9
Two hours into the Beauregard’s deceleration toward T-7, the first sign of trouble appeared when Middie Adebayor called Yan over to her station.
“Something wrong, Middie?” asked Yan.
“I’m not sure yet,” said Adebayor. “I’ve been scanning for radio signals as the captain ordered, and so far I’ve just picked up the normal background signals from each of the bodies in the system. But I’m also picking up an anomalous signal that’s not from the planets or the star, and it appears to be behind us, ma’am.”
“You mean farther out?”
“Yes, ma’am. About six hundred AU, ma’am.”
“That’s quite a ways out, especially for a system as compact as this one. Is it moving?”
Adebayor looked at her instruments. “Yes, in our same general direction at about .15 light, ma’am, closely matching our own speed.”
Yan thought for a moment about what to do next. “I’m going to take this up with the captain,” she finally said and started to walk away.
“Do you want me to deploy the radio telescope array?” Adebayor asked as Yan moved off.
“Not yet,” replied the second-in-command without turning around. “We’d just have to roll it back in for the aero-braking maneuver anyway.”
Yan made her way down the five honeycombed metal steps to the command crew cabins and knocked on Clement’s door. He responded with a positive chime and Yan made her way into his cabin.
“Business or pleasure?” said Clement, not looking up from his many technical systems pads.
“Business,” replied Yan, taking his barb in stride. “Middie Adebayor has detected a radio-emitting signal about six hundred AU behind us.”
This got Clement’s attention. “Behind us? Is it moving?”
Yan nodded. “At about .15 light.”
“That’s pretty fast for a comet, and we can certainly rule out a planetoid or a spherical body with an atmosphere.”
“I agree, sir.”
Clement ran some calculations on one of his pads. “That puts the object about two weeks behind us, if it’s making the same vector as we are,” he said.
“Closer to thirteen days,” Yan replied. Clement gave her an annoyed look. Yan sighed. “Sorry, I was brought up by a mathematician. The object’s vector is roughly the same as ours.”
Clement stood. “Do you think it’s following us?”
Yan shook her head. “I could be wrong, but they would have had to know our arrival point and time in advance, and I doubt that’s common knowledge, if it’s a vessel,” she said.
“Size?”
“Unable to tell at this distance. Middie Adebayor wants to pull out the radio array and get a better look at it.”
Clement leaned on the edge of his desk. “It could be a natural object of some kind.”
“Or it could be a ship.”
“Noted, Commander. My advice is that we maintain our course and speed, continue through our aero-breaking maneuvers, then deploy the array once we’ve established orbit over . . . what’s the planet’s name?”
“Bellus. Alphus, Bellus, Camus. A, B, C,” she said.
Clement gave her a glare of annoyance. “We’ll deploy the radio telescope array once we arrive at Bellus. We’ll continue our planned survey from orbit while Middie Adebayor gets us some pictures. Further action will be determined at that time,” he said. “Comments?”
Yan went to attention. “Your advice seems sound, Captain.”
“Thank you, Commander.” Clement looked at his watch. “The way I make it, officer’s dinner is at 1700. Aero-breaking at T-7 is at 1930 hours.”
“I’ll have the ship ready, Captain,” said Yan. Then she turned and left the cabin without looking back.
Clement picked up one of his pads and switched the display to monitor Adebayor’s station. The radio signal showed up as an amber blip on a red background. He put the pad back down, and started to worry.
Clement was on the bridge deck at 1900, a full thirty minutes ahead of the braking maneuver.
Yan hadn’t rejoined the bridge crew yet, but Ivan Massif and Mika Ori were both at their stations, and Middie Adebayor was handling the engineering console. Hassan Nobli was in the propulsion room and had refused to move away from his equipment. Captain Wilcock was at Yan’s station but wasn’t talking much, which suited Clement.
As he waited for Yan he patiently ran through ship’s systems checks, checking off each one as he went. A shadow came over him then and surprisingly when he looked up, it wasn’t Yan but Adebayor who stood over his station, blocking the light from the other consoles.
“Can I help you, Middie?” Clement said.
She cleared her throat before speaking. “Pardon for interrupting, sir,” she started.
“Don’t apologize for doing your duty, Middie. I assume this is something important?”
“Yes, sir. I believe so, sir.” She hesitated as he looked at her expectantly. “Could you come to my station, sir?” Clement nodded and exited his command couch to take the few steps to port to the engineering console. Adebayor showed him her screen. “I’ve been tracking the anomaly, sir, and it’s hard to track without the radio array, but it seems to me that the anomaly has changed course.”
“Changed course?” said Clement, obviously disturbed by the news.
“Yes, sir. It appears to be on a vector now for the inner habitable world, Alphus, sir.”
Clement looked at her projected course for the object. It was indeed on a course for Alphus.
“When did this course change happen?” demanded Clement.
“I first detected it about twenty minutes ago, sir.”
“Twenty minutes? Why didn’t you notify me immediately?”
She cleared her throat again. “You were unavailable in your cabin, sir. And I needed that time to verify that my observations were correct, sir,” she said.
“Wait here,” he said, then went back to his console and called Yan to the bridge. She arrived a few seconds later, swapping positions with Wilcock, who left the bridge.
“What’s up?” she asked.
Clement led her to the engineering console and had Adebayor repeat her report to Yan.
“We have another ship then, and under intelligent control,” Yan said.
“It seems so,” replied Clement. He hesitated only a second before calling the entire command crew to the officer’s galley.
Once inside the galley the command crew, all those on the bridge except Adebayor, were joined by Nobli and Wilcock. Clement cleared his throat before beginning. His explanation was to the point; there was another ship in the Trinity system.
“The question, gentlemen, is what we do about it. The thing is on a course for the inner planet, Alphus, while we are on a course for T-7 to pull off an aero-braking maneuver that will put us in orbit around Bellus. It seems to me that we have an obligation to investigate this object. Is it human? Is it one of ours—or perhaps it’s even from Earth? Opinions,” he said.
Ivan Massif spoke first. “It could be alien. And that would change everything.” The fact was that in more than three hundred fifty years of sub-light interstellar space travel and colonization, no evidence of an alien civilization had ever been discovered, until possibly now. There were protocols for such things, but quite frankly Clement hadn’t taken the time to review them, or even consider First Contact as a possibility. He realized now that he probably should have. This was, after all, the first superluminal human space mission in history.
“This is not an equipped First Contact mission,” said Yan. “Our job is to survey the three habitable planets in this system and assess them for immediate habitation.”
Nobli shrugged that off. “Equipped or not for First Contact, we are here, and so are they. I think we need to know who or what we’re dealing with,” he said.
Next Mika Ori piped up. “To proceed on to our target while they stay in orbit around Alphus would seem a waste. We should find out who and what they are, and find out now.”
Clement turned to Wilcock for his opinion. “Captain?”
“I think we should complete our mission as scheduled, and report back to our superiors as ordered,” he said in his whiny voice. It made Clement cringe involuntarily. It was also the exact answer Clement expected from a staff officer.
“In the three-plus centuries that humankind has been sending out ships into interstellar space, the 5 Suns are the only colonies that we know of that have ever been established. We don’t know of any others, and we haven’t had contact from Earth in almost three centuries. The possibility that this could be an alien probe is something we can’t ignore. Further, the possibility that it could be an Earth-colony ship is also worth exploring.” He looked around the table, and there was no dissent.
“Middie Adebayor wants to deploy the radio telescope to get a better look,” said Clement.
“You can’t do that while we’re aero-braking, which by the way is only ten minutes away now,” said Nobli.
“I’m aware of that. My thinking is that we need to find out what this thing is, as soon as possible?” Clement turned to Mika. “Can we adjust our aero-breaking around Trinity-7 and use the effect to slingshot ourselves on to an intercept course with the anomaly?”
She slowly nodded her head. “We can, but you’re asking me to calculate some pretty fine maneuvering in just a few minutes.”
“Then you better get to it,” said Clement, nodding toward the bridge. She left quickly.
“I’d better go plot that course,” said Ivan, and followed her. Clement acknowledged silently with another nod, then turned to the rest of the crew.
“Stations for aero-braking, everyone. We’re going to find out what this thing is, and what we might need to do about it,” he said.
“So that’s your final decision?” said Wilcock in a demanding tone.
Clement stood up, much taller than the diminutive captain. “It is, Captain Wilcock. Now since you’re not needed on the bridge, I suggest you ride out the aero-braking in your cabin,” he said, then walked away.
Yan gave Wilcock an annoyed look, then followed her commanding officer to the bridge.
“All stations report clear for aero-braking maneuver, sir,” called Yan from her station.
Clement acknowledged and then looked down to his command board. All was green. His bridge crew was strapped in and ready.
“It’s your call, Mika,” he said out loud.
“Aye, sir, acknowledge I have the wheel. Aero-braking will commence in thirty seconds and should last about seven minutes in duration, pulling 5.5 gravities. Once clear of Trinity-7’s atmosphere we will engage in a two-minute, thirty-second Ion plasma burst at three gs, which should allow us to intercept the unknown well before it reaches the inner planetary ring, if the navigator’s course vectors are correct,” she said, needling her lover’s ego.
“They are,” snapped back Massif. Clement gave a quick chuckle at that.
“My ship is yours, Pilot,” he said to Ori.
On the mark Ori went on the ship-wide com and called out the beginning of the aero-braking cycle. It was rougher than Clement remembered from his old days in the Rim Confederation Navy, but as Ori had reminded them over the com, T-7 had a “bumpy” upper atmosphere. After seven full minutes of grinding and rattling the Beauregard was once again in open space and free floated for a few precious seconds, the crew weightless with the artificial gravity turned off. It was thirty seconds of bliss until Ori hit the thrusters, pushing the ship again on its new vector toward the unknown bogey.
After the two and a half minutes of thruster burn at three gs was up, Ori pronounced them on course for intercept of the mystery object. Clement ordered the artificial one g restored and everyone gave a sigh of relief as they were released from their acceleration couches.
Clement quickly ordered Adebayor to deploy the radio telescope array. “How long until we can get a good picture?” he asked of the middie.
“Ninety minutes for deployment and calibration, sir,” she said.
“Then get to it.” At that he ordered Yan back to his cabin for a conference.
“What do you think this thing is?” he asked her, almost before the door to his cabin had shut.
“It’s hard to say, but my best guess is that it’s an Ark ship,” said Yan.
“Which means someone has previously surveyed this system and is so confident of its habitability that they sent a ship out a long time ago.”
“Fifty years, at least. If it’s a colony mission, yes, sir.”
“But DeVore said this system was only explored a few months ago when they developed the LEAP drive. Whoever sent that ship, if it’s in fact a colony vessel, sent it out decades ago. If it was the 5 Suns Alliance, they would have had to send it out a very long time ago, given the limits of faster-than-light travel. It’s possible they could have observed this star system through some other means, and sent a covert colony ship back then.”
“If that’s the case then I would be curious as to the timing of our mission. The chances of us both arriving in-system at the same time by chance seems small,” replied Yan.
“Agreed. It’s quite possible that DeVore knew we’d find this ship when we arrived. It may even be the real reason for our mission,” said Clement.
Yan nodded. “I have to admit with what I know of the Fleet Admiral that is at least a possibility. She’s well known around the Alliance Navy for keeping information close at hand and she’s got a reputation for springing surprises, especially ones that are to her advantage.”
This time it was Clement’s turn to nod agreement. “The question is why would she keep it from us? Even from her hand-chosen executive officer? I can see why she’d want me in command of this mission, if she believes this is a possibly hostile vessel.”
Yan shook her head. “I don’t follow you.”
Clement crossed his arms, thinking out loud. “I’m disposable, Yan, and so is my crew. We’re all rebels with no real value to the 5SA. This prototype is an old, reclaimed Rim Confederation gunship. Almost everything on this mission is expendable.”
“Including me,” said Yan. That realization hit her hard. “What about Captain Wilcock?”
“He could be working for her. We have to take precautions for that eventuality.”
Now it was Yan’s turn to be pensive. She paced back and forth in the cabin a couple of times, thinking. Finally, she said, “What’s the point of all this, Clement? I mean, why lie to us?”
He shrugged. “To get us all on board for the mission. If we knew how potentially dangerous it was, would any of us have signed on? I don’t think so. No, I think Fleet Admiral DeVore knew what this mission was really all about. She made up a romantic story about a prototype mission to test a revolutionary new technology and we all bought it. Our real mission was always to encounter and confront this Ark ship, which means it must have come from somewhere else.”
“Earth?”
“That’s most likely. The problem is we have no idea what Earth is like now, or rather, what it was like when this ship was launched. I suspect that the Admiral has her ideas about this Ark, and they’re not good. If I can trust of what I know about Elara DeVore at all, I know her habits and work patterns, and I know she always has a backup plan. I highly doubt we are the only ship in the 5 Suns Navy that has the LEAP drive. And I’d bet my last whiskey that they’re on their way here, right now. We’re the bait, Yan. DeVore will find out all she needs to know about this colony ship from what happens to us.”
“That’s not the Fleet Admiral I thought I knew.”
“And that’s not the Elara DeVore that I know, or knew. She played me perfectly.”
Both of them stood silently for a moment.
“What if this is, in fact, First Contact?” said Yan.
“I think it’s unlikely this is an alien vessel. But then the question becomes, how did the Earthmen discover the Trinity system?”
Yan shrugged. “The same way we did, I suppose. Long-term probes, perhaps launched decades in the past. This system is a lot closer to Earth than the 5 Suns Alliance is.”
“Or they have LEAP technology, or something similar.”
“I’d bet dollars to doughnuts that ship is sub-light powered. We’d pick up some kind of radiant energy signature if it had FTL capabilities, I’m guessing,” said Yan.
Clement nodded agreement. “That’s a good guess, I think. But, what if it is aliens?”
Yan eyed him. “Then you were right to bring atomic weapons on board.”
Clement shuffled uncomfortably in his seat again, then reached for his desk com.
“Captain Wilcock to my cabin, please,” he said into the com, then cut it off before Wilcock could answer. The less interaction he had with the man the better he felt about things. Presently Wilcock buzzed at his door and Clement let him in. “Take a seat,” said Clement. Wilcock sat down with the two mission commanders.
“Captain Wilcock,” started in Clement, “as I’m sure you know I’m aware that you and Commander Yan have access to the keys and codes for the atomic warheads. I’d like you to load those warheads onto our missiles, please.”
Wilcock frowned. “And as you know, Captain Clement, I need a command authorization or an imminent threat to do so. Since my commander is Fleet Admiral DeVore and she’s weeks from here even at superluminal speeds, and as there is no imminent threat to the Beauregard, I must decline your . . . suggestion,” said Wilcock.
Clement nodded but continued. “I understand your stance, Captain. But I do believe the Beauregard is under imminent threat. That unknown could be an alien ship, and we could be facing a showdown over the Trinity worlds. I’d much rather go into any contact scenario with my defenses fully prepared. For all we know that ship might attack us the minute we’re in their range.”
Wilcock shifted in his chair and looked toward Yan. She remained impassive.
“I’m not sure that this situation would require that level of preparedness—”
“Captain Wilcock, have you ever commanded a ship in battle?” interrupted Clement.
“No sir, but—”
“Then trust me on this. Every moment, every second, is crucial in a battle situation. If this is a hostile ship, and if it is aliens, they could have weapons so superior to ours that we might only last seconds against them. We need to be as prepared as we can be. Do you understand, Captain?”
Wilcock looked to Yan again, then swallowed hard. “Sir, I mean no disrespect, but—”
“I agree with the Captain,” said Yan suddenly. Wilcock looked over at her, then back to the determined Clement. Seeing as he was now outvoted, Wilcock caved.
“Very well, sir. But I will be filing a protest over this in my log.”
“That’s your choice.”
“It will take some time to prepare—”
“Middie Adebayor should be able to give us a look at this thing in an hour and a quarter. I expect you and Yan to have those warheads loaded by that time,” said Clement.
“Aye, sir,” said Wilcock, reluctantly.
Clement turned to Yan, who was already pulling out her activation key from around her neck.
“We’ll report back within the hour,” she said.
“Good,” replied Clement, then watched them both leave his cabin, headed for the missile room.
Yan watched as Captain Wilcock opened the locker containing the atomic warheads by entering the release code. The doors to the locker opened automatically and he carefully pulled the first warhead, a stainless steel cylinder about thirty centimeters in length with three electronic leads and a small digital display panel, out of the locker and handed it to Middie Telco, who was in charge of loading it into the first missile. Telco did so with care, making sure the power leads to the device were secure. He checked again, as he had when they were first brought aboard, that the warhead had sufficient uranium density for use as a weapon. For the second time, Telco got an affirmative reply on his radiometry scanner. He nodded to Yan and Wilcock, and they began the process of arming the warhead by loading in their key codes from their random-number generators. Once both codes were locked into the arming panels, each of them in turn inserted their physical keys into the consoles and turned them to arm the warheads.
“First warhead armed,” said Yan.
“First warhead armed,” confirmed Wilcock. He then nodded to Telco, who activated the loader, and a second missile, sans warhead, slid into the loading catapult, pushing the first missile into firing position.
“Arming second warhead,” said Wilcock.
When they had repeated the process six times and the missiles with the atomic warheads were loaded and locked down, Yan called to Clement to confirm.
“Get back up here stat,” said Clement. “Middie Adebayor says she thinks she can get a signal in a few minutes.”
“Aye, sir,” said Yan, who then turned to Telco. “Keep this room locked down under guard, Middie. No one in or out of here unless it’s your relief.”
“Aye, sir,” said Telco. Then Yan nodded and headed for the bridge. Wilcock, for his part, was already gone.
They all squeezed into the cramped bridge, even Nobli and Captain Wilcock, to see the first images Adebayor was getting from the radio telescope array. Clement tried to be patient, his ship on a general intercept course with the unknown, but clearly artificial, object.
“I’ve got the first image Captain,” said Adebayor. Clement merely nodded for her to put it up on the main screen display. A black background started to paint with a blotchy image of red, yellow, and green. What it showed was clear, a cylindrical-shaped object.
“I’d say artificiality is confirmed,” said Yan.
“I agree,” replied Clement.
“First Contact with an alien race?” said Yan.
Clement contemplated that possibility. “If it is, then we have to assume they have at least an equal technology to our own, if not likely superior.”
“But from what we can tell, they don’t have LEAP technology, or something similar.”
“Then we need more answers. XO, please note the date and time of our first sighting of this vessel in the log. We could be living in a historic moment, and what we do next could affect more than one civilization. And please record all further interactions with this vessel. Perhaps it will be valuable to historians, some day.”
“Aye, sir,” said Yan, returning to her console to activate the log recorder.
Clement turned to the middie. “What telemetry can you give me on the object?”
“Coming in now, sir,” said Adebayor. “Length, precisely six kilometers. Circumference, .05 kilometers. Speed continues to deplete to .012 light. Engine appears to be an electromagnetic particle drive geared for constant acceleration and deceleration. Vector unchanged toward the inner habitable planet, Alphus, sir.”
“Are those hull measurements approximate?” asked Clement.
“Negative, sir,” replied the middie. “Those measures are as exact as we can make them.”
“Then it’s one of ours. Human,” stated Clement.
“How can you be sure?” questioned Yan, returning from her console.
“Six kilometers long by a .05 klick circumference? I’d bet my last dime on it. Kilometers are how humans measure things, Yan. And an Ion particle EM drive is exactly the kind of technology that was used to send ships out to the 5 Suns Alliance stars, four centuries ago.”
“How do you know that?” He smiled at her.
“High school history, Commander,” he said with a shrug. “The Mayflower was a one-hundred-foot English merchant sailing ship with three masts.”
“What’s a Mayflower?” said Yan, looking confused.
Clement smiled. “Later,” he said, then turned to his navigator. “Mika, at our speed and theirs, can we intercept them?”
Lieutenant Ori looked at her display console. “Aye, sir, in about nine hours we should be able to match course and speed without too much trouble. Their deceleration is constant now.”
“Then let’s do it.” Clement turned to Hassan Nobli. “Prep the shuttle, Nobli. We’re going to be heading over there.”
“Do you think that’s wise?” replied the engineer.
Clement shook his head. “Wise? No. Necessary? Yes,” said Clement, then he got up and headed for his cabin, the crew scrambling to their stations in his wake.