The Vorgonians

By Steven W. Kirk

The story takes place in the year 2117. It follows the actions of several United Colonies of Earth military officers as they recover from an attack that followed a horrible discovery. They must pull themselves together and track down an enemy from another dimension. This enemy is driven to destroy all human life in the solar system, but this enemy is not the only one they will face through their adventure as an ancient evil waits on the outer part of the solar system.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Dec 23, 2018
• ISBN: 9781984573513

Book preview

Chapter Zero

NEPTUNE STAR BASE

Captured by the Vorgonians

Orbiting Neptune

Date June 2117

Captain Sellec sat in his cell wondering what became of his commanding officer Louis Jones and the rest of the command crew from the U.S.S. Royal. Next to him sat corporal Baker. Around him sat some of the remaining marines and naval officers from the U.S.S. Royal striped of their weapons and anything else they were carrying. Just before he opened his mouth to say something he heard the heavy footsteps approaching his cell. It also sounded as if something was dragging along the ground. As the noise drew closer to the cell he heard some alien language garbled over a radio. Through the dimly lit hallway he could make out a basic shape of what was approaching. Two humanoid shapes in large armored environmental suits dragging a person between them, approached the cell. In the middle was a person with recognizable stripes on their shoulders, indicating they were a naval officer of high ranking status. The officer has their head hung low. The two humanoid shaped creatures dragging the officer were vorgonians.

A voice in a speaker said, Stand back, just before the cell door opened. Commander Jones, captain Sellec’s superior officer, was thrown in violently. Sellec and Baker manage to catch him just before he hit the floor. What did they do to you sir, said Sellec. They had me in this metal room and they were inside my head, I could hear them screaming at me. I think it was some kind of telepathic interrogation. I’m no expert, but I don’t think they got anything out of the interrogation. From what I remember I only told them my cats name and what I thought of the 2016 U.S. presidential elections we learned about in comical history class. Commander Jones fell unconscious from exhaustion. You rest now sir, said Sellec as he and Baker lay him down on one of the cots in the cell.

I thought the bridge command crew was aboard when they destroyed the ship? Captain Sellec responds to Bakers question with, I did to corporal, but I guess they got to the bridge and figured out what we had planned before the ship detonated. The only person who can tell us what happened now is the commander and any of the other command crew.

Chapter One

TYPE 22 CLASS A. TRANSPORT

Orbiting Pluto amongst the remains

of the U.S.S. Royal and the Vorgonian vessel

June 2117

Lieutenant Rose woke up and finds himself inside a dark cold T-22 C.A.T. with a crack in the glass of his helmet. He looks around to see what happened. The ship is empty with the exception of him, corporal Marvin, two marines and a several crates of supplies which are strapped down and vary in size. The compartmental controls are lifeless and his suits temperature is slowly decreasing. He has to reactivate the internal parts of the transport before the interior of his vacuum proof suit drops below 32 degrees fahrenheit or he will begin freezing death. Climbing up the stairs to the cockpit he found the two pilots for the transport missing and noticed metal plate had replaced the window.

With little time to think as his suit tells him, suit temperature critical, he opened the compartment below the main control console and spun up the generator, which is standard on all U.C.E. military vessels, to 100%, reactivating the main console controls for a short period of time. With his suits temperature dropping he had little time to bring the transports life support systems online. After a few seconds of rapidly tapping at the controls he managed to get the transports power back online and reactivate the life support system, stabilizing the internal atmosphere. He breathed a sigh of relief as his suit temperature rose to normal and he was able to remove his broken helmet.

As the lieutenant walked back down to the passenger compartment he heard the sound of rustling from someone trying to unbuckle the seat belt of their chair. It was corporal Marvin. He was struggling to get out of his seat. He had become tangled by both the seats standard belt and the emergency collision belt. Whatever they ran into must have jolted the corporal partially out of his seat. The lieutenant figured the same thing must have happened to him, but without the emergency buckle being deployed.

Easy Corporal, said the lieutenant as he drew his knife and cut Marvin out of his seat. The corporal rose to his feet and out of the chair while saying, Thank you sir. I was tangled up pretty well and I couldn’t reach my knife. The corporal and the lieutenant woke the two marines and unstrapped them from their seat belts. What are your names, the lieutenant asked. Privates Dune and Jackson sir, Dune said as he saluted the lieutenant. As Rose saluted the privates he said, Well now that we’re all awake, listen up men the vorgonians have probably not forgotten about us, so we need to figure out our exact location, the status of any surviving personnel and the status of the enemy’s strength and numbers. Private Dune, you and Jackson search through the crates over there and try and find anything useful. Corporal, you get working on the navigation computer in the cockpit and try figuring out where we are. I’ll climb up to the turret and use the sensors to scan the area around us, any questions. There was a moment of silence as they all stood there. Alright then let’s get to it.

The two privates began rummaging through the supply crates. The first crate was full of M.R.E.’s and medical equipment. Hey Dune this stuff should come in handy if we get stuck out here. Jackson replied, You better open one and check the date, I wouldn’t be surprised if they were from 20 years ago, besides I don’t see how we’re going to get stuck out here, you saw what happened to corporal Kim. Just before their transport left the U.S.S. Royal, vorgonian troops attacked lieutenant Rose squad. They were to be the last ones off the Royal, but in the firefight the vorgonians used a grappling hook to pull corporal Kim to them and disappeared with him screaming. Dune replied, I remember, I can still here the screaming. Do you think they want to capture humanity or something like that? Jackson ended the conversation with, I don’t know.

Corporal Marvin activated the navigation computer mounted to the wall. The device was a two by two by six foot block of circuitry and wires that took up about a quarter of the cockpit and had four vacant rectangular slots for chip cards. The computer was encased in a titanium frame designed to withstand crashes and small arms fire. Good, he thought. The nav. computer was still functioning. He began working with the computer, but the computer shut down and began to reboot. Damn, he thought. The rebooting would take at least an hour and more than likely they didn’t have an hour.

Lieutenant Rose climbed the drop down ladder up to the T-22 C.A.T. laser turret. The turret was positioned on the highest point of the transport in order to provide the best possible coverage for the turrets two small high power laser cannons. The turret was a half dome made of thick glass reinforced with a transparent polymer stronger than the titanium honey comb frame used in the making of the U.S.S. Nevada (a super-battle carrier built on a dare), but the material is so heavy it could crush an exo-trooper. The two lasers sat on one side of the dome parallel to each other. On the inside the operator sat in a chair that slid back to reveal the hatch with a deployable ladder underneath that that allowed access the transports main compartment. When the lieutenant reached the turret cockpit he was forced to do a complete systems reboot that would take several minutes.

Hey Dune I found a bunch of food and ammunition in this crate. Private Dune replied to Private Jackson, I found some weapons and radio equipment in this container. Dune held up a type 27 plasma-based rifle from the container and said, I thought only black ops personnel were issued that level of weaponry. Jackson replied, Didn’t you hear. Two years ago the general science division, (GSD), made a break through that would lower the cost of making plasma-based weaponry. Now all military vessels carry a certain number of these weapons depending on the amount of ground assault troops the ship can carry. Dune responded, I guess that makes sense.

Corporal Marvin searched for a local reset button on the massive block that was the navigational computer. He searched the computer as much as possible and found nothing but a hidden compartment at the top of the computer. It was too big to be a chip card slot, too small to be a circuit or fuse access panel. It had a knob on the bottom and upon closer examination, hinges at the top. It was a little door. He opened it and found a 300 page book with a title that read, Navigational Computer 2000 Manual. He thought Good god? Do they expect the people who run this thing to read this entire book? I bet I can find out how to reset the computer in here, or at least manually reboot the damn thing faster."

Lieutenant Rose was having a little better luck then corporal Marvin. He found that the turrets scanner, lasers and rotator still functioned properly. When the computer put up the blue screen he figured out it was just the transports main computer. Once he disconnected the turret from the transports main computer, the turrets independent backup computer switched on. The computer in the turret is mainly used to help the operator find and track targets. It is also used to link up the scanners and cameras on the turret to the main computer.

Rose began tapping into the turret and setting up the computer to scan the area. After a few seconds the screen read, Please rotate turret 360 degrees to get full scan. In the turret dome were two handles with buttons on the tops. Covering the tops were glass cases that shielded the buttons from an accidental firing of the laser guns. The button on the left controlled the left laser and the button on the right controlled the right laser. The release for the cases was a button next to the main monitor. The handles were set up so if the operator wanted to turn left the handles were pulled to the left and if the operator wanted to turn to the right they would pull the handles to the right. Pulling the handles back and forth raised the laser guns up and down.

As the corporal and the lieutenant fought with the computer and worked with the turrets scanner. Private’s Jackson and Dune came across a box three times the size of the rest of the boxes. It stood upright and was about eight feet tall, six feet thick and five feet wide. This box is huge. I don’t remember them loading this one onboard, said Jackson. Dune replied, Look at the markings by the middle handle. The box had three hinges on the left and three handles on the right. Next to the middle handle there were letters stamped on the cover that said.

PROPERTY OF U.C.E. ARMED FORCES

SUIT NO. 79350

AUTHORIZED USE ONLY

HANDLE WITH CAUTION

After reading what was printed on the box the two marines became curious. Out of their curiosity Jackson said, Let’s pry it open and see what’s inside. Dune replied, Should we ask for authorization from the lieutenant. Jackson responds, Well we didn’t ask for authorization for the other boxes and the lieutenant said to see what we have in these boxes. Very well. The two marines released the latches and opened the box.

After impatiently waiting, the nav. computer finally finished the rebooting process. Aw good the computer is ready. Now let’s see where we ended up after we were knocked out, corporal Marvin mumbled to himself. The computer began scanning the area and gathering telemetry and other information to calculate its exact position in space. On the screen it read scan completed, insufficient data to calculate exact position, best possible guess for location: 1700 miles from station charlie 76.

Satisfied somewhat from the information corporal Marvin ran a second scan for friendly ships. Each nav. computer was equipped with a homing beacon that could only be picked up by other nav. computers and sometimes televisions from the 1950s. The scan revealed three friendly intact ships in the scanners range. There was no way to tell what ship the nav. computers were on, but the good news was these ships were still intact. In order for the beacon to be active the ship has to still be functioning.

The lieutenant activated the scanners and almost jumped out of his seat when the turret yelled, turret scanner activated, and did a full 360 degree spin. On the turrets main computer screen a map of the debris field was displayed. Three red pulsing blips popped up on the screen. On a screen to the right of the main screen on the console, and just above the switch for the ion canons and turret power, it read, nav. computer beacons located. The two screens to the left of the main screen displayed targeting data and laid out a course through the debris field to get to the other surviving ships. Other than the three blips he found nothing in the immediate area. Corporal Marvin what is your status. The nav. computer is fully functional and has picked up three other ships in the debris field. What is our location corporal? The debris field must be blocking the ships sensors. It can’t give me an exact location sir. Can you set the computer to auto pilot and get us to the other ships? Yes sir. Then do it and report back down to the main hold.

The corporal activated the auto pilot and set the course laid out by the computer. After he did that the computer made some beeping sounds and he felt the ship jerk a little as it began to move. On the screen in the center of the main console the words, Auto pilot engaged course plotted eta 4 minutes. He made his way down the stairs back to the main hold.

When the marines opened the box they were shocked to see a large metal suit. Private Dune said with surprise, Good god! It’s a Model 27, level two infantry power suit. Private Jackson asked in response, What is it doing aboard this transport? Dune responded, I don’t know, but we better inform the lieutenant. Right as the private said that, Lieutenant Rose climbed down the ladder and walked over to the box. Corporal Marvin came down the stairs and did likewise.

At first the lieutenant wasn’t sure why the corporal and private Jackson were so surprised, but then he realized they didn’t know about the lieutenant and his history with project candy. A secret project, created in the last year of the Earth Sovereign Asteroid Colonies (S.A.C.) war, which had been the origin for most of the advanced technology used by the military since 2074 and where the lieutenant had been trained in the use of power suits. The lieutenant began explaining why the suit was onboard, I was one of the original powered armored, full body, vacuum proof exoskeleton testing pilots. I was the top pilot in my division. Over all I was number six of the top ten skilled pilots of power suits.

Private Jackson spoke up, So why is this suit onboard this transport. This transport wasn’t designated for any heavy troopers or heavy supplies. The lieutenant responded, "When they let go all the people who volunteered as power suit pilots and the top ten skilled pilots got to keep their suits for the rest of their military career as a testament to their skill and at the time the original user was the only one who could use the suit. The suits onboard computer fixed the suit to fit the first person that piloted them and no one else. It was a security measure at the time and only those suits from the original test have it. Today anyone with proper training can pilot a power suit.

Just after the lieutenant finished talking the auto pilot shouted, Destination reached. auto pilot disengaging, they all rushed up the small stair way, except the lieutenant who climbed back up to the turret, to the cockpit to see what they found. On the screen they saw a type 14 class C. gunship, (T-14 C.C.G.S.), undamaged and lit up on the inside. From there perspective the ship looked like a bald eagle with the wings cut off half way out. The T-14 C.C.G.S. has two star ship level rotary laser cannons, one rocket pod, four white phosphorus/magnesium tipped high explosive missiles, a propulsion turbine on each wing for stabilization and a deployable 120 mm chain gun that fired armor piercing explosive rounds mounted on the chin of the ship. The lieutenant saw the gunship through the turret glass and noticed the ship and its several armaments were intact. He could see at least three people through the ships front window, but they couldn’t raise coms with them.

The nav. computer shouted, Incoming data transmission. The corporal pulled up the transmission on the main console in front of him. It reads; we have no coms, but all other systems functional. The lieutenant called over the internal radio, What is going on corporal? Corporal Marvin responded, Their coms are out sir. They suffered some kind of malfunction after they left the U.S.S. Royals hanger. The lieutenant responded, Then how do you know that. The corporal responded, They used the nav. computer to transmit a message. Do you want me to fill them in on our situation. Yes.

As the corporal filled in the gunship crew on their current situation, the lieutenant noticed on the screen that behind the gun ship off in the distance a type 46 standard star fighter, (T-46 SSF), floating intact through the debris field bouncing small bits of metal off its titanium armor. From this distance he could not tell which side he was looking at. Corporal I’m projecting on the flight control console live camera feed from the turret. Do see what I’m seeing? The lieutenant says as he activates the feed. The corporal takes a close look at the screen. Yes. I see it. Set our next spot to visit at these coordinates, the lieutenant said as he zoomed in past the gun ship on the screen. Yes sir, the corporal responded. Sir the gun ship crew reports all systems functional with the exception of communications. Have them follow us. Yes sir.

The engines of both ships flared and they proceeded to maneuver through the debris to the T-46 SSF floating through the debris field. When the two ships reached the fighter lieutenant Rose noticed from the turret it was still intact and scans further confirmed his observation. Over the radio corporal Marvin said, Lieutenant, the gunship crew just informed me they have an extra pilot aboard. The lieutenant responded, If that fighter is still intact have them dock with it and if it still works have both ships proceed to the coordinates of the next nav. beacon. Yes sir.

The T-14 C.C.G.S. docked with the T-46 SSF and sent their extra pilot, lieutenant Matt Ramirez inside the fighter. The fighter was cold and dark. The controls were dead and the pilot’s activation code hadn’t been plugged into the ship yet. The code was written on a sticky note and placed on the front window. The purpose of the code was to prevent someone from steeling the ship. The code was normally given to the pilot just before launch. It almost seemed as though the fighter had drifted out of the hanger or had been dead launched. When Matt activated the ships electronics and other systems he ran through the ships data recorder. This devise recorded everything the ship did and anything done around the ship, similar to a black box. According to the data the ship was brand new. The weapons had never been fired and the engines had never been activated. The data also showed the ship had gone through a dead launch. A dead launch is when a fighter is loaded into a fighter launch tube and propelled by clamps out into space. The point of a dead launch is to release fighters in a way they would not be detected by other ships scanners. Other ships scanners would only pick up garbage being launched into space.

As lieutenant Ramirez powered up the ship he ran prelaunch diagnostics. Green lights appeared across the board. Weapons diagnostics showed all 16 armor piercing high explosive missiles loaded and both star fighter level rotary laser cannons ready to fire. As the lieutenant prepared to rotate the fighter and follow the gun ship he noticed a third joystick had been added to the arm