Warrior One - Fleet Action Pt. 07

"Cass," Gillian whispered. "Can you see door 25117-67?"

"Negative, but I do have scan data for that door. The circuitry has been reversed. To open the door, press close."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome, Ma'am."

"Phillips, you're with me and the Commander," Glen said softly. "Everyone else, stay here. No exceptions," Glen said to Thesses when she started to complain.

Gillian had her weapon at the ready as did Glen and Phillips. Glen led the way back to the door. Phillips took one side, Gillian the other. Glen took a knee facing the door. Nodding at Gillian, she pressed the close button. The door opened fast. Gillian couldn't see anyone from her side. Phillips shook his head as did Glen. Gillian stepped through the doorway and halted, holding up her left hand. Looking down, she saw the thin wire pressed against her ankle. Another fraction of a millimeter and who knew what would happen. She slowly moved her foot back from the wire. Then stood motionless.

After a few seconds, she stepped over the wire. Glen and Phillips did the same. Phillips went to the left, Glen to the right, to see what the wire would trigger. Both came back. Glen took a knee and cut the wire. All three went forward toward the other door in the room. The room was clear except for items blocking the view of the wire.

"Cass," Gillian whispered.

There was no response from her ship. Shaking her head she reached up and turned off her radio. Glen looked at her.

"We must be inside the shield," she said as softly as possible.

Nodding he turned his off too. Phillips followed suit.

"I'm wondering if this door is wired the same?" Gillian whispered.

Glen shrugged his shoulders. Gillian looked at him, then shrugged hers too as she pressed the open button. The door opened on a corridor. Peeking out, Gillian saw that it was clear in both directions. Glen signaled Phillips who turned and went back out in the hall and waved. He stood there waiting. Then the rest of the team and Thesses came into the room. Gillian gasped as Phillips pressed the close button to close the door.

Alarms sounded in the corridor outside the room. The door in front of them started to close but retracted when it bumped into Gillian. Suddenly the room started to fill with a cloud of white vapor. Gillian stood aside holding the door open as everyone darted out into the passageway. The door slammed shut. They all heard feet pounding, coming from their right. Glen split his team and put Gillian and Thesses in the middle. Then the corridor was filled with children.

"What the... " Thesses cried out.

Then four adults were there, guns pointing at Gillian and her men. Thesses stood still. Suddenly she was regal in her stature. The four adults dropped to a knee and bowed their heads. All the children backed up until they were behind the four adults, then they stood staring at Thesses.

"Marlow, Jessica, Jackson, Carla, explain!" Thesses said softly.

"Mother Thesses... " one of the men started.

"Just Thesses, Jackson, just Thesses, please."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Thesses stepped through the Marines and over to where Jackson stood stock still. She stood in front of him, reached out and caressed his face.

"You know it wasn't long ago you were as young as these... .babies."

"I know Mom, I know."

"How did this happen?"

"The usual way Mom. I know, don't be a smart aleck. But the prohibition... we... we teens wanted... we... "

"I understand. Well, then it's a good thing we will be going back to Earth."

"What?"

"Back to Earth. These people with me are from Earth. They are adding some new engines to our ship to take us back to Earth."

Chapter 145

"Earth? Why would we want to go back to that crowded planet? Rigel was our destination," Jackson yelled.

"Son. We are millions of miles in the wrong direction from Rigel. Besides, there are people, aliens, already living there. And from what Staff Sergeant Glen has told me, we wouldn't want to live on any of the planets in the Rigel system."

"And you believe them? Over your ancestors?"

"I do, son, I do. I have been in their ships that are here, flying alongside us."

"But Earth is so crowded!" Jackson cried.

"Not anymore," Gillian said, step out of the ring of Marines.

"And who are you?" Jackson growled.

"Jackson, mind your manners!" Thesses shouted.

"Sorry. May I inquire who you might be?"

"I am Lieutenant Commander Gillian Saraid of the FOP Navy."

"FOP?" Jackson inquired.

"Federation of Planets. Earth, Mars, Europa, Ganymede, Aldebaran Five and soon to be Rigel Four and Five."

"Oh. So everyone left Earth like us?"

"No, not really. Soon after the Progenitor left Earth, there was a war. It lasted almost one hundred years. The population of Earth was decimated. Out of that turmoil, the FOP was formed. We have been at peace for over a hundred years," Gillian told him, them.

Jackson stood there staring at her in disbelief.

"I could show you the archives... "

"No, no, that won't be necessary. Maybe later."

"I would like to see them," Thesses said.

"When we get back to Caster, I'll have her show you. You probably won't like what you see or read. It was a horrible, disgusting war."

"I understand, my dear."

"Who is her?" Jackson asked. "And who are the rest of these people?"

"Her is my ship, Caster. The rest of these people are my Marine contingent. Staff Sergeant Glen, Sergeant Sams, Corporal Phillips, Lance Corporal Johns, and Privates Boone and Bean."

"Why are they armed?" Jackson asked.

"They are here to protect me and anyone on this ship or protect me from anyone on this ship if the need arises. We have just two weeks ago, finished an interstellar war. We haven't had time to transition to a fleet of exploration from a fleet of war," Gillian told him.

"Were you fighting with the aliens on Rigel?"

"No. A race known as the Gar from far down galaxy. The K'lar were our allies in the war," Gillian answered.

"Well, where would we live on Earth?" Everyone behind Jackson including the children nodded and looked intently at Gillian.

"That decision has already been made... "

"Just as I thought... "

"By the council," Thesses cut him off. "We were given a choice of finding another planet without inhabitants or any number of places on Earth. We chose an island in the Caribbean, just south of Cuba," Thesses held up her hand to silence Jackson. "Which is part of the North American Directorate."

"Do you have a working terminal?" Gillian asked.

"We do," Jackson replied. "In fact several."

"Good. Why don't we take a walk to the nearest one and I will let you access the archives of my ship."

"What about them?" Jackson asked pointing at the Marines.

"They will stay here," Gillian said looking at Glen who nodded.

"Fine, let's go. Are you coming, Mom?"

"Am I invited?"

"Always," Thesses grunted and fell into step with Gillian.

"Now that we know you're here, can you turn off the shielding?" Gillian asked.

"Why?"

"So our ships can finish the survey of this ship. This section and another in the center were unreadable by them," Gillian told him. "We need to assess the damage to the ship in order to determine if it will withstand the stresses of hyperspace travel."

"Uh... hyperspace? Not warp-drive?"

"Warp-drive? No, hyperspace. I can't explain what it is except to say that distances between planets are shorter in hyperspace. And our newest engine can get us from here to Earth in four days," Gillian said.

"I'll have Madison go turn it off," Jackson said as he turned into a room just up the corridor from where both groups met.

The room was big. Right now it was set up as a bunk space and learning station. At the head of the room was a desk with two terminals.

"Cass?" Gillian queried turning on her radio. A woman went running out of the room after Jackson spoke with her.

"It will take her a minute," Jackson said as he walked up to them.

"Ah, there you are," Cass said in her ear. "Everything okay or do I call the cavalry?"

"We're fine Cass. Can you see terminal 157-A67-014.0991?"

"Working... yes, I can. Wait, no speakers or microphone, although that terminal has the capability."

"Do you have speakers and a microphone, so Cass can talk with you?" Gillian asked.

"Just a second," Jackson said, pulling open a drawer and lifting some speakers and a microphone out. He plugged them into the terminal.

"Ah... there we go," Cass said over the terminal speakers.

"Is that your ship?" Jackson asked.

"She is. Her name is Cass, short for Caster."

"Is she sentient?"

"I am. You can ask me anything you want. I will answer all question to the best of my ability unless what you ask is about something that is classified," Cass told Jackson.

"And what things are classified?"

"Troop movements, ship movements, how many ships the FOP Fleet has... things like that."

"How about how you work?"

"I am a scout ship, one man class. I am propelled by two Lancôme Seneca J-45 Impulse engines, which generate 300,000 lbs thrust each. I also have a new hyperspace drive that will allow me to transit hundreds of thousands of light years. Where my old hyperdrive engines only allowed me to transit 3,000 light years... "

"That's enough Cass."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Satisfied Jackson?" Thesses asked her son.

"Yes, Ma'am."

"Cass I want you to show Jackson and any of his people what is in our archives. Unless it's classified. How much of the archives are classified?"

"Less than 0.001 % or 30,000 pages of data."

"What does it deal with?"

"A battle during the war."

"Which war?" Gillian asked.

"The Gar war, Ma'am."

"Oh."

Chapter 146

Back in Caster, Gillian went over her day with Thesses, her son and all the children. Once the jammer was shut off Cass was able to fill in that section of the schematic of the ship. Now the only section that wasn't filled in, was the center section. Tomorrow they would be taking portable scanners and looking at the center of the ship. But right now, Gillian had something else she wanted to do.

"Cass, show me that classified document."

"I will need your passcode and clearance number."

"Enter them for me," Gillian told her ship.

"Ma'am."

The pages of the documents appeared on her screen. As she read, she suddenly realized that this might have been sent to her in error. Then as she was about halfway through, it dawned on her who sent this. Ezra. She read how he and Warrior One had encountered the Gar. How he had fired everything he had at them. Plasma cannon, missiles, and torpedoes. It was the torpedoes that finally made it through the defensive shields of the Gar frigate and sucked it into hyperspace, leaving a small amount of debris floating in normal space. She wondered how, as Warrior One wasn't even built or at least the records said it wasn't built yet, on the date of the incident. More classified data.

"Close file, store it under eyes only section."

"Yes, Ma'am."

After dinner, Gillian went to bed. She was exhausted.

Gillian was up at her regular time. She sat eating in her pilot chair, reading the documents that Cass had marked for her to read. They were nothing special, but she needed to sign off on them and pass them along either back to her commander or to her team. As she was finishing her meal and her reading, there was a knock at her hatch.

"Cass?"

"Sorry. I was busy... "

"Doing too much. Who is it?"

"Bridget."

"Let her in and cut all connections except to those terminals Jackson and his group are using."

"Cut."

"Who's cut?" Bridget asked stepping into Caster.

"No one. What's up?"

"Plan for today? We kind of got bored with sensor drills."

"Cass, what's the word on the anomaly?"

"It is now eighteen days out. Its speed has not increased or decreased."

"How long until Progenitor is able to jump out of here."

"Ten days."

"Well then, we have time."

"We do if nothing goes wrong."

"True. Okay, now for you Bridget. Hmmm... how would you like to help explore?"

"Yes," Bridget almost shouted.

"Okay, then. You and Cassidy go over to Warrior and pick up seven portable scanners. Cass, send the orders to Warrior, please."

"Done."

"See you in a bit," Bridget said as she turned for the hatch.

"Will we need more Marines?" Cass asked.

"Hmm... maybe. Would you alert Staff Sergeant Glen... like you, not me?"

"Of course, Ma'am. How many Marines do you think we'll need?"

"Three per scanner... so twenty-one altogether."

"I will notify Sergeant Glen."

"Good. Is Thesses up?"

"She was when you had me cut that connection."

"And that's another thing. Please don't overtax yourself."

"I really wasn't, I just was absorbed in the data I was displaying for those using the terminals."

"Well I need you here... but maybe when we are in the ship, either ship, you can be a little lax as long as you are learning."

"I will do my best to serve you, Ma'am. And thank you. Thesses is on her way."

"Good."

"The other scout pilots are forming up outside."

"Well, then I better get out there. They probably noticed Finder is gone."

"That might be best. Sergeant Glen is on his way also."

"Ugh," Gillian grunted.

She cleaned up her dishes, dumping them in the sink was cleaning up. She headed for the hatch when there was a knock. Pulling on the lever, she saw Michelle standing there.

"Oh, you're ready," Michelle quipped.

"I am. Did Lieutenant Carlin say anything to you before she left?"

"No, Ma'am. She just got in her ship and zoomed out of here," Michelle said.

"All right, now back in line Lieutenant."

"Yes, Ma'am," Michelle said turning and rushing back to the line of pilots."

Gillian walked casually to the line of pilots, all standing at attention, waiting for her.

"At ease. Now, today, you will be scanning... "

A moan rippled through the pilots.

"... the interior of this ship with portable scanners."

The group smiled as one when they heard that.

"You will each have three Marines assigned to you for your protection. Even though the people we have encountered have been friendly, we haven't been in the sections we will be going in today. And neither have the inhabitants we have run into so far."

Finder slowly glided into the bay as Gillian finished. Staff Sergeant Glen and twenty-one Marines quietly walked up behind the pilots. Gillian smiled as Michelle and the rest noticed them. Glen smiled and quick-timed it up to Gillian.

"Staff Sergeant Glen reporting as ordered."

"At ease Carl."

"Yes, Ma'am."

"You lot," Gillian pointed at her pilots, "go help Bridget with the scanners. You each get one."

Gillian took a holographic display from her thigh pocket and looked around for somewhere to put it down. Staff Sergeant Glen looked down and went to a spot on the deck and with his toe pressed down, hard. Slowly, a table rose up out of the deck. Gillian grunted as she went to the table.

"Interesting," she muttered. "So there is another deck below this one?"

"There is. It's filled with things like this and giant tool chests and parts," Glen said. "But it's really only a half deck. There is extra shielding in the form of armor plate below it."

"The reason there are no holes in the floor from meteors."

"Yes, Ma'am."

Chapter 147

"All right, gather around and listen up," Gillian said.

Her crews gathered around the table. She pressed the stud on the side of the projector. A hologram of the Progenitor appeared. Reaching in, she pressed a button and the holographic ship became larger, as large as the table.

"As you can see, your work has not been in vain. Almost every compartment in the ship is filled in with its current condition. All except this area in the center. This is twenty decks thick and a hundred meters wide and two hundred meters long. We don't think there is anything hostile in there, but just in case you will each have three Marines accompany you. Staff Sergeant Glen will assign them."

"Oh, that's very interesting," Thesses said from behind Gillian, who jumped at her voice.

"Thesses!" Gillian was a little flustered. Thesses just smiled at her.

"I love the picture of our ship," Thesses said walking up to the projection and moving her hand through it. Gillian smiled.

"It's only a hologram," Gillian said.

"Amazing."

"Yes, it is. It's Rigelian."

"Rigelian? You mean the aliens on Rigel made this?"

"No, we made it after studying one of their devices. They also built a radio that can communicate across light years in an instant. We can talk to Earth from here as if they were just in another ship next to us."

"Really? These... K'lar is it, are that intelligent?"

"They are."

"Then I guess it was best that we didn't wind up there?"

"Probably. But they wouldn't have harmed you and we would have eventually found you."

"I suppose. You were saying?"

"Yes," Gillian said turning back to the people around the table. "People, there are seven of us, I want Bridget, Cassidy, and Cass Pól, to take the first three decks. There is a corridor running down the middle of those decks, we think, so you should be able to scan the entire deck in one sweep," Gillian said pointing to the top three decks. "If you can't, work around the edges to get all the data. Anna, Michelle, and Becky will start with the lowest three. I, with Thesses, will take the middle two decks. Once you finish your deck go to the next lowest or highest deck that hasn't been scanned. If you run into trouble, yell for help, we will be there as soon as possible. Clear?"

Everyone nodded. Gillian nodded back.

"The first deck we need to search is deck 46, the top deck is 66. The elevator will only hold one team at a time, so when you get to your deck, hold your position until all teams are in position and ready to go. I don't want anyone up there in the scanning area without support close by. There are stairways just outside the center section," Gillian said, pointing to the four stairways on the outskirts of the blank area.

"Staff Sergeant, assign your men." Gillian finished.

"Aye aye, Ma'am."

Glen started to call off names. He was to be with Gillian along with Thesses and three men Gillian had never met.

"First team, Bridget, you're up."

Bridget and her three Marines double-timed it to the elevator. The rest of the teams followed suit one after the other. It took about half an hour, but Gillian stepped off the elevator on deck 55, the last team to go.

"All teams," she said into her shoulder mic, "go."

In an orderly manner, they reported in one by one. Two of the Marines headed out in front of Gillian as she switched on her scanner. The screen lit up. The display resolved to the cabins, corridors, and workrooms, which the rest of the ship was composed. No surprises and no life signs in the area she could scan. Then they were in the corridor that ran down one side of Gillian's area. She would have to make two passes. One down this corridor and up the other.

"Nothing so far, but we have just started into the area," Gillian informed everyone in her group.

"My people haven't been in here. We never really ventured far from our homes, which are clustered about the forest," Thesses whispered.

Gillian grunted as she walked slowly down the corridor, her eyes glued to the scanner. A hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Ma'am," Staff Sergeant Glen said.

Looking up, Gillian saw that the two Marines out front had stopped in front of a barricade blocking the corridor. Looking back at her scanner, Gillian made a few adjustments and the blockage appeared on her screen.

"It looks like this stuff just shifted down this way from a large room farther up the corridor. Why it stopped her I haven't a clue. Two doors back on the right, we can get around this through the rooms to our right."