After hearing the muffled clanks and thumps of magnetic locks in the walls and ceiling surrounding the Captain’s Office, Alex stood in front of the wall mounted monitor tugging at his dress uniform, its grey green coloured fabrics and medals pinned on his chest all buffed and freshly cleaned to speak to Admiral Valso. The frustration Alex felt was high, a lingering bitter feeling that has stayed with him since the near confrontation he had almost experienced back in the CIC days ago. The fifth cycle of the STARCOM shield emblem started while Alex waited for a connection to Fleet headquarters on Mars.
Alex turned his head to look at his desk, wondering to himself if putting his office in black mode was really necessary for a check-up call. The monitor made a small blip sound as its audio cue when the call was connected which Alex whipped his head back to face and saw Admiral Valso. The Admiral seemed restless, unable to stand still as he faced the monitor, his forearms covered in red scales looked dull. Around the elbow joint the scales seemed to be shedding. The rest of his bright red skin hid his tired state well but it was inevitably betrayed by the unenthused energy in his voice.
“Captain Rowan,” he said. “I hear you have an urgent update on your mission. So, tell me, what has been going on?”
Alex adjusted his balance to ease the pain in his feet from standing still for too long while letting out a breath he had been holding onto. “Sir, we have found the missing freighter we were assigned to and discovered the remains of the V.R.O tug. Both ships were the victims of some kind of never-before-seen xenoform with a strong sense of hostility to us. All the relevant data has been compiled and forwarded to your office for review. Key details include its tough chitinous exterior and its ability to use its own limbs to violently butcher its prey. Especially Marines in full combat gear from my onboard company. You will see the video evidence submitted by my Comms officer alongside detailed reports from my senior staff and Major Fёderov.”
The Admiral’s wings folded in close to his body, compressing themselves as close as they could. Most gargoyles are known to be an expressive species, seeing his wings fold in close told Alex that the Admiral suddenly felt a sense of unease or discomfort. It was also apparent what the cause could have been when he heard the mention of Fёderov’s name. Alex instantly knew that Valso was already familiar with the report that the Major had threatened to write up.
“The same Major Zakhar Fёderov who claimed you solely responsible for the deaths of two Marines who you usurped from him?”
Alex felt a lump rising up his throat, almost choking on it as he nodded in acknowledgment. The thought of the blemish on his career record hurt him more than physically. It transcended to a whole new level of shame for him.
“I am not going to sugar-coat this, Rowan. When the Admiralty board saw your Master-At-Arm’s report they agreed to have you brought before a Tribunal to determine your fate upon the completion of your mission and safe arrival back to Terra.”
Lowering his head, the young captain avoided eye contact with the gargoyle in the vertical monitor wall.
“I understand.” He said suppressing the shame he felt from entering his voice. “Sir, if you would be able to pass on a message to the Board from me I would be gracious. Please tell them; That I will accept whatever decision the Admiralty has come to agree on.”
Valso chuckled, his wings stood motionless as his chest quivered from his light-hearted chuckling. Alex looked on with a raised eyebrow, the confusion taking him by surprise.
“Captain Rowan,” Valso said after coming down from his chuckling. “There’s a good chance nothing will happen. I’ve read your reports, given the circumstance and the uniquety of the situation I cannot really say I blame you, I think you will be fine. However, I cannot talk more on the matter, confidentiality, you understand? Good. Now, let's talk about this thing you mentioned. This… Xenoform, your crew encountered. While I have read your reports, I am struggling to understand what you are saying. And what’s this about Dragon Councillor Grayich being involved?”
“Sir, you are aware that Councillor Grayich commissioned us to seek out this freighter along with the missing Vessel Recovery Operation’s tug. After we had boarded the cargo ship and got the engines working, we found the creature had been hiding aboard in the ventilation and began to assassinate the marines that had been deployed via ingress of a Wedge-Tail. It was thanks to the quick thinking of the Councillor’s nephew, Liyurch Grayich that Major Fёderov was able to put the creature down.” Alex explained.
Valso temporarily glanced to the top of his peripheral as he processed Alex’s verbal report. “I see and this was before the incident aboard your ship… in the hangar bay?”
“Yes sir.” Said with a nod.
“Were there any tests performed to determine if this creature was truly dead before bringing it aboard?” Valso asked accusingly.
Alex thought hard about his answer, he found it difficult to swallow before speaking up. “No, sir. However, after Major Fёderov had taken down the creature the first time he was overcome with anger, reasonably so. And then he kicked the creature in what I want to say is its chest. I assumed, fatally so, that it was dead.”
Valso narrowed his eyes, his thin diurnal pupils almost a solid black gap between two bars of golden iris. He looked predatory with that glare. He spoke again, only this time his voice was low. “Captain Rowan, I need you to understand that if I am to help you in the hearing, I need you to be completely honest with me. Do you understand?”
“I do sir.” He nodded.
Admiral Valso bowed his head in response. “Good, I will submit my paperwork. Is there anything else left we need to discuss?”
In his own head, Alex struggled to find the strength to bring up, even if he had spent half an hour practising by himself, roleplaying privately in the comfort of his own room. His heart raced as he felt nervous energy consume him.
“There is one thing we need to discuss Admiral: We still have the alien artefact in our hold. Councillor Grayich wanted us to destroy all evidence of this. I figured you might know what to do.” He said, hoping his nervous energy wouldn’t betray him.
“I have to admit, Captain. I am uncertain what to do. Protocol dictates that in situations such as these that the decision rests solely with the senior most official present. I trust that you will use good judgement with what to do.”
Alex looked down, feeling lost, defeated. He wasn’t sure what to do. His crew of engineers and civilian scientists could only do so much with the limited tools onboard. Upon looking back at the wall monitor, Alex thought he saw the picture quality going grainy. The picture flickered a little in the corner of the screen.
Damned radiation. As if the signal wasn’t bad enough.
The option to destroy the only conclusive proof of extraterrestrial life and call this whole mission a freak accident was a convincing path to take for the young captain, and yet the thought of doing so would be scientifically unethical, irresponsible, irrational even. He may not have been a scientist or an academic, after all, Alex still remembers the low marks he got in High School on his science report about the founding principles of the scientific method. Or was it a detailed summary on the Coriolis effect? It didn’t matter, he thought to himself. What did matter right now was that he had a very important decision.
“Sir,” Alex began resolutely. “I think we should take the Phoenix to a secure location and have this artefact brought before a team of professionals who can closely examine the thing. People who will know more about such a thing.”
“I agree with your judgement, Captain Rowan.” Valso shook his head in agreement.
The admiral turned to face someone out of view of the monitor. He turned back to face Alex and told him to standby, leaving Alex to stare at the cycling shield emblem of STARCOM once more on the deep blue field.
After standing around impatiently waiting for the Admiral to return, Alex found himself leaning on the edge of his desk. He reached to turn the monitor to face him while slowly tapping at the keyboard from his awkward position to pull up reports that have been submitted to him. Two reports were requests to have the captain requisition components for the machine shops, another was harassment and the last one was a requisition to take time off after the extended R and R the crew was being given.
Suddenly the screen came to life and Valso was holding a tablet close to his chest in his reptilian forearms. Alex pushed himself off the desk when he saw the grainy image appear in the corner of his eye. He called out to the admiral as he strode across his office floor space.
“Apologies for the delay, Captain. Listen to me carefully: Tomorrow at Oh-eight-hundred I want you to take your ship and jump to a set of coordinates in Sagittarius B2. You will meet a small fleet whose call sign is Capricorn, your countersign will be Cancer. Don’t forget that.”
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A bleep came from the desktop terminal and causally strode to his desk, the form plastered on screen. After studying the form intently, it was exactly as Admiral Valso had said. All he had to do was wait to receive the single worded message and respond with his countersign. It was fool proof. The coordinates for their rendezvous showed at the bottom. Alex tapped on his computer to pull up the starmap on his computer and entered the coordinates he was given.
Sagittarius B2, why does that sound familiar? Must be a nebula, somewhere.
The map zoomed in on the location, Alex’s brow furrowed when he saw the view screen zooming in close to the galactic core of the galaxy. The bright white centre expanded until the monitor showed Alex a cloud of deep blue colours with burnt orange flecks of ionised gas contrasting against the nebula’s main colours of bright blue and turquoise green spreading out from its centre. The nebula proudly displaying its contrasting colours while the camera continuously shifted inside the massive gas cloud which then stopped between a massive pocket of red gas was surrounded by the mix of sky blue and turquoise green colours with the coordinates Valso sent showing up next to a pulsing red dot in between the contrasting colours.
“In the meanwhile, I will create the fleet you will be meeting. Hand them your artefact and we can have it properly analysed.” Valso continued. “Is there anything else I should be aware of, captain?”
“Yes, sir, why have you chosen a nebula so close to the galactic core? The radiation is highly dangerous.”
“That same radiation is what will scramble communications outside of the nebula, ensuring the security of this mission.”
Alex thought to himself for a moment to ponder about that before turning to face the monitor once more and read the scientific data displayed to the side of the screen. Most of it was too technical for him to understand but he did understand the composition: Space dust, Methanol, ionised radiation from nearby newly formed stars at seventeen parts per million.
“After you have successfully transferred the artefact,” Valso continued. “You are hereby ordered to return to Terra and be taken in for your tribunal. Am I understood?”
“Yes sir.” Alex said, solemnly.
Valso nodded in response and his visage was replaced by the sky-blue background of STARCOM. Alex let out a long, drawn-out sigh that filled the silence that permeated the office. A short buzzing sound and flicker of light from behind captured his attention before it corrected itself. Alex rolled his eyes as he sat down at his desk, filling out a work order.
The whole ship needs to be replaced, every wire, every bolt and rivet.
Alex told Milo to hold off launching the torpedoes until they were about to Jump. The crew prepared the ship, Doctor Grayich had filed his autopsy reports as well as a rough report on the alien insect’s biology. The preface was merely an apology from the young dragon stating how he made guesses and estimates based purely on observation with which he had studied the recorded interactions with it. Another hour after reading the report, Alex had found himself staring at two of his own crew members: One, a human Ensign and the other, a Lykan Warrant Officer.
Alex was furious looking at them, the Human had a deep purple bruise on his left cheek, the Lykan had a swollen lip along his upper snout. Slowly and intently, did he read through the incident reports submitted by both officers and an eyewitness who saw their altercation. He felt like he was meant to be setting an example for the crew to behave and yet, Alex couldn’t shake the thought that perhaps they were indeed following his example. It brought no calm to the raging storm of thoughts he felt inside. Slowly setting the tablet on his desk before looking at their faces full of shame did Alex begin to speak.
“So… Do either one of you want to explain the situation to me or perhaps I should read what I have written here?”
His voice low and grumbly, frustration showed itself through gritted teeth. Both of the officers were bruised and bloodied with tears in their uniforms. The human technician looked young, possibly in his mid-twenties sporting a deep blue and purple bruise on the left cheek of his face. His Lykan comrade, a Grade Three pilot for the onboard flight crew. Both had bruises and scuff marks on their faces, both clearly from a fight and neither of them willingly spoke up. Their posture stiffened when he spoke, looking at their captain as if they had no idea what he was inquiring about.
“Alright. If that’s how you two want it!” Alex spat while picking the tablet back up off his desk. He cleared out his throat, holding his balled up fist close to his mouth. “Ensign Nicholas Timpson: Two broken ribs, a fractured collar bone along with one of your wisdom teeth coming out. Bruising along the left thigh muscles and kidney and two small fractures located in your forearm.”
His head turned to look at the ash Grey Lykan before continuing. “Warrant Officer Digor Copalo: One fractured rib, your right Clavicle has been dislocated, your lower jawline bruised with swelling along your upper lip as well as a small fracture, two incisors loose and severe bruising to your Serratus Anterior all the way to your Rectus Abdominis.”
Alex chucked the tablet hard against his maple desk amidst his frustration. “So do neither of you want to go first and explain to me how these injuries in Doctor Grayich’s report came about?”
Ensign Timpson took one step forward and Captain Rowan’s gaze fell sharply on him. As soon as he had he knew the young man's entire body temperature suddenly plummeted. “Sir, permission to speak freely?”
Alex nodded in confirmation.
“I was working, correcting a fault in an electrical junction in the breakroom to ensure proper flow of electrical signals was circulating without fault when I overheard Warrant Officer Copalo joke with several Midshipman’s about Transmutation.”
“I assume this is relevant somehow?”
“Sir, before we embarked, my family had undergone group therapy for my brother-in-law who Transmutated two to three weeks ago. Some of us, myself included still hold that wound raw. Sir.” His eyes drifted downwards as he spoke. Alex could see his eyes become watery while his voice started to break.
Alex shifted his eyes to the Lykan. Carrying the full weight of the human’s side of the story. Alex could not claim to know the pain of losing somebody to Transmutation but he didn’t have to know that joking about such a sensitive issue was a very fine line to cross. “Is this true?”
Copalo continued to hold his gaze level to avoid making eye contact. “Yes sir, however it was out of con-“
Alex held up his right index finger to silence him. He returned his gaze to Ensign Timpson. “Continue”
“I got defensive towards Warrant Officer Copalo for the jokes he made and requested that he cease. When he continued to do so I tried to ignore him and continue on with my duties however he then said ‘Humans are better off going extinct’ which was when I physically lashed out.” He lowered his head in shame for his actions.
Alex’s steel gaze pierced the Lycan officer. “Is that true?”
“Yes sir”
Alex’s eyelids fell and exhaled intermittently in the same breath as though he took short, microsecond pauses. He looked towards Copalo with discontent and to some extent, anger. He had never been so disappointed with any of his crewmen before today and there were no words to express this, but he felt he could certainly try.
“Well?” He said to Copalo. “Explain your story.”
“Sir, Ensign Timpson has taken context out of his account of the events”
“Then add context, Warrant Officer!” Alex said impatiently.
“Sir I was repeating the dialogue from a comedy when Ensign Timpson entered the breakroom. The content wasn’t intended to be offensive while the story I was telling was genuinely funny. However, while Ensign Timpson continued to complain I had suggested he block it out or not listen all together. He eventually started getting aggressive and even threatened me, to which I continued suggesting he not listen to my conversation.”
Frustration and impatience began to well up within Alex as he continued to listen. “All I want to know is: Who threw the first punch?”
Copalo was the first to speak up. “Well sir after the-“
“WHO. THREW. THE. FIRST. PUNCH!” Alex angrily shouted. It may have even made Keegan jump in his armour at the sudden burst of anger.
Copalo responded once more albeit frightened. “Technically, Ensign Timpson threw the first punch, but I was able to dodge and land the first blow, sir.”
Ensign Timpson held his gaze down as Copalo spoke on. Alex’s gaze could cut through steel but he did his best to maintain composure.
“Permission to speak, sir” Timpson piped up. Alex gave him affirmation. “Sir I would also like to include that during our fight Warrant Officer Copalo bit me on the shoulder.” Alex jumped up out of his seat at the mention of a bite. He returned his gaze toward Copalo and noticed his tail was hugging the back of his leg in fear. “IS THIS TRUE?!”
With a sense of shame and guilt the Lycan responded. “Yes sir”
Captain Rowan’s breathing became shallower as anger welled up inside him, he looked toward Timpson. “Ensign, remove your uniform”
Timpson wasted no time and obeyed, removing his spacesuit. His fingers manipulated the latches and unhooked the helmet ring around his neck before removing the patches held together over the zipper rail before pulling it down halfway. Alex looked with a vigilante eye, careful to spot the slightest detail as Timpson began to separate the two halves of fabric starting with his left half. He slid his arm out of the sleeve and worked his shoulder out of the clothing. True to his word, the aforementioned teeth wounds between his shoulder and neck are easily shown. The marks themselves were red and had scabs already plugging up any bleeding. They didn’t look deep but Lycanthropy didn’t need to be. Alex examined the area and then turned to face Keegan who nodded knowing full well what his Captain was thinking.
“Warrant Officer Copalo,” Alex said sternly. “You are hereby sent to the brig for assaulting a fellow officer and for possibly inducing Lycanthropy. Your incarceration will be indefinite until we get back to a Naval posting that has a Judge Advocate General. Master Sergeant Keegan, please escort him to the brig and take Ensign Timpson to the infirmary for a blood screening, then send him in the same cell.”
The soldier grabbed both of them by the shoulder and escorted them. Just before they crossed the hatche’s threshold, Alex turned and spoke to Copalo one final time.
“I sincerely hope for your sake his blood is clean, Warrant Officer. Or you will face some very serious charges. Am I understood?”
He nodded, understanding the consequences of the sentencing before they were escorted out of the captain’s office. Alex had sat back down at his desk and began typing in his report of the incident and the judgement he passed down. In command training, they included an entire unit of work dedicated to maritime and Alliance law for situations such as this when far away from a proper judiciary system. The thought of being far from society and civilization always had an effect on people, making them think they could do whatever they pleased with no repercussions. Perhaps that’s why command training had included law. To keep civilization and order where there was none to be had. Alex had filled out most of the report by implementing the right details on the right dotted lines; the paperwork was necessary even if it necessarily wasn’t paper for STARCOM to ensure any and all incidents are dealt with appropriately and documented correctly. Upon opening up a channel to the infirmary, Alex tried to hide the burning anger that lingered in his throat from appearing while he spoke.
“Doctor, I am sending a Human to the infirmary under guard. I want you to prepare a blood screening for any traces of Lycanthropy. Please let me know when you have something.”
“I shall prepare my kits, sir.”
Shortly after Alex ended the call to the infirmary, the speaker system crackled to life announcing the end of the first watch of the ship, the message was then repeated while a reveille was sounded in the background of the message. Alex hated that damn sound so much.
After leaving his office, Alex began to feel tired. He got dressed in the proper nightwear after peeling off his space suit and throwing himself into bed.
Tossing and turning for over half an hour, Alex failed to capture rest. It eluded him to the point of frustration, he did his best to think over the day’s events and began speculating if what he saw today, the amount of death may be contributing to his condition, perhaps it would explain the panic attack he had earlier.
I cannot be bothered with death, I have seen it before; On the Royal Sovereign my captain and first officer were dead, my bunkmate cracked his head on the bulkhead. I don’t get what it is. Is it… that creature? Maybe that’s why.
Thoughts became a raging river in his head, he thought about the creature and its capabilities. About its origin and how it came out into space. How did such a creature rise to its apex? Was it perhaps a pet by a far superior race? Were they more advanced than the Alliance?
The last thought was a troublesome one, for all the advancements made since the early twenty-first century he didn’t want to imagine himself being at the bottom of the galactic food chain. Another hour passed, and he finally grew tired. While he closed his eyes and his senses slowly shut themselves one by one, the unconscious realm of sleep reached out to pull him into its embrace, but for Alex it was not a peaceful rest.