Chapter 1
A semicircle of Kvesan Raptors hovered in space, staggered and stacked in two rows of three each. The space ship recording the scene would make seven—classic Kvesan battle formation.
A gleaming silver ball, like a drop of mercury, faced them, a blue-and-gold logo of three comets joined at the tail displayed in sharp relief. The Kvesan hailing sequence repeated through a loop endlessly: one note, two notes a step higher, three notes a step higher, four, five, then reversing down to one. The gleaming ball, vastly larger than the Raptors confronting it, did not respond.
Eventually, something happened, an action acknowledging the presence of the Raptors.
The ball drooped in the middle as two arms sprouted on either side and the ball shifted into a crescent. Each arm fired a bluish-purple energy beam, seconds apart, at the Raptor directly in front of it. With a shimmer, the craft’s shield dissolved, the skin ruptured and the ship lurched backwards. A cloud of detritus spewed from the breach.
Remorphing, the vessel fled into the infinite void, Kvesan energy beams shooting futilely in its wake as a piece of wreckage from the Ruhom floated past, glowing orange.
The holographic image vanished; in the Conference Room, nobody spoke. The Kvesan officers sat still, some looking at the ceiling, others staring at their reflection in the polished wooden table.
Captain Rex Knight leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. His pulse thudded as though he’d felt each blow to the ship in his gut.
Suddenly, he didn’t like being here, aboard the Imperial starship, The Highpoint, sitting in the crowded and stuffy conference room which now smelt of fear.
Beside him Ty blurted in that way he did when he didn’t think. “Damn! You mean some blob of mercury took down one of your fighters—just like that?” He snapped his fingers.
“No one knew what was happening, where to aim or what to shoot at.” Admiral A’Yona addressed Ty sharply and her grey cranial crest ruffled. “We have no experience in firing at such a target.”
Ty shook his head. “Got to see that again. I just can’t believe this!”
“Lieutenant Hunt, I fail to see any purpose in that.” Commander U’Tyl leaned across the table. Rex glanced around and saw most of their crests ruffling as well.
Rex had to defuse this—fast. U’Tyl was second in command; there was no point in three offworlders antagonizing the Highpoint’s senior staff. He touched Ty’s shoulder. “That’s enough, Lieutenant.”
Ty turned to Rex, to the Admiral, then around the table. He huffed in anger but nodded. “All right.”
Rex let himself relax a centimeter.
A’Yona studied the faces carefully, ending with the three humans. Rex examined the starfield hologram on the ceiling, trying to focus, ever mindful that the Kvesans were stronger telepaths than humans were, but only if they have eye contact.
When the Admiral resumed her voice was subdued. “There is more: two days ago, the same vessel, or another one like it, appeared beyond the eighth planet of the Melarrn system. The Melarrn had no idea of what to do, so they contacted the Alliance; their intelligence contacted the Kvesan government. We chose to head this investigation, based on that encounter you just saw, from six weeks ago.” Admiral A’Yona primly folded her hands before her. Since her crest stopped ruffling, Rex hoped she’d calmed down.
“Admiral, did you lose anyone?”
“Unfortunately, Lieutenant Watanabe, yes; 20—out of a crew of one hundred. Commander S’Tor will brief you on the rest.”
As S’Tor stood Meex leaned back in her seat, her hands clasped together; her little fingers nervously rubbing the table top. Rex tensed again and tried to corral his stampeding thoughts.
S’Tor folded his hands. He had been introduced as the Director of Xenological Studies of the Kvesan branch of the Planetary Alliance’s Military Academy and used his occupational droning voice. He began softly, still affected by the holographic vid. “At first, we attempted to tow the Ruhom back to a starbase, but the superstructure continued its destabilization.” He cleared his throat. “Eventually, the degradation to the integrity of the vessel progressed to total destruction and we were furthermore unable to assess either the nature of the assaultive device or the causative factors for the degradation of the superstructure.” His voice was stronger and firmer now.
Rex threw in a question, an attempt to head off his impending stupor. “What was that ship doing out there?”
“We’re not certain, Captain. We do know the one off Melarrn is performing an analogous procedure: scanning for some unknown reason.”
A’Yona turned to Rex. “We want you to monitor the ship. Watch it, document it, scan it if possible, try to learn where it goes, what it’s made of, and if you can understand what it’s doing.”
Rex fumed as he realized that he’d just heard the other boot drop.
“Captain Knight. Lieutenant Hunt. Lieutenant Watanabe.” S’Tor looked at each of them before starting. “Allow me to place some perspective on this situation.”
And S’Tor launched his lecture on what Rex considered Xenology 100: All intergalactic civilizations encountered so far seem to be not more than a century or so apart, technologically. A few exceptions, disinterred as long-dead ruins, have been discovered but nobody knows what happened to them. Theoretically, there should be a vast range of technologies and ages ofbeings, only there isn’t...yet. Rex had heard all this before. As he sat thoughtfully stroking his beard, the image of the exploding Ruhom floated through his mind and he wondered who had retrieved their corpses.
Part of him resented the fact that three aliens had been drafted for this. He definitely understood K’Malya’s fear and anxiety. And K’Malya was the Empress of the Kvesan Empire and had “asked” them to be here. S’Tor wore the same silver and charcoal Enity uniform as he and Ty and Meex did, but Rex felt no bond. Even though S’Tor didn’t wear the gold uniform of the Imperial Kvesan fleet, he was still Kvesan, with their silver skin, with mane-like cranial crests, the vertical pupils.
Rex realized that S’Tor finished and was looking at him; startled, he threw out the first question that popped into his head. “So, you want us to just cool our jets waiting for it to sneeze or something?”
S’Tor unfolded his hands to point at Rex. “That’s your discretion. You’ve witnessed their ordinance capacity and this assignment does contain an elevated risk factor. You’re much more valuable alive and in communication with us. Still, we need to know what civilization sent it, what their ultimate final-case scenario is, what makes its brain burn.”
“We already know its plans.” This was the first time Captain F’Tan spoke. Rex picked up an edge in his voice. F’Tan was in charge of security and was getting fired up by this mystery ship. “It has already destroyed one of our best, fully armed fighters. What possible reason could it have except hostility? But we hide from it like hunted fowl. Like Lieutenant Hunt, I too am appalled and ashamed that we failed to return fire.”
Rex heard Ty’s voice, softly in his head. “Never said that.”
Rex nodded as the Admiral responded. “Commander, I share your concern.” She was short and compact but she dominated the room. “We have discussed this matter in much detail. The Military Council favors discretion at this point, lest this matter reach the ears of 150 inhabited planets.
“We have so recommended to the Imperial Court, which has agreed. We are having a difficult time keeping this secret; additional military presence would be, at this time, unwise.”
“It might also be unnecessary.” Meex tapped the table top, absently. “It’s very possible the ship’s a drone—an unstaffed ship programmed to attack when confronted. A single ship might be able to slip in closer.”
The Admiral looked at S’Tor, who sat down, and she resumed control. “We’ve also discussed that possibility. Right now, that seems to be the most feasible prospect—as well as the most hoped-for.
“The ship is still off Melarrn, but we weren’t certain until now. It could, of course, leave at any moment, but it is still there, still scanning. Because of our past experience, however, this ship is presumed to be hostile. I appreciate your willingness to” she paused and looked at Rex; the phrase ‘stick your necks out’ popped into his head “stick your necks out for us, especially since there is no immediate threat to your home world.”
“So, Admiral, the ship leaves, we come back?” Ty reached beneath the table and cracked his knuckles.
“Correct.”
“Maybe our greatest threat will be boredom.”
Ty’s joke sent laughter around the table. A’Yona smiled grimly. Rex exhaled a soft sigh of relief.
“We will meet with you prior to departure, arranging a rendezvous and setting up a secure channel for communication. Any more questions, Captain Knight?”
Rex looked at the other two then back to the Admiral, the same question hanging in his mind: ‘Yes. Why us?’ “Not at this time, Admiral.”
“One more point. These ships did not appear on any frontier; they were deep in Alliance-controlled territory. Anything we can discern is important. This also assumes, of course, that the Dnaiyx Commonwealth is not involved. We have no evidence that their technology approaches anything this sophisticated and these ships have appeared too far from their border. So far, we have been reluctant to contact them about this.” A’Yona looked around the table again. “We want to know where they’ve come from, if this can possibly be done without risk. The Royal Family has made available their personal Meteor for your use. I believe you were already aware of that?”
Ty nodded eagerly.
“Good. You are dismissed.”
“Thank you.” Rex stood abruptly. “What is our ETA?”
“Eighteen standards.”
“That will give us time.”
“We will meet here at one third morning hour for a final review.”
Rex snapped a Kvesan salute—open palms at shoulder level—as Ty and Meex slid out of their seats and followed Rex into the corridor.
Ty broke the silence first. “Don’t like this at all. The Melarrn’re spooked, they run to the Alliance for protection, which grabs Kvesa’s apron, who dumps it onto three off-worlders.”
“Ty, we’re not just Terrans.” Rex leaned against the wall waiting for the lift to arrive. He felt drained as the impact of the meeting settled in. “We’re not members of the Terran Star Force—we’re from the Alliance, and this is an Alliance problem.”
“And there are no Alliance forces on Kvesa?”
“Ty, the Melarrn aren’t a highly technological People.” Meex was the first to enter the lift. “Guest level three.” Once they were on the lift, she spoke openly, but softly. “They wouldn’t be where they are without a lot of support from the Alliance, just like Earth, remember. They can’t defend themselves against this; not even Kvesa can. K’Malya trusts us more than anyone else.”
“Still comes down to ‘We like the way you Terrans shovel better than we do’. You’re not happy are you, Rex?”
Rex scowled as he realized he didn’t want them to know what he was thinking. “Ty, we’re soldiers, doing what we’re told to do.”
Ty looked at Meex, and raised an eyebrow. “You’ll notice Her Highness did want a Protocol Officer to come along.”
“You guys keep my life interesting.”
Not the answer that Rex had picked up in the Conference Room, but he also knew that was all anyone was going to get from her, publicly. Rex chose to live with that as they exited and proceeded silently until Meex stopped at her door. “As you said, Captain, we’re first and foremost soldiers. Now, if you’ll permit me, I need to relax a while.”
Rex dismissed her and the two returned to their own cabin.
They were in the guest section, where the cabins were hexagonal and larger than the square crew quarters.
Ty stepped into the washroom as Rex sat on the bed, rubbing his eyes. He kept thinking of the Ruhom and that ship morphing and slipping away. A primal fear gnawed at him, of something bigger, stronger, younger eventually challenging, dominating.
Rex felt Ty sit beside him, lean against him, felt Ty’s arm slide around him. Rex opened his eyes and fell back onto the bed, pulling Ty down on top of him.
