Blood Impulse

Part 20.4 - BATTLE STATIONS

Brimstone Sector, Battleship Singularity

The klaxons had begun to wail in the corridors, and the alert lights were flashing red. "Set Condition One throughout the ship," came the announcement. "Repeat: Set Condition One. All hands to battle stations."

The noise continued as traffic in the corridors picked up, crewmen rushing to their posts with efficiency that showed experience. "Will the CO please report to the bri-" Lieutenant Robinson cut off her own announcement, seeing the Admiral walk in just seconds after the alert had gone out. Clearly, he'd already been on his way.

"Sitrep," the ship's commander ordered.

"Three contacts, dead ahead. They're squawking in the clear." Zarrey said, eyeing the screen at the front of the room, as it showed the long-range sensors' data. "Confirmed as Squadron 26."

"Keeper-class ships." Another three of the numerous class of ship they had engaged in the Centaur System. "There will be more," the Admiral said. Likely, this wasn't Command's main force, this was a mere splinter of it, assigned to search the area for both the Singularity and Fairlocke's fleet. "Range?"

"They'll have us in confirmed sensor range in seven minutes," Galhino answered. The Keeper-class ships, with comparatively smaller sensor arrays, had a smaller range. The difference was slight, but it was enough to matter within the void's great distances.

"Prepare to jump to the next sector," Admiral Gives ordered. There was no point in revealing their position or engaging Command's ships.

"Sir, we haven't completed our sweep here-"

"Galhino, if they were here, Command would have sunk them already and left the area," Zarrey snapped. "Effectively they swept that half of the sector for us." He gave the Admiral a nod before telling the crew again, "Begin jump prep."

"Hold!" Robinson called, desperate to halt further action. "Hold the jump!" She pressed the earpiece of her headset to her ear, focusing on the faint, rising and falling levels of static. "I've got something."

"Define 'something', Robinson," Zarrey snapped. She was going to have to do better than that.

"XO." The Admiral silenced him. Robinson's closed eyes and posture made it clear she was trying to listen to something that was very faint. She didn't need Zarrey shouting at her simultaneously. The Admiral reached forward to tap the navigational charts on the radar console, a silent signal to mark down the exact position of all ships, including their own.

Zarrey obeyed, flagging down a yeoman to pass data between himself, the sensor console and navigations console. The Admiral monitored their progress, contemplating his options, depending on what Robinson had uncovered.

"I might have a signal." The communications officer announced. "It's indiscernible, sir. Typical radio transmissions. From this position, they're probably several hours old." They weren't local and had decayed beyond usefulness.

"How sure are you, Lieutenant?"

Keifer shook her head, "Thirty, maybe forty percent." There was no way to identify the transmissions' origin. They were in the radio spectra, but even assuming them to be decayed transmissions was a guess.

"Possible natural emissions?" Looking at the surrounding spatial region, the Admiral knew there was at least one source of possible electromagnetic emissions.

"I've isolated the nebula's baseline emissions, sir. What remains of the signal is on the civilian transmission band, but I have no way of knowing if it came from Fairlocke's fleet." It was possible they were from another source. "It could be some anomaly in or around the nebula." There was a high level of uncertainty involved.