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Chapter 946 946 Shuttle Away

The team of reserves was assembled and ready even before they had managed to finish modifying the shuttle that was going to take them through space.

Calling it a shuttle was a bit of a misnomer, as the ship was large enough to be a private yacht. Most of that was due to the need for it to have a dual-drive system, though. One would bring it to half cruising speed, without using a Warp Field, and then engage the Traction Drive to bring them to Warp 2 once they were free of the turbulence.

But the Traction Drive was not meant to be used at the moment. Instead, it was a backup to get them out of any region that they encountered where the standard Warp Drive was inoperative.

Once they were free of this star system, they should, in theory, be able to use the Warp Drive to get where they were going while remaining cloaked at a much higher rate of speed.

If they had to rely on the Traction Drive, they would not be getting anywhere quickly. Warp 2 would take them three months to make it to the nearest star. But if the Warp Drive worked, they could also use the portals that it generated. The Traction Drive was incapable of that, as it was a completely different sort of setup.

"Should we equip it with a separate Portal Generator so that it can open them even if there is interference stopping it from using the Warp Drives?" Nico asked.

"That shouldn\'t be necessary. It is capable of entering the other layer as well, so unless the effect is in both places, it should be able to move freely once it makes the transfer. This is just an all-purpose redundant system." Khan replied.

While the shuttle raced through the atmosphere like the occupants were afraid of having their seats stolen, the strategy group started to make plans to come up with new and better ways to keep things peaceful.

"You know, it\'s really hard to make peace plans when the opponent suddenly decides it is more fun to fight each other than to fight you." Max pointed out after a whole afternoon of pointless brainstorming.

"True, but it killed time, and the shuttle should be past the blockade by now," Nico replied hopefully.

They all turned their attention to what was going on in the shuttle, which was about to go to warp now that it was out of easy weapons range of the satellites.

The data showed that the interference was low enough that anything up to Warp 7 should be a simple matter for the Warp Drives to compensate for, and the team smoothly transitioned to faster-than-light travel headed for the target of the signals.

[Strategy Team, we have sensor data. It appears that the sole habitable planet is no longer inhabited. There are extensive signs of an advanced civilization on the surface, mostly intact but decayed by time. What is missing is any sort of movement or signs of life.

If anyone knows the legend of the ship called Death, the one that steals whole planets, that is what this world is like, perfectly intact and empty. Wait, maybe not. I have detected multiple power signatures on the planet. Give us an hour to search, and I will get back to you.] The shuttle Pilot informed them.

Everyone waited impatiently and watched the sensor streams from the shuttle as it approached the planet. The energy signals became clearer as the shuttle reached low orbit and settled in to do its survey, revealing the handful of active power signatures.

They appeared to be low-level electrical generators, the sort that powered small groups of homes, not military or industrial facilities.

[We have it Strategy Team. They are all Solar Generators with a few active power panels left. The efficiency level is somewhat degraded due to the weathering of the panel surfaces, but each location is producing at least a few dozen kilowatts of electricity.

We are beginning to track where it is flowing to now.]

Max followed along as they traced the power flow to a few locations per active site, but there were no signs of life or movement at any of them. The planet still had plant life but didn\'t seem to have any animal life remaining, not even insects.

[Enter the atmosphere and head for location four. It looks like one of the linked buildings is a government building that is in good repair. If this was intended to be an emergency backup system for natural disasters, then there is a chance that we might still get some data out of the computers, if any survived the years.] Khan ordered.

The shuttle dropped down to the surface, headed for the Government building, but careful to check for the telltale signs of any sort of cloaked satellites that might still be active.

They would burn more energy being in a planetary orbit and likely wouldn\'t last as long, but without a frame of reference on the technology, there was no way to tell if there was still a whole hidden defensive weapons array in orbit.

Nothing responded as the shuttle made its descent, and Max only found a few signs of debris in orbit but no signs of satellites, either in sight or in a cloaking field.

If it was the Darklings or the Arisen that wiped these people out, it was possible that they had just destroyed all the satellites and military installations and then the population without concern for what might be left behind by a dead species.

That might be the worst-case scenario for the locals, but it was one that at least Max could understand and put data to. That was infinitely better than just noting that they had vanished.

[Huntress, we are here.

This place is as creepy as a Tarrasque cemetery. The whole building has power, though none of the rest of the block seems to have had it in centuries. There is a protective stasis field on it, the sort used to preserve exterior finishes, and it\'s still mostly active. The automatic doors worked, and we entered without issue.

We are proceeding through the building toward the active power signals now. The barrier on the building and the two computer terminals seem to be the only things that are still powered on. However, there is a chance that it is not a computer but some other electronic device.]

Max waited as they moved through the building to the first power signature, a single device in an enclosed laboratory.

While most of the furniture in the public areas was crumbling, the lab had a polycarbonate airtight seal, and it looked like it had been vented of atmosphere, leaving everything inside perfectly preserved.

[Commander, we have our first signs of the former occupants of this planet. Four legs and two arms in a centaur configuration, though the species appears to have been quite furry, without exposed skin on the upper torso, as is more common among species of that design.

One corpse was found in the vacuum-sealed chamber, with what appears to be a self-inflicted head wound caused by an energy weapon of an unknown type. The weapon is still present.

There is one computer in the room, a portable device that is currently in sleep mode. It\'s a shame that we don\'t have an Innu with us to save time, but we have the skills to retrieve the data without entering the room.]