Leah leaned back in her chair, considering how to answer.
"We only knew Carol for a short time, but everyone there knew how hard she and a few others lobbied the Administration to give you your diploma and your commission. She was adamant about that, relentless even. Court hated it — I once heard him ask her who she was really with, him or you."
"What did she say?"
"I didn't quite hear, but it obviously didn't satisfy Court. He stomped off all pissed off like he does."
"Yeah, I've seen that. Bulging eyes and long strides."
Leah laughed. "Exactly! Carol was someone everyone admired, even those of us who only knew her briefly. You were already gone, but you were still a presence in their lives. That group you started was a legend. The best students, best in the field skills, best officers, best whatever."
"I never thought of it that way — we were just trying to graduate," David said with a shrug.
"Well, legends do carry a lot of false glamor around the seed of truth."
They laughed.
"But she never said anything directly to us, Mister Powell. From what I know of her, she wouldn't have done that. It's too private. Still, it was obvious to most of us who knew her where her heart was going."
"Really?"
Leah nodded in response.
"Really."
David rose to leave.
"Thanks, Ensign Farley, you've been a great help."
"Before you go, Mister Powell--"
"Yes?"
Leah looked down at her work, then back up at David. She seemed to hesitate, as if unsure she should say what was on her mind. Finally, she spoke.
"From what I see here on this ship, the legend is only half the story."
He looked at her for a moment, not sure how to respond.
"Thank you, Ensign Farley. That's very kind."
He left Comms and headed back to the Intel section. He had to respond to her, and he did not want to wait. If she was really reaching out to him, and he was pretty sure she was, then he needed to let her know right away that he was reaching back for her, too. It would have to be about the moment at the window. She had left with Court, and he had watched her go, still standing at the window. There, he had it.
SLIP PERSONAL 207805261950UTC
TO: ANTARES/LT CAROL HANSEN
FROM: SIGMA/CW2 DAVID POWELL
I WILL ALWAYS BE STANDING RIGHT HERE.
DAVID
END
Antares
Approaching Beta Hydri
Tuesday, May 31, 2078, 1100 UTC
Commander Terri Michael was ready for Beta Hydri to be just another star to check off her list. Beta Hydri was over 24 days from Earth, which is a long trip no matter how fast you're going. Terri reviewed the Fleet reports and realized they would be the first to examine this system. That surprised her a little, but re-checking the combined search itineraries, Beta Hydri was nowhere on the list. They had been searching for several months now, and Terri wondered about the enemy. Fleet had bested them three times now, which could not be encouraging. Would they move on or would they push out to rid themselves of this threat?
Lieutenant Carol Hansen, by now the well-established leader of the Weapons Division, was becoming more comfortable with what Michael would want and when. She had hit the books and the weapons stacks alike to expand her knowledge of their available weapons, their capabilities, and limitations. Her energy and good humor earned her the respect of her fellow officers and admiration of her crew. She would climb the stack, push a weapon into place, or help overhaul a faulty warhead, with no reservations and no feeling that she would want to be doing anything else. Because, well, she didn't. This was the life she'd wanted, and she was glad to be so immersed in it. Her techs were hard working, smart, resourceful, and she felt as strongly about them as they did about her.
They came out of FTL as planned, three AU from the star, which is slightly larger than Sol. Carol had the rotaries loaded, and every sensor was open and watching. It wasn't long before there was a shout from the Surveillance Station.
"Wait...is that...it is...a blue dot!"
A blue dot? Another Earth-like planet?
The Chief supervising the initial scan stood and turned to the Captain.
"There is a blue dot, Commander. Very high confidence."
Michael stood and called to the Comms station.
"Comms...Send a FLASH to Fleet...Blue Dot Beta Hydri. That's all."
"Yes, ma'am."
In a minute the SLIP message was on its way. It would be a day and a half before it got to Fleet but no matter what happened now, they would know. Michael turned slightly to the Weapons Station.
"Lieutenant Hansen, what's my loadout?"
"As requested there are 16 Spartans, 12 Lances and 4 Bludgeons between the two rotaries. We have 2 Sleuths made up, with 4 more kits available."
"Deploy the rotaries."
Hansen nodded her acknowledgment and indicated to her Chief Tech to open the magazine door and move the rotaries outside the ship, ready for firing. In a minute or less, they were out.
"We're ready to shoot, Commander."
"Surveillance, where is this planet?"
"In the habitable zone, ma'am, of course, but we're still resolving the orbit. It's going to take a little while. We need to look at everything else, too."
"Roger that - do your regular census routine."
She walked down off the command position, over to Hansen.
"Remind me of the range of the Sleuth?"
"Same as a Lance. Three or Four AU. Beyond that, you're shooting at stuff that's not there anymore."
Senior Lieutenant Ryan Lewis, Surveillance Officer, joined the conversation.
"Thinking about a Sleuth?"
"Yes, Mister Lewis, I was. Your thoughts?"
"It's not intended to examine a planet - more to check out a ship or something kinda the size of a ship..."
"I hear a 'but' coming," Carol commented.
"But it might pick up a large civilization on IR or visual. There's only limited radio and radar detection, but if there's any industry or large population centers we might see them. No guarantees."
Terri considered the options for a moment.
"How well do we know where this planet is?" she asked.
Lewis smiled. "Oh, well enough that we can hit it with a Lance, Captain. Every minute we're getting more resolution. Give me an hour or two, and we'll have it close enough."
He paused a moment, turning to Hansen.
"Carol, can we tell it to auto-find a target that big?"
She was intrigued by the question.
"I am not sure what the limits are on that. Let me get with Chief Guzman and see what he thinks."
Michael had let the two junior officers talk but now leaned back into the conversation.
"Get on it. I want to launch as soon as we possibly can. This is the first Blue Dot we've seen, and I want to know what the hell is down there."
The Sleuth was a bit of a mashup device, and while the guidance and power plant were that of a Lance, which made the Weapons Section the experts, it had a new 'SpyHead' with sensors and data storage, and the Surveillance Section, along with Intel, were the experts on that.
It took a few well animated, curse-punctuated conversations and reference document searches but they finally determined that they could tell the Sleuth to fly past something as large as a planet. On the sensor side, they would just have to see what it looked like when it got back. That part settled, Terri turned back to Ryan Lewis.
"As I recall we have some exploration drones aboard?"
"Yes, Captain, two surface-deployable drones."
"Put together some options for surface exploration, nothing too invasive, OK?"
"Yes, Captain."
"Can you have them for me by noon tomorrow?"
"Yes, that should be no problem."
"Very well. Congratulations, Ryan - your team did well to find that planet so quickly."
<
br /> "Thank you, ma'am. The software helps but they work hard to see things for themselves."
"I can tell. Carry on."
"Thank you, Captain."
Lewis picked up the ship phone and called his deputy to set up the planning of the surface exploration. They had limited resources, but they would do their best to give her reasonable options.
After some discussion they decided to risk sending the Sleuth as soon as possible, FTL to about three hundred thousand kilometers, then around the planet and back. Even a civilization as advanced as their own would be unlikely to detect it. They would wait two hours to let Surveillance refine the orbit.
"Nav!" Michaels yelled as the Sleuth discussion broke up.
"Ma'am?" came the cautious reply from the Navigation workstation.
"Get me the hell out of this orbit...make it a 30 inclination on the inside edge of the HZ...say...1.5 AU."
"30-degree inclination to the system at 1.5 AU, yes, ma'am."
"How long?"
"How fast do you want it. Captain? We can go FTL and be there pretty quickly, but I'd be afraid that might be noticed..."
"Make it four hours."
"Yes, ma'am. Starting now."
Michaels turned to return to the command station and noticed Carol looking at her with that "I don't understand what you're thinking" look on her face. Michaels smiled slightly, then walked over to her.
"I expect the enemy to be somewhere around the planet if they're here at all. If we're high and on the inside of the HZ, it means they will be fully illuminated, and we'll be lost in the glare of the star. We just need to avoid transits on the side facing the planet."
Satisfied, Carol went back to her Sleuth preparations. Ryan Lewis was shortly able to give a more complete brief on the Blue Dot.
"We're seeing it at about half-phase, to the right of the star. So, roughly, it's 90 degrees to the right of our position relative to Beta Hydri. We can see clouds and ocean on the long range, but the resolution isn't that good yet. Looks to be about a 2.2 AU orbit."
"Which way is it orbiting?"
"Looks like we came in on the north side, so it's moving counter-clockwise from this vantage point." He paused. "We will be crossing the orbit in less than an hour, and I think that would be a good time to launch the Sleuth."
Carol nodded her agreement. "Yes, that makes sense."
Michael turned from Ryan to Carol. "Can you be ready in that time?"
"Yes, ma'am. I already pulled in the port rotary and had the crew load the Sleuth. We can still send it any final command updates but aside from that we're ready."
"Well done, both of you. Proceed as you have proposed, you don't need a final release from me."
"Fire when ready, yes, ma'am."
Right as planned, they dropped the Sleuth. It executed its flight plan, passing within a few thousand kilometers of the planet. Its sensors opened up after it came out of FTL, recording several hours of data as it passed over the planet. Emitting nothing and covered in its stealth sock, it slipped by the huge blue marble like a long black ghost and moved on back towards Antares.
Antares
Beta Hydri
Tuesday, May 31, 2078, 1550 UTC
Senior Lieutenant Jack Ballard waited impatiently for Hansen to get the Sleuth back aboard. They had made laser contact with the device and brought it alongside Antares. Once it was close, one of the Weaps technicians could bring it into the ShuttleLock using a joystick remote. Easy as pie. As Chief of Intel, it would be Ballard's job to take the data dump from the Sleuth and make something comprehensible out of it. He always preached the difference between information and intelligence, and he was now stuck figuring out the difference for himself. Once the device was back on a maintenance cart and the ShuttleLock was re-pressurized, he and Carol and Ryan headed over to it. Chief Guzman, as usual, beat them to it.
"OK lady and gentlemen, with respect keep your goddamn hands off until we clear it."
Three sets of commissioned hands slammed into their pants pockets. Guzman grinned as he pulled back the stealth sock from the head of the Sleuth.
"OK, that's better. Lieutenant Hansen, let's have the checklist."
Carol was ready.
"Panel 102, open, switch propulsion master off."
"Open, off."
"Panel 57, open, guidance master off."
"Done."
"Panel 22, open, sensor master off."
"22, open, off."
"Panel 35, open, remove data cartridge." Opening the panel, Guzman turned to Ballard.
"Here you are Lieutenant Ballard." Ballard reached in, removed the cartridge, and dropped it in a clear plastic envelope. Ballard headed for the Intel section. Guzman looked at Hansen.
"Disposition?" he said, indicating the Sleuth.
"Run diagnostics on it. If it's good to go let's just put in a new data card, recharge the fuel cells, and put it at the back of the stack. If not, well, check with Mister Swanson and see what he thinks."
"Will do."
He pushed the cart carrying the now-inert Sleuth towards the passageway which would take him back to the weapons maintenance room. Carol waited a moment, impatient to know what was on the data card, wondering if there was intelligent life, even enemy life. Finally, she stepped off for the passageway, heading for the Weaps office and the report she was about to write.
Jack Ballard carried the data cartridge into the Intel workroom and unlocked the cabinet containing the Sleuth data reader. He opened up the envelope and placed the cartridge into the reader. They turned the Intel computers loose on the cartridge as they set up the workstation for manual review. The display showed the visual, IR, and radio sensor in time sync. The whole pass around Big Blue, as they had nicknamed the planet, only took about three hours.
The first few pictures were nice, 'beauty shots' of the planet but too far to yield any detail. As the probe moved closer, they were able to see the clouds more clearly and also see that there was quite a lot of ocean. As they were talking about how much it looked like home, a tone sounded, and an alert appeared on Jack's workstation.
"Computer sees something."
He touched the flashing alert on the screen, and the corresponding image appeared
"Oh my God, Ryan. Streets."
They sat for a moment in amazement. Without taking his eyes off the picture, Jack reached for the ship phone.
"Captain...Ballard here, Commander. I think you should come back to Intel...Streets, ma'am. Streets."
Slowly he hung up, as more alerts began to populate his screen.
Terri Michael wasted no time in getting to the Intel workroom, with XO James George close behind. The original image was still up on Ballard's workstation, but now the computer was kicking off more alerts than he could keep up with. They all leaned in to see the next picture. There was clearly some kind of city or town along the shoreline. After about a half-dozen images, Michael straightened up.
"OK, I've seen enough. Jack, keep working these. I need some expanded versions of the best images. You'll brief the officers in the wardroom in an hour on what you've seen."
She turned to Lewis. "Where are we on the system census?"
"By schedule, it should be maybe 80%, but I will check with the techs."
"Fine. I need it done, and then I need it reviewed to make sure there is no enemy presence here."
"Yes, ma'am."
"I'll need your detailed status and a schedule for completion in an hour as well."
"I will be ready."
"Very good, folks, very good. Let's see what else we can find." Michael left the Intel section and returned to the Bridge, walking to the Comms station.
FLASH 207805311630 UTC
TO: CINCFLEET
FROM: ANTARES ACTUAL
BETA HYDRI BLUE DOT SLEUTH EXAM SHOWS APPARENT STREETS.
PLAN TO COMPLETE SYSTEM CENSUS THEN ORBIT BLUE DOT FOR CLOSER EXAMINATION
END
She walked over to the Surveillance statio
n. The techs were sorting through the other planets, asteroids and small bodies that populated the Beta Hydri system.
"Anything interesting?"
The tech looked up at her.
"No, Captain. All pretty nominal stuff."
"Very well...keep at it."
"Will do, ma'am."
June 2078
ISC Fleet HQ
Ft. Eustis, VA
Thursday, June 2, 2078, 0030 EDT
The message from Antares arrived in Fleet HQ just before midnight as June 1st became June 2nd. It was a warm, typically humid night in Virginia. After calling Ron Harris and Chief of Operations Patty Cook, Admiral Connor Davenport walked the short distance from the Bachelor Officers' Quarters to his headquarters, dressed informally in golf shirt and jeans. At this time of night, he just didn't give a damn about uniforms or formality. Harris caught a ride from base security and arrived a few minutes after the CINC. He also chose casual dress, an SFU T-shirt and shorts. They stood in the Operations Center, with the overnight watch crew looking on with amusement at their appearance, evaluating Antares' surprising discovery.
FLASH 207805311630 UTC
TO: CINCFLEET
FROM: ANTARES ACTUAL
BETA HYDRI BLUE DOT SLEUTH EXAM SHOWS APPARENT STREETS.
PLAN IS TO COMPLETE SYSTEM CENSUS THEN ORBIT BLUE DOT FOR CLOSER EXAMINATION
END
"Well, Admiral," Ron began, "she doesn't give us very much to go on here. Obviously, there is some kind of advanced species living there. How advanced, we'll have to wait and see."
"Beta Hydri - that's what - 24 light-years?" Davenport asked.
Ron nodded.
"Is it possible this is the enemy homeworld?"
"Can't know yet, sir, but sure, it's possible. I don't want to try to read too much into this. She's seen something she thinks we need to know about, but this is very preliminary. If she goes ahead and orbits, there will be a lot more data coming."
As they were talking, Chief of Operations Patty Cook arrived, having taken the time to get into uniform. Her short, sharp, dark appearance contrasted sharply with her taller, more shabbily dressed counterparts.
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