May 22, 2050, 01:10 SST (Sol Standard Time)
“How are our guests doing?”
Kostelecky directed her attention away from the microscope she was peering into, locking her blue eyes on Williams’. “Recovering and speaking in English apparently, broken but understandable.”
Williams and Kostelecky walked over to EVE’s hologram as she observed the recovering Poniga. “Made progress, EVE?”
“I am only able to translate parts of their language, Commander,” EVE said. “If you wish to speak with them you may, and I will do my best to translate between the two of you.”
“Cool.”
“In addition, Commander, I have reason to believe you may be correct in your assumption that the Lyonria had interbred with these people.” A hologram appeared next to EVE, it had what appeared to be text written in a strange alien language. “This is an example of the Lyonria written language I came across while I accessed their technology in the fortress we discovered.”
Kostelecky held up a piece of paper next to the hologram for Williams to see the side by side comparison. “And this here was one of them trying to write a sugar-coated love letter to us.”
“As you can see, like the language, their written form contains several letters from the Lyonria text. In time, Commander, I may be able to partially translate the data that was recovered from the Lyonria fortress.”
“Good work you two, make that your top priority. Learn any of their names?”
Kostelecky gestured toward a female Poniga. “I call her, vive la résistance.”
“Resistance?” Williams said to the Poniga.
The female nodded in regard to his question as EVE began to translate between the two of them. “Yes, we resist the false teachings of the Architect and perverse the true teachings of the goddess.” EVE’s voice was dubbed over as she spoke. “I am called Eisila.”
“I’m Commander Dominic Williams, pleased to meet you,” he said as EVE translated his statement to Eisila. “So, the Architect, who is this?”
“The Architect are the rulers of this system who have been trying to force us to worship them,” Eisila said. “We know they aren’t gods.” Eisila pointed at the dead soldiers Kostelecky and Williams had looked at earlier. “And you do as well it seems. They tell us lies, that their soldiers are ascended Poniga, and that they have magic that prevents them from dying.”
“The captain of this ship was aboard the ship we rescued you from,” Williams said. “Do you know how she got there?”
“Rebecca?” Eisila said.
“You know her?”
“Myself and my brother, Mavron, met Rebecca and comrades of hers on our home world. She was taken prisoner shortly after we were betrayed by our brothers and sisters.”
“Do you know what happened to the others Rebecca was with?” Williams said.
Eisila frowned as her green eyes filled with sorrow. “Do not know, if they angered the Architect, they may be dead,” Eisila said.
The Carl Sagan hadn’t visited and explored all planets in the system, let alone gathered all the data from the many probes that were deployed, leading Williams to believe the Poniga did not originate from the ice world around Sirius B; Foster and her team’s last known location. There was no way a civilization was there according to sensor scans, not to mention its inhospitable environment.
The wormhole was most certainly in play here. If the Lyonria structure and the existence of a wormhole on the Architect’s ship was any indication, it’s that there were possibly more wormholes throughout the system, connecting all worlds in a vast network.
“Commander Williams, please come to the bridge,” Chang’s voice played over the intercom.
Williams shrugged. “Duty calls.”
“These folks need more time to rest anyway,” Kostelecky said as she reviewed information on the cracked screen of her data pad.
“EVE, see if you can get them talking more in the meantime about their written language,” Williams said on his way out. “Being able to interface with Lyonria tech might give us an advantage here.”
ESRS CARL SAGAN, Bridge
Entering Sirius C system
May 22, 2050, 01:29 SST (Sol Standard Time)
Williams entered the bridge and sat on the captain’s chair with a new mind-set.
One he refused to move away from as the Carl Sagan crossed into the third and newly discovered star of the trinary system. The crew needed his leadership and he needed them to perform their jobs at maximum efficiency. He was the captain now until further notice.
“What’s our status?” Williams asked.
“Got a signal incoming,” Chang said, checking his computer terminal. What he read on the screen caused his face to light up. “Commander, it’s from Master Chief Chevallier.”
“What the hell? Location?”
“One moment.” Chang began to check the source of the Master Chief’s signal. “Got it. It’s coming from one of the planets in the system, the signal is weak, but it was definitely coming from there. Scans show it’s a world with no solid land.”
Williams smiled. “How they got there is another story, set a course.”
The Carl Sagan made a slight change in its direction and moved via sub light speeds to the planet in question. The trip took them approximately thirty minutes, in which the ocean world began to grow larger in size in the windshield before them, as faint light from both Sirius A and Sirius B, hung in the back drop next to the brown dwarf Sirius C.
“Commander,” Tolukei called out to Williams. “The alien ship.”
Williams spun his chair around to face Tolukei. “You sense it?”
“Yes, it is on a course to the same planet.”
“The same ship bolting to the same planet we’re heading to,” Chang said.
“They might have detected the distress signal,” Tolukei said.
“Somehow, I doubt they’re flying over to lend a hand,” Williams said. “Chang, what’s our ETA?”
“Entering orbit in five.”
“And the alien ship?”
“Difficult to tell, it appears to be traveling at FTL, it may arrive before or after us.”
“Get us close to the side of the world where the signal is coming from and see if you can establish a connection with the Master Chief.” Williams stopped himself briefly, he was about to request a Hammerhead team to board a transport for a possible rescue op. Since there weren’t any teams available for the task he changed tack. “Tolukei be ready for a teleport once we zero in on her position.”
“That may not be wise, Commander,” Tolukei said. “The ship is indeed approaching fast.”
“Chang?”
“Can’t go any faster and I’m going to have to slow down once we arrive in orbit. Then there’s the whole bringing us about to hover over the region she’s at . . . so.”
They needed a distraction, something to force the Architect’s ship to focus on them rather than the surface, while a transport slipped in to find Chevallier. Williams looked at the ocean world as its waters reflected light back via two sources of sunlight while he slowly weaved together a plan.
“Chang, don’t worry about getting us close to their signal.”
“Commander?”
“Once we get in orbit head to the docking bay and await further instructions,” Williams said. “Tolukei, I hope your psionic brain has rested enough, because we’re going to need it.”
ESRS CARL SAGAN, Bridge