The Pathfinder Project (32 page)

“
It’s of even greater concern
to me when you consider that the majority of stars in an average galaxy are
already the uninhabitable, cooler red giants that are in the later stages of
their most lengthy lifespan
,” Julie commented. “
Those stars are here all
around us too but they haven’t been touched. It’s only the newer, cooler stars
like our own back home that are progressively being destroyed
.”

Kaufield swiveled in his chair.
“Mary, I know we have language and linguistic communications specialists on
board. Find them and have them begin reviewing those transmissions that Glen
picked up. Julie thinks they’ve decayed pretty well over the years but you
never know. Have them try and translate something that could be useful.”

She nodded and opened her own
Comm-link while Dennis kept his open. “Julie, you said that the
Pathfinder
’s
position earlier this morning allowed us to essentially ‘look backward’ in time
over 6,000 years. If we plot a series of transits back outward in stages of…
say… ten to twenty light years per trip, can you pinpoint one or more positions
in this damaged area where the stars have most recently gone dark?”

“
That would be a piece of
cake
,” she replied.

“Then let’s do that,” Kaufield
ordered, a chill running up and down his spine.

What the devil was going on
in this area of space?

*    
* * *     *

It took them several days, but
the
Pathfinder
continued to explore, pausing at each new location for an
hour or so before the next transit in a pre-planned series was executed. Dr.
Markham had their exact destinations plotted on a three dimensional image of
the galaxy’s fourth spiral arm. They were moving in a gradual arc farther and
farther away… with the computer updating the color coded image each they time
they moved with stars that were no longer viewed from the observatory as
dimmed.

Near the end of the second day
they had a basic map plotted showing the exact course of the destruction. The
most recent activity was all concentrated on the edge of the wasteland farthest
from the inner side of the spiral arm. That placed it close to their initial entry
point inside the spiral arm. However, it was not quite close enough for them to
reasonably determine if anything might still be alive somewhere within the
damaged area.

The
Pathfinder
’s
specialists were unable to determine anything useful from the older
communications that Glen’s team had recorded. They were simply too old, had
traveled too far, and were basically identified as routine news and video
clips. Without a way to enhance or repair the damaged parts of the transmissions
– which had no doubt traveled through some very nasty nebulae and radiation
clouds on their way out of the Galaxy – there was simply no way to identify
more than an occasional phrase or two. They did promise that, given more time,
they would be able to learn more about the ancient civilization, even if it
wasn’t a perfect report.

On the morning of the third
day, Kaufield and Julie chose a destination twelve standard light hours from
one of the most recent stars to go quiet. This information, of course, was
based on the current images they had taken on their first trip inside the
damaged region of space, not the older view from outside. The
Pathfinder
executed a CAS transit back inside the fourth spiral arm, and shortly
thereafter a pair of short-range shuttles lifted off from the hangar bay and
PTP transited even closer into the Galaxy to see what they could discover.

“They’re going to find a lot of
destruction that will sicken them,” Julie predicted. “The star we’re closest to
use to have sixteen planets and at least eighty-two moons. Now we can find only
this…” She swiveled the monitor at her work station toward Kaufield. “That’s
what’s left of planet number five,” she said. He just stared for a moment at
the remains of a planet that had been bombed into oblivion. There were huge,
blackened craters scattered across most of its surface and even several large
chunks that had been splintered and separated away from the main planetary
body. The Captain looked upon it as a miracle that the remaining debris still
held any kind of orbit at all, much less a normal, circular one.

“So Adam is right,” Kaufield
said softly. “Somebody’s got themselves an interstellar war going on in there
and they don’t give a damn as to who or what gets caught in the crossfire.”

“Adam is very insightful,”
commented Julie. “And yes, he
is
right. There’s a huge war in progress
within this galaxy, and it passed right through this area sometime within the
last century. Yesterday, from seventy-two light years away, we were studying
the contents of this planet’s atmosphere,” she said, pointing toward the image.
“But since we have the technology to be here, right now, we can tell that it no
longer has one – everything was boiled away into space after the planet
suffered severe structural damage.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Was it the
attack on the planet itself that blew away its atmosphere… or perhaps a mystery
weapon that collapsed the sun’s nuclear furnace billions of years before its
natural aging process would have? I couldn’t even
begin
to guess.” She
said. “Not without a whole lot of additional information.”

“And the society that sent
those transmissions we received…”

“A new civilization, probably
on the verge of discovering space travel,” Julie commented. “One day they woke
up and a war that they didn’t start and played no part in just rolled over on
top of them and left everyone dead.”

“11,000 star systems destroyed?
That’s unbelievable,” the Captain commented. “Someone’s been going toe to toe
with each other using those kinds of weapons for…”

“…For almost forty-six
thousand
years,” she finished for him. “Whoever, or whatever they are, they’re hideous
and they’re evil. They don’t care who or what gets in their way as long as they
can capture or destroy resources a star system at a time. And when they’re not
busy destroying whole stars and planets to prevent others from accessing their
resources, they probably do their best to kill off enemies, too.”

“Just when I thought there
couldn’t be anything more evil than the Brotherhood, we find
this
,”
Kaufield said. “I was hoping that if we found another civilization out here,
they might be able to help us or at least be somewhat sympathetic to our
cause.” He sighed heavily. “Now you’re telling me we’ve found something even
more
deadly than the Brotherhood?” He sighed and exhaled slowly. “I won’t need to
wear my diplomat hat here.”

“I wouldn’t recommend taking
the
Pathfinder
in there,” she said simply.

“Not a chance,” said Dennis.
“As soon as the shuttles return we’re heading very far away from this place.
I’ll be glad to let them carry on with their business in this eternal hell that
they’ve created for themselves.”

He was extremely relieved when
he finally heard from Dashboard and Hopper. Sitting in the Command Dome waiting
for something to happen had stretched on endlessly for what seemed like an
eternity, so he practically leaped out of his chair when Mary received the
first transmission.

“
Shuttles one and three
ready for docking,
Pathfinder,” announced Dashboard. “
We picked up a lot
of wireless transmissions from at least three different sources, but we didn’t
dare move in any closer
,” he commented. “
Your orders were to be wary,
and I think you’ll agree with our decision once you get a look at the damage
that’s been done to each and every planet that we surveyed
.”

“Clear them for immediate
landing,” Kaufield said to Mary. She nodded in response.

“Shuttles one and three, you
are cleared for docking. Please use the forward… repeat forward docking bay to
land.”

“
Copy that
,” Dashboard
replied.

Dennis barely heard the routine
communications traffic. He was busy watching the expression on Adam’s face as
he read Julie’s summary report from their earlier discussion. The helmsman
glanced up at the Captain in shock and Dennis nodded in silent agreement.

“This is unbelievable,
Captain,” he said, absolutely stunned.

“I’m not releasing that kind of
information to the rest of the crew just yet,” Dennis decided. “A delay
regarding news of this magnitude would be best until we’re safely away.”

“I agree 100 percent,” said
Adam, still stunned by the news.

He was still mentally reviewing
their next potential destination possibilities when every alarm in the Command
Dome sounded simultaneously. He immediately spun around in his seat, but
whatever it was hadn’t yet been put up on the overhead monitors.

“I have a motion sensor
contact, Captain. There’s another ship in the area,” Mary reported. “It’s at
location 321 bearing 104… a really
big
ship. I’m adjusting one of the
external cameras to put it up on the viewer.”

As she spoke, the overhead
image flickered and focused on the darkened hull of the newcomer. The Captain
almost had to squint to see it, since there were very few internal lights on
the beast. It looked like a really large floating hunk of rectangular metal
with gun ports situated everywhere. He couldn’t see any sign of other support
vessels, but that certainly didn’t mean there weren’t any. The
Pathfinder
’s
fighter squadron had limited stealth technology, so he was hesitant to rule out
the strong possibility that these people might also possess it.

“They can track a ship through
PTP transit,” Adam declared with disgust. “They followed our patrol right back
to us.”

“Speaking of which, get those
shuttles down,” Kaufield said to Mary. “We’re getting the hell out of here.” He
tapped a series of keystrokes into the nearest Comm-link. “Glen, get the CAS
Drive ready. Pick any emergency transit destination that’s more than 1,000
light years from this area.”

“
Roger that, Captain
,”
was Glen’s quick reply.

“Of course they can track us.
It makes perfect sense,” Kaufield said to Adam. “Those buggers have had over
forty thousand years to perfect their technology and tactical strategy.” As
they continued to watch, a small section of the enemy vessel slowly disengaged
from the larger ship. It too was rectangular, and the front edge of it rotated
toward the
Pathfinder
. Before anyone could even open their mouth to
speak the smaller ship vanished in a sinister-looking scarlet PTP flash.

“Glen reports that they can see
it out their windows down in the Lab wing,” Mary said a moment later, her face
whitening with terror. “The smaller vessel short-range transited directly
alongside the top of our hangar bay… starboard side.” As she spoke a series of
three loud thuds rumbled through the
Pathfinder
’s hull.

“Glen’s team reports a visual
on a series of grappling cables, Captain. The alien shuttle has attached them
to our hull and is retracting them, pulling themselves toward us. When they get
close enough, they will no doubt board the
Pathinder
– probably through
deck four of the passenger section!”

“Like hell they will,” Kaufield
said, moving to the tactical console next to Mary. He activated its work
station and watched the new laptop quickly power up from its sleep mode. “Adam,
fire up the maneuvering thrusters and move us away from the mother ship,
please. And if possible, I’d appreciate it if you would shake that
thing
next to our hangar bay loose.”

“Aye, sir,” Adam replied.

The
Pathfinder
’s engines
roared to life and the starship swerved sharply to port. The enemy shuttle
attached to their starboard side twisted and turned also, but it’s grappling
cables held firm. As their course shifted away from the mother ship, the
Pathfinder
’s
motion sensors were finally able to peer behind it. Additional contacts lit up
on Mary’s console and she turned to the Captain to let him see four smaller
fighters move out of the larger vessel’s shadow. All four accelerated ahead of
their command ship and began to close on the
Pathfinder
.

“Both shuttles are aboard,
Captain,” she reported.

“Good,” Kaufield said, his
expression becoming more and more intense as the situation escalated. He tapped
the Comm-link next to him a second time. “Hangar bay this is the Captain.
Launch six fighters out of the port – repeat – port hangar bay,” he ordered.
“Have them engage the incoming fighters and… if necessary, the mother vessel.
The
Pathfinder
– again I repeat – the
Pathfinder
will handle the
enemy shuttle that is flanking us to starboard.”

“
Acknowledged, Captain
,”
responded Andy ‘Mad Dog’ Wolf himself from down below. “
I’ll alert the
launch crews, pronto
.”  Kaufield waited specifically until he heard his
order to launch fighter cover confirmed before switching the Comm-link’s open
channel.

“Glen what’s our escape
status?” he asked quickly.

“Unpredictable as long as that
shuttle is attached,” he said. “We’ve got to get them off of us or they’ll
screw up our PTP window. They’ve got some sort of jamming equipment engaged
specifically for that purpose. Initiating a transit right now could kill us
all.”

“I’m on it,” Kaufield declared
angrily, “and I’ll get back to you in just a minute.” The screen in front of
him finished powering up and he immediately activated the motion sensor link so
that both he and Mary could monitor the situation. Two more of the smaller
shuttles were detaching from the mother ship. They no doubt also intended to PTP
alongside the
Pathfinder
and attach to them with grappling cables. Again
Kaufield switched his Comm-link. “Colonel Neeland, please get your men together
and have them begin evacuating passenger deck four. It’s quite possible that we
may get boarded.”