“Sir, please. The Seed Code, it’s mankind’s only…”
THRACK!
“My dear friend, I’m so sorry,” Indus whispered before turning around and leaving the carnage.
Chapter 16:
The Anomaly
Earth Date: July 16, 1969
A cloud of uneasiness settled over Steadfast and Loyal’s Command Center. After a lengthy jump to reach a portion of Necros Kyklo that bordered with Kivotos Eden, the Silent Raiders spent a month establishing search grids around a lifeless Galactic System. With absolutely nothing found, the monotony was starting to naw away at everyone, including Euphretes. Adding to the crew’s frustrations was the fact that government sanctioned explorations outside the Galactic Group hadn’t been done in thousands of years. Because the desert regions had been mapped and scanned hundreds of times, many within the Armada felt like they were wasting their time. More importantly, every nearby attainable Galactic System was already known to be completely devoid of complex life forms, let alone anything close to homo sapiens. Single celled organisms and microscopic vegetative algae were all that the galaxies offered. And while an overabundance of resources could be found in the desert regions, the Galactic Group still maintained vast amounts of their own, making any attempt to source from the outside unprofitable.
Euphretes knew that his objective was elsewhere but chose to follow Adoenye’s words, ‘From Necros Kyklo to Kivotos Eden.’ So, he began with the regions surrounding the large Kivotos Eden galaxy. In fact, it rivaled the Baikal Empire in size. The strategy paid off after weeks of working out the kinks in their standard operating procedures. DSSTs picked up anomalies in a region roughly half way between the Galactic Center and the outer rim of Kivotos Eden. And while the Armada trained for the Search and Rescue Grid process from the beginning of its creation, it did so with only half the picture. Thanks to Emperor Lesos forcing Sentago to hand over his information, Euphretes was now operating with every available piece of knowledge regarding the missing Natron Team and their search and rescue practices.
The entire process was an operation that drained even the best of crews. While the mission’s phase for inspecting each DSST stayed the same, the mechanisms for their release into deep space changed entirely. Instead of simply tying down each DSST, once an Autonomous Drone had been inspected and cleared by a maintenance team, it was then carefully loaded into a large canister that could fit seven DSSTs in total. Fortunately, the Armada did not have to wait long to receive the canisters. Because of Euphretes’s help and the fact that the Armada was literally in his back yard, Lesos was able to provide the Empirical Admiral with more than enough equipment in just under twenty hours. Once the canister was full of drones, it was then carefully loaded into the back of a Transport. Placed onto a rolling track, the team had to be extremely precise on exactly where and how the canisters were loaded. A Transport was not considered full until three canisters were loaded.
The Transport, once fully loaded and cleared for mission, would then enter a seventeen minute jump sequence to its first preassigned location. Once on site, a member of the maintenance team would release the first canister from the cargo hold. Sensors on the shell of the canister triggered a proximity fuse the second it touched the vacuum of space, allowing the Transport to get clear. After reaching a safe distance, the proximity fuse would ignite and the canister would then shoot itself toward its designated zone of interstellar space. The piece of equipment would then fire out individual DSSTs as it approached their individual locations along its trajectory. After dropping off the first canister, the Transport would have to wait fifteen to twenty minutes for its jump systems to re-prime before going through another seventeen minute jump. At the next portion of deep space, the Transport and its crew repeated the process two more times until the ship was empty. It would then return to its home ship and get refitted with more canisters. The Transport’s crew could expect anywhere from two to four total cycles before the grid process was complete.
After gathering what information they could, Euphretes ordered the Armada to jump toward their find, a strange anomaly with interesting energy outputs. Understanding the risks involved, the Admiral chose to arrive a safe distance from the peculiar portion of Kivotos Eden. Once they arrived and established security, he planned to send better equipped drones to investigate the anomaly further while his personnel stayed safely away.
“All Fleet Vessels have excited jump,” SR6’s voice projected around the Command Center while appearing next to Crestone.
“Roger that. Lieutenant Tropar, please inform the Commander that we’ve arrived,” Senior Leading Operative Crestone directed.
Before the Communication’s Officer could reply, “That is not necessary, Admiral Euphretes is already on his way. He got caught in a Log Sync Meeting,” Captain Blanchard interjected, standing up from his command chair.
“Good copy,” Tropar answered before continuing to coordinate the incoming reports that were due from the individual Fleet Vessels after exiting a jump sequence.
“Everything is looking good on my end XO, Senior Op,” The RAI informed while looking at Blanchard and Crestone.
“Thank you. Any idea how long the Commander will be?” Crestone asked.
Before SR6 could reply, a quick but extremely short two flashes of yellow lights inundated the Command Center for a fraction of a second. Immediately, the area fell silent as Crestone turned to see Euphretes walking through the entrance. In an effort to minimize formalities and maintain a relaxed but professional work environment, the crew were no longer required to stand at attention when a Senior Leader walked into their presence. Instead, all personnel were to simply put their work on pause, stop talking, and turn their attention to the arriving Senior Leader. If the Senior Leader did not need to address the room and instead stayed silent as he entered, then work was to resume as normal.
“We’re looking clear across the board,” Neuma briefed to Euphretes who no longer needed his entire Kit for the First Line Protective Suit to work.
Despite having no idea why the Admiral needed it, but fully trusting him now that the suit worked during the Dawn of Creation mission, Chief Browder continued to improve upon Euphretes’s armor at the Admiral’s request. Over the course of the long jump, the brilliant Warrant had successfully attached a small transmitter to the energy transceivers in the suit, eliminating the need for a helmet. The only disadvantage was Neuma could no longer relay what she was seeing to Euphretes’s visor. Instead, she had to use his mind space, which was far more distracting. The transmitter was purposely weakened. It was also done to prevent Neuma from being able to easily split her partner’s consciousness, however, it was still strong enough to grant her full access to the Flagship if needed.
“Good stuff. So far so good then,” Euphretes replied to Neuma, knowing this was about the time they would start receiving contact if an unknown enemy was nearby. As Euphretes looked around the Command Center, he was struck with the memory of when they found the anomaly. It played through his mind space as if he was teleported back in time.
“He’s right, again,” Euphretes thought.
A group of drones had suddenly started registering peculiarities emitting from a localized region in the Kivotos Eden System. Contorted radio waves with their scrambled information were hitting DSSTs from an area that should have been utterly devoid of any life. They instantly began sending the information to the Command Center’s data display.
“That he is,” Neuma replied, having finally heard the full story of Euphretes’s experience with Kyurious and Adoenye.
Euphretes enhanced the settings and waited for the new information to populate. “Let’s see if this gives us a cleaner image.” Once populated, it quickly became apparent that the radio waves and homo sapien tracers were not caused by human or machine error on the Armada’s end. Probing deeper with all assets pointing toward the region inside Kivotos Eden, they were able to register energies flowing through the vacuum of space that coul
d not be produced naturally. With everyone holding their breath, the Navigation Section traced the ripples caused by the unnatural energy back to a small grouping of black holes.
Because of their small size and perfect displacement in relation to the Galactic Group, an entirely uncharted region of space lurked behind. The group of collapsed stars had inadvertently created a shield around fifty-six star systems. Due to the advances in gravitational sensitivity being made after the period of external exploration, hundreds of teams had probably bi-passed the region without even knowing it. Once the sanctioned schematics of the Kivotos Eden System emerged, people and governments had no reason to go near the empty region of space anymore; solidifying its lonely fate.
“It’s without a doubt intelligently made, and has humanoid fingerprints all over it!” Neuma exclaimed inside his mind space. “It’s unbelievably twisted and broken, but it has rhythmic patterns nonetheless. And while the sounds are disturbing and horribly chaotic, their pitches and frequencies are almost identical to those found in radio waves.”
Everything felt surreal to Euphretes, like he was dreaming and on the cusp of becoming lucid. All eyes looked to him for guidance and direction, especially the faces of the Command Teams staring at their Fleet Admiral through the monitors stretching along the Command Center.
“I want external elements back inside their home ships and all bay personnel outfitted in biohazard combative protection. Completely seal your Fleet Vessels to two vacuum standard. Bring all medical, first response, and hazmat teams to full alert. We’re going to get a closer look,” The Admiral ordered.
Pulling Euphretes out of his memories, “Sir, we’ve arrived outside the front end of the Kivotos Eden Galaxy. All Fleet Vessels have safely exited jump and are forming up as we speak,” Captain Blanchard Tables Huron informed, having to speak over the Communications Section.
“Roger, thank you Captain,” Euphretes replied. “Lieutenant Tropar, how are we looking on the SITREPs.”
Almost immediately, the young Lieutenant answered. “Just waiting on Celestial Two and Celestial Four; but they’ve provided a Warno so no alarms necessary.” Euphretes nodded his acknowledgment before making the rest of the way to a command chair by the data display. Sitting down, he immediately began inspecting the large spiral galaxy as it populated before his eyes. It was one hundred thousand light years across and nearly ten thousand light years thick. Kivotos Eden’s striking resemblance to the Baikal Empire was hard to ignore, like the two were siblings; and like all siblings, they were set to come to blows. In three and a half billion years, both galaxies would converge on each other in a brilliant display of unbridled pandemonium.
“So, what’s on your mind?” Senior Leading Operative Crestone asked as the Admiral claimed a seat next to him.
“I’m going to order a sixteen-hour movement pause if the first two teams come up empty. That will help ensure our Ops Team has enough time to divide this region of Kivotos Eden and hopefully pin point specific areas of interest before we start moving in any closer. For the crew as a whole, the pause will give them some time to communicate with loved ones back home and give them some rest before their jobs start going inter hyperdrive again,” Euphretes calmly answered.
“Wait a second Sir. Are you actually saying that we not only need to have predetermined objectives before going in, but should be well rested in the process? If so, with all due respect, you’re making way too much sense right now.” Crestone’s snide remark brought a genuine smile to Euphretes’s face.
“I know that I’m breaking rule number one Crestone, but they can get over it.”
Besides the major oversights on the first few operations after exiting jump inside Necros Kyklo, the Armada’s standard operating procedures had leveled out and were becoming more routine than reactionary. However, now that they were about to enter the galaxy that was the only reason for the Armada even being there in the first place, Euphretes intended to allow his soldiers a chance to breath before reentering the gauntlet.
The drones making up Scout Teams One through Four were launched deep inside two different star systems within the forgotten region of space once their search parameters were established. They were dispatched to the two most likely candidates for the originating source of the anomaly. While they were in route, Euphretes sent a brief report of the last seven hours to the Armada’s new home station, Santium, in case they too disappeared. By the time he finished, the drones were preparing to exit their jump sequences.
“The first two teams are about to arrive,” Neuma warned.
“Excellent,” Euphretes replied while removing the Classified Message Display System from his head and making his way toward his command chair. Once there, he anxiously waited for the data display to come to life. In anticipation for the four teams, a large section of the display’s floor was cleared, with the remainder of the space covering the Armada’s immediate surroundings.
“Scout Teams One and Two are exiting jump in Three. Two. One,” SR6 informed, his voice resounding through thousands of speakers built into the room. Half of the set aside area on the data display instantly started to fill with information and images. A binary star system with a red dwarf star took center stage as planets and other objects slowly began filling in.
“Nothing. It’s looking like just another desert system within a desert galaxy.”
“Scout Teams Three and Four are exiting in Three. Two. One.”
SR6’s voice again filled the Command Center. No one dared breath or utter a sound. Only the soft hum of electronics and energy flowing through the walls could be heard. After an agonizing second of emptiness, Scout Teams Three and Four started relaying their findings to the other half of the set aside section on the data display.
“Confirmation on origination of energy emissions.”
“That was quick,” Euphretes’s relieved yet tense voice answered.
“Sir, picking up a location with homo sapien tracers,” SR6 stated, breaking the icy silence. Still studying the display, Euphretes watched as a star appeared. Its makeup was remarkably similar to the vast majority of habitable star systems in the Galactic Group. Everyone’s hearts began to pound in nervous anticipation.
“Good Copy. Get us an image of the source as soon as possible please,” The Admiral replied.
Referring to the planet that Destiny’s Throne morphed into, “It’s exactly like you described!”
“Told you!”
“I’ve got eyes on the source! It’s the third planet from the system’s sun!” As SR6 spoke, the star’s satellites started to appear on the display.
The planet in question expanded on the data display, its pertinent information filling up space to the right of the holographic representations. “We’re definitely looking at human life on this planet. I’m seeing what looks like intelligently made structures on the surface; and its atmosphere is almost identical to Custos’s. Based off the surface, it’s a fair assumption that there are…” SR6 suddenly cut himself short.
Meanwhile, the section of the data display relaying Scout Three and Scout Four’s information abruptly shut down. Every piece of intelligence regarding the star system was not only turned off, but completely wiped from the Flagship’s mainframe.
“I. I. I lost contact,” Neuma stuttered in confusion and fear.
“What do you mean?”
“The drones are no longer relaying any sort of identification markers and Steadfast and Loyal completely wiped every shred of information that the drones just sent!”
Coming back after a second of confused silence, “Sir, I’m no longer registering any information regarding Scout Teams Three and Four. As far as what Steadfast and Loyal is telling me, all of their previous information has just been purged.” SR6’s voice came out distraught, as if he had just abruptly woken up from a night of binge drinking.
“What do you mean Steadfast and Loyal wiped all of the information? SR6, you are in full control of this Ship; I need a better explanation than
that,” Euphretes admonished.
“He’s right. The UIS triggered the Ship’s purging mechanisms without tripping any safety protocols.”
“That’s impossible!” Euphretes answered in amazement to Neuma.
“Apparently not.”
SR6 back tracked through the entire Flagship looking for any sort of explanation as to where the information went or what happened. “Trust me Sir, I get that. I ran a system wide functions check and everything is reporting back properly. Steadfast and Loyal literally has no recollection of the past five minutes when it comes to those drones. I’m sorry, but with all systems reporting a clear status, there is nothing I can do short of having the crew start disassembling every CPU inside of Steadfast and Loyal. And even that is highly unlikely to reveal anything.”
Euphretes could feel the genuine concern in Neuma’s voice and trusted her assessment of any situation more than anything or anyone else. Taking a few breaths to slow his racing mind, “Understood SR6, thank you. Please let me know if anything changes,” He remarked to the RAI before quietly addressing the Armada’s Command Team. “Any ideas on your end?” he asked Crestone and Blanchard.
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