Avery shook his head. He wasn’t aware such an alliance existed. But the snarky communication was the perfect example of how not to introduce yourself to the interstellar community. And their sudden appearance, both in time and proximity to the current sector was suspect.
In any case, secrecy would gain them nothing. The survey ship wasn’t part of any clandestine operation.
“Commander Gaess, this is Alvarez Commanding United Fleet ship Endeavor. I extend greetings to you from the United Star Systems. Our enclaves enjoy friendly relations and plentiful trade, despite past tensions. You are no doubt aware, a United Fleet survey ship disappeared here three weeks ago, and we are attempting to ascertain its fate. Would you be able to provide any information which could be of assistance?”
“Commander Alvarez, your greeting is acknowledged and reciprocated. Since being informed of your missing ship by your leadership, we scoured this area for two days only calling off the search less than twenty-four hours ago. There is no trace of any ship or corresponding debris. While we monitored a ship operating in this area, we cannot confirm whether this was the Constellation or another ship. We’ve found no indications your survey ship encountered any . . . trouble. I understand your desire to continue the investigation. We will provide the Union sensor logs obtained during our sensor sweep, for your own analysis.”
Avery glanced at O’Brian who nodded in return. “Your offer is appreciated, Commander Gaess, and we are ready to receive the transmission. Once we have analyzed the logs ourselves, we will determine our future action. However, as ships do not routinely disappear—without a trace—you should be concerned yourself to some degree given the proximity to Lumia.”
“The transmission will be ready shortly. We indeed share your concern,” there was a distinct pause before the Union commander continued. “Commander, the Baridian ship has not responded. Given your renewed diplomatic ties, please warn them against taking any provocative actions. We will be watching.”
“Thank you. We will relay your message.”
The communication ended. Avery nodded to the XO, indicating she forward the request made by the Union Captain.
A minute later she responded. “Message relayed, sir,” she said. “Regarding the Union captain, I detected nothing but sincerity, if a little anxiety at our proximity to their border. If they had anything to do with Constellation’s disappearance, he certainly doesn’t seem aware of it.”
“This was my assessment as well, XO. The mystery of Constellation is complicated by the fact that there’s no emergency log buoy. No burst transmission. No debris within the area it could have traversed, given the elapsed time. Even if she had left the area immediately after its last known transmission.”
A burst transmission was sent manually by a ship’s crew, containing the logs, location, and condition of the vessel. The computer could also send such a transmission if it detected the crew was incapacitated, and the ship’s condition is such that its destruction was imminent.
Essentially, Constellation had simply vanished.
“XO, just to be thorough, let’s analyze the Union logs ourselves. We’ve been here a few hours already. I’m certain we’ll find they match our scans of the sector.”
“Aye, sir, I’ll work with ops in case there’s anything in there which might go over my head.” She turned back to the holo-viewer. “What about the Outer Rim ship?”
Avery rubbed the back of his head. What about them indeed? “There are so many small colonies declaring independence and forming new alliances—grand in name, mostly. I’m not surprised we haven’t heard of them.”
O’Brian nodded, looking up from her terminal. “Even with our access to USSI databases I haven’t been able to come up with a reference. What if the Mercenary Coalition decided to declare themselves independent? Perhaps they now fancy themselves this ‘Outer Rim Alliance’.”
“It’s certainly something USSI should be keyed into. We’ll make certain to pass it onto Shepherd and Delaine on our return. But there’s nothing more we can do about them now. They are after all, in interstellar space.”
Before O’Brian could reply, a slight tremor ran the deck.
“Commander, large gravimetric surge, sixty-thousand kilometers astern! Never seen anything like it!”
Both Avery and O’Brian moved to the tactical operations station to see the readings which had the tactical officer excited and confused at the same time.
He looked back at them. “The distortions are increasing! Massive spike in gamma rays, a tremendous amount of energy is emanating from the focal point—an event horizon is forming!”
Outside the ship, the massive distortion pulsed and radiated brighter than a neutron star. It expanded rapidly in all directions. The swirling mass of energies churned so powerful, the physical manifestation continued to expand for thousands of kilometers.
The damn thing was about to engulf his ship!
O’Brian was still staring wide-eyed at the tactical monitor. Avery yanked her arm and pulled her toward the center of the bridge while issuing orders.
“All the known Deities . . . emergency acceleration! Forward, helm, take us away from it!”
Avery dropped himself into the command chair as the ship shuddered with the emergency acceleration. Next to him, O’Brian did the same, fumbling with her harness as Avery clicked his in place.
The ship rumbled as though being pelted by a meteor shower. “We’re not going to make it,” she said.
Avery ignored her. “Polarize the hull plating!”
The energy field running through the hull and the outer armor strengthened it exponentially on a molecular level, enhancing its ability to withstand structural shearing or impacts from external forces.
The deck rattled and caused his voice to vibrato as he spoke. “Warn off the other ships . . . if they haven’t already moved away.”
The anomaly continued to expand until suddenly it imploded and pulsated outwards before excess energies dissipated on the periphery. The chaotic display faded, and in its place an unlikely but unmistakable object materialized.
Constellation.
Chapter 2 – We’re Going In
“That’s the thing with madmen, Decimus. They’re unpredictable” – Avery Alvarez
Endeavor
Avery wretched, smoke burned his lungs. The shock wave overloaded the environmental system. He waved his hands in a useless gesture to clear the smoke filling the bridge.
“Damage report!” he called, to anyone who could still hear.
O’Brian’s voice came from behind him.
“It’s a good thing we moved when we did, sir! That—whatever that was—hit us the hardest . . . probably because we were the closest. No structural damage, but main power’s offline and we’re adrift. Engineering informs we’ll have emergency power soon, with full restoration in five minutes. Power levels are fluctuating, and the dark-matter reactor was outputting dangerous readings—engineering had to shut it down.”
Avery wiped his eyes and squinted at the readings from the outputs attached to his command chair. Just as he shifted to look back at O’Brian, the overhead lights flickered and the ship righted itself.