(BSN Shadowdancer, Unknown Space)
Blasting through the Gateway at a speed of almost a quarter of the speed of light and still accelerating, the Shadowdancer moved like a bat out of hell, hoping to avoid any initial barrage that static defenses may have had in place. The gate had been active for less than a second when they dove through, so hopefully they would be moving quickly enough that even computerized defenders would take a few moments to lock on to them. That was the trick to doing a hostile gate dive, of course. If you could time it right, then it was possible for a single ship to slip through if they were light and quick. Most ships like that, however, would be beyond useless behind enemy lines, so the tactic was rarely used.
Captain Thelynn tried to keep a calm demeanor for her crew. The Shadowdancer was not like other ships of her size, after all. She was literally designed for behind the lines work, savaging enemy shipping and the like. Her ship, her crew, had proven themselves beyond all doubt during the civil war, but if they saw their captain getting nervous, then they would be nervous, and that might lead to them making mistakes. They could not afford any mistakes on this run, so she played it calm and cool as she looked over the data coming off the sensors.
So far, things were looking good. No missiles or energy weapons came flying their way, and the helmsman didn’t need to make emergency maneuvers to avoid any inconveniently placed starships or space stations. In fact, there wasn’t anything around the gateway at all. No defenses, no guard ships, none of the things she would expect to be in place around a Gateway.
“Secure from battle stations. Reduce speed, bring us around to all stop by the Gate. Sensors, once you have the gate’s symbol, pass it on to comms, and work on getting a map of the system. Comms, once you have the address, open the Gate to Desolace, so we can let the Master know it is safe, for the moment.”
Over the next few minutes they began to map out the system as sensor data came in. It was a fairly standard Class G star, but the rest of the system was, to put it simply, strange. A single ‘super-earth’ was the focal point of the system. Running the numbers quickly, Nyna frowned to herself. It was like someone had taken the material of Mercury, Venus, and Earth and compressed them all into a single planet. There was also a large asteroid belt which suggested that there had been at least one, maybe two more planets that were destroyed sometime in the system’s past, as well as some (thankfully) normal gas giants further out.
Considering that the super-earth might have life on it, Nyna turned to the comms officer. “Scan for any transmissions in the system. Search the historical data we have on the Juan Ponce de Leon and focus on the frequencies their equipment used. We have a few hours until the light from the Gateway reaches the main planet, and I’d prefer to know if someone was out there before they find out about us.”
(BSN Thunderfury, Unknown Space)
Captain Am’Rrica’s tail twitched in excitement as she considered their current assignment. This was the kind of work that anyone who lived and worked in the darkness between the stars dreamed about, being the first to explore Unknown Space, flying into the void where no one knew what wonders and dangers they would find. It was both exhilarating and terrifying to the extreme. When the Shadowdancer reported the all clear, the rest of the Expeditionary Force went through the Gateway in turn, including her Thunderfury.
As she stood on the bridge of the Thunderfury, the blast doors opened, revealing the Nomad Major in charge of the Marine detachment. “Major Khan, excellent. As you can see, we’ve made it through the gate. No sign of system defenses yet, but if they only made a single attempt to go through the gate, then they may not have had reason to place guards at the Gateway.”
“Well, that’s good, at least. I was checking the sensor feed, and saw the writeup on that super-earth. Could you get the Engineering department to adjust the local gravity and atmosphere on the Marine decks for ‘sea level’ on that planet? If we’re going to be engaged in surface operations, I’d like to have my people start acclimating now, rather than spending extra time on the surface.”
Am’Rica nodded. “That should not be a problem at all. Those sections were originally designed to have variable atmosphere and gravity from the rest of the ship for that reason.”
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“Any sign of habitation in the system? If the colony ship made it here intact, they’d definitely have a solid resource base for space-based industry.”
The Captain’s tailed stilled momentarily. “Yes, if they made it here in one piece. I am not certain what could have happened to them, to be honest. The stellar cartographers are comparing the local starfield with our maps, and their conclusions are… astounding.”
“Oh?”
“Well, we’re currently in the Norma arm of the Galaxy, as you humans call it. How in the infinite singular abyss did a ship get from the Orion arm practically to the galactic core in so short a time if they were only going at sublight speeds? Even our most advanced military drives would take over forty-seven years of continuous warp to get this far! Even if they somehow managed to accelerate to lightspeed, they should have taken almost thirty thousand years to make the trip!”
Major Khan whistled appreciatively. “Well that would certainly explain why no one ever found out where they went to. My gods, another arm of the galaxy? Maybe the found a wormhole, or slipstream, or some other phenomenon that threw them this far out?”
“It would be comforting if they did find some kind of natural phenomenon that threw them out here, to be honest. The alternatives are… unsettling.”
“You mean the ones where they either found some artifact of lost tech and managed to turn it on, or a race of beings we haven’t met yet decided to throw them so off course?”
“Pretty much. If it was a piece of Lost Tech, then what happened to them that made it so they couldn’t bring word of their success back to Earth? And if it was a group of unknown aliens, why have we never seen them, and what will they do if they find us in their back yard?”
“Great, I needed more reasons not to sleep at night.”
Captain Am’Rica sighed. “We know SOMEONE survived the trip, because they sent a shuttle to try and find help. But what kind of condition would they be in after all this time? How much time has actually passed for them, for that matter? And how badly damaged was their ship when they came out of the… wormhole, we’ll call it.”
Major Khan paused, and then clapped one hand on the Ihm female’s shoulder. “That’s a question for the science types, Captain. Don’t worry about it. The boss will find the locals, and we’ll go down to see the sights and make sure they want to play nice. And if super-advanced aliens show up, then we’ll be in so far over our heads that there really isn’t any point worrying about it. Just remember that even the most advanced warships can be destroyed by something as simple as throwing a rock fast enough. The Assassins proved that in the war. We might be underdogs, but that doesn’t mean we can’t get a couple bites in first. Maybe enough to make them talk before they try and kill us.”
(Elsewhere)
“Sir! The satellite just detected the light of the Demon Gate!”
“What? It is still five years too early!”
“Checking… Confirmed! The Demon Gate is open! No sign of enemy ships.”
“Hmm. Better report it anyway. Have the skytrackers keep watch on that sector any way, just in case. The demons have never done something like this before, but—”
“Captain! There may be enemy ships by the Demon Gate! Unconfirmed readings!”
“What do you mean, unconfirmed? Are they there or not?”
“Hard to say, Captain. We only had a momentary glimpse of something as it eclipsed the Demon Gate. I have the computer running light differentials now… Several anomalies, too small for automatic detection to alert us. Multiple anomalies, too many for a single vessel. Something is moving between us and the surrounding stars, Captain. We’re only getting hints about their presence due to the light masking. They are invisible to visual scanners!”
“Damn. It must be some kind of stealth technology. But why would the Demons use stealth? They’ve never seemed to care about such things before?”
“What if they aren’t demons?”
“What do you mean, they came through the Demon Gate, only the demons do that!”
“But what if Espina was right? What if the glyphs in the Museum of the Ancients were other places the Demon Gate could go to? The place he went was supposed to be a great storehouse of ancient weapons, after all.”
“ESPINA WAS A COWARD WHO ABANDONED HIS POST DURING THE LAST DEMON WAR, AND STOLE THE FOUNDERS’ LEGACY!”
(BSN Shinokage, Unknown Space)
“Confirmed, Captain. There is no sign of communications from the target planet, but all signs point to it supporting life. We will have to get closer to be sure, but I believe we have spotted what looks like a crude defensive array. A series of satellites are in orbit. No weapon signatures detected from this far out, but they are spaced evenly across the planet, including over the oceans, making it unlikely that they are a communication network.”
Captain Inatumal nodded to the sensor officer. Turning to look to the man in charge, “Your orders, Master?”
Mirikon considered, and said, “Have the fleet move towards the planet. Standard approach protocols. Assassins and Shinokage to the front, gunboats hang back to protect the larger craft. They’ve all been painted, but the nonmilitary ships we picked up for the civilians and mining operations are not Black Star-made ships. They’re stealthy enough at a distance, but they’ll be spotted first. Let the stealth ships scout the area beforehand, instead of risking the civvies.”
“Understood, Master.” The Captain nodded to her owner, and then turned to address the crew. “Transmit orders to the fleet. Assassins are to form up around Shinokage. Other ships are to hold back and advance together with the gunboats acting as screening elements.”
Mirikon spoke again. “Captain, give the order for the Vicious Return and the Dykhaniye Smerti to launch Raptors as additional screens for the forward elements. The Smerti is to launch one squadron of Thunderbirds as a CAP, all other squadrons to standby, ready to scramble if there is trouble.”
“You heard the Master, Comms, get the orders out. If this goes to hell, I want the Raptors giving us some advance warning of what we are about to receive.”
Captain Inatumal looked over to her master, and asked, “Something worrying you, Master?”
He shook his head. “No, not yet. But it would be better to be prepared, I think.”
(Elsewhere)
In a section of space remarkable only for how empty it was, the light of the Gateway found receptors designed to register just such an event. In the cold dark of space, a small black form began to move, like waking from an ancient slumber.
Slowly, the probe spread its black wings, and began taking in everything that it could about those who had just disturbed its rest.