-----chapter 1-----
March 12 2268
0630 hrs EST
The ship moved through the crimson red tides of hyperspace.The graceful yet alien looking vessel knifing through the tides at impossible speeds. A starship designed with the assistance of humans, which for once in their track record of ship building was beautiful to look at; the Excalibur.
Inside the spacious cabin belonging to Matthew Gideon, standing before the mirror in the lavatory shaving his face, as the running hot water causes residue to blanket the mirror.
Dipping his hands in the water, washing off the synth shaving cream, he grabs the towel on the sink top and wipes the residue away from the mirror.
Just when he is about to move off to the hot synth coffee waiting for him on his desk just dropped off by a steward from the galley, he stops; seeing something in a mirror. Something disturbing.
He runs his hand through the front part of his black medium cut hair, and sees what he has feared, but expected ever since captaining the Excalibur.
"Gray hair. That's just great."
Dropping the damp towel in the laundry chute, he moves to the steaming synth black liquid which barely passes for coffee.
"Nothing like a good cup of synth in the morning," he remarked as he takes a sip of the coffee from the black mug with the sword; the emblem of his ship. His ship. Even after two and a half years of skippering the Victory class destroyer, turned deep range medical research vessel, knowing he was in command of the mightiest, baddest vessel on the block still amazed him.
Though she was bad, it didn't mean she didn't get her six kicked every once in a while. One battle most notably, her first major encounter with Drakh forces a year ago. She was caught by surprise, and barely got out.
In a year and a half, the Drakh were not the only adversary she has ran up against. But they were the one that hit closer to home. Two years after Earth was infected by the Plague, they still continue to cruise the Rim, the deep range, searching for the Cure.
As he finishes his cup of coffee, he grabs his red and gray uniform coat and steps towards the hatch. The same uniform he damaged intentionally two years ago, by an accident in the laundry. He steps out of his cabin and walks the spacious corridors.
Never before had he been on a vessel where three people could walk in a passageway side by side. On the ships he had been on, two could barely fit. But Excalibur was an exception.
She was an exception in every field. She maintained artificial gravity, without the use of a rotating section. She had enough fire power to decimate an entire planet. She was the fastest ship in all the fleets. She was also a hybrid. Minbari, Vorlon, and human tech ran deep through her veins.
The beauty she presented by her appearance came no doubt from the Minbari, Vorlon blood in her. If Earth had their way in the designing, she would resemble a bunch of cluttered battered tin boxes welded together around an infra-frame, with an engine attached.
That was where Excalibur excelled. Matthew Gideon wouldn't have it any other way; even though all life on Earth rested un-easily on his shoulder. But when the president of the InterStellar Alliance single handily picks you for a mission of this sort, you can't say no.
If your going to cruise the cosmos, might as well do it in style. The Excalibur out matched his last command, the Explorer class cruiser Phoenix. He could not imagine any other command that matched the Excalibur.
"Good morning, Matthew," A voice behind him called. There was only one person on the ship that would call him by his first name as casually as this person had.
"Good morning, Galen. Didn't know you were back."
"I arrived a few hours ago."
"Still not going to tell me what you do when you leave the way you do? Even after all we've been through?"
"One day, Matthew. One day. What trouble have you managed to get into now?"
"We're still waiting for a new target from the Rangers. Until then, there's a group of Raiders operating in this system. If we can track them to their base of ops, we can wipe them out of the equation."
"Yes, I believe I remember of a similar occurrence that took place around five years ago. A Ranger ship, the Enfalli if I'm not mistaken."
"Why d I get the sense that this is not going to be a happy story?"
"They ran into more they could handle, the captain injured, the executive officer standing down, nearly being drummed out of the Anla-Shok. All for staying alive. Amazing, Minbari conviction. Live for the One, Die for the One. Born in starlight, die in starlight. A rather poetic folk."
"What happened to the XO?"
"Oh, he got to command the Liandria."
"The Liandria? David Martel?"
"Yes, you know of him?"
"Every once in a while we'll rendezvous with the Liandria for intel updates. Tough little ship. Went up against a handful of Hand ships, and got out barely with their lives."
"I have learned never to underestimated the Rangers."
"Really? Well, the sooner they find a clue for the cure, the better."
"Growing weary are we, Matthew?"
"Two years already, Galen. And what? Small advances in medical science. But nothing that comes close to the Cure."
"You have the nano-screen. Do you not?"
"But nothing for the Cure. Oh, and on top of the Drakh and Hand threat, we've got the Storm to worry about."
"Ah, yes, the Storm. I sense you are regretting your decision in keeping silent about the division salvaging Shadow vessels?"
"No. I just wished their was something else we could have done. But from what I've learned these many years, advice from a Techno-Mage should not be over looked."
"Ah, spoken as a true Techno-Mage."
"Anyway," Matthew said as they reached the steps leading up to the bridge. "You saved my life."
"One day, Matthew."
"One day, what?"
"The Storm will come again."
"That's what I'm afraid of," Gideon said as he entered the bridge.
"Good morning, Captain," the voice belonging to his XO, Lieutenant John Mathis announced. Mathis at his usual position behind the navigation stations with a compad in his hand. Gideon wondered if John slept with the compad. It was always with him.
"Status report?"
We're orbiting the system in hyperspace. Still nothing of Raider activity."
"I want these bastards, John. Their last hit was a colony ship. Hundreds of people lost, and for what? So someone could make a quick credit."
"We'll get them, Captain. We've got recon probes dropped in every corner of the system. First sign of Raider activity, and they are ours."
"I'll take your word for it. Carry on. I'll be in my office."
"Aye, Sir."
Gideon stepped away from Mathis with Galen in tow behind him. Galen, like Gideon's shadow. Every time he nearly lost his life, Galen was always there.
First it was after the Cerberus' destruction by the Shadow hybrid ship recovered by the Storm. He was floating in the black of space, when a flotilla of Techno-Mage flyers passed him by.
They ignored his hail. All except for Galen.
Second it was on the planet where the Storm were excavating a Shadow ship. Galen came to the rescue once again.
Third, it was when Gideon had ordered Excalibur to Mars Dome, where he was going to blow the lid right off the renegades within Earth Force. There plans to recover all the Shadow ships left after the war's end.
He was standing in the middle of Mars Dome Square with the senior staff around him. All except for Galen who he literally told to get lost. The entire time he was on Excalibur, he had his own agenda. The entire time he knew of an organization salvaging abandoned Shadow ships. And he didn't tell him. Gideon thought they were friends. So in the heat of things, he told Galen to get lost.
But right before he was going to enter Mars Dome, a sniper had taken up position and had him in the cross-hairs. The sniper was playing a deadly gamble, as his rifle was a sniper slug thrower. The slight mis-calculation in his aim could cause a ricochet that could result in a breach in the dome. And the dead of hundreds of people inside.
The discharge of the slug rifle crackled, muffled to in-audibility by the morning crowd gathered at Mars Dome Square as the slug knifed through space to get to it's determined target.
But Galen was not to far away; as always. Sweeping above the crowd on a flying platform, he projected a force field around Gideon, and took the round in his chest. The low level force field that he was able to project over his body was just barely enough to slow the slug's momentum. In the end, the damage the slug made was sufficient.
Escaping Mars to the safety of Excalibur, it almost looked as if Galen was not going to pull through this time. But as Galen always said: "Never underestimate a Techno-Mage."
And here they are today, two years later after the event on Mars. The friendship mended, and the quest for the cure continuing.
"How long are you going to be onboard this time, Galen?"
"Until matters pull me away."
"Anything on the Storm?"
"Nothing. It still remains the calm."
"Doesn't mean there not there."
"No, it doesn't."
"Dark days are ahead, Galen. I know it."
"Every day I know you, you are beginning to sound more and more like a Techno-Mage. I'm proud of you, Matthew."
"Yeah, well I don't know how to take that. If we don't find a cure, Earth dies. We have a potential threat represented by the Hand. There's the threat of the Drakh. And we have the Storm, playing with Shadow tech.
"The universe barely got out of the Shadow War. Earth barely made it out of the Civil War. The attack on Earth by the Drakh crippled Earth forces. So, we have the Interstellar Alliance playing body guard until our forces are restored. There's no way in hell we can survive another conflict. No way in hell."
"A poet once said: to strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield. Another human said: give me liberty, or give me death. And another said: Never give up, even when defeat is in favor. For we all make the future."
"I know the first two quotes, but the third is new. Who said it?"
"Yours truly," Galen smiled as he walked away from the conference room, leaving Gideon with papers to look over.
"Techno-Mages."
"I heard that! Galen announced as the side hatch closed behind him.
A smile appeared on his face as he started his day like he always did, barring from a military encounter; paper work.
As he began to go through the latest reports, he lowered his cup of coffee, placed his hand in his palm, and allowed his head to drop on the table. Emitting a thump in which all on the bridge could hear.
Mathis in the control section of the bridge turned around, to see others looking back at the captain with his head down.
"Captain, you all right?" Mathis inquired from the area of the command chair.
"Just fine." Gideon said with his head remaining down. "Thank you."
Mathis nodded at the crew to continue with their duties. He turned around to look out the view port showing the tides of hyperspace, with a quizzical expression on his face.
"Going to be one of those days." Mathis whispered.