r-Olwen sent, and Sy'Dnar's face appeared on Bradshaw's SID.
"Yes, Captain?"
"Send out a few Wraiths to explore the area. We may have stumbled on the remnants of an old battle. I'd like to know if they were cruisers, merchants, or Ecitoni ships."
"Yes, sir." Sy'Dnar cut the connection.
An hour later, Bradshaw's SID buzzed and Sy'Dnar's face reappeared. "Captain, the Riss were right. My pilots found several merchant ships and several small … cruisers or maybe large combat shuttles in the area."
Bradshaw sent, his mind racing. They were about halfway between the Wave exit and Port Lost—five light-seconds from each. While the shuttles weren't invisible on minimum power, they would be difficult to detect even if someone were scanning the area.
he asked Athena.
She sent a vid of a Riss looking like her surrounded by books, which she was desperately thumbing through. The vid had a hint of amusement.
Bradshaw nodded and clicked on Colonel Sa'Telli’s name. His SID's screen split and Sa'Telli appeared.
"Yes, Captain?"
"Dispatch two shuttles and examine any ships you find in the area. Take a few Riss engineers in each shuttle. The shuttles are to proceed at minimum power, use only passive sensors, and no have communications unless it's an emergency. I would rather the Ecitoni didn't know we were in the area."
"Yes, sir." Sa'Telli clicked off.
"Any instructions for me?" Sy'Dnar asked.
"Keep several Wraiths on alert just in case the space gods get bored." Bradshaw cut the connection. Nadya—Leader Reese, he corrected with a smile—wanted information, and this seemed like a perfect opportunity with minimum risk.
Eight hours later, the Kraits had returned, and Cerberus-1 continued at stealth speed toward the planet.
When Bradshaw entered his conference room an hour later, everyone stood, but no one called attention. He smiled at the difference between SAS and Riss cruisers.
Athena sent.
Bradshaw sent.
she sent with a vid of me lifting a dumbbell with a thousand-pound weight on each end while the Riss were lifting five-pound weights. Bradshaw stood still for several minutes, eyes wide with confusion. Then slowly he nodded—he made decisions that determined the cruiser’s success or failure. Good decisions meant fewer deaths; bad decisions meant many deaths. The Riss performed only their specific functions.
"Colonel Sa'Telli, what did you discover?"
"The shuttles stopped at each of the merchant ships that were at least partially intact, a total of six. They believe there may have been as many as twelve originally. They found no one alive. As we thought, most of the ships were well armed with two to four missile tubes, thirty centimeter lasers, and lots of military-type weapons for the crew. They also found five intact Ecitoni combat shuttles and the pieces of ten to twelve others. They each had fifty centimeter lasers, two missile tubes, and troop capacity of between one to two hundred. And one light cruiser." He paused, giving Bradshaw a sheepish look. "They brought back several dead Ecitoni bodies."
"Excellent, Colonel. That was good thinking. Have them frozen. Maybe the medical staff on the Mnemosyne can get useful information from an autopsy. Do they really look like…ants?"
"Very much so. Of course, much bigger. Sort of like comparing us to monkeys—we bear a resemblance: arms, legs, head, and have similar organs. The same form but different." Sa'Telli tapped on his SID and a one meter hologram sprang to life and slowly rotated a few centimeters above his SID. He was right, the similarities were striking, like looking at an ant under a microscope—nothing he'd like to meet one-on-one even in daylight.
Bradshaw asked as he made his way to the Bridge.
Athena sent with no hint of amusement.
Bradshaw stopped and closed his eyes as if that would enable him to see her. Then shook his head.
he sent.
Athena sent.
Bradshaw sent with a got ya feeling.
He conceded she had a valid argument and wondered if the Ecitoni were one of nature’s checks to keep the universe in balance—hyenas cleaning up the mess.
he sent as he entered the Bridge and took his seat.
* * *
Four hours later, they were within one light-second of the planet and within a half-second of a cylinder capable of holding a good-sized city.
r-Birgid sent with a hint of awe.
Bradshaw agreed. And if there was any doubt, the hundreds of ships coming and going confirmed the damn thing was huge. They stayed in a concentric orbit a light second distant that kept the Mother ship's activities in sight. The mini-cruisers or large combat shuttles looked like a modern version of the old bucket-brigades at a fifteenth century fire—delivering something to and from the Mother ship—a shuttle-brigade. Bradshaw could only speculate: troops to the surface and captives to the Mother ship. He also noticed the steady line of ships dismantling the space station and collecting pieces from another area of debris closer to the planet.
Bradshaw circumnavigated the planet several times, noting areas of activity. On the third day, one end of the cylinder appeared to break off. He watched the VTH in awe as it began to accelerate, passing within a half light-second of the Cerberus.
he sent, knowing it was significant but not sure why.
Several minutes later, r-Brigid sent.
He wasn't sure what he had expected. The measurements confirmed what he thought he had seen, a piece broke off the main cylinder. Well, detached, he mused, since it had engines and was moving towards the Wave.
Five days later, he decided he had seen enough and that nothing new appeared to be happening.