<Eridani Landing: 9 years 3 months 1 days>
“We have a contact,” said Arik.
“Battle alert, all hands to ready stations atmospheric vent in thirty seconds!” said Captain Stagg over the intercom as she hooked the helmet that was attached to her seat and shoved it onto her head.
Diana on shift at one of the secondary weapons control stations did the same.
Within moments the decks of the Canada were void of air and the normal sounds of the ship were muffled now only vibrations felt through the suits.
“What’s the range and mass of the contact?” asked Captain Stagg.
“Range is 5,000 kilometers, they just dropped out of tachyon FTL at the beacon,” said Arik and she focused the cameras of the ship on the alien contact.
For a moment everyone on the bridge stared, the tension which had jumped at the alien contact leveled off and slowly began to fade.
“That looks like a cargo vessel,” said Stagg, looking at the long line of similarly sized spherical pods that were attached to a small squared vessel in the front. Long very thin poles barely visible to the cameras seemed to be extending from the front ship larger in circumference than the cargo pods behind it.
“I have the alien’s IFF, and based on public data available on the alien data networks that observation would be correct, although there are some discrepancies,” said Arik.
Captain Stagg looked at the alien ship for a moment, “I want complete passive scans of the vessel,”
”They are attempting to communicate, they wish us to know that our IFF signal is malfunctioning,” said Arik.
“Nothing else?” asked Stagg.
“No, should I respond?” asked Arik.
Stagg deliberated for a moment, “Is the translation software operating correctly?” she asked.
“I’ve incorporated new data points for translation, I would gauge it at being 90% effective.”
“Tell them we’re repairing the IFF, and that our higher level communications were destroyed in an accident,” said Stagg.
“Message away,” said Arik.
For a moment the bridge was silent.
“This would be a perfect opportunity,” said Commander Young.
Captain Stagg nodded, “It would be, but it would also tip our hand far too early should they get a message off. Given that we are right next to a tachyon communication beacon that would happen.”
“I’m wondering why they didn’t ask about our ships profile being different?” asked Young.
Stagg shrugged, “It’s a job being a freighter crew, and probably a boring one at that. Why cause trouble for yourself by asking questions?”
Diana turned back to her weapons display, watching as the alien ship continued to drift. For several moments she looked at the energy readouts wondering what was off.
“Arik, is that ship charging its tachyon drive?” asked Diana.
“Tachyon drive based FTL needs several hours between jumps to recalibrate. From the thermal readings I am getting they are not charging their drive systems.”
“Then what are they charging? Look at the cargo containers, they’re heating up,” said Diana.
“I don’t know.”
“Captain, the alien ship is charging something,” said Diana turning around in her seat to look at the Captain.
Arik switched the camera feed to thermal, showing the radiative buildup of heat. “Any ideas?” asked Stagg.
Diana shook her head, “It’s not the FTL, we’re still discharging. They can’t be ready to jump again.”
Stagg nodded in agreement, “Arik any idea what it might be?”
“Not without a more invasive scan, which they will detect.”
“And for all we know this is standard routine for their ship,” said Young.
Stagg considered the display for a moment, “Arik are the energy signatures still building?” she asked.
“They are leveling out at several gigawatts in stored power, I’m not sure what the energy is being used for. My guess would be capacitors, but there are no discernable weapon mounts.”
“The energy has discharged!” said Diana.
Everyone looked up at the display, there was no discernable difference in its profile.
The engineering section com lit up, “Our FTL engines were just saturated with tachyons! What the hell just happened!?” asked Derick.
Stagg and Young looked at one another.
”Two new contacts! The tachyon beacon has ceased communicating with the other in the network, its relays have been saturated like our engines.” said Arik.
Diana focused her sensor suite on the new contacts, and the profile quickly found a match.
“The two contacts are similar to the fighters that the Singer launched during her initial assault on Earth, but the thermal signatures are only a third as hot,” said Diana.
“We must look damaged, we don’t have any charged weapons systems and we just told them that we have no communications systems. On top of that we’re not broadcasting an IFF so even friendlies don’t know where we are. What does that make us?” asked Stagg.
Young smiled, “The perfect mark for some extralegal opportunists,” he turned, “All hands prepare to engage,” he said.
“We’ve received a request for video communication,” said Arik.
“Well I suppose we should show them that we’re not something to be trifled with,” said Stagg.
Stagg slipped her feet into the footholds in the deck and stood, facing the main display.
“Run the translation program, and you have permission to try and rip anything you can from their computer systems,” said Stagg.
“Roger!” said Arik.
The screen flickered on showing an alien much like the ones that had assaulted Earth, save for the fact that the male on the screen had hair, a crew cut utilitarian haircut but otherwise the same red alien skin.
For a moment the alien seemed stunned, unsure exactly what he was looking at. He was not dressed in any type of uniform, but instead a rather worn looking jumpsuit with portions of it patched with other pieces of fabric. No hair was growing from his face but the wrinkles on his head were not from age.
The alien looked desperate, and for a moment he openly gaped at the humans who were examining him with a similar amount of intensity. He quickly recovered from his shock and began to speak, the words transcribing themselves at the bottom of the screen, the sentence structure changing as he finished speaking.
“You have no avenue of escape and we will destroy should you try to arm your weapons systems. Surrender your cargo and no harm will come to you or your crew,” said the alien.
Stagg looked at the alien for several moments, “Is there anything we could offer to resolve this peacefully?”
The alien confused before seemed downright astonished as a synthesized version of the Captain’s voice filtered across the video link her words and lips not syncing.
“Jettison your [strange matter],” said the alien.
Stagg let the surprise show on her face, and waved her hand muting the audio.
“They want the strange matter?” she asked.
The material was an amalgamation of physics that humanity had been able to create since before the Martian war, the CERN incident was one of the more famous experiments gone wrong. Since then though humanity had been able to produce strange matter easily enough, particle accelerators on the larger ships were able to recreate it.
“Like I said, differing technological progression. I am running a search now but it appears that strange matter is a valuable resource within the alien’s economy. Its value is only eclipsed by antimatter which they appear to have equal difficulty in producing,” said Arik.
“One of the enemy fighters has fired!” said Diana.
Stagg looked up, and Arik switched the external camera in time to show the pulse of energy cross directly in front of the Canada’s bow.
“Energy intensity?” asked Young.
Diana smiled, her eyes focused on the energy readout. The lead sensor officer announced the results though, “The current output of the alien’s weapons is within the limits of our defensive systems.”
Stagg pursed her lips, “Alright then, let’s keep the ace hidden for now. Power up the shields.”
“Aye!” said the engineer on the bridge.
Diana shivered and all of the hair on her body stood straight up, the shields must have been slightly off phase because the air in her suit suddenly had a charged feeling to it.
“The alien fighters are engaging, one of the cargo pods on the transport is opening. I believe another weapon is being activated.” Said Arik.
She redirected the camera view, zooming in on the last cargo pod trailing behind the main vessel. The top of the container was opening. The gun exposed was as much a patchwork as the Captains lack of uniform had been, a mismatch of parts and components all of which looked like they were never meant to fit together.
”All weapons stations free. Main gunners line us up to take out that big gun!” Said Stagg.
Dianna didn’t hear much after that, with the order for weapons free she disengaged the safeties on the 25 mm accelerators that were under computer control. The 75 mm cannons were controlled from other points along the ship, and the 125 mm main cannons were under the direct control of the weapons officer. With only a limited degree of actuation range in those weapons the Canada had to pitch up slightly to line her main guns up with the enemy cargo ship’s main gun.
Diana pulled the trigger on her controls back, and watched gleeful as the metallic rounds plowed into the alien fighter she was focusing on first, the one that had fired off the warning shot across their bow.
Next to the effectiveness of the 75 mm cannons that lined up their shots moments later it was a pitiful amount of firepower, but to overload energy shields multiple impacts with different energy intensities were most effective. The principal behind the shield was to use plasma contained within magnetic fields to deflect and absorb energy, and the more in tune that magnetic field was to the energy being imparted to the shields the better attacks could be absorbed.
Raw power could of course overload the energy shields, but short of that varying levels of firepower was more effective. The computer running the shields had to maintain a medium between the differences in energy levels being imparted, focusing too much on one particular set of energies would leave the ship vulnerable to another form of attack.
The alien fighter jerked to the side at the initial assault, and performed a spin that would have made most experienced pilots wince as, in a desperate bid to retreat exposed its belly and much broader cross section.
The second fighter let loose a beam of energy, which impacted the minimal shields of the Canada.
”Shields down to seventy percent!” said the weapons officer.
“I am attempting to recalibrate the shields, we have not had an opportunity to test them under battle conditions, but the energy levels of these craft are different then the craft recovered from the moon.”
”Stronger?” asked Commander Young.
“Weaker, much weaker,” said Arik.
The first fighter was in full retreat now, and then in a flash its shields fell, and in another moment the few rounds that had been streaking towards it slammed home and tore the delicate ship to shreds. Whatever energy source it was utilizing detonated and vaporized the rest of the craft.
Its partner seemed to realize retreat was impossible and streaked towards the Canada its main gun firing again.
“The cargo ship is firing!” said the weapons officer.
A streak of energy arced through the 16 millisecond light speed distance between the two ships, and impacted on the bow of the Canada.
“Shields down, the armor is holding!” said Arik.
“We’re lined up, main guns charged,” said the weapons officer.
“Target the weapons of that cargo ship and fire,” said Stagg.
Diana paused for a moment, letting the computer take over and continue to fire at the alien fighter as it continued to fire ineffectually at the port side of the Canada, to watch the main guns. Their was a shuddering in the frame of the ship as it fired, the massive magnetic coils along nearly the entire length of the ship accelerating the 125 mm rounds down a track many times longer than any other weapons system on the ship pushing the rounds to nearly 5% of light speed.
The rounds hit the cargo ship and punched right through whatever shields they were utilizing, the large gun that they had been hiding in the cargo pods disintegrated. The rounds designed to spread their energy over as large of an area as possible managed to impart enough rotational energy into the cargo ship so that the train of cargo pods rotated and turned the belly of the small ship at the front of the train was twisted, the small spindly arms projecting from it almost snapping as they were whipped around.
“We are receiving a message from the alien ship.” Said Arik.
Stagg looked at the destruction for several moments and then turned to Arik, “Put it through.”
The same alien from before appeared on the screen looking even more haggard, “Please stop! We surrender!” he said.
Stagg glared at him for several moments, “Power down all of your systems except life support. We will be sending a shuttle to dock with you, any attempts to power your systems before we give you permission and we will finish the fight you started.”
The alien swallowed, “What are you going to do?”
Stagg remained silent for a moment, “You answer our questions and then we will let you go.”
The alien again looked hesitant, “You are not with the Imperial Military?” he asked.
“No, although I would like you to tell me about the Empire, we’ve never had the pleasure of opening diplomatic relations with them,” said Stagg.
The alien confused before now looked absolutely terrified, “what do you mean? Your species would have a consulate just like any other Class B species, they are removed only when you reach Class A status.”
Stagg shook her head, “we never got one, and this is something we will discuss with you when we send our shuttle over.”
“I am in no position to refuse your request,” said the alien Captain and he placed his hand over his eye and closed the connection.
[Marcus] looked at the images of the crater and the relief efforts that were taking place around it, this accident was one of the largest to have ever taken place on the home world and it was only by luck that the death count was in the hundreds and not the thousands. The population of most of the military complex having already retired from work for the day when the explosion took place.
“[Marcus], I just finished making a speech to the people in regard to this accident. Do you want to tell me why I justified such a dangerous military project to the people, or even what the project is?” asked [Vann].
[Marcus] sitting across the desk from him glared at [Vann] for a moment but then sighed, “The majority of the research being done at the facility was on new methods of FTL travel.”
[Vann] raised an eyebrow, “new forms of FTL? From what I understand any method besides tachyon travel is impossible,”
[Marcus] nodded, “indeed, up until several years ago that was the main consensus among the theoretical physicists of the Empire. A new breakthrough in the field however has shown promise.”
“And this is worth risking lives over because?” asked [Vann].
“The new method of FTL would not be restricted to the beacon network,” said [Marcus].
[Vann]’s eyes widened and he glanced over at the glowing projection on the wall showing the entirety of the Empire’s domain in local space.
“That would be quite the boon, but that still does not explain what caused the explosion,” said [Vann].
“The theory requires a reaction between antimatter and [strange matter], the reaction from these elements as I understand it rends space-time. The travel time for any ship utilizing this method of FTL would be instantaneous no matter the distance traveled,” said [Marcus].
“Antimatter!” shouted [Vann] and he stood, “Why did you allow research involving antimatter to take place on the home world!”
[Marcus] stood as well, “The research was too important to be trusted to an off planet research facility. Up until this point the research has been safe, but with the looming budget cuts and your unwillingness to increase military expenditures perhaps those safety measures were overlooked.”
[Vann] paused and looked at the Consul, “you need to watch what you say [Marcus], I am responsible for all of the lives in the Empire, but if you are suggesting I am personally responsible for an accident in a program I knew nothing about and of which you seem to have full knowledge,” [Vann] trailed off.
[Marcus] shook his head, “Of course not, I am merely suggesting that despite having the best interests of the Empire at heart you are still young. No Emperor wants war, but one must always be prepared, think of the military applications of this technology!”
[Vann] sighed and sat back down in his chair, “I understand how much of a tactical advantage it would be, but still there is no excuse for such an oversight. The tally is still going up and we lost over 600 people. No technology is worth that many lives [Marcus].”
“No it’s not, but this technology would be the beginning to a new era for the Empire. Expansion into the entire Galaxy! Expansion periods are always beneficial in every sense, from the economic to the political.”
“I realize that [Marcus],” [Vann] leaned back in his chair and looked at the map, “I would go down as one of the greatest Emperors in history. Still an expansion in every direction would be difficult, the Class B and C species that would have to be dealt with.”
[Vann] turned away from the map, “How much progress has been made on the technology?” he asked.
[Marcus] grimaced, “not as much as we would like, the theory was developed nearly [ten years] ago but limited demonstrations have been the only results. Test capsules that have traveled barely a light year before exiting whatever rift is formed and disintegrating.”
“Did any research survive the explosion?” asked [Vann].
“They were following redundancy procedure, we have all but the last few seconds of data which led to the explosion. I do believe we should continue the research.”
[Vann] wearily nodded, “ If only to make sure the lives lost for it were not in vain, I want the rest of the development to be done off world though.”
[Marcus] stood and saluted, “Of course.”
“Ben?”
Startled Ben dropped down from his work on the side of the hull to see Megan struggling to try and sit up, “Stay down!” said Ben as he stepped towards her.
Megan groaned and relaxed letting herself fall back down onto the deck plating, “What happened?”
“We crashed, and you were out of it for a while, it’s been about a day,” said Ben.
“A day?” asked Megan.
“Meaning our beacon is either broken or we’re so far buried underneath the ice that the signals not getting through,” said Ben.
Megan ignored him and screwed up her face concentrating.
“Ben?” asked Megan slowly.
“Yes?”
“Why can’t I move my feet?”
Ben swallowed, “some of the repair components broke loose when we hit the ice shelf, and landed on your legs. I had to take care of them,” he said being as vague as possible.
“Help me up Ben,” said Megan her voice flat.
“I’m not sure you want to see it,” said Ben.
“Help me up,” growled Megan.
Ben leaned over and helped Megan prop herself up on her elbows so that even in the dim emergency lighting she could see what was left of her legs.
“Shit.”
“Yeah, the nano-machines did their best on everything else but I had to do that,” Said Ben indicating the clamps around what was left of her legs.
“Fucking hell this is going to suck,” said Megan. Ben slowly lowered her back down.
“What about the shuttle? Have you gotten anything working?”
“I focused on getting us some heat first, hooked up all the heaters in the suits to the chemical fuel cells but they are being drained, I looked at getting the fusion plant back up and running but from what I can tell the entire assembly has been sheared off of the frame.” said Ben.
“So we’re not flying out of here,” said Megan.
“No. I’ve been working at getting the upper hatch open, I could climb out and take the beacon with me to try and get help, assuming we’re not at the bottom of some fissure. I can’t even get the external monitors to start to try and figure that out.”
Megan nodded, “makes sense, if you can get the hatch open.”
“I’ve been working on it for a while, but our hull’s been warped so I’m trying to cut through with this little thing,” Ben held up a small plasma torch that would be used to cute elements free from a small probe, not saw through inches thick armor or bulkheads.
“You’ve made progress with that?” asked Megan.
Ben nodded and started to climb back up the side of the shuttle to the top hatch which was now a wall side wall.
“Very little, I’m hoping I can just cut the latches off,” said ben as he pulled the protective goggles back over his eyes and began to cut away at the metal again. Megan turned away and avoiding looking at what was left of her legs looked at the heater that Ben had rigged up. Their space suits were wired directly to the fuel cells, which were producing heat themselves helping the suit heaters along.
“Got another,” said Ben and a piece of metal fell down on the plating next to Megan, she glanced at it and then back up at ben as he shoved against the hatch.
It gave way and a gust of cold air quickly filtered into the ship. Ben quickly moved to plug the gap with something so he could finish working but a small something tumbled in through the hole. For a moment Megan thought it was debris colored as darkly as it was. Several more of the objects fell in through the hole that Ben had made and he let out a yelp.
Megan understood why, the things whatever they were had started moving as soon as they hit the deck plating next to her, a multitude of arms and legs that began to skitter like an insect across everything.
Ben dropped back down to the hull next to Megan, avoiding the things, leaving them in the middle of the deck between the two of them.
The small creatures began to emit high pitched squeaks.
Ben and Megan glanced at one another, “What are they?” asked Ben.
Megan slowly shook her head, “Natives if I had to guess.”
Slowly Megan extended her hand out to one of the small things, the eyes of all three of the creatures locked onto it.
Slowly she moved until her hand was well within the distance that one of the small creatures could reach. The one she was reaching towards emitted another series of high pitched squeaks, and then with the small gripping appendage it appeared to also use as a leg it reached out and touched her hand.
The texture was almost like leather and both human and alien quickly jerked back from one another.
“They seem friendly enough,” said Megan her eyes still locked on the creature.
“Unless they’ve got venom I don’t think they pose that much of a threat,” said Ben.
“No, I don’t think so. You think they’re intelligent?” she asked.
Ben shrugged, “I’m not a biologist, I have no idea.”
“Math, isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?” asked Megan.
“What?” said Ben as he slid down so he was sitting on the floor. The creatures seemed to be communicating with one another as well, they had been clumped together when they had fallen to the ground but now they were spreading out slightly.
Megan leaned forward and getting the attention of the creatures she hit the deck plates twice, paused, hit the deck plates three times, and then pausing hit the deck plating five times. The first three prime numbers, a supposedly universal mathematical constant.
The alien’s squeaking which had been fairly regular up to this point began to increase in intensity, and one or two of the creatures huddled closer to one another, until the first one, the creature that had initially touched her hand stepped forward.
Picking up a small piece of metal in its grippers it began to tap, it tapped quickly seven times, paused for a moment, then eleven times, and after a final pause tapped thirteen times. The next three numbers in the prime sequence.
Odd sound?
Display of teeth?
Threat?
No.
Friend?
Ally?