by PP Corcoran
All three men smiled before John ushered them out. “Make it happen, minions, while I compose a message to Admiral Vadis detailing our daring and courageous plan.”
All three men had a laugh at that, before Talbot and Murray headed off and John headed for his quarters.
#
Charon Base - Orbit of Pluto - Sol System
Lt. Cmdr. Elizabeth Wilson entered the office of Admiral Aleksandr Vadis. He was leaning into his holo pickup with a finger pointed like the barrel of a plasma rifle and she could hear him shouting at some unlucky soul.
“No, I don’t think you understand. Look at my face and tell me that you want me to come and visit you in that nice plush office of yours in Geneva and kick you so hard up the arse that my boot will come out of your mouth. Do you understand me now?” Vadis waved her to a seat with his other hand out of view of the pickup, and she sat down and patiently waited.
Elizabeth could only make out a mumbled apology from whoever was at the receiving end of the Admiral’s displeasure.
“Good. Now if I have to speak to you again about this matter it will be in person and my voice will be the last human voice you hear, because for the rest of your living, breathing days all you will hear is the sound of penguins mating.” And with that, he cut the connection.
“Motivating the troops again then, sir?”
Like night turning to day Vadis’ face broke into a large smile. “Commander, I would never motivate someone under my command in such an overbearing fashion. A political weasel, on the other hand, is in need of much more of a... hands-on approach. So to business, Elizabeth. Has anyone in intelligence been able to make any headway with the information the Henry Hudson has provided us with?”
“Sir, it is their considered opinion, and I must agree with them, that the ship that Captain Radford has encountered and subsequently identified as belonging to that of the alien race which the Saiph were at war with, is indeed what it appears to be.”
This came as no surprise to Vadis. Having examined the data from the Henry Hudson’s courier drone, the images had been unmistakable.
“The fact that we now have indisputable proof that this group of aliens are still out there, taken alongside the Alcubierre Drive, with its potentially massive energy output for weapons systems, the boys and girls down in intelligence are having kittens.”
Again this came as no surprise to Vadis. He may be an admiral working out of an office, but over the years he had gained a healthy respect for a potential enemy’s weaponry. “Has Dr Moore’s team at Haslett Research Station been able to give any insights into this Alcubierre Drive’s performance?”
Elizabeth consulted her PAD. “As Chief Engineer Taylor stated in his initial brief to Captain Radford, Haslett had been working on a drive of the same principal but it was all shelved with the discovery of the Gravity Drive. Doctors Moore and Hayes are reviewing our research and using it to try and get a handle on that used by these aliens.”
“What of Dr Bath at Stickney? Has she not been able to at least give us a name for this group of aliens yet?” asked Vadis,
“It would appear, sir,” replied Elizabeth, “that the Saiph only seem to refer to them as ‘The Others’.”
“What the hell does that mean, Elizabeth?” said Vadis. “How more cryptic can the Saiph get? No home star system? Not even a general location?” Vadis let out a deep sigh. “They were fighting these ‘Others’ for hundreds, if not thousands, of years and the best they could come up with was ‘The Others’!”
Elizabeth waited as Vadis calmed down. “It would appear so, sir. I would remind you that Dr Bath has so much data to go through in the Saiph database – even when it is organised for ease of access – that she is simply swamped and her research is going to take time,”
“Time, Commander,” Vadis said almost to himself, “is something which we may find ourselves in short supply of if ‘The Others’ are able to pinpoint Earth.” Vadis sighed again. “Please ensure courier drones are dispatched to the other Vanguards bringing them up to speed on what the Henry Hudson has found and our conclusions at this time.”
“Yes, sir.” Elizabeth stood up and left.
Once the door closed, Vadis sat still for a few minutes contemplating his next move. Coming to a decision he pressed a control on his desk. The face of a young ensign appeared in his Holo cube.
“Communications, sir. Ensign Davies.”
“Ensign, get me a secure priority link to Admiral Jing.” Time to bring Chrysaor up to speed.
#
TDF Henry Hudson - 4 AUs above Planet II of 70 Ophiuchi
Radford sat in his command chair as TDF Henry Hudson sat still in space, four astronomical units or 598,400,000 kilometres from Planet II of 70 Ophiuchi. It had taken another ten days of shadowing Bogey One before it settled into a geosynchronous orbit around the planet. The orbit obscured Bogey One from the Henry Hudson for half the planetary day; but as promised, the gathered intelligence was worth it.
From their position, the crew of the Henry Hudson had a great view of Bogey One sending its shuttle equivalent to the surface of Planet II. Sensors had identified four shuttles used almost continuously, moving between Bogey One and the same spot on the surface. Within hours of the first shuttle landing, they detected independent power sources on the surface. Tactical surmised that the crew of Bogey One were setting up a permanent base on the planet; a fair assumption John thought. John’s musing was interrupted by a call from Lt. Alexandra Falconer at Tactical,
“Neutrino surge, 275,000 kilometres to starboard,”
Too close, thought Radford. They cannot fail to see us. “Battle Stations, Lieutenant.”
As the wailing alarm sounded throughout the ship, Falconer continued, “Second vessel emerging, designating Bogey Two. Initial sensor readings indicate a vessel of similar shape and size as Bogey One. Wait, wait, wait… Heading change. Bogey Two has changed heading. It is on course directly for us. I am getting strange power indications. Computer’s assessment is that Bogey Two is powering up weapons.”
John had not been chosen for this mission for inability to think on his feet. “Engineering, stand by to fold. Navigation, randomly select a destination from my prearranged list. XO, get the message drone away and a backup if you get time.”
“Chief reports ready to fold. Coordinates locked, Navigation ready.”
John spared a glance in the direction of Carlo Danino; all those hours in the simulator when he first arrived had been worth it for this situation alone.
“In your own time, Carlo.” Danino didn’t even look around. He was looking at the XO who gave a quick nod as the message drone departed.
“Three. Two. One. Fold!” The Henry Hudson vanished from the 70 Ophiuchi system.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Fifty Thousand Light Years
TDF Vasco de Gama - Charon Base - Orbit of Pluto - Sol System
Ruth Witsell could not, by any stretch of the imagination, be said to be in a good mood. The Captain of TDF Vasco De Gama was only five feet two inches tall and of slight build, however, at this precise moment, her bridge crew were avoiding her gaze as if she could strike them down in an instant.
“Lieutenant Winters, have we rectified our small navigational error yet?”
Her navigator, the aforementioned Lt. Winters, checked his board again before taking a deep breath and replying. “Yes, Captain. Our angle of departure is good. The engine room reports ready to fold.”
Ruth knew that it was not really her navigator’s fault – that on leaving the dock at Charon Base the ship had decided that the holding orbit of twenty kilometres should be twenty-five kilometres instead. The Vasco De Gama seemed plagued by a fault in her navigational computer. Neither the crew nor the yard dogs had been able to find the source. If time had been on her side, Ruth would have requested Adm. Vadis to delay her mission to Gama Leporn, some twenty-nine point two five LY distant, until the whole navigation system could be replaced. But Ruth was already three days behin
d schedule.
Ruth had watched President Coston’s announcement, explaining to the citizens of the Terran Republic the mission parameters of Operation Minerva – to visit the seventeen known systems in the Saiph database. Ruth also observed the news Media’s clamouring to get to Charon Base, to see for themselves how billions of Feds had been spent. It only reinforced her decision to lobby Adm. Vadis to release the Vasco De Gama and send it on its way.
Ruth glanced across at her XO, Cmdr. Ronald Hopkins, who gave her a silent nod of agreement. Ruth addressed her navigator. “Very well, Mr Winters. Let’s be on our way.”
“Aye aye, ma’am. Fold in three, two, one… fold.” And with that, the Vasco De Gamma ceased to be in Sol space.
The transition into and out of fold space should have been seamless, but it certainly wasn’t for Ruth. She suddenly felt groggy, the ship seemed to have bucked like a wild horse. As she looked around the bridge, she saw that the entire bridge crew seemed shaken in a similar fashion. The sound of an alarm blared into her consciousness, that was the proximity alarm. “Navigation, report!”
Winters was, just now, beginning to react. “Ship is tumbling, correcting now, and a large object near, portside fifty-two thousand kilometres, moving away from us now.”
Ruth’s mind raced. They had been due to come out of fold space some twenty parsecs from the edge of the Gama Leporn system. So what could be out this far? Some rogue comet perhaps? She noticed that Winters was still working furiously away at his station.
“Problem, Mr Winters?” Winters appeared to ignore her. Ruth raised her voice and pointedly announced “Mr Winters! Is there a problem?”
Winters turned to face her with a look of shock. Before he could say anything, the urgent voice of Lt. Alice Balerno at Tactical rang out,
“Captain! Passives are picking up energy readings, lots of them!”
Ruth spun to face the holo cube “Bring it up, Guns.” Ruth used the ancient nautical term for her tactical officer without thinking. Immediately, the holo cube filled with a primary, the system’s sun and eleven planets orbiting. Two in the life zone on opposite sides of the primary, one close in, closer than Sol’s own mercury. Wouldn’t that be a nice place to visit? And eight extending out from the life zone to just beyond the orbit of where Pluto should be.
The two planets in the life zone were scattered with red blotches indicating where artificially generated energy was and, more interestingly, there were red dots orbiting both planets.
Artificial satellites perhaps? Hold on – was that one moving? By God, it was! Ruth realized. One of the energy signs was undoubtedly moving between the two planets. This civilization is spacefaring!
“Captain?” the XO called.
Ruth turned to face him, but Hopkins only pointed towards where Lt. Winters was, still staring at his Captain with a pale face.
“Mr Winters, report!”
Winters hesitated for just a moment. “Captain, this is not Gamma Leporn,” he rushed on. “I have checked and double checked: this is definitely not where we should be.”
Noting the doubtful look Ruth was giving him, he continued. “Captain, according to the Saiph database this system should only consist of seven planets.” Ruth looked again at the holo cube and the eleven planets it was undoubtedly displaying,
Damn, why hadn’t she seen the obvious? “Continue, Mr Winters,” she said.
“All I can put it down to is the error in the navigation computer that we couldn’t track down, it must be exponential. When we left the dock, it took us twenty-five kilometres to a parking orbit instead of twenty kilometres... Ma’am if I work on this ratio it would mean that instead of traveling the twenty-nine point two five light years to Gamma Leporn, the navigation computer has travelled an extra five kilometres for every twenty we’ve travelled - twenty kilometres becomes twenty-five kilometres, sixty kilometres becomes 144 kilometres and so on,” Winters paused, looking at his now worried captain,
“Go on, Mr Winters,” Ruth said with more conviction than she felt.
“Ma’am if my math is correct, we are actually somewhere in the Messier 54 Cluster, some fifty thousand light years from home.”
The stunned silence was broken by a small gasp from Lt. Ben Leopold at communications. Years of training did not fail Ruth. She had not been chosen for Minerva for her lack of decisiveness.
“Navigation! I need an exact fix soonest.”
Winters responded as if he had been struck with a cattle prod. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Tactical I need to know A, your best guess if we have been detected; and B, get together with Bio and Mechanical Sciences – I want an estimate in comparison with Earth on the level of technology of this system.
“Aye aye, Captain.”
“Engineering, complete system-wide check. Fifty thousand light years is a long way to come and I want to know if we did any damage.”
“Aye, Captain.”
Finally, Ruth turned to Cmdr. Hopkins. “Ronald, coordinate the department heads. I want answers and I want them quickly. Not at the expense of mistakes: more speed less haste. When navigation have a good fix on where we are exactly, I want you to plot a series of folds to get us home. Plot them manually, so you better dust off those navigation brain cells I know you used to have.”
Hopkins’s facial expression showed just how much work manually plotting folds would take. The yard dogs would answer for this, Ruth thought to herself. If Hopkins did not get to them first.
“XO, I’ll be in my cabin.” With that, the bridge erupted into action. Ruth stood and went through the bridge hatch. The marine on duty was standing smartly to attention, as if he could fail to notice the activity on the bridge.
“Thank you, Marine,” said Ruth as she strode down the corridor to her cabin. A second marine came to attention as if on a parade ground. “Marine, give me ten minutes then I would like to see Major Egnorov.”
“Aye aye, ma’am.” Ruth entered her cabin and sat herself down on the chair behind her desk. Fifty thousand light years, an unknown civilization, a crew looking to her for leadership and direction. Ruth felt herself smiling. This is why she loved command. Now, if only she knew what to do next.
#
All told, the majority of the answers demanded by Ruth of her crew took the better part of three and a half hours. But now she was here, gathered with her heads of department in the briefing room of the Vasco De Gama ready to hear those answers.
Ruth looked at her XO, Cmdr. Hopkins “XO?”
Ronald Hopkins cleared his throat. “Captain, before I start I would like to point out that the departments are working with the minimum of data. I decided on variables which were used in some decision-making processes and some of those variables are only my best guess.”
Ruth smiled at her haggard-looking second-in-command, “Understood, Ronald. I consider your best guess to be better than some peoples facts so please continue.”
Hopkins gave Ruth a tired smile of his own before continuing. “As you know, ma’am, due to an error in the navigational computer we are some considerable distance from where we should be.” This brought a nervous chuckle from those gathered at the table.
“Mr Winters, using a hand comp and some math that I was never taught at school…” Ruth could see that young Lt. Winters redden slightly around the cheeks. “… was correct in his original estimation of fifty thousand light years. He has narrowed it down to 48,975, but I wouldn’t hold 1,025 light years against him.”
At this point Winters’ whole face went red and it appeared that something on the deck at his feet had him completely engrossed. Ruth could not help let a small laugh escape from her. “I think we shall forego the keel hauling on this occasion, XO.”
Hopkins said in deadpan seriousness. “The Captain is too lenient.” This time there were various snorts from around the table, and, if possible, Winters turned an even brighter red. “But I digress, Captain. We appear to be just outside a solar system consisting of some eleven plane
ts. We know two are inhabited. Our current position puts us about sixty-one degrees above the elliptical plane; so we are in a very good vantage point to observe the system. As best as we can tell, there has been no reaction to our presence yet. In the three-and-a half hours since our arrival, we have noted some forty-six vessels moving between the two planets that displayed energy sources. From the speed of the vessels, we estimate a traveling time in the region of eleven months between the two inhabited planets. Further, we have noted that planet Messier A, as we have designated it, currently the planet furthest from us has substantially more energy sources than Messier B. Bio-Mechanical Sciences theory is that either planet B is less advanced than A or, and I will explain my thinking, that planet B is a colony of A.”
“Your thinking for this, Commander?” asked Ruth.
Hopkins paused for a moment as if gathering his thoughts. “The emissions of planet A, although more numerous are of varying strengths and types, some more efficient than others; whereas those on planet B are virtually all of the same strength, type and efficiency.” Ruth nodded her understanding. “Those on planet B are similar in manufacture and being more efficient than the vast majority on A would indicate newer manufacture to a higher standard, i.e. you would send your best most efficient to a start-up colony.” Hopkins smiled. “That’s how I see it, ma’am.”
Ruth looked across at Major Egnorov who had the smile of a cat who had just caught the mouse with the cheese. Hopkins, slightly perplexed by the exchange between his captain and the marine, continued. Considering the type and efficiency of the energy sources, the apparent transit timescale between planets A and B, the spectrographic analysis of the respective planets’ atmospheres for pollution, radiation and so on, along with electronic eavesdropping of broadcasts in the electromagnetic band, I believe that we could safely place this civilisation as equivalent to pre-World War III Earth.” As Hopkins studied his captain’s reaction, he could not help but notice the small smile that crossed her lips and, if possible, the smile on Egnorov’s face got bigger.
