Rise of the Altered Moon: Altered Moon Series: Book One (The Altered Moon Series 1) Read online

  “Triggers right, Cap’n,” said Gar. “Those Imperial bastards will throw us in the clink just for being out here in the commercial lanes.”

  “Ahh…shit,” Boss said with a heavy sigh. Can I turn away and leave someone to die? No, was his answer. “G, my love, intercept that life pod.”

  *~*~*

  Chapter Two

  The captain and crew of the MSL Istraulis had their hands full with the preparations in order to get the ship ready for the Gems of the Galaxy Tour. Personnel with supplies hurried off in a hundred different directions, while a hundred different crewmembers were busy going over a hundred different checklists. The Gems Tour was the biggest tour package of its kind, with five high-profile sites in eight weeks. The Istraulis would stop at the five “Gems of the Galaxy,” which included the Qune Star Cluster, the Campton Stellar Nursery, the Cat’s Paw Nebula, the Glimmerocks asteroid field, and the Shining Sisters, twin binary star systems orbiting each other. Muster for the support crew was under way at the aft loading dock of the MSL Istraulis.

  “Evermore, CJ Evermore,” said a young man who had finally made it to the front of the line of the crew muster for the engineering department.

  “Step up to the console for identification, crewman,” said the MT&T security officer at the crew boarding station.

  The young man stepped up to the ID console, placed his right hand on a hand-shaped module, and put his right eye up to a cupped lens. The module scanned the handprint and took a pinprick blood sample, while the lens took a scan of the retina pattern of his eye. The data was compared to what was on the MT&T security files for an identity match. If the data matched up, the crewmember was cleared to board the ship.

  “Evermore, CJ, Engineer’s Third Mate, employee number eight-six-four-eight-two…your access badge clears you for engineering and crew decks only. Report to the Officer of the Watch, on deck fifty-two for bunk assignment and duty schedule,” the security officer said, already turned to the next person in line. “Step up for identification, crewman.”

  “Yes, sir!” CJ called out. He came to attention and snapped a crisp salute. It was a very respectful gesture, except for the slight tone of mockery, which earned him a return glare from the officer and the focus of several of the other guards.

  CJ just backed up, gave a short wave and the ‘oops…sorry’ facial expression, until he could slip around the corner and out of sight. Shitheads he thought to himself. Okay, here we go. Deck fifty-two, wherever that is. He followed the flow of obvious newbies until they all came to an intersection of walkways and transtubes. Ah, a map, he thought and counted off the number of decks. Let’s see, deck fifty-two…where are we…twenty…thirty…forty…fifty…

  “Aww, crap…I’m on the bottom deck?” he said out loud. “They’re gonna have me scrubbing sensor leads and purging waste bins. Great!”

  “Yeah, I know…me too. That smooth-talking recruiter didn’t mention a thing about not being able to see the great cruise that I was going to be along for, because there are no view ports on the engineering decks!” said a woman who stood next to him. “Hi. I’m Katy…Katy Latimer.” She offered her hand in greeting. “Or should I say: ‘Latimer, Katherine , Engineer’s Third Mate, employee number so and so...’” she made a mock stern security face as she said it. “I saw how well you got along with our friends from security back there at the check-in.”

  CJ looked over to see a shapely woman dressed in an MT&T engineering uniform with a third mate insignia at the left shoulder. She was about a hundred-fifty-five cm tall, fifty-eight kilograms or so, with brown eyes and dark blonde hair pulled back in a ponytail.

  “Well hello, Katy…it’s a pleasure. I’m CJ Evermore, but my friends call me ‘Seedge.’” He took her hand and gave it a warm shake. “Yeah, those Imperial Ironpants, they have noooo sense of humor at all. Good thing though, I guess you wouldn’t want a security goon laughing and cracking jokes as he’s bustin’ on ya. That would just be rude.” He gave a little head nod and eyebrow lift to emphasize his point.

  “Yes it would, CJ Evermore. Yes it would indeed.” She laughed and locked eyes with him for a moment.

  “So, deck fifty-two, here we come. Can I carry anything for you?” he asked.

  “Thanks, Seedge, but not a chance.” She waved off his assistance and shouldered her flight bag. “This crew member carries her own weight. Come on. Transtube nine is just around the corner and that will take us down to fifty-two.”

  Mmm…she’s cute...in a sassy kinda way…the uniform fits well too… He followed her down the corridor.

  They stepped into transtube nine. CJ tapped the deck fifty-two indicator. The crew-level transtube bustled with personnel, equipment, and supplies that went from one place to another. By the time they passed deck forty-five, the traffic had dropped to a crawl. At deck fifty, they saw no one else at all. The transtube stopped at deck fifty-two and the door slid open to reveal a deserted, semi-lit corridor that stretched into the distance. Sounds of dripping liquids and venting gases could be heard in the distance from various unseen places.

  “Huh…cheery kinda place isn’t it?” asked CJ.

  “Yeah it is. Straight outta Brigs & Dungeons E-gazine,” she replied sarcastically and they both laughed.

  “The Officer of the Watch will most likely be in operations. The deck map shows it down the corridor to the left. We should check in there,” said CJ, as he stepped out of the transtube.

  They went down the left corridor and saw the operations office immediately to the right. CJ grabbed the locking wheel and spun it counterclockwise to open the pressure door. Four people, gathered around a central operations console, stopped their discussion and looked up as Katy and CJ stepped into the room.

  “Engineer’s Mates Katy Latimer and CJ Evermore reporting for duty, sir. We’re looking for the Officer of the Watch,” Katy said.

  “I’m Petty Officer Walt Stevens, Officer of the Watch for first rotation,” said one of the men as he walked up. “This is Engineer’s First Mate Mike Rawly and Third Mates Missy James and Paul Conelly.” Nods and hellos went around the group.

  “Tap your ID cards on the roster screen and we’ll pull up your billet and duty assignments,” Mike Rawly indicated the screen on the end of the main operations desk.

  “Here we are, Katherine Latimer, CJ Evermore, both in crew billet fifty-two-c, assigned to third rotation,” Mike read from the crew report. “Okay, to get to the billet, you go left out of operations, go down to the next intersection, take another left, and that will lead you straight to fifty-two-c common room. Pick any open bunk and stow your gear. Take some time and get to know the layout. Mandatory orientation meeting for third rotation is at fourteen hundred hours in the forward prep room. Officer of the Third Watch is Petty Officer Carlton Stern. Report to him in the prep room before your orientation. Got all that?”

  “Oh, yeah…clear as a bell. Take two lefts and a nap, right?” teased CJ.

  “Great, a smart-ass. Carlton’s gonna love you. Ha haa,” joked Walt Stevens.

  “Thank you, gentlemen and lady, for your help. It was a pleasure to meet you all,” said Katy, as she gathered up her gear. “We’ll see ya around the ship.”

  Katy and CJ took the left at the intersection. They saw a room with a table and billet stations a ways down the corridor. The unmistakable ‘glow any time’ green-of-life pod hatches lined the corridor, five on each side. The look of the peeled paint and corroded metal created a shadow of doubt about whether the pod would even launch. The Istraulis may have been a superliner on the outside, but inside she was just another tub that needed her bilge scrubbed.

  “Well, we made it. Home, Space, Home,” CJ joked, as they entered the fifty-two-c crew common room.

  A round table with ten chairs sat in the middle of an octagonal room. Five billet stations with two bunks and lockers each lined the walls, along with four unisex heads, and a personnel station. All the billet stations were unlocked, which meant they were the first, and maybe
the only ones to arrive for third rotation engineering duty.

  “It gives a whole new meaning to ‘Be it ever so humble,’” scoffed Katy.

  “No joke there. I didn’t think a ship this big could even have a room this small.” CJ threw his bag on a bed and studied the ship layout diagram mounted on the wall.

  “Ha, right! It’s almost zero-nine-thirty. That gives us four and a half hours to orientation, and then third rotation starts at eighteen hundred hours. That’s gonna end up being a long first day. I’m gonna get some rack time so I’m not dead on my feet by the end of the shift.”

  “Righty then, Miss Katy, off to bed with ya,” said CJ. “As for myself, I sense mischief aboard this vessel and I’m just the one to get into it.”

  “Well don’t bring it back with you. I want to start this job off without a bang, thank you,” she replied.

  *~*~*

  Chapter Three

  The passengers of the MSL Istraulis may have sat in the lap of luxury for the Gems of the Galaxy Tour, but the ride was not quite the same for the support crews of the superliner. The hard thing about engineering and maintenance jobs on any star craft was that you were only paid for the time that you were on duty. The benefits, however, could balance things out in most jobs: room and board was provided by the employer, there was travel to different star systems, free training programs, and good pay, but the pay came at the end of the trip and you were bound by the terms of the contract until then.

  The MT&T engineer and maintenance contracts stated that employees were restricted to their assigned decks and compartments for the duration of the trip. For Katy, CJ, and the third member of their crew, Engineer’s Second Mate Antje Martine that meant engineering deck fifty-two was their home for the eight-week tour of the galaxy. The petty officer billets and the rest of ‘officer country’ were on deck forty-one, between Main Engineering on deck forty and the Power and Propulsion decks that ran from forty-two to fifty. Decks fifty-one and fifty-two housed the processing systems that handled all of the waste from the Istraulis, her crew, and her passengers.

  The thirty-hour workday was split into one twelve-hour work rotation followed by eighteen hours of eating, sleeping, card playing, and watching the timeworn vids of the Public Streamcasting Systems. Routine became routine and off-duty time slowed to a crawl. Third rotation crew even challenged the other rotation crews to off-duty betting games and contests to pass the time. CJ’s favorite was ‘Catwalk Parkour,’ where the object was to race along the catwalk and surrounding machinery in a specified time without affecting critical systems or breaking your neck in the process. The petty officers tended to look the other way as long as things remained civil and the work was done on schedule.

  Merilee did pipe a wide selection of visual feeds to all crew decks in an attempt to make up for the lack of a view port or access to an observation deck. The ship’s PR staff always made a big production of the main attractions along the tour. Merilee put on special programs, hosted shows, viewing sessions, grand dinners, and galas, all of which were streamcasted for the enjoyment of both passengers and crewmembers alike. Katy would sit glued to the vid screen and watch every time the Istraulis passed by a point of interest. She would make her favorite snack that she called ‘popped corn’ to eat during the streamcast.

  “It is an ancient Earth custom and it’s bad luck for those who don’t observe it,” she would say, and pointedly munched on the crunchy yet soft morsels of heated corn kernels. “Hand me the salt, will ya?”

  By the fifth week of the tour, it had become a deck fifty-two custom to gather around the common room monitor to watch the show and munch on popped corn. The crews of first and third rotations had just wrapped up a show on the third tour stop, the Cat’s Paw Nebula. They were talking and joking about the streamcast when alarms suddenly blared out, emergency lights flashed on, and alerts sounded that a life pod had been activated in the waste processing compartment.

  “What the hell’s goin’ on?” Mike Rawly screamed to be heard over the alarms.

  “Life pod launch in processing!” yelled back Antje. “Come on, let’s get down there!”

  “CJ!” called Katy, throwing him a comms unit. “I’m heading to operations! I’ll call you from there!”

  “Copy that!” he hollered over his shoulder, already on his way to processing.

  CJ and Antje, with Mike Rawly and Missy James of first crew, arrived at the processing compartment hatch just as the blaring of the alarms cut off. Petty Officer Dan Miller and two members of the second rotation crew stood around one of the life pod hatches looking anxious. The super green perimeter lights of the hatch flashed on and off, which indicated launch preparation. Dan Miller was at the intercom trying to reason with the man inside.

  “Come on, Frank, think about what you’re doing,” said Dan. He held his hand up to signal the others to slow down and keep quiet.

  “No way! I’d rather die floating in space than work this effing job anymore!” Frank’s distraught voice came over the comms panel.

  “That’s not gonna happen, Frank,” Dan reasoned with him. “The pod is locked down, it won’t launch. The order to abandon ship hasn’t been given. Security is on the way, Frank, and if they have to disable the pod to get you out, you’ll be charged with desertion of duty aboard a starship. That’s a ten-year sentence.”

  The silence was almost encouraging. It seemed wrong somehow even to breathe.

  “CJ, it’s Katy…command officers and security just passed operations and are heading your way,” came out of the comms unit.

  “Copy that, Katy,” CJ replied quietly.

  “Come out now on your own, and it’s just some time in medical under observation,” said Dan. “Please Frank. Think about Sally and the boys. How’s getting yourself locked up going to help them?”

  The thoughts of his family must have cut through Frank’s mania and restored at least some amount of reason. The life pod systems powered down and the hatch slid open to reveal an angry yet shamed man covered completely in Human feces. Frank stepped out of the pod and surrendered to Dan Miller just as the command officers and the security team entered the processing compartment.

  “Rawly and James, take E.M. Costas and get him cleaned up. Escort him to medical when that’s done. Report to CMO Chuley. He will be informed by the time you get there,” said Petty Officer Walt Stevens.

  “Aye, sir,” they said in unison.

  “Come on, Frank, let’s get you cleaned up buddy,” said Mike.

  Mike Rawly and Missy James gathered Frank up and took him in the direction of the nearest head. The security team stood down and returned to their post. The petty officers of all three duty rotations had a hushed meeting with the command officers in the corridor.

  The command officers left and the engineering officers came back into the room after the quick meeting.

  “Where is Latimer?” asked third rotation Petty Officer Carlton Stern, looking around.

  “Here I am, sir,” said Katy as she and Paul Conelly came through the hatch. “I was in operations with E.M. Conelly.”

  “Evermore, Latimer, and Martine, you lot come on duty now. Help second rotation square away this mess and resume normal duties at eighteen hundred hours. P.O. Miller is going to pitch in here and I’ll take over in operations,” said third rotation Petty Officer Stern.

  “Second rotation, you’re with me. Let’s get this cleaned up and make repairs on the blown out piping,” said Petty Officer Miller.

  Everyone acknowledged the orders and went on their assigned ways.

  “It’s a bitch when your machines take a crap on ya,” CJ joked. They laughed just a little bit.

  Yeah ol’ Frank got the shit end of that stick,” added Engineer’s Mate Second Class Dave Schoen of second rotation. They laughed a little more.

  “I guess Frank really had to go ‘pod-dy’ after that,” said Katy. They laughed again.

  “Hey! None of what happened here today is funny!” Petty Officer Dan
Miller scolded the junior officers. “We have a hazardous material spill to handle, major repairs to be done, and the well-being of a crewmate is in question. So stow the standup routines and focus on the job at hand.”

  “Yes, sir!” they all said.

  “Sorry, sir,” added CJ.

  “The system is shut down. We need to clean the damaged area first. First rotation will finish the cleanup and commence regular operations. Second rotation will stay on duty until the repairs have been completed. Let’s move like we have a purpose, people!” Dan said.

  The different rotation crews worked together to get the mess cleaned up and the equipment back online before things got out of control. The excitement of the day waned over the next couple of weeks. Frank Costas was released from medical and returned to work. Routine once again slowed to the snail’s pace of a commercial starship mechanic. CJ and Katy began to find reasons to wander off alone together and soon became more than just crewmates.

  The Istraulis’ crew was in full tilt to get her ready for the Glimmerocks stop of the Gems of the Galaxy Tour. The most spectacular stop of the tour required the grandest productions of them all. Elegant galas and prestigious viewings were held in the domed ballroom on the top deck of the ship. The view of the Glimmerocks was indeed spectacular. The colors swam and shifted as they reflected and bounced among the icy asteroids. Everyone on board had a clear view as a strange ship suddenly appeared from the envelope of a quantum jump and opened fire on the Istraulis.

  Fear and panic erupted into the ballroom as two explosions rocked the MT&T superliner. People fled madly, scattering everywhere when the attacking ship grabbed onto the Istraulis and slammed boarding ramps into the side of the superliner. Massive seals around the ends of the ramps attached to the hull as the shafts penetrated into the inner decks. Giant alien creatures swarmed in through the boarding ramps and began to shoot anything that moved with a strange yellow light that crackled with orange energy. Anyone hit fell immediately to the deck and was picked up and taken away by a group of the aliens that followed behind the leading edge of the assault group.