Preparing For War
05 Mar 2018MMMMMalcolm
Personal Log: Commander Kay Wantz“Cough, cough, cough, hack!” I could barely breathe. I could barely see for that matter. The room we had gotten for the night was filled with smoke. I rushed to put on my flight suit, falling over the bed in the process. “Malcolm! Malcolm! We gotta get out of here!” Where was he? I left the bedroom and entered the main area of the suite.
“Cough, cough! Malcolm, where are you?” Did he go down to the bar for a midnight snack? Oh no! What if he’s trapped in a lift choking to death on smoke; or worse being burned alive? I rushed into the hallway. My throat burned from constant coughing. My eyes burned from thick smoke. My ears were overwhelmed by warning sirens. As I rushed toward the emergency exit I tripped over something and fell to the floor. I looked back and saw what appeared to be a young girl crouched down with her face to the wall. She looked about twelve and I could just hear her crying despite the loud alarms.
“Sweetie, cough, cough. Don’t sit there. We have to leave!” I got to my knees and touched her back, urging her to leave the hotel.
“We can’t leave.” She stated as she hid her face in her hands and the wall. “They will get us.”
“No one will get you. I’ll protect you I promise.” I put both hands on her shoulders and helped her to her feet. She still had on her long white nightgown with pink polka dots. As she turned to face me, her voiced changed to a deep frightening tone.
“But who will protect you?” She dropped her hands to reveal a hexagonal shaped face with one solid white eye. I backed away in horror; choking and gasping for breath. I couldn’t look away, even when I felt strong hands grab me from behind. I screamed and blindly swung at my assailant.
“Ow! Kay! Wake up!” Malcolm said. “You’re dreaming!”
I was sitting on the bed, wedged in a corner with my feet curled beneath me so my knees touched my chin. I looked around the quiet, dimly lit room. Malcolm was on the floor next to the bed rubbing his jaw. My throat still ached and tears ran down my cheeks, but there was no fire, no smoke, and no… um little girl.
“It wasn’t a dream, it was a nightmare.”
“I can see that.” Malcolm replied, still rubbing his jaw. He got to his feet and sat on the edge of the bed. “Wanna talk about it?”
I wrapped my arms around my legs and rested my chin on my knees. After thinking about it a moment, I spoke.
“It was awful. I dreamt the station was attacked. Smoke choked my out of my sleep. I couldn’t find you anywhere and I panicked. While I was rushing to find you and escape, I tripped over a little girl in the hall. Only, it wasn’t a little girl.”
“What was it?”
“I don’t know. It had the body of a little girl, but its head… it was shaped like an octagon with a pale white eye in the center. When I went to help her… or it, slimy tentacles wrapped around me. They were strong. I couldn’t break free. That’s when I woke up.”
Malcolm moved close to me and leaned against the headboard. He held my hand and pulled me into his arms against his chest. I held him tight, grateful for the security.
“If my arms are slimy, your butt is flat.” I jabbed him in his side but I didn’t let him go.
“It’s not funny you jerk.”
“I’m sorry,” he said laughing. Then straight faced he added, “It’s just your subconscious throwing up everything we experienced at Armstrong. It’ll pass.”
“These aliens aren’t just going to go away. Sooner or later we’re going to have to deal with them.”
“I’ve been listening to Galnet and the reports seem to agree with you. Do you remember the list of ships my guardian was insisting I acquire; specifically the Chieftain and Type-10? I heard a report today stating they were available and they were designed for the sole purpose of fighting Thargoids.” I pulled away from his chest and looked him straight in the eyes.
“You’re not thinking about hunting down these things?”
“Why not? Every other week they release a new weapon designed to kill these things…”
“And yet whole star ports are destroyed without so much as giving one Thargoid a headache.” I interrupted him. “What’s one ship going to do?”
“Not one ship, a wing. We’ll get the wing to help. Not only that, there are rumors about some ancient civilization with the technology to kill Thargoids way more easily than the Aegis weapons; we can look into those as well.”
I sat there staring in to his eyes. I was looking for any uncertainty, any hesitation, any lack of confidence. I did find it, but I wasn’t convinced.
“I don’t know Malcolm.” He pulled me back into his arms; my shields against my fears.
“Sooner or later we’re going to have to deal with them. Let’s deal with them on our terms and control this hunt.”
Using my mantra against me didn’t make me feel any better, but he won this round. Plus, I was too tired to argue any further. I fell asleep in his arms.
***********************
When I awoke, Malcolm was gone again. This time though I wasn’t choking and there was no danger of the station imploding. Instead, I was safely tucked into the king size bed in the captain’s quarters of ‘Breathless’.
I rose, dressed, and slid on my mag-boots. I found Malcolm on the bridge in the middle of a holo-communication.
“I understand Dave. VIPs can be a demanding lot, but I’m not going to tell you to abandon them. That would not reflect well on the wing’s reputation. If you feel up to it, meet us down in Synuefe when you’re done. Malcolm out.”
Malcolm closed the channel and then lined up the ship for the next hyperspace jump.
“Was that Dave?” I asked sitting in the navigator’s seat. “How is he?”
“Well, well, look who’s awake,” he answered as he turned to greet me. “Yeah, that was Dave. He’s fine. He’s chauffeuring some Federal VIPs around. They requested discretion, so he could not tell me who or where, but he did say they were paying well. Soon he’ll have that Anaconda he wants so much.”
I shook my head. “You boys and your toys. I take it he’s not coming to explore the guardian sites with us. What about Aticus; what’s he up to?”
“No, Dave’s not going to make it. And I could not reach Aticus, so it’ll just be you and me.”
I made a humming noise, acting like I was thinking about that prospect. “Ok, you can come along. I mean, you’re pretty cute. You shouldn’t scare all the guardians away.”
“Ha, ha, very funny. I’m glad you’re feeling better, because after we stop at Sol to get our Asp Explorer, you’ll be flying it the thousand light year trip to Synuefe.”
The smile that manifested from my joke vanished.
*********************
We dropped into Synuefe and immediately the com panel lit up.
“Mayday, mayday, mayday. Lakon ship Sierra Whiskey one seven zero requesting immediate assistance. I repeat, Lakon ship Sierra Whiskey one seven zero requesting immediate assistance.”
I answered the distress call.
“Lakon ship Sierra Whiskey one seven zero, this is Lakon Alpha Whiskey Sierra zero two. What seems to be the problem?”
“Oh thank God. I was scooping the main star when I drifted too close. I fell out of super cruise and damaged my fuel scoop. It started discharging fuel instead of scooping it. By the time I realized it, I had just enough fuel to break the gravitational pull of the star. I shut down all nonessential systems and have been drifting for two days. One more day and I would have been a memory. Can you help me out?”
“Standby commander.” Malcolm keyed the ship’s intercom from the navigation deck.
“We don’t have any refuel limpets. Do you know how to repair a fuel scoop?”
“No I don’t. Should we radio the Fuel Rats?” I asked.
“No. Who knows how long it will be before they get here. I have a spacewalk suit. I’ll do it manually.”
I contacted the stranded pilot.
“What’s your name commander?”
“Chase”
“Chase, Commander Goodwin will be knocking on your door shortly. We aren’t equipped for an automatic fuel transfer, so he will be bringing a hose to do a manual transfer. Standby again. How you doin’ Malcolm?”
“Fine.” Malcolm replied through his suit’s communication system. “I’m releasing the airlock now.” Using his suit’s small vector jets, he moved alongside the crippled Asp. I turned our Asp, ‘The Hooded Menace’, and brought it alongside Chase’s Asp as well, facing 180 degrees opposite his direction. This orientation put our refueling nozzle right next to his. Malcolm vectored back to our ship, opened an access panel, and removed a fuel hose designed for this situation. After coupling the ships, he called back to me.
“I have his fuel intake valve open. I’m moving back to ours. Keep an eye on the gauge. Let me know when twelve tons has been transferred. That should be enough to get him to a station for repairs.”
“Copy that.” I watched as our fuel level slowly dropped and counted off the transfer. “Two tons… Four tons… Six tons… Eight tons… Ten tons… Twelve tons of fuel transferred Malcolm.” The level stopped dropping. A moment later he contacted me again.
“I’m all done here. Returning to the airlock. Give our friend the bill.”
“Transfer complete Chase; fire her up.”
“Systems check complete.” Chase answered. “Other than the disabled fuel scoop, everything else is normal. Thanks Commander… Hey I didn’t get your name.”
“Wantz, my name is Kay Wantz.”
“Thanks Commander Wantz. What does Alpha Whiskey Sierra mean in your ship ID?”
“Armed Wanderers Ship.”
“Well I’m glad you were wandering through my system. Where were you headed?”
“There were reports of a guardian site in this system. We’re going to check it out.”
“So was I,” Chase stated, “before all this happened. Mind if I tag along?”
“Sure. There’s no telling what we’ll find at the site. An extra set of eyes looking out for trouble would be useful.”
“Cool, let me repair my ship and we’ll go together.”
I found a nearby station where Chase could repair his ship. Malcolm was returning to the navigation deck as the FSD was spooling for the jump.
The station turned out to be a star port carved out of a giant asteroid. It was an impressive site. We docked and Chase ordered repairs for his ship. Three hours later we were refueled, repaired, restocked, and ready to uncover the mysteries of the guardian site.
