Frontieria - Part 1

Somewhere in the deep darkness between the stars of the Ara constellation, a vaguely dumbbell-shaped spacecraft sped through the void to its next destination at several times the speed of light. A subatomic particle phased through a quantum gate and was annihilated in a very specific way, causing the vessel’s artificial intelligence to take notice. Another particle arrived with the same annihilation pattern, pushing the AI to give the incoming message his full attention.

After a microsecond’s consideration, Chuck cleared his electronic voice over the intercom, interrupting the weightless game of poker happening in the mid-deck hall. "Pardon me Cap'n Ness, but HQ is on the quan. Could you and Doc kindly head up to the bridge?"

Commander Nessa Moreva swept her piercing blue eyes to the "ceiling" as she tucked her cards in her pocket. "Sure, Chuck. We'll be right there." She glanced at Dr. Merlin Foxwell, who nodded. "I'll just fold," he sighed, scooping his own cards into a small bag and pushing it towards Suraja Patel, the ship’s botanist. He grabbed a handhold and pushed off, his lanky form gliding up the hallway after Ness.

Patel looked around the circle at the other science officers of the ship. “Should we just quit now and start preparing for whatever crazy sidequest Headquarters has assigned to us?”

Kerr'Zjhann, the crew’s ecologist, clicked his mandibles thoughtfully and shifted his centauroid form to avoid resting on a hard metal guiderail. “If we do, do I get the pot?”

“John!” chief science officer Sklye Solari chastised, flicking one of her wings at the skae. “We’ll just pause the play until we’re finished doing our jobs. Objections?”

The circle was silent.

“I thought not. Let’s go, then.”