Beyond the Shroud of the Universe (28 page)

“Do we follow them?” the helmsman asked.

“Not yet,” Captain Sheppard replied. “There’s nothing we can do for them at the moment anyway, and we still have a mission to accomplish here.” He began issuing orders. “Steropes, get me a targeting solution on the asteroid. I want to know which engines to destroy so the asteroid misses anti-Golirion. OSO, destroy the jump modules on the asteroid and the engines Steropes indicates. If nothing else, we’ll keep the damn thing in this universe; they’ll have to look for their Ragnarok somewhere else. Lieutenant Rafaeli, get the other shuttle manned and ready. We’ll send it after our folks once it looks like the enemy ship is going to stay in one universe or the other for a while.”

“Dropping stealth,” the duty engineer said.

“Firing on the jump modules,” the OSO added.

“Do you want the shuttle to have a stealth module?” Lieutenant Rafaeli asked. “I just spoke with our squadron’s maintenance department and, at the moment, it does not.”

“Yes, I do,” the CO said after thinking about it for a few seconds. “We may need to sneak up on the enemy ship again, and besides, I imagine there’s a battle underway in the other universe; it might come in handy for the unarmed shuttle
not
to be seen.”

“Targeting sent to the OSO,” Steropes announced. “If we eliminate the two engines I have highlighted, the remaining motors
should
push the asteroid off to the side of anti-Golirion.”

“Should?” Captain Sheppard asked.

“Yes, they should,” Steropes said; “however, I do not know the capabilities of the ones remaining, like whether they can vector their thrust. I also do not know if the engines are pre-programmed or if they have a navigation device installed so they can compensate for the loss of the two engines I suggested destroying. There are many things I don’t know about their technology; I believe what I have suggested will be effective in removing the threat of the asteroid hitting anti-Golirion, but I can’t be sure.”

“I have eliminated 14 of the jump modules,” the OSO said. “We will need to move the ship for me to target any of the remaining ones.”

“That should be sufficient,” the CO said. “Normally, you have to have them spread out around the object being jumped. Getting half of them should remove any redundant capability they had. Destroy the two engines, then we’ll see about finding our wayward soldiers.”

“Done,” the OSO replied a few seconds later. “Both of the indicated engines have been destroyed.”

“Understood,” the CO said. “Duty engineer, stealth us back up. Helm, when that’s complete, jump us back into our universe.”

“Stealth on,” the duty engineer answered.

“Here we go,” the helmsman said. “Jumping back to our universe.”

“
Well sir, it looks like you’re going to get your wish, after all,
” Lieutenant O’Leary said.

“
But I didn’t
want
to capture this one,
” Calvin replied. “
We don’t know anything about them. That’s a bad way to start.
”

“
Well, I’d feel a lot more comfortable inside the ship than outside,
” Lieutenant O’Leary said, “
especially with a battle under way.
”

“
Agreed,
” Calvin said. “
Get the cyborgs started on cutting our way in.
”

“
One hole only, or do you want more?
”

“
Let’s go with two. If we only enter in one place, it lets them surround us more easily, especially since we have no idea where we’re going or what we’re looking for. Entering in two places doubles their targeting problems, while still allowing us to keep enough firepower in each group to fight our way out of whatever we get ourselves into. You take the Space Force, and I’ll take the Ground Force. If we can find engineering and the bridge, we can keep the ship in one place long enough for a rescue. What do you think?
”

“
Sounds like an easy day in the life of a Terran Space Marine,
” Lieutenant O’Leary replied. “
I’m excited to be a part of it.
”

“
Great, get started on that, and—”

“
Lieutenant Commander Hobbs,
Vella Gulf.
Please pass your status when able. Be advised, we have followed you back into our universe. We’re going to try to get the other shuttle to you for recovery, but need to put a jump module on it in case the ship you’re on switches universes again. We will let you know when the shuttle is enroute. The other shuttle doesn’t have a stealth module mounted at the moment, either, so it will take some time.
”

“
Roger that,
” Calvin replied. “
The platoon is down on the enemy ship with all personnel. The shuttle was destroyed, with both crew members lost. We’d love a ride home when you can get it here. In the meantime, we’re going to cut our way in and see if we can’t make ourselves at home.
”

“
Roger,
Vella Gulf
copies. Out.
”

“
All right, Lieutenant O’Leary,
” Calvin commed. “
Mount the explosives and let’s see about introducing ourselves to the neighbors.
”

“
Stand back, everyone; it’s about to drop,
” Sergeant Declan ‘Ducky’ Jones said as he completed the final cut on the Ground Force entrance. With two cyborgs cutting, opening an entryway into the ship had gone quickly. Sergeant Pierce ‘Big Sky’ Tomas had already completed his cut; he stepped back and aimed his Mrowry autocannon.

The section dropped a couple of seconds later, and Ducky jumped back from the barrage of light beams that erupted from the creatures waiting for them; he had to use his maneuvering thrusters to return to the ship.

The Terrans had been expecting a greeting party, and four soldiers threw grenades into the opening. Big Sky looked cautiously over the lip of the opening after the explosions and fired at one of the creatures still moving below. “
Clear!
” he called. “
Going in!
”

He dropped down through the hole and felt gravity return once he was inside the skin of the ship. Another of the aliens moved, and he fired a five round burst; what was left stopped moving. “
Weird…
” he commed.

“
What’s weird?
” Calvin asked.

“
These…things…or people or whatever the hell they are,
” Big Sky replied. “
They ain’t like nothing we got back in Texas, that’s fer sure, and we like to grow ‘em big there.
”

“
What do you mean?
”

“
Well, they look like what you’d get if you crossed a longhorn steer with a four-armed man,
” Big Sky replied. “
And then gave it an extra pair of eyes on a couple of antennas, just to gross everybody out. They’re weird lookin’ is all.
”

“
Are we clear?
” Calvin asked.

“Oh, yeah, we’re clear, sir,
” Big Sky said. “
There must be some sort of force field holding in the atmosphere, ‘cause there’s air and gravity down here. C’mon down and join the party.
”

The members of the squad dropped into the ship and found themselves in a hallway that extended in two directions.

“
We’re in,
” Calvin said, looking at the bodies and parts of bodies spread across the passageway. Although they had on suits and helmets, and most of the bodies were shredded, some things were obvious. The creatures were built somewhat like centaurs, but their bodies were heavy enough to be full-grown bulls, not horses. They had two arms on each side of their bodies, in addition to their four feet, and two eyes mounted on antennae that extended from the tops of their heads between their horns, in addition to the two eyes on their ‘faces.’ The aliens were weird, all right.

“
We’re in, too,
” Lieutenant O’Leary commed. “
There were a few bizarre-looking creatures waiting for us, but nothing a few antimatter grenades couldn’t handle.
”

“Merde,” Admiral Etienne Lambert, the strike group commander, said. He still hadn’t gotten used to having different tastes in his mouth every time he went through a stargate, and now it looked like he had stepped on a nest of vipers. “Let’s get this mess sorted, and sorted quickly. I want to make sure we know friend from foe here.”

As strike group commander, the admiral occupied an odd position in the naval force. He was resident on the flagship (so named because of the presence of the admiral’s pennant or ‘flag’ the ship displayed when he was embarked) and he outranked the ship’s captain; however, the admiral was not the commanding officer of either the ship or the relatively small air wing it carried. Thus it was incumbent on the strike group commander to delicately balance allowing the ship’s captain to command his ship, despite being both present and senior on the same vessel.

The admiral, however, did not like to be told, “No.”

“Sir, you don’t intend to take the fleet
into
that, do you?” the
Thermopylae’s
commanding officer, Captain Hayato Nakamura, asked from the front screen. The ship’s CO was on the ship’s bridge, two levels down and a quarter mile forward of the flag bridge. Over the course of their cruise so far, he had become very well aware of what the admiral liked…and didn’t. “We are still on our shakedown cruise and are hardly what I would call operational. Our crews are still learning to use the weapons systems. Additionally, it is just our three vessels; we don’t have any smaller ships to screen us.”

“Captain Nakamura, this system was chosen as our destination for a number of reasons beyond your simple ‘shakedown cruise.’ Not only are we here to deliver supplies and troops, we are also here to lend support to an ally. As I look at the tactical plot, I see an ally very much in need of support. I do not intend to run away from a friend in need. Not when we have a super dreadnought and two battleships that may very well turn the tide of this battle. All ahead flank! Prepare your crew,
Captain
; we
are
going to battle.” He terminated the connection and the screen went dead.

“Admiral, I am receiving a message from the Jotunn command ship,” the communications officer said. “Their leader would like to speak with you.”

“Put him on screen.”

An enormous humanoid filled the screen, wearing yellow and blue-spotted pelts. Similar to the image the admiral had seen from the
Vella Gulf’s
meeting with the Jotunn, their leader wore a chain-metal shirt over his torso and a metal helmet with immense horns.

“Ah, there you are,” the Jotunn said. “A Terran, huh? I was hoping to see what you looked like before I killed you. I am Fornjot Deathbringer, the Odin of the Jotunn. It was nice of you to come here, instead of making us come find you; we will be with you shortly.”

“If you would like to talk, you should cease combat operations immediately,” the admiral said. “We will be happy to work out a settlement between your civilizations.”

“
Talk?
” the Odin roared. “The time for talking is long past. Now is the time for killing. I intend to kill all of the Aesir in this system, and you as well.”

“What have we done to you?” the admiral asked.

“I am told you destroyed one of our ally’s ships. They do not take kindly to such an affront, nor do I. Your nation must be punished.”

“What do you mean by ‘punished?’”

“I’m sorry,” the Odin said. “Did I say punished? I meant destroyed!” He broke into laughter, which was echoed by all of the crew that could be seen.

“You intend to destroy our ships?” the admiral asked when the Odin’s laughter had slowed.

“Your ships?” The Odin asked, still chuckling. “Not hardly. I intend to destroy Terra!” He began laughing again and terminated the transmission.

“I see we’ve come to the right place,” the admiral said. “It will be my pleasure to help the Aesir against such uncultured barbarians.”

“Sir!” the strike group communications officer said. “The Aesir are calling. I have an incoming transmission from their Thor, who is on the battle station by the stargate.”

“On screen,” the admiral ordered. The front view screen lit up with the image of a dark-haired Aesir in a space suit with his helmet off. The skin that could be seen was pale blue, and only a small circlet around his forehead marked him as royalty. The circlet was hard to see through the smoky haze in the air, and the battle station’s devastation was evident behind him. Flames leapt from a console to one side but were put out by an off-screen extinguishing system.

“I am the Thor,” the Aesir said. “I apologize for the lack of formalities, but we are under some stress at the moment. My communications officer tells me you are from Terra. Might I ask your intentions?”

“It looks like you could use a hand,” the admiral said, “and I intend to give you one. We are inbound at flank speed to assist you.”

“Thank the gods,” the Thor replied; “we could certainly use your aid. The battle station is nearly out of missiles and is only at—,” he looked at something off screen, “47% of its normal operating status. If you have something that can kill the ships that keep jumping into and out of our universe, it would also be very welcome.”

“Our scientists have been working on that, and I think we have a few surprises for them,” the admiral replied. “If you could send us your tactical picture so we can sort out who’s who, we would appreciate it.”

“I will have our technicians send it to you immediately.”

“Hold on, Thor, we’re coming.
Thermopylae
out.”