The Lonely World- Part 19

Official Log of Captain Eobard Lewis of the USS Expanse

After alerting the convoy what was happening, and opening the channel to the alien ship, I resumed talking with Captain Sughis Guh. “Captain Guh, I have discussed your proposal with my crew, and we accept. We will send a modified probe to your ship that you can upload the map to. Agreed?” there was a moment of pause as the translator talked, then he replied.

“Agreed Captain Lewis, but for the safety of my crew, you must ensure that the probe is unarmed.”

“We will make the preparations and disarm the probe. Oh, and I will need to alert our home planet of what I’ve learned, they will likely send another ship containing diplomats to engage in peace talks.” I said.

The translator finished and I received Captain Sughis Guh’s reply, “This station has no diplomats; however, I am authorized to speak on behalf of my superiors should the need arise. I will however also contact my superiors and alert them of what has transpired.”

“Understood.” I said and told Yensin to end the link. It didn’t take long for the modification to the probe and PRAS to be completed, and for a faraday cage to be constructed; only about two hours. After that, the probe was launched and returned with the maps. Our technicians treated it like a live bomb, even making it land directly in the faraday cage itself. While they worked on that, I was dealing with the captains of our convoy vessels over a video call.

“Are you sure it’s wise to bring abord that probe? You can’t be certain what the aliens did or didn’t do to it after all.” Captains Emilia Manson, of the starship Elizabeth, asked.

“It is a risk, but I think Captain Lewis made the right decision. The first step to peace is often a leap of faith,” Rajesh Mikasa, of the Hermes, said.

“I just hope that leap of faith doesn’t get his or our ships destroyed. I mean, how much do we really know about these aliens anyway? Other than that they have attacked us unprovoked several times and destroyed at least one ship that we know of.” Captain Emilia said annoyed.

“I told you, they claim to have no knowledge of what happened, or why.” I said.

“Have you alerted The Spire of our situation?” Captain Rajesh asked.

“I have, while my crew was preparing the probe.”

“That was hours ago, have they responded yet?” Captain Emilia asked.

“Yes, they initially wanted to send reinforcements, but I explained the situation and now they are only planning to send a single diplomatic ship.”

“Why hasn’t it arrived yet?” Captain Rajesh wondered.

“The only things politicians and generals do quickly are play golf and place blame. It could be hours before another ship with a diplomat arrives.” Captain Emilia groaned.

“Captain Lewis, the probe has been cleared for use, awaiting your order sir.” Richard Washington, head of engineering, said.

“Get started, I’ll be down to the docking bay in a few minutes. I want to watch.” I told him.

“Aye Sir.” The comm cut.

“Captain Emilia, Captain Rajesh, I will update you as everything develops. Please be on standby just in case though.” I said. They agreed and the line was cut, ending the video call. I left my office and entered the bridge, giving command to Lieutenant Teresa until I got back.

“Captain, you’re right on time. We just found the star chart program.” Washington said as I arrived.

“Is everything going well?” I asked.

“The PRAS is working as expected, and no AIs have been detected in the probe.”

“How compatible is the star chart with our tech? Will we need to do anything to make it work?”

“Still unknown, sir, but we are working on it.”

“Chief,” one of the engineers called out from inside the faraday cage, “I think we got it!”