"We're what?" Captain Q'ari spun around and stared at me.
"We're being pinged. We are receiving a signal from something a little further outside of the debris field." I have no idea what it is either. I'm just reporting the things that are happening. I think the Captain is being a little hard on me. I mean yes, I did twice now activate an unknown doodad by touching it when maybe I shouldn't have been, but it's been a rough couple of days!
Far Reach to my rescue. "The signal appears to originate at... the remains of a Starbase."
"Show us please Far Reach." Captain Q'ari looked to the large screen on the wall, while we looked down to our consoles a saw a smaller screen with the same information - that way we can see but also look at our consoles in case we need to take care of something.
What Far Reach showed us... it took our breath away.
Sure enough, there seemed to be... most of a Starbase. Large parts of it were either gone, or the original designers had one hell of an aesthetic. It looked like it was originally an asteroid where whoever had built it out until it was roughly teardrop shaped, with maybe a docking ring along the bottom point? But now, a large chunk was missing from the top of the teardrop, as if it was a piece of fruit and someone took a huge bite from it.
It was mostly dark, but there did seem to be some lighted points on it. It might not be entirely dead.
What was worse though was the planet it orbited. Note, I use orbit in a very loose sense. Planet in an even looser sense.
The planet was destroyed.
I don't mean like, it was once a green and verdant place and now has been rendered black and denuded, no, it was cracked in half.
There was a hemisphere of a planet that was maybe a bit smaller than Earth, and then a cloud of debris around it - probably the other half of the planet. A ring was starting to form around the debris below the orbit of the semi derelict Starbase.
"Far Reach... Can we estimate how long ago this happened?" Captain Q'ari asked quietly.
"Given what we know about orbital mechanics, and the fact that the debris field is rather large and has not condensed back into a planetary body, I'd say this is recent. Well, recent on a galactic scale."
"Best estimate please Far Reach, I don't need day and date."
"Between 100 and 500 human years ago."
Omar whistled low. "That's not that long at all."
"It's been destroyed for around as long as we've known each other." Um'reli added.
Captain Q'ari blinked and with a slight struggle, looked away. "Lieutenant Mullen. Do you have any idea what the signal says?"
I looked at it. It's repeated a few times now so it's probably automated. I put on headphones and listened.
Ṡ̴̡̼̻̱̮̳͂̾͛͑̕͠͠ţ̴̨̤͙̦̰̐͛͋́͆̋̕a̸͖͎͓̽̒͑͊̑y̶̢͍̺͚̘̑̇̈́̽͘̚͝͠ ̶̥̪̥͉̙̗̈̋̂̇̈͒̑͜a̴͎̞̪͌̋ͅw̷̺̱̖̲͚̪̗̼̃̇̇̏͒͌̓̾̂͝ą̵̢̥̙̩͛͐̏̈́͗̈̀ͅͅÿ̷̠̘̺̘́͂͑̈̎́͋̿̚̚ ̴̥͐̂̋̎͜Š̸̥̪̫̬̗̱̝̟̀̑͒t̵̥̥̜̗̒̈́̈́͑̽̍͒̿̑ͅạ̵̥̰͔̗͕̙̩̟͑̋̓̀̆̋͂̌͜y̸͈̥̫͙͋̐͘ ̷̝͉͕̭̘̋̆́a̵͈̹͖͍̗̓͆̆̈͐̃̽͆͠w̵͍͙̬̺̌̎͒a̷͚̬̼̣͂̈̒̇̔y̸͚͉̥̥̺͉̘͛ ̸̢̡̛̦̫̰̖̼̩̭͔͂̏͆S̷̘̻̱̟͉̪̓̉̆͆̎̎T̸̻̠͌͂̿͌̅̈̌͝Ą̸̬͔̻̘͉͝Y̸̼̩͉̯̞̫̻̗̅̏̒͛̾̃ͅ ̴̩͐̾̾̊͠Ą̷͉͔͈̬̯͇͕̙͒͗̓̈Ŵ̵̡̢̗͖̺̫̗̰̩̒̔̇̋̃͋̔̄͝ͅA̴̭͈̭͛Ỳ̸̤͖̫̤̾
Startled, I ripped my headphones off. "It's a warning!" I shouted without meaning to. "We have to stay away."
As soon as I said that, there's a thud and a clank and we all moved in our seats gently. "Captain!" Far Reach sounded worried. "We're being pulled towards the starbase."
"What? How?"
"Unknown. Some kind of energy field has enveloped us and we're being moved towards the Starbase."
Now Captain Q'ari was very worried. "Helm! Thrusters. We're leaving. Mullen, what's our next address?
I looked at the list. I had Fer'resi print out the list on a piece of paper. It felt... easier to read them when it was something physical. I stared at the names and let my eyes wander and tried to think of something... I don't know... positive? There! That one.
"The next one we should go to is R̸̟̗̅ê̷̥a̶̪̾͋c̶̖̝̈h̴͕̩͊ ̵̘̝̕o̶̹̩͂̆f̴̪͊ ̶̠̗̀ẗ̷̢̠͠h̴̗̲͌ẹ̴̔ ̵̱̜̐̌M̵̧̛̥i̶̡̬̿g̵̝̭̅̽h̴̹̃͌ẗ̴̝̲́ ̸̞̗́o̵̗̞͂f̶̢̓ ̴̝͉̄V̷̙͛͜z̴̲͌z̶̲̈́͜ẍ̶̯̠́ It's the second one on the list."
"With all speed, Lieutenant. Program the destination.
"Aye Captain." It was easy enough entering the address into the addressing module. It was almost as if they fit like puzzle pieces.
"Address added. We can leave when we turn around and ping the gate."
"Helm, turn us around. We're leaving."
Kieran looked up, his face taught and his eyes wide. "It's proving difficult Captain, we're not moving and the gyros are screaming."
Captain Q'ari's ears expressed frustration, flicking quickly. She touched a panel on her chair. "Weapons! Can you target the source of the traction field?"
"One Moment, Captain."
A pause. It felt like everyone was holding their breath. The only thing you could hear was the very faint whine of the gyros.
"Captain, I have two possible targets. Both are on the damaged Starbase. One near the point, one up around the bulb."
"Target them both then, We have energy to spare now."
When she said that, I felt a searing pain in my head. I shouted,
Ņ̷̢̧̪͚̖̺̜͈̣͙̝͎̓͆͗̿̈́͜o̸̢̨͓̤̪̮̝̟͈͇̜̖̗̥̺̊͋̃̓̎͒̒̄́͜ͅ!̵͉̺̊̾͊̇̀͂͒͘̕ ̸̲̼̄͌̇͝Ň̶̰̼o̴̖͓͍͈̠̲͑̑͝͝t̵̛͔͈̻͇͕͈̮̺̙͂́̈́̓̇͛̅̎̊͒̋͐̚͘͜ ̴̨̢̛̳̺̟͚͔̳̘͓̱̳̀́̑̓̅̓͒̇̀ͅͅt̵̛͚̭̼̯͇͉̋̀́̈́͂́̓͗̀̐͂̋͂̈́́̂ḩ̸̢̭̦̖͍̙̲̹͖̰͍́̎̍̊͐̍͝ẽ̵̡̡̺̦̱͕̻͖͉̫̤̩͆̍̏͜͜ͅ ̴̛͖̺̬̟͕̺̗̫͍̪̰̯̜̠̜͒̋̽͗͐͛̄̐̚͘̚͜t̴̢̛̩̯̰̜̟͉̃́̎̈́̊̐̀̀̾͋ǫ̶͖̲̲̻̱͍͖̥̦̗̬̝̼̤͑̽̎́̓̓̑̇̈́̈̏̓̍͘̕͝p̵̢͖̖̭̩̗̠̙͒̌̎̀͝ ̷̛̰̝̘̘̋̒̊͊̓̓͝o̴̡̦̦̙̮͎͍̹̜͓̗̖̬̩̳̱͗͒̌͗̊̎͆̎̍̏̂̚͠ṇ̵̡̻̠̪͚̗̳̫̭̺͓̞͓̳̥̀̈́̓̍͋͋͆͒̈̇̚͘e̶̛̞͆͗̓͆̆̾͆̈͂̕̕͠͝
"What? What is it Melody." Captain Q'ari looked over at me, worried. A trickle of blood was running from my nose. Ugh, my head. I sure hope this got easier.
"N-not the top one. That's where the warning to stay away came from. The bottom energy source is the traction field. but there are... people? down there too. If we target it, survivors will die."
Captain Q'ari nodded. "Weapons stand down. We're going to brute force our way out." She looked around the room, her eyes scanning, calculating. "Juke charges then." She touched a panel on her seat, and there was a trill from the speakers warning people of an announcement. "All hands, prepare for shock."
The small explosives designed to slide a starship out of the way of a missile - with the force of the explosive's blast - at the last moment were called juke charges, because the ship would juke, or feint, out of the way while not overly changing the direction of travel. When we're not going fast, they could be used to change our orientation as well. The little charge popped out and then explodes, and the pressure wave pushed on the ship's hull, moving us. I'm told when we first showed them to the K'laxi they thought we were clearly mentally ill. They're used to it now, but tellingly they have not adopted the technology.
With their telltale double thump, the charges fired out of the port side rear and starboard side front. Our seats shudder from the impact. Slowly, much slower than normal, we began to move.
"Again!" Captain Q'ari shouted.
Again the double thump. Now, we were sliding perpendicular to the Starbase.
"Again!"
Double thump. We're almost turned around.
"Again."
Another double thump. Now we're sliding rear first towards the Starbase, but we're facing the Warp Gate.
"Far Reach." Captain Q'ari took a breath. "I Authorize War Emergency Power for the duration of the emergency, and should I become incapacitated, I authorize you to complete the mission, save the crew and protect yourself in that order."
"Aye Captain. War Emergency Power authorized. Fuses and Limiters removed."
As soon as Far Reach was finished speaking I felt it. The reactors spun faster and faster, their power output far above their normal operation. Their ever present low thrumming of the reactors became a teeth rattling whine. For short periods of time, the reactors on a single Starjumper could power multiple Starbases completely, or fire their main batteries without pause, or link multiple times in a system.
At least until they overloaded and detonated.
"Fire Stardrive. Two gee thrust." Captain Q'ari said through gritted teeth. "We are not going to be pulled into that Starbase."
Given the seriousness of our situation, Far Reach sounded just as calm as the rest of us. We've all been trained, and they've been alive for a thousand years. Doing the job under pressure was the goal. "Aye Captain. Two gees." A low, long alarm sounded all over the ship.
"Brace for thrust. Brace for thrust. Two gees. Thrust orientation relative to rear wall. Brace for thrust." Huh, that was an automated call, it wasn't in Far Reach's voice. I wonder how old that warning is.
I've never seen it when out in space, but I'm told the firing of the old Stardrives was a very impressive thing. The flame from the drives was a searing pure white and at high thrusts had tendrils of black at the edges. Before the wormhole generators were developed, they were used to thrust a Starjumper up to around half the speed of light, and they'd coast between stars until it was time to flip over and brake and reach another planet,
See? They'd 'jump' between the stars. I grinned when I learned the origin of their name.
From up on the Command Deck it was still impressive. My seat was such that when the Stardrive fired, I was pushed back into my seat like I was in a vehicle that was accelerating really fast, or like I was being launched from planetside to orbit. Two gee is uncomfortable, but not unbearable. I've heard of Starjumpers thrusting at 10 gees or higher when they don't have a biological crew; that would kill me in not too much time at all.
Through the loud rumbling and vibration Kieran shouted "It's working, though it's very slow. We are moving forward."
Captain Q'ari nodded. "Mullen. Ping the Gate. I want no delays to our escape."
"Aye Captain." We were still a little far from the gate normally, but what here is normal? I dialed the power on the message laser up nearly to max and pinged the Gate. I have to admit, when it accepted my ping and started to glow blue, I was relieved. "Address has been accepted. Gate is active. We may traverse." I said.
Q'ari nodded. "Helm. Traverse while under Stardrive power."
"Captain..." Far Reach interrupted. "That is not recommended. The Stardrive flame is very damaging. If we traverse while my flame is lit, I could damage the Warp Gate. We don't know what happened here or who did this but I don't think we should destroy any means of coming back here... or means for anyone here to escape."
"Thank you Far Reach. Helm, belay that last order. Fire the Stardrive until we are almost at the Gate, then cut the flame and we'll coast though... ideally.
"Aye Captain. Cutting the drive in 10 seconds...5 seconds...Drive flame cut."
All at once, the pressure and the shaking and the vibration stopped. The acceleration alarms sounded loud in the clanging absence of the Stardrive's roar.
"Helm?" Captain Q'ari looked over. "Are we still coasting?"
Kieran looked at his console. "Yes, Captain we-"
We Traversed.