(BSMS Orgrim’s Hammer, Beta Darconyx System)
Slave-Major Selanar Irabalar looked on at his marines as
they made their mission preparations. They were going into the unknown,
something that the Black Star Marine Corps had some experience with. There was
an inherent risk in going out, into the unknown. It was the same risk they took
every time they went out on a mission.
Going out into the unknown was courting Death itself, in so
many ways that it was impossible not to lose count. For ‘locals’, like himself,
death was the end. There was no coming back from it. Sure, he had a squad of
Nomads in his company, but he couldn’t just hide behind the immortals, and he
couldn’t let his men do that, either. It would destroy the morale of his
troops. That meant that there was a good chance that some of his marines were
going to die, venturing onto the hulking object, and there wasn’t anything he
could do about it.
With a sigh, he turned away from the window overlooking the
launch bay, and focused his attention on the officers of his company. “All
right, folks. You’ve all had the basic briefing already, before we left Star’s
Reach, so this is just a final brief to make sure everyone is on the same page.”
All the officers stopped their private conversations, and
turned their attention to him. “Now, what we are looking at is an object that
is almost a hundred kilometers long. The science teams looking at it are split
in their opinions whether the object is a ship or a space station. We are going
to be going in under the assumption that it is a ship.”
A hand was raised, one of the lieutenants. Irabalar hadn’t
called for questions, but he had made it known early on in his time in the
Corps that, so long as people waited to be called on, and they weren’t asking
stupid questions, he’d be willing to entertain them. When he nodded to the
officer, the young woman stood up, and said, “With respect, sir, why are we
assuming it is a ship if the science teams haven’t made up their minds?”
“An excellent question, Lieutenant Sharel! There are two
reasons why we will be assuming this is a ship. First, while the ship is symmetrical
across the six sides of its cylindrical body, we can clearly see that this
symmetry does not apply to the two ends. The end we will be designating the fore
of the ship appears to have a large entry point, capable of fitting a squadron
of superdreadnoughts through at once without worrying about scraping the sides.
The aft has what we believe to be the ship’s engine. At least, that is the part
we think equates to an engine, since it looks like there is some kind of
exhaust system there. The purpose of the six fins near the midpoint of each
side, or the extended flaps off the rear, circling the ‘engine’ are unknown, as
most things about the ship are.”
“The second reason we are going to be assuming that this is
a ship is because there is no logical reason for its placement in this part of
the star system, or its orientation to the ecliptic, from a space station
design standpoint. While we cannot discount alien reasoning being different
from our own, the fact is that this ship is a full twenty degrees off the
ecliptic, in a position that is far removed from any of the remaining planetary
bodies. The reasons for a station being put here, at the angle it is at, are
either nonexistent or so far beyond our comprehension that they don’t matter.”
Turning to look at the group again, he said, “Now, we do not
know if the doors will open for us, and preliminary reports indicate that our
landing craft will be unable to penetrate the ship’s hull for traditional
boarding methods. That means that we will be inserting through the
battle-damaged sections of the ship. We have no indications whether any of the
ship still has power or environmental control, and no telling what any
atmosphere on the ship is comprised of. So, we will be operating under full
vacuum seals for the entire mission, until the ship is secured, and made
habitable.”
“Squad assignments will be as follows. Alpha Squad will enter
through this gap near the bow, and attempt to find a way to allow our ships
access to the interior of the craft. Beta Squad will enter through this opening,
and attempt to find whatever passes for a bridge. Charlie and Delta squads will
enter through this huge-ass opening midway down the back half of the ship, and
attempt to find the primary power systems and the engine.”
“We have no idea what the internal layout of the ship will
be, or what internal defenses may have been left online. The current working
theory is that this ship was involved in one hell of a battle, which is why
there aren’t any rocky planets in this entire system. The fact that it is here,
and entire planets aren’t should tell you everything you need to know about why
this find needs to be controlled by Black Star, and why we are going to be
doing this op with utmost caution. Any more questions?” No one raised their
hands, so he nodded. “Then everyone, to your men. We launch in thirty.”
(Unidentified Ship, Beta Darconyx System)
“Damn, LT, how did we get picked for this shit show?”
Lieutenant Elora Sharel sighed at the comment. “Because
First Company is still readjusting after having half their damn command transferred
to other companies, so everyone has some Nomads in the group, and Third Company
isn’t trained up, yet. And those former Imperium types are still getting geared
up, and they don’t even have Black Star ships for them, yet. But mainly, they
put all of us on this detail because they knew you were in this company,
Private Singer. The Owner said you, especially, were the reason for it, because
you were complaining how we did not get enough action.”
Singer rightly took that as a clue to shut up. Just in case he
didn’t, and was only taking a few extra seconds to try and process her remark,
she continued speaking. “Listen up, Bravo! We’ve got to find whatever passes
for a bridge on this tub. But to find it, we have to make our way through this
place with no map, and only the vaguest idea of where to go. We’ve already
confirmed that something is screwing with our communications, which is why we
have Sergeant Alvarez with us, so we can use the Nomad networks to get around
that. Keep your eyes sharp, and if you see anything with power, for the love of
the gods don’t touch it! That means you, Singer!”
An hour after they entered the massive ship through a gaping
wound in the side that fit their whole drop ship in easily, they were getting
really tired of lightless corridors. Each corridor was hexagonal, like the ship
itself, and was about five meters tall. That raised all kinds of questions
about the original inhabitants. Were they all just massive creatures, or were
these sections used for hauling cargo? Or was it something else? Unfortunately,
there was no way to know, since the corridor had continued on for over a kilometer
without any indication of a door, or even a turn.
“LT! We got something up here!”
Lieutenant Sharel growled under her breath at that report
from the scout that was on point, up ahead of the squad. Something? That was damn
unimpressive when it came to information she could actually use. “Well, Qinren,
what does it look like?”
“Not sure, but I think it is some kind of control. And it
looks like it has power, if the glow is anything to go by. Might be a door
control, but if it is, I can’t see a door anywhere.”
“All right, don’t touch anything. Alvarez, Talmak! With me.
We’re going to see what Qinren found. And make sure that Singer stays away from
it until we know what it is!” That got a few laughs from the squad, which was
good. They needed to be alert, but getting too tense would be catastrophic. A
spring could only take so much tension before it broke.
Switching to a private channel, she spoke to Alvarez. So
far, the Nomad had proven to be a great addition to her team, and she was glad
to have him. Of course, she was even more glad to have most of her same troopers,
unlike Delta Squad, which had been almost completely replaced by Nomads. Which,
when she thought about it, was probably why they were the squad assigned to try
and seek out the power core of this ship. If anything was going to kill people just
for being near it, a damaged alien power core was at the top of the list, so it
was best to send immortals after it. Still, that had nothing to do with her, or
Alvarez. Now, she needed him for more than just his skills, or the fact that he
couldn’t die. “Alvarez, I need you to get in touch with the other squads, see
if they recognize anything like what Qinren found. And copy to the General and
Owner, so they can be kept in the loop.”
She couldn’t see Alvarez’s face, hidden by his helmet, but
she saw him nod slightly. “On it, ma’am. General Khan says that you’re the ‘boots
on the ground’, so it is your call. Admiral Mollen confirms the General’s
statement.” There was a pause, and then he continued. “Delta and Charlie
have both found similar devices, both powered and not. They do appear to be
control panels. But there’s a lot of internal damage, especially considering
how we got inside. This is probably our best way to get into the interior.”
She took a breath as they got up to where Qinren was standing,
near the device in question. In the absolute darkness of the corridor, a pale
white circle was glowing softly on the wall. It gave off even less light than a
lit match, but in the darkness, it definitely drew the eye. Examining the area
closely under the lights of their suit flashlights, she could see faint lines
in the bluish-grey material that made up the walls. That was the control panel,
she guessed. Damn, if it wasn’t lit up, there was no way any of them would have
seen it. Which meant they probably missed some doors further back.
“All right, Qinren. Alvarez informs me that Delta and
Charlie have found similar devices in their sections, and they do appear to be
controls. Let’s just hope that it is the control to a door, instead of flooding
the hall with plasma. Hit it.”
Qinren pushed the button, and, for half a second, Sharel was
worried that nothing would happen. Then, silently (thanks to the lack of air), the
wall next to the panel just… moved. A line appeared in the wall, so small that
she wouldn’t have seen it, if she hadn’t been looking right at it, and the
smooth wall suddenly had the outline of a door in it. And then the wall slid
down, into the deck, leaving her looking at a smaller corridor, still hexagonal,
but this one only two meters tall.
The walls of this corridor were not smooth, like the one
outside. There was piping, and what looked like access panels all over the
place. And there was a glimmer of a forcefield, keeping the air in. There was
still atmosphere on the inside of the ship!
“Atmosphere reads as mostly argon, with traces of other
gasses. Unknown if this is what the inhabitants breathe, or if there was simply
a leak into the corridor.”
She nodded at Alvarez’s comment. That made sense. Ship fires
were some of the deadliest things that could happen aboard a ship. Making the
atmosphere so things couldn’t burn was a solid defense against them. Especially
since…
“Alvarez, get on the horn, and tell people that Beta Squad
has found what looks like maintenance shafts running alongside the main corridor!”
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The Kalipshae Affair (A First Contact Short Story): https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0739V6R6T
