I had a dozen questions I wanted to ask the colonel about my new assignment. Instead, I made a statement. “I am ready to serve Mars, Sir.”
Rather than respond, Colonel Goswin continued staring at me as though there were a hundred things he wanted to tell me but couldn’t.
The silence brought more questions to my mind. The Xeno ships were mysteries, and we weren’t even sure how they propelled themselves. We hadn't been able to recover any usable data from our regular starships to point us in the right direction. Any time the Xeno found a probe hiding in the void, they destroyed it.
There was also the problem of boarding a Xeno ship. Some of the space-support sections in the MSM theorized that doing so might set off some kind of autoimmune response that would eject or destroy us. Others said technology like that would be too expensive in energy and space, even for a Xeno starship. The truth was we didn’t know. We didn’t even know if the ships had breathable air, or if there was a toxin that would kill us, intentionally or not. We just didn’t know much at all.
Yet somehow, they’d brought the ship to this battle station, 60 light years away from any other base, far within Federation-controlled space. And somehow, the scientists and engineers had made enough discoveries for this mission to proceed.
It was time for me to have faith in something outside of myself. Maybe not in a god, but in the Federation’s abilities.
“Thank you, Sir,” I broke the silence. “This is a great honor. What is my mission?”
He chuckled. “Aren’t you going to ask me how you’re going to fly it? Or about whether or not it’s crewed?”
“No, Sir,” I said. “I’m sure you’ve already thought of that. I’d appreciate the briefing package as soon as you’re able to deliver it.”
“It’s already been sent to your inbox. But I’ll give you the highlights now. The Xeno vessel will contain one Burner loaded in a launching tube we’ve mounted within the vessel. Your mission will be to take the ship and the burner to the Obae-21 system.
“The Xeno have colonized one of the planets there and no doubt will use it as a jumping-off point for attacks deep within Federation space. The attack could possibly turn the tide of the war, and it will deny our enemy the ability to use that planet for at least the next hundred years.”
The Burner was no joke. It was our last resort for attacking a planet and worked on a scale that put the war-ending weapons of centuries ago to shame. I’d seen the results for myself. It could irradiate an entire planet, setting fire to its atmosphere, if it had one. The doomed planet would burn like a star for a week. If there was no atmosphere, the radiation would keep any known form of life from existing more than a few seconds on its surface.
I had to take a deep breath to calm myself. It helped, a little. “I’m ready to kick some Xeno ass, Sir.”
“Glad to hear it,” Colonel Goswin said with a laugh. “There is a catch, though.”
Ah, there’s the shoe I was waiting for. “What’s the catch, Sir?”
“We’ve modified the ship. We know the atmosphere isn’t toxic. We’ve added some of our own weapons systems to the hull. We have sensors, human-style furniture, and have removed everything we didn’t think we would need. The catch is that we had to leave the portal generator onboard.”
“I figured as much, Sir,” I said. If this were something they wanted to use FTL travel for, the Federation would have just used one of our own ships. No, they needed the ability to get in and out in a hurry. That’s why they needed a Xeno ship. Leaving the portal generator on the ship was completely intentional.
“The problem is,” he continued, “our scientists aren’t sure they fully understand the portal generator tech onboard the ship. They think they’ve got it. They’ve even opened a couple of portals to try it out. But if you do this, you and your crew will be the first humans to actually go through a portal.”
“Sounds like a party,” I said. “Sir.”
I couldn’t wait to get back to the action. And while I wouldn’t be fighting up-close-and-personal with the Xeno, this would be the biggest payload I’d ever get to deliver.
The colonel smiled. “Like I said, our squints think they’ve got it all figured out, but until someone tries it, we’re not sure. They believe the ship can enter the portal, but where it’ll come out is what makes them nervous. You could end up right on target the first time, but in another galaxy entirely the second time you use it. We just don’t know.”
So, it was a suicide mission, most likely. Maybe I’d get there, maybe I wouldn’t. Maybe I’d make it back. Maybe I’d never see home again. It was a sobering line of thought. But I was ready to leave my role of instructor behind and finally see some real action for the first time in years.
“What happens if the mission isn’t successful or isn’t even attempted?” I asked. It wasn’t that I didn’t plan on taking the mission, I just wanted to know my options.
“If you don’t try or don’t succeed, the tide of this war will turn,” he said. “Our warplanners believe the Xeno could overrun us in just a hundred years. No more humans. All gone.”
“Then I’ll do it,” I said.
I’d never killed a million of the bugs all at once. I was ready for my shot.
“Good,” he said, relief evident on his face and in his posture. “Because you leave in 10 hours. It’s time you examined your
