Shadows in the Rift Part I
01 Apr 2017Jellicoe
"The Formidine Rift, Conflux and Hawkins Gap." Erimus summed up his briefing. "We know of one system in each as a starting point so begin your searches at the points given and spread out up to a hundred light years from each. We don't know what we're looking for but we are certain that there is something out there.""How reliable is our source?" Zenith asked.
"Very reliable." Erimus replied. "It's never let us down before and the fact that the Federation are going to so much trouble to stop us only adds to its credibility."
"That's a vast search area." a man known only as The Tick put in. "There's no way we can cover it all."
"No we can't." Erimus agreed. "So we're going to appeal to any independent explorers who are willing to help, Wilber's agreed to use some of our mining profits to pay a bonus to anyone selling their data at Serabrov." There were murmurs of surprise around the virtual table; for the hard nosed Wilber Bernard to agree to such a potentially massive pay out the stakes must be high indeed. "The trouble is the Federation are doing the same, and they've got deeper pockets than we have but if they beat us to it then whatever's out there will be buried, possibly for ever."
"Can we expect any hostile action from Federation ships out there?" I asked.
"As far as we know they've just appealed for independents to sell them their data the same way we have, but we can't rule out a naval deployment or some overzealous Fed pulling the trigger. I know going up against the Federation is difficult for you Jellicoe so as you're not really an explorer anyway if you want to help Wilber keep things going here I'm sure we'll all understand."
I gave a snort. "Now I know how a lot of us felt in Cemiess. I'm in." Once, not so long ago I would never have moved against the Federation, but after a full admiral had used her authority to try to have me kidnapped my loyalties had weakened. I told myself that Sleer was just a single loose cannon, a rogue element and not at all representative but deep down I think I knew that was not the case. The Federation was changing, or maybe I was just looking more closely, either way a dark underbelly was becoming ever more apparent, and it had to be fought.
"If you're planning a trip to the Rift then the Resolution's no good, not unless you want to die of old age on the way." Claude stated the blindingly obvious as though no one else had given it a thought after I had explained the situation to my crew.
"Pick up an Asp?" Mira suggested. "Fit one out properly they'll do thirty light years easily, more if you get your friend Elvira to tune up the Frame Shift." I was a little surprised at the hostility in Mira's voice when she mentioned Elvira Martuuk.
"We don't need a new ship." I said. "The good old Warspite's been gathering dust in Ra since we got back from the Pegasai, we get her fitted out let Elvira do her stuff and head out there."
"Explorer fitted Anaconda." Vik said thoughtfully. "Might even get a longer range than an Asp."
"We won't be taking an explorer fit though." I said. "We'll have to dump the armour but I want to be prepared for anything we might find out there."
I got just over twenty six light years, not much by the standards of most exploration ships but other than ditching our armour I was unwilling to reduce our combat effectiveness should anything be waiting out there, whatever that something may be.
There are people who love exploration, who devote their lives to scouring the void for the new and unknown and I can see why; the peace, the sense of freedom, the wonder of creation, the knowledge that no other eyes have ever seen what you are seeing nor ever will again, the feeling of setting your ship down on a planet no human foot has ever trodden before. All these things are wondrous and awe inspiring yet I do not think i could ever join their ranks, too much time with nothing to eat but ship rations is not for me, and even the biggest ship becomes claustrophobic in time. I would miss the bubble both for its comforts and its bustle, but also for its politics and its scheming which repel yet entice in equal measure.
We made good progress, the giant scoop meaning we could re-fuel as we went, rarely having to stop to fill the tanks. A strict coms blackout was observed so we had no idea what awaited us, though the fact we had picked up no distress signals reassured me that there was no immediate danger at our destination. We passed through the Heart and Soul nebula, and I would have loved to have spent some time just taking in its beauty but our mission left little time for sightseeing and so, over ten thousand light years from Earth, we jumped into our target system and I heard Claude trigger the discovery scanner. I am not sure quite what I had expected, but when Claude spoke it took me completely by surprise.
"Skipper I'm picking up a coms beacon close to the star. It looks like it's of human origin."