A ship closely resembling a cargo-carrier appeared on the main viewscreen, followed by tactical information on the right-hand-side of the screen specifying the ship's hull classification, hull and shield integrity, and life forms on board. "Well, hello there, Magellan. This is Chief Scientist Mason Andrews." a male voice filled the bridge. Hope you had a good trip gettin' 'ere?"
The Admiral waved the Captain off from speaking, at least for the moment, "This is the Admiral commanding Magellan. We're fine, thank you. We're here by order of Command to provide security for your science experiment. Do you need anything else from us?" Aaen noted she was unusually direct to the point. He detected a hint of the prior indication he had picked up on from her minutes earlier. He reasoned she was trying to put on a brave front for the rest of the bridge—but Aaen knew better.
"Well, funny you should mention it, Admiral. If it's not too much to ask, if you could launch some patrols to help keep anyone who might want to steal what we're trying to test, here, today, safe, I'd sure be grateful. This is my life's work. I want to make sure it stays out of the wrong hands if you know what I mean?"
"Yes. I'm instructing my crew to launch shuttles and probes, immediately."
"Sounds great, Admiral! Thank ya kindly! I recommend we keep and maintain an open comm link throughout the experiment for safety."
"Agreed." she replied directly.
"Alrighty! Well, the first step is to launch a specially-modified probe containing the experiment from my ship about half-million kilometers to the coordinates I'm having sent to your Exec, right now."
The Exec nodded confirmation of receipt.
"The device will combine matter, anti-matter, and a metallic element together with specific timing. If everything goes how I think it will, it will create a Vortex that will enable starships to travel faster than translight factor nine—all as common as you would use translight drive,"
"Wow." Andrews gasped.
Aaen decided he had to see this. He noticed the Intelligence Officer finished decoding the message and rushed it to the Captain. His curiosity had been piqued about the message. Judging by the coding of the message, he couldn't help but guess that it must have been classified. The next question was obvious.
The Captain started carefully reading the message, and then rushed to the Admiral's station. The Admiral's conversation continued with Andrews.
"Well, the process should take about a minute, altogether, after the probe detonates. Now, Admiral, it's very important that the probe is not interfered with while the experiment is in progress. I'll be collecting readings sent to me by the probe until it detonates, and then I'll need every scanner we've got between my ship and your Station to gather as much data as possible."
"Understood. I'll have my Executive Officer run continual sensor scans when you launch the probe."
"Sounds like a plan, Admiral! Thank you for getting here so quickly."
"No problem."
"By the way, have you detected any other ships in the area?"
Aaen and the two senior command officers looked at the Exec, who did a passive sensor scan and then turned his head three seconds later.
"No. None."
"Alright, well, keep an eye out. I'll start the probe launch sequence right now."
"Good luck, Andrews."
"You too, Admiral."
"Chief of Ops, start launching runabouts and prepare the Ranger for launch. Strategic Operations: launch reconnaissance and tactical probes. Form a perimeter around the area. If any unauthorized ships get within sensor range, I wanna know about it."
"Sir!" both Officers nodded emphatically.
"Admiral!" the Exec yelled, standing up sharply.
"What?"
"New sensor contact at long-range, at our ten o'clock!"
"What is it?"
"Not sure. Some kind of distortion. It might be nothing, but it looks like it's getting closer to us."
"We need those reconnaissance probes launched—fast!" the Admiral declared.
"Gettin' 'em launched as fast as I can!"
"Good! Good!" the Admiral sounded reassuring. The loud, sharp, abrupt scream of the probes being launched sounded in an irregular sequence. "Exec, until further notice, put the station on DefCon Two." a sharp chill went up and down Aaen spine. One more upgrade of the Station's alert readiness would tell everyone on board that the Station was either about to be engaged or was engaged in combat, or Command had just sent out a priority-one message to all senior command officers throughout the fleet—regardless of their stationing—informing them that The Union was now at war.
The lights on the bridge—and undoubtedly the rest of the Station—changed, accompanied by another, darker and more concerning alert. The lights kept their coloration since DefCon three but dimmed noticeably. The Chief and Deputy of Security were frantically arming, assigning, and then deploying security personnel throughout the Station. More alarms sounded when a runabout shuttle launched, and more probes had been launched. Ten minutes later, Aaen watched the Exec's sensor monitor—which looked more like a radar screen—fill with numerous dots of various shapes and sizes, undoubtedly representing the sensor contact. Before long, the various contacts spread out from the small solid dot in the center of the screen and nearly filled the screen—but there was still that distortion, and it kept fading in and out—like it was and wasn't there. It wasn't too much bigger than the symbolic representations of the shuttles and numerous probes that had been launched.
"The distortion's changed course . . . Still, no idea who or what it is." said the Exec.
Aaen guessed that there had to be at least a thin cloud of probably a hundred probes of various classes swarming outside the station right now.
"Captain! The runabouts have reached their starting points and are starting their perimeter patrol!" said Lieutenant Malcolm.
"Confirmed!" said the Exec.
"Admiral, it sounds like we've got some uninvited guests!" Andrews said.
"Maybe. We're working on finding out the details."
"Am I okay to continue with the experiment?"
"Yes. Proceed."
"Alrighty! Standby for probe launch in T-minus-sixty seconds!"
"Understood!" the Admiral said enthusiastically. She started reading the document. Her expression changed.
The Exec leaned to the Captain and mumbled something, and then the Captain rushed to the Admiral and quietly said something to her. The Admiral nodded at her, and then looked up at the main viewscreen. The Captain rushed to Security to relay a message, and then returned to the upper-most level of the bridge.
"Alright, Admiral: probe away!" a large, elongated, silver metal tube shot into space at what Aaen guessed was high-sublight. The bridge watched the main viewscreen as the probe soared into space; Magellan's sensors began tracking the probe instantly well into the 11 o'clock direction, and then it's course changed to twelve o'clock. Fifteen seconds later, the probe stopped.
"Alright, so far so good!" Andrews said. "Everything's going as expected, Admiral! The probe should be detonating in about thirty seconds!"
"Alright. We're monitoring it closely!"
"—Captain!" the Lieutenant Malcolm, the Chief of Ops, called. She snapped. The Lieutenant Malcolm pointed out different readings on his screen, readings the captain absorbed quickly and then looked at the main viewscreen with an unmistakeable look of sudden-onset panic.
"Admiral! We've got a perimeter alert! One of the probes is detecting 'Verteron particles.'"
"Do you know what's causing them?" Aaen asked. He realized he spoke out of turn, but didn't care right now. Besides, the rest of the bridge didn't seem to care at the moment. Aaen noticed the Admiral's expression hadn't changed in the last ten minutes. Something's up . . . What was in that message? Aaen was almost stewing over the question. Whatever the message, the Admiral was being extraordinarily careful about making sure only she and the captain could read the message.
"All hands! This is the Admiral!—All decks are hereby placed on security alert bravo! Security will seal off all sensitive areas of the Station—" the protocols that had just been ordered active are many and far-reaching. Any ships that dock with the Station from this point would have to be all but torn apart and examined almost part for part . . . this 'fortress' was now all but under absolute lockdown. Command must suspect that at least one of the supposed 'spies' may be on board, Aaen speculated. How good could a foreign spy really be? He asked himself.
"Uh, Captain, this is Lieutenant Watson, down 'ere in Engineering."
"Yes, Lieutenant?"
"Captain, I'd strongly recommend against using the translight drive for at least a day."
"—Why?"
"Someone's tampered with the magnetic control actuation servos. Recently. Basically what that means is if we try to activate the translight drive anytime soon, until my team down here can repair the damage, the station could explode as soon as it's activated!"
"Don't activate translight!" the captain said to Aaen. He quickly nodded acknowledgment. The captain turned to the bridge engineer. "Take all power out of the translightdrive! Security, any word on that missing crewman?"
"Yes, they found him in a stasis chamber in sickbay."
"Why was he in stasis?"
"Someone knocked him out and hid him there, and then destroyed his comm badge. There were pieces of the comm badge all over the floor."
"Whoever tampered with the translight drive could have used his security access information to access the translight components that were damaged."
"—The only way that could have happened is if—"
"Someone had the same retinal scan which means—"
"We have a shapeshifter on board!" Aaen quipped. "What about the scientist's probe?"
"Everything's on schedule, so far!"
"Object detected at 11 o' clock!" said the Exec. "—another at two o'clock!—Six!—And nine!"
"How did they get through our perimeter?" the Captain asked.
"They must be using some kind of new stealth system that our probes and sensors can't penetrate."
Multiple distortions appeared on the main viewscreen, which quickly started shimmering, and then became distinguishable as ships. Suddenly, the main viewscreen filled with weapon fire—and it was directed at the scientist's probe! Aaen realized.
"Open a channel to those ships!" the Admiral ordered.
"I'm trying! They're not responding!"
"Def Con One!" the lights turned a dark, sharp neon red and a repeating thundering alarm filled the bridge. If the Station were an animal, it would have been a lion roaring at the top of its lungs, Aaen judged. "Strategic Ops, lock cannons and torpedoes onto those ships!"
"Captain! Admiral! The probe's taking fire! Its only got light shielding. It's not designed for combat! The process can't be interrupted or—"
"We're working on it. Standby!" the Captain replied. Aaen watched as the probe's protective casing sparked with each weapon impact—the probe's course and speed changed sharply . . . It was on a rapid, flat and directionless spin in seconds.
"Weapons deployed, and locked on targets!"
"We're losin' it, Admiral!" Watson said.
"—Fire. All. Weapons! Tactical probes: fire at will!" she said authoritatively. "Exec, I need to know who those ships are!"
"Scanning! No idea who they are!"
The cannons hissed as Aaen watched directed beams of red-orange particle energy repeatedly slammed their targets. The targets' shields lit up with each impact. A blinding wave of torpedoes soared at their targets, finding their targets in less than a second. The bridge crew cheered.
"Direct hits on all targets. Targets have sustained moderate to severe shield damage. Looks like nearly all of our torpedoes thus far have gotten through. What got through has taken out part of their shield grid and caused moderate damage to their secondary hull. Another cannons sweep should take them out!"
"Captain! I just lost power to the weapons! All weapon systems are offline!"
"Shields!"
"Still online!"
"Engineer, what's going on with the lights?"
"Running diagnostics!"
"I'm not detecting any transponder signal, Captain!" Exec said. "Their weapon signatures appear to be Rotelan, Tholarian, and Fereni!—One of the ships has been disabled, the others are turning towards us!" One of the ships was massive, green, resembling a large predatory bird; the other was a geometrically perfect elongated diamond shape; the other ship looked like a giant orange space-faring beetle. Could they really be trying to work together to steal the probe? Aaen wondered . . . The Fereni ship was just pummeled with high-yield torpedoes. Its external lights were struggling to stay on as it was obviously adrift with burning holes in his ventral hull. The other two ships withstood the barrage a little better, but Aaen doubted they could withstand another volley.
"They're trying to steal the probe!" Aaen said.
"We're not going to let that happen!" the Admiral said.
"They're locking weapons on us!" Exec said.
"Hail the lead ship again!" the Captain said. The Admiral returned to her chair.
"—No response!"
A dark green torpedo warhead fired from the front of the largest ship, impacting its target with computer-like precision—the probe exploded in a brilliant burst of white light. The light's brightness built for nearly fifteen seconds, Aaen guessed, and then started to dim. Aaen couldn't help but notice sensor readings from multiple bridge stations started flashing and flickering as the Station's sensors were apparently gathering massive amounts of data.
"What's going on?" the Admiral asked, interested.
"Cap'n!" Andrews called.
"What is it, Andrews?"
"—We've got a problem!"
"He's right! I'm getting really erratic readings at the probe's last location. What. In. The. World?"
"What?" Aaen asked.
The deck started subtly vibrating.
"The readings I'm getting don't make any sense!" Exec said.
"Captain!" Andrews called. "I can explain the readings!"
"What's going on, Andrews?" the Captain asked.
"Precisely what I feared! The process inside the probe didn't complete, and the new reaction is . . ." the line gradually became distorted with static. ". . .ing. . .temp. . .dist. . .hole in. . .sp. . .time!—"
"Andrews! We aren't reading you! Repeat what you said!—Andrews!"
"We're losing the comm line!" said Ensign Henderson.
". . .Cap!. . .ou here me!. . .Fall. . .ba. . .!"
"Andrews!" the Captain called.
Ensign Henderson turned his head. "We lost the line!"
"The Rotelan and Tholarian ships are charging weapons!" Exec said. "Andrews' changing course and leaving the area at high-sublight!"
"Let him! We've gotta figure out what happened out there!" the Admiral said.
The bridge gradually went dark as what appeared to be a black hole appeared on the main viewscreen.
"Admiral! We're moving!" Aaen announced. "The Station is moving!"
"I didn't give you an order to change our heading or speed. What's going on?"
"Engines are powered down." he pointed to his computer screens. "And our heading hasn't changed."
"Where are we going?" she asked concerned.
"We're getting closer to the anomaly!" Exec said. "Gravity levels are increasing outside the Station! We're being pulled in! It looks like some kind of a temporal anomaly! The Rotelans and the Tholarians are trying to pull away from the anomaly! They're barely moving! The runabouts and our probes are even being pulled in!"
"Commander! Full reverse thrusters!"
"Yes, Admiral!"
"Gravity levels are increasing gradually as we get closer!" Exec announced.
"Full reverse thrusters!" Aaen declared. The hull turbulence increased dramatically.
"The anomaly's size is increasing! Admiral, there appears to be a hole in space-time!" Exec said.
"What does that mean?" The bridge crew was struggling to hang on to their desks as the turbulence increased in strength. The lights started flickering and a small burst of sparks shot from an array of overhead lights. Magellan was handling the intense external conditions well, for a space station, Aaen judged.
"It means there's no way to know where or when we're headed!"
The anomaly was now glowing bright white. Aaen squinted at the main viewscreen. Something was appearing in the center. —THAT SHIP! Aaen realized, recognizing the ship's shape. "Exec, are you reading any mass inside the anomaly?"
"Yeah! There's something there! But I can't make out what it is!—"
A sharp shudder nearly knocked the bridge crew onto the deck plating.
What are those hull markings? Aaen wondered. "I-S-F—" the rest was too hard to distinguish because of the shuddering.
"Captain! It's gonna get bumpy!" Watson yelled over the turbulence.
"Reverse thrusters ineffective!" Aaen said.
"Distance to the anomaly?" the Admiral asked.
"One-hundred-thousand-kilometers and closing fast!" Exec replied. "It's like we're being inhaled and then swallowed!"
"Commander!—Can we go emergency reverse on translight!" the Captain asked leaning over the front of Aaen's computer.
"Urgh!—Maybe! But we risk tearing the station apart! The gravimetric shears from that anomaly are a hundred-fold more intense than the translight conduit!"
Time, itself, seemed to slow and blur—like reality flowed in frame rate bursts. The speech from the rest of the bridge crew sounded like their voices had been deepened and rendered sluggish. The anomaly was now shining on the bridge like a giant spotlight. Aaen cringed as he turned his head and covered his face with one arm while keeping the reverse thrusters firing. Some bridge crew members fell on the deck as he leaned in different directions to try to keep himself from falling. He felt like the Station had suddenly accelerated—but all of his computer readings were indistinguishable. He just held onto his desk for dear life.
After what seemed like ten seconds had passed, the main viewscreen darkened as the feeling of acceleration slowed until the Station felt still; the blinding white light gradually turned to still stars. The bridge was filled with gasps of relief. The bridge crew pulled themselves up from the deck and took their stations.
"—Report!" the Admiral said.
"Near-total loss across the board! We're on reserve power." the Engineer said.
"Watson to bridge! Is everyone alright up there?"
"Yeah, we're okay!" the Captain said. Aaen noted the entire right-wing of the bridge computer stations read "OFFLINE" in large red lettering. He read his computer screens, "This Computer Station is offline due to damage to the affected system, or lack of power. Please consult with bridge engineer and/or chief engineer." The bridge filled with reports of the same message
"We need a Medical team to the bridge!" the Admiral said.
"Captain! There's a ship out there!" Aaen said. The bridge' attention focused on the main viewscreen. A large jet-black mass was blocking the light from several bright and beautiful stars.
"Can we get any power to short-range communications?" the Captain asked.
"Workin' on it, Captain," Watson replied with enthusiasm.
"Those markings!" Aaen said.
"Do you recognize that ship, Aaen?" the Admiral asked.
"Yeah. I saw it before on a mission on the Voyager. The ship's registry, I think, is I-S-F-C. . .something!"
"What does 'I-S-F-C'. . .what does that stand for?" the Captain asked.
"I don't know."
Several stations on right-wing normalized.
A reverberating electrical hum filled the bridge. "We're being scanned!" Exec announced.
"Scan at twelve o'clock! Can we get spotlights on the contact on the main viewscreen?"
"Working on it!" said Lieutenant Malcolm.
Ten seconds later, the subject on the main viewscreen lit up. Aaen eyed the ship's registry. 'I-S-F-C—131—A', the ship's name: 'USSC Aurora.''
—The lights gradually blinked out. (5)
"Engineer?" the Admiral asked.
"—Total power failure, Admiral! The last reading I got before my computer blacked out indicated—"
"Uh, just a sec, Captain. Trying to get main power back onli—" Watson said, the line cut out.
"Watson?" the Captain called.
—Aaen felt like he was being watched. He looked to his right to see only darkness—and then the lights blinked on to their dimmest level. Aaen leaned to his right and squinted at what he thought was a small darkly dressed humanoid figure. Five seconds later, the lights blinked on—
Aaen jumped at the sight of a particle rifle barrel creeping around a corner; it was trained on him. The bridge filled with panicked gasps and expressions of shock. How did they get through the bridge security lockouts? Aaen wondered as he carefully looked around him. Eight—no, ten soldiers dressed in black, unmarked tactical gear Aaen wasn't familiar with. They were expertly positioned throughout the bridge—with one aiming at the Admiral. Whoever they are, they're not fidgeting, Aaen noted, silently hoping the one aiming at him won't fire. He slowly sat upright.
"Security, stand down!—Stand down!" the Admiral said.
"Identify yourself." a distorted male voice asked directly.
"I'm Admiral Jensen, I am in command of DSS Magellan. We're human! We're not your enemy!"
Five seconds later, Aaen heard the distorted male voice over his left shoulder say, "Alpha, stand down." the soldier aiming at Aaen relaxed. Aaen looked left to find the soldier aiming at the Admiral tapped a control under the left side of his helmet, causing the soldier's facial gear to retract behind the soldier's head.
"We had to make sure you were friendly," he stood at ease. (6)
"Who are you?" the Admiral asked concerned.
"Major Daniel Storm—Earth, Interplanetary Shadow Forces Corps." he extended his right hand as if expecting a handshake. The Shadow to Aaen's right entered the doorway, keeping one hand on the rifle's grip. The Shadow's face was still covered by some kind of smooth, non-reflective jet-black armor.
The Admiral, and Captain proceeded with Major Storm off the bridge; the Admiral gestured for Aaen to follow with the Chief of Security. The Captain looked at the Executive Officer, "Exec, when power is restored, put the Station on Def Con three."
He nodded acknowledgment as they proceeded off the bridge to the Station's briefing room, where a conversation started between the Admiral and Major Storm—a conversation Aaen was intent on being a part of.
*****
Steve H. told Jordan Foutin, "You are the next Tom Clancy. You really are a gifted writer."
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