Authors: Max Feinstein
“I know you have family on the planet Commander. The same is true for many in the group, but we have to be smart about this. Trust me when I say we will go back to Telcore as soon as possible and pay the enemy
back tenfold for every life they take. Now please, sit down so we can finish this meeting and get underway.”
It was apparent that neither of the commanding officers would budge from their standing orders and there would be nothing he could do from the brig. With clinched fists Commander Telwin forced himself to stop the fight and disengaged. “Yes Admiral, sorry sir.” Styker added and finally sat back down, not carrying what the others thought.
From that moment on no one else existed for him. He still heard the admiral’s voice, but not what was being said. He still felt Tiari’s hand on his trying to comfort him, but felt nothing back for her. It was like his whole mind shut down except for thoughts of his family. All of the training and teaching he had gone through was instantly thrown out the window. No longer was he just a good soldier following orders. At that point Styker became a very concerned parent and husband. Before the debriefing had even finished a plan was already formulated inside the commander’s mind.
Upon dismissal both he and Tiari filed out of the room along with the others. Styker heard her voice from what seemed like a distance. When he failed to answer she grabbed him firmly and turned his body to face her.
“Styker! Snap out of it,” when he finally looked down at her he could see sincere worry in her eyes, “I’ve never seen you like this Hotshot. You’re scaring me.”
He took a breath and forced a smile after a second of studying her face. Reaching up he ran one hand over her cheek, “sorry Tia, I’m alright
. I don’t mean to scare you. It was just a shock, you know.”
“Yeah, I can understand. It’s your family,” she frowned and wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him a little tighter than usual as if trying to prevent his drifting away from her. “We’ll rescue them soon enough. I’m sure these aliens aren’t out to get civies, its military targets they are after.”
“You’re probably right. I was just acting out,” Styker tried to comfort her by rubbing her back slowly.
“Promise me you’ll behave?”
“Promise, I’m just tired and irrational. Maybe I’ll go get some dinner and sleep?” he replied and looked down into her eyes again with a half-smile, “perhaps sleep first then dinner.”
“Yeah? Maybe I can join you?”
“Alright. How about we meet up in my quarters in twenty?”
With that she flashed him her smile and kissed his cheek, “sounds good hotshot, I’ll see you there.”
As he watched her turn and walk away Styker’s smile quickly receded away. What remained was a hard emotionless expression. Once Tiari was safely out of site he turn away and proceeded deeper into the carrier. Some areas were now cordoned off with warnings and barrier fields in order to prevent anyone from wondering into damaged areas of the ship. Taking the long ways around these sealed areas added precious minutes to his rapidly decreasing timescale, but finally he stepped through the hatchway of the shuttle bay.
These launch platforms actually overlooked the cavernous main hanger bay of the
Regal
. In contrast to the crowded landing bay below the shuttle bay looked barren. Most of the platforms were empty with their craft on duty in the surrounding space. Walking along the corridor between the loading pads Styker finally reached his target craft. It was one of two Shadow class assault shuttle/transports still remaining onboard the carrier, while the others were out conducting rescue or recovery operations.
Styker approached the
twenty-two meter long shuttle’s flat nose and was instantly recognized by its internal computer system. His rank allowed him certain privileges, one of which was access to most areas of the
Regal
as well as every craft onboard. With a simple mental command the shuttle began to conduct its preflight diagnostic check and power-up sequence. Styker just initiated the order for the forward hatch to open when his standing there drew some unwanted attention from a maintenance technician nearby.
“Sir!” the tech jumped up from his work on a large engine assembly and straightened up, “can I help you?”
“At ease Petty Officer Wikler,” Styker replied after spinning around to study the man, hearing the hatch open behind him and the ramp descend, “I’m just taking her out on an engineering run. Is she ready for flight?”
“Yes sir, she is, but I haven’t received any flight orders.
Why do they have you driving Shadow’s now? Where’s Lieutenant Zelua?” the tech questioned and reached over for his wristcom that he had left on the workbench, “I’ll just check in with FLOPS to get it all squared away.”
“It was a last minute change.
The LT wasn’t feeling too hot so I volunteered. It’s just a shuttle run for an engineering team from the
Serpieri
to
Karabela
. Be back before you know it Petty Officer,” Styker tried his best to persuade the man as he turned to walk towards the shuttle’s open ramp.
“Understood sir, but I still have to clear it personally. I’m responsible for the craft, I’m sure you understand Commander. Please wait here. This will only take a second.”
“That will not be necessary. As I’ve said it was already cleared. I’m sure the orders will come through in the next few minutes.”
“I’m sure they will, sir, but I still have to confirm it before you take off. That’s protocol.”
His plan now slowly unraveling there remained only one viable option for the commander. Without further thought he turn around and at the same time pulled out the Stunner from his thigh holster. The Petty Officer saw the motion and looked back at Styker. He opened his mouth to speak, but before any words could emerge Styker pulled the trigger. Two white balls of energy shot out to hit the tech in the shoulder and chest. His body shook for just a few seconds before collapsing to the hard metallic deck as his neural network suffered a massive disruption.
With that he holstered the weapon and ran back towards the shuttle. It only took a quick jog before he was up the ramp and inside the cockpit.
Less than a minute after that the hatch sealed closed as the shuttle lifted into the air. Styker knew he only had a short time before the entire ship knew what was happening so he punched the throttle and accelerated out of the shuttle bay. At the same time he instructed the computers to run a thorough diagnostic of the remote command system in order to prevent the
Regal
from taking control of the ship while it plotted a route to Telcore.
“Commander Telwin, this if FLOPSCOM, stand down! I repeat stand down. You are not cleared for mission,” the orders came through clearly faster than Styker expected, “if you do not turn back you will be in violation of Naval Code and subject to AWOL designation.”
When he did not respond there was a rather long pause before Captain Chulovski came back online, “Raven, don’t do this, I plead with you. How long have we known each other? Come back and no charges will be brought on you. We can fix this.”
“The Captain is right Commander,” a new voice interrupted, that of Admiral Singh, “I know what you’re feeling. You are not yourself at the moment.
The records will show that you were still under some influence of the enemy. Don’t make us put out a warrant for your arrest.”
“I’m sorry Admiral. I respect you immensely and you have to do what you have to do, but this is something I can’t turn away from. You can court-martial me on Telcore once this over. I’ll see you on the other side, sir,” Styker added just as the computer finished its plot. With a deep breath he leaned back into the seat
only thinking about his family and triggered the jump. The whole galaxy fell away from him and he left all alone as the shuttle dropped into the opening to transdimensional space, instantly whisking him away from the Carrier Battle Group.
1
st
Lieutenant Nidia Kalharinus had been through these corridors and passageways countless times before during her eighteen month long assignment on NS Yakovski. This time, however, these same areas seemed different to her. She was stuck in a constant peripheral haze and tunnel vision that appeared similar to the dreams Nidia had experienced during the past week. Those dreams had only been vague memories, but this was something else. Here she was fully aware of every passing second, although unable to control her action in the least.
Lieutenant Kalharinus tried her best
to no avail to stop or at least slow her progress. When she couldn’t even command herself to look around she began to panic and worry about what was really happening. She felt totally possessed with no control over her own body. Perhaps this was just another dream, be it a very strange one, Nidia tried to reassure herself in order to calm down.
In minutes the panic began to subside and natural curiosity began to slowly take over. Every step and turn felt familiar to her. Nidia could almost always predict which hatch she would walk through and what corridor could be taken. As her confused mind regained focus the lieutenant
became more aware of the absence of activity on the station, causing her to guess that it was after curfew. Naval Station Yakovski was a full military facility and as such behaved like one. Everyone had lights out at the same time causing the station to appear devoid of life. In actuality NS Yakovski usually housed over twenty thousand sailors and Marines at any one time. These days, however, that number had grown even further as some enlisted brought their significant others as well as children to the station with them. This was something controversial among the services, but Nidia agreed with it wholeheartedly. If bringing ones immediate family with them on rotation allowed them some mental relief, why shouldn’t they be allowed that opportunity? She herself had brought her husband with her and it decreased her stress tremendously. No more was there a great sense of loss and distance between them, something that had broken up plenty of relationships in the past.
Along with these ever present men and women,
the Yak, as it was playfully referred to by those onboard, was also home to dozens of naval vessels. Many of these ships were often docked at the station for leave or supply replenishment prior to leaving on assigned missions. This made the station one the busiest ports in the entire Fringe Sector. Just three days prior it had gotten busier still with the arrival of the eight ship 32
nd
Marine Expeditionary Unit and its three thousand Marines. Word from the top was that they were going to head out to a training exercise. However, when the three super freighters arrived a day later with their holds completely filled with supplies and ordinance, Nidia realized something else was going on. She had prepared such units for training operations before and they had never needed such quantities of logical items. There was only one instance in which Logistical Support Service doctrine indicated resupply at these high levels, times of war.
Another turn brought her to
a different, much larger, entranceway. This now she recognized instantly without any hesitation. Being a LSS Officer Nidia had used this area of the station quite often during the loading and unloading of cargo from transport vessels. The numbers above the wide hatch indicated that this passage led to a dock that held one of the three freighters from which she was transferring supplies to the MEU vessels. Through the center of this hatch ran a small arch shaped notch that extended deep into the adjoining corridor and to the large blastdoor separating the docked freighter from the rest of the station. Nidia knew that this was in fact a Narrow Field Tractor or NFT, used to effortlessly transfer cargo containers from one hold to another.
She saw it in action now as the far away protective hatch parted vertically open to reveal the packed cargo hold that belonged to the docked super freighter. As she watched two deckhands belonging to her LSS unit emerged from within. Behind them one of the large supply containers effortless lifted into the air and floated cleanly through the hatch. The pair of workers guided this composite case further into Yakovski towards one of the central i
nternal warehouses. From there cargo could be transferred throughout the station as well as the Marine ships docked to her at the moment.
Nidia felt herself start to move again past the first hatchway, but was stopped in her tracks after the first step. Something was tugging at her uniform pants. It all felt completely numb to her although she swore that her body could feel a slight pull against it from below. Without her direct control Nidia’s head looked down at the obstruction. Expressionless and dreamlike, she stared straight into the eyes of a young girl
. She immediately recognized her as Cassada or Cassy as she called her. The girl was one of the many children now living on the naval station after being brought there by her parents for the duration of their duty tour. Somehow she had snuck out of her room to play.
Cassy giggled loudly when their eyes met and playfully ran away behind the hatch. When Nidia did not follow the girl looked back around the corner curiously.
At the same time another child ran into view, this one only a little older than Cassy.
“Nidia Nidia! Come play with us!” Cassy laughed again and bounced with excitement.
The boy stopped and smiled widely. He pulled out a small ball and tossed it at Nidia. She tried to catch it, but her body would not respond and the bouncing orb hit off the nearby wall. It redirected down the long corridor leading to the docking bay. Turning she saw it bounce into the freighter’s cargo hold and disappear from view.
“This area is off limits,” Nidia suddenly warned coldly in a monotone that was distinctly not her own, “you should leave immediately.”
She was shocked at her own uncharacteristic behavior and wanted to scream apologies to the two children for being so cold to them. Nidia herself loved kids and had played with these two many times before. Try as she might, however, she was unable to regain control of her body. Whatever this dream was it was starting to become frustratingly annoying. She wanted it to end so she could wake up back in her comfortable bed in the arms of the man she loved.
The dream pressed on, though, with the
girl frowning and beginning to look worried. The boy on the other hand just laughed once more, “she’s just playing Cassy.”
He touched a small band on his wrist and the ball that had escaped into the freighter began to roll back out from the docking hatch, “
just a little help Nidi?” the boy smiled and pointed at the ball now laying in plain sight only a few meters away.
Without another word, against her will,
Nidia’s body turned away from the kids once again. Slowly, stiffly, she proceeded to walk down the corridor. “See Cassy she’s going to get it,” Nidia heard the boy whisper to his friend.
Their playfully voice stopped when Nidia simply stepped over the ball in her path and continued towards the freighter. Her eyes never left the wide open cargo hold now directly in front of her. The closer she got the more she began to wonder why she was there. Could it possibly be that her job had now completely taken over her life as well as her dreams?
In minutes her feet passed the threshold of the airlock that separated the station from the docked vessel. Her eyes could see that most of the nearby container clamps were now empty meaning that her team had been busy that night clearing out room so that the larger containers could be unloaded later. The hold lighting was dimmed, but that did not slow her down. Nidia had been inside ships just like it her entire life and they were all laid out in similar fashion so it was like second nature to her.
Most of the containers
out in the open were labeled Federation Naval Property or Office of FMC Logistics. The Federation Marine Corp Logistics Office was a Marine version of the LSS. Those guys loved to have their own service for everything, Nidia mused to herself and pushed deeper into the large vessel. Being a thirty thousand square meter floor plan with multiple levels the cargo hold was truly a maze of boxes and shipping crates, but Nidia navigated throughout without difficulty.
A few minutes into her journey she was surprised by a Marine guard, who bathed her in bright light, “oh Lieutenant Kalharinus, what brings you here at this time of night?”
She saw him lower the flashlight a little and step forward towards her.
“Just doing rounds Private. At ease,” she said awkwardly before her body pushed forward into the ship
. Behind her the Marine was probably taken aback, though Nidia could see him no longer. She heard him call out to her, but could not comprehend his words.
Her body continued to weave in and out of the different pathways created by the containers. She began to slowly realize where she was being taken. If she could feel in the dream Nidia’s heart would have skipped a beam when she finally emerged from the maze and stood in front of a massive two story tall bunker-like construction. What the heck she was doing at the freighter’s
heavy ordinance storage vault Nidia did not know, but she couldn’t stop herself from starting the entrance procedure. First she keyed in her specific code at the right panel. This opened up nearby biometric scanner into which she slid her hand. After a moment her prints and vascular signature were confirmed by the computer and the thick armored doors
hissed
open for her.
“Ooo what’s that Nidi?! Can we see?? Are those rockets?!” came gleeful shouts from behind her just as she saw the internal bunker lights engage to showcase the racks upon racks of weapons stored within the hundred meter long storage room.
Her body turned and Nidia saw that both Cassy and her friend stood there with open eyes, bright smiles on their faces as if they found a new play toy.
“Hey! What are you kids doing in here?! This is a restricted area!” the same Marine Private ran around the corner and took kids by the shoulders, “you’re not allowed in here.”
Cassy looked away shyly when confronted, the boy, on the other hand plainly lied, “but Nidia said we could watch.”
“Ma’am?” the private questioned and looked up at her in confusion. Everyone knew this was no place for kids to play in. It was a dangerous work environment.
Without reply Nidia turned away quickly as if uninterested and moved into the ordinance bunker. With each passing second the dream became more horrifying for Nidia. She passed through multiple rows of Kiba missiles and then corridors full of anti-ship Anubis missiles. Finally after some minutes her body came to a rest beside another locked compartment. Screaming to herself to stop the madness Nidia watched as her hands keyed the unlock sequence. Behind the hardened protective cover four massive MK209 Oscar class Darmatium warheads became instantly visible. Each one was held in its own rack and stacked in pairs along two levels.
These warheads were so big the Nidia didn’t even have to bend down in order to access their control panel. Watching in terror she saw her fingers quickly dance across the warhead’s controls
and active the arming mechanism. How she knew this procedure Nidia had no clue, but it seemed to work when everything within the touch display flashed a deep green and big red ‘ARMED’ letters appeared in the center.
“Lieutenant, what are you doing?” the Marine private appeared once again, materializing beside her, “transfer of these weapons is not scheduled until fifteen hundred hours tomorrow.”
Ignoring him her body moved aside just as the warhead slid out from its container into the central passageway, facing out towards the rear cargo hold hatch. Without second thought she moved along to the next Oscar rack and began a similar effort of activating that warhead as well.
By this time the guard had finally figured out what was happening and raised his carbine at the LSS officer, “step away from the
warhead ma’am! I need you to cease and desist!”
To her surprise Nidia’s body actually stopped and turned towards the private.
“Sergeant, Private Eppry here. I need backup in the
Sharlet’s Dream.
Lieutenant Kalharinus’s here and she’s trying to do something weird to a pair of Mark 209s. Requesting further…”
He never got a chance to finish. Nidia was on him in less than a second. She watched as her left hand push the weapon aside while her other shot out in front of her. The right palm caught the Marine under his chin and sent him flying to the floor a meter back. Nidia thought she heard a cracking sound from the blow, but was too horrified to be sure. All she knew was that the man no longer moved.
His passing was confirmed not a moment later when alarms came on throughout the ship and station. Monitoring stations all over Yakovski quickly registered the death of Private First Class Henry Eppry through his biolink and triggered the all station alert. Inside herself Nidia began to sob and weep for the man lying there. Even though this was just a dream it now felt extremely real to her.
Nidia heard the sound of heavy boots pounding against hard decking, but her body never panic. It simply turned back to the second warhead and began the same activation procedure.