An Unknown Enemy

An unknown Enemy

“Nobody can hear a scream in the vacuum of space, or so they say. But they have never seen what I have seen. Nor heard what I have heard.” I spoke softly as I placed the mug of ale against the cool silver bar top. I rubbed the froth from my face and lifted my hand, gesturing the barkeep for another. “We are an ignorant bunch, us humans. Thinking we could rule the heavens above. Like gods among the rest. Damn hubris.” Another mug slid over to me across the smooth steel and crashed into the many drinks I had consumed prior. We rose as kings here. We conquered without hesitation. Eventually, we grew bored of our ‘primitive’ living, and looked to the stars. We thought we could take what wasn’t ours.” A hand was placed on my shoulder and gently pulled my shoulders around. In a drunken haze, I was able to make out the face of my captain. Her eyes were a shade of caramel, and her long blonde hair was tied up in a bun.

“You’ve had too much to drink, Daniel. I will pick up your tab, this time. Let’s get you back to the ship.” I lifted myself off the stool and stumbled. My head swirled and my knees were heavy. Although she was smaller, the captain had the strength of many men. She threw my arm over her shoulders. Glancing back towards the counter she nodded to the man standing behind the bar. “Just charge it to my account. Don’t take too much for a tip like last time! Or else I will rain hellfire down onto your bar, Grendle.” The large man bowed his head and smirked.

We made our way out into the open plains of the desert. The bar was a few miles away from the space port, but the Captain knew where to find me. She always knew. The moon was high in the sky, lighting up the rough terrain ahead. I could hardly make out the shapes of the cakti that flooded the surroundings.

“Why did you come find me?” I asked her, holding back a large belch. “I told you, I was done with this life.” She grunted as she threw my body to the ground. The sudden thud shocked through my body. I rolled over and winced from the stabbing pain shooting through my back.

“Because even though you are a massive pain in my ass, Daniel,” She began. “You are the only one left of my crew. What would Command say if my only surviving member deserted me after that last mission?” She grabbed her pistol from her side and aimed it down at me. “If you truly want to leave, I will end you right here!” Her voice grew stern and her eyes widened. “It will be much easier to say you were killed in a bar fight, rather than left the corps because of my inability to lead!” Tears formed in the corners of her eyes. I could tell she was hurting too. With a groan, I slowly pushed myself to my feet. Wobbling for a moment, I started to walk towards her. The gun that was pointed at me trembled. The still night surrounded us, as if we were back in the vacuum of space. I reached up and gently pushed the gun aside, and looked deep into her eyes. She then broke down and dropped to her knees, sobbing aggressively. “What the hell was that thing?” She cried out through the tears. I tried kneeling down beside her, but gravity is a fickle thing. My legs slipped underneath me, causing a haze of dust to lift off the ground.

“Dammit. I was trying to be subtle.” I whispered. With a long sigh, I placed my hand on the top of her thigh. “I have no idea what that was. But you can be sure this wasn’t your fault. The intel was bad. I mean, how could we have known that the trade route was compromised?”

“It split our ship in half before we even knew what hit us!” She shouted. “What monster could do that? All those men and women…every last one of them…dead.” She brushed off the tears running down her cheeks. “I could have done better! I could have done more!” I quickly wrapped my arms around her, squeezing her tight. Her hands slowly slid up my back and held firmly. “Please, don’t leave me, Daniel. I need you.” She spoke. I let out another sign. She is just as broken as I am. I thought.

“Can you see yourself ever going back up there? Tell me honestly. Because I will be honest with you. I am afraid. Damn near petrified at the thought of going back. But if your answer is yes, and if you can promise me one thing, I will join you.”

“What promise do you want me to make this time?” She asked, sniffling into my chest.

“Captain a warship, and give me my own crew. If I am going back up there, I would like to die fighting.”

The next morning, I awoke with a blistering pain shooting through my skull. I grabbed the sides of my head to try and relieve the pressure but it only made it worse. As I sat up from my bed, I looked around the room. “How did I even get back here?” I asked myself aloud. I glanced over at my computer, where a red dot flashed in the center. “A message? But we were told we had another week to recover. I swear if those damned higher ups are trying to pull something…” I stood and carefully walked over and sat in the chair. Rubbing my eyes, I clicked on the mouse. The bright light blinded me to the point where I smashed my head against the table. “You just had to tell her you were going to stay. You are such an idiot.” I told myself. After a few moments, I squinted my eyes and stared at the screen. It was a message from the captain, along with several other useless messages sent from Center Command. It read;

Co captain Daniel Marshall,

Due to our prior conversation, I request your company at 1200 hours in the conference hall. We have a meeting with space commander Russel and the rest of the council to discuss our endeavors. It took quite a bit of convincing to arrange this meeting. Clean yourself up and I expect you to be well dressed, and well mannered.

Sincerely,

Captain Mika Augustine

I leaned back in my chair and pressed my hands against my face. “Of course she would do this. I really didn’t think she would make this move so soon. Let alone the higher ups to actually entertain this idea.” I said, straining. I looked down at the corner of the computer to check the time. “Oh hell!” I shouted as I flung out of my chair. “I only have twenty minutes to make it across the grounds!” I rushed over to the closet and grabbed my freshly pressed attire. The medals jingled while I threw them onto my bed. Where the hell did I put my pants? I thought. I started rummaging passed all the clothes to find a neatly folded pile of dress pants with a stick note onto. The name Daniel was written on it. The captain knows me way too well. It’s borderline frightening.

I rushed out into the hallway as the bright sunlight pressed through the clear glass windows. Everyone was hustling through the district. Most had paperwork in their hands or had bags slung over their shoulders. My room door slid shut and a beep came from the lock. I looked down at my watch to read 1145. I started walking down the hallway, trying not to bash through anyone who was going slower than myself. I made it to the elevator and luckily the doors swung open. I jumped into the tube and started smashing the button for the ground floor violently. The doors closed gracefully in front of me. Seconds later, the tube shot downwards at an overwhelming speed. I had to hold my stomach from churning as it landed on the bottom floor. “Oh god.” I said as I rushed over to the nearest bio can. I let out an eruption of vomit inside. The stench was horrific and the sound frightened the nearby recruits that were mingling. I sat up and wiped my face. A woman pulled out a tissue from her pocket and held it out, averting her eyes as she did. I nodded as a thank you and continued walking. I glanced down once again at my watch. I only have five minutes. I thought. I started to run full sprint towards the tall building in front of me. It was so high that you couldn’t see the top if you were standing on the ground.

As I approached the spinning doors, I saw the captain waiting patiently in the lobby. I nudged my way through the mass of people crowding the doorway and approached her slowly. She stood with her back straight and her arms behind her back. “Good morning, captain.” I said with a salute. She turned and raised her arm to salute back.

“I am glad you were able to get up this morning.” She spoke sternly. I tried hard to act like I wasn’t panting, but she could see I was barely holding on. “Here.” She said as she reached over to a nearby table. She grabbed a water bottle and tossed it. “I’m sure you will need this, and I can smell you from here. Wash that horrible smell out of your mouth and let’s go.” She began walking to the stairs as I followed. Water never tasted so good. I tossed the bottle into a nearby can before reaching the stairs. “I only need you here so I can demonstrate that I have a willing partner in this request. Otherwise they would see me as a desperate soldier trying to climb the ranks.” She said as we reached the next floor. “Only speak when spoken to. I don’t need you running that mouth of yours until after we have the ship.” He walked through the office corridors and stopped in front of the only oak doors in the building. They were reinforced by steel on the inside. They couldn’t find any more wood to make the rest of the door. The captain’s knock echoed up and down the hallway. We stood for a moment, until a deep voice from the other side called out.

“You may come in.” We both turned to one another. The captain nodded her head.

“Not a word.” She repeated. She pressed the door open to reveal a long glass table with chairs all around. Sitting at the end were four members of the Galactic navy. At the head of the table, Admiral Cook stared at us.

“Welcome. Have a seat so we can begin. You are right on time.” He said with his deep growling voice. We both saluted and stood with our backs stiff as boards and our left arm tightly tucked at our backs.

“Thank you, sir.” The captain said sternly. We took our seats nearest to the door. The glass windows of the room shimmered as the sun reached its highest point in the sky. The military city of Antiok was buzzing under us.The people scurrying about the grounds looked like ants under us. This must be how they see us from up here. I thought to myself.

“Now then, I see you have made a request to transfer from your current duties as a trading post to a more combative role in this navy. What makes you feel that you are worthy of our armada?” The admiral asked.

“Sir, I wish to recall our last voyage. As a trade ship, we were unable to defend ourselves in the event of an attack. I lost almost my entire crew due to having no military weapons on board.” The party members turned to one another and began murmuring. Some were shaking their heads, while others were chuckling at the others remarks.

“So instead of wishing we arm our carriers with weapons, you wish to take on the role of a battleship?” One of the men chimed in.

“With all due respect, captain,” another chirped. “By the logs from the ship’s transmissions you weren’t attacked at all. You had a malfunction in one of the transfer bays which led to an explosion. That’s hardly an attack if you ask me. Might have been sabotage at best.” The captain’s fist clenched on the table. I reached under and placed my hand on her knee. These people had ways of getting under anyone's skin. Quite remarkable. I guess it was a prerequisite to being in their place of power.

“The logs are incorrect. We were attacked by an unknown species that crossed paths during our return journey from Jenna. Our sensors didn’t pick up anything until it crashed into our haul.” The capital was holding back her frustration as she talked through her teeth. The admiral looked over at me and tilted his head.

“And what do you think happened out there? You being the only survivor of the accident, you must have some insight on the subject.” I took a long look at the men sitting with anticipation. I could feel Mika’s glare to my side.

“There was absolutely nothing wrong with our ship. We had the finest crew we could. Our records show that we never missed a deadline, nor had any issues that would suggest tampering.” The windows grew dark as the sun dimmed outside. I glanced out curiously, as did everyone else in the room. A loud shriek came from beneath us. In horror, I watched as the sun was being masked by a giant shadow over head. “It was that!” I called out and pointed. “That is what attacked our ship!” Everyone stood and rushed to the window. The fear bellowing in my stomach was almost unbearable. An enormous tentacle-like monster was slithering its way towards our sun. It made the glowing ball of light look like a piece of candy you would find in a vending machine. We watched as it strapped its long appendages around the sun as it began engulfing it entirely.

“Everyone! Get to your stations!” The admiral shouted. “You two, get to hangar forty. Board the battleship Sanctuary and leave immediately!” We both jetted out of the room and ran as fast as we could. Flashbacks of the attack raced through my mind. My eyesight was hazy. My heart raced. The temptation of running away and hiding was firmly set in my mind. But where would I go? Off planet? I would be a fugitive. The only choice was to follow orders. As we exited the building, we both looked up to see every ship in the armada being shot into the sky. I had never seen such a sight. Streaks of blue from the engines pierced with roaring anger towards the monster.

“We have to hurry!” The captain shouted amongst the screams and the sirens bellowing.

“But how are we going to kill that thing?” I replied. That was a dumb question. But I knew we were both thinking the same thing.

We entered the hangar and watched as fighter jets screamed out of the bays. Everyone was in a frenzy. Some were shouting orders while others found places to hide. We took a turn around one of the bay doors and in front of us stood a behemoth of a ship. The Sanctuary was the fleet's pride and joy. Their captain was a weathered man. By the book, some would say. It never lost a gun fight. It had over 400 guns, with an internal hall that could store hundreds of fighter ships. We approached the boarding ramp and were met by several armed guards.

“This is not a vessel for transport. We will be taking off soon. Please vacate the premises.” One guard ordered.

“Do you not see the colors on my chest?” The captain shouted. “I am captain Mika Augustine. This is my co-captain Daniel Marshall. We have orders to advance with you in this fight. Let us through or I will have you jettisoned into space as soon as we break through the atmosphere!” The guard stammered and stumbled out of our way. “Once we are inside, man a turret and I will head to the bridge. Don’t screw this up, Daniel.” She said as we rushed aboard. The hallways were pristine. You could tell their cleaning regiment was beyond anything like our old carrier. Even with the rampant chaos there wasn’t a single mark on the walls or the ground. We came to a break in the hallway. The crew that piloted the ship were all heading left, while everyone else was rushing even quicker to the right.

“The bridge must be left. You go and I will see you when this is all over. I will be on the comms when I get down there.” I told her. She gave a quick nod and vanished into the horde of people. This may be the last time I see you, captain. It was a pleasure. I thought as I swiftly trotted towards what seemed to be a large black pit with red streaming lights. Alarms began to sound as the roar of the engine's powering on flooded my ears. I finally found my way to a vacant turret room. I threw my jacket off to the side and rolled my sleeves up to my elbow. My palms were sweating and my body shook. I closed my eyes and the screams of the dead ran through my head. “This is for all of you. If I can’t avenge you, I will be sharing a drink with you soon.”