” Fotell explained. “You and Billy Pedia were responsible for keeping the human population apprised of the PHOENIX mission.”

  David didn’t know what to say. He never expected anyone to acknowledge his role in the movement, even an alien. “You’re the first person to recognize what I did.”

  Fotell was confused by his statement. “I do not understand.”

  “It’s my family. They wielded enormous influence in TERRA and were the first to suffer when the government started cleaning house. Despite what I did, people still looked at me as a Block. While everyone saw their careers elevated, I was sidelined. I think it was a way to get back at my family. I went to PHOENIX to try and get away, but living on that ship was too much for me. I went back to Mars, thinking I’d find some happiness working with Billy. Instead, I watched him advanced while I was stuck in the same role as a low-level communications officer. I tried to go back to PHOENIX, but was too late…”

  David’s explanation provided some clarity to Fotell, but she was unsure of a couple of things. “Why would you come to SOLARA when you were to be elevated to a command level position on Mars?”

  It was David who was now confused. “What? Where would you get such an idea from?”

  “I spoke with Commander Pedia when I learned you would be working here.”

  “Why would you talk to Billy?”

  “Out of all the officers who are here, your record was the most unusual and difficult for me to understand. To clear up my confusion, I contacted Commander Pedia. He informed me he had submitted the request to promote you and put you in charge of the evening communications operation on Mars.” Fotell could see David was surprised to hear this news. “He was quite insistent that he would keep submitting the request until it was approved. He used the phrase ‘I will stake my career on it.’ I do not understand what that means. I still have trouble with human language at times. Your species tend to be indirect about what they want to say. It is a trait your race must work on improving.”

  David slumped back in his seat. He couldn’t believe it. Here he thought Billy had all but forgotten about him. Billy rose up the ranks of TERRA, hailed as the hero of the movement. It hurt David so much that his best friend had seemingly abandoned him. To learn that Billy hadn’t forgotten about him…David was at a loss for words.

  David’s silence worried Fotell. Had she said something wrong? “My apologies. Did I say something that I should not have? Commander Pedia did not indicate that our conversation could not be shared.”

  “No,” David muttered. If he was wrong about Billy, maybe he was wrong about John, too. Maybe David misinterpreted John’s last message explaining his reasons for not coming back. “You just restored my faith in people.”

  Fotell had heard of humans using the term faith but did not fully grasp its meaning. “You need to explain to me what it means to have faith.”

  Before David had a chance to explain it to her, the overhead speakers came on.

  “Attention crew, this is Commander Diego. First off, I want to say how proud I am of all of you. Even though this is my first mission with you, it’s clear you made good use of your training. None of you wavered during this crisis. You each deserve to be a TERRA officer.

  “Although we are currently safe and working on repairs, we’re not out of danger yet. Thanks to the efforts of Lieutenant Block, we know that the probe sent a message back to what we’ve now determined was an unmanned planetary station. The probe identified SOLARA as an unknown entity of interest and requested vessel reinforcement to this system to acquire us. Given the ship’s current state, and the hostile action by the probe, we cannot risk remaining here. As soon as the communications dish is ready, we’ll head back to the jumpgate. We’ll alert our alliance friends and request a rescue. All personnel are to report to their duty stations immediately. I’m confident we’ll prevail in our mission. Commander Diego out.”

  David was impressed by the commander’s speech. He got up and looked at Fotell. “I’ve got a communication dish to get up and running.”

  “We both do,” Fotell said as she hoped off her seat.

  ********

  Four hours later, the communications dish was repaired. Once Jacob got word it was fixed, he headed to engineering. While the dish was being worked on, another team was busy resealing fractures on the command deck. When the commander got word the deck had atmosphere again, he headed up there, requesting Doctor Morrell and Chief Gimron to join him.

  “Gimron to Diego,” came the voice of the chief as Jacob and the doctor stepped onto the lift.

  “Go ahead,” Jacob said.

  “I’m up on the command deck and we’ve secured the area. I’ve got the engineering team working on fixing all the stations.”

  “And Captain Dewis?” Jacob asked.

  It was Michelle who spoke up next. “He’s here, over by the operations table. If you don’t mind, I’d rather not check on the body.”

  “The captain should remain untouched until I’ve examined him,” Morrell instructed.

  “Oh, I’m pretty sure he’s dead, doc,” Michelle replied. “But I won’t let anyone get near him.”

  “We’ll be there shortly. Diego out.” Jacob looked at the doctor. “I don’t want you spending a lot of time examining him. Do a basic exam, but remove the captain from the command deck as soon as possible. The rest of the crew don’t need to see him.”

  “My medical team will be right behind us. I’ll be done with my exam by the time they arrive.”

  The lift stopped, and the door opened. Jacob wasted no time stepping onto the command deck to assess the situation as Doctor Morrell headed to Captain Dewis. Debris was strewn everywhere. It looked as if the SOLARA had gone through a major battle with enemy ships. Seeing the damage around him only reaffirmed to the commander how ill equipped the ship was for this exploration mission. As he looked around, he spotted where the ship’s hull had ruptured. Two bots were still working to reinforce the repairs on the inside while three bots were on the outside, sealing the remaining fractures around the command deck.

  “We’ve got part of the operations table functioning,” an engineer reported. Jacob went over and reviewed the status of the various ship systems. While he did that, Morrell’s medical team arrived and joined the doctor by the captain’s body.

  After consulting with them a few moments, the doctor stood up and joined the commander at the operations table as the medical team prepared Dewis’s body to be moved. “I’ve completed my exam. No surprise as to how he died. I’ll put together my official report and send it to you once I’ve done the autopsy.”

  “You can do the autopsy when we get back home,” Jacob replied. “Right now, I’d like you to review our provisions and come up with a plan to extend them.”

  Morrell found the commander’s remark concerning. “You don’t think either alliance ship will come to get us?”

  “As much as I believe in the alliance, I can’t assume they’ll come for us.” Diego was worried that the command council had convinced the alliance that no further ships should go through the gate, even to rescue the SOLARA. He hoped they’d be rescued but had to make alternative plans just in case.

  “Understood,” Morrell replied. “I’ll have that information for you shortly.”

  As the doctor left the command deck, Michelle joined Jacob at the operations table.
“How’s it looking?”

  “We’ve got every available bot inside and outside repairing the hull, but it’s slow work.”

  “What about sending some engineers outside?” Michelle suggested. “The environmental suits could handle the atmospheric environment.”

  Jacob had already considered the idea but dismissed it. “If the probe reactivates or something else threatens us, I want to be able to leave at a moment’s notice. It’s too risky having our people out there. We wouldn’t be able to go even half sub-light speed if we had people outside.”

  “I wish we had a way to defend ourselves,” Michelle lamented.

  “We may have something that could help us.” Jacob pulled up the schematics of what he was referring to.

  Michelle looked over the information. “The Onixin probe?”

  “I requested Tretridic have his engineers install a vulemic emitter onto the probe.” Jacob could see she was in the dark about what the emitter did. “It’s an Onixin weapon. The energy is a more volatile offshoot of quadrin.”

  “N’quadrin,” Michelle corrected.

  “N’quadrin is based off of quadrin energy,” Jacob explained. “The Ni helped us to refine quadrin energy during PHOENIX’s reconstruction.”

  It was another tidbit of information Michelle was unaware of. “You think this vulemic energy can take out the probe?”

  “I analyzed the alien probe’s energy emissions. It’s susceptible to vulemic energy.”

  Michelle couldn’t recall seeing anything about a weapon on the Onixin probe when she looked over the specs. She admittedly only glanced over the information but was certain she would have noticed a notation of a weapon. “I wasn’t aware the Onixins installed a weapon on their probe. Why didn’t the captain tell me?”

  “He didn’t know about it,” Jacob replied.

  “You purposely concealed this from him?”

  “Not at all. It’s all right here in the schematics.” Jacob showed her where it was notated. It was listed as a footnote in the specs. No wonder why Michelle didn’t spot it. “I just never apprised the captain about what vulemic energy is,” Jacob continued. “And he never bothered to familiarize himself with Onixin weapons technology.”

  Michelle saw the commander’s slight grin. “Why you sneaky little SOB…sir. Why keep it a secret from him?”

  “He would have never allowed it. He was intent on doing this mission alone, without any help from the alliance ships. And…I couldn’t risk telling you…”

  Michelle held her hand up. “Save it. I understand. You didn’t know me well enough. To be honest, if you had told me I would have informed the captain. Sorry, but I served under him for years. You were smart not to tell me.”

  Jacob appreciated the chief’s honesty. “The problem is the probe’s closer to the gate than to us. It’s not equipped with a hyperdrive, so there’s no way it could get to us if we encounter trouble.”

  “All the more reason we need to get as close to the gate as possible,” Michelle said. “Can we communicate with it?”

  “Once the comm dish is aligned.”

  “Then we should order it to head towards us.”

  Jacob was hesitant. “If we do that, we might risk alerting the probe’s masters.”

  Michelle thought about it for a moment. It might be worth brining the Onixin probe to them at the risk of alerting whatever alien race built the probe that attacked them. Then again, the Onixin probe may prove to be useless against the enemy probe out there. There was no easy solution here. “You may be right, but given our circumstances, it’s worth the risk. We’re dead in the water unless we get help. I know it’d still take years for the probe to get to us traveling at sub-light, but we have to try at least.”

  Jacob conceded the point. Some help was better than no help. “Okay, we’ll send the signal once the comm dish is ready.”

  ********

  Several hours later, the senior staff assumed their stations on the command deck. Most of the terminals had been repaired so that they could operate SOLARA from a central area. Commander Diego emerged from the captain’s office. As soon as he appeared, everyone turned to him and stood at attention. “Ship commander on deck,” Nalus announced. Diego looked at each of his officers. Many nodded to him, some smiled. It was clear they were behind him, ready to act on his orders. All it took was nearly being obliterated and losing their captain. Jacob would take it. Now was not the time to be picky about why the officers were following him.

  There was no guarantee they’d make it back to the gate, but the commander was certainly going to try. “What’s our status?”

  “Engines are at the ready, the ship’s prepared to get underway,” Michelle reported.

  “We’re still several hours away from being able to jump,” Jonas reiterated. “The bots will continue with hull repairs as we head back.”

  “Very good.” Jacob took his place at the command chair. He looked at David. “Lieutenant, as soon as we’re clear of the gas giant I want you to open a channel to the VFLEP and BEMUSIC.”

  “Yes, sir.” David was ready to raise them as soon as SOLARA emerged back into open space.

  “Lieutenant Nalus, take us out of the gas giant and then set a course out of the system at max speed,” Jacob ordered.

  “With pleasure, sir,” Nalus smiled as she activated the thrusters. She was glad they were taking some action to get back home. “Thrusters at half.”

  With some creaks coming from the flexing of the hull, SOLARA made its ascent out of the atmosphere. The officers monitored the ship’s systems closely, making sure not to push the damaged ship too hard as it headed out.

  A few minutes later, Nalus reported their status. “We’ve cleared the atmosphere. Setting a course out of the system.”

  “How’s the ship doing?” Jacob asked Jonas.

  “All systems are holding. She’s keeping it together.”

  Fotell’s duty station beeped. “Commander, I have detected the probe. It is active and on course towards us.” The gas giant had concealed SOLARA, but it also interfered with the ship’s sensors. They had no way to monitor the probe while in hiding. Jacob feared that the probe had spent time repairing itself while they were in hiding. It seemed his assumption was correct.

  Jacob was hoping they could put some distance between them and the probe. “Time to intercept?”

  “Fifteen minutes,” Fotell replied.

  Jacob looked over at Kelly. “Lieutenant Nalus, let’s see if we can outrun that thing without ripping SOLARA apart. You have leeway on our speed. Do what you can.”

  “Yes, sir.” Nalus increased SOLARA’s speed while keeping an eye on the ship’s hull integrity. She made sure not to accelerate the ship too quickly and risk a rupture.

  Jacob turned to Michelle, who was seated next to the commander. “What’s our weapon status?”

  “We have plasma beams and torpedoes. Our analysis indicates they’d be ineffective. We do have the starburst, but there’s no way to know if it’ll affect the probe.”

  “We’re exiting the system into open space,” Nalus reported. “Probe has increased speed to catch up. Estimate forty minutes until it intercepts us. I’m getting close to max speed.”

  “We need more time to repair the hull so we can jump,” Jonas stated.

  “Can we get the ruialon weapons up?” Jacob asked.

  “We don’t have n’quadrin to power them. We barely have enough keeping the ship running.”

  “We’re close enough to send a message to the gate,” David announced.

  “Send an order to the Onixin probe to start heading our way, then open a channel to the alliance ships,” Jacob ordered. With no means to jump and the starburst as their only potentially effective weapon, they were sitting ducks. They needed one of the alliance ships to help them.

  “I’ve sent the order to the probe, and a channel is open to the alliance ships,” David said.

  “This is Commander Diego to the BEUSMIC and VFLEP. Please respond.
”

  The response was almost immediate. “This is Vori Tretridic. Where is Captain Dewis?”

  Jacob breathed a sigh of relief, grateful they had reached someone. “The captain’s dead. I’m in command. We’ve been attacked by an alien probe and have multiple hull fractures and cannot jump. The probe is pursuing us, and our weapons are useless against it. Requesting one of you rendezvous and tractor us back to the gate.”

  “We cannot fulfill that request,” Tretridic replied. “We have explicit orders not to traverse the gate.”

  This is exactly what he was afraid of, but the commander wasn’t about to take no for an answer. “We need your help!” he shouted. “That probe is due to reach us in less than forty minutes!”

  Sasasaduigriganabasas chimed in from the VFLEP. “Commander Diego, you are part of the protectorate. However, the Queen contacted us personally and ordered us not to proceed through the gate, even if you are in danger.”

  Jacob was confused. The Quix considered all the alliance militaries as part of their protectorate. They strongly believed in helping anyone who was part of their group. For them to refuse to help the SOLARA was a surprise. “Why would she order that?” Diego asked.

  “Our governments are aware that Captain Dewis defied the orders of your TERRA by going through the gate,” Sasasaduigriganabasas explained. “They do not want to risk bringing the Screen oppressors to our galaxy. If you cannot make it back, we are ordered to destroy the gate.”

  Michelle spoke up as she came up with an idea. “Commander, what about PHOENIX’s fighter bots? They’re equipped with ruialon weapons.”

  Jacob had forgotten about them. “Fotell, send a command order to the bots and get them to us.”

  “Yes, commander,” Fotell nodded as she got to work on it.

  “The bots can’t jump,” Jonas reminded them. “It’ll take them just as long to reach us as the Onixin probe.”

  “I know,” Jacob replied. With no help from the alliance, the SOLARA would have to defend itself with the only weapon at their disposal. “Bring the starburst online.”