Guile And Ingenuity: A Starflight Story (standard:science fiction, 8650 words)
Author: Brockleigh	Added: Feb 09 2003	Views/Reads: 3448/2385	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
The Spemin have a new toy which threatens Arthean space, and Hixon is sent coreward to discover the source of an unexpected sign of life

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

back up again." He turned back to the navigator and tactical officer, 
"Keep the weapons warm, and fire off a distress signal to Starport. 
We're gonna need a tow." 

The science officer looked to his captain, "Should we make a report of
this incident to Commodore Gault?" 

Captain Ian Trafford looked incredulously at his subordinate before
speaking. 

"Y'think?!?" 

*** 

Craig Hixon walked slowly yet purposefully into the Operational
Headquarters section of Vell Bralis Nova City, the city that orbited 
around New Scotland. He came upon the office of Commodore Mark Gault 
and waited in the open doorway. Gault was deep into tearing one of his 
captains a new one via a comm channel, and Hixon waited until he was 
done. 

"...what part of 'endurium ban' confused you, Captain? It's supposed to
cover EVERYONE in the corporation, and that means YOU!" Hixon couldn't 
hear the response from the unnamed captain on the other end of the 
desktop terminal. "I don't care if you can't afford the synthenium, if 
you can't raise the cash for proper fuel, then resign your commission 
and find an occupation that you can afford to be involved in!... No, 
Captain, that's your problem not mine... Put a sock in it, Captain, 
that's an order!" 

Gault straightened himself in his seat, "Okay, Captain Razov, here's how
it's going to be. You're grounded here on VBN. The ISS Confederate is 
going to be put in dry dock and have its engines converted to be 
synthenium-powered at Interstel's cost. You are then going to pay 
Interstel for the fuel we put in it. If you can't afford it, we 
re-assign the ship. Have I made myself clear? Good. Talk to you in a 
week." 

Gault shook his head, "Can you believe that? Before we launched the ship
a year ago, he had Starport Dry-Dock put in endurium engines; paid off 
the techs to put them in illegally. Heads are gonna roll back on Arth 
for this... Anyhow, I called you in for something. Have a seat." 

Gault brought up a visual on the larger video terminal. It was an
Interstel ADV, with serious burns along the fuselage, and a hull breach 
visible on the underside. The extent of the damage made Hixon's jaw 
drop. "That's the Strike Eagle. What you can't see in this picture are 
the engines and how melted they are.  This was the result of a Spemin 
sneak attack, and the Strike Eagle was lucky to survive. There was one 
other attack along the Spemin border, and the ship there came out much 
the same. The Spemin have some kind of cloaking device, and attacked 
these ADVs en masse without warning." 

"These are ADVs, though," Hixon wondered, "How is it possible that they
could get that damaged when they are equipped with Class 7 shields?" 

Gault winced, "Small design flaw. The ADVs have all the toys, but not a
lot of room to store fuel, and those shields gobble up a lot of fuel. 
The ADVs can't patrol for long with shields raised, at least not for 
the extended routes they have to go along the border. They can put up 
their shields only when they see trouble coming. I'm trying to get a 
few more of them, but tensions are rising between the Thrynn and 
Elowan, and we need the ships to keep the peace along the Windward 
Corridor." 

"The Windward Corridor?" Hixon was a little perplexed, "I thought the
Thrynn rejected the treaty we signed with them?" 

Gault sighed and looked somewhat sad in his chair, "They did, but that's
not stopping them from taking advantage of the concessions we allowed 
them. So they are using the corridor along the Elowan border, and 
attacking the stray marigold freighters that comes their way. So the 
Elowan respond by putting warships at the border and attacking lizard 
freighters in the corridor. So Interstel responds by putting half of my 
ADVs in the corridor as a peacekeeping force. Which means I have to 
promise my next born son as collateral to get a couple of tin cans to 
help patrol the upspin border." 

Hixon looked at a diagram on the large wall terminal of the Arthean
border disputes. He squinted a little, like he did when he was in 
thought, and turned to his commanding officer. "Well what about using 
CEVs to patrol the Spemin border. They can carry way more synthenium 
than an ADV, and their shields won't burn as much fuel either. They 
could keep their shields up for an entire patrol, and not get that 
surprise damage like an ADV." 

Gault looked blankly at Hixon and then at the wall terminal, and
replaced that look with a small look of disgust. "Now why didn't I 
think of that. We can pull that together no problem. We just have to 
worry about cowardly captains, but there aren't too many of them 
around. Good thinking, Craig." 

"Alright," Hixon said, "So, I'm heading out for the Spemin border,
right?" He was already making his way to the door. 

"No so fast, junior," Gault said, "You aren't heading outward, that's
for sure. I've got another job for you..." He called up another 
schematic on the wall terminal and this time an odd multi-coloured 
display showed up. "You know what this is?" 

Hixon got up and walked up to the terminal, his science background
coming back to him. He pointed at the on-screen graphic, and turned 
back to Gault, "This is a Distant Listening Picture. Who is it?" 

"Dunno," Gault leaned back in his chair, "That's what a distant
listening ship took from just outside of the New Scotland system. It's 
coreward." 

Hixon looked very surprised by that news, "How far coreward?" 

"No idea. The ISS Awacs took the picture while they were tuning their
equipment at the time. Whatever that action is that's on the screen, 
it's definitely not naturally occurring, most likely space craft of 
some kind, and could be anywhere from one- to three hundred sectors 
away. That's deep into the Dead Zone, so there shouldn't be any life 
out there, let alone starships that indicate intelligent life.  It's 
your job to find out what and where it is. In the meantime, I have to 
find a way to scrounge up willing CEV captains..." Gault was distracted 
by something on his desktop terminal and looked pleasantly surprised. 
"Your new comm officer just arrived. She's on her way right now." 

Hixon cocked his head, "Kel Dabi's replacement? What do you know about
her?" 

Gault settled back in his chair and shrugged his shoulders, "Not much, I
haven't met her yet. I only know what's in her file. She's Elowan, 
straight from Elan. She has plenty of experience on marigold ships, and 
even holds the equivalent to a captain's rank in the Elowan Fleet." 

"So what's she doing transferring over to be a lieutenant on an Arthean
crate?" Hixon said, slightly perplexed. 

"Exploration. New horizons. All kinds of stuff that the Elowan aren't
doing anymore, 'cause they've been flying around this part of the 
galaxy for centuries. The marigolds are spending all their time 
worrying about a Thrynn attack to concern themselves with the rest of 
space, and this one, her name is L'lenej Imiaj, wants to see all of 
creation..." Gault looked out his window to the Operations Lobby, 
"...and here she is." 

Gault and Hixon looked up to see the new Elowan crewmember enter Gault's
office silently. She walked to the edge of Gault's desk, and bowed 
gracefully. 

Gault greeted the Elowan, "Good Day, L'lenej. I'm Commodore Mark Gault,
and this will be your commanding officer on the ISS Phoenix, Craig 
Hixon." 

"It is a great honour and pleasure to make thine acquaintance," said
L'lenej. 

Gault and Hixon looked open-mouthed at the plant person, dumbfounded at
what the Elowan said, or more accurately, vocalized in Terranprime. For 
as long as humans had known Elowan, the plant people had always 
communicated by the language of motion, talking by bending, twisting 
and shaking their limbs. This one in Gault's office was actually 
speaking in the primary language of Arth. 

"How...how...?" Gault was thoroughly confused. 

The Elowan cocked her head, by way of smiling, "Calm yourself,
Commodore. On Elan, great strides have been made in genetic 
engineering, and what thou art witnessing is but the most recent in the 
knowledge we have gleaned. We Elowan have longed to be able to be heard 
like all other races, and through the wonders of science, any whosoever 
wishes to converse through the spoken word, shall be granted the gift 
of voice. I am one such being." 

"Cool," Hixon said, still getting used to the idea of a vocal marigold.
He looked at L'lenej Imiaj's personnel file on the large wall terminal. 
"Your file is impressive, L'lenej. You're a very accomplished 
commander. I'm concerned, though, that you're over-qualified for this 
posting. Becoming my comm officer would be a step down from what you're 
used to." 

L'lenej again cocked her head, "Rest assured, Captain, this is not an
issue for which thou might concern thyself. I have asked for this 
assignment, as the Phoenix is an illustrious vessel, and sure to embark 
on many an adventure. It is that which I seek, Captain Hixon, not 
command, and I wouldst put thy mind at ease that there shall be no 
struggle for power aboard thy ship. Thou art mine Captain, and I pledge 
my loyalty to thee." 

Hixon looked at Gault, to L'lenej and back to Gault. He shrugged his
shoulders, "Okay." 

Gault smiled and chuckled, and said, "All right. You embark in the
morning, Captain. You are to head due coreward, until you pick up some 
kind of sensor readings indicating a spacefaring race, and then make 
contact with it. Limit your flight to a maximum of three hundred 
sectors away. We don't want you running out of gas too far from home. 
You leave tomorrow. Rest up folks, have a good flight, and all that 
jazz about the Rock of Truth." 

With that, the two Phoenix crewmembers were dismissed. They bade their
farewells to the Commodore and chatted to each other on their way out 
of Operations. Gault turned back to his desktop terminal, trying to 
figure out how many hineys he would have to kiss to get the CEVs needed 
for Spemin border duty. 

*** The next morning the crew of the Phoenix assembled aboard the
starship as they normally did, taking places around a meeting table in 
Captain Craig Hixon's chambers. Once he had all his staff seated, Hixon 
called for everyone's attention, "'Morning, folks. Before we get 
started, I'd like to formally introduce you all to L'lenej Imiaj, our 
new comm officer. L'lenej, this is Science Officer Ashley Bright, 
Navigator Qynzhqylyh, Engineer Apiphotex, and our Doctor and Executive 
Officer, Lor E'aye." The crew exchanged greetings, and then Hixon 
resumed. 

"Okay, now that we've exchanged pleasantries, this is what we are doing:
heading coreward. Distant listening picked something up way out there, 
and we've been ordered to find out what it is. It doesn't matter if 
whatever out there is friendly or hostile, we need everyone to put 
their game faces on. We've had it soft, running cargo missions for the 
last six months, so we have to crank it up a notch and get professional 
again once we cross the 200th meridian into the Dead Zone. Got it? 
Fine. Places everyone, it's showtime in five minutes." The crew got up, 
but Hixon motioned Lor to stay behind. Once everyone else had left, 
Hixon spoke, "You know anything about the new one?" 

Lor shook his head, and movements were interpreted by the translator box
on the table, "Nay Captain, but for the knowledge she hath commanded 
her vessels with honor and valor. She hath such the reputation with the 
Elowan fleet that her resignation was looked upon as a great loss to 
the entire Navy. Thou art truly fortunate to have such an individual as 
thine subordinate." 

"High praise, Lor." Hixon nodded, "I wasn't sure about her, but if you
say she's a keeper, we'll keep 'er. You gonna sign up for that 
vocalization thing she's got?" 

Lor again shook his head. "Nay, Captain. I feel no need to undergo such
a procedure. I have been served well by the translator boxes we employ, 
and I shall continue utilize them." 

"Hey, whatever floats your boat," Hixon looked at his chronometer on the
large wall terminal, "Oh man, we have to get moving. Let's go." With 
that, the two senior officers headed to the bridge in time to see the 
crew finishing up their pre-flight check. 

"We the being all okey-dokey for the leaving, skipper." Qynzhqylyh piped
up. 

"Very well," Hixon said as he settled into his command chair and punched
the departure security protocol into his terminal, "Take her out." 

*** 

Mark Gault looked out of the porthole in his office to see the Phoenix
leaving. He looked wistfully at his old command as it departed for 
parts unknown, wishing he could be back in his old chair and sailing 
the stars. He shook himself out of his reverie and back to his task at 
hand, finding CEVs to guard the Arthean border. He looked over a 
starmap on his desktop terminal. Arth wasn't all that far from the 
Spemin frontier. If the Spemin made a concentrated attack with this 
cloaking device they had... well, it wouldn't be too long before he'd 
be working for a Secret Society of some sort or another if that 
happened. 

He was able to scrape together his four available CEVs, as well as the
Cornwallis and the Intrepid. Lastly, he got a promise of assistance 
from the Belfast Windfall if they were needed. Gault smiled. He liked 
the Belfast Windfall's captain, Biggs Hilsfar. The kid had fire, was 
very bright, and had a terrific crew. If he actually fell in with 
Interstel's plans, he'd have no trouble shooting up the ladder. The 
thing was, Hilsfar had no interest in joining the navy. He was happy 
running his ship as a caravel, going where he wanted to go, doing what 
he wanted to do, and making his own money. In fact, Biggs didn't 
'promise his assistance' inasmuch as 'offer in exchange for'. Gault 
said he would put Hilsfar in touch with a guy, who knew a guy, who 
served time with a guy, whose sister could get some cool artifacts that 
he could sell to the Thrynn. Gault smiled again. The kid had moxy. 

Now if only he had another ship. He couldn't pull the Phoenix back, they
were already en route to the Dead Zone. He also didn't want to put his 
old ship in harms way. He shook his head; he had to stop thinking like 
that. He had to stop playing favorites with his ships. He had to start 
treating Craig Hixon just the same as everyone else, like Vasily Razov 
of the Confederate... 

It then dawned upon Gault. The Confederate was in Dry-dock. That was the
ship he needed. He'd command it himself, and fill in the crew with 
other Interstel personnel stationed at VBN City. Gault checked the 
status report on the engine refit and found it to be eighty-percent 
complete, due to be finished the following day. He then immediately 
sent a message to Razov before starting to put together a crew: 

To: Captain Vasily Razov From: Commodore Mark Gault 

I'm borrowing the Confederate. If, when I'm done, there's anything left
of it, I'll fill it with fuel for free. 

*** 

Hixon looked with glazed eyes at the display on his command terminal.
They had been steaming on an almost due coreward course for three days, 
with hardly a star system to break up the monotony of the trip. The 
Phoenix was somewhere outside the 290th meridian, but because they were 
so far away from Interstel's marker buoys, they couldn't be sure 
exactly. Hixon figured their position was 298 or 299, 118, but didn't 
really care. They were still heading coreward and searching as best 
they could for anything. The Phoenix's sensors were capable of 
searching for up to twenty sensors, but only if the ship was 
stationary. If the ship was moving, however, there were too many 
variables to detect motion accurately for more than eight sectors. So 
Hixon sat in his command chair, assisting Bright in looking for 
anything worth mentioning. It was an exercise in intense boredom. 

*** 

Mark Gault boarded the ISS Confederate, and immediately hated it. An
odd, acrid smell assaulted his nostrils upon entering, and the interior 
of the ship looked as if it had not been cleaned since... ever. Making 
his way towards the bridge, he made sure not to touch any surface, 
wondering what manner of cooties he could catch. 

"Disgusting," was the first word out of Gault's mouth as he stepped into
the command centre. Zvixx, the Veloxi navigator he had hired, was 
cleaning the bridge, but had one hell of a job ahead of him. "What the 
hell do you have to do to get a bridge this filthy?" 

"Me not the knowing, skipper," Zvixx replied, "Me not the wanting to be
the finding out, too." 

Gault made his way to the command chair and tentatively sat down. He
looked over the dilapidated bridge and noted how different this ship 
was from how he ran the Phoenix. Gault's attention was drawn by the 
bridge door opening and the crew he had assembled stepping inside. The 
collective look of distaste was more than evident on everyone's face as 
they slowly walked to their stations. Gault merely chuckled that all 
aboard shared their disgust at the condition of the ship, and made a 
mental note to have another word with Captain Razov. 

"Okay, folks. Let's do our pre-flight. We have to get to the Spemin
border as quickly as we can. 

*** 

Hixon sighed in the command chair. It was now four days with not even an
anomaly on the sensors to break the monotony. He shook his head in 
frustration, and stood up. "All stop," he ordered. 

"Aye," Qynzhqylyh responded, and the ship slowed to meet Hixon's
request. 

"We're gonna need another break. We haven't seen anything since New
Scotland. Qyn, Api and Lor can all take a break, and the rest of us 
will..." 

Ashley Bright piped up and interrupted the Captain, "Skipper, motion
detected, 16 x 2." 

Hixon was shocked and surprised by that bit of news and came over to
check out Bright's console. Just as she had reported, motion was indeed 
reported almost 18 sectors away. It seemed big, whatever it was; there 
was no way to make out from here. It was only because the ship stopped 
that they even noticed it at all. 

"Qyn, set a course to engage... whatever it is," Hixon reported, "and
that rest order is cancelled." The crew went back to their stations and 
went about their tasks, as the ship turned and neared their target. 
Bright kept her eyes on her display, waiting for her terminal to tell 
her the mysterious quarry was within sensor range. 

As the ship approached the unknown object, Bright alerted the Captain,
"Skipper, the target appears to be right beside a flux." 

Hixon that caught Hixon off guard and once again, he leaned in beside
Bright, "How the hell can you tell that from here?" 

"Look," the lieutenant said, "you can see the instability in the
readings around the object, that this space here doesn't conform to the 
noise readings around it..." Bright went on for a moment, impressing 
Hixon with her brilliant deduction. He smiled at that; she was finally 
showing the promise he saw in her. He nodded his head when she was 
finished and clapped her on the shoulder. 

"Good work, Bright," he said, "Keep me informed." At that moment he and
Bright both saw the ident indicator light up on the science console, 
and stay white. 

Bright went right back to work, "Unknown craft or crafts, sir..." Hixon
then watched his science officer blanche, "They're Spemin, all kinds of 
them." She continued working her console, trying to get a count on 
them. 

"Condition Red, shields up and arm all weapons," Hixon said to
Qynzhqylyh, and then turned back to Bright, "How many?" 

Bright looked up at her commanding officer, "Forty-seven." 

Hixon's eyes bugged out. The Phoenix had, in it's past, destroyed many
Spemin ships, and was capable of surviving against the slugs when 
out-numbered, but not against that great a number. Hixon next order was 
immediate, "Qyn get us out of here, find a nearby star system to hide 
in and punch it." He keyed the squawk-box, "Api, I need everything the 
engines have got and then some." Hixon received affirmative responses 
from both his subordinates and sat back in his seat. 

Qynzhqylyh got the ship moving away from the Spemin, and pushed the
engines as hard as his console would let him. Apiphotex climbed around 
his engineering department, coaxing as much power out of his engines as 
he knew how. The two Veloxi had the Phoenix screaming away from the 
Spemin ships, and then Bright spoiled the party. 

"Captain, at least half the Spemin are following us." 

*** 

The Confederate and the Halcyon flew side by side along the
Arthean-Spemin border, moving slowly as all crewmembers on both ships 
pored over sensor data from surrounding space. Mark Gault was hunched 
over his science officer's station, helping his lieutenant find 
anything of value in detecting the invisible Spemin threat. Gault shook 
his head; if the Spemin were out there, they were well hidden indeed by 
whatever technology they were using. Even Zvixx was busy keeping his 
eye on his motion sensors in search of any readings, almost neglecting 
his navigational duties. All were so busy looking at sensor data, they 
were not paying attention to what was happening around them. 

The thirty-one Spemin ships materialized and opened fire on the two
Arthean vessels, catching both Empire crews by total surprise. Lasers 
crashed into the Confederate and the Halcyon, and Gault sat himself 
down in the command chair, his combat experience taking over his 
conscious mind. 

"Return fire, fox one and two, fire lasers, and keep it up." Gault
ordered. The Confederate was already under Condition Red, but as he 
looked at his command display, the Halcyon was still under Condition 
Green. He ordered his comm officer to open a channel to the Halcyon, 
"Captain, raise your damn shields! What's the matter with you?" 

"Una... to, Capt... ields inopera..." The Halcyon's captain replied
before the comm channel failed. The captain had paid a price for not 
being prepared. He had kept his shields down while patrolling the 
border, trying to minimize sensor interference, and the opening salvo 
from the Spemin had knocked the defensive systems out. The Spemin now 
moved in on the Halcyon, which fired on the invaders, but couldn't 
prevent their lasers from finding the hull. 

Gault had his own problems. Zvixx was reporting an unresponsive flight
control while trying to perform evasive maneuvers, and when they could 
move the firing systems were problematic at best. Gault leaned on the 
squawk box and shouted, "Engineering! What the hell is going on back 
there?" 

"Skipper, we got big problems. The primary flow exchanger is pooched,
secondary is working fine, but I can't give you full power for a 
firefight." 

"Did we take a hit?" Gault was confused. 

"No, sir, shields have held up so far. Forty-one percent and decreasing
steadily." 

Gault shook off his confusion and went over his options: run, or stand
and fight. He chose the latter. The Confederate cut power to the 
maneuvering systems and concentrated its available energies on 
offensive and defensive systems. Gault's eyes raged an intense fire as 
he watched the battle unfold on the screen, and his ship's weapons 
hammer at the invaders. He looked at the command console: eight Spemin 
ships left, shields at seventeen percent but he had plenty of armor as 
a back up. The Confederate squeezed off a couple more missiles and a 
few more lasers and cut the Spemin contingent by half to four. At that 
point, the Spemin, once again, turned tail and left. Watching the 
Spemin depart, Gault's next order was immediate. 

"Damage Report!" 

"None, sir," the engineer reported over the squawk box, "The shields
held, barely. Three percent and regenerating." 

"Then what the hell happened to the engines?" 

A deep sigh was the initial response to Gault's question, "The bad news
is the engines were worked on at VBN City, and you know how bad the 
dry-dock techs are there. The primary flow exchanger wasn't put in 
right and it shifted when we got hit by the lasers and shut down. It's 
done." 

"What's the good news?" Gault asked. 

"It's covered under warranty." 

"Whatever," Gault replied and then turned to his comm officer, "Patch a
channel to the Halcyon." It was then that the viewscreen winked over to 
the Halcyon, and the sight made everyone stop and stare open mouthed at 
the image in front of them. 

The Halcyon's bow was blackened and devastated, the bridge exposed to
space. Once the Spemin had determined the Halcyon's shields couldn't be 
raised, they attacked the heart of the ship mercilessly. A deep cavity 
in the bow extension of the Halcyon, extending well past the bridge and 
into the living quarters told the obvious tale: none of the bridge crew 
survived. 

Gault took a couple of moments to regain his composure, and asked, "Life
signs in engineering?" 

"Yes sir, looks like one survivor in the aft section of the Halcyon,"
his science officer responded. 

Gault's voice cracked slightly when he ordered his final command of the
day, "Send the cargo shuttle to pick him up. Tow the Halcyon back to 
Starport. Zvixx has the bridge. I'll be in my quarters." 

With that, Gault quietly left the bridge. 

*** 

Craig Hixon breathed a sigh of relief and collapsed in his chair. The
Phoenix had successfully been able to outrun the Spemin and was hiding 
in a nearby star system. He looked tiredly over at his science officer, 
"Lieutenant, any place in this system we can stay for the night?" 

Bright looked briefly at her console and reported, "Well there's a
couple of planets inside this system's ecosphere, one in orbit 4 that 
looks like it's primarily water based." Hixon nodded and ordered 
Qynzhqylyh to pilot the ship to the fourth planet. Bright didn't need 
to be told to scan the planet, "It's almost an optimal colonization 
planet, Cap'n. Nitrogen-Oxygen atmosphere, Arth equivalent gravity, 
good atmospheric density... wait one... I'm picking up an unusual 
energy signature from the surface. 21 degrees south, 114 degrees west." 


Hixon looked a little perplexed as he leaned in to read Bright's
display, but then ordered the Qynzhqylyh to put the ship down near the 
site of the energy reading. Fifteen minutes later, after the successful 
planetfall and preparations for utilizing the terrain vehicle, the crew 
of the Phoenix was off and running. The vehicle departed the ship and 
made its way towards a structure looming in the distance. Bright 
checked her reading on her console, and reported that the building they 
were approaching was definitely the source of the energy signature she 
had seen from space. 

The terrain vehicle stopped in front of the building and the crew of the
Phoenix emptied out and slowly entered the structure. Hixon poked 
around a couple of rooms, finding nothing, and then he heard Lor 
E'Aye's voice come through the translator box. 

"Captain, I wouldst require your presence." 

Hixon headed over to where Lor was, and saw him staring at some alien
writing on one of the walls. Hixon came closer to examine the text, 
"Can you make it out?" 

Lor shook his head, "Nay, Captain, the language is not one known to me.
However, the decay of the ruins wouldst indicate to me that the origin 
of this structure wouldst be a millennia, perchance a millennia and a 
half." 

"So that would put this place around the First Wave. Do you think its
Phlegmak?" 

"Ruins of the Phlegmak wouldst be known to me," Lor responded, "For I
have studied them and their writings. If I were to make an inference to 
their origin, I wouldst say they were Numlox." 

"Numlox?" Hixon was shocked at that, "Do we know anything about them?" 

"Nay, but for their name and their alliance with the Phlegmak. This will
take some study. 'Tis verily a shame Kel Dabi cannot see these, for 
these would surely have caused him great wonder and amazement..." 

"Captain!" Hixon looking in the direction Bright's voice came from, and
he and Lor raced to see her kneeling in study over... nothing. 

"What is it, Lieutenant?" Hixon said, looking a little strangely at the
Science officer. 

"Come over here, sir, you have to see this," Bright said. Hixon was
wary, but as he came over beside Bright, he all of a sudden saw a 
spherical metal device around one metre in diameter, that pulsed softly 
with it's own light. He walked back a couple of steps and watched the 
sphere disappear, and then walked back beside Bright to see it 
re-appear again. 

"A cloaking device? We haven't seen one of those in a while." Hixon
said. 

"It looks to be a rudimentary one, skipper, if there is such a thing. It
from what I can tell, it works more on a pulse system than generating a 
cloaking field. I'll show you; go stand over there." Bright motioned 
Hixon to stand at the other end of the chamber, and then ran her hands 
over the object. Hixon saw his science officer disappear as well as 
most of the debris around her, and then saw a small shimmer as the 
pulse passed through him. Bright and her surroundings reappeared in 
front of him just as they had been before she started playing with the 
device. "It also seems to be disrupted by directed energy, see?" With 
that, Bright pulled out her laser sidearm and fired a randomly aimed 
shot at a wall away from them. The device came briefly into view, made 
a somewhat unpleasant noise, and then disappeared again. 

Bright continued her analysis, "This appears to be a war factory of some
sort, Cap'n. These things are... were manufactured here by whatever 
race lived here..." 

"Numlox, we think." Hixon filled her in. 

"Numlox it is. What I can't understand is why there's only one in here.
If it's working, why didn't they use it, or store more here..." then 
Bright saw Apiphotex come in looking like he was carrying only the air. 
It didn't take very long to realize he had another cloaking device in 
his hands. 

"Looky at what I the finding!" Apiphotex clicked excitedly, and ran
towards the three crewmates. Bright yanked her hands off the device in 
front of her as it became hotter the closer Apiphotex came.  Bright 
watched the device in front of her begin to glow and spark, and her 
eyes became wide. 

"Api, no," Bright shouted and jumped away from her device, "don't come
any cl..." She didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as both 
devices exploded, Apiphotex not injured but certainly surprised by the 
device he was holding coming apart in a shower of sparks. Hixon looked 
at the burned out alien artifacts, and then walked in the opposite 
direction Apiphotex came from, through a doorway, and inside, in the 
center of the room, found another of the cloaking devices. 

"That's why you only found one of them, Lieutenant. They're individually
chambered to keep them from blowing each other up." Hixon thought a 
couple of things over, and then turned to his Executive Officer, "Lor, 
can you take those runes you found with us?" 

"Aye, sir. It should not trouble us to remove them." 

"Fine, then gather as many as you can, let's grab this device, and we're
gonna blow up this structure from space. If we destroy it now, the 
Spemin can't use it against us. Let's move, folks." With that the crew 
got to work; Qynzhqylyh helping Lor E'aye take whatever runes they 
could, Bright and L'lenej bringing the cloaking device onto the ship, 
and Apiphotex and Hixon beginning a pre-flight check so they could take 
off as soon as possible. In due course, the Phoenix was back in orbit, 
and after firing two missiles at the planet's surface, obliterating the 
Numlox factory, headed back for the Spemin protected flux. 

Hixon looked over at Bright, "So are we sure we can get this thing to
work?" 

"I think so," she replied, "I've tied it to my science station here. It
wasn't all that hard to do. Okay from what I've been able to figure out 
about it, the device will fire a cloaking pulse that we can follow, but 
as soon as we fire weapons, the pulse will dissipate, and the Spemin 
will see us. With all due respect sir, we better make that first salvo 
a good one." 

Hixon thought that one over, and gave his next order, "Okay, Bright,
fire the pulse. Qyn, follow it into firing range, and when we get real 
close to the slugs, come about 90 degrees to port, and bring the aft 
missile launchers into play. Condition Red, folks, battle stations." 

The Phoenix approached the guarded flux, and once it came into firing
range of the mass of Spemin ships, Qynzhqylyh, initiated the turn, 
bringing all the Phoenix's weapons to bear. Bright monitored the pulse 
on her sensors and watched to see they didn't get too close. If the 
pulse reached the Spemin, then the Phoenix would be visible, and the 
element of surprise would be lost. The Phoenix drifted closer, and 
Bright simply turned to the Hixon and said, quietly, "Now sir." 

Hixon wasn't quite so hushed, and shouted across the bridge, "Qyn, fire
at random, Fox One and Two, Fox Three and Four, reload, fire lasers. 
Get as many as you can. Api, divert power to defensive systems from the 
engines," and with that, the battle began. 

The surprise attack on the Spemin was devastating. The entire fleet was
caught unaware, not as though their meager shielding would have done 
very much against the massive onslaught from the Phoenix. The initial 
salvo, destroyed many of the Spemin ships, but the tight grouping of 
the Spemin was even more catastrophic, as shrapnel and unexploded 
missile parts crashed into nearby ships, doubling or tripling the 
damage. The defending force was decimated by the initial attack, and by 
the time the second salvo concluded, the surprised Spemin were down 
from forty-seven ships to nine. The Phoenix ceased the attack, and 
hailed one of the ships. He wasn't diplomatic. 

"Talk, slug, or you get the same as what we just gave half your family."
Hixon glowered at the viewscreen, the vision of the terrified trembling 
Spemin captain fully in view. "Where does this flux go?" 

The Spemin captain quivered on the viewscreen,
"78,123pleasedon'tkillme." 

"How many of these cloaking devices did you take?" 

"Onlythreepleasedon'tkillme." 

"Did you find anything else on the planet?" 

"Nosirwedidnotpleasedon'tkillme." 

Hixon paused and sneered at the Spemin captain, and said, "Get out of
here slug. If I see you around here again, I'll kill you and everyone 
you ever left a trail of slime in front of." With that, the Phoenix 
closed the channel and watched the Spemin ships zip away, taking the 
long route home. Hixon kept his eyes on the Spemin until we was sure 
they were truly leaving, and then turned to Qynzhqylyh with a simple 
query, "Shields?" 

"All the okey-dokey, sir skipper guy. None the hits we taking." 

Hixon nodded, and then gave his next order, "Take us through the flux,
maintain Condition Red." 

Qynzhqylyh manipulated his console, and the Phoenix entered the
wormhole. Hixon could feel every hair stand on end as the flux 
transported the ship back to an area of the galaxy more familiar to 
him. "Report." 

Bright piped up immediately, "Cap'n we are at 78, 123, like the slug
said, and I see motion coreward and downspin from us, moving away. It's 
big, whatever it is." 

"Qyn, get us there," Hixon ordered, "we'll try the same trick again.
Fire the pulse at the motion and follow it. Keep those weapons warm." 

As instructed, another cloaking pulse was released towards the motion
readings Bright described, and the Phoenix raced after it, trying 
desperately to catch the enemy fleet before it reached Arthean space. 

*** 

Mark Gault, for the first time in a very long time, was frightened while
at the command of a ship. Following the repair of the Confederate's 
engines, the Starport techs looked over the rest of the ship, finding 
it in such a state of disrepair they quarantined it. Gault had to fight 
with the entire Interstel hierarchy to get it released and back into 
service. While the ship as cleaned and  (thankfully) disinfected, Gault 
now had an engineers report showing that another battle might make the 
ship come apart on it's own, with out any help from the Spemin. Now, 
Gault rode the bucket of bolts with its shields at full, and with two 
other CEVs that were in almost as bad shape. The good news was that the 
Confederate and it's companions were at that point just forming up with 
two ADVs, the Avenger and the Falcon, and would stay with them for the 
rest of their patrol. 

Gault still, even with the addition of the muscle, felt very afraid. He
found out first hand how quickly and how savagely the Spemin could 
strike with their new toy, and what damage they could inflict. He kept 
his eyes nervously on the viewscreen, waiting for the threat to emerge. 


*** 

Hixon watched his readouts on his console. His eyes kept flicking back
and forth between the viewscreen and the console, seeing where the 
Phoenix was in relation to the Spemin, and where the Spemin were in 
relation to the border. The Phoenix was closing, and fast, on the 
Spemin Armada's task force, which Bright now put at sixty-two ships, 
plus three warships, but the Spemin were very, very close to Arthean 
space, and the Phoenix couldn't tell at that point if there were any 
unsuspecting Empire ships on the other side of the border. 

Hixon leaned on the armrest to his chair and drummed his fingers on the
edge. Bright informed the crew that they were closing on firing 
distance, and then had another report, "Cap'n, I show movement on the 
other side of the border... too far away to tell what it is now, but 
it's moving across the frontier... I bet it's a patrol." 

The news tensed the whole crew, all of them now fully intent on reaching
the invaders while they were still in Spemin space. Hixon leaned over 
to the chair beside him, and consulted with Lor E'aye, "Once we catch 
them, what do we do?" 

Lor looked at his captain, and then entered some figures into his own
console. "Captain, I believe the most prudent choice of action wouldst 
be twofold. Initially, we attack the largest ship of the enemy fleet, 
and incapacitate it as quickly as possible, and secondly, that we 
operate the cloaking device at it's highest level, and attempt to 
incinerate the Spemin's device, as we saw when Apiphotex brought the 
second cloaking device into the chamber in which we found Lieutenant 
Bright." 

Hixon shrugged by way of agreement, and consulted with Bright, "What can
you make out right now?" 

Bright sighed before giving her report, "There's a large energy
signature coming from the warship right at the back of the formation. 
That's where we should attack. The sixty-two scouts are all Fnir class 
scouts, class one weapons and shields, the warships are class three 
everything." 

"You heard the lady," Hixon said to his navigator, "Qyn, make your
course to intercept the rear warship, train all weapons on it and plot 
a firing solution. Bright, push the cloaking device to maximum power." 

The crew did as was ordered, and counted the seconds until their own
cloaking pulse would reach the Spemin Armada. Hixon had already 
instructed Bright to give the firing order, and watched as Bright 
waited, holding herself back for an extra second, her eyes not leaving 
her console as her face turned towards the Veloxi navigator. He then 
saw her eyes flash to Qynzhqylyh as she gave her first ever kill shot 
order, "FOX ONE AND TWO, FIRE LASERS, RELOAD AND DON'T STOP!!!" 

Hixon looked impressed at his science officer, and gave a final nod to
Qynzhqylyh by way of saying 'do it'. The Velox navigator fired all 
weapons at the targeted warship, getting off three full salvos before 
the rest of the Spemin ships could react. The Phoenix kept up its rate 
of fire, maneuvering close to the warship, and it's cloaking device. 
Bright watched a monitor on her console, patched into a camera in the 
cargo pod where their own cloaking device was being stored. 

"The device is getting hot, sir" Bright informed Hixon, her eyes riveted
to the monitor, the energy created by each cloaking device superheating 
the other. She then shielded her eyes as the device on the Phoenix 
exploded, taking with it the Spemin's cloaking device, taking away the 
pulse that provided the Spemin Armada with the stealth the depended on. 
"its toast, sir. We're visible again." 

Just then, Api spoiled the party, over the squawk box, "Cap'n we taking
many the boom-booms. Shields dropping, failure the soon coming." Hixon 
shook himself back to reality, realizing that every one of the 
sixty-five Spemin ships were firing on the Phoenix, the shields at 
maximum absorption, losing eight percent every second, currently at 56 
percent. He needed a miracle, and fast. 

*** 

Gault looked over his display on the Confederate, seeing nothing worth
mentioning. He pressed his head back against his command chair, 
exasperated by the exercise in futility of searching for an enemy that 
was undetectable. He then quickly picked his head off the chair, 
wondering if her could catch lice from that mere contact alone. He 
closed his eyes for a momentary period of relaxation, but even that was 
interrupted. 

"Commodore," Gault's science officer startled him with the report, "We
have a contact, 0 x 1. It's huge, and... wait... they seem to be firing 
on... themselves." The science officers face was a mask of confusion. 

Gault sprang from his chair and let his battle instincts take over,
"Zvixx, plot a course and engage the contact. Condition Red, light up 
the shields, missiles and lasers. I want to be there five minutes ago." 
The rest of the ships in the task force took note of the contact, and 
didn't need to be ordered by Gault to make course for it, nor did they 
need to be told to go Red. 

*** 

Hixon was knocked to the floor by the repeated Spemin laser blasts, and
took only a second to catch his breath before climbing back into his 
command chair. The shields had given out five seconds previous, and now 
the Spemin were not-so-slowly burning their way through the Phoenix's 
class 5 armor. The Phoenix, for it's part had destroyed one warship, 
and thirteen scouts, but that still left 51 Spemin ships, all with 
their weapons trained on the Phoenix. Hixon, more defiant than scared, 
was about to give final praise to his bold and loyal crew, commending 
them on fighting with valour and courage, when the top left portion of 
the viewscreen blazed an orange-yellow. Hixon shouted a cry of victory 
as another thirteen scouts and one warship were incinerated by a pair 
of salvos from the Avenger and the Falcon, with the three CEVs firing 
at the rest of the Armada. The element of surprise lost, the Spemin 
ships fled, a once mighty force of sixty-five ships reduced to 
twenty-three, and badly outgunned. 

Hixon collapsed back on his command chair, breathing deeply a few times
before L'lenej informed him they were being hailed. He opened his eyes 
to see Commodore Mark James Gault looking back at him. Gault chuckled a 
little, and said simply, "You're gonna need a tow. You and your crew, 
stand down. Good work, Captain Hixon." 

Hixon breathed a deep sigh of relief, and replied, "Thanks, Commodore,
for everything. Phoenix out." He then keyed his squawk box to speak 
with his engineer, "Api, damage report." 

Apiphotex took a second before answering, "Coffee machine the working
okay. You figuring out the rest. Me the getting big drinky-poo, I think 
so." 

Hixon was a little taken aback by his engineer's insolence, but shook it
off and headed to his own quarters to recuperate. 

*** 

Gault sat back in his chair in his office in the Operations Centre of
Starport, going over the mission details and encounter reports from 
other ships engaging the Spemin over the past week and a half. There 
hadn't been any more attacks in a couple of days, which led Gault and 
the rest of the Interstel command to believe that the last couple of 
encounters had destroyed the all the Spemin's cloaking devices. The 
Spemin had tried to pass off the attacks as a series of training 
missions gone horribly wrong: a miscommunication leading to attacks on 
Arthean space, and had even as a gesture of good faith, would send an 
ambassador to Arth. Gault didn't believe any of it. There was no 
miscommunication at all, he knew, and the ambassador they were sending 
was nothing more than a spy. The Spemin would never change, and the 
Commodore would be sure to keep a good eye on the incoming slug. 

Gault then looked over his manifest of ships that had engaged the
Spemin, and saw the Phoenix. His old ship was in bad shape, having 
hardly survived the tow home, and would be spending a great amount of 
time in dry-dock. Thanking small miracles, Gault knew Hixon and his 
crew would need plenty of leave to recover from the brush with death. 
He already had the Belfast Windfall ferry the Phoenix's crew to his 
cabin on Heaven for some much needed R&R, and he made a mental note to 
leave them there for a while. 

Gault looked farther down the manifest and sat back in his chair. The
ISS Tyandega didn't make it home, being lost in a sneak attack close to 
the Veloxi border. The ISS Olympus reported engaging the Spemin with 
the Tyandega and defeated the invaders, but the Tyandega succumbed 
under the onslaught, and the Olympus was the only ship to come out of 
the battle intact. The notice continued to read that two ships would be 
built to replace the Tyandega and Halcyon, and would come under Gault's 
command. All that remained was for Gault to name them. 

Two ships lost, taking fourteen souls with them. It reminded Gault of
something from his previous life, years before he was born, of two 
spacecraft lost with all hands, the exact number as lost on the two 
ships on the manifest before him. Explorers seeking knowledge, to 
experience that which had only been beheld by a handful before them. He 
thought about that for a moment before sending a response. 

The two new ships would be christened the ISS Challenger and ISS
Columbia. 

Next: Part VI Horizons --- Some say man came from the sea and one day
shall return to the sea. I think God lives among the stars, and has 
called His children home. This story is dedicated to memory of those 
who have given their lives in the pursuit of knowledge and 
understanding: the intrepid souls lost aboard the Columbia, and those 
before them on the Challenger. 


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