Chapter One
3 AUs Outside Sigma Arae System
ESS Gallant Thunder
March 4th, 2453; 900 Hours
Captain Keegan Ninian took a long drag from a cigarette. A puff of smoke slowly hovered from his mouth, and into the surrounding atmosphere. The smell was horrible, he knew, but he couldn’t live without it. Even in this day and age, humans couldn’t break themselves of a lifetime of bad habits.
He looked through the view-screen and out into the cosmic soup. The stars twinkled the same, no matter where he was in the Orion Arm.
He drew another breath in through the cigarette. He could tell that he was bothering the observing Colonial Intelligence Officer to his right. These CI people always made him feel nervous. They could order around anyone they wanted to, regardless of rank. This was particularly enraging when he realized that they rarely ever see the front lines. They only make sure that certain intelligence doesn’t fall into the wrong hands, or so they would say.
One month ago, Keegan was relaxing in his office on Sargas, a planet circling the star Theta Scorpii. A message was delivered to him by an Officer of the Colonial Intelligence Agency. He was to travel to an unexplored star system far beyond the outermost colonies. The purpose of the mission wasn’t divulged to him until the course had been set, and the ship was underway.
Keegan walked to his right, and set his hand on the shoulder of his Navigations Officer, Lieutenant Jung Hye. Keegan pulled the rolled tobacco from his lips, and spoke quietly. “At One Astronomical Unit from the target, slow to full sub-light speed.”
The Officer nodded, and pushed several buttons.
“I hope you’re not going into this lightly. This is possibly the most important mission anyone has ever run.” The CI Officer said curtly, as Keegan returned to his place in the center of the bridge.
“I’ve been running missions since Ought-Nine. I’m sure I can handle it.” Keegan said, and pinched out the flame of his cigarette. He sauntered over to his black leather arm-chair and dropped the smoldering remains of his cigarette into the small trash can to his right.
“Dropping out of Trans-Light.” The Computer chimed in.
“Very good. Ready plasma shielding, but keep them offline for the moment. Same for weapons systems.” Keegan ordered, settling into his chair.
Finally, the target came into view. A planet, blue and beautiful, floating through space around its star, Sigma Arae.
Keegan stared down at the surface for a moment. It was too far away to see any details of the surface yet. But he could see a strip of blue oceans covering the tropical areas, and two large, green continents covering the northern and southern hemispheres of the planet.
“Bring us over to the dark side of the planet. Standard orbit.” Keegan ordered.
The ship lurched starboard and began a gentle curve around the planet, orbiting over the blue oceans.
The Earth-Star-Ship Gallant Thunder was a Jimenez-Class Destroyer. This ship was a large hexagonal cylinder, which narrowed in terraces down to the tip, of which the bridge took up the entire volume. The ship had four evenly sized engines at the rear. Fighter bays lined the rearmost section of the ship, and a Radimir-Class Warhawk was housed underneath the section behind the bridge, where it flushed into the underside of the ship. This ship carried fifty individual rocket pods which housed 30 rockets each, thirty 90mm Artillery Cannons, and one Major-Rail Defense System, or MARADS for short. This cannon uses high-intensity magnetic fields to fire massive Tungsten-Carbide shells at high velocities. This system uses no explosives, and is the most powerful conventional weapon aboard the ship. You cannot see the MARADS, as its entirety is housed inside the ship. The only visible part of the MARADS is the end of the long barrel protruding above the bridge. The ship also has a missile bay, where large missiles capable of traveling intense distances at incredible speeds were housed and launched. Several of these missiles were nuclear tipped, and could turn an unprotected ship into dust.
The Thunder slowed to a Geo-Synchronous orbit above the planet. The light from Sigma Arae slowly faded behind the horizon of the planet in a bright orange flash. Now on the dark side, Keegan saw that the planet was covered in light. Circular rings of light covered the two large continents, and several individual lights could be seen on the oceans.
“Oh my god.” The First Officer, Commander Pearson whispered, bringing his hand to his mouth.
The CI Officer simply stood in one place. “Bring us to,” He paused, and punched coordinates into the Navigation Station, “These coordinates, Lieutenant.”
“Yes sir.”
The ship lurched further starboard, out of its orbit, and headed away from the planet to a higher orbit.
The CI Officer turned to Keegan. “You will hold Geo-Synch here and wait for further instructions. Don’t do anything unless I clear it first.” He said, and left the bridge in a hurry.
“Yes sir.” Keegan replied quickly, and mumbled under his breath.
The ship sat idle in this position for an hour. The sun had risen for the Thunder again, and finally, the universe had decided that boredom was too great a task for the crew.
“Unclassified ship approaching.” The computer chimed once again.
“Sir?” The Weapons Officer, Lieutenant Terzo Tommaso, asked vaguely.
Keegan motioned with his right hand for Tommaso to calm down. ”It’s all part of the plan. Just follow my orders.”
Terzo shifted uneasily in his chair, not content with the amount of information shared with him.
The ship finally came into view. At first, as a shiny dot, impossibly far away. But finally, it came within two miles and stopped. It was about as large as the Thunder. However, this ship was less cylindrical, but rather looked like a Delta-Wing. It was a flat delta wing that gradually grew in size to the front and center. It’s skin was silver, and completely smooth. Two small slits in the skin at the rear of the ship, at the crook of the Delta, represented whatever propulsion it used. It had no visible glass for a bridge, but had what looked like ship bays, lining the wings at the front.
“What is it?” The Operations Officer, Lieutenant Jago Daveth, asked to the silent air.
“I don’t know.” Keegan replied. “Call up CI. We actually need him now.” He said sarcastically.
The CI Officer, whose name was actually Lieutenant Junior Grade Natanael Cleto, strolled confidently into the room. He glanced at the ship ahead of him through the view-screen, and dropped his hands, which had been tightly gripping each other behind his back. “Prepare the Warhawk for departure immediately.” He said to the Captain.
“For what purpose?” Keegan asked defiantly.
“Just do it.” Natanael ordered.
“Very well.” Keegan replied. “Lieutenant Fiacre, prepare the Warhawk for departure.”
“Yes sir.” The Operations Officer, Lieutenant Solomon Fiacre, replied.
“Captain Ninian and I will be the only ones onboard.” Natanael said to Solomon.
The Lieutenant sighed. “Yes sir.”
“Captain, if you would.” Natanael said, motioning toward the door with his left hand. “Pearson, you have the bridge.”
Keegan rolled his eyes. He hated how CI Officers always treat the crew as if they were their own.
The two officers walked through the airlock, and into the Warhawk. They sat down at the controls, and powered up the systems.
“Know how to pilot this thing?” Natanael asked.
“Not really.” Keegan replied, annoyed. ”I understand that this needs to stay classified, but why have me fly?”
Natanael gave a strange expression to Keegan. “If an uninformed pilot were to fly this ship, they could become unfocused from nervousness, and crash. Not a very good start.”
“I guess so.” Keegan said. He moved his focus to the panels of switches in front of him. “Ion Drives warmed up.” Keegan reported.
“Plasma Shields charged and ready to activate.”
“Good, we’re almost ready.” Keegan replied. He flipped a switch above him. “Sealing air system and closing airlock doors.”
The ship became instantly pressurized. Keegan’s ears popped loudly.
“All systems green. Ready to disengage docking clamps.” He said, and flipped a switch.
The craft shuddered momentarily. Now, free in the vacuum, it moved nimbly. It pulled away from the Thunder, and steered toward the other ship.
A Radimir-Class Warhawk is a bomber-type craft. It flies nimbly, and maneuvers close to other crafts. It plants bombs directly onto the skin of enemy spacecraft, and is the largest ship carried in the arsenal of all ESS Space Crafts. It is flat on the top and in the rear so that the ship can easily fit against the Thunder. The front and belly of the craft are both very shallow, wide angles that match in angle and placement. The small cockpits of these ships are in the front, where the angle comes together, and the bomb-bay doors are on the underbelly. This ship may be an eyesore, but is a major battle asset.
The Warhawk approached one of the massive ship bays. The height of the bay was easily high enough for the large Warhawk to fit into. As the Warhawk slipped through the threshold of the large bay, it passed through an invisible shield.
“What the hell?” Natanael said as the nose of the Warhawk passed through the shield, and looked to Keegan.
Keegan returned the feeling. “I’m guessing it holds in atmosphere.”
Natanael shook his head gently, and breathed deeply. The weight of the situation had set in.
The Warhawk floated slowly into the bay. It suddenly stopped, as it was captured by a force-field, and fell gently to the floor of the bay.
“Shutting down propulsion systems.” Keegan reported.
The engines of the Warhawk shut down, and the Craft came to a rest on an invisible pedestal.
“Opening all rear hatches.” Keegan said. “What now?” Keegan asked.
“We wait for the signal to leave.” Natanael said, and looked at the bay through the windows. The bay was several decks tall. A long catwalk lined every deck of the bay, and ran along the walls. Several strange craft sat on the floor, waiting for their pilots. The walls, floors, and even the ceiling were all polished steel. Nothing in the bay moved. The black, starry emptiness of space could be seen through the invisible shield wall.
“Where are they?” Keegan asked, lighting another cigarette.
“I don’t know. It shouldn’t have taken this long” Natanael replied.
Just as he finished his sentence, a knock at the metal door to the cockpit was heard by both startled men, causing them to jump.
“Right.” Keegan said, his voice shaking. “Powering up ion thrusters.”
The light of the engines lit once again, and the force-field heaved the Warhawk up into the air once again, thrusting it back through the shield wall.
Keegan let out a sigh of relief. “I’m just glad that we’re back in space.” He said, relieved.
“I was sure we wouldn’t crash all along.” Natanael lied. “We must get our minds back to the task at hand. Things must go smoothly. Any mistake could prove disastrous to the Union, and could cost us some of our outermost systems right off the bat.”
“Right.” Keegan said, as he pitched the Warhawk around, and into the docking clamps, which gripped the craft with a loud bump.
“Powering down all systems.” Keegan said. He pressed a button on the controls. “Pearson, prepare the Observation Lounge for our arrival. Inform the crew of our mission.”
“Aye sir.” Pearson radioed back.
Keegan and Natanael stood at once, and approached the door.
“Are they still standing there?” Keegan asked.
Natanael pressed a button on the panel next to the door. The small screen above the panel showed a camera view of the hallway on the other side. “All clear.” He said.
Keegan quickly pressed the “Open” button, and stepped through the doorway. He hurried down the hallway to the airlock, and quickly rushed into the atmosphere of the Thunder. Natanael followed closely, not wanting to be left alone with…them. Once they entered the Thunder, they both stopped abruptly, and walked to the left of the airlock.
“Oh god, I’m so nervous.” Keegan admitted, putting his palm over his heart, feeling his pulse.
“So am I.” Natanael admitted, and turned back toward the open airlock doorway. “But we must keep our composure.”
Keegan took a deep breath, stood as tall as he could, and faced the doorway with his hands clasped together behind his back.
Natanael mirrored this stance, and stood stone-faced towards the doorway.
Footsteps emanated from the doorway. Strange, deep chatter. Shadows of tall figures moved closer to the door, and their owners stepped through the threshold…
