The Forbidden Zone....Home of The OrangeBox, keepers of Skully, an ancient, quartz crystal skull.

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(OB-A03) Captain Solomon's first command
A cautionary tale of human evolution and destruction.
Date posted: 15, April, 2003. By Divina Swan.
This article © 2003: OrangeBox, and must not be used without permission.

Mark Solomon sat alone in the forward observation cabin of the star cruiser, Excaliber. This small, dim-lit room afforded spectacular views of the unfolding heavens as they slipped silently past the window. It also provided him with a welcome oasis of calm, amidst the frantic activity of a crowded star cruiser. Even when not on duty, Mark insisted on receiving regular status reports. He was expecting the young officer who interrupted his thoughts, and listened intently to what he had to say.

'Captain!' The title still chaffed a little, like new shoes, on Mark's shoulders. Only a few short years ago, he himself had been an up-and-coming officer dreaming of his first command. Now, he was the Captain of a Class IV star cruiser.

Sensing his movement, the captain's chair reacted immediately. Its syno-flesh pads seamlessly adjusting to match each contour of his body. Turning his attention back to the viewing screen, Captain Solomon looked again at a fuzzy cluster of distant stars. Although still some 40 light-years away from the grey smear, he was already intimately familiar with the system. His craft had sailed deep into a far corner of the Council's jurisdiction and was heading still further out into the dark folds of space. The great nebulae in Orion was behind them as steady progress was made towards a small, insignificant ball of rock called 'EB41-6X1.'

But not completely insignificant; In fact, and much to Mark Solomon's gratitude, recent events on this small planet situated in the back-waters of nowhere had conspired to place a golden opportunity into his hands. However, this commission carried with it a grave responsibility. The Council had been in existence for almost 15 billion years, but only twice previously in this time had it sanctioned a mission of this nature. The eyes of all Member Planets were observing the craft's progress, on his progress.

Just then, Admiral Cantordez entered the room and sat next to the Captain. A tri-gill, amphibiod from the water-planet, Amelior, the Admiral was held in high esteem by his superiors due to his vast experience and legendary diplomatic skills. The Council had appointed him as their representative and official recorder of the mission. Captain Solomon was more than a little bit pleased to have such an individual as advisor. Lowering the sensor of his translator, the Admiral spoke.

"Good evening, captain. Our objective grows ever closer and I wondered if I could perhaps trouble you for your thoughts on this particular commission. Are you aware of the circumstances leading to the Council's sanction?"

"Well," replied Mark "The annihilation of an entire species is not to be undertaken lightly. I sit in this chair only because no other Commander wished it on their conscience. All I know is that I am to oversee the complete absorption of sub-virus XKA-3221B from planet EB41-6XI. However, I will perform these duties to the very best of my ability, Sir."

"Captain, your account is not entirely accurate. As you may be aware, this is to be my last official position. Captain Richmond will soon take over my duties and your own promotion is due entirely to merit. Indeed, it is a singular honour that the Council has deemed you suitable to command such a sensitive and rare mission. Let us speak of EB41-. 6XI. It is a small, life-bearing planet orbiting a Class II, yellow sun. One of several million such bodies found in quadrant, Z1-X. It became noteworthy when our remote probes started to indicate that its dominant species, XKA-3221B, was likely to be the first in a 400 light-year radius to fulfil The Criteria." continued the Admiral.

'The Criteria!' Yes… Captain Solomon looked over at the Admiral. Although his home planet was very different Mark's, and millions of miles away, the development of both bore striking parallels. An increasingly savage spiral of local squabbles, regional power struggles, civil wars, continental struggles and finally, world wide conflict had brought both species to within a whisker of destruction. Fortunately, the pen proved mightier than the sword and each planet, eventually, formed a global system of government. The head of this government, one man, could speak on behalf of an entire planet. 'That' was The Criteria! At the very first gathering of the new global government, an agent from the Council materialised with an invite. Of course, no one ever refused the invite. The benefits of membership were simply too good to miss and there were no drawbacks.

Mark's home planet received its own invite from the Council less than 1,000 years ago. At a stroke, the mysteries of religion, mysticism and the supernatural became transparent. 'Spirits' were hackers, unauthorised intruders. Their illegal communications served one of two purposes. They were either in favour of the Council's imminent invite and coaxed the inhabitants towards an understanding of the worlds' true potential. Or were against the invite, doing their best to throw discredit on the planet by transmitting disruption and mischief. The concept of religion was propagated by agents of the Council, who, although forbidden from declaring their true purpose were empowered to nudge a species in the right direction. The very real benefits, in life, that becoming a member of the Council entailed were all veiled behind the abstract concept of bettering oneself in-lieu of eternal rewards after death. The Word of all religions was 'Love.' In 'Love' all things unite, which was after all, the whole point. One had to admire the Council's choice of clue, and its method of dissemination. U.F.O.s did exist, they were Council watchers observing the planet's progress. There was life on other planets: The Cosmos teemed with it. But all communication with a planet not yet fulfilling The Criteria was strictly prohibited.

'That must have been quite a day,' Mark mused. 'The day everything changed.' Turning to the Admiral, he said.

"Believe me, Captain, XKA-3221B has exhausted the patience of the Council. They have dispatched no less than 27 agents to assist it at one time or another: All failed. Such was the degree to which this planet was favoured, unauthorised communications were tolerated and even -allegedly- encouraged, but to no avail. It is a long established fact that certain species are incapable of evolving sufficiently to meet The Criteria. If this were the only relevant factor, planet EB41-6XI would have remained an inconsequential statistic. However, as this scan shows,"

The Admiral paused to activate his wrist-com and immediately a large hologram of planet EB41-6X1 appeared in front of the two men.

"Beautiful, is it not?" He continued. "But look, there, the species in question has established a small community. It is usual for life to develop a dynamic equilibrium within its environment: But not this species! It breeds and breeds and breeds, forming vast hives. When the natural resources of a location are utterly exhausted it moves on and repeats its cycle of destruction. The characteristics of this creature are very similar to those of a virus and it is now regarded as a contagious disease. Recently, the Council downgraded its classification from' species' to 'sub-virus.' You are witnessing the spread of a virulent cancer that has infected an entire planet. The risk of contamination to Member planets is unacceptable, hence your commission to absorb this filthy abomination, forever."

Captain Solomon felt a slight pang of regret towards a life form his command would soon extinguish Zooming into the hologram he examined a single specimen, and winced. His 17 years of service had accustomed him to the sight of a diverse variety of physical forms. Indeed, his own crew included individuals drawn from 6 galaxies and 14 different classifications of creature. But this virus was singularly unpleasant. Mark knew well what it was capable of, the carnage unleashed if it were to be accidentally released on his own planet was unthinkable.

X The following morning, Captain Mark Solomon and Admiral Cantordez stood, side by side on the bridge of the star ship, Excaliber. Prompted by an image of the Supreme Head of the Council, the pair typed an activation code into the central console. Acutely aware of the gravity of their actions, the usual clamour and activity in the craft's control room was wholly absent. All members of the crew sat silently at their stations.

"Code accepted and ratified, Sir" The voice of Science Officer Klingsor punctuated the terse silence.

Captain Solomon peered into his monitor. The virus currently infecting planet EB41-6XI had no idea that it was now breathing a gene-specific nullification spore. Its ability to reproduce would be lost within four solar rotations and the species would die out completely in less than 100 cycles. None of the many other, long-suffering life forms on the planet would be affected by the spore; other than the great benefit of not having to share their space with such a destructive organism.

Even before his craft docked back at the Council's central station, Captain Solomon received new orders. His first command had been a real success in every sense of the word. Right now, the entire population of Galactic Quadrant Z1-X, were breathing a collective sigh of relief. Admiral Cantordez had passed a most favourable report to the Council, who upgraded Mark's command status from 'provisional' to 'accepted' and increased his rating to include Class VII cruisers. All that remained was for him to complete his Mission Log. The Council demanded high standards and Captain Solomon was not about to fail in such a minuscule detail of his first command. Only two boxes still required an entry. In addition to the Council's official terminology, the log requested that local sector, or pre-Criteria names of all relevant items were also included. Turning to his Science Officer, the Captain said.

"Mr Klingsor, could you access local sector nomenclature for items EB41-6XI, and XKA-3221B."

"Captain, planet EB41-6XI is colloquially known as 'Earth.' Sub-virus XKA-3221B are referred to as 'humans.'"