He Who Dares: Book Two (The Gray Chronicals 2) (70 page)

“It will also take the strain of Gable and let him cover operations much better.”

“Yes, as shorthanded as we are, it's a lot of hats for him to wear.”

“Hopefully Wheeler can jump in and help Gable, Adam tells me he’s great with electronics and power systems.”

“Gable will probably look gloomier hearing that.”  She chuckled.

“Yes, he does have a tendency to do that.”

“I noticed that Cooper’s all right when she’s concentrating on something else, but the moment she has to talk directly to someone she freezes.”

“Yes, she is a quiet thing, isn’t she.”  Janice sighed.

“Yes, you and I will have to find a way to get her out of her shell.”

“Right.  She also has a knack of spotting things on the scope, Pete couldn’t see what she saw, so I think I’ll leave her there for a while.”

“So, I’m the weapons officer now?”

“Yes, I’ll officially change your status, as of now, but I’d like you to rotate on sensors with her.”

“Aye-aye, Skipper.  Do I get a pay raise.”  She smiled.

“No, and what’s so funny?”

“You always give people the benefit of the doubt, don’t you.”

“Mainly, I suppose so, why do you say that?”

“Any other Captain would have bounced Ensign Cooper down too environmental or supplies by now, and out of the way.”

“That wouldn’t be fair, she might sit in the Captain’s chair one day, given a chance, you will.”  Janice looked at him a moment to see if he was serious.

“I doubt it, Mike, I’ve made too many enemies.”

“We’ll see,” He said, looking at her and smiling, “in the mean time, give Ensign Cooper all the help you can.”

“Aye-aye, Skipper.

Passing through the last warp point they started the two week journey across the quadrant on the last leg of their trip.  More out of curiosity, Mike ordered Pete to alter course to pass close to the star to look for M Class Planets.

“Wow! I’m picking up low radio band traffic.”  Cooper yelled excitedly, causing Pete to look up at the bulkhead in despair.

“Ensign Cooper, abet, could you phrase that in more naval terms, perchance?”  Pete asked, sounding a little exasperated.

“Sir?”  Even from his position, Mike could see her ears get red.   To cover his grin he turned his seat the other way, and started a conversation with a surprised senior rating on environmental.

“So, you enjoyed your leave on Avalon?”  The man looked at him, then over at Ensign Cooper and grinned.

“Oh yes, very much, Skipper, great place for shore leave.”

“Sir, I’d like to report the existence of low frequency, short wave radio transmission coming from a nearby system.”  Cooper reported formally.

“I see, do you have any indication which planet they might be emanating from?”  Pete asked, raising one eyebrow.

“Working on it, sir.”  Cooper quickly worked out which planet the radio signal was coming from, fingers running confidently over the keyboard, nervousness gone.

“Have it, sir.”

“Sent the heading to helm.”

“Aye-aye, sir.”

“Helm, take us in system.”

“Aye, Skipper.” Cooper located the source on the fourth planet from the sun, and Conner took the Nemesis on a close fly by.

The species were humanoid, in the early stages of industrial development by the amount of radio emissions.  Mike ordered a scout torpedo for a close flyby as a record for the Admiralty.  This would put the planet off limits. It was only a small diversion, but it did help to break the monotony for a while.  He had the video from the scout torpedo broadcast through the ship, and that set off a dozen heated discussion about the implication of what they’d seen.  Later that day there was a knock at his cabin door, and after he called ‘enter’ Ensign Cooper walked in.

“Sir.”

“Yes?”

“Well, sir, it's about that planet we just passed.”

“What about it.”

“Oh, nothing really, sir, just something I picked up as we were leaving the system.” She stopped again.  It was like pulling teeth, one at the time.

“Cooper, can I call you, Grace?”

“Oh… um… yes sir.”  She didn’t sound too sure about it.

“I’ve noticed that you are very, very good with the sensor equipment, especially picking up the ghost in our drive wake.”

“Thank you for saying so, sir.”

“The point it, when you are working, you are sure of yourself, confident and assertive.”

“Well, sir, I feel more comfortable with um… equipment than people, sir.”

“That’s what I mean, yet the moment you start talking to someone you turn into a bowl of jelly.”  He smiled, trying to make her see the funny side.  “I’m not very comfortable around certain people myself.”

“You, sir?”  She asked, looking surprised.

“Yes, some people, like Mr. Standish, or Leftenant Fletcher is people’s people, and comfortable in any situation.  Lucky for me, a Captain is supposed to be a little aloof.”

“You seem perfectly at ease with people here, sir.”

“That's because I know them, it’s strangers that get me nervous.”

“I know what you mean, sir.”

“So, that’s the key, get to know the people around you, especially people close to you and relax more. You’ll see.”

“Thank you, sir, that makes me feel a little better.”

“Good, so, tell me what you saw, or think you saw as we left the system?”  He asked it in a soft friendly voice, as if having a conversation.

“Well, sir, as we reached the edge, I could have sworn I picked up high frequency radio traffic.”

“Explain.”

“You know that all radio signals spread out across the universe, like if you go out far enough, you can pick up the first radio messages every send out from Earth.”

“OK, I follow you so far.”

“Well, sir, this was an old message, buried in the background of inter-stellar noise, but it was definitely high frequency, I’d say at the upper end of the FM band.”

“Could you make out what it said?”

“No, sir, it’s in code, that was clear, but who, or what it said I couldn’t make out.”

“And your conclusion?”

“It was definitely a ground based originating signal, but with the level of technology we saw on the planet, it wouldn’t be impossible for the species inhabiting it to send.”  Mike sat up slightly, his brow pulling together.

“Are you saying that someone with our level of radio technology is on that planet?”

“Um, yes, sir, I suppose that’s what I am saying.”

“I hope you logged it in and recorded it.”

“Yes, sir, I recorded it, but I haven’t logged it.  I wanted to talk to you first before I reported it.”  She looked nervous, as if suspecting she’d broken the chain of command.

“I can see why you came to me, and I appreciate it.”

“Thank you, sir.”

“But, I want you to go back to the Bridge and report this to the OX.  Tell him you reviewed the recording while on break and thought you should report it directly to him.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Do not say anything about coming to me first, is that clear?”

“Yes, sir.”  She smiled, understanding what he was asking her to do.  Pete might take it wrong if she said she’d gone to the Captain with this, instead of coming to him first, as the chain of command required.

The odd radio message needed investigating, but he had his orders.  They were his primary concern at the moment.  Yet, he wondered if the Admiralty had the resources to send out a scout ship to investigate under the present circumstances.  He doubted it.  On the surface, it looked as if someone had put down on that planet, the question was, who and why?  At length they reached another WP and sent a probe through.  Reviewing the record from one of the probes, Cooper indicated she’d spotted the spectral signature of a binary star system in the background that came close to the one recorded by Enright.  Just to be sure, Mike ordered another probe through for an extended scan this time.

“Launch and hold it a thousand yards off the bow, then activate its program.”

“Aye-aye, sir, launching torpedo.” Pete Standish answered.  A moment later the torpedo came into view on the screen, moving ahead of them, then coming to a stop.

“On a short count of five, sir, five -four - three -two -one.” 

Blue white energy surrounded the torpedo for a moment and vanished the moment the torp made the transfer.  Now it was just a question of waiting for it to return.  The first one had taken six days to go there and back, making it a short jump, but only one hour in systems.  Seven days later, Gable sent out a warning that the torp was about to return.  The data indicated that the torpedo had taken a circular course around the warp point before returning, that way they received a panoramic view of the star field on the other side.

“I’ve got it!”  Cooper yelled.  “There’s definitely a binary star system near the Class III Giant on the other side of the warp point.”  She turned, smiling in glee, seeing everyone else on the Bridge chucking to themselves.  Then she blushed bright red.

“Mayhap, there was a, sir, in there somewhere Cooper, but I guess I must have missed it in all the excitement.” Pete shook his head in mock despair.

“Yes, sir, there was, or I think there was.”  Then she laughed as well, seeing the Pete Standish was poking gentle fun at her.

“I definitely heard a sir, in there Mr. Standish.” Janice put in.

“And so did I.” Gable added, grinning at Pete.

“You lot are no help at all in maintaining a modicum of naval discipline on this ship.”  His steely glare rolled of the Bridge staff like water off a ducks back.  “What’s the poor girl going to do if she’s posted to a real ship of the line, Huh, tell me that?”

“Oh, I don’t know, OX.  Maybe some of your outstanding leadership qualities will have rubbed off on her by that time.”  Pete looked over his shoulder at Mike for help, seeing Mike raised an eyebrow in query.

“Why are you looking at me. It’s not as if it’s my fault. I definitely heard a sir in there somewhere.”

“Well then, I definitely need to go see the med tech and have my ears checked.”

“Oh, waxy build up, Pete?”

“Something like that, Skipper.” He sighed.

“Let’s make the jump and have a good long look before we go any further.”

“Aye-aye, Skipper.  Setting up for the jump.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR:

Just as Cooper reported, the spectral lines of the distant binary star system came very close to the one Enright recorded.  Now came the risky part, working out a jump that would take them there without getting the shipped ripped apart in the gravity flux between the stars.  There was little else in the system of interest apart for a large asteroid belt some twenty-five AU from the star.  Reaching the Class III giant star they set up an orbit five AU outside the coronalsphere and started launching probes.  Most came back within a few days, or weeks with nothing to show.  Two never returned.  There were only two reasons for that.  One, the distance to the next star system on their programmed entry point, or two, the probe had dropped out too close to the star.