The Seeds that were Sown by Evan Currie

Author:Evan Currie [Currie, Evan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-05-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 26

IC From the Flames

“Target object entering range, Ship’s Commander.”

Kaela nodded, “Continue as ordered, reduce approach velocity. I want to give the scanning stations all the time they need.”

“Yes, Ship’s Commander.”

The interior of the massive stellar construct was… oddly quiet, Kaela noted with some disquiet. She wasn’t certain what she’d been expecting, but the utter silence that had greeted their scanners as they penetrated the construct wasn’t it.

It is as if there isn’t even dust remaining within this sphere, She thought with a slight shudder.

It made some sense, of course. Where would you get the material to build such a thing if not by cannibalizing everything else within the system, afterall?

However much since that might make in theory, however, the reality of it was hard to accept for someone used to the natural state of affairs within a star system. On a low warp, such as they were using now, the forward well of spacetime that tugged the ship forward wasn’t sufficient to trap and prevent dust and such from reaching the hull.

Normally that would result in the occasional impact warning along with a minor ablation of the outer surface of the armor, which would have to be reapplied after a time in order to maintain the integrity of the inner hull and pressurised sections of the ship.

Here, though?

Hours they’d spent within the construct now and there was nothing. No minor impacts, no hits on any of their scanners, and even the interstellar gasses were measurably lower within the construct.

The precision of it is… terrifying.

It was not something that Kaela would admit aloud, of course, nor would she show such a reaction to any of her subordinates.. nor, frankly, to any of her peers or superiors, or anyone else for that matter… but it was there anyway.

“Scans to my station,” She ordered, reaching for her display.

“To your station, Ship’s Commander.”

The object they were guiding toward was truly massive. Under almost any other situation, in fact, she would be marveling at how something so impossibly large could even be built. That, however, felt like a silly notion to be entertaining while she was guiding her Command through a structure that was nearly incalculably larger.

The size of a particularly large gas giant, the artificial construct radiated nothing other than thermal energy, making her wonder if the builders had somehow trapped another dwarf star within the system and built a second, smaller, shell around it.

To what end, though, she honestly had no real idea.

“Reduce to station keeping relative to the target,” She ordered as they got close enough to maximize their scanning capability. “Hold until further orders, begin analysis.”

“Yes, Ship’s Commander. Adjusting to maintain position relative to Target Alpha,” Yseb responded.

“Scanning and analysis beginning,” Sunnam spoke up a moment later, “Request from analysis team to go active, Ship’s Commander.”

Kaela grimaced as she considered that.

On the one hand, of course, going active meant revealing their presence and position, but she honestly wasn’t sure it was truly possible for them to have been missed given the completely empty nature of the environment they were currently within.

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