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Chirakis

Passing Through - USS Kole - Nebula 236a

Passing Through
Aboard USS Kole at stationkeeping
Nebula 236a

 

USS Kole’s Surveillance Deck Officer of the Watch Lt Gonzalez had been busier than ever this morning: checking logs, verifying requisitions, and dealing with shift changes—always a pain.  And now he was hunched over a monitor that decided to do its own thing.  Since engineering was busy with "a more pressing issue" the job fell to him. Great. Just what I wanted to do. 

"Uh… El Tee?" came from across the deck.

His exasperated sigh came from half way under the console. "I'm busy right now in case you didn't notice, Ensign. It'll have to wait."

"But sir… I think you should see this."

"Hildebrand!" he growled, exasperated with the kid interrupting his work.  “I’m tired of your ‘buts’.”   He pushed himself away from the console and rolled to a stand.  "This better be... good."

He froze.  "What... the hell?" he muttered, staring at the forward viewscreen. 

A massive ship passed slowly through the nebula a little too close to Kole, bringing everything on the Surveillance Deck to a standstill.  No one moved. No one made a sound as it floated past.  Spreading its delta wings from one side of the nebula string to the other—or so it seemed—it made Kole look like a tiny dot in space.  Resembling  earth’s 21st century B-2 bombers, it was dark and imposing, floating through space as though it was part of the scenery.

It took Gonzalez a while to get a grip, but finally he barked, “Let's go people! I want scans, top to bottom, inside out.  Complete detail.  Armaments, personnel, species, complement, interior hull, exterior hull, specification and design, propulsion systems, communication, food, clothing… everything you can think of. Wiggens, paint it and track its course."

A series of, “Aye, sir,” came just as Cdr Jim Maron, Kole’s Executive Officer, entered and stopped short. 

"Hell of a big ship, sir," Gonzalez replied with a look of disbelief.  “Probably Alien Alliance. I'm going to say three times the size of an Akira, maybe more." 

"Big ship?” said Maron, approaching the viewscreen.  “I’d rate it a damn big ship.  Where the hell did it come from,?  Is this the first sighting?"

"Second sighting, sir," Gonzales replied.  "First time was two days ago on the other side of the nebula. This is the first time we've had a really good look."

"Transmissions? Communications?"  Maron asked as he made a visual scan, still a little overwhelmed.

"We had one transmission on our first encounter. It was pretty garbled, either like someone blowing bubbles or a bunch of languages pushed together by a little kid. The computer couldn't make sense of it either, so we passed it on to HQ.  McNamara has a handle on this pass-through."

"Good.  Good,” the commander replied, nodding.  “Any show of hostility?"

"No sir. It just seems to float through, sending out that strange transmission."

"Other sightings reported?"  Maron crossed his arms to watch the ship slip by.

"Yes, sir, one.  Aegean and Regulus are doing some scientific investigating near a star in 259b.  Got one report from Regulus about this ship, but they said it passed by without stopping, pretty much like it’s doing now."

Giving a slow thoughtful nod he continued to watch a while, then turned.  "Anything else?"

"No, sir."

"Very well. Keep an eye on.  Report when ready. Carry on."

*   *   *   *   *   *   *

"Well, I'll... be... damned," Cdr Jim Maron muttered as he thumbed through the preliminary report from Gonzalez.

Captain Jira Adley looked up from her work, which was considerable ever since Kole took stationkeeping just outside the nebular ring.  "Careful, Jim"  she quipped. "It just might happen one of these days and then won't you be in a fix."

Maron raised a brow in her direction then responded with an apologetic grin.  "Got a point there, Captain. I'll be more careful to keep my words in check. Want to take a look?" He held out his tablet.

She sighed and put her work aside. "Sure. Just throw it up onscreen."

"Brace for impact…." he said as the forward viewscreen lit up with images and information on the delta wing ship that had been floating through the nebular ring for the last few days.

Nudging her command console to the side, she pushed herself to a stand.  "So that's what they've been talking about," she said.

"Yep." Maron joined her. "Surveillance Deck says full complement is 1500, give or take.  Three different species of humanoids.  Medical is working on the information now to see if they can pinpoint the species’ origins.  Their interior and exterior hulls are similar to ours, and the technology doesn’t seem to be very different.  Armaments?  Loaded for bear but similar to ours.”

“Any evidence that they know we’re here?”

“None that they showed.  If they do know and they’re ignoring us, either they don’t care or they’re waiting for the right time to attack.  But if they attack, we don’t have a chance.”

“What about that strange transmission?  Anything on that yet?”

“No, ma’am. We sent it to HQ, and haven’t had a response.  Any ideas?”

“Oh yes," she replied, pensively. "A few. Just a few.”
 

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