Quoted By:
You look at it, and suppress the urge to take the hood off an inspect its insides. Gully and Holt have similar expressions, but the majority otherwise regard it no more than a curious artifact.
Tabitha breaks the silence. “We aren’t about to call an air strike on anyone here, are we? I get that there’s terminal guidance for the <span class="mu-i">Heroes</span> back home, but…”
The corner of the captain’s mouth twitches. “I’m getting there, Aalto. Three weeks ago, it was sitting in Mister Stolze’s private collection of old-world memorabilia. But during routine maintenance, it picked up a distress signal coming from this general direction.”
<span class="mu-i">Rescue operations</span>? you think with a frown.
“Morgan, if you would…?”
Geary nods, activating the controller. The machine softly whirs to life, after which the XO presses a handful of keys into the machine. Then, to a silent, captive audience, from out of speakers, a weak, synthetic voice wafts out:
<span class="mu-i">“…priority channel…mayday, may…is the TCS…Exodus Fleet…repeating…Olympia…heavy structural…containment breach reactor failing…mayday, mayday…”</span>
…no way.
…no fucking way.
The breathless look on your face is mirrored on all of the assembled. Even Kwan is unable to fully mask his surprise. In the stunned silence, Gully beats everyone to the punch with a breathless whisper:
“A spaceship.”
All eyes shoot towards the captain and the XO, who nod at all the unspoken questions. “It took some digging, but we managed to identify the origin of the signal. Terran Commonwealth Ship <span class="mu-i">Olympia</span>, an <span class="mu-i">Excelsior</span>-class interplanetary starship. Built in 2349 in a Vancouver drydock by Boeing Interstellar, she spent many years ferrying colonists from Earth to Mars, Venus…maybe even to the handful of startup colonies along Jupiter’s moons.”
“How the hell did it end up at the bottom of the ocean?!” demands Holt. “That message was Exodus Fleet, wasn’t it? That thing should’ve been burnin’ 9 G’s towards the Alcubierre Gate-”
Geary exhales roughly. “I have a hunch…but we can’t make any definitive conclusions until we get divers down to scope out the site.”
“Is there a guarantee that the ship itself is where it is?” Kwan remains steadfast as everyone looks at him. “The distress signal doesn’t implicitly mean that we won’t find the hull scattered across the sea.”
Elishani steeples his fingers together. “That was brought up, but we are potentially salvaging the ruins of an <span class="mu-i">Excelsior</span>-class starship. Mister Stolze, the Salvage Guild and the Founding Five decided to…gamble, for lack of a better term.”
“How come there aren’t any more salvage ships with us?” you ask. “If there really is a starship down there…I don’t think two knuckleboom cranes and a pair of PUEXOs are gonna raise the whole thing. Crates and odd ends, maybe. Bodies, if anything's left there. But titanium plating, fissile material...”
(cont.)
