Phantom: A Tale From The Sonali War Read online

  Phantom

  A Tale From The Sonali War

  Trevor Wyatt

  Pax Aeterna Press

  Contents

  Phantom

  1. Jeremy

  2. Jeremy

  3. Jeremy

  4. Jeremy

  5. Jeremy

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  About the Author

  Phantom

  A Tale From The Sonali War

  By Trevor Wyatt

  Copyright 2017 by Pax Aeterna Press

  All rights reserved

  This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or persons is entirely coincidental.

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  1

  Jeremy

  I am in the hidden compartment of my small corvette looking over some of the contraband ale I am smuggling along the border when I hear the deafening wail and see the blinding flashes of the sirens. I can feel my heart jug up to the base of my throat as I hurry up and out of the small room and bolt the secret entrance. I dash into the elevator and ride it up to the bridge.

  “What the heck is going on,” I scream as I take my position at the captain’s chair. The lights are flashing more rapidly and more intensely in the bridge than anywhere else in the ship. The small view screen, which is pretty much our window into the cold, hard space beyond the polycarbonate plating of our hull, shows nothing but deep space.

  “Long range scanners just detected a Union ship headed our way,” says my navigator. He’s a muscular, dark skinned man with a nose piercing and the kind of face you don’t want to meet in some dark alley world.

  “What the hell?” I say. “How long before they get to us?”

  This time it is the weapon’s officer and my number one, Alex, who answers. He has a shocked look on his face and he hangs his shoulders in that defeated way I am all too familiar with. “Not long, Jeremy.”

  I have warned Garret several times not to use my first name so casually, especially when we are in front of the crew. I am ticked by his continued insistence on disobeying my instructions, but I don’t have time to deal with that now. My heart is pounding away, because I know we are doomed.

  2

  Jeremy

  I have two options. I can attempt to run or I can attempt to stand my ground and be boarded. I trust my cargo is hidden well enough and there is nothing onboard and in open view to give the impression that I am carrying any contraband. However, I am not sure why the ship is headed toward us. It could be that they have prior information about our run. Maybe, they were tipped off before now by the same people to whom we plan selling the cargo. In my line of work, I know well not to trust anyone, especially those who buy from us. If I attempt to run, there is a likely chance that we will be caught. My ship isn’t exactly the fastest ship in the galaxy, nor is it the kind to outrun a Union Cruiser that is specifically built for speed.

  “What do you want to do boss,” my navigator, Garret Summers, says. Even though he speaks in a measured tone, I can see it in his eyes that he is terrified beyond measure.

  I glance at Garret. “Where’s the nearest asteroid field?”

  Garret hunches over his workstation and performs the calculation. He looks up at me with a hopeful smile and says, “About zero point zero one light years ahead. We can be there in about fifteen minutes, but we have to engage the FTL now.”

  “If we make it to the asteroid field, we can easily navigate our way through to the other side,” says Alex. “I doubt the Union Cruiser would pursue us any further. They certainly wouldn’t be entering the field with us.”

  It is in situations like this that a true captain proves his worth. If I try to run and I am caught, there will be hell to pay.

  “Unnamed corvette with hull number XZY876TY,” came a female and authoritative voice over their intercom. “This is Union Starship Phantom. You are currently in Union territory. Stand down and prepare to be boarded. I repeat. Stand down and prepare to be boarded.”

  I tap the button on the captain’s chair that connects me to Bob in engineering. “Bob, hold on to something. We are about to engage the FTL.”

  “Roger that,” comes the reply.

  I turn to my navigator. “Get us to the asteroid field!”

  He doesn’t speak. He only smiles and returns his attention to his station. The ship begins to vibrate and a sharp, high pitched whine erupts into existence. A split second later, the space around the ship begins to fold in on itself as we jumped into FTL speed. Our faster than light travel doesn’t last so long and we drop out with the screams of the warning system.

  I realize we are nowhere near the asteroid field, and I can still see the cruiser. It is within range now.

  “What the hell!” I yell at Garret.

  Garret’s hands were frantic all over the controls. He glances at me, his eyes revealing to me just how screwed we are. “They have a tractor beam lock on us.”

  “Evasive maneuvers, then!” I say that like it’s going to change anything.

  Garret replies, “They’ve locked on us, sir! We can’t go anywhere.”

  I tap the button to engineering. “Bob. We need an emergency jump into FTL.”

  Bob’s voice comes across the intercom, flat as usual. “That’s not going to be happening, Jeremy. The drives are down. I’ll need at least an hour to fix them.”

  I frown. I glance at my two man bridge crew, while keeping my hands on the button to engineering so Bob can hear our conversation. “What are our options?”

  “Well, we’re not being dragged into the cruiser, so maybe they just want to talk,” Alex offers. He has his eyes on the view screen. I can now see the shadow of a huge space ship over us. My chest knots with dread. If they find what I carry in my cargo, I am probably going to get a life sentence at best and an execution at worst.

  “Bob, start working on the FTL,” I say. “Get ready to jump on my command when it’s ready.”

  “Aye, sir,” he replies.

  “Also, tell Sibiu to make sure the hidden compartment remains hidden,” I say.

  “Aye, captain.”

  I heave a deep sigh, take a relaxed posture in my chair, and say to Alex. “Open a channel to the ship.”

  Alex’s hands flies over his work station. He then gives me the sign to start speaking.

  “Union Starship Phantom, this is Jeremy Black, Captain of The White Silk. We apologize for earlier. We encountered some problems with our FTL drive that caused it to malfunction. Please, can you state the reason for this arrest?”

  I pause and wait for some response. The response comes one full minute later as our view screen fills up with the image of the huge and stunning bridge of the Phantom. It is not this view, however, that catches my attention. It is the view of the painfully attractive, suggestively dressed young lady that stands to address me.

  She stands at attention like she’s military. She’s wearing a blue, tightly fitted jump suit that highlights her curvaceous form. Her brunette hair is tied back in a bun and her long neck terminates at a bulgy chest. I can’t help but wander down to her cleavage as a bit of it is revealed by the dipping neckline of her uniform.

  In spite of my indulgence, the woman maintains a steely gaze. She says in a terminal and incredibly cold voice. “Prepare to be boarded.” Then the image vanishes and is replaced by the image of the starship against the backdrop of space.

  3

  Jeremy

  I look from Alex to Garret. They are both scared. I jump out of my sit and scramble for the elevator. I take the
elevator down to the cargo hold, where the cargo is being kept. Adjacent to the cargo hold is the entrance bay, through which the Union troops will board the ship. I meet Sibiu coming out of the small, secret hatch in the middle of the cargo hold. I curse our luck that we don’t have so much physical cargo in our cargo hold. It is going to make the secret hatch a lot easier to find, if the troops don’t already know what they are looking for.

  I help the small man out and seal the secret hatch close. Then together we move some of the crates and boxes around in a seemingly random manner. If I concentrate them right above the secret hatch, this is probably where the troops will look first.

  Even before we are finished I feel the ship vibrate as we are docked with the cruiser.

  I glance at Sibiu. “Stay here and make like you’re taking stock. Act like everything is okay.”

  I run through a small access way into the entrance bay. The sharp flash of escaping pressurized air fills my ears. The entrance bay is almost as large as the cargo hold, although it is more longitudinal to allow for vehicles driving in and out of the ship during pick up or drop down missions. It’s basically Spartan, a metal box of hull plating. There is a small panel of buttons by the hatch, which commands the hatch to slide up into its home. From there, a door can be opened to the cargo hold.

  Alex and Garret are waiting for me in the entrance bay. I join them.

  “What do you think they want?” asks Alex.

  My reply is simple and sincere. “I’ll be damned if I knew.”

  There’s a warning sound, which is followed by the main doors sliding up. I see their boots first, because the door slides up slowly. Then I see their neatly pressed khaki pants. Then I see their guns. Then I see their hardened face. There must have been a hundred of them. The moment they could walk straight through without banging their heads against the rising door they flood the entrance bay, their guns pointed at us and yelling for us to show our hands.

  Our hands rise into the air. A couple of soldiers peel off from the invading party to secure us in restraints. The rest spread through the ship and one manipulates the main control switch by the door and opens the blast door connecting the entrance bay and the cargo hold. About five soldiers hold positions in the entrance bay while another ten enter the cargo hold via the open blast doors.

  A group of ten officers carry an assortment of scanning devices into our ship. Some of the devices were handheld. Some were hefted along the ground. Following them through is the lady commander.

  “Search every square inch of this ship,” she orders the scientists with the scanners. “I want that ale found!”

  When I hear her command, my heart chills with fear. The next thing is I am besieged with an overwhelming desire to run. But then I have nowhere to run. I am doomed. Following this realization are pictures of being confined to a dark cell on some prison world in some backwater star system of the Union.

  I swallow hard and hold my head up high as I am approached by the commander. The lady looks at all three of us and then focuses on me.

  “Captain Jeremy,” she addresses me formally.

  “Yes,” I reply, trying to cover the distance between us for maybe a handshake. I am pulled back by the trooper that is holding me.

  He mutters for me to stay put in a voice that could probably put the fear of god in living creature. I know I am screwed.

  “Can you please tell me the reason for this invasion?” Bob screams and spits as he is pushed into the entrance bay. He falls flat before us. I try to help him, but the trooper holding me butts me in the back of my head with his weapons causing me to see stars for a brief moment. When I come to, I am still standing and so is Bob, in restraints to my side.

  “I say stay put,” comes the deadly voice in my ears.

  The lady commander has an animated look on her face. She says, “We received intelligence that you’re carrying contraband ale. In fact, we were informed that the ale you’re carrying contains a banned psychotropic substance known in the underworld as DX350. Do you deny this?”

  “Of course I deny them,” I retort. “We are only carrying medical supplies to the planet Xaviwa. We would never knowingly bring banned items in Union territory. Plus, I’d like to know who I’m addressing.”

  The lady said, “Call me No-One.”

  “That all?” I say with a sarcastic tome. “Not Captain No-One or Commodore NO-“

  I’m head butted again. This time I fall flat to the ground, spew blood, and feel my head pound for way longer than I care to remember. Within seconds, I am rudely hefted up to my feet and made to stand up even though all my legs and I want to do is lie on the floor and sleep.

  A scientist returns to the entrance bay and whispers something in the lady’s ears. Soon after, Sibiu is bustled into the entrance and made to stand in line with his, having his own personal trooper holding him tightly in spite of his restraints.

  No-One smiles for the first time and it’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen. I almost sigh wistfully.

  “Guess what we found in the hidden compartment beneath your cargo hold?”

  My face changes with practice ease as I display shock. “What?” I demand. Then for theatrics, I add, “What did you people plant in the secondary cargo hold?” I intentionally use another name for ‘secret’, simply because secret connotes deception and deception is what I’m trying to distance myself and my crew from.

  The Captain rolls her eyes and scoffs aloud. She grabs the tablet from the scientist’s hands and reads off a preliminary analysis of my contraband, specifications I am all too familiar with. When she’s done, she looks up at me and cocks her right eyebrow as though encouraging me to refute the claims.

  Still playing the surprised captain, I look to my crew. “What the fuck? Did you guys bring contraband into my ship?” I sound furious and yell, such that few of the numerous, milling Union crew in the cruiser’s humongous entrance bay ahead turn to look at me. My crew mates, who are already versed in the arts of deception, make up strange faces, some of shock others of anger, mumbling all at once that they didn’t.

  I glance back at No-One, my frown deepening. “Look, lady, I don’t know what games you’re playing but I don’t have any contraband onboard my ship.”

  “Then why did you try to run?” she asks.

  “I already told you,” I reply, frustration bleeding into my voice. “This ship isn’t exactly new. It’s an old bucket of rust. Its FTL drive sometimes malfunctions. It’s not our fault that it so happens to malfunction in the presence of a Union Cruiser who so illegally boards us.” I feel it coming. I expect it. The butt of the trooper’s gun.

  The lady looks above my head at the trooper and I am spared this time.

  No-One turns to the science officer to her side. Handing over the Padd, she says, “Run a finger print scan.”

  This is when I know I’m really screwed.

  The science officer takes the tablet and runs the scan. He looks up at the lady. “I have about seventeen prints. Five out of these seventeen match all five of the crew of this ship.”

  I open my mouth instinctively to protest and the lady holds her peace, wanting to hear my defense. However, I am without defense. I couldn’t defend myself against the truth.

  The lady says, “I hereby place you and your crew under arrest and by the authority vested in my by the Union I charge you with contempt, resisting arrest, and possession of contraband DX350. Each of these crimes carry a minimum penalty of thirty years imprisonment. I hereby decide that you all will be serving all three penalties in consecutive order…”

  We grumble aloud.

  “And,” No-one continues, “You’ll be serving it in a Level 7 Maximum Security Prison Facility.”

  Now, we scream our protest. The troopers hold us back. This time, the trooper holding me does not head butt me with his gun. I apparently have the right to protest.

  No-One waits for us to calm down. By this time, a large percentage of the soldiers who had earlier furthere
d into the ship are retreating back into the entrance bay.

  “You have two options,” the woman says. “You either serve your sentence. Or we can have it expunged and you get to be heroes.”

  I frown, even though my heartbeat begins to recede. Anything is better than ninety years in a level 7 maximum prison.

  “What’s the catch?” I say. Then I think of a joke, and knowing it may get me head butted I still go ahead and say it. “Or did you suddenly develop a heart.”

  She raises her hands to prevent me from being head butted. The trooper holding me isn’t too happy with this as he grunts his dissatisfaction. I begin to wonder if he and the lady are some sort of item. Are they having some sort of sexual relationship? Is this why he feels he has to defend her honor and dignity every fucking time?

  “One of the border worlds is in path of a Sonali fleet, led by one of their Star Destroyers,” she says. “We are currently overwhelmed and can’t send reinforcements just yet. But this planet is critical to the Earth-Sonali war. So, we want you and your crew to smuggle an explosive device into the ship and detonate it from a safe distance. This will temporarily relieve the planet and give us the time to reorganize and protect that planet.”

  The Earth-Sonali war has been going on ever since that accursed frigate The Seeker went looking for The Mariner. I have tried my best to stay out of the war. Letting them destroy each other, while I profit from their efforts, has basically been my ideology towards the war. Now, it seems I will not be able to run from this anymore.

  “What if we refuse?” I ask.