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

was a testament to the firepower the ship in orbit wielded.

He walked up to one of the few carriages still on the tracks and took a seat behind the controls. He prodded at the console to see if it had any juice in it. Luckily for him, it lit up.

He’d operated nothing like it before, but figured if he could pilot spacecraft it couldn’t be that difficult. He pressed the lever forward, but the carriage didn’t budge. He studied the console. A red button stared him in the face. He prodded at it, and the carriage lurched forward. He pushed the lever farther to increase speed and peered ahead down the dark tunnel.

I’m coming, Susan.

Nineteen

Cargo Ship Argo

The Argo’s FTL engine disengaged, and the old cargo ship slowed to sub-light speed. Jason’s head spun in circles as the giant globe of Orion V appeared through the bridge’s forward viewport. Even after taking two doses of detoxification tablets he still felt like crap. His body just wasn’t used to them. He always reckoned that if you were going to get drunk, you might as well do it properly.

“Bring us to a full stop,” Tyler said from the captain’s chair.

Kevin toggled at the controls on the helm. “Full stop.”

Jason unbuckled himself from the seat at the rear of the bridge and walked over to Aly at the operations station.

“Are you picking up any communications, Aly?” Tyler asked her, joining Jason’s side.

She shook her head. “Nothing but dead air.”

“Anything on scanners?”

“Clear as well.”

Tyler frowned. “Okay, open a commlink to—”

“No, don’t!” Jason wailed. Everyone on the bridge turned. At the systems station, Althaus stared daggers through him.

“If there is someone out there,” Jason said, “we can’t give away our position.”

Tyler considered for a moment and nodded. “Kevin, start orbital insertion. One-eighth thrust. Nice and steady.” He put a hand on Aly’s shoulder. “Keep your eyes on those scanners.”

As the minutes passed, Orion V got continually larger through the viewport. A beep from operations broke up the silence.

“Whoa,” Aly said, glued to her monitor. “I’m detecting debris. Dead ahead.”

The spinning shapes of scattered, twisted metal appeared before them. The sight was an all too familiar to Jason from his time during the war.

“The Vanguard?” Althaus grumbled.

“Let’s see,” Tyler said. “Kevin, take us slowly through the debris field. Aly, zoom in and see if you can find any markings.”

Jason kept a keen eye on her monitor, but nothing appeared obvious. “Can you determine the makeup of the debris? Quantity and materials? It’s not always possible to identify a vessel from its remains by visual inspection.

Aly nodded and let Jason study the readings. Heavy concentrations of lurinium, a key component of all CDF ship construction were evident throughout. The volume in the field was consistent with that of a cruiser.

Jason frowned. “This was the Vanguard.”

“Hell.” Althaus stood from the systems station and walked to Tyler’s side. “If there’s something out there that did this to a commonwealth cruiser, what could they do to us?”

Jason’s thoughts drifted to the people on the planet. “There’re thousands of workers down there, Althaus.”

“Perhaps not anymore.” Aly pointed at the topographical representation of the surface on her monitor. Something had scorched the facility and its surroundings. “Looks like aerial bombardment.”

Her console beeped.

“What is it?” Tyler asked.

“Oh god!”

They all turned to the viewport as the Argo moved through the debris field. A dark speck hovered in orbit.

“What the hell is that?” Althaus asked no one in particular.

As the Argo maneuvered closer, the object’s outline became clear. The large black vessel sat above Orion V like a gigantic menacing raven. More terrifying than anything Edgar Allan Poe could have envisioned.

Jason couldn’t take his eyes off it. “Whoever blew up the Vanguard, I’d guess.”

“You may not have listened before, but you should now,” Althaus said. “We have to get out of here unless we want to end up dead.”

“Althaus is right,” Jason added, appalled admitting he agreed with his uncle.

Tyler rushed over to Kevin, grabbing hold of the back of his chair. “Set a course to port and turn us around, one-quarter thrust.”

Kevin plotted the coordinates and moved the Argo off.

Tyler turned to Aly. “Are they in pursuit?”

She shook her head. “They either didn’t pick us up on their scanners, or they’re ignoring us.”

“They saw us. We’re undoubtedly little more than ants to them,” Kevin mused. “An annoyance.”

“I used to like stomping on ants when I was a kid,” Althaus said.

“That’s because you’re an asshole,” Jason retorted.

Althaus was about to say something, but Aly’s console beeped.

“We’ve got activity,” she said. “There’s a smaller ship breaking away from it.”

“A fighter? Are they in pursuit?”

She shook her head at Jason. “No, it’s heading toward the surface.”

“Just to be safe, let’s head to the opposite side of the planet.” Tyler returned to his chair. “If they should change their mind, I don’t want them coming after us.”

With the unidentified ship in the review mirror, Jason pondered. Earth had nothing like that vessel. The Centaurans didn’t either. No one did. “What could be down on the mining world that they’ve gone to all this trouble for? It’s not like decium is a rarity.”

The question lingered around the hushed confines of the Argo’s bridge.

“Aly, I assume you’re still not picking up any communications?” Jason asked.

“Correct. With all the damage down there, it wouldn’t be possible—”

“With all the damage,” Althaus interjected, “there’s not likely to be anyone else alive to rescue.”

“Those mine shafts go fairly deep,” Kevin said. “Someone might have survived.”

Jason walked to Tyler’s side. “We’ve got to go down.”

“Are you out of your mind?” Althaus bellowed. “We don’t know for sure that anyone’s left down there. But we do know the last ship that came along probably pissed them off enough that the debris field was the result. The shipping code instructs us to use reasonable actions in any rescue operation. This is hardly reasonable. It’s too dangerous.”

Jason ignored his uncle. “We have to find out if there are survivors.” He pressed on Tyler’s console to the side of