Authors: Max Feinstein
As the
Federation
task group closed on Transit Gate 2 over the course of several minutes the series of beacon lights around the Gate structure started to pulse slowly. This rhythmic pulsation quickened over several seconds and the bright white light turned into a cautious amber before finally transitioning to crimson. While the light show took place, the two patrolling ships ceased their racetrack pattern of flight and quickly maneuvered to take up positions on either of the gate. No sooner than they arrived at their stations the lights surrounding the front of the facility terminated their flashing. One in three of the beacons turned back to amber, creating a pattern, before the lights started to flash once more, only this time they appeared to move around the gate’s opening in a clockwise rotation. This was the signal to indicate gate activation.
With the task group closing on their Holding Point the entire formation slowly decelerated.
Even Warthington looked up from his console as bluish white light erupted inside the Transit Gate’s rectangular structure, stitching the space between with energy. The energy pulses quickened with each passing second until the whole interior was consumed with a static like appearance. The field struggled to stay active, like someone being roused from a deep sleep, and Rebeka could feel the bridge crew as a whole held their breaths, even though they had witnessed this very event countless times before. And just like on those previous occasions the energy field stabilized within mere second into a blue-white portal that slowly spiraled counterclockwise.
“
Captain Alokow’s fighters moving in to dock ma’am,” stated the communications officer as she continued to monitor her assigned station.
Rebeka gave a small nod, almost to herself, in acknowledgement and turned slightly towards the carrier’s starboard side. She watched as the first group of
four aging AF-103B Dragonfires came into view as they headed on approach to the starboard side of the carrier’s large hanger bay. Behind that flight was another getting closer, followed by yet one more, spaced equidistantly from each other. Following these initial 103Bs, however, were ten brand new craft of a kind that had never graced the old carrier’s flight deck. These I/A-4 Cyclone interceptors of Razor Squadron had been transferred to
Federation’s
command by Admiral Kolhov along with Captain Alokow, their commander. The veteran was now the commanding officer of the Task Force’s Carrier Wing.
She couldn’t see any other craft without zooming the image, but the
entire reinforced fighter wing had stretched out across a large section of space so that each double pair had the right amount of time to dock properly and not delay the others. It also helped that the
Federation
had a hanger that stretch the entire width of the ship, giving each fighter plenty of room to maneuver into position. It could fit almost an entire undocked squadron on its spacious deck, which for the moment would be kept entirely clear as each fighter was pulled into its own bay on the hanger’s periphery.
“The convoy is coming through now
,” Captain Stewart stated as he stared at his Commodore with a bit of smile on his face.
When Rebeka turned around quickly to look back at him he turned away towards the front of the bridge. She couldn’t help but notice his face getting a little red. It was probably her imagination, she thought to herself, and pushed it out of her mind. There were more important things to focus on for the moment.
The static field at the Transit Gate distorted for a second and drew Rebeka’s attention. She watched as the forward hull of a cargo transport materialized at the center of the revolving energy field. Slowly more and more of the ship’s hull eased its way through the portal into the Tesa System. The freighter itself was nothing special, a class used by most transport companies within the Federation. It had a flat top and slanted sides, but the underside was all business with dozens of large cargo containers attached. Rebeka continued to watch as the transport cleared the gate field and pulled three other cargo modules behind it, each almost as big as the freighter itself.
Once it cleared the gate three similar transports made their transition into the system. They had all probably come from different colonies
within the Fringe Sector, Commodore Jonstan guessed, since Transit Gate 2 was mostly used for intrasector movement. Gate 1, on the other hand was usually reserved for travel into the rest of Federation controlled space. Being a military controlled system, Tesa was endowed with two Gates for reasons of increased traffic and more importantly, strategic necessity.
“
Federation
, Tesagia SpaceCom,” came a loud voice through the bridge’s speakers, “you are cleared for transit. Admiral Kolhov sends his regards.”
With that the voice cut out and left the bridge in silence. Back at the gate the group of freighters were already accelerating away when the transit field quickly disengaged, plunging the surrounding space back into darkness. That darkness didn’t last long, however, as the entire activation process restarted just as quickly. This time when the field stabilized it was rotating in the opposite direction.
It wasn’t the only difference, though. For some unknown reason Rebeka Jonstan, a veteran office of thirty-two years, felt butterflies in her stomach as she stared into the eye of the Transit Field. She hadn’t felt that way since the first time her father took her through a Gate. Her palm opened as it rested on her leg and she looked down at the image of her family once more before shifting her eyes towards the front of the bridge and the void beyond.
“Captain, take us in
,” she ordered in a soft tone, “the sooner we get there, the sooner we can go back to our families.”
A sudden ignition of bright white light in the clear dark sky brought Styker Telwin back to the reality that was his life.
With a soft groan he blinked his eyes slowly and wished to be taken back to his mind-world. A world where problems didn’t exist. A world where everything was perfect. A place where all were happy. And more importantly, a world where he didn’t feel like a horrible husband.
Styker inhaled the aroma of his coffee as the steam from the cup in his right hand wafted over him. His eyes gazed down slightly to watch the vapor ascend before getting caught in the salty breeze coming off the ocean and float over him. He slowly closed his eyes in an effort to bring himself some calm. He had a family to worry about and he couldn’t let them see him this way, especially in the hours before his departure.
The thought of him leaving his family again made him cringe a little on the inside, from the pain he felt for them, but perhaps also from just a bit of relief. That last realization made him ashamed and angry, causing him to look down sternly at his left hand as it rested on the balcony railing in front of him. In the palm was a glowing projection of his new deployment orders. Styker drew a stern face and took a deep long breath as he balled his hand into a tight fist, watching the projection dissipate into nothingness as his NetCom registered the gesture. With his mind still racing the colonel gazed back up to follow the flight path of the ascending ship. He found the pair of glowing exhaust nozzles shrinking in the distance. His dark red irises rotated slowly as his vision zoomed in on the transport’s rear with his military enhanced ocular implants.
As he followed the ship, Styker wondered where it was going, wishing for just a second that it was him inside traveling away from all his problems. The answer didn’t take long in coming, however. His pilot’s Neural Implant intercepted his thoughts and almost like second nature accessed Telcore’s restricted military network. His identification was quickly verified and the system processed all known variables, including the ship’s time and spaceport of departure. The identification of the transport displayed in front of him within his vision. It was the
Expedient,
registered to one of the largest shipping conglomerates in the Federation, Express TransCo. The flight plan also stated that it was going to Tycon, a small mining colony in the Leo Sector, on the opposite side of the Federation from Telcore.
Beyond the transport, in the distance, a flash of lightening caught his attention. Another storm was building beyond the horizon, kept at bay by the Bureau of Weather Management. He could just make out the dark swirling clouds, just like the conflict evolving within himself. A conflict Styker knew he would have to resolve for the good of his family. All he knew was that he couldn’t keep the secret from Miranda, his wife, any longer. She deserved better than what he was giving her. She deserved love, love that he felt had disappeared between them long ago, mostly on his part.
Just as he went to take another sip of now warm coffee, a loud sharp cry from the room behind him reminded Styker that it wasn’t just their two lives on the line from his decision. His four year old could always read the tension in the household before a deployment and reacted in the only way known to her. Among the sound of the crying, Miranda’s soft voice reached his ears as she tried to console their young daughter Chloe. One day she would realize, Styker thought, that the reason her father was constantly going away was to protect her and their entire family from the evils that existed in the universe. She would hopefully learn to forgive him and understand how much it pained him to be away from the family for so long.
Styker looked at his half empty cup, tilting it around slightly to swirl the dark liquid around, and decided it was time to go back inside and face his family before he had to leave. Gripping the clear balcony safety railing the
Commander took one last look over the beautiful Inselstadt Bay and part of the Telcore capital stretching out below him as it wrapped around the perimeter of the bay. The high vantage point from his high-rise housing unit allowed him a perfect view of the island city as well as the two other nearby island masses to which the city had sprawled to over the years. Inselstadt was a beautiful tropical city in the day, but it shinned and sparked at night with each towering building projecting out different colors. Between the buildings were also large floating holographic billboards advertising various goods and services from around the Federation. For the past few weeks, however, these large buildings had also been covered in various holiday colors and pictures, projected on them in preparation for the holidays and New Year’s Eve Celebration in the coming week. One of the structures was now displaying a massive pine tree covered in ornaments in recognition of tomorrow being Christmas Day. Styker had never really celebrated the holiday with traditional trees, but still indulged his kids with presents, like his parents did with him. In this day and age there were really few people that celebrated holidays in the ways of the past. Holidays weren’t about religion, but spending time with your loved ones.
His eye
s focused once more on Hemprish Spaceport secured in the middle of the bay just as another ship took off, a navy shuttle craft this time. Unlike the freighter, the shuttle quickly pitched up into an almost vertical position tail and accelerated rapidly towards the heavens. Curiosity as to the shuttle’s final destination crossed his thoughts before Styker settled his cup down on the railing and finally turned away from the spectacular view. He pushed his way gently through the thin curtains covering the entire length of the glass wall that separated the family room from the balcony and took in the sight of his family getting ready for his departure. His hand softly ran down the inside facing side of the curtain’s fabric as he forced a smile for his children. Behind him, the see-through fabric slowly altered itself into a tight solid arrangement, one no longer capable of letting light through.
He heard a high pitched squeal and kneeled down with open arms and a wide smile to accept his daughter into his large arms. Styker hugged her tight and ran a hand through her long dirty blonde hair, trying to give her as much comfort as possible while she cried softly into his chest. Inside he felt sadness for her pain. She had seen him go away on deployments many times, but never so soon after returning from one. Somehow, he thought to himself, perhaps a child’s intuition, she felt how strange the situation currently was. Maybe she was even picking up on something he was doing subconsciously, he couldn’t be sure. All he knew was that she wasn’t fully buying his happy act.
“Don’t cry baby girl, daddy will be home soon, I promise
,” he said softly as he pulled Chloe away gently and looked down into her hazel eyes with a warm smile, “I always keep my promises, don’t I Chloe?”
His little angel ran her hands over her eyes to wipe the tears away and sniffed gently as she tried her best to hold back more tears. She looked back up at him with her red eyes and slowly nodded a “yes” to his question.
Kissing the top of her head, as he tried to console her, Styker looked up to see Miranda standing there. She was watching him with a tight lipped face and her arms folded across her chest, just above her bulging pregnant belly. He knew that look well, she was blaming him for hurting their children, as if it was his choice. Choice or not, however, Styker knew that in a small way his wife was right.
“
You get to open presents tomorrow morning, that should be fun right? Just save one for me until I get back so we can open it together,” he smiled and took her tiny hand into his before laying it over his heart as he watched her, “just know that daddy loves you and always will. You’ll always be with me.”
There was movement within his peripheral vision and Styker’s eyes looked up once more reflexively. His son, Nathan, had moved closer to his mother. He stood still with hands at his sides, which Styker noted to be clinched into tight fists
and his face turned away, towards the display screen on the nearby wall. Nathan, trying to act older than his thirteen years of age, was holding back tears in the face of his father’s departure. Styker had always admired the boy’s determination and courage. He had taught him that emotions and tears were never the same as weakness, but Nathan had never seen his father cry before and so the simple words meant very little to him.
As Styker stood up he pulled his daughter up and into his arms. Slowly walking towards his wife and son, he smiled as he watched Chloe carefully run her small finger
s over his Commander rank chevrons. These chevrons, one over each collarbone, glowed in a soft golden light and were in the shape of a circle, but with one wedge cut out at the twelve o’clock position. Within this golden circle was the image of a planet, the capital of the United Planets Federation, which Chloe was carefully tracing.
Only a few steps away from Miranda, Styker paused as he watched her turn and look towards the projecting in-wall display mimicking his son in the process. Her hand slowly moved from across her chest to the soft curve of her cheek to quickly wipe away a rogue tear. Squeezing Chloe a little tighter in his arms, the colonel followed his wife’s gaze to the monitor and saw the reason for her renewed sadness, a news update on TNN, which happened to be the main local planetary news agency.
“A statement to the press was just released from Admiral McConnel
l of Aquarius Sector Command.”
Styker finally heard as he concentrated on the low volume sound coming from the wall speakers and watched as the graphics changed alongside the pretty blonde anchorwoman to show some stock footage of different naval vessel formations conducting various maneuvers.
“In the release,”
continued the newswoman,
“the Admiral acknowledged that a large scale RED exercise was indeed underway throughout the whole of the Aquarius Sector, as well as, multiple other Federation sectors. She assured the citizens of Aquarius that these were simply unscheduled drills launched in order to evaluate military preparedness and that no speculations should be entertained about their meaning.”
“To those viewers not accustomed to military terminology, RED stands for Ra
pid Emergency Deployment. While this sounds bad, in actuality they happen many times a year for certain military units throughout the Federation. The deployments are initiated for a number of reasons, such as natural disaster assistance or relief as well as for pirate raid defense and search and rescue response.”
“With that said, we at TNN wish all our service men and women involved in the RED
Happy Holidays and the best of luck on their deployments. We hope they get to come back home soon. When we return we’ll take a look at the latest business news and have an interview with Mr. Redic Skyler about his company, RedSky Enterprises, purchase of TransGalactic Corporation. We’ll ask him what his plans are for the future of TransGalactic and how this acquisition will affect the company’s stock.”
Styker finished listening and moved to stand in front of Miranda and Nathan. He supported Chloe’s weight with one hand under her rear and held her close while running his other hand softly over Miranda’s moist cheek. As he slowly tilted her head up to look into her eyes, Styker smiled and leaning in to kiss her lips gently.
“See Mira, nothing to be worried about. It’s just a harmless drill. We’ll run some maneuvers and be back home before you know it,” with the smile still on his face he reached down to cradle her pregnant belly in his hand, caressing it slowly as he looked at Miranda. “Anyways, you know I can’t leave for too long, this little girl is due any day now.”
Miranda finally let out a smile and looked back at her husband, running one of her hands down over the one he had rested on her stomach.
“You remember that mister,” she said after a moment and shook her head slowly, “you always did have a way with bad timing.”
That last comment made Styker laugh, causing him to forget his worries for just a second or two. He wrapped his free hand around his wife and hugged her tight, pinning their daughter between them as he felt Miranda’s hands move around him as well.
The happiness within him subsided almost as quickly as he realized that this was the probably the first real loving hug they had both shared in a good while and that realization brought with it a ting of increased guilt. He knew that he was the one culpable in the way things were between them, but at this very moment there was not much he could do. At the moment his mission was to give comfort to his family and return as quickly as possible from this deployment in order to keep a promise to his children.
Their moment together ended with the soft chime of a doorbell resounding through the room. Styker let out a sigh and looked over his wife’s shoulder at the corridor on the opposite side of the room that led towards the apartment’s entrance. From his vantage point he could ma
ke out the heavily frosted glasteel door and the silhouette standing on the other side of it. He still remembered how they had first moved into the housing unit years ago, right after his promotion and transfer to Telcore. That door had been Miranda’s idea, one that had taken place during his first deployment from the planet. He had never understood the need for it, but then again, he was a man, as his wife lovingly explained to him upon his return home.