Warrior One - Fleet Action Pt. 07

Chapter 127

At the next corridor, Glen took the right. Gillian's mission was to get to the bridge and assess the damage if any. There was no crew between her squad and the control room according to the schematic, but they were skirting the edge of one of the ships crews territories.

At the end of the corridor there was supposed to be an elevator they could take to the bridge level. If it wasn't working they would have to head over to the ramps that were used instead of stairs. Which in this gravity might be tricky to negotiate. At the elevator door, Staff Sergeant Glen stopped. When Gillian got there, he and the other man were each looking down the corridor that ran past the elevator. The up button glowed and there was a rumble coming from the shaft on the other side.

Gillian stood to the side of the door, while Sgt. Sams knelt facing the door about ten feet back, her rifle to her shoulder. The other Marines had their weapons point down all the corridors. Gillian pulled hers from her shoulder as the door opened. The light in the car shone brightly. There was no one inside. Ducking her head in the doorway, Gillian looked up. The roof was intact. Of course, there could be someone on top of the car, but the car looked as if it hadn't been used for centuries. The door started to close. Gillian stuck her foot in front of it, to stop it from closing.

"Staff Sergeant?" Gillian queried.

Glen stepped up to the open door, looked around and shrugged his shoulders. Gillian nodded. It was her decision.

"I would really not want to be trapped in a little box when those doors open. I know the ramps are the long way around, but at least they are open and we can see trouble coming."

"Good analyses, Ma'am."

"Thank you, Staff Sergeant. Leadoff, to the ramps, that way, same order," Gillian told him pointing to the right from the elevators.

Glen nodded and started off. Everyone fell into line walking slowly down the corridor. It would take them a good hour to get up to the bridge level if there was nothing wrong with the ramp system. If there was, they would have to chance the elevators. There was no other way up from the shuttle bay. Then Gillian noticed the hoofprints in the dust underfoot.

"Glen!" Gillian whispered.

"Aye, Ma'am," he whispered back.

"When did the hoof prints start?"

"The last cross corridor then turned out and headed this way, Ma'am."

"How old?"

"There is dust in them so who knows. Could be a day or a century, Ma'am."

"I know you're keeping your eyes peeled, but extra sharp Staff Sergeant."

"Aye, Ma'am."

Then they were at the ramp system. The hoof prints went off to the right, down a corridor away from the ramps. There were no footprints of any kind going up the ramp.

"Up we go," Gillian said.

Glen nodded and headed up the ramp. The climb was fairly easy. After about twenty ramps. Gillian called a halt. She needed a little rest and from the looks of the men, they did too. She sat down next to Glen.

"When we start out, I want Sergeant Sams out front. I don't want to lose you because I put you on point."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"What order do you usually have the men?"

"Sams, Bean, Johns, Boone, Phillips, me, Ma'am."

"And where would you put me?"

"Between me and Phillips, Ma'am."

"Fine, we'll do it that way. Tell the men."

"Aye, aye, Ma'am."

Glen got up and went to each man and whispered to them. They all nodded and then sighed. It would appear that Gillian had shaken them up a little. Well, that was good for the soul. Even hers. Her mind had stopped yelling at her now that they were on the ship and headed for the bridge. She was too busy watching, listen and trying to sense what was out there to be worried about there being people near her.

After about a ten minute stop they started back up the ramps. All the men seemed much more at ease being in their familiar formation. Of course, they could become too relaxed. But they were professionals, just as she was.

"Ship1," Gillian said. "Cass, can you see us?"

"I can, Ma'am."

"How?" Gillian knew she had trouble seeing into the ship for any distance.

"Warrior has moved just above your position and she is letting me use her sensors again."

"Oh. Are they monitoring our conversations?"

"They are, Ma'am."

"Good. Just so they know, we'll be on the bridge in another half hour."

"They heard, Ma'am."

"Thank you, Cass. Out."

"Who were you talking too," Glen asked whispering from behind her.

"My ship."

Glen was silent. Gillian looked behind her. Glen was stopped dead in his tracks, eyes scrunched up. Gillian went back to him.

"What's up, Carl?" she asked.

"Ships talk, Ma'am?"

"Yes. Their AI is the same as the androids and they talk."

"Ah, yes. I see now. I'll be fine. We better catch up, Ma'am."

Gillian smiled at Glen, turned and quick-stepped to catch up. She could hear Glen doing the same.

Chapter 128

Twenty minutes after talking with Cass they came up the last ramp. They were now on the bridge level, not the top deck of the ship. This section was still sealed. There was an airtight bulkhead that had closed, just to their right as they reached this level of the ramp. To their left was the corridor to the bridge. They could see the body lying in the corridor just outside the bridge. They all slowly made their way to the body. Gillian moved to the front and knelt over the skeleton. It still had clothes on it. A little tattered, but the patches on the shoulder were readable.

"What is the United Nations?" Staff Sergeant Glen asked.

"They were the organization that built this ship. They are the predecessor to the FOP. The UN was before the war, the FOP was after the war."

"But the ship has an FOP number on her, Ma'am."

"I read something about that... I don't remember right now. All this is in the archives, look it up."

"Yeah, maybe I will, Ma'am."

Gillian pulled on the patch, it came away easily. She stuffed it in her pocket. She rose and walked toward the bridge door. It was open. It was also about two feet thick. Shaking her head, she cautiously stepped into the big room. There were more seats than the Warrior bridge.

"Holy... " Glen whispered.

Gillian smiled, then grimaced, when she caught sight of the only occupant. His or her, uniform was in tatters, but the shoulder patch was still there along with a name patch. She pulled both from the uniform easily and stuffed them in her pocket.

"Souvenirs?" Glen asked.

"No, heaven forbid. Archive information."

"Of course, Ma'am. My apologies."

"You... oh never mind. I wish I could show this to Caster or Warrior."

"You can, Ma'am. They gave me this," Glen said pulling a recording device from his pack. "You can transmit the picture to Warrior. I don't know about your ship, though, Ma'am."

"She can get it from Warrior. How do I get Warrior on the comm?"

"Say War1 or Admiral Nichols, Ma'am."

"War-One."

"Reading you."

"I have a video for you to pass on to the Admiral and Caster."

"Video channel open. Please begin."

"Starting," Gillian replied pressing the transmit and record button at the same time.

She started with the body in the Captain's chair. Then she scanned every position on the bridge. Every console. Everything with buttons on it. She scanned the whole room. Then her comm clicked.

"Lieutenant Saraid, who's with you?" Admiral Nichols asked.

"Six of Major Owens' men, sir."

"Ah, good. But I only see three."

"The other three are securing the corridors outside the bridge, sir."

"Good. Good. Our science types are going over the video you shot for us. We should have an answer soon."

"Yes, sir."

"But you want to talk to your ship?"

"Uh... "

"Go ahead, Fain will let us listen in."

"Thank you, sir. Ship1."

"Receiving. We have others on the line, Ma'am," Cass said.

"Thank you, Cass. Have you had a chance to analyze the vids?"

"I have. Center panel, green button in the upper right corner marked Start."

"What's it going to start?"

"The control room and the computer. It's not an AI, just a simple computing device. Smart, but not clever."

Gillian went to the panel and found the button. With her finger poised, she waited. No one was telling her no, so she pressed the button and it lit. Soon other panels were beginning to light up. After a few minutes, all the panels were lit and all the screens were printing startup information on them. From the side of the captain's chair, a monitor came out and moved until it was at eye level off to the chairs left. Another on the right side rose into place. A keyboard slid out of the left arm of the chair. When it hit the skeleton, it stopped and retracted back into the chair.

"Now which station is the pilots?" Gillian asked.

"Directly in front of the captain's chair. There should be a joystick and keyboard with throttle controls," Cass said.

"Ah, right-hand drive," Gillian quipped.

"Lieutenant Saraid, don't play with the control please," the Admiral told her.

"I wasn't sir."

"What are the readings on fuel, power and anything else we should know about?"

"Let's see... fuel, fuel, fuel. Found it. The reading is... 80%. What the means I have no idea. Now power... where would they put the power... found it. There are 1.2 million joules available. Our course is... hold it... there is a course correction coming up to heading 180 up 4. Uh, that sounds like what the old course was. Cass, how do I override?"

"No... "

"Type in Cancel Course Correction."

Gillian typed it in despite the Admirals objection.

"It wants an override password."

"Delta, Alpha, 1,9,9,1, Uniform," Cass told her.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. That is the captain's override. It's in the archives."

Gillian typed it in. The course correction disappeared from the screen.

"Whew. That course correction had us also accelerating at 5 gravities."

"Okay, okay, let's take a break."

"Yes, sir," Gillian said.

Gillian kept looking over the console in front of her. Then she started typing in queries. How much fuel was her first? She was surprised by the answer.

"Lieutenant, stop," Admiral Nichols said.

"Sorry, sir," Gillian said leaning back in the chair.

Chapter 129

For half an hour Gillian and the Marines with her just sat or stood in the control room. Except for the two in the hall keeping an eye out for visitors. Gillian had made three rounds of all the consoles on the bridge. Navigation, Helm, Communications, Sensors and Launch Control. All of them showed their current status. She even peeked at the Captains monitors. They too showed the same status' as the separate consoles she had looked at. Everything was working or appeared to be working. Then why were the crew in cold sleep and the ship just idling along at almost light speed?

"Lieutenant!" Admiral Nichols voice finally came from the speakers.

"Yes, sir?"

"I've talked with Major Owens, he has not contacted any of the awake crew members but has a squad watching each while they search the rest of the ship. You have permission to look at their archives, logs, whatever you can find to see what the hell happened over there."

"Yes, sir."

"Use anyone of your squad that you think you can to speed up your search."

"Yes, sir," Gillian replied.

The speakers went silent.

"Cass are you still there?"

"I am, Ma'am."

"Thank goodness. I'm going to need you."

"I'm here to Ma'am," Warrior said.

"Oh, good. Staff Sergeant?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Who in your squad can form proper queries on a computer?"

"Me, Sergeant Sams and Lance Corporal Johns, Ma'am."

"Good. Get them in here."

"Yes, Ma'am."

The sergeant pointed at two others, then to the door. They double-timed it out. Then the Sams and Johns came rushing in.

"Okay you three, grab a computer terminal. I have them set up to respond to queries only, so don't worry about starting things that shouldn't. We need to go through logs, archives, diaries, anything that will tell us what happened here. Got it?"

"Got it, Ma'am," Glen answered for them all. "You heard the Lieutenant," he said heading for a terminal himself.

"Cass, Fain, is there a way for me to open a channel so you can scan the database?"

"Let me see the communication console," Cass said.

Gillian picked up the camera and scanned the communication console, which Staff Sergeant Glen was sitting at. He leaned back so she could.

"Got it. Staff Sergeant, clear your query, Gillian can show... you got it. Now type in the following. C 1 O connect DB Outgoing Override 145441 then press enter."

The Staff Sergeant typed in the command line and pressed return. The message returned was "Opening Channel... Connecting Database... Outgoing Override Accepted."

"I have the channel. Scanning the database," Cass said.

"I also am scanning," Fain said.

"Cass, how did you know the override code?" Gillian asked.

"It's written on the piece of paper taped to the console," Cass said.

Gillian and Glen both looked. There was a piece of paper, but as far as they could tell, it was blank. Gillian went back to her console and started typing. A few minutes later her earpiece whispered.

"Sarge, we have people coming up the ramp. They must have started before the Major had a squad in place."

"Can you see who is coming?" Staff Sergeant Glen asked.

"A male and female, both armed."

"Can you determine what type of arms?"

"Really old stunners, Mark 4's, maybe 5's. Our combat vest will stop those."

"All right pull back to the bridge door," Staff Sergeant Glen said looking at Gillian. She gave him a thumbs up and nodded.

"I want those two inside when the intruders turn into the corridor to the bridge. Three of you on that side, the other three on the opposite side, but back farther. So you won't be shooting at each other if we have to shoot."

"Yes, Ma'am. Phillips, you and Boone, in here if those two turn into the corridor."

"Aye, sir."

"Anything else Ma'am?" Glen asked.

"Not now, but when they get here, I will greet them. You and your people will stay back, guns at the ready on stun, but not aimed at the two people. Clear?"

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Clear your screens and take up your positions, if you would."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Gillian stood just in front of the Captain's chair, with it between her and the doorway. Phillips and Boone came hurrying in and took up positions. Gillian stood at ease, watching, waiting. Then a head peeked around the door frame for just a second.

"Come in, come in, you won't be harmed," Gillian said loudly, but not shouting.

"Who are you?" Gillian was surprised that they spoke English.

"We are from Earth. A lot has changed since your ship left. We are here to help in any way we can."

"You must have left a long time ago... "

"We left Earth four days ago." Why confuse them with somewhere different.

"Four days ago? Impossible."

"Please come in so we don't have to shout," Gillian begged.

"It is forbidden... "

"You won't be harmed I promised."

The two stepped so they were just outside the doorway. They could see the six Marines. They had their weapons at the ready. Gillian waved them inside as she stepped around the Captain's Chair and halted just the other side. The two people slowly walked toward her. As they stopped in front of her, they lowered their weapons. Gillian held out her hand. The woman took it for just an instant. The man did not.

"Where is your man?" the Man asked.

"I don't have a husband."

"Then you are not in charge?"

"I am in charge of the Marines you see in this room. I am in charge of my ship. There is a man who is in charge of us all. He is an Admiral and Captain of the ship you can see out the front ports."

They both noticed Warrior One sitting just outside the Progenitor. They both gasped and dropped their weapons. It filled the complete expanse of ports, probably one of the reasons they didn't really see it until Gillian pointed it out. Bending they picked up their weapons. No one said a word.

"How can you help us?" the woman asked.

"First, what is your name ma'am?" Gillian asked.

"I am Thesses, First Princes of Progenitor. And this is my husband, Eliot Bangor."

"So, the women are royalty, the men are not?"

"There is one man who is. He is King Captain, although he has been on a pilgrimage for a long time."

"I am Lieutenant Gillian Saraid, Captain of the scout ship Caster."

"How can you be a Captain and... "

"Captain just means I'm in charge of a ship. It's not a position of a monarchy. We need to talk about other things. The hierarchy of our command structure can wait."

"What can you do for us?"

Chapter 130

"We can either get you back to Earth or to your original destination."

"You can get us to Rigel?"

"Rigel? Your original destination was Rigel?"

"Yes. The archives hold the destination along with the path we will follow."

"Which generation are you?"

"Hmmm... generation?"

"How many have been born since the original crew?"

"Ah... Generation! We are the fifth Generation of the King Captain."

"Good. Good. I'm sorry to say that Rigel already has beings living on it."

"We have a charter from the U.N."

"The U.N. no longer exists. Alien beings are on Rigel four and five. They have lived there for many hundreds of years."

"How long have we been gone?" Thesses asked.

"One hundred and ninety-eight years."

"Oh my god... may I sit down?"

"Of course, right over here," Gillian said indicating a chair in front of the Comm console.

"What about that one... oh! Oh! Who is that? Tell me... "

"That is an original crew member."

"One of my ancestors? Oh dear. And the body out in the corridor?"

"Another one of your ancestors," Gillian said a sad note in her voice.

Thesses sat down hard. Hard enough to knock the breath out of her. Gillian stood looking down at her. Eliot was at her side, telling her to breathe. Staff Sergeant Glen walked over to Gillian and handed her his canteen. Turning she took it and turned to Eliot. He took it from her, opened it and took a sip. He waited for a couple seconds, then handed it to Thesses. She took it and drank deeply. She pulled it away from her mouth.

"That tastes... different," Thesses said.

"It does?" Gillian asked. She then realized the Progenitor probably recycled their water. Looking around the bridge she found a moisture collector. The water they drank was most likely two centuries old. Sure they filtered it and decontaminated it, but water does get old. Even Caster could tear the water apart and then recombine it to make new, fresh water. It was a simple chemical reaction.

"Now what shall we do?" Thesses asked no one in particular.

"You could go back to Earth."

"But it was so crowded... "

"No longer. After a long war and advancements in space travel, Earth is once again a garden. My home in North America has very few big cities. They are mostly small villages built for the government, even though it is very small. You could all start a new life there. As a matter of fact, you would fit right in."

"What about the United States?"

"You know of the United States?"

"We do. Our mother, grandmother, and great-grandmothers told us the history of our world."

"The United States is no more, it is now called the North American Directorate."

"Sounds ominous?"

"It's not. I assure you."

The two women looked at each other for a moment. Then Thesses smiled. It was a warm smile.

"Unfortunately, I can't make that decision. A meeting of the Council must be called."

"Admiral," Gillian said softly, unsure of how to proceed.

"You handle it, Lieutenant, you're doing great. Get 'em together and tell 'em."

"Yes, sir," she whispered.

"Who are you speaking to and how?" Thesses asked.

"Admiral Nichols, my commander."