Rise of the Altered Moon: Altered Moon Series: Book One (The Altered Moon Series 1) (6 page)

Chapter Seven

Canalar was one of the original outposts for The Marlacuer Stellar Empire, but as the Empire grew, Canalar lost its military significance. The system had very little of value: no lush and beautiful planets, no precious metals or valuable ores. It stood on the border of a region of space known as the Devil’s Veil, a black cloud nebula that covered parsecs of space. The nebula’s interference dispersed any scans or sensors and reflected nothing back. No physical matter of any kind had been discovered, nor had the far side ever been reached.

Canalar was the proverbial last stop; like the desert fuel stations of ancient Earth, you expected to see a sign that said “Last Gas For Ever” as you pulled into orbit. The planet even looked shabby from space. Gigantic dust storms and stratospheric haze obscured the planet’s surface features. Far out from any other major system, the only people who came to Canalar were researchers, explorers, and people who needed to
not
be somewhere else.

The spaceport on Canalar was able to handle a ship the size of the
Altered Moon
, but Boss knew the planet’s atmosphere would be hard on the ship’s more sensitive filters. The
Altered Moon’
s shuttle,
Lunar Mare,
however, could handle the dust and high winds with no problem. Besides, the idea of having the
Moon
and all the crew planet side in this particular situation didn’t sit well with Boss.

Boss, JP, Hali, and Gar took CJ down to the planet in
Lunar Mare
, while Trigger and the others stayed in orbit with the
Altered Moon
. The trip down to the surface was not far from normal where the flight procedures were concerned. Velocities, air speeds, and entry angles all had to be right so the ship wouldn’t burn up or bounce off. Canalar’s atmosphere, on the other hand, was not so normal. The winds of the Coriolis Effect brought dust and particulates from the planet’s arid surface high into the air. Dust particles that floated as high as the stratosphere sparkled as they drifted in the thin air. The sparkling particles swirled around in
Lunar Mare’s
wake as she made her way down to the spaceport. Dust storms and high winds made a visual landing a near impossibility on Canalar.

“Switching from visual to ILS, Captain.” JP flipped a switch on his left-hand flight panel that activated the instrument landing system. “I’m picking up the landing beacon, twenty-five kilometers out, sixteen degrees east.”

“Very well,” said Boss. “Alter course and bring us in, Mister Patrick. Initiate landing procedure at outer marker.”

“Aye, sir, altering course.” He banked
Lunar Mare
slightly to the right and then straightened out.

The shadowy bulk of the spaceport appeared and disappeared randomly through the blowing sands as they flew in to the landing docks.

“Approaching the outer marker, Captain,” said JP.

“Reduce speed and prep for landing.” Boss poked the comms icon. “Canalar control, this is
Lunar Mare
, requesting landing clearance. How do you read?”

“Lunar Mare
, Canalar control, we have you on our scopes. Proceed to landing pad dee-zero-niner, repeat, landing pad dee-zero-niner,” came a voice from the comms unit.

“Got it, Captain,” said JP, as a blip marked “D-09” appeared on the nav screen in front of him.

“Copy that, Canalar, we have the beacon,” said Boss. “Set her down, JP.”

“Roger that.” JP flipped switches and monitored readout screens. “Coming up on the pad now…extending landing gear…down in three…two…one…and we’re down. Flight systems disengaged.”

“Thank you, JP,” said Boss. “Canalar control,
Lunar Mare
, we are down and secured from flight operations.”

“Copy,
Lunar Mare
, closing pad doors,” Canalar control responded. “Remain in your ship until air scrubbers have stopped. Filtering masks and eye gear are required for travel outside the spaceport. Current temperature: thirty-five degrees Celsius, wind speed: twenty-two KPH with gusts up to forty, particulate count: two hundred and sixty-five micrograms per cubic meter.”

“Thank y—” Boss said into an already dead comms unit. “Hmm…friendly folks, eh? JP, refuel the
Mare
, restock fuel plates and provisions for the
Moon
. Stay alert and keep the systems on standby until we get back.”

“Roger that, Captain.”

Boss got up from the copilot’s seat and went from the cockpit to the squad bay, where Hali and Gar had already prepped the gear.

“Want weapons, Cap’n?” asked Gar.

“Yes, side arms and stunners…only for the three of us, though. Make sure everyone has scanners,” he said. “Headgear, goggles, and filter masks too,” he added. “Layer up your clothing as well. There’s no need to stand out. Now, listen up. It’s always the simple things that go wrong in the biggest ways. We babysit this guy until he makes his call, then we’re out…set? Okay, Hali, gear up our guest and let’s take a walk.”

“Here, put this stuff on,” Hali said to CJ as she brought him into the squad bay, “You’ll need it to protect yourself from Canalar’s balmy weather and ample sunshine. Here, hook this over here and the mask will hang out of the way until we get outside the spaceport.”

“Clear to disembark, Captain,” JP said over the comms.

“Copy that, JP. We’ll contact you on return,” Boss said back. “Gar, hit the door.”

Gar reached over and pulled up the double pivoting arm that sealed the outer hatch. The hatch door hissed slightly and swung away as a short ramp dropped down to the landing pad floor. A whiff of dust and ozone was still in the air, left behind when the scrubbers removed the particulates from the now-enclosed landing pad. The four of them stepped down the ramp into the dimly lit landing bay. The ambient light in the room came only from
Lunar Mare
and the illuminated hatchway to the spaceport terminal.

Light came streaming in the doorway as Gar pulled the entry door open. The D terminal was deserted, not a soul in sight. Dust, which on Canalar was perpetual, covered everything from the floors to the wall readout panels. A section of corridor lighting randomly shorted on and off with a snapping buzz, giving the place a spooky overtone.

“My guess is that the Imperial inspectors don’t get out this way much,” Boss said concerning the dilapidated conditions of the spaceport.

“Main terminal’s that way, Gar.” Hali slapped Gar on the shoulder, indicating she had no problem with him taking point.

“Ha! Nice, Hali, nice.” Gar smiled and nodded his head. “All right folks, if you’ll step this way to beautiful downtown Canalar.” He finished with an extravagant flourish of his hand.

“Downtown Sindar, actually,” Boss said. “The planet is Canalar. The city is called Sindar. No comms panels down here whatsoever. Let’s head to the main terminal.”

They headed down the spooky corridor and around the bend. A pressure door buzzed and hissed as it slid open when they approached. The main terminal wasn’t in much better condition than the arrival terminal. There was no baggage area, no comms center, no security office, not even a guard. A barred-off alcove with a door on the back wall had a sign that had, at one time, said “Information.”

“Let’s try over there,” said CJ.

Automated marketing panels came awake as they moved across the room, touting the few services and amenities that could be found in Sindar. CJ pushed a dust-covered call button beside the barred alcove. A buzzer went off in the distance and an overly pleasant message announced “Your business is important to us. Thank you for your patience and someone will be with you shortly.” It ended with a brief jingle. They waited for several minutes with no response. CJ pushed the button again, which got them a replay of the overly pleasant message. A door slammed somewhere in the distance, then some scuffling and what sounded like two people talking. The rear door of the alcove quickly opened partway and a quite unkempt old man popped a scraggly grey-haired head out of the opening.

“WHAT?” he screamed, looking at them with deep-set crazy old man eyes under thick grey eyebrows.

“Hello…ah…I need to send a comms to…” CJ tried to say.

“No comms here!” he screamed at them.

“Where can we go to—” Boss tried to ask.

“Go? Yes…go…away!” he said and slammed the door with the final scream.

They could hear the old man rant and rave until a door slammed in the distance and the group was left standing in the dusty terminal.

“Huh,” CJ said. “That was productive. I’m gonna look around a bit, see if I can’t find a working comms panel.”

“You won’t,” Boss told him. “Looks like the landing bays are the only things being maintained around here.”

“What happened to this place?” asked Hali.

“Canalar used to be a major research post when the Devil’s Veil was first discovered,” Boss said as he looked around. “The Empire poured billions of credits a year into researching the Veil, sure that the discovery of the millennia was just around the corner. Famous scientists and members of the royal family made piercing the Devil’s Veil their pet project. They wasted decades only to discover nothing. Once the novelty wore off, Canalar was no longer important. It was all left behind and forgotten.”

“Here’s a map, over here,” called out CJ. “Is this Sindar?”

“Yes,” said Hali.

“Look.” CJ pointed to a spot on the map. “There’s an MT&T office here.”

“That’s on the other side of the city,” Gar grumbled. “About seven kilometers. I hope there’s some kind of transportation in this shit hole of a city.”

“What’s the matter Gar-zie,” teased Hali, “not up for a little planet-side walk? Eh, Space Boy?”

“Up yours, Stacatto,” he retorted. “I can outwalk you any day.”

“The exit is this way.” Boss made his way to an escalator that pretended to be a staircase.

The group followed, traveling down a short corridor that led to an inner door of an antechamber designed to keep out the ever-present dust and sand of Canalar. The heavy door slid open with three loud beeps and the grinding noise of sand trapped between moving surfaces. The small room was also the last spot to prep personal gear for protection against the outside elements. A sign over the outer door that alerted the reader to secure protective gear before exiting the spaceport came to life. A hand-shaped icon flashed on the control panel, indicating the need for interaction before the outer door would open.

“Okay, everybody, headsets and filter masks on,” said Boss as he looked over his crew. “JP?” he said into the comms.

“I’m here, Captain.”

“No joy on sending a comms from the port. We’re heading to the Merilee office in Sindar.”

“Copy that, Captain,” JP answered from the shuttle. “Ship is refueled and provisions are loaded, but what they had wasn’t much.
Lunar Mare
is standing by.”

“Roger that,
Lunar Mare
. Comm check in two hours…Keltzer out.”

“Copy last…good hunting…
Lunar Mare
out.”

“Everybody set?” Boss asked. Everyone nodded in response. “Gar, Hali, first and third.” The command referenced the ancient Earth game of baseball and indicated he wanted them take up ready positions at each side of the door.

“Roger,” they said as they moved into position.

CJ watched the team as they spread out and took their positions. “Artifact traders my ass” he muttered too low for the others to hear. An uneasy tingling on the back of his neck made him begin to wonder just what was really going on. He watched as Boss palmed the flashing panel that triggered the inner door to beep three times and slide closed before the outer door opened. A growing blast of sand and dust streamed in as the two door panels split apart.

The group moved out of the building and into used to be the street. Drifts of sand spilled out from between the buildings and flowed in every direction, pushed by the constant winds. No vehicles were even in sight, which was extremely limited.

“Looks like we’re walking.” Boss’ voice was distorted by the comms unit. “Hali?”

Hali pulled out her scanner and had to use her hand to see the screen better.

“No power signatures nearby that are big enough for off-world comms. The MT&T building is this direction, six point three kilometers out,” she said. “The most direct route will have us there in a little over an hour if we keep moving.”

“Understood,” Boss replied. “Hali, you’re on point. Gar, take the six. Stay in visual. That goes for you as well, CJ. Let’s head out.”

“Copy that.” CJ felt a little bit like a small bird in a big storm, not knowing where he was going to end up when it was done. He was happy that he managed to get that engineering job on the
Istraulis
. It was a crappy bottom-end job, but it was steady work, and he had come to like his workmates. Especially Katy; she had made everything bearable, even enjoyable just by being there. A lump stuck in his throat as he thought of her.

Now, everything had been torn away and turned upside down. He found himself alone in a strange situation with people he didn’t trust. They had treated him well, yeah, but he was sure they weren’t who they said they were. He contemplated his predicament again. Could they really be armed artifact traders?
I don’t think so
.
Probably mercenaries…and what are we doing way out here on the rim?
We’re hell and gone from the Glimmerocks.
I just want to get out of this with my ass intact.
A thousand more thoughts raced through his mind, as he walked along with Boss Keltzer to the Merilee office.