by J. N. Chaney
All I could do was be ready.
I watched through the landing bay shield as we emerged out of the tunnel, finally back in open space. “Everybody load up,” I finally said, looking at my team. “Let’s not waste any time.”
* * *
We had arrived in a system with six planets and a red star. Nothing unusual, but it made for decent training grounds.
I had my team run a few warm up maneuvers to start things off, then I had them break off in teams. Like yesterday, this meant I was stuck working with Freddie again.
“Let’s head behind that planet,” I told him, once the others had moved clear of Titan. “I see a few moons over there. Might be good to use them as obstacles.”
Freddie agreed, although I was pretty sure the poor kid would’ve done that no matter what I suggested. He was eager to learn, and I hoped that might translate into progress.
The world was a class-H planet, totally uninhabitable, covered in nitrogen gas, with a giant ring in orbit. While the planet was impressive enough, the ring was where we’d do most of our training. It contained rocks of varying sizes, some being the size of small moons. Perfect for what I needed.
“Okay, Freddie, listen up,” I said. “I want you to start where you are and follow the path I send you. Got it?”
“Got it!” he repeated, a brush of excitement in his tone.
I brought up the holo, zooming in on one of the larger rocks inside the ring and running my finger along it. The holo glowed with my touch, creating a flightpath for Freddie to follow. It took him within close proximity of about ten rocks, always at a sharp incline, then pulling away before impact. It was dangerous, but his ship would course correct and prevent a collision if he got too close.
“I-I can do that,” he said, almost like he was trying to convince himself, rather than me.
“You’ve got this, Freddie. Just trust your instincts.” I paused, reconsidering my words. “Okay, maybe not your instincts. Trust the training.”
“Right,” he muttered. “The training. Got it!”
I leaned back, watching the dot on the radar that represented his ship, and waited.
It began to move, flying toward the nearest rock. Slowly at first, but gradually accelerating. Good, I thought. Keep building that momentum. No need to take it slow unless you have to.
His ship came in close to the giant rock, but not as far as I’d indicated on the flightpath. I decided not to criticize yet.
If he screwed it up again, then I’d let him hear it.
Freddie accelerated to the second moonlet, diving close again, but this time he actually followed the path as it was, almost to the surface before breaking away. Perfect. He was getting it.
I watched him perform the same maneuver on the third rock, showing some consistency.
After the fourth, I decided it was time to change things up. With a wave of my finger, I altered his course to have him drop a little lower to the surface of the next one, then hug the ground and enter a wide ravine. It was large enough to fix a city, so there would be plenty of area for him to move maneuver.
“Is something wrong?” he asked, a little frantic.
“Just giving you a little extra work,” I said.
He didn’t argue, but kept on the path I’d drawn him, dipping between two cliffs and diving deeper into the ravine.
I was already setting up the next part of his route when I heard his voice. “Captain! Captain, I see something!”
I paused, surprised by the sudden outburst. I sat up in my seat, searching the radar. “Freddie, you okay? Did something happen?”
“No, I’m fine, but there’s something else down here!” he yelled. “I…I think it’s a ship!”
“A ship?” I leaned closer to the holo, searching for any sign of activity besides Freddie, but saw nothing. No other objects moving between the rocks. “Are you sure about that? Is it crashed? Send me a screen.”
“On it,” he answered.
A second later, my holo changed to show the thing in question. A vessel of some kind, clad in white metal, nestled between two gray walls and surrounded by stone. It was half-buried in the ground, with pieces of itself strewn behind it.
I stared at the image for a full ten seconds before I said anything. When I did, it was a message to the entire team. “Everyone, stop what you’re doing and get over here.”
“It’s a little early for the team match to start, isn’t it?” asked Octavia.
“Are you unprepared?” asked Karin.
I forwarded the image to everyone. “Match-up might be canceled until we find out what this is.”
There was a brief silence.
“Is that a ship?” asked Abigail.
“What else could it be?” asked Octavia. “But it’s not Union or Sarkonian. Could it be from Earth?”
“What do you think, Karin?” asked Bolin. “Does it look like the old ships you had on your planet?”
“A little,” she answered, uncertain. “Maybe.”
I brought my ship into close orbit around the moonlet and set it in standby. “Form up and wait a few. I’m getting Athena on this. We’ll see what she says.”
“Are you planning on salvaging it?” asked Octavia.
I shrugged, even though no one could see me. “I guess we’re about to find out.”
Five
“That is a grade-16 network defense drone,” explained Athena. I had her coming in on everyone’s comm, so I wouldn’t have to explain this a second time. “I haven’t the faintest idea what it’s doing out here, however.”
“A defense drone?” asked Abigail.
“Correct,” said the Cognitive. “We are still twelve lightyears from the Abaddon One station. There should not be a drone this far from the border. It is most unusual.”
“Maybe it veered off course somehow,” I said.
“It is possible. The government may have been scouting this system in the hope of expanding Earth’s territory.”
“If that’s true, then why isn’t there a colony here?”
“Unknown,” she admitted. “My information regarding Earth’s expansion efforts are limited to the time before Titan’s launch.”
“Maybe it crashed before it could scout this system properly,” said Octavia.
“Possibly,” said Athena. “I would like to download its data drives for a proper analysis.”
“Maybe we can board it and check its logs,” said Abby.
I cleared my throat. “Athena, is it safe to do that? Do we need to worry about any radiation?”
“My records indicate there are no radioactive materials on this vessel, Captain. Nuclear weapons were banned before the implementation of the defense drone network.”
“Aren’t your records about Earth a bit outdated?” asked Abigail. “Maybe they changed the law.”
“Indeed, it is possible,” said Athena.
“Still, we should suit up properly before going down there,” suggested Octavia. “Even if these drones didn’t carry anything radioactive when Titan left Earth, it doesn’t mean they didn’t alter them later.”
“An astute observation, Ms. Brie,” said Athena. “Let us err on the side of caution, then.”
“That might be tough for Jace,” said Abby.
I scoffed. “I can be cautious.”
She giggled. “Sure, you can.”
I stared at the drone, zooming in on the image. It was beat up from the crash, but otherwise intact. There was no telling how old it was. A decade, a century, a millennium. It was impossible to tell in the vacuum of space, where something could be preserved indefinitely, given the right circumstances.
I thumbed the side of my seat, wondering what we were walking into. Was I making a mistake?
“Suit up, folks,” I said, after a moment. “Let’s go see what’s down there.”
* * *
I stood outside the vessel, wearing my environmental suit, surrounded by gray rocks and the darkness of space. The others were still disembarking
from their own ships when I walked closer to examine the ship’s airlock.
There was no keycard slot or door lock that I could find. “Athena, do you know how to open this?”
“It operates much the same way as Titan’s technology,” she explained. “Do you see the access pad?”
I glanced to the right of the airlock to find a flat, black square. “I think so.”
“Touching it should activate the door,” she said.
“I take it my tattoos are the key,” I said.
“Correct, although you will need to mentally request access,” she explained. “It operates much the same way as your strike ship’s controls.”
“Got it.”
My team had nearly gathered beside me, with only Bolin still approaching from his landing spot. He had to park his ship a farther distance, due to the limited space available.
“This thing is even bigger than I thought,” said Abigail, her voice coming through the comm. “Isn’t this supposed to be a drone? I’ve never seen one so big.”
“Defense drones are built to hold heavy armaments, so they are larger than a typical probe or scouting drone,” explained Athena.
“If this is an automated drone, will there be enough room for us to walk around?” asked Octavia.
“Unless the internal design has changed, I believe so,” said Athena. A light beeped in the corner of my visor screen, informing me that I had a new message. I opened it to find an image of a blueprint. “For your reference,” said the Cognitive.
“Should come in handy,” I said.
“The path is straightforward, but I saw no harm in providing it. Please, proceed when ready, Captain.”
I glanced back at my team. “Everyone ready?”
Bolin had finally joined us. He gave me a nod and a smile.
“We’re all here,” said Abigail.
“Okay, then,” I said, stepping closer to the ship. I reached out and touched the pad, holding my palm there for several seconds.
A soft blue glow emitted from inside my suit, below my eyes. It could only be my tattoos reacting to the controls.
The door cracked, dust falling from between the metal as it moved. It took a few seconds for the airlock to fully open, probably from lack of power. I could only imagine how long this pile of junk had been sitting here.
The inside lights came on right away, illuminating a thin corridor.
The map in the corner of my eye showed my position with a red light, along with the destination in green.
I drew my pistol from my hip.
“Are you expecting a fight in there?” asked Abigail.
I shot her a quick glance. “This thing’s two thousand years old and stocked with weapons from an advanced, ancient civilization that built—” I pointed up at Titan, which was currently floating high above our heads. “—that thing. For all we know, there’s a giant death robot in there, waiting to skin us alive. I’m not ruling anything out.”
“Okay, that’s fair,” said the nun. “Just remember, this is a defense drone and it’s holding a decent number of missiles. If you fire that gun, you could hit one of them and cause an explosion that takes us all with it.”
I stared at her for a moment, then holstered my pistol. “Fine,” I muttered. “No weapons.”
She smiled, giving me a wink.
I turned back to the ship. “Everyone ready?” I asked, taking a step inside. “Let’s see what this thing’s hiding.”
* * *
The corridor was thin with a low-hanging ceiling, making it difficult to move through. This was probably done to save space, since the drone was supposed to be fully automated. That meant more room for weapons and equipment and far less for things like toilets and bedrooms. The corridors and crawlspaces that were here seemed to only exist for human maintenance workers, rather than to benefit an entire crew of permanent residents.
As we moved through the ship, I wondered how long this drone had sat here, waiting silently for someone to come and find it, whether with purpose or by chance. It was lucky we’d found it at all, sitting on a ring in the middle of nowhere, all because Freddie needed extra training. How many more centuries would’ve passed if we’d never come along?
The map in the upper righthand corner of my visor showed our position as we moved. There were two turns ahead, first to the left, then to the right.
I noticed as we proceeded forward that the walls were growing closer. After a few moments, I had to turn and walk sideways, just to get through.
“Hold on,” said Bolin. “I don’t think I can fit through this. It’s too narrow.”
I tried to turn around, but it was too difficult. “What’s wrong? You can’t fit?”
“I’m too big,” he said. “I’ll have to wait outside.”
“I’ll go with him,” said Octavia, who was right behind him. She had no other choice, since she’d have to back all the way out anyway.
“Okay,” I told them. “Wait for us, but take some video of the exterior while you’re out there.”
“You got it,” she said.
Octavia and Bolin began to slowly back their way out of the corridor while the rest of us continued forward. Abigail, Freddie, and Karin stayed behind me as I rounded the first corner. “Everyone, stay close and try not to get stuck,” I said, right as we neared a fallen beam, half-sunk in the corridor.
“That goes double for you, since you’re in front of us,” said Abigail.
I bent beneath the beam, taking my time. “Fair enough,” I said, easing my way to the other side.
Abigail was next, followed by Karin and Freddie. The control room was just ahead of us, about thirty meters down the next corridor.
“What do you think we’ll find down here?” asked Freddie.
“If we’re lucky, maybe some information or records about Earth,” I said.
“But you don’t think so,” said Karin, apparently picking up on my skepticism.
“I like to keep expectations low,” I told her.
Athena’s voice interrupted us. “Captain, you should be nearing the forward control room. Do you see it?”
I raised my light to see an opening straight ahead. “Sure do,” I answered.
“This drone has been forced into hibernation to conserve its power. You will need to reactivate it the same way you would one of the strike ships.”
I eased my way through the opening and into the next area. It was hardly large enough to be called a room. More like a compartment, small and with a slightly taller ceiling than the corridor, but large enough to fit a handful of consoles, each of them along the far wall. They all had an activation pad, similar to the one outside the airlock. “Which one of these should I use?” I finally asked.
“The centermost console will provide full control to major systems,” informed Athena.
“Hold on a second,” said Karin, stepping beside me. She walked closer to the wall, examining the device. “I’ve used one of these before. Do you mind if I give it a try?”
“Suit yourself,” I said, fanning my hand.
Karin touched the pad, and the console responded with a blue activation light. I had to imagine her tattoos were doing the same, although I couldn’t see them from where I was standing. In seconds, she had a menu on the nearby screen, sorting through a directory of commands, all of which were written in the same, ancient language I’d found on both Titan and Karin’s homeworld. “Here we are,” she said, after a moment.
“Find something?” asked Abigail.
Karin turned around. “I have the activation command right here. What do you want me to do?”
“Wait a second,” I said, stepping closer to the screen. “You can reactivate the ship?”
“I think so,” she said, sorting through several more menus. “It seems the drone’s thrusters are still working.”
“Does it say why the ship crashed?” asked Abigail.
“It looks like—” Karin checked over a few more screens, reading carefully. “—here i
t is. It looks like power failure.”
“I thought you said the drone’s thrusters could be reactivated,” I said.
“And didn’t you say it was only in hibernation mode? You’re using the system now, so the power can’t be down,” said Abigail.
Athena answered this time. “This vessel operates in a similar fashion to Titan, relying on solar energy as a backup power supply, should its central power unit fail. In Titan’s case, we rely on a functional Tritium Core. However, smaller vessels such as this one must make use of a series of Fusion Cores.”
I instantly recognized the term. “These ships use Fusion Cores? Aren’t those the same little power batteries your people use in their weapons, Karin?”
“That’s right,” Karin answered. “One of the nearby facilities manufactured them at one point, so our colony had a lot of them.”
“Fusion Cores were still limited to military and defense network units when Titan departed Earth,” explained Athena. “It is not surprising that they grew in popularity as the demand escalated.”
“You mean they weren’t common when you left Earth?” asked Karin.
“Titan was part of the initial wave of colony ships,” said Athena. “The Eternals were still working to mass produce these cores for public use when we departed.”
“So, you think they found a way?” I asked.
“I believe so, but without sufficient information, I could only draw on my own assumptions.”
“In any case, we need to get this working,” said Abigail. “Karin, what do you have?”
Karin flipped through another menu. “The Fusion Cores are down, but the ship has been drawing on solar power periodically, according to this report. If we activate thrusters, they should work.”
“Let’s just focus on powering the rest of the ship first,” I said.
Freddie raised a finger. “Can we do it without the weapons?”
“Good idea,” said Abby. “We don’t want this thing to see Titan and start firing missiles at it.”
“I can do that,” said Karin, quickly browsing through the directory. She found what she was looking for in less than a minute. “Here,” she said, selecting the box. “Weapons are deactivated until I tell the system otherwise.”
I nodded. “Good. Let’s power the other systems, except flight controls and weapons. Leave those alone.”
