CHAPTER 4 - KEDEN
The landscape below us is drastically uneven. Deep fissures spreading out in random directions look like gnarled fingers between massive sand dunes. These dunes rise, in some areas, as close to us as seven hundred feet. The winds at our altitude are seventy miles per hour but rogue gusts register every now and again at a hundred or more. This is a treacherous location so I maintain our two thousand feet above Immediate-ground-level flight path.
“Captain..?” It’s the Commander. I haven’t heard from her since we left base three and some hours ago. “Link and rep live, over?”
“Huski to base, we’re alone out here. Thirty minutes to contact.”
“We’re tracking you but the weather is getting worse…signal interference is heavy.”
“Roger that.” I focus on the ground below as we speed by. My Sol engine is a remarkable piece of work. We, as a race, have come a very long way.
The year is now 878TE and according to history, mankind came across Sol-technology in the year 2035 AD. I remember learning this in History class and wishing for it to end so I could go meet Rachel Sommers. I wonder whatever became of her.
A scientist by the name of Doctor Lorenz Olivius created the first ever successful, miniature replica of the sun. The applications were, as one can imagine, limitless. Within fifteen years of its dawn, the Sol Combustion engine had allowed mankind to go beyond their limitations and finally reach for the stars. This breakthrough had then led to one hundred years of galactic searching and mapping and development. Then in 2150 AD our ancestors left Earth in massive Starship fleets for new homes and in doing so, a new era was born; the era of, The Exodus.
“Alpha…ten minutes to contact.”
“Okay Bull, let’s get to five on deck.”
I pull the throttles back, extend all my speed brakes and feel my stomach reach up my throat as my MAV slows rapidly and drops to five hundred feet. As we fly past the last of the wicked looking fissures and tall dunes, and cross over a terrain entirely covered by massive boulders, I kill the throttle and switch the engine to hover. The machine vibrates through the transition and we descend to a few feet above an enormous flat stone and drop to the rough surface, dislodging and kicking up rocks with a quaking thud; we immediately go dark.
“Bull…?” I wait
“All clear for one mile. Their warning systems don’t reach this far…got nothing else on scan.”
“Okay let’s move!”
I switch from flight to ground commands and hit the throttle. My MAV takes the uneven, rocky surface with ease as we get closer to what could be another successful run, or our last mission.
“Alpha…” Its Pitbull again “…I’m picking up interference of some sort. Not sure what it is but I think we should be careful here.”
We are standing on the edge of another flat rock face. I step off, a mere five foot drop, and onto the dusty ground of yet more desert. On either side of me are high, wind carved dunes made of hardened dust and sand. The valley is wide for maneuvering but still small enough to make us sitting ducks. I come to a stop and check my scanners; there’s nothing. But I don’t like the feeling in my gut. And if I am feeling it, and Bull feels it, then by experience, we need to be cautious.
“Bull, how’s the weather?”
“…sunny…but something doesn’t seem right boss.”
Bull hardly ever calls me boss. He is worried “Okay. Look alive, boys…weapons hot…” I focus on my weapons module and make the mental command. My cannons come online with a whir. There is an uneasy stillness in the air that puts me on guard. It could just be a case of nerves but after a few years in this business, you learn that the jitters often precede a real event.
We continue our trek until the valley lies behind us and another one appears ahead and below. According to the co-ordinates, this should be the place but all that is here are generators and large transformers.
“Alpha…”
But Bull gets interrupted by the base commander on our open channel.
“Iron Five…we’ve got four Light Booster Tanks and an unknown transport approaching Dunan from the south west. Drone Surveillance just picked them up. They’re two hours out.”
“They’re runnin’. Bull, give me another scan.”
“There’s nothing but that weird interference boss.”
“Let’s fly then. We gotta catch those bastards”
I deactivate my stealth and barely notice as everyone else ripples into sight.
Bull comes over my com again “Alpha, these generators are the same heat signatures on the map…so was this a decoy?”
But reality hits me like a hammer. They knew we would come “No…” My warning systems light up. “…it’s a trap..!” My virtual cockpit goes wild. Alerts of missile launches and gun locks assault my senses like a wildfire. “Evasive guys, go, go, go, go..!” I switch to flight mode and drive my throttle all the way as my computer sends me flashes of tracking information and I almost feel the three missiles that approach. My MAV shakes violently with the sudden discharge of power, but I hold it steady as G-forces pin me to the seat while I accelerate upward.
What type of missiles are they?
The computer sends the answer with a barely noticeable sting. Another mental command sends hundreds of chaff spitting from the back of my machine with thousands of miniature vibrations that shiver the armor around me. But the first heat seeker is already here and hits close. The impact shakes me like an earthquake but my systems do not read critical. Thank God. Rising high into the air now, a forty ton bat out of hell, my Sol engine screams with the effort as I try to locate our unseen enemies. There are three of them.
“I’ve found those Heavies…” I shout it to the others.
“Roger, three Rhinos, northern hill top.” Hound comes across calm and collective and he already has one locked.
I swing around and fly toward the Heavy Mecha that is tracking me; he is already on the move and my systems warn of another missile lock. It leaves his launcher but I am within firing range. They might have more armor and heavier firepower but we’ve got speed and agility. I wait, hear my gun lock onto its target, and open fire. My bullets shred into the oncoming missile and it explodes in a vicious flash of white as I quickly close the distance. With another squeeze of the trigger my Auto-cannon spits with a flurry of fiery streaks.
The view around me, with my altimeter counting down 500FT, 425FT, 350FT, 275FT in less than three seconds, shakes and shifts on the outer edges of my vision. The smoke and lights of my cannon-fire leads me toward my target as he tries to turn in my direction; I guess they thought we would have been dead on the first launch.
My gunfire rakes a trail of superheated dents and penetrations across the ground and the Rhino in my sights. Dust and sparks erupt where my target stands and my pulse, amplified, beats wildly in my ear. I have to get high again, so I jam my throttle to full power, angle my thruster vents and brace myself as I launch back into the sky. The engine howls with the effort, and the pressure of the maneuver squeezes me beyond comfort, but its fly or die, as every digital module goes blinking red again.
Damn, another missile!
My heart hammers madly as all around, bullets slice the air and I hear, almost feel, a few ping off my armor. Smoke trails crisscross the battlefield. Explosions light up the sky and another missile comes toward me from below but it goes wide and detonates well away; I see that Bull is alive and working his magic.
“Good work Bull…”
I push over and return to the ground but the Rhino is in the air now. My systems alert me again but I am faster than my opponent. At seven hundred feet, my targeting computer locks on to the rising Mecha and I squeeze the trigger twice. Eight missiles leave my launchers. The cockpit shakes with it and their smoke-trails, like black and grey spider webs, fill my vision. But gun fire slams into my armor. I activate the auto-coolant system; it will stop the overheating. And while I fight to clear the space between us, my visor adjusts in a millisecond as the Rhino explodes.
I got him.
My computer shouts its complaints into my senses as I roll over and force the engine to sustain the current power. I have to get down from here; I am an open target. But the other two Rhinos are busy and this gives me a perfect opportunity to strike.
I shove my MAV into a shallow dive and get a target lock just as another of our enemies light in a magnificent flash of fire and expanding energy.
“…got that son-of-a-bitch..!” It’s Bull. His long range rail gun has hit true and Akita’s barrage of missiles finishes the job.
There is one Heavy left. I see his smoke trailing from a damaged hull. He’s in the air and heading south.
“I got-im…” Terri comes over the com as his missiles trace a deadly arc through the sky. The explosion thunders through the valley as what looks to be eight warheads detonate in the distance; this fight is over.
“Iron Five…?” Our Base Commander is not as composed as before.
I respond “…still standing...” I adjust power and descend slowly. My MAV is a bit damaged but I keep my nerves “…where are they?”
“…Seven hundred miles out, and a half hour to the city.”
I touch down “Guys…status?”
“Terri here…”
“Akita, good to go…”
“A few scratches but Hound is okay…”
“Pitbull is alive and kicking…”
I am relieved. My computer tells me that all is well except a minor armor breach; that first missile had almost gotten me. “Okay let’s go!”
“Alpha, we’ve got half hour to cover seven hundred miles…”
Bull is right, but we have to try. I push the throttle forward and lift into the air once more.
“Iron Five, you’ve got twenty nine minutes…”
“…Copy base. We’re going for it.” The ground falls away as we push toward our targets “…Bull, get me locked on. I need a flight path.” My tracking system finds our prey through Pitbull’s sensors and gives me an intercept route. My engine screams. The ground below becomes a blur and the speed indicator soon reads a thousand miles per hour and climbing.
At this rate, we will be cutting it close. My virtual map, courtesy SysDef’s Drone surveillance, shows our escapees gunning it across the desert.
“Bull, can you get a shot?”
“…already on it and locking one now...”
“Take it when you have it. Let’s try and slow ‘em down.”
I glance toward Pitbull’s MAV and the long range Rail gun lights up. Blue and white arcs of electricity ripple over its split rail and launch soundlessly; the highly charged projectile traveling at nearly light speed should be hitting its mark right now. No sooner than I think this, the display shows one of the Booster Tanks, as part of it disintegrates and then the entire thing falls to the desert floor.
“Good hit…”
“Iron Five, Base is picking up heavy activity just outside of Dunan. You’ve got multiple hostiles about to launch, get out of there.”
“Alpha…” Bull’s rail gun does not fire the next charge “…I’ve got em on my scan too; about twenty missile tanks and a heavy launcher.”
These Deepcore guys must be high profile. Missile tanks could be dealt with but a heavy launcher? Those things launch Hunters, Cruise missiles and ICBM’s.
“Okay guys bug out. Let’s get deck-side.”
I turn hard and drop to two hundred feet. Outrunning a Hunter missile is difficult in the air so we’ll be better off getting on foot and going dark till it’s passed but my systems remain calm. All I’m receiving is an enemy lock threat, but nothing has been launched; I know when I’ve been beat.
“Base…?”
“Go Commander…”
“I need to know where that entourage is headed.”
Static hits me “…on it.”
And with time against us, the ground rushes by at a thousand, eight hundred miles per hour; we’ve gotta get to our ship.
********
My team and I rip pass Dunan. The sprawling city lies thirty kilometers off to my right while directly ahead; our base awaits us some fifteen away. I reduce power and jam my emergency stoppers to full extension. The large rectangular slats would rise up and out at different angles and immediately cut most of my forward momentum. The powerful displacement of energy from this maneuver jolts me violently as my MAV slows hard. Then we descend without much thought.
“Huski to Base Control…” I read the code on my visor “…Iron-Five on approach, over.”
“Iron Five. You’re cleared for entry, touch down on Pad Zero Five.”
We drop to the red-dusted, metallic landing zone and almost run our MAV’s to the hangar. After decontamination we are all docked and grabbing gear from our quarters while large machines load the MAV’s onboard our Starship. With gear in hand, I head out and down the corridor. My helmet, attached to my waist hits my leg with every stride and as I pass Mirana’s office…
“Captain…”
I stop and turn to see her approaching. She’s all business as usual. “…what are you doing here? The briefing has been uploaded to your system…we have…”
“I’m trying to get to my ship is what I’m doing.”
She raises an eyebrow “Captain, there are shorter ways to your ship. That Deepcore fleet launched a half hour ago.”
What in the galaxy is wrong with this woman? I take a deep breath “…I gotta go…”
“Then Go.”
“You stopped me…”
“Captain…” Her voice is steady “…if you lose these rebels, all of our efforts would have been for nothing.”
‘Our efforts’…What the hell did she do to be a part of this? I wait in the silence. Of all the women in the galaxy, why does this one get under my skin? She open’s her office door and closes it. I hate not having the last word. Why do I even bother? I begin to move again until the cavernous hanger finally comes into view.
********
“Alpha, the weather’s about to get really nasty, we’ve got about twenty minutes before everything goes to dust.”
I’m strapping the X shaped harness across my chest after sitting in one of the rear seats of the cockpit when Terri informs me of this.
“Okay we’re a go.” I give the order and he rolls us out of the hangar and toward one of the launching pads outside. As we transition from within the base to the open air of Keden, I notice that the weather is a bit worse than when we had just arrived. Red and brown dust whips past the windshield of our Starship, with winds reading from sixty to seventy five miles per hour. But thanks to Magnetic Technology, it’ll take a bit more than this to make our liftoff a problem.
“Base…Iron Five has window, all is a go, over.” Terrier is our Starship Pilot. I’m the communications officer and Bull is our Co-pilot and weapons specialist. Akita and Hound are the engineers who make sure that all the mechanical aspects of this bird run problem free. But at the moment, we’re all strapped into our respective seats and awaiting launch.
“Iron Five, Base copies your window. You are cleared for launch…”
She sounds no different than normal but I notice that the channel stays open but I ignore it.
The cockpit shakes a bit as Terri begins our lift off. The Ship leaves the pad and the sensation of our thrusters counteracting the planet winds makes my head drift a little. I check the information that has been uploaded concerning our Deepcore buddies. They went off world forty eight minutes ago in a ship named Deep six. What type of ship though; the Intel doesn’t say.
“…good luck Iron Five…”
Pitbull and Terrier turn and look at each other. I am sure we are all thinking the same thing; since when has she ever cared if we had good or bad luck? The question is written on both their faces. But the Base and ground are no longer visible. It has all been replaced by high altitude dust and sand so I relax and let the G-forces glue me to my seat. I feel the ship angle more steeply. Everything outside of my window is becoming distant and shrinking further behind.
I smile to myself.
We are leaving this Rock. She’s back there. Who cares? I do, and I hate the confusion of it.
The air clears now. A few flat clouds rocket by and disappear behind us. The sky becomes darker. Our engines rumble and the sound of it grows deep and deeper as we rise. It seems lodged somewhere in the back of my head and echoes throughout my mind. Then the sky gets even darker and Keden’s spaceport is now visible in the distance. A huge disk shaped station with lights traveling to and from it; and then it is gone.
We are about to go to Hyper Light. I want to contact base again, but what for? What reason is there? I want to think of a plausible one yet it eludes me, but these thoughts fade away as we enter the vacuum of space.
“Iron five…”
I listen to Mirana’s voice with mixed feelings. Maybe I am a bit embarrassed by our fight…or a lot disappointed that we didn’t fix it. I hate feeling confused.
“…you are now out of our airspace and hand over to Starport Command is now in effect. Is all a go?”
Starport Command is the communications deck on any local Starport. While space stations are the access points to and from planet surfaces, Starports are the stations that launch travelers from solar system to solar system. Each inhabited or utilized solar system has one Starport or more depending on its population and or purpose. This system, K-1, has a single Starport along with three inhabited planets, five mining worlds and an F1-III class sun, which simply means a Yellow-White Giant.
Why is she on comms?
“Iron Five copies hand over…”
I hate having to talk to her…no I don’t.
“…Switching on next transmission, we’re a go.”
The com stays open. I wish she would say something. My hand slides across the digital tab that would disconnect us from Keden.
“…come back in one piece Iron Five.”
For some unknown reason, I am annoyed at her for these words. Why didn’t she say this to my face? My finger hits the key and we all listen to the new sounds of K-1 space traffic control.
“After all the thousands of years that men and women have co-existed, we’re still baffled by them.”
Terrier’s smiling face beams in my direction and I can’t help but add a groaning grin to this awkward moment. “Shut up and drive.”
Everyone’s laughter hits me at once while Terri works his magic, and in a moment, we clip our helmets in place and the familiar tug on my senses takes control as we accelerate to Hyper Light speed and punch through the fabric of space at eighty three point three, three, three times the speed of light.
********
The engines on any standard spacecraft have what is known as an Eon Drive. The Eon Drive is just a larger and more amped up version of the original Sol Combustion Engine; the difference being the scale of the output when it comes to power. And so it is that Sol Combustion powers our galaxy, from the smallest of planetary machines to the massive Jump Gates on any Starport.
The lights of stars in the distance blur, and two hours and some minutes later, we come out of Hyper Light and rocket toward the massive outline of K-1’s lone Starport.
This is the part I hate.
As soon as Terri engages our braking system, we hit a cushioned, invisible wall. Everything slows down so rapidly that no one in existence has ever been known to resist throwing up the first few times; except infants for some long-winded reason.
The effect is known as a Bio-Magnetic Reaction. It is caused due to the use of Magnetech or Magnetic Technology. Magnetic Technology is the reason we don’t go careening off into space like in the old days. Gone are those historical days of tedious calculations and intersecting an object or planet’s trajectory at just the right time. Through Magnetics, powered by Sol Combustion, we are able to maneuver in space, speed up and slow down, change course on a whim and more.
Weapons used in space also rely on Magnetech. Missiles, being the most widely used in vacuum, use Magnetic Technology to track targets. However, as great as this breakthrough was and is, it’s the, getting used to it, which makes it rough on the human body.
Two billion miles from Keden, I select the communications module “K-1 Traffic Control…Captain Richard Gant of the UNA Mirage requesting docking.”
UNA…I think of home. The United Northern Alliance, home for me and Earthfront Galactic. But is it still my home? I feel so disconnected.
“UNA Mirage…” The voice is male, and professional “…Docking request acknowledged, cleared for entry, you have Guidance on link. Welcome Captain Gant.”
I check the linkup and Terri sets us on autopilot in order for the Station’s Magnetic Guidance system to pull us safely in. There is a slight jolt as the ship goes from manual command to auto. In all my time of space travel I still haven’t gotten over the fascination of all this.
“Now to catch these bastards…”
“We’ll find them Cap…”
Terri’s visor hides his expression but I imagine the look of determination on his face; I know him well enough.
Outside of the ship, the awesome picture that hangs there is astounding as the massive complex appears to slide closer. The monstrous, flat, half-disk-shape, made from Immix; a Kedenian bluish metal, reflects the solar system’s sunlight with a shiny azure glare.
“This Port reminds me of those in the Glebe System.”
Pitbull’s words pull me away from outside.
“Your home system..?” Hound asks.
“…Yeah…”
Terri chimes in “…Paiz right..?”
“Yep and thanks to you guys, I haven’t been home in over four years”
“Welcome to the club, my brother…” I jump in.
“I knew a girl on Paiz…” Akita as usual “…really nice women in that system too...”
We all laugh and chant him about this until the conversation fizzles off and we each go back to our own thoughts. Stars and spiral Galaxies millions of light years away display the vastness of space beyond us, but what I see directly outside is also just as spectacular. Thousands of windows in perfect lines, like rows of colored lights set against the black expanse of deep space, glimmer. A movement draws my attention; a monster Hauler, floating slowly away from one of three very large rectangular docking bays below us. Opening up into the nothingness of space, they are the entrances and exits for thousands of ships on a daily basis. This hauler, moving away from us now, is a Titan that looks a few hundred times our size. Pitbull had told me that he once worked on a freighter. As for me, I have never done time on an Ore Ship but I have heard many a story from the guys that did. And theirs is a life of just as much adventure as any military pilot.
The com breaks my train of thought. “UNA Mirage…you are cleared for Docking bay T-seventeen, enjoy your time with us.”
I give the required reply and let the smooth sailing of the Autopilot take us in. I think of the thousands of ships docked here; some leaving, some just arriving, others parked indefinitely; owned by those who make this port their home. In reality, we are just another droplet in the galactic bucket.
Looking out my window I wonder about our Deepcore friends. Where are they? When is their jump? Where are they going? If we lose them now…Mirana’s words replay in my ear. “All of our efforts would have been for nothing” Why do those words sting me?
“Alpha…?”
I turn toward Terri
“…we’ll get em…”
It’s like he’s read my mind.
“Yeah…” It’s Hound now “…Let’s get on deck, snoop around, and catch these shits.”
“Leave the snooping around to me and Akita.” With a raised palm I quiet their disappointment “…we’ll get more done, and done quietly if it’s just two of us.”
“Okay Cap…I have no problems with that.”
“I knew you wouldn’t Hound. You guys could go have some fun and wait for us. More than likely, they’re not gonna be making a jump within the next twelve hours.”
The lights from the Starport Jump Gate flash. Out in the distance, one of its huge, two mile-long cylinders, separated from the complex but connected via powerful magnetics, undulates with blue energy and in about a minute, a light exits the mouth of the monstrous barrel and disappears into space.
Jump Gates use Sol Technology on a scale much larger than any other mechanism in galactic use. The power this one generates is equivalent to a class V sun and sends a starship to any other solar system along its targeting trajectory at the speed of eighty three point three, three, three light years per hour.
I’ve asked a million times about the calculations and how they came up with this number, but the mathematics concerning this has always been way above my head; and like I’ve often said after asking every time; I don’t care, as long as it keeps working.
What we have to do now is no easy task. We will need to get to a travel desk in the terminal first; gonna have to figure out how to get the information we need from an agent even though it will be against policy. In these times, nothing beats a face to face. It is never safe to work the system via computer when it involves breaking the rules.
The rippling energy from the Jump Gate pulls my eyes to it again. I know what it is like to be shot out the end of it. What is funny about this though is that you don’t feel a thing after the initial jolt.
It will be about twenty minutes before another jump takes place as the Gate has to recharge and recalibrate for the next destination. As far as I know, this Gate only sends you to one of three systems, the trick will be finding out which of them our targets intend to visit.