Chapter 6: The Ghost Ship

“It’s crazy to think there’s so little light out there,” Chuang commented.

“Yes,” Bekra replied as she watched the camera feed.

“If the Itreans have taken the battleship, is the Paul Jones in any danger of being attacked by the Columbus?” Felix asked.

“We’re pretty far from it,” Carlos answered. “There should be enough distance from Columbus to warrant a defensive response from the Paul Jones. The Kig is also here to provide some backup as well. I’m more concerned about the cloaked ships, honestly.”

They could feel the shuttle’s rear engines begin to activate. They could feel a slight amount of constant acceleration being pushed onto them while the shuttle was heading toward the Columbus.

“You really think that the Aksren and Shal’rein are waiting to ambush us?” Felix asked.

“Well...” Carlos continued, “They found that one cloaked ship on the distant gas giant at Aphadus. I even heard some wild rumor that it was a traitor among one of the clans that helped reveal it. Yeah, the clans have cloaked warships. There could be one watching us right now. Before we reach the ship ... BAAM...” he exclaimed as he slapped his knee. “The cloaked ship attacks us, blows us to pieces, and then starts to attack the Paul Jones.”

“This would not be a typical way of attacking,” Bekra explained. “The Aksren clan maybe ... but even then, cloaked ships are hard and expensive to produce and don’t have the same attack capabilities as our battleships. Even if they tried to do this, the Kig would still escape and warn the others about it. The UHN would be even more cautious about responding to unusual phenomena, and the clans would fail in the future.”

“I’m beginning to think that the crew has been kidnapped,” Felix said. “No way would a ship just remain idle like this for this long.”

“Didn’t we already discuss this before?” Zalika asked. “We’re running around in circles, and this shit is just getting me spooked.”

“I agree,” Kole jumped in. “Mindless speculation on what’s going on needs to end right now. This is just wasted energy.”

“Yes ... I agree,” Ruby said. “Can we please talk about something else?”

“Right...” Felix said. “How about some music? Get some beats going on in this bucket.”

“I hear you,” Darshit got into the conversation. “Anything to end the silence.”

Kole decided to go ahead and interface with the shuttle’s systems. He tapped his arm keyboard interface, which caused a menu screen to pop up. He spent at least twenty seconds before he finally nodded.

“I found it...” Kole said as he tapped the button.

The moment that he did, some music began to kick in. Zalika recognized it as Cebravin rock music. It was by something that she recognized immediately. It was a popular soundtrack that was made by one of the veterans of the destroyed UHN warship “Gabatrix.” The soundtrack consisted of guitars, heavy singing, and a little mixture of rap and dance music.”

“Oh yeah,” Zalika nodded. “Fuck yeah, I love ‘Rampaging Comet Hound.’ I could never get enough of it. See? Chuang even enjoys it.”

“You like this group?” Harper asked him.

Chuang nodded his head in agreement.

“Happy man,” Harper remarked. “I love this group, too. Happy to see the marines adopted this as their main song.”

“Almost...” Zalika said, shaking her head. “Almost...”

Some people were nodding their heads to the beat. Darshit and Harper were almost singing the lyrics to the song as Hakizamana finally began to talk.

“Zalika ... from one Oshunian to another,” Hakizamana asked her. He seemed like he was ready to break up the lack of conversation. “I wonder. What continent were you born from?”

It was the first time that Hakizamana had ever really struck up a conversation with Zalika, and it almost took her by surprise.

“I come from Mendelland,” Zalika answered.

“Ellena,” he answered back.

“You’re lucky. Ellena has way more jobs available than Mendelland. Bullshit that they had all the tourism on Mendelland even though they keep the tourists away from the poverty-stricken areas.”

“You came from that area?”

Zalika nodded.

Hakizamana shook his head. “You wish to get into politics, Zalika?”

“Haven’t really considered it.”

“You should. Oshun needs good politicians. The ones that grew up in the worst will be the ones that make a difference.”

“Tsh...” Zalika said as she shook her head in return. “I’d be the one that the industries would bribe in the end. I’d be just like the corrupted politicians.”

“You don’t know that. Somehow, I would have a hard time believing that.”

“Well, ... I’m glad you have some faith in me. My first act of legislation would be free beer for everyone...”

Bekra could tell that Zalika was diverting the conversation away by making a joke. It was something that she took careful note of, though, as she looked at the two talking.

“I would vote for you,” Bekra said.

“Yeah, whenever that happens,” Zalika replied.

The conversation was something that spurned Chuang to ask a question as he looked at Adrian.

“Umm ... Adrian?” Chuang asked, directing his question at him. “Are you from Batrice?”

Adrian simply shook his head no.

“I think you’ll have a hard time trying to get him to talk,” Zalika commented. “Adrian is the only person who won a bet by having less than three words to say.”

“Then, where do you come from?” Chuang pressed his question.

Adrian reacted by looking at Harper and pointing his finger at him.

“Cebravis?”

Adrian nodded his head. His face and composure seemed to peer into his soul. Finally, Chuang appeared to acknowledge what was told about him and decided to challenge him.

“Alright then...” Chuang said, shrugging his shoulders. “We play a game where we say the shortest sentence possible. Three seconds, come up with a sentence with no more than two words.”

Adrian seemed to wait patiently as one second passed and then two. Finally, he said it with a smile: “You lose...”

Chuang knew that he made it too easy for him as a few began to chuckle.

“Chuang,” Karine said. “You would have more luck in getting me laid than ever getting Adrian to talk.”

“Really?” Felix jumped in. “Now, that’s something I’ll really have to try.”

“Speaking of which...” Karine said as she focused on Chuang hard. “Hey Chuang ... got anybody waiting for you from, I’m assuming ... Batrice?”

Chuang shook his head. “No. Nothing.”

“Virgin?”

He seemed somewhat embarrassed to answer the question. Cruz appeared to get a good kick from it.

“Hey!” Karine directed her anger at Cruz. “I’m making sure that he’s going to have a good time once we get done with this. More luck than you’ll ever have with me. What say you, Chuang? You ... me?”

Chuang looked at Karine closely. He was trying to figure out if she was serious or not. He could even feel his heart jump the moment that he heard it.

“Look at that face!” Karine smiled as he looked and pointed at him. “It gets men every time! You can always meet the true man every time you ask.”

Zalika kept a smile as she looked at him. “Yeah ... I see what you mean.”

Chuang seemed embarrassed to say anything further.

“Don’t you worry,” Karine told Chuang. “I like the innocent, shy man.”

“Karine...” Kole hinted at her to try to slow her down.

“Don’t worry, Staff Sergeant. I’m just trying to keep his head up.”

“And more...” Felix added.

The rest of the cabin seemed to either chuckle or shake their head at the comments and jokes. Chuang’s face seemed to turn a little bit red. For Zalika, she leaned back in her seat before she looked at Bekra.

“Are you doing alright?” Bekra asked her.

“How many times do you have to keep asking me that? I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

“You should listen to your girlfriend,” Cruz almost interrupted them.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Zalika asked.

“Well ... I just noticed that there was very little activity last night from your barracks room.”

“And?”

“I just wondered with these nice little augmented ears how good I could hear the moaning going on in the forest.”

“Hey, fuck you!”

Cruz shrugged. “I swore I heard something going on out there. Sounds like the activity from Darshit and Ruby’s room.”

“Cruz...” Kole said as he sighed. Bekra could tell from him that it was like having to contain kids who were getting rowdy.

Ruby shrugged and shook her head a little upon hearing it. Darshit almost put his hand on his helmet in disbelief.

“Yeah, and that’s as far as you’ll ever get,” Zalika replied. “You should have gotten some augmented eyes. With the hearing, that is all you’ll ever enjoy.”

“Cruz, I swear, man, you’re the incompetent lady’s man,” Karine said. “You should just go to the T’rintar ladies and just ask them that you’re looking for one. I would suggest it further, but I would even wonder if they would take you or not.”

“Sorry...” Cruz explained as he smiled. “Not really into the whole ... going reptile sort of thing. I prefer the ... one-night stand sort of variety.”

Bekra decided that it was best to stay out of the argument. She could feel a sense of prejudice that was coming from Cruz. His passive-aggressive comments and past actions had always suggested something more of his character than what it seemed. He just seemed mean to her and how he behaved, but at the same time, he would try to mask it a little bit with his jokes and not make it obvious.

The song ended as a new one took its place from Kole’s collected soundtracks. It was a form of Cebravin swamp rock. It consisted of heavy rock guitar mixed with a minor combination of synth that bound together. A few of the marines began to bob their heads, listening to the beat.

Chuang looked at the camera feed while the shuttle was getting closer to the Columbus. The ship was too dark to see, but there were a few well-lit lights here and there, giving some silhouette that could be seen in the darkness. Another thing that was happening was that as the shuttle was getting closer to it, the vessel’s mass blocked the stars in the background. It was the only other hint that they were getting closer to it.

“It’s like going to a black hole...” Kole remarked as he looked at the camera feed.

“Staff Sergeant?” Chuang asked.

Kole simply took a deep breath and remained entirely composed. “I assume you know what a black hole is, right?”

“Yeah, it’s a collapsed star.”

“Well ... the idea is that you have a collapsed star that’s in space. Its gravitational pull is so strong that light cannot escape it. Even radiation that it may seem to give off is pulled into it. What we see is ... nothing. Since it absorbs light, our eyes can’t track it.”

“Yet we can, though. I remember the science channel documentaries. Black holes have been photographed.”

“That’s because it is pulling matter into it. The matter is undergoing friction, and you can see the light that’s being generated before it is brought closer to the event horizon. That’s also the radiation and electromagnetic waves that we pick up ... but there’s one problem to it, though. What if the black hole was alone?”

“Then, there would be nothing happening.”

“Precisely. It would still be working as usual, but we couldn’t see it. The only way we could see it is if there was starlight, but only if it is in the way of it...”

“Then we just see a big black ball,” Chuang answered.

“Yep.”

“Are you saying that the Columbus is a black hole?”

Kole almost started to chuckle a little bit, but he seemed to keep it reserved. “No ... no, Chuang. Just observation. I’m just saying that the way the universe works is if a black hole is knocked from its course in a galaxy, it would wonder about the space between galaxies. There would be nothing for it to consume, and it would simply just be a starving black sphere until it finally finds something to eat. If you were traveling out in space, you wouldn’t even know that it was there until it was too late. Much like the Columbus, it’s just hovering out there ... waiting.”

“Waiting for what?”

“For us to check it out.”

As Zalika heard it, nothing else was said. The talk of the black hole was bringing to mind what she had seen in her nightmare.

“It was just like a black hole...” Zalika whispered. It was barely enough for Bekra to hear it, but her eyes looked at the dark mass ahead of her. She tried to chase away her thoughts, but Bekra helped break her thinking.

“Let me ask you, Chuang,” Bekra asked with a few clicks in her voice. “You said that you had a brother. Can you tell me more about him?”

“Yeah. I have one brother,” Chuang answered. “He serves the UHN as a pilot and engineer. I’m the youngest brother by one year. He’s stationed on Fort Batrice.”

“Wow, that big battle station?” Felix asked.

“Yes. He serves as a shuttle pilot.”

“And he never had any interest in joining the marines?”

Chuang shook his head. “Nah ... that was my job. I was into it a little bit, but I was pretty bored working on Fort Batrice. I wanted to work with guns and other good stuff. I had to join the marines ... basic training though ... phew...”

“Ha,” Karine added. “It only gets better from then on.”

“Attention, everyone,” the pilot interrupted the cabin. The music died down as her voice filled the area. “We’re nearing the Columbus. We’ll be docking with the starboard entry hatch in about three minutes.”

Kole didn’t need to say anything as he went and tapped the button to end the music. A few marines seemed bummed out, but it was time to get serious.

Zalika was looking at the shuttle’s camera feed as it was aimed at the Columbus. A couple of searchlights from the shuttle began to scan the object ahead of the vessel. It was barely enough, but she could make out the battleship silhouette closing in on the shuttle.

Even as the shuttle was getting closer and closer, barely anything could be seen. The battleship was too dark. What could be seen was a gray cylindrical vessel. It was smaller than the Paul Jones. One of the lights near the dorsal railgun turret was on, but they couldn’t see the ventral on top. There was another light near the centripetal ring, but it wasn’t spinning.

“If the ship has been taken over, are we in any danger of being shot down?” the Master Sergeant asked.

“It still might be a possible ambush,” Carlos answered. “Looking at it right now ... it just seems to be adrift. Even with emergency power, it wouldn’t be enough to fire the railgun before draining the cells completely. However, it could power the AIO turrets. Again ... telling it from here? It just seems unlikely.”

“What the hell happened on that ship?” Darshit asked.

“ ... I don’t know. It just seems to be dead.”

The shuttle’s nameplate could be seen as the camera focused on it. The light illuminated it to reveal the word “UHN Columbus,” written in both English and Chinese near the hatch. The words “MBB-81” were written as well. Another light was scanning the ship’s hull before the shuttle’s forward thrusters began to fire. It was slowing down increasingly while it was nearing the fallen battleship.

“Everyone!” Uluwehi called out. “We’re about to head into a possible contaminated area. I won’t remind everyone again. Check your O2 cyclers, and do not take your helmets off until I say that it’s ok.”

“Alright, alright, man,” Cruz said with annoyance.

Every team member began to look at their wrist-mounted displays and keyboards. The clear visors had been secured cleanly before the oxygen and air units activated in the armored suits. The communication headpieces all turned on immediately as they had to speak to each other through a mike and helmet headphones. A small series of dim lights lit up in the helmets so everyone could see each other’s faces.

For the first time, Chuang had a chance to see the T’rintar Aksren helmet as Bekra’s armor began to stretch outward. Much like how it was an extra layer of skin, the metal grew outward before it began to cover her neck and head. A series of glowing lights lit up near the eyes so that she could see through. The metal even closed around her crest as it covered up her beak, nose, and then her mouth. With that, she was entirely enclosed in her suit. It looked like you would need some of the best cutting equipment the UHN had just to get into it.

“Final comms check,” the Master Sergeant ordered.

One by one, each of the marines said the words “Check.”

Chuang felt nervous. At first, looking at this might have been some cause for celebration. To have a mission and action on the first day of arriving on Eutera was a level of excitement, but he also could feel his nerves begin to kick in. The Columbus was an ominous sight to behold. It was seemingly a ghost ship. No effort was made by the vessel to contact them. It was nothing but pure silence. There was no activity or any sign of life on it.

“No blast marks ... nothing,” Carlos commented. “Whatever happened, happened effectively.”

“You said that the only way to disable a ship was from the inside, right?” Chuang asked.

“Yeah ... unless the Itreans have some secret weapon available. Even if there was a bomb in that piece of debris, look at the shuttle bay doors.”

The camera was looking down the aft section of the Columbus before the shuttle’s vectoring thrusters were bringing it in for docking. One of the lights was focused on the massive starboard forward thrusters and starboard hangar bay doors. There were no signs of an explosion, but the doors were closed.

“Even if there were a blast,” Carlos commented. “If you had a powerful enough explosion, it can breach those doors wide open. If there is an atmosphere in that bay, a nuclear explosion can tear the ship apart. Conventional explosives could still do heavy amounts of damage, and yet ... nothing.”

“It at least warrants out explosive decompression,” Kole remarked.

“We haven’t had a chance to see the other side yet, but yeah ... at least from this viewpoint ... there aren’t any signs of struggle.”

“Should we try to enter in from the hangar bay instead of the hatch?” Kole asked.

“Negative,” Carlos shook his head. “Judging from the lower power output, opening the doors would only drain the power reserves of the ship, plus ... do we know if there is even enough room to get in?”

Master Sergeant Wei shook his head. “No. The Columbus has both shuttles. The bay might be able to hold three, but pushing them will be way harder.”

“In other words, we stay with our main goal,” Kole answered.

“We’ll be using the shuttle’s power to connect to the hatchway of the Columbus. It won’t drain the warship’s reserve power.”

There were more tremors in the shuttle cabin before the vessel was perfectly parallel with the battleship. The ship was at a full stop when it began to use its vectoring thrusters to stick with the massive hatch. Everyone inside was ready, though, as the shuttle had arrived.

“Master Sergent,” Uluwehi asked. “I recommend that after we get inside, the shuttle will disconnect and remain at a safe distance.”

“Your reason for that idea?” Wei asked.

“To limit any possible contamination. The pilot is already in her suit, but I don’t want to risk us taking anything in that we can transfer somewhere else.”

“Yeah, but what if there is an Itrean team ready to attack us?” Zalika asked. “We would be slowed down in our escape if the shuttle has to reconnect again.”

“It’s your call, Master Sarge,” Kole told him.

As the older man looked at the camera feed, he seemed to think about it. It didn’t take him long for the highest rank to reach a decision that felt the safest.

“Pilot,” Wei commanded. “I want you to disconnect the shuttle when our team gets in. I want you to remain 50 meters away until the Paul Jones or our team calls to reconnect. We can’t risk the threat of a contagion from getting loose.”

“Understood, sir,” the pilot replied. “Don’t worry. I won’t go anywhere unless told otherwise.”

The shuttle’s port hatchway was extending outward toward the starboard hatchway. Like a long rectangular tube, it was the vein between both vessels. The shuttle was seemingly tiny compared to the enormous battleship. The shuttle only had a length of about 30 meters compared to the battleship’s 300-meter size. Regardless, the shuttle had to be squeezed into an area where the starboard anti-missile turret was near the shuttle’s nose to make the perfect connection. Both vessels had to move at the same speed and trajectory or remain still to ensure safe docking.

The docking tube slowly extended until it made contact with the hull that led to the hatchway. The shuttle’s power core and computer’s accessed the hatchway lock. A small amount of air pressure was pumped into the tube before the tube’s door was interconnected into one. The hatchway lock disconnected, but the door remained closed.

“Alright, everyone,” Wei announced. “You know of our current adjective. We’ll be going through the hatchway tube and securing the hatchway passageway. Once that is done, await further orders from me.”

“Aye!” Many of the marines called out as they undid their straps and began to stand up. Their magnetic boots clicked and held them to the deck as each marine readied their weapons and equipment.

Zalika, like many of the marines with their M18s, pointed their guns up. Each soldier was loaded to the maximum capability. In zero gravity, weight was no issue, only mass.

“Let’s do this,” Felix almost yelled.

Chuang had his armor at the reduced settings but had full control of his PDW-20c. With both hands, he had the gun cradled to himself. Essentially, the smaller gun did make sense for his load out. The other marines were bulkier with the M18s. Karine looked like a titan with the M19 grenade launcher. The guns alone took up so much room that the space inside the shuttle was fully utilized. However, Chuang felt more at ease with what he had and was ready to do his job. Regardless, he always felt a small form of anxiety at the events that were transpiring.

“Safeties are still on until we get inside the Columbus,” Wei ordered.

“Yeah, Harper,” Felix joked, looking at him. “Remember that drill with the vehicle two weeks ago?”

“Ah, shut up,” Harper replied with a smile. “That was an accident, man, I swear.”

“Chuang, you’re mine,” Zalika ordered. “I want you glued to me and Bekra at all times. I’ll not repeat it again.”

“Understood,” Chuang replied as he stepped towards them. He again remarked on the power armor that Bekra wore.

Bekra was calm as she kept her rifle stuck to her chest. She had one hand on the handle to ensure that it didn’t go anywhere.

Felix was busy looking at the data displayed on his suit, which interfaced with the shuttle and Columbus’s hatchway.

“Alright,” Felix said as he nodded. “We got a green light to the Columbus. Magnetic locks are perfect.”

“I’m checking the medical scanners of the hatchway,” Uluwehi said as he was looking at his own data. “The scanners don’t pick up any harmful contagion, but that doesn’t mean anything. We can go ahead and go, though.”

“Then let’s move out,” the Master Sergeant said. He pressed a button near the hatchway door as air pressure equalized between the hatchway and the shuttle’s interior. This pulled some of the marines a little bit, but the magnetic boots anchored them in place.

The marine team was staring down the long rectangular hallway. It was the only separation between the void of space and inside, but the teams stood ready in their suits. The Master Sergeant was first, aiming his M18 down at the hatchway. Felix was next, keeping his PDW-20 pointed at the hatchway.

The team, even with their numbers, all moved as one. Marines moved in two rows together in one formation while they kept their equipment and guns aimed away from one another. Zalika, Chuang, and Bekra were near the rear. The end of the column of soldiers finished up as the team cleared the shuttle’s hatchway door. The last thing that could be seen was Bekra’s armored tail before the door closed.

Only the sound of clicking boots could be heard with the faint sounds of breathing as the marines closed in on the Columbus’s hatchway. Felix then touched his keypad before he looked at the Master Sergeant. The older man gave the nod for the go-ahead.

With a simple button press, the hatchway opened to reveal a dark passageway. It was pitch black as the lead marines pointed their guns into the interior of the warship.

“Clear so far,” Felix said. “Switch to your night vision modes.”

With a simple click, all the marines’ helmets began to place an overlay on their terrain. Pitch-black darkness became day as the marines could see correctly in the dark. The infrared scanners provided data that fed to the helmet visors.

What they could see was an empty crossway. Silence ruled the vicinity. The lack of power was daunting but not to a well-equipped team.

Zalika could see each marine like they were glowing. Their infrared and enhanced illumination allowed anything to be seen out of the ordinary from a certain range. Each marine stepped forward as their weapons powered up and began to aim at each point in the crossway. Using the walls as partial cover, they got to a good vantage point while they looked at each corridor’s direction.

“We’re clear here,” Zalika said as she watched Bekra and her tail step past the open hatch of the warship. “We can tell the shuttle to depart.”

“Agreed. Do it,” Wei ordered.

Zalika went and tapped a few buttons on her arm computer. A channel opened up before she spoke.

“This is the Euteran Marine Boarding Team. All marines are on board. The shuttle is clear to go ahead and disconnect.”

“Roger that,” the pilot replied on the intercom. “Godspeed, marines!”

With that, the intercom closed. The hatchway closed quickly as Zalika watched out of a small transparent window. She could see that the air pressure was being moved away from the shuttle hatchway docking tube. Within less than a minute, the shuttle had fully retracted its hatchway and began using its vectoring thrusters to keep it at a safe distance.

There was so little silence that it was unsettling for Zalika. Only the subtle sounds of breathing could be heard from the helmet’s comms channel. It was dead silence.

Ahead of Zalika was the crossway that led to the hatchway on the other side of the warship. She could go left or right while she saw the marines rush forward and establish a perimeter. The rest were close to either Kole or the Master Sergeant.

The moment that the marines pointed their weapons downrange, they would be powered up. The passageways alone in the warship were enormous enough for the marines to move around quickly, even with their equipment. The M18s were pointed from the hip depending if the person was right-handed or left-handed. The gun’s camera systems would feed the information and display it to the marine’s helmet to show where the gun was pointing. Where the camera was looking at was where the bullet would go when you pulled the trigger. The displays on the M18s also showed a sensor and data display showing the number of rounds available to it and the gun’s condition. There was also an environmental display system that fed data to the marine as well.

Bekra went and took a position near the alcove. Her smaller size allowed her to get next to another marine and almost part herself next to their weapon. She had both hands on her rifle as she disconnected it from her armor and pointed it downrange. The rifle’s scope was also fed to her armor system. With her, she had her gun more upright towards her head to look through it. Her helmet also adjusted to the scene while it lit up everything that was too dark to see. In the darkness, only the red-lit slits glowed.

Karine took center stage of the marines before she got directly in the center of the marines and aimed her large M19 down the long passageway toward the warship’s rear. The grenade launcher functioned very much like the M18 but was heavier due to the grenade rounds present.

Uluwehi was lightly armed. He only had an M80 pistol in his possession, but he was also focusing on a wrist computer. His role as a medic was seemingly more important than anybody else’s. He was processing the data the sensors were giving him. A display showed an empty corridor devoid of life.

“So far, I’m not picking up any heat signatures other than ours,” Uluwehi commented. “Air pressure is ... normal. Air content is good. Temperatures are a little below than expected ... It’s at 11 degrees Celsius. Scanners so far don’t detect any pathogens.”

Chuang watched as Zalika pointed her rifle in the same direction as Bekra. She gestured for him to stand by behind her. His rifle was at the ready while the other marines got situated at the crossway.

Zalika was looking down the long passageway leading to the warship’s bow. The night vision, while amazingly effective at showing the terrain, still had some limited range. Regardless, she could see nothing within at least 35 feet ahead of her.