Unity

Chapter 21

I ran to the back of the bridge and strapped myself into a seat. Admiral Jones had likewise strapped into the captain's chair. "All hands brace for impact!" Admiral Jones announced to the whole ship. The missiles were shot down before they could reach us, but they still detonated with a blinding flash of light. The shockwave created by the missiles hit us, and time seemed to slow down. Every screen in the room was displaying warnings and alerts. I saw a monitor showing the engines were pulling massive amounts of power into them when I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. Everything started to blur, and I started to panic. The ship lurched, and all I could think was that there was no way the Unity could have been destroyed so easily.

My vision started to dim, and I felt lightheaded. I felt like I was spending eternity in a dark void. Maybe I had died, and this was the afterlife, my mind thought sluggishly. Without warning, I was jerked into reality. The change was so quick, I just about vomited. I still couldn't see as my body tried to cope with whatever had assailed it, but slowly the throbbing in my head started to subside. My heart rate returned to normal, and my vision started to clear. Once I managed to get my body back under control, I looked around to take stock of the damage. Several people lay passed out at their stations and the pungent odor of vomit hung in the air. I could see Admiral Jones shakily get to his feet. I unfastened my harness and rushed to help, only to fall on my face. It took a minute before I trusted my legs enough to try and stand again. I made my way to a station that had a communication panel. "We need a medical team to the bridge" I said, after I had contacted the medical bay.

I walked over to the navigation console, where Admiral Jones was trying to rouse the occupants. "At least they aren't dead," I told myself out loud. A minute later the medical team arrived. Soon the smell of vomit began to mingle with the acrid smell of smelling salts. People were quickly roused and looked over by the medical team. A half hour later everyone was mostly better, but still pretty shaken up.

Admiral Jones took his seat and started calling out for status reports. Once everyone had confirmed that the ship was functioning normally, Admiral Jones called down to the engine room. "Any idea of what just happened?" he asked, not sounding pleased.

"We're still trying to figure that out sir," the chief engineer on duty answered. I immediately recognized her red hair. Her name was Lisa. She was in my original squadron. I had seen her around a few times, but we had never really spoken much. "The shockwave seemed to have affected our engines somehow. They pulled massive amounts of energy into them, and then released it all at once. The power drain was big enough to tap into our power reserves."

"How could the engine use that much energy and not damage the ship at all?" Admiral Jones demanded.

"We have no idea," she answered. "Luckily, the ship's main designer just happens to be on board. He was overseeing the team that was performing the engine upgrades."

"Find him and send him to the bridge," Admiral Jones commanded. "I want to have a little chat with him."

Admiral Jones disconnected, walked to the holotable and said, "Now...where in the star packed galaxy are we?"

One of the navigators, named Julie, spoke up, "Sir, we have no idea."

"What do you mean you have no idea?" the admiral replied.

"We're on the edge of a solar system, it's just not ours," she answered. "The computer can't find any reference points to help identify our position." Julie paused and looked down. "Sir, we have an incoming ship. Its design is like nothing we have ever seen before. Even its energy signature is unique."

The admiral brought up an image of the ship on the holotable. Ugly didn't do this ship justice. It looked like several derelict spacecraft had been smashed and welded together. Admiral Jones watched the ship for a moment before asking, "Any sign that they are trying to communicate?"

"Negative sir," replied the communications officer.

The admiral sighed and said, "Put the ship on full alert. Have all ships prepare to launch just in case things get ugly again. Send a text only message to the ship, indicating that our intentions are peaceful. Make sure there is no encryption. Let's see if they are capable of receiving and understanding our message."

Several minutes went by with no indication from the other ship that they had received our message. Finally, the communications officer indicated we had received an incoming message. The message was text only. It was roughly written in English. It was riddled with grammatical and spelling errors. Even with as bad as it was, it was still progress. Essentially it read, "Who are you and what are you doing here?"

Admiral Jones sat back in his seat and said, "Prepare a reply. Tell them that we are lost and came here by mistake. See if you can include something to assist their translators as well."

The next message was better written. It read, "Send leader to meet to discuss stand down."

I looked at Admiral Jones and said, "There is no way we are going out there. We have no idea who we are dealing with."

Admiral Jones looked back at me. "You're right. We have no idea who this is, and we aren't going out to meet them. I am." I stood there shocked. "Prepare a transport shuttle. Make sure it doesn't use any Galactum enhanced systems. Also, wipe the drives so the only thing left is what is necessary for flight. I'm not going to completely trust them, but we must try to make peace. I'm not going to start a war with the first intelligent species we meet."

"Who is your best pilot on second watch?" he asked after a moment of contemplation.

"Jen," I answered without hesitation. Inwardly, I cringed knowing that I had just put her life in danger. "She was able to keep up with most of the fighter pilots in the sims."

"Comms, have Lt. Wilkerson report to the forward hangar," Admiral Jones commanded. He walked over to the captain's chair and was inputting commands for several minutes. "Commander Ryan, you have the bridge. I am placing you in charge of the fleet until I get back." Admiral Jones calmly walked out of the room without glancing back.

I was fighting down the waves of panic and nausea that seemed to come from nowhere. I looked around and realized everyone was staring at me, waiting for orders. "Communications, send a reply," I commanded. "Inform them that our representative is on his way. Everyone else, stay sharp. If they so much as hint that they mean us harm, pound them to dust."

I watched the holotable as the shuttle carrying Admiral Jones and Jen shot towards the other ship. It was then that I realized how big the other ship was. It wasn't nearly the size of the Unity, but larger than one of our battleships. I walked back to my chair and opened a channel to the shuttle. "Come back in one piece. We'll let you know if anything changes on our end."

Just then someone shouted, "I'm reading an energy spike in the enemy ship."

I brought up an image of the shuttle just as a flash of red light hit it. It lasted for less than a second. When it was gone, so was the shuttle. I felt numb as I saw a small debris field where the shuttle had been. Admiral Jones and Jen had just been killed.