Deathstalker 05 - Deathstalker Destiny

called away to fight in the war. Current thinking was that anyone stupid enough to land on Zero Zero deserved every extremely unpleasant thing that happened to them. Silence had already decided not to risk any more than the smallest practical landing party. Too bad he had to be one of them.
    "Captain! Picking up signs of two unidentified craft in high orbit," said his
    new comm officer, Morag Tal. She was tall and blond, sharp and intelligent and eager to please. She also seemed impossibly young, but then a lot of his crew seemed that way to Silence. Possibly because most of the old familiar faces had died on one impossible mission or another, or been posted to where their experience could be better used. And since there were no experienced replacements anymore… Silence realized his thoughts were drifting, and made himself pay attention as the comm officer put the new images up on the viewscreen. "A golden Hadenman vessel, and a Shub ship, Captain," said Tal, unnecessarily. "Low-level shields hid them until we were practically on top of them. No hostile reactions as yet."
    "Run full sensor scans," said Silence. "And you can try raising them on the comm, though I doubt they'll talk to us. I'm mostly interested in why they haven't already opened fire on us."
    "Shall I put the ship on Full Alert?"
    "Not yet. If they were going to cause trouble, they'd have done it by now. Shub and the Hadenmen… Any signs they've been fighting each other?"
    "Sensor scans complete, Captain." Morag Tal frowned at the information scrolling down the screen before her. "No signs of any external damage. Energy levels are very low; probably running on automatic systems only. No power to their weapon systems… and no life signs. None at all. Neither ship responding to comm inquiries. It seems likely both ships are deserted."
    Silence raised an eyebrow, and put his meal to one side. "Interesting. If they haven't been fighting, what could have happened that was so bad they had to abandon ship for the dubious safety of Zero Zero?"
    "Insufficient evidence as yet, Captain."
    "That was a rhetorical question, Tal. All right; if there are Hadenmen down
    there, and Shub agents, the sooner we get dirtside the better. Comm officer; locate Investigator Carrion, and have him report to the briefing lounge."
    "Aye, sir." The comm officer's voice was carefully calm and neutral. No one on the Dauntless crew had any time for the traitor and outlaw Carrion, even if he had been officially Pardoned, but no one was dumb enough to show it openly.
    Silence tended to have very sharp and unpleasant ways of dealing with any discourtesies to his old friend. It was surprising how many toilets there were that always needed cleaning on a ship the size of the Dauntless. Especially when you were only issued with a toothbrush.
    "Meanwhile, maintain high orbit." Silence had decided to abandon what was left of his meal until he was really hungry. "Stay out of the planet's atmosphere.
    There's no telling how high the rogue nanos were thrown when the scientific Base exploded. There could still be some floating about up there, just waiting for something hard and solid to come along so they could continue their dirty work.
    Maintain full shields, at all times."
    "Beg pardon, Captain, but indefinite use of full shields will mean a serious drain on our power."
    Silence turned a stern look on Tal. "Comm officer; you seem intent on telling me things I already know. I am quite aware of my own ship's limitations, thank you.
    I am less sure of Zero Zero's ability to do us harm, so we are taking no chances at all. Now; send down a couple of remote probes. With a little luck they might last long enough to send back something useful."
    The comm officer nodded quickly, and fired off two probes. They were basically just information-gathering packages inside heavy armor. They couldn't be shielded and still do their work, so that left them vulnerable to nano attack.
    The whole bridge crew watched unobtrusively as the two probes plunged into Zero Zero's deceptively tranquil atmosphere, tense and strained as they waited for…
    something to happen. Silence had Tal put up the incoming sensor readings on the main viewscreen, as the probes sent back the first direct information in centuries on Zero Zero's condition.
    Heavy cloud cover, but no storm systems. Air content and temperatures within acceptable human limits. Gravity earth normal, as near as dammit, which was a little surprising, given the