Lokians 1: Beyond the End of the World (21 page)

“
Sahagun is a small, white, dwarf
planet,” she reported.

Nandesrikahl walked over to the screen and
looked over her elbow. “What’s it called? The system, I mean.”

“
There was no name for it. In fact, the
only named object was the planet.”

“
Well, that won’t do. What do you think
about Centaur system,” he asked the bridge.

“
Good a name as any, I suppose,” O’Hara
shrugged.

The aliens looked around. Nandy figured they
were confused. Finally, Lam-Yung asked why and for what reason.

“
I don’t know. It’s in the Centaurus
arm. Just seems fitting, I think. Besides, I get the feeling we’ll
be needing to chat about this place in the future. Why not give it
a proper name, eh?”

O’Hara patted his friend’s shoulder. He
didn’t care much about what it was called. He only cared about what
was there, but whatever Nandesrikahl needed to do to keep his mind
clear was appreciated.

“
Anyway,” Lam-Yung continued, “data
indicates Sahagun orbits an enormous C-class star with an intense,
gravitational pull. Any planet too near the star was either pulled
in and destroyed, or over heated and coalesced as a gas giant. One
of those gas giants ignited thousands of years ago, acting as a
smaller sun.

“
Sahagun is mostly composed of Calcium
and covered in a thin layer of frozen water. We haven’t any life
signs, though,” she trailed off.

The admiral walked over from across the room.
He covered a hundred yards in a matter of seconds.

“
An exploration team is our best bet,”
he told O’Hara. “I hope you join my men on the ground.”

“
Thank you, Sir. I’ll gather my crew on
one of the Explorers.”

As O’Hara led his men out of the bridge, the
admiral’s orders resonated throughout the Carrier’s intercom. Among
the orders was a mention of which Explorer was taking leave. Making
a mental note, O’Hara turned to his comm. He relayed to Phoenix
Crew orders to suit up.

As soon as he was geared, he ran from crew
quarters to the elevators, where he met up with Fitzpatrick. Her
head was freshly shaved, so he ran his gloved hand over her scalp.
She winked at him.

“
You ready for this,” he
asked.

Shaking her head, she said, “Ready as I can
be…you?”

“
Honestly…I hope we don’t run in to
trouble, but if we do, I’ll do my best to keep
coordinated.”

“
Roger that.”

“
Where’s your better half?”

“
I’m sure he’ll be the last aboard the
Explorer.”

“
Why?”

She just arched a brow, smiling. O’Hara’s
brow furrowed. He didn’t know if she was implying he was having
relations, and if that was the case, he was doubly worried about
with whom.

“
Day,” he called through his
comm.

“
Copy.”

“
On your way to the
Explorer?”

Fitzpatrick looked him over. He saw her from
his peripheral, but didn’t look at her directly. By the time the
door slid open, and they stepped onto the Explorer bridge, Day came
back.

“
I’m lending air support.”

“
You’re gonna’ fly a fighter”
Fitzpatrick yelled at O’Hara’s wrist.

“
Yep. I like the Type-B ships. I
already have one picked out. So, if you’ll excuse me,” she cut
communications.

“
Anyone else have any surprises,” the
captain asked aloud.

“
Sir,” Swain saluted. O’Hara returned
it. He had been standing with some Thewls outside the lift,
talking, when the captain showed up. “I think I have a
surprise.”

“
What?”

“
You asked if anyone had a surprise,
well, they asked me if I want to drive a rover; I’d love to put one
of those babies through its paces,” Swain said, eagerly.

“
You don’t know how to drive that
thing,” Martinez said. O’Hara turned to see him exiting another
lift. “’Sup, Cap?”

“
Hey…do you know how to drive
one?”

“
I’ma ‘bout to find out,” Swain
replied, comically, pretending to lean back and drive
lazily.

“
Captain, gentlemen,” Nandy said when
he stepped onto the bridge along with some Thewls, who immediately
took posts. “This is so exciting.”

“
Hey! Keep it in your pants,”
Fitzpatrick joked.

Unable to stop smiling, Nandy just showed his
pearly whites, while Marty rattled off how great the new rifles
were. DeReaux joined them, followed by more Thewls, and then the
agents. After Swain bolted for the loading zone to pick a rover,
the rest kept their eyes glued to the monitor at the far end of the
Explorer’s bridge.

Chapter Thirteen

O’Hara and crew marched to the loading zone
where they piled into multiple rovers. Rather than keeping Humans
and Thewls separate, everyone shared seats. O’Hara was stuck with
the agents, who stared at the ceiling while a Thewlish countdown
ensued.

****

In the far reaches of space, against a
backdrop of distant stars and the hazy, light of a glowing, gas
giant, the Carrier employed stabilizers, reducing speed to a
standstill. As immense panels released hydraulic pressure, rotated,
and slid beside the enormous sphere, Explorers and various fighters
took formation. One Explorer took point, locking onto Sahagun, a
tiny speck of white, like a snowball floating amidst the
interminable void.

One-by-one, the space crafts pierced the thin
atmosphere. Zooming over crags, mountains, smooth, webs of ice, and
numerous depressions formed from millennia of crashing comets, the
Explorers finally touched down, where hatches opened to release
eight rovers. Swain occupied the driver seat of one carrying
Martinez, DeReaux, Fitzpatrick, Zakowski, and three Thewls. Another
vehicle carried O’Hara, Nandesrikahl, the agents, and four Thewls.
The squadron of surveyors barreled over bumpy, frosty terrain.

****

All were awestruck by the glowing, gas giant;
it resembled a pulsating, reddish moon. Flares of pinkish fire
gushed out in all directions, giving the impression of a beating
heart. Though the planetary body was too far to fully light
Sahagun’s surface, it provided a degree of luminescence.

High hills and deep valleys of crystal
reflected dazzling patterns. Bright flashes shone back inside the
vehicles; headlights bounced off the shining environment, forcing
everyone to squint.

“
Did we get any signs of civilization,”
Nandesrikahl asked.

“
Not that I heard of. I assume they
landed here though. Maybe they left their ships or something. What
are we looking for, anyway,” O’Hara inquired.

One of the Thewls answered him. “A sign of a
sign, I suppose. There was nothing specific, so we’re just
systematically scanning on the ground while the air crew surveys
overhead.”

“
If traveler technology advanced, a
sign of their existence here may be more difficult to find,”
Franklin commented.

“
Meaning,” O’Hara asked.

“
Meaning they very well could be or
have been here, but easily covered their tracks. They were
underground on Marduk. Logically, they dwelled underground here,
too,” Adams explained.

“
We had readings and energy signatures
on Marduk,” Nandesrikahl added.

The agents shrugged.

“
Oh, that’s reassuring,” O’Hara
snipped.

****

Back on the Carrier, Lam-Yung picked up an
energetic anomaly. A sort of harmonic distortion was working its
way through the surrounding subspace, but data revealed nothing in
their vicinity. After reviewing heat and magnetic resonances, her
scans indicated a mass collapse of a section of nearby subatomic
particles.

“
Admiral, we may have a
problem!”

Glossing over the readings, he first ordered
his men check for a miscalculated jump. A tear in subspace was not
an impossible result of such, but everything turned up fine. Then,
readings spiked; six, enormous objects of incalculable mass were
coming from nowhere; they literally appeared from dark space, and
headed straight for the Carrier at an alarming speed. Scanning for
material composition revealed alloys often found in Lokian
construction.

“
Admiral, that can’t be!”

“
It has to be,” he yelled. “They’re
moving at faster than light speeds. Look, it’s the only way they
can escape the pull of their own black holes.”

“
Their own black holes?”

Suddenly, readings stabilized. The enemy had
patched the space-time fabric. No sooner had Thewls taken a breath
that the Lokians came to a halt. Readings indicated a flood of
information.

“
They’re releasing fighters, Sir,”
someone barked.

“
Damn it,” Yew grumbled. “Message the
rovers. Inbound enemies. Tell them to make exploration their only
concern. We’ll handle the Lokians space side, and the scrambled
ships can handle them planet side. Got it?”

“
Sir!”

All aboard the Carrier, Thewls darted off for
their posts, for ships, and those unable to cram into lifts took
stairs and maintenance shaft.

****

Back on Sahagun, the crews of each rover
braced themselves. “Aw, shit,” Swain gasped.

“
Stay focused. They got us covered,”
Martinez reassured.

Swain looked to the Thewl on his left, who
nodded. “You’re doing fine. Head for the ice mountains in the
distance. You there, take the gun,” he said.

Martinez wasted no time, moving to a seat on
a slightly higher level towards the rear of the rover. Another
Thewl quickly ran down instructions on how to operate the
cannon.

“
Hell yeah! We gonna fry these
bitches,” Martinez yelled.

****

Just beyond Sahagun’s atmosphere, the Carrier
powered its weaponry. Apart from plasma cannons was a devastating,
anti-matter, reverse, magnetron charge, or just AMRMC. Swain and
Martinez had studied its properties extensively during their week
long trek. It was an ingenious weapon, which fired a conglomerate
of anti-matter particles. The reverse, magnetron charge contained
the explosion caused by collisions of matter and anti-matter
particles. In short, the AMRMC caused a destabilization of spatial
particles, a potent, high frequency, explosion, but partially
contained in one spot.

Lokians were closing in at a phenomenal rate.
Their fighters, creatures bred and built in a fashion resembling
mechanical beetles and hornets, took the forefront. Quickly and
efficiently they arranged themselves in such a tight formation that
they maneuvered as one, single unit; they were like a swarm of
fish, which sensed one another via lateral lines.

Thewlian fighter pilots looked on in horror
as shiny, sleek, space bugs bore down. Gritting their teeth and
dimming their faces, they prepared for the worst. Then, Yew’s
orders blared over speakers.

“
Once the enemy fighters close the gap,
fire the AMRMC. I want to blow this alien trash to Hell and back!”
The enemy came in, shifting panels to reveal all manners of
protuberances, cannons, glowing membranes, and arcs of fizzling
energy. Thewlian fighters held firm, however, they knew what an
AMRMC did, and they wanted no part of its catastrophic damage, so
they waited, breaths held, for the enemy to move just a little
closer. “Fire,” Yew shouted.

From the Carrier’s cannon, a black blast flew
through space. It covered some serious distance before the reverse
charge broke down. Suddenly, as anti-matter particles were freed
from their field, they collided with standard particles, resulting
in an expanding array of black and white lightning. Carnage knocked
out half the Lokian fighters—the whole of their rear—in mid-flight,
yet the enemy transporters remained a safe distance as if gauging
the battlefield.

Slowly, the AMRMC blast vaporized, leaving
Thewlian forces an opportunity to engage half as many enemy
vessels. They broke into various formations, fired plasma bursts at
the insects, and tried to dodge laser beams.

****

“
Steady,” an unfamiliar Thewl voice
spoke into Day’s earpiece.

“
Who’s that,” she asked from behind the
helm of her Type-B vessel.

“
The coordinator, he’s piloting one of
the ships,” one of her men replied.

Day and her comrades remained poised as the
enemy headed directly for a collision course. “Why are they coming
in straight?” she was freaking out.

“
Stay calm,” the coordinator advised.
“My squadron attacks when I say, Human.” Day sat wide-eyed, fingers
shaking over the controls. She wanted to make eye contact with
someone, but her vessel was designed with several partitions.
“Now!”

A volley of blue-green struck Lokian forces.
Day immediately executed evasion maneuvers. To her dismay, a second
wave of Lokians pulled up at the last second, efficiently avoiding
the brunt of the cannon blasts, and after pulling up, they took a
wall-like, formation, firing red lasers from tubes resembling
stingers.

“
Oh, my God,” she cried.

“
Steel yourselves, men,” the
coordinator yelled. “Ready for a second volley.” She pulled away
from enemies in flight, held her breath, and once the word fire
erupted through the ship, another volley of plasma lit up her
surroundings. “Quickly, now! Initiate attack formations! Move!
Move! Move!”