The Evergreen Files: Banshee; Book One
Chapter Four

Successful Warp Travel was smooth, even when the ships jumped together in formation. Solomon raised himself from his command chair, feeling only slight vibrations in the panelling of the floor. “Sir, requesting to get a full briefing from Miss Ken.” said Solomon as he straightened himself up, “I have the Bridge.” replied Kyril, Solomon knew this meant he was allowed to leave the room, so he did, with a clear mind, ready for the tasks ahead. The half hour meeting was just so Solomon could escape the bridge for a little bit before the Captains meeting took place, this was a full briefing.

Space Travel was dangerous, and Warp Travel was the fastest way to travel between spots, however, spend too much time in warp travel, the ship’s vibrations become more erratic from travelling at such speed and the ship could tear itself apart. So, Jump Routes are established. These routes are mapped at points in space considered to be safe for a ship to speed through the void without smashing into any floaty rocks and come out of warp travel. The ship will travel to this designated point where it will perform checks upon its hull and systems and re-enter warp travel. The trouble was, if you fly into a football sized floating rock at full speed, it will do more than dent your lovely paint work. If you fly into a floating rock at warp speed, however small, it will tear an extremely inconvenient hole in your ship. The Merriden Expedition has thirty-three Jump Routes assigned. Each one within safe reach of the ships capability. Each jump was scheduled to last eleven hours with a thirteen hour rest to perform checks and maintenance.

Solomon made his way down once again to the Research Library to replace Sandra. Much to his surprise he found the research area only populated by three balding scientists and two children playing on the data consoles. Solomon exited the library and began walking down to corridor and called out “Eve, where is Miss Ken?” after a few seconds of nothing but Solomon’s boots hitting the ground; Eve replied. “Miss Ken is visiting the medical bay, sir.” Solomon thanked her and made his way through the familiar metal corridors towards her location.

Upon entering, Solomon found himself in a rather strange scene. Lyra, had gathered around the white bed of a civilian who’s head had been bandaged and with Doctor Frederick and Sandra. Sandra and the Doctor had their backs to Solomon, and Lyra’s smooth blissful smile could be seen over their heads, the patient was also smiling. Sandra let out a cheer and began dancing giddily. Solomon edged around the crowd quietly for a closer look. Over the doctors’ shoulder, Solomon instantly knew what they were up to. “Poker? Three card, or Texas hold ’em?” he asked broadly, making every player jump out of their skin, the patient winced in pain holding his now throbbing head. The doctor began apologising as he scuttled over to his desk and began ruffling paperwork, tidying his belongings and straightening his olive uniform under his white coat, Lyra simply stood hunched over, resting her head onto her hand, supported by the bed, smiling towards Solomon through wanting eyes. Sandra looked nervously from the chips she had just won, to Solomon, to Lyra, to the patient and back to Solomon. She opened her mouth to speak but decided against it. “Well then?” asked Solomon professionally. Lyra gazed into Solomon, not noticing his question, Sandra’s mind began racing as she expected a scolding for playing poker whilst on duty. “Are you going to take your winnings then? Or, am I going to have to confiscate them?” finished Solomon taking out his hand, and taking a chip worth 50 credits. “A bribe is required, I think. I won’t tell if you don’t.” smiled Solomon. Sandra sighed in relief as the doctor still flustered, re-arranged his desk to make himself busy until Solomon had left. Lyra raised herself to full height as Solomon made his way to the door, still smiling pleasantly at him, folding her arms, and holding herself in an alluring fashion. “A tip for your favourite Nurse, L.C.?” she said softly, holding out her soft silky hand, her smile widening. Solomon turned from the entrance door and one smooth motion took the chip from his pocket and casually flicked it high in the air, landing perfectly aimed inside her out stretch palm.

Solomon waited outside in the metal corridor grinning as Sandra gathered her winnings together. Once she had emerged from the bright medical room, Solomon and Sandra walked down through the ships never ending corridors discussing the creatures and the environment of Merriden IV, Solomon’s mind wasn’t really focused on the topic at hand at all. His mind was wondering back to the medical bay and over to Lyra. The vibrations in the floors had become slightly more noticeable after three hours, just above a tremor. Solomon and Sandra sat opposite each other in the library. Sandra sat in her usual chair at the middle table’s middle console, typing away and occasionally talking about a creature she found particularly interesting, Solomon sat with his nose in the black book he rented the other day, only breaking away when Sandra spoke. This meeting was the easiest meeting Solomon had ever had, he was reading a personal book and listening to Sandra, taking notes when she spoke. “Basically, the Banshee’s are an enigma.” explained Sandra, “They turned up about a year or so ago, just out of nowhere, and started stalking people, eventually the Gryph made them officially extinct about six months later... but there is an advisory in the details.” Solomon pulled a face of distaste,

“An advisory on an extinct animal that hasn’t been seen in six months? Isn’t six months a little eager to label something extinct?”

“Oh yes, it states, ‘be advised, this creature is officially extinct, however, it is considered highly dangerous and is thought by many to still have a hidden habitat unnoticed and not destroyed in the purge of this creature.’ strange, as if they have already turned it in to myth and an old wifes tale.”

After another two hours Solomon and Sandra left the library, following the blue arrows and said goodbye as they closed in towards the sleeping quarters. Solomon approached his cold metal door, standing at the frame thinking for a moment, he suddenly remembered, he owed Jake a bottle of Krit for covering the remaining of his shift. Solomon swore softly to himself and called for Eve. “Inform Captain Syn, that I will have that bottle with him tomorrow, please.” and Solomon entered his room, loosened his combat pants, threw his olive jacket over a small string chair in the corner, before throwing himself onto his wall sunken bed and draping himself in the quilt and dropping off into a resting sleep.

Solomon woke up abruptly, it took him a few minutes of sitting bolt upright in his bed to realise what was wrong. The gentle humming of the warp engines he found so relaxing and the vibrations he found lulling, had ceased. Rushing to his feet, trying to hastily put his pants on, causing himself to fall with a crash as the string chair upended. “Eve, what’s the problem?” asked Solomon worriedly. “Sir, I am currently showing no issues, could you be more specific?” asked Eve in her usual soothing voice. Solomon’s heart slowed as he began to fully wake up. The drowsiness began to subside. After engaging his brain, he asked the question he knew he needed to ask “Why have we stopped?” as Solomon knew the ship had stopped with the lack of vibrations and the warp engine in idle. “Sir, we have completed our first jump route. We are making our routine hull integrity checks. We are on schedule to make our next jump tomorrow.” said Eve with precision. Solomon got to his feet, checked his room clock, he was due to be on shift on the bridge in less than half an hour. With his heart slowing to normal, shaking the stupid feeling, knowing if anyone knew about this, he would never hear the end of it. He cast a dubious eye over to his alarm clock that showed no numbers, it had been unplugged.

Coffee. Coffee always understands. Solomon used to be contempt with the stale boiled coffee in the jug that is left on a hotplate for hours on end. No, no longer. When he reached the rank; Lieutenant Commander of The Evergreen, the first order of business he undertook, was to personally supply the bridge with a decent, ground coffee bean machine, complete with chocolate sprinkles canisters, if the need should ever arise, you never know when you need that extra pick me up. Coffee. The first is always the best, even when it’s mediocre, it’s the best. The Void outside, always attempting to suck the life and air out of The Evergreen, The Hull checks, usually found nothing out of the ordinary, ordinary was the term used to state no holes in the hull found in the checks. It’s simply procedure, something to occupy the crew whilst Eve re-calibrates the engines, the ships always pulled themselves out of warp travel well within their thresholds before dangerous vibrations took place. Seven vessels gracefully swam through the void on sub-light thrusters - basic engine power and began arranging themselves into a standard diamond formation with a central line. The Evergreen sat as the diamond point, followed by The Judgement not far behind, followed by The Infinity. The Pride Of Lions sat gracefully above The Infinity as the top diamond spike, and The Hopeful, The Vengeful and The Iron Fist making up the other flanking points of the diamond. This formation was Kyril’s favourite. It acted as a spear tip, driving hatefully into the enemy ship line, the two ships behind the central point would then slow, and break from the rear. This allowed the formation to easily outflank the enemy and protect its own, without overextending. And with The Judgement trailing behind The Evergreen and all the crew busy with their checks, nobody picked up on the small pod that left The Judgement’s docking area and slithered its way inside The Evergreen through an Airlock that it attached itself to.

At the end of Solomon’s shift, he eagerly returned to his sleeping quarters, in desperate need of a shower, his body odour had become rather repulsive throughout his shift. Kyril prefers to have the heating on and a humidity in the air of the bridge. ‘cosy’ he calls it with a smile. Solomon had always preferred the cold. Before Solomon was aware of how fast he was walking, his path had been blocked by a monstrous body. With a crash, Solomon collided with this hulking mass. Solomon picked himself up, rubbing his elbow that he had just grazed on the steel floor. The monstrous figure turned slowly, unaware of the previously approaching Solomon, looked down with surprise. As if hearing a mouse squeak and replaceing it sitting there in shock. The ever-proceeding frowning glare from the dark eyes of Captain Deeph hovered over Solomon’s tiny form for a moment before grunting and stomping away without a word. Solomon swore under his breath and walked more slowly as he turned the corner to his room, still rubbing the damaged skin flaking from his elbow. Entering his cold room and grabbing the bottle of Krit and quickly scuttling off to Captain Syn’s room to hand him his reward before returning back to his own quarters.

The hot steam from the powered shower water flowed from the ensuite in Solomon’s room. After half an hour of standing and sitting under the roaring jet stream of hot water, Solomon emerged from the steaming cubicle, a towel draped around his waist and an electric shaver in his hand. Walking around his room towards his personal desk as he shaved his slightly rough face, checking his datapad for any new messages, nothing. Once dried and groomed, Solomon dressed himself in his usual base olive fatigues with black attachment straps and set off down the almost empty corridors towards the first companies armoury. Most of his Company were sitting on the floors on dirty, oily cushions as they disassembled, cleaned, and reassembled their weapons, talking loudly and laughing as they went. The moment Solomon entered the room, and one of his soldiers caught a glimpse of him, they stood to attention and the rest of the men and women followed in suit without thinking. The air was thick with machine oil and grease, the floor was clean, except for the dirty cushions the bodies where now resting back down on. “Ladies and gentlemen, how are we all, this fine evening?” asked Solomon positively. The group of soldiers nodded and agreed it was a good, easy day, all except, Decius, who sat apart from the group, softly brushing away dried oil from his rifle round chamber. “Private Decius. A word please.” said Solomon formally. He had not spoken to him since he was released from the brig, Solomon did feel a lump in his throat whenever he thought about the young private and how he was having a hard time fitting in. trying to impress other people no matter what the cost was quickly becoming his downfall. To impress the company, he had thrown stale bread at the Captain of the Second, and doing that caused himself to be involved in a fight with the monstrous Captain Deeph, causing him to hurt his foot and not been accounted for on the ship at the time of an incident. This had placed him at a prime suspect in the incident in question of someone attempting to tamper with the Last Resort Weapon. “Hard to think, throwing a piece of stale bread would land you in the slammer and accused of treason, ay lad?” asked Solomon softly to Decius when they reached Solomon’s personal armoury desk in the far corner of the bland grey room. Decius looked up into the lieutenants’ eyes and hung his head low again. After a minute, Solomon placed his hand on Decius’ shoulder,

“Cheer up. Soon, you will be considered family to these people too. And then, you will look forward to when we are all together, like this, just cleaning weapons, and having a laugh”

Decius cast his eyes to the lieutenants’ desk where small pictures could be seen, stuck to the wall above the flat top of the desk, small writing scribbled above the pictures. Solomon noticed the look on the young private’s face. “Fallen and lost family.” he answered the unasked question on Decius’ lips. “Come.”

“Here, we have ‘Elran Kay’, Killed In Training.”

Decius squinted at the small man’s face in the worn picture, skinny and blonde with short hair, bearing a happy smile of over enjoyment.

“We took that the day he was told he had a newborn baby boy. That was nine months ago. He was killed about three weeks after that in a training exercise... Next, we have ‘Seven’, her real name was ‘Serene O’blier’ Killed In Action. There was a saboteur on The Evergreen about three years ago, during the Luna Wars. Planted a bomb in the starboard engine room, Seven was the person who found it, it went off before she could disarm it... Next we have these two, the O’Riley Brothers. Both died together, twins. There was a rumour that one of the Luna War Lords was hiding out on Mars, The Evergreen was dispatched with two other ships. We thought we was clever by approaching from the opposite direction of Earth... they were waiting for us on the landing. Within half an hour we took seventy percent casualties of what we deployed. My company was left on the ship with the second and third companies, we were boarded. With most of our companies on the ground, we couldn’t sufficiently defend The Evergreen. They took a lot of the third company out. The twin’s were in the armoury with the thirds primary force giving them their deployment orders, getting their armour on and relaying orders to one and other. They were taken by surprise.”

Decius thought deeply in silence as he studied the faces of the fallen and lost family. Their faces frozen with happiness, eyes never closing. Decius began to wonder if his picture would ever become stuck up there, eternally happy. Forever lost. With a sniff, he finally spoke to Solomon. “Sir...” he hesitated. “I know the risk, and I understand the bonds of soldiers in war, but...” his throat began to tighten as he spoke. Solomon flashed a warm grin to Decius, “You’re young, lad. Things happen, just, don’t try and kick me in the head, and don’t get killed.” he mused.

The lack of planet rotation meant it was hard to keep track of day or night naturally, Solomon walked onto the bridge with his morning greeting from Eve, time was sometimes hard to track due to the constant darkness outside the portholes, Eve always was available to inform you if the little hand on your wristwatch was pointing to the seven in the morning, or in the evening. Once he eased himself into his luxurious chair with a mug of fresh coffee, the crew began to call out their routine readings. “Internal and external temperatures are normal, no ship accidents to report” called out the Engineering officer to Solomon’s left. After a moment of the bridge crew busily working away at their stations, Eve’s soft almost human voice appeared. “Lieutenant Solomon, Warp Travel will be ready to Jump Point Two and can commence within the hour, we are awaiting confirmation from all other vessels.” Solomon acknowledged her announcement with a nod.

The next forty five minutes passed quickly to Solomon, his coffee cup almost needing its first refill when Kyril entered from the Captains Conference Room, rubbing the back of his neck, and his left forearm seemed swollen, “Well, Winslow is a spoilt brat and vanished, nowhere to be seen, he’s probably sulking in a dark corner, nothing new there... but everyone else is ready to proceed to Jump Point Two. Damn him and begin the procedure.” he said straightening up, his tired eyes showing more his age. The bridge crew followed the command without question, hurriedly preparing and calling out numbers over the room. Solomon sat in his chair with a smirk upon his smooth handsome face. After another ten minutes, Kyril stood beside Solomon, barking commands, and ordering the warp travel jump.

Solomon tensed as the ship smoothly eased into the faster than light travel, the black bridge viewpoint turned to a white blur from the stars moving at great speed. The force of making a jump wasn’t strenuous and it felt much like a car accelerating but Kyril seemed weak on his feet, with a stumble and a sigh, he carefully directed himself around his chair, hand over hand until he was in front of it and able to slowly lower himself into the soft leather. Once the ship reached optimum speed, Solomon got to his feet and began checking the crew’s reports before approaching Kyril. “Are you ok, old man?” he inquired, Kyril just smiled and said “Yes, Sol, just a dizzy spell. It’s been a long night.” He answered dismissively.

“Sir, we have a slight oil temperature in the L.R.W. it’s all within regulations, sir, but I thought I should let you know, given the situation” said a nervous engineer with thin glasses on the second-tier. “Keep an eye on it, Geoff, thanks.” replied Solomon, no sooner had the words left his mouth, the bridge suddenly jolted, shaking most of the crew, some of the second-tier engineers became thrown from their seats. Quickly scuttling back and began shouting out readings as they attached their harnesses.

“Sir, we are off course! All ships have been split from the jump lanes!” shouted Geoff the engineer, all the nerves had been knocked from his voice. Before Solomon had registered what Geoff had just said, Kyril barked out orders, “Take us out of warp! Find out where we are. Find the other ships and contact Earth and inform Frontier Command!” the crew acknowledged the command and responded quickly with slowing the ship down at an almost dangerous decline of speed, Solomon had to take a few steps forward to stop himself falling on his face.

Once the ship had stopped, a red light began flashing on the bridge. Solomon briskly reached his chair and pressed the buttons, dialling the medical bay. “All medical staff, prepare to receive any staff injuries from the abrupt stop. I want a report on any numbers that come in.” said Solomon, without waiting for a reply he jumped over to the engineering tier again.

“Sir! We are thirty thousand miles from The Infinity. Unknown location of any other ships at this time!” shouted the bald helmsmen. Solomon cursed under his breath “is the Infinity okay? Hail them, arrange a rendezvous, at least they’re not far.” spat Solomon as Kyril still barked out his orders to the rest of the ship. Demanding reports from the engines, weapon systems and shield systems. After a few minutes, the Chief Engineer spoke loudly over the chaotic bridge, “Sir, no hull damage, we are good to go.” Kyril nodded, sweat beading above his tense brow. The bridge becoming overwhelmingly hot, Kyril gave two more order before handing over the bridge to Solomon. “Turn that bloody heating down! Security Teams Alpha and Bravo, on me! We’re going to the L.R.W.!” a puzzled Solomon saw the back of Kyrils head leave the room briskly as he went to the Last Resort Weapon’s chamber to meet with the two security teams, his previous weakness now apparently disappeared, drowned by the adrenaline.

“Helm! Report.” demanded Solomon, now calming his nerves as a young ensign brought him a sealed coffee cup. The Bald helmsman skipped around his station with a datapad as the secondary helmsman steadied the ship. “Sir, we are meeting with The Infinity here.” he said hoarsely, pointing at a black chart filled with speckles of white stars. “This is the apparent location of The Pride of Lions. She has suffered damage from an unmapped asteroid and is unable to move, according to The Infinity. At current knowledge and speed it will take us three hours to reach her with The Infinity in formation.” he broke off suddenly as if he had more to say. Solomon instantly picked up on the frown spreading across the Helmsman’s round face. Gesturing him to continue.

“Sir, how can we have missed this? A bloody asteroid capable of taking down a star cruiser and knocking the rest off course? I’m not being funny, but that would have to have been, one heavy damn rock!”

“I know... space is very treacherous, but it does seem very unlikely something we would miss.”

“Yes, sir... I don’t like this, Lieutenant.”

“Neither do I” replied Solomon

Solomon set down his coffee and pressed the All Communications button.

“All Military hands, Yellow Alert. Please stand by battle stations. This is a Yellow Alert.”

Solomon knew that an asteroid capable of taking out a star cruiser mid warp jump could happen, but all their routes have been extensively mapped. His gut was tightening, telling him something was amiss. No weapon known to him could be an aimed threat to a ship during a warp jump unless they were extremely unlucky with a stray round, but who could possibly be fighting out here? There are no star systems even remotely close to their position. Solomon resisted the urge to bring his ship up to full red alert.

With the course not planned into the warp drive due to no information on the surrounding area. Solomon had given the order of full sub-light thrusters to the rendezvous point, at current speed, it will take them two and a half hours to reach The Pride of Lions. The Evergreen would arrive there half an hour before The Infinity, or three hours with the Infinity in formation

After two hours, The Evergreen was gaining more and more ground. Solomon sat in his command chair as Kyrils communication came through his earpiece. “Sol, the L.R.W. is fine, we are heading down to the Weapon Batteries to make sure they’re still working. Take the ship from Yellow alert, it’s slowing us down with all the procedures.” said Kyril through a crackle of static. Solomon obliged the command and took the ship into normal running. “Eve. How lo-” Solomon was broken off by Eve’s answer before he finished asking the question. “Sir, The Pride of Lions is under attack, requesting immediate assistance, an unknown group has opened fire on the ship. Multiple contacts.” said Eve with her soft voice.

Solomon had to think fast. A single ship on its own could not survive an open attack when outnumbered and damaged. Solomon made a rash, daring and possibly regrettable decision.

“Take us to warp. The Pride of Lions needs us.”