Chapter
Three
Stevenson stepped into the mess hall holding a
data PADD, on it was displayed the path extrapolated from the data collected
thanks to the correlation found between the interference patterns. He didn't
have to look up from the PADD as he crossed the nearly empty mess hall. He
arrived near the replicator and asked for a cup of Darjeeling, it was only when
he looked up to look around while his beverage was materializing that he saw
Amanda Parker, sitting at the far-end of the mess, staring out the window.
He didn't think it was a good idea, but he approached her
anyway.
"Am I disturbing you?" He asked.
She blinked a few times before turning her head to face
him, she stared at him a moment and said: "Yes but it doesn't
matter."
"Oh I can find another table you
know…There's…uh…plenty of room."
"No, no please…" She spoke softly, her voice
barely above a whisper. "Please sit down."
He dropped into the seat opposite to hers and placed his
cup of tea on the table. She had turned her head to look back out at the stars.
"Uh…" Stevenson cleared his throat noisily.
"We'll have projected the most likely course the shadow entity ship took
after destroying Amad in about ten minutes."
"That's good." She didn't move.
Another moment of silence went by and Stevenson was
beginning to feel uncomfortable.
He decided to try again: "The last time we met the
entities we managed to destroy one of their ships using a new type of torpedo.
We call them phasing torpedoes."
Parker inclined her head slightly in Stevenson's direction,
he continued:
"They're capable of phasing and have a 75% chance to
hit shadow entity vessels. So we'll be able to defend ourselves in case there's
an attack."
She wasn't listening anymore.
He studied her a moment, she had a very elegant profile,
the outline of her face was angular and her skin was slightly pale. After a
short while he finally said:
"Look…Uuh…" He
scratched his head. "I'm not so great at talking about these kinds of
things…What happened to you may have been bad but we need your help now. You've
got to help us stop the shadow entities before they attack again."
She closed her
eyes and sighed: "I'm sorry…But it's just that I can't get my mind
straight."
"You have to," he said, forgetting his tea that
was probably cold by now anyway. "You're the only person who saw the ship
and you ran some of the scans yourself…"
"Do you realize how hard it is?" She asked, her
voice suddenly becoming edgy. "Do you realize how hard it is to work
without seeing the faces of the people I knew below? Do you realize how much
effort is needed?"
Stevenson opened his mouth but she continued: "No…I
suppose you don't realize. Nobody knows how hard it is. My husband was
down there."
He blinked.
She closed her eyes and a tear ran down her cheek.
"You can't know…"
She stood up and quickly left the mess, leaving Stevenson
alone.
He looked down at his cold tea and sighed sadly.
"Yes…" He whispered. "I know…"
* * *
Captain Kline hadn't really thought that this was going
to be easy, but he certainly hadn't thought it was going to be this
hard. In the future, he would remember not to underestimate how mysterious (and
annoying) space is.
"You're kidding right?" Denial, of course…
"I wish I were." Greg Eskina sighed without
taking his eyes off the Ops console. "But Engineering is 100% positive…The
residual energy trail leads straight into that."
By 'that', Eskina was referring to the rather dense
asteroid field in front of which the Valiant was momentarily holding its
position.
Kline took a deep breath, the path that the shadow vessel
had presumably taken lead straight to the middle of the asteroid field. The Valiant
wasn't a big ship and navigating through an asteroid field was no problem,
especially not for Sylvia Burnel who was sitting at conn…The problem was that,
if there was a confrontation with the vessel, things might get a bit more
complicated.
As if reading his thoughts by simply looking at him,
Sutter said exactly what he had been thinking: "We don't have a choice,
sir."
He nodded: "I agree, Commander."
"So…" Eskina cleared his throat noisily.
"We're going in?"
Kline nodded and Eskina sighed: "Great…"
The captain bent over Burnel's shoulder: "Sylvia, I
need you to keep this ship in one piece."
"No problem, captain." Burnel smiled.
"Deflector power to full strength," he said,
heading back to his command chair and dropping into it. "Shields up, go to
red alert."
The red alert siren rung throughout the ship and the
lights dimmed from a cozy white to a heavy red. The tension suddenly tightened.
"Bring us in, conn. Nice and slow," Kline said.
"Aye," She said.
She accelerated to half-impulse and the Valiant
penetrated the field.
* * *
A strange silence settled all over the ship, on the
viewscreen the grey space rocks tumbled passed without a sound. The constant
buzz of the ship was the only thing that could be heard.
Kline found himself nervously tapping his thumb on the
smooth armrest of his command chair. Unable to hold himself, he stood and took
a few steps nearer to the viewscreen.
"What's our status?" He asked quietly, as if
someone would overhear him and give away the ship's position.
"Still in one piece," Sylvia said slowly, her
eyes fixed on a holographic representation of the field displayed in front of
her.
"Torpedo bays report the phasing torpedoes are armed
and ready." Mantion said. She was so still that she could have been a
statue.
"All systems nominal," Eskina reported.
Kline kept his eyes fixed on the viewscreen.
A hissing noise made everyone jump.
Kline swiveled and saw Amanda Parker step onto the
bridge.
"Miss Parker," he raised an eyebrow. "What
are you doing here?"
She hesitated and then said: "I have to see them
again…"
Kline studied her face, it was a mask. He nodded at her
and turned to face the viewscreen once more.
The waiting continued for what seemed like an eternity,
but was actually only minutes. The tension level had slightly lowered but
remained.
Eskina's voice broke the silence: "Sir! I'm picking
up something!"
Kline was about to ask the Ops officer something when
Mantion interrupted him.
"
Sylvia suddenly exclaimed: "They're coming down on
us!"
The ship suddenly rocked violently and Kline was thrown
back into his chair where he was able to catch himself. Everything was
registered in his mind, everything had become clear. Time slowed, and he took
control.
* * *
They were back…She saw them swoop down in front of the
viewscreen like the terrifying mental afterimage of a nightmare. Except that
this was real.
She remembered being on Amad,
hearing her colleagues scream as the shadow entities swooped down upon them and
destroyed their bodies. She remembered being on the shuttle, watching the
massive interphasic ship fire crackling pulses of energy that annihilated
entire cities whose shields were down.
She remembered his face, and tears welled up in her eyes.
Suddenly, as the ship was struck. She fell to the ground,
felt something hit her head hard, and she fell into darkness.