The Killing Field

Captain Roth felt the jerk in her stomach that meant that her spaceship was exiting lightspeed. They hadn’t been scheduled to reach the mining site for several more hours. And, when she looked out the large windows that surrounded the bridge, all she saw was an empty field of stars. The only things anywhere near her were a few scattered ships from the mining company that could be seen in front of them.

To their sides and their back, several more ships flickered into being, also dropping from light speed. A sea of dim light illuminated the nothingness. Captain Roth felt a prickle of dread as she turned toward her command module.

The few other officers on the small bridge were all discussing with each other in hushed tones. They all knew that nothing good was happening.

“Lieutenant?” She asked her lead navigator. “What is happening here?”

“I’m not sure.” Lieutenant Spark’s voice was strained like a wire twisted too tight. She pressed an array of buttons in quick succession. There was an increase in the electronic hum of the motors. The ship shuddered, causing people to stumble, but didn’t resume motion.

“There’s some anomaly keeping us from entering light speed. Our quantum fluctuation drive isn’t responding.”

Lightspeed travel was made possible by quantum fluctuation drives, complicated devices that could not be understood by anyone not directly involved in their use. So Captain Roth merely nodded at the Lieutenant’s explanation. For one reason or another, they were trapped.

Captain Roth turned on a distress beacon. She should probably have turned it on as soon as they were yanked from lightspeed. She could only hope that she and her crew would be able to escape alive.

Roth watched sweat bead down Lieutenant Sharp’s face as she pressed a vast array of blinking buttons. “We’ll get out of this, I promise.” She told the Lieutenant.

Lieutenant Sharp’s mouth twitched into a malformed smile. “Like you always do.”

There was a glimmer of light in the leftmost window. Roth spied the tell-tale sparks of laser cannons firing, at what, she could not tell. Just as suddenly as it had begun, the lights went out. Moments passed, where Captain Roth could only gaze upon the scattered other ships. Her tech officers couldn’t coax any of their coms to life. She could only gaze in silence.

Lieutenant Sharp spoke. Her voice was tentative and wavering. “I think that the effect of trapping us here has limited range. If we were able to travel beyond the bounds of its effect, we might be able to enter lightspeed again.”

“And we’d abandon the other ships?”

Captain Roth and her Lieutenant watched as the surrounding darkness was again lit by laser fire, still far off. Roth started her starship’s engines.

Sharp’s shining blue eyes were transfixed on the window, staring out into the abyss. 

Around them, the void of space was constantly lit by laser fire, illuminating scattered ships and… something larger. But the laser fire would always die soon afterward. Sometimes, some of the ships would disappear temporarily. 

The laser fire drew closer, far closer. The flashes illuminated the darkness, and Captain Roth could see the outline of a dark form. She sucked in her breath. The scattered flashes only revealed portions of the behemoth, but they painted enough of a picture: rough scaly skin; sharp talons; an unending wall of flesh; glimpses of bloodshot eyes far larger than her starship. Roth shuddered. 

She watched as the behemoth, for that was the only word to describe it, reached out towards the nearer starships. And then Roth couldn’t see it anymore, as the laser fire died, and everything was black.

There was a flicker of light, and in front of her appeared a large carrier ship. Roth let out a held breath as the help they had called for finally arrived. But, Captain Roth watched as the newly arrived ship blasted the behemoth with its turbo lasers. The behemoth paid them little head. Even with its more powerful weaponry, the carrier ship had little impact.

Roth could see the lights going more quickly. And from the pattern of dying ships, the behemoth was drawing closer. Every time its body was briefly illuminated by the carrier ship’s turbo lasers its figure took up more of the window.

“Lieutenant, how much farther until we can escape to light speed?”

“Maybe eleven kilometers at most?” Her Lieutenant’s voice wavered as she spoke.

“It won’t be long then, we’re almost there.” But her words did little to ease the tremble in her Lieutenant’s hands or the lines that creased her face.

It wasn’t that much farther, that much longer until they’d be able to escape the killing field. But Captain Roth looked back at the path of carnage, at the dozens of other ships, other crews, all dying. And she looked at the behemoth carving a path closer. Captain Roth ordered for their laser cannons to be primed, and aimed. She would secure their fates.

Captain Roth fired the laser cannons not at the behemoth, but at the newly approached carrier ship. Hopefully, her sacrifice would appease the behemoth and allow their escape. The few others on the bridge stood in shock, glancing from Captain Roth to the blown-out engines of the carrier ship. 

“How much longer till we can jump to lightspeed?” Even Captain Roth could barely hear her own words. She repeated them, needing to know that the sacrifice would be worth it, that she hadn’t sold her soul for nothing.

“Five more minutes.” The words were whispered and breathless.

Captain Roth turned and watched as the behemoth stopped to wrap its jaws around the carrier ship. They jumped to light speed as the ship ripped in half.

But she and her crew were safe.