PHALANX - The series

Episode two : And so it begins…

 

Frederic sat in the command chair on the bridge, looking at his crew. He was immensely proud of their accomplishments, and above all, at the fact that they managed to become as close as a crew can possibly be, even though they are from different parts of the world and of the social ladder.

The 8-hour shift crawled by without incidents. Frederic was bored to death, and he knew that his crew was in the same shape. He looked around, and every where he looked he saw the same expressions of boredom. He decided to get the adrenaline pumping.

"Ensign O'Connor, warm up the engines. Bring two auxiliary reactors online, switch to internal atmosphere and plot a course for the moon."

"Yes, sir," The blonde woman at Operations replied.

"Let's get this boredom out of us. Engage when ready." Frederic said. He could see the faces on his bridge lighten up as their excitement was barely contained. Frederic knew very well how important it was that his crew had respect for him, but didn't fear him at the same time. By means of eating the same food at the same time, and using diversions when boredom began to set in, he had managed to gain the respect and love of the entire command center crew.

Frederic tapped a button on his command chair armrest. A whistle was heard throughout the center.

"This is Phalanx Fromthefield to all crew: Prepare for liftoff. We're going sightseeing on the moon, people!"

The over 1500 people now stationed on the command center began cheering as the gigantic engines at the bottom of the center came to life and lifted them out of the water. The special structure of the center allowed for both artificial gravity in space, and for a zero-G acceleration. In reality, the station was pulling almost 11 G's when blasting into orbit, but the crew never felt a thing. They just ran to the nearest windows and looked out.

The vast Pacific Ocean and the city of LA were visible deep below them.

"Altitude 10 kilometers and rising, sir."

"Very well, O'Connor. Steady as she goes," Frederic said. "Jennifer, Daphnix, you're with me. Commander Harris, you have command until I get back."

"Very well, sir," The dark haired Scotsman sat down in the now vacant command chair, while Frederic and his friends disappeared in the nearest lift.

"Starship port 1," Frederic said.

"Why are we going there? Those things are empty," Daphnix said.

Frederic just smiled. The lift door opened, and they walked up on the empty starship port. Or so they thought.

"Lady and Gentleman, meat… the PSS Daedalus. Prototype number 0001," Frederic said as they walked towards a massive, in a white sail covered, object. Frederic pulled the sail away, and the PSS Daedalus was visible.

"WOW! I thought it was still in design phase?" Daphnix asked.

"It is… was," Jennifer said, looking quizzically at Frederic.

"I finished the design phase, and I had it built without your knowledge. The first model, you know, the one built at Boeing and Lockheed?, helped us very well in this."

"Are there any changed characteristics?"

"Not much. 36 meters long, 5 meters wide at the cockpit, 9 meters at the engine section, and 29 meters from wingtip to wingtip. Powered by one fusion reactor, it has both a Linda and a BORLAN system on board. There are no weapons yet, but that will change soon. A maximal speed of 99.9% of light speed, and a maximal acceleration of 1000G's, where the occupants feel nothing of, of course."

"Cool," Daphnix said. "So, how do we get inside?"

"Door, open," Frederic said. A panel just after the cockpit window disappeared. A little stairs slid down.

Frederic made a 'if your highness would like to enter?' move with his hand. Daphnix and Jennifer walked inside, followed by Frederic.

"Daedalus, lights. Power up fusion rector and bring systems to 100%." three bleeps acknowledged the order. The lights came on-line, and the familiar hum of a powering fusion reactor and systems initializing greeted them. Frederic walked onto the cockpit and sat down in the front chair. He turned around, and looked at his friends.

"Jennifer, take science. Daphnix, tactical. We're going on a test flight."

His friends did as Frederic had asked of them, and soon the gigantic kilometer-long hangar door opened.

"Daedalus to Command center: see you in one hour."

"Command center here: Good flight Daedalus. See you in an hour. Command center out."

Frederic plied the controls and eased the craft out the hangar. Once outside, he quickly sped up.

"We're now at 10,000 kps," Frederic said, pushing further, but never taking his eye of the window and navigational aids. At this speed, the solar system was a deadly place.

"Come on, buddy. Floor it!" Daphnix yelled.

"Yeah, I want to see what it is like at such great speeds!" Jennifer backed Daphnix.

Frederic shrugged, pushed further until the gauge said '100% engine capacity.' The ship shuddered and took off, blasting through space at ever-climbing velocity.

"100,000 kps," Frederic read. "1/3 of light speed."

He continued to read the speed indicator, meanwhile dodging planets, meteors and other space debris.

"Damn, the meteor belt. BORLAN, take over. Activate all shields and emergency break to 100 kps."

BORLAN on-line. Shields activated and speed reduced to 100 kps.

Frederic piloted them safely through the meteor belt, and as soon as they cleared it, Frederic pushed it again. Soon, they were back on track.

"150,000 kps. Half of light speed." This brought forth another cheer from his friends.

"We're nearly there. 250,000 kps. Light speed at 299,793 kps."

"There. 299,493 kps. 99.9% of light speed. Our mass is nearly zero," Frederic said.

It was beautiful. Because of the strange way physics works, the stars seem to converge on one point because of the Doppler effect. As soon as they neared the maximum speed in the universe, everything disappeared of the navigational aids and through the windows.

"Damn. Because light has this much trouble reaching us, we can't see a thing. I'll have to slow down. Next time, we'll have to design something to allow us at least some visibility."

"Now that we're here, why not try to prove Einstein's wrong?" Jennifer suggested.

"How?"

"Transfer all power except life-support into the engines. Blast through the light speed barrier."

Frederic pondered this for a moment. The danger outweighed the fact that they would be able to do something thought impossible. Finally, he nodded to his friends and eased himself in his chair.

"BORLAN, transfer all power except computer, navigation and life-support into primary and secondary fusion drive engines," Frederic said, bracing himself in his seat. His friends cheered and braced themselves too.

Power transferred. Engines now at 110% output. WARNING, WARNING. LIGHT SPEED BARRIER APPROACHING. WE ARE …

All hell broke loose. Flames erupted from consoles; the Daedalus started pivoting around in space, out of control. When reaching light speed, one's mass approached zero. By trying to break the speed of light, the Daedalus' mass had hit zero. Now, because of the strange way physics works, mass caan NOT reach zero. So, they had 'hit the light speed barrier', so to speak.

Frederic was blasted out of his seat, and connected with the unbreakable transparent window material as the Daedalus' emergency systems corrected its course and brought it to a standstill. Apparently, the G-dampers were damaged. Frederic dazedly looked around. The automatic function sealed the windows by sliding armored plates over it.

Da…ged. No life…port. Sy…tem …lure 5 … nds.

"Damn! All systems are offline. Even life-support. We'll have to… Damn! You're hurt!" Frederic saw Jennifer crawling up, a nasty cut on her forehead. She nodded that she was all right.

"Daphnix! Can you hear me? Daphnix! Wake up!" Frederic gently slapped the face of his friend a few times. Nothing. Daphnix remained unconscious.

"Jennifer, try to get life-support and primary systems online. I'll try to heal Daphnix."

Jennifer nodded and started working on connecting emergency power to life-support. Frederic let his hands hover over his friend's body, using as much power as he could spare to get Daphnix back. After 15 minutes, his friend opened his eyes, and gave a grateful smile.

"I have corrected most of the damage, but I do not have enough power left to repair the bruises and cuts," Frederic said.

"It's enough. I can function. How are you two?"

"I am relatively undamaged, but Jennifer has a nasty cut on her forehead. She's fine otherwise," Frederic said.

"And the ship?" Daphnix struggled up.

"We took quite a beating. All systems are offline. Jennifer is working on life-support. According to my calculations, we have 15 minutes worth of air, and the temperature will be lethal to us in half an hour."

"What can I do?"

"Work on the computer core. I'll help Jennifer with the emergency systems." Daphnix nodded, and walked to the engine compartment. Frederic joined him, but both went separate ways once they got there.

"How is it going?" Frederic greeted Jennifer once he got to her.

"Just connect this … there." The lights came to half strength, but even half normal lights was better than the emergency red lights, operated by backup batteries. Frederic also felt the flow of fresh air.

"Good. Now, lets get the fusion reactor online. I'll work on the magnetic containment, you work on the hydrogen lines." Jennifer nodded, and they both went to their respective tasks.

Meanwhile, Daphnix was working on the computer core. He had managed to get the secondary core online, but the primary core, and the AI, remained stubbornly offline.

"I don't get it. The power couplings are operational, everything checks out, why won't this thing work?" he smashed his fist on the stubborn core.

"Damn, that always works in the movies," Daphnix muttered.

Frederic had gotten magnetic containment within acceptable parameters, and signaled Jennifer.

"Status on the hydrogen lines?" he asked.

"There is a leak in the primary deuterium tank. I'm fixing it now."

"Tell me as soon as you're ready. I'll try to get a little better magnetic containment preferences."

After a few more minutes, Jennifer signaled Frederic. "Ready. Get the damn thing online."

"Acknowledged. Magnetic containment at 85% and holding. Starting, NOW!"

The fusion reactor kicked into life and Frederic carefully brought it up to 50% power.

"Reactor at 50% and holding steady. Now, let's get the drive online and get back." he said.

The lights went to full strength, and everywhere on the ship the dead computer panels came back to life as power to them was restored. Daphnix got the scare of a lifetime as the stubborn primary computer core blasted into life along with the reactor.

"Woa! Someone should have told me about this!" he yelled, and proceeded to help his friends get the fusion drive and navigation back online.

Within 5 hours of the accident, the Daedalus was limping back to Earth at 10% light speed. They were forced to rely solely on navigational aids as the emergency systems had sealed of the windows with armored plates, thinking that the ship was under attack, and it refused to open them up again.

"How long till we rendezvous with the command center?" Jennifer asked.

"We are presently 5 light-hours away from earth, and at 10% light speed, that will take us …"

"50 hours? That's two days, locked into this birdcage?" Daphnix yelled.

"Sorry, I will not risk our engines on trying to get there faster. Without any form of communication we can't even let the command center know about our situation. We said we'd be back in one hour. We've been gone more than 10. They'll be worried sick," Frederic said.

"You're right. We have to get communications back online. We'll work on that. You pilot the ship," Jennifer said, and she and Daphnix started leaving the cockpit.

"Wait! There is one more thing we can try. It could be dangerous, so I'd like to know your opinion."

"About what?" Jennifer asked.

"Going to alternated drive mode."

"What? But that is only a theory! You can't be serious!" Jennifer shouted at Frederic.

"Yes, but it's either that, or stay in this thing for another 50 hours."

Jennifer though about it for a moment. Finally, she nodded. "Ok. You have my consent. Go ahead."

"With what?" Daphnix wasn't exactly the scientific type, although he had had the same education as his two friends.

"We could go to maximal velocity without using the engines at more than 50%. Only problem: it will involve stretching the laws of physics beyond what is considered 'safe'"

"And that will get us home faster?"

"At 99.9% of light speed."

"Do it! Go ahead! We can't get any worse than this!"

"Except burn our engines if it fails," Jennifer mumbled. None of her two friends seemed to hear her, though.

"Linda, what is the integrity of our outer hull?" Frederic asked.

Current integrity is at 85%.

Frederic nodded. "Good. Reconfigure engines for alternate drive mode. Notify when ready."

Authorization acknowledged. Reconfiguring. Configuration complete in 10 minutes.

"Velocity: 0," Frederic said, "9 minutes to alternate drive mode."

The next 9 minutes went at an agonizingly slow pace.

Configuration completed. Fusion particles are now rerouted alongside the hull. Surfing mode enabled.

"Engage," Frederic said. Although the structure of the Daedalus stopped any acceleration, they still felt a shudder and a gentle pressure.

Warning: acceleration exceeding 1500 G's. G-dampers unable to cope. Overload in 5 seconds.

Frederic plied the controls, and slowed their acceleration..

Acceleration is holding steady at 1250 G's.

"We've reached maximum velocity. ETA: 4 hours," Frederic said. His friends were in ecstasy as the Daedalus shot towards home. Linda safely got them through the meteor belt, and a few minutes afterwards, they were safely back in the command center, holding still at the far side of the moon.

"Command center, this is the Daedalus. Please open starship port 1." Frederic transmitted.

"Finally! You're home! We where worried sick around here. You said you'd be gone one hour, and it's been 15!"

"It's good to know we're missed. We ran into some trouble, we'll tell you all about it in a minute," Frederic transmitted back, gently easing the Daedalus into the gigantic empty hangar.

 

"So you needed 5 hours to get underway after crashing into the lights peed barrier?" Harris asked Frederic, after he had completed his report on what happened to the Daedalus.

They were all sitting in the small conference room on Deck 2: Frederic at the head of the conference table, Jennifer to his right and Daphnix and Harris on his left.

"Affirmative. We could only use 10% of our engines after that. So, we switched to alternate drive mode and surfed home on the fusion particles."

"I see. Well, that was a valuable lesson: never break light speed." Harris said. Frederic nodded.

"It seems Einstein was right when he declared lightspeed unreachable. Maybe in the future we will discover something that can allow us to go over it," Jennifer said.

"Maybe. I have heard something about it being theoretically possible to warp space, and surf on the wave," Frederic said, punching a few keys on the small console in front of him. A screen in front of the table lit up, and displayed some mathematical equations and a space/time diagram.

"Yes, but wouldn't that require a tremendous amount of negative energy?" Jennifer asked.

"Yes, but that is easily…"

Warning. Defcon 3. Defcon3. All crew report to battle stations. Defcon3. Defcon3. Alert. Alert.

Borlan's heavy voice boomed over the station. The red lights flickered on and off. Instead of a standard alert whistle, a piece of music was heard.

"Shit. What is happening?" Frederic asked the bridge, pressing his communicator. The communicator was a small device attached to the their uniforms. Very soon, Frederic had found out that communicating on a center like this wasn't easy, since the communicator buttons are sometimes very far apart, if you even know where they are.

"Sir, three unidentified craft have just appeared right outside out solar system."

"Damn. I'll be right there. We'll do this at a later time," Frederic said, jumping up from his seat and running toward the lift. His crew followed put.

In the lift, Frederic couldn't stop himself from asking:

"Borlan, what is that music you played all over the station?"

Holst, The Planets. Planet Mars, the bringer of war. I thought that would be more suitable than the piercing whistle you originally programmed.

"Good thinking. You're right. That piece definitely has the 'war' atmosphere and it alerts the crew just as well as a whistle."

Thank you.

"No, thank you. Ah, we're here." The lift doors opened and Frederic walked up on the bridge.

"Sir, they're moving towards us at half light speed. ETA is 8 hours."

"Thank you. Have you tried contacting them?" Frederic said while sitting down in the command chair.

"Yes. Our signal is limited to lightspeed, so it will take some time for our signal to reach them, respond and get back," Harris said.

"If they respond," Daphnix said. Frederic nodded in agreement.

"There's nothing more we can do but wait. While we do that, run a level 1 diagnostic on all weapons and shields," he said. The crew rushed to work.

"Diagnostic shows all systems functional at optimal, sir," O'Connor reported from her station.

"Good. What's the ETA of the unknown?" Frederic asked.

"ETA is 4 hours, 23 minutes and closing at half lightspeed, sir," Jennifer said from the science station.

"Daphnix, get weapons ready when I need them. Jennifer, can you get approximate data on the unidentified craft?"

"They are about the size of the Daedalus, but they are heavily armed and shielded," Jennifer said.

"O'Connor, plot course for unidentified crafts. Sumitsu, give me everything you've got," Frederic said into the intercom to the Japanese man at the bottom of the center, in engineering.

"Yes, sir. 25% light speed in 5 minutes," came the reply.

The center's engines came to life and it left its safe haven, behind the moon. Soon, the station burned through space at 25% lightspeed towards the unidentified crafts.

"Rendezvous time?"

"At present speed, 1 hour and a half, sir."

"Good. Borlan, at the smallest sign of hostility, go the Defcon 4 and plot a firing solution for all weapons."

Very well.

"Harris, send a message to Earth: Alert all troops. Double the drafting immediately. Get Earth ready for possible invasion."

"Yes, sir." The Scot bent over the communications station and sent the message.

To the contrary of what Frederic initially thought, the final hour and a half went by slowly. Finally, they began slowing down, along with the aliens.

"Borlan, hide Defcon 3 status on bridge. Harris, contact them again." The red lights went out and the normal white lights came back on.

"They are responding. Sir, text only!" the Scot cried in surprise.

"So, what are you waiting for? Read it!" Frederic said back.

"Surrender or die, humans. Drop your shields and disable your weapons. Your race and your planet will be annexed into the Ketari empire. End transmission."

"Well, at least they have gone through the trouble of learning English. Send them this: 'our planet is not as defenseless as you thought. I am Phalanx Fromthefield of the human race. Surrender is not an option. A non-aggression pact will be in both our people's best interest'."

"Message sent. They are responding: Audio and video. They are compatible with ours. Putting on screen."

A large, green lizard-like alien appeared on the screen.

"I am Gr'Tor of the Ketari invasion force. Surrender or die." The transmission ended.

"Borlan, stop hiding Defcon 3. Daphnix, get weapons out of stealth mode and get them locked on their ships."

The red lights came back, and Daphnix responded with an "aye, sir."

"Sir, it's working! They are responding."

"On screen."

"It seems you are indeed not defenseless. We will be back and pound you into submission." Frederic had difficulty hiding his anger. After a few tenths of a second, he found something like an emotional barrier establishing itself in his brain. Not a single emotion crept through. He made a big decision right there and then: they won't listen, and war is the only possibility.

"Then bring your finest hammer. Harris, end transmission." The screen went blank. Frederic looked around, and saw the faces of the entire bridge crew trained on him.

Frederic pushed the button for the center-wide intercom.

"We have just been contacted by aliens calling themselves the Ketari. They demand unconditional surrender." The intercom worked both ways, and now the bridge was filled with the entire crew shouting: "No!", or bursting out laughing.

"I feel the same. I told them to back down, or even negotiate a treaty. Their only response was: 'We'll pound you into submission'. I suggested they brought their finest hammer." The crew laughed.

"Now I ask you: the ships are still in weapons range. What do we do? Go to the monitor you are watching, press 'Attack' or 'Let go'. Nobody has to vote, but those who do: Thank you. They will be out of weapons range in 5 minutes. You have 1 minute to vote."

On the main screen, two bars were shown. Actually, it was only one, because the other one never got above '0%'. The other one showed : 1536 votes. Frederic voted himself, and now it read: 1537 votes.

"It is unanimous! We FIGHT!" Frederic shouted over the intercom. The crew cheered.

"Borlan, Defcon 5! Full blown war. Daphnix, execute firing solution when ready."

Out of the hull of the gigantic station, 250 torpedoes launched towards their mark. Only 10 missed. The three small ships exploded in a massive ball of gas and flame.

"I hope they not all fight like that. I want a CHALLENGE!" Daphnix said.

"Yeah, and I would have appreciated a specimen of their ships to study." Frederic said.

"Seems like we'll both be happy." Daphnix said, looking up distressed from his tactical display.

"What do you mean?"

Daphnix got the image from the forward sensors on the main screen. Hundreds of smaller ships, and 10 capital ships were visible.

"Shit." Was all Frederic got out.