[She took What?] - Chapter 85: ORIGINS: This is not human space!

“Nothing stops a crystal from singing.”

Old SolDiri proverb

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“It’s gone.”

“Quickly, get over there.” Rockson was shouting, frantic. “Go, go! Get to where it jumped from.”

 

Feebee booted up the ship and accelerated as hard as she could towards the asteroid’s jump point.

‘Does it worry you that we are talking about an asteroid sized object just jumping out of existence?’ asked the QI.

‘Now you mention it. Yes, it does. But we have to follow.’

 

“I can still get the signature but it's very faint. Amazing. How is the corridor so stable, there’s hardly any wake.”

 

Feebee entered the jump co-ordinates Rockson sent and punched GO. They slipped immediately into Jump Space. No long ramp-up or power drain. They caught the corridor cleanly.

The console trace settled almost at once and the guidance indicators, normally feeding small changes to their course barely twitched. Everything just… worked.

“We’re piggybacking their corridor.”

 

Rockson kept watch as they followed the asteroid, waiting for the tell tale flicker in the trace and the crystal's hard kick in Feebee’s hand.

 

‘I’ve added a new feature to the controls?’

'You did what?’ asked Feebee.

‘Added a new control. So, when we exit, we can immediately go to silent running.’

‘Oh. Ok. Good.’

‘It’s here.’ The QI highlighted the new control in Feebee’s overlays. ‘Nice.’

‘Can you please ask before you make changes.’

The QI sounded put out, ‘I guess.’

 

Feebee relayed the message to Alpha-2, he agreed. “The QI has some good ideas. Nice”

‘See.’

Feebee couldn’t help but smile.

‘What?’ asked the QI.

Feebee shielded her thoughts, ‘Nothing.’

‘That’s not fair. Tell me.’

‘Your reaction was very… human.’

‘Oh. Ok. Good.’ Said the QI deliberately mimicking Feebee's tone.

They both laughed.

 

“It kicked; the crystal kicked.”

“Ok. I see it.” Responded Rockson, watching his console; calm, deliberate.

 

“We don’t know what we're going to find but be ready to run if we have to.”

“Yes Ma’am,” they all responded.

 

“On my mark,” called out Rockson. “Ready...Now!”

Feebee dropped them out of the jump corridor.

 

Ahead of them was the asteroid. They had come out of jump space right behind it.

 

Alpha-2 hit the new button, creatively labelled, “HUSH”. The ship’s lights dimmed and a lot of ship noise stopped. It was strangely quiet.

‘Nice job. Well done.’

‘Thanks.’

 

“Where are we?” asked Feebee, “Anyone?”

The QI was the first to respond. ‘Scanning?’

 

Rockson spoke first. “I can still track the shipment. The crystal is active and the signature is holding.”

“Oh. Ok. Good.” Then Feebee added, “Very good. But, where are we?”

 

The forward screen showed a large planet.

“Shit,” Alpha-2 called out. “I think we’re in Drexari space.”

“Why? How?” Feebee asked.

 

Alpha-2 was working the controls. “This isn’t human space. It was a long jump.”

The QI confirmed, ‘He’s right. This is NOT human space.’

Alpha-2 then enhanced the forward screen. It showed a massive orbital shipyard. There were numerous warships under construction within frames. Classic Drexari design. Some were mere skeletons, others fully formed but soulless, awaiting the spark that would bring them to life.

 

Asteroids and debris were in conveyor streams, feeding into one corner of shipyard. The scale was staggering. Like nothing any of them had seen in human space.

 

A huge dreadnought, guns bristling, was on the other side of the shipyard. Circling, watching.

It had multiple frigates near it. Protecting, alert. And they controlled drone swarms that followed patrol routes. Probing, searching.

 

“We need to hide. This is a dangerous place. We stay silent.” She shot a look at Alpha-2, “Passive Scans. Yes?”

“Yes Ma’am,” came Alpha-2’s response.

“Everyone. Passive actions. We cannot be detected.”

They all responded, “Yes Ma’am.” 

 

“We need to be careful. There are multiple sensor nets.” Rockson was glued to his console.

“Be careful! You reckon?”

Rockson smiled, “We should take advantage of The Kestrel's low-emission drift?”

“The what?”

“Low-emission…”

Feebee cut across him, “Yes. I heard you the first time. What is it?”

“The Scout ship has an active drift feature. Low emission. Suggest we hide on the asteroid.”

“Anyone else?”

No-one spoke.

“Ok. Do it.”

 

They slowly closed in on the asteroid as it moved into the conveyor stream. Its surface was pitted and pockmarked. They descended into a crater, full of deep shadows with high sides. The shipyard was getting close and planet remained in sight, dead ahead.

 

To the conveyer stream the asteroid had become just a piece of raw material to be chewed up and converted into ships parts. Another piece in the supply chain.

 

Mining arms descended, cutting and slicing it up. A cloud of dust and ore, slag, was ejected. Rockson manoeuvred The Kestrel into the slag and drifted, quietly within it, away from the asteroid.

 

Alpha-2 picked up a solitary security drone approaching. Its sensor sweeps loud and frequent. It approached the slag.

 

They watched the sensor sweeps as it neared. Probing, looking, but the slag was fully of noise, false images and reflections.

 

The drone moved on to scan the surface of the asteroid and remained watching as mining arms sliced open the asteroid to reveal containers of various sizes. Some large, most small, easily handled. A drone swarm descended upon the containers and carried them off, away from the planet. Feebee felt River’s crystal, still in her hand, vibrate slightly as the containers were picked up. Rockson confirmed that the shipment was on the move. His console had detected its harmonic echo, faint but there.

 

Alpha-2 gently re-orientated The Kestrel so they had visuals on the containers, from within the slag.

 

The drones were taking the containers towards a station that sat in high-orbit. It was small alongside the shipyard, a later addition with heavy security and its own sensor net.

 

“We need to find somewhere better to hide, the slag cloud is dispersing.”

 

Just as she said that they were plunged in darkness, the processing station loomed large.

“There. Move us over there.”

Feebee was pointing to an area away from the conveyer stream that was bristling with massive cranes, mining arms and structural frames. Alpha-2 moved The Kestrel into the shadow of the megastructures and onto a shelf, below a couple of cranes that swept back and forth above them. As they watched other shipments were carried up to the high-orbital.

 

 

‘Can you hack one of the drones? Carefully. Do NOT risk getting caught.’

 

The QI was gentle. It knocked on the digital door of the nearest drone. It responded and allowed her in. Simple as that.

 

‘I’m in. Now what?’

‘Can you spoof the drone’s digital profile. So we look like a friendly to the drone swarm?’

 

‘Yes. It’s done. Good idea.’

‘Thanks. Well done to you too.’

‘Should we get a room?’ Asked the QI.

They laughed.

 

“What?” asked Alpha-2.

“Nothing. Just the QI being funny.”

"Seems to work better here, the QI," commented Alpha-2.

"Yeh. It said the same."

 

"Our shipment has reached that high-orbital." Rockson continued, "Others are going there too. I'd love to get a look in there but it's too dangerous, heavily guarded."

Rockson noted that all activity to and from the high-orbital had stopped. "In fact," he added, "All activity has stopped. Nothing is moving anywhere."

 

They waited.

 

Meanwhile, somewhen else… The Long Quiet ran another projection.

 

OUTCOME: Genocidal Interspecies war; Unacceptable

PROBABILITY: High

Parameters adjusted

Projection Re-run.

 

OUTCOME: Genocidal Interspecies war; Unacceptable

PROBABILITY: High

Parameters randomised

Projection Re-run.

 

OUTCOME: Uncertain but positive

PROBABILITY: Low

 

QUIETUS PROTOCOL: WATCH

 

 

Back when…

 

 

Rockson jumped up, "Wow! Look at this." He was staring at the console.

Feebee joined him and suddenly dropped the crystal. "Ow! That got hot really quickly."

They watched as the crystal fell. Just before it hit the floor, Feebee managed to get a foot under it else it would almost certainly be in pieces spread across the floor. She picked up the crystal, it was still warm but not scolding hot like before.

"That was close."

Rockson then pointed to the main trace, it was spiking almost off the screen. "Look."

"What is it?" Ask Feebee.

"Resonance surges, and the signature is changing."

 

Feebee watched the trace and felt the crystal fall into step; warm pulses flowed into her. She focused on it, looked into it and felt a new web of connection. It was brief and felt like a coming together as if something shattered, was suddenly unbroken.

 

They kept watch, and pretty quickly activity started up again. Drones were leaving the high-orbital and making their way to the ships in the yard.

 

As he watched, Rockson saw matching crystal signatures surge in the shipyard. And the number grew as the drones delivered their cargo.

"The fleet is being activated, I'm getting jump core signature from the ships. They must depend on the crystals."

 

And as he spoke, ships started to jump out of the system. All their signatures in harmony. Aligned like kin.

Rockson looked at the console. "They're all going in the same direction. To the same place?"

 

Feebee spoke, quiet, almost a whisper, "And they need crystals for their ships, for their jump tech...."

Rockson finished the train of thought, ".... and humans control that supply."

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