Chapter One

Monday, July 19th, 2266

08:30 EST

Sector 1305, The Rim

Taggart worked slowly and carefully over the fine relief carving on his desk, carefully brushing and scraping the dirt and rock from the meticulously carved surface of one of his most recent finds. His tools were spread out all over his desk, but none were out of his reach. The dirt and grit covered his hands and coated the tray over which he worked and as he cleaned he whistled softly to himself. The ruins that they had found on the last planet they surveyed were incredible, and Taggart would be content to sit here cleaning and studding them for the rest of the voyage.

The intercom light awoke just before the hollow sounding voice of Clark, the communications officer, spilled out of it.

"Mr. Taggart, Captain Ward would like you on the bridge."

"Fine, in a moment," Taggart replied in an irritated tone.

"He was adamant about you being up here quickly, sir."

Taggart placed his work down, picked up a towel to wipe away the dirt from his hands, and glared at the intercom for a moment. It was just his luck that as soon as he had sat down to really start working, something would go wrong. He stood and started toward the door. It whisked open at his approach, and the intercom light at his desk blinked out.

Taggart shifted about in the gravity lock, placing the Velcro slippers over his shoes. The light above the indicator went out and he began to float in response to his motions. The outer door opened and Taggart launched himself down the hall, passing by other technicians and staff. When it came time to turn, he dragged his feet over the floor, letting the Velcro hooks on his feet catch in the loops that were attached to the floor. He darted through the hallways expertly, and took the lifts to the command deck, where he entered another gravity lock. Once he was standing on the floor, in inner doors opened and he stepped onto the bridge of the Lucent, Interplanetary Expedition's newest and most advanced deep space / new technologies acquisition ship. She was enormous, over two hundred and fifty meters long and a hundred wide, with her own shuttle bay, two complete Isolabs that were connected to the main hull by several umbilicals and a support structure that could be severed in less than a second in the event of a containment breach. She had isolated artificial gravity for the command areas, laboratories and crew quarters. With her next upgrade she would have artificial gravity all over. Taggart was proud to be the executive officer of such a ship; his only complaint was Captain Ward.

"Took you long enough, Taggart." Ward said gruffly.

"I was in Isolab Two, it's a long way to go."

"Whatever. What the hell were doing back there anyway? Thought you were an officer on this ship," Ward growled, swiveling around in his chair in the center of the hub. His uniform was starched as always, and his graying hair was trimmed short.

Taggart sighed inwardly. It was always the same with Ward, an ex-EarthForce Captain selected to be the commanding officer because of his experience commanding starships in deep space, and little else.

"I was doing my job. I'm a xeno-archaeologist as I have told you many, many times. I'm not even on duty right now. I came up here as a courtesy, so if you're done playing 'I'm the Captain' now could you please tell me why I was called up here."

Ward had this argument with Taggart a hundred times, and before this voyage was over he was sure they'd have it a hundred more. Ward growled, stood up from the captain's chair and motioned Taggart over to the sensor station. They stood behind the scanning tech, Ramirez, and Ward whispered into Taggart's ear, "Don't think that just because this isn't EarthForce that I can't discipline you. This is still a ship in space and I'm still the captain, so step lively, Commander."

"Yes sir," Taggart acknowledged sarcastically. "What's the problem?"

Ramirez kept his eyes on his console, and delivered his report.

"We are currently on approach to system 8715 EK, in an uncharted section of the Rim. We are moving through normal space due to a lack of hyperspace beacons in the area. We will deploy a temporary one when we reach the appropriate coordinates."

Taggart looked at Ward. The grizzled captain kept his fierce blue eyes trained on the console. Ramirez continued.

"While doing our preliminary long range energy signature scan on the system, we picked something up within the orbit of the outermost planet. At the time we thought it might have been intra-planetary spacecraft, but as we got closer we amended our theory. We hit enhanced visual range about twenty minutes ago, and saw this."

Ramirez flipped on the main scanner and the enhancing computer, and sent the result to the bridge display. Taggart looked at it and took a step forward.

It appeared to be normal space, but it was littered with debris. Some of the larger pieces were clearly the remnants of starships, but they did not look like anything Taggart had seen. Making a quick count, Taggart estimated that there must be over one hundred ships here, all sizes. Two distinct styles were present, neither looked friendly.

"A battle?" Taggart asked. "Do we know when this happened?"

Ward strode over to his chair and sat stiffly into it. "The energy spikes Ramirez detected are probably the last of the automated systems on board some of the ships. The last one died about three hours ago. All scans now are negative, except for some residual thermal signatures. Probably fires within some of those ships. It's not likely that there are hostiles in the area, this battle is days old."

"We should let IPX know, anyway."

"We will. Our objective is to chart this system and examine it for new technologies. I am seeking your agreement to proceed with that objective."

Taggart looked back at the screen to see the broken vessels floating in space. A chill ran down his back as one of the bigger brown hulks drifted closer. He shook the feeling of nervousness and turned back to Ward. He nodded once and Ward returned the gesture.

"Carter," Ward said to the navigator, "plot a course to bring us by the scene of that battle, and tell engineering to get the HS beacon ready to go. We're gonna leave it here before we go in."

"Aye sir, course plotted. Upon deployment of the beacon our estimated time of intercept with unknown vessels, five hours forty-three minutes."

Taggart walked to his station, just below and behind the captain's chair and console. He punched up the external scanners and went over all of the available data, but was left feeling just as unnerved. There did not appear to be any life forms, but they couldn't be very sure until they were much closer. He opened a channel to the IPX Theta-20 signal booster in hyperspace, but until the new beacon they were about to deploy was installed, the signal would still have to travel to Theta-20 before it could be accelerated. Taggart estimated that by the time IPX received his message, the Lucent would have been at the battle site for about an hour. He leaned back in his chair and watched the alien ships in his console drift and bounce into one another.

The ship was on full alert as it crept close enough for the more delicate sensors to begin probing the wreckage of the ships. Taggart chewed his fingernails mercilessly as the ship drew within three hundred meters of the outermost wreckage. The sensor array had been fully extended from the nose of the Lucent, exposing the most sensitive instruments, as the crew searched for some clue, or someone left alive.

Lieutenant Tsergov, the EarthForce observer, had been awakened and brought to the bridge only around an hour ago, much too late to warn the military and possibly deny the ship permission to explore the site. The shouting match that he and Captain Ward shared was tremendous, but pointless. Ward dismissed Tsergov's complaints and worries with his catch all reply. "On this ship, I'm the captain and what I say goes." Tsergov now paced around the hub glaring at each new report that came through, his blonde hair only slightly disheveled after the verbal melee, and his Earth Alliance uniform was immaculate.

The initial reports indicated that the ships involved were powerful, very powerful. The hulls seemed to be partly organic, and looked to be incredibly resistant to damage. The offensive capabilities of the crafts also seemed very advanced, judging by the condition of the dead ships.

Ramirez called Lt. Tsergov to his station and the two of them began comparing notes. Captain Ward demanded a description of the system. Taggart punched up the reports from their instrument surveys.

"There are three visible planets, all without atmospheres. An asteroid cloud of sufficient density and composition to block our sensors exists further in. Gravitational tugs on the rocks suggest there may be planets within the cloud, and the existence of the cloud probably means that there are either some serious gravitational fluctuations going on inside of the cloud, or that there is some property of the rocks that make up the cloud that keeps them in that formation. To find out we'd need to cross our fingers and send a probe, or we'd have to send a manned shuttle."

"Captain," Tsergov interrupted, and motioned for Ward to join him at one of the scanning stations, "we have a situation. I have identified the nature of the majority of these vessels. Their configuration is consistent with Drakh Raiders, Shuttles, Cruisers and we believe that the main bulk of the wreckage in this sector," he had a portion of the map highlighted, "is the remnants of a Drakh Carrier. The other vessels are a mystery. In the condition that they are, I have no way of knowing what their original configuration may have been, but preliminary hull composition reports would lead me to believe that the hulls of the ships are very alien in design. Like nothing I've come across."

"Can we assume that these unidentified vessels are the ones who destroyed the Drakh fleet?" Captain Ward asked.

"That is my assumption."

"And we have no way of knowing what the hell they were?"

"I can try asking Babylon 5 or the ISA if they have anything similar on record. B-5 has had more contact with alien ships than any other Earth Alliance facility, and the ISA by nature would be…" Ramirez was cut off by the captain.

"But if we go asking questions, they're going to want to know why."

"Perhaps, but my recommendation is still that this be reported to Earth Dome immediately, and that the Lucent withdraw until the area has been properly secured," said Tsergov stiffly.

"I'm aware of your recommendations, Lieutenant. We won't be here long enough to get into trouble." Captain Ward returned to his chair. "Reconfigure the sensors to let us know of any power surges or incoming transmissions or vessels, and move us closer to the center of the wreckage. I want to have a good look at this junk to see if there's something we can salvage."

"Captain," Taggart broke in, "I think we should wait here for confirmation from IPX. We may not have the authority to investigate something like this." Taggart looked toward Tsergov who nodded his support.

"Negative Mr. Taggart. If we are going to poke around we need to do it now. If something important was left behind, then someone is going to come looking for it. If that is the case, then I want to be gone with the goodies before they get here. Carry on Carter."

Taggart went back to his console and began doing extensive life form tests. His scanners revealed plenty of bodies, all of which he assumed were Drakh, but none were alive. On several occasions, the Lucent had to maneuver around a large piece of wreckage, and there were a couple of false alarms as debris was mistaken for inbound vessels, but there was little else to do except catalogue and search the remnants.

After a couple of hours in the debris field, the Lucent received a communication from IPX from the new hyperspace signal booster attached to the navigation beacon they had deployed earlier. Clark put the message through to the captain's console, and Taggart read it over his shoulder, and checked the mission clock. The new nav beacon and booster shaved the communication time from six hours to one.

Lucent. Investigation of derelict vessels is approved as long as no clear danger is present to crew or IPX equipment. Authorization granted to attempt to acquire new technologies from derelict vessels.

Taggart stepped back and waited for Ward's "I told you so" but it didn't come. What he got was something much worse. The general quarters alarm sounded, and Ramirez's voice rose above it.

"Captain we have a new signal! An active power source just appeared. It's some kind of ship leaving the burning cruiser in sector 16. It could be a shuttle."

"Is it armed?" Taggart asked, leaping into his station.

"Unknown. It is on a heading taking it into the asteroid cloud."

"Can we intercept?" Ward asked.

Ramirez replied, "Not in the Lucent, maybe in a shuttle."

"Taggart!" the captain shouted.

"No life signs in the shuttle. She's empty and on autopilot," Taggart answered as he studied his sensor readings. "It may have launched automatically in response to the signal from IPX."

Ward stood and jogged over to the gravity lock at the back of the bridge. He punched the button and stepped in.

"Taggart you're in charge here. I'm taking our shuttle out to bring that vessel in. If we can catch it while it's still powered up we may be able to find out a lot more about these Drakh than we can from these burned out hulks." Ward raised his hands as Taggart stood up. "I'm taking a few big strong techs with me, so don't worry," he said in response to Taggart's interrupted protest.

Tsergov ran over and joined Captain Ward in the gravity lock as the door slid closed.

Taggart jumped into the command chair and gave Carter the order to rotate the ship to expose the shuttle bay to the fleeing Drakh craft, and to send the Lucent into a drift to keep the fleeing shuttle in sight. Two minutes later a Kestrel shuttle bolted from the Lucent and flew after its target. Taggart knew better than to expect his protest to affect Captain Ward's decision. There was no way that he would have listened. Ward preferred action to caution, and sooner or later that preference would leave Taggart in charge of the Lucent permanently.

Captain Ward handled the shuttle well, darting in and out of the flying wreckage of the Drakh and alien vessels, while always keeping his quarry in sight. The other shuttle was quick, and seemed to have a gravitic design, making it much more maneuverable than the Kestrel shuttle that Ward piloted, and even though he lost ground in places where tight maneuvering was required, the captain gained it back when he could punch the engines to full power.

"It's weird looking all right. Kinda looks like a flying onion."

"Appearances aside, it's very advanced. I'm reading a very high energy output for so small a craft, and it is maneuvering without thrusters or any other kind of expellant propulsion." Tsergov commented as he tried to stay focused on his console. His knuckles were white with tension as he bounced around in his seat and against his harness. "Two minutes to contact with the asteroid cloud. We will not intercept before our target gains the field."

"Then we'll go in after it." Ward said simply.

Tsergov closed his eyes and did his best to keep his dinner down. The shuttle broke free of the debris from the battle, and Captain Ward opened the throttle on the engines and tickled the afterburners for a moment to further increase the speed. Despite this, the other shuttle slipped into the asteroid field about forty seconds before Ward. His speed reduced to almost nothing because of the density of the field, Ward flipped on all of his instruments to aid in navigation.

Tsergov attempted to report to the Lucent, but there was only static on all of the communication channels. He mentioned this to Captain Ward who simply grunted and continued to press deeper into the field. After three minutes of near misses and an occasional glancing blow, the shuttle emerged from the asteroid shell on the inside, and resumed a full burn pursuit of the other shuttle, now only about a minute ahead of their position.

"Captain Ward, we should attempt to discover why we can't raise the Lucent. They may attempt some kind of rescue, believing us damaged or destroyed because they cannot hear us, and risk losing the other shuttle."

"We'll be fine Lieutenant. We've almost got her."

"Sir, I must state for the record that I find this behavior inexcus…..oh no," Tsergov said, his confrontational and argumentative tone evaporating to one of concern verging on panic. "Captain Ward I'm showing active signals all around us, and the alien shuttle is transmitting."

"Transmitting?! Who the hell is it talking to?!"

As Captain Ward asked his question, an immense vessel flew across the path of the shuttle, dwarfing and shaking it with its passing.

"Oh hell," Captain Ward muttered.