Replying to @rdm@aus.social
Mother of All.
On approach to Divesen Station, two hours out.
"Captain to the bridge" Engel opened his eyes, confused for a couple of seconds. Even after nine days, he was not used to being called 'Captain'. After a few moments, he got up and went forward. They were still at least two hours out, what was going on? Opening the bridge door, the rest of the skeleton crew were clustered around the sensor station. "Captain, over here!" called Alaine.
He came over and looked at the radar display. There, in orbit above Mother of All, was a massive ship, easily over a hundred times the size of their tradeship. And the profile the radar returned said 'warship'. Not a piddly little raider, not even one that could overpower Athena twice. This was huge and deadly.
"Do we have a beacon ping from it?" he asked.
"Yessir" Alaine replied "She's a Scout Service cruiser. The Maui. We'd fit inside her main gun like a pea in a straw."
"Any word from the station?"
"Yes, we have an approach, but they are directing us to the low port. And there is a Notice to Spacers with a traffic exclusion between the cruiser and the planetary surface."
Engel turned "Seeker? What do you make of this?"
She frowned "I don't know. They must be here at the Council's request, unless they had some sort of catastrophic failure."
He shook his head. This was like finding a friendly 400kg ridgehorn in your garden.
"OK, follow the approach they've given us. They know about Bright Sky?"
"Yes, we've flagged it as a prize vessel captured from raiders" Dyani supplied.
"Good. Give me a call when we are fifteen out from the atmosphere."
"Yessir."
Back in his cabin, he called the engine room.
"Sparks. Go" was the prompt reply.
"Sparks? Just a heads up, there's a scout cruiser in orbit."
"Which one?"
"The Maui. Does it matter?"
"Just asking. Did Seeker offer anything up?"
"No, she's as clueless as the rest of us."
Sparks hummed. "I guess we find out when we make planetfall."
"I guess so. Out."
Engel lay back down, and failed to get back to sleep. He lay there wondering what was going on for the next hour and a half.
"Captain, Bridge. We are fifteen minutes out."
"Thank-you." He scrubbed his face, and went forward again. Maybe they would have answers soon.
#SF #SFF #SciFi #SpaceOpera #Microfiction #Microfic #tootfic #ShamanSpace #IAmWriting
