The truth be told. Chapter 1 part 2

[steveo1259]

The captain walked onto the bridge at exactly 0800 hrs every day, some of the crew started thinking that he rigged the lift so that it got to the bridge at exactly that time, and looked down at his order sheet rather saddened that his first cruise was going to be exploring a new sector instead of going into combat against Khakk or Xenon. That would be the ultimate mission for him as his ego told him he could pull it off and wipe out an entire sector given the chance. Jack Davis didn’t really socialize much with the crew giving them a distinct impression that he had had some sort of traumatic experience that lead him to become isolated and distant from the rest of the crew or even any sort of long term relationship. In actual fact it was much deeper than that as he had just found out that his mother had died from some sort of nano infection that the Terrans has introduced when they visited the argon sectors, he was suffering badly but wouldn’t let anybody else into his life to help sort it out. His new orders were to take his ship to the new unknown and unexplored sector found off to the west of Getsu Fune, there were no specific details. Just if you encounter xenon to either engage in battle or run.

The captain sat down in his chair and tapped lightly on the announcement button that was part of his chair controls. “This is the captain speaking, we have our orders. We are to explore a new sector on the edge of the known gate universe that according to command could possibly harbour enemies like the Xenon. Apparently we are not to engage the enemy which makes our job easier. All crew to departure stations”

“Helm, clear all moorings, release docking clamps and take us out. One half thrusters.”

“Aye, sir”

The massive ship gracefully separated from the modified docking port with supply lines being jettisoned along the way. The crew could hear the massive engines beginning to come to life after so long being stuck at stationary in the shipyard. Green running lights from the station guided the bulk of the ship out and as it came to the end the helmsman set a course to orbit round the sector while final running system checks were established and completed.

“Jump us to Getsu fune, Gate closest to the new sector” ordered the captain.

The computer started the countdown almost immediately,

“10”
“9”
“8”
“7”
“6”

“Sir, Xenon activity has just increased from xenon sectors 347 and 472, the Teldi fleet is mobilizing for action as is the Split fleet.”

“Any word from headquarters”

“None as of yet”

Just as the last words came out of the young women at tactical mouth the ship jumped. Cleary this new A.I wasn’t up to scratch as it either hadn’t activated the inertial dampers or was deliberately making it a bumpy ride for everybody on board. They came through the gate a few seconds later.
There wasn’t a trace of Getsu Fune. “Where the hell are we” said the captain. The bridge crew tapped on their workstations lightly as they worked out just which gate they had come through. Finally someone chirped up “I think we’re in the unknown sector that Argon Fleet command ordered us to search, according to the logs the new sensor suite lost connection on the intended jump gate at the last second and locked onto a new gate. We could have ended up anywhere”

“Just as well we didn’t. Find out what the cause of the problem was. Helm, plot a recon course through this system and engage.”

As the ship slowly pulled to a safe distance the interplanetary drives pulled out from their holders and slowly took place along the side of the ship. The fusion reactors that powered them spun to life giving the engines a strange orangey glow that looked out of place against the black ship and then suddenly they fired a bright green jet out of the back of the ship and it shot forward at incredible speeds into the unknown.