The Venerable Nebraska hung silently in the void of space. On the bridge, crew went about their assigned tasks with a sense of nervous anticipation. Elsewhere on the ship, personnel sat on their bunks or huddled around tables, listening to the open intercom. Captain Tsekai gazed out the bridge viewport at the tiny speck nearly a mile away.
A voice crackled over the speakers,“Sprite to command, distance to closure is five-hundred meters. Adjusting attitude by negative oh-point five degrees.”
“Understood Sprite, continue on your current vector.” The Communications officer glanced briefly at the captain, who ignored him. This was understandable, since all eyes on the bridge were currently watching the progress of the Hummingbird-class transport, Sprite. To be fair, the transport was probably secondary in the minds of the crew; most of them were more interested in the mile-long rock the tiny vessel was heading towards.
“Sprite, this is Reconnaissance. Sensor sweeps confirm the target is some sort of portal or hatch. It is SDA, repeat, confirm SDA.” SDA: Standard Design, Ancient. A hush swept over the bridge, of reverence instead of anticipation this time. Captain Tsekai heard someone behind him whisper ‘Ancients be praised!’ and clenched his jaw in annoyance. The Ancients, or more appropriately the Star Confederation, had apparently ruled the Helios star system millennia ago. They inexplicably disappeared centuries before the refugees from Earth landed on Eos. It was true, they possessed advanced technology; some even whispered that the Star Confederation created humans. Tsekai thought this to be rubbish, and considered the almost religious view of the Ancients held by many to be foolish. Reprimands could come later; he had to focus on the current mission: discover what the purpose of the obviously Ancient installation was and take control of it.
“This is Sprite. Docking with the target in 5…4…3…2…” Silence.
“Command, uh, we’ve successfully docked.” A cheer went up, not only on the bridge, but across the ship. After their long journey, finding and docking with the Ancient facility was a huge step.
Tsekai stood abruptly, animated for the first time since the Sprite disembarked several hours past. He was finally in a position to exert some control over the situation; he could finally do something. “Engineering, I want full telemetry data on the environment on the other side of that hatch. Recon, continue scanning the anomaly; we didn’t see any weapons on the way in but I won’t take any chances. Sprite, what is your tactical situation?” The captain rested his hands on his hips; he was in his element now.
“Command, Sprite. We are five-by-five sir. Tactical team is ready for entry, on your command.”
“Sir,” the Chief Engineering Officer approached the command chair as the captain turned expectantly, “we show breathable environment beyond the hatch. The air will probably be a little stale, but there are no detectable toxins. We’ve also detected some sort of gravimetric field, meaning they won’t need to worry about zero-G. I’ve seen this before with other Star Confederation technology.” He grinned self-assuredly.
“Thank you Mr. Sullivan. Sprite, this is command. You are green-light for breach.”
A voice crackled over the speakers,“Sprite to command, distance to closure is five-hundred meters. Adjusting attitude by negative oh-point five degrees.”
“Understood Sprite, continue on your current vector.” The Communications officer glanced briefly at the captain, who ignored him. This was understandable, since all eyes on the bridge were currently watching the progress of the Hummingbird-class transport, Sprite. To be fair, the transport was probably secondary in the minds of the crew; most of them were more interested in the mile-long rock the tiny vessel was heading towards.
“Sprite, this is Reconnaissance. Sensor sweeps confirm the target is some sort of portal or hatch. It is SDA, repeat, confirm SDA.” SDA: Standard Design, Ancient. A hush swept over the bridge, of reverence instead of anticipation this time. Captain Tsekai heard someone behind him whisper ‘Ancients be praised!’ and clenched his jaw in annoyance. The Ancients, or more appropriately the Star Confederation, had apparently ruled the Helios star system millennia ago. They inexplicably disappeared centuries before the refugees from Earth landed on Eos. It was true, they possessed advanced technology; some even whispered that the Star Confederation created humans. Tsekai thought this to be rubbish, and considered the almost religious view of the Ancients held by many to be foolish. Reprimands could come later; he had to focus on the current mission: discover what the purpose of the obviously Ancient installation was and take control of it.
“This is Sprite. Docking with the target in 5…4…3…2…” Silence.
“Command, uh, we’ve successfully docked.” A cheer went up, not only on the bridge, but across the ship. After their long journey, finding and docking with the Ancient facility was a huge step.
Tsekai stood abruptly, animated for the first time since the Sprite disembarked several hours past. He was finally in a position to exert some control over the situation; he could finally do something. “Engineering, I want full telemetry data on the environment on the other side of that hatch. Recon, continue scanning the anomaly; we didn’t see any weapons on the way in but I won’t take any chances. Sprite, what is your tactical situation?” The captain rested his hands on his hips; he was in his element now.
“Command, Sprite. We are five-by-five sir. Tactical team is ready for entry, on your command.”
“Sir,” the Chief Engineering Officer approached the command chair as the captain turned expectantly, “we show breathable environment beyond the hatch. The air will probably be a little stale, but there are no detectable toxins. We’ve also detected some sort of gravimetric field, meaning they won’t need to worry about zero-G. I’ve seen this before with other Star Confederation technology.” He grinned self-assuredly.
“Thank you Mr. Sullivan. Sprite, this is command. You are green-light for breach.”
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