Valerie's Children SDD - Four

“What’s it like to fly on a raven?” Captain Merriel’s four year old daughter looked up at Valerie as she held her in her arms.
“Your Dad and I won’t be flying on a raven dear. Raven is the name of our ship. Your mommy was the captain of an even bigger ship named Gallant.
“I know, now she talks to space people.”
“Yes, and that’s a very important job. Maybe you can do that when you grow up.”
The little girl’s face lit up like a Christmas tree, “Do you think I could? Do you think I really could talk to space people?”
“A smart girl like you, sure you could.”
Linda Merriel took her daughter from Valerie, “Come on, you little mischief, Commander Olson needs two hands to eat her dinner.”

Commander Valerie Olson smiled as she remembered the wonder in the little girl’s steel blue eyes, but her smile was bittersweet thinking how empty her arms felt when she was taken away.”
“Commander,” Valerie was brought back by a call from Captain Matthew Merriel.”
“Yes sir.”
“Take the bridge. I’ll be in my ready room preparing the speech I have to give to the good people of New Baltimore. To tell you the truth, I’d rather be on void patrol than on these public relations runs.”
“I know what you mean Captain. I’ll give you a smooth transition into normal space.”
“I wouldn’t expect anything less. Call me if anything exciting happens.”
“Yes sir.”

The Solarian Defense Directorate’s new pride and joy, S.D.D. Raven flashed into normal space. The sleek black Dragon class destroyer entered the Capella system on course for the New Baltimore colony on Capella Three.
It was Raven’s last public relations stop before joining the Reliant battle group. Valerie sat in the command chair. Her hazel eyes scanned the status of each department as the normal-space data began to come in. Her scanning stopped as she focused on a faint signal picked up on Raven’s hypersensitive communications antenna.
“Steve, what’s that in your third cubic sector?”
“That Commander is a Soburn Echo. It’s the mystery of Capella’s Soburn asteroid belt. If the directorate really wanted to make points with New Baltimore, they’d give us some time to use our dragon class signal analysis technology to track that mystery down.”
Valerie tapped a finger on her chin and considered the situation for a minute, then announced, “Raven needs a challenge. It will help to prepare us for battle group duty. Steve. . .”
Before Valerie could continue the communication system lit up with an incoming priority message. Valerie buzzed the captain, “Captain, we have an incoming priority message from the New Baltimore security force.”

Valerie filled in Captain Merriel as he entered the bridge. “Captain, it seems someone has made off with one of the governor’s galactic transports. They believe the culprit is trying to get to Earth.”
“Well Valerie, chasing stolen transports isn’t normally our line of work. Why don’t they contact Earth on the hyper-net and have him grabbed when he gets there. I’m sure the governor has at least one more space transport.”
“Maybe I should let them explain it to you sir.”
Valerie glanced over to Steve Delms at communication and he set up the link.
A moment later, Commander Ray Murphy of the New Baltimore security force was on the view screen. He was clearly embarrassed, but he put duty before pride, “Captain, I wouldn’t bother you with this if the matter wasn’t urgent. A man named Dan Naponiello worked at our orbital space dock. Several months ago his wife left New Baltimore for Earth and took his kids with her. Those kids were his life. I guess losing them pushed him over the edge.”
“So Commander, I take it you have some sympathy for the transport snatcher’s motives. I still don’t see why you just don’t let him get to Earth. The governor can’t need the transport that badly. If he tries to run from us we may have to disable the ship to stop him.”
“There’s more Captain. The reason the transport was in dock was to fix a defect in the hyper-drive. The anti-matter control was not functioning.”
“Commander, you’re saying that as soon as Mr. Naponiello engages the hyper-drive, that ship will explode.”
“That’s right Captain. As soon as it is engaged Mr. Naponiello will die in a great fireball.”
“OK Commander, were on it. How long since you lost him?”
“Almost ten hours Captain. He should already be far enough out of the gravity well to engage the hyper-drive.
Matthew Merriel exhaled a sigh as he signed off. He turned to the bridge for a situation status. “Valerie have the sensors detected anything?”
“Nothing from the transport sir. My guess is that he’s hiding in the Soburn asteroid belt. I think he plans to lay low and sneak out when the security force gives up the search.”
“I agree Valerie. You know what to do. I will contact the directorate from my ready room. Take the bridge.”
“Yes sir.”
As the captain left the bridge Valerie took charge. “Amy, shift sensors to concentrated mili-arc sweeps covering the cubic bearings of the asteroid belt between Capella and Capella Three’s present position.”
“Yes Commander.”
“ Steve, is that echo of yours still there?”
“It comes and goes Commander, just as the reports indicated.”
“Find it Steve. Maybe Naponiello knew something that we don’t know and is using it. Also broadcast a warning to Mr. Naponiello on all frequencies. Make it clear that he is in anger.”
“Right away Commander.”
“Tom Flattery got the Valerie’s attention from his helm position. “Commander, shall I bring Raven to the edge of the asteroid belt?”
“Not yet Tom. Let’s maintain a more neutral position in the system until we get more data. My brilliant deduction just may be wrong.”
Tom just smiled. He knew that Commander Valerie Olson hadn’t made a wrong deduction since she left the academy.

Valerie spent the next few minutes pacing the bridge. She knew Captain Merriel would return soon, and she wanted to have positive data ready for him.
She stopped behind Amy Zero at the sensor position. “Well Amy, what’s happening?”
“Nothing Commander. Nothing at all.”
“Come on Amy. You’re making me look bad here. The captain will be coming through that door any minute. Am I going to have to tell him that Raven has failed in its first real task?”
“I’m sorry Commander, there’s . . . Wait a minute. That’s odd.”
What’s odd Amy? What do you see?”
Amy pointed to the screen as she zoomed in to investigate. “This is a standard iron and nickel asteroid, but it just changed mass.”
“It did what?” Valerie stared at the screen then pointed. “Is that the original mass?”
“Yes Commander.”
“That mass is far too low for the size of that asteroid. Amy, that rock is hollow!”
Steve, called to Valerie from the communications station, “Commander, you just zoomed right to the origin of the Soburn Echo.”

Valerie went into action. “Tom let’s get this ship to that asteroid and step on it. Get the final coordinates from Amy.”
Then she slapped the inter-ship communication channel. “Captain to the bridge please, Captain to the bridge.”

Three hours later Raven was nimbly negotiating its course through the Soburn asteroid belt. Captain Merriel stared at the view screen as the ship approached a large irregularly shaped asteroid. Valerie stepped up to the command chair to give her report. “Its definitely hollow sir. Amy estimates there’s enough room inside to hide the entire Reliant battle group. We would have never spotted it, if we weren’t looking for Naponiello.”
“Is he in there?”
“Oh he’s in there alright, Captain. Once we got close enough, we were able to track his sub-light signature right into the rock.”
“Were there any other signatures in the area?”
“Just the faint signal sir. Steve has identified it as regular white noise now that we are close to its origin. Sir, are you thinking that the Soburn echo is not a natural occurrence?”
“It had crossed my mind Valerie. As you said, we would never have seen it if we weren’t looking for Naponiello. Regular white noise can to generated by systems onboard ships or in space stations, if there is a flaw in their M-Com procedures.”
“Very true sir. I should have thought of that myself. Shall we put Raven on alert sir?”
“Not yet, but let’s keep our eyes open. OK, what’s our next move?”
“I suggest we send in a shuttle on a reconnaissance mission. The asteroid’s density limits our ability to gather sensor data and probes are not maneuverable in confined spaces.
“Very good, I’ll get Lieutenant Bort to suit up the space marines. They can use shuttle number one.”
Valerie took a breath then asked, “Captain, request permission to command the recon party.”
“Valerie, you know better than that. Regulations clearly state the bridge officers are to stay on the bridge. All S.D.D ships carry a squad of space marines just for this purpose.”
“Excuse me Captain, but the regulation states that a bridge officer is to remain on the bridge unless he or she has a unique skill required by the off-ship mission.”
“I understand that Valerie, but there is no such requirement in this case.”
“Ah but there is, Captain. Naponiello is clearly unstable. He may do something irrational when confronted by the space marines. As you know, in addition to my engineering degree and command training, I have a degree in psychology and I am registered as a negotiator. I believe I am the only registered negotiator onboard.
“Valerie, one of these days I’ll learn not to question your logic. Permission granted, but let Lieutenant Bort handle the recon. I don’t want you leading the marines into unknown territory. They lead you follow. Do you understand me commander?”
“Yes sir.”
“Valerie, you seem to be quite motivated to get Naponiello out of this jam.”
“He screwed up Captain. No one should get away with stealing a ship from space dock. But, I don’t believe that loving your children should be a death sentence. If my little girl was taken from me, I don’t know what I’d do.”
Speaking as a father of twins, I couldn’t agree more. Get him out Valerie.”
“Yes sir.”

Marine Lieutenant Scott Bort directed the loading of Raven’s shuttle number one with a scowl on his face. His squad did their work in silence. No one dared to incur the Scott’s wrath on this day.
Lance Corporal Ray Jackson whispered to his buddy, “What’s up with the Lieutenant? He looks like he’s ready to throw someone out an air lock.”
“This is our first real mission as dragon marines and he’s been bumped from command.”
“What do you mean bumped?”
“Commander Olson has decided that the thief may have a screw loose or two so she’s taking command of the mission. She wants to talk to him to avoid violence.”
“Hell, if this guy wants to get violent, I’ll pop a little laser shot into him. That will save us all a lot of time a trouble.”
“Jackson, Murphy” Lieutenant Bort roared from across the hangar, “less talk and more work or I’ll come over there an kick both your asses!”
The marines quickly responded, “Yes sir.”

Valerie entered the hangar carrying her environment suit and off-ship gear. Scott spotted her and responded immediately “Jackson, get over here and take the commander’s gear.” Then Scott snapped to attention. He exaggerated his official salute and stood stone faced.”
Valerie thanked the young marine for taking her gear then turned to Scott. She looked up from her five foot six frame at the six foot three marine, “Lieutenant, do we have some kind of problem here?”
“No problem Commander.” Scott answered crisply.
“Look Lieutenant, I don’t need any added heartburn on this mission. If you have a bitch I want to hear it now.”
“Commander,” Scott responded remaining at attention, “the forty-second off-ship recon squad had successfully completed hundreds of missions while onboard S.D.D. Victory. We never before required the supervision of a bridge officer.”
“Lieutenant, I’m not here to supervise. I have a job to do.”
“Just for future reference Commander, the forty-second is fully capable of handling all tasks in their off-ship mission. We aren’t just dumb warriors.”
“Heal your bruised ego Lieutenant. This has nothing with you or your squad.”
“Yes Commander, and now if you’ll excuse me, I’ll get back to work.”

Shuttle number one maneuvered into the obscured opening in the hollow rock. Valerie allowed the marines to perform their tasks while she communicated with the bridge. “Amy, are you getting a sensor relay from the shuttle?”
“Yes Commander, and we are just getting the first data. WOW!”
“Amy, what is it? Amy?”
“Sorry Commander, I had to get the captain’s attention. Here he is now.”
Amy Zero’ voice was replaced by Captain Merriel’s, “Valerie are you getting this?”
“DAMN!” One of the marines blurted out as the sensor data began to come in. The computer simulation allowed them to see what the darkness hid.
Valerie responded to the captain’s question, “We are now Captain. It looks like some kind of entrance area. There is some seriously sophisticated construction and equipment in here. Captain, this is definitely an intelligent construction of alien origin. I suggest you put the ship on full alert and that the directorate be informed immediately.”
“Way ahead of you Valerie. I also think you better abort this mission. We may have to rethink the risks involved.”
“I must respectfully disagree Captain. Lieutenant Bort has equipped the shuttle for every contingency. His squad has performed hundreds of off-ship missions while they were onboard the S.D.D. Victory. I believe they can handle this Captain.”
Scott Bort turned in his command chair and glanced at Valerie with a surprised looked on his face. She saw him smile as he turned away.
“OK Valerie, I’m going to trust your judgment on this one. Please patch me over to
Lieutenant Bort for a minute.”
Scott answered when his communication light came on. “Yes sir.”
“Lieutenant, I expect you to get that shuttle out of there at the first sign of trouble. I know you guys don’t like backing away from a challenge, but there could be an entire alien fleet in that rock. I don’t need martyrs, do you understand me Lieutenant,”
“Loud and clear sir. Our job is reconnaissance, and that’s what we’ll do. The plan is to gather data, pick up the thief, and get out.”
“One more thing Lieutenant Bort, if I say abort, you will abort immediately, no questions asked is that clear.”
“Crystal sir.”
Captain Merriel called back to his first officer, “Commander Olson abort means abort. Is that clear to you? That is with or without Naponiello, do you understand me?”
“Yes sir.”
“OK, then shuttle number one, proceed. I’ll be going to Bravo coms on the fleet alert net. Valerie, find Naponiello and get him out of there. I need you on the bridge.”
Amy’s voice returned after a few seconds. “Commander, the entrance area is quite a long tube. Once you clear the tube we should be able to get a look at what’s inside.”
“Do you have the scanner signature of the transport ready?”
“Yes Commander, we’ll spot it as soon as you clear the tube.”

The shuttle slowly moved through the tube. Scott wanted to make sure that nothing was missed on the way in. After studying the data for a few minutes, he called to Valerie, “Commander Olson, may I speak with you please.”
Valerie moved up front and the co-pilot gave up his seat for her. As she sat Scott pointed at the data describing the walls of the entrance tube. “Commander, whoever built this place hollowed this rock out. They didn’t find it like this. Why go through all that trouble? The data indicates that, with the exception of the transport’s recent passage, these walls have been undisturbed for at least a hundred years, and maybe a lot more. There was no New Baltimore Colony one hundred years ago. There weren’t any Solarian Space Agency probes in this area then. Capella Three was free for the taking. Why build this thing at all?”
“That’s a good question Lieutenant. Maybe they are far different than humans and Capella Three was of no use to them. Maybe their military situation required a completely hidden base far from their normal military structure. This may not be at all what we think it is. We have assumed this was some kind of base or space dock. Clearly the constructors of this place were very intelligent but still they have this one very narrow entrance.”
“The entrance seems quite big Commander. We could travel through here at full throttle without a problem.”
“Yes we could Lieutenant, and Raven probably could also, but a cruiser the size of S.D.D Righteous or a flagship like S.D.D. Gallant might have a problem, especially if they had to come about. How would they ever get any number of ships out of this place in a hurry?”
“You’re quite right Commander. The entire complex could be rendered ineffectual simply by damaging this entrance, or disabling one ship in the tube.”
Just then the shuttle emerged from the tube and their system were flooded with data.
Scott and Valerie could only stare for a moment at the spectacle the sensors were presenting before them. Scott brought the shuttle to a halt, “OK marines, this shuttle doesn’t move until you guys tell me what we’re looking at?”
Valerie got back in contact with the bridge., “Amy, have you found the transport?”
“We haven’t found the ship, but Steve has Mr. Naponiello on coms. Commander, the sensor data shows vast systems in there. They are all on standby. Their resonations are the source of the Soburn Echoes. Also the sensor is becoming unstable. When you move away from the tube your sensor and communication link to Raven will be lost. Steve has been using the shuttle as a relay to pick up Mr. Naponiello’ signal also. When you move he’ll also be cut off.”
“Understood Amy. Lieutenant Bort is maintaining our present position until we determine our next move. I’ll let you know when we’ll move away from the tube. Tell Steve to patch Mr. Naponiello through to me.”
“Yes Commander, and Commander, be careful in there.”
“I plan to Amy, thanks.”
The next voice Valerie heard was the frantic Dan Naponiello, “What, what? Was I cut off? Hey out there. You can’t leave me. Get me out of here!”
“Mr. Naponiello, this is Commander Valerie Olson. I’m first officer of S.D.D. Raven. We aren’t leaving you Mr. Naponiello, in fact I’m in a shuttle and we’ve just entered the complex. You must tell us where you are.”
“I’m in a big ship, a very big ship and its full of a whole lot of dead aliens. I mean half skeletons, bodies falling apart dead aliens. This place is creepy. Get me out of here.”
“Mr. Naponiello, aren’t you talking to us from the transport?”
“Yes yes, it’s inside the big ship. This monster of a ship grabbed the transport when I got close and pulled me in. I’m sorry to cause so much trouble, but I couldn’t live without my kids. Amy is three and cute as a button, and Roger is five. He’s such a . . .”
Valerie interrupted the man’s train of thought, “Mr. Naponiello we’ll talk about that later. Right now you must tell us where this big ship is and how it grabbed you?”
“The big ship is about five miles on a cubic bearing of 47 by 63 degrees from the hole that got me into this place. I have no idea how it grabbed me. It just grabbed me. And it won’t let my ship go. The ship is in a hangar inside the big ship. I’ll put on the distress beacon, maybe you can see it.”
Scott called to Valerie a second later, “I’ve got it Commander, we can go right to him. You were right Commander, this guy definitely has a few loose screws.”
Valerie held up a finger to Scott indicating that she would respond to him in a moment, and then returned to Mr. Naponiello, “We are receiving your beacon. We’ll follow it right to you. Just sit tight.”
“Please hurry Commander, you’ve got to get me out of here. The corpses are floating all around my ship.
“Did you say floating Mr. Naponiello?”
“Yes, they’re floating all over the hangar, or whatever this place is.”
“Mr. Naponiello, what else can you see?”
“I’m not looking out there again. I almost lost my lunch the last time I looked, I’ll tell you what I saw. I’m in a hangar, or what looks like a hangar. It is not pressurized, and it’s still open to space. You can get in easily enough. If you get too close, this thing will bring you in and it won’t let you go. I hope you have some ideas.”
“Do you see any doors or accesses from this area to the rest of the ship?”
What I can see in this damn red light are three portals in the bulkhead in front of me, and one is wide open. Commander, I think I stumbled into an alien version of Hell.”
“Mr. Naponiello, what do the aliens look like?”
“I’ve only seen a few that are complete enough to get an idea of what the must have looked like. Most of them are in pieces. The ones I did see were funny looking little guys. Maybe three or four feet tall, grayish skin, big head, and large black eyes with no pupils. They’re really skinny also.”
“OK Mr. Naponiello, I’m going to patch you back to our communications officer. He’ll stay with you every minute until I can get back to you.”
Valerie switched over, then turned to Scott. Scott was chuckling as he analyzed the incoming data, “Commander, your friend there is really a pip. Something grabbed his ship. Like what? Did a big arm come out and snatch the ship and throw it into the hangar?”
“No Lieutenant, its more likely to be a reverse energy gravimetric tube.”
“A what?”
“We are aware of the theory behind such a device, but the required energy was almost incalculable. Whoever built this place must have solved that problem.”
“Are you saying the an artificial gravity field can be created that can withstand the trust of a galactic transport’s engines.”
“Quite easily from Mr. Naponiello’ description.”
“Well then I suggest we avoid that area like the plague.”
Valerie left him to ponder while she contacted Raven, “Amy, has Steve received Mr. Naponiello’ beacon?
“Yes Commander and its being held by its forward section in a very strange field.”
“Is the field gravimetric in nature with a steady strength throughout its area?”
“That’s correct Commander. What is it?”
“If my guess is right, the field is projected to capture ships preparing to enter an alien hangar. It’s their version of approach control, and a very effective method indeed. It seems that the governor’s transport got too close and was brought in by mistake. It and Mr. Naponiello are now being held inside an alien spacecraft. The system is clearly malfunctioning.”
“Commander,” Captain Merriel’s voice came through the speaker. “I heard what you were saying. Your information constitutes evidence of significant alien activity inside that rock. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t abort this mission.”
“Excuse me sir. Forgive me for interrupting.” Scott jumped into the conversation with both feet. “We are prepared sir. My squad is prepared for the known, and the unknown. If there is an alien presence still controlling this area, we have two choices. We can evacuate and seal the entrance tube. That would, of course, sacrifice Mr. Naponiello and the governor’s transport. Our second choice is to proceed with caution. We have the capability to do this job. The awesome technology that this place represents does not have to be hostile in nature. Give us time to prepare, and then give us two hours to complete the mission. We will report back in that time with or without Mr. Naponiello. If you do not hear from us in another hour, assume we’re lost and send the nastiest weapons you have into the access tube.”
“Captain Merriel,” Valerie called out trying to get in her opinion. “Captain, this is Raven’s first real mission. The mission goals are to retrieve Mr. Naponiello, retrieve the governor’s transport, and to do reconnaissance of this area. We can still succeed Captain.”
“ Once again I will accept your opinions. I expect to hear from you in two hours from the time you leave your present position, no more. Your suggestion, Lieutenant, is now an order to both of you.”
Scott and Valerie responded to the Captain Merriel then they looked at each other. Valerie said it first, “We need a plan.”
Scott looked at Valerie and smiled, “A gravimetric field huh, I guess the stories I hear are true. It seems Commander Olson is ‘Raven’s Brain’”.
“What?”

Suddenly Scott was embarrassed, “Oh I’m sorry Commander, and I meant no disrespect. I thought you would have heard that before.”
“Never Lieutenant. I guess I wasn’t let in on that little joke,”
“No Commander, it isn’t a joke. Believe me, most of the crew is in awe of your capability. It’s really said in envy.”
“OK Lieutenant, let’s move on.” Now it was Valerie’s turn to turn away with her cheeks rising in a smile.

The squad gathered around and Valerie asked for suggestions. Sergeant Wrobel started with a question, “Commander, do you have a guess at how close we can get before that system latches on to us?”
“Well Sergeant I think it has to do with our mass and our momentum on approach. If we’re careful, we may be able to drift within a quarter of a mile of the hangar without activating the field.”
“What good is that?” Murphy asked, “ A quarter of a mile is as good as a hundred miles.”
“No Sean, not necessarily.” Scott was getting his Sergeant’s idea. “You’re talking about a jump aren’t you Sergeant?”
“That’s right sir, but there is another question that must be answered first. Commander, do you think that the system is sensitive enough to react to an entity as small as a man?”
“Valerie answered quickly, “It’s highly unlikely that they would design a system that sensitive. They would pick up every stray rock in every system they entered.”
“Excellent Bill.” Scott gave his Sergeant a high five. “OK, the jump team will be Wrobel, Jackson, Murphy, and Stokes. You are to take a jump suit, get into the transport, suit up Mr. Naponiello, and get him back here.
Valerie spoke up, “Lieutenant, I’ll be making the jump also.”
“No Commander you won’t.”
“Lieutenant!”
“Commander, jumping is not to be taken lightly.”
“I don’t take it lightly Lieutenant. I’ve been trained and . . .”
“You’ve been well trained to jump in an emergency Commander. The people I chose have at least ten jumps to there credit. They can do this job. If you need to talk to Naponiello, you can do it from here.”
“Lieutenant, need I remind you . . .”
“You can write me up when we get back Commander, but you will not be issued a jump suit.”
Valerie acquiesced, “Alright Lieutenant, we’ll do it your way, but I hate to miss this chance.”
“So do I Commander, believe me, so do I.”

Everyone stared at the view screen as the shuttle crept ever closer to the giant ship. Murphy called from his position. “That’s it Lieutenant, we are now a one quarter mile distance.”
Scott put his squad into action. “Blazina fire stabilizing thrusters, and maintain this position. Jump team, get in your suits.”
Then he turned to Valerie, “Well you are right so far. The system hasn’t detected us at this distance. Now, what makes you think it’s totally automated?”
The view screen showed the open hangar. Valerie stared at it as she answered, “If there were any surviving aliens in control of that ship we would have seen evidence of some investigation of the transport. If nothing else, some scanning system would have been activated and the access to the body of the ship would have been sealed. Also the number of corpses in the hangar indicates that there is no one left to dispose of the bodies. Any advanced culture would dispose of the bodies of their compatriots for health reasons at least.”
“Maybe that’s just what they’re doing. Maybe they gathered them in the hangar for disposal. Why else would so many aliens be in the hangar?”
“Panic.” Valerie answered.
“Panic?”
“Yes panic. From Mr. Naponiello description of the alien bodies, it sounds like their deaths were quite violent. Combine that with the open hangar and the lack of pressurization leads me to believe that they were all in this hangar trying to get off this ship on some kind of shuttle. The shuttle overrode the system, opened the hanger door causing all the aliens banging on the outside of the shuttle to suffer explosive decompression and die as you Mr. Naponiello saw them.”
“You paint quite a picture Commander. What could make them want to flee this ship in that kind of panic?”
“I don’t know Lieutenant, but it was on this ship and it terrified them.”
Scott looked at Valerie for a moment, then called out to his Sergeant, “Wrobel, keep your eyes open in there. Have two sentries at all times. Get in and, get out. Is that clear?”
“Yes sir.”

The door to the aft hold was sealed and the aft section was depressurized. Scott and Valerie watched as the marines made their jumps. One by one they launched themselves from the shuttle. Blazina tracked them with the shuttles swivel lights. Each marine floated gracefully to the hangar of the alien ship.
Scott told Valerie as they watched, “Once in the hangar, they’ll turn on their cameras and recorders.”
Scott and Valerie shifted their eyes to the monitors as they activated. The scene was as Mr. Naponiello described it. It was like an alien version of Hell. The area was lit by a series of deep red lights in evenly spaced vertical strips along the bulkhead. White beams of the marines’ helmet lights, and the pale green radiance of the gravimetric field holding the forward section of the transport sliced the eerie illumination.
Jackson gagged out the words, “Oh man, this is gross.”
“Jackson!” Sergeant Wrobel growled, “Say something constructive or keep your mouth shut.”
“Sergeant,” Valerie called, “could you please focus on one of the aliens?’
“Yes Commander.”
Wrobel relayed the request. “Stokes, you’re closest to a corpse, maintain position and examine the corpse for the Commander.”
Scott and Valerie studied the alien corpse in the monitor. Stokes reached out and clamped a sensor onto the body.”
Scott made the first determination. “Well it looks like you were right again Commander. This character definitely died of explosive decompression. He is almost been turned inside out.”
“And you were right also Lieutenant,” Valerie answered, “about the age of this place. All indications are that whatever happened to this ship, and to this entire installation, happened at least one hundred and fifty years ago.”
Scott shifted to the other monitors, as he talked, “That doesn’t answer the big questions. We still don’t know where these aliens came from, and we don’t know what they were trying so hard to get away from.”
“There’s another question Lieutenant, how did they get this ship in here?”
“Damn, Commander, I seem to say this a lot but you’re right again. That ship would never be able to navigate safely in that access tube. How did it get in here?”
“Too many questions Lieutenant. Let’s hope the jump team can get us some answers. I better contact Mr. Naponiello and let him know what going on.”

In the dead vacuum of the hangar, the marines moved in a diamond formation toward the transport. They kept their weapons ready and their eyes open. Their lights moved in every direction as they propelled themselves with small bursts from their jet packs.
Sergeant Wrobel was on point. Murphy was on the left flank, Jackson on the right, and Stokes brought up the rear.
Murphy scanned the bulkhead to his left and spotted a large segment of black tubing. His eyes followed the tubing up the bulkhead into the ceiling. Then he called to Wrobel, “Sergeant, request permission to examine the port side bulkhead sir.”
“Murphy, you heard the Lieutenant. We get this guy and we get out.”
“But Sergeant, I think there’s an easier way.”
Scott broke into the conversation, “What’s your idea Murphy?”
“Lieutenant, the black tubing in the bulkhead reminds me of power conduit. It runs up the bulkhead section that contains the origin of the gravimetric field. We just may be able to shut down the field by severing the power conduit. Then we can all fly out of here on the transport.”
Scott called to his sergeant. “Sergeant, this is your call. It may be worth investigation, but you have the team, you make the call.”
The sergeant halted the team and ordered a full three sixty sweep from each member. After getting the all clear from everyone he called to Murphy, “OK Murphy, go take a look. Be careful. This isn’t your standard space bucket. Don’t go poking things.”
“Yes sir,” Murphy called out, “on my way sir.”
Wrobel then called to Stokes, “Stokes, keep an eye on that crazy Irishman.”
“Yes sir,”, Stokes replied.
Scott watched Sean Murphy leave the team. A short white burst from his pack sent Sean Murphy drifting into the deep redness. As Scott watched, he could hear Valerie trying to keep Mr. Naponiello calm. He realized that he was alone with his thoughts, and he had plenty of them. “We are calmly talking about these aliens like we see them everyday. This is an entirely new life form. It would be a first contact, if any were alive. Where the hell did they come from, and why do they seem oddly familiar to me?”

Sean drifted up to the black tubing. Hovered by the bulkhead, ten feet above the deck. After examining the tubing for a few minutes, he turned to follow its path along the bulkhead. When he did, his stabilizing jets seared the covering on the tubing. The reaction was surprising and immediate. A sticky jell shot out of small openings in the bulkhead sealing the breach in tube and covering Sean’s right leg. Thejell held him fast to the bulkhead. “Hey hey, what’s going on here? Sergeant! Sergeant, this damn thing has got me. I’m stuck to the bulkhead.”
“Calm down Murphy, we’ll get you down. Jackson, go up there . . . What the hell is that?”
Out of a hatch in the bulkhead crawled what looked liked a giant silver spider. It moved along the black tubing toward Murphy. Jackson, yelled, “That things is after Sean.” Without waiting he raised his pulsed laser weapon and began firing.
Scott was torn from his thoughts by the sudden action on the monitors. “Wrobel, what the hell is going on?”
Wrobel was yelling, “Jackson what the hell are you doing, God Damn it! Oh, sorry Lieutenant can’t talk now.”
Jackson’s laser fire tore into the bulkhead and into the maintenance robot. Murphy also fired at the metal monster coming toward him. His position made his shots even less accurate. Laser bursts flashed along the bulkhead searing tubing and melting metal. Several wild shots flashed into a control panel on the deck below. The damage to the panel sent warning signals to throughout the ship. Systems began to energize, and alarms sounded.
Jackson disabled the maintenance robot and got to his friend. He cut him out of the jell and they returned to the team.
Sergeant Wrobel was furious, “You goddamn idiots! Everyone get to the transport. Move! Move!”
The chain reaction continued through the entire complex. Mr. Naponiello was calling for Valerie as all the things happened around him. “What are those guys doing out there. They must be tearing the ship apart!”
Valerie didn’t waste time, “Mr. Naponiello depressurize your aft compartment and open the door.”
“Are you crazy. I’m not going to let any of those aliens in here.”
“Damn it Mr. Naponiello, the aliens are dead. The marines are coming to help you. Open the door and open it now!”
“Yes Commander, I’m doing it.”
Nick Blazina was working the sensor station like a mad man. “Lieutenant, this whole place is coming alive. Systems are powering up for miles around, and there is a monstrous energy surge building up right in front of that ship.”
Scott stared at the monitors. He said to no one, “What the hell are those guys doing in there?”
“Lieutenant! Lieutenant! Look at the port side monitor!” Blazina was yelling at the top of his lungs. “We’ve got to get out of here!”
Scott switched over to the port side sensors and what he saw was nothing like he had ever seen before. An immense oval, four miles in circumference appeared before the ship. It appeared as a swirling portal of purple and yellow energy. “Blazina, what is that thing?
“I don’t know Lieutenant, but we’ve got get away from it. The forces being created are going to rip this shuttle apart!”
Scott shifted his vision in time to see the hangar door begin to close. “Valerie!” Scott forgot all about rank for a moment, “Ah I mean Commander the situation is deteriorating. We’ve got to move this shuttle, but I’ll be damned if I’ll leave my men.”
“Then we join them!” Valerie yelled.
“What!”
Instead of answering Valerie ran up and jumped into the co-pilot’s seat and kicked in the main thrusters, and the shuttle rushed head long toward closing hangar door. “I started it,” Valerie yelled over to Scott, “you’ll have to finished it.”
“HOLD ON!” Scott yelled as he grabbed the controls, and guided the craft careening into the alien hangar. He fired the reverse thrusters as they cleared the closing door. It was not enough to stop the shuttle. It glided across the hangar and collided with the bulkhead. The shuttle dropped to the deck as the hangar pressurized and the artificial gravity kicked in.
The marines dove into the transport and sealed the door. Once the aft area pressurized, they moved into the passenger compartment to find Mr. Naponiello.

The scene settled down and everyone took a breath. In the shuttle Scott, Valerie, and Nick Blazina undid their straps and climbed out of their seats. The forward section of the shuttle took serious damage; it was down for good. “What a mess. Captain Merriel is going to be pissed.” Scott groaned as he picked himself up.
Valerie was already on her feet surveying the damage. “Well Lieutenant, I think we’ll need another ride home. The sensor systems are working at least, and they show the hangar is completely pressurized. The atmosphere is well within our range and so are all of the other readings. I suggest we get out of here.”
As if by telepathy Valerie, Scott and Nick appeared outside of the shuttle, as the jump team appeared outside the transport with Mr. Naponiello. Scott stood with his hands on his hips and yelled, “Wrobel, what the hell did those morons do!”
Sergeant Wrobel yelled over as the team escorted Mr. Naponiello to the officers, “Sir, Murphy was caught in the repair goo that this ship spewed out, then that robot or whatever it was came after him. Then all Hell broke loose.”
Valerie broke in, “OK OK we’re here now and it doesn’t seem like we’re going to get out easily. We’ll have to find the hangar control and get out in the transport.”
“Well Commander,” Sean spoke up a bit sheepishly, “the good news is I think I know where the hangar control station is. The bad news is I think I shot it up a bit.”
“There must be exterior controls. No one, not even aliens, would depressurize a hangar while they’re in it. First we’ll take a look at the controls here. Then we’ll look for the bridge of this ship.”
“Sergeant,” Scott called out still fuming over the situation, “you still have an assembled team, survey the area immediately outside the hangar. Let’s get our bearings a bit if we can, and whatever you do, do not shoot anything.”
“Yes sir.”
Scott continued to organize the group. “Blazina, you’re our body guard, keep your eyes open while the Commander, Mr. Naponiello and I investigate.”
Nick Blazina responded, “Yes sir,” then added, “Sir, we have fifteen minutes left before we are to report to Captain Merriel.”
“Well I guess we’ll be a little late.”
Valerie looked up, “Lieutenant, you know what it means if we’re an hour late?”
“Damn,” Scott growled, “let’s get going.”

They reached the control panel in the upper left corner of the hangar. Staring at the odd symbols scrolled across the panel the three became dejected. “What the hell is that crap?” Mr. Naponiello blurted out.
“It’s an alien language,” Valerie said annoyed at the civilians question, “you didn’t expect them to be speaking Earth Common did you?”
Scott stared at the scroll and his expression changed.
Valerie noticed, “Scott what are you thinking?”
“I’ve seen this before. Before I thought the alien form looked familiar, now it’s this scroll. Why do I think this is familiar?”

Mr. Naponiello walked away, “Lieutenant, no offense but that scroll is not familiar to any human. I’m going to check the transport. At least the damn grabber has been shut off.”
As he walked away Valerie grabbed Scott by the shoulders, and gazed into his eyes, “Scott, think there must be a reason why this looks familiar. Where could you possibly have seen this before? Was there a classified briefing that made you privy to this race?”
Valerie’s hazel eyes unsettled him for a minute, “No, I wouldn’t forget briefing info. This is something else.”
“Like what, it’s not like something you could have remembered from your childhood.”
Scott’s face lit up. “Childhood, exactly!”
“What are you talking about?”
“When I was ten I saw a presentation about possible evidence of alien visitations on Earth in the twentieth century. The pictures they showed were of aliens that look just like those. The color is what got me. Now I remember why it caught me. The aliens were called Zeta Grays. They were supposed to have come from Zeta Reticula. They also showed a sheet that was supposed to be a panel from one of their ships. The scroll looked just like that.”
“Was the presentation part of a school project?”
“No it was a holo-vid shown on the entertainment channel.”
“Excellent!” Valerie clamped her hands.
“What’s you’re idea Valerie, I mean Commander.”
“Scott, how about we use our names when there’s no one listening.” Valerie punctuated her request with a smile.
Scott smiled back, “Sounds good to me. OK, what’s your idea?”
If that was a standard vid, there should be an archive in the system’s history files.” Valerie was typing on her wrist as she talked. “Do you remember the name of the holo-vid?”
“Yeah, it was called First Contact.”
“And do you remember the month or even just the year that you saw it.”
“Let’s see it was September because a new cycle started in school, and it was 2210.”
“Great, let me do a search and . . . Yes, there it is First Contact. Now I just have to find the image of the alien panel. OK, is that it Scott?” Valerie projected hologram image in the air.
“Yeah, that’s it, and look at the familiarities between that and the control panel.”
“OK, now all I have to do is to record this panel and do a digital correlation with the holo-vid image. That should give us a key that the universal translator can use to decipher this thing.”
Scott talked as he watched Valerie work, “I’m sure glad our little crash didn’t damage the link to the shuttle’s computer system.”
“I got it.” Valerie announced.

Sergeant Wrobel led his team carefully through the alien passageways. With each turn more alien bodies were found. “What killed all these little guys?” Wrobel wondered out loud.
Jackson suddenly stopped frozen in fear. “Sergeant, I know what killed them. Damn, I know what killed these guys.”
“What Jackson, what are you talking about?”
“Sergeant look at these guys, I know they’re aliens but look close. Look at the blue blisters on these guys. Even after a hundred and fifty years you can still see them. The thing that they were trying to get away from was a plague, some kind of decease and we are walking through it and breathing the air.”
All four men stopped and looked at each other.

Scott and Valerie had completed and optical interface to the control panel when Scott’s communicator buzzed. Sergeant Wrobel informed him of Jackson’s theory.
“I see Sergeant. How far have you gone?”
“We are completing our sweep of the aft section of hangar deck. Sir, this is one hell of a ship.”
“OK, finish the sweep of the section, and get back here.”
Scott closed his connection and looked at Valerie, “Did you hear that?”
“Yes, and I can’t believe I was so incompetent. I knew damn well what the danger was and I ignored it. Now we may all pay for it.”
Scott tentatively touched Valerie’s hand as he spoke, “Valerie, I was in charge of the squad, I am responsible. Microbiological detection is built into the sensors. We would have been warned if there was a danger.”
Valerie looked up at Scott, the brilliance in her eyes dulled by sadness and a touch of fear. “Yes, I’m aware of that, but that’s in here. This hangar had been in a vacuum for one hundred and fifty years. No organism would survive that. The passageways that your men are now in have not been cleansed in such a manner.”
Scott replied, “And I sent them out there unprepared.”
Valerie held his hand tighter, “It wouldn’t matter if they went or not, once the hangar was pressurized and the ventilation system started, we were all exposed to any organism in the ship.”
Scott’s face brightened just a bit, “Come on,” he said as he continued to hold her hand. He talked as he pulled her back toward the shuttle. “If the ventilation system brought something into the hangar after we left the shuttle, the sensors should have detected it.”
The two officers quickly climbed back into the shuttle and moved to the sensor station. The flashing display hit them like a haymaker. The biological sensor was detecting an unidentified airborne bacteria in an usually large quantity.”
Valerie leaned on Scott and he put his arm around her. She looked up into his eyes for just a moment, and then her command instincts kicked in. She tried to pull away but Scott held her firmly. “Valerie, I have the highest respect for you as first officer of Raven, and I’m only too happy to follow your orders, but right now I think we both want and need this.”
Valerie stopped pulling and put her arms around Scott and they held each other in the darkness of the damaged shuttle.

“Lieutenant. Lieutenant.” Blazina called as he climbed into the shuttle. Scott and Valerie quickly broke their embrace and returned to examining the sensor data. Scott looked up and responded to the young marine, “Yes Nick, what’s up?”
“Lieutenant, the team is coming back and Mr. Naponiello is complaining about being ignored. Oh, and Lieutenant, we have thirty minutes before the final deadline.”
“OK, let’s assemble everyone, including Mr. Naponiello, and go over what we know.”
Scott touched Valerie’s hand one more time before leaving the shuttle.

The entire group assembled by the hangar control station. It was a grim scene. It wasn’t hard to tell what was on everyone’s mind. Valerie got right to it, “There is an organism in the air around us. The organism is in high quantity, but that doesn’t mean that it is the cause of the alien deaths. It could be a natural entity in their atmosphere.”
“But not in ours?” Mr. Naponiello stated, “I don’t give a crap what it did to them. What’s this damn bug doing to us?”
“We have a limited capability for analyzing unknown organisms Mr. Naponiello”, Valerie answered, “but we’ll do our best.”
Mr. Naponiello snarled at Valerie, “You better figure this out. You people caused me to be in this bug-infested place by shooting the damn place up then crashing your shuttle into the hangar. I should think someone of your rank would be smarter than that.” Mr. Naponiello stepped closer waving his finger, “Now I’m telling you . . .”
Scott grabbed the agitated space dockworker and pushed him up against the control consol. “Mr. Naponiello, need I remind you who got us all into this mess. Commander Olson didn’t have to be here. She is a bridge officer. She volunteered to come just to save your sorry ass. Our captain wanted to pull us out of here, but Commander Olson convinced him to let us continue. If it weren’t for her, you would have been left here to rot. Now I believe you owe Commander Olson an apology.”
“Lieutenant!” Valerie yelled, “Release that man now. That’s an order. Let’s try to focus on the problem shall we?”
Scott let Mr. Naponiello go after giving him a death stare and responded, “Yes Commander.”
Valerie continued, “As I said we will try to analyze the bacteria.”
“What about the consol?” Nick Blazina asked, “Commander, didn’t you break the alien language code? Wouldn’t you be able to access some ship logs and find out for sure what their problem was?”
“We would, Valerie answered, “if there was a way to pass the logs through the translator. We can see them visually but we would have to translate them line-by-line. That might not be practical.”
“Not necessary,” Mr. Naponiello announced as he stepped forward with a bit of hesitation, “Commander, please let me plead temporary insanity. I know I’ve caused all of this. Please accept my apology.”
“Apology accepted Mr. Naponiello, now why did you say it wasn’t necessary?”
Mr. Naponiello straightened up a bit, “My main job at the space dock is onboard system diagnostics. I had my equipment with me when I took the transport. All we have to do is figure out how to plug it in to that consol and the translation can come up on the diagnostic monitor.”
“The optical interface is in place,” Valerie answered, “get your equipment.”

It took several hours to complete the interface. Then the search began for ship logs. “Wait a minute.” Scott yelled, “Wait one damn minute. Did I see the word ‘human’ just scroll by?”
Mr. Naponiello backed up and there is it was. He read the report out loud. It was a report discussing the results of the latest experiments on the human subjects. It described the number of humans obtained from a planet they called Seltex Three, but what the humans called Earth. It also detailed multiple birth statistics and problems with the cryogenics chambers.
Valerie looked at Mr. Naponiello, “Did you say cryogenic chambers?”
“If the translation is right, Commander, then that’s what I said.”
Valerie looked at Scott, “There were humans on this ship. If they were in cryogenic chambers, they may still be alive.”
“What about our problem.” Mr. Naponiello demanded, “even if they are there, and we could wake them up, what would we wake them up for? They would end up dying with us.”
“Mark that spot,” Scott said, “we’ll be getting back to that.”

After another twenty minutes of searching they found what they were looking for. Valerie read from what appeared to be a medical log. “The strange bacterium that fills our ship destroys our bodies without mercy. We are all covered in blue bubbles and we get weaker everyday. Panic is spreading. There are more incidents reported everyday. Nothing we try seems to affect the bacteria. All of our technology seems to be useless against it, yet those barbarian creatures in our storage holds are still perfectly healthy.”
“Bubbles?” Murphy questioned.
“I think he meant blisters, Sean, the translator must have missed that word.”
“Wait,” Scott said, “Do you think the barbarians that this character was talking about are the humans?”
“I think that’s a good bet.” Valerie answered.
“That means,” Roy Jackson announced in glee, “this bug won’t do crap to us.”
“That’s possible,” Valerie cautioned, “but these are only assumptions.”
“Then let’s find the humans,” Jackson suggested, “if we find humans that were exposed to the bacteria and don’t have the symptoms, I’d say we’re home free.”

While the discussion continued Sergeant Wrobel glanced at what was scrolling by on the display. “Uh oh, Lieutenant you better take a look at this.” Everyone returned to the display and Jackson read the ship’s present status. “Exited the Bajeer portal, on course for the home world. Lieutenant, what the hell does that mean? We’re inside a rock.”
Valerie looked at the information on the screen and turned to Scott, “We’ve got to find the bridge of this ship so we can find out where the hell we are.”
“Lieutenant,” Jackson questioned, “how could we be anywhere but inside the asteroid? We don’t even know how the ship got in here.”
“We may have seen how it got in and out. Valerie answered, “A huge energy field was building up inside the asteroid when we brought the shuttle in here. Let’s get to the bridge and find out.”

Two copies of the ship’s layout were printed. Sergeant Wrobel took his team to the lower decks in search of the humans, while Valerie led her team to the bridge of the huge ship.
The bridge was a large octagon shaped room that had no real floor. The control stations were on pedestals that rose from the deck below. They were connected to each other and the access way by bridges.
The team’s first question was answered when they stepped into the room.
“Oh shit,” Scott said when his eyes fell on the view screen, “that doesn’t look good.”
They all stared as the view screen projected an image of deep space. There were no asteroids or planets in sight.
“OK,” Valerie said as she took control, “we need to get control of this ship. First thing we must do is, teach the ship’s main computer Earth Common. Mr. Naponiello may I speak with you privately for a minute?”
“Certainly Commander,”
Mr. Naponiello followed Valerie back through the access way and into the hall. Then Valerie asked, “Mr. Naponiello I noticed that your equipment is double A series Directorate issue. Is it fully operational?”
“Yes Commander, it was out in the fleet until last year. New Baltimore is listed as a receiving dock for all ships obtained by the directorate. I am cleared to have knowledge of and use of the Gama-47 component in this equipment.”
“Excellent!” Valerie cheered. “This system seems to use the same kind of neuron responsive logic that governs our ships and those of the Takelvee Hegemony. We should have a good chance of pulling this off.”
“I agree Commander, and I’ll get started on it right away.”

Valerie returned to the bridge and addressed Scott and Nick Blazina, “Gentleman I’m going to have to ask you not to approach the main command station while Mr. Naponiello is working. I think you can understand why.”
The marines answered in unison, “Yes Commander.”
Nick Blazina asked Scott, “Lieutenant, I’ve found a ladder to the deck below. I’d like to do a little exploring if you don’t mind.”
“Go ahead Nick, you may find something useful.”
Valerie and Scott moved back out into the access way. Valerie looked at Scott, “Scott, what’s this all about. Who are these little gray guys, and why are were they treating humans like lab rats?”
After I saw that holo-vid show about them, I dug around in the history files. During the earliest days of computer communication, there was something called the Internet. In the beginning there were no laws to control the passing of information through this new connection. I was able to access files from the end of the twentieth century that told a several different space faring races. None of this information was taken seriously at the time. Some claim the governments knew about it and launched a major disinformation campaign to avoid panic. Others claimed the governments of Earth at the time had more sinister motives. Among many of the claims made was the description of the Zeta Greys and another was a description that loosely fit the Takelvee. The Greys seemed to be quite interested in humans. We must have fit some criteria of their search for some reason. The information I found claimed there were thousands of reports of humans being abducted by aliens during that time. None were ever proven to be true and no government ever acted upon any of them. It seems that the reports were all correct. They took thousands of our people and we did nothing. It seems hard to believe.”
“What could humanity at the time do? Valerie asked, “These aliens were centuries ahead of the technology of the twentieth century. The governments probably didn’t want the world to know how helpless they were. That certainly would have created panic.”
“In any case,” Scott continued, “it seems that these little creatures took people from Earth at their leisure and performed experiments on them. Needless to say, I’ve lost all sympathy for their fate.”
Valerie’s face suddenly got darkly serious. “Scott we’ve got to turn this ship around or get off it soon.”
“I know that Valerie, we are not carrying enough provisions to last long in this ship.”
“We have to do something sooner than that. It seems that the claims made in those old files were quite accurate.”
“That’s right Valerie, that seems to be the case, what are you getting at.”
“Scott, if this ship is going to Zeta Reticula. . . .”
Scott caught on, “Zeta Reticula is in Takelvee space. Oh boy, wouldn’t those four armed beasts love to get a hold of a few directorate officers and some new technology.”
Valerie looked at Scott, “Scott, they may know about these creatures, and they’ve grilled directorate officers before, but I’m afraid Mr. Naponiello has something that they cannot be allowed to get theirs claws on. Scott, I’m going to have to give you an order.”
“Of course.”
“This won’t be an easy one.”
“Valerie, what are you talking about?”
“Scott, if the Takelevee board the ship you must destroy Mr. Naponiello’s equipment. Also Mr. Naponiello cannot be captured by the Takelvee, and neither can I.”
“Valerie, what are you saying?”
“I think you know what I’m saying Scott. If there’s no other way, you have to kill me.”
“Never!”
“Lieutenant, I’m giving you a direct order.”
“Valerie, don’t you see. . .”
Valerie looked up at the big marine. Suddenly he didn’t look so tough and she knew why. “Scott, I know what you’re trying to say, and I feel it too, but what is in that equipment and what I know about it could give the Takelvee a serious advantage over the directorate. That can’t happen Scott. Shall I pass this order to Sergeant Wrobel?”
“No, I’ll handle what has to be done.”
This time Valerie put her arms around Scott. We never had time to talk when we were on Raven. I noticed you, but there never seemed to be a casual moment.”
Scott held her close, “I noticed you in the officer’s lounge, I tried to come over and talk to you a few times, but I lost my nerve.”
Valerie smiled, “Scott, a big tough marine like you lost his nerve.”
Commander Olson, you are far more formidable then a squad of Takelvee warriors. You are the executive officer, the X-O. Not to mention being the smartest person on the ship.”
“I’m also a woman Scott.”
Scott looked into her hazel eyes and said, “You certainly are.”

They broke their embrace when Scott’s communicator buzzed. Sergeant Wrobel’s voice came through, “Lieutenant, we found some kind of holding pen down here. It contains the remains of some of there human captives. With the ship’s systems on standby for 150 years the bodies have been almost mummified. Lieutenant, I’m no doctor, but I’d say the humans show none of the symptoms of the disease that the aliens described. They look like they died of starvation. We’re going to head down to the cryogenic chamber area now.”
“That’s excellent news Sergeant. Good job. Keep me informed.”
Sergeant Wrobel replied, “Yes sir,” and closed the link.
“Well,” Valerie said, “that may be one problem solved. Again I’m wondering what they wanted with so many humans. Why multiple birth experiments?”
“Whatever it is,” Scott answered, “I’m sure it wasn’t good. I’m quickly going from not being sympathetic to their fate to down right applauding it”
“I agree totally.”

Nick Blazina joined Scott and Valerie in the access way after a few minutes. He made his report and they spent the next hour speculating on the motives of the aliens.

When they had nearly run out of the ideas, Mr. Naponiello came through the bridge door with a big smile on his face, “Commander, this ship now speaks Earth Common.”
“Thank you Mr. Naponiello, thank you very much. Great job.”
Mr. Naponiello just smiled broadly as everyone returned to the bridge.

Valerie directed as they entered, “Nick, find the communications station and try to get to the directorate hyper-net. Mr. Naponiello, see if you can find navigation, and determine where we are and how long it will take us to reach Takelvee space.”
“Takelvee space? Mr. Naponiello said nervously, “Damn, I’d hate to end up there. Right away Commander.”
“Lieutenant, find helm control and see what it takes to turn this crate around. I’ll get to the command chair and try to assist all of you.”

The search started to identify each station. Once everyone was in his or her proper place, the real work started. Mr. Naponiello was the first to report. “This thing says that it will reach the Claxcal portal, whatever that is, in four hours. It calls it a direct path portal.”
“I bet,” Scott called out, “that it’s saying that the jump through the portal will put us in the Zeta Reticula system.”
“That’s why the Commander mentioned Takelvee space.” Mr. Naponiello spoke with realization.
Valerie added information from her analysis of the ship. “It seems that travel through the portals takes no time at all. These ships can move light years in a blink of an eye. The catch is that they travel sub-light between portals. That’s means that we have four hours to stop this ship from going through that portal. Mr. Naponiello, do you know where we are now?”
“In the middle of nowhere Commander, ” Mr. Naponiello answered, “as far as I can tell we are six light years from Sigma Draconis, and eighteen light years form Filas. That put us just a few light years from Takelvee space.”
“That’s actually good.” Valerie responded, “That means we are right in the directorate’s patrol lanes. The Reliant battle group will be monitoring any message sent from this area. Lieutenant, how about helm control?”
“That’s going to be a problem Commander.” Scott answered, “ Maybe it was standard procedure or maybe it was the result of the panic on the ship, but helm control is locked to the original Captain’s fingerprints and a shifting digit combination.”
Valerie looked over at Scott, “That’s crazy, there must be an override. What if something happened to the Captain?”
Scott just answered, “I’m looking Commander, I’m looking.”

“We may also have a problem sending messages Commander,” Nick Blazina cut in from the communication station, “this ship may speak our language, but it doesn’t play our music. They’re hyper-links are completely tied into their portal system. We can’t connect to the directorate net or to another communication system.”
“In that case,” Scott suggested, “send a general signal, even if it won’t project Earth Common. Send something to get the battle group’s attention. If we can’t stop this ship, maybe the warships can get to us before we get to the portal.”
“No good Lieutenant,” Blazina answered, the frequency projection will be less than a light year without portal support.”
Mr. Naponiello interrupted Scott’s conversation, “Lieutenant, we don’t have a problem. We can just hop in the transport and get out of here.”
“Mr. Naponiello,” Scott answered, “the reason we were chasing you is that the transport you were in is defective. The hyper-drive doesn’t work. If you had engaged it you would have vaporized.”
“I know, after I left New Baltimore I found the defect. That’s why I hid out in the rock. I wandered into that area of the asteroid belt and the echo led me right to it. But Lieutenant, I know how to fix it. I just need a few parts from your shuttle. It’s not going anywhere anyway.”

While Scott worked out details with Mr. Naponiello, Valerie found the a report labeled “Breeding an Alien Labor Force.” She was amazed at what she read.
“In the twenty-seventh year of the rise of Altarc Paroch, the Altarc and the ministers ordered the construction of the breeder ship Workforce.
Workforce left space dock with orders to cultivate a new labor force to satisfy our needs. The Treska race had failed us. With each generation they became weaker and less useful. The mines and the stock pens are less productive every year. The personal help can carry less and less. They had to be replaced. The plan is to eliminate them and their world, and replace them with this new race from Seltex Three. The scientists claimed these human creatures are a sturdy lot and will take to the mines easily.
In the thirty first year of the rise of Altarc Paroch, Workforce entered orbit around Seltex Three. Our task of acquiring a seed group from the population was made quite simple by the greed of the political leaders. We offered a few trinkets and they handed their people to us as if they were waste products. Not one leader refused our request.
Workforce collected the seed group and began the process. The experiments on the humans confirmed their multiple birth capability and the females were inseminated for maximum production. Both males and females in the seed group underwent a complex series of memory altering operations. By the time the first generation was born, the seed group was ready to teach them to work for the Altarc. The young were placed in the cryogenic chambers for shipment to the development center and the seed group was prepared for the production of the next generation.
The seed group provided several more generations of workers before their productivity began to falter. They were replaced by a new seed group and the production of the new labor force continued.
As of this writing the new labor force population has risen to 100,000 and the first generations are ready to replace the failing Traska in the mines. We expect production to improve dramatically. Workforce brings a new shipment of young to the home world at regular intervals. The Altarc had deemed the project a success and its creators have received legion awards.”

“The bastards.” Valerie growled.
“Commander?” Valerie’s rage got Scott’s attention.
“These little gray bastards were breeding humans for slave labor. I hope this damn plague spread right to their home world.”
As if on cue Scott’s link buzzed and Sergeant Wrobel voice came through, “Lieutenant, we found the cryogenic chambers. They’re full of babies, sir. Little human babies, and the systems seem to be operating normally.”
“Good job Sergeant,” Scott answered, “Bring your team to the bridge.”
Hearing that Valerie frantically search for the status of the cryogenic chambers. She let out a gasp when she found the information.
“Oh my God! Scott, I mean Lieutenant I can’t believe this. There are over 2,000 human babies in cryogenic freeze, and they are all stable. They’re alive Scott! My God those babies are alive.
“What about the transport?” Mr. Naponiello demanded.
“What about the transport?” Valerie asked.
Scott answered, “Mr. Naponiello claims he can get the transport fixed. We now control the hangar so getting out wouldn’t be a problem.”
“Up until a minute ago that would have been the answer.” Valerie responded.
“What are you talking about?” Mr. Naponiello said in shock.
“We now have 2,374 citizens of the Solarian Federation to protect,” Valerie answered.
“Oh come on Commander, are you really going to risk us all for a bunch of 150 year kids who are likely to be dead anyway?”
“They’re not dead, the system shows their status in great detail. They are alive and they are my responsibility.”

The bridge became still as each person pondered the dilemma. Sergeant Wrobel bringing his team onto the bridge area broke the silence. They were informed of the situation then Valerie took over. “I will not order anyone to stay. Anyone who wants to leave on the transport is free to do so.”
Scott turned to his squad and asked, “Who are we?”
The squad shouted in unison, “We’re Marines sir.”
Then Scott asked, “Do Marines desert Solarian citizens.”
Again the squad shouted, “No sir.”
Then Scott asked, “Will we desert these citizens?”
Again the squad shouted, “No sir.”
The Scott turned to Valerie, “There’s your answer Commander.”
“You’re all crazy!” Mr. Naponiello shouted, “What good is it going to do when the lot of you and the kids are in the hands of the Takelvee.”
“They’ll have us,” Valerie responded, “but they’re likely to return the children to Solarian officials as a show of good will. It would give them major political points.”
“So then you’re saying we end our lives so these kids could start theirs.”
Valerie looked the man straight in the eye, “If necessary, Mr. Naponiello, yes, but I haven’t given up yet. I hope you haven’t either.”
“This is crazy.” Mr. Naponiello grumbled.
Valerie turned her hazel eyes on the space dockworker. “Is it Mr. Naponiello? Is it really? Do you remember when your kids were babies? You almost blew yourself up just to get one more look at them. We’re talking about 2374 little lives. Imagine your children in those chambers. Does it still seem crazy?”
Mr. Naponiello lowered his head, “No Commander. No I guess it doesn’t.”
Valerie clapped her hands, “OK then, lets find another way. We still have time. Let’s start with this. If this ship can’t let us contact the battle group, we will use a ship that will. Nick, would you accompany Mr. Naponiello to the transport. I’m sure that communications system is hyper-net compatible.”
“Of course Commander.” Nick Blazina answered a bit embarrassed that he didn’t think of that himself. “Mr. Naponiello, shall we?”
“Commander,” Sean Murphy spoke, “I suggest that we disable this vessel.”
“That wouldn’t help now Sean,” Valerie answered, “this ship is now moving on pure momentum. No amount of disabling will slow it down. We need control of the engines.”
Scott punched the control panel, “Damn this thing. The answer to all this is right in here, and I can’t get at it.”
The bridge became silent once again.

Another two hours of frantic searching yielded no useful results. The lock on the course and speed of the ship seemed total. Nick Blazina and Mr. Naponiello returned to the bridge and Nick made his report. “We got through to the battle group. The destroyer Slasher is tracking us and is moving to intercept a flank speed.”
“Excellent!” Valerie cheered.
Nick continued with hesitation, “I wish the news was that good Commander, but at flank speed Slasher will still take at least five hours to reach us.”
“We’ve got less than one hour.” Valerie said grimly.
We’ve got to slow this ship down. Scott insisted, “We need more time!”
Valerie got up from her chair and left the bridge and Scott quickly followed. Valerie walked down the passageway and turned into the first available room. Inside she screamed, “You bastards!” Then she began smashing anything that was breakable in the room. Scott came in behind her and grabbed and held on while she frantically fought him.
“Hey hey”, Scott talked as he held her, “take it easy.”
“I can’t figure this out.” Valerie shouted in frustration. “I can’t figure this out. I have never failed to figure out any problem, ever. Why now, why with all these babies lives in my hands. Why is it now that I fail?”
“Valerie,” Scott spoke softly, “this is not a test. We are all trying to figure out a brand new alien technology in just a few hours. It simply may not be possible.”
“There must be something we can do Scott, there must be.”
Valerie looked up at Scott and they paused not saying a word. Scott leaned down and gently kissed her. Valerie returned his kiss and they held each other in the center of the room.

A minute later Scott’s communicator buzzed and Sergeant Wrobel reported, “Lieutenant, more systems are coming on up here. I think this thing is preparing to enter the portal.”
“We’ll be right there Sergeant.”
Scott then looked at Valerie, “Shall we fight this thing to the end?”
“Your damn right.” Valerie answered.

When they returned to the bridge, they found Mr. Naponiello missing. “Where is he?” Valerie asked.
Sergeant Wrobel answered in disgust. “He’s headed for the transport Commander.”
“Well that’s his right I suppose.” Valerie answered in resignation. “Open the hangar for him when he’s ready.”
“But Commander, “Nick Blazina protested.
“No buts Nick just do it.”
“Commander,” Sergeant Wrobel announced, “I believe we are detecting the portal dead ahead.”
Valerie looked up at Scott, “When the Takelvee enter this ship; do not fight them. That’s an order. I do not want those cryogenic chambers damaged. Do everything you can to get them to send the babies back to Solarian space.”
“You’ll negotiate that point.” Scott answered.
“No Scott,” Valerie answered, “remember the order that I gave you earlier.”
“No Valerie, I can’t do that.”
Valerie turned and called, “ Sergeant Wrobel I have an order for you.”
“NO!” Scott shouted, “No damn it.”
“Then you’ll carry out your order.” Valerie said looking him in the eyes.
“Yes I will Commander, and then I’ll be right behind you.”
Valerie touched his hand.
Sergeant Wrobel then announced, “Mr. Naponiello is out of the ship and he’s fired up his engines full throttle.”
“I guess he’s anxious to get out of here,” Valerie said.
“No Commander, “ Sergeant Wrobel said in surprise, “he’s heading straight for the portal.”
“Lieutenant,” Valerie called, “He’s still in range of your communicator, find out what he’s up to.”
Scott got him on the line and Mr. Naponiello answered the question, “This is for your children Commander. This is for my children and all the children. May they grow up happy and strong.” Mr. Naponiello cut the communication.
“What is he up to?” Scott asked.
It came to Valerie in a flash, “Oh my God, he going to engage the hyper-drive in the transport at the mouth of the portal!”

As they watched the transport rushed far ahead of the big ship. The swirling energy of portal activation appeared and the big ship prepared itself for transit. Everyone in the big ship caught a breath, then a blinding bright light lit up space. The shock wave from the anti-matter explosion hit the ship like a hammer. It spun wildly off course losing all of its forward momentum. Everyone held on the railing fighting to keep from being thrown to the deck below. Stabilizing thrusters fired and the ship settled down.
The lights went out for a moment and returned. After taking a breath Valerie pushed people out of the way to the to the command consol. She went directly to the cryogenic status. “Thank God, she sighed, “The cryogenic chambers are intact.” “Sergeant Wrobel called out, the explosion’s impact virtually canceled our forward momentum. At the moment we are virtually stopped dead in space.”
“Yes!” Valerie cheered as she made her announcement, “The system is reporting that the portal has been disabled and it is waiting for a course correction. Thank you thank you Mr. Naponiello. Gentlemen shall we stand in a moment of silence for our sometimes gruff, but brave and true friend, Mr. Dan Naponiello.”
Everyone stood at attention in silence. After a minute Valerie said, “Thank you Mr. Naponiello, your name will be taught to the 2374 new members of the Solarian Federation. You have my word on it.”
It was Scott’s turn to announce good news. Since we can’t change course, it looks like the ship will just sit here. Slasher should find us in less than an hour. It’s over.”
Everyone cheered. Scott looked at Valerie and smiled. His sergeant caught the gleam in his eye and called to his men. “OK squad, everyone to the hangar. Let’s check out the damage to the shuttle.”
“Aw Sarge what for?” Jackson grumbled.
“Because Jackson, if you don’t, I’ll kick your ass. Is that reason enough for you.”
“OK Sarge,. I’m going.”
Sergeant Wrobel followed his squad out of the door. Scott called to him before he disappeared, “Sergeant?”
“Yes Lieutenant.”
“Thanks Pat.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about Lieutenant, but, anytime.”
The door to the access way slid closed and Valerie and Scott were left in standing at the command station in the quiet of the bridge. “Well Commander,” Scott said with a smile, “you command one hell of a recon mission.”
“And you were right.” Valerie said, “Your squad could handle anything on its own.”
“Not like this,” Scott answered, “we were damn lucky to have you with us, and I’m very happy that you were here. Commander, request permission to kiss you.”
“Permission granted Lieutenant.”