✅ Project SETI 3: Eve's Advent

Part XXIX: Convergence

HWS Trailblazer Zero, approximately ten minutes earlier...

A fleet of ten heavyweight deep space probes had been sent off to various parts of the universe to search for the Temetor One shortly after Nova and Gabriel had returned to Earth. When Julia and Temet left with them to save the life of the unborn Daxut, three more of these massive space stations were sent out with a secondary objective of searching for the fugitive humans. The HWS Trailblazer Zero was among these three ships that were commissioned, and Sam had opted to come along to oversee the operations more directly.

For the most part, they were largely unsuccessful. Occasionally, they'd come across a rumor of a mothership matching the Temetor One's description in a seemingly random galaxy, but by the time the closest vessel got to it, it was long gone. The only leads they had, were the blips on the map from Temet's last known locations before the chip was removed and vaporized—one near Satyrs, and another in a rather empty galactic neighbourhood known as SCL-092. The Trailblazer Zero was currently en route to Satyrs, and they were steadily closing in on their destination. As they drew closer and continued to probe the nearby sentient life-forms for information, they stumbled across the rumor of a human that bought property and settled on Satyrs—exactly how long ago was unknown, only that said human was very private and solitary and rarely, if ever, seen. In combination with the location data from Temet's chip, Sam found the lead very promising.

"Ma'am—we just picked up a signal—no wait, four signals with Daxut identification signatures," one of the staff on the bridge called out to Sam, who sat nearby with a small holographic computer in her lap. "One of the them disappeared almost as soon as it had appeared, but these three smaller ones—their stealth shielding most be offline or something—"

She urgently closed the interface and set it aside. "Where? Where is it coming from?"

"Near Satyrs," he replied promptly. "They appear to be descending to the surface. The other signal that disappeared was also near Satyrs, but far enough away that I suspect it's the mothership..."

"Captain, are we at max speed right now?" Sam turned her attention to the pilot and co-pilot, who sat further up and closer to the windowed hull.

"Yes ma'am, we're going as fast as we physically can right now," the older female captain called back in a gruff, gravelly voice.

"How long 'til we're at Satyrs?"

"Approximately seven minutes, give or take."

Sam nodded. "Alright. Prepare to engage the Temetor One and her fleet—we can pursue the rumors of the human on the surface afterward."

"Yes ma'am," the captain said with an excited lilt. She began to call out to the crew on the bridge to make the necessary arrangements—the first thing she did was deploy ten smaller military vessels that were well-equipped for aerial combat. The Trailblazer Zero was also armed, but its weapons—while powerful—were bulky, and not easy to maneuver in fast-paced firefights. Nevertheless, it too was prepared for combat, and the relevant crew members took their respective posts.

"Do you have the exact location of that signal that disappeared?" Sam asked. "If it was the mothership, then it's probably still there..."

"Yes, ma'am, I do," he replied.

"Captain, I want you to fire on those coordinates as soon as we're in range to do so," Sam ordered sternly. "We're not letting them get away."

She played with the interface on the elaborate console in front of her. "I've primed the atom cannon. Ready to fire in T minus eighty seconds."