Empire - Chap1 rough draft + prologue

Empire



Book1 of the Emperium





Prologue:



      In the year 2342 AD they came. They descended upon an Earth divided by war between nations, corporations and religions. They gave no conditions for surrender, they gave no chance for negotiations. It was clear that they had come to exterminate the plague that was humanity.    It took five years of war with the aliens for Earth to be finally united behind one leader. His name has been lost through the ages, but he is known only as the Great General, the man who gave humanity its chance at survival.

  Along with their strange technology and brute strength, the aliens managed to capture and control a large part of Earth in those five years. We were forced to move our cities completely underground and till this day those cities remain and are maintained as a remembrance of those terrible times.

    After finally winning the allegiances of the remaining war capable factions on Earth, the Great General set forth a campaign many would have said was doomed to failure...except for one thing, it was the Great General’s plan. Using every ounce of his cunning, skill, daring and tactical advantages, he managed to drive the enemy from half of their conquered territory in ten years. It had looked like victory could be attained and for the first time since the aliens came, there was hope.

      It was then that great disaster struck. An army of Aliens managed to outflank the defenders of our largest city called Ashanti, and in some way they had managed to gain entrance to it. What followed was a slaughter never before seen, not even in Earth’s bloodiest histories. They killed every human they could find, young or old, male or female. Nearly a third of Earth’s population was exterminated in three days.

    It is said that the Great General took the news hardest of all, for he saw it as his failure. As for his soldiers, instead of this making them despondent, it gave them a sense of purpose, for in that tragic moment they knew without a doubt that there would be no truce with the aliens, that if they failed, Humanity would fail with them. “For Ashanti” became the new battle cry. Whenever a battle seemed hopeless, the entire field would resound with the soldiers’ defiance “For Ashanti” and not a single soldier would give a single foot of ground.

  During the eighteenth year of the war the Great General led a raiding party deep within enemy lines. Many to this day wondered what he was after that he would risk himself on a raiding party, but by all accounts that have survived they had brought something of the enemy out. This thing was kept under constant guard, with only the Great General and the caretakers of this mysterious object being allowed access.

    According to the story, the General didn’t lead any offensives against the aliens ever again. All he did was keep the ground he had. Many urged him to attack, but he refused, saying that he would not waste lives on something that could not be attained. Many thought him half mad with grief over the massacre at Ashanti, others thought that maybe he was losing his edge, but for reasons unknown, none even thought of stepping in and removing the armies from his command. Even today scholars argue about why he had ceased all offensives and why someone else had not taken up the reigns. But alas, it is all just speculation because there are not many records from those days. Even the reason for the lack of records is not known and cause for much speculation.

    There is one thing that is known without a doubt, for this was recorded. A year following the raid, the Great General vanished. No one knows where he went or why he would abandon his people, but he left and was never seen again. Two weeks after his disappearance, the aliens, without warning, left. When the large structures they had built on Earth were inspected, it showed that they were mining salt in large quantities. Some scholars believe that they had decided in the end the resources they were putting in to gaining the salt and subduing the humans was not worth it. I personally believe that they had gotten what they had come for and left.

      A meeting was called by the heads of all of our planet’s factions. The uncertainty of what would happen next made them decide to form a coalition. They had been united by a common enemy that might return without any warning, to take up its war on Humanity.  Earth has never had a war since then, instead we focussed on expanding our technology, our tactics and preparing for the next onslaught. In front of every school, court and any civil building, two statues stand to remind us all what might come. The big alien statue, life size standing at seven feet tall, five long legs ending in stumps, the two arms with hands on the end, one with seven fingers, the other with three. The other statue is a carving of the presumed face of the Great General. It is a handsome face, strong cheekbones, curly hair and a large smile radiating hope. They are put there to remind us to remain vigilant for the return of our enemies...



-Juliet Gunner









Chapter 1: The Signal *



*All dates, times and other measurements have been translated into Earth equivalent for convenience of this book



    Wait for me, and I shall return

Only wait very hard...

Wait while your soul cries in the rain

Wait in the heat with our people

Wait when others have stopped and have already laid the wreath at my grave

Wait even though neither sight nor sound has come from me

Wait even when my mother is tired of waiting

Wait even when my wife and child think I am no more

When friends sit around the table drinking to my memory, wait

Do not hurry to drink to my memory too

Wait for I’ll return

And, in my return I shall defy death

And those who did not wait, shall call me lucky

But they will not understand how you saved me

Amidst all the death, you with your waiting



-Unknown poet during the Great War



    Sarah read her daughter’s SA about the Great General and smiled. It was pretty good for a nine year old girl, and she had managed to get the facts right. It is strange though, she thought, but with the wealth of information and records of before and after the war, it is incredibly strange that there are so few of the war itself. Many historians had been boggled by this, because no record shows the reason for this, no piece of video footage, no voice transcript, not even a piece of scribbled down paper. It is generally thought that the reason was such common knowledge in those days no one even thought of writing it down.

    Sarah looked at her watch and went to wake her child. It was early and school was about to begin. Many parents these days opted for the private home schooling system, but to Sarah, the traditional way of actual teachers and friends at an actual school was important. No computer program can teach a child how to make friends or how to ask questions or how to just have fun and play. She hurried young Juliet into the cu*. While her daughter was getting cleaned she prepared a quick breakfast.

              Her daughter burst into the kitchen, wearing a shocking pink shirt with the most horrible shocking orange pants. It was the current fashion amongst the youngsters never to match any clothing piece with another...and also all the colours had to be loud. Even though the clothes were an affront to her eyes and sensibilities, Sarah could not help but smile at her only daughter, who after her Husband’s death had become the centre of her universe. She remembered the days when her scholarly work had consumed her passions and every moment was spent doing research on the Great War. She was hailed the expert on every known fact on the war by the age of sixteen. By the age of twenty she had not only known every fact, but also seen every bit of film footage, listened to every sound recording and viewed every picture known to exist.  But when her Husband                                                                              had been diagnosed with cancer, a disease as old as time, she had stopped caring about a war fought ten thousand years ago and started to realise her world, her life is dying. It took him five years to die, he lived only long enough to see his daughter turn seven, dying on her birthday.

*The Automatic Cleaning unit is generally just referred to as the CU, and serves as the replacement to the bath                                                                                                                                                         

      Juliet rushed her breakfast like usual, picked up her schoolbag and ran towards the teleporter, kissing her mom as she went by. “By mom, love you,” she called just before the teleporter energised and she was whisked away to school so fast that Sarah had no chance to reply.

      Sarah smiled to herself. Only three more years, she thought to herself, till young Juliet will become a woman and be required to serve her race in the military. At sixteen, she would probably be a mother. Sarah remembered when everyone had hounded her to have children, but she only decided it was right at the age of nineteen. It was very old to start having children, and then everyone was shocked when she decided not to have another. Most women prided themselves on how many children they have, a few have even reached twenty children before they reached an infertile age. But for Sarah, the infinitely curious as her old Lecturer used to call her, children were not what she craved, but rather knowledge. The only thing that overshadowed her love for knowledge was her love for her small family...which had decreased a third in size when her husband had died.

  Sarah went back to her room, picked up her day bag and walked to her teleporter. She punched in the coordinates and was teleported straight on deck of the capital spaceship the SS Titan. She had been repositioned there by the military as the Chief Communications Officer. Her old position as Chief Historic Researcher she had voluntarily given up to her assistant after her husband had died. She had been in charge of a staff of over three thousand people, leading them to discoveries not only about the Great War, but about technology previously lost before and after the war. Much had been lost during the war and the military had deemed it a priority to regain as much knowledge as possible.  Now, she only had a staff of ten. They not only ensured efficient communications onboard the colossal ship, but they also were in charge of monitoring any and all signals entering the system.

    Although most members of the Navy preffered to live on their ships, some lived in a real home and teleported back on deck every day.

      Sarah walked out of the teleportation tube quickly. She had thirty seconds to clear it before the next person ported in, but she didn’t want to take chances. She headed up towards the bridge to report in and relieve the night watch. She walked down the broad corridors, greeting people she knew. The ships interior was the standardised light brown of the navy, the same colour as their uniforms. The walkways were all a polished silver metal that was structurally designed to bend, stretch and if it is broken, not to leave sharp edges that would harm people onboard.

    As Sarah entered the bridge, she looked out of the large windows into the depths of space. She saw millions of tiny stars in the window, all exuding a steady stream of light. She was always amazed by the beautiful sight, no matter how many times she’s seen it. The rest of the bridge was filled with the various consoles controlling the navigation, communication and weapons systems of the ship. Manning these consoles were the officers in control of these systems. Strangely, they all seemed busier than usual today, Sarah thought. She turned towards the centre of the room, where the Admiral’s large chair was sitting empty. She looked around and found him at the communications console peering at the monitor, smiling as always. He noticed her as she started walking to him.

    “Good morning Major Gunner”, the tall man with slight grey on his temples and dark green eyes said to her, smiling warmly as he embraced her.

    “Good morning Admiral,” she said, returning the embrace.

    “How does your vigilance fare today,” he asked, tweaking the traditional greeting in a friendly way.

    “Good, but nothing to report. How fares your vigilance Admiral?” she asked with an amused smile on her face. The admiral was playing again.

      “I am so glad you asked,” he said with a broad smile on his face. “Your relief yesterday picked up a weak signal just outside of our monitoring ring. It has been going on all night and it is slowly getting stronger. I am waiting for further orders, but I have a feeling we will be asked to go investigate.”

      “You sound very pleased,” she said. She and Admiral Jordan Robert had been friends for years. After her husband had died, it was he that had gotten her this position with fewer responsibilities to help her out. Sarah would never admit it, but his warm smile and friendly nature had been the glue which had kept her from falling apart completely.

    “This ship has not been out of our controlled space since its commission. I would like to see what she can do once we are out of controlled space and I have no superiors to answer to,” with these words a twinkle came into his eyes. Sarah rolled her eyes as she was all too able to picture the things the admiral would be able to come up with when outside of Earth controlled space. Out there he had no supperiors, he was the sole authority.

      Sarah patted her old friend on the back and gave him a quick smile. “Yes Admiral. I need to report to my post, maybe I can shed a bit of light on the situation before orders come through,” she said, walking over to her console to relieve the young corporal on duty.

  “Report Corporal,” she said to the young man behind the console. He was eighteen and he was highly efficient at his job, though he tended towards not being able to keep his mouth closed when it mattered. He had dark brown hair, almost black, with blue eyes. He had massive muscles, showing his dedication to keeping his body fit for the military, but in his case it made his head appear too small for his body.

  “At 4:00 this morning we started picking up a weak radio signal about half a light year from our controlled space. The signal is too weak to pinpoint the origin, but if we get closer we may track it. The signal runs steady, never stopping and there are no gaps within the stream. I personally do not think this is natural,” he said, looking at the Admiral, clearly indicating that he had voiced his opinion, but had not been heeded.

    “Good work Corporal. In future keep your opinions to yourself. We do not need panic, especially not in situations as these. Furthermore, we pick up strange radio signals out here and investigate them. None has ever been alien life forms. You are relieved Corporal, get to your bunk for some rack time,” Sarah had always been very strict with discipline in every command she had held in her career. She liked the young corporal, but he definitely needed to learn some discretion.

  “Yes sir,” he said, getting up and walking towards the exit.

    Quickly Sarah picked up the radio signal on her scanners. The radio signal had been picked up by a remote scanner about half at the very edge of their control ring. It was a very old scanner, with very little in scanning strength. The military should have upgraded it years ago, if they had, she would have been able to pinpoint the signal. She made a quick note in her logs that it should be replaced with one of the newer models and forwarded it to Earth Base. The signal did not waver, having a completely consistent strength pattern, but from the weakness of the signal there was not much more that she could tell.

      Just as she was about say this, a hail came from home base. The hail stated it was for Admiral Roberts.

    “Admiral, hail for you from Earth Base, it’s a one way message,” she said.

    “Put it through Major, if you would be so kind,” he said, his voice full of enthusiasm. One of the windows showing space turned into a picture of a man wearing a blue uniform with seven stars on each shoulder. Sarah gasped when she realised that it was a Grand General. There were only five at any given time and amongst them they controlled the military. She did not realise that the signal’s presence would go so high up.

    “Admiral, this is Grand General Flock. We have just reached a decision on your request to take the Titan to investigate the situation. I am sorry Admiral, but that we cannot allow. You will send your destroyer the Bismarck to go and inspect it. You will remain on board and wait for the rest of the fleet to join with you. Once the fleet has joined with you, you will move to Venus and set up our defences there. You will have command of the operation.” With these words the image disappeared from the screen and the lights of space returned.

  “Major, please send a confirmation to Earth Base,” the admiral said after a moment, face having lost its smile.

  Sarah quickly punched in the keys in order to relay the message. She looked up at the Admiral, waiting for her next order.

  “Major, get me Captain Haddock on a two-way line, no video,” he said.

    “Yes sir,” she said, punching in the keys. Once she got the line connected she let the admiral know that he could continue.

  “Captain Haddock, report to my chambers right away. I have a mission for you,” was all that the admiral said.

  “Yes sir,” was his reply and then the line went dead.

  “Major, find someone to relieve you, I want you to go along. The moment the captain arrives I want you in my chamber as well,” he said as he turned to leave the bridge.

  Dumbfounded, it took Sarah a moment to get her standby officer to come to the bridge to take over. Once that was done she walked quickly to the Admiral’s waiting room, which were just outside his chambers. Asking his attendant, she surmised captain Haddock was still on his way, so she took a seat on one of the couches in the waiting room.

    About fifteen minutes later captain haddock came in with his brown uniform. The man was short with red hair and freckles all over his face. He looked about twenty three years old and his green eyes sparkled with mischief. When he saw her, he greeted her with the traditional greeting of “Good Vigilance,” and embracing her.

    The admiral’s attendant quickly hastened them inside where they stood to attention. The interior was the light brown of the navy. The room was decorated with a large bed, a wooden desk with a comfortable chair and three dark green couches. The admiral sat behind his desk, a frown on his face. The admiral also followed the ancient navy tradition that his chambers served as his office. As the saying went in the navy, “they protect humanity even where they sleep.”

  Upong entering, the admiral ignored both of them as they stood to attention in front of his deks.  “Captain Haddock reporting as ordered, sir,” Haddock said after a small uncomfortable silence was starting to build up.

    The admiral grunted, but did not give any other sign that he heard as he kept typing at his console. After what felt like an hour to Sarah, but was probably only a minute, the admiral looked up and said, “Captain, you will take your ship, the Bismarck and go and investigate a signal half a light year away, the coordinates have already been sent to your Communications Personnel. Once you have identified the origins of the signal and you have collected all necessary data, you will return and report back to me with what you find. You will have command, but Major Gunner here will accompany you. I feel a senior officer is needed on this mission as an advisor and an observer. With this said, full navy protocol will be adhered to. Am I understood?”

    “Yes sir,” both Sarah and Haddock replied. The Admiral had just reminded Sarah that though she outranked the captain, she was under his command when on his ship. Even the admiral would have to take orders from Captain Haddock if the admiral decided not to commandeer the ship. As the old saying went, “A ship with two captains will strike every iceberg”.

  “When do we leave Admiral?” Haddock asked.

  “Is your crew ready to depart?” the admiral asked.

  “Yes sir,” he replied.

  “Then you leave the moment the two of you get on to your ship. All other flights have been suspended. Once you get what I need, rendezvous with the fleet at Venus and report back to me. You two are dismissed.”



    The Bismarck lay in hanger seven of the Titan. It was over twelve square kilometres long. It was a state of the art destroyer class ship, armoured to the teeth with kilometre thick armour plating across the hull. The armour was made up of a very strong, yet flexible alloy. The alloy was so strong that a twenty metre thick piece could withstand a two hundred megaton nuclear explosion. Its armament sported a hundred and twenty two nuclear missile launchers, twenty thousand guns shooting large anti ship shells and it has several thousand anti interceptor weaponry, both missile and guns. 

    In silence the two officers walked on board the ship. The captain led Sarag through the corridors, nodding to people that he knew.  He led Sarah to his quarters and gestured for her to sit and wait for him. He left quickly. After about five minutes she heard the ship’s intercom call the attention of the crew.

  “My crew, this is your Captain speaking. In a short few moments we will be departing on a mission to investigate a signal originating just outside of our controlled space. Nothing other than the fact that there is a signal is known at this time. I expect all crew to be alert at all times. It is believed by Earth Base that this signal might in some way indicate a threat to Humanity. I do not know if this is true, but we shall act as if it is untill proven otherwise. As a secondary precaution, remember  to keep your side arm with you at all times. Good Vigilance and good luck. Let’s make the Great General proud.”

    The Captain returned soon after to his chamber, closing the door behind him as he came in. “I gave command to my First Officer. He is taking us out as we speak. We should be outside the Titan already. The Admiral wasn’t joking about all other flights being suspended. I have never before gotten out of this ship as quickly as this. But before we jump I want to hear a bit more before I commit both my men and my ship to this mission.”

    “Well there is not much to say, but I will tell you the little bit that is know. At 4:00 this morning we picked up a steady, unbroken signal from one of our scanners in the outlying regions. The military hasn’t upgraded some of those scanners in almost a thousand years. This scanner picking up the signal is one of those that hasn’t been replaced yet. So, it could be a single alien ship, it could be a radio signal bouncing off something out there or it could even be that the scanner has malfunctioned and is sending us faulty data.”

    “How would you advise me Major?” he asked.

    “I would advise caution. We teleport with battle stations at the ready and hope it’s not needed,” she said.

    “Very well,” he said with no trace of the mischievous twinkle in his eyes. Sarah could see that this man, like the Admiral, took his command seriously. Then all of a sudden a huge grin broke on his face. “Now I understand why old Jordan was so upset. He would definitely want to take this mission. What do you think? Is this the real deal? Or are we just chasing our tails?”

    Despite herself, Sarah smiled. She knew how much Admiral Jordan Robert wanted to go on this mission. He had always been the one looking for adventure in life. “I do not know. I have a feeling that it’s not a faulty sensor, they tend to last a bit longer than a thousand years. The problem is just that the sensor itself is too weak to tell us more. There is definitely something out there. I just don’t know what it is.”

    “Well, personally I hope it’s just some old satellite like the last time this happened. You ever read the reports of the last time this happened?” he asked.

    “No Captain, but go on,” she said, for a moment being puzzled.

    “Well, we had just launched our first ever sensor grid, detecting signals in our controlled space about six thousand years ago. We just turned the entire thing on and there was this radio signal. They jumped the entire Earth fleet in with FTL*, all ready to fight for mankind, just to find that it was a satellite, launched from Earth so long ago no one could figure out when,” he said this with a large smile, his face clearly stating that he was picturing the fleet homing in on a satelite launched by Earth, “the funny thing though was that it contained so much information about things like music, our anatomy, art and other things too. The Ancients truly were crazy.”

    “I never read that report,” Sarah lied with a smile. She not only read the report, but she had also read the history on the satellite All this information was classified and she was not allowed to share it with the captain. The satelite was meant as a messenger from Earth to alien races. She had always thought it something remarkable that the Ancients had believed that their greatest achievements were their art, music and literature. That is why they had sent these things as an ambassador to other worlds. It had been a frightfully primitive gesture.

    “Well, I think we should be spooling the FTL soon to jump to an approximate origin of this signal. We should be getting back to the Bridge. I would just like to say welcome on board the Bismarck,” the captain said before he started towards the entrance.

  When they got to the Bridge, Sarah saw the place was a bustle of activity. Quite smaller than the Titan’s Bridge, the crew at this hub was a lot smaller, but the crew still seemed too large for the space. She saw the First Officer talking to the Lieutenant in charge of piloting and navigations. 

“Situation report First Officer Quimby,” the captain said.

    *Faster Than Light drive is more commonly known as the FTL drive. This is an older technology than teleportation, but is still used for distances closer than three light years due to it using less energy than teleportation.



  “We are ready for you to give the order to spool the FTL sir,” he replied, instantly coming to attention.

  “Very good,” he said as he walked to his chair. When he sat down, he opened his console, punched in a few commands and the battle stations sirens sprang to life. A voice over the intercom said, “Battle stations, this is not a drill, all crew to battle stations.” After twenty seconds the sirens stopped and the voice reported, “All crew ready for battle Captain.”

  “Lieutenant Steele, begin the countdown for the FTL and then take us to the coordinates received from the Titan,” the captain said the moment he heard that his ship was battle ready.

  The pilot, sitting down at his console started the countdown, his voice going over the intercom, “Ten seconds till FTL, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, jumping!”

  Sarah had never enjoyed being thrown around at speeds greater than light speed. Teleportation was so quick you didn’t feel it at all, but the acceleration from a standing position to light speed always left her feeling slightly queasy. The moment they came out of light speed was just as sudden. She struggled for a moment to keep her breakfast inside her.

  As she looked around her the rest of the crew were checking their instruments without showing so much as a hair out of place. FTL jumps were common place for them, so they had gotten used to it and showed none of her queasiness.

    “Captain, multiple contacts,” came the cry from the Corporal handling communications.

    “How many Corporal Hicks,” the captain said, sitting up on his chair, instantly alert.

    “This can’t be right, the scanner says ten thousand eight hundred sir,” he said, his voice turning into a squeak.

      “Distance,” he said.

    “It varies Captain, the closest five hundred kilometres and the furthest is thirty thousand. The signals from them seem identical to that the regional scanner picked up, just stronger,” he squeaked again.

    “How large Corporal,” he asked.

    “The largest one seems about half the size of the Titan sir, the smallest about half our size.”

    “Any chance that these are some type of asteroid,” the captain didn’t sound very hopeful.

  “No sir, one of the larger ships just launched around eighty thousand interceptor sized contacts and they are heading right for us sir,” the Corporal said, close to panic.

    “Take a hold of yourself Corporal or I will relieve you off your post and your rank. Where are these ships situated and how long till the interceptors reach us,” the captain asked.

    “We are right in the middle of them sir. They are everywhere around us. The interceptors should be here in about five minutes,” he said, voice slightly more controlled.

    “Lieutenant Steele, realign the ship with Venus, the moment we can complete our scans we are leaving. First Officer Quimby, I see you have not yet started the scans, do so now. We need to know what is out there and relay the information back to Earth Base”, with this Quimby started giving orders to Science Officer, who in turn started operating his console as if an alien was on his tail,” Earth Base and the fleet can’t be caught unawares, or else they will lose and if they lose, we all lose,” he turned to the corporal in charge of communications, “Corporal Hicks, send a message to Earth Base that we are about to be engaged by a hostile alien force. We will attempt to complete our mission and relay the information back to them. Tell them they will need the fleets from the Thirteen Colonies as well to protect Earth. First Officer Quimby, please let the crew know we are about to be engaged by the enemy. Also have the marines start patrolling the halls in case of these creatures attempt to board us, they might be able to teleport a boarding party.”

    His words were barely finished when the intercom came on to relay his message. The moment he finished his communications, an alarm went blaring.

  “Corporal Hicks, what’s happening,” the captain yelled.

  “Three projectiles have been launched from the ship bearing contact number MS189574, they will impact as soon as those interceptors reach us,” he said.

  “Corporal Dunham,” the captain said turning to the Corporal in charge of weapons, “all weapons live, if you please. I believe that this qualifies as an act of war. Lieutenant Steele, attempt to take evasive actions, see if you can evade those projectiles”

  “Yes sir,” they both replied in unison, working furiously at their consoles. After three seconds Corporal Dunham said,” All weapons live and loaded sir.”

  “Target the ship that just fired on us, all major guns fire at will, along with three of our Raven Missiles,” he said.

  “Yes sir,” he said, a few seconds later, the ship rocked slightly as the guns opened up.

  “Corporal Hicks, are those projectiles adjusting their course to ours?”

  “No captain. At their current trajectory they will miss us, they do not seem to guided,” he said, smiling for a second. 

    “Good work. Corporal Dunham, how long till our missiles impact?”

    “Thirty seconds sir. Twenty seconds sir. Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, one, the missiles have reached their target sir...I can’t believe it, sir the ship is still on my radar sir. Those were Ravens!”

    “Fire twenty ravens then, try for a closer impact zone. How much time till our shells hit them?”

  “Twenty Ravens launched sir. It will take our first volley ten more seconds to reach them. Then a volley once every three seconds sir.”

  “The interceptors are nearing our anti interceptor gun range. Weapons will engage in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1,” corporal Hicks said as he peered at his screen,” They are dropping sir. The guns and missiles are taking them down quickly. It’s just like the simulations sir.”

    “Are any getting through the barrier,” the captain asked.

  “Yes sir, approximately one percent sir. They are taking dreadful casualties,” he replied.

    “Sir, the ship with the contact marking MS189574 is down sir, the shells had finished her off,” came the excited voice of Corporal Dunham,” I am redirecting the Ravens to the ship with contact marking LS854985, it’s the ship that launched the interceptors.”

    “Good shooting Corporal Dunham,” the captain said,” keep on firing at targets you perceive to be a threat.”

  “Scans complete sir,” came the voice of the First Officer.

  “Good work people. Lieutenant, get us out of here. They were testing us, pretty soon I am sure they will decide to destroy us,” the captain said.

  “Realigning with Venus sir,” he said.

  “By the Great General’s beard,” came the shout from Corporal Hicks as the impact sirens started flaring and the ship started shaking hard. The ship had been hit by the interceptors. Red lights filled the Bridge.

  “Situation report,” the captain yelled above the siren.

  “Armour is holding sir, the interceptors are focussing their fire, they are attempting to take out our anti interceptor weaponry. We have lost twenty guns so far and three missile silos. They won’t last much longer though,” Corporal Hicks said, “Captain, we have more incoming ships, also interceptor size. Launched from several ships sir, they number at almost a million sir. We won’t be able to keep them out.”

    “Corporal Dunham, fire at every target you think might go down quickly, everything. We are going to do as much damage as possible before we leave,” the captain said, standing up, “Lieutenant, how long till we are aligned with Venus?”

  “Three more minutes sir. I had veer a bit to miss those projectiles,” he replied.

  “Captain, we have a problem sir,” came the excited voice of Corporal Hicks,” we have six thousand incoming projectiles. They sprayed them out slightly sir. Estimated time till impact is less than a minute sir. These things are travelling fast.”

  “Lieutenant is there any chance you can avoid these?” the captain asked.

  “No sir. They are sprayed in such a way that at least some will hit,” he said, face furrowed as he looked on his console.

  “Then minimise the impacts. Start up the teleportation drive. It looks like these bastards won’t let us align so we can jump with the FTL,” the captain said walking over to his First Officer,” how long till you can send that information to Earth Base?”

  “Corporal Hicks, how long till the transmission of the information is done to Earth Base?” the First Officer asked.

    “Oh dear Great General,” he swore, looking at a different console,” our outward communication is down. They must be jamming our long range communications.”

    The Captain’s face turned bright red with anger. “Why wasn’t I informed about this? How long has it been down? Did our first message to Earth Base get through or was that also blocked?”

  The Corporal with sweat on his face looked down on his console. “I think the first message went through sir. I did not realise communications were down when I was trying to keep track of the enemy. It won’t happen again sir.”

    “You are damn right it won’t happen again...” he said, but before he could get any further Lieutenant Steele’s voice rang out.

  “Brace for impact in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1!”

    None of their simulations, none of their live tests could have prepared them for the sudden impact to their ship. The red lights were flashing, but the alarm was out, thought Sarah. It was replaced by a strange ringing noise. There was Corporal Hicks, his head cracked open on the metal floor. The Captain was getting up, screaming at her silently. That’s when she realised the ringing noise was in her ears. The world around her came back in a rush as her hearing came back. The sirens were on, she just hadn’t heard them. The captain was yelling at her if she was ok, she just lifted her thumbs saying yes.

  “Situation report,” he screamed to his First Officer.

  “We had breaches in the aft and middle section sir. The automatic airlocks have taken care of it. We have lost twenty major guns and about half our anti interceptor weapons have ceased. Our FTL core has gone offline as well Captain, so even if we could align, we are stuck here. We have also lost Hicks.”

  “Dunham, how are we doing on the damage dealing side?” he asked the shaken corporal who was getting back up on his feet.

    “Sir, we have taken down half of the ships that launched the interceptors. They seem to be shooting down our Ravens now, only a few made it to their ships, but our guns are about to pound them sir, the first volleys will reach them in a few seconds. I think they are about to start taking us seriously sir,” he said, his face lighting up with a grim satisfaction,” I am currently firing every missile we have at their fleet along with keeping our guns blazing.”

    “Good work. Someone get a medic up here to take Hicks to the Medical Bay and get his standby up here. How long till we can teleport?” the captain asked.

  “We will have full teleportation drive up and running in just over two more minutes captain,” said the Lieutenant.

  “Good, the moment it’s up and running I want you to port us out of here, the moment. Is that understood?” the captain asked.

  “We won’t be able coordinate a safe location with the rest of the fleet sir,” the Lieutenant told him.

  “I am well aware of that, just put us somewhere where you think the least chance of other ships or anything else for that matter will be,” the captain said,” situation report on the enemy interceptors still attacking us?”

    “Several tried to attack where the breaches in the hull are, but they have retreated. Our guns are now just cleaning up the last part of this wave. ETA on the other interceptors is six minutes sir. Neither further projectiles nor interceptors have been launched,” said Corporal Dunham,” Also our shells seem to be doing some real damage to their ships, we have taken about half of the ones that have actively engaged us down.”

  A skinny young man of about sixteen years came on to the bridge. “Private Garner reporting sir. I am Corporal Hicks’ replacement.”

  Everyone just stared at the young man, barely out of basic training, who was supposed to handle the communications and radar equipment. The captain was first to recover, “take your post Corporal Garner.”

    “I’m just a private sir,” the young man interjected.

    “You have just been promoted, no one takes a post on the Bridge of any ship being only a private. Now take your post and let me know if anything happens that I should know about,” the captain said as he turned towards Sarah,” things are a bit quiet now. Do you know how to pilot a Tomahawk shuttle?”

  “Yes, I do. But why?” she asked.

  “You will be taking one back to the Fleet. Along with our combat logs. It might prove useful to them,” his voice dropped to a whisper,” we might not make it here, but you can. She shuttle has a small FTL, you can use that to jump to Venus and give all the information we can scrounge to the Fleet. That shuttle will align in seconds, unlike this big ship. I need you on it as a backup plan just in case we do not make it. I do not think they are through with us just yet.”

  All of a sudden, as if to accent his words, the intercom started screaming with a metallic voice, “Unknown life form detected, unknown life form detected.”

    “We have been boarded, get the two squads of marines up here now Corporal Garner,” the captain yelled and the young corporal started punching in commands on his console.

  “I will not leave here,” Sarah said, face set.

  “It wasn’t a suggestion Major, it was an order from the Captain of this ship. You do nothing of value on this ship. You are the one person I can spare for this mission, so I am ordering you off my ship,” the captain said, face turning red again with anger. They stared at each other for a long time, neither willing to give ground. Sarah could not for the life of her dream of abandoning them to fight this battle alone.

  “Lieutenant Johnson and Smith reporting as ordered sir,” came a voice from the entrance as two almost identical marines came in and stood to attention, breaking the tension between them imediately.

  “Lieutenant Johnson, the Major here will be escorted to the port side hanger, where she will board a Tomahawk shuttle. Her mission is of the utmost importance, so you and your men will protect her with your lives if necessary, is this understood?” he said addressing the man who spoke.

  “Yes sir,” he replied in a mild voice.

  “First Officer Quimby, ready for me a data package of all the information we currently have of the enemy and our encounters with them. The moment it is done, hand it over to Major Gunner here and then she will depart on her mission,”

  “Yes sir,” he replied, going over to the Science Officer.

    “Lieutenant Smith, take this key,” he said, removing a chain from his neck, at the bottom dangled a small electronic key and handed it to Lieutenant Smith,” if anything should happen to me and you believe the ship to be compromised without any chance of retrieval, you must arm the self destruct mechanism. I will not allow these creatures to take my ship intact. Is that understood?”

    “Yes sir,” the man said as he hung the key around his neck.

    “The console for activating the self destruct mechanism is in my chair on the right side armrest. Just insert the key and the ship will explode within ten minutes. There are no overrides, so once it is done, get you and whoever else is still alive on to an evacuation pod. Is this understood?”

    “Yes sir,” he said, coming to attention,” but what are me and my men going to do until then sir?”

    “Your men will guard the Bridge. You will remain on the Bridge with me. If your men fail, either you or I will blow this ship and that is an order,” he said.

      “Yes sir,” he said saluting, then he turned to walk out the room to give his men their commands.

      “Captain, the package is ready and I have given it to the Major, she is ready to depart,” the First Officer said.

    “Goodbye Major, and Good Vigilance. I hope to see you soon,” he said with a smile.

    “Goodbye Captain, and Good, Long Vigilance,” she said, embracing him. The long part was only added when one hoped the person a long life, and right at that moment, they both knew that he would need it.

    “My name is James,” he said as she let go of him.

    “My name is Sarah,” she said. The exchange of first names between two officers was rare, only done when they have become close friends. She smiled, wiped a tear from her face and walked towards the Lieutenant, “you will escort me now Lieutenant, and we must hurry. I do not wish to be out there when the next bunch of interceptors come in.”

    “Yes sir”, said the Lieutenant, turned and led her to his men waiting outside the Bridge. As Sarah was walked down the walkway, she heard Lieutenant Steele swear, “By the Great General’s baton, they have scrambled our teleportation computers. If I jump now, we could end up anywhere. We might not have enough fuel to jump back to Earth Base.” As she heard these words, Sarah stopped for a moment, ready to go back, but when she opened her eyes, she kept walking, this time she did not wipe the tears streaming  down her face.







    Sarah looked out of the window of her shuttle as the FTL drive was spooling. She saw the Bismarck with pockmarks where the interceptors had attacked. She also saw one of the large scars where the strangely powerful projectile had struck the hull, and theoretically allowed the aliens to board. The last thing she saw of the Destroyer Bismarck was the next wave of interceptors decending upon the ship, guns blazing in an attempt to keep them out. It was also the first time she saw the alien craft if the little light there was, but she had a feeling of the immensity of their fleet. She was sure that Captain Haddock had been correct. These creatures hadn’t destroyed them because they were not yet prepared to.

    The FTL jump in a smaller craft is decidedly more uncomfortable, she decided as her head stopped reeling and her stomach decided that it’s proper place was inside of her and not on the outside. She quickly switched on her scanners and hailed the Titan the moment she spotted her on her monitor.

  “Admiral Robert, priority one message, Major Sarah Gunner,” she stated in the hail log.

  “Sarah,” came the anxious voice of the admiral, it was a show of his nerves that he forgotten to call her by her rank,” report. Why has there been no communications from either yourself or Captain Haddock? And why by the Great General’s teeth are you out the in a Tomahawk and not in the Destroyer I sent you in?”

    “We were attacked almost the moment we jumped in. We jumped right in the middle of an huge enemy fleet sir. I managed to get the scans of the fleet and some of the battle logs of the engagement. They had disabled both our FTL drive and Teleportation Computers. Captain Haddock ordered me to deliver this information in the hopes that it will make the coming offensive easier. Permission to come aboard sir so I may make a fuller report. I am sending the information as we speak,” she said, connecting the data package to her communications computer,  and then started sending the data.

      “Permission granted Major Gunner and welcome home,” the Admiral said as he signed off.

      Sarah punched in the coordinates of the Titan and let the autopilot take her in.

      Unbeknown to any of them, a scanner much more powerful than any they possessed had picked up everything that had transpired and had relayed all the information to a distant corner of the universe.