The optical
sensors had no problem processing the images, but Flynn wished they had been
wrong. Massive solar flare, estimated by Calypso’s
computers as Z5 events, and accompanying solar ejections, streamed towards the
inner planets. Each planet had its own such flare and ejection.
Impellus
was an orange, main-sequence star, so an event such as this shouldn’t happen to
a stable star. And the odds that it would perfectly target each star in the
inner system was statistically impossible, which left a very sour taste in
Flynn’s mouth.
Flynn
looked over the existing data of the inner planets. Two were Martian type
planets, though Impellus III had an oxygen rich atmosphere and showed some
basic plant life. That wouldn’t be the case after the solar matter hit. The
energy in the solar matter would shred through the planet’s magnetosphere, then
bombard everything with intense gamma radiation. The entire planet would be
rendered lifeless.
“Ann, show
me anything artificial in this system.”
Ann, at the
helm, grumbled something about that being a stupid idea, but switched the
sensors to focus on constructed objects. Right away the sensors recognized four
objects within the system, identified as man-made by their shape and materials.
“Jump
beacons,” Flynn said.
“Why would
someone hide jump beacons in this system?” Ann asked. “It was never colonized. It’s
not even a border world between any of the existing nations.”
“There’s a
new player,” Flynn said. “Bring us about. Get us back into the wind. If we’re
lucky, the beacons will jump before they register us.”
Ann
shrugged, working the controls.
“What do
you mean a new player, Captain?” Reese asked.
Flynn gave
him a sidelong glance, but humored him anyway.
“Plume
warheads. This was a message. That’s what the beacons are for. They’ll jump and
deliver their recordings of what happened here. Someone is in possession of
weapons that can lay waste to entire solar systems. And they’ve just
demonstrated they’re not afraid to use them.”