The next morning didn’t prove to be easy. Nearly five times did Alex wake prematurely from an already disturbed sleep. His eyes gave away how tired he was at a glance. He could be grateful for the uneventful duties aboard his ship, waiting for the clock to strike zero for their Jump to Sagittarius B2.
Junior Lieutenant Collins entered the coordinates in the Navigational computer, his duties were hampered by the computer’s hazard avoidance programming. Evidently it didn’t like the idea of the Phoenix jumping to a heavily radioactive nebula. But it was programmed to alert the navigator if they had input the correct coordinates instead of mistakenly missing a number or switching two numbers. A mistake that could mean the difference between jumping to a location ten Astronomical Units away from a red giant and jumping directly into its corona. The nav computer refused to acknowledge the coordinates without the captain’s authorisation to certify legitimacy of their destination.
Alex groaned getting out of his chair to the nav computer, he wished for the ability to simply tell his Navigator his command codes to save him getting up in his exhausted state if it were not for the computers facial scanner checking that the person entering the codes is indeed the captain, scanners that were built into the keys capable to capture a person’s finger print in five-hundredths of a second. Long enough to complete a scan as they pressed down on the key before moving on to the next one. The display monitor buzzed its mandatory caution as a final deterrent about stellar hazards.
Above his chair, the analogue radio displayed the Greenwich Mean time zone back on Terra in a bright red blocky rectangular format. 07:56. The standard of time for Naval ships.
Better do it now. I know the whole crew could do with something a little more exciting.
Alex thought to himself now would be as good a time as any to slag the Krath’let, the very appearance of it brought about undesirable memories of the events yesterday; seeing innocent soldiers heads being cleaved off their shoulders swiftly, spouting torrents of blood onto the floor in a massive puddle as a monument to its capabilities. Standing next to Missileer Officer Brellis who stood ready at the Nuclear arsenal control board waiting for Alex and Commander Hammer to arrive and input their command codes. His fur stood on end when Alex approached the console before looking up to the monitors displaying the targeting scanners. Alex huffed as he waited for Commander Hammer to arrive. All these damn security precautions wasting time to make sure a mistake wasn’t going to be made.
Commander Hammer walked in huffing and panting heavily, his breath hot from exertion while his orange jumpsuit weighed was removed and tied around his waist and exposing his clean white singlet.
Alex cocked an eyebrow at his friend’s particular dress code. He liked to consider himself rather flexible on many regulations but the thought of seeing his XO wrap his suit around his waist like a mechanic working outside in the summer looked too casual for his taste.
“Problem with your uniform, Commander?” The question sounded more sarcastic than inquisitive.
Milo stopped three metres away from Alex and placed both his clawed hands on his knees, taking a couple deep breaths before rising up to meet his captain's gaze “Sorry, sir… I got distracted trying to fix… fix the shunts on the Chronographic inverter. Lost track of time so I ran here. Heh.”
Milo’s snout grew into a smile. Alex struggled to resist smiling too.
“Fix up your uniform first.” He pointed at the tied bundle around his friend’s waist.
Milo slid his arms into the sleeves before zipping up and patting down the Velcro patches over the zipper rail. His dirty orange jumpsuit covered with wrinkles finely printed into the fabric from its improper management. Milo then walked over to the console where Alex turned to face Brellis who had his ears pointing horizontally.
“Missileer Brellis, prepare to launch Torpedo tubes five and six, target the Fore and Aft compartments of the Krath’let.” His words carried themselves with forceful authority.
His ashen Grey claws tapped away on the keyboard before inserting a key into the centre of the control panel. He turned the key and the button cases on opposing sides of the panel flicked themselves open to show a palm scanner. The monitor showed the torpedo being loaded automatically in the pressurised tube next to a diagram flashing the word “ARMED” in red and white.
Alex and Milo placed their right hands on the hand scanner and watched as the beam of light scrolled from the bottom of their palm to the top of their middle fingers. Brellis held on a button and spoke into it with his code and authorisation then turned to look at Alex.
“Computer… Authorise launch of nuclear torpedoes, designation CX-75. Alexander Rowan; Sigma-seven-seven-eight slash five-one-eight-five-Upsilon.” The computer chimed in response.
“Computer, confirmation of launch of nuclear warhead CX-75. Milo Hammer; Delta-one-one-three slash seven-nine-six-six-Charlie.”
The computer let out another chime in response when Milo gave his confirmation code. Alex adjusted his stance, looking at the screen displaying the blocks in the form of red bars that could only be changed to green by verbal command. The launch sequence required one last thing from him to begin launch.
“Confirm torpedo launch. Rowan-one-six-five-Omega. Begin launch, twenty second silent countdown.” Alex proudly declared. “Time to end this nightmare.” He grumbled.
The computer chirped loudly and a countdown timer was shown, it counted down while Alex stared at the monitor that displayed inside the torpedo tube. The cylindrical weapon looked so unassuming from the angle it was shown. The clock hit zero, through the bulkheads whirring sounds could be made all around them. A hiss of air followed by thwump sound. The torpedo blinked out of existence amidst a sudden cloud fogging up the interior while another camera activated showing the heads-up display of its trajectory and fuel capacity. Shortly, the second torpedo came online. Both had the familiar triangular radioactive symbol displayed in the corner. Armed and primed for detonation. Fuel was consumed quickly as the targeting computer onboard made swift adjustments to avoid debris. The Krath’let grew larger in the staticky monitor. In the corner of the screen showed a timer rapidly counting down the estimated time before impact, twenty-four seconds were left.
The control panel buzzed, drawing Alex’s attention for a moment to see what it wanted which appeared to be a notification indicating the torpedo tubes were sealed, repressurised and ready to be reloaded. The two was more than enough so he flipped the palm scanner cover on it before taking a step back from the console to return his attention to the torpedo’s cameras. The Krath’let was monstrously close now. Only eight seconds left. The torpedo narrowly avoided a piece of loose fuselage; it readjusted itself to continue toward the base of the tower in the aft getting closer and closer to its target and then… the monitor turned to static. The second torpedo rapidly approached its target and the monitor displayed the hull approaching quickly before it turned to static in quick succession after the first. Both display monitors displayed text that read ‘Detonation successful’
When Alex stepped on to the bridge, the crew had pressed their faces against the windows and stared in awe at the bright detonations spreading plasma across the void, the blast radius included the surface of the asteroid directly beneath the freighter. The Hydrazine ballasts that were found in pools on the surface ignited with such luminosity that could be mistaken for smaller detonations on the surface, still seen behind the lingering flash of the atomic explosion. With a powerful warhead such as the one that he just deployed; Alex didn’t even bother engaging the Close-In Weapon-System to fend off debris. It was all slag now.
Meanwhile, Alex sat back down on his chair, he checked the time on his wrist pad. It read Oh-eight-hundred and he reached for the microphone to call the crew to their jump seats. The lights dimmed leaving the only source of light to be from the emergency lighting and the bright explosion still sparkling from thein the distance. The alarm buzzed its muffled tone and Alex had strapped himself into his chair, Clemens adjusted his posture before spinning the ship away from the sight of destruction and into the void. Junior Lieutenant Collins counted down to Jump. The prow bulkhead pulled itself apart to expose the warp spear which had already begun charging up, indicative of its pulsing blue aura and distortion of space around it. Noises echoed through the hull right up to the moment Collins counted to zero and Clemens thrusted his control handles forward to engage the Jump drive. In response to clicking the steering column into the console, the Phoenix replied by suddenly throwing a massive burst of momentum forcefully thrusting Alex back into his seat. His whole body tensed up for a split second when he felt the invisible force drag him further than his chair could go and nearly making it seem as though it was threatening to rip itself out of the rivets in the floor. The colourful display of destruction surrounding the asteroid distorted its form from a crudely formed sphere to a bright orange and pale blue streak across their peripheral, lights soon formed amidst the lines of distorted distant stars coloured the blackness of space.
G-Forces eased its forceful grip allowing Alex to breath out, easing his tensed form with the threat of Gravity induced unconsciousness safely passing by him. That was unusually rough, even for this Old Girl. Needs to be looked at, feels like each jump is getting rougher each time, lately.
After drawing in a lungful of air the screams of his nerves finally woke him up to pain in his body with the most prevalent being in his gut, hurting from the damage inflicted on his testicles, a result from the seatbelt firmly pressed against him. Alex struggled to maintain his calm, stoic demeanour to hide the pain in his lower gut; he let out a groan of relief when the seat belt jerked itself free from the central buckle gave the captain respite from the confining restraint. The surrounding space danced with mint green and pale blue ribbons of light with spots of vibrant amethyst purples dancing around the ship at its Faster-Than-Light journey, the hull rattled intermittently, nothing to be overly concerned about.
After managing to stand upright with no evidence of pain present on his face, Alex asked for the estimation of their time of arrival. Collins walked up to him, hands behind his back and calmly said “At Jump Four we can expect to be in Sagittarius B2 in just under three days.”
“Inform the engine room to go to maximum Jump velocity, sooner we get there the better.”
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“Jump fifteen? Sir, the ship has never been pushed that far before and she isn’t exactly in the best condition for such speeds.”
“The Phoenix is rated for maximum Jump velocity of fifteen. She can handle it.”
“I concur with Navigator Collins.” Clemens spun in his chair, hands firmly pressed on his lap. “The Phoenix needs to be fully repaired and overhauled before we can even consider going that fast. Even with a watchful eye, I cannot really advise that we go that fast. The Phoenix isn’t built for speed. And listen.”
Clemens let his statement hang in the air with a finger raised, the silence was broken by metal bulkheads shaking, the settling of the Phoenix’s support network.
“That sound,” Clemens continued. “Is the bulkhead coping with our current pace. If we go any faster we could potentially rip something off or worse we could Conestoga ourselves.”
After hearing the tale of the Conestoga, it was easy for one to err on the side of caution to avoid a similar disastrous fate that could befall the crew. Alex had always partly assumed it was just another campfire horror story to tell to young kids or to spook new crew members for fun. The kind of story told to scare, an urban legend. Thinking back to the day when he first heard the reports that the passenger transport Conestoga was found after being reported missing for nearly two years sent shivers up his spine. The media never showed the footage but the tale travelled from the salvage crew who had gone looking for it and other supposed wrecks for money. Upon finding the derelict passenger ship, deprived of life and far away from where it was supposed to be. The ship Jumped from Terra and instead overshot its way to damn near the other side of the galaxy or perhaps into dark space had its automatic shutdown protocols not been engaged. It was left adrift and her crew and passengers were killed from the excessive G-forces that kept on increasing with seemingly no end in sight. By the time the engines overheated and automatically shut themselves down, its human cargo had all been killed.
Alex let out a huff in frustration before he conceded to his Navigator and helmsman. He did trust their combined judgement.
“Fine. What about Jump Eight, will that be satisfactory?”
Both men turned to look at each other, they nodded as the unspoken conversation between them was understood before they returned their attention to their Captain.
“Eight will be pushing it, but I can manage handling her. Eight point five is as far as I am willing to push the Phoenix.”
“Then do it. Anything else before- “
Alex was cut off by the flickering lights above him. No, these weren’t the normal mild flicker he had grown accustomed to on his ageing ship. Something was very wrong; they were off completely and the monitors on the bridge flickered. Alex ran up to the Navigational computer to see it flickering and being replaced with static on its blue display. Electricity hummed all around them, nobody knew what was going on, it looked like a major electrical malfunction. He had tapped on his wrist pad to contact Engineering to find out before his ears were assaulted by the screeching on the radios. It blurted out shrill cries and ticking sounds, warbling and pulsing in all manner that he could tolerate. Then out of nowhere it suddenly silenced itself as if nothing happened. The lights and display monitors all returned to normal as well. The bridge crew looked around trying to figure out what happened. Alex feared that perhaps this ship was bound to be another Conestoga incident, as though mentioning it was to bring upon the curse on his drive cores. Tentatively he tapped on his wrist pad once more to contact engineering while being cautious in case he were to cause the radio feedback again, as though that was any kind of radio feedback he has ever heard.
“Captain Rowan to Engineering, we just had a massive electrical malfunction on the bridge, lights went off, computer screens got all staticy. What’s going on?”
Who responded was not the voice of his commander but it sounded deep and gravelly “You are not the only one sir, we got reports all over the ship of similar incidents, many senior officers are reporting that the radio was emitting some kind of noise.”
Alex’s face turned into frustration. “What happened? What did this?”
“We don’t know yet, we are still trying to figure it out.”
His wrist pad lit up with an incoming call from one of the marines. He tapped it to open the channel.
“Captain Rowan? This is Corporal Selsha in storage bay One.”
“What is it, Corporal?”
“Sir, you better get down here. It’s the alien machine. It's doing… something.”
“I’ll make my way there shortly.” Before impatiently ending the call.
Clemens looked up to Alex just as he ended the call. He got up out of his chair and walked to his captain with a raised eyebrow. “Did he just say something was up with the artefact?”
“You shouldn’t be listening to your captain's calls, Clemens.”
Clemens raised a finger and shook it as he spoke thoughtfully. Almost sounding as though he was talking to himself. “You know, now that I think about it. That radio burst, that noise on the speakers… It sounded a lot like the noises the alien made. Could it be some kind of radio message?”
Alex brushed it off before stepping off the bridge, perhaps Clemens was right. But even that possibility seemed terrifying to Alex. It would have disproved any theories he had about the creature not being a spacefaring species rather than a pet or some kind of dumb animal. He didn’t answer Clemens nor acknowledge him but he was right about one thing; whatever that burst of radio was, it was definitely similar sounding to what it sounded like.
For the first time since he spoke to Milo did Alex see what kind of security measures were put in place to guard the alien machine; On the floor behind him rested the hydraulic jack, its orange paint was already missing patches of paint in some spots and peeling off in others all in the name of its duty of holding the sliding doors from ever opening. Another jack, identical to the last one rested against the corner of the wall where the doorframe was as it opened up to the configurable storage bay that was built for any purpose in mind. In the past when the line of ships was constructed, they were each given six compartments that could be configured and modified at any shipyard to suit any purpose the ship was assigned to like having storage racks full of machine parts, weapons, fuel and other liquid cargo. But on this mission, it served as the empty corner for him to dump their nightmarish machine which was surrounded by three other Marines who had their weapons lowered but their stance looked like they were ready to raise them and open fire.
After leaving the adjoining hallway and into the largely empty storage bay did Alex get a clearer understanding of what was wrong. The alien machine dimmed and glowed with its golden light from sources unseen. It’s organic exterior glowed as though the light came from within the organic resin exterior while. A string of lights in the centre of the alcove flashed in rapid succession while strange symbols glowed to life and imprinted themselves on the surface. Without getting too close, Alex saw the symbols as nothing more than simple lines organised into varying patterns and angles. He listened to it and carefully strained his hearing for any sounds beyond the hum of gravity beneath him and the shuddering of metal plates around him groaning from fatigue, creaking under stress.
Then he heard it.
Very faint, very subtle but nonetheless it was there. It trilled excitedly over the hum of the machine’s interior components, like it was the machine equivalent to the chittering sounds the alien made. It made a series of beeps at ten second intervals that broke up the litany of trills.
Alex jumped when he felt the forceful grip of a gauntleted fist suddenly grab his shoulder without warning, when he turned to see who it was he was greeted by the expressionless face plate that covered the face of the Marine. Alex looked down at the soldiers armoured shoulder pad and noticed the five-point star insignia for rank. Alex let out a sigh as the armoured Major continued to look on to the alien device with only the glowing pale blue lights coming from the eye sockets. Three days had passed since their confrontation in the CIC. And since then, Fёderov had been actively avoiding Alex or completely dismissive. He took the raised armour as a sign that he didn’t want to actively acknowledge his presence.
“Anybody got any idea what it’s doing?” Raising his voice for anyone to answer. Silently, a marine came up to Alex and Fёderov. A Naga: Her serpentine body was covered in armoured plates running down the base of her neck down to the tip of her spine. Her head scale covered head was of a dull sand colour with mottled dark brown spots starting down the base of her neck. She held a tablet device hardwired into her suit as she drew closer.
“Tech Sergeant Selsha, reporting sirs!” she declared with a salute. Both men turned to face her with Alex returning the salute whereas Fёderov replied with “Report.”
“The machine became active at the time we jumped. Started trilling and beeping at first but it wasn’t sending out any signals that could be detected on wideband frequencies.”
“Then how do you explain the screeching sounds on the ship's speaker systems?”
Selsha offered the tablet to Alex which he tentatively took from her while still connected by a black wire into her suit. While Alex observed the contents of the tablet, he took notice of Major Fёderov inching closer to gain a better view of it as Selsha explained.
“The machine started emitting low band signals in the thirty-five to two hundred kilohertz range. After a while it increased its power and started sending signals on the submillimetre band, peaking at around one-point-five terahertz. I suspect this is what interfered with the ship's speakers.” Selsha explained.
The tablet's display showed a line graph which gradually climbed up before suddenly spiking to such a powerful wavelength. Selsha went on to explain the signal burst overwhelmed the systems thus why it was heard. Fёderov glanced over to her and asked if she knew where the signal was being sent but she shook her head and explained there wasn’t enough time to trace it before the machine stopped.
Fёderov dismissed her and she slithered her way to another Marine who was analysing something on his tablet before Fёderov marched out of the storage bay leaving Alex behind. Alex tried to close the rapidly expanding distance between them in a short sprint before finally catching up with the Major in the Adjoining airlock, Fёderov aggressively shrugged Alex’s hand off his shoulder, seemingly still pissed.
“Major, wait.” Alex said.
Fёderov twisted himself around his heels to face Alex who almost collided into him. Alex’s jaw went slack for a moment as he tried to figure out what to say but his mind drew only blanks. What was he to say to Fёderov; Suck it up and move on? I’m sorry, please don’t report me? His concentration was cut short when the helmet began cascading and folding in on itself to reveal Fёderov’s stone faced expression before the helmet neatly folded itself into a compartment behind the Major’s head.
“I want to say I’m sorry. Sorry about what happened b-before with your-“
“I’m going to stop you right there. Do you really think you can try this tactic on me?”
Alex looked at the Major, confused about his question.
“I know what you are trying to do, I have seen it in my men, in the recruits I’ve trained. Don’t think you are the first. I will not be retracting my complaint to STARCOM.” The words spat out like venom.
Alex looked around the adjoining airlock to the marines guarding both entrances. “Can I get some privacy, please?” he asked them. They all looked to their commanding officer who nodded towards them and likewise they left but not without looking over their shoulder one last time doing so.
“Major Fёderov, I want to say I am sorry.” Alex continued. “I am sorry about what happened and… I get that what I did was wrong but if I did nothing then the whole ship could’ve been put at risk and we would be chasing this thing through the air vents.”
Fёderov scoffed but Alex continued.
“I’m not trying to ask you to retract your statement or modify it or anything, I just wanted to say: You were right. I was rash and I panicked. But nobody else has ever been in a situation remotely like this and I was scared. Ever since I saw the captain of the Krath’let strapped down in his chair, I started thinking about my own demise and ending up like that crew. And as a result, I panicked when I saw that creature rise up in my hangar deck and I did what I could to make sure it wouldn’t happen.”
The Major’s expression didn’t change but he shifted his stance and folded his arms in front of him as he seemed to be listening intently.
“At the end of the day you and I still need to work together and we still serve on the same ship. Would you be willing to forgive me for making a mistake?” Alex extended his open hand out. Fёderov looked at it before looking back up to make eye contact with Alex.
“I cannot forgive you.” He said plainly.
Alex’s shoulders slumped as he heard the words pierce through him. He should’ve expected it. Then the Major continued.
“Losing men under your command is never an easy thing to accept. And it is worse when their deaths are the result of somebody else’s actions and not your own. You want forgiveness, go to religion. But I will continue to work with you in the interest of cooperation.”
He took Alex’s hand and gripped it firmly by giving it a few shakes. After withdrawing his hand, he opened his mouth again. “Handshake was not necessary, you realise that?”
Alex chuckled lightly, cracking a smirk as he did. “Yes, but it felt right. Dismissed, Major”
Fёderov’s helmet crawled back over his head and sealed his face behind the tough titanium polymer armour and transparent aluminium eyepieces that glowed. Both men left the adjoining airlock to go their separate ways, Alex took one last look back toward the machine before walking back into the corridor.