Chapter 1, part 3
Lieutenant Francois Litteauer was at first annoyed about his new orders since their current sojourn into the system had already lasted more than 14 hours, 5 of which were in EVA, examining that destroyed space station. His mood however changed when the Captain explained the situation.
Debris that was still warm meant that it was recent and that meant that it would certainly come from either a Loroi or Umiak vessel. Even a basic alloy sample would offer amazing insights into the technology of races that were space faring and FTL capable for thousands of years. Examining up close a debris field that could be all that remained of a destroyed ship was something that could not be ignored, even if the surviving pieces were too small to draw some initial attention to them, since even such small pieces could shed some light into the technology of these two superpowers.
Now, as he floated amidst the debris field he was both delighted for the opportunity and resigned as everything that floated around him looked like some short of green painted armor. What he wouldn’t give for even a small fragment of circuitry but at least he got the alloy samples he wanted while the rest of his five man team checked the various bits and pieces that drifted around.
“What do you think Lieutenant?” Captain Asteios’s voice surprised him. Remembering that the
Matveyev was still a little distant he accounted for the time lag during their conversation.
“Sir, beyond the various alloy samples we have already taken there is nothing of worth here.” He waited for a few seconds for the reply to come.
“What do you think happened there?”
“Sir, I believe that this is not the result of a battle. We would see a larger and far more varied amount of debris if that was the case, we also haven’t seen anything that looks like weapons scorch marks on anything that we have examined.” He picked up the datapad he had tied to his waist and sent a message to
Matveyev. “With some quick calculations taking into account the orientation and speed of the debris, I think that it came from this asteroid at the edge of the asteroid field. It could be that a ship collided with it and bits of its armor ended up drifting away from the asteroid due to its low gravity.” Once again he waited for a few seconds for the reply to come.
“I want you and your team to go have a look at that asteroid, Lieutenant.” The Captain ordered.
“Yes, Sir.”
No one bothered to take off their space suit once they got back into the shuttle, everyone knowing that they would probably have to do another EVA walk if they found something on that asteroid. The lieutenant just sat at the co-pilots seat, next to 2nd Lieutenant Altti Viranko who piloted the shuttle.
“I don’t see anything on the asteroid from where we are.” Viranko commented.
“If my calculations are correct the impact site should be at the other side of the asteroid.” Lieutenant Litteauer replied.
“Ah yes, I forgot that asteroids rotate the same way as planets. Do we have any idea for how long that debris has been adrift?”
“8 days, give or take.”
“8 days? If there is something worth finding we will find it, not enough time for someone else to come and loot anything of worth.” Viranko commented.
“I hope so.” Lieutenant Litteuer replied wishfully.
Flying towards and around the asteroid in order to reach the estimated impact site took them only a couple of minutes and what they found was underwhelming.
“That doesn’t look like the impact site of a ship.” Viranko commented as they both looked to what looked like a grazed off hilltop.
“More like someone got too close and grazed their ship on the asteroid.” Lieutenant Litteauer agreed.
“Only an idiot would go that close to an asteroid on a whim so…” Viranko said outloud.
“They were either hiding or running from something.”
“If they were hiding and hit the asteroid by accident then their pilot is an idiot for going that close but if they were running from something and tried to use the asteroid as cover from someone who was too close then it would make sense to go as close as possible and use the shape of the asteroid as cover.” Virankov commented.
“If that’s the case they had only one alternative to escape.”
“The asteroid field.” Viranko nodded while both of them looked at the dense asteroid field just a couple of dozen kilometers away from them.
Lieutenant Litteauer then opened a channel to
Matveyev and waited for a reply.
“What is it lieutenant? You found something?” The Captain asked.
“Almost nothing sir, only what looks like evidence of a ship grazing the asteroid.” The lieutenant replied while sending an image of what they were seeing.
“What do you think?”
“Both 2nd Lieutenant Viranko and I believe that whoever did this was running from something.”
“And if they were running they would go someplace to hide as well.” Viranko commented.
“The asteroid field.” Captain Asteios replied after some thought.
“Yes sir, we are requesting permission to enter the field to investigate such a possibility.” Virankov replied.
“How much fuel do you have left?”
“A little more than a quarter of a tank sir, 5 hours.” Viranko replied.
“You have an hour to go in and investigate but be advised that the electromagnetic interference from the asteroids may disrupt your systems and you may lose contact with Matveyev. If that happens you may proceed on your own but under no circumstances you are to endanger yourselves or the shuttle.”
“Yes, Sir.” Viranko acknowledged and the Captain cut off the connection.
“He seems on edge.” Viranko commented.
“He doesn’t want to return to Earth without coming in contact with someone.” Lieutenant Litteauer replied.
“No one thought that we would find something important enough that we will have to return it to Earth but now…”
“Yeah, no one would like it if that happened but we all know what’s at stake.”
Entering the asteroid field took them only 5 minutes, 10 minutes later they completely lost contact with
Matveyev due to the interference and it took them 25 more minutes of fruitless search before running into what they were looking for.
“What in the devil’s name happened here?” Lieutenant Litteauer said out loud as he tried to take in what they were looking at.
“Looks like they found each other but I don’t think that we will find anything that will make us go back to Earth.” Viranko replied.
The signs from battle in front of them were clear as day. Clouds of hot and glistening metal filled the sizable opening between 4 large asteroids in front of the shuttle. The asteroid themselves sporting numerous craters from stray shots; one of them missing a sizable chunk as well.
“Antimatter explosion, big one if it managed to disintegrate that much.” Lieutenant Litteauer commented.
“According to the Orgus both the Loroi and the Umiak have anti matter reactors.”
“Antimatter missiles as well but I don’t want to imagine a missile that can do that much damage.” Lieutenant Litteauer replied.
“A ship’s reactor going critical then?”
“Looks like and antimatter explosions don’t leave a lot of salvage.” Lieutenant Litteauer agreed.
“We still have twenty minutes, let’s see if we can find anything.” Viranko commented.
Twenty minutes passed fruitlessly with only small pieces of charred metal to be found on the two asteroid they circled around. When time was up both 2nd Lieutenant Viranko and Lieutenant Litteauer agreed to at least circle the other two asteroids once before going back to
Matveyev. When they were about to finish circling the third asteroid Lieutenant Litteauer saw something and pointed at it.
“Let’s have a look at that canyon before flying around the last asteroid.”
“It looks deep and I doubt that any debris got down there.” Viranko replied.
“We don’t have to go at its bottom, just fly us over it.” The Lieutenant insisted.
“Fine.”
“It looks like you were right…” Lieutenant Litteauer said after a minute.
“Told you…” Something then drew Viranko’s attention. “Wait what’s that?”
“It looks like something big grazed that side of the canyon with a downward…There!” Lieutenant Litteauer cried out in triumph when he saw what was at the bottom of the canyon, partially hidden in a large crevice.
“How the hell did they manage to get it in there?” Viranko asked.
“Desperation, dumb luck, who knows. All I know is that we have to go back to
Matveyev to report this.”
Chapter 2, Part 1:
http://www.well-of-souls.com/forums/vie ... 392#p18392