Intergalactic

23 minutes had passed since the EMP on Binary Bloom. General Norge had the bridge crew put a timer on the main screen, next to the navigation and sensor data. The Aegis Prime had almost reached its destination position, 500 km away from the pirate outpost in a higher orbit around the planet Aethel.

The battleship had no viewport or exterior windows. They were a liability during combat. Instead, the space between its outer hull and the inner shell that made up the bridge, crew quarters and other living spaces was used for storage. Water, of which a ship the size of the Aegis Prime needed a good amount, was excellent at stopping both kinetic and energy weapons and dispersing their energy. It also made enemy boarding attempts really interesting to watch.

„Still nothing?“, the general inquired.

„Negative, Sir.“, Commander Frason answered. He was the captain of the battleship, but for this mission he felt more like a first officer again, with the general giving most of the orders. And while he largely managed to keep his expression under control, a sliver of annoyance had found its way unto his face.

Faint pulses on the electromagnetic sensors trained on the pirate outpost appeared and vanished again every 30-40 seconds. They had been doing that for the past six or seven minutes. According to the data analyst on the bridge, it indicated the pirate outpost attempting to restart its fusion power generator.

There was also something else. A repeating fluctuation that the data analysts were still trying to make sense of. It seemed familiar yet unknown at the same time. He had fed it into the pattern recognition AI and it had suggested it as the faint signals of a dying human communications satellite. Its origin seemed to be at the far side of the planet, opposite the pirate outpost. However, the sensors were unable to triangulate an exact position. If the battleship had been closer or on a regular approach vector, they would have never picked it up. All this made the chief data analyst even more curious. Her name tag said Sgt. Sharma. If one went back far enough in her family tree, old Earth India would appear, but her features and skin color had been smoothed out over generations of humanity mingling in space, and only a hint of them remained.

As the Aegis Prime took up its temporary orbit near the pirate outpost, the signal vanished behind the planet in a peculiar fashion: Instead of suddenly disappearing, the number of pulses dropped, with gaps appearing between them. Until at last the frequency had dropped to less than one tenth of the original measurements. Sgt. Sharma was checking on it repeatedly in-between her observations of the signals coming from the pirate station. As the battleship closed in, other even weaker signals had appeared there. Most likely sub-system generators and their attempts to restart.

„Sgt. Sharma, status of the station?“, her commander relayed the general’s request. Sharma’s attention went to another screen. She read out the measurements of other sensors aloud: „Gravity fields collapse has begun, zero-point-nine g and falling, will reach zero in approximately twenty minutes. Internal atmosphere estimated to remain breathable for six to eight hours. Power generation still offline. Should have restarted four to five minutes ago under assumed conditions. No hull breaches detected. No ships have taken off.“

„Roger“, the commander acknowledged.

„However“, Sharma continued, we have seven ships approaching in hyperspace. Apparently transport ships. Direct course for the station.“

Frason acknowledged: „Weekly supply for the station. We were expecting it today or tomorrow. Good timing for us, it’ll increase the pressure on the pirates to cooperate if they can’t get their supplies. Send them a message that the station is under blockade and they are to keep a million klicks distance we give them clearance.“

Just then, the communications officer turned around: „Urgent call from the Dephyr scout.“

The commander acknowledged this as well and tapped on the display to his right, where General Norge could see it as well. The captain of the DSF Volcano appeared. Without so much as a greeting, she stated: „We got several weird hyperspace readings on the other side of the planet. I’m transmitting their positions right now, though they seem to be moving erratically. Check them out immediately. Our sensors appear to have been hit by the EMP and tell us nonsense.“

Commander Frason turned to Sgt. Sharma at the sensors: „Check the incoming sensor data and report as soon as you have a reading.“

„Aye, Sir.“, the chief data analyst responded. Just as the commander turned back to his command station, Sgt. Sharma added: „Sir? We’ve been tracking unclear pulses from those same positions for the past minute or so.“

Frason turned to the video call: „We detected it as well. Our analysts are working on it.“

„Border patrol ship.“, General Norge stated. That the much smaller Dephyr ship had sensors that competed with the Aegis Prime left only this conclusion.

Sharma still had to split her attention between the station and the unknown pulses. She directed one of her analysts to the pulses and the other two to the station.

A moment later, the commander turned to her again, having given other commands to other stations on the bridge in-between. „How long until they run out of air down there?“, he asked.

Sharma quickly consulted a screen with data on the station. „Six hours until toxicity reaches dangerous levels by our estimate. Could be faster if there are fires.“

General Norge and Commander Frason exchanged glances. Then the general announced for the entire bridge to hear: „We stand by and observe for the next hour. After that, we will evacuate our marines and send engineers to support the outpost.“