Chapter 4: Pushing Forward

Six days had passed. The inside of the recruits’ room had seemingly shown some mental scars of Stone’s aggressive training. It was dark, with only a couple of low-level lights to help indicate where things were located. Isandro was stirring in his bed. Enlai had the bottom alcove bunk on the other side of the room. Gavrill and Dariea had assumed the four-hour watch for the eight-hour sleep the recruits were entitled to have. However, the continuous rigorous work and little sleep were taking their toll.

“Ah...,” Isandro lightly whined in his bunk. He grunted as he opened up his eyes.

“Can’t sleep either?” Enlai asked him.

“I ... I don’t know if I can keep doing this,” Isandro whimpered a little bit. “It’s ... it’s too much.”

“Hey ... Stone is tough, but you can do it, man. You’re tougher than you look.”

“It isn’t that. Yeah, it sucks to have four hours of sleep every day and be ground to a pulp. But ... I wasn’t supposed to be given a second chance. I never was.”

“Why? Getting caught fucking another recruit in boot camp isn’t exactly a death sentence. Hell, there were some nice women in my division that I would have fucked if I had a chance.”

“Not him, though. It was a mistake...”

“It isn’t a crime to be gay. Martian law doesn’t stop that from happening. He must have been quite the catch.”

“He is ... was ... he was a source of strength to make it through boot camp. We just ... I just ... took things too far. Now we’ll have to pay the price for it.”

Enlai turned his head and looked at Isandro. He was crying but doing his best to hide it. Enlai knew that there was something that was deeply troubling him. He always knew that Isandro was the weakest link in the chain. To lose him would further hurt the four-person division.

“It seems strange,” Enlai commented. “I’ve never really heard of recruits getting kicked out because they were caught servicing another recruit. I mean ... it happens, I guess, but I would imagine that they wouldn’t have kicked you out in disgrace for it either. Maybe PTed you to death, but not that. It just seems ... extreme. Are you sure that you didn’t rape the guy or something?”

“No! ... no...,” Isandro lightly chuckled. “Far from that.”

“Maybe you should let Stone know all of this.”

“Stone wouldn’t care. He’s heartless as a rock.”

“Yeah ... he’s beyond intense, but ... I would still try, man.”

“I don’t know...” Isandro cringed a little bit. “It’s best to just let me go. The UHN would be better off without me. I would just be slowing them down.”

“WAKE THE FUCK UP!” Stone’s yelling filtered through the closed door. It shook Isandro in his bunk. His heart skipped a beat.

“Oh, oh,” Enlai lowered his voice drastically. “Has Stone caught Gavrill sleeping again? I can’t believe that guy can sleep while standing.”

“DO YOU KNOW THE ENEMY MAYBE GUTTING YOU WHILE YOUR DIVISION IS SLEEPIING!?” Stone pressed his yell. “YOU’VE LET THEM ALL DOWN! EVEN YOU, RECRUIT RAZOR. YOU DIDN’T STOP HIM. SECOND FUCKING TIME. Maybe you need something to help you out in keeping that blood pumping!? Both of you drop and give me thirty right now! RIGHT NOW!”

“God, please don’t let him ‘wake-and-bake’ us,” Isandro whispered.

“He won’t...,” Enlai whispered back. The light sounds of counting could be barely heard as Enlai laid his head back on his pillow. He was preparing for...

The doors of the recruit room slid open. Stone’s fierce gaze looked into the dark room. Light flooded it from the outside passageway. Isandro’s heart was frozen with fear as both of the non-sleeping recruits closed their eyes. Stone’s augmented eye was scanning the two bodies and anything that might be out of the ordinary. Gavrill and Dariea were busy counting their pushups before the doors slid closed again.

“I keep forgetting he has an augmented eye,” Enlai remained still and whispered.

“Don’t you have one too?” Isandro whispered back. He remained still with his eyes closed.

“Not like his. His is better. I can barely see past these walls ... not from this range.”

“Damn...”

“We’ll make it ... we’ll make it,” he assured him.

Isandro sighed as he tried to recompose himself. “Enlai ... thanks ... for trying to ... help me get through. You know a little bit about me. What about you?”

“I finished up high school like you. I was ... watching the Itrean war start up. Mars was in a panic before the T’rintar alliance. To me ... I wanted the glory. Get to impress the ladies. No offense to the alien babes, but I prefer the human variety. At least they are making it easier for me now they are thinning the herd of men. My family was against the idea...”

“They didn’t want you to join?”

“They ... were pacifists. They don’t believe in war. It’s not like I disagree with them and all, but ... I want to protect them in my own way.”

“Same here. Ioren told me about the medical program.”

“You should go for it. Become a marine corpsman.”

“I’ll ... don’t know.” His doubt was still present, and Enlai could tell it in his whispering.

“Hey...,” there was a smile in Enlai’s voice. “You think that I might be able to ... swap watches with Gavrill?”

“What do you mean?”

“Or you would take up watches with Gavrill.”

“Why? Gavrill is ... Gavrill. Oh ... you want to have watches with Dariea.”

“You know me,” Enlai smiled. “Can’t wait to shower with her.”

“You think that she would allow that?”

“If we shower separately, it would be less time and sleep for the both of us. Plus, I think she has the hots for me.”

Isandro lightly snorted. “I didn’t get that impression from her.”

“Trust me, she does.”

“Her personality doesn’t match with yours.”

“Oh, we’ll make it match after these two months. She’s going to do it. I bet she’s a minx in bed.” There was a pause as Enlai imagined seeing her naked in the shower before it quickly faded. “So ... have any brothers and sisters?”

“One sister,” Isandro replied. “She’s ... in boot camp too.”

“Oh? A sister, you say?”

“Don’t get any ideas. My sister is already engaged. She’s expected to get married after she finishes up training.”

“Damn ... I bet your sister is hot.”

“Like I said, she’s already engaged.”

“More the reason for me to get Dariea. Please, please swap with Dariea. I’ll pay you.”

“Ugh...” Isandro shook his head on his pillow. “Let’s try to get some sleep before Stone catches us and bashes our brains into the deck.”

“Yeah,” He said one last time. “As I said, stay confident. Remember the marine motto. Redder than blood...”

“Blood for life,” Isandro completed the saying. Despite him saying that his confidence was nowhere near restored. Enlai tried once again to fall asleep, but Isandro would take even longer before rest would eventually fall upon him.

It was seven hours later. Javier stepped through the open doors of the elevator to arrive on the main bridge of the Lifen. The zero gravity was present as the other crew members were appropriately strapped into their chairs. Javier was more well dressed than the other crew members, that were in their typical blue and red jumpsuit uniforms. The formal dress of the officer attire was still somewhat tight but consisted of redder colors. One of the crewmembers saw him and lightly praised him.

“Looking good, sir,” Petty Officer Ramirez commented. The seemingly Paloran individual briefly looked at him before he looked back at his console.

“Thanks,” Javier replied.

The Lifen lander’s main bridge was way more streamlined than what Javier remembered on the old Jian Seng. By now, the smell of a fresh new interior was welcoming when compared to the old horseshoe transport’s stale air oxygen recyclers. The Lifen’s bridge was more spacious. It was flatter and more brightly lit. While the darkness was somewhat welcoming on the Jian Seng, the Lifen still looked cozier. It was located on the top rear of the vessel. It had a way of serving as a balcony to a giant theater. There were several viewscreens. The forward largest provided a welcoming sight directly ahead of the ship. A sizeable gray metal slab can be seen jutting forward into the enormous ocean of space. Two rows of heavy AIO gun turrets were located on it before it would reach a protruding jutting slab platform that laid over the bow’s main entry storage bay door. The forward side mounted AIO turrets could be barely seen from the bow. The secondary bridge was on the top starboard side. Even if the ship wasn’t a battleship, it was the most powerful combat transport that the UHN offered.

The bridge consisted of two back rooms, a restroom, and a bridge commander’s private office. The heart of the area was the six consoles. Each console on the side was allocated to either engineering, communications and sensors, weapons, and auxiliary. The bridge officer’s console was located in the middle rear. The forward-most console consisted of a navigation and piloting station. For each console, there was a chair and a crew member that was operating it.

Javier recognized most of the gang that was operating it. Many former Jian Seng crew members who survived its harrowing attack months ago were here. Petty Officer Ramirez was operating the weapons console. Petty Officer Marselle, the woman with a pale complexion that piloted the Jian Seng, was now serving the navigation console. An Oshunian engineer by the name and rank of Petty Officer Obasi was operating the engineering console. Junior Lieutenant Patterson, an officer that Javier knew rather well, was manning the communications and sensors console.

And, of course, Shira was sitting in the main chair of the bridge. She had assumed the watch as commanding bridge officer. She, like Javier, was already in her formal officer’s attire. She wasn’t smoking at the moment and was busy looking at her display information. Javier could already see that the ship was near Fort Prisidia, the Martian gate array and the pride of the UWA. Prisidia’s history as the first constructed gate array ever made was unmistakable. It was tethered to the Martian surface and orbited above the surface canyon city. It was a busy hub of commercial traffic. Besides the large gray ring, it had four spinning centripetal rings on its sides. Arrays of weapon platforms and docking tethers lined beyond the rings. In the center of the gate array was a tiny vortex that was starting to form

“Gate aperture to Gu’ii’lo’Trelda is at 20% and growing,” Marselle said.

“Looks like you beat me to it,” Javier said to Shira as he walked up next to her.

Shira remained quiet at first, almost as if she were preoccupied, but she finally broke the silence. “How well do you know of the Gu’ii’lo’Trelda system?”

“I researched it if that’s what you’re asking,” Javier remarked.

“I was once debating about assaulting this system when I first became part of the Shal’rein military,” Shira calmly explained. “Its defenses were formidable but not impossible to beat. In the course of 9,000 of your years, the planet has faced 29 invasions from various clan species. Only minimal damage was ever inflicted on its surface. Yutilian resistance was well established. It remains as the bastion capital world of the Gui’optre Kingdom.”

“What happened?” Javier asked her. “You were planning on attacking the world that we were now going to?”

“I had a plan on sieging Hesa, the moon of Gu’ii’lo’Trelda. It would have lured the Yutilian forces away from the planet. Many of the assault transports would have landed on the surface to claim major strategic points throughout the planet. In many ways, it would have been what I was initially going to do to Aphadus if the Adjuncts pressured me.”

“You were really that close to sieging Aphadus?”

“Fortunately, for many of you, they rejected their idea and remained with my initial assault plan. To return to your initial question, Hesa is lightly defended. It only consists of old mining colonies on its surface. The Kingdom of Gui’optre places little value on the moon since much of its resources have been depleted. However, if pressed, the T’rintar clan would still respond to threats since we could use Hesa as a staging ground to shell the surface of Gu’ii’lo’Trelda. A series of other space battle campaigns would have been further staged to engage and wear out T’rintar defenses in the months to come.”

“Gate formation at 60%,” Marselle informed her. “Guia ... Gui ... umm ... the Itrean planet reports that they are picking up the aperture opening 30,000 kilometers near Hesa.”

Javier could see the swirling vortex begin to form more and more. By now, seeing such a spectacle had been mundane, but it was still a sight to behold. For people that relied on technological innovations, folding gate technology was still a partial mystery in how it worked. It was simply beyond all human ingenuity. It seemingly defied the laws of physics. It was both a gift and the only known means to reach from one section of the galaxy to another without spending millions of years on conventional drive travel.

“18,000 light-year jump,” Patterson remarked with a mild form of surprise. “I would have never imagined it...”

“Deep in the heart of Old Space...,” Javier added. “Months ago, it was 2,000 light-years ... now it’s 18,000. I truly thought that there were limits to gate folding technology.”

“There never was,” Shira calmly stated. “Only current proper astrological charts are needed.”

“Otherwise, you could end up lightyears from your intended destination,” Patterson shook his head. “Ugh ... still makes me feel uncomfortable that we are making such a huge jump in one go.”

“At least we’re not making a jump into Dead Space,” Javier remarked. “That idea just gives me the chills thinking about it.”

“As it should,” Shira remarked. “However, there is much opportunity in returning to that area of space. Emotions of the past should not be a deterrent in reviving new potential settlements in former discarded territories. The Itreans have long but given up on that area where Old Space has still managed to flourish.”

“Even the name of Dead Space just sounds scary,” Marselle added with a shudder.

“I don’t fully understand the jargon,” Ramirez said. “What does it mean?”

“Where we are going is a place where the current oldest surviving Itrean worlds still operate,” Javier explained. “It’s an area of space where the Itreans have done their best to keep worlds habitable. Beyond that gets into an area known as Dead Space. It’s supposed to be the place where Itrean civilizations have long abandoned. It’s supposed to be a large graveyard of destroyed planets and lost fleets.”

“It would be haunted,” Marselle frowned.

“Bah...,” Ramirez replied. “Nah, it wouldn’t be haunted, but I imagine the weapons they had to use. Blow up planets. The cannons they used to do it. Had to be some serious hitting firepower. Antimatter warheads?”

“Correct,” Shira said. “If the Itreans had enough of it.”

“Damn..., I wouldn’t want to be on those planets when that happened. Too bad we don’t have anything like that.”

“It would probably be for the best,” Javier added. “Even the Itreans avoid using a lot of that for a lot of reasons. Old Space is the place and time when they stopped using it because it was better to capture a planet than blowing it up.”

“Still ... it would be cool to have a gun to blow up a planet ... maybe blow up a moon,” Ramirez started to make a small series of “pew pew” sounds before he made an explosion sound effect with his lips and hands. It caused Marselle to look at him with some mild playful form of disgust. However, she knew the man was simply pretending to be a child that just gotten his first toy gun. Marselle smiled and looked back at her console.

By now, the wormhole had fully formed. There was a slight flash of light as the black vortex formed in the center of the swirling blue and purple mass. Small pieces of lightning would erupt from the central aperture.

“Fort Prisidia reports that the wormhole is at 100% formation and stable,” Marselle said.

Shira looked at her console for a brief moment to track the data coming from her end. Javier turned to look at the viewscreen. He reached over to the console and tapped the button to activate the all-stations communication line.

“All hands,” Javier called out. “Prepare for wormhole jump.” He ended the communication line and looked over to Shira.

“Take us in,” Shira ordered.

“Aye, Ma’am,” Marselle replied. The pilot grabbed her joystick and punched in a few commands on her console. Then, she pressed her foot down on a form of accelerator pedal as the Lifen’s rear engines began to light up slowly. Inside the cabin and interior, a small number of g-forces hit the crew. Nevertheless, the straps and magnetic boots held on as the ship headed directly into the wormhole. The large gate ring of Fort Prisidia was getting bigger as they drew near.

“So...,” Javier recoiled lightly from the forces pressed against his body. He looked at Shira. “What happened? Did you ever get to assault Gu’ii’lo’trelda?”

“No,” Shira answered. “Half the forces were assembled, but my mother intervened. At the time, she claimed that the T’rintar clan had moved three task forces to the Kingdom of Gui’optre’s sector. They would have been able to halt the entire invasion force. The other adjuncts agreed with her. The operation was canceled.”

“Your mother stopped you?”

“Correct. It would have been the 30th invasion of Gu’ii’lo’trelda and my first major offensive to lead into battle personally. At the time, I didn’t have the correct intel available to me on the sector movements. It was likely that I would have altered the plan and possibly carried out with it, but Veleshar saw otherwise.”

“It sounds like she was trying to save you and the troops’ lives from going into a suicide battle.”

“Yes ... and no,” Shira’s shark-like eye scanned the data on her console. “At the time, I was ... disturbed on how quickly she called it off. I believe that in the end, I would have still won the inevitable battle. The intelligence report later confirmed that only one taskforce fleet had moved to the sector. My mother had overcalculated the reports given to her and reacted to them. Instead of letting the event happen, she let her emotions judge her actions and decisions.”

There was no emotion in how Shira presented her explanation of her mother, but Javier could see the slightest inflection of disappointment on her face. He wouldn’t have a chance to evaluate her further when he looked upon the wormhole. He could see the ship enter the vast aperture in less than a second. Suddenly, the ship was enveloped in what looked like a small tunnel of light and energy.

He felt that he was in several places at once. The feeling was much stronger than he had ever felt before. It was as if a light push of force was being applied to his chest. All of this happened in about two seconds. His mind couldn’t decipher what was happening.

Was this what happened in long-distance jumps? Javier’s mind was trying to figure it out. Perhaps a distance factor was applied to wormhole jumps of extreme range. It was not harmful, but it was an unusual feeling.

It wouldn’t last long. Within two seconds, the Lifen emerged into a new section of space. The stars were arranged differently. Javier felt his body return to normal as if nothing had happened. The g-forces were no longer present as the Lifen’s rear engines had cut out. It was coasting forward at a slow speed straight ahead.

Javier had a pleasant view of the nearby planet of Gu’ii’lo’trelda. It was a world that was around the size of Earth. The planet’s lit side revealed that of a brown, green, and yellow landscape with the signs of large lakes. There were no oceans that the eye could see. It was too difficult to decipher the cities that dotted the surface with the atmosphere and cloud cover from the distance.

However, the world’s most prominent and noteworthy feature was that it had a sizeable gray slab planted over the northern hemisphere. It was utterly enormous, consisting of almost 20% of the surface. Even if light didn’t fully cover the planet, the massive sheer lights that glowed from this location were prominent. An extensive array of various green warships and transports were navigating from the planet. The small cylindrical vessels dotted the orbit. This was a world filled with commercial activity. Javier had known of the significance of Gu’ii’lo’trelda. It was one of the oldest surviving colonies, but more because the Itreans chose to save and preserve it. The massive surface slab was one enormous city and manufacturing center. It served as one of the largest commercial hubs in the T’rintar clan. While they didn’t focus on warship production, a vast quantity of freighters and transports came from the surface shipyards.

“We’ve cleared the aperture,” Marselle reported. “Sensors show that we have arrived in the Gui ... umm ... we’ve arrived at our intended destination, Ma’am.”

“Nice save,” Ramirez joked with her.

“Understood,” Shira stated. “Patterson, Inform Fort Prisidia that we have arrived. Remain at this speed and heading.”

“Aye,” Patterson confirmed.

“It’s like a giant metal patch,” Ramirez commented.

“Your analogy is correct,” Shira explained. “Gu’ii’lo’trelda survived heavy shelling hundreds of thousands of years ago, near the beginning age of Old Space. Alara’jal warships attempted to bombard the surface when the planet’s population refused to surrender. Two shells struck the crust and shattered the sections causing heavy damage before the Alara’jal fleet was obliterated. However, the Yutilians were determined to repair the planet. It took them thousands of years, but they mined the surface, restored much of the planet’s environment, and turned the world into a construction facility.”

“Wow...”

“It’s pretty much the history of a lot of the planets of that time period,” Javier noted. “It was either vacate and find a new home or stay and fix it. Gu’ii’lo’trelda, just happens to be one of the brighter examples of a people that decided to stay and restore what they had lost.”

“And an effective result,” Shira commented. “Gu’ii’lo’trelda supplies a sizable percentage of the logistics and commercial vessels for the T’rintar clan. To control it is to control the Kingdom of Gui’optre, assuming that you can take it.”

“Captain,” Patterson called out to Shira. “A ship is approaching our coordinates. It’s...” he paused as he seemed to be trying to figure out the type of vessel. “A ... Tiltra class Carrier?”

Patterson altered the main screen to the warship that was closing in on the Lifen. Javier had recognized it to be a ship that was very similar to Shira’s former vessel. Looking at it in the front, the green-colored carrier had a triangular and cylindrical appearance. It was an oversized space shuttle consisting of guns on the lower sections of the compartment, hangar, and launch tubes on the top front near the main bridgehead. A railgun turret was supposed to be on the top rear, but it had something else. They almost appeared to be munitions tubes mounted on a rotating turret. The entire lander was connected to a large rotating centripetal ring, power, and engine module, much like the Lifen. The forward thrusters were activating as it slowed its descent towards the UHN transport.

“Interesting...,” Shira remarked at the sight.

“It looks like the Garja,” Javier commented.

“Because it is.”

“What?”

“When the Garja was surrendered to the UHN, it was later transferred to the T’rintar clan. It was modified and registered under a new name with the T’rintar assault forces. It’s been given command to...”

“Ma’am,” Patterson informed her, interrupting her. “I’m receiving an audio-only hail from the Avastier, the ship closing in on us.”

“Open up a channel with them. Marcelle, prepare to come to a stop.”

“Aye, Ma’am,” both replied. Within a few seconds, there was static, and then a clear communication line was established with the approaching vessel. Javier looked over to Shira, wondering what her thoughts were during the situation. Finally, a female voice came through the line. It was a higher pitch than Shira’s voice, with the tiniest of accents that were applied to it.

“This is Adjunct Veleshar of the Assault Carrier Avastier wishing to establish contact with the UHN Lifen.”

“Adjunct Veleshar,” Shira calmly replied. “This is Captain Shira of the UHN Lifen. I read.”

“Shira...,” Veleshar remarked. Javier noted the tone of the voice. Unlike Shira, there was genuine emotion. It was difficult to tell since he couldn’t see her face. There was the sound of a deep sigh of relief.

“Shira,” Veleshar’s tone returned to a professional and contented voice. “I request to dock with your ship. Come to a halt so that I may come aboard.”

“Granted,” Shira replied. “Once you come aboard, I will have one of my guards escort you to my stateroom, Shira, out.”

The communication line was severed once Shira pressed a button on the console. There was not a hint of any emotion or relief in her composure. Instead, she placed her fingertips together.

“Marcelle, come to a complete stop,” Shira stated. “Patterson, have Ensign Behzad escort Veleshar and her guards to the stateroom. Ensure that she doesn’t deviate from her path on the ship. She is to go to Stateroom C1 only. Is that understood?”

“Yes, Captain,” Patterson replied.

The ship’s altitude-adjusting thrusters pointed forward and activated. G-forces pressed forward as the vessel had come to a slow stop.

“Once the ship comes to a complete stop, inform the crew that they are free to move about.”

“Aye,” Patterson said.

In about ten seconds, the ship’s exerted g-forces had stopped. The Lifen had completely halted in space after the engines ceased. Javier could see the incoming carrier’s forward adjusting thrusters were slowing it down after the long period of travel from the planet. It was odd seeing the Garja’s colors painted to the dark green color. But, it was just like all T’rintar clan vessels. He could have never imagined seeing the ship that had once played a part in his kidnapping so many months ago sitting there, now manned by T’rintar crew members. On top of that, it was commanded by Shira’s mother. Even with a different name and a new coat of paint, the memories of his past followed with him.

She turned her head to Javier. “Come with me to the stateroom.”

“Alright,” Javier lightly replied to her. He began to undo his straps while Shira did the same thing. Patterson was ready to take the console that Shira was sitting in. Javier knew what would happen next, but a part of him felt he needed to address a few things with Shira. It would have to wait...

The Captain’s stateroom was quiet for a moment as the lights were somewhat dim. Javier was once again readjusting to the gravity that was being pinned to his feet and legs. He was standing not that far next to her. About twenty minutes had passed as Javier knew that it had been mostly quiet with her.

Shira was saying nothing as she stood near her chair. When she shifted her long tail, it caused the metal on her holstered gun to shimmer from the overhead lights.

“You wish to say something,” Shira said without looking at him.

“You’ve been very quiet,” Javier replied.

“Does my silence bother you?”

“Under these circumstances, yes. Your mother is coming to see us. Aren’t you excited?” He frowned and answered his own question. “No ... I guess you wouldn’t.”

Her head turned to look at him. “Why would I be excited to see my mother?”

“Well ... because she’s your mother. You know?”

“Does me not showing excitement mean anything different?”

“You haven’t seen her in a long time...,” Javier sighed. “I just feel that you would at least ... feel something.”

“Let me ask you a question,” She looked away from him. “If your parent decided to join the Aksren clan and fought against humanity, how would you feel about it?”

“I would ... I would be very angry.”

Shira said nothing else as she looked at him with her one shark-like eye. A part of him was still trying to defend the moment.

“Why did you want to meet you mother?” Javier pressed his questions.

She once again looked forward. “I will ask another question. Following the same hypothetical question, I asked before, if you were able to confront your parent after they committed to that action, would you do it?”

“Yes, I would. Still ... this situation is different. Don’t hold a grudge against her.”

“It would be difficult for me to do so. When you learn to hold your emotions, being happy, angry, or sad is something you rarely need to exhibit.”

Javier had to change the subject since Veleshar could be here at any moment. “I spoke to Stone. He will be coming to the meeting. However, he’s too busy to get formally dressed for this upcoming brief.”

“It’s expected.”

“I agree with you. I know Stone is busier than hell with training the recruits. Now he has to attend this meeting to add to the palate of stuff that he already has to do.”