AN: After being away for a long time, I'm relaunching this story. First chapter rewritten and other chapters having some minor rewrites.
It will largely take place parallel to the events going on in season 3 and 4 of Babylon 5. Mostly original characters, but we will be having run-ins with the B5 folks here and there. Please read, review, and enjoy. Oh yeah, Babylon 5 belongs to J. Michael Straczynski
-Walker
Chapter 1 – Possession Is Nine-tenths Of The Law
April 20th, 2260 08:20
Earthforce secret research base on Nereid.
"Captain Shane? General Taggart will be with you shortly."
Captain Edward Shane turned from the porthole he had been staring out of, most of the view taken up by the dark blue of Neptune's shadow. The station deck's interior was as bland and utilitarian as a military base could get, white walls and black metal trim, all bolted down. The speaker was a young sergeant. He noticed right away her Earthforce uniform was in disarray. It was wrinkled and dirty, a purplish stain of something covered her jacket's sleeve. Almost unconsciously, he ran his hand on his own uniform. His jacket was pristine, neatly pressed, and clean. His hand rested on his Nightwatch black armband. He made sure it was straight and proper on his arm.
Shane made a point of wrinkling his nose at her untidy military uniform. A glance at her identification tag right below the Earthforce emblem named her as A. Wilson. A blush of humiliation rose on Sergeant Wilson's face as she saw his disapproval.
"I'm sorry, sir," she offered while her eyes were cast down. "I just came from working in the environmental processor. I…uhh…didn't realize I had gotten so dirty."
At least Wilson had the good graces to be embarrassed by her appearance, considered Shane. When he took command, he would make sure everyone here understood they were professionals and needed to dress accordingly.
"Sergeant Wilson, I thought you were the acting yeoman for the Valiant. What are you doing working on the environmental controls?" inquired Shane as he mentally placed her name against the list of personnel for the top-secret ship.
"I am, sir" she answered quickly. "But we're all working around the clock to get the Valiant operational. And well, the environmental systems for the Valiant are…umm…a bit unusual."
Shane let his head nod slowly. "I have familiarized myself with ship's background." He craned his neck, looking past Wilson, trying to see what was past her. It was a futile effort to see the ship beyond the circular black transport tube connecting the military base to its most prized possession. "I do look forward to seeing her."
With more than a little touch of pride in her voice, Wilson answered. "Yes, sir, there is nothing like her out there. Every race, hell even the Vorlons, will be envious."
There was a long pause after her devoted reverence for her ship, which quickly grew to an awkward silence. Shane made a point of a casual dismissal for Sergeant Wilson by turning back to the docking hub's large single porthole. Outside, the wide blue disk of Neptune hung unmoving in the sky.
Behind him, Wilson cleared her throat and added, "Sir, I'll just check on the General. See what's keeping him."
"Yes," replied Shane faintly, "please do."
When she left and Shane was certain he was alone, he touched his hand link. A beep followed and he spoke into the device. "Lieutenant Monroe."
A brief pause and then the clipped tone of Lieutenant Jessica Monroe on board the EAS Aegean filter from the device, "Yes, sir?"
"Lieutenant," said Shane smoothly, "I want this little transition of command to go without incident."
"My men and I are ready," replied the Lieutenant. "Just say the word."
Shane's smile widened. "Excellent, take your men and enter the station. Assume control…quietly."
"Right away, sir."
Shane had just cut his link when General Robert Taggart pulled himself into the docking hub. Shane had seen pictures of the man from his dossier, before the Earth-Minbari War. Back then Robert Taggart had jet black hair, not unlike Shane's current styled hairstyle. But the years since had aged Taggart. Now his hair was thinned and turned a gray-silver. Deep lines cut into his face, furrowed by more than the simple passage of time. Still, he was tall and lean for a man was well over sixty. The General maintained the body of an athletic runner. In the microgravity of Neptune's moon, he maneuvered easily, using the transport tube's hand and feet holds to bring him to a gentle rest before Shane.
"Captain Edward Shane," greeted Taggart with a quick salute. A small smile and an extended hand swiftly followed, "a pleasure to meet you."
"Likewise, Sir," replied Shane as he returned the salute and then took the General's offered hand. He noticed the man's uniform was spotless. Except for the lack of the Nightwatch band on the General's dress jacket, he was dressed just like Shane. It was a point in the Taggart's favor, thought Shane, too bad the man had shunned Nightwatch and all the opportunities the organization could provide.
"So you want to take a look at the Valiant," began the General gamely. "You must be liked by someone back in Earthdome." Taggart's eye sized Shane up quickly. "Not something most captains would be able to do," he added.
"Well, General Taggart," replied Shane a little stiffly. "You may have been busy out here in the waste-end of the solar system and not noticed, but since the attack on Ganymede we are under martial law."
"I am busy," intoned Taggart a little sharply. "However, nor am I blind or deaf. Half the galaxy is in free-fall chaos."
"Then you can understand why I'm here," defended Shane, a little put out by the man's tone. "With everything going on, the political climate is very delicate. President Clarke wants to ensure all of Earth's forces are…on the same page."
A sigh welled up from Taggart. "I've worked rather hard to stay out of Earthdome's dogmatic machine. As such, I don't care much about your political climate." With a wave of his hand, he indicated the Nereid military base. "This station is hardly a civilian operation and the order for martial law has no bearing here. Nor is anyone here who hasn't been through a very rigorous background check. There are no spies or saboteurs here."
Shane saw the man's confusion. The General believed his capacity to operate and command one of Earthforce's most secretive compounds was being called into question. It was an easy mistake to make. But Edward Shane was not here for the man's ability, he was here for the man's loyalty.
Bowing his head Shane offered gently, "I understand General Taggart. I didn't mean to call into question what you're doing here. We all know you've done outstanding work. All of us back in Earthdome are very eager to see the Valiant operational."
Taggart's face relaxed. It was a subtle movement, but Shane was fast enough to catch the minute change. It was always best to play to someone's ego. Shane knew General Taggart had lived and breathed his current assignment for the better part of the last three years. The man had invested himself completely in the salvaging and retrofit of the alien ship.
"Hmm…" hummed Taggart to himself. A tiny grin forced its way onto his face. "Well, if you've come all this way, best to show you what the taxpayers have spent the better part of three billion credits on."
"Of course, General," replied Shane with a slick smile of his own.
In the almost nonexistent gravity of the base, Taggart spun one hundred and eighty degrees with a simple twist of his body. Then with just the smallest of kicks with one foot he launched back down the interconnecting tube. The man's speed surprised Shane and he found himself having to rush after him down the passageway.
"I can tell you've never severed on a Hyperion class cruiser," observed Taggart over his shoulder as the man nimbly manipulated the handholds along the tube connecting to the Valiant. Shane struggled to keep up without careening into either side of the conduit.
"I severed on board the Furies for a time," answered Shane as he worked to right himself. The Omega class destroyer with its spinning crew section had provided near Earth normal gravity. He had never been any good at low g environments. It seemed every time he moved, he caused the plastic conduit they were in to bounce about.
Taggart reached out and steadied Shane. "Like this," the older man instructed. He helped Shane loop his foot through a narrow ring on the floor. The foothold helped stabilize him and then reaching up he could pull himself along on the same handholds Taggart was using.
"I practically grew up on those Hyperion and old Nova class ships," reminisced the General. "If we weren't under thrust, we had to do everything in zero-g."
"It must be a relief then to work in the Valiant," broached Shane, still a little embarrassed by his clumsy earlier performance.
Taggart was quiet for a moment and then said, "It does, after a fashion."
The connecting tunnel opened and at first Shane thought he was at the ship's air lock. But instead he found himself in a large plastic bubble. It bridged two of the long, snake-like tubes connecting to the ship. Unlike the dark connecting tube, they had just transverse this plastic was clear. It offered an unrestricted view of the massive cargo hold that held the Valiant.
Shane gaped as he took in the sheer size. The bay was nearly two thousand meters across and more than double the length. The distant walls were dark gray of carved out rock. A hollowed-out section of Neptune's moon hid one of Earthforce's most closely guarded secrets. And there it was, the EAS Valiant, nestled like a precious stone wrapped carefully and protectively in the center of this enormous man-made cave.
"It's quite the sight, isn't?" offered the General quietly to Shane's side.
"It is indeed," breathed Shane. He was awe struck as he gazed out at the ship. He had seen photographs, video, and schematics of the ship. But none of them did it justice. Scaffolding wrapped around the ship and dozens of flexible conduits like the one they were in ran from the base into the vessel. The ship itself was lit up by hundreds of lights throughout the bay and making its dark blue surface almost…glow. Light reflected and refracted off its crystal-like hull.
Hull…Shane wasn't even sure that was the right word for the ship. Perhaps skin? Or shell? Long and sharp points defined the ship. He had heard some of the upper brass call it the crystal knife. Now seeing up close, Shane had to agree. It was a long-jagged knife of a ship, from the point at the bow it arched gracefully back. The middle of the ship, the spine of the knife, rose in a gentle curve until it reached near the end of the ship. There, in what would be the hilt of a blade, long arching spines grew out at odd angles around what Shane knew was the vessel's engines. A knife nearly three thousand meters long.
Tetragonal and hexagonal shapes were everywhere on the ship. From small little nodes on the edges to the massive spires at the rear. Almost all the various crystalline structures were of either dark blue or deep-sea green. But one of the spires caught his eye, near the dead center of the beam of the craft, was hued a deep crimson red.
"It's a cannon," explained Taggart as he saw Shane's observation of the long ruby-colored spike at the center of the ship.
"Really? What type? Is it functional? What type of power requirement does it have?" blurted out Shane.
Running his finger along the plastic shell, tracing the length of the red spire, General Taggart spoke formally, a bit of a well-rehearsed speech. "The simplest way to describe it would be to call it an electromagnetic rail gun. It's the easiest way to grasp what it does without reading through a hundred pages of research on quantum electrodynamics."
Shane frowned. "That doesn't sound powerful. We've had rail guns for centuries. There are far more formidable weapons out there."
"Ah," smiled General Taggart, "But we've never had one that could launch several thousand tungsten alloy slugs at once. Each one going at about two percent the speed of light and each hitting with the kinetic force of about fifteen kilotons of TNT."
"And keep in mind," continued the General, "The Valiant has a targeting precision of about half a centimeter over ten million klicks. And every one of those projectiles can be individually targeted. It can be fired as a cloud, focused into one sustained blast, or anywhere in between. Putting it in layman's terms, it's like firing a shotgun and controlling where every pellet goes."
Shane could not stop the low whistle that came out of his throat. Deeply impressed, he murmured out a soft "Wow."
"Com'on," cajoled Taggart, grinning like a little boy. "Let me give you a tour."
They made their way down the next and last connecting conduit. Shane was moving a little more confidently, finally managing to travel with some sort of decorum in the weak gravity. They were nearing the end, the Valiant's airlock was just ahead when General Taggart stopped him.
"When you move past this point, the artificial gravity of the ship will start to pull on you. What you think of as ceiling will quickly turn into the floor. If you're careful, you can do a small jump and flip over and land on your feet."
"Umm," stammered Shane, uncertain if he could pull off the maneuver Taggart was explaining.
"Don't feel bad if you just end up belly flopping on to the floor, plenty of us have been in the same place."
Hesitantly, Shane took a shallow step forward, and then another. He did not feel it at first, but gradually he could feel something pulling on him. Every inch closer to the mouth of the airlock, the pull on him strengthened.
"Whoa," cried Shane as he felt his body slipping upwards. He tried to flip himself like Taggart had explained but he only ended up flailing his arms about as he rose.
And then suddenly what was up was now down. Shane found himself on his hands and knees on a padded cushion laid out on the airlock's floor. Beside him Taggart was standing, but only on one leg. The other leg folded awkwardly up against his body. Balancing precariously on one foot, the General reached out and grabbed a wooden cane resting on one side of the airlock.
With an audible thump, Taggart pressed the end of the cane into the floor while holding its ornate handle to straighten himself out. Leaning on his cane, the General saw Shane's surprise and explained, "Artificial gravity is nice, but there are some disadvantages for me."
Rising unsteadily to his feet, Shane tried an apologetic smile. It did come off as particularly genuine. He had read about the General's war wound, but the man had moved so fluidly in the weak gravity Shane had forgotten. "Forgive me, I didn't realize," he said while gazing at Taggart's lame leg. "Are there no treatments?"
"Neurological damage from Minbari weapons don't heal particularly well," replied the General darkly. "And I've never cared for artificial replacements." He shook his head while looking down at his damaged leg. "Don't worry, it's not that bad. I'm able to get around well enough even in high-g thrust."
"Yes, umm, right," nodded Shane, eager to move off the unpleasant topic.
Looking about, Shane found himself feeling rather disappointed. Given the unique structure of the craft he had assumed the interior would be just as strange. Instead, it was simple ridged metal and plastic framed the cramped airlock. It looked like any found on an Earthforce ship, right down to the emergency override handle positioned near the inner door.
"Is this…" and Shane indicated the airlock's design with a confused frown.
General Taggart took his cane and rapped it against the wall of the compartment. It made a dull ringing noise. "A retrofit," he answered. "Most of the airlocks on board the Valiant have gone through upgrades to allow for easier access and to hook into the standard docking tubes."
"The original airlocks couldn't be used?" asked Shane.
"Captain Shane," lectured Taggart, "you need to understand whoever built this ship meant for it to be virtually impregnable. It took us nearly three months to cut our way into the first airlock. Replacing them with an Earthforce standard design has made it considerably easier to get in and out."
Crossing through the inner airlock doorway, they entered something akin to an antechamber. Unlike the human-built compartment behind them, this room was clearly designed by alien hands. Laid out in an octagonal shape, it had four arched doorways leading deeper into the ship. While the floor was polished silver steel, the walls and the ceiling looked like the room had been carved from one giant crystal. The ceiling, a good three meters above their heads, arched up and then back down in a semi-irregular pattern. Colored a deep blue, Shane could not help but think it looked like a pool of water where someone had tossed in a stone, ripples on a pond. The unmoving waves all encircled a single shining bright blue-white crystal lighting up the entire space.
Shane looked about, trying to get his bearings in this strange room. "Do we still have no idea who built this ship?"
"None really," replied Taggart. "Originally, there were some thought the Lumati might have built her, given some of the similarities to the Valiant we'd seen in their ships. But as we learned more about their race, we quickly ruled them out."
"But we must have some idea what race was able to create..." and Shane swung his arm around the crystal room, "…all this. I mean, the reports I've read…"
Taggart interrupted him with a snort. "You've been reading Professor Stones' reports." The General shook his head wearily. "I have to continually rein that man in. He's all over the place with his speculations."
"His theories about some extinct warrior race who created this ship to fight in some massive war?"
"Just guesses on the Professor's part," answered Taggart as he began to move down the center passage. He walked with just a hint of a limp, his wooden cane providing him with the needed support. Regular sets of 'tap…tap' came as the tip of the walking stick hit the metal floor.
As they walked through the arched doorway of the chamber, Taggart pointed at it with the end of his cane. "What we do know for a fact about our mystery builders we've inferred from the Valiant herself. Almost every room, corridor, and doorway are at least three meters high. So, it's a good chance they were taller than us on average."
Now they were walking down a long hexagonal shaped corridor. It was nearly as wide as it was tall, giving enough room for Shane and Taggart to move down the passageway side by side. More blue-white gems jutted from the ceiling, lighting their path. "They also likely saw into the ultraviolet end of the spectrum from the light coming from these crystals."
"Fascinating," breathed Shane. He was finding it hard to keep the awe out of his voice, and the General's enthusiasm was infectious.
They came to a split in the corridor, the new passageway turning off at a forty-five-degree angle. It had the same hexagonal walls, ceiling, lights, and identical polished steel flooring as the one Shane and Taggart traveled. In fact, the corridors would have been indistinguishable from each other, if it had not been for the painted graffiti messages.
A plastic sign with the red words 'Cafeteria' and an arrow pointing down the split off tunnel had been attached to the upper side of the polygonal shape passageway. Another sign was labeled 'Engineering' Both looked very out of place on the strange deep blue alien architecture.
Taggart noticed Shane's inspection of the simple directions. "All the walkways and corridors in the ship are nearly identical. Easy to get turned around and lost."
The signposts were affixed to the walls with multiple layers of duct tape. In Shane's opinion, they looked rather sloppy and unprofessional. Earthforce officers should have put more care in their work. He voiced his concern to the General.
Taggart merely shrugged at his complaint. "You'd be surprised at how hard it is to get anything to attach to these walls. Half the stuff we tried just fell off. We have to replace the adhesives on our signs every few days." He ran a hand along the lower side of the wall. "It looks like smooth, polished crystal," he explained, "But it's far more complicated. At the molecular level, these walls are composed of long-chain non-polar structured latices of neodymium and graphene atoms."
Shane thought for a moment. He pulled on his own engineering background and what he had read about the Valiant's design. "The ship's ability to regrow and regenerate it's crystalline structure."
"Exactly," nodded Taggart. "Even something as simple as gluing up some posters on walls causes the atomic structure of walls to reform. The ship's ability to regenerate and rebuild from even the smallest of deviation. With the net result being nearly anything you try to alter is repelled at the atomic level."
Shane frowned. "The builders of the Valiant did all that just so no one could stick a sign on their walls?"
"Maybe they didn't like to dust," Taggart dryly pondered. "I really don't know." He tapped with his cane, slightly impatient. "Let's keep moving. Want to show you the ship's engines." Without waiting for Shane, he continued down the corridor.
"Right," agreed Shane as he hurried to catch up to the General. He was getting distracted, and his purpose on this little tour was to keep Taggart busy. Not the other way around. He hoped Monroe and her men were nearly done.
They passed two more intersections, each with identical sized and shaped passageways. Shane saw truly little in the way of what he would call rooms, cabins, or chambers separating off from their path. Instead, the corridor would widen and expand outward, creating wide areas that would provide space enough for dozens of people. Only for the hexagonal walls to constrict back into the normal three-meter sized passageway.
"Is the entire ship layout like this?" asked Shane. "Nothing but long corridors?"
"Mostly, yes," replied Taggart. "Twelve decks, and most of them consisting of these tunneled walkways crisscrossing back and forth. Some parts are much wider than others. Only a few true rooms with doors. There is a large bay at the front of the ship. More enough room to hold an entire wing of Starfuries." Taggart let out a small sigh. "If we could ever figure out how to open the damn outer bay doors."
They rounded another corner, and Shane noticed a more familiar sight in this very alien starship. A line of people waited outside a wide doorway. Shane could not see past the entrance, there was only darkness beyond the threshold. All the assembled crew were dressed in orange jumpsuits. Some held tools and equipment, others had computer tablets. The one thing they all had in common was a look of urgency on their faces.
Coming to a stop before the line and the doorway beyond, Shane asked, "Is this the ship's transit system?"
"It is indeed," answered Taggart with a small smile. "Best way to get around a ship this size. Direct to the engineering section." Pointing to a woman standing near the end of the line. She was tall, with short black hair and gray eyes. "Lieutenant Jackson, she heads up the engineering crew."
Jackson gave a curt nod to them, but quickly turned back to her crew as a whirling noise came from beyond the darkened doorway. Shane felt a faint vibration run through the floor. The darkness beyond began to change as a greenish light began to grow. Then with a hushed 'whomp' and a blur of grayish steel, a small room appeared beyond the doorway. Jackson and her people quickly pass through the threshold to the newly appeared room.
Taggart waved his cane toward the door. "After you, captain."
With a quick glance back at Taggart, Shane stepped forward into the opening. Inside, the room was lit by the soft glow of several dozen glowing crystals set into the ceiling. Each one displayed a different shade of blue. Running from a bright electric white blue to a dull, dim dark blue. The crystals were arranged in a circle about five meters across, with the doorway centered in the middle of the ring.
Following the group inside, Shane looked about. They were in a circular room about ten meters long. As the General hobbled across the doorway, another faint vibration ran through the circular room. Shane felt a momentary sensation of acceleration pulling him sideways. Followed by a stomach lurching feeling of suddenly dropping. A highly disorienting feeling. He looked about and saw neither General Taggart nor the other engineering crew seemed bothered. Apparently they had expected the odd sensation.
General Tagart led him through the doorway they had just entered, and turning about Shane realized they were now standing in a completely different room. This one was like the transit room, only twice as wide. Instead of the circle of crystals overhead, this room had only a handful of blue-white gems.
"That's the ships' transport..." he said unsteadily. His stomach felt queasy from the rapid trip.
Taggart chuckled as he saw Shane's discomfort. "An efficient way to move about a ship this size but takes some getting used to."
"Is it gravimetrically controlled?" questioned Shane. "We moved more than halfway across the ship in the matter of seconds."
"We think so," shrugged Taggart. "The systems are automated, nothing we've been able to interface with yet."
"Amazing," marveled Shane. He wondered if such technology could be reverse engineered.
"Follow me," directed Taggart as he moved to another doorway. "Want to show you the Valiant's engines."
Before Shane could follow, he felt his link chirp. Pressing it he whispered, "Monroe."
"Sir," came the Lieutenant's reply. "The Nereid Station is secure. My team is ready to board the Valiant."
"Excellent," hissed Shane, trying to keep his voice down. Looking about he saw the General had already crossed into the next room. Shane quickly followed.
In the room beyond, Shane saw Taggart speaking with Jackson and another engineer. This one a man, who wore an ensign insignia on his orange jumpsuit. The two were looking intently at the General. Jackson kept pointing up at the ceiling while Taggart was shaking his head no. Shane moved closer to the group to hear better what they were talking about.
"...can't risk it General," insisted Jackson. Her accent was distinctly Australian, Shane noted.
Taggart countered by tapping on his cane. "We need it running now, we're out of time."
"It's too risky," injected the male engineer. "We haven't been able to properly test..."
Taggart cut him off sharply, "Enough, that's an order Lieutenant. Activate the relays."
"Is there a problem," asked Shane as he drew up beside the General.
Turning to Shane, Taggart replied smoothly, "No Captain, everything is fine. Lieutenant Jackson and her team are just being overly cautious." He motioned with his cane upward again, pointing at a series of sparkling purple-blue crystals in the arching ceiling of the corridor." We're putting power through these. They act as relay boosters and regulators for the Valiant's engine core. We're hoping to stabilize the energy flow from the core to the rest of the ship."
Shane looked between the general and the two engineers. Taggart was calm and collected. Jackson and her subordinate, however, looked nervous. They kept giving fretfully glancing to Shane and then back to the General.
"Why not run a full diagnostic on the relay before continuing? Check to make sure the power levels are consistent." ventured Shane. Perhaps he could stall Taggart further. Let Monroe and her men finish their work.
Taggart shrugged indifferently. "Of course, why not, good suggestion Captain Shane. Lieutenant Jackson, please run a diagnostic before proceeding." He waved at Jackson. "See to it, Lieutenant."
Reluctantly Jackson nodded. She cast Shane a hard look before turning away. Shane watched her go, uncertain why she seemed so ill at ease. Monroe and her men would only now be entering the ship. There was no way for the Jackson to know what was about to happen. It had to be something else bothering the Lieutenant.
Soon the ship would be his. In truth, Shane was finding little joy in seizing command of the Valiant from General Taggart. The man and his people had done well with the alien ship. Still, orders were orders. President Clarke had given Shane this task for a reason. Shane would carry it out dutifully.
Taggart tapped on his cane impatiently. "Come along, Captain, still have to show off the engines."
Shane nodded, following Taggart as the General limped down the hexagonal corridor. Several of the engineering crew passed them by as they went about their work. The passageway began to expand into a much larger space. Shane stopped the General before they went further.
"General," Shane began cautiously. He needed to keep the General occupied. "Your reports have indicated the Valiant's gravimetric drive is still months away from being active. I see how many people you've got working trying to just get power working. Would they not be better tasked at removing or disassembly of the tech on this derelict?"
Taggart let out a hard sigh, shaking his head sadly. "I swear Earthdome has their heads up their own asses...again." He looked Shane squarely in the eyes. "You think you're the first to suggest reverse engineering the Valiant?" Taggart laughed, "Your welcome to give it a try, Shane. For example, one of the power relays Jackson was working on. It's a room temperature super conductor that has some form of quantum tunneling for energy storage. One of those crystals could act as a battery and power a small ship for months. That alone, if you could figure out how to replicate it, would make you a fortune. But try to take it off the ship, more than a few minutes away from the Valiant and poof!" Taggart snapped his fingers loudly. "The crystal turns brittle and breaks apart, right down to its base components."
Shane considered the General's words. "This is why you were so insistent on retrofitting the ship. Making it fly again."
"We learn by doing," explained Taggart simply as he started walking again, forcing Shane to follow. "Earthdome want answers? How do we build such technology? How do we make it work? The only way we'll ever find out is to actually use the ship itself."
As they entered the main engineering section, Shane gasped at the sheer enormity of the area. They were standing at one end of a cavernous chamber. Twice as wide as it was high, Shane gazed upon the Valiant's engines. The ship's spine rose before him, growing out of the deck Shane stood on and extending well past the ceiling high above them. From this distance, Shane guessed it was easily sixty meters wide. Hundreds of colored crystals of various shapes and sizes grew from the length of the column. Some glowed softly, others sparkled brilliantly in the chamber's light. Shane swore he could almost hear the engines humming quietly with energy.
General Taggart caught Shane staring at the great column rising before them. "Quiet the sight, isn't," he commented.
"How can it still work?" breathed Shane in wonderment. "The ship is at least a thousand years old." Then he frowned, something did not make sense here. "I thought you reported the engines did not have power yet. Wasn't that what Lieutenant Jackson and her team were working on?"
"Well," smiled Taggart. "I might have been a little inaccurate with a few of my reports. We're ahead of schedule in a few areas."
Shane blinked, "Ahead of schedule? You reported..." Then he stopped, giving the older man a hard look. Taggart gazed back, just as coolly "What are doing, General?"
Taggart ignored his question. "What are your orders here, Captain Shane? Your real orders?"
Pleasantries were falling away. Thin veneer of civility stripped back. Shane straightened his stance as he regarded Taggart. "President Clarke is concerned your loyalties may lay elsewhere, General Taggart. I've been ordered to take control of Neried Station. And the Valiant."
Taggart snorted derisively. "So, Clarke sends a Nightwatch lap dog to try to put a leash on me?"
Anger flared within Shane. Taggart had no respect for Nightwatch or Earthdome. Shane's hand drifted to the butt of his PPG holstered at his hip. Taggart saw his hand move and smiled contemptibly. He began to advance on Shane. Slowly limping forward. Shane backed away, matching Taggart step for step.
"You will never take Valiant from me, Captain," challenged Taggart.
"General Taggart," warned Shane as he drew his PPG. This did not deter the General at all. Instead, Taggart increased his pace, moving faster towards Shane. Shane raised the weapon and leveled it directly at Taggart's chest.
"Stand down, General," ordered Shane harshly. "Or I'll shoot."
Taggart did not slow one bit. Shane fired his PPG. And nothing happened. He repeatedly pulled the trigger, but PPG simply did not work. Then Taggart was on him. The General was older, crippled, but hardly weaker. Shane cried out as Taggart grabbed his wrist holding the PPG. The man's grip was like iron, twisting Shane's arm painfully backwards. Shane tried to pull free, but Taggart refused to let go. With his other hand gripping his cane tightly, Taggart struck Shane hard across the face with it. Pain bloomed along Shane's jaw and eye socket.
Reacting purely on instinct, Shane brought his knee up into Taggart's bad leg. The General grunted in pain but refused to release Shane's wrist. Taggart struck him again with the cane. Shane tasted blood as Taggart slammed the dense wood into his jaw. Desperate, Shane twisted as hard as he could, finally pulling himself free from Taggart's grip. Shane staggered backward, barely keeping himself from tripping over his own feet. Holding his PPG firmly in both hands, Shane aimed and fired. And still nothing happened.
Trying to get distance from Taggart, Shane scrambled backward. He slapped his communicator, barking out an order, "Lieutenant Monroe! I need assistance now! General Taggart has attacked me…" But stopped, realizing the Comlink had no signal.
From behind him, Taggart's voice taunted Shane coldly, "We don't know if the engines or the chamber itself. But the area is in an electromagnetic jamming field. Shuts down nearly any technology. PPGs, ComLinks, you name it."
Spinning about, Shane found Taggart was on him again. This time the General swept Shane's legs out from under him with his cane. Shane crashed onto the steel plated deck hard, knocking the wind from his lungs. Taggart kicked his PPG out of Shane's hand before he could recover.
Panicked, Shane was on his back, trying to scramble away from Taggart when the sound of running boots echoed throughout the engineering chamber. Turning his head Shane saw Lieutenant Jessica Monroe dash into the room. Relief poured into him as the marine with military cropped blonde hair and athletic frame ran towards him and Taggart. Shane called out to her, "Lieutenant! Arrest the General!"
But Taggart simply gave the advancing marine a small smile and said, "Hello, Jessica. All your men are aboard?"
Lieutenant Jessica Monroe response was cordial, almost amused. "Of course, sir." She shot a quick glance toward Shane, still laying helplessly on the deck. Monroe's voice dripped with disdain as she continued, "Having problems with Captain Eddie?"
"I've dealt with enough snakes in my time," replied Taggart as he glared down at Shane. "I can handle one more."
"I know, sir. But I've had to put up with the little maggot since leaving Io Station. I'd be delighted to toss him out an airlock."
On the steel floor, his head throbbing miserably, Captain Edward Shane gaped up at Taggart and Monroe. Stunned by both the blows and the betrayal. Shane had just assumed he was in control. He had the orders. He had the men. He was Nightwatch. This was to be his greatest assignment.
And it was all slipping away from him.
Leaning down, Taggart glowered angrily, "Earthdome must really not think much of me if they sent the likes of you to take me down."
Shane spat out blood as he rasped weakly, "You will never leave this station alive."
Taggart raised his arm holding his walking stick. Its handle was now bloodied. Shane shrank back in fear.
"Now listen to me you miserable little pissant," began General Taggart. "Your ability to continue to breathe is going to be completely dependent on you doing exactly what I say. You will help me and my people get the hell out of here."
"And do what? Where do you think you can run to? sniveled Shane weakly. "The Aegean is under orders to take this station apart if you don't comply with the President's orders."
A smile, a genuine one grew on Taggart's face. He looked upon the massive engine core towering over Shane. "I've spent nearly three years on this ship. I've learned a lot. And so has the crew. The gravimetric drive is active. The control systems just came online today. We've been working on it night and day."
"Control systems?" murmured Shane as the realization dawned. The General duplicity and betrayal was staggering. He had no intention of trying to hold control of the station or capture the Aegean."
"That's right," confirmed Taggart as he stood upright again. "We're stealing the Valiant!"