Frontier's Reach: A Space Opera Adventure (Frontiers Book 1) by Robert James (beach read TXT) 📗

know it’s a lot of time to take out of your work.”

“If what’s down there is everything you say it is, I think it might be worth it.”

His rubbed his hands together. “Would you like to see it?”

It’d been the only thing on her mind. Then she thought about Nicolas. Well, maybe not the only thing.

“Come.” Javier ushered her to the elevator shaft and the Marines followed with the container. He closed the safety rail, and they descended farther into the surface of Orion V.

 When they reached the bottom, Javier let Susan go first. What greeted her was a small tunnel network, lit up by artificial lighting fixed to the walls. At the tunnel’s end appeared an opening.

“Be careful as we walk into the antechamber,” Javier advised.

She moved down steps cut into the ground beneath her and entered the vast antechamber. It was brightly lit, and at its heart, the object sat. The photos and the data that Javier had sent back to the Institute didn’t do it justice.

The Sphere.

All twenty meters in diameter of it, protruding from the ground beneath it as if it had grown from the rock. Its silver exterior shimmered in the light, creating an almost reflective surface.

“It’s like something out of a dream.” Susan walked toward it, doing her best to avoid all the equipment Javier had scattered around. She put her hand on its metallic skin. There was a softness to it she didn’t expect. She pulled her hand away, turning to Javier, who’d been no doubt waiting to see her reaction for a very long time.

A broad smile appeared on his exhausted face. “Just think, Susan, this artifact has been down here for six million years.”

Susan could barely comprehend its significance. “Orrorin tugenensis would have been taking its first footsteps on Earth.”

“And Homo sapiens were still millions of years away. Yet there was an advanced civilization in the galaxy that buried this object beneath Orion V all those eons ago.”

Susan looked closer at what was the most peculiar part of the sphere. The pictographic markings scrawled all over it were almost like ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. But not. “The language of extraterrestrials…”

Javier walked over to the container the Marines had placed down before them and put his hand atop it. “Let’s hope with some help we can translate it.”

Susan smiled. The excitement had been building inside her ever since she’d left Earth. Now she’d get to finally see if the journey was worth it. She turned to Major Ripken, who stood in front of the container.

“Open it.”

Sixteen

Decium Ore Mining Facility - Orion V

“Chief, incoming transmission from the Vanguard,” Bloch informed his superior from his console.

Administrator Koeman gave a curt nod to Nicolas, allowing him to step toward the console. “Open the commlink.”

“This is Marquez. Go ahead, Vanguard.”

“Sir, what’s your situation down there?” Commander Perera asked him.

“With the destruction of the tracking satellite, we’re down to orbital scanners only.” Nicolas gazed at the blank monitor before him while Bloch activated the perimeter scanners. “Has the unidentified vessel resumed its course?”

“Yes, sir, it’s heading our way.”

“ETA?”

“Just under ten minutes. It’s moving like a bat out of hell.”

A chill ran down Nicolas’s spine. “Check the fleet register and see if there are any other vessels in the region. Also, check the Commonwealth Shipping Network for any civilian flight plans.” He knew it was a long shot, being out so far, but it was worth a look.

As Perera got the Vanguard’s best and brightest onto it, the incoming ship appeared on the facility’s scanners.

“That’s a negative, sir. No other ship within a light-year.”

What in the hell is that thing?

Nicolas had read reports that Marauders in the outer regions of the commonwealth were getting more daring of late. But he thought it unlikely they’d attack a planet-based facility of Orion’s size. And even if it were Marauders, it wouldn’t explain the speed of the ship. Not even a Defense Force vessel moved that fast.

Koeman walked back over from an adjacent console. “I’ve instituted a facility-wide alert. Everyone’s been instructed to make their way to the evacuation shelters.” He frowned. “I’d tell you to get back to your ship, but you won’t have time.”

Nicolas couldn’t care less about himself at that moment, all he could care about was his ship.

And Susan…

UECS Vanguard

“Ensign Xeh, open a commlink with the vessel,” Commander Ravith Perera ordered.

“Commlink open, sir.”

“Unidentified vessel, this is the UECS Vanguard at Orion V. Please identify yourself.”

A hush permeated around the command deck. “You are entering restricted UEC territory. You’ve already killed a commonwealth citizen and destroyed commonwealth hardware. If you do not identify yourself, we’ll have no option but to assume hostile intent.”

More silence followed.

“Anything?” Ravith asked.

Xeh shook her head.

“Repeat broadcasting.”

“Aye, sir.”

Ravith stared at the command station with green lights flickering across the board. The relatively young crew had impressed him with how quickly they’d prepared.

He turned to Lieutenant Sharma, the ship’s combat officer. “How’s our team going in the torpedo bay?”

The lieutenant didn’t even have to check. “All forward tubes are loaded.” His console beeped. “Sir, the bogey’s coming into visual range.”

“Ensign Worthington, turn us away from the planet. I want to see what’s coming at us.”

With a touch of his console, the helmsman activated the thrusters and veered the Vanguard one-hundred and eighty degrees. Orion V disappeared from the viewport and was replaced with the dark depths of space. As the blip moved closer on the scanners, Ravith made out a speck in the center of the viewport until its shape formed.

Audible gasps spread around the command deck as the unidentified vessel slowed. It was huge. At least five times the size of the fleet’s largest carrier. Its four outstretched wings had jagged edges, while at the center there was a bulbous almond-shaped segment, which Ravith assumed was the ship’s command and habitat section.

Its color was black.

A deep obsidian black.

Like something from a nightmare.

“What the hell is that thing?” he overheard someone say from the upper level.

Ravith wished he knew the answer.

The vessel continued to move,