The Icarian Legacy Collected Edition: Brave Souls - First Strike (Volume 3) (29 page)

“Yes admiral. I will relay the information’s you asked for on your terminal. All that I have will be at your disposal.”

“Thank you.”

Simonson turned and with slow steppes headed toward his office.

Anaya turned back to her duties. She still held control over all ship systems but the crew was already starting to learn about how to control the ship without her. It was going slowly but it was going good. They had time. And from the way they performed she knew that they will be ready when the day comes.

As she concentrated on the ship the ship the hologram disappeared.  In space the Argus slowly turned and headed back to Sedna while the Hidea remained stationary on a safe distance from the warp point at full alert and ready for anything.

Jennings and everybody else on the bridge looked out through their screen as the Deadalus moved through the warp point. According to the watch they were inside for almost an hour and a half. The first fifteen minutes he tried to contact both the Argus and the Hidea but as the attempts failed he realized that the warp point prevented the radio or any other way of communication. Not even the communications system on the jumper that they had instead of one of the shuttles worked. After that they continued to gather whatever information could be gathered and to look at the mazing view outside. While normal space was dark with distant starts that could be seen as tiny dots here you could see flashes of light outside. He had no idea what they were, some of the crew guessed that they must be stars or light that is moving at speeds that could not be understood or is compressed. No matter what it was it was amazing. He and everyone else wondered how far they were going to end up. And how fast were they moving. He knew that from what Anaya told them that for going back they should only enter in the warp point on the other side. According to her and to the information he got from her about the warp points they always connected between only two points of space or two star systems. That didn’t give him peace do. Until they could see it with their own eyes nothing was certain. He believed her but he still wanted the proof. In a way they were like guinea pigs. They were trying, testing something for the first time. He knew that the information they would gather would prove to be invaluable later on. And the chance to be the first human being in another solar system, to see another star that was a reward that far outweighed the risk. And everyone on his ship was thinking the same, about that he was sure.

Time passed slowly and he could see that everyone was feeling the strain. The pressure was rising. He hoped that the journey would be over soon.  At that moment they all saw the white light in front of them.

“Is there anything on the sensors? What is ahead?”

“The readings are similar as the ones we had just before we entered the point on our side. They are just more pronounced here… stronger. It seems that inside the gravities are greater than in normal space.

Jennings turned to Linda. She looked back.

“Announce to everyone that we are about to emerge. Tell them to be ready for anything.”

“Yes sir.”

A moment later he could hear her voice on the speaker as she carried out his order. All over the ship the crew started getting ready for the next phase of the mission.

When the moment came it came just as it did when they entered. It came quickly. One moment they were looking at a bright light the other they were in normal space. Jennings looked at the dark horizon filled with stars.

“Are we detecting any ship in the vicinity, anything on the radar?”

“There’s nothing sir. The radar shows nothing but empty space in the close vicinity.”

That comment from Kaminski helped Jennings relax a little. He turned toward Rivers who was in control of the sensors.

“Activate the sensors at full power and make a sweep of the system. But make it just a ping. Let’s make it hard for anyone up there if there is anyone to find us. And prepare the ship for immediate return to the warp point if we are detected.”

“Yes sir.”- came from both stations as both sensors and helm responded at the same time.

“Activating sensors now…”

The moment passed and as it did and as the information flowed the tension grew.

“There is nothing sir. No ships in system. There are no unknown objects. And no signals at all.”

The comment made everyone relax instantly. It seemed like an eternity had passed since the moment they entered till now.

“Okay then let’s see where we are. Rivers make a full sensor sweep of the system. Give me everything you can. Linda I want you to tell Antonov and Heller to check the star charts. Let’s see if we know this star.”

He unstrapped from the chair, stood up and drifted to the main window. He looked at the empty space outside and pulled a small picture out of his pocket and looked at it.

“Schedule a meeting in half an hour. I want everything ready and all information’s gathered till then.”

Linda looked at him and nodded.

“Yes captain.”

Jennings nodded back and returned his look on the small photograph in his hand. As he did that no one spoke anything to him. They all knew who it was on it. His nephew was on board the Jimmy Carter the Seawolf class submarine that became the first casualty of this war. The young man was a radar technician and he had close relationship with his uncle. They all knew how hard his death hit Jennings. No one dared to break the silence.

Not even five minutes later Antonov burst in the bridge with a smile on his face. Moments later Heller entered as well. She was smiling as well.

Linda looked at both of them and then at Kaminski. She was still looking at the information’s the sensor station was sending her so she was surprised to see them.

“Well what is it?”

“We know where we are.”

“What. How could you that soon?”

Heller smiled.

“Once we saw the information about the star about its size, density, brightness, dear it didn’t take long. It didn’t take at all actually. We have all the information in our own databanks for a long time about this one. It was one of the first stars we studied actually.”

“What do you mean? Which star is it?”

Antonov smiled at her.

“Red dwarf, class M5.5Ve with density 40 times smaller than that of our sun, seven times smaller…”

As they heard him speaking all on the bridge suddenly understood.

Linda looked at Antonov and smiled as well.

“Proxima…you mean we are at Proxima Centauri?”

“Yes. We are at our closest neighbor, at the star that we planned Long Shot to visit. I guess…mission accomplished. “

They all smiled at his last comment. The rest of the time passed quickly after that.

Jennings smiled as well. The spell was broken. His face relaxed and he put back the photograph into his pocket.

“Well that makes things easier. Now let’s see if there are any surprises.”

“What surprises?”

He turned toward Heller.

“O something small like planets maybe, or maybe something else. It’s a new system people and a system about which we all speculated for a long time. Let’s see if we can find anything and if our SF community had a right to think that there is planet in this system, or planets.”

They all smiled at his last words. The trill of the moment caught up with them and they all returned to their tasks, regularly looking at the screen that showed the information from the scans.

And as the information’s flowed in, they all if there was gravity on the ship would have jumped from surprise and joy.

“O my god.”-the comment came from Kaminski who in fact spoke what was on everyone’s minds.

“We have a planetary system. Not as large as our own but we have it all right. And remember when they thought they had a ping on a planet back in what was it 1998 I think at a distance of 0, 5 AU. They were right and close. The planet is at 0, 54.”

Jennings looked at Rivers and then at Antonov. He knew that they were all thinking the same.

“What was the habitable zone for Proxima? From 0.20 to 0.30 AU or…? Dr. Antonov?”

“It was estimated to be from 0.23 to 0.55 Astronomical units. And if that is right…”

“Then it is in the habitable zone. And she is not the only one. We have two more, one at the very edge at 0, 24 and one at 0, 45. And we also have two more far outside. And some asteroids from whose composition I guess some came from our own. The one closest is the largest one, roughly one and a half the size of Earth. And it has three moons.”

“Jesus Christ. Do you know what this could mean?”

Everyone looked at Rivers. As they discussed it more and more people started coming to the bridge. In five minutes there was no more room.

Jennings looked at the group that filled the bridge. A smile came to his face as he remembered his nephew. He instinctively touched the pocket with his picture. It was his dream. And it was his as well.

“This is for you. For you Pit…”
  As the thought passed by he returned his gaze on the gathered group.

“Alright people we have a meeting in twelve minutes. We are all excited but let’s clear this place and see what we can find out about the planets and then will discuss it. Everyone return to your posts and will see you on the briefing.”

When the group dispersed and the bridge cleared he looked at Linda. Her face showed excitement. He knew that his showed it as well. He still didn’t know if any could harbor life but six worlds in the habitable zone that was a hell of a chance. He tried to imagine the reaction at home but couldn’t. It was a dream come true in a sense and they were all aware of that fact. If only… he stopped that thought.

“Linda, see if you can calculate how long it will take us to get there. And inform our shuttle pilots that they should see if they remember how to fly our new smaller shuttle. I believe that it is faster.”

As she heard his order she smiled. And so did the rest of the people that remained on the bridge.

“Yes captain.”

“Thank you.”

He returned his gaze to the screen, but now his eyes weren’t lost in the distance. As he looked they were glowing.

A dream come true, a dream come true. If only.

That was the thought that went through his head.

Twenty minutes later they were all gathered in the briefing room. The smiles on the faces of the scientists and on everyone else showed that the findings were good.

“Well gentlemen it seems we hit a jackpot.”

“It sure does.”- As Rivers confirmed everyone smiled.

“Sergei if you can…”

“Thank you Sam.”

The Russian scientist activated the screen that showed the system with all the information’s gathered and included in the video.

The six planets were shown as they were positioned. The asteroids and comets were also shown.

“As you can see, and as we all know there are six planets in system. One small, roughly the size of our moon lies at 0, 12 AU. It has no atmosphere and from what we can tell it is a rocky world much like Mercury. That one holds no interest. As for the rest of them, the second planet lies at 0, 24 AU, it has atmosphere, and so do two of its moons. At least one we are sure holds atmosphere that humans can breathe. We need to go closer to check the composition of course. We have atmosphere on the other two planets. The one that is closest to us is the fourth planet and it lies at the outer edge of the habitable zone at 0, 54 AU. It is a cold world but it has oxygen and liquid water. How breathable it is we are not sure but the temperature is something like the Siberia and the Arctic back on Earth. It has plant life and seas of that we are certain. And we have atmosphere on the third world as well. The other two are rocky icy worlds that are outside the habitable zone one at 0, 96 AU and one at 1, 75AU. It is possible too that there are other planets further out but that remains to be seen.”

“Now as for getting closer, it would take too much time for the Deadalus alone to reach any of the worlds. At the top speed it would take several days and it will take us at least a weak to reach it. But the jumper shuttle can reach any in less than a day.”

As he said the last word they all looked at him.

Jennings looked at the Russian scientist who nodded and set down. Jennings inhaled and started speaking.

“As you all know our mission was to investigate this side of the warp point see if recognize the star and then return back and report. The fact that we are just four light years from home does not change our orders.”

“But captain…Sam think of the opportunity. The fact that we discovered a star system and the chance that it could harbor a habitable world, several in fact…That is a chance we can’t miss to explore.”

“I know Dr. Heller. And we won’t let the chance slip. We will visit each world. Just not today, or better said not all of us.”

His last words got their attention. He waited for a moment until he got their undivided attention and continued.

“As you know the shuttle we took from the Argus can move much faster than this ship. In fact it is capable of crossing the distance between this and our solar system in from what I read a day. And it has a big sub light speed as well. It can carry a crew of eight people, eight people and two pilots.”