Episode 2: Leaving the comforts of home

The days after the attack on Earth had been filled with insanity. The death toll after the attack had been devastating. Riots had spread across continents and lasted for days. Even the distant colonies were affected, but those on the expedition ships had a singular purpose to steel them: the salvation of Earth. Perhaps this was the singular thing that helped to maintain their sanity.

The Tenacious had been restocked and rearmed and was now ready to launch. One didn't need telepathic powers to sense the tension among the crew;they were ready, the only question was what was out there. What would they find out among the vastness of space. Would Earth's first encounter with an alien race repeat itself again, or was that the exception. Would the fleet find its destruction in the loneliness of space? Only time would tell.

The Tenacious had been assigned their section of space to explore. The large stretch of space ensured that there wouldn't be any of overlap,, but it also ensured that the Tenacious would be alone and without help or resupply. It would be on its own and it's captain would be without the consul of Earth Command.

The tTenacious' first destination had been selected. The closest star in the sector the Tenacious had been assigned. It was only one slip away. The Tenacious would only have to spend a few days in slipspace to reach it.

It was time to leave the comforts of home.

Comeau stood on the bridge of the Tenacious. Before the ship left dock, he had decided to make a quick announcement to inform the crew that they were heaving off.
"Are all hands on board and accounted for?" He asked, turning to his first officer.

"Aye sir, all stations report all crew present and accounted for. Security also reports no one hiding in the cargo bays or in the landing gear. They also report a pleasant lack of rats." Ryan had been joking, but terrorist attempt against the fleet had been thwarted and stowaway were becoming a major issue. Apocalyptic cults had cropped up after the attack on earth and many were seeking escape any way possible.

"Our first point puts us at the Stygian system. It'll be about a day in slipspace." The helmsman said. "Long range scans say the system might be habitable, but we've got no other information otherwisem"

Comeau smiled. He sat down in his chair, and punched into the speakers to make an announcement.
"This is captain Comeau speaking. All hands, make ready for travel. We leave dock in five minutes."
He punched the intercom line closed and set a countdown timer for four minutes and thirty seconds, on the tablet that was sitting next to him.
He turned back to Ryan. "Hopefully we still lack rats in five minutes. We should run another sweep after we leave, just to be sure. Rats out the airlock, stowaways in a holding cell."

Ryan smirked as he bucked into his seat; undocking procedures were always bumpy and it wouldn't be the first time he was thrown clear of his seat because things got bumpy. "And here I thought it was the other way around." He smirked. "We could always eat the rats."

As per orders, the helmsman began undocking procedures. Ultimately, things went rather smoothly, but given the Tenacious' first maiden voyage anything could have been considered better. The ship quickly began to clear the solar system to clear space where they could engage the Slipstream drive without the extra interference of a planets gravity well. Though this was ultimately unnecessary, the more variables that could be eliminated for the computations for the jump into Slip-space just made life easier.

The moment the Tenacious was far enough away the helmsman turned to face the captain. "Sir, we're ready for the jump into slip-space."

Comeau readied himself. "Set a course for the Stygian system, and take us into slip. Let's get this over with."
He stared at the feed of information in his console, as he accessed information on the course the tenacious was to take. He had a niggling feeling that he could now be more productive getting to know some more if the crew.

The entry into slipspace was strange. Suddenly every crewmember felt the same thing: a near compression of every molecule in their body. It was a strange feeling to become accustomed to and one that almost felt like it should come with some sort of medical warning.

Ryan smirked at the captain deciding to reserve his snide comments for a moment away from the crew. "Well captain, I believe this makes your first jump into the slip?"

Comeau raised his eyebrows. "Yeah. Certainly interesting. It's also nothing at all like the training simulations, but easy enough to get used to." His face relaxed some.
"How are you feeling, now that we're under watt?"

Ryan sighed as he loosened the buckles on his seat and, for the first time Comeau had seen, slouched. "To be honest, sir, the last few days have been a whirlwind. I'd be lying if I said my head isn't spinning from everything that's happened. What about yourself?"

Comeau took a deep breath and sighed. He undid his seat buckles, and leaned back.
"Well, frankly, I'm a bit eager. Not that I'm not also confused and worried, but I'm confident. I'm hoping it rubs off on the crew."
He leaned forward in his chair again.
"We will be successful. I don't care how we pull it off, we will be. We have one day to try not to sweat about it too much."

The bridge crew looked at the captain and then glanced around at each other. Some smiled. Others simply nodded and returned their gazes back to the readouts on their consoles.

"Well, captain, we have some time til we transition back to real space. What are you going to do with all your free time?"

Comeau smiled and leaned back in his chair, having noticed the shift in attention to his words.
"I'm not entirely sure. I might just play it by ear. I was considering getting something to eat, once I'm confident I'm not needed on the bridge."

"Nothing short of the ship spontaneously blowing up in slipspace ever happens. If that were to happen, I don't think there would be anything you could do were that to happen." Ryan fidgeted with his seat straps. "You can grab some chow, sir, I'll hold up the fort while you're gone. No use staying on alert when there's no reason to."

Comeau nodded. "Very well, then." He turned his head to Ryan. "I'll be in the mess hall if I'm needed." He stood up and turned to the door, starting to walk for it. "Have fun, Commander. You have the bridge. I shouldn't be too long."

The next few days passed uneventful. The crew busied itself with various drills and other mundane affairs. Though the loss of Earth had hit everyone hard, the crew was optimistic and excited about potentially finding a cure for whatever that strange alien race had plagued the Earth with.

Comeau arrived on the command deck just before the transition back to real space. The transition was just as disquieting as entering slip space, but it was easier to deal with now that most knew what to expect. It took a moment for the crew to reorient themselves but once they had the various stations began putting together a situation report.

It wasn't long before the sensors and Comms stations reported a clearly artificial signal a few light hours travel from their position.

Comeau received the news. "Helm, plot a course; I want us as far away as we can possibly be from that signal, while still allowing us a fairly comprehensive scan."

The helmsman answered in the affirmative and set course toward the signal. In the meantime, the communications and sensors stations began doing their best to glean any possible details that they possibly could.

Comeau found himself wondering how humanities second contact with an alien race might go. In fact, he found himself wondering how he might communicate with an alien race.

As the ship began to near the situation report the ships sensors returned made things slightly clearer. The signal was indeed coming from some sort of ship. A ship that seemed vaguely related to the cross section of the alien ships that attacked Earth. However, there were some differences. The angles of the ship were smoother, more organic and less aggressive. Never the less, the cross-section was similar.

Comeau looked to his officers.
"Whoever they are, they know we are here. So far, they haven't opened fire. Communications, attempt to establish a comm link to the vessel. This is it, ladies and gentlemen; our first real contact."

"Aye sir, sending the standard first contact greeting the geeks back home put together. Hopefully they understand it better than I do." The coms officer smiled jokingly which quickly faded as he realized the seriousness of the situation.

The tension on the deck was palpable. Seconds seemed like hours as the officers on the deck waited for one of two things: peaceful contact or impending battle.

In a few short minutes the ships telepathy stepped onto the command deck. "Thought you might need some assistance."

Meanwhile, the ship came within the farthest range the ships visual sensors could register at maximum magnification. The ship tumbled listlessly as what looked like small fires burned across the surface of the hull. The ship was much smaller than the ones they had encountered and based on the size probably held a small crew.

Comeau nodded at the telepath. "Perfect timing. You may definitely be helpful soon." He turned to the screen to look again. "Helm, take us in. We're going to search for survivors, and take them in if we can."

Ryan glanced up from his seat console. "Sir, might I suggest we go in weapons hot? It looks a lot like the ships that attacked earth. This can't be a coincidence."

Comeau agreed, "Absolutely. We do not fire, though, unless first fired upon. We have no guarantee that these are the same people. Keep them locked, but we can't appear hostile."
"Let's see what we have stumbled upon, shall we? I want as much intel, sensors, as we can get. Life, power, anything. As we get it, if you would."

The next few moments felt like ages. As the Tenacious moved closer and closer more data began to stream into Comeau's display;the ships electro magnetic sensors read fluctuations in the alien ships power systems. Video sensors began to show large sections of what appeared to be battle damage. Unfortunately, this wasn't star trek and it was impossible to tell how many life forms were on board, if there were any survivors at all.

"Looks like someone got to the bastard first... I'm heart broken." Ryan said with a smirk. "Orders captain?"

Comeau turned to his first officer.
"I want special ops on standby. Half are with me, half are to be ready for emergency extraction. I'll also need a medic. Ryan, you have the bridge. Maintain open coms., and keep the engines hot. We may be coming back in a hurry."
With that, he stood, and started in the direction of the shuttles. He stopped short of exiting, and turned to the telepath.
"You may want to join, as well."

"Sir, I am obliged as my duty as a first officer to log my dutiful protest of you placing yourself in a hazardous away team scenario." Ryan smirked. "Off the record, I would like to say that I am extremely jealous you're going and not me."

Ryan glanced at the operations officer and nodded, a silent order to enact the captains orders. "The team should already be ready, if I know anything about them, they probably have been sleeping in their battle armor since we left space dock. I'm sure it won't take long for them to assemble at the launch decks."

Sylvia nodded nervously. "Uhm, sir, I hope you understand that I don't have any combat training...I'm a civilian."