"What the hell was that?" she asked the tech as she pulled an enormous grey mass from her mouth and tossed it into the trash, where it landed with an audible thud.
"VHF call-" the tech started to answer. She didn't let him finish.
"DF it and get the high-gain on it."
He looked at the receiver's signal pattern, swiveling the big high-gain antenna to the approximate direction.
"Best I can do, Chief, until they call again."
Leigh slapped the transmit button.
"Vessel calling Tranquility Two repeat your call."
As she let up, she heard it again.
"Tranquility...Sigm...ing."
Her eyes flared. Did they say Sigma? The tech refined his antenna direction.
"You gonna call them again?"
She shook her head. "If it's really Sigma, they're so weak they have to be a long way off. Several light seconds, anyway, so talking to them is useless until we get them in solid. They're trying to give us something to lock in on."
The receiver barked again.
"Tranquility Two, Sigma calling on one two one point five."
"Oh My God. Ted, call the Admiral and ask him to please get down here. Then call Lieutenant Leonard and tell him what's going on."
"The Admiral and then-"
"Just do it Teddy," she pulled the microphone back to her lips.
"Sigma, Sigma, Sigma, this is Tranquility Two, we hear you on one two one point five. Say position and intentions."
A few seconds later she heard the call again.
"Tranquility Two, Sigma calling on one two one point five."
Then some seconds later.
"Tranquility Two, Sigma calling on one two-"
The voice cut off. Had they heard her?
"Tranquility Two, Tranquility Two, Tranquility Two, this is Sigma. We're about six light-seconds out. Planning arrival 0430 tomorrow."
A smile formed at the corners of the tough Chief's lips.
"They're alive, Teddy, alive!" she stopped shaking the tech by the shoulders and clicked the mike again.
"Sigma, understood. We're pretty excited to hear from you."
"Tranquility, we're pretty excited to be heard."
She had to laugh at that. Admiral Whittaker arrived during that exchange.
"How far?" he asked.
"Six seconds. They say they'll be here 0430."
"Crew report?"
"Sigma this is Tranquility Two, station actual inquires as to crew." There was a long pause.
"This is Warrant Officer Second Powell in command. All our commissioned line officers died in the last attack. We have forty-three survivors, all in good condition."
Whittaker nodded his understanding.
"Roger Sigma, forty-three."
She clicked off and looked back at the Admiral.
"Anything else?"
"No, just welcome home."
"Sigma, actual says welcome home. Good to hear from you."
Twelve seconds later he responded.
"Thanks, Tranquility. It is imperative I meet with Intel immediately on arrival. We have news I can't discuss in the clear."
"Roger that, Sigma. We'll be ready." Whittaker was writing quickly on a SLIP message pad, then handed Leigh the result. "Ok sir, we'll send it."
FLASH 207807101500UTC
TO: CINCFLEET
FROM: STATION TRANQUILITY-II ACTUAL (WHITTAKER)
TOP SECRET
SIGMA REPEAT SIGMA REPORTED IN 1445 THIS DATE WITH 43 SURVIVORS
CW2 POWELL REPORTS ALL LINE OFFICERS KIA
EXPECT HER THIS STATION 0430 UTC TOMORROW
WILL ADVISE WHEN MORE DETAILS AVAILABLE
END
"Holy shit, sir," she said quietly.
"Chief," the old admiral smiled, "I could not have said it better myself."
"Gonna be a helluva story to tell, sir," Communications Lieutenant Ken Leonard commented.
"It sure will, Lieutenant, and I can't wait to read it."
Sigma
Near Starbase Tranquility II
Monday, July 11, 2078, 0500 UTC
The lights of Starbase Tranquility II glowed dimly in the deep night of space. Placed strategically between Inor and Earth, it was far from any bright stars. Technically it orbited the red dwarf Gliese 1, but in fact, just a small Forstmann drive was all it needed to hold more or less stationary in space. Unlike Kapteyn, Tranquility was a sparse, functional place with no luxuries or conveniences. It did have repair facilities, which Sigma was going to need.
Tsubasa Kondo throttled back Sigma's drive well in advance, keenly aware of her battle damage. Two weeks of FTL travel had given David and Kondo and the rest of the survivors time to rest and make some repairs. Their consumables were not badly damaged, so there was plenty of food. The ship had a lot of no-go sections, but they managed to get around to where they had to and adapted to it best they could. They were alive, headed home, and because of that, they could put up with quite a bit.
The SLIP system was gone, but they still managed to fix up the VHF, and as they closed to within a couple light-seconds, high-speed laser-based video communications became possible. David opened the line to Tranquility, and soon the Admiral was on the screen. Admiral Brian Whittaker was short, five-feet-five or less, but his striking face and prematurely silver hair gave him a legendary personal presence, a presence that David could feel even over a video-comm link.
"Mr. Powell, you've done well," he said after David gave a summary of the fight.
Whittaker looked at some documents on his desk and then back at the video link.
"I have some documents here for you, Powell."
Jackson and Gray exchanged surprised looks behind his back.
"Yes, sir?"
"Well, seems Terri Michael got CINC all worked up about you. We'll talk when you get in."
"With respect, that's a little cryptic, sir."
Whittaker smiled slightly.
"This isn't the place." He nodded to the document. "When you get in, Mr. Powell, we'll talk."
"I need to see the Intel section as soon as I can, sir."
"Yes, I've heard a little about that from Admiral Harris. See Intel first and then find me."
The battle damage to Sigma made it impossible to bring the ship into dock. The survivors would have to take shuttles to the station. Once the station's repair crews had secured the worst parts of the damage, they would bring Sigma into the dock, and complete repair work could begin.
"As you say, Admiral. With all the damage forward and midships, we're going to hold at ten klicks, sir. Oh, and, I have no shuttle."
"Need a lift, Mister Powell?" Whittaker asked with humor in his tone.
"It's a long walk in a vacuum, Admiral."
"It is. Call in when you're ready, and we'll get someone out there."
"Thank you, sir."
The link terminated, and David got back to the business of running the ship. Now, as they were closing in, David watched the Nav display. 10.26Km, it showed, then as he watched, the FPI engineers brought her to a stop at the appointed distance, 10.00Km.
David exhaled and slumped a little in his chair, the weight now lifted. Sally reached over and embraced him. He reached a hand to Abe Jackson, who took it sincerely.
"An honor to fly with you," Abe said to both of them.
"And with you," David replied.
Their task was finally done. They had brought back a busted-up ship and some 43 souls to the relative safety of the starbase. David's relief was tempered by the loss of so many, but he still felt good. He left the Intel space and headed for his quarters. He'd get some sleep before heading over to the station.
ISC Fleet HQ Main Conference Room
Ft. Eustis, VA
Monday, July 11, 2078, 0800 EDT
Fleet Public Information Officer Commander Donna Wright was pleased that the discovery at Beta Hydri had remained secret. She had expected someone to leak it any time after the first report of streets wee
ks ago. The conference room would not be very full today. CINC limited this high-level briefing to department chiefs and their deputies. CINC had insisted that they start with a small group and then decide how to roll the news out to the rest of the organization and to the public. It would be sensitive, he knew, and revealing that an advanced civilization, technologically less than 100 years behind Earth, had been wiped out would be frightening. The mitigating factors, such as the small size of the culture, would be lost in the shouting, he knew.
The chairs in the front of the theater would hold the presenters - Terri Michael, Jack Ballard, Carol Hansen, and Marcia Soto would present the results. Others who had been involved, like Ryan Lewis and Denise Long, would also be in the room and available if needed. Jack and Carol had reworked the slide stack, working well into the evening after the pre-briefing with FleetIntel.
PIO Wright was in the theater a half-hour early, checking the setup and performing important quality checks on the coffee and bagels. CINC arrived early, Deputy CINC Yakovlev at his side. Operations Chief Patricia Cook and her aide LCDR Mark Rhodes were also there well before the start time. Everyone, it seemed, was anxious to see the Beta Hydri data for themselves. It was, after all, a shocking development. Ron Harris and his crew arrived just ahead of the scheduled start time, and Ron took his seat at the center front, facing the presenters.
Promptly at 08:00, Ron stood and motioned to the Security techs to lock down the room. After they had stepped out, he began with the required reminder of the classified nature of the briefing. He then turned it over to Antares. Terri stepped forward.
"Good Morning. Antares is prepared this morning to present for you a complete summary of the discovery made at Beta Hydri. My role as Captain in this process was mostly to cheer-lead and provide support and resources. The officers who will present today are the real experts, and we know what we know because of their intelligence, initiative, and dedication to their craft. Mr. Ballard?"
Terri sat as Jack Ballard took the podium.
"I am Senior Lieutenant Jack Ballard, Chief Intel Officer for Antares. First, as usual, Commander Michael throws too much shade on herself and too much sunshine on us. Her leadership was vital to our success."
He opened his folder, and the first slide was displayed. This was a long shot from orbit, the best image from Antares where the streets were clearly evident.
"This was the hook shot that grabbed our attention. That-" he said, indicating the web of streets, "-is clearly not a natural structure."
He went on to show a sequence of Antares' images, including some of the near-sunrise images that proved that nothing was moving. He showed a sequence of a single location in the 'suburbs' in visual, IR, and UV. He showed clearly that nothing was happening. No movement, no heat in the structures, no lights, nothing.
"Did you consider, Ballard, that these might simply be abandoned structures, and the inhabitants have moved elsewhere?" CINC asked.
"We did, sir. We looked up and down the settlement, and we found the same thing everywhere."
He paused for a breath and took a sip of coffee to stall for time.
"There is other life on the planet, sir. We detected some infra-red targets that we assess as small to medium animal life; say, foxes or dogs."
Jack went on to display the map he and his team had developed based on the images collected from Antares. He explained the city and town naming, and how they had come to call the largest central city 'Capital City.'
"How did they get around?" Davenport asked. "If there are streets, that implies to me that there are vehicles to run on those streets."
Ballard nodded.
"Yes, sir, there are wheeled vehicles. We saw several parked among the structures we believe are residences. We were not able to investigate that further."
Jack took a second to clear his throat and take another sip of coffee.
"Here, sir," he said, looking at CINC, "is a view of what we call Main Street in Capital City."
The picture showed a long avenue, pockmarked with wide craters. The buildings were damaged, and many were blackened as if by fire.
"As you can see there is clear evidence of an RFG attack. We also saw evidence of Lazy Dogs."
He pulled up a picture of the pavement with the same pattern of small holes seen at Inor.
"Based on this we concluded that we're dealing with the same enemy as at Inor."
"How wide-spread was the attack?" Fiona asked. "Some of us have wondered if they could carry out a full-scale, global strike with these weapons."
Jack nodded his understanding.
"Yes, they struck the entire settlement, but I must remind you, Captain, that this culture only occupied an area that is something like 2000 kilometers by 400. It's not a global society."
He paused, still thinking.
"Also, ma'am, we cannot put a timeline on the attack - we don't know whether they attacked everywhere at once or in waves. We just don't know."
"Very well. Thank you, Mister Ballard."
Ron Harris leaned forward. "What about weapons?"
Carol got up and stood next to Jack.
"At the Battlefield, we could see evidence of some kind of hand-held weapon mixed in with the bodies, something like a long gun, but when we tried to pick one up with a drone, it fell apart. So, we quit that and would make that a priority when we go back."
"When?" CINC asked.
Carol smiled her brightest at him.
"When - If - whatever."
"Uh huh," he grunted, turning to Cook. "Something you need to tell me, Patty?"
"No, sir, not yet," she replied, suppressing a grin.
Carol picked up the discussion.
"Really, sir, whether it is Antares or someone else, we need to go back and get on the ground."
"Let's have the data before the conclusions, Lieutenant Hansen," Ron corrected her.
"Yes, sir."
Carol sat, and Jack continued.
"One other technology item, if I may," he said, switching to a different sequence of images. "This is one of a few shots we have of what looks like a space launch facility. We did see satellites in orbit, which we believe are for weather or other scientific purposes."
"Why not a military purpose?" Yakovlev asked.
"There is just the one culture on this planet, sir. We didn't see much that looked like military facilities on the surface, so that seems to be less likely."
Jack looked at Carol, who indicated that Marcia would be next. She rose slowly and took her place. Her first picture was a skeleton partially covered by green overgrowth. She paused a moment to center herself, quietly cleared her throat, then began.
"This image is from what we have come to call The Battlefield. There are thousands of remains in this area of just a few acres."
She displayed the second image, a larger scale picture revealing the rows of skeletons.
"Good gracious God," Patty Cook said.
Marcia shrugged.
"Yes, ma'am, some divine intervention would have been nice. But it never came for these people."
She shifted her attention back to the wall.
"Here is a close-up. We got several good shots of hands and feet. It appears that they have four digits on each hand, three of what we would call fingers and an opposing digit analogous to a thumb."
She walked to the display, pointing to the lower part of the image.
"The fascinating part here is the feet. They have six of what we would call toes on each foot."
She turned back to gauge how well her audience was absorbing that.
"Terrestrial animals with four limbs have the same number of digits on each. We've never seen this adaptation before."
"Any idea why that would be?" Yakovlev asked.
"No, sir. That would be pretty far out of my expertise."
"Very well. Please continue."
"Yes, well, I also processed some environmental samples for possible pathogens."
She turned to switch the
slides on her display.
"My conclusions are only preliminary, of course. But, there was this little guy that caught my eye."
The picture was of a near-microscopic animal from the water sample. There were spikes and spines all along its body.
"I know I will be avoiding swimming with those."
She got some small laughter at that.
"The rest of the cultures were unremarkable. The samples are going to CDC for better analysis, but at this point, I don't see any problem sending in a team with SLUGs."
"Do you think the SLUGs are required? Could we go without them?" Ron Harris asked.
"Sir, I didn't even want to let the damned samples on the ship. So, yes, I think we should be using the SLUG sanitized breathing systems until we can somehow convince ourselves that the planet won't try to kill us."
Harris smiled.
"Well put, Doctor. Noted."
"Really, sir, what I did was very preliminary. The CDC will be in a much better position to tell us if there is something there to be concerned about."
"You don't sound all that convinced."
"Well, I'm not. Even if CDC's results are negative, the sample set is small. There is a whole foreign ecosystem that we have barely begun to sample. There's no way to know what else is out there."
She waited a moment for more questions. When they didn't come, she sat back down. Carol took the podium and pulled up a collage showing several collections of symbols as they had seen them on the outside of buildings in Capital City.
"These eight shots are of buildings on Main Street in Capital City. Notice that there are two sets of symbols."
She stepped aside, pointing to the groupings on the slides.
"There is a group of six symbols that always appear together, in varying orders and lengths. Those may be numbers, but we don't want to make that assumption without more research."
"But you're making it anyway?" Donna Wright asked, amused at the irony of what she was hearing. Carol moved next to the podium, standing informally, and inclining her head before speaking.
"Well, Commander Wright, it's hard not to do that. We think it's very likely those are numbers. But also, we know we're not the experts."
"OK, fair enough," Donna responded. "But I agree that seems kinda obvious."
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