For the remainder of that week domestic bliss continued unabated. Theo continued with his usual bouts of relentless questioning; while Jana continued to try her best to give Michael the rest that he needed after his long mission.
Late one evening Theo was asleep in his room, Michael and Jana had settled down to relax for the evening together in front of the viewer.
“I am Annika Raumov; this is the outer colony news service, the headlines today. The Montgomery class carrier Montfort has now arrived in the Agemman system and fighter patrols have already begun in the area. We now go live to the governor of the Agemman system, Mrs. Sylvia Cross.”
The picture on the viewer turned to a middle aged woman, with deep set eyes and a somewhat stern looking face; curled silvery hair flowed down to her shoulders.
“Governor Cross; what are your thoughts on the situation near your colony, now that the carrier Montfort has arrived.”
“Well, the arrival of the carrier will obviously boost morale for the mining operations that operate within the nearby asteroid fields now that they have fighter escorts. However I do hope that this is not just a short term solution, and also that the E.D. F doesn’t pull its forces from the area in a few weeks time, just for the attacks to grow again.”
“Thank you Governor Cross, we now go live to the commander of E.D. F forces in the area; Admiral J.G. Kenelly.”
The picture turned to a proud, tall man in full Naval dress. He looked to be in his early 50’s and bore a short silver beard. He had dark, ashen, albeit sharp intelligent eyes, the lines on his face gave a sense of a seasoned officer with years of duty under his belt.
“Admiral Kenelly, what are your thoughts on the Agemman situation.”
“We had a successful deployment, as of 13.00 hours Earth time, the Montfort is on an extended mission in the area, and it also gives us the chance to use certain classified equipment on board the Montfort. If there is anything out there; I am confident the Montfort and its fighter crews will find it,” the Admiral said.
“Thank you Admiral Kenelly.”
Jana turned off the viewer, “you know I still think something isn’t quite right over there.”
“And I still think it’s a waste of time,” Michael replied flatly. “Just some colonists wanting some air-time, besides that new system the Montfort has got should sniff them out.”
“Maybe,” Jana confessed, “what is that new system the Montfort has got anyway?”
Michael looked at Jana suspiciously, “you know I’m not really supposed to tell you.”
“Go on,” Jana pleaded. “I’m your wife; it’s not as if I’m going to tell anyone,” she retorted.
“Ok,” Michael conceded. “It’s called L.R.D.A.T.”
“What on Earth is L.R.D.A. T?”
“It stands for Long Range Detection And Tracking, the engineering services only installed it about a month ago. It hasn’t even been operationally tested yet, that’s why they sent the Montfort.”
“What does it do?” Jana asked.
“It’s a two way thing, its primary use is to track our fighters over a greater area, but its secondary use is to detect and track any hostile craft within a three light year radius.”
Michael paused to allow Jana time to take this all in.
“Sort of an early warning system for carriers, it’s a pretty good piece of kit. If it’s successful it will be fitted to all carriers in the fleet.”
Jana thought about this for a moment. “Perhaps your right,” she finally conceded. “Maybe it is nothing, let’s go to bed honey.”
“Sure; I’m getting a little tired anyway.” Michael said as he stretched and let out a long yawn.
That night they made love, slowly and passionately. And as Michaels’ body glided against hers in ecstasy, she had the strangest thought that she might not see him again.
Once they had finished, Jana lay face up on the bed, all kinds of thoughts running through her mind; she was staring up at the dark ceiling. “You know, I still have a bad feeling about what’s happening in the Agemman system.”
“Go to sleep,” Michael said exhausted.
The next morning they had breakfast as usual. Theo was making a mess, playing with his cornflakes and spilling milk everywhere. Jana did her best to stop him; however she was fighting a losing battle.
Once they had finished breakfast. A faint ‘chirp’ could be heard from Michaels and Jana’s bedroom.
“What the hell is that?” Michael said turning in his seat to where the sound was coming from.
Before Michael could even react, Theo dashed into their bedroom, and brought out a small white computerized object, with two wristbands connected to it.
“It’s my wrist comm. But I’m on leave, it shouldn’t be going off,” Michael said in exasperation as he took it off his son and quickly pressed a button on the communicator.
“Good morning Lieutenant, I was beginning to think you weren’t answering,” Michael immediately recognized the voice of Commander Juan Angel, second in command of the Ulysses, and knew it had to be important for the Commander to contact him personally.
“Sorry sir,” Michael replied.
“Well, now that you are answering Lieutenant, we have a situation; there has been an incident involving the Montfort, the entire E.D. F is on alert level two. All leave has been cancelled, and you are ordered to return to the Ulysses at eleven hundred hours. There you will be briefed in the primary cargo hold; deck 14.”
“I understand sir,” Michael replied.
And with that the communication ceased. Leaving Michael trying to fathom the enormity of what had just transpired. His face grew ashen, and his brows furrowed with worry. There hasn’t been a level 2 alert for nearly fifteen years, ever since the pirate attacks finally stopped.
“What is it?” Jana asked, eyeing Michael carefully, trying her best to read him.
The question snapped Michael out of his deep thoughts. “I’m Sorry, what were you saying?” Michael asked in return, still visibly shocked.
“What’s wrong?” Jana re-iterated.
There was a moment of silence before he managed to gather himself together again.
“I…Have…To…Go…Back to…the…Ulysses,” he stuttered, struggling for words in his reverie.
“But, your on leave, you’ve another four weeks yet!” Jana replied in desperation, both worried about Michael who was not even rested properly from his last outing with the Navy; and also because she felt almost cheated out of spending some quality time with the man she loved. Together with the very real possibility that he might miss Theo’s birthday.
“Not anymore, leave is cancelled,” Michael replied.
“No, they can’t do this… Bastards!” Yelled Jana, her voice was cracked and tears slowly began to form in her eyes, the news had hit her as hard as her husband.
“The whole E.D. F is on alert, I’ve got to go,” Michael said exasperatedly, he hated having to go through this with Jana. Didn’t she realize that this was as hard on him as it was on her?
He rushed into his and Jana’s room, and began to pack his things mindful that he didn’t have much time. Jana quickly followed after him.
“What about Theo?” She asked. “It’s his birthday; he was looking forward to spending some time with his dad?” Tears continued to roll down Jana’s cheeks.
“I’m sorry,” was all that Michael could muster, under Jana’s emotional assault his inner strength was weakening rapidly.
He quickly donned his royal blue naval uniform, black trousers and shoes. Fixed his Lieutenant rank slides onto his epaulettes; and made for the door, however he stopped short in mid stride. Turning around, he looked down at little Theo, kneeled in front of him, and gave him a hug. “If I don’t see you before your birthday, look after your mum for me; you’re the man of the house now,” he ruffled up Theo’s hair with his hand.
“I will, please don’t go daddy,” Theo said, beginning to sob.
“I’ve got to son, I will be back soon; I promise,” Michael replied, not really believing his own words.
“I hope so daddy,” Theo said looking up at him with tear filled eyes.
“Please don’t go,” Jana pleaded, tears also streaming down her cheeks.
Michael held her one last time “I’ll be back soon, I promise,” he said softly, then he gently kissed her, picked up his belongings; and left. Leaving Jana and Theo; his wife and son, huddled together; crying; and desperate for his return.
After closing the apartment door behind him, Michael stopped and looked at the ceiling. He let out a long sigh; his heart was pounding with emotion. And he was wondering if he was doing the right thing leaving Jana and Theo so soon, especially with Theo’s birthday coming up; he felt like a monster.
Suddenly Dylan Marcos came down the corridor suitably laden with gear; Michael and Dylan were friends right through their academy days. They even got posted to the same ship; Marcos was weapons officer, where Michael was a deck officer.
“Wondering if this was what you signed up for?” he said as Michael joined him.
“Something like that,” Michael replied with another sigh, “We haven’t had a level 2 alert for fifteen years Dylan, what the hell has happened?”
“Beats me, for a level 2 alert they would have had to have blasted the Montfort or something.”
“Jana had mentioned that something wasn’t right out there, and she was right.”
The alert states as they are known in the E.D. F are a system not dissimilar to the Def-con system that America once used on Earth. Alert level 5 is the standard level during peacetime operations. Alert level 4 is increased security. Level 3 is security status high, imminent attack. Level 2 is unprovoked attack threat of invasion. And finally level 1 means all out war.
Both Michael and Dylan strode into an awaiting elevator. “Docking port twelve,” they both said in unison.
The elevator began to gently glide to their destination.
“If they have blasted the Montfort, why didn’t their fighters pick anything up?” Michael asked.
“ Maybe they couldn’t detect whatever it was, or couldn’t react in time.”
“Even with L.R.D.A. T?”
Dylan simply shrugged, he had no idea either.
“Either way, we’ll find out more at the briefing,” Michael continued.
They arrived at docking port twelve, and the doors opened into utter pandemonium, hundreds of officers and crewmen were running to and fro, supply crates were hurriedly being loaded onboard the Ulysses, just as they were with other ships docked at the station.
Walking towards the airlock, a stern looking Lieutenant Commander Dyson greeted them, he was head of security and barred their way “I.D. cards please, Lieutenants?”
Dylan and Michael saluted the Lieutenant Commander, as two crewmen hurriedly pushed their way past them carrying a heavy looking grey case.
“Careful with that! They’re ammunition crates.” Dyson shouted at them.
“Yes sir,” the two crewmen replied as they hurried onto the ship clutching the crate.
Michael and Dylan duly presented their I.D. cards and the Lieutenant Commander placed them into a small card reader he was carrying, pausing a moment while studying the display.
“Yep, your clear; welcome back Lieutenants.”
“It’s the busiest I’ve seen Delta base in a long time, sir,” Dylan said to the Lieutenant Commander.
“Whole goddamn galaxy’s gone barking mad if you ask me Lieutenant.”
Dyson handed the two Lieutenants back their I.D. cards. The three officers saluted once more, and Dylan and Michael made their way back on board the E.D.F. S Ulysses once again.
As the two Lieutenants rounded a long corridor, within the labyrinthine vessel, Michael said to Dylan. “I’ll meet you at the briefing, I’m just going to stow my gear and freshen up first.”
“Okay, I’ll catch you there.”
Their paths separated and each continued on towards their quarters, both were located on separate sections of the Ulysses. Michael’s Quarters were located within the Officers quarters on B block, forward section, on deck 4.
Dylan’s however was located near the munitions storage areas; on deck 12.
Michael proceeded to a set of steps and then at the end of the corridor he entered an elevator.
Soon he arrived at his Officers quarters on deck 4 and began to stow his gear in the lockers provided. Casting a glance over his cramped quarters he sighed, it was like he had never been away. Like he had never seen Theo’s smiling face, or Jana’s loving stare.
He stowed his spare clothing in a large overhead locker, and the empty bag under his bunk. Making his way over to the adjacent bathroom, he splashed his face with cold water in an attempt to wash away the cobwebs, and the emotion left over from Jana’s onslaught on his heartstrings.
Drawing a deep breath he checked his watch, it was 10:40, he let out another sigh and headed out of his quarters to the briefing on deck 14.
He met up with Dylan again just as he was heading down another corridor, and asked, “Have you heard anything yet?”
Dylan shook his head, “No, not a thing. Whatever has happened, they are keeping very tight lipped about it.”
Soon they entered deck 14, and walked past a small metal sign that read ‘cargo hold’. The two of them walked through a large open set of heavy looking steel doors, and into a vast hall.
Inside, a small platform had been prepared, with a large portable viewer behind it. There were rows upon rows of seats, all neatly arranged in front of this platform, the spot lights in the ceiling were angled toward the platform bathing it in a soft glow, as well as the rows of seats, and cast the large storage racks looming on the periphery of the room into darkness. Some crewmembers had already filtered in, and several of the front rows were already full. Michael and Dylan walked somewhere in the middle, sat down and waited for the briefing to begin.
Another officer, whom the two of them didn’t know, walked onto the stage, carrying a polished wooden lectern, and placed it in the middle of the platform. He then proceeded to attach a small microphone onto the lectern. The shriek of the feedback as the officer turned the microphone on made everyone in the hall cringe.
On the stand of this lectern, there was a plaque, which bore the seal of the E.D. F Navy; an eagle, inside a planet, and surrounded by a wreath.
Slowly the room began to fill up. When everyone was finally inside, another officer at the rear of the hall pressed a button and the giant steel doors slowly closed with a customary gentle metallic grinding noise.
There was a small pause, and hushed whispering voices could be heard, as the crew tried in vain to deduce what the briefing was about. A Naval whistle cut through the air, and, as one, the entire crew stood to attention.
“Captain on deck!” An officer shouted to the side of the main body of men.
Captain Wainwright, the grizzled, experienced commanding officer of the E.D.F. S Ulysses, strode confidently onto the platform, carrying a black leather bound book. It was again depicting the symbol of the E.D. F Navy.
“Gentlemen, please be seated.” The softly spoken Captain announced.
The men all sat down at once.
Although Michael had never actually spoken to Wainwright himself, he knew from what others had said that the good Captain was one of the best in the fleet, and that this was his second command. Rumours had been also circulating recently among the lower ranks that he was also considering his retirement after commanding the Ulysses for nearly nine years.
“What you are about to hear is highly classified information, it does not leave this ship. Exactly the same briefings are being held throughout the fleet. Do you understand?”
The crowd shouted in unison, “yes sir!”
“Good, then the briefing can begin,” the Captain replied. “As of 09:00 hours the carrier E.D.F. S Montfort, which you may know if you read the news was stationed near the Agemman system. The ship was attacked by an unknown alien force and destroyed with all hands, resulting in the deaths of 740 men and women.”
The crowd let out an involuntary gasp at the seriousness of the information.
“I knew it,” Dylan whispered to himself triumphantly.
“All the information we have is contained in this communication, sent by the Commanding Officer of the Montfort; Captain Reynolds before he died.”
The Captain motioned to another officer at the rear of the room, and a projection was played. It contained sensor data from the Montfort, as well as an onboard video of the bridge crew.
Three small almost wedge shaped black and silver coloured vessels were slowly advancing toward the huge elongated triangular shaped carrier. The first communication came from the Montfort.
“Unknown vessels, this is Captain Reynolds of the E.D.F. S Montfort; you are in violation of E.O.C. A territory. Please identify yourselves, we mean you no harm, repeat, we mean you no harm.”
Next there came a communication from the alien vessels, “on mulv varash a’lahun, al orash vak kroluth.”
Another bridge officer, this time a female said, “our translators are completely baffled sir.”
“Try your best, Lieutenant,” Captain Reynolds replied, as he quickly turned in his seat and said to another officer. “Send out the universal greeting, all frequencies.”
“Yes sir,” a young officer replied.
Then there came another communication, over the speakers, “On vak drovath lok al Krenarii aden!”
A man turned bearing a Commander’s rank insignia. “I don’t like the sound of that, Captain; recommend we go to general quarters; sir.”
“Do it, but don’t power any weapons, we don’t want to appear threatening,” Reynolds replied.
There was a small, tense pause on the bridge of the carrier, as the alien vessels continued to close with the E.D. F carrier. Reynolds focused intently upon the viewer, as though trying to fathom just what these aliens’ motives were?
“Back us off, ensign, put some distance between us and them, reverse thrust, 20 % power,” Reynolds ordered stroking his chin thoughtfully.
The twin forward thrusters blew, the super heated gases slowly began to overcome the weight of the vessel, and it gingerly began to reverse.
A third communication came over the speakers. “Al Krenarii mulv brolis, al orash vak kroluth!” The voice screamed in pure anger.
“Holy; wait a minute, Captain, I’m reading massive power spikes coming from those ships sir!” A panicked voice announced.
Reynolds turned toward the officer, “What? What kind of power spikes?”
“Unknown, Captain, but they’re off the scale,” the officer replied.
Reynolds shouted, “full alert status, get those fighters back here right now!”
The Commander announced in sheer terror. “Too late Captain, look!”
Reynolds spun back toward the viewer, just in time to see a bright green glow steadily increasing in its brightness, at the lower bow of each of the alien vessels.
“Oh my god, lord save us!” Reynolds said as he realized his fate.
The three alien vessels then unleashed the built up power into three bright green energy beams, which hurtled towards the Montfort with incredible speed.
The beams smashed into the forward section of the ship, almost tearing a hole right through the sloping forward section of the carrier, sending debris and flames blossoming out into space.
The bridge was a scene of utter desolation; bodies, horribly mutilated lay fallen, mixed with the broken remains of consoles and shattered support girders. Acrid smoke filled the air, and flames licked out of half a dozen smashed consoles.
Reynolds quickly came to, after he was almost launched from his chair. Blood trickled down the side of his face from a gash caused by a piece of flying debris. The broken body of his navigation officer lay motionless at the base of his chair.
Over the roar of the flames, and the crackling of broken power conduits Reynolds shouted. “Full reverse, get us the hell out of here!”
Another officer groggily tried to pick his way through the debris littering the bridge floor, and sat at the former navigation officer’s console.
One of the still functioning thrusters fired for all it was worth as the interim navigation officer shunted every last ounce of power remaining. The Montfort desperately tried to turn away from the small nimble alien craft that it dwarfed. However the alien ships possessed a speed and agility that the huge lumbering carrier could not hope to match.
As the E.D. F ship gradually began to turn, the ruined frontal section was clear to see. Flames continued to burst out into space, as the fires onboard fed off the oxygen venting out. And the twisted wreckage of half a dozen decks could be seen jutting out of the carriers’ external armour like shattered bones poking through flesh.
However, the carrier did manage to turn slightly, and its primary inter-system boosters began to glow as they slowly began to power up. Just as two of the alien craft swung around and together launched multiple bolts of bright white light at the carrier.
The bolts hurtled toward the carrier at a horrific speed, and smashed into the partly powered up boosters, tearing through armour and shredding the main engines entirely. The massive impacts rocked the entire E.D. F ship. All along the rear of the carrier pieces of twisted, blasted, hull plating were simply torn off the ship by the force of those energy bolts. Replaced by more fires and twisted wreckage.
The stricken carrier was still making a brave effort to escape its assailants. However, in the end, the carrier was simply too large and too slow, and eventually, like a pack of rabid wolves, the alien ships began tearing apart the E.D. F vessel.
Their powerful green energy beams sliced the carrier to pieces, until ultimately its inter-system fuel supplies detonated, and the carrier blew itself apart with an almighty explosion. And then the video went blank.
All this footage happened within the space of a few minutes. The hall was totally silent. The crew of the Ulysses were stunned by what they had just witnessed.
Michael was equally stunned, especially since his cousin had served aboard that ship. A pang of grief welled up inside him. Captain Wainright looked over the assembled crew, seeing the shocked faces, and gave them a few seconds to let what they had witnessed sink in.
Slowly, almost whispering; he spoke. “Make no mistake gentlemen; we have hereby made contact with our first alien species. E.D. F intelligence services are trying to translate the alien messages as we speak. However, judging by what we’ve all just witnessed, we can assume they are a hostile species, and represent an immediate threat to E.O.C. A citizens. I will now hand you over to Lieutenant Commander Hudson.”
The Captain stepped to one side and motioned for the Ulysses chief engineering officer to take to the stand. He was an older looking man than Wainwright, jovial, balding, but also possessing of a keen intelligence. “Although the information we have managed to gather at the present time is somewhat thin. From the sensor data, and video we have received so far, we can be certain of the following facts.”
The projection showed a rotating three dimensional representation of one of the alien ships. It had intermingled black and silver panels on its hull, just like in the video. The vessel seemed to be shaped like a triangular wedge, with a large cannon like protrusion at the lower bow of the strange ship. It had another thin; yet broad protrusion, towards the widest part of its hull at the top of this wedge.
Michael studied the image. It had very few windows or running lights, suggesting that it had a limited crew, he thought.
As the representation panned around to the rear of the alien ship, it revealed a large, thin, bright blue strip that ran almost across the entire width of the vessel.
Lieutenant Commander Hudson continued. “They must be using some sort of stealth technology, which would explain why our fighter patrols, or the Montfort, couldn’t pick them up until the alien ships were almost on top of them,” Hudson paused to allow the assembled masses time to let this sink in.
“The protrusion at the lower, forward end of the ship, must be a weapons system of some kind, since that’s where the ‘green energy beams’, for wont of a better word; come from. The smaller triangular protrusion near the top of the vessel, must be another weapons system, since the white energy ‘bolts’ originate from there.”
The projection panned over to the rear of the ship once again, showing the bright blue strip.
“We think that this could be some sort of unknown propulsion system, similar to our own inter-system boosters and turning thrusters,” he took a short breath.
“However, whenever the vessel performs a maneuver, the engine seems to glow brighter. We have no ideas of the numbers of crew aboard, or even if it is unmanned. We do know however, from measurements taken of the vessel, that it is 140 meters long, by 60 meters high, at its widest point,” he said, pointing at the projection.
“The vessels maneuverability; as shown from the video; is astonishing, comparable to our own God-hammer bombers.”
Captain Wainwright replaced the engineer once again. “Our orders are to rendezvous with task force six, at 22:00 hundred hours, comprising of the Gandhi class destroyers Alberta and Yukon, the Mandela class light cruiser Endurance, and the Alexander class medium cruisers Invincible, and Europa. Fighter support will be supplied by the Montgomery class carrier; Furious,” Wainwright explained.
“The Ulysses will be acting as flagship for the task force. However the Furious will be delayed, as it is in the process of replacing one of its Peregrine fighter wings, with a bomber wing. So for around 12 hours we will be operating without fighter support; so everyone needs to be extra vigilant,” he allowed the crew time to reflect before making his next point.
“We all know the threat this new species represents, and I can vouch for everyone here that we will all perform our duties to the best of our abilities, and we will not rest until the safety of our territory is restored. We depart in one hour, Thank you gentlemen.”
And with that Captain Wainwright retrieved his book, and left the hall.
A young female Lieutenant quickly mounted the stage. “Lunch is available from the ships galley, which is open now.”
Finally a whistle blew, and again as one, the crowd stood to attention. The whistle blew a second time, and the men fell out.
“Well, what do you think of that?” Dylan asked turning to Michael.
“I think we are in deep shit,” Michael replied, “if those ships can slip in and do that to a carrier; then they can do it to any ship in the fleet.”
“And running without fighter cover makes me nervous. I suppose we are just going to have to blow them out of the sky before they get a shot off,” Dylan added.
“What makes you think we can?” Michael replied.