Ancient Relics (Shadow of the Ancients Book 1) (10 page)

The Wayfarer reaches safety in the depths of
interstellar space. Commander Asim orders a report of all damage and
casualties.

One by one, each station across the ship calls-in to
report their numbers.

“No casualties on any decks and only minor damage
from the nebula,” the security officer reports to Commander Asim.

“Good, we can be on our way then,” Commander Asim
notes.

Logan walks onto the bridge and asks, “Did all of
the shuttles make it back safely?”

Commander Asim turns his head toward Logan.

“Yes,” he replies before looking back to the console
on his armchair, “All shuttles reported-in and no casualties reported. The ship
suffered a little damage because of the nebula, but nothing serious. Oh, and we
have a few new guests.”

“Thank you Commander,” Logan says as he begins to
leave the bridge.

“I’ll be in the science lab examining the artifacts
we were able to recover, before the incident, if you need me,” he informs the
Commander as he steps onto the lift.

“Understood,” responds Commander Asim.

After Logan departs, Commander Asim jokes at Logan’s
oblivious demeanor to his comment about ‘new guests.’

“I guess he didn’t want to hear about our guests,”
he laughs as he looks around to the crew.

When Logan enters the science lab, Oni jumps out at
him.

“So, did we get away?!” Oni asks with excitement.

“Yep,” Logan quickly and concisely replies.

Without missing a beat, Oni jumps right into a new
conversation.

Picking-up one of the recovered artifacts, Oni
points at some characters on the tablet and begins an oration, “So, I looked
over this rock here and found some text I thought my new boss might be
interested in.”

Logan pauses for a second and takes the tablet from
Oni.

He looks over the artifact examining every detail.

“This looks familiar,” he responds about the text
Oni pointed out.

Oni quickly turns and picks up her DataCom, flips
through a few images, and then shows one particular image to Logan.

“It looks like the rock I found on Ugun,” she notes,
pointing to the image she showed the team earlier, “This text here was one of
the text lines I couldn’t translate. My DataCom doesn’t have the resources to
translate such an intricate text.”

She hesitates before continuing again, “And, then
there’s the issue of incomplete text due to damage.”

She attempts to hide the fact that a little
carelessness on her part may have led to damage on her original find.

Logan asks Oni to upload the image to the ships
translator and begin processing the image.

At the same time, Logan asks Paige to take the
artifact and begin a scan of the text on it to translate that text in
comparison to the image file Oni is working on.

Paige takes the artifact and begins her work.

Oni diligently works on her end, completely
engrossed in the job with excitement.

While Oni works, Logan watches her, seeing how she
feverishly does her duty without question.

Sneaking up behind Logan is Zoey, breaking his
concentration by asking, “Does she remind you of someone?”

Logan grins a small grin and replies to Zoey, “Yeah,
she reminds me a bit of myself when I was her age.”

Chuckling a little, Logan adds, “So full of life and
curiosity. Starry-eyed and ready for anything.”

Zoey nods and grunts in understanding, even though
Logan continues to watch Oni.

“I can see it,” Zoey agrees.

Moments later, bells and whistles start
sounding-off.

“We got a hit!” Oni exclaims wildly.

Logan rushes over to the console and reads the
output from the scan.

“Hmm,” he moans in contemplation.

Running his figure across the console monitor,
guiding his sight to stick to certain lines, Logan looks back and forth between
the two readings and the comparison readout.

“Looks like the text talks about another planet that
the inhabitants moved to after some catastrophe,” he points out.

“Does it say what the catastrophe was?” Oni inquires.

Logan shakes his head negatively and responds, “No,
but it does name the planet they moved to. We may be able to find a clue there.
I bet, though, the catastrophe was the nova.”

Logan presses a button on the terminal and calls to
the bridge, “Commander, I believe I have a new course to set for you.”

Commander Asim acknowledges, “OK, let’s hear it.”

Logan reads the translation and relays it to
Commander Asim on the bridge, “One of the artifacts we uncovered talks about a
settlement on a planet called Gidim. Ever heard of it?”

Commander Asim remains quiet for a moment before
responding, “Can’t say that I have. There are no coordinates?”

Logan quickly reads the translated text again.
“Nope, no coordinates,” he replies.

Paige interjects, “Maybe the map shows it,”
referencing the holomap recovered from the Drak scouts.

“Ah, yes,” Logan agrees, having forgotten about the
map.

“Give me just a moment, Commander. Let me
cross-reference the location with the ancient holomap,” Logan informs the
Commander while he inputs the data.

Commander Asim calls back, “Standing by.”

Punching in the name ‘Gidim’ into the directory,
Logan conducts a search for the mystery planet.

After a few seconds of searching, the computer
prints-out the details of the unknown planet and system. Included in the
readout is the coordinates of Gidim, however, the details also include a hazard
warning.

Logan re-opens the channel to the bridge, “Commander,
I have coordinates, but there is a hazard warning affixed to them. It says the
planet suffered a major battle and was left uninhabitable.”

“Another charred world I see,” Commander Asim notes
in response.

Logan holds his head down and replies, “I’m afraid
so, Commander.”

Commander Asim is heard informing the helm and crew,
“OK, making way to the Gidim system. Prepare for warp travel.”

With that, the ship starts to hum from the engines
warming-up for the jump. Minutes later, The Wayfarer jumps into warp en route
to the Gidim system.

A scan of the Gidim system conducted before arrival
indicated the system housed two red dwarf stars and a few minor planets. Heavy
radiation emits from the system, showing that the system is in the processes of
complete decay.

Being red dwarf stars, the system should have a few
billion years of life left in it. However, the system does not appear to have
much time left.

Upon arrival, a scan of the system showed familiar
readings.

The science station officer completes the scan and
reports, “The system matches a system already on file.”

Commander Asim looks over to the science station and
asks, “How can that be? This region is unexplored.”

“According to these readings, Sir, someone has been
here previously,” the young officer informs the commander.

Commander Asim walks over to the science station
terminal and views the readings.

“Terra Desolace?!” he exclaims inquisitively.

The science officer looks up at Commander Asim and
replies, “Yes Sir. Discovered by an explorer named Emanuel Vega during an
expedition to chart the dark side of the galaxy about 150 years ago.”

“Dr. Logan,” Commander Asim calls out to the ships
communication system.

Logan reaches over to his communication terminal and
presses a flashing button, “Yes Commander?”

“We apparently have been here before,” Commander
Asim informs Logan.

Continuing his explanation, Commander Asim tells
Logan the brief story, “About 150 years ago, an explorer named Emanuel Vega
discovered this system and called the planet we are looking at Terra Desolace.”

Logan quickly interrupts Commander Asim in
recognition of the name, “I’ve heard of that planet. The history files tell how
he named the planet due to it being a desolated planet, scorched and marred by
some untold battle or cataclysm.”

“Ah, so I don’t need to tell you what this readout
says. Good. That will save time. How do you wish to proceed?” the commander
asks.

As Logan works at his console, he provides Commander
Asim with how he wishes to proceed.

“Let’s send some drones to the surface to do some
deeper scans. If they yield anything fruitful, we can send a small recon team
to secure the hot-spots and then conduct a more extensive survey,” Logan
replies.

“Very well,” Commander Asim acknowledges.

Turning back to the science officer, the commander
signals him to launch probe-bots.

The science officer initiates a launch of twenty
probe-bots.

Grouped in pairs of two, each group launches to
several geostatic points around the decrepit planet.

Upon approach to each pair’s coordinates, a relay
probe records and sends data back to the ship while the other scans and shares
its data with the relay probe.

The science officer then sends any updated commands
back to the relay probe for the pair to execute.

“Sir, the probe-bots in sector Fifty-One read a
strong signal for potential artificial structures about thirty meters below the
surface,” the science officer announces to the commander.

Commander Asim opens a comms channel to Logan and
relays the find.

“Professor, we have a strong signal in sector
Fifty-One,” he states.

The commander pauses for a few minutes to allow
Logan to activate a replay link before asking, “How do you wish to proceed?”

Logan confirms reception of the message and asks,
“How large is the target area?”

Commander Asim directs his attention to the science
officer on the bridge to confirm he heard the question.

The science officer looks over the data from the
probes briefly and replies, “It is still processing, although it appears to be
an area roughly over 200 meters in diameter.”

Commander Asim asks Logan if he heard the reply.

Logan acknowledges, “Yes, I heard him. Get the
probes to spread the bandwidth of the scan to ten Gig and let me know if you
receive any change.”

Commander Asim points to the science officer for a
non-verbal queue to conduct the command change for the probes.

A few minutes later, the science officer informs the
commander, “Readings still indicate objects under the surface, but now the
objects have a depth between 30 meters and 100 meters.”

Commander Asim opens a communication to Logan again
and relays the findings.

“I see,” Logan replies.

Hearing the sounds of beeps and chirps from a
DataCom, Commander Asim waits for Logan to complete whatever task he attends.

Logan completes a mapping of the area and sends a
file to the science station on the bridge.

While transferring the file, he sends word to the
Commander, “I’m sending a file up. Tell the science officer to send this file
to the probes. I’ll get an away team ready for launch.”

“Understood, Professor,” the Commander confirms.

Commander Asim points to the science officer again
and receives a nod of understanding from him.

Moments later, two more pairs of probe-bots begin a
path heading toward the pair located at sector fifty-one.

“Uh, Sir?” the science officer begins, “There are
two pair of probes leaving their posts and making way to sector fifty-one.”

Commander Asim smirks and replies, “I think I know
what he’s doing. He’s mapping the extent of the field. Just keep an eye out for
updates from the new probes.”

After getting within fifteen kilometers from sector
fifty-one, one of the pair of probes sends a signal confirming an extent to the
location of the original pair.

Moments later, the second rerouted pair confirms
another extent in the opposite direction.

The science officer watches as petabytes of data
come flooding into the console.

“Sir, this site is huge,” he exclaims to the
commander.

Commander Asim opens a channel to Logan once more
and informs him that the area now has a boundary of almost thirty kilometers.

Logan acknowledges the confirmation of his
suspicion.

He informs the Commander, “I almost have a team
ready now. We’ll be in route to area D, half of a Kilometer from sector
Fifty-One.”

Commander Asim confirms the coordinates and relays
the message to the security section, “Sergeant, Logan and his team are en route
to sector Fifty-One, area D, Mark Five out. Have a squad ready in case any
unwanted company arrives.”

The Sergeant on duty confirms the order,
“Understood, Sir. We have First Squad, Charlie Platoon on duty. I’ll have them
suit up and standing by in the drop bay.”

Just then, Logan opens a channel to the bridge and
announces, “Gopher Team requesting permission for disembarkation.”

Commander Asim snickers at the impromptu odd mission
name, acknowledges the request, and confirms, “Permission to disembark
granted.”

As the channel remains open, the bridge crew hears
Logan shouting orders and shuttle crew confirming them.

The shuttle makes its way out of the hanger and
makes a direct path down to the designated coordinates.