Chapter Ten:
Well, we've got to chapter ten now, a nice big round number. I must apologise again for the delay in this chapter, I only started writing it two days ago - I've been busy a lot the past few months and not had much chance to do any writing.
I'll keep it short -- thanks to everyone who emailed me, and those who proofed the chapter.
Legal -- don't read if you're not supposed to, and this story is complete fiction, implying nothing about reality.
"Robert, head the ship back to Earth, I'll be staying here for the time being. Leave a quantum communication device on the planet, and bring them back to here. It finally looks like the war may be turning our way. Hopefully our new friends will be able to get somewhere with their superior scanning capabilities, along with our computer technology."
"And you'll be staying on the planet sir?"
"Yes, I think we need to help further our relationship, until I return the co-director will be in full command."
"Very well sir. What equipment do you want taken down to the surface before we leave?"
"A quantum communication device of course, a laptop, a camera." He said with a small smile.
"We'll see what we can do sir."
"I'll be in my quarters if I'm required before you're ready to depart. I have some business to take care of." Edwards turned round and left the captain's office. The past two days of talks with the Iisac has gone far better than anyone had expected, with the basic grounds of an alliance being set down. Edwards had decided to remain to try and draw up exact terms and conditions of an alliance.
Sector 139A -- two days later:
The Nautilus-NX231 was travelling in quantum slipstream through sector 139A, heading towards the main front line station after its retrofit. Suddenly the whole ship shook violently, before calming down to a steady vibration which lasted for almost a minute. "REPORT!" The captain shouted from his chair.
"We've dropped out of slipstream sir, calculating location."
"What happened?"
"Unknown -- we have maintained full molecular cohesion. Our location has been reported as 139A:342:193."
"Damage report?"
"All major systems functional. No major casualties reported. Full systems check in progress. Sensors are showing two ships, 1 million kilometres on baring 126 mark 121, heading towards us at .25ls."
"Send an emergency message to command, report our position and status. Set condition red, all hands to battle stations." The sirens restarted across the medium sized ship, crew compliment 100 exactly. Commissioned in 1990, it had been in active service for 10 years. "Can we identify the vessels?"
"Negative sir, they are of unknown design."
"Slipstream status?"
"We're trying, we can't re-enter slipstream -- they're somehow blocking slipstream in this region of space, that's what caused us to drop out."
"Ready all weapons, divert all available power to shields."
"Sir, they are within weapons range. Incoming weapons fire!"
"All hands brace for impact!" The captain shouted as the ship shook again, consoles around him flashing red lights. "Fire torpedoes one through five, ready the quantum guns."
"Torpedoes away, time till impact five, four, three, two, one. Sensors read no damage to their ship."
"Fire at will weapons officer. Report from the last volley?"
"Minor hull breach deck four section 2. Power failure in that section. No major systems damaged."
"Second torpedo volley no affect, more incoming weapons fire. Quantum cannons firing now." The ship was tossed to the side as a series of weapons impact hit against the hull and shields. Almost instantly the interior lights started to flicker as main power went off line.
"Main power down, backups holding. Primary power grid is down is twelve sections, hull breaches on decks two, three, four, five and six sections two through five. Primary computer core not functioning. Main shielding grid down, emergency shields holding. Injury reports coming in from several decks, four reported dead. Energy weapons down, torpedo tubes seven through to twelve are off line. Quantum cannons still fuctional."
"Rapid fire, target anything that seems to be a primary system."
"Aye sir, all cannons firing." The weapons screen traced the progress of the volley as it rapidly hit the unknown ship. "Sensors are reading no change in the power output of the ship. As far as I can tell their weapons and shields are still on line. We've got more incoming fire!" This time the ship was jolted enough to throw some of the bridge officers out their seats, and sirens started going off on the bridge.
"Structural failure! Hull breaches reported on all decks, major casualty reports, weapons and shields off line, systems running on emergency power only. There's hull fractures all over the hull, emergency containment fields are not all functional -- air's leaking out from all areas, including the bridge."
"All hands, this is the captain, abandon ship, repeat, abandon ship! This is not a drill! Computer, initiate emergency destruct sequence, ten minutes countdown. Authorisation pi 1 1 0 0 5 4 3 alpha 4 gamma."
"Destruct sequence activated. All hands, abandon ship. Self destruct in nine minutes fifty seconds."
"Launch emergency message buoys and send out a general distress call on all frequencies. Attacked by unknown force, crew forced to abandon ship. Enclose all sensor readings."
"Aye sir."
"Bridge officers, you are relieved." The captain said, as he turned towards the door at the back of the bridge, walking of the ship. They'd made it to an escape pod just as another set of explosions hit the ship, everyone being knocked off their feet as the whole ship reeled to the side in the impact, the lights and artificial gravity going off line. The senior staff were just inside the escape pod as the final volley hit the ship. It had just cleared fifty meters when a large explosion started in the centre and spread rapidly as ship blew. The captain stared out the window as the ion and rocket engines simultaneously engaged to move the ship away as rapidly as possible. It was not fast enough ,as the shockwave from the explosion caught the small escape craft ripping it apart into thousands of small pieces. ***************
"Sir, we've not received a routine communication from NX231. They were due to report in at arrival to slipstream station 141." The communications officer spoke to Mr. Paton, the officer in command.
"We've not heard anything?"
"Not so far sir."
"Keep an eye on it, there could be a communications problem."
"Very well sir. Wait a minute, a listening post has picked up a distress call from NX231, they report being attacked and abandoning ship."
"Location?"
"Sector 139 Section A, Grid location 1211:4317:3129."
"Scan the area."
"Doing so now sir. It'll take a few minutes to receive scans."
"Very well."
"Three escape pods are present, scans of the attack area are inconclusive, too long range."
"Despatch three high level ships to the area immediately. Bring them off the front line if necessary."
"Very good sir."
Owen was yet again sitting in his sparse hotel room, in the chair in front of the small desk. He'd not yet received any contact from Justin since they went out the previous night to the club, but that didn't worry him really. At least Justin seemed to be accepting him, and at least willing to give it a go. Owen couldn't begin to imagine what it must have been like for Justin to forget everything of the past few weeks, and to be told that you fell in love, but can't even remember it. Things like that are only supposed to happen in fiction, not real life -- then again Owen's life resembles fiction so closely in many aspects, why not take even more of them up.
Along side Justin of course there were the rest of the guys, all of which seemed equally accepting towards him from last night, no negative comments were received at least, unless they were said behind closed doors. Such guess work would serve no practical purpose however, and would only worry Owen even more.
The incident back at the ISC was none of his concern, in fact the ISC wasn't even on his mind at all, he was on leave, why should it be? He was aware of the talks with the Iisac Alliance however, and was well aware that all the guys may well be required if the negations proceed as planned, and he was equally aware that it may well be decided to do further memory erasial, perhaps removing Owen from the picture yet again. Owen didn't always like the business he was in, for despite all the advantages, the disadvantages were equally large.
It was at that moment the phone rang again, the time somewhere around 1950.
Owen reached across the desk to pick up his mobile, nothing more than a simple Ericsson T28. "Hello?"
"Hey Owen, it's Justin."
"Hey Justin. How are ya?"
"I'm good thanks, you?"
"Not too bad, a lot better now though."
"Oh, how so?"
"I always thought Americans were dumb… Because you just rang dummy."
"Hey, I'm not dumb!
"Anyway, what can I do for you?"
"Well, I was sort of wondering whether you'd like to go out tonight?"
"I suppose it depends on whether you'd be coming with me or not."
"Well, I was thinking you could go on a shopping spree with my mom actually."
"Sounds great, how about I meet her at the Florida mall in say, thirty minutes?"
"Very funny… How about you meet me at 7pm. Come to my house, and we'll go out to a restaurant or something."
"Sounds great Just. I'll see ya then!"
7pm, almost two hours away, seemed to take forever to actually arrive. Owen showered twice, read a good part of a book, `Rendezvous with Rama', a book he'd read many a time. It showed a very interest view on first contact. Owen wished things were that simple. He headed out at about 6:15 straight for Justin's house, knowing full well he'd end up being early. He pulled up at Justin's house about 12 minutes early, and waited on the road for 7 or so minutes before finally pulling into the driveway. He was unnerved to see an unknown car in the drive, presumably his mom's, but Justin did tell him to be here none the less. Hesitantly he walked towards the front door, only to have Justin pull the door open on him just as he was about to knock -- talk about scaring someone half to death!
"Hey Owen." Justin said as he looked at him, his voice not sounding too over enthusiastic.
"Mom, I'm heading out now! I'll be back later tonight!" Justin shouted out the door, walking out and closing it before his mom had chance to reply. "Let's take your car."
"You weren't expecting your mom to be home?"
"No, she turned up about half an hour ago, I told her I was going out with an old friend for the evening, and she seemed happy enough about it."
"Good good. Since I'm driving, where abouts are we going?"
"I've booked a table at MacDonald's." Justin replied smiling. This caused Owen to chuckle a little as he pulled out onto the road, turning right.
"Who said turn right?"
"No one."
"Ok then."
"Good good. So, where are we going?"
"I've booked a nice hotel room under the name of Mr. Smith and Mr. Jones, we're business partners from Europe on a business trip."
"Oh, how original…" Owen said, not quite sure whether to believe Justin or not.
"Got the penthouse suite, everything included."
"Sounds nice. Which hotel dare I ask?"
"The Hyatt Grand Cypress."
"The USS Keris will be at the scene in three days sir, we're trying to set up a temporary jump station in the area."
"Very well. Have we received full details from the sensor buoy?"
"Yes sir. The sensor records of the ship don't match anything on record. It appears to have a very large power output, and very strong defensive and offensive capabilities. The Nautilus was just upgraded to the latest weapon and shield systems, it was a high level ship, commissioned in 1990, standard medium cruiser class, 700 metres long, 50x50 cross section…"
"I'm fully away of the specs of the Nautilus Mr. Larson. See if we can raise the Director on the comm. He should be informed of this. Get me the co-director as well, he should know."
"Yes sir."
"Yes Mr. Director, we're not certain of the origin of the unidentified ship, and we can't find the unidentified ship in any of our scanned space."
"Very well. Have you contacted Mr. Edwards?"
"Not yet sir -- we've sent a message to him, but have been unable to establish two way communication."
"Very well. Keep up the good work Mr. Paton."
Justin had directed Owen to the car park of the Hyatt Grand Cypress Hotel. They quickly walked out avoiding any prying eyes, Owen walking over to the reception while Justin walked straight over to the elevator.
"Good evening. I have a reservation under Mr. Jones and Smith."
"Ah yes sir, the Presidential Suite for tonight. Travelling on business?"
"Yes. We're working for a company in London and are making a one night stop over before we continue on to Seattle." Owen replied, making sure his English accent shone through.
"I see sir. Can I have a credit card please sir?"
"Yes of course. Mr. Smith had already walked upstairs, he's quite exhausted after the flight." Owen said, handing over a card, readily prepared with Mr. Jones on by one of those handy security folks that always seemed to be standing around at a safe distance. They could be useful sometimes. The receptionist handed the card back to Owen after swiping it through the machine, and clicked his fingers a couple of times before a bell boy walked over.
"If you could take Mr. Jones up to the Presidential Suite Ronson." The bell boy took the travel bag from Owen and walked towards the elevator. They headed towards the top floor, and bell boy then opening the room and handing over the key.
"Room service is available by picking up the phone receiver and dialling 0 sir. There is a menu in the dining room. If you require anything else just ring the reception desk."
"Thank you Ronson." Owen replied, handing over a $50 to the bell boy, who rapidly accepted before disappearing off down the corridor. Justin appeared from round the corner at that point and walked in. "Hey cutie, I wondered where you disappeared to."
"I just thought I'd lay low for a second, don't want to be recognised by anyone really."
"No you don't." Owen said, closing the door to the room and sliding across the deadlock. He walked through into the dining room and picked up the menu off the table, giving it a quick flick through.
"Do you want something to eat?"
"Yeah -- I'm starved!" Owen handed Justin another copy of the menu as they sat down next to each other on the sofa reading through.
"Computer, start log entry." Edwards spoke, in a large and spacious room given to him by the Iisac council during his stay. "In my short stay on the planet I have learnt a lot about the culture and technology here. Unlike previous races who we have encountered, the Iisac are far far closer to our own level of evolution and technology. The Iisac on the whole are no more than ten years ahead of our levels of technology on Earth, excluding the more advanced areas in the ISC. The main technological difference is in their more advanced medical technology and their large strides in precise low interference sub atomic imaging, an area not extensively researched by the ISC, as it never seemed to hold much use. That area, along with the enhanced medical technology is what is of most interest to the ISC. They also have tried their first near light speed journey, something that isn't expected by standard Earth technology for another fifty or sixty years based on standard calculations. They have had help in this area, it turns out that a crashed Kulmari sublight scout was found, extremely old, but preserved in ice. They managed to back engineer some of the preserved technology and use it to develop their own near light speed drive. The Iisac estimated the ship was about four hundred years old, but based on our knowledge of the Kulmari, that seems a fair estimate. The ship crashed almost one hundred years ago, and the closest colony of the Kulmari is about three hundred light years away. "
"In terms of the culture, it appears that they are in a very similar situation to Earth. They have crime problems as to be expected, and a similar all round cultural life. Their arts bare a lot of similarities to ours, and their scientific and mathematics are similar in most areas, although they have made some leaps in physics especially that our main stream science is still working on. The most fundamental of these is a very good string theory model that is about ten years ahead of our current research areas."
"I have also managed to study some of their theology. I must say that some of the similarities noticed here are astounding. The planet has four dominant religions, Krastin, Jufabas, Sehiy and Befgi. Krastin bears in many respects a large similarity to Christianity, speaking of the son of God coming down to the planet two and a half thousand years ago. The religious creation story is also very similar, based off a seven rotations of the planet, with rest of the seventh. This astounding similarity must not be ignored, and must surely point to a shared point in our two planets histories. The area of theology is one which we have not been able to look into before when dealing with alien cultures. The other three religions are mainly spin offs of the Krastin faith as far as I can tell, and all share similarities - less variation than on Earth in that respect. Our relationship with the Iisac is a unique situation for us so far and one which we must explore as much as possible."
"On more pressing matters however, I have managed to negotiate an immediate deal to use their advanced scanning technology. In return we will give the Iisac access to our full historical database. In the long run we expect to be able to establish a steady trade of technology and goods between the two cultures. I want the five gentlemen on *NSYNC to be brought here as soon as possible, along with a quantum computing core to process the data we can gather."
"I have received the message regarding the destruction of the Nautilus, and I wish a full enquiry to be launched immediately into the destruction. I will be making another report shortly on further aspects of the Iisac."
"End of communication, please reply as soon as possible on when you expect to be able to transport the subjects here."
Owen patted his stomach after finishing his desert after an excellent meal.
"I must say that was excellent, I'll have to send my congratulations to the head chief."
"It was good." Justin replied. "So what do you want to do now?"
"I'm not sure." Owen replied. Suddenly he was interrupted by the ringing of his cell phone. "Bloody hell! I knew I should have turned it off!" He glanced at the number, preparing to turn off the phone, but thought again when he saw the number. "I think I better answer this." Owen said looking at Justin for an approval.
"Sure, go ahead." Justin replied. Owen listened to the phone, making only the odd reply.
"Owen, it's Paton. Your friend and his colleagues are to be taken to the Iisac homeworld as soon as possible. We don't have a ship to spare for about two days, and we've also got to arrange the preparation of a mobile quantum processing unit than can be taken down to the planet. Three days I'd say."
"I see."
"Now we know that Justin can remember some stuff, and if you want, and I'm sure you would anyway, you can tell him this. Keep it from the others though."
"Uhhuh. Thank you for informing me Mr. Paton. Have a good evening." Owen said, hanging up the phone. Here it goes again.
End of C10 Thanks for reading, drop me an email as always at trekster2@hotmail.com. Chapter 11 will be out in a month or so I expect, I've already started work on it, so hopefully it shouldn't take as long as this chapter did. Also, I apologise for it being shorter than usual, but it seemed a very good place to end. The next chapter will concentrate more on the relationship and romantic aspects - I know this chapter was mainly scifi. Also, I've been working on a website for the story. It's by no means complete, and I may well decided to modify the whole format in the future - time permitting. If you get the chance feel free to take a glance though - http://www.iscdb.co.uk. It works best on a high bandwidth connection however, as it has some animations that take a minute or two to load on a dial up connection.
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