Countryman left the bridge as soon as he heard about Selia’s accident and left Greymen in charge of the fleet. Greyman walked up the stairs to the command balcony and settled into the chair. He barely had a second to rest in the chair before Misaki jumped slightly and reported, “Sir, I’m picking up multiple distress calls throughout the sector.”
Greyman considered the info for a minute as he contemplated his choices. Settling on a choice of action, he gave his order. “Set course for the nearest distress call, maximum warp,” ordered Greyman. The crew immediately went to work and the ship quickly followed by the fleet went to warp heading straight for the nearest distress call. Which was coming from a small military supply convoy just half a lightyear from their position. The convoy had been in hyperspace until just recently. The energy wave while having little effect on their fleet had thrown hundreds of ships throughout the sector out of hyperspace. Sensors had picked these occurrences up after the wave passed. Greyman spent the six and a half minutes it took them to reach the convoy going over the sensor data. He guessed that being thrown out of hyperspace had damaged the ships in the convoy, and made plans according to that assumption.
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The President of the Union stared at the report on her desk. Delmarka had been attacked. The fleet had managed to repel the attack, but the consequences had been devastating. FTL travel throughout the sector had been disrupted. The fleet was being hard-pressed to respond to all the distress calls. Interestingly the newcomers the Sol Refuge had appeared again. A small fleet had shown up out of nowhere and was aiding some of the ships that were crippled by that strange blast wave.
She really wasn't sure how to feel about that. On one hand they seemed to be friendly enough, but their ability to completely disappear from sensors had her a little freaked. That single small fleet they had seen with its demonstrated stealth abilities could easily cripple interstellar trade or worse. She made a note to propose a project to develop a better sensor array just in case they needed it. She hoped they wouldn’t, as she would rather be friends with these new aliens. Given their observed abilities, they would make excellent allies, and might just be able to turn the war in their favor. If not she feared they would eventually lose this war.
Moving away from the refuge’s presence she then looked at the economic analysis. According to the report, the economic impact of this attack was expected to be quite severe. Trade throughout the entire sector had been affected. A number of ships thanks to the wave needed yard time. As for what caused the wave her scientists had some theories, but nothing concrete. The end result is that shipping companies would have difficult moving enough goods for the next few months to meet demand, which meant local prices would soar. That, of course, was the least of her worries. The yards at Delmarka had taken quite a bit of damage, and the engineers reported that it would be a couple of months before the yards could start building ships again. In effect, this attack had crippled their ability to replenish their fleets in this area. So it wasn’t really a win, and more like a defeat. Then her monitor beeped and she saw a new message.
Looking through it she found it was sent from the Sol Refuge, and they were telling her that they would arrive here in a week's time. The massage itself was a request for an audience, but it had taken her little while to decipher the message, given that they had chosen some odd phrasing for the message. Giving it an archaic feel, and it was painfully obvious that whoever wrote the message wasn’t all that familiar with written Mydorian. The message combined with recent observations also just confirmed their suspicions about how fast Refuge ships could be. The fleet just told them they could cross a distance that would take months in hyperspace in a matter of days
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Selia’s eyes opened and she found herself submerged in an odd and thick fluid. At first, she panicked until she realized that she was perfectly fine, and that her gills were functioning just fine. The odd fluid wasn’t hurting her like mud would. It took her another minute or two before where she was clicked with her memories. She had been exploring the local market on the ship, when a sudden brace for impact order came over the speakers. Like everyone in space, her training had taken over and she braced for impact. When the ship shook a moment later she had easily kept her grip on the railing she had used to brace. A young girl nearby hadn’t been able to keep her grip and was flung over the railing. She didn’t even think when she saw it happen and had dived over the railing. She managed to reach the girl, but after that her only option was to use her body as a shield. She didn’t remember anything after that.
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“Guess I’m in their medical bay. Although now that I think about it the place never showed up on that tour I was given earlier,” thought Selia to herself moments before the fluid began to drain. At the same moment, she heard a voice that she didn’t recognize spoke directly into her mind. “Just relax, and breathe normally while the nano-gel is being exchanged with oxygenated water,” said ???.
“Who are you, and this thick fluid is called nano-gel?” asked Selia.
“Sorry, I’m Karin and your doctor. Yes, the fluid is called nano-gel. The fluid is a complex mix of regenerative compounds, nanites, and a few other things. You have been bathing it for a little over a day now. Which was enough time for your broken bones to heal, and for the nanites to repair the other complications caused by your little fall,” said the doctor Karin. The fluid exchanged slowly but before long she found herself breathing water again, and not the mystery fluid. Sure she had been told what it is, but she still wasn’t comfortable with breathing and bathing in a fluid in which she didn’t know exactly what was in it. A moment after the fluid finished exchanging she heard a click, and the surface in front of her opened up. Allowing her to swim out into a room that was also filled with water. Looking around she was in a room filled with submerged pods like the one she just emerged from. On one wall there was a chest built into the wall next to a sturdy metal door. The walls were rather utilitarian and there was nothing to draw the eye.
After looking around she took stock of herself. She found that she felt better than she did before the fall. The bath having removed aches and pains she hadn’t been aware of. Even better nothing seemed out of place either. She was also completely naked, she wasn’t surprised about that however. She figured they had removed her clothes and equipment prior to putting her in the pod. Most likely for medical reasons. Then she heard a now-familiar telepathic voice speak into her head. “Your clothes are in the storage chest. I would like to keep you here for a day of observation,” said Karin. She immediately went to the chest and opened it up. Sure enough, layed neatly into the chest was her clothing, and most important her belt.
As soon as she was dressed she keyed the door and it sprang open. A forcefield keeping the water in the room. She passed through the field. Just like the one installed in her quarters here, she felt a slight resistance to her moving through the field. Outside the room, she found herself in a hallway with doors on either side of the corridor placed at regular intervals. The only distinctive feature of the stark utilitarian walls was a double band of alert lights that were currently strobing a steady blue. She knew that with this species of aliens that blue was a good sign. Not far from her position a young woman was standing. She was dressed in a doctor’s uniform complete with a lab coat. Her attention seemed to be taken up entirely by the pad in her hands. Without looking up, she asked her to follow her and she turned to the right and headed down the corridor. While this was her first time hearing the girl's voice in the real world, her telepathic one was close enough that she recognized the person in front of her was Karin.
Following Karin, it wasn’t long before she led her into an office. Where she saw the captain sitting behind the desk. She barely registered his presence, but instead focused on the plate of fish sitting on the opposite side of the desk from him. Her stomach letting her know that she was hungry. In fact, she realized that she was starving.
“I’m sure your starving. I had some food brought up for you,” said Countryman. She thanked him and sat down pulling the plate towards her.
“That pod of yours is impressive. Anyway is the girl, alright?” asked Selia just before she started to eat.
“Yes, she was perfectly fine. You absorbed the brunt of the impact. Anyway I’m glad to see that you on your feet,” said Countryman.
“Thanks. Have you been waiting here the entire time I was in the pod?” asked Selia.
“Sort of. Unfortunately my job doesn’t allow me to be idle. I have been staying down here to keep better appraised of your condition. I have been mostly taking care of the logistical aspects of my first officer's decision to answer distress calls in this sector. Before you ask, we have answered seventeen distress calls since your accident. Most have been nothing more than minor repairs needed so that they could then limp back to port. The rest were pirates,” said Countryman.
“Sounds busy. Anyway I have been wondering. Why wasn’t this area on my tour of the ship?”
“Well it isn’t really in heavy use. We don’t get as sick easily as we did before the change. Which led to a lot of unused space around here. We adapted the unused areas into lab space, focused on learning more about our new physiology. Right now we are mapping our new genome a rather time-consuming task,” said Countryman.
“That sounds interesting. I’d like to discuss it, but I’m starting to feel tired,” said Selia. Not sure why she was getting tired so quickly. Countryman let her finish her meal, and then led her to a room that had been set up for her. Where she promptly went to sleep.