The two men gradually made their way through the corridors and confines of the station, passing a long walkway that offered views out to the dockyard and the ships contained within. There, nestled between two Solarian cruisers was the Liberty, their home away from home, looking as dark, as brooding and as menacing as ever. Both men noticed the newly acquired ‘bumps’ that adorned the ships outer hull. Even though the old warhorse had changed slightly it was still the Liberty, still the most famous and instantly recognisable ship in the E.D. F fleet, and still like a friend to those who served aboard her.
Since the end of the Krenaran war, the E.D. F didn’t have much use for a former captured Krenaran stealth ship, turned into one of the most advanced and deadly ships in the fleet, though they still retained her services.
During the early stages of the re-building of the devastated outer colonies shortly after the war, her immense speed and hitting power had made her an excellent anti-pirate patrol ship, although over the past couple of years the navy slowly recouped their massive losses and gradually re-asserted control over E.O.C. A space again. As a result, pirate activity died down once more to pre-war levels. This unfortunately left the Liberty virtually surplus to requirements amongst the more multi-role ships of the navy nowadays.
The two men made their way aboard the berthed ship to stow their gear, as they had done a thousand times in the past.
“Smells just like home,” Johnson said as he stepped aboard.
Kinraid nodded in agreement, “That it does, that it does.”
The two officers headed to their separate quarters to change into their full naval uniforms, Logameier headed to engineering to check if things were okay down there, while Kinraid headed to Michael’s quarters to hear about this new emergency that had everyone flapping.
“Ah Quinn, welcome back, have a good time away?”
“Yeah thanks cap’n, although the crew are not appreciatin’ having ta’ hurry back like this, what’s goin’ on?”
“We have new orders Quinn, the Copernicus has been destroyed.”
“That’s little Kathryn’s ship!” Quinn said in alarm.
“I know.”
“When’s the briefin.’”
“As soon as everyone is back aboard.”
“Whatta’ you think cap’n?”
Michael hesitated for a moment, contemplating his answer, “I think we owe it to Kathryn to go in, find out what happened, and get those still on the surface out of there.”
“There ‘r’ people still on the surface?”
“Yes commander, and they don’t have much time, it will all be in the briefing.”
“I understand,” Kinraid nodded respectfully.
Michael rubbed his chin in thought, “my gut tells me this won’t be easy Quinn.”
“Is anythin’ we ever do easy cap’n,” Kinraid replied smiling.
“I guess not.”
Less than an hour later, a small Lincoln class supply ship dropped off the remainder of the Liberties crew, they all hurried aboard to get their equipment stowed and begin to make the ship ready for departure. Eldathar, the tall Solarian pilot, returning from his stay on the Solarian homeworld itself, was last to arrive. Kinraid had informed the crew there was to be an immediate briefing as soon as everyone was aboard.
They all assembled on the ships bridge, it was a tight squeeze, but the crew of forty one just about managed to fit into the oval shaped room.
“First of all, I’d like to apologise for making everyone rush back like this,” Michael began, “however this is a unique situation, if there was any other way, we wouldn’t have done it.”
The crew all silently nodded their understanding.
“Those of you who were with us during the Krenaran war will remember our former medical officer, Kathryn Jacobs. The ship she currently serves aboard was destroyed by a new unidentified enemy, resulting in the deaths of over two hundred naval personnel and scientists. The Copernicus itself is an unarmed survey vessel under the command of the research division; it was conducting a survey of the Auriga system. Although not everyone died, sixteen people are still trapped on the surface of Auriga III, including Kathryn in some unknown alien structure. The vessel that destroyed the Copernicus is still out there, and is still a threat. Here is all the information we currently have on it.”
Michael played a video feed containing the sensor data and the ships logs of the Copernicus through the shimmering holographic main viewer.
It showed the dark shape of the enemy ship closing with its prey, Michael studied the reactions of his crew intently as they watched; in particular Eldathar. The Solarian’s eyes widened in shock as he instantly recognised the alien vessel.
The crew witnessed the devastating impacts of the torpedoes, and the carnage wrought onboard, the smoke, fires, and lifeless broken bodies, and then the final coup de grace from those deadly laser lances, the video went black.
The crew stood in silence, not since the Krenaran war had they witnessed this kind of wanton destruction, and for many it brought back uncomfortable memories of that dark time.
“The E.D. F has initiated an alert level three, the highest alert level since the Krenaran war in response to this, so this is absolutely as real as it gets gentlemen. The Liberty is the only ship in the area fast enough to rescue the stranded science team. This is what we’ve trained for, what the Liberty is built for, we won’t let her down, and we won’t let those scientists down; for Kathryn!”
The whole crew echoed solemnly, “for Kathryn.”
“Dismissed.”
The crew all fell out and began to filter through to their familiar stations throughout the six decks of the one hundred and forty metre long ship.
All that is, except Eldathar. Michael needed to know what the Solarians knew about this new alien species.
“You know who that was, don’t you?” He probed gently.
“Yes; they are a people long thought forgotten, and one I didn’t expect to see again,” he bowed his head low as though in shame. “They are called the Dracos, and were once Solarians; a breakaway radical group who placed the infliction of pain and torture above that of peace, culture and science.” Eldathar took a long deep breath, as if trying to re-open a long suppressed memory buried deep within his people’s psyche, and never told to anyone. “They once tried to overthrow the Solarian government over three hundred years ago, causing a brief but bloody civil war, in the end they were defeated. Our people went mad, seized by a vengeance to right the wrongs they had done to us, we chased them relentlessly through our space, the warfleet mercilessly harried them world from world, system-by-system, until they disappeared forever. We devastated their key facilities, infrastructure and bases from orbit, and thought we had destroyed all trace of the Dracos. In doing so we had destroyed a part of ourselves, though now three hundred years later they have returned.” Eldathar sighed sadly as he recounted the tale.
“So they are like the Solarians smaller, evil little brother?”
“In a way, yes.”
“So why don’t the Solarians get involved, help us to stop them?”
“It is not a time we are proud of as a people, we derived no pleasure in turning weapons against our own kind. No matter how wayward they had become they were still our brothers and sisters, this was a time of nothing but universal sadness for the Solarian people. Before this, no Solarian had killed another in anger, and to us it was like killing our own family. Now three centuries on we feel exactly the same, and that is why the Solarian empire cannot intervene.”
Michael searched the Solarian’s features as he looked up at him, the sadness was plain to see, this news must be tearing him apart on the inside. “I understand, I will not force you to go on this mission Eldathar, if you wish to remain behind I will not hold it against you.”
“I am a Solarian yes, though I am also a member of this crew, and I will continue to do my duty; Kathryn was my friend too captain.”
Michael smiled knowingly, this was exactly the kind of response he had come to expect from his number one
