A Deadly Journey: Far from Earth, #3

By Reginald Aster

Nothing can go wrong now can it? Walter is looking forward to peace after his recent adventures. Suddenly he is asked to go on an important but straightforward mission – no risk of any serious danger. It is goes wrong quickly and he is facing a dangerous journey – worst of all his cousin is also lost somewhere lightyears from anywhere safe.

The only good thing is that is Walter's girlfriend is with him – but they might starve to death together.

This is the sequel to A New Home Far from Earth and starts a few weeks after that story. If you haven't read the first two books then it would be advisable to read them first – the first one is free.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Reginald Aster
• Release date: Jan 11, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201607883

Book preview

Chapter 1 A Golden Opportunity or a trap?

It is often hard to know what an opportunity is and what is a trap,

- Proverb of the alien race, Grey

Admiral Colin Yates the third, a tall black man, looked amazed at the news he was hearing. Thomas, are you telling me that one of the prisoners we took is willing to give us secret military information that would enable us to make those devices which pull ships from a wormhole? That would be amazing, as so far, we have not been able to reverse engineer them.

I can understand that it would be good, but you are looking like you won the lottery, General Frank Richardson said. Is it really that important? We managed to hold our own against them last time and we might never fight them again.

Yes, it is, but I can’t tell you why, Admiral Yates said. Only he knew that the aliens called Legion were far closer to finding out about human existence than many thought. It could be less than five years before humans would have the awful choice of fighting against them or evacuating everyone to planet B - and terraforming of planet B needed another six months to finish and at least ten years longer to move everyone there. Unless he died, no one else on the flotilla would find out. In case of his death, it would go to Frank Richardson, his second in command, but, at the moment, only he knew. It was an awful secret to have to keep to himself.

Chapter 2 Venice

Walter Masen’s narrative

I peddled quickly over Rialto Bridge. Lily was just behind me, and close behind her was Rob. Jane was bringing up the rear. Normally, a bike race in Venice would have been a stupid dangerous idea and Lily would win any races like that by a mile, being a genetically enhanced super-soldier. However, this was not real, and her bike had a handicap to make this an even race.

We were in the bike room, a place where people could race through Earth’s landmarks, but this was not like some 21st-century cycling in front of the TV, this was highly advanced VR. We had the wind in our hair, sun on our faces, and, instead of cycling the quickest route, our route was the long way to St. Mark’s square via various rivers in Venice. The beauty was amazing and the recently released Venice race was really popular.

They were all falling further behind as I looked behind me. I did a sharp turn into a narrow street, slowing down just enough to make sure that I didn’t go out of control, fall off, and go into the river. A few seconds later, I heard a scream and a splash. I turned and saw that, in this case, the realism had been amusingly too real. Lily had been so desperate to catch up that she hadn’t slowed down enough to make the turn and had gone flying off her bike into the water.

Before the race, when we had discussed doing this, she had been the one to insist on doing the course with the possibility of falling in the water. Now, her stubbornness had made her wet. Fortunately for her, we had agreed that if one person fell in the water, then the rest would help him or her out and whoever was in the lead won. In the few weeks that I had known Lily, I had grown to love her but, at times, her stubbornness made me frustrated.

I got off the bike and gave her my hand as she climbed up.

Don’t say anything! she said in a very annoyed voice as she climbed out of the canal, refusing my help.

I wasn’t going to say anything, sweetheart. I was just going to ask if you are ok, I said, trying and failing to stop myself from laughing.

Rob and Jane came to a halt and helped get Lily’s bike out of the canal.

Well done, Walter, for winning, Rob said. Bad luck, Lily. Let’s go to St. Mark’s square. Fortunately, it is a warm day, and you will dry off soon.

Hardly, fortunately, Jane said. It is always warm here.

I looked at her and said, That is not the spirit. We should try to believe we are in the real thing.

Sorry, Jane said. Actually, this is better than the real thing – fewer crowds.

I smiled and we started to walk our bikes through fake Venice. The views were beautiful, and we quickly got to St. Mark’s square. Sadly, I had never been to the real Venice. Growing up on Venus had not given me many chances to visit Earth, so this was a wonderful day off for me.

I am hungry, Jane said, "and I have been very good all week with my food, so I am going to treat myself to sarde in saor followed by tiramisu - at that restaurant there." She pointed at one outside St. Mark’s Cathedral. Unlike the real one, here there is always space for people and the prices are reasonable.

Good idea and it is warm enough that Lily won’t freeze, I said as she rather childishly stuck her tongue out at me, which I ignored.

As we were sitting down and enjoying wonderful Italian food while watching the sun go down - Rob and Jane’s eyes went blank. They were having a conversation via their wrist devices. When their faces returned to normal, I asked, What was so important that someone had to interrupt you eating?

It is a bit weird, Rob said. We were asked to go on a mission. Very hush-hush. Can’t tell you anything about it.

The only thing we can tell you, Jane said, "is that we are going to Exodus I for training and will be back in about three weeks or less, if all goes well."

"That is weird. Surely any training could be done here on Exodus II, I said. Are you going?"

Rob and Jane looked at each other for a moment and said thoughtfully, Yes. It could be dangerous, but Thomas Subaru personally asked for us to go with him. Also, there are rewards. We will get two days off for every day we spend on the mission. More importantly, we can keep some of them until Planet B is fully terraformed.

"Well, if you go to Exodus I, you might meet my cousin Ben Masen," I said.

What does he look like and what does he do? Jane asked.

"He is also a Defiant class pilot. He looks like me but is a bit taller," I said.

He must be a giant when you are so tall, Jane said.

All the Masens are tall, Rob said. I’ve seen family photos of them. I’ll look out for him.

Well, if all the Masens are tall – Lily, if you marry Walter, you are going to look so small at family reunions, Jane said.

As Lily gave Jane a stare that could have wilted flowers, I hastily changed the subject, saying, They must want you and Jane, Rob.

And I really want you and Lily, a voice said from behind me.

As I turned, I saw John Hinton walking across the fake St. Mark’s Square.

Hi, John. I would ask how your day off is going, but I don’t think you’re having a day off from the look on your face, I said.

You’re right, Walter, he said. Tomorrow, I am going to start a new mission and I want you and Lily on it. I am sorry that I can’t give you any details, but it’ll also be about three weeks. I am offering the same deal that Rob and Jane have been offered.

Is it the same mission as theirs? I asked.

The only three things I can tell you,He said, are that it isn’t, it is very dangerous, and that it is also very important. With you two, I think that the chances of success are better.

That gives me some ideas about what the mission is, Lily said.

Don’t share them, John said quickly. Careless talk costs lives - and in this case, it could be yours.

Of course, not sir, Lily said. You know me. What time do you need us to report tomorrow?

I have something to do first, so 2 pm tomorrow at the meeting room will be fine, John said. Also, I want you to enjoy your last day of freedom, so go out tonight. Have fun. You are only young once.

Excellent, Jane said. Let’s get changed and meet in Bar Madrid in thirty minutes to dance.

Brilliant, I said. Let’s go.

As I went to my room, I got a call from Rob. The girls will never be there in thirty minutes, I bet Jane will be there in forty minutes, Lily fifty minutes.

I think you are right, I said. Let’s meet there in forty minutes so we don’t have to wait too long.

But they will be well-dressed, so wear your summer suit and brush your hair.

I always brush my hair, I said.

Mmm, he grunted back.

Forty minutes later, I was sitting and drinking cider with Rob waiting for the girls. He was right. They were late as always. Five minutes after we had sat down, Rob had predicted Jane came in first and was right. To be fair, she looked stunning, wearing red high heels and a purple dress with her long blonde hair down to her shoulders. It was a far cry from the scrubs I normally saw her in when she was working. I was glad that I had listened to Rob and was smart in a suit and tie. Lily followed Jane in, wearing a red crop top and black mini skirt with high heels. She looked good in heels, but still really small. The two girls came over to our table.

Sorry we were late, Lily said. I had to wash my hair.

Why, honey, you had a bath earlier? For that reference to her swim in the VR room, I got a dirty stare.

Sorry, sweetheart, you look great. As do you, Jane, I apologised. Here are your drinks - two cocktails.

Thank you, the girls said in unison.

We took a few minutes to drink. We all really wanted to talk about the missions, but we could not. It was so frustrating, so there was only one way to take our minds off - dance. I got up and said to Lily, Shall we dance?

Yes, she said as she took my hand. It was wonderful dancing with her. As we danced, I barely heard the words of the song from the speakers.

"Las caleñas son como las flores

Que vestidas van de mil colores

Ellas nunca entregan sus amores

Si no están correspondidas,"

While we danced from side to side, her perfume filled my nose and her long black hair swayed from side to side. It was a wonderful experience; I was so glad that I had joined this mission to the stars.

After a while, I swapped with Rob and danced with Jane. Both girls were beautiful, and dancing with them was wonderful. The heat of the club and the sound of salsa and merengue filled my senses. Though I am not a great dancer and dancing with someone so small made it harder, it was great fun anyway.

After a few hours, Lily said. Time to go everyone. We want to be fresh for our training tomorrow. I don’t want this to be a case of eat, drink, and be merry and us all dying in a few days.

Spoilsport, Rob said, but we all knew she was right.

Chapter 3 Mission training part 1

Walter Masen’s story continued

I woke up, aching in my legs and with a throat hoarse from singing. I checked my watch, and it was 11:15 am. Bother, I thought, as I had hoped to see Rob and Jane before they went off. I just hoped that I would see them again. Space exploration was dangerous, and you never knew if someone would survive a mission or not. A message flashed up on my wrist communicator.

Sleepyhead, are you ever going to wake up? If you can be dressed by 11:30, I will keep you company for brunch in canteen five. Love, Lily. I got dressed at the speed of light and rushed to meet her.

As normal, she was a sight for sore eyes. As she was off duty, she was dressed informally, with a bright red blouse, black mini skirt, black tights, and high heels. I thought that I had seen almost those exact clothes before, but I couldn’t remember where.

For brunch, I had a full English breakfast: bacon, sausages, fried bread, and marmite on toast. Lily had arepas, baked corn flour bread, filled with cheese and soursop juice.

I’m thirsty, Lily said. Do you want another drink?

Yes please.

Lily walked to get a drink. There was not much juice left and because she is so short, she had to stand on tiptoes to reach the last full jug of juice. I had never seen anything so funny and sexy before as her in a miniskirt and heels standing on tiptoes.

I remembered where I had seen those clothes before and I asked Lily, Do you like the old film, ‘My Cousin Vinny’?

Yes, she said with a smile that made my heart jump. Why do you ask?

Because I think that your outfit is a copy of the one on the movie poster.

You are right. I thought that Marisa Tomei looked so good like that and that it would suit me. What do you think? Lily asked.

You look great - even better than her. We will have to see that film together one day, I said.

After brunch, we walked through the corridors to see Captain Hilton. He said, Welcome Lily and Walter. He gestured with his hand and a large hologram of a planet similar to Earth appeared. This one had two moons, however: one larger than the Earth’s moon and red, one a bit smaller. This is system nine of the ten suns. In the north of the planet, there is the family of a prisoner that we took during the battle of Costa Rica. He is an expert on their weapons’ systems and, providing we extract his family, will give us vital information.

John Hilton clicked his fingers and a close-up of part of the planet appeared. It was heavily wooded with rivers running to a large lake. John pointed at it and said, His family lives about an hours’ walk south of this lake, through this forest. At this time of year, very few people will be near this lake. Walter, in the middle of the planet’s night - which is 4 pm ship’s time - you will fly the three of us and Mary to this lake. You will drop Lily, Mary, and I off at the edge of the lake and then submerge your fighter. You will wait there for twenty-four hours. The following afternoon, Lily, Mary, and I will walk through the forest, pick up the family, and come back to the fighter with them. You will then fly us off of the planet. Any questions? The times cannot be changed. They have been decided to avoid witnesses and for operational reasons.

I said, You do know, don’t you, that if we fly south from there, then it will be quicker to escape gravity and get back to our capital ship? Also, which ship will we be flying from?

John said, "This will be a small fleet of the cruiser Penelope and the battleship Dreadnought. We will be flying from the Penelope. If we fly south, there is more chance of being spotted. This family lives on the edge of a major city, which is why we are going to walk back to your Defiant fighter through the forest. If you were to fly any closer, then you would be spotted and have to fight your way off the planet. We are going in five days."

Lily said, That seems to be a very small fleet. Isn’t there a danger that we could be overwhelmed by the planet’s defences?

John said, Intelligence tells us that this system is not heavily defended. It has no real military significance and there is only one battleship there, plus orbital platforms. This is not to be an invasion. It will be a simple pick up. We believe that nothing can go wrong. A larger fleet would be spotted and then we wouldn’t be able to extract this family. Their information is so vital that the risk is justified

When we were going to have shore leave, they said that nothing can go wrong, and I ended up being captured, I thought. Despite that, I kept quiet, even though I had a sense of deep foreboding. I really could see something going very wrong.

Chapter 4 Mission training part 2

As Rob and Jane got off the shuttle taking them to Exodus I, Jane said, There are so few people on this shuttle.

That is normal, Rob said. There is not much need to travel from one world ship to the other. I have never been here before, but it should be the same as the other ship. I am so glad that I am not in charge of personnel on this fleet. Making sure that everyone gets shifts in the comfortable world ships as well as the uncomfortable capital ships must be a logistical nightmare.

Rob and Jane, someone shouted.

They turned and saw a beautiful black woman there whose name was Flora Subaru.

Hi, Flora, Rob said as they pulled their luggage behind them.

Hi, guys, she said. I thought that you might like to see a friendly face here. Come with me and I will show you to our training room.

As they entered the room, Rob was shocked by the size of it. It was enormous but full of large simulators. There must have been thirty of them and he couldn’t see from one end to the other. On the walls, signs saying Warning: this is an outer layer of the world ship. During battle stations, please evacuate to an inner layer were plastered everywhere.

Flora caught him looking at them. Don’t worry. We should be safe here, and, in case of a battle, we will have plenty of time to evacuate.

I know, Rob said. "I just remember seeing the damage done to Exodus II during the first battle of Costa Rica, seeing the water gushing out of the hydroponics and forming ice crystals in space. It was beautiful, but I was worried that it would be the end of us."

Don’t worry, Flora said. We are safe here so close to humankind’s second home - which is being terraformed as we speak. The planet’s four moons will make swimming in the seas a challenge, but we can use them as a defence in case of any attack. We are also far from any hostile aliens. We are quite some distance from the ten suns systems, and they don’t know where we are.

Three men were coming to greet them. One they knew well, the medium-sized, middle-aged black man with a smile who greeted them. Hi, Rob and Jane. Thank you so much for joining us. This is dangerous but important, far more important than you can imagine. He indicated the other two men beside him as he continued. "Here is Ben Masen, he will be leading the Defiant fighters on this mission."

Nice to meet you, Rob said. I know your cousin. Rob thought that the resemblance was amazing. Ben was just a slightly darker version of Walter, just even taller. Lily would look so tiny beside him.

Excellent, Ben said. Well, so far, my mission has been calmer than his. I got wounded in the first battle of Costa Rica and spent four weeks in bed.

Thomas said, There will be plenty of time to get to know each other. This is Ronald Carey from Swansea, Wales, commander of the tank forces on the flotilla. He will explain our mission.

Ronald gestured with his hand, then a large hologram appeared of a planet similar to Earth. It had two moons, however: one larger than the Earth’s moon and red, one a bit smaller. He said, "This is system nine of the ten suns. Not a very imaginative name, but we didn’t name it. We have received information from a trusted prisoner that there is a weapons research station which we need to raid to capture vital information on the red moon. We have a way of coming out of a wormhole without being spotted.

Once close to the moon, Defiant-class fighters will launch, carrying these tanks to the edge of the atmosphere. Disguised as meteoroids, the tanks and armoured personnel carriers - APCs - will enter the atmosphere and land a few minutes’ journey from the station. The tanks will quickly cross the ground, attack, and capture the station. The tanks do have anti-fighter weapons and should be able to hold off air counterattacks until we can extract them."

As Ronald paused for breath, Thomas continued, "The force will be a mixture of tank crews and Scorpions who will be doing the ground fighting. However, we will need a very good engineer to help dismantle things after they are captured and a trauma doctor to treat anyone. We are hoping to take prisoners and they might be injured in the process."

Jane turned white-faced to Rob and whispered, They mean us, don’t they?

I think so, he whispered back.

John said, "I know that this sounds very dangerous, but we did train for this on Earth, and we think there is a good chance that we will get very close. Our allies on Fiveseas think that there will not be very good defences there, if all goes well extraction should start ten minutes after the attack started and we will be back on the battleship Dreadnought within the hour and then back to this system."

Thomas said, I can’t tell you why now, but I may be able to one day. This is a very important mission. Its success could save the human race.

I’m still in, Rob said.

So am I, Jane said.

Excellent, Thomas said. We launch in six days.

Chapter 5 Mission to Planet 9

Walter Masen’s story

After four days of flying various simulations, we were ready to go. Despite John Hilton saying to not bother, I did practice flying through the city. It was scary but stimulating. The tall buildings made flying at speed very tricky and dangerous, but it did make it very hard for enemies to shoot me down. I tried it with both computer and human pilots trying to shoot me down and the skyscrapers made it too hard to hit me. I thought that, in case of emergency, I could escape safely through the city, only crashing on one out of ten missions.

As the fleet came out of the wormhole close to planet nine, it was weird to see nothing. Instead of the normal gleaming white colour, the Dreadnought came out almost jet black. It was almost impossible to see it. Lily, John, Mary, and I were waiting in the flight deck and, after thirty minutes, the call to action was announced over my communicator. Operation Thucydides is a go. Launch when ready.

We all rushed to the Defiant class fighters. I sat in the front seat and Lily and John sat behind me. The fighter had plenty of space for them; even when we picked up the defector´s wife and two children, it would have enough space. No human would have designed a ship like the Defiant class, but the aliens we had taken the tech from had different military doctrine than us - and they have proved very useful. We launched into the blackness of space and glided across it towards the planet. As we approached the planet, I asked, John, are we sure that we can’t be seen as we land?

Look at your sensors.

As I looked and I saw that the planet was experiencing massive northern and southern lights; it must have been amazing for them. Wow! Is that natural? I asked.

"No, of course not. The battleship Hood is stationed near their sun. By a process I don’t understand, she is stimulating the production of charged particles from their sun to cause large artificial auroras. They are getting a firework show that they never will again. It is going to cause wonderful camouflage for us though."

He was right. As we glided towards their North Pole, the sky was full of lights of all colours. I couldn’t really enjoy it because I had to concentrate on the journey, but I could hear Lily oohing and aahing behind me. We sped south and the land changed as we went. At one point, we had been flying through snowstorms, which, with my sensors turned down to avoid being picked up, was not fun. However, after a few hours, we reached the lake where I and my Defiant fighter were going to hide as dawn was breaking.

As we hovered above the lake, Lily and the Hiltons prepared to jump out of the passenger door. As Lily jumped out, John said to me, When we land, submerge the fighter into the lake. Stay there until either a) we come back with the passengers, or b) we need rescuing. Hopefully that won’t happen as flying off this planet while fighting would be a nightmare.

I thought that he was probably right. I submerged the ship into the lake. The water was black and murky, but I wanted to make sure that no one would be able to see me when it got bright later. I slowly settled it at the bottom of the lake. When