Aeris - Guardian Force - 3. Act 2 – Prelude to War Part 1

Chapter 6:

The Prometheus entered subspace a little over two hours ago, and Aeris skillfully dodge questions, he would rather not answer about his and Shane’s whereabouts. The introductions between Dr. Thomas, Adm. Franks, and the rest of the senior staff went well; followed by a conference in the War Room on Deck Three. The room was situated with a large Halo projector in the center of the room, complete with holographic controls to move the image around, and workstations all around the perimeter of the room. Its main purpose was to plan out ground-based operations, and during them keep a running feed for any changes. Aeris thought this was a bit redundant, seeing as there was a Warfare Operations Center, on the Second Deck of C&C Tower. However, he could appreciate foresight if the need called for it, for there was also a Secondary Bridge control room as well on Deck Six.

Adm. Franks, Commander O’Conner, Chief Engineer Fox, along with a surly Marine Colonel named Kyle Ionita, and a dozen others rounded out the attendees with Dr. Thomas and Aeris. Standing at the head of the center projector, Dr. Thomas, gave an updated briefing to the assembled. “As you can see, the Deep Space Drone did numerous flybys of the planet, once it had detected surface structures. No humanoid life signs are present, but an abundance of animal and plant life abound. Readings from the Drone, confirm that the world is one hundred percent compatible with Human life.” Shane stated as he looked around the room.

Continuing, “This next part of the briefing, ladies, and gentlemen, I must remind you is SCI classified, with Ultra-Black security. You’re being read into the file, so you know what we may perhaps be getting into. The structures on the planet, are not some ruins like ancient Rome, or the Mayan Pyramids on Earth, but resemble full working cities. Composition, from the limited Drone sensors, shows metal alloys similar to what we use, glassworks, and concrete-like building material. There are several civilization sites throughout the world, but all of them are being reclaimed by the forests. This is in stark contrast to what we found on Vargus –,”

Several murmurs started, before Adm. Franks quieted them down, “go on Doctor.”

“—yes, as I was saying, these buildings do not match what we found on Vargus. To correct the record, Vargus is not quarantined because of a reactor malfunction, but because of all colonists, one thousand two hundred families disappeared in the span of twenty-four hours. Guardian Force, along with a research team, myself included, spent six months planet side, and cannot find any source for their disappearance. There was one lone survivor, and that was the operator onboard the Colony’s Orbital Platform. His testimony, proven under lie detection, stated he doesn’t know what happened either. One moment, he was getting status updates, the next, the place went dark. Strange energy readings and some other phenomena happened, but we did not lose anyone in the search and rescue.

“The Alien Structures we found on Vargus, did resemble, ancient ruins, with some pretty significant interior work, done in a more modern material, and functions. Such, as what we called computer interfaces, but we could never get them to do more than turn on, beep, and turn off. Some of our best Cryptologists still have not cracked the language that we found,” he lectured, while showing the assembled, various holographs of the building from Vargus, and the Alien language they found. He then did a split screen, and posted the DSD recordings, with the others. It became clear there was a connection, as writings from both planets, were the same. He looked around the room, at each person in attendance, and his eyes settled on Aeris. “This ladies, and gentleman, are a tremendous find. Also, it’s why the Prometheus was built. This was its mission all along.”

With this startling revelation, Jules looked at Aeris catching his eye. Her silent question of, “Did you know?” was plain in her eyes, and his response was a slight shake of his head, “No.” Clearing her voice, Jules stood up, “thank you, Doctor, for the update, and Aeris please present your additions.”

With a simple nod to acknowledge her, Aeris steps forward and directs the DRD’s info graphs to the largest of civilization zones. From the images, it looked like a combination of rural and urban areas seen on Earth. One Tall and Large building, at least thirty-five stories, stood in the center of town, with four main roadways springing from it. Several hundred smaller buildings ranging from house size to buildings as tall as twenty stories, with connecting roads, surrounded the Tall building. Large tracks of greenery were throughout the site. A temperate style of forest encircled the city, and several of the outlier buildings had been overgrown.

“We’ll start here, in what FleetCom has designated the capital. We have three main mission objectives and a few secondary. For the mains, A. Threat Assessment, B. First Contact Priorities and C. Locating our missing colony people, if they have knowledge of the disappearance. Secondary objectives will be in your briefings, closer to when we exit Subspace. In the meantime, what we need to do is organize our search team. Colonel Ionita, I’ll need eleven squads for the capital; One to protect the scientist, one to assist me, and the other nine to search the city. We’re not going in as conquerors. The initial landing will be in this clearing, east of the tower, with me, the science team, and the first two squads. Once we reach, central ‘city’, then the other nine will drop in assigned zones, only if we are not in contact that can think, talk, and reason. The Prometheus will be on station for orbital support, and bombardment.”

More murmurs between the attendees, as Aeris turned the meeting back over to Jules. “Well, nothing further to discuss, briefs will be sent, as more arrangements are made. Get the squads reading for urban combat conditions, and let’s make them good Colonel. Everyone Dismiss,” she said. The room filled out quickly after that, with some headed to the Officer’s Mess, while others back to their duty stations. Doctor Thomas, was escorted out by a security guard, directing him to his cabin. As Aeris went to leave, Jules stops him, “Let’s have a chat shall we?”

~*~

Jules seals the War Room door while motioning for Aeris to sit down. Following his lead, she sits next to him, “you had no clue our true mission was to investigate this?”

“That is correct. First I learned of it, which means, FleetCom has been sitting on this for a while.” He saw the skepticism, in her body language. “It’s one thing to play a role in a legend, and be under orders not to say something until it’s revealed another way, and outright lie to a friend. I can say I’m not lying to you, Jules.” He clears his throat some, before continuing, “I have to admit, our crew compliment makes a lot more sense now.”

“How so?”

“We have over seven thousand, closer to eight, crew members. Two thousand are scientists, researchers, and their assistants. A good third of the ship has been modulated for science exploration. We have a little over a one thousand crew that actively runs the ship; such as Cooks, Mechanics, Flight Officers, etc. Then four thousand are combat troops, both ground pounders, and fighter jocks. With every advanced ship to ship armament, countermeasures, and defense available to the Sol Fed R&D. With the bulk of the ship modulated for extended combat operations. I thought they were being overly cautious. Now…”

Letting the thought trail off, Jules nods to him, somewhat thinking about what he just said. “Alright…tell me about this Doctor Thomas. You didn’t mention you worked with him on Vargus.”

“That was classified, until now. Doctor Thomas grew up on Earth, studied Archeology at Yale, and then more post graduate studies for a secondary focus of Anthropology. He’s been published four times, and after Vargus, he’s the only Xenoarcheologist I know of. He’s been back to Vargus, at least six times, over the past four years. I was not on those return trips. After our initial venture, we lost track of one another.”

“Huh…” she thought for a moment, “he was watching you kind of suspiciously, while you were giving your part of the briefing. It looked to me like lust or hatred. Be careful around him, Josh, I’m getting one of my vibes from him.”

He looks at her for a long while, sitting in an awkward silence, before he finally spoke, “while on the expedition…we had an affair. Part of the time, we were there, was in winter, and a severe snowstorm passed through. He and I were at a forward post, when it hit, and had to tough it out. Four days we were pinned in…he was starting to go hypothermic on the third day. That’s when it started. After we left, we met a couple of times, between my missions. But…he was married. As far as I thought, we ended it the last time I saw him.”

“Let me guess, your ‘tour’ with him, happened to include a bunk somewhere?”

“Yes, it did.”

Sighing Jules looks him over, “Just be careful. Guardian Force or not, a shot at close range, will kill you like anyone else. I’d hate to lose one of my closest friends.”

He nods to her before they both get up to leave.

Chapter 7:

The next few days pass by rather quickly, with each department working on assigned tasks for the coming expedition. Admiral Franks, Commander O’Conner, and Aeris went over the plans and data hundreds of times. Doctor Thomas was making the rounds in the science wing of the ship, while Colonel Ionita was running his men through simulations to choose the best teams. In short order, the combat team was chosen by the third day, with the top two selected for protection detail, and going with Aeris. After meeting his fire-team, Aeris, and the six men started to practice and train together daily.

The enhanced Subspace Engines, along with the A.I. Linda made the navigation and transit much simpler. With the Doppler shift, Linda project a transit time, of just over twenty-two days. Adm. Franks ordered standard watches until transition time when she wanted First Watch on duty. Adjustments were made, and Bridge Officers and Senior Enlisted went to work training and preparing. Overall, it was turning out to be a very boring twenty-two days in Subspace.

~*~

“You’ve been avoiding me?” Those were the first words Shane said to Aeris, after ambushing him coming out of the officer’s mess hall. It had been a little over 9 days into the flight, and Aeris had been avoiding him. Too many awkward questions, plus he really wanted to spend some time in his rack with the man.

“Not at all, just…very busy. Making contingency plans with the Fireteam I’ll be working with.” Aeris started with a neutral tone, one that he’s used a million times before.

“Right.” Shane stepped beside him, while Aeris walked towards his Cabin. “How are the preparations on the security, and search teams going?”

“Going fairly well. Colonel Ionita has put together some great teams. I’m tempted to nominate a few for Guardian Force training.” He stopped at the door to his cabin and looked Shane over. “Would you like to come in for a bit?”

Shane nodded, as Aeris opened the hatch, and stepped into the room. He went and set down on the couch that was in this small suite. “Have anything stiff to drink?”

“Just beer…help yourself it’s in the fridge.”

He pulls two out before returning to his seat, smiling over at Aeris, who’s busy typing on his terminal. “I’m somewhat disappointed we’ve hadn’t had time to talk and see each other.”

Aeris looks through the Halo Screen, at the man sitting across the room. Particularly glad his GF Uniform hid his erection since bumping into him. There was no denying for Aeris that he still had feelings for the man. “Same here,” he said in a quiet voice. Finishing his work, he moved to sit next to his paramour.

“So, why don’t we change that,” Shane leered at him. Closing the gap between them to kiss Aeris full on the lips, he ran his hands over his uniform pulling him close.

Aeris didn’t resist and instead embraced Shane returning the kiss with just as much passion. Slipping his hands under the shirt to feel the warm flesh underneath; with practice ease the two men quickly undressed each other and were soon pressed together naked, exploring each other again. In a sixty-nine position, the two men prepared each other, with Shane using his lips, and tongue to lube up Aeris’ member; while Aeris went to work on Shane licking, and stretching him open with one then two fingers.

Aeris moved to lay his partner with his back on the couch while kissing gently the nape of his neck. Shane softly moaned for sensations that Aeris’ lips and tongue were doing to him. Sitting up, Aeris guide Shane’s legs to his shoulders then leaned into him. Aeris’ sword slid past his partner’s rosebud, in a smooth fluid motion.

The two men moved in a dance of passion, as they built towards a climax. Using no hands, Shane was the first to release his seed, as it coated their stomachs. Feeling his partner clench was enough to put Aeris over the top, as his semen coated the inside of Shane. As they laid on top of each other in an orgasm high, they kissed deeply, looking at each other in the eyes. Soon the two headed to clean them up.

~*~

They were back on his couch after their lovemaking session and a shower where they massaged each other while bathing. Aeris, in an unusual mood, turned the shipboard entertainment channel on the small halo projector on the coffee table. When Shane was around, he always let his guard down too much. The sports station was on, playing the recorded final of Game Seven of the Federation Hockey League’s (Formerly National Hockey League) Stanley Cup Playoffs. Most of the original teams and expansions from the NHL were in the FHL, but now all Colony Planets and Stations were involved. This year’s finalists were the Tampa Bay Lightning from Earth vs. the Mars Rovers from the Martian colony on Mt. Olympus. They were naked laying down spooning, with a light cover on, watching the game. Every now and then Aeris would lean in some to kiss Shane, who was in front of him.

“I’m surprised you haven’t asked,” Shane said.

Aeris knew what he was meaning, in addition to the Ring being gone, he spotted that the tan line, and crease from years of wearing it, was no longer present as well. “When was it?”

“After my first trip back to Vargus,” Shane said softly. “Mark felt my work meant more to me than him.”

“Was it your work?”

“That, and who I worked with.”

The implication hung in the air, as the Mars Rovers scored a goal in the last minute of the second period.

Chapter 8:

Adm. Franks sat at her station, with her XO Commander O’Conner, as the Prometheus breached the Subspace barrier back into Real Space. They arrived in orbit of Gilese 667 at its Ort Cloud’s outer edge. “Ops, I want full sensors online, and a scan of the system. Ping the DSD, and see if it’s still in the system. Tactical, fire up the defenses and make weapons ready. Navigation and Helm plot us a course down the system and keeps us out of the paths of any major obstacles. Comms, monitor all radio traffic, I want to know if there is a non-Terran Equipment radio signal.”

A chorus of acknowledgments rung out across the bridge, as the Officers went about their assigned tasks.

“Sir, the Deep Space Drone is still in the system. Also, reading a networked system of satellites it has deployed, and getting access to its Telenet…,” Lt. Danvers said from the Ops Station. The Telenet was an interlocking of satellite sensors, that could deploy to a system that gave in real time status of all objects. When a ship connected with a Telenet, they could get accurate spatial awareness readings across the entire solar system sphere. “…Getting images now, and telemetry readings.”

“Navigation, use the Telenet to plot the course. Helm, sublight only for now, but power up the Gravimetric drive just in case. Ops, good work. Keep me updated for any changes.”

“Why would the DSD deploy a Telenet,” O’Conner whispered to her. “I wasn’t aware they had that capability.”

“Me neither. Nothing has made sense since we launched from the shipyard,” Jules whispered back. Standing up, and grabbing her coffee, in a loud voice, “XO you have the bridge, I’ll be in my office. Comms, page Aeris, and have him meet me there.” Taking the opportunity for a refill from the coffee bar, Adm. Franks walks the short distance down the corridor to her office behind the Main Bridge. She slips in, and sits at her desk, pulling up a ship status on the Halo Screen in front of her. “Enter,” she says as the door chirps.

Aeris walks in, shutting the hatch behind him. “You wanted to see me, Captain?” A bit more formal, than what Aeris would normally use, but he was unsure about why he was summoned.

“Josh, please sit. Nothing’s wrong, just wanted to talk. You got here quickly.”

“I was on my way to the Bridge, was on the lift when the page came through. What’s up?”

“It seems FleetCom has more surprises for us. The Deep Space Drone is still in the system, gathering Intel on everything, and it launched a Telenet satellite web,” she noticed the somewhat surprised look on his face with that revelation. “Judging from your reaction, you didn’t know either.”

“No, I didn’t. This is not like FleetCom at all. Holding information back from the ship’s senior officers, and a member of the Guardian Force just doesn’t make a lick of sense.”

“You think Doctor Thomas, might know of this?”

Aeris nods a little, “I would guess. He seems to know more about what’s going on, and no, he hasn’t shared anything with me.”

“I keep thinking about one of the mission parameters you said. Find out what happen to the Colonists on Vargus. Why would the Aliens here know about that?”

“I wish I knew. That was in the order packet in my hardcopy. No further elaboration.”

“Keep an eye on that Doctor, when you’re planetside. I have a bad feeling about this.” They talk for a bit more, before heading up to the bridge.

~*~

The trip down the system, under standard sublight power, and being affected by Gravity would take them the better part of a day. With the emergence of the Prometheus from the Ort Cloud, Adm. Franks order Comms to broadcast the First Contact protocol message. So far, there had been no detection of non-Terran signals originating in the system either. ‘For a trip to look at Alien Ruins, things seem rather boring,’ Adm. Franks thought. “Ops, status update.”

“We’ll be in full shipboard sensor arrays, in 30 minutes; shuttle range, within another ninety; and in orbit, shortly thereafter. Still no life signs on any of the other planets, or moons. Just on the two in the Goldilocks zone.”

“What’s on that second planet?”

“Drone scans show plant life, and some lower life forms. No other contacts, nor any structures. The drone has it listed as non-priority.”

“I don’t like that,” Jules says out loud, drawing a room full of eyes. “Launch a recon drone to the second planet. I want a closure look at the place. How long before it will arrive, once launched?”

“Using our speed, and bouncing off of two gravity wells, about 12 hours.”

“Keep me updated.”

~*~

Sitting in orbit around the moon of the target planet, was another ship. Not that the Humans could see it. Hidden in a layer of invisibility magic, the two-person crew of this scout class ship sat and watched. They were dispatched when their detection grid sensed a ship enter into the system, which turned out to be an unmanned drone of some sort. By the time they arrived in system, the drone had launched the third of its communication packages. The captain wanted to intercept but was under orders not to interfere with the Humans.

They watched as the drone established a series of satellites throughout the solar system, then went into an exploration mode studying the rest of the planets. The two of them looked at each other, and they each felt the call to destroy some of them. But they waited. After all, an unmanned exploration drone was not a worthy trophy.

Having a civilization that was born and bred on a Magic infused world, the Aliens had developed Magitech, a blend of magic, and technology. This aide them in the comfort of living isolated from the rest of their civilization, but also made it possible for extended voyages without the need for resupply. When a ship needed power, food, water, air, it made it using the Magitech built into the ship. Instant communication to their homeworld, allowed real-time entertainment, news, and communication with their senior leaders, and loved ones.

Over the course of centuries, they found other magic-infused the world and colonized them. Some with grand cities like those back home; while others were much less, primitive, and humble fitting a religious class. Now, the Humans, who had “Forgotten Magic!” were not only exploring one of their lesser colony worlds but a major one as well. Granted their species had retreated from these worlds, but they were still sacred.

When the Human ship entered the system, they marveled at the sophistication that they had to enter, and leave Subspace. When the Human sensors lit up their detection systems, they were mildly amused at the level they had achieved, again without the use of any sort of magic. As the First Contact communications started to come in, the younger of the two became excited. *Do you know what this means? They are here for a peaceful meeting,* he said in their language.

The older one was less convinced, as he surveyed the information streaming in about the ship, *If they were Lord Doctor, then they wouldn’t be armed to the teeth, and displaying them for us to see.*

*Precautions, we were like that when we started exploring space.*

*I suppose. However, this is a prize worthy of a fight,* the older one said while looking at the status of their ship coming active.

*No. We have our orders. We watch for them, report when they enter and wait to see what they do.*

*As you wish.*