The Lonely Sun

A soft chiming interrupted the sleep of Donald George Stuart. With a muttered curse he reached over to the panel next to his bunk and slapped at a switch. With the previous weeks of practice of doing so he hit the switch dead on. Unfortunately the chiming continued. It was not his alarm. Sitting up in his bunk he blinked the sleep back from his eyes and dreams until he realized that the chiming was the ship’s onboard AI enhanced computer system requesting his attention. If he did not respond the chiming would continue with the volume increasing until he did respond. “Alright, Athena I’m awake. Is this something that can wait for a few minutes?” he asked into the room knowing that Athena would hear him. “This can wait for a few minutes, Commander. Please come to the bridge at your convenience.” A soft feminine voice responded. “Thank you, Athena, I’ll be up shortly.” “Acknowledged Commander.” The nebulous voice answered. Stuart shook his head slightly as he crawled out of his bunk. Here he was at the edge of the Sagittarius arm of the galaxy and the only companion that he had was the AI, Athena. The voice of the AI had been programmed to be that of a polite young woman. It damn near drove him nuts to hear that voice and not have a face to put to it. So, like a century of deep space solo explorers before him he had created a vision in his mind of what his AI “looked” like. In his mind Athena was a petite woman, blond hair flowing down her back and pacific blue eyes, a small scattering of freckles across her nose and slight dimples in her cheeks. She had a gymnasts’ frame with a small waist and long muscular legs. Stuart quickly dressed and left his cabin and headed for the ships small informal mess room. Once there he proceeded to order up a large breakfast of eggs, hash browns, toast and coffee. When the dispenser opened he saw a glass of orange juice had been added to his breakfast tray. Athena was making sure he had a well-balanced meal. Just a part of her programming. Stuart stepped onto the bridge a few minutes later and proceeded to seat himself into the command chair. His eyes briefly examined the readouts on the command console to see if anything was amiss and he determined that all was well. “OK, Athena, I’m awake fed and here, what’s the story?” “I have located something unusual Commander. With your permission I will display it on the main screen.” Athena answered him, her “voice” coming from a speaker behind him and to his right. Exactly where the science station on the bridge was located. Athena would project her “voice” from whatever station on the bridge she deemed was the proper station for whatever type of response was necessary. The bridge was a large rectangular affair with work stations set into the port and starboard sides and the command chair with its command console located in the center of the bridge. At the front of the bridge was a large view screen. To the rear of the bridge were the elevator, a small bathroom for on duty personnel and the Captain’s Office. “What exactly have you found?” Stuart asked. “I have located a star system that is not listed in our star charts.” “Really? That doesn’t seem strange. After all we’re out here to map this sector of space. What makes this system so special that you felt it was necessary to wake me up early for it?” “Its location, Commander. May I put it on the main view screen?” “Sure, let’s see it” The main view screen changed from a simple star field to an image of a single star surrounded by blackness. “Athena, I see one star, and a not very impressive star at that.” “As I said Commander, its location is unique.” “Fine. Where is this star located that makes it unique?” “The star is located 87 light years beyond the outer edge of the Sagittarius arm, 77 degrees above the galactic plane.” Athena answered. She continued, “It has not been detected before in part due to its location above the galactic plane and also due to the cosmic dust that obscures objects outside of the galaxy. “Had we not been traveling outside of the galactic edge mapping the outer systems, we would not have detected the star.” “OK, so this star is above and beyond so to speak. Do you have any other information about it?” Stuart replied to Athena. He was not particularly impressed. “It is a G type star. I would like permission to send a hyper speed probe to the star to gather further information. I have detected the usual wobble in the star indicating planets are present.” “Planets huh? OK, Athena, go ahead and launch the probe. Let’s see if that sun has any Earth type planets. Probably all gas giants, but you never know.” Stuart knew that due to its location above the galactic plane the star was in a unique position. The Federation could use such a hidden system in its ongoing war with the Vegan Empire. A system located outside of the galaxy above the galactic plane could be used to conduct research or hide a colony in case the war should suddenly go against the Federation. The Vegan Empire and the Terran Federation had been at war for over a hundred years, neither side able to gain an advantage over the other. No one knew what the Vegan’s called themselves, they were the Vegan’s simply because they were first encountered in the Vega system. We only know what they look like from far off photos that have been heavily enhanced by computer programs. They are wormlike in form, with artificial arms, hands, and fingers. Even after a century of warfare, no one knew how or where they got those artificial appendages. It is theorized by some that there is another race that we have not seen that is either enslaved or symbiotic to the Vegan’s that construct and attach the appendages. We do know that they favor implosion weapons. Their implosion weapons do not go boom!, they go Fwoomp! Whatever they target collapses inward on itself instead of exploding outward. The first starship to encounter the Vegan’s was the Sisu. She was a Federation heavy cruiser mapping the Vega system. She had been in the system for three days when the Vegan ship appeared. For twelve hours the Sisu attempted communication with the Vegan ship. The Vegan ship finally answered with an implosion cannon aimed at the Sisu’s main engines. With the loss of their engines, the Sisu could not run, but she could still fight. Captain Roth returned fire. The beam weapons of the Sisu were not powerful enough to penetrate the Vegan shields. The Vegans quickly imploded much of the Sisu. After the Sisu was effectively rendered inert the Vegans boarded her. They took a few prisoners and killed everyone else. Then they left. By losing that one battle, the Terran Federation was spared. Had the Sisu won that battle, an entire Vegan fleet would have scoured the entire sector until Earth was located and annihilated. By losing the battle that day, the Vegans determined that there was nothing in this part of the galaxy that threatened them so they turned their fleets to their other enemy, the Hrosions. Little is known of the Hrosions except for two facts, they are reptilian and they have been fighting the Vegans for at least two hundred years. There is a third thing we do know about the Hrosions, although it is kept secret from the general population, human flesh is a delicacy to them. “The probe is away, Commander.” Athena announced from the speakers at the helm station in front and to the left of Stuart. “What is the probe’s ETA?” Stuart asked. Athena answered from the helm station. “22 days, 13 hours and 45 minutes.” Stuart thought about it for a few seconds and then gave his next orders. “Alright, that gives us time to finish scanning this corner of the sector. Set course for the next system” “Course laid in for system H42.” “Set engines at cruising speed 4 and engage.”