This is my first crack at writing a story about spaceships, aliens, and futuristic shit. I've been splitting my time (when I have time) between this WIP and my other, The Eyes of the Wolf. Anyway, here's the prologue and chapter one. Hope you enjoy it, remember it's an unedited work in progress.
PROLOGUE:
On the 20th of July 1969, astronauts from NASA’s Apollo 11 mission did the impossible. They flew to, landed, and then walked on the moon.
In 1972 NASA sent Apollo 17 back to the moon. Mission Commander Eugene Cernan, and Module Pilot Harrison Schmitt were to become to last American Astronauts to set foot on the lunar surface---or so we thought.
Through the use of the ever-expanding “black budget” the United States maintained a presence on the moon. A small presence at first, but one that over the years grew.
In 2019 the United States Space Force (USSF) was designated as a branch of the armed forces. In 2022 the existence of Lunar Base (LB) Hammer was leaked to the press. The fact that we had a secret military installation on the moon, operating since the 1970’s, was enough to shock most people into silence. It was the corresponding announcement of Task Force (TF) River that silenced the rest.
Once LB Hammer became public knowledge it was impossible to keep Task Force River secret. TF River, it was revealed, was a joint operations mission between U.S., allied forces, and an extraterrestrial race called the Ru’non.
During a very one-sided press conference, commanding officers from USSF introduced the world to the Ru’non.
A rather solitary and peaceful species that stood on average, about five-foot tall. They had human-like features with the exceptions of large, black eyes, and a hard bone-type growth, almost like a horn, that ran from the center of their foreheads up across the top of their skulls.
The Ru’non had experienced a planet wide disaster which had impacted their food chain. Unable to feed their population they had reached out to their closest interstellar neighbors, Earth, for help. In exchange for natural resources the Ru’non had been helping with the development of spacefaring vessels and associated technology.
With the help of the Ru’non by 2030 LB Hammer, which had grown to the size of a small city, was not the only off-world military installation. In addition to Hammer there was now Mars Base (MB) Arrow.
In addition to military operations MB Arrow also supported several civilian run scientific operations, as well as a dock yard which served as a construction and launching point for the new deep space Gillian class ships.
By the year 2100 humans were fully entrenched in space travel. There were thriving colonies on Mars, as well as outposts on planets outside of our solar system.
In 2120 a rift began to form between humans and the Ru’non. They believed that humans, who they had come to see as war-like with a pension for the development of offensive weapons systems, were moving too quickly in their expansion out into space. It was this belief that kept the Ru’non from providing humans with their “wormhole” technology. The ability to generate a conduit allowing for almost instantaneous travel over vast distances of space. The humans saw it as a betrayal, and a means of the Ru’non maintaining technological superiority, the Ru’non felt that they were doing us a favor.
It was this feeling of betrayal that in 2125 led a group of humans to attempt to steal Ru’non propulsion secrets in an act of industrial espionage. An attempt that failed resulting in the destruction of a Ru’non transport ship and the death of all hands, including members of their ruling family.
Denials were made, fingers were pointed, and politicians did what they did best, all to no avail. In 2126 all Ru’non citizens, including diplomats and military liaisons, were recalled.
During the subsequent turmoil of this recall, it was discovered that the planetary disaster which had first brough the Ru’non to Earth was not as severe as first believed. The Ru’non, it appeared, had been stockpiling resources taken from Earth under the guise of planetary relief. Members of the Ru’non ruling class had essentially been enriching themselves.
This revelation sealed the fate of TF River and the alliance between humans and the Ru’non.
In 2127 the last, and most senior Ru’non ambassador left Earth. Prior to leaving he met with his human counterpart, and ranking officials with the newly organized United Earth Space Command (UESC).
During this meeting it’s said that he begged for them to curtail their expeditionary operations. Instead of pushing deeper into space he proposed that both the humans and the Ru’non take some time to restart their relationship.
Though open to the idea of reestablishing diplomatic ties, the humans declined to curtail exploration. Feeling that he had failed the Ru’non ambassador left a final warning, “There are monsters lurking in the deep darkness of space---be warned.”
Following the departure of the ambassador all communication with the Ru’non stopped. There were no responses to follow up diplomatic efforts by the humans, no Ru’non ships, no civilian or military contact, nothing---until now.
1.
Signs of life
Year 2190, UESC 1st Fleet patrol and reconnaissance ship the Torro, Mystic class, crew compliment of twenty, Captain Jorgen Osuna commanding. Ten days into a thirty-day patrol of the outer frontier of Earth designated space:
The dull blue light flashing on the instrument panel at the tactical and weapons officer station snapped Specialist Chapman out of his boredom induced daydream, “Chief, forward sensors are reading a contact coming into range.”
“A contact, out here? Is it a rock?” Chief Micha Hullerman, the ranking night shift bridge officer replied as she took a big sip from her coffee.
“No, it might be a---Chief! Now registering multiple contacts!” Chapman replied as he quickly snapped up in his chair, “Computer is identifying as a possible debris field.”
“A debris field, no shit!? Debris field from what?” Chief Hullerman asked as she took a seat in the command chair.
“We’re coming into visual range now. Chief, it looks like a---ship.”
Hullerman’s demeanor quickly changed from casual curiosity to all business as several large view screens flickered to life.
“Nav, all stop.” Chief Hullerman said as she slowly stood from the command chair.
There was an eerie silence on the command deck of the Torro as the second shift bridge rotation all stared at the destruction being displayed on the view screens in front of them.
“Wait, there! What was that?” Hullerman said in an almost hushed tone as she stepped forward and pointed at a large view screen, almost the size of a wall, which had unwound itself from the ceiling, “Tactical, rewind that.”
The video being displayed on the main screen stopped, and then rewound itself by about thirty-seconds, then started playing again.
“Pause!” Hullerman said as she glared at the screen, “Magnify that.”
As the image of a large piece of a ship’s hull magnified on the screen Hullerman let out a muffled string of obscenities, “That’s battle damage! Comms, wake up the captain. Tactical, warm up the railguns, nav, back us off a bit.”
A dull red light illuminated Captain Osuna’s small sleeping quarters followed by a very obnoxious claxon coming from a handset mounted on the wall by his bed.
With a groan Osuna rolled over in his bunk, took a breath, and snatched the handset off the wall, “This had better be good---say that again? I’ll be right there!”
Splashing some water on his face Osuna looked at himself in the small mirror over the sink in his room. Years of military service looked right back at him in the form of short, salt-and-pepper hair, muscular build, bad knees, and a sore back that seemed to have a mind of its own.
Throwing back a couple of pain pills Capitan Osuna slithered into a well-worn, dark green jump suit, pulled on his boots, and left his quarters.
Stepping out into a narrow hallway with grate metal floors and a dull, almost incandescent light flowing down from the ceiling Osuna could hear the low decibel hum of the ship’s railguns warming up.
Walking a short distance down the hallway, turning a corner, and then getting into an open face elevator Osuna hit the button labeled bridge. With a hum of its own the elevator smoothly shot up four decks then creaked as it snapped to a stop.
“Captains on the bridge.” Chief Hullerman barked as Osuna stepped through the hatchway leading to the bridge.
“As you were.” Captain Osuna replied as he walked onto the bridge and over to Chief Hullerman, “What’s happening chief?”
“Sir, we came across a debris field of a ship. Inspection showed battle damage to what’s left of its hull, unknown how recent. We’ve back off but are still well within sensor range. A drone has been deployed and is surveying the debris field now. All railgun batteries are spun up, deep space sensors are pinging with no replies.”
“Very well. Any thoughts on whose ship were looking at here?” Osuna said as he walked up to the main monitor.
“No, sir. The only thing that we’ve been able to determine so far is that whoever they were, they were on the losing end of a fight.” Hullerman replied as she offered the captain a cup of coffee.
A beeping from the tactical and weapons station interrupted Captain Osuna’s long sip from his coffee, “Sir, looks like the drone has come across some biologics. It’s reading a cluster of bodies.”
“Okay, let’s see it.” Captain Osuna replied as he slugged back the remaining coffee in his cup.
“Coming online now sir.” Chapman, one of the young deck officers said as he watched a smaller screen at his station, “The drone’s coming around for a better---holy shit! They’re Ru’non sir.”
“Yes, I see that specialist, thank you.” Osuna said as he glared at the view screen, “Comms, scramble a priority message to 1st fleet. Advise them of our position, ship status, and that we’ve discovered what we believe to be a Ru’non vessel destroyed in an unknown engagement.”
“Uh, sir. I’m getting some life signs, computer has tagged it as a possible escape pod.” Chapman remarked.
“Comms, amend message. Possible survivors, engaging in search and rescue operations.” Captain Osuna said with the steely reserve and determination of a seasoned military officer, “Tactical, let’s get that escape pod pinned down. Launch a second search drone to look for other survivors."
"Yes sir. Captain, I've got a lock on the pod, it’s adrift in the wreckage. Sir, the power signature, and dimensions don’t match up with anything in the system.”
“Okay, what’s that mean Chapman?” Chief Hullerman asked as she walked over to the specialist’s station.
“I’m not sure chief. I don’t think it’s an escape pod though. Sir, the target is emitting some sort of an energy signature, it’s messing with visual.”
“Radiation of some sort?” Osuna asked.
“No sir, it’s registering as an unknown energy source. Computer says it’s not anything harmful.”
“Okay, tell the drone to grab it and bring it into cargo hold one.”
“Yes sir.” Chapman replied as he started sending commands to the drone.
“Sir, I would recommend that we clear the adjacent deck to hold one, just as a precaution.” Chief Hullerman suggested as she stood next to Osuna.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea. Comm’s, get maintenance chief Braco to clear that area.”
“Sir, the drone has the target and is moving to cargo hold one.” Chapman said with a slightly unsure tinge to his voice.
“Very well.” Captain Osuna replied, “As soon as the area around the hold is cleared, bring it aboard. Have a med team standing by.”
“Captain, Chief Braco reports all hands accounted for and cleared from the area of cargo hold one. Med team is staged one deck up.” Hullerman reported after receiving a message at her terminal.
“Very well.” Osuna replied as he started to take a drink from his empty coffee cup.
“Captain, I’m receiving telemetry from the second drone. Looks like it’s found what’s left of the command deck of the Ru’non ship.”
“Put it up on the screen.” Osuna ordered.
The entire bridge crew were stunned into silence as they saw that half of the command deck for the Ru’non ship was missing. Standing from his chair Osuna slowly took a few steps towards the large screen as the drone slowly flew itself into the command deck of the Ru’non ship.
“My God.” Captain Osuna whispered as the lights of the drone illuminated the bodies of several Ru’non crew members still strapped into the seats at their stations.
“Chapman, direct the drone to download any logs or other ships information that it can, then get back here.”
“Yes, sir.” Chapman replied in a somber tone.
“Captain, Braco reports that the drone has brought the first target aboard. His team is still scanning it for any harmful emissions, but initial indications are that it’s safe for inspection.” Hullerman said as they all just stared at the images of the destroyed Ru’non command deck.
“Captain, drone two has downloaded several flight logs. It’s headed back now.” Chapman said as his attention was drawn by a small flashing blip on the screen at his station.
“Captain, deep space sensors have pinged an object entering our area of operations.” Chapman announced as he tried to get a bearing on the flashing blip.
“Captain, navigation concurs. Unknown object just entered our space. It’s parked itself just outside of our active sensors.” Navigation specialist Shawna Liman said as the same unknown object appeared on her screen as well.
“Do we know what it is?” Captain Osuna asked in a very professional tone of voice.
“No, sir. Not for sure, it’s too far out. Computer puts it at a high probability of a ship though.” Chapman replied.
“Understood.” Osuna said with a nod of his head, “Chief, you’ve got the bridge. If that tango makes any moves in out direction spin us around and hit the gas, I’m gonna go see what the story is with this pod we’ve got in hold one.”
“Very well, sir. I have the bridge.” Chief Hullerman replied as Osuna stepped out the hatch and back into the open-faced elevator, “Captain has left the bridge.”
With the push of a button the elevator jumped to life, dropping eight decks, coming to a stop at the bottom deck of the ship.
Stepping from the elevator Captain Osuna was greeted by two men wearing black fatigues, over the shirt body armor and carrier with several pouches, each filled with tools of the trade for combat operations and armed with short-barreled rifles.
“Sergeant Terry, how are we doing?” Osuna asked as he slapped the shoulder of Myrell Terry, Sergeant Major with the 1st Fleet Ground Combat and Security Forces Team.
“Doing good sir! Nice to see that they woke you up for this.” Sergeant Terry replied with a half-crooked smile on his scarred face. Scars he had gotten serving with Captain Osuna years ago.
“You know how it is Sergeant, Captains job is never done.” Osuna replied, “What’s the status?”
“Chief Braco and his team are running scans on the, well, whatever it is. He figured that you guys had your hands full up on the bridge, so he called me direct, asked for a couple of us to just stand by.”
“Yeah, it’s all good.” Osuna replied, “Smart thinking on the chief’s part. Listen, looks like the wreckage we came across is Ru’non.”
“Ru’non!? No shit?” Terry replied.
“True story. Someone worked them over pretty good, no survivors, except for this thing in the cargo bay. Anyway, we now have an unidentified contact showed up on a deep space ping sitting just outside of sensor range.”
“Interesting. I guess that would explain why he asked us to stage out here and not in the cargo bay with the pod. No reason for those little space pacifists to climb out of their life raft and come face to face with us. You want me to wake the rest of the boys up sir?”
“Yeah, why don’t you. Nothing crazy, just tell them to wash their faces, put their boots on and get something to eat. I don’t anticipate it, but if we need to scramble for some reason at least that part of the equation is done. No ready to make some moves on an empty stomach.”
“Will do, sir.” Sergeant Terry replied as he motioned for the other soldier with him to carry out the captain’s orders.
As the solider nodded and then went jogging off down the corridor Captain Osuna opened the hatch to cargo bay one, “Terry, why don’t you come with me.”
Walking into the cargo bay Osuna and Sergeant Terry saw several technicians gathered around a large, black, solid object that looked to be about eight feet long, ten feet wide, and six feet deep. Standing next to the technicians were two medics, both looking just as perplexed as the maintenance technicians.
Off to the side of the group of technicians, who were so engrossed in their examination that they had not noticed the captain walk in, was Chief Braco. The chief was holding a wall mounted handset into which Osuna heard him say, “No, he just came in.”
Braco hung up the handset and started to announce that the captain was on the deck only to have Osuna wave his hands in front of him as he shook his head.
The crusty old maintenance chief, who was three weeks from retirement, just nodded, and walked over to meet the captain and Sergeant Terry.
“Captain, Myrell, thanks for coming down.” Braco said as he greeted Osuna and shook hands with Terry.
“No worries chief.” Captain Osuna replied, “That does not look like any escape pod I’ve seen. What do we got?”
“Well sir, it’s a pod. I’m not totally convinced that it’s an escape pod though, and it’s sure as hell not Ru’non.”
Still standing off to the side of the technicians Captain Osuna asked, “What makes you say that?”
“We’ve been able to take a peek inside. The images are not totally clear, whatever this thing is made out of is messing with our scanners, but there are four, what look like humans inside. They are all over six foot and I would guess, by what they’re wearing, are military of some sort. If I remember my schooling correctly Ru’non are a bunch of short little bastards with horns.”
“Well, that’s interesting.” Sergeant Terry said as he rolled his shoulders, adjusting his body armor.
“You think that’s interesting, check this shit out.” Braco said as he produced a small handheld tablet displaying pictures and sensor data of the pod.
Enlarging the pictures on his tablet Braco pointed to several rows of what looked like raised hieroglyphics along the sides and top of the pod.
“What’s all that?” Osuna asked as he looked intently at the pictures.
“I don’t know, sir.” Braco replied as he motioned to the group of young technicians still gathered around the pod, “I’ve got the new crop of junior problem solvers working on it.”
“What else do we know about it?” Osuna asked.
“Well, sir. It was emitting an unknown energy signature when we brought it on board. That stopped as soon as we repressurized the bay and the atmosphere normalized. Oh, and the pod itself, it appears to be about 10,000 years old.”
“What!?” Captain Osuna barked back in a hushed tone, “Shit chief, you might have led with that!”
Smiling, Braco started to reply, only to be cut off by one of the technicians gathered around the pod, “I’ve got it!”
“You’ve got what? Technician Mickle.” Braco barked as the young maintenance tech turned towards Chief Braco.
“The writing chief, it’s…” The young technician stopped mid-sentence, snapped to attention and announced, “Captains on the deck!”
“Fucking kids!” Braco muttered, bringing a smile to both Osuna and Terry.
“As you were.” Captain Osuna replied as he strode towards the group of technicians, “What about the writing?”
“Sir, the computer has identified it as, well, a close match to ancient Sumerian.” Technician Mickle replied, slowing his response as he heard the words coming from his mouth.
Captain Osuna just stared at Mickle for a few seconds, looked at the pod, back at Mickle, then over at Chief Braco who just shrugged.
Looking back at the now very nervous looking technician, Captain Osuna took a breath, nodded, and said, “Okay. Good job Mickle, keep at it.”
Turning from the relieved looking technician, Osuna, Terry, and Braco stepped out of the hanger bay and back into the hallway.
Looking around to make sure no one else was listening, Osuna turned to Braco, “What the fuck!”
“I don’t know sir.” Braco replied as he again shrugged his shoulders, “You brought it on board.”
“How would you like to retire as a technician junior grade?” Osuna said as he glared at Chief Braco.
“I’ll get back in there and back to work, let you know what I find." Braco said with a slight grin as he turned and walked back into the cargo hold.
“Why do we have so many maintenance technicians on this boat?” Osuna asked as he watched Braco walk back into the hold.
“Because it’s a run-down bucket of outdated parts that’s barely space worthy." Terry replied.
“Then how did we end up on it?”
“Well, sir. You volunteered to get out from behind that desk at 1st Fleet HQ. You asked me to come with you, I was drunk, and said yes.”
“Yeah, I remember now.” Osuna said with a smile.
Osuna’s smile faded as the ship’s intercom crackled with the voice of Chief Hullerman on the bridge, “Captain, bridge.”
Grabbing the handset from the wall next to him, Osuna replied, “Bridge, this is Osuna.”
“Captain, we’ve recovered the last drone and downloaded the logs. The computer’s translated them from Ru’non to English. The unknown contact is still holding station just outside of our sensor range.”
“Very well chief. Send the logs to the briefing room. I’ll be there in a just a second.” Osuna said as he hung up the handset.
Terry could see the wheels spinning in Osuna’s head. He had worked with the captain for too long not to know when he was becoming concerned about something, and the look on Captain Osuna’s face told Sergeant Terry that he was concerned.
“Myrell, this whole thing is making my eyeball twitch. Listen, you and a couple of your team hold here with Braco. Something about this just doesn’t feel right.”
“Will do sir.” Sergeant Terry replied with a steely resolve in his voice.
It took less than a minute for the elevator to take the captain back to the command deck.
Captain Osuna walked past the hatch for the bridge and onto another door marked Briefing Room.
The lights in the room flickered as he entered, a soft computer-generated voice then asked the captain if he would like a cup of coffee. Answering yes Osuna walked over to a small, wall mounted unit, which dispensed a large cup of coffee into a mug hanging on the wall labeled Captain.
Osuna then sat down at the conference table, sipped his coffee, and told the computer to replay the most recent log recovered from the Ru’non ship.
The translucent surface of the table sprung to life as a screen and several other control surfaces appeared and lit up. A computer-generated voice then gave the date and time that the log had been translated from Ru’non into English at the request of Chief Hullerman.
As the computer began to play back of the video log Osuna watched who he believed must have been the captain of the Ru’non ship making the entry as he sat at a station on the bridge. He was a little taller than the rest of the bridge crew, about five-foot-five, with short cropped grey hair on either side of a very pronounced cranial bone.
Osuna sighed and shook his head as the log play back became very reminiscent of a poorly dubbed movie with the computers voice not matching up to the movements of Ru’non Captain.
About thirty seconds into the Ru’non captain describing how they had recovered some sort of an artifact the bridge comm’s officer buzzed the room, “Captain, comms. Chief Braco wants to be connected to you.”
Shaking his head Osuna told the computer to pause play back, and then grabbed a handset built into the table he was sitting at, “Comms, put him through.”
There was a quick beep, “Captain, this Chief Braco. Thought you might like to know that whatever was jamming our signals into that pod has stopped. The med techs were able to get some good readings and it looks like our four guests are alive.”
“Alive!?” Osuna asked sounding somewhat confused, “Chief, I thought you said that thing was 10,000 years old?”
“Yes, sir. The box is that old, I’m not sure about its cargo. The medical guys say that all four appear to be in some sort of stasis. They tell me that there’s no way to tell how old they are unless we wake them up and ask them.”
“Chief, under no circumstances are you to wake them up!” Osuna ordered.
“Yes, sir.” Braco replied, “To be honest with you something about them gives me the creeps anyway.”
“All right chief, keep me appraised of any changes.” Osuna said as he disconnected from Chief Braco and replaced the handset.
Grabbing his coffee Captain Osuna rocked back in his chair and continued watching the play back from the Ru’non ships log. His interest peaked when the Ru’non captain resumed talking about how they had discovered the pod on board a very old derelict ship of unknown origin that was adrift.
The Ru’non captain said that they had encountered the ship while preparing to do maintenance on a deep space relay. The captain reported that there was no crew on board, and that several, what he believed to be escape pods, had been launched. They had discovered the stasis pod, which the Ru’non captain kept referring to as the artifact, in one of the ship’s cargo bays.
Captain Osuna sat up in his chair and leaned in close to the screen as the Ru’non captain described the artifact as having hieroglyphs that were ancient human in origin. The Ru’non captain then said that the hieroglyphs roughly translated to something about the destroyers of worlds, but that their ships data base regarding ancient human languages was insufficient to fully translate the entire inscriptions.
Osuna watched as the demeanor of the Ru’non captain changed, taking on a deadly serious tone.
Osuna could see the fear in the Ru’non captain’s eyes as he described an encounter they had, with a species unknown to humans, which he called the Doru’ka.
The captain didn’t go into detail about the Doru’ka except to say that they hadn’t seen one of their ships for several years. He went on to report that the Doru’ka had jumped into their area, fired on them, and then demanded for them to surrender the artifact.
The Ru’non captain said that they were able to evade the Doru’ka by exploding their deep space relay, which created a distraction allowing them to jump away.
“Clever.” Osuna said out loud as he took a drink from his coffee.
As the Ru’non captain began to describe the damage done to his ship by the Doru’ka several alarm bells began ringing on the bridge. One of the bridge officers began yelling something about an enemy ship jumping into their space and firing on them.
There was an explosion on the bridge of the Ru’non ship and the video log playback began to stutter and fragment with static.
Osuna took another slow drink from his coffee as he squinted at the now staticky playback. He could see off to the side of the Ru’non captain a pinpoint of light that suddenly expanded into a shimmering doorway.
“What the fuck!” Captain Osuna barked as he spit coffee all over the screen at the sight of four, nearly seven foot tall, bi-pedal, reptilian looking creatures wearing dark colored uniforms rush through the shimmering doorway and onto the bridge of the Ru’non ship.
The reptilian creatures, which had large heads and very pronounced snouts with large mouths filled with large, glimmering teeth, tore into the screaming Ru’non.
“Stop playback!” Osuna ordered as he stood from his chair, transfixed at the paused, staticky image of the Ru’non captain being attacked by one of the reptilian creatures.
Still trying to make sense of what he had just seen Osuna stepped from the conference room and out onto the bridge.
“Captains on the bridge.” Chief Hullerman said as she looked somewhat perplexed at Captain Osuna, who had the facial expression of someone who had just seen a ghost.
Osuna’s expression turned to anger as he looked right at Chief Hullerman, “Battle stations!”
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