"Aedos, you are cleared to launch," came the voice from the tower, "Good luck out there."
"Roger that, Freeport Control. We'll be back" I clicked off the mike and concentrated on easing the ship out of a docking bay too small for it. The Aedos backed out smoothly and quickly, then pivoted away from the station and towards the stars.
"Nicely done," Hec said from the copilot chair. I allowed myself a satisfied grin. "Now let's do this. You know where we're going?"
"Yep," I responded. "The jumphole has been well mapped. It'll be just a few minutes."
The journey to the Iota hole was uneventful and silent. As we approached, Hec bent over his console. "Give me a second, I want to scan it...OK. Go ahead."
Here goes nothing I thought as I eased the Aedos forward. And then we were through. I immediately cut in the afterburners and dived, not waiting to see if anything was shooting at me first. As it turned out, nothing was. I exhaled. "We're clear," I said, then turned to Hec. He was busy poring over his instruments and barely even noticed me. Obviously in his element.
"Take us closer to that Giant there," he said. "I doubt it's important, but I want all the data I can get my hands on." I obliged, but my mind was on something else. It's quiet here. Why? "Good enough, " Hec said after a minute. "Let's move on."
I reengaged cruise engines and set course for the planet that someone had decided to call Xerna. Hec suddenly spoke up. "I wonder where all the Nomads are?" he said, echoing my own thoughts. Before I could respond, there was a loud BOOM and the ship shuddered. I saw it: a Nomad battleship, dead ahead and broadside, almost on top of us. I pulled up in time to dodge the next volley of fire, but part of the third volley caught the Aedos and sent another shudder through her hull. One more like that, and we're gone, I thought grimly as I spun the ship in what I hoped was a hard-to-hit corkscrew.
I sneaked a glance at my scanners. Nothing. The battleship had disappeared as quickly as it had come. Hec looked at me, a wild grin on his face. "Was that what I think it was? I've never actually seen one before...not that big, at least...it was so beautiful!" Apparently the whole "mortal peril" thing had gone right over Hec's head. He was apparently too busy being elated to notice. "...to think that they can actually grow a cloaking device...incredible!"
"Wait," I interrupted. "They can cloak?"
"Some of them, yeah," Hec responded.
Oh, Space. was all I could think. I stared into space as hard as I could, searching, hardly daring to blink. Suddenly, there was a subtle blue glow dead ahead... I rolled the Aedos down and left as another Nomad battleship appeared, this time managing to avoid all of its fire before getting out of range. I exhaled. Hec looked wistful. "No, we are NOT going back so you can get a closer look," I said sharply.
Hec looked surprised, then grinned. "Fair enough. We're almost there anyway." And with that, he disappeared again into the console that linked him to his scientific scanning equipment in my hold. Xerna loomed in the cockpit as I eased the Aedos into a high orbit. "Closer," Hec said without looking up.
I closed in. A couple of Nomad fighter patrols appeared, but they were evaded without too much trouble.
"Done!" Hec said triumphantly, then went serious. "Now for phase two."
"Phase two?" I wasn't happy to hear about that. "What are you talking about?"
"Yes. I'm sorry I didn't tell you sooner," Hec said quietly. "Half of the equipment I have in your hold is actually high-tech probes. A bunch of small, nearly invisible autonomous drones that can fly all over the planet at various altitudes, collecting data. Hopefully, they will be able to let us observe Nomads in their native environment. Tell us about them, their society. All without them knowing or doing them any harm."
"Are you sure they are going to see it that way?" I asked.
"Well, they shouldn't ever know they're there. But yes, that's a risk," Hec acknowledged. "It's not as if there is a peace to be broken."
That was true. "Alright," I said. "Do it. And make it quick."
Hec nodded, then exited the cockpit and headed for the cargo hold. "I'll take care of the drop. Just get as low as you can, then open the cargo doors on my mark," he said. I manouvered the Aedos into as low of an orbit as I dared, my eyes peeled for any further signs of Nomad ships. Hec, meanwhile, climbed into his vacsuit and prepared his equipment, "Alright!" he yelled over the in-ship intercom. "Go!"
I punched the appropriate button, and the doors opened. Hec made sure the probes all made it out clean, then said "OK. That was perfect. Leave the bay open. We still need to drop the relays. I'll handle the dropping, just head back to Freeport 11."
The Aedos flew home, occasionally dropping tiny beacons that would hopefully allow the scientists at Cambridge to control and gather data from their probes. The return trip was uneventful: no more Nomads gave us any trouble, just occasionally sending another relay out of the ship. A special set of relays were dropped on either side of the jumphole, a few more on the way back to the Freeport, and that was it.
Once back on the Freeport, Hec unloaded his equipment and checked on the probes. 80% of them had made it down safely, and were cruising all over the planet sending back all sorts of Data. It was good to see that the plan was working, at least so far. Hec was thrilled, and couldn't wait to get back to Cambridge.
Hopefully, that data will help us understand more about the Nomads. It may even lead to peace: or if that fails, it may give us the informational edge we need to survive against them.
![[Image: aedos_mini.jpg]](http://students.cs.byu.edu/~sushi/aedos_mini.jpg)