Chapter 3

"Anya," Dar's voice came over the ship comm.

"Yes Dar?" Anya answered pensively.

"We have decided. You may bring the nav data we left in the galley to the bridge."

"Yes!!!" Anya said as she jumped up and danced a little circle. "Thank you all, you won't regret this!"

Without waiting for a reply, Anya made a dash for the galley. Everything was still sitting where they left it. She grabbed the box with the data stick in it and headed for the galley.

The lock cycled automatically as she approached, which was something new, and had her grinning even wider than she already was. She stepped onto the bridge and saw Pete and Ross standing just inside. She grabbed Ross for a hug, thanking him as she did. She followed that with a hug for Pete. The hug was longer and the thank you was softer. Pete smiled down at her when she stepped back.

"Where are Dar and Kat?" she asked, looking around. Dar must be in the pilot's chair that was turned away from her. "Dar? Turn around so I can see you. It can't be that bad."

"Welcome, Anya," Dar said as he turned in the chair.

"Oh my!" Anya said as she saw him for the first time. "What are you?"

"I am a Sondag," Dar said with his toothy grin. "Welcome to our little band."

"Thank you," Anya said still a little shocked at the alien's appearance. "Where's Kat?"

"I am here," her voice came as always. "Kat is short for Catamount."

"You're the ship?" Anya breathed the question.

"I am the ship's artificial intelligence," Kat explained. "But essentially, the ship and I are one."

This ship, originally called the 'Kadamon', and I," Dar explained. "Are not from this sector of space."

"I didn't think so," Anya said, still sounding flabbergasted. "How did you get here?"

Through the Volmon rift, it is called in Sondag space," Dar said. "Ross and Pete have explained that this end of the rift has no name, and is merely marked on your charts as a hazard to navigation."

"You survived going through a wormhole?" Anya's incredulity grew. "That's impossible!"

"Not at all," Dar said with some pride. "My people use them as transit points almost routinely."

"So how did you end up here then?"

"We were at war, the Sondag, against the Komurta Alliance. The call had come to abort our mission, and we did so, but had suffered considerable damage," Kat explained.

"As the remains of the fleet limped towards the transition point, the Sionnex launched their final attack. I doubt that any of the capital ships survived at all," Dar added with a sigh. "I barely survived, and the rest of my crew did not. The Kadamon lost both drive engines and was dead in the water."

"We drifted into the rift's transition point at a speed of mere meters per second," Kat continued.

"When they exited the rift, their ship and our old mining craft intersected," Ross continued.

"Violently," Pete added. "They hit our reactor and drive unit."

"As those things tend to, ours went boom!" Ross said.

"If we hadn't been shielded by the bulk of Dar's ship when the reactor went critical, we'd have been dead right then and there." Pete said somberly. "As it was, when we woke up from the little nap the collision had caused, we were powerless and adrift in the rift. We had nothing but maneuvering thrusters."

"They had no way to get to safety, and no idea still that we existed," Kat added. "So they just did what they could."

"We found their ship of course," Ross picked up from there. "And it wasn't like anything we'd ever seen before."

"And huge!" Pete added. "Don't forget, it was huge."

Between the four of them, they gave Anya the rest of the story, all the way up to their first meeting with her.

"Wow, so we've got a ship that's probably a match for anything the Keeler space force could send against us. We've got a ship that's bigger than almost anything except commercial transports, and unlike them, it can go surface to orbit and back again anytime it wants. The pilot is an alien from a warlike species nobody has heard of, and the ship has an AI co-pilot better than any battle computer the military could even dream of. Is that about right?"

"That's pretty accurate," Ross agreed. Pete was nodding, as was Dar.

"Don't forget the stasis chambers, the med bay and the marine combat suits," Kat added.

"That's right," Pete said. "Speaking of which, you need to spend some time in the med unit as soon as possible. That thing is impressive, and if you hope to wear a set of that battle armor, you'll need to let it tinker with things a bit."

"Tinker?" Anya's gape was back.

"Minor improvements that allow you to interface with the suit's systems more completely," Kat told her. "Without them, you would have to settle for standard ship suits, which offer only limited protection."

"Trust us, you'll want this," Pete said. "Ross and I had been suffering from a host of problems that the med unit was able to fix. Some of them were mere annoyances, but others were more serious."

"How long does it take?"

"Ahh, that depends on what is found, but normal regeneration takes only a few days. If there are health issues, it could take longer."

"Took almost two weeks for us," Ross laughed. "But don't forget, we were also suffering from almost being killed by the ship."

"Why don't you let me look at the nav data now. Perhaps that knowledge will help us in deciding what to do next," Kat reminded them of the data stick Anya still held.

"Oh! Yes, of course!" she handed the stick to Pete, who inserted it into the recently crafted navcom interface that had replaced the jury-rigged system they'd originally grafted onto the Catamount.

"Examining media," Kat said. "Media seems to be intact and functional. Ahh ... extracting nav data."

The ship's forward holo display shimmered into existence, and on it, the semi-familiar features of the Keeler system began to resolve itself.

"Analyzing..." Kat said. There followed a long pause, then the display began to cycle through several new views as well as another couple of mostly familiar ones.

"This flight data has to precede your great grandfather by a few years, I'd say," Pete said an hour later. "It could even be data from the original exploration flights to Keeler."

"There's transit data here starting from Asgard," Ross added. Pete gave him an annoyed look, like he'd just stolen his next line.

"That's right, and the transit ends up in a completely different quadrant of Keeler space than the normal one. Nav plots to the inner belt begin where that transit ends."

"So we have to go to Asgard first then?" Anya asked.

"It would appear so," Kat confirmed.

"Oh goody!" Dar said. "We can get more vanilla!"

"Transit to Asgard from here is going to take most of five days, so you might as well get into a med unit and get started," Pete said, sitting down in the navigator's chair. "Dar, will you show Anya where she can stow those valuables safely?"

"Sure, it'll be nice to get to show someone around again."

"Lucir control, this is Catamount, requesting departure clearance and nav data for departure to the Asgard transit point," Pete called.

"Catamount, this is Lucir control. We have a five minute hold for incoming traffic, please hold until then," Came the bored voice of the asteroid's traffic controller. "Flashing you nav data now."

"Data received, holding." Peter replied. "Kat, keep an eyeball peeled for anything funny."

"Affirmative," the ship replied.

"This is the ship's safe," Dar told Anya as he opened what had appeared to be a seamless section of the inner hull's bulwark. A large, well lit room four by ten feet opened up. "You won't be able to activate one of these for yourself until you're out of the med unit, but if you'd be willing to use mine for the time being?"

"Sure," Anya said, placing the bag of gems and the necklace within the deep tray that had slid out as Dar gestured. The larger opening closed behind them and they were soon in the med bay. Dar activated one of the units, opening it so that Anya could see the nicely padded couch that lay within.

"You will have to remove all clothing before you get in of course," Dar said.

"Oh!" Anya said, embarrassed. "Will Pete and Ross be able to see me while I'm in it?"

"Is that a concern?" Dar asked. "The covering can be opaqued if there are concerns."

"Yes, I would prefer that," Anya laughed as she began stripping. "I am an unmarried female and they are unmarried males. My nudity would be inappropriate for them to see."

"Ahh, some sort of sexual taboo then?"

"Yes, amongst other things,"

"No problem then," Dar laughed as well. "We Sondag are a little less concerned about sexual things, but there are certain taboos between class and caste that would be similar. Kat, be sure to keep the shell opaqued on this unit whenever Pete or Ross are around."

"Affirmed," Kat told them.

"Enjoy your nap," Dar said as the cover came down over her, followed by a hissing sound, a swirling mist, then darkness.

"Anya," Dar's voice came to her in the mists.

"Anya, how are you feeling?"

"Fine, fine," she said. "Oh, I had the funniest dream!"

Dar's watched her eyes open finally and after the usual post-stasis moment of trouble focusing, lock on him. The eyes widened immediately.

"Feeling okay?" he asked.

"Oh! It wasn't a dream then?"

"Which part?" he said with a grin, forgetting how many sharp teeth showed when he grinned. Anya cringed. "Oh, sorry. I tend to forget what my grin does to you people. Ross and Pete are pretty much past that reaction."

"So you and Kat?"

"Are not a dream, Anya," Kat's voice answered. "How do you feel? This is not a social question."

"Oh!" Anya sat up, flexing her torso and wriggling her feet and toes. "I feel fine."

"Good. The regen chamber had little in the way of health problems to report, and everything else went smoothly," Kat reported. "your enhancements and the tactical implants are performing flawlessly. You should be able to begin using them by this time tomorrow."

"Okay," Anya said, her most recent memories still replaying in her head. "So where are we?"

"We docked at Asgard Trans-commercial about an hour ago." Dar said. "Pete is out shopping and Ross is out seeing about a new contract."

"Aren't we going to be heading back to Keeler space as soon as we're ready?"

"Of course," Dar said. "But this is their normal behavior in port, so they are sticking to it. To do otherwise might raise questions, and apparently the group within which such questions would arise are either a dangerous or officious bunch."

"From their descriptions, the officious are just as bad, if not worse than the dangerous," Kat added dryly.

So, what should I be doing?" Anya asked.

"Well, getting dressed would probably be in order. You may want your own undergarments, but there's a full envirosuit on the chair by the chromalyser." Dar said.

"The what?"

"Oh, sorry," Dar laughed. "There, on that chair."

"Ah, these seem soft enough," Anya said, rubbing the material of the smaller pieces between her fingers. Their placement was functional and obvious, and she started to slip them on, then stopped as her stomach grumbled.

"Ahh ... you said Pete and Ross were both away from the ship?"

"That's correct," Kat answered.

"Then I'd better just take these with me," she said, scooping the pile up in her arms as she dashed for the cabin and it's sanitation facilities.

"Approaching Asgard Transit point in ten seconds," Kat announced.

"Tell me again how we're going to keep Asgard Transit Control from capturing our transit data?" Anya asked.

"We're going to disappear from their screens," Pete said.

"Stealth mode engaged," Dar said, as if in concert with Pete's statement.

"Altering course and speed," Kat announced. It must have been a serious correction, as all of them felt a serious stirring in their gut as the inertial dampers sought to compensate. "New course parameters set," she followed with almost immediately.

"Transit – now!" Dar called.

"How long?" Anya asked once they had shifted.

"Three days, sixteen hours," Kat told them.

That's more than a day and a half faster than the standard transit!" Anya exclaimed.

"It is indeed," Ross said with a snicker. "Great grandpa Keeler must have been keeping this one in the family, and not just any old family members, either."

"True enough, I wonder if this is something else we can ransom to your grandfather once we're done with it," Dar suggested.

"Hmm. Might be worth more than that bit of family jewelry, in the long run," Ross thought out loud.

"Probably," Anya said, thinking herself. "It might also be the best way to buy our way back into the good graces of whatever branch of the family comes into power after him."

"You think that's likely to happen?"

"Well, we've probably got a few years, but it'll happen. My grandfather is not well liked within the family or without, and his assumption of power was clumsy. I may be in a minor branch of the family, but there's a direct blood connection between me and great grandfather Lloyd the seventh. I may not have any chance at power, but it means I'll have a voice, and unless something drastic happens, I'll have no trouble getting news from home."

"So, what do we have to keep us occupied for three days?"

"Ughh!" Anya grunted.

"Why do you do that?" Pete asked as he crouched above her. "you're not feeling any of the impact, thanks to the battle armor."

"I know," Anya said, angrily. "Its psychological. I expect it to hurt and I make noise."

"I know," Pete laughed. "I was just teasing you, sorry."

"No, it's okay. I'm mad at myself, not at you."

"C'mon you two," Ross said from above them. "We've had enough for one day anyway."

"What's for lunch Dar?" Pete said as the were leaving the cargo bay that they'd been using as a training chamber.

"I've made roast beef sandwiches and potato chowder," Dar's voice answered through Catamount's comm net. "There's sliced peaches to go with it."

"Sounds good," Ross said.

"Who would have thought that Dar would become such a good cook?" Pete asked the other two as they walked towards the galley.

"Well you two have known him longer than I have," Anya laughed. "But there certainly doesn't seem to be much difference between human and Sondag taste buds."

"I suspect the Sondag were too completely and permanently on a military footing. Dar's had nothing but utilitarian military meals his whole life."

"It does explain his enthusiasm for the food, but I'm more curious about his cooking skills. He's already a better cook than I am!" Pete said.

"Well that's not saying much," Ross laughed. "Still, I know what you mean. I guess there's something about the process. He likes to read recipes."

The three of them were still laughing as they entered the galley.

"You all sound like you're in a good mood," Dar said from where he was stirring a pot on one of the galley's cooking surfaces.

"A happy crew is always a good sign," Kat added.

"We are happy," Anya said. "But we'll be happier when we're sitting at the edges of Keeler space, with no signs of Keeler patrol ships in the vicinity."

"We should be out of transit in about forty five minutes," Kat told them. "So eat up, and you might want to consider getting back in your battle suits for the transition."

"That would be advisable," Dar confirmed. "I'll need to be on the bridge in the pilot's pod. You three should be armored up and in crash seats."

"This is standard operating procedure for any new transit," Kat clarified.

"Sounds like we'd better get to eating and let you get up to the bridge," Pete said. "We can dish ourselves up if you're in a hurry."

"Oh no," Dar insisted. "I've got time to serve up, and I'm having half a sandwich and a cup of the chowder myself."

"Only half? What's wrong with it?" Ross teased.

"Nothing, of course, but I have already had half a sandwich while I've been finishing the soup, and I have had a few spoonfuls of the chowder while I've been adjusting the seasoning."

that had them all laughing, with Kat cheerfully joining in. Happy crew indeed!

An hour later, it was a quieter crew that gathered in the bridge following a quiet and almost unnoticed transition.

"This is where we're at," Dar pointed at the small blue blip on the screen, showing the familiar layout of the Keeler system. The four flesh and blood crew members regarded their situation. "We're about as far from both Lucir and Niveum as its possible to be, as far as in-system traffic is concerned."

"Here is the course we're supposed to follow," Kat said, a series of yellow nav points blinked into existence as data began scrolling by alongside it containing the actual course vectors and change information.

"When can we go?" Anya asked.

"Immediately, if you want," Dar said. "We're capable of higher speeds than the original data was designed to support, and Kat and I spent some time trying to confirm if that needs to be factored in."

"We can use our best speed the first two legs, but once we're approaching the inner belt we'll have to hold to the plotted course and speeds much more precisely," Kat continued. "We're cutting the first inward leg in half, time wise. We'll be going in fast, and with our stealth field active. Even if we run into something, they're not likely to see us before we see them."

"Wake me up in when we're ready for the next leg then," Pete said. "I'm ready for a nap."

"Probably a good idea," Ross agreed. "Who knows how busy we're going to be when we get to the inner belt."

"I don't know if I can sleep!" Anya said. "This is too exciting."

"I'd advise you at least try," Dar told her, shaking his head. "A Sondag Space Marine has implants that you do not, and special conditioning that together, lets him or her sleep almost at will. Even though I was only the pilot of their combat transport, I respected their ability to fight under any conditions. They are the Sondag ideal. I can only offer their example as advice. That is what they would be doing at this time, if this were their mission."

"Okay, you're the expert," Anya laughed. "I'll try."

"How do you feel about this?" Kat asked Dar while everyone else was napping.

"I worry about the age of the data we're relying on," Dar sighed.

"What about Pete and Ross?"

"They'll be fine. They're not the Marines that I was used to, but they're levelheaded, used to making quick decisions, and familiar enough by now with the battle armor that they should be able to stand up to just about anything they might have to deal with."

"That leaves Anya," Kat added after a moment's silence.

"I expect we're going to be glad to have her as crew, once she's gotten some time to get familiar with us and what we can do."

"She could be a liability to Pete and Ross while the three of them are EVA in the inner belt."

"She could be," Dar admitted. "She could also be a surprise asset. "Who knows how important any little piece of Keeler knowledge could be once they're getting close to finding whatever it is that her great grandfather left there?"

"I worry that we don't understand these humans well enough yet to judge how they will react."

"I know. Having a female amongst them is sure to complicate things, as it would with the Sondag, but sometimes that complication results in the team being better than they were, not worse. The question is whether they've had enough time around each other."

"I am also concerned that we could be seen as meddling yet again in a system's politics," Kat pointed out. "We've already done so on Meier's world."

"True enough," Dar admitted. "But we already know, based on what you've been able to glean from the human's data net, that we can outgun anything up to half again our size that the humans have, and outrun the things we can't outgun. Given time and sufficient materials, we can build bigger and better tools as well."

"Time and materials could be hard to come by if we're constantly on the run."

"True once again, but Pete and Ross don't seem to think that this is likely, nor does Anya seem too concerned about Keeler family reprisals."

"Dar that could just be due to her age and inexperience."

"No, about everything else I would be concerned, but she has demonstrated an awareness of the family dynamics associated with Keeler politics. I am willing to trust her instincts on that front."

"Are you confident that we'll find something that she brings to the team, beyond whatever Keller wealth they might discover?"

"She has contacts that could be valuable, and she was a purchasing agent for a very large industrial outfitter on Asgard. The purchasing experience itself may prove invaluable if we decide to start trying to make and sell Sondag technology in human space."

"We've both spent a lot of time trying to learn as much about humans and the social and political positions of their various societies. If we were still in Sondag space, we would be reporting back to our superiors, and they would be making plans for the conquest of these people. You and I and this ship are in no position to do that here."

"To be honest Kat, I have never been the most militant of Sondag. I had my fill of battle with our defeat in the Sionnex system. You were once, and remain at your core, a Sondag Battle Intelligence. You may feel differently."

"I should," Kat said. "It surprises me that I do not. Much of my current condition surprises me. I do not behave as a ship's keruden should. I feel much less constraint than my memories tell me should exist."

"I agree with your self-assessment. You behave more like one of the fleet's medical intelligences than you do a battle computer," Dar shrugged his shoulders, a human habit he'd picked up quickly, and laughed as he caught himself doing so. "We are in a situation that has no precedent, for Sondag or Human space. We are fortunate to have found ourselves among beings who seem to at least offer some sense of emotional kinship. It could have been worse. Let us spend more time on this at some future time. For now, we are in a wait-and-see situation, so let us wait-and-see."

"Very well,"

"Course correction in five seconds," Kat called. "Four ... Three ... Two ... One."

The correction was minor, and Catamount was moving slowly in the asteroid field. The three humans were watching the bridge's video feed from the forward drop bay. They were sealed in their armor already, but still getting power and air from connections to the ship.

"Ahh, I think I may be seeing our destination on scan," Dar announced over the comm net. "There's a very large asteroid pinging at the edge of the navigation sensors."

"Evasive maneuver!" Kat called forcefully. This time Catamount's inertial dampers let a slight sense of motion through, but it was a momentary sensation. "Resuming course," Kat called out after a moment of quiet. "Next course correction in thirty seconds."

"Tell me again why I don't get a gun?" Anya's said over the suit comm.

"Because you haven't had enough training time with them," Pete reminded her.

"Oh yeah, well I still want the record to show that I think that eats vacuum!"

"Sorry Anya," Ross said. "You know Kat's the one you have to please on that, not us."

"Twenty seconds," Kat called out.

"Remember, Let Pete or I take all the risks. You're the brains on this mission and we're the brawn."

"This mission?" Anya tittered. The suit net was quiet for a second, then the sound of all three of them laughing broke out, causing Kat's "Ten seconds" to come through harshly and full of artificial fuzz.

"Okay, okay, let's calm down you three," Dar's voice came in, cutting them off.

"Five second," Kat announced. Everyone had just about got their breathing back to normal when the announcement came through from Dar.

"That was the next to last nav point, folks. The next one should have us dead in space next to our destination, which does appear to be the large asteroid I spotted earlier."

Ten minutes later they had come to a dead stop relative to the asteroid Dar had mentioned.

"384 kilometers in diameter," Dar called. "The surface is about what you'd expect, heavily pitted and irregular."

Nothing obvious at first glance," Anya said.

"No signs of man-made objects; no lights. Checking radio," Kat called out, then a moment later. "No radio broadcast sources found."

"How about dividing it into sections and assigning us each one? "Pete asked. We can each zoom in on a section and do a closer search."

"I'll give you all a quadrant to search, but I'll be doing a high speed search over the visible disk at the same time, at multiple resolutions. I'll probably finish the whole scan before any of your complete your quadrant."

"Since this thing is more or less spherical, and we're at rest respective to whatever rotation it has," Ross said. "Ahh, I assume that is a result of the nav data? Not any fine tuning by you or Dar?"

"That is correct," Kat replied.

"Then maybe we should just zoom in on the center of the visible disk. Maybe we're already dead on target and just haven't looked close enough yet?"

"Ross is correct," Kat said a moment later. Everyone's display zoomed in on what looked like a standard airlock set flush into a small and suspiciously smooth section of the surface.

"An airlock?" Pete laughed. "Really?"

"We're not likely to actually find air behind that," Dar said.

"Deep scans are inconclusive," Kat said. "There are too many heavy elements and transuranics. It is giving the scanners fits."

"That will also mean regular comm checks," Dar reminded them. "Every couple of minutes at least. We don't want to loose contact, but if we do, we need to know as soon as possible."

"Agreed," Pete said. "Okay, suit check everyone."

"Green," Ross called.

"Green," Anya added a moment later.

"Green," Pete finished. "Weapons check. Check charge and safety status."

"Full charge and safety on," Ross called.

"Full and on here as well. Disconnect ship air and power."

"Done."

"Done."

"Done."

"All right, just like we planned," Dar said. "Catamount will drop down to 50 meters above the surface and you'll exit through the combat lock. We'll wait until you give us an all clear from the surface and then we'll get back into our monitoring position."

"Remember to check for static," Kat added. "You should be fine, and the suits should safely discharge any potential charge. They've got emergency capacitors designed just for that."

"Shouldn't be a real problem with a body this big though," Dar finished. "All ready? Combat lock opening in three ... two ... one. Go!"

Catamount had rotated as she dropped so that the combat lock was above their goal. When it opened, the surface of the asteroid was visible to the three humans through the opening in the side of the ship. Pete jumped up first and grabbed the grip bar built into the face of it and used it to launch himself feet first through the open hatch. Anya followed and then Ross, in a practiced maneuver.

"Down," Pete called a few seconds later. Anya and Ross echoed the call almost immediately.

"Affirmative Resuming station," Kat said. The three of them waved at the rapidly dwindling ship.

"Okay folks," Pete said with a heavy breath. "Let's get a look at this air lock."

The microgravity environment on the asteroid's surface didn't really provide much traction for actual walking, so the battle armor's thrusters provided most of their movement.

"Well, the basic technology hasn't changed much in the last couple of hundred years," Ross said after a good look. "Still, this is a pretty old model, I'd say."

"I agree," Pete said. "No indicator lights, so it doesn't have power."

"Let me try the manual control," Ross said. He tapped his weapon against his hip, where it locked in place, freeing both his hands to grab the wheel of the manual door control. He gave it a good tug and almost spun himself around as he met no resistance.

"The wheel spins freely," he said dryly. He got his feet under him once again and grabbed the old manual handle and pulled. The air lock moved easily on its hinges.

Ross leaned over to shine his suit's chest light into the opening. "We've got a small chamber about eight meters on each side," He told the others. "The floor of the chamber looks to be about twenty meters below the surface."

"Anything else?" Dar asked.

"Nothing I can see from here, but I can't see the corners at all, and the suit light wasn't all that effective from up here."

"Okay, let's drop a line down there first," Pete said. "Then we go down one at a time."