Chapter One Chapter One

Year Two – Month One – Week One - Monday

The ground at his feet rumbled, the sound reaching a crescendo in waves. Darkened coal colored boots beat a path through the hallways of the derelict station, a plasma pistol at the side of the man, charged and ready. For the former captain it was a place to be cursed. They had made this place their home since the drought of supplies six months ago.

Hiding from the attacking forces that would pass by every so often had begun to take a toll on the gathered crew and officers. As their leader he was charged with maintaining the sense of normality amidst the chaos. Eight hours ago that had failed when the large attack force had arrived from the blackness of space.

Now they moved from room to room, keeping an eye on the ships that slowly passed by, silent monoliths staring blankly at the wrecked station before them. There had been no clues that they had been found or recognized. The flank of ships pushed past, lights blinking without emotion.

The plasma pistol at his side was merely pure habit. As a power weapon in his right hand it had never failed him before. If anyone attempted to come onboard the graveyard they wouldn’t last long. Unless they brought reinforcements. That gave him a moment’s pause as he hit a wall and glanced out the large bay windows of the galley. The slow moving parade continued unabated and undisturbed.

Wherever they were going there didn’t appear to be a rush of any kind.

“Cap.” The whisper brought his attention forward. The bright blond hair broke the monotony of the blackened debris laden station. She was huddled over to his right, her energy rifle equally charged. “The last of the line are coming up. Scout says they look like they’re gonna jump.” A nod from him and she was gone a moment later in the barely lit corridors.

So far no reports of teams landing on the place they called home.

He glanced around the corner. She was right. The last ships were coming up at the rear of the column. With hope, they would escape being detected. “Cap.” Her voice was closer now. “Scout says the first few have jumped. Fifteen minutes until they’re all gone.” A small smile played across his lips. “Thank Scout. We’ll meet in the main in fifteen then. Good work Malloy.” One last look out the window and he was gone as well.

It was never good to remain in one place when trouble was near the door.

The cold hallways were as always silent as he walked. The Keller Station had been empty for over a year, a shell of former glory. The original attack had killed all that had foolishly remained onboard. As he walked he wondered if the ghosts of the dead stalked the corridors. If they did, he didn’t see them. Others said they heard them in the night hours as they slept, calling from the depths of death.

He preferred not to think about the attack and what it must have been like for those who had chosen to stay.

Stepping into the main center he spotted the other members of the command staff. In six months time they had kept the bond of friendship and humanity through everything. There were no former titles with each other any longer. Simple nicknames had sufficed. Maxwell “Cap” Cambridge had been the Captain of the Hercules for five years before the events that had changed everything. Six months into the war they were nearly out of supplies. They had found the Keller Station by mistake having stumbled into the sector after a harrowing battle.

They had secured the ship deep in the moon’s caverns and moved everything station side. The last six months had been spent repairing the starship and finding ways to make their stay on the station livable. For the most part they had succeeded. The moon itself had a unique geothermal network and a small water reserve that served members of the crew well enough. At five hundred, they were a medium sized crew.

Keller Station lay on the surface of the similarly named Keller moon. The facility stretched several leagues of the planet sized rocky surface. Most of it had been destroyed completely in the attack a year previous. A small network of tunnels and rooms was still secured from the outside affects of space. They had managed to keep the environment systems powered low enough to survive and escape detection.

Miracles had saved them more than once. Maxwell hoped this trend would continue.

“Cap.” The blond executive officer walked through the main door and nodded to the others gathered. “They’ve jumped. Scout thinks they were headed for the border colonies.” They had minimal power to the systems. Sensors were nearly turned off save for a few basics. “Thank Scout.” He murmured the saying that everyone had adopted as time had gone on. Scout was the most talented sensor man anyone had encountered. The fact he had been assigned to the Hercules had been another miracle.

Scout had saved them from detection more times than anyone cared to count. Malloy continued her report.

“We’re back in the clear. McCloud says the repairs will take another week. Soon we can fly her again Cap.” A small smile appeared on the men and women gathered. Six months without flying through space was taking a toll. Where they would go once back in the black was something nobody had fully thought through yet. They hadn’t been connected to the news of the galaxy. All they knew came from the passage of invaders through their small sector.

“Fair ‘nuff.” He checked his chrono. “Night shift is coming. You know the drill.” The others nodded and drifted away slowly, low conversation breaking the deafening silence. Cap looked up and found Malloy leaning against one of the aging control panels. “You doin’ all right Malloy?” A small smile broke her lips as she pulled her gold locks behind the ear. “Cap, I’m always all right. I’ll be better once we’re back in the black. You?”

She was his second in command and had started the tour five years ago unknowing and green as they came. She had forged her way to become someone he trusted near as close as he could. Jessica Malloy stood all of five feet with a face of an angel. She also had the temperament of an angry bull off and on. She was feisty like the pet cat everybody hates.

He admitted he probably enjoyed those moments a little too much. “You know how I am.” Chiding her he walked over to where she stood. Both locked eyes for a moment as each searched the others for clues. Working and living on the same bucket for five years left little to be discovered. Yet they still both openly wondered what really lay in each others hearts. It was the little game they played to keep life from going into the monotonous. Malloy looked one last time in his eyes and felt a flutter in her stomach.

This man always managed to make her nervous when he was this close. At six foot tall with a boyish face free of any facial hair he was the epitome of her weakness. He was trouble all right. She swallowed quietly and spoke, her voice stronger than she expects.

“You’re just happy to be alive Cap. Always have been, always will be.” A smirk played across her face. “Someday we’ll have to stop doing this.” With that she turned with a wink and was out the main door, leaving her captain behind.

Maxwell Cambridge let out the long breath he had been holding. The fire between them seemed to ebb and flow depending on the events of the week. Sometimes hot and sometimes cold and unforgiving. Such was the life of knowing Jessica Malloy.

“Captain, we need you on the ‘Herc. McCloud’s upset something fierce.” The crackle of the communication system at his wrist broke his moment of thought. He tapped the unit wearily. The day had begun with a start and he was just now coming down from the adrenaline rush of the past eight hours.

And now his chief engineering officer was upset. Again.

“On my way Malloy.” Walking at a brisk pace and tracing his path through the station Cambridge thought back to the moment they had arrived in the sector wounded and bleeding fire. The jump engines had given out and another leap though space was several hours away. Hours they didn’t have at the time.

The Keller station had presented a unique chance of survival.

Passing through the deep corridors he reflected on the last six months. They had worked so very hard to repair the Hercules and sacrificed so much in doing so. It would take a miracle for her to fly again. Most had survived the first few weeks. A few of the injured had succumbed to the death that seemed to hang at the edge of the beds. They had remained complete since the last funeral.

The hallway curved as he walked lower and lower into the depths of the moon. Everyone had their theories of what the Keller Moon had been before it became a pockmarked surface. Some thought it had held an alien race of some kinds. Others thought it had once been like Earth herself.

The small lights on the walls flickered silently, casting his shadow down the wall. Cambridge himself didn’t care. All that mattered was that his ship flew once more into the black. His heart beat at a fast rate as he came down the last bend and found himself walking towards the enormous hull of the Hercules.

His heart leapt into his throat as he glanced across her bulbous stern. Bodies could be seen scrambling across the ship as sparks and smoke spit into the air above. All he could see were the smooth lines of his ship. The Hercules was one of the largest vessels in the Earth Defense Fleet. At one time before Cambridge had become her ward she had been flagship.

Her cucumber shape and smooth hull appeared innocuous. The mere size of the starship would have caste doubt on her speed and fighting abilities. Cap allowed a small smile on his face. Beneath those smooth plates rested the fierce fire of long and close range cannons. Plasma and nuclear torpedo bays lined the flat bottom while missiles held watch over the top.

This didn’t even touch on the countless anti-fighter defense weapons. There was also the subject of the medium sized fighter squadron.

It was all of this that told those that gazed upon this supposed gentle giant that a great ogre lay beneath. Cambridge also reminded himself the ship had been running from the battle when they landed at Keller. The enemy was strong this time. He wasn’t sure that they’d last very long in the black.

Most of the crew probably knew this but didn’t seem to care. They simply wanted to get back into the blackness of space and watch the stars fly by as the engines rumbled and cannons let loose the battle cry. At least this is what Captain Maxwell “Cap” Cambridge figured.

Either that or they were all very much insane. His XO was walking towards him, her face flushed and showing signs of annoyance and exasperation.

“Cap! McCloud’s mad as hell. It’s Taurus. Again.” Cambridge growled deep in his throat as his mood from gazing at his beauty vanished. Malloy threw her hands up as he allowed his deep voice to lower further into a guttural mutter. “Why those two can’t get along is beyond me. They’re both engineers!” She shrugged. Cap agreed silently. He tired of these moments. “Lead the way Malloy. This should be interesting.”

As he walked he heard the sounds of a bellowing and nearly untellable Irishman and the equally loud screams of a southern girl very upset at whatever language the person of Irish descent had just used. He came around the corner and found the wiry six foot seven Terry McCloud facing off against the four foot high Taurus Glen. Both had heavy wrenches in hand.

A fight was seconds away.

The room quickly went silent as the gathered crew saw the captain and the XO walking onto the scene. The two embittered enemies continued to stare each other down, wrenches at the ready. Cambridge shook his head. “You two ought’ be married.” He spoke dryly and allowed a small smirk before going solemn once more. McCloud opened his mouth to speak but held short. Glen seethed. Cap spoke before anything could be said from either offending party.

“I want this ship ready on time. If you two can’t agree to bloody well get this ship on its way I’ll leave the two of you behind for the hell of it.” His voice had become thick with intensity and as sharp as a razor. The sound echoed through the chamber. “You said two weeks. I want to blow off this rock in two weeks.” Another pause before his voice roared. “Get it done!” He would have smiled at seeing both flinch at his yell. That would have ruined it. Shaking his head for a moment he turned and walked away.

He could hear Malloy working her magic as he started the long trek up to the station once more. They were a team in the end. He was the heavy and she was the fixer. As he passed once more the countless walls and cavernous passages he reminded himself once more of the one thing that kept them all alive and working.

In two weeks the Hercules would fly again.

They would return to the black