Skylar Mars and the Mysterious Armada Page 3

  “Looking clear,” Phil said as he turned Rescue Paw One toward the stargate.

  “Good.” Skylar glanced at the scanner and felt a strange pang at the sight of the large ships around Stars’ End. He did a quick count. There were twenty of them. He wished he knew how many of the smaller ships each of the larger ones could hold. Each of the bigger ships was about three quarters of the size of the space station. Skylar had never heard of any civilization being able to build ships that massive. Most of them took too much power to get moving through space, even if it didn’t take much to keep them going unless they got trapped in a star’s or planet’s gravity well. But regardless of that, they were too big to go through a stargate. Totally impractical.

  The smaller ships that had been on the far side of the planet broke off their grid pattern and started around toward them.

  “Phil, don’t slow down, looks like we got spotted.” Skylar leaned closer to the sensor screen, not wanting to miss anything that happened.

  “Don’t worry.” Phil continued to fly them toward the stargate.

  Skylar was fairly sure they’d be able to beat the smaller ships to the gate—they weren’t as fast as the Paw was, but they hadn’t sustained damage. If everything held together long enough they’d be home free, and once they were beyond the stargate, they’d call for help and come back with enough fighters to free Stars’ End.

  Ahead of them, the stargate lit up. Where seconds before there were just stars in the giant metal ring, bright yellow plasma began to form, swirling clockwise within the gate’s confines.

  “Someone’s coming through,” Phil said as he kept heading toward the gate.

  “Do you think it’s help?” Skylar asked, turning his attention from the sensor to the main screen.

  “Hopefully. Fiona said she wasn’t sure if their calls for help were finally reaching someone or not. Stars’ End might not be the highest priced psi-academy in the galaxy, but it’s still important to the Central Galactic Council. They tend to produce stronger psis than the others do. If their call got through, the Council will send help—if nothing else, an expeditionary force to see what’s going on.”

  The swirling increased and a mid-sized ship appeared in the center of the gate. Seconds later, it cleared the ring and the plasma died down.

  “That’s a Tursiops ship,” Phil said after a second. “See how sleek it looks. Almost like it would be more at home in water than space.”

  It did look like a large whale, ready to cut through the water with grace and power. “I can see that.” Skylar said as he looked at the ship and found a name on the bow. “Looks like it’s the Deep Diver.”

  “That’s the Aduncus family ship,” Phil said. He tapped a couple of buttons on the far left screen of his station. “Deep Diver, this is Rescue Paw One. Turn back. The space around Stars’ End isn’t secure.”

  After a couple of seconds, Professor Aduncus’s voice filled the cockpit. “Phil, what’s going on? We haven’t been able to reach Stars’ End on the coms in a couple of days, but were too busy to check out the problem.”

  “Check your scanners. The strange armada is back and has the station blocked off,” Phil said, keeping their course heading toward the gate. “We’ve got hostiles on our tail. We’ve been fired on.”

  “We’ll meet you at the gate,” Aduncus replied.

  “Do you have weapons?” Phil asked.

  Skylar tried to remember if Del had ever said anything about their family ship having weapons. It wasn’t something many ships had since most of the galaxy was fairly peaceful, although Tursipia was one of the frontier worlds, on the far side of the galaxy from Stars’ End. There was a chance they were armed. If that was the case, there were still too many ships to think about taking on with just them and the Paw, particularly since the Paw was unarmed.

  “Nothing much,” Aduncus replied quickly. “A light laser. No cannons, or heavy blasters.”

  “Then you better hold back at the gate and wait for us to get there.” Phil leaned over and looked at the sensor reading in front of Skylar. “These guys are holding tight on us.”

  “Has anyone tried to stop them telepathically?” the professor asked.

  “Fiona—Ms. Grissom—said they appear immune to psi powers. Must have some kind of shield or something.” Phil leaned a little forward, looking like he was trying to urge the ship to a faster speed. “They also appear to be blocking communications out of the system, especially if you didn’t know about them being here. She said they sent a distress call a few days ago.”

  “We’ve received nothing.” For a second, Aduncus was quiet. “Del said he’s checking all frequencies for any kind of jamming signal. It might take a while.”

  Skylar’s heart jumped. Del was with his grandfather. They had hope. Del might not be very powerful on the psychic scale, but he was smarter than anyone Skylar had ever met. He’d spent part of their break as an intern at the Museum of Space and Time, fulfilling one of his biggest fantasies about being recognized for his brains. If anyone could figure out what was up with the armada around Stars’ End, it was Del.

  “Good. We’ve been too busy staying alive to make much headway on things,” Phil replied.

  “Our sensors are showing your gravity is cut. Is there other damage?” Aduncus asked.

  “Food systems are down, life support is patched, I had to bypass engine power, but we should be able to handle going through the gate.” Phil glanced at the screens in front of Skylar again. “Life support is holding as long as we don’t take another hit.”

  “I can go ahead and get the codes ready to send to the gate. Where do you want to go?”

  “I’m going to send you my Intergal emergency codes, we’ll come out at the middle Concordia gate. We’ll be able to rally the troops there.” Phil let go of the yoke with one hand and tapped his com screen.

  “Concordia…ah…I’d forgotten that Intergal had their central offices in the same system as the Central Galactic Council.”

  Phil finished tapping his screen. “Sometimes it’s best to get in people’s faces to get things done.”

  Like everyone in the galaxy, Skylar knew about Concordia, but he’d never dreamed he’d actually get to go there. There were several inhabitable planets around a yellow star. Most systems only had one planet capable of supporting life, so the multiple planets were a deciding factor in basing the Galactic Council there. It was also near the galactic core, but not so close that gravimetric forces were extreme due to so many stars in close quarters with the black hole that was the center of the galaxy. Concordia Prime held the offices of both the council and O’Byrne Corp.

  “Professor, we’ll be within the gate orbit in five minutes,” Phil announced. “If you could please open our way.”

  “Of course.”

  An uneasy quiet filled the cockpit.

  Filzbalm shifted a little against the back of Skylar’s neck; his discomfort at being in the suit with Skylar was obvious, but neither of them was trying to dwell on it. Skylar just hoped the ship made it through the stargate and they could get out of the envirosuit as soon as possible. They would both feel a lot better, not to mention they’d be safe from the strange ships pursuing them.

  “Phil, we seem to have a problem,” Aduncus said, breaking the quiet.

  “What kind of problem?” Phil asked. “Skylar, are the ships still a safe distance behind us?”

  Since they didn’t know the exact range of the smaller ships’ weapons, Skylar wasn’t exactly sure what a “safe distance” was, but they hadn’t closed any further. “Yes. No closer than they have been since we left Yeldona Three.”

  “The gate is unresponsive.” Professor Aduncus sounded worried.

  “What do you mean, ‘unresponsive’?” Phil stood slightly and stared at the main viewer where the gate was nearly filling the image, with the Aduncus ship looking small where it hovered just beyond the gate’s normal event horizon.

  “It’s not accepting any outgoing request.” Del’
s voice came over the com for the first time. “It’s acting like there’s some kind of virus in the system.”

  “But that’s not possible,” Phil said, plopping back into his chair. “The gate system is supposed to be unhackable. Del, check that again.”

  “Already on it,” Del replied. “But we’ve tried three different addresses so far and none of them are getting a lock. If I can’t get a gate to the Galaxeria, then we’ve definitely got a problem.”

  A loud chime rang out through the coms. It was so harsh that Skylar wanted to yank his helmet off and escape the noise.

  “That can stop at any time,” Filzbalm complained.

  Skylar didn’t reply. Seconds later the noise ended.

  “What was that?” he asked, wishing he could rub his head.

  “Something just tried to take over our systems,” Professor Aduncus said. “Del and Melody are working on blocking it, but it seems to have a mind of its own. If I didn’t know better, I’d swear it was alive.”

  “That’s not possible, Grandfather,” Del said. “We’ve got it blocked from our system, but as it stands, it looked like the gate to the Yeldona system is set to inward only. Unless we can find a way to break the program that’s trying to take over any system that connects to the gate, we’re stuck here.”

  “We’ve still got hostile ships following us. Any ideas?” Phil said as he pulled back on the yoke and brought his ship to a stop near the Deep Diver.

  “We’re reading ten small ships, probably fighters, behind you,” Professor Aduncus said. “Does that match what your sensors show?”

  “That’s right,” Skylar said, wanting to sound like he was being at least a little bit helpful. “It’s not all of them, just the ones following us.”

  “We can’t get a reading on weapons,” Del said.

  “We can’t either. Like when we all left Stars’ End, the ships are immune to scans,” Phil said. “But we can’t stay here debating things. We’ve got to go somewhere.”

  “It’ll take a little while, but let’s head to the asteroid belt and put in there,” Professor Aduncus said. “It might cause them to break off pursuit if they think we’re heading out the far side of the system.”

  “As good an idea as I have,” Phil muttered. “Maybe we can connect when we get there and get something to eat from you. It’s been a few hours since we’ve had any kind of meal around here.”

  Skylar didn’t add it had actually been breakfast on Pantheria and he could definitely use something soon. The envirosuits were great for keeping them out of harsh environments, but they didn’t do much when it came to supplying nourishment.

  “I could definitely use some food,” Filzbalm quipped. “And if we can get things stable enough in here, we can get out of this suit.”

  Skylar couldn’t agree more as the Deep Diver took off at a course that would take them away from the pursing ships, Phil following them. He felt better having Del and Melody with them. With Solaria and Melody, he and Del could normally work their way out of anything they’d encountered in recent months. He just hoped a strange armada wasn’t more than they could all deal with, even with Phil and Professor Aduncus leading them.

  4

  Asteroid Lunch

  The inside of the Aduncus family ship was a lot neater than Phil’s ship. The entry looked like someone had cleaned it until it sparkled. Del, Melody, and Professor Aduncus met them at the door of the entryway airlock. The large asteroid they’d landed on had gravity—however, it wasn’t much, and no atmosphere to speak of. But it was providing them a safe spot to get their bearings, since the fighter ships had dropped pursuit once they’d passed Yeldona Three and headed toward the sun side of the solar system.

  “We’ve been trying to raise Stars’ End the whole way here,” Professor Aduncus stated as soon as they stepped through the airlock. “So far we’ve not been able to get a response.”

  Solaria had her helmet off as soon as the door opened. She shook out her hair and let out a loud sigh of relief.

  Skylar wasn’t used to envirosuits and fumbled a bit with the catch on his helmet even as a feeling of urgency poured out of Filzbalm. Once Skylar had lifted the helmet enough for him to get clear, Filzbalm launched himself off Skylar’s neck and circled the lot of them.

  “Wow, that was getting really tight in there,” the Solar Drake said as he flew around. “And I don’t want to complain too much, but humans can start to stink after a few hours confined in a suit like that.”

  “Whatever.” Skylar waved him off as he set his helmet on a shelf near the airlock door where Solaria and Leonada had already put theirs. He wasn’t going to complain because the suit had kept them both alive.

  “When we first cleared the gate and spotted the armada, I was able to reach Stars’ End. About that time, the armada launched a small vessel, similar to the fighters that were after us. When we last saw it, it was heading toward the station.” Phil added his helmet to the collection. “That was about the time we lost connection. They had already had one shield breach, but were able to get it patched back together so it will hold, at least for a little while.”

  “That’s not good. By the way, we’ve got a little food already set out,” Professor Aduncus said, leading them toward a compartment with a table and enough chairs for everyone. “We need to come up with a plan. Like you, and from the sounds of it, the school, we’ve been trying to get a signal out. If the stargate is blocked, then getting a signal through that way is out of the question. A signal going the slow way through the galaxy is going to take way too long to be of any help.”

  Most of the galaxy relied on the stargates for communication as well as travel. The gates didn’t need to open to transmit messages across space. Skylar felt more cut off than he had on Pantheria when the EM pulses had taken out communications. They needed to be able to get a signal out to reach help.

  “What about my long-range com?” he suggested as he walked over to the table set up with an array of drinks, fish, and sandwich fixings.

  “Unfortunately not,” Del said. “Your com doesn’t rely on the planetary com systems the way the dermal coms do, but it still uses the stargate systems to get a signal out.”

  “But if we try to send a signal through when the gate is open, we might be able to bypass that virus or whatever it is,” Melody suggested. “Most of the students who’ve been on break will be returning soon. All we have to do is wait for the gate to open and be fast enough to get a message out. We’re far enough away that it’ll take nearly a minute for the transmission to travel from here to there.”

  “So we need someone watching the gate to see when it opens and be fast.” Skylar put several small fish in a bowl for Filzbalm. “I can run back over to the Paw and get the com.” If he was fast, he could do it while Filzbalm was eating, and he wouldn’t have to worry about putting the Solar Drake back in his helmet.

  “I’ll go,” Phil said. “You stay here and relax. Do you want me to bring your bag back over, or just the com?”

  “Just the com. It’s in the front pocket of my bag,” Skylar said as Filzbalm started eating. He felt bad about Phil going to do something he could as easily do, then wondered if Phil had locked the ship like he’d done at the spaceport on Pantheria. If he had, then Phil would’ve had to go with him to let him in anyway.

  “Okay.” Phil turned and headed back to the airlock.

  “Thank you,” Filzbalm said with a mouth full of fish. “This is very good fish.”

  Skylar started putting together a sandwich. “I wish there was a way we could arm Rescue Paw One, that might help balance things out the next time those fighters come after us.”

  Already seated, with a fork full of fish, Solaria shook her head. “Uncle Phil would never go for that. He’s all about rescuing people. Shooting them would drive him nuts. It’s one thing to hunt—we’re predators, after all—but that would be going too far.” She took a bite of her fish and grinned slightly. “This is very good. Now, I wouldn’t mind blasting
those ships out of space. They’re threatening our home.”

  Leonada patted her arm. “Solaria also fails to mention that female Pantherians tend to be a lot more aggressive than the males. It would be easier for us to defend Stars’ End than it would for Phil.”

  Professor Aduncus chuckled. “I guess it’s a good thing we Tursiops don’t have the same problem. That’s one of the reasons this ship has a laser—that and we occasionally have to deal with pirates.”

  “Yeah, but our laser isn’t going to do much against those fighters,” Del said, then swallowed a small fish whole. “Unless those ships are a lot older than they look, they probably have really good shields that would keep our meager beam at bay. Plus, we’re just one ship.”

  Melody sighed. “You know, it would be nice if Mom hadn’t been mad about the EM pulse taking out her ship. All of her craft are armed to the teeth. She says it’s because we’re too important to the Council and any of us would make tempting targets for kidnappers. We won’t go down without a fight. I was going to get Clive, our pilot, to bring Del and me back to school—instead, I had to hitch a ride with Professor Aduncus.”

  “And it wasn’t a problem, Melody, you know that.” Professor Aduncus took a seat at the head of the table with a plate of fish and a steaming drink.

  “I do, and I appreciate that.” Melody looked down at the table. “Sometimes I wish I were stronger. Then Mom would care more about what happens to me and let me have more things like my sisters. They both have their own ships and pilots already.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Del said. “We smart kids have to stick together.”

  The desire to be a stronger psychic was something Skylar didn’t really understand—until the Boarisk raiders had killed his mother. He’d never dreamed he might be a psi. His mother had lived in fear of psychics, and he’d been leery of them too until he started to understand they were just like everyone else. There were good ones and bad ones.

  Bonding to Filzbalm had chased the last dregs of worry out of Skylar’s mind. He’d had no choice at that point but to fully embrace his power. From time to time, he still worried what his mother would say, if she would still love him, but she was gone and he had to forge a life without her.