A Space Odyssey Chapter 4

Author Note: The intrepid explorers from the Gorion have opened the hatch to the mystery ship and are preparing to board. What will they find, I wonder?

Disclaimers: Bad jokes, about it

 
Weapons sweeping the room, the six entered the ship proper. The room was large, with a set of doors in each wall and console and desk on the left, in front of the left side doors. A quick sweep revealed no movement, just a bare staging room. Imoen went right for the console, shoving the dilapidated chair out of the way as she bent over the console. It took her barely a second to have the maintenance panels open and get her fingers in the electronics. Valygar, Jaheira and Minsc each went to check the doors, scanning for what was beyond, Jaheira taking the obvious exit, the two men checking and entering the side rooms. That left Aerie and Bran standing in the center. Bran swept the room, looking for things of interest while Aerie stared at the wall above the door opposite the lock.

He felt her nudge him and point at the plaque above door. “Bran,” she said, “the sign. It says, ‘Welcome aboard the Galactic Alliance starcruiser Helios. Captain Adrienne Vico commanding.’”

Bran turned to her and then the plaque. Bran shot his eyebrows and repeated, “The Helios? I.. I think I’ve heard that name before. In my old job.” Now addressing the others, he asked, “Sound familiar to anyone?”

The others looked up form their tasks for a moment, pausing as they went through their memories. Imoen chirped, “Nope. Then again, never really cared bout history all that much. That was more ol’ Jah’s thang.”

Bran shook his head as he heard Jaheira’s reply over the comms, her voice chilly but calm. “History has more than once proven useful to us. And when I think about it, the name Helios does sound familiar.” Her voice lightened as she rifled through the pages of her memory. “I do remember reading about… not just about it being missing.” Pausing a moment, she asked, “Nalia, run a check our Alliance databases for any reference to the Helios and its disappearance. And make sure to check through the restricted files too.”

Nalia replied, her voice belying the fact that she was already going through the ‘liberated’ data. “Let’s see, I’ve got the standard info on her, her launch date, general crew rosters, the basics. This is funny…” she said, trailing off.

The silence was not immediately filled, so Jaheira asked, “What is funny, Nalia?”

Nalia came back, confusion evident in her voice, “Well, its… I have orders sending the Helios in for major overhaul. She made it into dock, work started, but that’s it. The only other entry is that she was declared lost over a year later. Nothing in between.”

Bran half turned, looking back at the gangway and the Gorion as if he could see Nalia. The others had stopped their work as well, staring back at the ship. Bran asked, “Nothing else, Nalia?”

“Not sure, but there is nothing in the ship’s official records. Imoen only managed to pull a partial download remember? Nevermind we don’t have the data store to keep everything in active memory. So, it could just be an incomplete record. The report of her loss is in a general ship roster file. It could be just incomplete data. Or..”

“Or it could mean that some 400 - 500..”

“478 to go by the records, Bran.”

“Or, 478 years ago, the fleet did something very interesting with this ship.”

“Yeah.” Nalia paused for thought, “I’ll start going through the data files we haven’t processed and cracked yet. I’ll be away from the bridge for a few minutes while I load the stuff into the core.”

“Gotcha. Just don’t take too long.”

“You got it.” And the connection to the ship went silent.

Leaving Nalia to her searching, Bran walked over to the console that Imoen was working on. He leaned on the top of the console and looked at his red-haired sister, still deep in concentration over the controls. Cocking his head, eh asked, “So Immy, any theories on the missing chunk of history? You were the intel geek.”

Imoen never looked up from her work in the maintenance panels, replying, “Could just be a gap in the data, Branny. But, if you want my expert opinion..”

“You think there’s more to the ship then regular service?”

“The end of the ship records is the ship going in for a refit? Yep. Probably did something funky, some field test for some new superweapon. The Alliance was in the middle of that nasty war with the Drazeri back then. When this ship went into refit, she was old… so why not use an aging battlewagon to do some nifty new tests, no?”

From over his shoulder, he heard Jaheira reply, “It would be logical. Of course, the fact the ship’s been floating around in a nebula for the last four centuries would mean that their tests were significantly less than successful.” She paused and asked rhetorically, “I wonder what Nalia will find.”

Imoen answered, “No kidding, Jah. And, if I’m right about this being some secret government test, and I’m always right..”

Bran, a small smile twinging his lips, interjected, “Always? What about the Riasa deal? I mean, unless you expected to end up bare ass…”

Bran got Imoen to actually look up from her work. She shot him a dirty glance and cut him off, “Okay, mostly right, Bran flakes. Mostly right. Happy?”

Both Bran and Jaheira got in a chuckle. The Riasa deal was certainly one of his sister’s less sterling moments. But it was funny. Well maybe not so much to her or Valygar, but it was still funny. Now smiling, Bran held up his free hand in surrender and said, “Yes, quite happy now. Not as happy as you looked….”

“Shut it.” She said icily.

Jaheira, realizing that the two of them could go on like this for an hour or more, looked right at Imoen and asked, “Any luck with the console?”

The annoyance on Imoen’s face melted into disappointment. Slamming one of the panels shut, she sighed, “No. I’ve got power running through the console but there’s no connection to the computer or to the controls. None.” Pulling out one of her portable powerpacks, she slammed shut another maintenance panel and grumbled, “It’s not even a local problem as far as I can tell. I can send signals, but nothing is receiving. Old junk,” she grumbled, giving the console a half hearted kick.

Bran shared the sentiment, “Damn. I was hoping we could at least pull a schematic so we don’t have to wander blindly around the ship.”

Imoen looked up, her eyes apologetic, “Sorry big bro, nothing I can do with this crud. Well, I mean, the working components will be worth a few credits, but…”

“Yeah, I know.” Looking up and at the open side rooms, he asked, “Minsc, Valygar, either of you found anything?”

Minsc emerged from the left side room, shaking his big helmeted head. “Minsc and Boo search and searched but found nothing but bits of packing material and corroded blaster cells. Boo says that it looks like an abandoned armory.”

Valygar emerged from the other room only a few moments later, dragging a handful of dusty environmental suits. Bran looked at the dragging suits and asked, “Valygar, looking for a few new retro suits?”

Valygar tossed one of the suits to Bran, with the captain easily catching the aged fabric and answered, “No. Take a look at the suit.”

Bran looked over the ancient suit. His first impression was the poor condition of the material. But as he looked closer he noticed that there were definite deliberate tears in the material. Still turning it over, he replied, “Someone tore into this suit. In a couple of key places as well.”

Valygar dropped the other suits and said, “That’s not all. The environmental controls and the regulators, all ripped out.”

Bran looked at the tears where that equipment should have been, confirming his navigators assessment. “So, someone sabotaged an environmental suit?”

Valygar closed the remaining distance, saying, “Not just this one. All of them. And there isn’t a single helmet, extended air pack or booster pack in the entire suit room. Not one.”

“None?”

“None, Bran.”

Bran reached back and rubbed the back of his helmet as he thought this one over. He looked over his crewmates, all of their faces pondering the strange facts. “So, essentially what we have here is a big old mystery. We have a lost cruiser, drifting out in uninhabited space for the last 450 years, that’s last year or so of existence isn’t in the records. It’s got an empty armory and one of its major suit lockers is full of torn environmental suits with no helmets, no extra air, and no propulsion units. And to top off this, the power is still on.”

Imoen answered him, “Yep. Pretty interesting huh?”

“That’s one way of looking at it, Imoen.”

Minsc chimed in, “It is a chance for great adventure for Minsc and Bran and Boo!”

Jaheira added, “It may be a chance for adventure Minsc, but we will have to be even more careful. There are too many unanswered questions about this ship.”

Valygar glumly added, “Jaheira’s right. Foul danger always lurks in places such as this.”

Aerie spoke up last, “I.. I.. I’ve heard stories about places such as this. But, I am not afraid. In fact, I am.. am intrigued.”

Bran looked at the good doctor and smiled. Then looking at the others, he said, “Well, there is certainly something going on here. It might be dangerous, but.. the prize is too good to pass up. However, if there are any objections, we can pack up and leave. Any objections?”

He looked from one friend’s face to another. The looks were a mix of concern, anticipation and excitement. Even Aerie looked more excited than concerned.

And there were no objections.

Once more pleased to have such a great crew, Bran lifted up his rifle, the barrel pointing to the ceiling. With a jaunty grin he said, “Well, then lets do this thing. Lock and load folks, lets go plumb some secrets.”

There was a chorus of agreement as the others unslung weapons and readied themselves. With a nod of both head and barrel, Bran directed, “Imoen, lets see what’s behind door number 3.”

“Gotcha.”

Imoen slung her rifle and went to door panel. This time, the controls were still operational and it took her just a second to unlock the door. Hand hovering over the ‘open’ button, she asked, “Ready?”

Valygar and Bran had their weapons trained on the door with the others fanned out to the sides. Bran simply said, “Do it.”

One hand on her rifle, Imoen punched the door button and pressed herself against the wall as the doors ground open. Weapons ready and their suit sensors searching for danger, Bran and Valygar strode into the hallway beyond and the Helios proper.