"Lieutenant, I want you to keep track of all the traffic near Mars and report it to me." I said to Karl.
"Aye, sir." he said. "Anything in particular we are searching for?"
"Shuttles." I said. "General purpose shuttles are priority."
"Yes, sir." he said, and turned back to his console.
"Sir, Chief is asking something." Ensign Aziz said.
"Which one, the engineer or the doctor?" I asked.
"The engineer." he said.
"Headphone." I said as I grabbed the headphone from Aziz's console. He rerouted the voice output to headphones.
"Sir, how long are we going to run the reactor at this state? We are putting a lot of stress on the heat management systems." Scott said. His voice was... sad. I could understand his feelings to a degree; this ship was his everything.
"Okay, reduce the target output to 102 percent, but don't move the radiation shields." I said.
"Sir-"
"There is nothing I can do. We need to emit a dangerous level of radiation." I said.
"Alright." Scott said. "I'm reducing the output to 100 percent."
"I said 102!"
Scott had already closed the connection before I could say that. I didn't bother contacting him again. 100 percent reactor output without shielding was good enough to create concerning emissions.
"Sir, there are two shuttles departing from rough terrain." Karl interrupted.
"Shall I make contact, sir?" Ensign Aziz suggested.
"No." I said. "Move the ship to intercept the shuttles."
"We won't be able to match their acceleration with this heavy cruiser." Mei argued. Dave nodded, supporting her statement.
"Open hangar bay doors. Send fighters to intercept the shuttles and redirect them to us." I ordered.
"Sir, the hangar bay is at the aft section. Are you sure you want to send personnel through the radiation belt we are creating?" Karl said.
Being a commander and having to manage everything... This was way harder than I expected.
"Put the fighters in remote control mode." I said.
"Sir, there is a great risk, we may lose control if they fly that far!" Sungho said.
I was about to curse.
"Sir, the shuttles have broken the formation." Lieutenant Karl interrupted my internal struggle. "One of them is remaining in a low parking orbit, the other one is performing a manuever to increase it's tagential velocity. It may be trying to get into a higher orbit, or making it out of Martian sphere of influence."
"Project it's trajectory to the nav computer." I said, and walked over to Commander Mei's cruise-nav console. I could slowly see the shuttle's trajectory changing.
"Sir..." Commander Mei spoke. "The shuttle completed it's manuever. Their trajectory implies they are trying to rendezvous with us. Our closest approach is calculated to be... hold on... 3,5 kilometers, just near our periapsis node."
"Didn't they hear the headquarters' radiation warning?" I asked.
"I doubt it." Mei commented. "Those may be unregistered spacecraft."
"Unlikely." I argued. "The only spacecraft manufacturers here are Intersol and the government itself. None of them would allow the manufacturing of unregistered spacecraft."
"Shuttles of Earthly origin were known to make trading runs now and then. A few may be left on Mars when the war was declared." Mei said.
"Either way, we will see..." I said. "Stationkeeping, Commander. Let them approach."
"The other shuttle in the parking orbit will go below horizon, and we will lose track of it." Karl said. "They may use that opportunity to escape."
I sighed. Everything was, one way or another, a disadvantage for us.
"Tell Chief to rotate the radiation shield plates momentarily to allow safe passage for our pilots to the hangar, and launch those fighters to identify and track that shuttle." I said.
"Copy that." Aziz said and started typing something on his console.
A few minutes later, Lodos' hangar bay doors opened, and three fighters slowly flew outside.
"Sir, it is the headquarters." Aziz said.
"Damn it, give me a break!" I said under my breath. "I'm coming."
I walked over to Aziz's console.
"Commander, why are you launching fighters?" the man on the other side asked. I did not recognise his voice.
"I'm..." I paused. There was no good excuse for that. "The ships are tasked with examining a surface point of interest we have detected earlier." I said.
"Lodos is not a science vessel, Commander." the man said. "We are in a war, and you are commanding a warship. Don't forget that."
The communication was cut.
- - - After a while - - -
"Sir, a shuttle is approaching us. They are 15 kilometers away, and have sent a docking request." Aziz said.
"Tell them to hold position. Scan the shuttle, Lieutenant." I said.
"Yes, sir." Aziz and Karl said at the same time.
"Sir, the shuttle seems to be carrying some low density cargo. From my readings... looks like construction material." Karl reported.
"Construction material?" I asked, surprised.
"Yes, I... I don't know." Karl said.
"Ensign Aziz, tell them to stay clear of the radiation belt at our ship's sides." I said.
"Roger." Aziz said. "LC/M Lodos to Shuttle Sivas, we are sending data about our radiation emission map. Confirm this message, and stay clear of the danger zones."
"Aziz?"
"I'm about to give them permission to dock, sir." he said.
"Ask about their cargo." I said. Aziz paused for a moment.
"Ensign?"
"Y-yes, sir." he said. "Shuttle Sivas, what is in your cargo hold?"
He listened to the shuttle's response. But, that waiting... was a bit too long. Uncomfortably long.
"What do they say?" I asked. Aziz didn't respond. It was like... he wasn't hearing me.
"Ensign, put it to speakers, let me hear."
Aziz slowly turned around to look at me. It was awkward to say at least.
"Construction material." he said. I didn't like Aziz's behaviour. He was behaving like he was drunk. I had never seen him like that before.
"Shuttle Sivas, docking request granted." Aziz said. I suddenly pulled him away from the console and sat on his seat. Everyone on the bridge turned around to look at me. They were all shocked by this, except for Mei... who wasn't showing any clear emotions.
"Belay that." I ordered the shuttle. "Shuttle Sivas, abort your approach and maintain distance."
At the same time, Lodos received a message. It was... from the HQ.