Chronicles of Sol: The Fall

She blinked, “Wait!? You actually are going to reveal what you have been hiding?”

Countryman began plating dishes and replied, “Only what is relevant to our discussion. Now the other day I offered Neira a job. I never did discuss, why we were interested in those two regions. I mentioned we were interested in charting the regions, I never said why.”

She nodded, and than glanced at Neira who seemed to be listening. Who then interjected, “I had been wondering what your interest in that region is. There is not much out there.”

Countryman pressed a button, “Computer access file KSD3-2Alpha-21851205-Beta389-Delta. Display star region Brathra.”

Instantly several projectors activated, and displayed what was clearly a map, with Krall symbols over it, along with alien ones that seemed to have been added.”

Reia studied it for a moment, then frowned, “Why are you heading out to chart the region when you already have a map of the region?”

“We purchased a number of charts from the Krall. Its why we became interested in the region in the first place.”

“I see, but your own chart shows there isn’t much here.”

Countryman smiled, “I disagree. There aren’t many powers in the region, but the Krall identified a few systems that are resource-rich, and have marked a few habitable worlds. Although their details on those systems are not quite as detailed as I would like.”

Reia still not sure where this was leading, “and that plays into your interest why?”

“The area is prime for a colony, assuming we can find an ideal world, that is.”

“A Colony? That area is...” she trailed off, her eyes widening, “Wait!? Are you running from someone?”

“Running? No. Creating a buffer? Very much so.”

Her sister interjected, “A buffer, against who?”

“You both should be familiar with the Cathamari, yes?”

They both nodded, Reia interjected, “The Cathamari? I don’t see it. Sure they are aggressive, and tend to invade just about anyone, but they’ve never really been a threat to us. After the...”

“From your perspective maybe. Sure our ships are generally more powerful than their Cathamari counterparts, but they are also expensive. Not to mention that we as a species were never as numerous as they are. Yes we could win just about every battle, but until that little civil war of theirs broke out we were losing the war.”

Reia blinked, “That doesn’t make sense. How could you be losing if you were winning?”

Countryman sighed, as he began setting plates on the table “Battles alone don’t win wars. As a...”

Before she could really think about what he was saying there was a sudden tone, followed by a voice from an unseen speaker. A speaker who interrupted before he could finish a sentence. She felt herself turn pale when her translator spat out a translation.

“Sorry to interupt your dinner, sir, but long range sensors have picked up a class seven Neutronic Wavefront.”

Countryman frowned, “Can we evade?”

“Negative, the storm is closing at warp seven, and the front covers an area of several lightyears. Even redlining the engines will not get us away before it hits.”

Countryman sighed, “I see. Bunker down the hatches, and cancel all scheduled shuttles. Recall any auxiliary ships, and reposition the fleet. I want the Enterprise between the storm and the Guilded Heart, then shut down all engines, and divert the power. I want the hull plating overcharged, and all shield grids energized.”

Reia blinked, “Shield grids!?”

Countryman ignored her, and continued, “I want both the Coto, and the Umikaze to do the same. In addition I want all departments to report to code green stations.”

An instant later the horizontal light bars on the walls turned from a steady blue to an ominous green. What that meant worried her, but then she remembered she had something to do. A class seven Neutron Wavefront was no joke, in addition to the spatial turbulance, and roiling plasma that came with the storm, it also came with extremely high levels of neutron radiation. Radiation for which the storm was named. She pulled her communicator off her belt, and contacted her ship, she glanced around to see the other captains doing the same.

Sali looked up as she heard footsteps. Before she could identify whoever was coming however, she watched as the alien lights turned from blue to green. The shift in color made the entire room seem more ominous. It was a bit frightening, even if she didn’t know what that meant. A siren sounded, and a call for departments to report to code green stations followed soon after.

To herself she muttered, “Code green, what the hell does that mean?”

A familiar voice chuckled, “Glad to hear your English is improving. Not sure where you picked up that idiom though. Been talking to Williams?”

She turned around to see that it was lady Samantha Greyman, her language tutor. Sali didn’t know who Williams was, but she had heard the phrase used a few times, and honestly she made a point to avoid using her own language. No one here spoke it, and she wanted to get conversational quick. Forcing herself to use their language, helped. “Um, who is Williams?”

“Not anyone you need to worry about. Although if you do meet her, I suggest you keep your distance. She can be a bit... She trailed off, and before Sali thought to say something, Samantha changed tracks. “Anyway, to answer your first question code green is bad. In fact I think now would be a good time to teach you a bit about alert statuses. Since you are here you need to know what the colors mean.”

“I guess, replied Sali, as her hand was grabbed, and she was led away from her station.

“Now first, Blue is the color you want to see. It basically means that everything is normal. Yellow is a bit of a mixed bag, it basically means that we are expecting trouble. So it can be bad, but sometimes the trouble will pass and the lights will go back to blue with nothing happening. Red means Battlestations, you don’t want to see that. Now on to the more exotic ones, Green is really bad. Its basically a radiation warning. Orange is also really bad. In general, refering to a biohazard.”

“Radiation!? Are we safe? Does that mean we are being exposed to potentially lethal levels of...”

Samantha cut her off, “Relax. Panic won’t help anyone, and I don’t think so.”

A moment later, the older woman opened a wall locker and pulled out a pair of armbands with a circular device casing mounted on them. Samantha glanced at them and let out a breath, “At the moment levels are still normal, we are fine.” Then Samantha handed one to her, telling her to put it on. Sali glanced at it, and complied. It seemed to be a radiation monitor.

“I presume this thing will warn me, if radiation levels spike?”

“It will, and it won’t be hard to miss.”

She glanced at the device. It was nice to have something warn her, then she glanced at the lights. A part of her had to wonder why the lights were green in the first place Before she could think much more on that, Samantha began explaining other colors.

“Not all of the exotic colors are bad. The last important one that I haven’t mentioned is purple, which is a color you will hardly ever see. Its a landing alert, and an indication that the ship is attempting a landing.”

Sali blinked, “Land!?” she replied with wide eyes, “How? This ship is... huge. How could it land?”

“The Enterprise was built with landing in mind. She has a series of dedicated anti-grav generators, along with key structural supports both powered and un-powered that allow her to land, without sinking into the ground or collapsing under her own weight. So yes, its very much possible for the ship to land. Although as I said you won’t see a landing alert often.”

Sali nodded.

“Anyway, let’s get your lesson out of the way. We don’t have to worry too much about the green alert, our monitors will warn us if the radiation rises to concerning levels. There are also first aid kits everywhere, and the medical bay will be on standby just in case.”

“That does sound reassuring. I’ll trust you on that.” replied Sali just before they left the room.

Reia turned from her comm, and noted that Countryman was done giving orders. With a sigh she asked, “So what next?”

“Well with a storm there are only two things you can do get out of its way or hunker down. Since we couldn’t do the former, we did the latter. Now we just wait, and hope it doesn’t bash us to pieces. In the meantime, we might as well eat, and perhaps pick up where we left off.”

Settling into her seat, “Yes you were telling me about how battles don’t win wars.”

“Yes well, we never had the numbers the Cathamari have. While individually our ships were superior, they were also expensive to replace. So while we won nearly every engagement, the losses we sustained were difficult to replace. While on their side, they always had more fresh ships for the battle. It was easier for them to absorb the losses. They were wearing us down by attrition. Now that they are occupied elsewhere, we have decided it is time to rebuild.”

She nodded, “I see, so that is why you are interested in those sectors. Not much competition there, some untapped resources, and there are unclaimed habitable worlds out that way. Its also outside the reach of the Cathamari Empire.”

“Well the problem with Empires is they tend to expand. Sooner or later we will fight them again, I have little doubt about that, but next time we will be prepared. In the meantime, locating a suitable world for my people is the goal.”

Reia considering what she had just heard, made a decision. Given what they had done for her, and her sister she owed them. It was a debt of the kind that was hard to repay. They had saved her sister’s life. She could pay them for that, but it would feel... empty. This felt like a far more proper way to help them, but just as she was about to pledge her support, her sister beat her to it.

“I will help you, I know a few worlds that might be suitable.”

With a sigh Reia said, “I will also offer my assistance.”

Countryman smiled, “I am glad to hear that.”