The Epheus Project - Chapter 1

The following is the most updated version of the first chapter to my 'Novel'..
Enjoy! And please tell me if you see any grammatical or outstanding errors..
4680 words long and is not yet properly formatted..



Chapter 1
Proving Grounds

06:30 Hours. July 14, 2151 Earth Standard Calendar.
NPU Phillipi Station, outer Pluto Orbit.

Stepping off the shuttle onto the crowded boarding ramp, John Abrams pushed his way through the throng of new dock workers, and made his way to the atrium. The atrium was a very spacious area with over twelve stories, it looked like an over sized shopping mall, except there were no stores to shop in, but various other docking ports to other vessels in the Shipyards. Taking a series of escalators to the very top level, he showed his ID card to the military personnel guarding the gates to the Militarized Docking Zone. The MDZ is where all new military spacecraft are built. Abrams had been assigned to the Ephesus a few weeks ago, but due to a few side-projects, he hadn't been able to arrive until now. Upon nearing the entrance to the MDZ loading bay, he spotted a cheery fellow in an orange jumpsuit who was waving frantically at him. The fellow ran up to Abrams, and as he approached, he spotted his name tag which read 'Shifty'. "Captain Abrams, I presume!" He shouted over the din of engines and other machinery. "Yes, Umm..Shifty is it?" "Aye Sir, that's just my nickname, but you're welcome to use it Sir, if you'd like." "Perhaps, but I could use your help. I'm looking for Docking Bay 15." "Aye Sir, that's where the Ephesus is docked. You must be the new XO, I'm just the Engineer myself. Right this way Sir." With that Shifty led the way over to Docking Bay 15, where a sleek black ship was berthed. "This beauty here, Sir, is the Ephesus. It's the fastest ship we've ever built, able to get to Earth and back in about 4 weeks." Abrams nodded in agreement and looked up at the magnificent vessel. The entire ship parked in the Docking Bay made Abrams feel very small, as huge cranes were loading equipment and supplies into various cargo holds scattered along the length of the ship. Several ramps connected to the ship, were full of people loading more supplies, MPs stood guard at the bottom of each ramp, checking everyone's ID before they were allowed aboard. Abrams had a hard time turning away from this sight, but when he did he saw Shifty smiling at him. "Pretty impressive ain't it, Sir?" "Yes, very impressive. Well Shifty, thanks for your help. I guess I'd better be going, I'll see you inside. "Aye, Sir, and Thank you." Shifty ran towards one of the further back ramps, as Abrams checked in with the MPs and strolled onto the boarding ramp. Waiting his turn to get aboard, he could now examine the ship more closely. It had triple reinforced hull-plating, which he guessed was Titan-Steel laced with Lerrium; it also had a weird mirror-like surface, John could see his reflection in the hull. Upon exiting the ramp, John noticed that the outer hull and the inner hull, was thicker than on any previous ship he'd been on before. He could hear a lot of rumbling in the wall adjacent to him and figured it was just the pretesting of the engines. Now the hall widened, and the group began to dissipate to various other hallways. John decided to take the route that led past the Hangar Bay, he wanted to see how it looked. Though as he approached, the halls near the Hangar Bay were unimaginably busy, crewmen were bustling here and there with carts of supplies, and spare parts for machinery, and ammo. Abrams called out to a young Sergeant that had a clipboard in hand, "Sergeant! Sergeant! I need to get to the Command Deck!" The Sergeant looked round to Abrams, "Oh, Captain Abrams, it's good to see you've made it aboard, the CD is on Deck 3, just take this hall to the right, and you should see the Main Stairway. Go up one flight, exit, and take the hall going left, then go straight until the third intersection, Go right, follow the curve, and the door is to your right." "Thanks er..." Abrams quickly looks at the Sergeant tag, "Thank you Sergeant Evans, I can see you're a bit busy here, so I'll let you get back to work." "Thank you, Sir." Evans saluted and Abrams returned the favor, before marching down the crowded halls towards the Stairs. The Main Stairway, had six different flights of stairs both going up and down. This room could get you to any Deck you needed, it also housed a few service elevators and a couple of ramps. Upon exiting the Main Stairway on Deck 3, MP's were guarding every other hall intersection, and Abrams had to show his transfer papers and ID multiple times. The security was extra intense because Deck 3 had various highly sensitive operations such as Gravity Control, Life Support, and the Command Deck. The halls were much quieter and crewmen were now few and far between. The hall widened into a circular intersection with two other halls connected to it and a glass door with two MPs outside it. Abrams slid his ID through the door scanner and the door slid open. The MPs saluted as he stepped into the three-tiered Command Deck. He turned immediately left up a ramp way and landed on the Bridge where he saw Commander Karlson Sage. A sprightly man of 67, grizzled and scarred by past wars, Sage was reading a few crew reports, when he looked up and saw Abrams strolling in. The young Captain saluted at the Commander when he had arrived on the other side of the table where Sage was standing. Sage gave Abrams a crisp salute back and they both gave each other a firm handshake. "So have you settled in yet?" asked Sage, nonchalantly. "No sir, I thought it would be better to first report to you." Abrams replied. Before Sage could ask anything else about his new XO, Lt. Dillinger handed Sage a file and whispered,"It's urgent orders from Command, Sir." Sage sighed and glanced over at Abrams, "Very good Lt." then to Abrams he said, "Well it looks like we're not going to get a quiet day after all; I need to speak with you in private, follow me." Sage led Abrams away from the Command Deck, away from all the glaring consoles and shiny-new viewscreens, away from all the bustling officers and the few workmen doing last minute pre-flight maintenance. Sage strolled down the ramp, past the entrance, and straight down another ramp. At the bottom of this ramp, Sage turned right, into a conference room. John obediently followed. The conference room had a large steel oval table, with 14 chairs around it. Sage set the file down and sat in the 3rd chair on the right. "I'd like to talk about these orders from Command." Sage explained, "The NPU and UCF are on more shaky ground then is publicly released. Anything of the slightest will set off the spark of war, and it's only a matter of time before the UCF decides a 'pre-war' strike is all but inevitable. That's where this ship comes in. The Ephesus is the 1st of it's kind, designed to be a complete stealth ship, invisible to heat, in-fared, radar, and even sight." Abrams had the look of astonishment on his face, "Sir, Do you mean this ship can turn invisible?" Sage looked amused, "Yes, it took many years but we finally found the solution to bend light around an object. I'm not going to pretend I know the science behind it, but if it really does work then I suppose it doesn't really matter to me."
"Sir, if we're on so shaky relations with the UCF, then why are we scheduled for more time at the Proving Grounds, I thought the Ephesus had already passed every test with flying colors?"
"Well, frankly, it's because this is an entirely new class of ship, we need to test the cloak and make sure it can work under all conditions. Just because a few scientists made it work on a simulation, doesn't mean it will work full scale on a vessel of this size. Although I'm highly optimistic that it will succeed very highly, no matter what we throw at it."
"Yes, Sir and if I may, why did you choose me to be your XO?"
"Well, you did come very highly recommended by Admiral Lynche, but mostly it's because Command picked you specifically. They wouldn't tell me why, but from your service record, I think you'll do just fine.. Now if that is all, we have a ship to prepare for it's first Velocity Jump with a full compliment. I'll be in the engine room if you need me. I trust you can handle the Pre-Jump check by yourself. That is all. Dismissed." Returning to the Command Deck, Abrams began giving orders to prepare the ship for it's Jump to 0.5% Lightspeed. Abrams turned to the Comms officer, "Lt. Vaulkner do we have everyone on board?"
"Yes Sir, all crew have reported in, cargo holds and ramps are sealed and retracted. We have a 'go' from Phillipi Control."
He then turned to Navigation controls, "Sgt. Gruber have you plotted the course for Proving Grounds yet?"
"Sir, I've had them ready since I found out where we were headed."
"Alright then, main thrusters at half, nice and easy now, no reason to scratch the new paint job."
The Ephesus lurched out of Space Dock 15, cleared the moorings and then picked up a bit of speed to reach minimum safe distance for the High Velocity Acceleration Jump. Speaking into the wireless, he spoke shipwide over the intercom which buzzed to life,"Prepare for Pre-Jump check. Comm?" "Go", replied Vaulkner. "Nav?" "Go", came the reply from Gruber. "Tactical?" "Go." "Engineering?" Sage's voice came in, "Engineering is a go." "Damage Control?" "Go." "Flight Deck?" A slight British accent replied, "Flying ready." "Medical?" "Medical's a go." "Life Support?" "Emergency systems and gravity generators are go." John nodded to Gruber at the helm, and then spoke once more into the wireless. "All personnel stand-by, initiating jump in 30 seconds." Everyone in the Command Center hurriedly ran about strapping themselves into their chairs, while Abrams strapped himself into the Commander's chair. Vaulkner's voice came over the intercom, "Jump commences in 5, 4, 3, 2, 1." The room began to vibrate and there was a growing rumbling noise, the lights and viewscreens flickered and a few went out completely. Abrams felt as if he and his chair were sliding sideways, and floating off from the floor. Soon the vibrating began to subside and then stopped completely.....The viewscreens flickered back on and the lights brightened, Vaulkner's voice floated through the air again, "Velocity Jump complete." There was a click, then Vaulkner spoke again, but this time not to the whole ship, "Commander Sage to the CD... Generator room 3, begin a diagnostic at this time." John freed himself from the restraints and returned to the table. He began to organize the papers that had been violently shuffled around during the jump and he began to think about the fact that Sage shouldn't have left the CD on the ship's maiden voyage and Jump. He could've gone to engineering and helped out, after all isn't the XO supposed to be more involved than just Jumping the ship to coordinates? Abrams didn't have long to think, because Sage was reentering the CD. Dillinger cried, "Commander on Deck!" And everyone snapped to attention. Sage curtly saluted back and nodded. Everyone seemed to get the message as they returned to work immediately. Sage addressed Abrams, "Captain why don't you go get settled and learn the layout of the ship more thoroughly? I can handle things by myself for awhile. We should arrive at the Proving Grounds in 20 minutes." Abrams thought he saw Sage smile but after blinking, his face was back to the military seriousness that it had been since they'd met a few moments before. The young Captain saluted and, postured perfectly, marched down the ramp towards the exit and strolled out of the Command Center. The bulletproof glass door slid closed behind him and the two MPs on either side saluted as he passed. Abrams now stood in the circular hall again and this time took the right hall. The hall soon came to a T-section and Abrams took the hall on the left. Large steel doors now turned up on either side of the walls, going to the various supply rooms and offices... The doors and halls are hexagonal with everything being a silvery hue, from the Steel alloy that the NPU uses to build all their ships... Abrams turned left through an open doorway, onto a flight of stairs, and noticed that the gravity was a bit lighter here. He walked up two flights of stairs then emerged from the stairway into a large rectangular room. This room had the only windows on board, hence the crew filled this room with chairs and tables, and called it the Common Room. Directly right of the entrance was the Bunkhouse, which housed dozens of doors led to the quarters for most of the crew. The officers quarters, however, were a bit further from the stair but they had slightly larger rooms. He found his name-plaque on a door and turned the handle counter-clockwise, and after hearing the metallic click of the lock, he pushed open the door. The room was 10' x 10' and the only furniture in it was a military cot, a metal footlocker near the bed, a small metal table with two chairs in the middle of the room, a metal coat rack in the corner by the door, and a sink to the left of the table. A solitary light lit the room and Abrams' duffel bag was lying on the bed. After unpacking his spare uniform and hanging it on the coat rack, he pulled out his trusty sidearm and holster and attached it to his belt. He also grabbed a rather large looking bullet and stuffed it into his shirt pocket, before tossing the duffel into the empty corner, turning out the light and exiting. He reentered the Common Room, now filled with about a dozen crew members. Finding an empty chair by the window, he looked out into the vastness of space. Even at this speed, you wouldn't think you were even moving unless someone had told you or had experienced the Acceleration Jump yourself. The stars, ever so far away, just twinkled brilliantly from their untouchable fortresses. Sadness usually ran through him whenever he looked at Phillipi Station, but for some reason it didn't this time nor did it that morning when he had arrived there. Even though both his parents had died there; James, his father, died in a tragic accident at the Shipyards and Nancy, his mother, fell ill soon after and never recovered. All his Father had ever wanted for him was a better life. That's why he had joined the Space Corps. His father never lived to see him become an officer....."Excuse me Sir, I hope I'm not disturbing you but you're wanted in Engineering as soon as possible." "Oh..What?" John had been in very deep thought and hadn't realized that someone else was there. "I said, Sir." The younger Lt. said, now with a bit of annoyance in his voice, "That you're needed in Engineering as soon as possible."
"Ermm, Oh, Yeah right. Umm, thanks Lt. I'll be right there." The Lieutenant didn't move, he just stood there expecting John to say something, perhaps.. "Oh Right, Dismissed Lt." The young Lieutenant saluted and briskly left the room, leaving Abrams to stare out into space once more. Phillipi Station was now just a mere memory in the distance, when the intercom buzzed to life, "Combat Stations! Combat Stations! This is not a drill, repeat, not a drill. All medical and repair teams standby." The window's view had suddenly blackened as the hull slid over it. "Captain Abrams and Lieutenant Walsh please report to Engineering." The Combat sirens blared and red lights flashed throughout the halls. Abrams immediately left his seat and ran through the once again crowded corridors. Quickly maneuvering his way through Deck 2, he found the stairs and hurriedly descended them to Deck 4. CRASH! Metal was heard scraping and tearing its way down the whole length of the ship, Abrams leapt into the hall, as the huge Compression-Blast Doors sealed off the Main Stairway. Flak guns could be heard through the vents of the ship, firing off their deadly, bursting shells. 'Apparently the ship is under attack.' He thought. Entering Engineering through the main entrance was a grim sight, a dozen wounded were lying next to the entrance, waiting for medical to arrive. "EY! Captain!" A familiar voice called out, "Glad to see you've made it through all this mess, do you know what's going on out there?"
"No, I'm afraid I didn't see anything, I was in the Common room at the time, when they closed the window. Is the Comm still working down here?"
"Sorry Sir, that was the first to go, then the 3rd engine went down and took out about half a dozen of my crew. Had to seal it off."
"Well, why exactly do you need me here then?"
"Well, Sir, I'd heard that you've had some training in Xenon Nucleophysics. I was hoping you could sort out a little problem that we had been having with the diagnostic program." "You don't have a guy with Xenon Nucleophysics? I suppose that would be another reason why I was specially referred to this ship. Besides we're being attacked now! Can't it wait!?"
"I guess it could now. But we did have a Xenon Nucleophysicist, but he hasn't reported in yet."
"What's his name?"
"Lieutenant Lynus Marvins, he's a pretty good kid, not like him to not show up though." At the mention of Lt. Marvins, Abrams let out a look of surprise and shock, then realizing it, quickly resumed his normal posture. Shifty, howver, npticed his look of shock and asked, "You know him, Sir?"
"I've met him once or twice. You think we left him on Phillipi?"
"Well, since we're not missing any lifepods or shuttles, and no one has seen him since we've left, that's what I'd assume."
"Is Engine 3 a problem I should tell Sage about?"
"Well, of course! Engine 3 is what gives us the main Acceleration for our Jumps. It could go critical, and blow half the ship to infinity and beyond, but that's only if we get a direct hit there."
By this time the Medical team had arrived and began putting the wounded onto stretchers. Shifty ran off to help and explain what had happened. Since Abrams didn't feel needed anymore, he ran past the Med Team and found emergency tube 5, which was just a ladder going to different decks of the ship. Climbing it down to Deck 6, he reached a storage room, punched in a few numbers onto the keypad and dashed inside shutting the door quietly behind him. John opened a few crates marked 'Hazardous' and pulled out a long-range beacon. The beacon was of the same stealth design as the Ephesus, yet was a small pyramid no more than 3 meters in length, with several thrusters on the base end. John reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out the shiny 150 Caliber Flak cartridge, shoving it inside the small compartment in the beacon. He Dashed outside and rushed to the nearest airlock, tossing it inside and activating the airlock. Whoosh. The air was sucked out of the chamber as soon as the hatch opened and the beacon disappeared just as quickly. Returning to Emergency tube 5, Abrams made his way up to Deck 3, and found his way to Generator Room 3. "Everyone clear the room immediately!" The officers looked up in surprise, the lead officer replied "Sir, this is a restricted area and must be monitored at all times. I'm afraid you'll have to leave."
"I'm not leaving and I will tell the Commander that you disobeyed a direct order! Now activate the generator!"
"I'm sorry Sir, but I can only turn on the generator if the order comes direct from the Commander."
"There is a battle going on out there! So.. unless if you'd rather die along with everyone else on this ship...."
"Alright alright.." the Lieutenant said in an exasperated tone, "You win, turn on your generator, but I want the rest of you.." pointing at the other officers, "to leave immediately." Once they'd all left, Lt. Grenaya pulled out his sidearm, and John instinctively pulled out his own. "What are you doing here, Abrams? I thought you were on outpost 94?"
"I've been reassigned. To keep an eye on you, and Lt. Marvins."
"Why do you need to check up on a young Xenon-Nucleophysicist?"
"Apparently since you don't seem to know anything about him, I can't tell you."
With that he made a quick step forward and whacked Grenaya with the back of his gun. "Sorry about that, but it's for your own good." Abrams swiped his and Grenaya's keycards, strode over to the Generator console and typed in the complex code and hit the "Activate" switch. The large generator behind him, started to 'spin up' faster than it already had been. A rumbling noise filled the air, and the floor seemed very unsteady. The rumbling grew louder at a steady pace, building to a charge. Abrams closed the Compression-Blast Doors, and sealed off the Generator from the rest of the room, it made the room a bit quieter. Then the Generator reached the Crescendo and began to pulse, Abrams left the room, with Grenaya still unconscious on the vibrating floor. Returning to the Command Deck, he found that several viewscreens were on the floor, shattered by the impact of oncoming missiles. Sage was in a bit of a bad mood,
"Captain Abrams, where have you been!? I've been sending scouts out to look for you, as Comm is down."
"I'm sorry Sir, I was a bit delayed in Engineering and the Main Stairway was sealed off.." "I don't need excuses, I need you to go to Firing Control and coordinate things from there."
"Yes Sir." With a quick salute, John headed to the other ramp across the room and ascended them to Main Firing Control. Looking at the Radar, he saw that there were over 40 ships zooming around the Ephesus. "Are we still at High Velocity?" He asked one of the railgunners. "No, Sir, we had just arrived at the Proving Grounds when the first missile hit." Abrams motioned him to get off his station, "Alright then, move aside I'll take over your station from here. Good work Soldier."
"Yes Sir. Thank you Sir."
The radar was absolute chaos, fighters from both sides zooming around, and three enemy cruisers bearing down on them. Abrams pulled on the KGH (Kingston Gunnery Helmet) and flicked it on. After adjusting to the infrared vision, Abrams could see the UCF branded fighters engaging in dogfights against the Ephesus' fighters. Turning off the safety, Abrams began unloading hundreds of rounds towards one of the 3 cruisers. He zoomed in on one of them to see which one it was; barely making out the name on the side, "The Poignant". Swerving his view to the other two, "The Xerxes" and "The Huron" came into focus. The Huron had the most damage, so he positioned all his railguns towards it. The Railguns fire a round every 5 seconds. Each round crashes through their armor and then explodes inside their ship for maximum damage. The Huron began to turn aside and the engines burst into life, it was retreating. Now to focus on the Xerxes. He called out to the other gunners and told them to focus on the Poignant, while he takes on the other with bomber support. The 12 remaining Ephesus bombers began to strafe the Xerxes with their deadly payloads, multiple secondary explosions burst from the Xerxes, and it began to veer out of control. Zoomed in on their hull, John could see cargo and people being sucked out into space. The Poignant revved it's engines and the UCF fighters began to return to their last remaining ship, lest they be left behind. Taking off the helmet and allowing his eyes to adjust to the light, he handed the helmet back to the gunner, and headed back to the Command Deck to check out the aftermath of the battle. Everyone was gathered around the table, all facing Abrams as he walked down the ramp towards them, applause sounded through the room, followed by a few cheers. Sage stepped forward, "Well done Captain, well done." \
Abrams was astonished, as well as, confused, "Thank you Sir, but what is going on here!"
"Well, Abrams, you've just gone through the most advanced simulation ever conceived by the folks at the Proving Grounds. And I'm pleased to announce that you have achieved very high marks. The cloaking of the ship whilst in battle was brilliant, though next time you decide to do so, Lt. Grenaya asks that you just say please."
"So the whole attack and the 12 dead people in Engineering was faked?"
"Yes it was, and with a bit of acting on Shifty's part, and the excellent SFX from Vaulkner, we couldn't have done it without them."
"Well, alright then....Thank you Sir, I was just doing my duty."
"Good, that's what I expect from you and.." turning to the rest of the officers, "That's all I expect from each of you here, as well. We'll be resupplying at Docking Bay 3, on board Waterloo Station, for minor repairs."
"So we did still take some damage during the simulation?"
"Yes, we had to smash a few of our new viewers for realism and we have to refuel a bit, because we hadn't quite filled our tanks for cloaking endeavors.. So get me the night shift and you all can have the rest of the day off." A hearty round of 'Thank you, Sirs' and salutes went round the Command Deck, then the officers prepared their equipment for switching shifts. Sage took the young Captain aside, "Capt. Abrams, I would like to talk to you about Airlock 5."
Abrams played innocent, "Of course, Sir. What's the matter with Airlock 5?"
"Nothing is wrong with it, it's just that it was activated during the simulation, during the five minutes in which you weren't in Engineering or Generator Room 3. What did you need to get rid of Captain?"
"Well Sir, I don't think we should discuss this in such an open space. I'm not supposed to let anyone else know about it either, but Command told me if we were to be attacked by UCF forces to launch a beacon, with a special 'Message' inside...Sir, since we weren't really attacked. Would you mind if I took a shuttle out to retrieve the beacon. The last thing we need is a false alarm, and I'm afraid if the beacon is found by anyone but me, then we'll have major political turmoil on our hands." Sage looked directly at Abrams, "Captain, you can have anything you want, on one condition."
Abrams bravely interrupted him, "If you want me to tell you my mission, I'm afraid I can't do that Sir. All I can tell you is, we need to get back to Phillipi as soon as possible." "Alright, you get your beacon back, while I prepare the ship to Jump back to Phillipi. But we are still going to resupply the ship and fuel it to top capacity and I do have an errand on board the station."
"Fine. I'll be outside if you need me." Going to full attention and saluting, Sage and Abrams shook hands once again, before parting ways....

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