Page 142 - The Chronicles Ser2 (6-10)

Gio is right we should…” A strange low frequency hum came from the rear section of the device and
part of the Probes exterior shielding began to shimmer
“I was right!” yelled Gio “It’s a co-phasic modulator, like the system jury rigged to the speeders. But
this is much more powerfull. Thanks to the Kryst’s over engineering, that one small generator could
modulate…” he added but was interrupted by Krysta
“A vessel twice the size of the Hellion! I’m beginning to see why we should meet with these people.
If this is their basic level of engineering… WOW!” she said, Lennie continued to watch as the
technician continued to ramp up the supply.
“If you would please direct your attention to the displays, there is something very strange going on”
he said and they looked at what he was pointing at. As the power increased, there was a marked
shift in the frequency of the modulation. The Hum became a screeching high pitched whine, almost
unbearable then… Silence and a brilliant flash. Part of the Probe just seemed to have vanished. The
rest was still visible, but the section where the shielding had been was apparently gone, or invisible.
There was no radiation showing on the sensors so they entered the engineering bay. Lennie
approached and cautiously put a hand to the empty space, it too appeared to fade and vanish, he
pulled it back
“Hmm. Thermal shift, but I could feel the crafts outer shield resisting me. From what my sensors are
telling me my hand went “out of phase” with the surrounding space-time” he said
The others stood silent in astonishment, then Jock spoke.
“I heard of something like this happening to some military experiments on Mars, during the early
expansion era. The results were fatal as the experimental drive was unstable. Later modifications
arising from the Brandt solution gave us a faster warp drive system that was safer and smoother.
Looks like the Kryst found a way to do what the drive did; but with sheilds, albeit for a limited time”
he said
“That short time may be more than enough to get through space-time distortions. By the
calculations I just did; they could have covered a parsec, shielded, in less time than it takes to power
up the Hellion’s warp drive” Lennie announced.
“We have to mount that expedition to that Moon as quickly as posssible. It could help us to finally
meet these Kryst face to face” Gio said, and they all nodded agreement.

Captain Hart had been watching all this on her ready room monitor. She opened a private
subspace link and sent a short encrypted text. She closed the link and sat back in her chair deep in
thought. She rose and went over to a recessed closet and removed a box. She sat back down at her
desk and retrieved a small key from her breast pocket and opened it. It had been her Great Great
Grandmothers, who had received it from one of the Osir who had first encountered the Terrans of
The Tribe. Inside was a small crystalline rectangular block like object and some personal effects of
the lady. The object was inscribed on one side with single circle, and one end had a number of small
metal contacts. The opposite side had three symbols in Ancient Greek. “Phi Delta Epsilon” she said
softly to herself.

Back on Keteria the two pilots and Lyris were summoned to the Council chambers. Activity in
the Chamber was frantic. Julio looked up from a pad he had been handed by a Clerk. He signalled
them to come over.
“I had your visit cut short because of two developments. Before I explain further I need to ask
something of you Misha; your people’s pilots are trained in field medicine I understand, do you
pssess such skills?” He asked
“Yes; I’m actually qualified to do surgery if neccesary; has one of your pilots been injured?” She
asked in return
“A young recruit on his first solo mission has got himself into difficulties and is trapped in his craft.
It’s in a dangerously eccentric orbit around a dwarf star in the sector shown on the screen. Darius
our Medic will need assistance once we have his craft in a stable orbit or in tow. The poor young
man is delerious, so he may have suffered head injuries. It’s what he’s describing that has me
concerned, he says he hit something, it looked like a small craft. He couldn’t see it at first because it