The Sodex-FS – Maiden Voyage
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by: Anomaly
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The Sodex-FS – Maiden Voyage
Ward C. Tipton
The captain of the Sodex-FS, Ahern Mish, is the youngest captain of the fleet. However, even at his young age he is a seasoned veteran. He also possesses many skills which make him uniquely qualified to captain a fleet ship, particularly the Sodex class ships. The Sodex class ships are or at least will be, scientific observation and deep exploration crafts. The layout, design and the true capabilities of all of the Sodex ships will be scientific in nature. The Sodex is the namesake and Flag-Ship of the Sodex class of ships.
Ahern Mish was a very keen and dedicated student growing up. He finished his preliminary schooling a full five years early. Immediately he applied directly to and was accepted by the Fleet Sciences University. At an age when most people are just entering the University, Ahern Mish was graduating with two advanced degrees in applied sciences to compliment his regular diploma. He received his first commission as a science officer second class on one of the earlier research vessels. That had been his home when the Pharisud wars began.
Most of the captain and executive officers had been killed in the initial attack on the bridge. Being somewhat doubtful about the reliability of the escape pods and finding the secondary control center intact and functional, Ahern Mish personally rescinded the order to abandon ship and took over command. Under his guidance, two of the attacking ships had been destroyed and the third was damaged to the point where it could no longer press the attack. He then piloted the damaged ship back to a docking and repair facility after picking up the few remaining survivors.
Upon their return, one of the remaining executives of the ship recommended he be sent to a court martial proceeding for disobeying a direct order and insubordination. Instead, Ahern Mish received his first promotion and a medal. While the fleet had many good people to command ships, when the Sodex Class ships went from the drawing board to actual construction, his name was the first one that came up.
Captain Mish scanned the faces of the executive crew on the bridge with him. The two science officers, Mr. Choso and Ms. Storze were busy pouring over all of the new data that came in all the time. He knew that they would stay there all day and all night if he would let them. He realized that even if just a little bit, he was actually envious of their position. The Officer of the Deck or the OOD was Mr. Simpton. While he was young and relatively green still, he did have a good track record. He did not have what it took to issue orders but he knew how to make sure that orders were followed. His job involved mostly the coordination of station reports in order to be able to keep the captain up to date during the initial phase of any occurrences.
The next station was a dual setup just like the science station. Here however, the engineering and navigational officers worked in unison to make sure that the Sodex would go where the captain sent her when he ordered it to happen. From here Mr. Stand and Mr. Tibitz would make sure that the Sodex could get to where they needed to be in order to search for intelligent life. That was after all, their priority mission.
At the last station on the bridge sat Mr. Polit. The captain watched in amazement as his fingers literally flew across the keyboard. He moved with incredible grace and swiftness for someone of his size and stature. Mr. Polit however, was the Executive Officer in charge of security. Under his command, were four platoons of highly trained and specialized troops. While there were many theories about first contact, nobody was sure if they did meet, what the reality would be. Even when it had only been people from earth in space, there had been a need for defense. When seeking out new life, it only seemed reasonable to be prepared for any eventuality.
Mish knew that the only thing that could keep Polit's fingers moving that fast and him smiling that much was one of his video games. While they were technically not allowed on board the ship, the security forces labeled them as training aids and they were packed on board with no questions. Many of the other crew members of the Sodex had been grateful for their presence as well. As long as Polit was playing his video games, Mish knew that everything was okay.
Begrudgingly, Captain Mish returned to the massive numbers of reports that he had to fill out. There had been a number of small bugs found, more than should have on a brand new ship. It was his sincere belief that a great number of them should have actually been discovered on the shake-down cruise when the vessel was supposed to be checked thoroughly to discover just such problems. Such was the life of a captain however. If there wasn't one problem, there were a half a dozen. Mish also realized that at least if he was forced to be the captain of a ship, there was some consolation in the fact that it was a scientific and research vessel. Deciding that he had included enough snide remarks in his log about the bugs, Captain Mish took a moment to relax.
Captain Mish understood scientists. Not only was that his real interest but all prejudices aside, he really did appreciate scientists. They were mostly logical and reasonable people not given to emotional swings. Only rarely did they give in to emotional outbursts and that usually centered on someone not letting them do the research that they felt was most important to them. Another thought crossed Mish's mind that made him smile. As the captain, he could go to the labs any time that he wanted. Mish turned over command to the OOD and headed down to see what “his men” were up to.
As he entered the labs, the smell hit him immediately and he remembered another reason that he enjoyed the company of scientists; they were able to get consistent and very satisfying results when fermenting grains. Captain Mish was probably most happy here however because here he was still one of the gang. Here, he did not have to be the captain. He greeted the other scientists present as he took a seat at the workstation he claimed as his own and resumed his research.
At this stage of their journey the Sodex was still gaining speed. She would be speeding up for another two weeks before they began the converse process of slowing down for another four months in order to be able to maneuver once they got to the galaxy where they would begin their search for life. With the exception of the large number of bugs he was discovering in the ship's systems, there was not likely to be much to actually report on until then. It gave him a great opportunity to work on his latest theories.
As he predicted, the next few weeks aboard the Sodex were relatively uneventful. There had been one small fire in one of the labs but since such events are always foreseen in a facility of that nature, they had been more than ready to deal with it. Then, almost as if they did not want to be outdone by the scientists, one of the cooks had a grease fire in one of the deep fryers. That one almost caused a lot more damage when one of the officers tried to extinguish the blaze by pouring water over it. Fortunately, most of the damage had been limited to the deep fryer, some paint and a healthy portion of one officer's pride. Thinking that was all there was too report besides the ever-increasing minor bugs in the system which he had already noted in quite a flippant tone; Captain Migsan closed his console terminal and looked around at the people on the bridge with him.
Mish found that he enjoyed watching Polit play his video games almost as much as the big man seemed to enjoy playing them. He was not sure how long he had been watching him play but he was literally startled as Polit seemed to snap to attention right there in his seat. Turning to Mr. Simpton, the captain said one word only. “Report!” Simpton was busy sorting out the many reports he was receiving all at once but was still quick never the less. “It would appear Captain, that someone is waving a flashlight in our eyes.”
Mish had seen many strange things in space and heard tales about many more. He was not quite sure what to make of the initial report that he received though. As more details came to be known, it definitely appeared that Simpton's initial report had been a factual representation of what was happening. There was a beam of light playing back and forth across the path of the ship. Not simply flashing so that it could be seen but actually hitting the ship as it passed by in either direction.
To say that a deep space vessel moves fast would not do it justice. For something or someone to even hit it with a light beam would be impressive. For someone or something to be capable of hitting it numerous times would require intelligent life. If they had been looking for intelligent life, it would seem that some form of intelligent life was looking at them first. “All hands prepare: Emergency slow.” The captain’s orders did not come as a surprise to anyone. It did not take news long to spread even on a ship the size of the Sodex. The crew members were already buckling down even before the first siren sounded.
The reason for calling out emergency slow was simple. While it is quite possible for unmanned craft with no atmosphere to stop on a dime and hand out change, for a manned craft with an artificial atmosphere, that same feat is quite detrimental. The artificial atmosphere contains gravitational forces. While the ship itself would be quite capable of making the transition from great speed to being motionless almost instantly, anything contained within the artificial atmosphere would become nothing more than a stain on whatever surface it came into contact with as it continued at the same velocity. It would be the deep space equivalent of a bug hitting a windshield. Not wishing to convert any of his crew to “bugsplat”, Mish ordered emergency slow.
It took the Sodex almost a complete cyclic day to slow down enough for normal operations to resume. The crew scrambled to deploy every sensor that the ship had. On the Sodex, that amounted to more than a few for every person on board to help with. As more data came in, Simpton kept Mish informed with each new piece of the puzzle. Whoever had been shining the flashlight in their eyes also seemed to be trying to make their job easier as well. The flashlight stayed with them as they slowed. Presently, it was maintaining permanent contact with the ship.
As more information was gathered, Simpton was able to give a more complete report to the Captain and executive officers on the bridge. “The good news is that the light is apparently non-invasive. At least it is not a weapon with any discernible effects on us or the ship. It appears that the light has not only been amplified but somehow modified in order to conduct bi-directional communications. At this point in time we do not have the means to insert our own return signal but the lab techs are already working on trying to figure that one out. The signal it is broadcasting to us is in a simple binary format. It appears to be giving us a set of coordinates, however they are not in a manner that is familiar to us and we are still working on figuring out exactly what those coordinates are. The signal is split into two parts. The bad news is that we have no way to discern exactly what is included in the return signal. It seems fair to guess that we are either being hailed or scanned. By who or what, we do not yet know.”
The captain did not have to request more information. He knew that Simpton would relay everything to him as it came in. In the meantime, he decided that he had better fill out his reports and prepare one more to indicate what they were experiencing. There was little else for him to do as he waited for the data to be gathered and sorted. Surprisingly, the information began coming in much faster than he expected. Simpton's voice echoed out across the bridge in quite an excited manner.
“Captain! We have discovered the location of the coordinates. It is giving us the coordinates of an uncharted system not far off of our intended path. We can make good time getting there, but once we pass the mapped systems, we will have to slow considerably in order to get safely where we are going. The recommendations of the crew of executive officers of the Sodex-FS all concur that we should consider this as first contact and proceed as instructed by fleet regulations and standing orders of all personnel. That is the official report and opinion of the crew. We hereby officially await your orders sir!” Mish noticed the grin on Polit's face was now directed at the unintentionally military tone of the usually informal Mr. Simpton. “Relax Mr. Simpton. The recommendations of the crew have been duly noted and recorded per fleet regulations. Let's find out who is talking to us. Mr. Simpton, prepare an initial contact report and get it to me as soon as it is completed. I want to know the exact location and our ETA. Include a copy of all of the information that we have in a sub-space communication to fleet headquarters and make sure that they are aware of our situation. Mr. Polit, have half of your troops on standby at all times. Rotate them on the standard ten-hour shifts. We do not know who or what we are dealing with yet.”
As Simpton responded with a proper “Aye that Captain!” a small cheer went up from the crew members on the bridge. First contact was an exciting proposition even if it was intimidating and frightening in many respects. This was what they had been sent to do but nobody had imagined it would be this easy or this fast. The reports, like the information before came back well before Mish would have imagined. He had to give his crew credit, they were working quickly and efficiently even under the feeling of excitement that everyone shared. As long as they could maintain their composure this well, Mish had a good feeling that everything would be all right. He was still going over the reports when Simpton's voice interrupted him yet again.
“Captain. The sub-space communications are all off-line. The repair detail is already working on it but until they get it up and running, there is no way for us to report to fleet headquarters.” The captain told Simpton to keep him up to date and let him know when the signal had been sent. In the meantime, he had other matters of a bit more pressing nature. Simpton's “Aye that Captain!” brought the matter to a close for the time being. Looking over towards Polit sitting at his station; the captain wished that he had seen him playing his video game. He noticed that the big man was now one-hundred percent military and that in its own way, still brought some comfort to Mish.
Mish took the opportunity while everything was prepared to change the ship's course to read over the reports that he received. The solar system was a singular one, possessing only one sun. Around it orbited 11 planets and three other bodies that were either very large satellites or very small planets in a much larger elliptical orbit. There was not enough data to figure out which planet was inhabitable and to what manner of life, but it was safe to say that at least one of the planets was home to someone or something. They would find out soon enough, in the meantime, there still seemed to be new and unexpected bugs showing up in the system.
“Mr. Stand, Mr. Tibitz, lay in a course for the coordinates that we have received. Let me know when we reach the edges of charted space.” Once again, all that they could do was to wait. In the meantime, some more disturbing news began coming to Mish's attention. According to the reports he received, all of the parts from the communications relays had been broken down and tested individually. While each part seemed to be functioning properly, the unit itself still would not work. The captain, using his prerogative, decided to continue on. Some type of contact had been established and that was still their primary duty. He did not like the idea of going off on his own without telling anyone where he was heading but at the moment there did not seem to be much choice.
When Tibitz told the captain that they would soon be leaving charted space, the captain ordered the Sodex ahead slow. Crews went to work redeploying all of the available sensors so that the region could be charted and they could add that to their reports and to the Fleet's ever-expanding library. They would also have the added benefit of being able to see anything that may be inhibiting their path and thus, prevent the Sodex from going bump in the dark in an unknown region. When Simpton spoke up, the tone of his voice made Mish almost hesitant to answer.
“Report Mr. Simpton.” As the OOD continued, Mish decided he had been right. “All of the primary sensors are offline. We can proceed with the secondary arrays but it will seriously hamper our progress. We will not be able to accurately map and chart the system yet either. The repair crews are already breaking everything down to figure out what the problems are. The initial reports show that once again, everything should be working ... only ... only it's not working.” Their salvation, if that is what it was, came from a most unexpected source. “Captain, the signal has changed. It now seems to be broadcasting a series of coordinates. The guys downstairs say it is a relatively straight course to the fourth planet in the solar system. It does show some slight variations, but they say that is probably to take us around hazards which we can't see because of the problems with the sensor arrays.”
While Mish remained calm in appearance, inwardly he was fuming at the crews who had let the ship go out with so many problems. There was just no way to excuse so many bugs in a brand new ship. While not everything could be found in a shake-down cruise, there was certainly no reason not to believe that most of these problems should have been discovered already. He understood that most of the technology was new but still it was highly frustrating. “Mr. Tibitz, Mr. Stand, make ready the new coordinates. Mr. Simpton, have someone manning the light frequency at all times. If there are any changes I want to know immediately. If we have to make any last minute adjustments, we may be in for a bumpy ride after all. When all of the coordinates are plotted and in the system, head for the planet. Turning back now would only cause more problems. As we approach the planet slow the ship to the optimal speed for full maneuvering in case we do have to adjust our course. Mr. Polit, put your troops on full alert.”
“I do not know who our hosts are but I hope they have a dry dock.” Mish interjected. The last comment was not an order for anyone but only uttered half in sincerity and half to try and make light of a difficult situation. The few laughs it emitted were all very nervous in nature. “Do we have any way of returning their signal yet Mr. Simpton?” Simpton was busy scanning the multiple reports that he was receiving but still managed to answer the captain's question. Looking up at the captain, he sadly shook his head in a negative reply.
The captain was painfully aware of how helpless most of the crew felt. With no way to gather any data, most of them could only sit idly by and wait. The only exceptions were the bridge crew and the one person monitoring the incoming signal. The repair crews had done everything that they could and still could not figure out what was wrong. Mish knew that he had enough manpower and mental capacity on board to rebuild the ship if he had to but he may have to find a place to park it. When he factored that in with the knowledge that apparently someone was getting to know them very well, there was no way to tell who or what it was yet. Nobody was breaking but he knew tension was high among his crew. As the Sodex began to slow, Simpton's voice interrupting his thoughts came as something of a relief.
“Captain, the beacon has changed and we are entering the coordinates for an orbital approach to the planet.” At the speed they were traveling, they could physically feel the effects as the ship changed its direction. Mish was just about to respond when everything started going terribly wrong. As the lights went out he heard Simpton's panic-stricken voice. “Captain! All engines are offline. Energy shields are holding minimally but the inertia dampers are all down. All sensors are now offline. Life support .... Captain ... The primary mainframe is off-line. Secondary networks are all up and running but there is no way to know what all is happening now. What do we do Captain?” The captain, seeing that the last coordinates would take them into the planet's atmosphere did not immediately answer Simpton. “All hands prepare for an uncontrolled atmospheric breach. Sound the alarms if you can, let everyone know whatever it takes. We either land or crash Mr. Simpton, we either land or crash.”
Even for ships and crews that breach atmospheres on a regular basis it is an extremely disconcerting experience. The fact that the Sodex was doing it blind did not escape anyone's attention. Mish went over the figures again as they approached. They were entering at a shallow enough angle so they would not bounce off and not go straight down once they entered so those were not primary concerns. The Sodex was not the most aerodynamically sleek craft but as a research vessel she was designed as a dual-purpose ship and could handle atmospheric limitations. His main concern was what would happen after they entered the atmosphere.
They had enough momentum to allow them to glide a good distance but gravity would soon fix that. One thing that deep space vessels had always been lacking to date was real windows. Everything was done by sensors, cameras and monitors. There was no way for Mish to know what was below them or perhaps worse yet, what was right in front of them once they entered the atmosphere. He decided that there were only two options. He hoped he was right about the second one. For better or for worse, they had arrived.
The roar was deafening as the Sodex entered the atmosphere. The ship quickly heated up inside with no air conditioning or other means to regulate the temperature, the outer hull was heating rapidly and it was felt clearly by everyone inside. The sound slowly faded as the ship completed the entry into the atmospheric limitations of the planet. The roar dulled substantially as the sound of wind rushing past the hull created a slipstream in its wake. Many of the crew noted in their personal logs that they could actually feel the transition as the ship's heading and bearings took on different configurations as the Sodex went from a glide to a free fall.
There was a very harsh jolt when at last the tractor beams did take hold of the ship slowing and then steadying her descent. Mish worried for a moment that his relief had been just as visible as everyone else's. He quickly dismissed that thought however considering that by now even the emergency lighting had quit working. Besides, he had other matters to tend to that were even more pressing. “Mr. Polit, have one platoon meet us at the main hatch. I want them stationed and ready before we come to a stop.” “Aye that Captain!” Polit replied in typical military fashion as he produced a flashlight and headed back through the ship. Mish wondered briefly about the flashlight and then asked Mr. Simpton to go find Polit and ask him for some more. The boys in the lab could probably produce something quick enough but he needed light right away. He had never even considered flashlights.
Simpton returned with the flashlights about the same time that the ship came to a complete stop. There was a series of thumps and one very loud and eerie sounding scrape. Mish made a mental note to check that out before taking off again. Polit handed him a self-contained breathing unit as he met them at the primary hatch. He noted that all of the troops had already donned theirs and he was forced to, somewhat abashedly, ask for some assistance in order to get his on. He wanted to make sure that it was working properly before he got the hatch open. As Polit worked on getting his mask secured, he noted that the troops were lining up in a two-by-two convering formation. Interrupting Polit, the captain removed the mask and told the troops to stand back to their positions along the wall. “If they brought us safe this far, it is pretty safe to assume that they want us alive; at least for now.” Once again, his comments had been meant to make light of the situation. It brought no comfort to the troops who looked to Polit before resuming their positions along the wall.
Putting the mask back on alone, he still had Polit double-check it before he made his way to the hatch. As Polit went to open it, the captain intervened. This was his ship, his crew and it had been his decision. He would be the one to open up the hatch and see what they were going to find. With no power at all anymore, Captain Ahern Mish manually opened the primary hatch of the Sodex-FS to meet and greet his hosts. He did not know what to expect but he certainly did not expect what he found.
The primary hatch hissed and spat as seals were released, the door finally gave way and opened up. Looking out, Mish noticed with a slight feeling of unease, that they were still about thirty feet above the ground in what appeared to be an empty hangar. Looking around, he noted that the thumps and the scrape had been caused by locking clamps to hold the ship in place. The bottom floor, at least what he could see of it appeared to be completely devoid of anything. Around the dock, roughly at the same height they were at, ran a mezzanine level that seemed to go completely around the seemingly abandoned dock. As he turned back around, still half-leaning out of the open hatch, he smacked his head on Polit's outstretched arm.
Polit leaned out of the hatch nearly as far as the captain had. The captain noted a bit disdainfully that he had also done it with substantially less effort. Looking towards where the big man had been pointing, Mish saw a platform extending towards the Sodex. He hoped that whoever or whatever was running it would reveal themselves; he had a very uneasy feeling about the whole scenario. As he leaned back in he saw Polit now crossing his fingers the same as one of his troops was doing. He saw the chest expand as the big man took a deep breath and removed his mask. The troops, seeing that Polit suffered no adverse effects, removed their masks as well. The captain, still trying to keep an eye on the platform closing in on them was the last one to remove his. “The platform looks as empty as the rest of this place Mr. Polit. What do you make of this so far?”
While the captain may have been nervous, Polit was openly concerned. Without even asking the captain, he redeployed his troops. As the platform came up to the open hatch where they were standing, he sent out four of his troops, stationing one at each corner of the platform before he proceeded with the captain safely behind him. Mish started to argue and then thought better of it. It was not that he was afraid, only that this was what the troops had been taught to do. “Mr. Polit, have two other platoons meet us here. We need to explore this place and find out what it is. Keep the last two troops from this platoon stationed here as runners for the ship. We need to keep all of the men evenly spaced as we spread out. I do not want any of them out of shouting distance, preferably not out of sight from the next one in line. Until we get an idea of where we are and who or what we are dealing with, I do not want to take any chances. Keep the fourth platoon at the ready and in reserve here at the ship. If we have to make a hasty retreat, I want someone covering our assets and right now that ship is all that we have.”
As he spoke, he was looking around for some type of controls. Seeing none he asked if anyone else saw anything that looked like a steering wheel. As one of the front two troops moved towards the front center of the platform, it shook once as if somebody took an overly heavy footstep and a walkway began extending towards the deck in front of them. His “Got it!” as he found it echoed loudly through the seemingly empty hanger causing the other troops to laugh at him and even the very serious Polit to grin. Making it to the walkway they could see that the hangar was even larger than they had imagined. The walkway that they were on did seem to extend the entire circumference though, and it was full of doorways leading to somewhere.
Captain Mish sent Polit to give a report to the OOD and have each one of the executive officers report directly to their individual departments and have Ms. Storze report here to the main hatch with any analog equipment she may have that would still work. Each X.O. was to assign someone from their department as a runner to keep the OOD informed of anything, no matter how irrelevant it may seem. Until communications could be reestablished they would have to rely on doing things the old fashioned way.
When Storze reported, about all she had been able to come up with were a couple of old analog meters. One was for signal and one was for electrical current. It was not much, but it was better than nothing. Setting out with the troops, they began to explore room by room. The first few rooms did not reveal much. They did find that while there were no windows readily apparent anywhere, the light itself seemed to be ambient lighting without any charged source. Like the Sodex herself, everything here seemed like it should function, there was power and nothing was noticeably damaged but nothing at all was working. When Mish heard the troops calling out he could not make out the words immediately. Making his way back, he discovered that they had only been calling him anyhow. Mr. Polit was on his way out to bring him a gift. He had no clue what that meant so he and Storze waited for the man where they were at.
When at last they saw him, he had a smile on his face that told the captain whatever the gift was, he had good news to go with it. “Last time I saw you grin like that Mr. Polit, you just defeated the mob boss on the final level. Care to share the good news? I could certainly use some at this point.” Mr. Polit openly laughed. If the captain would have thought about it, he would have realized that it was the first time he had ever heard that. “Aye that Cap'n! I gotta hand it to your boys down in the labs. Seems like some of the parts they had laying around they called transistors. They made something they call amplification modulators. Well whatever you want to call it, a radio is a radio to me. There's a bit of static and the signal goes in and out but it works even when nothing else will. They only have two so far so I gave one to Mr. Simpton and brought the other one here for you. They said they should have enough for all of the executive officers and platoon leaders within a few hours. It is taking a bit longer they said, because they have to use chemicals to solder with.” The captain, knowing that Polit would rather be with his men, left Ms. Storze and the radio under his protection and headed back to the bridge.
The reports that were coming in were all too familiar and all too depressing for the captain to contemplate much. They did find a second docking facility attached to this one but so far it was the same old story. Everything looked like it should be working but nothing was. When the radios were ready, Mish, lacking anything better to do and tired of sitting there thinking about everything that wasn't happening, decided to pass them out to the platoon leaders himself. He started to turn the radios down when the static came out from the four that he was carrying but decided that by the time he turned them all down the transmission would be done anyhow. What he heard was very good news indeed.
Polit announced that he had discovered the second hangar to be pretty much the same as the first. That is at least until he came to the last corner office. There, he had found only one thing that was different. There, he and Storze had come across a functional computer workstation. Mish broke into a full run trying to get there. He stopped only long enough to hand out one radio to each of the platoon leaders he passed along the way telling them to check in with Mr. Simpton. Passing out the third radio to the last platoon leader out in the bay, Mish quickened his pace to catch up to Storze and Polit.
As he ran, he thought back on one of his earlier science classes. The professor was known for his antics but always used them to reinforce his point. The first lesson seemed especially poignant given their current circumstances. The class was about the ancient particle accelerators. The professor began the first class in his typical fashion. “Give a man who has nothing a little bit of something valuable and even though it seems like nothing to someone who has more, to that man, it will seem to be a lot.” At that point a holographic scene slowly filled the lecture hall accompanied by full stereo surround sound. The image was that of an atomic blast. As the image and the noise faded, the professor continued his lecture. “And sometimes, just a little bit of something can be more than enough.” As Mish reflected, he knew one functioning computer was not much but it was better than nothing at all. And maybe ... just maybe it would be enough.
With the aid of some of the troops stationed in the second hangar Mish was able to find the office easily. There was only one problem. The only thing he found was the office and the computer. There was absolutely no sign of the big man, Ms. Storze or the troops that had been with them. Mish suddenly felt very alone and extremely vulnerable. He called Simpton and gave his report. He then sent all but one platoon back to the ship. That last platoon he ordered to meet him in the office. As he sat there, he decided to check out the computer a little bit closer. The first thing he tried was a very large icon in the center of the screen that turned out to be nothing more than a simple video game. He wondered absentmindedly if Polit had seen it.
When the troops arrived, he stationed seven of them around the office. Leaving his radio with them, he had the other seven troops and their platoon leader accompany him back to the office itself. Calling ahead, he had two platoons stationed outside the ship with one platoon inside in case the ship had to be defended. He also had Choso get the person who had identified the signal and the best men he had for linguistics and computer encryption. When he got back to the ship he gave orders to have the troops accompany the scientists back to the office and maintain an active guard. If they were attacked, the captain would need to know immediately.
Mish listened as Simpton tried desperately to raise Polit on the radio. Tired and frustrated he could not handle just sitting there doing nothing. Lacking anything better to do, he decided to try and eat. He quickly realized he would not be able to hold any food down so he decided to try and rest. It was quite a relief when somebody knocked at his door. As the captain began to open the door manually, the troop on the other side began speaking before it was even fully opened.
“Sorry to bother you sir but the scientists at the workstation are requesting your presence. They say that you really need to see what they have found.” Accompanied by a large but painfully inadequate number of troops, Mish set out to see what they had found. As he made his way back to the workstation, the constant calls of Mr. Simpton over the radio trying to locate the missing troops made him feel physically ill. When the calls stopped, Mish was somewhat surprised but still quite relieved in a strange way. When his com badge signaled him that he had a message he went to answer it instinctively. As he reached to reply, he thought about it. If communications were up ... “This is the captain.”
Simpton's voice had never sounded so good. “Captain, the secondary and tertiary systems are all up. All of our sensors and data arrays are still down but we can fly. We will be blind for a while but Tibitz and Stand say that they can get us out of here.” Mish thought about that for only an instant before he replied. “Nay that Mr. Simpton. I have seen too many families grieving about people who did not come home. We are not leaving until everyone is back with us. Keep her warmed up and if the docking clamps come loose, set her down gently. We may be here for a while.” The cheers he heard in the background were small comfort but it was nice to know that his crew agreed. It was nicer still to think that they had a chance to get home. He just had to find out where his missing crew was and get them back first.
As they approached the office, he noticed that the troops were spread out as best as they could be but the only thing that they could effectively cover was the empty floor below them. The hallway was painfully bare of anything that could be used as cover. As a makeshift, they had moved some desks out into the hall but they knew as well as the captain did that they served more a psychological purpose rather than any real protection. When he entered the small office with the workstation he was quickly irritated as Choso looked up at him, performing antics that Mish could only relate to as poor quality movie ghost imitations. In reality, he was not far off the mark. “Report Mr. Choso.”
As Choso made his report the captain looked around at the mess they made in the office. Another thing that is in relatively short supply on deep space vessels is paper. He noticed with a mixture of amazement and a touch of humor that the majority of the paper they had been able to find was quite personal in nature and had never been intended for writing on. “Everything we know about this race or these races as it appears captain has logic written all over it. So when we got here, we expected to find something logical. Instead we found all this garbage and clutter about a haunted space station and weird events that are overtly paranormal. Not ruling that out completely, it still did not make any sense. Their tractor beams worked fine even when all of our equipment was dead.
Here, just like on the ship, everything has power, everything seems to be in working order but nothing is working.” The captain started to interject but Choso continued despite the interruption. “None of it made any sense. If everything was dead, we would be too. No pun intended. So we started digging a little deeper and looking for logical patterns in the paranormal tale spin. What we found was a door captain. Not literally, but it tells us that somewhere there is a large group of races that all formed some kind of a union as it were. We are working on the last part of the puzzle even now. It is all in riddles which is rather strange when you think about it but ...” Choso was cut off as the scientist there looked up from the roll of paper he was writing on and screamed out “Follow the path of blue. It will lead you through!” <
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