Chapter 31: Quard

In the vacuum of space, you cannot feel shock waves. But when a vessel explodes at point blank, you get hit by the debris and any radiation given off from the explosion.

Chunks of the hull smashed into Ship, tearing through its hull and creating hull breaches. Force fields and emergency bulkheads activated to seal in the atmosphere.

“Alert! Main power cores destroyed. The impact also damaged the emergency power core, and it may soon fail. Recommend immediate evacuation,” said Ship. On the main bridge, there were annoying red lights flashing and beeping noises. The impact had knocked over both Jem and Koluna, and they were getting to their feet.

“Understood. Koluna, we need to get into an escape pod NOW!” yelled Jem.

They both ran to the nearest escape pod hatch. No one had opened it in millennia, but it worked fine. They got in, closed the hatch.

“Goodbye Ship. I wish we had more time,” said Jem. She pushed a big red button, and the escape pod launched from the vessel. As soon as they were out, they experienced a lack of gravity.

Behind them, emergency power failed aboard Ship. This triggered a cascade reaction, and the vessel exploded. The blast propelled sections of the vessel in different directions. Some fell towards the planet, likely to burn up in the upper atmosphere. Ship was no more.

Multiple beings in uniform rushed into the room we were meeting in. They seemed quite agitated; and came over to the ambassador. One being spoke hurried words in Quard. Laine opened her mouth wide, but nothing came out. The ambassador looked shocked.

“What happened?” I asked.

“Commander, there was an incident. Your vessel has exploded,” he replied.

I jumped up to my feet in an instant. Jem and Koluna! This is a disaster!

“I think it best we take you to system control, where we can get more details. Please come this way,” said the ambassador. We hurried out of the meeting room and along corridors until we came to a large room filled with displays and beings monitoring the system activity.

The ambassador led us to a controller who studied a large display showing the explosion in orbit. On the display, we could see that other vessels were moving to a safe distance. Sections of our former vessel floated off in different directions. This was a mess!

I stood there transfixed at the scene. Laine was by my side, holding my hand in a death grip.

“What happened?” I croaked.

The ambassador spoke to the controller who typed commands on a console. The display rewound to before the event and then played forwards. I watched the other vessel creeping towards Ship before it exploded. Large chunks of the other vessel smashed into Ship. About two minutes later, Ship exploded.

“Did they get out in time?” asked Laine. Her voice sounded as broken as I felt.

“I don’t know Laine. Ambassador, could you please send out a vessel to search for an escape pod?” I said. He nodded.

“Search and rescue will take time. Detailed analysis of the events will take even longer. I can arrange you some accommodation nearby until we have news,” said the ambassador.

“Thank you. Later, I will take you up on your offer. Who did that vessel belong to?” I replied.

They pulled up registration information for the other vessel, both in Quard and in Ori (for my benefit). It was a commercial vessel. No clues there.

“Please rewind to a point when a shuttle last docked with that vessel,” I said as I pointed at the display. I may be an ambassador for a dead race, but I was also an investigator.

The display rewound to just after we arrived in orbit. A shuttle docked with the vessel and then returned to the surface.

“Can you get a passenger manifest for that shuttle? Or information on their customer?” I asked.

They pulled up information for the shuttle. The passenger manifest said all I needed to know. The shuttle carried beings from the Lagaid embassy. Those bastards had used a commercial vessel to destroy Ship. Lagaid tried to get us for a long time, and now they succeeded. We were lucky to make it this long.

Laine yelled out cuss words in Quard. Others in the room turned their heads to see the daughter of the ambassador expressing her upset.

We grew weary of looking at displays. True to his word, the ambassador arranged for accommodation nearby. I also asked for a security detail because there were Lagaid operatives working on Quard. We were the last two from the crew of the Baglogi vessel that destroyed many Lagaid vessels. I expected to be a target.

Our security detail escorted us to our suite; and inspected it before declaring the suite safe. Once they closed the door with us inside, I gave Laine a big hug. She was struggling to hold it together. I was too.

“What are we going to do?” asked Laine.

“I don’t know yet. It depends if Jem and Koluna survived,” I replied.

“What do you mean?”

“If they are dead, you have choices. You can remain on Quard and continue your life from before you met us on the Trading Post. You might join the military and defend Quard from Lagaid,” I said.

She punched me in the arm. “I’m not leaving you. I know you have a plan, and I want in!”

“Without Jem there’s no more Baglogi. She was the last of her kind,” I said. There were descendants of Baglogi living in the foe system, but I did not count them. They had no desire to leave the moon they considered their home.

“If they died, we should get vengeance on the Lagaid,” she said.

“I expect those who caused the explosion are already dead. And revenge does not fit the Baglogi role of peace-keeping,” I replied. I didn’t hold myself to that standard, as I didn’t see myself as Baglogi. I just wanted to dissuade Laine from going on a fools quest.

“What if they are still alive?” asked Laine.

“Then Jem is still the captain. We get another vessel and continue. I owe Jem a life-debt. While she lives, I will honour it. If she is dead, I free you of any life-debt to me. Most likely I’d find something else to do. This life has been far too dangerous,” I said. I wanted her to see the futility in continuing without a captain and a vessel. A life here on Quard was safer.

“Father said they will tell us when they have an update,” said Laine.

“Let’s get some rest until then,” I replied.

When the escape pod left Ship, it was in a direction away from the planet. That meant the escape pod did not fall to the planet below, but it achieved escape velocity and was travelling along into the dark.

“How long since we left Ship?” asked Koluna.

“About two hours,” replied Jem.

“I was thinking. I’ve lost all my clothes. We bought lots of outfits on Ori Major,” said Koluna.

“Yes. I realized I won’t have to clean up my cabin,” said Jem with a smile.

“It’s too bad this thing does not have coffee. I could use one about now,” said Koluna.

“Mmm, that would be nice!” Jem smiled. They sat contemplating how nice a cup of their favourite beverage would be.

About then, they felt a jolt. Something grabbed their escape pod out of space and brought it into a cargo bay.

“Yay, we’re saved!” said Koluna.

We woke up the next morning, in our suite.

I nudged Laine, and we got out of bed. We washed and dressed in our uniforms. I’d have to find some new clothes soon. Without a food dispenser, I missed my morning coffee. We’d have to get breakfast out.

Our security detail was outside the door to our suite. One of them spoke into a communicator, then to Laine.

“He says that my father will meet us for breakfast downstairs,” she told me.

“Great. Before we go, are you serious about what you said last night?” I asked.

Laine stood to face me. “I am serious. I’m not leaving you. You have a plan, don’t you?”

“Can you order supplies for us? I need food and water for two of us for at least ten days. Have it delivered to the shuttle today,” I said.

“Yes, I can do that,” she replied. She pulled up her personal device. I guess she found herself a new one.

A few minutes later she finished. She looked up at me and nodded. We got up and left the suite.

Our security detail escorted us to the hotel restaurant. It appeared we had a private room for our meal. Laine’s father arrived, and we sat down to eat. I was getting to enjoy Quard food.

“I’m sorry but we have not located an escape pod. Our vessels did an extensive search,” said the ambassador.

“It’s too bad we don’t have Ship, or we could have it ping them,” said Laine.

“We depended on Ship for a lot. Maybe too much,” I said.

“What is a ping?” asked the ambassador.

“We each have a subdermal tracking device. Ping means to signal the tracking device for a crewmate. If we get a response we can track it,” I said. No need to hide that now.