Chapter 1 - First Steps

April 5th, 2035

The explosion of light filled the spacious command deck of the newly christened SS Victory causing the crew to squint and lean back, behind the lenses of their protective visors. The only person who maintained position was Captain Jennifer Monroe, whose at-ready stance declared a stark discipline, or a ready faith, in the protective barrier of her viewport, and in the visors designed to protect astronauts from solar eye damage. This was the shakedown voyage of the new, mostly United, Earth Star-cruiser. The very existence of this program was a closely guarded secret of the international community. Russia and China had signed on to assist in the development of this ship, in reaction to The Event.

Russian involvement still troubled Captain Monroe. She had a fairly large group of friends in the Russian military, a byproduct of years of technical collaboration against the North Koreans. She had been warned by her friend Pyotr, to keep a close eye on her First Officer. Russian military gossip was kept at a minimum, but Pyotr had witnessed an overwhelming amount of secrecy when it came to Russian expectations for the mission.

Captain Jennifer Monroe was told to expect the blinding glare which would occur after the ship slowed or rather exited, out of FTL travel.  Jennifer slowly let out the breath she had been holding. It seemed like a lifetime ago that The Event, occurred. Jennifer had been in Palo Alto at the time, attending a conference on theoretical propulsion. Her husband, Edward, was at home. He had completed his tour in the Persian Gulf having been assigned to the U.S.S. John C. Stennis. Edward had been sent home to assist NASA with some experimental aircraft. He was at NASA when The Event occurred.

The chronometer on Jennifer’’s screen flashed green. The glowing green figures confirmed that the jump had completed 15 minutes early.  She leaned back in her black leather command seat, allowing herself a brief moment of admiration. Jennifer’s eyes panned across the command deck of her ship. The circular deck was a light grey in color. The outer walls of the deck were full of workstations for the officers on duty.  Each workstation was a square cubby containing a grey computer terminal. Each terminal had access to sensor information and a  22 inch screen that displayed ship status. A square box next to each display controlled each station. They could be changed to whatever specific subsystems needed to be monitored. Behind her was the entrance to the lift that gave access to the lower decks, and the rest of the ship. Her command station was center and forward, with the helm station to her right, and tactical to her left. The outer wall of workstations included communications, tactical and engineering. The First Officer's area was next to tactical, engineering next to communications. The command deck was sparse, utilitarian, and a blur of flashing indicators, readouts of the ship, and the gentle hum and beeping of workstations.

           Jennifer’s thoughts strayed from the bridge. Outside the main window, billions of stars shone. The infinite darkness of space was broken up by brilliant pinpoints of light. Each of these points varied in intensity and color. The intensity of the view made stargazing on a Texas beach seem hollow. The warm summer air blowing across their bodies as they lay on a tattered beach tower. The feel of Edward’s powerful hand gently squeezing hers. Jennifer could practically smell the scent of pine trees, and her husband's cologne mingling together. She fought off tears and the sinking feeling in her gut. The wonder that had filled her heart a few minutes ago melted away. Edward wasn’t here to enjoy the view with her. Nobody on Earth could forget the news footage of The Event, TE. It had forever changed the attitudes of humanity in regards to each other. The day of the event US observatories, and NASA detected an object no larger than a jumbo jet streaking towards the earth at enormous speed. Within 15 minutes, all major news networks were broadcasting images of the object. The dark spherical object was obviously artificial. It was primarily made of metal and entered the atmosphere above Houston Texas. The object shuddered and lurched as it crashed into Earth’s atmosphere. Glowing red and wobbling, it rolled to the southwest. A blinding light filled the area surrounding Lake Jackson, Texas. The light was followed by heat so intense it vaporized steel and concrete buildings in the area instantly. An explosion of dust, heat, and water vapor launched skyward. The resulting tsunami obliterated the gulf coast of Texas. The wall of water swept over the South Texas Nuclear Power Plant, collapsing it like a deck of cards. Millions died as a result of the tsunami and the resulting nuclear disaster. Fighting back the hollowness in her heart, Jennifer focused her thoughts on the ship and the mission.

          Jennifer gazed across the Command Deck. The functional space was fully manned with her crew. In the space of just ten years the international community had come together, deciding that any differences they had were insignificant to the possibility of a hostile alien force. The crew of this ship reflected the international nature of this endeavor. Jennifer remembered thumbing through hundreds of files. Each one was a 4 page write up of the candidates, with an attached photo and list of accomplishments. Jennifer and her best friend, Rachel, had spent countless hours looking for those that would stand out. Rachel had taken intensive notes on each candidate, categorizing each individual  based on specialties and psychological profile. Jennifer was busy looking at disciplinary reports, and peer reviews. Each person had become a story in her head. Seeing them in person completed the picture for Jennifer.

“Captain, all systems are nominal. The FTL performed as expected,” beamed Rachel. The sinking feeling in Jennifer’s gut eased a bit. Rachel had been there when Jennifer met Edward. She had been the one to help Jennifer deal with his death. Now she would be here to help her find answers. Rachel was standing over her station. Her movements quick and erratic. She kept throwing reassuring looks toward Jennifer. Her place was on the Engineering deck, but she had to be on the bridge for the first jump. She had a strained look on her face as she was reading over telemetry data at the Command Deck engineering station.

“Excellent, Chief. Please feel free to manually inspect the engines.”

Rachel didn’t need to hear that order twice. She bounced out of the command deck, on her way to manually inspect every inch of her FTL drive.

Rachel was 35, short at 5’3”, and stunningly brilliant. She had obtained her Ph.D., in Theoretical Physics at MIT. She had met Jennifer at MIT when they were both undergrads.. Rachel was outgoing and friendly. Jennifer had met her at a Freshman party. Rachel had been in the middle of a story. She had a look of intensity, her hands whirling around. Everyone was laughing and chatting with her. She was super focused on schoolwork though, and clueless when it came to romance. She was a brilliant scientist and engineer who had worked on the initial design and testing of the FTL drive used aboard the Victory. Rachel knew, better than almost anyone else, how the advanced computers aboard the ship tied into and maintained the delicate balance that allowed the FTL drive to work. At the heart of the engine was a power source so incredible that it had changed the course of human history. Element 125 was discovered in the probe that had crashed off the coast of Texas. The discovery of the alien power source, a stable, and artificial large element, was the holy grail of chemistry. Rachel was on the team that helped discover the element, hidden in the body of the alien probe, and she had been vital to designing the FTL drive needed to power the Victory.

Not far from Rachel sat her First Officer, Commander Alexei Borovsky. Borovsky was keenly focused on his screen. The telemetry data coming in was quickly reviewed by the First Officer, he tapped a key combination ever few minutes, highlighting specific bits of data for further analysis by the various science departments. Commander Borovsky was a brilliant, and magnetic Russian naval officer, who was assigned to the Victory mission as part of the international effort. Jennifer didn’t know much about Alexei, outside of his file, but he knew that Alexei was an imposing figure. Alexei was 6’4 tall, lean and had the presence of a warrior. Trained at the N.G. Kuznetsov naval academy, after the death of his father brought him back to Russia from Germany, Alexei was a logical Russian choice for the mission. Alexei had extensive knowledge of the west, was fluent in English and German, and above all else, was fiercely loyal to his nation. It was this loyalty that really worried Jennifer.

Sitting at the helm was Lieutenant Travis Oni. Oni was actively making course calculations, and analyzing potential flight paths. He chewed on a pen cap as his fingers danced across his console. The complex movements his fingers did on the console seemed like second nature to him. Oni was born and raised in Portland, Oregon, but his parents had come to the US from Nigeria. At 5’8”, Travis was short but muscular. The youthful 24 year old kept his hair long (Please describe hair, other than long.). Oni had aced the simulator tests and was an accomplished fighter pilot to boot. Oni had a look of confusion and awe on his face after a quick review of the data filling up his status display. His fingers moved quickly as he concentrated on the screen in front of him. The remnants of a pen cap hung off his bottom lip and he focused his work.

“Lt. Oni, status!" called the Captain brusquely.

            “Sir, all systems nominal, except the chronometer. It shows us at an hour behind where we should be,” stated Oni, confusion slowing his words. Oni still suffered from horrible self-doubt about his ability to properly interpret all of the data being fed to him. Oni had been a last minute replacement. The Australian pilot that had spent the last two years preparing had passed away six months ago, due to complications related to a box jellyfish sting. Oni had been a backup candidate. While gifted with natural ability, only had a few dozen hours on the simulator.

“Don’t worry about that right now Lieutenant. We expected some temporal oddities, based on the simulation we ran at Baikonur.” Commander Borovsky stated matter-of-factly.

Jennifer frowned. Apparently another Russian simulation was run and withheld from the international coalition. Jennifer was aware of the possibility, thanks to Rachel Crow’s obsessive need to run all scenarios, but the Russians had never verified her results openly.

The Captain noticed that Commander Borovsky was being quietly nudged by tactical officer Lt. Commander Qiang Lee.

Lee was a commanding presence, at 5’10” and a solid 225 lbs. A lifelong officer in the People’s Liberation Army, he was also a tactical genius.  Lee had led the route of North Korean forces at Liaoning. The takeover was a desperate last ditch effort, by the North Koreans, at prolonging their independence. The failed invasion lasted less than a week and sealed the fate of North Korea, which was forced to rejoin the south after decades of mismanagement.

Lee was focused on his screen, pointing urgently at some data. His eyes focused, his jaw clenched in steely resolve.

“Commander, tactical scanners are deeply misaligned. The FTL drive has had a damaging effect on our systems,” stated Lee. Lee’s monitor showed a hodgepodge of flashing yellow and orange lights. The tactical systems were not reacting well the FTL jump.

“Lt. Commander Lee, please get down to engineering and see if you can’t help the Chief, we need to see what other systems are affected by the jump, and prepare for repairs,” stated Jennifer.

“All sections, send in full status reports to Lt. Sanchez.”

Lieutenant Blanca Sanchez was Peruvian, tall at 6’1”, green eyes with brown hair, and the most organized officer that Captain Monroe had ever met. Sitting at the comm station, she was no mere comm officer; Sanchez had the critical task of also being the officer responsible for deciphering the massive amounts of telemetry and sensor data coming into the ship. Sanchez had a masters degree in engineering from Pontificia Universidad Catolica del Peru and was probably the second brightest member of the crew, just behind Chief Crow. At her station, two monitors displayed various bits of data. Sanchez’s head glanced between each monitor, quickly typing commands before one of the screens displays would flash with new data. She absentmindedly brushed her hair back behind her ear, her eyes keenly focuses on her task.

           Jennifer allowed herself a few minutes to observe the efficiency of Sanchez’s routine.. Damage reports were analyzed, and that data was verified against the automated status reports that the ship's sensors had collected before, during, and after the FTL jump. Verifying that the systems were collecting data was absolutely critical to the future operations of the ship. The top right quadrant of Lt. Sanchez’s station displayed an outline of the victory, with critical systems highlighted in blue, and automated damage data reported in orange.

           “Captain, all reports confirmed, automated systems are working properly, we have a few issues related to possible time dilation, and targeting systems are offline. Chief Crow reports the FTL drive behaved optimally, and all engineering systems are nominal.” Sanchez tapped in a few commands and the main viewscreen came alive, showing telemetry data from the jump, an outline of ships systems, and the current coordinates of the Victory.

           The jump was a short one, just outside the orbit of the Oort cloud. What would have taken years for a conventional rocket had taken the Victory a mere 3 hours to complete. That was with the engine running at 30% of its potential. Jennifer settled into her command chair to read the display. She contemplate the significance of the test of  Earth’s new FTL drive.

           Captain Monroe, satisfied with the data she was seeing, pressed the ship-wide intercom button.

“All hands, finalize your analysis, in 8 hours we jump back to 0.0.1, I want to make sure we don’t have any surprises.”

Commander Borovsky walked over to his station, just to the right of, and slightly below the Captain’s seat. His station had one 28” display and a terminal for him to pull up various ship functions.

“Captain, we will need to start collecting scanner data for NASA. We are the first manned ship to make it this far, and there may be some value from the readings.” Said Borovsky.

“Go ahead and have the science teams start collecting data. I’m going to head down to engineering and see how our engines are holding up. Borovsky, you have the comm.”

Borovsky acknowledged the Captain, and took the time to enter a secure communication into his panel. “As expected, minor damage to the Victory. All model predictions are on track, telemetry data attached.” Borovsky took advantage of a momentary distraction to send and delete all records of his message.

   Jennifer walked to a door next to the engineering station. This led to a small office, just off the Bridge, where she could work in privacy. It was a small space, with just room for a desk, a chair for the Captain, and 3 chairs for guests. Like the rest of the ship, this room was a light grey color. There were no windows, or decorations of any kind, except for a picture of her late husband, Edward, and a picture of his twins.

Jennifer hit the lock button on the office door. She was pragmatic and passionate about her job. She was easygoing to those she commanded. Still, the jump had finally led to a sense of realism regarding her mission. In front of her crew, she would maintain a positive attitude. Here, in the privacy of her office, she could let his grief flow.

The Captain sat at her desk, a simple metal table really. Her ergonomic chair felt like she was sitting in a cloud. Tears started streaming down her cheek. Edward had been her soul. She could still hear the sound of his voice, in her head. No matter how bad a deployment had been, or how stressed he might be, Edward would always come home smiling. The thought of Edward’s smile still made her tremble. Their twins had only been 4 when the alien probe had taken his life.

The only motivation that Jennifer had for taking this mission, and finding the aliens that devastated the Texas coast was to find out why. She was not a vengeful person. She had the pragmatism to know that any species that could build a device as complicated as the probe would be impossible to beat in a straight on fight. She didn’t even want to hurt them, she just had to know if they posed a further threat to the Earth, and to her children.

Jennifer ran her hands back through her ebony black hair, highlighted with strands of grey. Rachel, Jennifer’s best friend, had made it a point to bring the grey to her attention. Rachel was like a sister to Jennifer and had taken on the role of beloved aunt to her kids.

A consequence of her closeness to Jennifer and the kids was that Rachel had also become a sister to Edward. She had felt his death as keenly as Jennifer and the kids. It was hard to be away from her children. It was almost unbearable to have Rachel away from them too. If it hadn’t been for her kids, it would have been likely that Jennifer would have given in to her grief. She would have rejected this commission and retired to the lake house. The lake house was where she had met Edward. It was where the twins, Andy and Katy, were staying. Her parents were watching over them.

Before heading to the engineering deck, Jennifer turned on her terminal and began recording a message for her kids. She had turned this into a daily ritual since coming onboard the ship. Most parents would describe their day, or send gushing messages about how much they missed their kids. Jennifer knew what her kids would really want. She pulled out his copy of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

“Hey kids, gather around, we are going to continue reading.”

A smile finally snuck onto her face. Her dark eyes shined a little brighter.