Virus

Gudersnipe

“Theirs lots of time like the present.”

The Saratoga plodded lazily through space at roughly ninety times the speed of light. Her engines purred like contented kittens with the slow pace through the sea of stars, it felt good to take it easy every once in a while.

Hunter sat cross-legged in his chair listening to the engines hum. The modern line of Sequoia Class Light Destroyers had engines that were silent, and inertial dampeners which were beyond top tier. Sitting on the bridge of one of those ships at twice the speed the Saratoga was at, one wouldn’t even be able to tell the ship was moving.

But ships like that had no soul. There was a certain satisfaction Hunter felt at being able to tell how fast his ship was moving just by the vibration of the deck plates. The bones of this starship had so much life within them, and not just the life of the crew.

The very same crew which was now steadily going stir crazy. The Saratoga had left port sixteen months ago carrying a full combat kit, which meant full crew and a great deal of supplies that seemed to take up every possible inch of free space. Originally designed as a fleet ship, the Saratoga had not been fit with any recreational facilities, or even much extra space. The basics, that was the Standard Equipment List. No luxuries on a light destroyer, those were all on the capitol ships. But with her conversion to what was loosely called a long-range scout ship, the crew had been forced to make due.

The difficulty lay in the fact that there simply wasn’t space. The ship was small and streamlined, and after the labs, extra weapons, and all the other systems had been retrofit in, she didn’t have space for things like holo-decks and recreation area’s.

So they’d made room.

Enough said.

After a battle in which barely a shot was fired the Saratoga had been ordered on a succession of missions which had carried her further and further from regional tactical command. Now it was time for the cramped little ship to report in, and home base was a nearly six-month journey at maximum speed.

Despite her merry hum, the Saratoga’s engines needed to be overhauled; not desperately yet, it was a minor need. But minor need was still need, and she wouldn’t have been able to stand six long months at maximum FTL.

Fortunately, there was another tactical command less than a week away at shakedown speed. That was just how far they’d traveled, but this new base was on the other side of a very large uninhabited region of space called the Sea of Matu.

With no immediate danger and the crew already on edge, their superiors had ordered the ship to take it easy on its way in.

Hunter, who had been under a great deal of stress over the past sixteen months, was quite content to relax and watch the stars. He liked the quite in the deep of space, the knowledge that the nearest solid thing was further away than you could reach in a lifetime at conventional speeds. It was calming, almost healing, for him to relax and feel his ship hum.

The crew on the other hand was practically desperate to get off the small vessel.

“Hey, Hunter,” Cloud’s voice crackled over the COM link. “You know, the engines still have a little life left in them…”

“That’s good to hear,” Hunter smiled. “Maintain present course and speed.”

“Jerk,” Cloud grunted under his breath.

“What was that?” Hunter raised an eyebrow suspiciously.

“Following orders sir!” Cloud barked and closed the COM link.

“Hey Hunter,” J’nall turned away from her consol to face the captain. “I know we’re ‘taking it easy’, but could we stand to go a little faster?”

“What’s the rush?” Hunter blinked. “We’ll be there in five or six days.”

“We could be there in just under three, but as long as we’re not hurrying,” J’nall said. “The long range sensors have picked up a planet along or planned course, it’s on the charts but theirs no data listed for it. This region of space is largely unexplored; could be worth taking a peek.”

“What do the long range sensors say about it?” Hunter asked curiously.

“The scans indicate large amounts of oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, and liquid water present on the surface,” J’nall said. “But no detectable life readings.”

“Now that is odd,” Hunter scratched his chin. “Where theirs water theirs life, and those look like prime conditions. Plot a course.”

* * *

The Saratoga dropped out of FTL with a brilliant flash of golden light. Hunter had his feet firmly on the floor so he could feel the ever so slight shudder of the deck plates as they returned to normal space and reasonable velocities.

Ships similar to the Saratoga’s design used a system of loose interlocking bulkheads that allowed the ships to bend in response to force, thus allowing lighter weight materials to handle greater stresses.

A lot of engineers had abandoned this design in more recent ships, but Hunter was still a fan of it. It was better to bend than be rigid, like water.

The ship eased into a high orbit as her sensors began to sweep the surface.

“This is interesting,” J’nall said as she looked at the raw data streaming in to her console. “There doesn’t appear to be any animal or plant life anywhere on the surface, in fact there is no eco system whatsoever. There is something though—might just be feedback from the sensors—not, it’s something.”

“The planets green,” Hunter observed as he starred intently at the viewer. “In fact it’s VERY green.”

J’nall looked up at the view screen and blinked.

“The surface strata is composed of a variety of compounds, but nothing that could cause that kind of color,” she said. “Furthermore, the sensors can’t explain the high amount of oxygen in the air.”

“Certain types of stones release oxygen as they break down,” Hunter said cautiously. “Sometimes even enough for a breathable atmosphere on planets that would otherwise not support life.”

“Breathable yes,” J’nall nodded. “But keep in mind that only means about three percent oxygen, this planets toting nearly forty-five. What’s more, you only find planets devoid of life when they’re also devoid of liquid water, two thirds of this planet’s surface is covered in water; by all rights it should be teaming with like. This is definitely weird.”

“I agree,” Hunter said and leaned back in his chair. “This warrants an investigation, send an away team down.”

Robin was acting as first officer while Jason worked on some project in the medical bay; she took a moment to bring up the duty roster on her console before speaking.

“We have two teams on standby,” she said. “Or would you rather put together a team?”

“Nah, I’ll stay up here,” Hunter replied and folded his hands behind his head. “Who’s on standby?”

“Christine and Jeren’s teams,” Robin said.

“Jeren got the last away mission,” Hunter shrugged. “Send Christine’s team for a preliminary check, if they find—well if they find anything interesting, which I bet they will, send Jeren’s team to back them up. And then if it’s safe whoever else feels like stretching their legs.”

“Yes sir,” Robin nodded as she punched up the COM.

* * *