Escaping My Shadows

Refugees

The light on Captain Carina Heilig's comm panel buzzes. Pressing a button she says, "Heilig here."

"Captain, this is Lieutenant Morath. Can you come down to the control room? We've picked up an anomaly."

"Anomaly? What kind?"

"Not sure, Captain. It might be best for you to see for yourself."

The captain looks at her schedule. She has a meeting starting in a few minutes. Probably a waste of time, but that seems to be more common now since the Chitoxan have disappeared. Earth Fleet HCA-12, hyperspace communication array number 12, located closed to the former front with the enemy, continues to search for Chitoxan activity. So far Heilig's array has not picked up any suspicious activity during the many months since the war's end. Still, rumors of shadow activity keep popping up, making Earth Fleet believe something is still out there. What exactly that might be they don't know. Which is why this and the other arrays have not yet been shut down.

"Can it wait about 30 minutes? I've got a staff meeting in a few."

"It should."

"Okay, will see you as soon as the meeting is over. Heilig out."

0

"So, Lieutenant, what's this anomaly?"

"Petty Officer Coghlan came across it. Go ahead."

The petty officer clears his throat. "Well, Captain, the signal was very weak, and appeared to be fairly localized. Our AI didn't alert on it, and I wouldn't have noticed it, but it just so happened that our listening probes had undergone a recent position shift. That, and the fact that an unusually weak energy pattern coincided with the shift to let this thing pop up. I isolated the signal and ran it through the analyzer. It is definitely artificial but didn't conform to any known Earth or Earth-Alliance signal. Did it again, comparing it to just about everything else we've come across before. It got a hit."

"And?" the captain asks.

"It's Chitoxan. Though it was coming over Earth-specific frequencies. I checked the Chitoxan-used frequencies. It was out there as well. It's weak but covers a wide range of frequencies."

"What's it say?"

"Haven't been able to break the code. It's very short. First part seems to be a message. The second part seems to be some type of location reference, but it is a very complex location, doesn't conform to anything that I'm aware of. I looked back over the last few days, the signal has been there, hidden in the usual background radiation, and not strong enough to be noticed. Looks like it started up recently."

"Great. Location of broadcast?"

Coghlan shakes his head. "That's just it. Doesn't seem to be coming from a fixed location. It's like the transmitter is moving around, providing coverage for a relatively small area, making sure anyone who might be listening will hear it but not extending out too far, especially where one of our listening posts might pick it up."

The captain thinks for a moment. "Thoughts?"

Coghlan shrugs. "Well, and this is just a scientific wild-ass guess, but it's like something is moving across sections of space at one time controlled by Chitoxa and leaving little calling cards. Can't imagine what the message could be."

"Okay. Good work. Keep trying to decode the message. Lieutenant, contact the other arrays, see if they have seen anything like this. If the bastards are trying to regroup we need to know."

"Yes, Captain."

0

Commander Hans Schwerin steps onto the Frigate Viper's bridge. Other crew members enter and take positions vacated by the night watch. Lieutenant Maren Maier stands next to the command chair, waiting for Schwerin to take his seat.