Progenitor


Chapter 18

Jake did as told, he went to bed and slept very soundly. The rest went about their duties as assigned. Each of the top staff talked with those under them and assigned with them to see if they had anyone they thought might be helpful. At the end of the day Ted had about 15 names to checkout, and five were from Sam. The names that Sam provided had much more information included, as Ted would expect from a security person. One of the names surprised Ted, that was the name of the Special Agent In Charge for the Chicago FBI office. His information included notes that he had his pilot ticket for commercial aircraft, was retired USMC with the rank of Captain, and had a ZERO drug tolerance policy, and he was only 40 years old. Ted made sure that this one got scanned that very night. The results were not good, less than 20% DNA match. Ted checked on as many of the rest of the names as he could locate; only two came anywhere close to the DNA level Amy had specified. But, all the information was included for Amy to review.

John had spent the day reviewing the data from the many satellites that AL had taken over and used to scan for the DNA sequence they were looking for. There were several possibilities, even after he ruled out those found in jail, mental wards, and such. He really wanted to rule out the two or three politicians but left them on the list, with X's by their names.

Kate and Sally had spent the day getting reacquainted with the craft that Jake had done the modifications on. They were both surprised with the increase in speed and Kate was really happy with the increased fire power she had at hand now. Kate had not been paying attention, and she suddenly found herself looking at something on her screen that appeared to be approaching this system from deep space, but at a slow speed. She immediately relayed the scan to AL for interpretation. When AL examined the data he noticed a familiar signature; this object was still too far out to read life signs but it appeared to be a mining ship from their home system. AL had Kate make sure that her cloaking was on full power and to hold position and maintain her scans, but passively.

Amy had just sat down with a cup of tea when AL announced "Captain to the Bridge; Yellow alert" three times. Amy ran to the main control center, what was really the Bridge of the ship. As soon as she arrived there she saw Ivan sitting at the Communications console, and Ted and John arrived just a few seconds later.

"AL report. What's going on?" Amy asked.

"Inbound starship detected at far range of sensors. Kate is on station just 100,000 KM past Mars; she is at maximum cloaking. Sensor data coming up on Science station now. Unable to detect life signs at this time and distance. Records show this to a mining ship from my home system; it may be a derelict or it could be a manned ship. I have had Sally return to base and man another fighter, but she is holding, ready to launch." AL replied.

John was studying the data steam and asked "AL, are my calculations correct in that at the present speed this ship will not arrive at Mars for three days?"

"That is correct" AL replied.

About that time Jake came into the control center and went directly to the Engineering station. " Shields at 100%, Cloaking going to 100% from 50%. Engineering manned and ready. Now what the hell is going on?" Jake exclaimed.

Jake was quickly brought up to date on the situation with the detected ship and Kate's position. Amy had the alarms shut off but kept the base at Yellow alert. Ted asked AL how long it would be before sensors could detect life signs and was told that at the present speed about 20 hours. John suggested that they launch a probe towards the ship. But AL explained that the probe would be detectable by the governments on Earth unless it was launched from Kate's position. But Kate's craft didn't have any probes omnivore.

"Ivan, contact Kate on a closed freq. and tell her to maintain cloak and return to base, best speed but carefully. Jake how long to modify another fighter and get it loaded with a couple of probes?" Amy said.

"I can have one ready in about six hours; faster if we don't do the modifications yet, say 10 minutes from now. But the shuttle can be ready in ten minutes also, and it is almost as fast as the um-modified fighter right now." Jake replied.

"Ivan, call Sam and Tasha to the bridge, I mean the control center. Have Sally remain on stand-by ready to launch for the time being. As soon as Kate is back we will have a strategy meeting in the Ready Room. Jake get someone to help and get me another fighter ready to go as soon as possible, load two probes on each craft including the shuttle. When Kate lands, the two of you join us in the Ready Room" Amy instructed.

Ted and Ivan were both surprised at Amy's calm nature and what appeared to a natural leadership ability. As soon as Sam arrived Amy had Sam and Ted join her in the Ready Room, leaving John and Ivan to monitor the sensors and communications. Tasha was at the Security station but really didn't know that much about it, yet. It was about an hour later when Kate touched down and she and Jake joined the rest in Amy's Ready Room.

"Okay people, we have some quick plans to make. I see two options; one, if the ship is manned we try to communicate and keep it out far enough to prevent detection by Earth, two, if the ship is a derelict then we see if we can gain control and keep it hidden from Earth. We don't want the people on Earth to see an alien craft and get all hot and bothered. Once that ship gets closer the telescopes on Earth will notice it. Kate do you have any new finding to report?" Amy asked.

"None at this time; except that right now unless that ship changes course it should be hidden behind Mars for a little while longer." Kate replied.

"Jake, how are we doing on the modifications and what is the status of the shuttle?" Amy asked.

"Shuttle has probes upload, I had some of the day shift stay and help with that. The second fighter will be ready in about 3 hours, I have 3 of my people working on it now. Kate's fighter will take about 10 minutes to get the probe uploaded." Jake replied.

"AL, anything new to report?"

"No change at this time; our ability to scan the vessel decreased when Kate returned. This is due to the presents of Mars blocking sensor reading. That will change in another 2 hours, Mars' orbit will then allow direct scans by the base. I have modified the sensor array so that it does not produce the same type scan as was originally designed. That may prevent the ship from detecting the scans." AL reported.

"Amy, what if we rushed the loading of the probes on Kate's ship and sent it back out to launch them now? That way we could get the data we need to plan with quicker" Ted injected.

"No, I want Kate to get some rest. We may need her later and she should be well rested. Have Sally take over the newly modified fighter as soon as the probes have been loaded. Right now we only have three people qualified to fly; Kate, Sally, and myself. So, as soon as the probes are loaded, Sally and I will return to the Mars area and launch several probes. Once the probes are launched I will return and Sally will remain on station for the next three hours then be relieved. Any questions?" Amy stated.

Nobody had any questions so the meeting was ended. Kate went to her room to rest, Jake went to make sure Kate's fighter was loaded with the probes and checked over, and Amy went to her quarters to change into a flight suit. John and Ted returned to the control center, while Sam just disappeared. About 20 minutes later Amy arrived on the flight deck, she was met by Sam who was in a full combat suit. Sam told Amy that she was going with her. Then Sam handed Amy a sidearm, and turned towards the open shuttle door. Jake came up then and told Amy that Sally would be ready in just a minute, "potty break". As soon as Sally returned and climbed into her cockpit, the two craft lifted off. As soon as they were out a ways Amy had Sally go ahead and proceed at full speed and max cloaking towards Mars since Sally's fighter would make better time than the shuttle.

As soon as Sally got close to Mars she engaged the active scanner for a quick look and to locate the inbound ship. Since she was in Kate's ship the onboard computer compared the data with previous scans and reported that the ship had not changed course or speed. Sally came to a complete stop and used a trick she had learned on the shuttle to hold position without any drift. She relayed the new scan to both Amy and AL, then waited for Amy to catch up. Once Amy, and Sam, arrived, Sally told Amy about the no drift trick. Passive scans showed no response from the inbound ship. Amy had Sally to move to the opposite side of Mars and they would both launch one probe at the same time; then change positions and launch their second probe so that it would appear that there were several locations of origin.

It was about an hour later when John came on the comm. and reported that they were receiving the first sets of data from the probes and that AL was analyzing it now. As Amy prepared to return she told Sally to not stay in one spot very long, but to change her position constantly so as to confuse any scans from the ship and decrease detection from Earth.

Amy was landing when AL reported that the ship appeared to be un-powered and was just drifting, being captured by the gravity of the sun. As the ship got closer it would gain speed due to the increased pull of the Sun. The real problem was that unless something changed it's course, it would hit Earth, after passing within 100km of the moon, in about four months. Amy exited her ship at a dead run, followed closely by Sam. As she ran Amy had AL summon the senior staff to the Ready Room.

As soon as everyone was there Amy had AL and John both recalculate the trajectory of the inbound ship again. The results were the same.

"AL, if this ship is un-powered then it's shields are down correct?" Amy asked.

"That may be correct; but at this time it is still too far out to determine the shield status. If the shields are working, I can detect no weapon on Earth capable of harming the ship." AL replied.

"Could our fighters damage it or deflect it in some way?" Ted asked quickly.

"It is unknown at this time. With the increased power available now the fighters might be able to break through the shields. But there is insufficient data at this time to make that determination." AL replied.

"How soon will it be before the people on Earth can determine the presents of the ship and it's collision course?" Amy asked.

John relied "Earth should detect it clearly in about 45 days. It might take a little longer for them to determine the collision course though. It will depend on who sees it first and how clearly".

"Okay, we need more data, and if the crazy plan I just thought of has a chance in hell of working, we will need more people than we have now." Ted injected.

Amy, and everyone else looked at Ted with blank expressions. Amy finally snapped out of it and told Ted to explain what he meant about a "crazy plan".

"I haven't thought it out much; but, what if we sent the shuttle out accompanied by at least six fighters and tried to get as close as possible to this ship. If it does have shields up then try to deflect it while it is still outside Earth's viewing range. If the shields are not functioning then try to board and set explosives on it. From what John and AL have explained to me, if we can get close to it then we can setup a relay for sensor data back to AL using the sensors on the fighters and relaying back through the shuttle." Ted explained.

"That might work, as long as it is not manned. If it is manned, then we might have a fight on our hands. We do not have near enough people to fight a battle with a space going race." Sam injected.

Everyone just nodded at this statement. Jake had a far away look in his eyes, as if he was thinking very hard. Ted suddenly got a slight smile on his face. They both started to say "What if . . ." at the same time.

Amy asked Jake first what he had on his mind.

"I was thinking, what if the shields are down, the ship is unmanned, we boarded it with a sensor droid, and we tried to take control of it? I know that with a droid like we used before we could detect a lot of information, relay that information back to AL and let him see if it was possible to maybe land the ship on Mars or something? I mean, there must be something we can do with it " Jake said.

"Not bad; what did you have Ted?" Amy asked.

"Basically the same thought, except taking a whole crew to this ship and taking it over if it is empty or we if we can defeat what is there." Ted replied.

"Both of you had the same idea? At the same moment? Well they say great minds think a like. But both of your plans depend on the ship not having shields. We need to consider the possibility that the ship is manned or has shields in place. AL, judging from the scans so far, what size crew at a minimum would be needed?" Amy asked.

"Based on the current data, it would take at least 10 people to control the ship; provided that the AI is intact and willing to cooperate. Ted's idea of the relay has the best chance of succeeding. With five of the modified fighters you would have a good chance of defeating the shields." AL replied.

"AL, do we have a good enough read of the ship to allow Sally to return? And what is the minimal number of ships we would need to determine shield status and if there are life signs on board?" Amy asked.

"Minmal ships would be both fighters and the shuttle, but if the ship is manned then the fighter closest to the ship would be in danger. For the next 20 days we will have good reception of scan data, so Sally could return. Would you like for me to recall her now?" AL replied.

"No, I'll have Ivan recall her. We need to get used to using our crew and depending on you so much. Everyone, get some rest and there will be a full crew meeting in the morning at breakfast in the Mess Hall." Amy said as she dismissed the meeting.