A Steel Cocoon (Short Story)

"Preparing to disembark." The second hand, Tarena Baar stated, her voice was soft above the noise of the command bridge.

Beyond her station, and past the others silently attending to their own consoles, Janto Naash watched the distant stars blur with the rapid movement of the ship. It came to a halt and threatened to drift gently away, carried only by the suggestion of a cosmic pull. The ship's thrusters would activate automatically, ensuring it stayed in position.

"Engage rear thrusters," Tarena said steadily. "Course set for Besk,"

"Set." The navigation officer, Rikk Kentii, said in a shaky tone.

The ship gained speed quickly as it charged toward the Ring. Status reports were spoken sporadically; old echoes of past flights came to mind. It was in these fleeting moments that Janto could leave the present and allow his thoughts to fall deep into the back of his mind. The familiar sounds and words he had heard a thousand times before. So long as those words were spoken by his crew, he did not need to pay close mind. Or, maybe that was his way of excusing the distance he felt in the minutes prior to star jumping.

The Ring grew before them; it all began as usual. A star in the distance, then the white dot would grow until many, much smaller, white dots seemed to appear out of nowhere. Then it seemed like a ship in the distance, and as they closed in still, he could see the vastness of such a structure. It was a feat of engineering. The Alid allowed Free Space to believe they were the ones who created them, but then, many years later, it was known that the Alid, in fact, discovered them. One of the many small deceptions from the uplifters. The ones from long before were the true creators of the Rings.

They were half a kilometre in diameter. Many silver and dark grey panels made up the rings' outer layer, and in the centre of it, there was a shimmer of translucent blue light. At its centre, there was a perfect ball of pure white light. It had a pull that beckoned ships forward against the will of the crew.

"Receiving hail," The communications officer announced.

"Please, stand by. Inbound vessel en route." The Ring Marshal said.

"Disengage rear thrusters, and set forward thrusters to maximum," Tarena commanded.

Once engaged, steel churned as the ship struggled against the pull. The draw wasn't strong enough to overpower their thrusters, but the occasional noise made it obvious that space acted differently in the presence of this structure.

The translucent blue shimmer turned a much deeper blue, and a ship appeared as if projected. It moved as if it were flying from the top of the structure toward the bottom. There was no depth to the vessel. Janto could see the top, sides, and bottom of the ship as if it were unfolded, but it remained whole. Its movement was unusual, as if it were disappearing and reappearing. The ship reached the centre of the ring, and when it touched the ball of pure white light, it exited. Seeing it exit was the difference between a dream and reality.

"You may proceed, outbound vessel." The Ring Marshal said, snapping Janto from the Ring and to the command bridge.

"Disengage forward thrusters," Tarena commanded.

The noise stopped in an instant, and then the ship floated toward the centre of the ring. Toward the blinding light. There was no need to steer, no need to engage the engines at all. The ship knew where it wanted to go, and regardless of intervention, it would get there.

It grew and grew, until the entire observation pane was aglow. Everyone shielded their eyes from it, all except Janto; he couldn't look away. It was the thing that kept him from giving up his captain's chair. All these years, all these flights, it was the one thing he yearned for when he found himself plant-side.

With an explosive flash, they were truly en route. Space turned from vast, empty, cold and dark. It was now a cylinder of shimmering blue light ranging from dark to light. It was hypnotic and never failed to give him comfort.

"Captain, Naash," Tarena's voice broke through his daydream, and he looked up to find her standing beside him.

"Yes, Lieutenant Baar." He rubbed his eyes and blinked rapidly to help focus his vision.

"The jump crew are monitoring the flight. I think we should get some rest." She said, trembling as she often did when she tried to urge him to take a break.

"Thank you," he said, as he glanced back at the walls of blue light. "I think you're right."

The others on the command bridge had already started to leave their stations, and some stalled at their stations a while longer than they had to. Janto had noticed this little ritual some of the more inexperienced crew members had done. They didn't want to rush out before the captain. Sometimes he would make a game of it and wait longer than he had to, just to see how long they would stay. But today, he decided against that and stood up.

Janto knew the best place he could go was his bunk, but rather than that, he decided to keep walking throughout the maze of corridors and steel stairs. The deeper into the ship he got, the more the lighting dimmed. He could hear talking in the distance and knew exactly who it was before turning the corner.

"Say what you like, but I know my turret skills are better than yours."

Janto turned the corner and saw the turret station, with three gunners slouched in their seats, talking with one another.

"Captain on deck," the Triskani said, while standing up. They were covered in light green scales and had a hard exoskeletal jaw cap, which dropped to reveal their mouth while speaking. The other two turret gunners were Human.

Janto shrugged them off with a wave of his hand. "As you were," he said, which made the Triskani sit back down and sit stiffer than he had been previously. He passed by, leaving them to their conversation, which started up once he entered through a nearby doorway.

"Captain on deck," Harrit, one of the Humans, mimicked in a jeering tone, causing the Triskani to curse in their native language.

Through the door, Janto entered the brig. It was a cramped corridor with five small cells on either side. Every cell he passed was empty, but at the end of the corridor stood a guard, watching over the only prisoner on board.

"Captain," the guard acknowledged his presence as Janto approached. He was a Doshan; he had a large and imposing frame, made larger by his armor. His skin had a light purple tint to it, dark hair tied back, and two small twitching antennae which protruded from the centre of his forehead.

"Warden Solse, anything to report?"

"Nothing as of yet, the sedatives wore off shortly after getting him in his cell. He kicked, cursed, and screamed for a time, but I think he tired himself out."

Janto nodded and looked at the cell door. He was compelled to open the seer hatch, but decided against it. He may have been a criminal, but they deserved more than prying eyes.

"It won't be long until we reach Besk." Janto said as he stared at the door.

"Do you mind if I speak freely?"

"Not at all," Janto replied as his eyes darted back to Solse, "what's on your mind?"

"I was wondering about this job," Warden Solse crossed his arms and nodded his head back at the cell door. "I tried to read the report for this one, but I didn't have access. What makes this one so special? Some scrawny Human," he looked back at the cell as he stopped speaking. "Most of the people we transport, I can tell that they're bad just from looking at them, this one though. There was no real bravado, just fear."

Janto opened his mouth, trying to find the right words to tell Solse not to ask questions. As he was about to speak, an alarm sounded throughout the corridor. The once dim lighting turned a violent red, as it flashed in sync with the blaring alarm. They both looked at each other, and then the ship shuddered and jolted rapidly.

Janto grabbed at the wall to maintain his balance, but missed and landed hard on the floor.