Ancient Relics (Shadow of the Ancients Book 1) (9 page)

At the site of the ruins, the remaining security
team with their prisoners in tow await for the excavation team to arrive.

While waiting, a few of the guards stationed to
watch the two prisoners kept boredom away by talking to them.

“And what did you two expect to find here?” one of
the guards asks.

The Ubasti woman looks at the security guard and
sneers without giving any further answers to their questioning.

The Tharisian woman simply says, “It is not the ruin
I have come to find, but those who seek it in turn.”

The guards look to each other completely confused by
the woman’s cryptic answer.

One guard shrugs his shoulders, as if to shrug-off
the answer like it never happened.

“Well, the question I have is should we continue to
call these prisoners 'the Ubasti' and 'the other one,' or should we at least
get their names?” another guard questions.

The soldiers look to the two women to see if they
are willing to answer the question.

The Tharisian woman is first to answer in kind, “I
am Sophie Alexander. You may call me Sophie.”

The Ubasti woman thinks quietly to herself for a
moment, and decides giving her name will not harm her chances of getting out of
her predicament.

She answers to her guards in turn, “I’m Oni Sanura.”

Pausing briefly, she turns to her cohort and mockingly
adds, “But you can call me the one that got away.” Then, she laughs as if
joking.

The guards unwittingly fall prey to her attempt to
reduce them into complacency and laugh with her, assuming she was indeed
joking.

At that time, Sergeant Mackenzie walks up and scolds
the gaggle from their state of relaxation, “Stop jaw-jacking, and stay alert.
You never know if those lizard-skinned murderers will show up or not.”

“Yes Sergeant,” the group replies to the lawful
orders given by their superior as they snap to attention.

The soldiers quickly return to a state of
attentiveness.

To indicate his intent to question the prisoners
properly back at camp, Sergeant Mackenzie adds, “We’ll have time to interrogate
them later. Just keep alert.”

“Understood, Sergeant,” one of the guards says.

About that time, Logan, Paige, and two research
specialists arrive on another hovercraft.

Logan steps out as quickly as he can and asks
Sergeant Mackenzie, “Did they disturb the site any?”

Sergeant Mackenzie then looks to the Sophie and Oni
to gauge their guilt.

Recognizing that neither has set foot on the site
yet, Sergeant Mackenzie replies, “I don’t believe so, Sir.”

Logan shows a hint of relief from the thought of the
site possibly having items taken.

He looks back to Paige, who is already unloading the
heavy survey equipment and yells, “As soon as you get that unloaded, place it
right over there.”

Logan points to a spot between two large
conical-shaped rocks.

Logan then begins to examine a small stone, which
looks manufactured, protruding up from the ground between the two rocks.

“Yes, Sir!” Paige sarcastically barks back to Logan.

The equipment is set up and ready to go when Oni
starts laughing.

Everyone, including Logan, stops what they are doing
and look to Oni to try and assess what she believes to be funny.

Sergeant Mackenzie walks over to her and asks,
“What’s so funny, prisoner?”

Oni straightens herself out just enough to answer,
“Uh, do you want to set your heavy equipment up where you are going to want to
dig? I mean, why move it twice? Right?”

Logan considers her assessment for a second and
looks to Paige.

“Yep. She has a point there,” Logan comments.

Paige winces, drops her shoulders limply, and sighs,
“Ugh…”

After Paige moves the equipment to a new location,
further out from the dig site, Logan programs the depth and density settings,
and then turns the machine on.

An hour goes by before the first of the readings is
displayed on the readout screen.

Logan examines the readings for a few minutes and
yells out, “We have synthetic materials!”

The group cheers for the good news.

Logan sets out markers to indicate where the team
must focus their dig.

Paige programs two worker robots to begin removing
topsoil. When she finishes programming the robots, she turns them on and lets
them get to work.

Another several hours go by before the robots
uncover the first of the artifacts.

“Logan,” Paige yells to get Logan’s attention, “We
have something here you will want to see.”

While Logan makes his way to Paige’s position, she
starts to remove crusty soil gently from the relic.

Logan kneels down beside Paige and watches as she
works on the find.

“Is that a carving on the side of that?” Logan
inquires about markings on a portion of the partially uncovered object.

Paige continues to work on the object while
abrasively responding, “I think so. That’s why I said you will want to see
this.”

Logan, completely missing all of Paige’s sarcasm due
to his excitement, ignores her last comment and bends down further to examine
the object in a closer inspection, essentially shoving Paige aside to continue
the work himself.

“I do believe your right,” Logan asserts.

After completely uncovers the object, Logan gently
picks the object up, carries it to the hovercraft, and places it down on the
cargo area of the vehicle.

One of the research specialists walks over with a
DataCom in hand and begins scanning the artifact. Upon completion of his scan,
he turns to Logan and nods to indicate they have readable carvings.

Logan smiles for the first time since their journey
to the planet began, and then he turns to address the group.

“If there is one object with readable writing on it,
surely there is more. Continue the search,” Logan says to the team.

Oni scoots over to the artifact and examines it for
a few moments. She pulls out her own data pad and searches for images held
within it.

When she finds the image she is looking for, she
calls over to Logan.

“Hey mister,” she calls out trying to catch Logan’s
attention, “I have something for you here.

In an attempt to barter for her freedom, Oni is
willing to show Logan a similar artifact she found on another planet not long
before her arrival to Orsen II.

Logan turns to Oni and walks over to her position on
the vehicle. Signaling that he is willing to take her up on the invitation, he
examines the image on her data pad.

Logan looks over the image, and then looks to the
stone with the carvings, then back to the image to compare the two.

“Where did you find this?” Logan asks with intrigue.

Oni smirks and says, “You willing to let me ride
with you as a full partner then?”

Logan readjusts his attention to Sergeant Mackenzie,
looking for permission to allow the bargain to take place.

Sergeant Mackenzie simply shrugs.

With no objections from the military side of the
partnership, Logan turns back to Oni and confirms, “Looks like we have a deal.”

Without missing a beat, Oni opens a file on her data
pad to show Logan where she found the artifact in her image.

“I found this on the Ubasti home planet of Ugun,”
Oni announces.

Oni continues to tell Logan and the team her story
behind the artifact in question.

“About a year ago, I found a strange glowing rock in
a small patch of forest near my home town,” she begins.

“I knelt down and started digging with my bare hands
to uplift the object. When I held it in my hands, it hummed with great energy.
Just as soon as I placed it back on the ground to pull out my DataCom to take
an image, the humming stopped, and the light went away,” she explains.

Finishing her story, Oni recalls, “It is this object
here in the image that caused me to begin my search for the rest of its story.”

“That is how I came to be...,” she pauses for a
second and then sarcastically finishes, “... in your service.”

Logan allows the story to sink in. He attempts to
place his hand on his chin, as he usually does when in deep thought, before
realizing he is wearing a helmet.

In an attempt to save face for the mistake, he makes
a quick but subtle transition to his hips.

“I see,” he remarks at Oni’s story.

“Was this all you were able to uncover?” he again
inquires, hoping to hear news of other artifacts.

Oni takes back her data pad and sends her files to
Logan’s DataCom.

“Here is everything I was able to locate, which has
led me here to Orsen II,” she says as soon as she sends the files.

Logan flips through the files, page after page. Upon
his examination of the files, he suggests the team search quickly and get back
to base camp for further review.

“What if we just work here until night begins to
fall, while you work back at camp. We’ll upload everything as soon as we find
it,” Paige suggests in an attempt to get Logan out of the area so they team can
get some work done.

Considering the options, Logan agrees with Paige and
tells Sergeant Mackenzie, “If you send me and some of your guys back on your
hovercraft, we can get these two back and placed in the system while work
continues here.”

Sergeant Mackenzie nods in agreement to Logan’s
plan, points to two of the security team members, and orders, “Take the
Professor and these two back to camp. The rest of us will ride back with the
excavation team.”

“Roger, Sergeant,” the security team members
responds.

With the plan agreed on, the teams part ways.

As night falls, the excavation team packs-up the
equipment and artifacts onto the remaining vehicle and head back to base camp.

When the excavation team arrives back to the loading
bay pod of the camp, the confusing and hectic process of unloading and
distribution of equipment and artifacts begins.

As the team works on the ground, The Wayfarer
receives a signature just outside of the nebula.

“Sir!” the sensor station officer calls to Commander
Asim, “Readings indicate a large vessel approaching Orsen Nova space.”

Commander Asim approaches the sensor station and reads
the signature readout.

“That looks like a Drak Recon Destroyer,” Commander
Asim notes.

Assessing the possibility of combat, Commander Asim
contacts the ground crew and the rest of the ship to provide a warning of the
potentially hostile ship.

“Attention, all decks and the away team. We are now
at Red Alert. All stations prepare for contact. Battle stations at the ready.
Ground team, stay alert for potential hostile parties,” Commander Asim
announces.

Closing the channel, Commander Asim orders the alarm
to sound indicating Red Alert. He then sends word to the away team to prepare
to evacuate the ground site and return to the ship.

The distance the Drak ship must travel will give the
away team just barely enough time pack things up, but time will be tight for
the actual evacuation.

Logan’s team rushes to pack essential equipment up
as quickly as possible and load them onto the shuttles.

Second is the non-essential equipment.

As the remaining items get loaded onto the shuttle
craft, Commander Asim calls on stations again and announces the arrival of the
enemy ship.

Just then, The Wayfarer receives a message from the
enemy vessel.

“Attention unidentified Alliance exploration vessel,
I am Siti Subira of the Drak Empire. Surrender now and prepare to be boarded
and I guarantee your crew will not be harmed,” Subira lies to them.

Siti Subira assumes the vessel is an unmarked
standard civilian exploration vessel.

However, she remains unaware that The Wayfarer has a
crew of Alliance soldiers, fighters, bombers, and the armament of a naval
cruiser.

Seeing that the Drak vessel is unaware of The
Wayfarer’s load out, Commander Asim attempts to buy time for the away team
still on the ground.

“Drak vessel, this is the Captain of the exploration
ship, The Wayfarer. I am prepared to meet your demands under the condition that
my expedition on the ground can safely return to the ship,” Commander Asim
requires of the Drak ship.

Considering the battle won without a shot fired,
Siti Subira proudly boasts her answer back to The Wayfarer, “Your terms are
acceptable. We will send an escort to meet your ships in transit and follow
them to docking.”

Commander Asim agrees to the escort and sends word
down to the ground to update the crew, and then sends word to the landing bay to
expect company.

With all equipment finally loaded on the drop ships,
the away team launches to meet The Wayfarer in orbit.

After the channel between the two ships ends,
expecting deceit from the Alliance exploration vessel, Siti Subira tells the
Commander of Ghost Squadron, “Track all movements of the ships. If the vessel
attempts to leave, pursue and open fire. Target only the propulsion systems. We
need them alive... for now.”

The Commander of Ghost Squadron, Kingal Gul’sul Kan,
acknowledges the Lady’s orders, “As you wish, Siti.”

Kingal Kan directs the crew to follow Siti Subira’s
orders to the letter.

Once the shuttles reach planetary orbit, the Drak
escorts follow them to The Wayfarer and allow them to dock.

As the last ship lands in the docking bay, Commander
Asim gives the order to target and fire on the Drak vessel to disable its power
and immediately warp to the inner edge of the nebula.

The Commander’s maneuver is dangerous, as warping
with-in a nebula can be filled with hazardous situations, but it will buy them
time to navigate the dangerous nebula.

The landing Drak escort is surprised with the
welcoming committee of a platoon of Alliance soldiers.

The security station of The Wayfarer targets the
Drak vessel and opens fire as the ship pulls out of orbit.

The Drak ship’s power and computer systems
immediately fail to all parts of the ship, taking the Drak crew off-guard.

Drak fighters launch in an attempt to interdict the
Alliance vessel before it can escape. However, before the fighters can gain
targeting range, The Wayfarer jumps to the nebula border.

Immediately, the pursuing Drak fighters return to
their command ship and dock.

Within a few minutes, the hazard teams of the Drak
ship restore power and begin the process of a warp jump to catch-up to The
Wayfarer.

By the time the Drak vessel reaches the nebula’s
transit route, The Wayfarer has already entered into the gas cloud.

Unable to target and acquire a firing solution on
the ship, due to the nebula's interference, Siti Subira orders pursuit into the
nebula.

The Drak destroyer enters the nebula cloud after the
Alliance ship.

At quick pace, the slightly larger Drak ship weaves
in and out of pockets of turbulent and volatile gases, shaking wildly with each
wall struck.

Destroyers are powerful ships, but slower than the
slightly smaller cruiser class.

The Drak vessel attempts to close the distance by
plowing through damaging clouds and debris.

The Alliance exploration cruiser makes its way
through the cloud at a faster pace, but takes care not to trip into the nebula
walls, slowing their progression.

Little by little, the two ship’s strategies allow
the Drak to make headway.

However, the head start of The Wayfarer will allow
the explorers to exit the cloud sooner than the Drak will catch-up.

The Wayfarer enters open space and sets a course to
safety and warps-out just as the Drak destroyer reaches targeting range.

Siti Subira watches as her prey makes a getaway,
turns to exit the bridge, and without word to anyone leaves to report to her
master.

Kingal Kan silently watches as his
mistress-in-command leaves, knowing there will be punishment for this failure,
and then orders the ship to set a chase trajectory.

With a course set, Kingal Kan gives the order to
jump-out.

The Alliance may have evaded capture for the moment,
but will not escape for long, and the Drak will be ready for the next
encounter.