Ad Astra

Families and friends gather at the dock, waiting for the......second inaugural flight of the United Earth-born Fleet X-AE-XII, called "Archangel" by those who know her well. She's an older ship, about thirty years behind, but she was at the battle of Caramay, Sigma Eight, and even shuttled refugees off the collapsing Planet T'harr. A decorated vessel, to be sure, one most young human aviators ogled at the museum on Earth Beryllium, from which she launched originally. To think! Some of those same souls who were inspired by the Archangel's flights are now going to serve with her!

A strange honor, sure. But after about 90 years of hunting for better Antimony sources, humans are running out of their supply. The Grel'lix, a largely unknown race on the outskirts of the Treaty, are having a similar issue with an iodine variant they (loosely) call "Redjuice." The translation isn't ideal. Still, humans were invited with great caution to their latest trade negotiations, and that is exactly why X-AE-XII has been taken out of mothballs. She won't show up on the Grel'lix scanners as an enemy, and she already has the holding tanks necessary to make the first trade.

A few of Archangel's original crew remain, even humans, but the Captain is the stiff-necked daughter the great Admiral Orion Hamilton himself. There are rumors that Pleiades rues the opportunity to prove herself on her father's ship, but there's no mark of this in her casting-off speech. In fact, more of the nerdy child raised in the ship's underbelly comes through.

The beacon rings out in the dock as final kisses and farewells are exchanged. Time to board, and take this legend back to the stars!

Bing!
All crew please report to your stations. Final checks pending. Launch in T-minus ten minutes.
Bong!

The shipwide com system shows its age, but is still useful for large announcements. Captain Hamilton's voice is back to the cool, collected tone that her subordinates know to expect.

But one by one your own coms buzz on your collars.

Security detail, please report in the half hour for first assignments.

Professors, will you join me in the medbay please?

Oi! First shift'er not, all mechanics should come an' see this beauty crank from mothballs 'ta point five Cee fer tha first time in two decades!

Professors, a pleasure to meet you. The doors to the medbay hiss open and you're greeted by Chief Medical Officer Sotra Davis. His half-Relik features give him an angular expression, but his eyes are still human - including a well-meaning but clueless analysis of his guest.

I look forward to working with you, of course. I also help monitor some of the unique physiological needs of various crew members. If there are any issues with takeoff, for instance, I can assist.

---

It'll take us 5.3 Standard days to reach the Grel'lix. Your reputations preceed you, but this part-week is far more important. Only the best will be on the security detail for negotiations.

You stand in the room with several dozen others who will be assigned to various shifts. Clearly "within the half hour" is polite talk for "now." It's rigid here, but workable. Straightforward. Far better to be security for this trip than one of the diplomats.

Lieutenant Kron, a Galdorian with very pronounced eyebrow ridges and scaly olive skin, reviews his expectations before assigning everyone to their first shifts. You have evenings to start. Well. Maybe you can talk to Elsie before she leaves for work.

---

Lieutenant Commander Moira Bruce is......a lot to take in. She worked as a young prodigy on the Archangel, and is very clearly delighted to be home again. Her thick curly brown hair bounces and shudders as she climbs around the engine bay with impressive agility for her build. Only a few of the off-duty mechanics are here right now.

Oi! You! She points at Jonh. Yer clearly a man who knows what ta' prioritize! All these young kids. They dunnae appreciate a little grease an' grime. Get up here!

She offers you a hand as you climb to a platform below an air cycler. It's loud, but it's a fantastic view of the glowing red engine.

---

There's another announcement on the ship as it slowly starts leaving the harbor. You drift at a normal overland flight speed until you leave the gravity bank, at which point you feel yourself lifting slightly off the ground. This is to counteract the g-force of launch, and as the Archangel lurches forward toward half-celeritas (about 150 million meters per second), you don't shift too much. In the blink of an eye, Earth-Beryllium vanishes in a rush of stars. Behind, you leave your loved ones, your pasts, and the hopes of the planet.

The officer who called you looks your way.

Well? What do you think?

Absolutely. Although, now that we're traveling at speeds higher than .25C, I'll want to monitor the symbiote's positioning periodically. I can't imagine it'll travel more than a few millimeters, but that's quite a range in surgery.

Pleased with his response, Bruce passes the code reader that's already running analysis. Dust, like an ancient Earth Prime furnace being turned on for the first time in the season.

Ah'm thinkin' there might be a bad connection with tha exhaust port, but we won't know that until we've leveled speed fer a parsec or two.

Not that I am aware of, though -

Ping!

---

All of you are called to the conference room. When you arrive, you see Captain Hamilton waiting for you, standing behind the table.

Thank you for joining me. I will be brief. This is a delicate diplomatic endeavor, and surely there are those within the Treaty and outside it that hope we will fail. You have been assigned as my task force for the purposes of finding and preventing any attempts to disrupt the mission.

Engineer Jonh, at the recommendation of Lt. Commander Bruce.

Professors, for your...unique access to human-alien relations.

And Officer Cabral, for your lack of experience. Not being bogged down by various bureaucratic machinations within the Treaty will actually serve as a benefit in this case.

Your cover story will simply be that at the recommendation of your leaders, you are on the small-group detail for this mission. Which, in fact, is true.

Are there any questions?

Your training, of course, Professors. I apologize if that wasn't clear.

The captain respects your knowledge, but your biology is definitely a part of it, too, whether she wants to admit it or not.

Again, we have a shipment of "Redjuice" - Hyper-Neutrated Iodine, which we will be able to leverage for our first return shipment of Antimony. We enter the trade agreements, make gestures of good faith as appropriate, trade goods, and come home to process any more complicated pieces of the treaty - infrastructure, scanner codes, and the like. In the event the Grel'lix have allies that we would also benefit from trading with, we are authorized to open discussion with them as well.

The problem is, there are Earth-Beryllium organizations that would benefit handsomely if their artificial synthesis of Antimony became viable, and the Grel'lix take a neutral stance towards certain nations that have less-than-favorable views of the Treaty. There have been no open hostilities, but this may be seen as an opportunity to send a message to the Treaty.

As for traitors on the ship, we believe we've rooted everyone out, but these corporations pay well. We need to be cautious.

Everything is...fine, actually. The trip to the council goes without a hitch. Trade negotiations go far better than anyone expected. You secure enough antimony to help Earth-Beryllium for the three astronomical cycles it'll take to establish well-organized trade routes. Nobody sabotages the redjuice. And the Treaty is able to open venues for other civilizations as well.

It's when you hear a bloodcurdling scream from the medbay that you know something is wrong.

As you round the corner, you hear CMO Davis' voice call out. He's stressed, and trying to be heard over the screaming, with a poor attempt at maintaining medical professionalism, stammering in his flustered state.

Doctor Bale - Doctors - You! Please! I need extra hands!

He barely notices you had your weapon drawn.

One of the lower-level officers writhes on the table as crystalline spikes seem to grow and push underneath his skin. None of the protrusions have burst, the skin instead going white over hardened points. They're worst on his hands, up his arms, a few on the soles of his feet, but you see some smaller pieces starting to push out of his chest. Davis tosses you the medical scanner.

See what you can find out. He doesn't seem to be internally bleeding, but I fear that's only because the spikes are holding his wounds shut. I'm trying a level two comatose trigger to try to stop the progress.

Not that I am aware of. I had an uptick in rash cases since leaving talks with the Grel'lix. Only three, but all security. I'll need them called down immediately.

He glances sideways and swipes a few pieces on his data pad before continuing. While your scan continues you see the patient's body temperature drop to precisely 274K - a breath above freezing.

You see abnormally high levels of phi-radiation exposure in his system. It's a poorly-understood yet fairly common principle that allows for faster-than-light travel. Unlike normal electromagnetic waves, it impacts spacetime as a unit, even under observation. It seems to be having a strange reaction to trace elements in his body.

His hands and feet, his chest....that's when it hits you. All four potential patients worked security, meaning all of them would have had contact with the Antimony shipment. If this particular isotope is strong in phi-radiation-emitters, then of course they would have been impacted through gloves, shoes, even breathing nearby.

Meanwhile, Daniel's comm badge buzzes softly. A pre-recorded message summons him to the medbay, at Dr. Davis' request.....

274. Perfect. Comatose trigger successful. I'll have to biopsy one of these spikes and see the extent of his internal damage.

His voice trails off as he processes your other observations.

Phi-radiation? But antimony is a relatively stable element. They had gloves and masks. That should have been enough.

Jonh slides into the medbay about when the Sisters make their recommendation. One of the members of security is lying comatose on the table, with unnatural spike-shaped growths pushing out of their body. The doctor continues.

The Quartermaster is outfitted for standard radiation and contaminants. If anyone had the proper gear to check, it'd be someone who worked on the engines....

He glances at Jonh, the unspoken question hanging in the air.

At least neither of you interacted with the shipment directly. But if this is a contaminant, then you may have been exposed during the talks. The Captain as well. Can I scan you?

A few beeps and boops later and the doctor muses over the reading.

I believe your second theory is correct. Professors, you appear to have exposure levels akin to what I'd expect in engineer Jonh. And you, Jonh, read like Lt. Commander Bruce. I need to ask you not to spend time in the engine bay until we can read this better. Phi-Radiation may be self-perpetuating, which would explain the exponential increase in your levels despite largely similar exposure.

He pauses and does a second check on the Sisters.

For what it's worth, the organism has the same level as exposure as the rest of the original human biology. This may cause issues in the future if for some reason those levels differentiate, but again. You're at a safe level right now.

We do, but I'll need to mix them for your current exposure levels so you don't overdose. They're intended for massive mechanical failure. But...I think this applies. The doctor calls down the Captain and Lts. Altok Leya, who were the primary negotiators for the conference, then prepares an anti-rad dose for the spiky security officer.

Lt. Commander Bruce picks up the call. Phi-Rad contamination? Shet. Get yerself treated. I'll suit up an' check on things with -

The security officer cries out with inhuman pain, his back arching unnaturally on the table.

That shouldn't be possible.

But apparently this contaminant isn't slowed down by near-freezing temperatures.

His arms and legs erupt with sudden spike growth. The bones pop out of their sockets, you can hear the ligaments tearing, but his skin remains intact - just white, and stony.

His arm cuts the comm from Medbay. His leg impales the doctor. You just barely miss his other limbs.

Groaning, wailing, the patient staggers to his hands and feet like a distended spider. Blood and water leak from his mouth and eyes.

That wound would kill a normal human. Probably. But The Sisters aren't really a normal human anymore, and the doctor is half-Relik, so they just don't know....

Full Quarantine will be easy. To depressurize the ship's hospital? That's past your security clearance. The problem too, is that Drs. Bale are still in there.

---

One red dot in the data pad. Something's wrong in the medbay. Modwen Tarch should be relaxing, but information like this waits for no one.

As Modwen strides down the hallway working out his opening paragraph, he nearly crashes into Captain Hamilton, Lts. Leya, and.....

A small dense rock-shaped being? One of the Grel'lix! But, how did he get on the ship?

And since you think it's so important to be involved in our affairs, you can tell us how to resolve this before we extradite you via storage capsule.

Hamilton is rarely this out of sorts, even in the short time you've known her. When she realizes it's you, she barks an order.

Tarch, I need everything you've got on Antimony: reactivity, source minerals, neutralizers - anything you can get me.

From outside, Jonh sees the captain and Leya rushing down the hall with....that self-righteous journalist and one of the Grel'lix? Fine. Whatever. Because inside he sees the victim staggering under its own weight, its own new biology, knocking supplies out of cupboards and tables.

The Doctor is bleeding heavily, his eyes glazed over. He grasps for Phi-Rad pills before he musters the strength to crawl out of the room - all far too slowly.

What are you waiting for? Captain Hamilton cries to Jonh. Quarantine it!

The Sisters are right, of course. They can't decompress such an important wing of the ship, and certainly not when there's a new organism inside. It's pleasing for the professors to hear.

Or rather, would be, if the creature wasn't about to rip them in two to escape into the ship.

The Sisters slide backward just in time, and from the way the medical scanner shatters beneath the creature's hand, they're glad they did. Yen'kos is able to focus - these humans have no idea what they're facing, and he does. So as Dr. Davis weakly stretches for the opening, the Grel'lix is able to yank him out of harm's way. As soon as his feet clear, Jonh's code finishes processing and the heavy doors to the medbay slam shut - just as the creature slams into the port window and shrieks. He's even able to send emergency protocol to the secondary and tertiary bays: No doctors working alone, extra precautions, and send someone down here ASAP for Davis. Captain Hamilton nods her thanks to Jonh, but she has bigger issues to deal with.

The security officers called down by the Sisters finally arrive - everything happened so fast - and by now some of the nearby officers are dribbling out of their rooms trying to help. Leya makes a move to contact the Command post on Earth Beryllium, but she stops them.

Give me thirty minutes. I owe them more in the briefing than this. As things calm down (such as that is), you see she's pale. Possible sources of emitters, information on the spikes, transmission mechanisms, and symptoms so far. She points to Modwen, the Sisters, Yen'Kos, and Jonh each in turn and adds with a quiet, choked voice. Please.

Hamilton nods.

Lt. Commander Bruce should be done with her initial inspections of the shipment. Jonh can take you there. But first, are you feeling any exposure side effects yet? Any of you?

Captain Hamilton sighs and rubs the bridge of her nose.

I'll take Lieutenants Leya and the other security officers into quarantine. She opens her palm and you see the rash forming where she would have shaken hands with Grel'lix. Go talk to Lt. Commander Bruce. Figure out the doses you need for the anti-radiation pills. Dr. Davis practically died bringing them out, after all. Unexposed security will set up a perimeter here, and I'll get some medics down to observe it.

As soon as she mentioned quarantine a couple officers started spraying the area and wrapping the negotiators in haz-mat material. Commander Key has the bridge, but report everything regarding this to me directly. Come to medbay delta in fifteen minutes. I need to tell high command.

She stops halfway down the hall and turns back, frustration still obvious through her plastic facemask.

And tell me why the stowaway isn't infected!

When you arrive in Engineering, Bruce and another tech are in the decontamination chamber. She speaks loudly so you can hear her through the sprays, scanners, and glass

Et's not the Antimony etself. Far as we can tell, there are these....particles tha' emit, but we cannae tell what they are. Mah scanners'ave never seen anything like'em. Like how photons are one'er th'other - light or matter - dependin' on tha circumstance. But this is both at once. If et weren't fer tha madness goin' on in MedBay, we'd be up fer tha Gorisian Prize fer sure.


It's supposed to be a joke, but even Bruce doesn't find it funny.

You are directed to a closed off chamber with hand scanners on them. As it reads you and notes your Phi-Rad exposure levels, it crushes the pills Dr. Davis secured and mixes you each a thick, disgustingly sweet slurry with antidote. You notice Bruce is out of the decontamination chamber now.

Ah'm not sure et's much more than a fix, ah'm afraid. If tha contaminants cannae get out, yeh'll be back here soon enough.

Bruce catches the implications in the air.

Et's about time fer yer meetin' with tha captain. Let'er know that if th'antimony was contaminated after tha fact, it was expertly done. Emitters trace through it like mold in cheese. Far more likely it'd always been there.

Leaving that hanging over your heads, she nods into the hallway.

When you reach the secondary med bay, the meeting has already begun. High Admiral Orion Hamilton is a stoic, angular figure. It's clear he's less than thrilled to be called in on his daughter's first mission. Whether he's concerned for her health or not, you can't say.

Everyone who was exposed has been dosed with anti-rad and is under observation, your captain explains. She continues gesturing with her hands despite the needlepoint scanner attached to her palm where the rash formed. While we have yet to learn more about these emitters, initial tests appear to show that we can at least keep their effects at bay if we catch them soon enough.

And the stowaway?

About to be examined. They appear cooperative.

Interrogate it as well. Find out why the Redjuice was worth threatening a Treaty flagship.

Yes, High Admiral. She glances to you and nods. My planetside team has returned from decontamination. They are not showing symptoms, but may have more to add.

You are in the medical wing, the captain enunciates stiffly, hoping to take control of the situation before her father feels the need to step in remotely.

You are the stowaway here. Meaning either you're trying to hide from us, or from your people. Neither of which makes a promising first impression. You have no right to discuss the nature of our assumptions when you continually refuse to explain why you are here. Now that you have openly threatened my crew, you may consider any sanctuary you may have claimed moot, and your person formally detained.

She doesn't notice that during this time, the High Admiral cut his line. With a glance to the screen her face flushes briefly. Then she cringes in pain and clasps her infected hand.

With a deep breath she looks to the others. What has Bruce told you? And has the Grel'lix Yen'kos told you anything of note yet?

The medical officers, meanwhile, start poking, prodding, and scanning the stowaway.

Bruce watches Modwen suit up with some concern. Ya cannae jes' run in an' outta tha containment chamber whenever ya like. Ah've got a feelin yeh won't find anythin' new this soon. But I suppose it'll be a good way ta test tha anti-rad medication. See how long et holds up.

She runs the scanner while he steps in.

---

Captain! Captain!

The med-tech who prodded Yen'kos chirps excitedly as the computer prints a read-out.

It appears that the Grel'lix retain a certain number of unprotected cells that are transferred when they mate. See, look. They show a picture of what you assume is a cell. Look. The centriolic diodes here. In a young cell, they display an S-enantiomer. But in the adult cell, the same location is an R-enantiomer. Not only does the iodinal isotope bond to the diodes, but the chirality of the remaining changes entirely as a result. They then act as a plug of sorts.

Captain Hamilton breathes evenly while she waits for the short version. The med tech blushes.

The Redjuice is what gives them resistance. But I don't know if it would work on other lifeforms.

Hamilton nods and looks to Yen'kos, her hand still curled up over the scanner.

So this treaty was to get nutrients for your children. But nobody thought to mention the harm your planet would do to us.

The tech, meanwhile, looks at another output and shows it to Jonh, speaking quietly.

Scanning......scanning.....

Oh.

The good news is, it's not sabotage. The bad news is...it's everywhere. The Phi-radiation emitters are completely integrated with every atom of Antimony. One too many strange quarks in the subatomic makeup, and everything's a mess.

Lt. Commander Bruce reads your scans as you continue.

Well, shet. Lemme see what ah can find.

By the time you're out and decontaminated, she's found an old old article. Is that newsprint archived digitally? Dang.

On Earth-Prime, in their year 1995, one of the first Terran photographic telescopes caught images of the blast from a massive nova. With some quick calculations, even their scientists were able to determine that the blast itself was several thousand years old, several dozen light years across. The "pillars" as the humans called them, were long gone, but the impact remained.

The image was one of the prime examples of the space organization's progress, but as it because more just, a background on a computer, it was largely forgotten. Several centuries ago, the Relik discovered what should have been a neutron star in the center of the original nova, but it was made entirely of strange matter. Luckily in the vacuum of space, very little was around to be affected and then absorbed.

But the planet Grel is in a reasonable shockwave distance for a nova that size.

No wonder they're a minin' planet, Bruce muses. Anythin' too close would'a been vaporized. Anything too small'd've been consumed entirely. You realize what this means? Grel could'a been a multi-core planet, stripped by tha nova, an' changed ta have all these emitters!

---

While Yen'kos speaks, Captain Hamilton gets a cup of a bluish fluid from a replicator in the wall. She's a little clumsy, clearly holding her exposed hand tightly shut.

I trust that all issues aside, you are not a prime mover in them, Yen'kos. Thank you for your feedback. Perhaps, she calls to the techs in the room if Terran and adjacent biology cannot be directly benefitted by redjuice, the antidote could be boosted, in a way? Or the antimony could be neutralized directly.

Altok Leya passes this information on a data pad to central command on Earth-Beryllium as the medics in the room start feverishly researching the captain's suggestions.

Yen'kos, there must be a reason you were sent to live on the moon instead of among your people. Would you please expand on that?

The Grel'lix nods soberly and concedes. My team was sent to search for more redjuice stores, far closer to the core than any of our kind have traveled before. While there, we found creatures not unlike your security officer. As we traveled, we realized that their number, and a few remaining features, closely matched a mining team that had been lost in an elevator collapse. This was how we learned the phi-radiation emitters are not atmospheric, but geological.

Captain Hamilton leans forward, her demeanor far closer to when the ship disembarked - though still uneasy. Your people know the mines expertly well. Why did your leaders not listen?

Yen'kos blinks, twitching a little with the repressed memory. I was the only one who survived, Sir. My findings were written off as PTSD, then heresy. Our people worship the core, the soil. To think it is the source of our trouble is unthinkable for most Grel'lix.

Hamilton acknowledges the report with solemnity. Lieutenants, process Yen'kos as a materials expert seeking sanctuary on a Treaty ship. It'll be messy, but I think it's our best bet right now. She sighs and sets her drink back in the replicator to re-adjust it to something else. Most of you were assigned to be a diplomatic envoy for negotiations. Now it seems we have a larger problem on our hands. Will you help with this, too?

Bruce nods and taps at her datapad. Up, Down, Top, Bottom, Strange, and Charm are ancient Terran classifications of tha quarks in subatomic matter. Intergalactically they're classed I through VI but tha concept stayed. An' once ah finish drafrin' this, ah'll be able ta get in contact with tha Relik. Ah've got tha clearance fer it.

In the medbay Captain Hamilton nods soberly at the Sisters' observation. I cannot force this assignment on you. Though I suppose I also can't promise you any more safety one way or the other. All this said... she sighs and opens her palm. There are notable spikes growing under her sensor. The radiation appears to react to stress. Because you were exposed to an affected crew member, and we don't know much about transfer from these creatures, I would allow you to quarantine if you prefer.

A sensor starts beeping furiously and the med tech perks up with worry. Captain! Someone has lifted the patient's stasis field! Primary Medbay is being compromised!

Hamilton snaps back into captain mode. So if you're going, do it now. Warn engineering on your way. Authorization granted to set phasers to "kill."