Into the Black: Odyssey One (13 page)

The feat was made even more impressive by the fact that both of the technicians were mining engineers, whose work normally didn’t rely on split second arming and aiming. Milla dismissed them, sending them off to other areas, and other work, and walked over to the wall.

“Chans to Captain Tal,” Milla palmed the intercom’s switch with a graceful sweep of her hand.

“Tal here, go ahead Lieutenant.”

“The problem has been resolved all systems have been cleared for service.”

“Good, we’ll be breaking Orbit, shortly. Two of the outer colonies have reported unknown ships approaching their outer perimeters,” The Captain’s voice sounded grim. “Configurations appear to match the historical records.”

Milla signed off and sunk back into the programmers chair, the Drasin were little more than folklore to her and her people, until now. Scary stories that were bandied about on dark nights, they weren’t supposed to be real. They certainly weren’t supposed to be approaching the outer worlds.

Milla forced herself to relax somewhat,
real or imagined they won’t be allowed to harm anyone. Our new systems are the best that can be made. We’ll meet these ‘Drasin’
,
and if they are hostile we’ll deal with them, on their own terms.

She had returned to her quarters, when she felt the slight shudder run through the deck plates, as the ship’s engines powered up. She instinctively reached out and grabbed the nearest wall, as the ship accelerated out of Orbit. A second later the ship’s artificial gravity field compensated and the feeling passed. She knew they were now powering away from Ranqil, her home world and were solidly underway to the outer colonies.

I never really believed that upholding the oath would fall to me and my generation. Like the Drasin, it was just a story.
Milla thought to herself as she stripped down, pulling the silicon covered garments away from her body and grimacing as the gel and powder clung to her skin and hair.

Being an engineer aboard any ship, let alone a hastily refitted
’warship’
was dirty business. On a ship like the Carlache, it was doubly so. The Carbon crystals used to align the new weapon systems had a tendency to overheat, so each one had to be smeared with a silicone gel that contained suspended heat dispersion capsules. Which was a horribly, messy job.

As she activated the shower, letting the recycled water cascade over her, she dreamed briefly about the new ships, the ones with the integrated diamond crystals and heat dispersion systems. The ones with the triple redundancy built in, armored bulkheads, and energy shields that were supposed to be ten times as dense as the Carlache were capable of producing.

Those would be interesting to see in action. And even more interesting to crew on.

Milla hoped that she got a chance to see one, before it was broken up for scrap.

After all, they weren’t likely to actually
need
such things, and warships were illegal in peacetime.

Milla shucked her clothing, taking advantage of the down time to use a cleanser. As she was finishing up, the brief lurch of the ship under her let her know that the Carlache had made the jump to dimensional space.

They were underway.

The thrum of the ship’s engines echoed in her ears as she got dressed.
We should be about three days out from the nearest of the outer colonies. I think I’ll recommend to the Captain that we test the systems before entering a possible danger zone.

*****

The next two days found Milla testing and retesting the prototype systems they had just installed on the cruiser, until finally she and the Captain were satisfied that they would perform as intended. Commander Rathe, for his part, tending to avoid the subject as much as possible, though. It was a touchy subject between them. Rathe had been the First Officer of an exploration ship and while a few offensive devices were always present, actual ‘weaponry’ was quite foreign to the ship. Most of the equipment that could be used to defend his ship had multiple purposes. The laser drills, explosive charges and even the hand ‘weapons’ were primarily used as tools rather than defensive items. The new systems they incorporated into the vessel were another matter entirely and no one even pretended they had an alternate use. His ship had become a warship almost overnight and while the explorer was having an extremely difficult time adapting, the warrior in him however, was adapting too quickly for the man’s comfort.

The Carlache decelerated into their target colony a little over three days after they had left Ranqil. The Captain had called Milla to the bridge a short time after their arrival without telling her why.

“Lieutenant Chans, I want to you to examine the data we are gathering on what’s left of the colony system,” the Captains voice twitched and for a second she thought he was going to break down and weep. A moment later she saw why.

The sensors were reporting back, the state of the planet and for a moment she hadn’t see what the Captain had. When she did, she paled until her ivory skin was a ghastly white.

The planet was there. The sensors even registered life that seemed almost normal.

What wasn’t normal was the fact that the entire upper register of the life detection gradient, the part of the register that indicated human life, was utterly and totally dead.

There wasn’t a single human left alive in the entire system. Or, if there was, their readings were being utterly eclipsed by something else.

But Milla knew that nothing could eclipse the sensors like that. Not while leaving a clean slate in the upper register.

She reached out and braced herself against the console, keeping herself from pitching forward.
Great Creator. There were… Over twenty million people here just… just a day ago.

“Take us in,” Tal ordered his voice steady now. “I want to see it with our own eyes.”

“Aye Sir.”

The Carlache slid quickly into the system, sliding to a halt in the high orbital range of the sea green planet.

“Optics,” Tal called. “Show me the Capital.”

The System Capital was the only city worthy of the name on the entire planet, housing ninety percent of the planet’s population while managing the processing, administration, transport, and various other non-growing aspects of the world economy.

When it appeared on the screen, it was like looking at a ghost town.

The streets were empty, miles and miles of ancient stonework, broken up by massive buildings that towered over the terrain. And all of it was empty, to both the optical and the life detection sensors.

It was heartrending.

“Hey…, something moved!” Someone shouted Milla didn’t know who. She was too busy looking for the motions.

Something had moved. Something that was staying very closely to the shadows.

“Grid three twelve,” Tal snapped, coolly. “Enlarge and enhance.”

The computer replied quickly and the bridge grew silent as they stared at the face of nightmares.

The seconds stretched into minutes, until finally the Captain managed to speak without a strangled voice, an accomplishment that Milla greatly admired. “Database, search. Classify life form.”

When there was no response, Tal turned in his seat. “Now Crewman!”

The Crewman at the terminal shook herself and nodded, quickly entering the requested information. It took only a few seconds before the computer spit back the answer that everyone already knew was coming.

“I… It fits the parameters of a Drasin soldier, Captain.”

Tal nodded slowly, accepting the confirmation. He had already known it would and had only asked so that it would be entered on the permanent log. “All right. We need to…”

He was cut off as Milla’s station chirped a warning as it completed a complex algorithm.

Milla heard a sob from one of the rear stations but forced herself to focus on the information pouring in, “Captain, the energy decay readings indicate that this was just done a few hours ago. They could still be here.”

“Full alert. All personnel to…,” she heard the brief pause and the bitter sound in his voice, “battle stations.”

The bridge erupted into fervour as the ships active recorders were suddenly besieged by people using them to examine every square meter of the surrounding system. It wasn’t long before they found what they were looking for.

“Captain, there is a fading energy trail leading out of the system, looks like it’s on course for the Deserada system, Sir.”

“Lay in a pursuit course! Communications start calling in all available cruisers. We need to stop them before they strike again.”

A chorus of ‘Yes Sirs’ echoed across the bridge, as the ship pivoted smoothly on its axis and accelerated into trans-luminary speeds, in hot pursuit of the ships that had laid waste to a peaceful system.

*****

For two days, the Carlache pursued the rapidly decaying trail, gathering ships from surrounding sectors and constantly drilling their crews in the unfamiliar techniques of battle. On the third day, the Carlache’s long range sensors finally picked up what they had been searching for and, at the same time, dreading.

“Captain, there is a ship on the extreme long range scanners. It matches the historical configuration for a Drasin vessel.”

“Full Alert! Send to all ships: target has been spotted, adjust course by,” Tal glanced down at his displays, “point two three by eight degrees.”

“All ships confirm. We are moving in an interception vector.”

For the next three hours, the tension on the bridge built to the point that Milla entertained the notion that the friction from it would make walking across the bridge feel like moving through water. Then it was cut. They had caught up to the Drasin vessel.

The alien ship was slowly turning about on its axis as they approached, their energy fields blazing at maximum intensity.

“Hail them.”

Milla turned to look at the Captain in shock, these creatures had just wiped out an entire colony system and he was going to talk? Stunned, she sat there listening to the conversation going on behind her.

“They aren’t answering, Captain.”

Of course they’re not. They’re butchers.
Milla thought in derision. She wouldn’t let it reach her voice, or attitude, but she couldn’t help feeling something she’d never felt before.

Hate.

“Keep trying to tell the other vessels to spread out.”

“Yes Sir.”

One moment the Drasin vessel was floating serenely in space, or as serenely as anything that ugly could be, the next a bolt of energy flashed out and the entire ship rocked under the impact.

Instantly the bridge was a furor of activity, with at least half of it, unnecessary. People yelled. People prayed, and some just stared with open mouthed wonder.

“They’re firing at us!”

No kidding, Milla’s
fingers played across her panel, her sarcastic thoughts just echoing in the back of her mind as she did her duty. “Weapons are primed, Captain.”

The Captain’s hesitation was palpable, and the ship rocked under a new assault, “Fire. All ships, open fire.”

Outside, the area suddenly glittered with the exchange of fire, the newly installed system aboard the Carlache were matched by every ship in the impromptu fleet, all diverging on the unmoving Drasin vessel. For a brief moment, the vessel was clouded in the deadly hail, then the debris cleared and the Drasin vessel turned on the Carlache and fired again.

“No damage, Captain!” someone yelled.

The Captain turned on Milla’s position, “What’s wrong?”

Milla shook her head furiously, her short hair cascading around her head, as she did. The frustration was in full evidence on her face, as she glared at her console and tried to wring some sense out of it. “I don’t know Captain, the systems are working fine. They should have had SOME effect.”

“Well they didn’t, lieutenant! Find out why!” Tal snapped his voice brittle with tension.

“Yes Sir,” Milla was in a near state of panic, as she frantically examined the logged readings they had taken during the assault.

She damped several safety systems throwing more power through them than the official capacity was registered at. It was the only thing she could think of, at the moment, and she only prayed that it was enough.

“I’ve uploaded the changes to the fleet, Captain!” Milla cried out as she finished her program.

“Fire!” Tal ordered instantly, turning back to glare at the screen, as if his anger could damage the ship outside.

Desperately the fleets vessels turned on the lone Drasin ship and opened fire again, the lethal halo of energy enveloping the alien ship for a brief moment in time.

“Captain, we hurt ’em this time. Not much, but we did hurt them!”

Tal leaned forward, “how are our shields?”

“Not good sir, down by seven eighths, Sir. The Ronako is reporting a complete shield system failure and…” the young man faltered as he read something new on his consol. “Captain! The Ronako is gone sir. They just burned up.”

An altogether too brief silence permeated the bridge at that announcement, terminated almost instantly by the violent shaking of the ship, as they took another hit from the Drasin vessel. The alien ship turned on them, approaching under power as its weapons flashed at them. The Carlache rocked with every focused blast.

“All ships, this is Captain Tal. Pour it on! Every eighth of energy you have, I need. Put it all into the new systems and keep firing!” Tal ordered over the fleet communicator hanging on to his armrest with a death grip, as his ship seemed to shake itself apart around him.

Outside, the gathered vessels obeyed. Space flashed with the sudden massive discharge of all their amassed weaponry. Slowly, ever so slowly, they saw the results. The Drasin vessel fired less often and with less force. Many of the Drasin’s weapons protrusions melted off, leaving entire arcs of the ship’s hull open to attack, finally they saw a massive circular area begin to buckle and rupture under the constant attack.

Tal leaned forward showing a humorless smile. “We are going to do it! Keep firing!”