This suit had many enhancements including its appearance. It was a sleek silver with a bright blue stripe down one side. The American flag adorned one shoulder. It was also a tighter fit and easier to maneuver in. We were told that it offered shielding that would allow us to float endlessly in the stellar winds of deep space without harm.
Aside from the built-in enhanced sensors it came with a waist-belt with three small storage compartments. One compartment was a filter, one a power pack and the third offered nutrients. A food pack and filter could sustain the average human for nearly a month before needing an exchange. The power pack would last three.
On-board we would have two dozen spares for each as well as a machine that would recycle and reload any that had been used. If the new suit and its features functioned properly we could sustain ourselves on the ship for nearly five years. All in all, it was an incredible leap forward in our ability to travel the stars.
With 32 reactors the trip to Epsilon Eridani would take just under 15 days. We would reach the fleet in two. Our mission would be a run to their home-world to gather what information we could and then back to the main fleet. We needed to know if there were more ships following the alien fleet and if so what would we next need to prepare for... if we were indeed left to prepare.
Shepard and I were then taken into private rooms where the old suits were removed. We received thorough wash-downs. It felt strange and cold to not have the warm gel of the suit flowing about my skin. As I stood in the raw in front of a mirror I took a moment to look over the new buff body the suit had given me.
Gone were the cellulite patches that had plagued me since being a teen. Gone were the blemishes and uneven tones caused by years of ultraviolet sun damage. I turned and marveled at my small waist and tight behind and then again as I flexed my now rock hard biceps and six-pack abs.
The gel also worked to dissolve body hair leaving nothing but smooth and beautiful skin. Had the suits been available to the general public the makers would have become wildly rich. I then looked up at the pale and blotchy skin on my face. It looked old and hard compared to my body. I took it as just adding a bit of character to an otherwise near perfect human specimen.
We were then moved into another room where suit handlers fitted the new suits to our bodies. When the gel once again began to flow it felt like a warm blanket being pulled over me on a cool night. I flexed my arms and jumped a few times to get a feel for its flexibility. The suit was light and hugged tightly to the frame. It offered no resistance for any bend or flex that I could put forth. Again I marveled in the mirror at its sharp appearance and natural form.
My next stop was into another room where I was asked to sit in a chair. A tech stood over me with an electronic clipboard while punching in numbers and twisting virtual dials. He then leaned in and removed my audio implant and replaced it with another that had been QE enabled.
I was told to tune it to channel 1650 for a test. The implant was attached to the nerves of the inner ear. Whatever I heard could be sent directly to our main communications hub instantly... from any distance. I had heard of the Quantum Entangled device and how it had played a role in earlier battles. This would be my first experience using one.
I was next taken to another room where several doctors were waiting. I was laid down on a table and within seconds it was lights-out. I was awakened several hours later and took note of the tiny bandage that now adorned my right temple.
I was told I now had an optical implant and whatever I saw with my right eye would be broadcast over the quantum channel along with the audio from my right ear. They were truly the devices of invasion of privacy, but where I was going, privacy would not be needed.
We were then returned to our quarters. As I lay back on my anti-grav mattress another tech standing over me with a clipboard looked me in the eye and told me he would see me in six. The sleep drugs administered quickly and I was soon in la-la land. The six hours of rest would be over soon enough.
As the stimulants pulsed through my bloodstream I was fully awake in seconds. The new Bio-Gel Sustenance suit (it was officially named the BGS) was much more comfortable with thinner layering and a tighter fit. When I walked into the hallway towards the elevators the other workers stopped and stared. It had been months since I had that feeling of being an attractive woman. It felt good to be back.
I met Shepard at the elevator and we made our way topside. Our new ship, even though it had the same inner frame, was named the Ghost series. With a slightly thicker skin and a more powerful magnetic field applied, it would disappear when activated without the customary rippling effect the Defender series had when looking through it.
The sensors had also been redesigned and repositioned to offer a stealthy approach when the BHD drives were off and the sensors still active. In the Defenders the sensors had to be off to allow the active skin to shield us from detection. I was eager to give our Ghost a try.
After a final short brief on our mission I joined Shepard in the cockpit for a systems check. Ten minutes passed before the pale blue of the sky turned quickly into the blackness of space. I pushed the throttle full and watched in awe as the ship rapidly accelerated away from Earth.
In two hours we passed through the heliosphere on our way out to the alien fleet. With our new power-plants, the trip out to our enemy took only two days while reaching a speed of nearly 500 times light-speed. The thought of traveling 500 SOL made me smile.
As we approached the distance of the alien fleet we took a wide berth while leaving the sensors on full to collect data. From the perspective we had we could see that the fleet was still intact. On an earlier mission a prior crew had attempted to launch a set of Drillers at the fleet with the hopes of doing damage. If any damage had been done from that attack it was not visible from our view.
We continued to accelerate before reaching our maximum safe speed of 2412 SOL. At that speed striking a rock the size of a softball would instantly end our voyage. The ship had the ability to continue to accelerate but our sensors would not be able to steer clear of smaller obstacles with any degree of safety. I was quite happy with our two week voyage time.
With our belt-line nutri-packs and filters we were no longer tethered to the chairs. In the cockpit of the Ghost it really didn't matter as there was no free room to get up and move around. It was just two weeks sitting in the same position.
I tweaked my BGS to set it to the highest level of stimulation available. I planned on being muscle bound upon our return to Earth. I also felt it would not hurt to be as physically fit as possible in case there was some need to go extra-vehicular. The new BGS was fully capable of protecting us if a spacewalk was necessary.
The suit utilized a new Sodium skin that would automatically activate to protect us from radiation sources such as the charged particles of the stellar winds. The activation level of the skin on the BGS was very low as it needed to consume little power if our power packs were to last any length of time.
Shepard was a wiz with the on-board computer and after the first day she had a ghost operating system running with everything in simulation. She had four scenarios from our training session available to occupy our time. I spent hours upon hours learning the ins and outs of operating the weapons, defenses and systems.
Spare moments were spent perusing the ship’s manuals and familiarizing myself with every square inch of that which surrounded me. Shepard used her time in a similar fashion. I was still amazed at how our technology allowed us to go for months without eating or using a restroom.
It made me think about every science-fiction book and movie that I had ever read or seen and how no story that I could remember had ever made mention of a toilet on a ship. And, I was especially grateful for the diminished effects of my monthly womanly issues due to the nutri-packs and the BGS.
As we decelerated towards Epsilon Eridani we got our first glimpse of the orange sun and the tiny speck of a world in its habitable zone. The planet was a pale blue like earth only slightly smaller. There were also two larger gas planets orbiting closer to the star and two large asteroid fields farther out.
We dropped below light speed and turned off the BHD when we reached five light hours distance. The spectrograph from the sensors told of a planet much like our own, liquid water, oxygen, nitrogen and a solid core. As we closed in we could make out pink clouds in the atmosphere and temperatures that only differed by a few degrees from earth.
The poles shown white with ice caps while the rest of the planet was covered with deep blue oceans. We had been gawking for several minutes at its beauty before the warble sound of channel 1650 rang in my ear. I enabled the QE channel and was immediately greeted by a voice from 10.5 light years away. Man had now truly ventured to another world.
The wide channel of the QE communications allowed data from all sensors to stream home live as well as the rapid uploading of archived data from passing the fleet. The command center at home was strangely quiet as everyone let out nothing more than oohs and aahs.
Commander Bennett came on and asked that we circle the planet once in search of more aliens and then make the return trip to the fleet. I first made a request that the planet be named Alvin after my Grandfather. The Commander took note and said he would pass that along.
I enabled one BHD ring, punched a few numbers into the nav computer and then sat back in my chair while taking in the sights of a new alien world. Our ship would steer to a course that would place us in a single orbit around the planet before the BHD shut down.
We would then circle in silence and a brief burst of the BHD would again break us free. Once at a safe distance I would again push the throttle to full for our journey back to the fleet. As we drifted I took note that Alvin was slightly smaller than Earth with a diameter of about 9,000 kilometers as compared to Earth’s 12,740.
As we approached I observed the two small yellow-brown moons in orbit around Alvin. The computer showed them to be high in Fluorine and Sodium. I was at first deceived by what looked to be green continents on the surface of Alvin only to discover they were the reflections of the yellow-brown moons above, on the blue waters below.
The twin moons were about 800 kilometers in diameter and were pockmarked with hundreds of large craters. I named them Beta and Gamma after the two long haired Dachshunds I had when a child, they also had a yellow-brown appearance.
As I continued observation of Alvin and the parameters the computer displayed on my holo-screen, I noticed that there was one element that the Earth had that Alvin was lacking... Sodium. The planet the aliens had come from was almost devoid of Sodium.
The team at home quickly came to a conclusion as to why the aliens were so interested in our planet, Alvin was missing a crucial element. As we circled closer to the planet's atmosphere our sensors picked up two surface structures. They were approximately 20 kilometers in diameter and were each circled by a thin structural ring about 100 kilometers out from the center.
The dark gray surface of the structures was much like that of the alien fighters. At that moment I couldn't help but stop the ship with a short burst from the BHD. I got no argument from Command as they too were deeply interested in our discoveries.
Were these alien bases? With no land in sight were the alien’s water creatures? Was their only purpose of visiting our planet to rape it of its Sodium as they had apparently done to their own? Were they desperate as a civilization because their fuel source was running out and their planet potentially ruined?
The questions came quickly and David Brenner and the other scientists at home pored over the data in search of answers. The two structures were radiating a low level signal similar to the signals the aliens had used for communications, signals that we were still unable to decipher.
I did a deep scan of the surrounding waters and noticed the salinity inside the ringed areas contained levels of Sodium about half that of Earth. The remaining oceans were fresh water. Was this the last of their Sodium? Was it the reason they seemed so desperate? And, what of their civilization? Where were their people?
Again the questions came fast and furious. With another micro-burst from a BHD I turned the ship on its tail and started us slowly into the atmosphere. Shepard was getting nervous and asked what I was planning. I told her we were going right down to the surface unless Command gave orders to stop. The orders never came.
We reached a kilometer above the surface and the northernmost structure. Our sensors picked up a large number of animals within the alien barriers. They appeared to be squid-like creatures. We then moved out about 200 kilometers north of the northernmost underwater structure. I checked the atmosphere and the holo-screen told me it was stable and breathable with an oxygen level of 23%.
The CO2 was almost double that on Earth, but was still at a level that was safe. Alvin would likely be a habitable planet. I did a quick check of surface temperatures finding 31 degrees Celsius on the side facing the sun and 27 degrees Celsius in the darkness. I wondered what it might be like to go for a daytime swim in Alvin's warm waters.
I next launched a Driller with direction to go deep into the ocean waters. Everyone at home watched intently as the Driller slowly descended into the deep blue. As the Driller reached the surface we got our first close look at alien life forms. They were similar to our jellyfish and floated gently in schools near the surface.
I paused the Driller and manipulated the sensor to scan in a full circle. The translucent jellyfish schools continued outwards in every direction and their numbers were in the millions if not billions in our immediate area. At 100 meters down we got our first glimpse of vertebrate life. It was an immense lumbering manta ray like creature, with a 50 meter wingspan. The manta had no interest in our Driller as it moved slowly along sucking in jellyfish.
I continued on to 400 meters depth where the waters began to darken. I was startled when a large shadow quickly brushed by the Driller. Suddenly, up from the depths, came another. For only an instant I got a look at its wide mouth and dark teeth as it attempted to attack the Driller. Before the alien creature had a chance to turn it into a meal the BHD of the Driller cut it in half.
Any number of the dark creatures quickly filled the waters around the Driller and attacked their fallen mate. Then another attacked the Driller followed by another and each attacker met with the same fate. The water was soon thick with chum making any further reconnaissance useless.
An alert then popped up on my holo-screen. Some type of craft had launched from the structure and was on a heading that would take it near our Ghost. Apprehension grew as the craft approached. Had we been detected? Did the active skin not conceal us as well as we thought? I held the throttle ready as the short and wide craft lumbered past, heading towards the northern pole of Alvin.
With the threat reduced I pulled the Driller back up to 200 meters and sent it in the direction of the nearest structure. The jellyfish-like creatures came in and out of view as the Driller moved silently along. None seemed to have any significant intelligence. Then, at 30 kilometers from the structure we were confronted by what we considered to be our first sentient alien being.
It was one of the squid-like creatures that we had observed swimming within the confines of the structure. It was bright green in color with small dark spots. The one item that had everyone stunned was the glass bubble like helmet that covered all but its six tentacle legs. The creature stopped and stared at the bubbling black holes of the Driller for several seconds before turning and jetting the water with a black ink as it swam away.
On my holo-screen I pushed the throttle of the Driller forward and matched the creatures speed at nearly 30 knots. When the Driller reached a half kilometer distance from the structure I stopped it dead in the water and turned the BHD off and the active skin on full.
The Driller was invisible to detection as we looked on at the structure before us. We drifted forward with the ocean currents and soon found ourselves within ten meters of the gigantic alien structure. It was a smooth dark gray metal going up to the surface with a vertical box like column every hundred meters.
I panned downward with the sensor and took note of a light coming up from below. I again turned on the BHD and gave it a quick burst sending the Driller down towards the light. For only a moment we got a glimpse of writings on the walls just above the lighted area.
It was our first such find and the chatter at command over the QE comm was that it might help our scientists to finally break their language codes. Two of the alien beings riding on what looked to be an underwater craft of sorts then approached the Driller.
In seconds the water in front of the Driller's sensor filled with bubbles and an intense temperature spike was soon followed by our lone sensor going dark. The Driller had been destroyed.
With the new threat of an alien attack I pushed hard on the throttle taking us quickly back to the open safety of space. We detected multiple craft leaving the giant structures that headed out in all directions. I again set a course for a slow orbit around the planet to continue with my original orders.
Our scientists now had mountains of data to peruse and analyze. Videos of our encounter with the aliens would be played time and time again in an attempt to glean every bit of information available from them. As we rounded the planet the sensors picked up another alien ship... this time in orbit on the far side of Gamma. Alarms quickly sounded as two alien fighters departed the ship and headed in our direction.
The BHD was turned off and the active skin fully enabled which should have given us invisibility to the fighters. I again held my hand close to the throttle as the fighters approached while Shepard readied four Drillers for launch. I let out a sigh of relief when the fighters turned and headed towards the area where we had done our surveillance.