Gliese Chronicles: Thin Margin Ch. 02

"So you're thinking what I'm thinking?"

"Based on the evidence, I think some form of contagion is the culprit. It could be something that mutated onboard while underway, something they allowed onboard in some fashion, or perhaps something they carried with them in their medical facilities or supplies."

"You're the expert in that area, what's your best guess."

"Captain, it would be a pure guess, so it's not going to get us anywhere. I know you want an answer, but I think we are going to have to tease it out of the logs. I'm sure the answer is buried in there somewhere, we just need the time to find it. I'll start some queries using appropriate terms promulgated and get moving on it."

"Good. It sounds like the best we can do right now. I guess we'll have to play it safe and remain on Avenger rather than go onto the Admiral's vessel. No reason to risk anything more than our ship and crew."

"I think it's a good precaution to take. I'm confident our decontamination procedures would have taken care of anything we're familiar with, but what if it's something entirely new? Being overly cautious is best right now. Once we know what it is we'll be able to make informed decisions. Okay, I've got to get after this."

I watched as he left his chair and headed aft to the computational and systems compartment.

"Captain, I'm picking up communications from our ships, we should be within four-thousand kilometers now as I've been picking the signals up since we left the enemy vessel."

"Thank you, Comm. Remove our cloak and go active with the sensors so they know we're coming. Open an encrypted channel and I'll hail them."

"Aye, Captain."

It was less than a minute before Admiral Prescott was in contact with us. He wasn't too pleased we had not arrived earlier. I told him we had been delayed by collecting intelligence from the lone enemy vessel. That seemed to placate him some, but he was keen to take action against the enemy fleet as he had decided they were vulnerable and could be driven off. It was obviously time to reveal information that was sure to affect his strategic thinking. I made a connection to Morgan's position so he could see and hear our conversation. I could see Morgan and the Admiral, the Admiral could only see me.

"Admiral based upon the intelligence we collected we believe there are humans on some of those enemy ships."

The expression on his face was of shock pure and simple. His reply was not entirely unexpected. "Captain Casperson, I think you're space loco. If they were human they wouldn't have taken aggressive action against us. You had better have some really good reasons to present before I'm going to believe something like that."

"We're working on analyzing their logs, we have both ships and Captain's log. We should have them reviewed for the details we need in a day or two."

"I've already delayed taking action waiting for you to show up. Where the hell have you been? You should have engaged the enemy over two standard days ago. The enemy suffered several accidents from what we can tell and elected to move away from us as a result. It's time to take care of them once and for all."

I looked at the Admiral, I didn't want to reveal we had been responsible for the damage in case our communications were being monitored. Keeping that secret was still important as the advantage it provided was too important if something went wrong and we had to engage them again. Morgan slowly moved his head slightly to indicate he was against telling the Admiral of our involvement. My mind was working trying to find something that might change his mind, something that wouldn't reveal too much regarding Avenger's role in what happened. Unless...

"Admiral, why did the enemy leave one of their large vessels behind?"

The look on the Admiral's face went blank. He had his junior officers standing behind him listening to the conversation. In my mind, it was time to see what he was made of.

"I expect their navigation and propulsion systems were compromised by the accident," he replied in an authoritative tone.

"Our scans show their engines are intact as are their internal systems. There is no reason to believe their ship could not have stayed with the fleet." I replied.

I didn't want to reveal that the captains of the two ships he had left to surveil the enemy vessel were not conducting routine scans to collect intelligence—that would serve no purpose at this point as he should have ordered them to do so. I could see the Admiral was growing frustrated. He hadn't thought about other possibilities for why the enemy ship had remained in place.

"I suppose captain you have a possible explanation for this too," his voice with a hint of sarcasm.

It was time to make use of Morgan's reputation. Something I had saved, as I was still a relative unknown and was a woman. Something that I knew was likely to affect his opinion of me as an officer he did not know personally.

"Commander Stanton and I believe they left the vessel there for us to explore. For us to learn something about them in a way that exposed only some of their ships and crew to harm. They want us to understand them."

I saw indecision register on his face. "Very well, you have two standard days to come up with evidence showing there are humans aboard their ships. But Captain, if they move towards the colonies you will use your vessel to attack them without mercy. Is that understood?"

"Yes sir, it is. Thank you for your patience."

The channel closed without another word as I turned to Morgan's image on the screen with a smile. "That went well."

"Captain, that's what I like about serving with an optimist, even the devil has a good side. Let's get to work, we don't have all that much time."