Beyond The Frontier (United Star Systems Book 2) Read online

  “It’s certainly something USSI should be keyed into. We’ll make certain to pass it onto Shepherd and Delaine on our return. But there’s nothing more we can do about them now. They are after all, in interstellar space.”

  Before O’Brian could reply, a slight tremor ran the deck.

  “Commander, large gravimetric surge, sixty-thousand kilometers astern! Never seen anything like it!”

  Both Avery and O’Brian moved to the tactical operations station to see the readings which had the tactical officer excited and confused at the same time.

  He looked back at them. “The distortions are increasing! Massive spike in gamma rays, a tremendous amount of energy is emanating from the focal point—an event horizon is forming!”

  Outside the ship, the massive distortion pulsed and radiated brighter than a neutron star. It expanded rapidly in all directions. The swirling mass of energies churned so powerful, the physical manifestation continued to expand for thousands of kilometers.

  The damn thing was about to engulf his ship!

  O’Brian was still staring wide-eyed at the tactical monitor. Avery yanked her arm and pulled her toward the center of the bridge while issuing orders.

  “All the known Deities . . . emergency acceleration! Forward, helm, take us away from it!”

  Avery dropped himself into the command chair as the ship shuddered with the emergency acceleration. Next to him, O’Brian did the same, fumbling with her harness as Avery clicked his in place.

  The ship rumbled as though being pelted by a meteor shower. “We’re not going to make it,” she said.

  Avery ignored her. “Polarize the hull plating!”

  The energy field running through the hull and the outer armor strengthened it exponentially on a molecular level, enhancing its ability to withstand structural shearing or impacts from external forces.

  The deck rattled and caused his voice to vibrato as he spoke. “Warn off the other ships . . . if they haven’t already moved away.”

  The anomaly continued to expand until suddenly it imploded and pulsated outwards before excess energies dissipated on the periphery. The chaotic display faded, and in its place an unlikely but unmistakable object materialized.

  Constellation.

  Chapter 2 – We’re Going In

  “That’s the thing with madmen, Decimus. They’re unpredictable” – Avery Alvarez

  Endeavor

  Avery wretched, smoke burned his lungs. The shock wave overloaded the environmental system. He waved his hands in a useless gesture to clear the smoke filling the bridge.

  “Damage report!” he called, to anyone who could still hear.

  O’Brian’s voice came from behind him.

  “It’s a good thing we moved when we did, sir! That—whatever that was—hit us the hardest . . . probably because we were the closest. No structural damage, but main power’s offline and we’re adrift. Engineering informs we’ll have emergency power soon, with full restoration in five minutes. Power levels are fluctuating, and the dark-matter reactor was outputting dangerous readings—engineering had to shut it down.”

  Avery wiped his eyes and squinted at the readings from the outputs attached to his command chair. Just as he shifted to look back at O’Brian, the overhead lights flickered and the ship righted itself.

  Emergency power had kicked in.

  Avery glanced at the tactical readout. The speed of the Outer Rim Alliance ship increased rapidly, and it was vectoring for Constellation.

  His chest tightened. Something was very wrong.

  “Helm,” Avery called, “watch that Alliance ship. Do what you can to position us between them and Constellation. We’ll be sluggish without main power, but do the best you can.”

  “Aye, sir. Endeavor shifting ventral and relative to Alliance vessel’s approach vector,” Wiggins acknowledged.

  “XO, broadcast on open frequencies. I want everyone to hear this.”

  She signaled the comm was open.

  The ship’s computer had diverted some of the emergency power to the environmental systems. It wouldn’t do to have the crew suffocate.

  Avery’s eyes still stung but at least he could breathe. “This is Commander Alvarez commanding Endeavor, to Commander Outer Rim Alliance. Your ship is on a direct vector at an unsafe speed towards a United Fleet ship. Break off immediately, or we will interpret your actions as hostile, and we will respond accordingly.” He waited and then looked at O’Brian.

  She shook her head. “No response, sir.”

  Avery stood. His mind was racing. “Damn him . . . what does he think he’s doing?”

  “What’s the status of the other ships?”

  O’Brian responded. “They were much farther away relatively and appear undamaged. Pilum is moving towards us. The Union vessel has reversed course.”

  The Union vessel was making its intentions clear, they wanted no part of what might be about to go down, but they would observe the outcome.

  Avery wasn’t entirely certain he could count on Decimus to assist him in any confrontation. Did the Imperial officer’s wish to repay a debt, include opening the Empire to hostilities from this Outer Rim Alliance?

  He would soon find out.

  “XO, open secure comms to Pilum,” Avery ordered.

  She nodded and gave him the thumbs up.

  Decimus appeared on the viewer.

  “It is clear, Avery, that the Alliance ship doesn’t have good intentions towards your survey ship.”

  “We don’t have time to debate it, Decimus. There’re two people who might know why—this Outer Rim vessel and Constellation. Doesn’t look like the former wishes to talk. We have to protect Constellation.”

  “Agreed. We stand ready to assist you, Avery. I would suggest you withdraw to a safe distance and let us handle the ORA ship. Your vessel is in no shape to do battle.”

  “I can’t argue with you there, Decimus, but somehow I don’t think the ORA commander will be content to let us all go.”

  “He’s certainly a mad man if he believes he can destroy all three of our vessels.”

  “That’s the thing with madmen, Decimus. They’re unpredictable. We won’t be much trouble for him in our current condition, the Union vessel is making it clear they’re not fighting unless attacked, and that leaves just you.”

  “I assure you, Avery. Just—us—will be sufficient. Pilum out.”

  “Massive power surge on the Alliance vessel. Their weapons are priming. Targeting lasers are painting us and Pilum!” Richards said.

  “How effective can we be?” Avery asked.

  The look on O’Brian’s face said it all. “We have emergency and auxiliary power. Enough to power twenty-five percent of our weaponry, our defenses, or maneuver at severely reduced combat speeds. One of those three choices, sir.”

  “Commander, the anomaly . . . it’s surging again!”

  No one could turn away from the holo-viewer, as it depicted its interpretation of the telemetry from the ship’s advanced sensor suite. A swirling mass of pure energy formed and this time it didn’t dissipate. There was no time to think about it now. The sensors would record everything.

  The Alliance ship was six-hundred thousand kilometers and closing. Tactical’s announcement shocked them all back to the present.

  “Missiles in the black!”

  The enemy had made his choice for him.

  “Divert the remaining power to point defense batteries. Take out that ordnance!”

  Avery expanded the tactical display. The missiles angling for Endeavor were standard anti-ship heavy-missiles. Nothing special. But enough to destroy any ship without its defenses activated.

  While starship point defense should work well in this situation—a one-one skirmish—sitting dead in space ensured a swift demise.

  A skilled combat pilot maneuvered to force missiles to chase, overshoot, decelerate and realign with its target, which all the while gave point defenses more time to track and destroy them. Especially when the
missiles slowed to alter trajectory along a different vector.

  “Alliance ship is vectoring around on a wide angle, Commander.”

  Avery gritted his teeth. The ORA commander was at least a capable tactician. He had exploited Endeavor’s crippled status and fired another missile volley.

  The point defense screen intercepted the first volley without worry. The second volley came too close for comfort. The Alliance ship, hoping to make short work of Endeavor, wasn’t conserving ammunition.

  Another volley from knife-fight range rocketed towards Endeavor.

  Twelve missiles now reached out to embrace his ship. The point defense batteries did an admirable—if improbable job—of destroying another six.

  Pilum was burning as fast as she dared to join the battle, careful not to exceed the threshold of intercept speed, which would render them in capable of decelerating to combat speeds in time to help.

  “Pilum is firing!”

  Several more missiles exploded, but not done in by Endeavor’s point defense. Deities bless Imperial lasers!

  Because Pilum was chasing the Alliance ship’s missiles, its conventional point defense would never have intercepted the missiles in time. But thanks to the Imperial reliance on lasers as their primary form of offensive weaponry, the light speed weapons had no trouble melting the missiles before they reached Endeavor.

  All but two. There was no way to avoid it.

  Avery tightened his harness. “All hands—brace for impact!”

  Within seconds the first missile struck Endeavor’s outer armor and gutted it deep. The horrendous ripping sound of starship armor tearing away from the ship crawled his skin. Without the polarization to strengthen the armor on a molecular level, it couldn’t withstand too many hits in one section. The second missile struck near the first.

  “Hull breach! Ventral rear section, one deck deep. There’s not enough power for emergency force fields. We’re venting atmosphere.”

  Avery didn’t want to think about any crew still in that section. No one would survive if the section took another hit while exposed to vacuum. “Seal it.”

  “Structural integrity is severely compromised . . . ventral armor plating has buckled!”

  “Pilum is engaging, Commander!”

  Everyone held a collective breath as Pilum charged down the Alliance ship, pouring everything it had into it. An unexpected flash brightened between the hull of the ship and Pilum’s laser strikes.

  “They’ve got some type of refracting field deflecting Pilum’s laser strikes,” O’Brian said.

  Avery could only watch. He was a helpless bystander to his ship’s fate. The Alliance ship decided it had enough of Pilum. It broke off from its attack on Endeavor and unleashed full fury on the Imperial destroyer. It fired some kind of charged particle weapon, which flared bright and dissipated rapidly as it travelled towards its target. Pilum seemed unaffected.

  Then it soon became apparent as the Alliance ship closed to within two hundred thousand kilometers, that it was a close range weapon. Pilum faltered along her previous course.

  But the Imperials had close range weapons of their own.

  Several explosions rocked the Alliance ship, and the shield shimmered. Pilum pressed the attack with another volley of stealth missiles and lasers. The weakened shield protecting the ORA ship flared and died, and the lasers burned into its hull.

  It seems the Alliance captain wasn’t suicidal after all, and the hostile ship turned away on a vector to lead them out of the battle area. The escape vector brought the alliance ship to within five-thousand klicks of Endeavor but it didn’t fire.

  A brilliant flash lit the display as the ORA ship transitioned to light-speed.

  “Commander!” Richards yelled, there was a distinct shrill to his tone. “We didn’t detect it due to interference from the transition to warp. The Alliance ship deployed an antimatter mine, five thousand klicks off our starboard bow.”

  An antimatter weapon was exponentially more powerful than a nuclear device. If Endeavor’s armor matrix was intact, it might have deflected such a close range blast.

  Avery stiffened. A thousand thoughts exploded into his mind at once. He was back on the bridge of Trident when Aaron had ordered the crew to abandon ship. The mine was certain death. The other option was an unknown outcome. But he knew it was survivable.

  “Engineering, divert every last sliver of emergency power we have left, and anything you can squeeze from anywhere, to the engines. Take it from life support if you have to!” He turned to O’Brian. “Sound the alarm, brace for impact. Helm, give it as much as you’ve got, direct burn for the anomaly!”

  The XO sounded the emergency maneuvers alarm. Three loud braaaangs echoed throughout the ship signaling anyone not strapped in, they had mere seconds to secure themselves for imminent harsh maneuvers, severe impact or critical structural failure.

  Avery grasped the straps across his chest.

  Richards reported. “Fifteen-thousand klicks from the anomaly!”

  “The mine is critical!”

  A wave washed over the ship. O’Brian had shut down the gravity system and re-routed power to the engines. The jostling threw everyone forward into their restraints. The shock wave caught the tail end of Endeavor as it reached the anomaly’s event horizon.

  Avery’s body vibrated and the entire ship rattled. He couldn’t fight it anymore. He relaxed his grip on the restraints.

  Before he lost consciousness, his final thought wasn’t of himself or his crew. A strange sensation flowed through him. Somehow he knew. And calmness washed over him.

  His friend had awoken. And his friend would save him.

  Chapter 3 – Dark Dreams

  Recovery Ward, Medical Deck

  United Star Systems Fleet Headquarters

  Space Station—Spero, orbiting Earth

  Sol

  Present Day

  It was a strange feeling to be dead.

  The final desperate beat of a heart. A still chest after a final breath, and the final flicker of a neuron, in a brain incapable of processing stimuli.

  Yet, he was no longer dead. At least he didn’t feel dead. Dead people didn’t think about feeling dead. Two weeks ago, he’d rejoined the living.

  Who am I?

  The answer made little sense. Aaron Rayne—rank: Commander, assignment: starship command duty. That could as well be someone else.

  It meant nothing to him now.

  He couldn’t move, yet he was certain he could hear voices. Sometimes, the voices seemed familiar and other times it seemed as if the voices were those that someone else should recognize. Sometimes the voices argued. Other times he could barely hear them. Once or twice he was convinced someone was crying. But why can’t I move?

  Then there were odd noises. Beeps. Clangs. Bangs.

  Back to those voices. People had been shouting. Then there was frantic conversation. Aaron could instantly recall the first memory and immediately shift to the last. Something cold was attached to his head. No, it wasn’t there anymore. Someone held his hand against their cheek. An image formed. Slowly it took shape. A humanoid-shaped head appeared. Then hair formed around its head, reaching the neck. The eyes came next. Blue, deep-blue eyes. The image was sad?

  Now he was sad.

  Something was hurting. It wasn’t pain. He flicked past that memory. Pushed it away. He heard laughter. Two persons in front him laughing. Both young, but one older than the other. What was so funny? He wished he knew.

  The darkness swirled. Ghostly shapes appeared from the darkness. He twisted violently. It wasn’t fair. He couldn’t save them. He tried. He would have given anything to save them. They stood and stared at him. Their eyes burned into him accusingly. Why didn’t you save us? they seemed to ask. We depended on you—our captain. He reached out to them and they faded away.

  He sobbed.

  They knew he would let them down, and he did. Now he was falling. This is the end. The ground rushed up. A jarring force stopped
him. His savior tossed him away. All the while, the savior stared at him with pleading eyes. The savior stepped back, outstretched his arms, and fell.

  Another face flashed in his mind. At first, he shivered, and then he relaxed. The face appeared hideous at first. Slowly, the features molded into a kind, gentle smile—almost sorrowful.

  Another face appeared. This one was angry, bitter, it was holding something. No! He was going to hurt the other one, the one with the kind smile!

  The Lord Commander.

  If he dies, everyone loses. I can’t let anyone else die. I can save them! I can save them all!

  Aaron fell onto his stomach on a soft surface. He reached to his face, feeling for his scar. It wasn’t there. He’d chosen to keep it after Trident. Why would someone remove it? He rolled over and opened his eyes. He smirked.

  Not quite who or what he was expecting to see.

  Chapter 4 – Horsing Around

  “I’m liable to inflict serious bodily harm upon you” – Lieutenant Malcolm Lee

  Epsilon Eridani Planetary System

  USS member world: Paradise

  Lieutenant Malcolm Lee dove to the right and face planted in the dry dirt. He pushed up on his forearms, spitting out blades of grass, as the brown, furry animal galloped past. He closed his eyes as another one headed straight for him. Epsilon’s bright star beat down on him from above.

  A slap in the face that’s what this was. To survive everything he had, only for this hideous four-legged creature to trample him.

  “Lee!” The shout pierced the air.

  Lee opened one eye and saw Ensign Yuri “Flaps” Miroslav’s head bobbing up and down behind the head of the animal charging at him. If things hadn’t been bad before…

  “Get up, Lee, I’ve got you!”

  In that moment he remembered how angry the Commander had been when he’d knocked him out on Hammerhead with painkillers, before the battle of Atlas Prime.