“Let`s go hunting Captain.” Quasar said to Captain Odessa. “That fat space cruiser on our starboard side looks to be a ripe fruit just ready to be plucked.” Quasar said smiling at his captain. Quasar looked to be normal, he appeared to be one who would believe in certain virtues, however he was in fact the most evil of creatures, a fact that Odessa knew all too well.
“Turn thirty degrees to starboard helmsman and then take us up to attack speed. Lieutenant Carli target the enemy cruiser on our starboard bow.” Captain Odessa ordered grimly.
The Andromeda was soon approaching an aging space cruiser of the Regan Empire, which began to swing towards them as it prepared to defend itself. The cruiser should not have been in this battle, it was far too old, however the Regan fleet was so short of starships that it had been forced to bring this one out of retirement.
“Fire two of our forward Phasers, as soon as you are ready Lieutenant Carli.” Captain Odessa ordered in almost a whisper.
Twin beams of energy leapt from the Andromeda to explode against the forward defence shields of their new victim the shields lit up as they absorbed the massive amount of energy impacting against them.
“A full spread this time Captain, do not test my patience please.” Quasar`s voice boomed out causing the bridge crew to cringe in fear. It was not often that Odessa managed to rebel against his conditioning but he had this one time. He felt a sharp pain that suddenly exploded within his head and then run up and down his body, the ship`s computer was punishing him for his act of defiance, the pain was inflicted by the small device on the side of his head. He clung on to the arms of his chair as his screams shattered the silence of the bridge. Quasar`s eyes locked on his and he felt himself slipping back into complete subservience.
“Fire a full spread of our forward Phasers this time, Lieutenant Carli, when you are ready.”
Captain Odessa`s voice wavered a little as gave this order, he was fighting against the pain that Quasar now began to inflict upon him. Quasar knew that his computer had already punished his captain for the treacherous act, but he enjoyed watching his victims as their bodies’ nerve centres reacted to his personal attack upon them and he heard his victim scream out in pain. Somehow, Odessa fought back his screams of pain this time, as he watched his energy bolts race towards the aging space cruiser.
This next spread of energy bolts should have impacted near to bridge of the Regan starship however in the time it took to punish Odessa the captain of that vessel had managed to swing his ship far enough to limit the damage to his starboard defence shields which were beginning to buckle as the starship`s power began to fail. The ship had thwarted four other attacks on it that day and it really needed to escape this battle and undergo a massive repair program.
“Fire another full spread of our forward Phasers, Lieutenant Carli, before they can escape us.” Captain Odessa exclaimed loudly. The computer had now finished reconditioning Captain Odessa and he was once again loyal to Quasar.
Four more beams of energy leapt from the Andromeda to explode against the starboard defence shields of their victim. The cruiser shook as they impacted against its failing defences with much of the energy of the attack passing through them and severely damaging four of its decks. The captain of the badly damaged starship heard the screams of his men as they died, and with each new scream he also died, piece by piece the battle was taking its toll of him. Some of his crew burned to death while others were sucked out into the vacuum of space, whichever way they died their captain felt their pain.
“Helmsman, turn 180 degrees to port, head for the planet Remus.” He cried out in desperation, fear showed on his face as he now looked across at the view screen and saw their attacker bearing down on them apparently untouched by the battle.
“Quickly, Captain finish her off before she scampers away to safety.” Quasar screamed out, for he was not about to allow them to escape even though they were thoroughly beaten.
“Lieutenant Carli aim for her engine, another full spread.” Odessa ordered.
The four beams of energy sprang forth from the hull of the Andromeda to impact against the rear of the wounded starship; the starship visibly slowed as flames sprouted out from the various parts of the ship that had been breached by this and the previous attack.
“Again, Captain, finish her now.” Quasar demanded.
Odessa ordered yet another salvo of energy beams, they sprang forth from the bows of the Andromeda to explode seconds later against the stricken starship, just moments later and it too exploded in a ball of fire, no one on this starship would survive to fight another day.
**********
On the far side of the battleground, Admiral Amundsen stood on the bridge of the starship Rega, flagship of the Regan fleet. He was in command of the battle but all he could think about was his son, he had been aboard the space cruiser Remus when it had exploded in a massive fireball. Captain Greaves put a hand on Amundsen’s shoulder to try to comfort his admiral.
“At least it was quick, Admiral, he would have felt no pain.” Greaves said in an attempt to comfort the man he admired so much. Amundsen turned to him and nodded weakly.
To get his mind away from the fiery image of the exploding space cruiser he looked up at the tactical display above the bridge. From what he saw there, he knew that his fleet was facing total destruction before very much longer, knowing this he decided on a way to save some of his shattered fleet.
“Captain Greaves, call our remaining ships, tell them to retreat to the planet Remus, we need to rest and repair behind its planetary defences.” Greaves looked across at Amundsen and nodded in agreement.
“Yes Admiral, maybe we can save a few of our crews to fight another day.” To die another day, all the crew on the bridge of the Rega silently added, such was the level of moral aboard the starships of the Regan Empire.
The order went out and ten ships broke away from the battle, ten ships that were all that was left of the twenty starships that had gone to war that day. They turned away and attempted to escape the carnage that the crews had seen exploding all around them, to run away from the certain death that was offered if they continued to battle against the might of Quasar.
Amundsen hoped that the rescue ships had been able to take off most of the settlers living on the planet Emanuel and get them to safety, for the fleet could no longer protect the planet. Following the fleeing starships were the majority of Quasar`s fleet, they smelt blood and were anxious to share in the destruction of the remaining starships.
**********
Unknown to the Regan Empire, Quasar had a secret weapon, sleepers, people who did not even remember meeting Quasar, or that they had been taken over by him and were now controlled by Quasar through their minds. They were part of an extensive group of people who either worked on one of the few remaining planets that were still controlled by the empire, or were a member of a crew within the Regan space fleet. It was not until Quasar was in the same planetary system as his sleepers that they were activated.
The sleepers all owned an electronic tablet, nothing remarkable in this, but the one that they owned had been specially modified by Quasar; built into it was a device that amplified telepathic signals between Quasar and his soon to be slave. The device was tuned into the thought waves of the particular individual and it is activated only when Quasar wanted to use the individual. Once awakened they were kept in line, through this device, by the sheer force of Quasar’s mind. A micro telepathic transmission sent by Quasar through the ship’s communications array, via the device, to a creature living within the person’s brain that would awaken them and force them to commit whatever acts of violence Quasar wanted of them. Murder, sabotage or even misinformation, but only at a moment that would give him the utmost advantage in battle. This technology was originally devised by the Mechanoids, and Quasar had it manufactured by his unwilling slaves on the planet Purgatory, the first planet to be controlled by him. Quasar had found many of these unfortunate people, the sleepers, before
the war had even begun. Captains of starships, members of the crew of starships, council members, and many other people, he had taken possession of them long ago, and used them only when necessary. This small creature, initially also a creation of the Mechanoid civilisation, and grown once again on Purgatory, was delivered to the unwilling bearer when just the size of a small ant. It infiltrated the victim’s body where it slowly evolved and grew inside of the host’s brain until it reached maturity one month later, when it was ready for use. Unfortunately, for the loyal members of the Regan Empire, it was made out of living tissue that mimics the wearers own brain tissue and so was untraceable. Although if they had visited a doctor he might have detected a slight listlessness about his patients, for the creature within the person`s brain constantly drained a little energy from its host for its own needs.
Some of the sleepers were originally loyal members of the crew of a space cruiser that he had destroyed in battle; he had captured the crews as they escaped in the starship`s lifeboats and these people had been turned into sleepers and then released remembering nothing about their captivity. No one knew about their brief stay on the Andromeda, when their lifeboats were found by starships still loyal to the empire, they were returned home to fight another day. No one had thought it strange that they all had managed to grab their tablet before abandoning ship, for no one had noticed it.
**********
The Regan battle fleet was short of three space cruisers that should have arrived from the planet Sparta to take part in the battle; unfortunately, they were delayed due to acts of sabotage that occurred just as the squadron was approaching the planet Argon, a gas giant in the Emanuel planetary system in which the current battle was happening.
The trouble aboard one of the three missing space cruisers, the Intrepid, was first noticed as the first officer, Jakub Rheims, and the science officer, lieutenant commander Mikel Olsen, were walking back to the bridge after having their lunch, their route took them by the armaments locker, they found it with its door hanging off its hinges. Rheims was surprised by such an event happening on his ship and he looked across at Olsen as if to ask whether he could throw any light on the matter, but he too was at a loss to explain the strange event. On checking to see what was going on, they found that four Phasers pistols were missing.
“Mikel, take this Phaser and follow me.” Rheims said thrusting a fully charged weapon into Olsen`s hands, and after taking a Phaser pistol for himself he called the bridge.
“Captain, someone had broken into the armaments locker, I have Olsen with me, as we are nearest to engineering, and I thought that we should head there first to check out if they are all ok.” Rheims said.
“Ok, Number One, I will check on the security room, let me know immediately you are through in engineering.”
Rheims and Olsen found four saboteurs in engineering, the saboteurs had killed two of the crew and were attempting to force their way into the main control area where the chief engineer had barricaded himself in together with two more of his men.
“Wilhelm, drop your weapon or we will be forced to open fire.” Rheims called out just a little shakily to the petty officer who was trying to force his way by the barricaded door.
The crewman named Wilhelm turned and immediately fired at them forcing Rheims and Olsen to return fire. It was all over within two minutes, all four of the saboteurs were laying sprawled at odd angles upon the floor of the engineering department.
“Mikel, have them taken up to medical and ensure that they are put under restraints, also have an armed security guard posted both here in engineering, up on the bridge, oh and in medical as well, just in case these traitors wake up.” Rheims now went in search of the captain to report.
After ensuring that the chief engineer and his two men were all right, Olsen looked to the saboteurs, but to his surprise, he found them to be dead. Shaken up by everything that had happened over the last few minutes he returned to the bridge to take command until his captain returned with the first officer. He found the situation up on the bridge even worse than the carnage of engineering. The bridge crew were dead, killed by some maniac, amid all this new carnage he heard over the radio a desperate call for help from the other two ships in the squadron. With neither the captain nor the first officer answering his own calls for help, Olsen put a call in for the relief crew to report to the bridge immediately. He then told security to post armed men in all key departments. Moments later the relief bridge crew arrived, two of them, one man and one women threw up on seeing the four bodies of the dead bridge crew.
“Lieutenant Jalon, take over here for the moment, and would you please have the bodies of our comrades removed to medical, I have to find Captain Amcor and the first officer to advise them of the situation.”
He did not like leaving such a junior crew alone upon the bridge but he was very concerned that the starship’s two senior officers may have run foul of more saboteurs as they were not answering his hails, he came across his captain in the security room, just as he was about to activate the starship’s self-destruct program.
“Captain, what are you doing?” Olsen cried out in astonishment. Amcor looked up at his young officer, Amcor seemed to be in agony and tears were streaming down his face.
“I must do this Olsen, it is a direct order from Quasar, and I must obey it immediately.” Amcor cried out, his face contorted by the manic smile aimed at Olsen.
Olsen moved across to pull his captain away from the self-destruct controls; he did wonder how the captain thought he could obey Quasar without a second senior office to input his own security key. Then he saw the body of the first officer, Jakub Rheims, he was lying flat out on the floor behind one of the security computers. It was obvious that he was dead, for his head had been beaten repeatedly and there was more of his brain on the floor than within his skull. As he tried to take this in, Amcor pushed him away and picked up the heavy spanner laying in a pool of blood by his feet. He now advanced upon Olsen, his face crazed, as he thought of the terrible deeds he was forced to commit, but he had been powerless to resist the will of Quasar, as indeed he was now. Olsen knew what he had to do; he pulled out his Phaser and fired it at his captain. Amcor stood stunned for a moment and then fell to the floor dead. Olsen looked down at his captain`s body, Olsen too was stunned. He knew his captain was dead but why, he had set his weapon on its lowest setting to battle against his former shipmates. Olsen checked the captain`s body for a pulse, but he did not find one, he had not found one on any of his four former shipmates down in engineering, for some reason those taken over by Quasar died when hit by a bolt of energy from a Phaser, even when it was set on a low power setting. He did wonder why the captain had not attempted to use his Phaser; perhaps the captain had managed to do this one thing to help in the battle against the monster Quasar.
Olsen wondered if what had happened aboard the Intrepid could also be happening aboard the other two vessels of the small squadron of starships from Sparta, this would explain their frantic calls for assistance. It also explained a lot more to Olsen, for one thing, it went some way into explaining why so many of the ships of the empire had been destroyed when they had not yet been a part of the battle. His captain’s words echoed within his head, ‘I must do this Olsen, it is a direct order from Quasar, and I must obey it immediately’. He would have to report this back to Amundsen, word for word, if he survived that long.
Olsen picked up the two keys that operated the self-destruct unit, and after one last look at his captain, he headed up to the bridge. Once there he found that the four bodies of the bridge crew had been removed. He moved across to the captain’s command chair and sitting down in it, he spoke to his young bridge crew.
“The captain and the first officer are dead.” Olsen said to them as tears filled his eyes, he stopped speaking for a moment, unable to continue, but the gravity of their situation forced itself upon him, giving him the strength to carry on, for he could no longer sit back and wait for a more experienced office
r to tell him what to do.
“Jalon, you are now our new first officer.” Olsen said softly to a very young lieutenant who nodded grimly.
“Yes, Captain.” He replied. A feeling akin to terror ran through him for a moment at having to assume such a responsibility, but he too pushed it aside, there simply was not the time for such things now.
“Oh and you had better have this Jalon; it is one of the two self destruct keys. I now carry the other key.” Olsen said handing over the key that had once belonged to the dead first officer.
Jalon took it, and noticing the blood upon it had to fight to ensure that he did not throw up during his first minute as the first officer. Olsen noticed the young officer’s reaction to the blood but did not say anything, for he too was finding it difficult to act now, having been forced to kill some of his friends and shipmates, including his captain.