It was while they were scanning the nearby asteroids for high-resolution images that the first firefight broke out a third of the way around the star system. The electromagnetic sensors spotted it first, several large em pulses erupting halfway between the orbits of the two gas giants. They were quickly confirmed as nuclear explosions. The second barrage broke out as exhaust plumes suddenly streaked out all around the trio of explosions, exposing two squadrons of over thirty ships converging on each other. The fighting had started when they were a million kilometers apart. Now they were all accelerating toward each other at over seven gees. Missiles and gamma lasers turned the shrinking gap into a lethal hurricane of energy. Exploding ships added their fury to the radiation deluge.
Hysradar swiftly scanned the area in real-time, finding a large, expanding cloud of debris and vapor with several ruined ships tumbling through it. Thirty-two million kilometers away, five colonized asteroids were surrounded by a shoal of ships whose active sensors were probing the battle zone.
“Glad we weren’t there,” Oscar exclaimed.
Wilson stared at the display with its crumbling flecks of irradiated matter hurtling apart. It reminded him of the ridiculous slow-motion explosions in the blockbuster films of his youth, where steroidal Hollywood action stars outran the blast wave. “Defense,” he asked slowly. “Could our force fields have stood up to that kind of assault?”
“The initial blasts, sir, possibly. But it got pretty hellish in there toward the end.”
“Thank you.”
He glanced at Oscar, and inclined his head. The two of them went into the senior officer’s briefing room, and opaqued the glass wall. Screens around the long central table glowed blue and crimson from the sensor graphics they were showing.
“I know what you’re thinking,” Wilson said as he sat on a corner of the table.
“It’s not difficult. I’ve been saying it ever since the barrier came down. We should leave. These developments have pushed us way outside our original mission scenario. We were supposed to be a scouting flight. This is something else entirely.”
“I know, I know.” Wilson ran his hand back through his hair; it was getting longer than he liked. “But we still don’t know why they were confined, and we certainly don’t know who or what put the barrier up. We were sent here to find out. That means we haven’t completed our mission, not to my satisfaction.”
“That fight was a damn good indicator why they were penned up in here. It doesn’t come any clearer than that to me.”
“Maybe, but we can’t go home with just an assumption. I need to be certain.”
“It’s not just the Dyson civilization you have to consider, Wilson. Why was that barrier taken down for us? Doesn’t that bother you?”
“Of course it does. But the people who can tell us about the barrier are right here.”
“We can’t ask them, it’s too risky. In our whole history, the human race has only ever let off five nuclear warheads in anger. And they were under the most extraordinary, exceptional circumstances. That fight of theirs just saw eight hundred and seventy-two fusion bombs detonating inside of thirty minutes, and half of them had diverted energy output functions. They are dangerous, Wilson. Very, very dangerous.”
“The kind of weapons involved in any conflict are determined by the nature of the battleground and the technology available. If we are attacked out here, I’m quite prepared to use our nukes. It would be an appropriate response. Does my willingness to do my duty make the human race a bunch of dangerous killers?”
“You’re twisting this. I’m on record here: I don’t like this situation. It is my opinion we should leave.”
“We can’t. For all it’s an unexpected outcome, this is why we’re here. Discovery and opportunity, Oscar. We can’t turn our back on it. That would be less than human. I’m going to authorize a remote investigatory contact.”
Oscar closed his eyes and let out a long dispirited breath. “Okay. It is your choice, and I will support it. But can we at least be cautious about it?”
Wilson smiled at him. “Believe me, we are going to be so cautious you’ll think I’ve turned dangerously paranoid.”
They set out the rules of contact at the next daily departmental heads meeting, drawing on the Commonwealth protocols for alien contact, and adapting them to their own unique situation.
“It is my intention to discover what we can about the Dyson aliens without ourselves being observed,” Wilson said. “Now we’ve seen how volatile they are, I am not prepared to take the Second Chance into orbit around any planet or moon. God alone knows what weapons systems they have in orbit around their large population centers.”
