Penelope dressed quickly; the popping still echoed in her mind but at least the images were fading with consciousness. She'd have to thank Deag for his understanding. Not many humans, and far fewer aliens, would be so forgiving when having a gun pulled on them. With a deep breath she rooted herself in the present and walked out into the hallway.

Focus Pen.

As the doors to the bridge slid open Deag had taken his seat but Gareth was stood at her station.

“We were halfway to our jump point when the sensors picked up an odd signal coming from the asteroid cloud at the edge of the system. Gareth is at your con checking it out but can’t make much of it. It’s too faint.” The captain said.

“Come look, see if you can make frills or webs of it. If I didn’t know better, I’d say it was a Terran signal but that’s impossible. This far outside their territory, a weak signal, not an SOS as far as I could tell. It’s just odd.” Gareth moved from the console so Penelope could have a look.

She adjusted the display and looked at the wave form on the screen and lifted an audio device to her ear. The faintest repeating sound could be heard. There was interference and the signal was weak, but a pattern was clear. There was something familiar about it though, something she couldn’t place. For some reason an old bootcamp memory popped into her head. Reading a weapons manual with her squamates.

Why am I thinking of that of all things…

Waving the thought from her mind she refocused on the signal.

“I think it is Terran but you’re right Gareth it’s not an SOS. And even a disabled ship’s emergency transponder should be far stronger than... whatever this is…”

“Well, a mystery begs to be solved…” Deag started.

“Capta-” Gareth stopped short as the captain’s paw came up.

“Well get only close enough to determine what the signal really is. Provide aid if its needed but otherwise we can leave a buoy for the… what, the Tinsne have claim of this system yes? We’ll leave a buoy and let them know what we found.”

“Understood captain.”

“Shall I change course sir?” Ton’et asked, sitting at navigation.

“Yes, but measured please. For now, let’s just get close enough to clear the signal up and see what we’re dealing with.”

After what amounted to ten Terran minutes they’d halved the distance from the signal source.

“It’s definitely human Sir,” Penelope said still studying the waveform with disbelief, “it is an emergency signal of some kind but not an SOS and it can’t be coming from a UEMC ship. It’s too simple to be an onboard AI…”

“Ton bring us close enough to do a detailed scan of the area please.”

“Yes Sir.” They engaged the sub light engines once more.

Again, the distance was halved. At this point they were moving into the asteroid cloud. It was dense as asteroid fields go but nowhere near dense enough to pose navigational issues. The real threat was micro-debris flying at high speeds, but the freighters shields were practically designed to handle such things.

“Initiating scan of the local area” Penelope said. A high-pitched pulsing sound resounded through the hull and her screen lit up with information.

“It looks like there’s a derelict ship floating along with that cluster of asteroids, 40 degrees.”

“So, it is a Terran ship signal” Deag questioned.

“No, the ship seems to be Tinsne design. And the signal isn’t coming from the ship but from something in its cargo bay…”

“This just keeps getting weirder and weirder” Gareth spoke up, “Any other ships in the area? This can't not be some kind of trap”

“Nothing on sensors… and it’s a weird trap, isn’t it? A faint Terran signal that isn’t any kind of SOS in non-Terran space? Most people would just keep on flying. And the ship isn’t transmitting any emergency signals either.”

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“Life signs aboard?” Deag asked.

“None. I’m getting nothing other than that odd human signal. Honestly captain, I think I should go aboard. I’ll Check the cargo bay and determine what this is. If this is a trap, I’ll… well...” She looked at captain Deag with clear intention.

“Fine. But I don’t like the idea of you going alone. Gareth and I will come with-“

“Absolutely not captain. You cannot be put in danger like that. We have no clue what we’ll find over there.” Gareth spoke up, even his frills seemed to shudder with conviction.

“I have to say, I agree with Gareth. The captain’s safety is paramount.”

“Well…” Deag huffed, “looks like I’ve been out voted. Very well.”

“I’ll go sir” Ton’et piped up, “my knowledge may prove useful in uncovering what’s happened."

Deag simply looked to Penelope.

“That’s fine but while were over there, if we encounter anything, you’ll both stay behind me and do as I say. Understood?” She let her gaze sit on both Gareth and Ton’et for a time.

Both motioned in an affirmative.

“Very well. We’ll head to the airlock.”

Deag held up a paw and motioned to Penelope, “The two of you head to the airlock and prep. I’d like a word with Penelope."

Gareth and Ton’et left the bridge as Penelope moved closer to Deag who in turn leaned in and began speaking quietly.

“Best bring that firearm of yours if you weren’t already. If either of them makes a fuss you can tell them that it was my decision to keep it under the crew’s snouts. Poor Thwilll was near heart attack without knowing you had Terran weaponry, I can only imagine. One of these days you really must explain your people’s obsession with such lethal tools but for now, go.”

With a nod, Penelope left the bridge. She stopped first at her room and retrieved the sidearm and then made her way to the starboard airlock.

As she met up with her boarding party both Gareth and Ton’et had breathers on and Gareth handed her one as well, “No breathable atmosphere for any of us so here.”

“Thanks.” She said as she affixed the metal device to her face.

There was jostling as the ships lined up and the airlock clamp mechanism engaged. With that, the all clear sign on the door console flashed and the door behind them slammed shut and locked. Penelope motioning the other two to line up behind her tapped the open button on the console. A burst of air hit them as the airlock opened and the pressure equalized.

Looking into the derelict ship it was mostly dark save for some emergency lights that only lit the floor. The only other lights were flashing red and mounted at intersections or turns in a corridor.

Penelope’s breather hissed, “Stay behind me.” She drew her Mk.8 from its holster and moved into the corridor. Both Gareth and Ton’et noted the firearm but simply nodded, or their species equivalent, and followed behind her.

Instantly they all noticed an increase in gravity. Still light for Penelope, about two thirds of Earth’s. Ton’et was most affected by the change, Gareth seemed to handle it well enough.

“Increase in gravity,” Gareth called out, “It’s my understanding this is not the Tinsne norm…”

Nevertheless, they all pushed onward turning right out of the airlock and down the corridor. Penelope moved slowly; each step was measured. Her eyes darted from wall to floor for any sign of a trap. IEDs, false flooring, motion sensors. Nothing. It was silent too and yet she could hear her old battle buddy complaining.

“I’m never gonna memorize this whole thing Pen!”

“Well you’d better! Drill Sergeant’ll have your ass if you don’t. Besides, look at it this way. Are you ever going to need most of this info? No. But, one bit of something in here might save your life one day and then you’ll be grateful you spent the time.”

“Think I’ll take that life threatening situation over the Drill Sergeant “

She chuckled.

“What is it?” Ton’et asked.

“Nothing… ask me again when were back at the ship.”

They’d made it to the end of the corridor which turned left. There were two closed doors halfway down and at the end it seemed to turn left again.

“Id guess the bridge behind the right door.” Gareth said quietly.

“Agreed, stay here.” She held out a hand before moving forward alone.

As she made it to the door, she didn’t move in front of it. Instead, she sidled up against the wall and tapped the control panel which lit up. It read “open” and “close” is Tinsnian. Carefully tapping open the door opened with a loud whoosh and… nothing else. More silence. Same stagnant air.

After a short pause, Penelope checked the corners and cleared the room. Empty.

“All clear.”

Gareth and Ton’et moved into the room. It was definitely the bridge but there was no crew.

“No sign of a struggle… hells no sign of anything. This place is in near pristine condition save for its utter lack of personnel.” Gareth commented looking around. Tapping a panel, it lit up displaying nominal systems. All things clear across the board.

“It’s as if the whole crew just decided to what? Leave? Did they maybe have a second ship and just abandoned this one here?” Ton’et proposed as they too looked at a systems console.

“But why would they just up and leave?” Penelope asked.

“I’m not sure, everything looks clear here. No biohazard warnings, no attacks…” Gareth perused the ships log, “It just ends abruptly, last log is an all-clear transmission sent somewhere assuring that their cargo had been secured.”

“Does it list the cargo?”

“… No… that’s odd, there’s no manifest...”

“Black market traders? Smuggling something?”

“And then just… leaving their haul for no reason?”

“Umm, Miss Penelope… you said the signal was coming from the cargo bay?” Ton’et interrupted.

“Yea, that’s what the ships scan indicated, why?”

“Well, there is minimal power drain throughout the ship, which makes sense, except I’m reading a not insignificant amount of power being drained by something in the cargo bay.”

“So,” Gareth started organizing the facts, “Terran signal, not an SOS but something and it needs power. There was no attack and no biohazard incident. Something happened and the crew simply decided to leave their perfectly functioning ship in the asteroid cloud of this system.”

“I think the cargo bay will have our answer” Ton’et said.

“Agreed, but quick checks of the rest of the ship first. I’m not a fan of surprises.” Penelope responded.