Ivan Kal - Out of the Ashes

Hearing that Johanna relaxed. “Can it see us?”

“I doubt it, from what we can see, it uses only visual scanning equipment, and a primitive one at that. It won’t be able to watch everything around it. Although it will probably see us when we turn our backs to it.”

“Good, keep an eye on it.” Johanna said.

“I am detecting a heat increase in the engine 3.” The synthesized voice of the Computer said.

Quvor immediately sat up in his chair, it has been four days since the anomaly. And his scanning of the area of its origin gave no results.

“What? What is the cause?” Quvor asked alarmed.

“Unknown.”

“Run a full diagnostics.” Quvor said. He reached over to his computer and looked at the gauges. An alarm started flashing on his screen. The engines were steadily gaining heat, the cooling mechanism seemed to have failed.

“This makes no sense.” Quvor said to himself, looking at the diagnostics it seemed like everything was in order. But now with the engines overheating, it looked like that grain of dust did more damage than he initially thought.

“Computer deploy secondary cooling package.” Quvor said. Doing so would deplete his reserves, but he had no choice. He hoped that would give him time to figure out what was happening. “And start sending everything back to command.” The command was minutes away by laser comms, but it was still only him out here.

Quvor looked as the engine heat started to drop, soon they were again in the acceptable range..

With the danger delayed Quvor sighed in relief. But he still didn’t know what was wrong, the diagnostics still read as if everything was alright.

Johanna heard a ping in her imp and immediately woke up. “Yes?” She asked over the implant link.

“ I am sorry to wake you Johanna. But there has been a development. ” Andros said.

“What is it?” Johanna asked, getting up and dressed.

“Well, it’s about the ship we’ve been keeping an eye on.” Andros said.

“Did it see us?” Johanna asked.

“No, it’s just that we are close enough to scan it in more detail. And I think that you should come and see this.” Andros said.

Johanna finished dressing, “I’m on my way.” She said and closed the link.

A minute later she was sitting in her command chair looking at the hologram of the ship. It was a jumble of parts, big tanks and small modules attached to a big rear end. Although it was just barely half the size of an Olympus light cruiser.

“So, what was it you wanted to tell me.” Johanna asked.

Andros nodded to the Adjutant standing close. Johanna recognized her as the Sensor Handler from the third watch.

“I have been keeping an eye on the alien ship, and as we got a more detailed scan I noticed a few things.” She took a breath and then pointed to the side of the hologram to one of the ship’s tanks. “The ship appears to have suffered some damage, most likely it hit some debris that punctured a hole in one of its air tanks. The damage was repaired, but it looks like the repairs aren’t holding properly. The tank is leaking air very slowly. And it appears as if the ship took other damage as well. Mainly to its engine cooling system. The damage is miniscule, I doubt that their sensors can even detect it. But it poses a threat to the ship, if it is not repaired soon the ship’s engine will start overheating. If the air tank doesn’t burst first.”

Johanna looked at the small ship. “You said it has air tanks. So it is manned then?”

“It is highly unlikely that it is unmanned.” Sensor Handler said.

“And you want us to do what exactly? We are not supposed to interact with them. Bad enough that they will see us as we pass through their system. Should we take the ship on board? Fix it?” Johanna asked.

“I don’t know Fleet Commander, I just thought that you should know.” Sensor Handler said.

Johanna sighed, “Is there any chance that whoever is on that ship will notice the damage and fix it?”

“If they haven’t until now, I doubt that they will figure it out in time to save themselves. They have a few days at the most.”

“Thank you Adjutant. That will be all.” Johanna said, the Sensor Handler moved back to her spot, leaving only Andros standing close to Johanna’s chair.

“What are you going to do?” Andros asked. Johanna thought about sending a message back to Sanctuary, but even with the comm relays it would take four days for the message to get there, and another four for their response. No, the decision was hers alone.

“I have no idea.” Johanna answered.

Trivax system

Quvor sat strapped into his chair panicking. He couldn’t figure out what was wrong, all the test told him that everything was fine, and yet he could still see his engines heat levels rising. The mood back on Trivax was the same, none of the geniuses back home could figure out what was wrong. Only they weren’t in his place. Quvor ran a diagnostic test for the tenth time in the last couple of hours, hoping that something would change. When that test came normal as well, he realized that he would have to leave the ship and see if he can find anything from the outside. He was putting it off because it was unlikely, the ship was big, and he only had a limited air supply for his suit. It would take forever to check the ship without knowing where to look.

“Commander, scanners have detected a fast moving object.” The Computer said.

Quvor frowned, “Where and what is it?”

“The object is on an intercept course with us. I am unable to identify the object.” The Computer said.

Quvor felt a strange feeling in his gut. “Show me.” The screen in front of him changed and showed two dots, one moving extremely fast towards the other. “This is impossible. Nothing can move that fast!” Quvor exclaimed, the object would reach his position in a manner of hours. He quickly started sending all the data back to the command, and ten minutes later as they got the data, they started debating on the nature of the object. Most insisted that it must be some kind of an asteroid, but the chance of it being on a direct course with Quvor’s ship was astronomical, not to mention that it was moving faster than any asteroid ever recorded.

“Can you get me a visual?” Quvor asked.

“Yes Commander.”

A moment later a blurry image appeared on Quvor’s screen. He looked at the video feed trying to figure out what it is.

“This is out of focus.” Finally Quvor said. “Can you sharpen the image?”

“No Commander. The object is moving too fast for our sensors to adjust.”

Quvor shivered, whatever was on his screen wasn’t an asteroid. He shut the video feed off, the only thing looking at a blurry image did, was enhance his fear. He felt hopeless, he couldn’t do anything but wait. The command back home felt the same way, but they weren’t here with him. Quvor watched as the dot that represented the unidentified object drew closer. And then some time later he felt his two hearts stop for a moment as he heard the Computer telling him that the object started slowing down.

Quvor couldn’t believe this was happening to him. First the incident with the air tank, then the trouble with the engines, and now this. Hundreds of scenarios passed through his head as the dot moved closer and closer. Most involved him being taken prisoner and experimented on. He didn’t voice his fears out loud, lest he call them to become reality. He wondered what the control back on Trivax thought. They could see everything that he could, albeit a few minutes later. The Computer told him when the object slowed and came close enough for his sensors to give him a viewable image, but he didn’t want to see it. He was afraid. Then the dot moved closer and closer, and it finally stopped just besides his dot. For a few moments he just stared at it, not moving at all. And then he gathered his courage and unclasped his straps. He pushed off the chair and moved to a window on the side of his bridge.