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As it turned out, Shiloh was back on the Bridge just in time to watch the video transmission from a recon drone that was approaching the planet. Rainman was still too far away to ensure that any laser com burst could be aimed accurately at Resolute. The departing object had vanished and was assumed to have entered Jumpspace.
"Your sense of timing is impressive, CAG," said Valkyrie.
Shiloh smiled. It was just dumb luck, but he had no intention of telling her that. "Something I've developed from my many years in Space Force, Valkyrie. I take it we have images from our drone?"
"I'm establishing the com link now, CAG." The main display switched from tactical to the video feed. This planet did not have a dust-filled atmosphere. It had less water than Earth and more desert. Only the top and bottom third, as defined by its axis of rotation, showed any green.
"Anything in orbit, Commander?" asked Shiloh.
"Negative, CAG. Orbital space is clear. Still no transmissions and the drone would be close enough now to detect heat signatures if there were any, but there aren’t. No signs of intelligent life at this point," said Valkyrie.
"Do we know where the alien colony—"
Before Shiloh could finish the question, Valkyrie interrupted. "Colony site has been detected, CAG. I've ordered the drone to zoom in on that location. We'll see it momentarily."
Shiloh waited. As the image on the display shimmered, it zoomed in so quickly that he experienced a momentary feeling of falling. Now the image on the display was of a fairly large area full of ruins. That was the only word Shiloh could think of to describe it. There wasn't a single building that looked intact. Walls, made of something that looked like cement, were partially knocked down. No building had an undamaged roof. Chunks of building material lay scattered in random directions. Something about this scene bothered Shiloh. As he continued to watch the image, he suddenly figured out what it was. The reason this colony site looked like ancient ruins was because there was nothing made of metal. No machines. No vehicles. No metal beams. No metal roofing material. Not a single piece of metal anywhere that could be seen from this angle. He thought back to the scene of the abandoned colony on Haven when Humans pulled out for the last time. Even then, there were still pieces of farm equipment, vehicles and other objects that were clearly made of metal. Not so here.
"The VLO took all their metal," he said out loud, still not really believing it himself.
"Roger that, CAG. They might have needed it to repair any damage to their spherical ship inflicted during the battle that Gunslinger witnessed. He did report nuclear explosions. It stands to reason a ship that large might well have the necessary equipment to repair or replace any part of the ship needing it, including the hull. So finding a source of refined metal might be just as valuable to them as finding gas giants for refueling was to us before we discovered ZPG energy. But that's not all they took."
"What do you mean?" asked Shiloh.
"They also appear to have taken the alien colonists themselves and any animals those colonists used as food supplies. See those enclosed areas on the edge of the ruins, CAG? Don’t they look like corrals of the kind that human farmers use for cattle, pigs, sheep and other domesticated animals? Only there are no animals in them or anywhere near them."
Shiloh had a bad feeling about this. The metal he could understand, but taking living creatures, the animals and the colonists themselves? That made no sense unless . . . He pushed the thought away. It was too horrifying to contemplate. They must have taken the colonists as slaves except that building robots to do the menial work was much more efficient and less troublesome than housing, feeding and supervising thousands or even tens of thousands of slaves. What if the slaves revolted? What if they all died from some kind of alien virus or bacteria? In fact, why would a ship's crew risk becoming infected themselves by bringing alien creatures aboard to begin with?
"I wonder if it could be a kind of ark picking up small numbers of a variety of alien species to protect them against some kind of looming catastrophe?" asked Shiloh.
"Alien psychology by definition would be different from ours, but it's difficult to understand a culture that would seek to save another species by force. Gunslinger did report that the defending forces were taking losses. Whatever the motivation of the race that built the VLO might have been, they clearly forced themselves on the colonists of this planet," said Valkyrie.
"We have to find out more about these VLOs. When do you expect to be in contact with Rainman?" asked Shiloh.
"Not for another 35 minutes at least, CAG. Since both Rainman and TF92 were decelerating from very high speeds, there's no way for us to be sure where his raider is, and the opposite is true for him as well."
"But we could send out a wide-beam laser burst to cover the area of sky where Rainman has to be. We've always had that capability, but we didn't use it because of the risk of having the signal received by our enemy. Now as far as we can tell, this system is devoid of that alien life form, correct?"
"That is correct, CAG. I have the Com laser ready. Shall I transmit a signal to Rainman instructing him to respond back with the data on the departing object?" asked Valkyrie.
"Yes. Send the signal. Let me know as soon as you receive his reply."
Less than four minutes later, they had the additional data and knew where the departing object was headed. Its destination was the Omega77 star system containing the next nearest alien colony. Pre-jump speed was low enough that TF92 wouldn't have any trouble getting there first, but that begged the question of what they would do when they got there. There was another question that couldn't be answered.
"How did they know where the nearest colony was?" asked Shiloh.
"I've discussed this question with Titan and the others, CAG. The consensus is that a ship that large could easily carry smaller vessels that could accelerate to much faster speeds and could therefore be used as scouts to survey nearby star systems."
"I shudder to think what 'smaller' means in the context of a mothership that is at least 10 kilometers in diameter. For all we know, their scouts could be as massive as our partially completed battleship back in Sol," said Shiloh.
"Possible, but not very practical. If all you wanted to do was determine if a star system was inhabited, you wouldn't need scouts that massive. On the other hand, you might want defensive vessels that massive to help you defend the mothership," said Valkyrie.
"Oh shit," said Shiloh in a low tone.
"Why do Humans speak of excrement with the same reverence that they use when they invoke the name of God, CAG?"
Good question, thought Shiloh. He had never considered it before and didn't have a good answer. Time to change the subject.
"Bring the Task Force around to a heading for Omega77. Accelerate at a rate that will allow Rainman to catch up before we jump. I want TF92 to get there at least several days ahead of the VLO. Any questions Commander?"
"Negative, CAG. Vector change has been calculated and is being implemented. Rainman will rejoin TF92 in 53.2 minutes. ETA at Omega77 is 39 hours from now."
