The Gorison Traveler Incident (Veslor Mates #1) Read online

  “This isn’t a stunt! It’s all true! Laser fire does nothing to the Ke’ters, sir. It doesn’t hurt them at all. That’s the strongest weapon we have onboard.”

  “This is bullshit. They wouldn’t attack. You were always the worst troublemaker as a girl. This is nothing more than a way to get back at me for telling you to stay away from our alien guests, and you’ve gone too far. You will immediately stop this nonsense and report to the brig. How dare you—”

  She cut coms and repeated her earlier message, spelling out most of the words to prevent the aliens from understanding her intent.

  The coms line buzzed but she ignored it. Instead, she watched the clock.

  Two minutes passed—and then she initiated lockdown.

  Sharp alarms continued to blast through the speakers all over the ship, and she knew emergency doors were being sealed, corridor access points were cut off by thick blast walls, and every venting shaft would go into crisis mode. They would seal off to prevent oxygen leaks in case of explosions but would pump in enough filtered air to keep everyone alive.

  She turned the chair, facing the long-range communications controls. She turned them on to send a message but the device refused to give her access. She didn’t have an override code, but there was a general distress signal option.

  Vivien initiated it. The Gorison Traveler was in dire need of help.

  The auto-distress beacon blinked as it transmitted a standard S.O.S.

  She turned back, still ignoring the coms buzzing at her, and began to pull up security feeds.

  Medical had been devastated. It was clear some kind of incendiary device had gone off in the huge room. Bodies lie in pieces, scattered among the charred, broken equipment.

  Tears blinded her, but Vivian blinked them back. The Ke’ters must have targeted Medical to cripple the Gorison Traveler’s efforts to help the injured. There was no longer a place to take their wounded. It also meant that poor man she’d come across in the corridor would die.

  She continued flipping through various cameras on the ship to get an overview of the situation. No crew seemed to be stranded in the corridors, but she did see a few human bodies. She saw a few Ke’ters in random corridors, and also found three more trapped inside a lift.

  “I hope you die in there, bastards.”

  She found more of the aliens when she brought up the bridge. They were eating the pilots and other crew.

  That’s when she remembered their intent to take over the ship. They would succeed, since they now had control of the bridge.

  She reached over and flipped on the internal coms that kept buzzing at her.

  “Goddamn you, Goss! You can get the death penalty for sealing off this ship!”

  “The Ke’ters have the bridge.” She tried to keep her voice calm, despite the panic she felt. “They are going to steal the ship, sir. They’re eating the crew alive! I don’t know what else to do. How do we stop them?”

  Commander Alderson disconnected on her.

  “Bastard!”

  Then she thought of Donny and his wife, Maggie. He was the head of engineering. She punched in their cabin code. It buzzed until Donny answered.

  “What’s going on?”

  “Just what I said. The Ke’ters have attacked us.”

  Donny muttered a curse. “Why?”

  “We’re food. They’re eating us,” she explained, still feeling sick. “Is Maggie safe with you?”

  “Yes. We both made it to quarters. How bad is it?”

  “The Ke’ters have the bridge, medical was blown to hell, and, um…Commander Alderson thinks I’m playing a prank.”

  “He’s an asshat. You’re not a teenager anymore, and the pranks you pulled were always harmless. No one initiates lockdown as a prank. I believe you, Vivian.”

  “Is there any way I can shut down the engines from a control center to stop them from flying us to god knows where?”

  “Did you send out a distress signal?”

  “I was able to activate the auto-distress.” She glanced to her right, watching it flashing. “It’s still transmitting.”

  “There’s nothing else you can do.” He paused. “Wait—you need to get to Control One.”

  “I’m there. Mikey sent me here. It’s how I was able to put the ship in lockdown. Donny…the operator of this station wasn’t here. Why would they leave their post?”

  He hissed another curse. “I don’t fucking know. They shouldn’t have. Thank god Mikey is okay.”

  Grief knifed at her heart. “What can I do?” She needed him to think clearly. She’d tell him the truth about his best friend later.

  “Control One has override ability in case of an engine fire. It would shut them all down. I’m going to have to talk you through it.”

  “Okay. How does it work?”

  “It will vent all the oxygen in the engine compartments. They need oxygen to run, so they’ll shut down immediately. But…there’s a bad side to this, Vivian.”

  “What’s that?”

  “We’ll be on backup power. Emergency system will kick in, so we won’t die, but they’ll only last four days. The engines themselves are what recharge the backup system. We’re ten days from the closest space station, and I don’t think anyone else is this far out. The Bassius Colony is too new to accommodate visitors for sustained periods, and I doubt they have long-range ships that would reach us.”

  Priorities, Big M would tell her. That’s what she needed to focus on. Deal with one mess at a time. She closed her eyes, thinking. “Can I restart the engines if I shut them down?”

  He hesitated. “Yes.”

  She knew what that hesitation was about. “How long do they have to be kept running before the backup system is recharged?”

  He went quiet for another moment. “Twenty hours, at least. It’s a huge risk though, Vivien, to give them engines again.”

  “I know. First priority is keeping people alive and stopping the Ke’ters from taking us farther from help. Tell me how to vent the oxygen from the engines. If emergency life support goes down before help arrives, I’ll restart them.”

  “Fuck.” He was breathing harder. “First, go into the submenu for maintenance.”

  Vivian took a deep breath and put her hands on the controls, briefly looking for it. “I’m in.”

  Chapter Two

  Vivian jerked awake and stared at the screens in front of her. The Ke’ters on the bridge had done a lot of damage to the equipment while she’d rested. They were clearly too stupid to know they couldn’t get the engines online via that location.

  “Not happening.” She groaned as she moved, her body aching from sleeping upright.

  She glanced at the clock. It had been thirteen hours since she’d initiated lockdown. Commander Alderson refused to answer her calls. There was no security feed she could pull up in his quarters. All crew had privacy inside their homes.

  Another alarming fact she’d discovered was that the other three control stations on the ship weren’t answering her calls. They were supposed to be manned around the clock. Like Control One, they seemed to have been abandoned.

  She’d also spent hours searching the ship via the cameras, and had located nineteen of the twenty-two Ke’ters. It was the missing three she was worried about.

  Aside from those on the bridge, most of the others had been trapped in corridors, include six in the corridor outside the debriefing room where they’d attacked her adopted brother and father. And of course, three remained sealed inside the lift where she’d spotted them yesterday.

  The number of murdered crew members had staggered her. She’d stopped counting after thirty. It was too heartbreaking. The Ke’ters had attacked various areas of the ship in teams. The ones who’d targeted medical with that bomb were probably the three trapped in the lift near that section.

  She stood, stretching her stiff body, and moved into the small break room. She had access to plenty of food and drinks, so she wouldn’t starve or dehydrate. There were even t
he pair of bunk beds for sleeping, but she had drifted off in the chair while watching the bridge.

  Vivian ate a tasteless nutrient bar and chugged an energy drink. She felt more alert by the time she’d used the bathroom, splashed some water on her face, and returned to the control desk.

  She sat, watching the Ke’ters tear into more panels on the bridge, fiddling with the insides. Another attempt at contacting the commander went unanswered.

  “Dick,” she muttered. Then she cleared her throat, activating ship-wide coms.

  “I realize you’re all locked in your quarters, worried about what is going on, and no one in any of the general areas is answering calls. They were mostly abandoned before the lockdown.” She paused. “My name is Vivian Goss. I’m Big M’s adopted daughter. I’m also the one who initiated the lockdown. Alien language devices don’t have the ability to translate spelled words, which is why I was spelling out commands. To confuse the Ke’ters.” She took another deep breath. “Engines are now offline, because the Ke’ters have taken control of the bridge. I won’t go into detail, but those bastards aren’t flying us anywhere. I hope you find comfort in knowing that. We’re sitting in space waiting for help. The emergency beacon is on. Just hang in there.”

  She leaned forward, closed her eyes, and tried to think of what else she should say to her crew. “Many of you have met me, if you’re longtime crew members. If you’re new, I’ve been on this ship for years, since Big M adopted me. He is…” Pain choked her, and she had to clear her throat. “He was the head of security. The Ke’ters murdered him. I wish he were the one addressing you right now. I’m in Control One, and I promise I’m doing the best I can to keep everyone safe and alive until help arrives.” She paused. “Please don’t try to bypass the safety locks on your quarters, or to leave wherever you’re currently located. There are some Ke’ters trapped in corridors throughout the ship and laser fire doesn’t work on them. You’re safer where you are.”

  She ended transmission and sighed, closing her eyes. The weight of every life onboard the Gorison Traveler was on her shoulders. The pressure felt intense and like too much to handle. But she didn’t have a choice.

  The internal coms line buzzed and she lunged, turning it on. “Vivian Goss here.”

  There was a pause. “This is Abby Thomas,” a female voice said.

  Vivian wracked her brain trying to identify that name but came up blank. It was a big ship, she didn’t know everyone on it, and she’d been gone for two years, living on Earth while in school. “You don’t happen to know the override codes for long-distance coms, do you, Abby?”

  The woman paused again. “You’re the operator for Control One but you don’t have access? Explain that to me.”

  Vivian sighed. “I’m not the operator. I’m just the one in here. Do you have the override codes? I was hoping since you obviously have access to this secured number, you’re maybe one of the communications officers.”

  “You’re telling me you’re not an operator, but you have control of that station?”

  “Yes. I desperately need to send a message to the Branston Station to let them know what happened. They’ll get our distress signal and send help but they’ll be carrying laser rifles, which are ineffective against Ke’ters. They need to be warned.”

  “I have no way to verify anything that’s happened. For all I know, you could be a rebel who’s taken control of the Gorison Traveler.”

  Vivian frowned. “What’s your job?”

  “I’m not assigned to this ship. I was actually hitching a ride from the Branston Space Station to Bassius Colony to fix some glitches they’ve been experiencing. My parents designed most of the operating systems used on fleet vessels. I perform upgrades on them. I can get you in…but why should I?”

  “Big M was the head of security.”

  “I’ve met him.”

  “Then I’m sure you know he adopted me. Big M bragged about his kids constantly. My father was his best friend, and he died during the battle on the Yelton when they were attacked by the Prog. I’m not an operator, but my adopted father insisted that his son, Mikey, and I have access to all four control stations. I was on a live vid with Mikey when the Ke’ters attacked the heads of all the security teams at a debriefing meeting. Mikey ordered me to come to Control One. When no one responded at the door, I entered the access code and came in. The operator wasn’t here.”

  “That’s not protocol.”

  “No shit!” Vivian barked, getting frustrated. “The other three control stations aren’t responding. I think they were abandoned, too. It doesn’t make sense—unless they were working with the Ke’ters.”

  “That can’t be,” Abby protested.

  Vivian sighed. “All four control stations were left unmanned. That’s never done.” She paused. “The Ke’ters split up and attacked sections of the ship at the same time. The team leaders of our security forces were murdered, while medical was bombed. It’s gone, Abby. Totally blown to shit, and the medical personnel with it. Please don’t ask me how many people were in there. I could only guess, judging by the pieces of them I’ve seen on the security cameras. It also means all the operating rooms, trauma bays, and surgery machines are gone.”

  Tears filled her eyes. “They also attacked the bridge crew and murdered everyone up there. How the fuck do you think that happened, huh? Let me tell you, in case you don’t know—the bridge is self-contained. They have blast doors and walls, and it’s sealed at all times. The only way the Ke’ters gained access was if someone let them inside.”

  “Fuck,” Abby muttered.

  Vivian pulled herself together. If the woman truly worked on operating systems, she’d understand how bad the situation was.

  “The good news? If any of our people were working with them, the Ke’ters probably ate them. I’ve located nineteen of the Ke’ters, and every human they could get their hands on were ripped open. No humans are running free in the corridors. Nearly everyone followed lockdown procedures and got to their quarters. But three Ke’ters are missing. I’m hoping—as grim and horrible as this sounds—that maybe someone walked out of their quarters before I sent the warning and were attacked, possibly dragged back inside, and that’s where the missing ones are. Trapped with their dead victims. Private quarters don’t have security cameras. I can’t check each one. It’s really anyone’s guess where the missing Ke’ters are, though.”

  “Why would Big M give you access to a control center?”

  “Are you familiar with what happened to the Hail Nine transport?”

  Abby cursed softly. “Yes. A rebel group set off a bomb on the bridge and took out the entire crew of six, including the autopilot computer. Over ninety passengers were left with failing life support and no way to access the backup systems since they didn’t have authorization codes. They couldn’t even send a distress beacon. If the transport hadn’t been late arriving to their destination, if the Rainer Colony hadn’t sent ships out to check on it, those people would have died for certain.”

  “There have been uprisings on some of the colonies. I’m sure you’re aware of that, too. You said you were on your way to the Bassius Colony. It’s brand-new and still closed to visitors while they make certain it’s fully operational. That’s also partially to prevent any rebels from attacking while it’s still vulnerable and staff is limited.

  “Big M gave me override codes to all four control centers in case something ever happened to the security on this ship. He wanted to make certain our people wouldn’t end up like the passengers on the Hail Nine. But besides knowing how to turn on the auto-distress beacon and disable the automated cannons to avoid blasting any rescue ships, I can’t do much more than view what’s happening in common areas. I’d like access to long-range communications to send a message to the Branston Space Station to let them know how dire our situation is, and what they’ll face when they can get help to us. I watched the Ke’ters attack on a live feed. Our laser rifles only messed up their uniforms. They didn’t
even damage their scales.”

  Abby remained silent for long seconds. “You said the engines were offline. Why?”

  Vivian fought to retain her patience. Though frustrated, she understood the woman’s distrust. “The Ke’ters have control of the bridge. They were going to fly us to their home world to become food. That’s what I heard one of them say when I had an open vid link to the attack on the security team leaders. I contacted the head of engineering, who’s a friend, and he talked me through opening the exterior vents to pull the oxygen from the engines. It shut them down. It’s a temporary stall. In three and a half days, backup systems will go down, including life support. I’ll have to allow the engines to come back online to keep everyone alive. And that means―”

  “The Ke’ters can fly us wherever they want,” Abby finished.

  “Yes.”

  “Fuck!”

  Vivian bit her lip. “You want the truth? Help isn’t going to be able to reach us in time. At best, if you give me access to long-range communications, I can send a message to the space station to let them know what’s happened and who’s responsible. The Ke’ters thought they could fly the Gorison Traveler to wherever they wanted. I fucked up their plan, but that could mean their ships are coming here now. If they are, they’d be able to target our transmitters and easily take them out.”

  “Yes, but you have the ship on lockdown. It’s going to make it damn hard for a boarding party to reach everyone in their quarters.”

  “I’m aware. It will buy us more time, but I still need to tell someone about the Ke’ters, especially the part about laser rifles having no impact. That’s what every security force carries. Otherwise, the rescue teams are just going to become more food to these bastards.”

  Abby remained silent.

  Vivian was starting to get desperate. “I need your help, Abby Thomas. I’m not a rebel. I’m a cultural specialist.”

  “Alien-race expert?”

  “Yes. I just graduated. This is my first post. Lucky me.”

  “I guess you didn’t see this attack coming?”