Episode IV: Contact

Z minus 5 months 17 days

Brenn stood in his trousers, looking out the viewport in his quarters. The view was not real, just a hologram. To look out an actual viewport, he would have to be on the bridge.

Although he was not due on the bridge for another hour, he was up early. The dreams always awakened him early - dreams of the past, dreams of the secret.

"The time is 600 hours... The time is 600 hours..." the computer called out.

"Off," Brenn said.

Mornings had become repetitious, each an exact duplicate. Brenn would wake up half an hour before the clock struck 600. He would lift himself off his angled cot and stare out the holographic viewport. It was not for enjoyment of the view; he just instinctively looked out.

He grunted and moved away from the port. Soon, he would leave for the bridge

Brenn took his station on the bridge, as usual, 5 minutes early. The Grey Star was preparing to jump into a new system. Although the crew believed this would be yet another system with a dead planets, they stayed alert following the captain's example.

Davidson was calmly alert, intent and prepared for anything. To the crew, however, he seemed more on edge since the incident in the cargo bay.

"Captain, we've reached the coordinates," Scott called out.

"Prepare to jump," the captain responded, "Jump!"

The Grey Star moved into the red swirl of the jump point then exited through the blue tunnel into normal space. Once again, the crew found themselves in front of another apparently dead world.

"Beginning scan," Lin announced.

"What for?" complained Scott. "It's a another dead world Lin, there's nothing there!"

"Picking up a signal," Lin announced smiling smugly at Scott. "It's coming from something in orbit around the planet."

"What is it?" Davidson asked.

"It appears to be a satellite of some kind. No weapons detected. No other information available, sir" Lin replied.

"Move us in closer Scott," Davidson commanded.

The Grey Star's engines roared to life as the ship moved toward the planet. Finally, they had found the first confirmation that a spacefaring race existed within the hyper-fold.

Brenn looked over his instruments, then took a quick survey of the bridge. Everyone and all instruments were concentrated on the alien satellite. First contact with a new species appeared imminent.

Brenn's thoughts were not outside with the satellite; they were fixed on the dangers in the engine room. When a Minbari seals something, it becomes a tomb, never to be disturbed.

The Grey Star technicians would surely break the seal blocking access to the engine core. If - when they did, they would discover that the place was littered with deadly traps. This was reason enough for leaving the engine core alone. There was another more important reason, however, and Brenn dreamed of it every night

Scott's voice intruded on Brenn's thoughts. "Closing in on the object, Captain."

The satellite was fairly simple in design. It looked like an insect's abdomen. Three prongs were attached, hugging close to the abdomen-shaped section.

"Anything out of the ordinary, Lin?" Davidson asked.

"I'm not picking up any activity, sir."

"Switch from passive scan to focused scan."

Lin's hands flew over the console's controls activating the more 'aggressive' sensors. This more invasive scanning was not usually used but it might be the only way to discover the origins of this satellite. Telemetry began to flow in.

Without warning, the abdomen-shaped area of the satellite began to glow faintly, then brighter and brighter until it reached full power. The 3 prongs slid outwards giving the illusion of a great hand opening.

"Captain! Our scans have activated the satellite!" Lin called out.

"What's it doing?" Davidson asked calmly.

"It seems to be returning the favor and scanning us, sir" Lin explained. "Wait, it's stopped." She began activating more controls and reading the output. "It's sending a signal, Captain. It lightly scanned us and then began to send a signal outward."

"Sending the signal where?" Davidson asked.

"Grid 34 by 69 by 32."

"Scott, lay in that course."

"Aye, sir. ETA three hours and twenty minutes."

Brenn turned and spoke, "Captain, request permission..."

"Permission granted."

Brenn was not surprised by Davidson's interruption. The captain knew what he was about to say. For weeks, Brenn had been overseeing the effort to remove the barriers enclosing the engine core. Brenn was there in case they ever actually succeeded in breaking the seal.

Brenn took the core transport that ran the length of the ship. Without it, it would take much too long to travel from one part of the ship to another. After a short ride, he reached the engineering section.

"Commander Brenn, welcome back to engineering," Chief Engineer Matthew Wang called out.

"How is the task proceeding?" Brenn asked curtly as the two began walking toward the core.

"Slow," said Wang. "The shell is made of the same plastique/crystalline alloy used on Minbari ships. It will take a while to get through. Maybe even a few more months."

Brenn was not pleased. He wanted to warn them that it was too dangerous. He knew that it would not understand. Their would be a price, and he could not say a word...

Suddenly, the ship rocked violently throwing Wang against a danger sign. Brenn, shaken, but still standing called out.

"Bridge, report."

A bridge officer spoke "Sir, we've been ambushed! Six small craft jumped in and attacked us!"

Brenn did not like this at all. Since the transport tubes were shut down automatically, he was stuck in engineering.

"Brenn," the captain called over his link, "stay in engineering, and help out down there."

The ship shook again. "Understood," Brenn responded.

The attacking ships shared designs similar to the satellite the Grey Star had first encountered. Davidson began calling out orders. The alien ships were no match for the Grey Star. Another hit shook the ship

"Lin, fire on the lead ship! Scott, evasive maneuvers!" Davidson yelled.

The Grey Star lashed out with green tongues of energy, tearing at the lead attacking ship while simultaneously pulling away. Scott and Lin had perfect timing despite their quarrels. The lead ship was knocked away, partially damaged, but still posing some threat.

"Captain, scanners picking up another ship, " reported Lin. " It's hanging back, outside of firing range. It's unarmed, sir."

"It's probably a jump ship," Davidson declared. "If we attack it, they won't be able to escape! Then, maybe we can get some answers".

The far ship was larger then the ones attacking. It made sense to Davidson that it would be a jump ship. He did find it a little discomforting, however, that it had no weapons. It seemed illogical.

"Scott, take us in, full throttle!" he ordered.

"Setting a course for Mother Goose!" Scott replied.

The Grey Star roared to life and headed for the jump ship. Two of the attacking ships reached it first and moved in delicately, one on either side of the jump ship's wings. They were joining together to make one larger ship.

"Captain, the jump ship is draining power from the two smaller craft, " Lin warned. "Detecting an energy spike in the jump ship. They're preparing to jump!"

Why would they jump now? Davidson thought to himself. Unless...

"Scott!" Davidson yelled, "Evasive maneuvers. Now!"

The Grey Star moved too late to avoid the attack. The jump ship began to glow. It radiated brighter until a flash... Like tigers released from their cages, a beam of energy struck the Grey Star amidships!

Davidson cursed to himself. It was not a jump ship, but a weapon ship capable of delivering a heavy blow. Since the Grey Star had never been attacked by a weapon of this kind, the bio-armor covering the ship's surface had not adapted to it. The ship would be able to dampen the next shot more easily. Assuming there was a next time.

Brenn pulled himself up from the floor. Engineering was in shambles. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement. He rushed towards it.

A half-conscious Minbari layed on the floor. If Brenn's memory served him correctly, the wounded crewman was named Sonnier.

Sonnier coughed and looked up at Brenn. "It's you that it..." he said softly.

"Do not exert yourself," Brenn commanded.

"It knows you," Sonnier said not listening to Brenn's order, "it knows you."

Brenn looked at him with some small measure of compassion but could not understand why Sonnier would not listen. Sonnier still did not seem to care about or register Brenn's actions and responses.

"It sang to me Brenn. It sang." Sonnier breathed in heavily. "It sings about you. It knows you."

"You are hallucinating. Rest, the medics should be on their way."

Brenn got up and walked to the nearest controls activating the comm unit.

"Brenn to bridge, what is the situation up there?"

"Brenn!" The captain's voice rang out over the comm, "We're in a tight situation up here. All main power is gone! Weapons, engines and jump engines are all off line! We're a sitting duck! Get someone in engineering to bring up at least one of those systems!"

"Understood." Brenn would tell the captain of the situation in engineering later. He moved to the seal engulfing the core. There were probably 50 meters between him and the core, which was accessible through a maze of service chutes. Accessible if there were no seal around it. Brenn gazed at the barrier and smiled.

"Captain, weapons are back up!" Lin announced.

"Fire everything we've got at them!" commanded Davidson without pause.

Lin activated the weapons control. Suddenly, green energy beams lashed out from the Grey Star. The ship seemed reborn and stronger. In a matter of seconds, the enemy ships were destroyed their remains silently spreading into a debris field.

"What the hell was that?" It was Scott's voice but the question came from them all.

Brenn filed his report that night while the repairs were being finished. In his report, he stated how he had rigged the secondary power network to the weapons array. He reported that the power boost experienced by the weapons was still unexplained. The only known fact was that the power boost had come from the Engine Core.

Brenn fell asleep as soon as he reached his quarters. He slept all night - undisturbed. The holographic viewport showed stars slowly moving by and still he slept. The clock showed 612 hours and still he slept. Nothing woke him from his dream - the dream of the past, the dream of the secret, the dream of the song.

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