Taylor once again fell into a dream, and the time passed quickly now as he visualised Parker’s face. Before he knew it, he was being ripped from his pleasant abyss by Rains’ voice.
“There she is!”
Taylor looked around in surprise, wondering if those were the first words spoken in the last couple of hours that had gone by, or if he had just tuned everything else out. He stretched to the edge of the small seat and strained his neck to get a better view past the pilot.
“Sure is a big mother,” he added.
“What do you make of this?” Taylor asked Jafar, leaning back to let him see.
He took a quick look and then responded, “Nothing more than last time you asked.”
Taylor shook his head. “You’re a big fucking help.”
Jafar seemed to right his back and take offence at the comment before settling down.
“Still not got a full grasp on sarcasm, hey?” Taylor asked.
He looked back to Rains, noting as they approached the structure just how vast and imposing it really was.
“The Warrior, she still with us?”
“Yes, Siree.”
“Good, any signs of life?”
“Negative. It looks…well, abandoned.”
“What do you mean? Surely the Krys wouldn’t leave a gateway like this to rust out and fade away?”
He turned and looked at Jafar to answer him, but the alien only shrugged.
“What do you want me to do?”
“Take us in for a closer look. I want to know for certain what the status of this thing is before we put boots on the ground.”
As the words came off his tongue, he realised what a bitter thought that was. Stepping foot on real solid ground seemed like a pipe dream now. It had been less than a day since he had left Earth, but it felt like it could be years before he ever did again.
If ever, he thought.
“Right then, here we go,” Rains finally added.
He put power to the reverse thrusters and brought them in quickly but calmly until they were less than fifty metres from the structure.
“What the hell is that?” Rains asked.
On the screens beside him he could see what looked like some kind of lettering across the surface of the ring of the structure.
“That mean anything to you, Jafar?”
Taylor could see the confusion in Jafar’s face, and that worried him. It was clear he had never seen them before.
“Those are not Krys symbols. Nor anything I have seen before.”
Taylor wasn't sure whether to feel grateful it wasn't Krys, or fearful that another unknown threat now existed.
"Look at this thing," said Rains.
He pointed to damage over multiple parts of the structure.
"Has that been hit deliberately?"
"I'd say more likely it's been hit by space debris, and a lot over a long time period. I think we're looking at some kind of ancient artefact, Mitch."
"What is keeping it where it is?" Morris asked.
The thought hadn't even occurred to Taylor.
"I couldn't say, but it's definitely anchored to this point somehow. What do you want to do?"
"Take us in, Eddie. More than anything right now we need information."
"Well, okay."
He brought them in cautiously towards what looked like some kind of opening ten times the size of their gunship.
"Looks about the best place to put down."
They began their approach, but Taylor was feeling uneasy.
"I don't like this. Old tech of an unknown race, it looks dead, but it’s somehow holding its position in space. I don't like it at all."
As he said it, there was a glimmer of movement ahead of them.
"Break, break!" Taylor shouted.
Rains put all power down and banked hard as they saw a dazzling flash ahead of them, and a beam weapon almost the width of their craft narrowly missed them.
"Jesus Christ!" Rains swore under his breath.
He banked again, and another beam rushed past them. As they soared back towards the Warrior, a third beam struck their starboard side and tore off one of the engines and wing. They immediately lost most of their power, went into a spin, and continued to barrel towards the frigate.
Taylor knew they were helpless now and could only hope they would not be hit again. Lighting began to fail, and they lowered their visors, expecting to be blasted into space any second, if they survived at all. The seconds went by, and they felt nothing. Finally, Rains broke the silence.
"Well, that went well."
"What can you do?"
"Nothing, Colonel, it's out of my hands now."
They felt an impact on the ship as if they had collided with something, but there was nothing visible out of the pilot's cockpit until he looked up and could see the lower hull of the other Mercury gunship overhead. They began to slow as they approached the Warrior and they were out of their spin.
"They've got us," Rains said in relief.
None of them said a word as they were escorted to the docking bay of the Warrior. The hatch opened, allowing the access to the ship, and they stepped aboard thankful they were still alive.
"Abandoned my ass, Eddie," said Taylor.
"Hey, I said it looked that way. I'm no expert."
Taylor looked to Jafar. He opened his mouth to ask a question, but he could already see the alien was as surprised by it all as they were.
"Let me guess, you have no more clue than us, right?"
Jafar nodded.
"Where the hell have you brought us?" Morris demanded.
Jafar did not respond, but they all thought it, too. It was hard to think of what else they could have done, but that did not stop them from thinking on it over and over again.
"Wherever the hell we are, it ain't home," said Taylor, "It truly is alien, and we need to start treating it with a little respect and a little caution. That was too close a call."
Chapter 3
Taylor stepped aboard the Washington to find Huber waiting to greet him. As he did so, he could see the badly damaged Gerty being manoeuvred into a repair bay a little further long the landing bay. The Admiral opened his mouth to welcome Taylor aboard, but stopped and stared at the wreck.
"What the hell happened out there?"
"We got our asses kicked is what happened. Whatever that thing is, and whoever it was made by, it ain't too friendly."
"Casualties?"
"Thankfully not, but we came too damn close."
"Well is it hostile, can we expect further trouble?"
The Admiral looked to Jafar, then Rains and Morris, but no one had any answers.
"From what I could tell, we just triggered a self defence mechanism. My advice, we keep on eye on it, but stay well wide."
"So just ignore it?"
"It's trouble we don't need, right now. It's out there in the middle of nowhere. Who cares? Leave it be."
Huber nodded in agreement. It was just another uncertainty to add to the list of their new location. He paced over to the wrecked ship and Taylor joined him. Rains was close behind them and could only shake his head in despair.
"Just when I thought I'd found my girl for life," he muttered.
"Don't you worry, we'll get her flying again," replied Huber.
Rains was shocked to hear it. "We can't afford to lose a single bird. She'll be patched up and repaired anyway we can," Huber continued.
It wasn't quite the good news Rains had hoped for, as it was such a short term and desperate measure. Huber stopped before the gunship to take a good look over it, but Rains continued on. The Lieutenant carried on until he reached his ship and ran his hand along the fuselage, as though feeling some deep personal connection to it. He located the damage where the wing and engine had been either ripped off or obliterated.