Infiltration: Chapter Five Scene Three

 

 This week, Captain Nako responds to a distress call and finds the crisped remains of a spyship shuttle.

* * * *

Kalquorian Empire space, near the border of the Bi’is kingdom

Dramok Nako, captain of the marauder-class vessel he’d been given command of a mere week before, felt guilty.

He absolutely loved his new ship.

The marauder was faster than his old decommissioned raider-class craft had been. A hell of a lot more dangerous too, thanks to its expanded weapons array. The arrowhead-shaped vessel was the deadliest piece of flying destruction he’d had the pleasure of commanding. The sheer mayhem such a vessel could visit on an enemy was enough to keep him aroused like a teenager. It had done so, as a matter of fact, as his Matara clanmate Piper would attest.

The marauder was a dark mistress, its possibilities exciting him despite the fact he’d be using it to guard a lifeless moon slated for terraforming. His fantasies of using his ship to rip Tragooms to shreds were unlikely to happen.

Nevertheless, he could dream.

His insides squirmed to think of his former ship. Nako’s raider had seen its share of battles and served him well over its many years. Now it sat in a salvage yard, waiting to be disassembled, it parts melted and reformed as something else. The old warhorse had done its duty, but Nako hated the notion he’d abandoned it.

“Maybe RD-1202’s metal will become the hull of a marauder or destroyer,” Piper had said, trying to cheer him up when she’d caught him looking at a vid of his former ship. “It could be it’ll fly and battle again as another class.”

He was grateful for her understanding of his unusual lapse into sentimentality. More grateful she’d kept the knowledge to herself. Nako was categorized as a Dramok, and he certainly possessed the leadership trait in spades, but the Nobek half of his personality would have died of shame to be caught romanticizing a hunk of fighting metal.

What a hunk RD-1202 had been, though.

Sappiness paled when it came to the new ship winning his fierce heart. The marauder was so advanced beyond the raider, Nako suspected it could possibly fly itself. The programming was damned near intuitive, and the weapons systems almost as lethal as a destroyer. The ability to phase and ambush an enemy might have struck Nako as a bit cowardly, but the idea of coming out of nowhere in the midst of an enemy squadron and evening the odds before they knew what hit them?

Heat filled his groin. He barely managed to keep from lustful growling as he stood on his ship’s bridge.

Around him on the triangular-shaped bridge, his crew muttered amongst themselves as they kept an eye on their instruments. There was no reason to reprimand them for their casualness. It was merely a flight from the marauder’s former orbit around Earth II to a dead rock of a moon on the other end of Kalquorian Empire space. They were less than a day’s flight to their destination, next to the Bi’is’ kingdom’s border. With Bi’is an impotent shadow of its former self, the rush was on to colonize and create colonies near what had once been intermittent battlegrounds.

Guarding a lifeless moon as it was terraformed for the next two or three years was hardly an assignment worthy of a decorated captain and crew. It was certainly beneath the status of the empire’s latest state-of-the-art fighting vessel. Nako found no angst beyond a slight sense of disappointment he wasn’t on his way to kick someone’s deserving ass.

His Imdiko Ulof was part of the terraforming crew, a dream they’d once thought impossible for him to realize. Better still, their Matara accompanied them. Having her aboard a fighting vessel would have been unfeasible had the assignment been dangerous, especially since they were trying for a child.

Nako was willing to set aside the aggressive urges of his warrior heart for clan and family. Becoming a father filled him with sentimental warmth that he’d rather die than have anyone beyond his clanmates aware of. Had he been told five years prior he’d be more excited about a baby than blasting the empire’s enemies to bits, he’d have laughed in their faces…just before punching them senseless.

His weapons commander and Nobek clanmate Terig, who stood at a computer podium a couple feet from his right, spoke. “Captain, sensors are detecting an intermittent signal fifty degrees from our route. Artificial source.”

“Intermittent? Could it be a distress call?”

“It matches the parameters. I’m boosting our reception to verify.” Terig’s beard didn’t hide his frown as he concentrated. “It is a Kalquorian craft, too small to be so far from port. Subcommander, get a configuration and see if you can pinpoint where its home vessel is.”

His second’s fingers flew over a second weapons console. “Standard shuttle for transporting away teams from a larger vessel. I detect no other craft in the area it might belong—” Nobek Lon stopped talking, blinking at his readouts.

“Subcommander?” Nako and Terig both barked in concert.

“Apologies. It’s…Captain, the shuttle is phased.”

Nako and Terig exchanged glances. “I’m unaware of any marauders besides ours this distance from Earth and Kalquor. We wouldn’t necessarily know if a spyship is stationed nearby,” the captain noted.

“There’s nothing in the vicinity to spy on,” Terig said. “The closest inhabited areas are Laro Station and Bi’is, each more than three days’ travel in opposite directions.”

“Navigation, can you tell which direction the shuttle is moving from?”

The navigation officer muttered to his computer, then answered. “It appears to be drifting from the Bi’is border, sir.”

“Drifting?”

“Nominal power signature,” Terig confirmed, bringing up multiple holographic screens over his station. “Our readings indicate a power signature adequate for backup life support and little else.”

“I’m picking up no sign of a ship in this quadrant besides ourselves, phased or otherwise,” Subcommander Lon reported.

“Why the hell would someone broadcast a distress call when damned few can pick up a phased craft? Unless the spyship it came from is close, those on board can’t expect to be found.”

“Maybe whoever’s on board doesn’t realize they’re still phased. Or they have no idea they drifted far from their home ship. If sensors are dead, the shuttle’s main computer might have failed to detect the additional drain.” Terig’s fingers continued to fly over his console.

“Which means they’ll lose life support sooner than they realize. I wonder how long they’ve been waiting for rescue. Com, try to contact them.”

Seconds later, the com officer said, “Attempts to hail them have received no answer, Captain. They may have no com ability due to the lack of power.”

“I was afraid of that.” Nako spoke to his navigator. “Can you backtrack their trail, maybe figure out where they lost power? There has to be an ion trail from what little energy they’re emitting.”

“Working on it, Captain. If they’ve been drifting for longer than a couple of days, it could take some time.”

Nako eyed his Nobek. “Which leaves us one question.”

Terig nodded. “Do we answer the distress call. If a spyship’s out here beyond sensor range, High Command doesn’t necessarily want anyone else to know of its presence.”

“I’m betting it has something to do with keeping tabs on Bi’is.” Nako thought of Admiral Piras and his clanmates. Nobek Kila captained a spyship. Because their lives were in danger following Kalquor’s civil war, they’d disappeared soon after the end of hostilities. Nako had often wondered if they’d ended up on a secret detail at Bi’is. It would have kept them from sight and safer than if they’d returned to the home planet.

What if something had happened to the heroic clan reviled by many of their own kind? His stomach curdled to think of them in trouble, especially their innocent and brilliant Matara.

“Helm, set a course for the shuttle, full speed. Terig, watch for its home ship. If it appears, we’ll keep our distance. Otherwise, we’ll take the shuttle on board and try to determine what’s going on. Com, inform Fleet High Command what we’re doing…see if you can send an encrypted message to Admiral Tranis. Inform Medical we might be taking on injured people.”

“One hour until we intercept the shuttle, Captain.”

“Our com will be received at Fleet Headquarters at approximately the same time.”

 

They were still fifteen minutes from reaching the stricken vessel when Terig’s bearded face turned to Nako. “I have a visual on the shuttle, Captain.”

The flat control in his tone betrayed something was amiss. “Bring it up on main vid, Weapons Commander.”

It was immediately obvious why Terig had adopted his most official voice. The wedge-shaped shuttle had taken massive damage to its hull. Its usual silvery exterior was blackened. Panels hung askew, revealing framework and the charred remains of electronics. Nako marveled the battered craft had power at all. It seemed impossible a crew could be alive, but someone had set off the distress signal.

“Mother of All,” someone muttered.

“It’s not battle damage,” Terig said, glancing back and forth from his readouts to the image on the vid. “The craft was in close quarters to a plasma explosion. As close to the center of a major blast as possible and yet not get blown up.”

“Why do I have the suspicion we won’t come across its home ship?”

“A good guess. It might have been leaving the bay when the ship was destroyed. By my estimate, it would have cleared it by no more than a few meters.”

“Can you detect its markings under the residue? Can we determine which ship it was?” Nako had no idea what Kila’s ship’s call numbers had been, but Fleet Command would know.

“Checking. Got it. S-S-nine-two-eight-S.” Terig’s gaze met his again.

A spyship’s shuttle. Kila, Piras, was it yours? What the hell happened to the home ship?

“Coming in grabbing range, Captain,” the helmsman said.

“Get a field around it and haul it in. Carefully.” The damned thing might fall to pieces the instant it was introduced to the shuttle bay’s gravity field. “Medical team to shuttle bay. Terig, let’s see if there’s someone alive to greet.”

Nako and Terig left the bridge. Not at a run, because the shuttle wouldn’t beat them to the bay, but they moved quickly anyway. It was impossible not to, with dread nipping at their heels.

* * * *

The alien force dubbed the Darks has grabbed control of key positions on Kalquor and the Galactic Council of Planets. Other leaders are still unaware of the threat among them. The galaxy is wide open for destruction by an unfathomable enemy.

Former emperor Nobek Yuder has suspicions, but due to restrictions placed on him after his prison sentence, he can only stand by and watch helplessly. A renegade Royal Councilman has designs to bring him back to the political arena, but doing so could destabilize the Kalquorian Empire, leaving it vulnerable to invasion.

Meanwhile, one man on the brink of death, the only man who can detect the nearly invisible Darks, is pulled from a lifeless shuttle by Captains Kila and Nako. His incredible story tells them they’re in a race against time to save not only the empire but the whole galaxy…but are they already too late?

On Earth II, Governor Stacy Nichol’s relationship with Clan Rihep continues to grow. So does the danger, as opponents make deadly moves against her and the orbiting Kalquorian station where the clan lives. Nobek Kuran is determined to keep his clanmates and would-be lifemate safe, but how can he stop a faceless enemy?

Relationships, old and new, are strained to the breaking point at a time when Earthers and Kalquorians need each other more than ever. The Darks are closing in, and no one is ready to oppose them.

Releasing November 3. Pre-order now at Amazon, Amazon UK, Nook, Smashwords, Kobo, Apple, and print.