Welcome to Galactic Axia
First Contact
The fourth book in our adventure series, First Contact will take you to worlds and inside science you never suspected exists. You will learn how Galactic Axia makes first contact with an emerging planet, and you will discover that not all is safe in the universe. Meet a host of new characters, and learn what motivates students to push themselves past all endurance to become more than anyone thought possible.
Coming in the Summer of 2011
We hope you enjoy the following excerpt from
"Long range sensors clear," Qualat reported from his station.
"Any more word on those reported Red-tails?" the captain asked the trooper at the comm.
"Just that initial warning," he answered. "Nothing else on any of the non-standard frequencies either."
"Pilot, take us through that asteroid field," the captain ordered. "Try to use their mass to mask our detect ability."
"Yes Ma'am," Delmar Eagleman replied from the pilot's seat. He carefully adjusted the controls to comply. Suddenly, a shudder ran through the ship.
"Report!" Captain Leatha Mordon barked.
“Apparent malfunction in the primary green box," Mila reported from the engineering station. "Available power falling off. Switching to secondary unit."
"Acknowledged," Leatha replied tersely. "Pilot, compensate. Navigation, plot shortest route to nearest cruiser. Comm, put out a coded messa...."
"Red-tail spotted coming in on our port side!" Qualat shouted from the sensor station. "Incoming fire!" he added just as a heat ray grazed the ship, rocking it in the process.
"Return fire!" Leatha ordered. The trooper at weapons tried to comply.
"Weapons inoperative!" he cried anxiously.
"Evasive action!"
"Already on it!" Delmar snapped.
"Second Red-tail on the right flank!" Qualat reported.
"Torps restored. Manual only!" came the report.
"Give it your best shot!" Leatha ordered.
"Secondary power falling off!"
"Repulsion field and shield failing!"
"Torps away!"
"Pilot, get us out of here!" Leatha barked. Two more heat rays bracketed the ship as it twisted and turned.
"Scratch one Red-tail!" Qualat reported. "Second enemy ship evaded and in pursuit!"
"Bag him, Ean!" Leatha ordered. The ship lurched as another torp fired.
"Power continuing to fall off. Tying both power supplies together."
“How long will it give us?" Leatha asked. The ship dodged another volley of fire from it's Red-tail attacker.
"Hard to say," returned the disheartening answer. "Things are coming apart back here!"
"Do your best," Leatha encouraged.
"Got 'em!" came the report from the weapons station. The ship lurched again. Almost immediately, it yawed sickeningly.
"How goes it, pilot?" Leatha asked.
"Not good," Delmar answered. "Controls behaving erratically, captain."
"Are we clear?" Leatha asked the trooper on the sensor panel.
"All clear."
The captain considered their options. "Everyone suit up," she ordered the rest of the crew. Since he was at a critical station, the pilot was already suited as a matter of course. "Maintain battle stations. Everything else on minimal power."
"No hot coffee tonight," quipped the trooper struggling with the engineering panel.
"Pilot, it's your ship," Leatha stated, transferring tactical command while she slipped into her pressure suit and went to help with engineering. "Try to set us down in one piece somewhere."
"Thanks," the pilot said through pursed lips. He had been expecting the command as soon as they were clear of the battle. It allowed the captain, now with little to do, to help where it could make a difference. The lights flickered, dimmed, and then remained lit with minimum brightness.
Delmar quickly scanned the surrounding space on his small display. Spotting a planetoid nearby, he nursed his controls to vector them on a safe approach. Behind him he could hear the rest of the crew frantically working to keep the ship together as tortured metal groaned under the strain of his maneuvering. The inertial dampeners were failing, causing the stress of the planet's gravitational field to pull on the already stressed mainframe of the ship.
The view out the front of the damaged patroler was not a heartening sight. The surface of the airless planetoid was anything but smooth. Jagged crags jutted toward the inky blackness of space, interspersed by deep, forbidding chasms. Only occasionally was the sweating pilot able to see small spots suitable to land the damaged ship. The trooper behind him spoke in his ear. "The second green box just failed," he told Delmar ominously. "Readings give us only another forty-five seconds of full power."
"Thanks for the good news,” Delmar countered through the open faceplate of his pressure suit. He hated wearing the thing because it both itched and smelled, but the alternative was worse. Suddenly, a klaxon blared as the hull lost integrity. In response, every faceplate snapped shut to protect the wearer.
Delmar cut the throttle to conserve what little power he had at his disposal. Rolling the ship hard to the left, he barely cleared a jagged rock outcropping that seemed to be reaching for the floundering craft. Directly ahead, he spied a small area on a narrow ledge part way down in a dark canyon.
"Twenty seconds of power remaining,” the trooper behind him stated anxiously. Delmar only nodded. He tried to maneuver the ship toward the ledge. A sudden shudder rippled through the ship as they brushed against the canyon wall. The sound of tearing metal screamed from the rear of the ship. Delmar reached to brush beads of sweat from his eyes and found the faceplate in his way. Mumbling under his breath, he blinked furiously and managed to clear his vision.
The narrow ledge loomed in front of him, but it now looked even narrower than when he'd first seen it. "Five seconds!" the trooper called. Delmar heard Leatha order the other crewmembers to brace for impact. This is going to be bad, thought Delmar. The controls began to shake and became unresponsive. Power levels fell off sharply. In a last desperate effort, Delmar chopped the throttle completely and let the ship drop vertically toward the ledge. At the last possible second, he shoved the throttle again to full and felt the last surge of power cushion their fall just as the skids touched the rugged and uneven ground. As the ship settled that last half-inch, they could all hear the shriek and groan of tortured metal. With a final crunch, the ship stopped moving, never to fly again.
No one dared to move or even to breath. The slightest motion might send the disabled ship over the edge of the rock ledge into the bottomless precipice surrounding them. They were in real danger. Only the Unseen One could help them now. Someone began to pray. Another began to cry. Everyone was thankful to be alive.
An eerie silence enveloped the half dozen people on board the dead ship. In the darkness, a battery-powered emergency light came on, bathing the interior of the ship with a reddish glow. His task completed, Delmar turned with everyone else aboard to face the captain of the ship.
Facing the lives dependent on her, Captain Leatha Mordon mentally reviewed their predicament. The crashed patroler was perched on a ledge hardly larger than the ship itself. A shear wall fronted them on one side and a fatal drop awaited them outside the airlock on the other. Another means of escaping the ship would have to be found.
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Victor Bretthauer Jim Laughter
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