Chronicles of Sol: The Fall

Captain’s Log May 15th 002 SDE:

Our operations in the Zah system continue to be uneventful. Something I am quite happy for as it has given us plenty of time to conduct repairs and mining operations without much issue. Speaking of repairs, I have recently been informed that our new crystal has finally been fitted to that engine we lost. Preliminary testing is all good, which means we will soon be able to conduct a proper shakedown of the engine.

In other news, Ruri delivered the photon torpedo prototypes I requested. I’m glad to have them and plan to test them in a few hours. I already identified a few promising targets in the system that would be good for weapons testing. Hopefully, the testing goes well and we can shift the new mark II’s into production. Of course, testing their shield and armor-piercing properties would be interesting without proper targets, but it won’t be easy to procure those. Even with our guests. So not much I can do about that.

Countryman sighed as he set down his log. It felt like it was missing something, but he wasn’t sure what. There really wasn’t much to say. Well unless he wanted to include what he knew Williams was doing. She thought she was being sneaky, but he was well aware of what she was doing. Not that Countryman was going to do anything. Her actions were going to help him locate all the rats in the nest. That was the nice thing about rats like her and as long as she thought things were working, she would likely stay under the radar. Something he felt would be good for now. It would at least present the illusion of solidarity and that would help keep morale up.

He stretched and slipped out of his chair. In any case, he figured it was time he headed below decks. Let Williams play her hand, and in the meantime, he would play his. He knew a nice lounge below that the soldiers on board loved to visit. It was a fun place and he liked trading stories with them. In fact last time he was there he had a chance to help a couple of them out. Minor problems, but they did seem to appreciate the help regardless.

With a destination in mind, he left his ready room. Pausing outside to let the guards know where he was going. Before heading on down. A smile already on his face as he looked forward to a good time.

The younger woman stepped onto the bridge of her small ship. She yawned and quickly stifled that before slipping into her chair. “So what do we have?”

A female officer looked up from her screen. “One of our monitors in the Zah system picked something up. After I reviewed it, I felt it important you see it right away.”

Before she could even ask, the feed in question was placed on the forward screen. Almost immediately a somewhat fuzzy image of a darkly painted alien hull appeared on her screen. The paint job was a bit different from the dark paint used on their own hulls, but she could see the similarities. The alien vessel was designed for stealth, like their ships were. She recognized the image as well. The fact the hull was wreathed in glowing energy ribbons certainly helped. Yet somehow the ship was still fuzzy and hard to make out. The Zah star interfering with the alien cloaking systems no doubt.

The woman blinked, “That’s a Refuge ship. I’ve heard of them, but I don’t think any of our ships have had a chance to assess their abilities.”

“Correct sir, but we do have a few intelligence reports on them. Would you like me to bring them up for your review?”

She shook her head, “No need. I’m already aware of their contents.”

The young woman really was. They were kind of limited with a few notations of note. Refuge armor was noted to be very resilient, energy weapons had little effect. They had no known method of propulsion. Carried some kind of anti-missile shield and were equipped with some interesting weapons. Including a sustained particle beam and shield penetrating warheads. All things the Consortium was interested in. “Alert our sisterships and set a course for the Zah system.”

“Aye sir! Contacting the fleet.”

“Aye, sir! Plotting Hyperspace course for the Zah system.”

It would take a bit to reach the system. Not too long though since the hyperspace routes in this region were well charted. That would let them reduce the travel time by a few hours. Otherwise they would have been limited to about 800c and they were a few lightyears from the system. At that speed it would take them two days to reach the system, but there was a subspace node between this system and that. It took some doing, but they could tune their hyperdrives to them. Allowing them to use the jump point as if they were using a jump drive. That node would take about four hours to traverse. Sooner perhaps if they overcharge the drives, but she wasn’t sure that was needed.

To be sure, she pulled up their logs and took a second look at the ship. She soon noted there were three in the system, their shields or whatever were interfering with their cloak making it easier to track them than it normally would have been. The big one was in the middle of an asteroid field. Conducting operations. One of the escorts was not far from it on a clear patrol pattern. The last one was a bit harder to locate, but she soon noticed that it was quite close to the Zah primary. Extremely close. Turning to her officer she pointed it out, “Did you see this?”

The officer looked it over, blinked and then exclaimed, “That can’t be right!”

At that close distance to the star, the ship was surrounded with roiling shields making her shield bubble quite visible. It was apparent that this was a full shield, something not mentioned in any of the intel reports. That left her with questions. Given how brightly that shield was flaring and what she knew of Zah star she also had to wonder, how was that ship still there? That system was dangerous, prolonged stays there were deadly and no one would risk going so close to the Zah primary. That was courting death.

Countryman settled into the lounge. On the speakers was playing the song “Gotta Nuke ‘em All.” It was interesting if somewhat derivative as the name would imply. Not something he much cared for. Tuning it out, he walked past several boisterous marines and made for the counter, where he promptly ordered a lemonade. While others ordered alcohol, he did not. There were two reasons for that, the first was that he was cybernetic. Alcohol and implants didn’t mix well. In his personal case, it had never much agreed with him in the first place. So giving it up had not been a problem, he never used it in the first place. Besides he much preferred his lemonade and his water over alcohol anyway.

In a moment he had his glass of lemonade. Something he was glad he could still have, even if lemons were somewhat expensive nowadays. As he took a sip, a larger marine settled next to him. The man ordered a drink, one of those newer concoctions, Shadowed Mist. Countryman didn’t know much about it. As he never paid much attention to those drinks.

“So, a lemonade sir?”

“Some of the real stuff. Its quite good and its not like I can have the alcoholic version.”

The man chuckled, “I guess but isn’t that quite expensive?”

“Sadly yes. Almost eight credits for a glass.”

“Ouch. Must be nice having credits to waste.”

Countryman chuckled, “When you can find the time, maybe.”

“Yeah I don’t really envy your job sir. I’m quite happy with mine. I’ll happily take my 75 credits a day.”

Countryman blinked, “75? Putting in some extra hours are we?”

The man chuckled, “Not really. I’m not that stupid. I just take the jobs no one wants to do. They pay well and I can’t really afford extra hours.”

“Hmm? Can’t afford extra hours?” pausing to take a sip and then glanced around. Anything I can help with?”

“Not really, “ he sighed, “I’m a single father with a young daughter to look after. I do my best, but it can be trying at times. At least I have a few people I can trust.”

“Ah, I see. Sadly that story seems to be a bit too common. I’ve done what I can for the single parents.”

“Yes and thanks. I much appreciate the daycare you arranged for people like me. I just wish I had more hours to spend with her.”

Countryman nodded, “Children grow up so fast. Its best to appreciate the time we do have. Trust me and don’t be afraid to take a day off. In fact do so, your daughter would love it.”

The man blinked, “I’m not sure I can...”

“Don’t be afraid, just don’t make a habit of it. The system wouldn’t be fair if it punished you for taking a break. Take one.”

“I guess I will.” he reached into his pocket and pulled out a photo. “Just need to figure out the best time.”

Countryman glanced at the photo. It was a cute young girl standing in a happy pose with a loving family. He smiled, “She looks quite happy there. Does she have any friends?”

The man blinked, then nodded, “She does, but what does that have anything to do with that question?”

“Well why not plan a get-together? Between her, her friends, and their families? Consider it a bonding moment. It might be good for everyone involved.”

“Hmm, that might be an idea. Still not sure when to do it.”

“You could always try next Saturday,” replied Countryman. It was currently a Tuesday, so he was really telling the man to wait a few days on his day off. Not many, just enough to get some good planning in and talk with all the parties involved. Something he stated a moment later, “It would give you time to talk it over with the other parties and do some planning.”

“You might have a point there. Thank you sir.”

The man started to get up, having finished his drink. Before he could leave Countryman said, “it was nice talking to you and if anyone has trouble getting a day off. Let me know. I’ll take care of it.”

The man smiled, thanked him again and made his way out of the lounge. Just as someone else came in. The newcomer paused scanning the room, briefly stopping to watch a pair as they competed against each other with an old fashion first-person shooter. It was one of the more popular ones where you play as an armored super soldier fighting an alien alliance. A classic actually and it was gaining a resurgence in modern years.

After a moment, the newcomer tore their gaze away from the screen and made their way to the counter. “Good Afternoon captain.”

“Good afternoon. Anything I can help you with?”

She settled at the bar seat and shook her head, “Not really, but I’d say you have already helped everyone in this room.”

“Perhaps. Not that I can help if people don’t talk to me. Are you sure there isn’t anything you need?”

She turned to order something and then after a moment sighed, “Now that I think about maybe there is something I could use help with.” shifting in her seat she moved closer, “I’m not sure if you have heard, but a certain group has been loitering around the lab decks. I think they are up to something.”

“hmm?”