1 The path forward final part
Kalis was exhausted, it had been a full day since the 'Silver Lining' had arrived at Jata, in that time the crew had intercepted and searched 4 suspicious transport haulers leaving the planet none of which contained any contraband. The planetary defense forces naval attache, Captain Lago, was about to drive her to violence, The rules he laid out for what they were and were not allowed to do was extensive and she felt like she was fighting with her hands tied behind her back. They could only stop and search haulers HE approved, only 3 marines could board at a time, and they only had 1 hour to search the vessels before turning them loose. The last requirement was the source of her ire, the massive haulers, some of the smaller ones were twice the size of the half mile long cruiser, carried thousands of containers.
She looked at the mission clock on the display 58 minutes 36 seconds.
'Forget an hour it would take a day to search every container.'
The comms officer Ensign Alrot, a short prematurely balding man in his early 20's, called an update.
"The boarding party has returned to the transport and are on their way back ma'am. All clear."
"Thank you ensign."
A few minute later the transport safely in the ships hanger Kalis thought.
'Alright I've had just about enough of this.'
Turning to Captain Lago who had been consulting with her nav officer Lieutenant Junior grade Reton, she barely hid the irritation in her voice.
"Well Captain, Are there any more valid targets on the sensors?"
Kalis' comms disk beeped with a message, Seeing it was from Polis she opened it but didnt read it.
"Yes Commander the hauler 'Seal your freight' distance is 1000 miles. Lieutenant Reton is sending the data to your monitor now."
While she waited for the data she read Polis' message and narrowed her eyes.
'Well that could explain why we haven't found anything.'
Looking up at the monitor she could see the dot that represented the 'Seal Your Freight' 960 miles away now on the main shipping lane as it put some distance between itself and Jata before breaking the speed of light. Also on the scope 700 miles away in the opposite direction were two signatures doing the same.
"Lieutenant what's the info on the other two contacts?"
"Ma'am, civilian crafts the hauler 'Freightning' and a civilian ship 'Dark hunger'"
'Why is a civilian craft traveling with a freighter.'
Something about the pair of ships bugged her.
"Set a course to intercept them."
Captain Lago took a step towards the Captains chair, his eyes wide.
"Commander those are not approved vessels, our target is 'Seal your freight'!"
The attaches reaction only reinforced the contents of Polis' message.
"When we are in weapons range hail the 'Freightening' and inform them we will be boarding."
"Commander you must rescind that order immediately!! I am ordering you to board and search the 'Seal Your Freight'!"
Turning to Lieutenant Reton he continued angrily.
"Disregard that order Lieutenant, I am taking command, set a course for the orbital dock immediately."
Kalis' hazel eyes grew cold and she spoke in a low voice dripping with venom.
"I'll make this real easy to understanding Captain, You will not shout at me or any of my crew while on my vessel and certainly not on my bridge. You will not issue orders to my crew, you are a planetary navy Attache you have no authority here other than what I ALLOW you to have. You will not be taking command of dick. Lieutenant Commander Lorite please escort Captain Lago off my fucking bridge and confine him to quarters with a marine guard until we return to the dock."
"Yes ma'am."
Lorite drew the pistol all naval officers carried but didn't point it at Lago, instead he held it at his side and gestured to the exit hatch with a sweep of his arm. Lagos face grew red and a vein bulged at his temple.
"You can't do this! Admiral Fort will have you court Marshalled for this!! He agreed you are required to work with us!"
Kalis snorted and responded her tone making it obvious how little she cared.
"Captain, You will be lucky if you see the light of day after this, you see I just received a message from someone Admiral Fort and myself trust very deeply and it doesn't paint a pretty picture for you or the planetary government. Lieutenant Commander get this bastard off my bridge."
Captain Lago sputtered as Lorite raised the pistol.
"You little bitch, you think just because your with the big navy you can get away with shit like this? your day is coming. All your days are coming!"
Begrudgingly Lago left the bridge with Lorites pistol in the small of his back.
"Now with that distraction gone Lieutenant set an intercept course for the 'Freightening'."
'I hope Polis is right about this...'
Ensign Alrot interrupted Kalis' thoughts
"Ma'am we are in LRAHT range sending the boarding message now."
"Belay that ensign, Lieutenant Lufkin target the 'Freightening' with LRAHTs set to burst 500 feet before impact and inform me the moment you have a shooting solution with the number 1 HVMS on the 'Dark Hunger' someone get me a scan of that ship."
"Aye ma'am"
Lieutenant Trita Sent a run down of the 'Dark Hunger' to Kalis' monitor. The civilian ship was a surplus 233 corvette employed by the Planetary defense force navy, it wasn't uncommon for retired vessels to be stripped of weapons and sold on the civilian market, however Kalis saw from the scan that the 'Dark Hunger' showed a strong magnetic signature.
'Either they upgraded the engine or they have weapons.'
"Ma'am we have a firing solution."
Kalis took a deep breath before issuing her orders.
"Hold this distance, get the marines aboard their transports and have Lieutenant Commander Zoras launch fighters then send the message."
A few moments later Kalis could see the glowing engines of the incredibly fast and nimble fighters take up positions slightly forward and off the starboard side of the massive cruiser.
"Message has been sent and received Commander awaiting a reply."
Suddenly Lieutenant Reton shouted from his station.
"Ma'am, the 'Dark Hunger' is coming about and increasing speed."
'That doesn't make sense, a civilian corvette couldn't possibly hope to block a naval 674 heavy cruiser, just our fighters alone could disable them.'
Kalis chest tightened, something was off here. She recalled something Colton had told her once.
'The first to strike usually wins. But what if their just civilians?'
"Adjust the HVMS and fire a warning shot 500 feet offset to the opposite side from the 'Freightening' and send the message again Then immediately set up a new solution with the number 2 HVMS."
"Aye ma'am"
The familiar sound of a zipper could be heard and a moment later the white trail of the 60 ton slug extended from the front of the cruiser towards the tiny ship now displayed on the Captains monitor barely missing it.
"Ma'am, the 'Freightening' is increasing speed they're trying to reach light speed."
"Fire the LRAHT."
"Aye ma'am."
Outside of the bridge window a hatch opened on the top of the ship and a long missle arched from the heavy cruiser towards its target.
"LRAHT away detonation in 5 seconds."
"4"
"3"
"Ma'am confirmed incoming projectile from 'Dark hunger'."
"1"
On the screen the Long Range anti hull missle detonated close to the 'Freightening' showering the hauler in shrapnel.
"MA'AM INCOMING PROJECTILE IS DISPLAYING AN UNKNOWN RADIAOLOGICAL SIGNATURE. IMPACT IN 15 SECONDS."
Kalis' eyes widened.
'What kind of weapon is radioactive?!?!'
"Can the fighters intercept? Fire number 2 HVMS"
"Aye ma'am. Cloud 1 is moving now, intercept in 3 seconds. HVMS away."
Again the jacket zipper sound followed by the white streak, only this time as the massive projectile passed by the incoming missle an impossibly bright white light forced the bridge crew to avert their eyes from the monitors and bridge window.
As the light faded Kalis called for a status report from her nav officer who monitored the sensors.
"Ma'am hauler 'Freightening' appears to be disabled, Corvette 'Dark Hunger' has been destroyed.... Ma'am Cloud 1 is gone. Lieutenant Commander Zoras is gone.... he's just gone... no debris..... nothing."
"What the FUCK was that??? Lieutenant Lufkin Lieutenant Trita, what weapon can do that?"
Both officers looked to each other before turning to their leader, Trita spoke.
"We have no idea ma'am, neither of us have ever seen anything like it, but there is a 150 mile wide radioactive cloud in the area of the detonation."
Kalis thought before replying.
"Take us around the Cloud and get us closer to the 'Freightening' then launch the marines, And double the guard on Lago."
-
Colton looked at the old man across the fire from him trying to decide what to do, pretending not to understand him Colton spoke In Galactic common when he spoke the elder.
"Thank you for taking care of my injuries Micah, I was going to seek you out soon to ask for your assist in our mission, of course we can pay. Is there somewhere we can discuss the details?"
Mica stood and picked up a long bizarre looking looking rifle and gestured for Colton to follow, when Flanagan stood to follow he stopped him in halting Galactic common.
"You stay."
As Flanagan sat down looking slightly dejected, the old man lead Colton through the cluster of yurts in silence finally arriving at a larger one and entering through the flap into the dark tent. While Colton waited just inside the pitch dark tent he heard the sound of a ferro rod being struck and saw sparks before the prepared fire pit in the middle of the tent sprung to life. In the flickering firelight Colton saw something that took his breath away.
Without thinking he said in English.
"A cross."
On one side of the yurt was an alter with a worn and slightly discolored gold cross, a tattered leather bound book placed carefully in front of it.
Micah looked at him as he sat down by the fire and spoke Coltons native tongue.
"Yes a cross, as I thought you are Kinjave. The Republic doesn't recognize any religion so as to avoid the inevitable tensions that accompany them. I'd never thought I'd see one of our trine rise to be an officer in their military. But you don't look like one of us if it wasn't for the marks on your back we would never have known."
Colton shook his head and asked in English.
"May I take a better look?"
The old man nodded, Colton approved the alter and gazed at the symbol that kept him grounded in all things in his life, the symbol that hung around many a neck in his time, the symbol that he had held precious since he could understood its significance.
Letting his eyes drop from the Cross he looked at the book, a tattered Bible, gingerly he opened it inside the front cover where he knew it should have said King James Version the letters were faded until only Kin Ja Ve could be read. Leafing through the holy book Colton saw many pages were missing and many words had faded due to age, the pages felt brittle and ancient in his fingers. Slowly he flipped to the book of psalms reading out loud one of his favorite passages, Psalms 23. When he finished the 5th verse he saw that the 6th was missing either due to time or someone tearing it out.
Colton heaved a sigh and fished in his back pocket withdrawing a pocket version of the book he had gotten when he joined the military before handing it to Micah deciding to be upfront with the man.
"I am not Kinjave, nor am I from the republic. I am from Earth circa 2018."
The elder looked shocked but took the small book and opened it as he approached the ancient Bible flipping to the new testament, comparing the small worn but still legible Bible to the tattered one. After a few moments of confirming that the missing words made sense when compared to the ones in Coltons pocket Bible, he finally spoke his voice choking a little.
"Jesus. Mr. Greeter I beleive you. In 2000 years none has been allowed to copy this book and yet yours fills in the missing words perfectly. I will not question how you came to be here, surely it must be a miracle, but you will have our support in hunting the Yera. There will be no charge. It is said that the Kinjave also come from this earth you speak of, our legends say we left a small island, a place called Singing pour on earth to spread our truth to the rest of the galaxy."
'Singaporean missionaries, that explains the Asian features, English language, and religion.'
Colton nodded his thanks before requesting.
"No one can learn of this please Micah, and when addressing me near my team please use an interpreter or Galactic Common language."
"Of course Brother. Now you must be tired, please rest in my tent."
"Thank you Micah."
