Captives of the Kratzen (Hearts in Orbit) Read online

  Table of Contents

  CAPTIVES OF THE KRATZEN

  Acknowledgements

  Glossary

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Table of Contents

  CAPTIVES OF THE KRATZEN

  Acknowledgements

  Glossary

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  CAPTIVES OF THE KRATZEN

  Hearts In Orbit Series Book 3

  S.C. MITCHELL

  SOUL MATE PUBLISHING

  New York

  CAPTIVES OF THE KRATZEN

  Copyright©2017

  S.C. MITCHELL

  Cover Design by Fiona Jayde

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, business establishments, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

  The scanning, uploading, and distribution of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials.

  Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated.

  Published in the United States of America by

  Soul Mate Publishing

  P.O. Box 24

  Macedon, New York, 14502

  ISBN: 978-1-68291-417-5

  www.SoulMatePublishing.com

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.

  BY S.C. MITCHELL

  HEARTS IN ORBIT SERIES

  The Blarmling Dilemma

  Pirates Of The Dark Nebula

  Captives Of The Kratzen

  HEAVENLY WAR SERIES

  Son Of Thunder

  Daughter Of Darkness

  Between Venus And Mars

  (Soul Mate Tree Series Book 3)

  This book is dedicated

  to all fans of the Star Trek reboot

  who were happy to see Spock and Uhura

  finally getting it on.

  Acknowledgements

  This book would not be possible without the tireless work of my editor, Cheryl Yeko, and the wonderful input from my critique partner Helen Johannes. ♥

  Glossary

  Faculae — Bright patches visible on the surface of a yellow star.

  “Fiery Faculae!” — The future’s equivalent of “Holy Shit!”

  Holovid — Short for Holovision programing. A 5-dimensional experiential entertainment format in which the viewer is placed inside the scene via virtualization. Some programs are derived from or based on old Earth movies and television shows.

  Throw a phizzlegorg in the satellite — The Future’s equivalent of “throw a monkey wrench into the works.

  Galactic Federation — Governmental body for the Core Worlds and civilized planets as far out as the galactic rim.

  Galactic Marshals — Law enforcement branch of the Galactic Federation.

  Federation Fleet — Military branch of the Galactic Federation.

  Dzlozia — Homeworld of the Dzlozians, a blue-skinned humanoid race in the Andromeda galaxy.

  Moontalk — Crazy talk, mumbo jumbo.

  Maraleach — Larval form of the Maramoth of Capulla 27, capable of surviving deep space journeys. Maraleaches have spread throughout the galaxy by attaching to the outer hulls of spacecraft. Though now found on virtually every inhabitable planet in the galaxy, they are fairly benign, causing little trouble.

  Terraleach — Mutant variety of the maraleach. Terraleaches use their corrosive saliva to eat through the hulls of starcraft. A tenacious, yet relatively rare, threat to galactic travel. Also used as a descriptor for a repugnant person.

  Gandisol — A green, viscous liquid first discovered in the steam mines of Uranus, used to stabilize electrons during the process of atom splitting in an ion star drive.

  Syngonal — Fluid composite that mixes with antimatter to create Balton waves in a hyper drive.

  Andromeda Star Base One — A stepping stone to the new frontier. Humanity’s first star base in the newly available Andromeda galaxy. It guards the wormhole stargate back to the Milky Way.

  Quendor — An Earth-like planet in the Dark Nebulan system. Home to a race of dark-skinned humanoids. A closed society of kingdoms dating back to the Isolationist Wars of 2104.

  Quackdinger — Common name for a group of waterfowl in the Anatidae family.

  Chapter 1

  Warning tingles slithered up Tina’s spine as the white blips on the radar screen turned blood red. The alert claxon blared and the emotionless warning message echoed throughout the base. “Hostile ships approaching.”

  Frack.

  Her stomach knotted as the computer display confirmed the worst. Bug attack ships.

  Fingers flying over the keypad, she brought up the base’s shields, not that they’d do much good. Then she sent a message off to the Fleet . . . not that that would help either.

  Damn it.
The Fleet was out of position because of a previous attack. Help would never arrive in time.

  Still, Andromeda Star Base One was far from defenseless. The frigate-class MFC Tartin had been left behind as rear guard. With a crew of nine and two heavy phase canons, the attack ship could easily handle four or five of the bug’s attack ships.

  The Andromeda One station had two of its gun batteries operational as well. And Tina had two able bodied gunners in residence.

  She hit the button for the base-wide intercom. “Carter, Kirtl, get to those guns, we’ve got . . .”

  She checked the radar display. Crap! “Nine ships incoming.”

  “Roger that.” His deep, resonant voice echoed back over the intercom. Calm amidst a storm, but that was Carter.

  She paged the Tartin. “Captain Myers?”

  “I see ‘em, Ms. la Cross. We’ll do what we can. I’ve already sent a distress call to the other ships, but it doesn’t look like they can make it back in time.” The strain in his tone told Tina how overmatched they were. This was going to be a tough fight.

  When finished, Andromeda One would have a permanent crew of over two hundred and twenty gunnery stations for defense. The current crew, however, consisted of only three individuals: Tina, Carter Arcturus, a Fleet marine, and Kirtl, a young Blarmling.

  And they were only babysitting the place while their ship, The Starboard Mist, made a run back through the wormhole to the Milky Way for supplies and a new work crew.

  A click and low hum resonated in the air as the station’s generators kicked into high gear. The two photon gun batteries came online, indicating the guys were at the gunnery controls in the cavernous supply bay below where Tina sat in the station command tower.

  As she watched, monitoring the impending confrontation, a tenth ship flew into scanning range.

  “Frack! More?”

  But this ship remained white, unrecognized by the scanning software. A different ship design than any yet encountered by the Galactic Fleet’s extensive database. Could it be a friendly? They’d yet to discover any star-faring race from the Andromeda galaxy that didn’t regard them as hostile.

  Slightly larger than the single-manned bug attack ships, the mystery ship was nowhere near as large as the massive motherships, yet it flew with the other ships in formation, so it was probably part of their armada.

  Great, that’s all we need. Some new kind of ship, with completely unknown design and weaponry.

  The scanning computers were working overtime analyzing the new ship, but it would take time.

  More time than they had.

  She tried to get a visual on the new ship through the steelglass portal.

  Outside in space, shots were already being exchanged. The Tartin’s big guns took out one of the foremost attackers almost immediately, but as a half dozen of the others swarmed the bigger craft, its phase cannons missed more than they hit. More support than assault craft, the frigate-class starship wasn’t equipped to handle such close combat.

  “Guys, the Tartin is going to need your support.”

  As the station’s two big guns changed targets to aid the Tartin, Tina redirected energy to the Star Base One’s deflector shields. Two of the attacking ships broke off from the swarm to head toward the base. Behind them came the larger unknown craft. But their guns weren’t firing.

  What are they up to?

  Sensors indicated a scan coming from the larger ship. Was that craft some kind of scientific research vessel?

  The bugs hadn’t seemed interested in anything other than death and destruction to this point. Attacks usually consisted of a mothership and a swarm of single manned—single bugged?—attack ships. All attempts to communicate or negotiate had been met with silence.

  But humanity’s only real data on these aliens was what had been gleaned from the wreckage after attacks. If the aliens even had a home world, there’d been no indication of where it was. Andromeda was a vast galaxy, and exploration here hadn’t really begun yet. This base needed to be in place before any concerted effort could begin.

  Sensors picked up a pulse radiating from the larger ship in an expanding sphere of energy. As the pulse waves passed through each of the bug attack ships, Tina’s scanners lost the signal only to have it pop back on the screen a few seconds later. What the hell is that?

  As the pulse radiated through the Tartin, its signature on the scanner also disappeared. Through the portal, Tina noted lights on the craft had gone dark. Its guns no longer fired.

  “Frack, that has to be some kind of power disruption weapon.”

  And the pulse was headed right toward Andromeda Station One.

  As it hit, lights flickered, her instrument monitors died, and the thumps from the gunnery stations went hauntingly silent.

  She pulled her blaster from its holster. Even the readout meter on the side of the weapon was dark.

  The flickering lights died as the last of the power in the circuit drained. Dim starlight through the steelglass viewport cast haunting shadows across the floor of the control room.

  In the eerie silence, Tina’s heartbeat thundered in her ears.

  Through the dim viewport, no longer electronically enhanced, the dark outline of the Tartin showed only because it blacked out the stars beyond. A bright blue plasma bolt flashed from one of the small ships, striking the frigate. A silent explosion followed.

  More bolts from the bug ships. More explosions all along the hull of the Tartin. Then one bright blast and the stars beyond shown through. The vessel was gone.

  “By the galactic gods, no.” Tina’s heart fisted in her chest. Nine lives. People she’d known.

  Captain Myers, with his easy smile and twinkling eyes. Ensign Duke. He’d recently signed on. He couldn’t have been more than eighteen years old. All the others, just doing their jobs.

  “Damn you. It isn’t fair.” She brought her fist down on the dead control panel.

  A thump on the outer hull. Something had landed on the station.

  Click. Lights flickered again, and machinery came back to life, but the systems were all rebooting. It would take minutes to bring everything back on line. Minutes Tina doubted they had.

  She scuttled down the control tower access ladder to the main deck. “Guys.”

  “Power outage took out the guns.” Carter Arcturus strode toward her, a blaster in each hand. His deep cobalt eyes scanning side to side, he stalked like a Cerillian rappanther ready to strike its prey.

  Kirtl trailed behind, an X-12 phase rifle at the ready. His silvery fur stood on end. His deep purple eyes whirled with alarm. “They’ve landed on the outer hull. I hear their thoughts. They want something. I don’t know what. Just a jumble of thought patterns and images.”

  Blarmlings, an ursine, bipedal race from the planet Blarm, could read thoughts. Kirtl had been working hard to translate the bugs’ language to hopefully open-up lines of communication. No one understood their alien thought process better, but his reports showed he’d translated only a few words, and mostly picked up pictures from the bugs consciousness. There was a long way to go.

  The hiss and sizzle above drew Tina’s attention up. Sparks lit a circular pattern in the titanium panel overhead. “They’re lasering through the hull.”

  The chamber was vast and empty, ready for the supplies and construction materials on their way here. There was no place to hide.

  Bristling, Carter’s gaze swept the room. “We’re sitting quackdingers out here.”

  Then he pointed toward the storage bay doorway. “We can better defend from there.”

  They’d also be trapped, but at this point they were pretty much trapped anyway unless help arrived. Lifepods wouldn’t get them through the wormhole, and they’d be defenseless targets for the bug ships to pick off. Holding the invaders here in the b
ase until help arrived was their only hope of escape.

  Shoulder muscles bulged as he lifted a heavy metal shelving unit and slammed it down across the doorway of the storage bay. The three of them crouched down behind it, watching the bug’s cutters burning an opening through the hull into the ceiling above the work bay.

  With an echoing clunk, the circular, titanium hull piece fell to the floor. Construction dust lifted in a cloud from the floor around it. As the alien warriors dropped through the hole, blasters at the ready, the air filled with their oily stench.

  Giant cockroaches. It was the best description of the insectoid race from the Andromeda galaxy. Blaster weapons held at the ready, the creatures formed a circle facing out as more of them dropped to the deck.

  “Well, this sucks.” Carter popped up above the barrier, opening-up with both his blasters toward the growing group of invaders. Sweat sliding down the side of his face, his teeth clenched tightly, he spewed a wave of destruction through the bug’s ranks before dropping back down behind the barrier. Three bugs fell before the others could even bring their weapons up and around.

  The impacts from the bugs’ response shoved the shelving unit blocking the doorway back a few inches.

  He dove to one side as Tina pulled Kirtl to the other.

  Brow furling, Carter shook his head. “I don’t know how we’re going to get out of this one.”

  No place to run. No place to hide. This is where they’d have to make their stand, and judging by the number of their attackers, this is where they’d die.

  But I’m taking as many of those little frackers with me as I can.

  ~ ~ ~

  Blasters at the ready, Carter prepared to slide around the doorframe once again, looking for his next target. For an instant, his eyes locked on Tina’s.

  Rage knotted his gut. By the galactic gods. It wasn’t fair.