CHAPTER FIVE

Kevin cringed as he looked at the prices of meat on his DAT. They had skyrocketed. There was no way around it. He was going to have to become a vegetarian for a while. After the first shipment of animals was delivered to the station, PHOENIX was inundated with trade requests from other merchants. They all wanted the samer thing: cows, chickens, pigs, and sheep. Drix was right, consumable goods were highly valuable. It put PHOENIX in an optimal position. After all trades had been completed, the ship was now filled with a variety of unknown alien technology. The ship scientists were ecstatic with the chance to analyze the new tech.

With all this trading, the ship was left without any live cows. Out of all the livestock, they proved to be the most popular commodity the aliens wanted. It would take weeks to clone and grow a new batch. For now, the crew only had the remaining processed meat to purchase and the limited quantity resulted in the ECON driving the prices up.

Since steak was out of the question for Kevin, it ruled out a visit to Stardust Café or Smitty’s for lunch. He still had some frozen meat in his quarters and debated whether to just go home and prepare lunch. But he wasn’t up for doing any cooking. He was due to report back for duty on the command deck in a couple of hours and didn’t want to waste the time preparing a meal.

“Kevin, over here.” The navigation officer looked over to see Bret Michaels and Martin Everold sitting at one of the benches that lined the streets of Central.

“I thought you were working through your shift?” Kevin said to Bret.

“I was,” replied the communications officer. “But Commander Olson told me to go and have lunch. She didn’t think it was necessary for me to be at my post while we’re in a jump.”

“By the way, congratulations on your promotion, Lieutenant Commander,” said Kevin to Martin.

“Thanks, but it doesn’t mean anything,” replied Martin. “The captain’s field promotion won’t be honored by TERRA.” John had promoted Martin shortly after they had left the alien space station. It was John’s way of making it up to Martin for being stuck on the PHOENIX and all the work he had been doing training the Interceptor pilots.

“The captain’s rank isn’t recognized by TERRA either,” said Kevin. “That doesn’t stop us from calling him captain.”

“And you did get a raise with your promotion,” reminded Bret.

“Fine, I get the point,” conceded Martin.

“Either of you going to The Lounge tonight?” asked Bret. “I think Chris is performing.”

“The captain invited me to go along with him,” revealed Kevin. “So I’ll be there.”

“Not sure if I can make it,” said Martin. “I need to conduct maneuvers with all the flight teams. They’re getting a little rusty and need some flight time.”

“Command deck to senior staff,” came the voice of Alex’sis over their pips. “Report to the command deck ASAP.”

“Sounds like we’ve come across something,” as Bret got off the bench.

“See you guys later,” said Martin.

Kevin and Bret hurried to the command deck, anxious to see what the PHOENIX may have encountered. As they stepped onto the deck the ship exited from its jump.

“We’re positioned right outside the star system,” reported the on-duty navigation officer.

“The sensors are dead on,” said Julie from the operations table with Alex’sis. “I’m reading a habitable planet on the inner sphere of the system. Captain to the command deck.”

As Kevin and Bret assumed their stations, John came out of his office and joined Julie and Alex’sis at the operations table. “I’ve been monitoring your progress. What do we have?”

“So far only a habitable planet,” replied Alex’sis. “Sensors are picking up metallic objects circling it in low and high orbits. They may be artificial satellites.”

Bret found something more interesting. “Captain, “I’m picking up a significant amount of communications traffic coming from the planet. It’s definitely inhabited by a sentient species.”

“What are they saying?” asked John.

“The communications are mostly unrelated,” reported Bret. “I believe it’s just part of their normal everyday activities. Flight schedules, personal contacts, that sort of thing.”

“See if you can isolate any communications from the planet’s government,” requested John.

It was Alex’sis turn to share what she found with John. “Captain, I’ve verified the objects circling the planet as communications and sensor satellites.”

“Any ships?” asked Julie.

Alex’sis checked the sensors. “I’m not picking up any ships in the system. It doesn’t appear that they have any sort of functioning space fleet.”

“Which means they probably haven’t had any contact with other races,” assumed Julie.

“You think we should just leave?” said John. It didn’t make sense to make contact with a race that wasn’t space faring. They’re would be nothing to gain from such an encounter that would help the ship in its mission.

“If they’re not space faring, they probably don’t have any information about the Screen,” said Julie.

John wasn’t prepared to just move on. They needed to be sure. “I’m not about to leave after only a few minutes.”

Bret spoke up. “Captain, there’s no sign that they’ve detected us outside the system. If you could give me a few hours, I might be able to learn more about them.”

John thought it was a good idea. “Vey well, have the sociology and anthropology departments listen in on the comm traffic with you.”

“Yes, sir,” replied Bret. This was exciting for the communications officer. He was hoping to have the opportunity to conduct an extensive analysis on an alien planet’s communications network. There was so much he could learn from the experience.

“Captain, should we deploy a fighter group as a precaution?” asked Julie.

“I’m sure the chief would want us to. Since we don’t detect a ship fleet and there’s no indication they know we’re here, let’s keep our fighters in. But have one of the groups on standby, just in case.”