Chapter 55: Nova

Someone nudged me awake. I was sitting awkwardly on the sofa, clutching an empty coffee cup. I must have fallen asleep waiting for breakfast.

Laine was sitting on one side of me. Jem and Mina stood nearby.

“Good morning, Brian. Have you been up long?” asked Jem.

“I don’t recall. I think my sleep cycle is out of sync,” I said.

“That can happen when you spend a few days on a planet. You will be back in sync soon enough,” replied Jem.

I stretched and got to my feet. Laine jumped up, and we wandered over to the food dispensers and ordered breakfast. We took our food to the table and sat together to eat.

“So now that Gober is far behind us, we can catch up on what happened,” said Jem.

“The Empress needed to marry either a royal or an entitled being. I was the first qualified candidate to arrive in over a century,” I said.

“You walked right into their trap,” said Laine.

“I did. They were praising me as if I were a celebrity. Then, before I knew it, I awoke in the Imperial Palace,” I said.

“We suspect they drugged you,” said Jem.

“They told me I had too much to drink. Either could be true, since I don’t normally drink alcoholic drinks,” I replied.

“New standing order, avoid alcoholic drinks while on away team missions, especially diplomatic ones,” said Jem.

“Agreed, Commodore,” I replied.

“You said you were the first qualified candidate to arrive in over a century?” asked Mina.

“Yes,” I replied.

“Then Gobers must have a longer lifespan. Did she look old?” she asked.

“No, she looked young. Interesting,” I said.

“While you were on the planet, someone tried to kill us,” said Jem.

“Yes, three times!” added Laine.

“Oh wow! They didn’t succeed though,” I replied.

“Their first attempt was to put explosives in our purchases. But we learned from our experience in Ori Major. We scanned everything,” said Jem.

“The container had a false bottom,” said Laine.

I nodded.

“Their second attempt was when we were shopping. A being walked up to me and fired their weapon at me,” said Jem.

“Let me guess, you wore your away team uniform?” I asked.

“Correct,” replied Jem with a grin.

“And the third attempt?” I asked.

“They attached an explosive device to the underside of the shuttle. I got help from their security forces to remove it,” said Jem.

“That is new. Ship, can you enhance the shuttle design with sensors to scan the exterior of the hull for attached devices?” I asked.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship.

“Add it to the pre-flight checklist when departing any airlock,” I said.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship.

“Commodore, how did you discover the device?” I asked.

“I learned from you to have a healthy dose of paranoia,” Jem said with a grin.

“Good! If you learned that from me, you will live longer,” I said.

“We loaded up on supplies. We won’t depend on the food dispensers for our meals,” said Mina.

“Excellent! Mina, when I was in the palace, they had many exotic gardens. The plants had exquisite fragrancies. I am sorry I couldn’t collect samples for you,” I said.

“You didn’t have time,” said Mina.

“Oh yes! I recall those fragrancies, when we rescued you!” exclaimed Laine.

“I will go through our new supplies. The fruits and vegetables might be suitable for growing seedlings from,” said Mina.

“Can I help you? We can check the spices too!” asked Laine with enthusiasm.

“Don’t work too hard for the next two days, these are designated rest days,” said Jem.

“Understood Commodore,” replied Mina.

After breakfast, I walked to the Lido. I picked the hammock under the trees in the corner and made myself comfortable.

Soon after, Jem arrived, wearing a revealing beach outfit. She looked at me and smiled. Did I take her favourite spot?

She dragged a lounger until it was partly under the shade of the trees.

“Nice outfit,” I commented.

“Thank you,” she replied.

I closed my eyes and half-dozed off in the warm air. I could hear the waves crashing on the beach in the distance.

A while later, Jem sighed.

I looked over at her, clueless.

“Can I get you something to drink?” I offered.

She smiled. “Yes, thank you. I’ll have a soda,” she replied.

I rolled out of the hammock and landed hard on my hands and knees on the ground. We still hadn’t figured out how to exit a hammock gracefully. I decided to put something soft on the ground below the hammock.

I went to the food dispenser and ordered two sodas. Then I moved a table, so it was within her reach and put her drink on it.

By now I’d had my fill of the hammock, so I pulled a chair up to the table. I sat and sipped on my soda. It tasted too sweet for me.

Jem picked up her drink and took a sip.

“What was the palace like?” asked Jem.

“My suite was large and comfortable. It opened out to the garden where you landed the shuttle. There were many gardens and paths,” I replied.

“It’s unfortunate we won’t be welcome there again. Mina would have loved to see the gardens,” said Jem.

I shrugged. “There will be other gardens and exotic plants,” I said.

I sipped on my soda.

“Commodore, we should warn Captain Bedu next time we meet him. Although he left before our troubles happened, the Gobers might consider him guilty by association,” I said.

“Yes. And we should warn Dentra. Both you and the Dentra ambassador said you were not representing Dentra, but it could harm relations between Gober and Dentra,” said Jem.

“Ship, please make a note that we need to inform Captain Bedu of the Asan and the Dentra government on what happened on Gober. Remind us when we can do so,” I said.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship.

We both sipped our sodas.

About two days later, I was napping in my cabin. I was enjoying a dream that I’d never left Tian Prime and lived a dull and uneventful life. I did my work and seldom interacted with others. It was an ideal life compared to the woes I had recently.

Then Ship disturbed my sleep.

“Attention Commander, the Commodore requests you meet her in the main bridge,” said Ship.

“On my way,” I replied.

When I arrived at the main bridge, Jem was there sipping a cup of coffee and studying the tactical display.

“Commodore,” I said.

“Guess what?” asked Jem.

“We are not at our destination yet, so I guess a distress call,” I replied.

“Correct. It originates from that system,” she said. She pointed at a blinking red dot on the display. It wasn’t far off our current course.

I remembered what I’d missed from the last distress call. “What are the details?” I asked.

“Only a brief audio asking for help, translated in a few languages,” replied Jem.

“It’s not Tians again is it?” I asked. Jem shook her head.

“We better go see what help they need,” I said.

“Agreed. Ship, change course to intercept,” said Jem.

“Confirmed. We will arrive in one point two hours,” replied Ship.

“Thank you Ship. Please ask Laine and Mina to meet us here by then,” said Jem.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship.

I fetched myself a coffee from the food dispenser.

“Ship, do you have anything on file about the upcoming system?” I asked.

“Negative, Commander,” replied Ship.

“Not much we can do to prepare then,” I said.

I sat beside Jem. She smiled at me.

“Before Ship woke me, I was having a delightful dream. I dreamt that I never left Tian Prime and lived a boring life,” I said.

Jem frowned. “But then you would never have met me,” she replied.

“I know. But apart from that it was delightful,” I said.

“You can’t go back there. You burned out your welcome with the Tians,” she said.

“There are a growing number of places we can’t go back to,” I said.

“That is disturbing,” she replied. “From my view, the Tians and the Gobers were in the wrong. Not our fault!”

“The Ori Confederation and Quard are too dangerous for us to visit,” I said.

“Don’t forget the Lagaid system and the Varech home world, wherever that is,” Jem added.

“So we have about an hour. Would you like to watch one of those Ori romantic comedies?” I asked.

Jem smiled. “Sure, Brian.”

Ship dimmed the lights and played a movie on the tactical display. We snuggled together and drank coffee.

An hour later our hyper drive went offline as we arrived at the edge of the system.

“We are now at the unnamed system where the distress call originated. I am deploying probes to explore the system and report back,” said Ship.

“Thank you, Ship,” replied Jem.

Our tactical display began to populate with data on the system. I could see the blue dots of our probes moving out as they explored.

This system had a red giant star orbited by several planets.

“Attention, the condition of the star in this system is unstable. It is likely to go nova within days, possibly hours,” said Ship.

“That could be the reason for the distress call,” said Jem. “Ship, are there any inhabitable planets?”

“Confirmed. The third planet can sustain life,” replied Ship.

“Focus your probes on that planet. Scan for life signs. Send a reply to the distress call. Perhaps we can confirm someone is there,” ordered Jem.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship.

Jem turned to me. “Commander, your thoughts?”

“If the star goes nova while we are in the system it will destroy us,” I said.

“Agreed. If the probes find someone, can we perform a rescue before then?” asked Jem.

“I don’t know. If someone there needs our help, waiting here is wasting time we don’t have,” I replied.

“Agreed. Ship, take us to the third planet, best speed. Be ready to leave the system if the star goes nova,” said Jem.

“Confirmed,” replied Ship. We moved forwards into the system.

“We are now in orbit around the third planet, probes have detected a settlement near the equator on the northern landmass,” said Ship.

Ship displayed a map of the planet surface on the tactical display.

“Do you detect any life signs?” asked Jem.

“Multiple life signs detected, Commodore,” replied Ship.

“Any change in the star?” I asked.

“Negative, Commander,” replied Ship.