Gliese Chronicles: Thin Margin Ch. 02

Gliese Chronicles: Thin Margin Chapter Two

By Rachel Anne Wallace

I was unnerved at Morgan's explosive comment. His speech was normally calm and professional. What had caused his outburst?" It was a split second later that I understood. I looked at Morgan not knowing what to say. It simply didn't make sense. They were gone! The alien fleet was nowhere to be seen, at least from our vantage point. More perplexing was that if they were gone they had left one of their largest ships, the one with us in it, behind. It made no sense. Then another possibility struck me, the ship holding us had left the enemy fleet taking us with it. I quickly scanned the monitors, then let out a slow breath.

Morgan looked at me, his face as blank as I expected mine was. I watched as he looked at the screens, hoping to see something we had both missed up to this point. I finally managed to regain my composure, though my mind was still trying to come to grips with what I had seen—or not seen.

"Commander, any suggestions, thoughts?"

"Not at the moment. I think we need more information to verify what we think we've seen. Maybe it's different, maybe they have moved their fleet to our blind side where we can't see to deceive us. I don't think our position has changed, at least not from our sensor data, this vessel seems to have remained stationary."

"That's possible, though maybe this vessel has moved outward slowly by itself without our noticing. But, you're right, we need more information. Their fleet may have shifted position relative to this ship and are still here."

"Captain. Let's send the probe out again, this time to pick up communications traffic, we seem to be a little limited right now in terms of reception in passive mode being inside. We might pick something up we can use before we decide we need to go active with our sensors and give ourselves away."

It sounded like a good initial approach. The other thing I was concerned with pertained to the ship we were on—what was taking place in this vessel, had they taken all of their crew members off without our knowing it? Was a crew still onboard preparing to board us? A quick glance at the rear-facing monitors didn't reveal activity in the hangar bay.

"Comm. Deploy the probe again, the same program as before, this time, make the sensors active."

"Aye Captain."

After a few minutes, we watched as the probe left the opening of the hangar bay and began its journey towards the bow of the alien ship. Video from the probe showed distant stars and a planet as before, but no ships—neither theirs nor ours from this perspective. We continued to watch as the probe reached the bow and started its return aft at a slightly higher elevation along the alien ship's hull.

"Comm, are you picking up any communications?"

"Some distant signals, none close. I have signals from this alien vessel as before. They seem to be at station keeping, their engines are live, electronic devices, no identifiable voice. In fact, their climate control appears to be operational."

"Comm, run another scan and put their environmental stats up on screen three."

Ten minutes later, Morgan and I watched as the screen filled with a table and a chart of temperatures along their hull. The temperatures suggested the interior was being kept at about twenty-two degrees C., suitable for occupation by organic beings based upon our own physiological profile. The only problem was, we had no direct evidence of a crew being onboard—but a ship this size had to have one somewhere. Unless it was fully automated.

"Commander, we know their vessels are pressurized as when we hit them earlier we observed contents being blown outward, including gases. That means an atmosphere of some kind, for some reason. Electronics don't need an atmosphere, just protection from temperature extremes to operate optimally."

"Agreed. Let's send the probe over the top and survey the whole area to make sure we are actually alone with this vessel. If we leave I guess we should remain cloaked and passive, no reason to give them something to shoot at. We don't know how much defensive armament this ship has."

I felt better knowing we basically agreed on a course of action. There were still too many open questions and too few answers. At least we hadn't been shot at yet, I just wondered how long that would last. I turned my attention back to the video feed from our probe as it slowly worked its way back towards the hangar deck, half an hour had elapsed before the probe topped the vessel's deck and peered towards space beyond. There, at a distance of about fifteen kilometers were two spacecraft—our own!

"Captain, those are our craft. They must be keeping an eye on this vessel while the rest have gone on with the enemy fleet."

I pressed the condition button on my console and placed the crew on yellow alert, there didn't seem to be any reason to remain at red, or general quarters, at this point. I was watching the monitor as the probe reentered the hangar bay and slowly worked its way back towards our shuttle bay, it was then I noticed some writing on the hangar wall as its light went on in the dark interior. "Comm, have the probe scan the hangar deck more closely, particularly for markings or other symbols."

"Aye, Captain."

We watched the monitors and saw several areas where there were indistinct markings of some sort that appeared faded, offering little additional information. Disappointed with the result, I watched as the probe made its turn towards Avenger's shuttle bay. I was desperate for more information on who the inhabitants of this vessel were, so far I had come up empty—they remained faceless, unknown.

It seemed logical now that the best course of action was to leave our hiding place cloaked and rendezvous with our own forces to share intelligence. I would contact them after we were well away from both this vessel and them—no reason to reveal we were here if they hadn't made the connection we were onboard their ship, though this seemed unlikely. There was also the possibility the enemy had eyes and ears where we didn't expect them to be. Of course, I was assuming our spacecraft was still in our own hands and not that of the enemy. It could be a trap.

"Commander, I think it's time for us to leave this comfy place."

Morgan grinned at me, "Comfy, is it? I assume we go out cloaked and silent. No reason to be careless at this point."

"Yes. We need to make sure our ships are friendly, once we know for sure we can find out what happened while we were unable to get complete readings of our own of the enemy fleet."

I pressed the button on my console to take us to general quarters and watched as the bridge crew grew vigilant and business-like. I felt my heart rate go up. It was time to be bold again.

"Helm, take us out once we are cloaked, then maneuver us under this vessel and make a course past the two ships at lying at station, then come to station ten kilometers beyond them."

"Aye, Captain. Maneuver, then come to station at ten K past our vessels."

There was just a slight sensation as our magnetic skids released from the hangar deck floor, then we slowly moved forward through the opening into the star-lit space beyond. The glow of the galaxy once again bathed us in muted tones, seeming friendly after our stay in the dark confines of the hangar deck. I felt another small adrenalin surge as we emerged, my eyes darting from our forward screens to those behind where the enemy vessel grew large as we moved away. It was almost enough to make you gasp to realize how small Avenger was in comparison.

We passed under the enemy vessel that still showed no sign of activity, hanging motionless in the dim light of space. We traveled under the power of our thrusters only, having no need for our two large fusion engines for such a short distance. Once in a position beyond our own vessels, I sent a coded message with our identification code and waited for a response. It came quickly.

I wanted visual confirmation of its crew so I opened the comm channel with both audio and visual components active. The friendly face of a man in uniform appeared along with several others behind him on the bridge of one of the vessels. I didn't recognize the other captain.

"Captain Casperson, I'm Captain Seenaw, of ADS 89. Are you near? We have been waiting to hear from you."

I looked over at Morgan, he nodded, saying quietly he had met him several times.

"Captain Seenaw, we are within shuttle range. I propose we pay you a visit."

"Captain, within in shuttle range? We don't..."

"Captain, it would be best if we spoke face to face rather than over an open, unsecured channel." Cutting him off, a little irritated he didn't have the same concerns regarding possible enemy surveillance of our communications as I did.

His face showed some consternation, then went firm. "I understand. When can we expect you?"

"We will be astern of your ship in less than a minute and should be aboard the shuttle to your shuttle bay in five minutes."

The surprise on his face was clear. "Very well, I'll see you shortly, will you have your first officer with you?"

"Yes." Not offering a name or any other information. I closed the comm channel and issued orders to the helm and to Comm. We left our cloak and made way slowly towards their ships as Morgan and I headed to our shuttle. Once inside, we communicated with the bridge as the shuttle bay depressurized after our hatches were sealed. Minutes later we were inside the shuttle bay of ADS 89 waiting for the green light showing the bay had been pressurized.

Captain Seenaw was a full head taller than myself and slightly overweight, his hair balding a little. When he saw Morgan his face lit up with recognition—it was obvious he remembered Morgan from their previous encounters—though everyone knew he had elected not to take command of ADS 136. That news had surely found its way to every officer and enlisted man in the fleet within hours. I decided to be direct and professional.

"Captain Seenaw, we would very much appreciate a briefing regarding the status of the enemy and our own fleet."

"Of course, Captain. I'm surprised to see you now as we expected your ship to be engaged with the enemy fleet two days ago. But no one has heard from you until now."

Morgan and I looked at one another, his expression unrevealing, then a small grin as I felt his foot nudge mine under the table telling me we were on the same page. I didn't rise to the bait.

"So, Captain, where are we? Where is the enemy fleet at this time? They obviously have left this location and have gone elsewhere for some reason."

"There appeared to be some problems early on with several of their ships. We believe perhaps a series of accidents disrupted their communications. Then they sent a wave of smaller armed craft against us, which we turned back with very minor damage to two of our own ships. Then their fleet halted their advance for some reason, again, their communications had lagged, then all but one of their large ships retreated for no apparent reason. Our fleet has followed them to the very outer reaches of our system. We received orders to surveil this ship along with ADS 29. That's it in a nutshell."

"Have you gathered any additional intelligence on them? Is there any indication they want to communicate with us?" I asked.

"We have some intelligence from our sensors, but it's pretty basic stuff. Only four of their larger craft have signatures showing a pressurized atmosphere is being maintained in large spaces. The other ships show small spaces with the same signature buried deep inside. The rest of the ships are warm relative to space. Our translation programs have been unable to ascertain anything other than digital data being shared by machines to coordinate ship movements and such. There's no hint of intelligent life, at least as we know it."

"Do you have any guesses as to why they left? It seems strange that they would have abandoned one of their ships. Did you see any of their other craft render assistance, or take their crew off?" Morgan asked.

"For a while, smaller ships were traveling between ships, including this one, then it stopped. We observed several of their smaller armed ships patrol along the outer hull of the abandoned ship, then leave and not return. Then the rest of the fleet turned and left. They are traveling slowly the last we heard from Admiral Prescott to the very edge of our system."

"Does anyone have any idea as to what they're doing right now?" Morgan asked.

"The best we can tell is that they're repairing the damage to their ships as they move away. Beyond that, it's pure speculation as to what they might choose to do next. Commander, we simply don't know."

"Thank you, Captain," I replied knowing we didn't know much more than we ever had.

"Captain Casperson, would you like to land your ship in our shuttle bay?"

I didn't want to say anything to offend him, but if I had been able to fit Avenger into his ship's hangar I would have asked to do so. I was about to reply when Morgan spoke up.

"I'm afraid our ship is a little too large for you to accommodate easily or safely, but thank you. We wouldn't want to chance an accident of our own. Given our orders, we can't stay long anyway."

"So, what are your orders?" Seenaw asked cautiously as if they weren't the same as his own.

"To engage the enemy and turn them back," I replied earnestly.

"I can only surmise that means in conjunction with the fleet. Your small ship couldn't possibly make that much of a difference on its own."

Morgan and I both knew there were but a few individuals in Space Command who were knowledgeable about the technology, design, and capabilities of Avenger. Stealth, combined with secrecy and speed was key to success and I was loath to expose any more than necessary to anyone else, including the good captain.

"Captain Seenaw, thank you for the briefing, it was truly helpful. If you can send my ship the coordinates for our fleet we will proceed to that position as per our orders."

"Of course." Then he turned to Morgan, "Commander, do you have a moment or two? It would be nice to take a few minutes to visit before you leave. It's been a while."

I gave a nod to Morgan knowing what was going to happen. Seenaw needed to satisfy his curiosity and I wasn't the one best suited at the moment to do it. I needed to use the head anyway and walked out to find one. I dawdled for a while, then headed back to the ready room where I engaged some of the other officers in small talk until Seenaw and Morgan walked in. They walked directly to me, I smiled as if I didn't know what had transpired.

"Captain Seenaw, thank you for your hospitality. It was a pleasure to have met you and I hope we will be able to celebrate a victory in the future."

"I think we all want that," he said graciously as we walked towards the shuttle bay.

Then as I turned to leave. "And captain," as I looked him straight in the eye, "we were never here. Inform your officers and crew there is to be no mention of our vessel, including communications with Space Command headquarters or the fleet admiral. You should do the same in person with the captain of ADS 41. You may enter our presence in your Captain's log as per standard regulations, beyond that we don't exist. Do you understand?"

There was confusion written across his face, then he squared his jaw. "I understand. I knew there had to be a reason you appeared out of nowhere."

We shook hands and left immediately. Upon entering our shuttle and confirming our hatches were sealed we waited as the bay was depressurized. I turned to Morgan with a sly grin. "Well, did you satisfy his curiosity?"

"Not as much as he wanted. But he really didn't know we were here or where we came from. My experience with him in the past was confirmed this time—he's way too rigid in his thinking and tactics. He could have asked the right questions, but didn't."

"I kind of guessed that."

Morgan looked at me smiling, "We aren't heading for the fleet right away are we?"

"Nope. I think it's time we used our sensors to collect additional information. I asked several of his junior officers about their surveillance of the enemy vessel and they gave me a blank look. Morgan, they ran an initial set of scans and then stopped. All they're doing is watching, nothing more. The captain of the ADS 41 who is with them is junior to Seenaw, so he's not pushing to do more."

We left ADS 89 and within fifteen minutes were onboard Avenger waiting for the bay to be pressurized. We were alone for the first time and when I looked at him I knew we needed to at least hug and kiss one another. His embrace was so wonderful, then his lips on mine made me grow warm with desire for more, but it was not to be as the green lights showed we were clear to open the hatch. It hadn't been much, but it had been enjoyable just the same—now it was back to duty.

We reached the bridge and set about using our advanced sensor array to glean as much information as we could from the alien vessel as we could before deciding our next move. I couldn't help but feel much of what we needed to know was right in front of us. It made sense to me to be as informed as we could possibly be prior to joining our fleet, something that Seenaw obviously hadn't considered.

Unfortunately, the sensor sweep failed to produce much more than we already had, though there was an indication of another warm area deeper within the vessel that hadn't shown before, separate from the engine section. It was becoming apparent we were going to have to take another approach if we were to learn more about our adversary. That really didn't leave many options for us to pursue and it meant putting our crew as risk again within the hangar deck of the enemy ship.

Morgan and I pored over the images and data for almost twenty minutes. I had asked several of the bridge crew for their summaries based upon their expertise and found we still had a lot of unanswered questions. I was just finishing up when I heard Morgan's voice. "I guess it's time to get bold if we're going to learn anything new about the life forms on these ships."

"Yes, I have to agree. So far we don't have any indication that any organic-based sentient beings are aboard this vessel. If we're going to figure out what's going on it seems like we're going to have to start looking more closely at what's available to us."

"Captain, is it time to go back onto the alien vessel and take another look from inside? It seems like it's the only viable alternative left to explore."

"Yes, Commander, it is," as I turned away from him. "Helm, take us back into the hangar bay of the alien vessel once we are cloaked. Set us down where we were before. Maneuver as needed. Comm, stealth mode, go passive."

"Aye, Captain, course to the alien vessel, maneuver as needed to the hangar bay."

"Aye, Captain, stealth active, sensors stowed."

Once underway I went to general quarters, hoping it was over-kill. The trip was uneventful and we settled down onto the hangar deck with a slight vibration of the landing gear. Once we had ascertained the hangar bay was secure I ordered the officers to the conference room and explained we were going to conduct a reconnaissance of the alien craft to gather intelligence. The expression on their faces showed this was something they had not expected.

"We send in a team of three humanoid robots first. I want them to search the ship and map the interior from our access point in the hangar bay to the bridge first. Then I want them to identify the areas with atmosphere and temperatures capable of sustaining life. Once we have this preliminary search we can decide on what to do next."

"Captain, should we expect trouble?"

"Yes, that's why the robots go in first. They should go through a decontamination regimen before boarding Avenger, then again once the shuttle bay door is closed. I don't want any 'bugs' coming onto the ship. They should be in deep space suits. I know it will slow them down, but if we find something during external decontamination the suits can be left behind. I would rather lose a few space suits than a robot, and I would rather lose a robot than a crew member."