Ancient Relics (Shadow of the Ancients Book 1) (16 page)

The Trilli system is an unknown star system on the
edge of the galaxy. In order for the Wayfarer to reach Trilli, the Wayfarer
must travel across hostile space, through Drak controlled territory.

In the aftermath of the event with Sophie, Logan
approaches Commander Asim to convince him they needed to get answers by
investigating the planet Trilli.

“Commander,” Logan begins, “Now more than ever, we
need answers.”

Commander Asim rubs the top of his head and tilts
his head down toward the conference table.

“I completely agree, Doctor Bailey,” the Commander
replies.

“Thank you, Sir. I’m glad you understand. That’s why
I want to suggest we head, fast and furious, straight to Trilli,” Logan bluntly
states.

Slightly taken-back by the blunt suggestion,
Commander Asim does a double-take at Logan.

“Excuse me?!” the Commander apprehensively asks.

“That’s right, Commander. We need to head there
right away to find-out the truth about these ‘Ancients,’” Logan reiterates.

Commander Asim shakes his head and replies, in
warning, to Logan’s suggestion, “You do realize that would take us through the
heart of enemy space, right?”

“Yes, Sir. But the way I see it, with the events of
the last few days, we must press the issue harder,” Logan attempts to persuade
the Commander.

Commander Asim sighs and drops his head down again.
He interlocks his fingers, places his hands on the back of his neck, and leans
back in his chair.

“I will send word to the Directorate and make
preparations to travel. Be prepared for heavy fighting, Doctor. This will not
be a pleasant journey,” the Commander warns Logan.

“Understood, Commander. I will warn my team immediately
and begin preparations for the journey,” Logan says as he stands to leave.

Logan calls a meeting to all of the staff members
assigned to his department and his colleagues.

They conduct their meeting in the science lab soon
after Logan’s meeting with the Commander.

“I am calling you all here to let you know what will
be happening soon,” Logan begins his briefing.

Paige begins worrying as she takes cues from Logan’s
demeanor that the news they are getting is not good news.

Logan continues, “We will soon be traveling to a
star system called Trilli, which lies on the other side of Drak territory. In
order to get there, we must fight our way through Drak controlled space.”

Gasps fill the room in fear of all-out combat with
the threat of an overwhelming force. Everyone there knows that this objective
means the ship will certainly suffer heavy casualties in order to reach their
destination.

“Begin making preparations now. Plan for all
scenarios that have a probability of Zero-Mark-Six and higher. It’s likely we
will see all of them before we complete this trek,” Logan concludes.

He dismisses the crew to begin their preparations.

Paige approaches Logan to inquire why this mission
is of such importance.

“Logan?” Paige begins as she attempts to cushion
Logan before her inquisition.

“Why are we doing this? Is Trilli so important that
we must endanger the lives of everyone on-board this ship? To include, mind
you, our lives.”

Logan turns to her, looks straight into her eyes,
and offers few words in reply, “Yes. We must.”

Logan then returns to his business solemnly.

Paige nods in understanding, but is unnoticed by her
distracted peer. With a heavy heart, she returns to her station and begins work
on her part in the planning process.

Having taken-up a fairly close position to the core
Alliance worlds, Commander Asim makes direct contact with the Directorate.

“Commander? Is this really necessary?” the Director
of Intelligence asks him.

Commander Asim acknowledges, “It has come to my attention
that the knowledge of these fabled Ancients resides in this star system. I
believe it is an important venture.”

The Director rebuttals, “Important enough to risk
lives and your ship to get there?”

The Commander confirms, “Yes, Sir. I, as well as the
lead scientist on this mission, Doctor Logan Bailey, believe it is that
important.”

The Director bites his lip as he hesitantly confirms
the order, “All right. Proceed with extreme caution. You will be completely
outnumbered, out gunned, and isolated from any help.”

“Yes, Sir. We will send word as soon as we reach the
system. Wayfarer out.” the Commander closes the transmission.

The Commander then presses a console button to open
a ship wide channel.

“Attention, all decks,” he begins.

“All crews to battle stations. From this moment
forward until further notice, all shifts will be on twelve hour rotation.”

There is heavy movement from all personnel across
the ship as crew-members scurry to designated stations.

Commander Asim continues, “We are about to take-on a
journey through the heart of Drak controlled space. We expect strong resistance
as we attempt to exit Drak space to the other side of the galaxy to investigate
a star system called Trilli.”

As the crew settle into their stations, they listen
attentively as the Commander briefs them on the mission.

“Heavy losses are predicted by all divisions
involved in the planning of this operation. Medical personnel are to keep aid
stations stocked at battle levels. Security will remain on high alert and the
ship will remain at Red Alert until further notice,” the Commander relays to
the crew.

With one final word, the Commander makes a blessing,
“May the gods guide our path with speed and wisdom.”

With the blessing complete, Commander Asim closes
the channel and directs his attention to the helm.

“Make way, Azimuth One-Zero, Mark Two-Three.
Ascension, Six- Four. Time Bearing, Two-Zero, Mark Four-Six,” Commander Asim
orders as he relays the coordinates to the helm.

The helm officer repeats the order in fashion and
warns the Commander, “Course set. Jumping at your discretion, Sir.” Commander
Asim takes the helm’s cue and gives the final order, “Jump!”

The journey to Drak controlled space will take more
than a week to complete. In that time, the crew of The Wayfarer train in battle
drills for encountering Drak forces.

Once the ship arrives to the designated coordinates,
they will have only minutes before the the ship's navigation can calculate a
safe corridor to the Trilli system.

Upon execution to warp-jump into the Trilli system,
the ship is estimated to arrive in only minutes, deep into the heart of the
unknown star system.

No later than when the Wayfarer entered Drak space,
early warning sensors warn the High Command of the Alliance intrusion. Warning
sirens begin wailing across the region.

“Sir,” a Drak sensor technician calls for the
attention of his supervisor, “Sensors are picking up an Alliance ship entering
Empire space.”

The Drak officer quickly makes way to the technician
to view the readings himself.

“Comms! Send word to High Command, we have an
Alliance Invasion in Region Twenty-Three,” the officer orders.

The comms station immediately sends a priority
message to High Command with the details of the warning.

Shortly afterwards, they receive a message from High
Command in reply.

Orders for the Region Command read, “Pursue with
extreme prejudice. Destroy all ships and escape pods. Do not capture survivors
- Kill all”

With the orders in place, the officer sends word to
his commanding officer about the intrusion and High Command’s orders.
Simultaneously, the officer on watch relays the orders to all Drak fleets in
the Region, along with the Wayfarer’s coordinates.

Within minutes from entering into Drak space, the
Wayfarer picks-up signals from multiple directions.

“Sir! Contacts!” yells the security officer on the
bridge.

Commander Asim opens a comms channel throughout the
entire ship, “All hands! Contact! This is not a drill!”

The first Drak fleet enters the region where the
Wayfarer now sits and begins locking-on to The Wayfarer.

The Drak fleet commander gives his orders to his
fleet, “Lock Target and Fire at will! This should be quick and simple.”

As the Drak Capital ships begin the slow process of
target lock, the smaller and faster attack ships rush at full speed to close
range on the Wayfarer.

Smaller ships require closer proximity to lock-on to
targets, as the range finders and the guns’ tracking systems are less powerful.

Larger ships, such as capital ships, have longer
range to track and fire, but the systems must calculate trajectories and
velocities, making target locking much slower than the smaller ships, and
tracking is slower due to the larger caliber of weapons.

“Target lock in five seconds!” calls out the gunnery
commander for the fleet command carrier.

While the fleet capital ships wait to lock their
targeting systems onto The Wayfarer, the Cruisers and Battle Cruisers close
their distance to the Alliance exploration cruiser.

A Battle Cruiser is the first ship to complete
target-lock and opens fire.

A battle officer on-board the fleet command carrier
informs the Drak fleet commander, “Sir, the Dragora has locked target and begun
firing. The Alliance ship’s shields are already weakening.”

“Launch bombers and fighters!” the Drak commander
yells.

The echo of the fleet commander’s order cries out on
the intercom system, fleet wide, calling pilots into action to pursue The
Wayfarer.

“Fighters and bombers launched, Sir,” the comms
officer relays to the Drak fleet commander.

Commander Asim calls out orders of his own, back on
the Wayfarer, as Drak forces bombard the Wayfarer mercilessly.

“Launch drones! Let’s see if we can buy ourselves
some time to get the new bearing locked,” Commander Asim orders.

“Drones launched, Sir,” the security officer informs
Commander Asim.

The Alliance drones begin taking up a defense
posture around the Wayfarer to defend the ship from Drak fighters and bombers.
The battle ensues as the Wayfarer takes heavy damage.

“Almost have the new coordinates, Sir,” the
navigation officer tells Commander Asim.

“Great! Hurry it up any way you can,” Commander Asim
replies to the officer.

“Aye, Sir,” the officer confirms the Commander’s
orders.

The Drak tactical officer, aboard the command vessel
of the Drak fleet, informs his commander of the Wayfarer’s shield strength.

“Alliance vessel shielding collapsing in fifty
seconds,” the tactical officer warns.

At that moment, a second Drak fleet jumps into the
region and begins their own pursuit of The Wayfarer.

The commander of the second fleet also orders all
ships to lock target on the Wayfarer and to launch fighters and bombers
immediately.

The Wayfarer, now battling two Drak battle fleets,
still has five minutes to gain optimal coordinate threshold.

With less than seconds left of shield strength, the
Wayfarer is about to run out of time.

Divert more power to shields!” Commander Asim orders
engineering.

“Sir! We are running on fumes as it is. Diverting
power to the shields will require taking power from life-support,” engineering
tells Commander Asim.

“If we don’t get more power to shields, life-support
will be irrelevant, Chief. DO IT!” Commander Asim yells.

The chief of engineering responds, “Aye, Sir!”

Engineering diverts enough power from life-support
to provide another few minutes of power to the ship’s shielding, which is not
nearly enough to complete calculating the coordinates for the next jump.

Now, with all Drak vessels locked on the Wayfarer,
the ship’s shielding drops even faster.

Commander Asim warns the crew, “All hands! Prepare
for shield loss!”

Damage crews work intensely to fight plasma fires,
seal hull holes, and seal off sections with too much damage.

Medical crews work frantically to save as many lives
as they can, while more wounded enter the medical bays.

“Are we there yet?!” Commander Asim asks the
navigation station.

Navigation replies back, “One minute, Sir!”

The Wayfarer’s shields drop and explosions ring
throughout the ship.

The tactical station’s console on the bridge
explodes and erupts into fire, injuring the tactical officer and a security
guard nearby.

“Coordinates matched! Jumping in – Three! Two! One!
Jumping!” the navigation officer yells out.

At that moment, the Wayfarer hyper-jumps to the next
coordinate calculated by the computer.

A brief respite before the next wave allows the crew
of the Wayfarer to patch the ship and treat the wounded without further damage
taken.

Transferring the tactical station to a new console,
the new acting tactical officer warns Commander Asim, “Next enemy contact
estimated in four minutes, Sir.”

Commander Asim stands from his command chair and
rubs his head nearly bald, while pacing across the floor of the bridge.

“All hands! Next contact in four minutes. Work fast.
We have another five minutes until the next jump,” he informs his crew.

Engineering calls to Commander Asim, “Sir? I don’t
think we will be able to withstand another volley like that. No shields, little
power, venting of atmosphere, and I lost sixteen crewmen down here!”

“Understood, Chief. Do what you can,” the Commander
replies to the Chief of Engineering.

“Aye, Sir,” confirms the Chief.

Commander Asim orders replacement crew-members to
engineering to help the Chief out.

“Three minutes until contact,” yells the acting
tactical officer, to inform the Commander of the time.

The navigation officer follows the count down with
his own, “Four minutes until optimal resolution.”

Prematurely, a third fleet jumps into the Wayfarer’s
region.

The acting tactical officer updates Commander Asim
on the new threat.

“Sir! New contact! Bearing One-Two-Five! Two-Five
kilometers!” signals the acting tactical officer.

“DAMN IT!” Commander Asim yells in frustration.

Seeing an opportunity to buy some time, Commander
Asim orders all batteries open fire on the new fleet, “All gun batteries begin
locking targets. Open fire on target lock!”

“Firing!” Tactical reports as soon as the target
locks are made.

The Commander sees that the tactic is making little
headway and orders focus fire on the closest ship.

The closest ships are all cruisers. Light in armor
to reduce mass, cruisers are fast, but easily destroyed from heavy batteries.

One by one, the Drak fleet loses cruisers to the
Wayfarer’s gun batteries.

“Launch neutrino torpedoes! Target that command
vessel!” Commander Asim demands of the battle stations.

“Torpedoes away, Sir!” reports the acting tactical
officer. Six volleys of torpedoes launch toward the Drak command carrier.

In close order, each torpedo hits their targeted
locations and tears through the command carrier’s armor like a plasma torch
through ballistic plastic.

“Direct hit, all volleys!” the acting tactical officer
informs Commander Asim.

The bridge crew cheer at the sight of victory as the
Drak command carrier explodes.

Commander Asim sits back down in his chair, sighs in
relief, and says, “That should buy us a minute.”

The navigation officer updates the Commander on the
count-down, “Two minutes until optimal resolution, Sir!”

Taking note that they have one minute until the
pursuing fleets arrive, Commander Asim orders the ship to prepare for repeat
contact.

With one minute remaining on the navigation
computer’s computation, the other two Drak fleets jump into the region.

“Drak combat fleet on scope. Bearing,
Two-Eight-Zero, and closing,” tactical announces.

“Here we go again!” Commander Asim says
apprehensively.

With less than thirty seconds remaining on the navigation
computation, the Drak fleet close range enough to begin firing on the Wayfarer
again.

“Twenty seconds,” yells navigation.

At ten seconds, navigation begins a countdown.

“Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five…” an explosion
interrupts the navigation officer’s count down.

Fire breaks out on the bridge again and three other
stations explode sending bridge crew flying across the room.

“Medics to bridge!” the Commander calls to the
medical teams over the comms system.

In minutes, medical personnel arrive on the bridge
to see a battlefield with dead and wounded.

Moving from body to body, the triage officer points
to wounded personnel, to let his medics know which to take to medical, and
which to take to the morgue.

Explosions continue to ring out as The Wayfarer
begins its last hyper-jump into the Trilli system.

Upon entering the Trilli system, secondary
explosions continue to thump through the ship.

Regardless of the chaos from explosions and frantic
work by the crew, the ship falls silent and timeless as the remaining crew look
out into the Trilli system in utter shock.

All that remains of the Trilli system is a single
planet in stable orbit around a black hole - No star system, no other planets,
no sign of intelligence, much less life.

Now trapped, the Wayfarer has a black hole on one
side, and on the other, three enemy fleets closing on their location rapidly.