Chapter 35
The pain struck without warning. Intense and relentless. Jason had caught a few hours of sleep before, as if being hit by a bolt of lightning, he sat up grabbing for his head. It only began to subside once he had showered and dressed. Making his way to Medical, he noticed more and more people in the corridor—all headed in the same direction.
Tired looking, Dira was already there, attending to others. Mollie was crying, Nan holding her tight. Ricket entered Medical several seconds after Jason.
“What is this? What’s going on with everyone?”
Ricket was moving fast. Someone was in a MediPod and he checked its readings. “Nano-devices.”
Jason stopped and stared, paralyzed by the implications. He looked over to Mollie, still crying.
“You’re talking about—”
“Yes,” he said, “same as the Crystal City. They are counting down.”
“How long?”
“Fourteen days, three hours, eight minutes.”
“Can you do something? Turn them off?”
“I’ve turned them off. They turn back on. They are being controlled externally.”
“Can you remove them—maybe the MediPod can remove them?”
“They are permanent—integrated into the bio-structure of the brain. Removing them would be fatal,” Ricket said, still taking readings.
“So what do we do?”
“We need to stop them at the source. I’ve discovered where all Caldurian signals emanate from, including the instructions for wormhole transport—such as what the Crystal City uses.
“Where? We need to change course. Get there and turn these things off!”
“We are already on the right course, Captain.” Ricket said.
“You’re saying it’s Earth?”
“Yes.”
Jason found it nearly impossible to think around the pain. He knelt down next to Mollie. Her eyes were red and puffy.
“Can you make it stop, Dad?”
“We’re going back to Earth, sweetie. Once there, we’ll figure this out.” Jason hugged her then stood and hugged Nan.
“Can you give everyone something for the pain?” Jason asked, looking to Ricket and then to Dira.
Ricket nodded, “Yes. It won’t stop the pain completely, but it will help.”
* * *
From the bridge, Jason sat and watched the overhead display, mesmerized as stars continuously streamed by. He kept coming back to the same conclusion. The reason Earth was generating Caldurian signals was simple: Earth and Calduria were one and the same. It was Earth that had been attacked by the Craing thousands of years earlier. What few remained alive, like those in the Crystal City, now moved about the universe. How many other crystal cities were there? He then thought about the Craing and the three Caldurian vessels in Earth orbit.
“That’s why they haven’t been attacking!” he blurted out loud.
Orion looked back at him from her station. “You all right, Cap?”
Jason was still deep in thought, “Oh, yeah. I’m alright, Gunny.”
He needed to contact them. He looked over to the communications station. “Gordon, I want to open a channel.”
“Yes, sir,” came two voices. Both of the red-headed Gordons were on duty. Jason couldn’t remember if it was Jeffery or Michael he was looking at.
“Which one are you?” he asked, irritated.
“Jeffery, sir.”
“I don’t want to see either of you on this bridge again unless you have full name tags, understood?”
“Yes, sir,” the two Gordons replied.
“You, Jeffery, can you open a channel to the shuttle?”
“Yes, sir.”
As Jason waited, he ran through what he had figured out, or at least thought he had figured out. Somewhere on Earth, a Caldurian signal was being generated. It wasn’t a coincidence that the Craing were also searching Earth with those three Caldurian vessels. Where Jason and The Lilly’s crew needed to turn off the signals for their nano-devices, the Craing’s search was for something else. What’s the most important thing to the Craing, especially now that the Loop had been destroyed? It was the ability to move about the universe uninhibited. This Caldurian signal—it was universal and powerful. Jason wondered what else it was.
“Channel open, sir,” Jeffery Gordon said.
Admiral Reynolds looked terrible. Annoyed, he spoke first. “I was sleeping. Something that does not come easily lately.”
“Hello to you too, Admiral,” Jason replied. “Let me guess, a blinding headache. You’re ready to jump in front of a bus or dive off a cliff?” Jason asked.
“Exactly, how’d you know?”
“It’s your nano-devices. Dad, like the rest of us, you will be dead in two weeks, actually less now. Sorry for putting it so bluntly.”
“All of us?” the admiral asked.
“Yes, anyone that has these devices in their heads.”
“What can we do to stop this from happening?”
“I believe the answer lies with the cave people you’ve discovered. As we talked about, I’m sure they are descendants of the Caldurians. There’s a universal signal being generated. Multi-functional, it controls things such as wormhole generation, offering Caldurian ships the ability to move about the universe with ease. Apparently it also signals things like our nano-devices to shut down. I’m sure it does far more, but for now finding its source is what’s paramount.”
“Ricket, can you locate this signal?” the admiral asked.
Jason had not noticed the mechanical alien was standing at his side.
“This is not a signal generation in the same sense of a radio frequency or light waves. This would be closer to trying to find the origins of thought or consciousness, nearly impossible,” Ricket said.
“So we need to find this before the Craing do.”
“Yes,” Jason replied. “We have the advantage of knowing where their tribe is located, or at least where one of their tribes is located,” Jason said.
“What do you want me to do? They’re not exactly friendly—it’s not like I can invite them to tea.”
“Who’s there with you in the shuttle?”
“It’s me and two SEALs, that’s it,” the admiral replied.
“If we can get past those three Caldurian vessels, I know exactly who we can send to talk to them,” Jason said.
* * *
“Why me?” Perkins asked, defensively.
“Because you look just like them. Think about it. You won’t be nearly as intimidating as we would be,” Jason replied.
Jason had wanted to talk to Perkins away from everyone else. It was bad enough he looked so peculiar. This was a sensitive conversation. One that only compounded the issue that he was different than everyone else.
“I don’t speak their language—oh, wait, I guess Lilly will help translate,” Perkins said.
“That’s right.” Jason hesitated, then continued, “Right now, we all have a death sentence hanging over our heads. In less than two weeks, we’ll all be dead, including my ex-wife and daughter, who aren’t even crewmembers. We need you to do this. Our very survival hinges on you being able to do this.”
“Yes, sir. I won’t let you down, Captain,” Perkins said.
Jason was being hailed.
“Go for Captain.”
“Captain, we’ll be entering Earth orbit within five minutes,” McBride said.
“On my way. Sound general quarters, battle stations.”
* * *
Jason and Perkins entered the bridge together. Ricket was there, as well as Orion on tactical.
A view of Earth filled the wrap-around display above. It change to a segmented view, with close ups of each of the three Caldurian ships at their various orbital coordinates.
“They certainly don’t look anything like The Lilly,” Jason commented. Smaller, the three vessels were stark white, and squatty looking like pugged-nosed bulldogs.
“They see us, Cap,” Orion said from tactical. “Their shields are up.”
“Distance?”
In a flash, one of the segmented displays changed, the Caldurian vessel gone.
“They’ve shifted away, sir.”
With the vessel reacquired, the same ship filled the display again. “Closest one is right on top of us at sixty-five miles out, sir.”
Jason put Lieutenant Miller and his fighter crew on standby. Figuring this was as good a place to make a stand as any, he was about to deploy.
“Incoming!” Orion shouted. “Six missiles—fusion-tipped, Cap. Ten seconds to contact.”
“Select and load fusion-tipped missiles, Gunny. Helm, shift us in three miles closer to their starboard side, do it now,” Jason commanded.
The Lilly phase-shifted. “Fire missiles.”
“Missiles away, sir.”
“The two other vessels have shifted as well sir,” McBride said. “They’re now right along side the other one.”
Ricket said, “Obviously, they don’t have our three-mile phase-shift limitation or the need for prolonged recharging, Captain.”
The display changed; the Caldurian vessels all shifted at the same time and had surrounded The Lilly at less than ten miles out.
“Taking heavy plasma fire, Captain,” Orion yelled.
“Shields already down to fifty percent!” Perkins added.
The Lilly was being thrown about. Those standing reached for something to grasp on to. Ricket fell to the floor, then Perkins.
“Deploy rail guns,” Jason commanded.
“Already on it, sir”
Jason felt the familiar vibration of The Lilly’s rail guns snapping into place beneath the hull.
“They’re shifting every second or two now, can’t get a lock on them. The Lilly’s taken over defenses.”
“Shields are completely gone!”
“We’re taking direct hits to our outer hull. They’re targeting our drives, Captain,” Orion said.
“Breech on Deck 1, we’re venting to space!” Perkins said, back on his feet and at his post.
Jason felt three plasma pulses hit the outer hull at the same time.
“Primary drive one is now offline. One more hit like that and we’re dead in space, Captain,” Perkins said, trying to stay calm.
Jason watched the display. The Lilly’s ability for continuous fire of their rail munitions was driving the enemy to shift back.
“Hull breech on one of the enemy ships! They’re starting to take damage.”
“They’re now four hundred miles to our starboard, sir. And the missile original salvo has re-acquired our location. Ten seconds to contact.”
“Shift us out of here, Helm!”
“Still waiting to recharge, sir.”
“Gunny, blow those missiles away,” Jason commanded.
“Aye, sir.”
The munitions made quick work of the incoming missiles.
“All incoming missiles destroyed, Captain,” Orion said.
“Why fire only six missiles?” Jason said, thinking aloud. “Either those ships don’t have the same JIT munitions as we do, or the Craing crew hasn’t figured out their ship’s capabilities yet.”
“They’ve phase-shifted again, sir. Two hundred miles from us and they’ve separated one hundred miles from each other. Incoming! Salvo of eighteen missiles. Six fusion-tipped missiles from each.”
Jason smiled. “Gunny, not including Earth, please, and with a ten percent margin either side, I want continuous deployment of rail munitions, all directions incremental at a five percent spread. Do the same with JIT fusion-tipped missiles—again, all directions, incremental at a five percent spread.”
Orion hesitated, then smiled, “Aye, sir.” The display came alive; blue targeting vectors filled space in all directions. Jason felt the vibration increase through the deck plating.
“The incoming eighteen missile salvo has been destroyed, sir. Our rail munitions are now connecting with the enemy; their shields are holding. Five seconds to missile contact.”
“Captain, they’ve phase-shifted away,” McBride said. “There they are, they’re three thousand miles out. Now they’ve phase-shifted again, looks like they’re hiding behind the Earth.”
“I figured they’d do that,” Jason said. “Orion, without interrupting our current deployment, I want three tracking fusion tips with phase-shift capabilities. You remember those, right?” Jason asked. “Allow only these three to deviate and cross over to the area behind Earth. Try not to blow up our planet in the process. Got that?”
“Aye, captain.” Orion turned and made the necessary entry selections at her console. “Firing three missiles.”
The virtual battle logistics came up on the display. Three red icons moved across space toward Earth, each staying just outside of the ten percent margin. The display changed perspective to show the three Caldurian vessels hiding behind the planet.
“They’re firing at the missiles, sir. Our missiles just phase-shifted,” Orion said.
Jason waited. First one, and then another of the Caldurian ships disappeared from view.
“Captain, two the Caldurian ships have been destroyed. The third has taken significant damage to their drives. And all are adrift in space.”
With fist pumping and high fives, the bridge exploded with cheers.
“Cease firing, Gunny,” Jason commanded.
“Helm, move us to within five hundred miles of that ship. Let’s see if they want some help. Open a channel to the Craing commander on board that ship.”
“Aye, sir. Channel open,” McBride said.
A Craing officer appeared. He was a captain, Jason surmised, evident by the gold medallion worn around his neck.
“I am Captain Reynolds of the Alliance vessel The Lilly. Who am I addressing?”
The small alien looked young and unprepared for this. “I am Captain Dolom.”
“Prepare to be boarded, Captain. If you comply with our directives, there will be no need for us to destroy your vessel.”
“I understand, Captain.”