Dangerous Territory
04 Apr 2018Jimi_Jazz
[Continued from Entry 1:The Tip Off https://inara.cz/cmdr-logbook/79925/27456/][Hyades Sector - 190ly from Pleiades]
The ship shuttered as the Frame Shift Drive shifted into Supercruise™ mode. The myriad of shifting colors and lights seemed to dissolve into space as the ship dropped from witch space and the Class M star snapped into view.
I slid the trottle down and angled the ship so it sat just above the star and began to slowly swoop through a very close orbit.
"Initiate fuel scoop procedure" I uttered into the operations coms. The internal systems manager below deck engaged the scoop to began siphoning hydrogen from the massive star churning below us. They would monitor the scooping progress and heat, every few minutes a coolant purge was conducted to keep the ship's heat within safe levels.
I eased back in my commanders chair as I watched the holo display for the tank slowly fill up. Every so often I would slighlty shift the ship's vector, but for the most part I allowed my crew to do the work. All of my ships contained full automation and augmented controls. If need be I can fulfill every role Ive set out for my 9 person crew by myself. But it was easier to have human help, and alotted more focus on your part towards what you need. Beyond that, on a vessel as large as this, living alone kinda takes a toll.
"Unidentified Signal detected off of our starboard, commander" Nurminah, my commincations and signals officer reported.
"Point us to it, nav" I ordered Farway, my navigations officer - responsible for route plotting, system info, and minor ship movements when I desired - engaged the yaw shifters from his console. The bow of the ship slowly turned until it faced the holographic circle Nurminah had pinned in the UI to lock the signal. Once within active sensor range, the ship computer began resolving the signal, with Nurminah at the controls this process was expedited and in seconds the Distress Call was received.
I throttled forward and approached at a safe speed. This system was uninhabited, anybody in danger out here would have a long wait for help to arrive.
"The Distress Signal has dropped commander, picking up degraded emissions from that location" Nurminah reported. That's never a good sign. I disengaged the FSD and the ship shuttered back into Newtonian laws of physics.
Debris floated loosely in a deep green haze around the ship. A detached commanders chair clunked soflty against the canopy of the bridge and drifted off. About a kilometer away the fuesalge of an Imperial clipper spun in place. 5 small blips appeared on my scanner - escape pods. Aside from this, no other contacts appeared.
"Systems, deploy collection drones and bring those escape pods in. Send them to the material examination bay and have Remy do a full analysis on the occupants. I want to know if anybody is imn good enough shape to speak to us."I ordered over the operations comm. The limpet drones raced from the cargo bay and with a blue streak sped the pods back to the ship.
"Commander, 3 of these occupants are in critical condition, the stasis is keeping them alive. One pod seems to contain a disceased person, and the last appears to be in good health" Remy reported after 2 short minutes.
"Okay, open up that last pod, get them food, water, beer, whatever medical attention they need. I will be down in a second. CMDR off the bridge" I responded and floated to the internal lift from the bridge. The Corvette contained 4 levels and a bridge, the first level below deck is home to the critical systems, the second is the habitation level. The last two lowest levels contained mostly cargo, internal systems, office rooms and access rooms to the various tools onboard.
On Level three, in one of the rear examination rooms is where I met Remy and the man we had just rescued. He was kind of young looking, not much older than myself most likely. His bald head and red scraggly beard was saturated with sweat and dust. A blanket rested upon the shoulders of his flight suit. He silently sipped a pouch of water as Remy went over his body with a bio-scanner.
"T-T-Thank you." He stammered, still thawing from the cryopod. "We were escorting our family from Merope when our vessel got hyperdicted by those damn aliens." He continued, not waiting for me to ask the question I would so obviously ask. "We managed to jump away, but that, that gunk just..." He paused and drained the water pouch. "The ship broke up the second we dropped out of witch space."
"Its okay, you are safe now" I said, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. He didnt have to know about the dead person in the cargo hold quite yet. It wouldnt help him none. "Your family is safe aboard in the pods. They are a little banged up but they will be fine once we get to a statio-"
"No no no you dont get it" He intereupted with a sudden flare of panic. "We were escorting everyone in the household Type 7. My brother piloted the clipper, he was just gifted it and we figured itd give us a chance to protect ourselves." He shuttered "The aliens tore the cockpit up pretty bad I don't know if he is okay."
I understood, so there were more people out there in a defenseless vessel. Imperials sure, but they were people - we have to stick together.
"Please" He continued. "Theyre probably still over there, waiting for us to drop behind them. There's aliens evrywhere you have to help them!!" He paused. "Our family is very wealthy yes! Patrick Rosley is the name. The Rosley Patrons. We have very high standing with Gutayama and we can pay you very well. Please."
I accepted his offer. Heck, I would have gone without the reward, but that does sweeten the deal.
"Relax, here type the coordinates in this, sit tight we will find them and escort you all to a safe star system. Please, would you like a stronger drink?" I spoke softly, trying desperately to calm him.
Patrick shook his head, and spoke again, this time on the verge of tears "Just please, please find them. My family is all I have. Please."
I patted him once more and motioned to Remy to keep him comfortable. As I departed the room I instructed the sythesis module operator to turn on the food replicator in the examination room. The least I could do.
The star system the Rosleys got attacked in was 15 light years away, a single jump.
"Commander on the bridge" I announced. The comms and navigation officers stationed there barely looked up. It was only ever us three up here anyway.
The fuel tanks had long since been filled and the nav officer allowed the ship to drift away from the heat of the central star. I assumed the controls and rolled the ship to face our next destination.
"Charge frame shift drives" I ordered and they began to spin up for interstellar jump.
I pushed the thottle forward.
"FSD ready" The systems manager reported.
"Alright, Engage"
The ship lurched forward as it began to slip out of conventional reality and shift us over to the the next star.
I just hope the Rosleys are still there.
[To be continued]