The Expanse

Season 1, Episode 5
“Renewal”

The Zyvians guards were approaching quickly, too quickly.

Arken was starting to get worried. “Any time now, sir!”
Grant was still glancing back and forth at virtual consoles through his
transmitter. “I’m working on it,” he said dismissively.
“You don’t understand, sir! They’ve detected your signal! They’re coming
to kill us!”
One of the guards walked up to the wall outside Arken’s cell and entered a
password into a small panel there. The field at the edge of the cell shimmered
and then disappeared. Arken drew in a short breath.
Suddenly, like an enormous wave hitting him, Arken felt his body
dematerialize and he lost consciousness for a moment. Then he opened his eyes
and a second later and saw his station on the bridge before him.
Arken spun around. All around the bridge officers were near their stations,
looking puzzled. And standing on the platform behind him, smiling calmly was
General Grant.
“You cut that kind of close, sir,” Arken laughed.
But before Preston could answer, the Avenger shook violently. Arken took
his station and read over the sensor display. “The Zyvian battleship is bringing
her weapons to bear on us,” he reported. “I’m also detecting a number of
fighters launching from the other transport ships.”
“Raise shields and power up weapons,” Grant commanded.
“You’re not seriously thinking of taking on that ship, are you, sir?” Arken
asked skeptically.
“No,” Grant said. “I plan on booking it out of here as soon as the engines
are repaired. Unfortunately, the Zyvians managed to disable them with an EM
dampener of some kind shortly after they detected my operations.”
Arken nodded. “Yes, sir. I see.” I just hope they didn’t decide to mess with
anything else, he thought.

“Fire on them!” Zelcor yelled.

From the forward weapons station, a young officer reported, “The ADM
ship has brought weapons and shields online. But we did manage to disable
their engines successfully. They won’t be able to dodge us.”
 On the view screen at the front of the bridge, a number of small yellow
orbs trailed off towards the Cruiser from the Anzavon’s cannons. The Magistrate
frowned slightly. He had wished to have the ADM ship and its crew intact. It was
unfortunate that the commanding officer had found a way to rescue himself and
his friends. Now they would all die…

“Brace yourselves!”
The Avenger’s hull shook fiercely, throwing some of the officers out of
their seats. Sparks flew from a console on the second bridge level and rained
down harmlessly on the General.
“Engine room, what’s your status?” he barked into his com speaker.
Static filled the channel for a moment and then resolved as a voice said,
“They will be ready in four minutes, sir!”
We’ll be dead by then, he thought.
“Lieutenant Arken,” Grant said after a beat. “Prepare to launch all
Starfighters from the main bay.”
Arken looked up from his station, disbelief in his eyes. “Sir, we don’t have
enough ships for all the personnel.”
“I know.” Grant said sternly.
A number of the junior officers on the bridge looked at each other, their
faces pale. What the General had just said was not much better than a death
sentence for them.
“Wait, sir!” Arken was looking excitedly at his panel. “I’m detecting a
number of ships dropping out of hyperspace! They’re ADM!”
Grant raised his head and gazed out the canopy. Several
Cruisers and a small contingent of Starfighters were approaching their position
and intercepting the incoming Zyvian attack ships.
“Sir, the lead Cruiser is hailing us,” Arken said.
The view segment of the canopy turned opaque and an image appeared on
it. Grant stared blankly at the man in the center of it. “It can’t be…” his hoarse
voice strained.
“Hello, Preston.”
Grant’s face lit up. “Adrian! You old dog! What are you doing here?”
Deveston smiled. “It’s a long story, General. We were looking for you and
picked up your signal. It’s a good thing, too. You were nearly out of range. With
your permission, we’re going to tow you to Odyssey 3. I’ll explain everything on
the way.”
The General opened his arms and said with relief, “By all means.”
As three of the Cruisers established tractor beams on the Avenger’s hull,
the rest held off the Zyvian fighters. Soon, the ADM vessels were clear and had
regrouped to enter hyperspace.
 An hour later, Grant was in Deveston’s office aboard the Taurus,
recounting the events of the past day.
“…And so I was able to transport myself, Arken, and the crew back aboard
the Avenger just before the Zyvian guards were able to get to us. I had realized
the engines had been disabled while I was still interfacing with the ship, and I
knew we would be dead in the water. Then you showed up, and the rest is
history.”
Deveston sat back in his chair, gently stroking his chin. “So, Major
Phoenix is dead, then? You’re positive?”
“Last time I checked, decapitation isn’t exactly a nonfatal wound, sir.”
Deveston nodded, his brow furrowed.
Grant was puzzled, “What’s wrong?”
“Well, I must fill you in on my part of the story before you will
understand.” He took a deep breath. “During the initial stages of the battle at
Typhon-42, we on the Menthallion were not doing well. The ship had taken
major fire and our Starfighter squads were losing numbers. Colonel Collins, my
aid, suggested we bring up reinforcements from the group protecting the
Outpost Transports. I objected at first, because I didn’t want to put the OT’s in
jeopardy. But, eventually I saw the logic in his suggestion and gave the order.
“Soon after that, a power conduit exploded right above my chair. I was
thrown a good distance, and when I hit the ground, and I couldn’t move my
limbs. I feared a spinal injury. Then, as I opened my eyes, I saw Collins bending
over me with a hypo-dermal injector. He pressed it to my neck and I passed out.
“When I awoke, I found myself in a rather tight space…one of the
infirmary’s corpse chambers. I beat on the outer door a number of times, and to
my relief, a technician opened the hatch. He was also nice enough to fetch my
clothes, although I’m sure he was quite…disturbed. I learned from him that the
doctors had pronounced me deceased and were preserving me until my autopsy.
As you might imagine, I was very confused. For one thing, I could walk, which
surprised me because of my apparent spinal injury. As an added twist, Collins
had taken command of the Expedition in my place.
“I couldn’t let this go on, so I decided to go right to the source. My former
aid was on the bridge, so I had no trouble finding him. Well, imagine the looks
on my crew’s faces when I come walking in. I swear some of them almost
fainted. The odd thing was; Collins seemed more angry than surprised. This
made sense to me, though. I was beginning to suspect foul play on his part. After
resuming my command, I ordered my loyal aid to be taken into custody and
questioned. After some time, we were finally able to squeeze the truth out of
him.
“You see, Collins was an undercover agent of the ISI. They had decided to
cause my apparent death in order to get one of their other agents aboard the
Avenger and order it on a suicide mission after the Zyvian convoy. He
mentioned something about ‘Tranite’ or ‘Trunite’ or something…”
“Trinite.” Grant said.
“Yes, that’s it. He said the Zyvians had been mining it from the one of the
Typhon-42 planets and it was very dangerous. The ISI had been ordered to
retrieve it at any cost. But now you say Phoenix is dead, and the Trinite is still in
the hands of the Zyvians?”
“You could have pursued that convoy yourself, sir,” Grant said.
“Unfortunately, the ships transporting the Trinite were not among those
you were aboard, General. They must have broken away from the main convoy
some time ago, since we didn’t detect them anywhere within ten light-years.”
Grant nodded. “Makes sense. But what bothers me is why did the ISI put
so much value on the Trinite? Magistrate Zelcor told us himself that it wasn’t
possible to use as a weapon, but was used rather to expose rare forms of
radiation.”
“Lies, I’m sure,” Deveston retorted. “Lies to keep you from going after it.”
The General nodded concededly. “Of course. But I still don’t understand
why you care about the fact that Phoenix is dead.”
Adrian leaned forward in his seat. “Because, General…he’s sitting in one of
my holding cells.”

To Be Continued…