sense.”
“And judging by the content, I’d say there’s only one person who could’ve sent it.”
“My sibling,” said Cane, meeting her accusatory stare.
Roche nodded slowly. “He’s alive.”
“And kicking,” said Haid. “I’m glad I’m not in the shoes of whoever he’s talking to.”
“The fact that he’s talking at all is interesting,” Roche mused. “In fact, it sounds like he’s bluffing.”
“You think so?” said Haid.
She shrugged. “If he’s hiding, he’s vulnerable.”
“I guess we’ll find out soon enough.” Haid returned his attention to the console before him. “I’ll see if any of the probes picked up the signal and try to pin down a source.”
“Good. Any more, Box?”
“The transmission has now ceased,” said the AI.
She considered whether she should stay on the bridge to see if anything else came in, but decided against it. The communication from the Sol clone warrior was important enough to warrant further examination, but not informative.
Again, without further data, she would only be speculating wildly.
“The situation’s unchanged, then,” she said. “I’ll keep my implants open for any further developments. Don’t hesitate to call me.”
“I won’t,” said Kajic. His image dissolved at the same moment Roche stepped from the bridge.
* * *
Back in her cabin, Roche lay on her bunk, going over the data they had collected so far. Detailed images of the rained Guhr Outpost came as often as the probe—now orbiting the small moon—passed by. All that remained of the refueling base were fragments twisted beyond recognition. Sensors detected high levels of radiation in the heart of the crater, which supported the theory that a ship, not an asteroid, had crashed there, but no remains of the ship had been found. Given the force of the explosion, Roche didn’t expect any. The ship must have been fully fueled to have caused such a blast. Only time would tell how greatly the moon’s orbit around the gas giant had been disturbed.
The remainder of the probes, now on their way to every major body in the system, were still too far away from their destinations to provide any new perspectives. The earliest she could expect data would be from the probe heading to Gatamin, six hours away; the latest, from the probe aimed at Kukumat and Murukan, the jovian pair, at over twenty hours.
Determined not to let frustration get the better of her—there was, after all, nothing she could do to change the speed of light—she tried instead to focus her thoughts on what she did know about Palasian System.
First of all, the COE Intelligence data appeared to be accurate so far. There had been a battle of some sort that had cost the Armada at least a refueling base.
Second, the system was suspiciously silent, apart from one unintelligible signal emanating from near the major port around Jagabis and another whose source was in hiding.
Third, the sun had been transformed into a cosmic hypershield generator by a weapon used only once before, over a thousand years ago. The last government known to have had access to the sole remaining Asha’s Gauntlet prototype was the Kesh.
Fourth, Maii’s mind-riding abilities had been negated by a mysterious “smothering” effect.
Fifth, the system had been cordoned off on the outside by three Armada vessels acting under direct orders from General Ramage, commander in chief of the COE Armada.
And that was all. Roche was fairly confident that the Sol Wunderkind was trapped in the system, but beyond that she didn’t want to speculate too far. It was tempting to write off the epsense-dampening phenomenon as another of his extraordinary talents, but that seemed unlikely. Apart from the occasional suggestion from Maii that Cane possessed a strong but latent epsense ability, there was no indication that he possessed any such talents. Nevertheless, Roche was wary of closing off any avenues of exploration too early. Not while the matters of
“And judging by the content, I’d say there’s only one person who could’ve sent it.”
“My sibling,” said Cane, meeting her accusatory stare.
Roche nodded slowly. “He’s alive.”
“And kicking,” said Haid. “I’m glad I’m not in the shoes of whoever he’s talking to.”
“The fact that he’s talking at all is interesting,” Roche mused. “In fact, it sounds like he’s bluffing.”
“You think so?” said Haid.
She shrugged. “If he’s hiding, he’s vulnerable.”
“I guess we’ll find out soon enough.” Haid returned his attention to the console before him. “I’ll see if any of the probes picked up the signal and try to pin down a source.”
“Good. Any more, Box?”
“The transmission has now ceased,” said the AI.
She considered whether she should stay on the bridge to see if anything else came in, but decided against it. The communication from the Sol clone warrior was important enough to warrant further examination, but not informative.
Again, without further data, she would only be speculating wildly.
“The situation’s unchanged, then,” she said. “I’ll keep my implants open for any further developments. Don’t hesitate to call me.”
“I won’t,” said Kajic. His image dissolved at the same moment Roche stepped from the bridge.
* * *
Back in her cabin, Roche lay on her bunk, going over the data they had collected so far. Detailed images of the rained Guhr Outpost came as often as the probe—now orbiting the small moon—passed by. All that remained of the refueling base were fragments twisted beyond recognition. Sensors detected high levels of radiation in the heart of the crater, which supported the theory that a ship, not an asteroid, had crashed there, but no remains of the ship had been found. Given the force of the explosion, Roche didn’t expect any. The ship must have been fully fueled to have caused such a blast. Only time would tell how greatly the moon’s orbit around the gas giant had been disturbed.
The remainder of the probes, now on their way to every major body in the system, were still too far away from their destinations to provide any new perspectives. The earliest she could expect data would be from the probe heading to Gatamin, six hours away; the latest, from the probe aimed at Kukumat and Murukan, the jovian pair, at over twenty hours.
Determined not to let frustration get the better of her—there was, after all, nothing she could do to change the speed of light—she tried instead to focus her thoughts on what she did know about Palasian System.
First of all, the COE Intelligence data appeared to be accurate so far. There had been a battle of some sort that had cost the Armada at least a refueling base.
Second, the system was suspiciously silent, apart from one unintelligible signal emanating from near the major port around Jagabis and another whose source was in hiding.
Third, the sun had been transformed into a cosmic hypershield generator by a weapon used only once before, over a thousand years ago. The last government known to have had access to the sole remaining Asha’s Gauntlet prototype was the Kesh.
Fourth, Maii’s mind-riding abilities had been negated by a mysterious “smothering” effect.
Fifth, the system had been cordoned off on the outside by three Armada vessels acting under direct orders from General Ramage, commander in chief of the COE Armada.
And that was all. Roche was fairly confident that the Sol Wunderkind was trapped in the system, but beyond that she didn’t want to speculate too far. It was tempting to write off the epsense-dampening phenomenon as another of his extraordinary talents, but that seemed unlikely. Apart from the occasional suggestion from Maii that Cane possessed a strong but latent epsense ability, there was no indication that he possessed any such talents. Nevertheless, Roche was wary of closing off any avenues of exploration too early. Not while the matters of
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