Author's Note: Originally, the consent in the sex scene was highly questionable, but it didn't seem right for the first installment. If this series continues, however, that kind of content will be something of a theme in future episodes. Space is dangerous - godlike aliens, mind control, pheromones, shapeshifters, evil dopplegangers... The characters are aware of this and even lampshade it in the text. Nevertheless, situations contrived to entice/coerce the officers out of their uniforms are going to be the order of the day.
...
The starship Vanguard is seen silhouetted against blackness dotted with myriad points of light, grav drives glowing against the dark background.
Voiceover (a clear, mature, female soprano): "Space is not a fertile field of stars. It is the Last Frontier. The Space Force starship Vanguard explores the starlanes for the Terran Colonies. We bring the hand of peace to those who wish peace. But we wield a sword to defend the Colonies against those who would threaten the innocent. We go where few dare."
...
At the rear focus point of the elliptical bridge of the Vanguard, a female officer sat in the raised command seat. She was whip-slender and wiry, almost gangly. Her coral skin was a few shades lighter than her wine-dark Space Force duty uniform, but far darker than her cropped platinum blonde hair. Large, elvish ears curled closely to the sides of her head. There were Commander's tabs on her shoulders. She was speaking into the comms unit on the arm of the command chair in a strong alto cadence.
"Vanguard log. June 6, 2412. Close of Third Shift. First Officer Sylith recording. On request from the Bureau of Colonization, we are continuing towards the Gorget system, where our colony on the earth-like third planet has gone silent. Though not fully explored, this area of space is not considered to be hostile. We are therefore not observing comm silence and are continuing to attempt to contact the colony. So far, no response."
The lift doors opened with a whoosh. "I relieve you, Commander," came a warm soprano voice from the back of the bridge.
Commander Sylith looked up from her dictation. "I stand relieved. Captain." She stood up from the command chair, unfolding her long limbs. Then she smoothed her uniform jacket and turned toward the back of the bridge.
Standing right behind the command chair, her hands resting on its back, was a mature woman with Captain's pips on the shoulders of her dark burgundy uniform jacket. There were threads of gray in her jet-black hair and eyebrows. Her creamy skin was a dark ivory, almost cafe-au-lait. Her angular features belied some old-Earth Japanese ancestry. Her face was open and expressive, signifying competence and experience.
The two female officers now standing face to face were a study in contrasts. Although the saturnine Captain was not short by any means, her First Officer was at least a full head taller. But the Captain's lush figure was significantly more feminine than that of the fair-haired, coral-skinned Commander, whose rail-thin body was almost boyish. The First Officer's legs, bare below her command Officer uniform's regulation kilt, were gangly compared to the Captain's shapely, athletic calves. And while the Captain's face had a hint of the exotic, the Commander's darker features had a distinctly strange affect, almost alien from some angles.
"Quiet shift?" the Captain inquired.
"Too much so," the Commander replied, frustration entering her voice, which was surprisingly high-pitched considering her height and bearing. "We're just four hours out from the colony now and have heard nothing. Nothing."
"Grab a nap," the Captain sighed. "We're likely to need a Landing Party when we get there and I want you on it."
A throaty contralto voice came from the direction of the turbolift. "You know that Regulation 42(c) specifies that, in a situation where communications have not been established, a ship's Landing Party cannot contain both of the two most senior officers. In response to the Yarrow Incident."
The two senior officers at the command chair turned simultaneously to face the newcomer. The newcomer in the lift doorway was a thirtysomething human female of average build, unexceptional in most ways other than pale skin, piercing green eyes, and flaming red hair aggressively pinned up into a barely-regulation bun.
"It's just like you to quote chapter and verse. Doctor," the Captain opined.
"You know what I mean," the interloping Doctor replied. "If we haven't heard from the colony by now they're probably not able to communicate. And that means you have no idea what you'll find down there!"
"Which in turn means I will need my best people with me," the Captain retorted. Her lips tugged up at the corners and her teeth became visible, but her expression wasn't exactly a smile. "Who can you send from your department?"
The Doctor snorted. "It's not going to be me. I'm not going to be party to all the senior officers being wiped out in fifteen minutes. Hmph. Nurse Johnson has been looking for more field time. He'll make sure Sylith doesn't come to harm - I think he quite fancies her..."
-----
As the shuttle descended, Captain Kawakami could see a pattern of destruction radiating from the colony's central hub. Burned-down fires were still visible even from the shuttle's height as they approached. Smoke and haze filled the air above the colony.
Kawakami landed the shuttle on a rubble-strewn field surrounded by shattered buildings. Through the viewport, she could see improvised grave markers. This was a killing field.
Despite her breezy dismissal of the Doctor's concerns, Captain Kawakami wasn't actually reckless, and the gray-jacketed Ensign from Security was the first to carefully work his way out of the Landing Party shuttle.
He was trim, confident, and highly alert. He had taken point in more than a handful of Landing Party missions, and come out alive. Captain Kawakami trusted him implicitly.
Shaven-headed, dark-skinned Nurse Johnson was the next to emerge from the shuttle. This sequencing was not as surprising as it might seem, as - despite his specialty - Johnson was an impressive physical specimen. Huge and muscular, Johnson followed the same training regimen as his combatant peers. He towered over even Sylith, and little of the dusky-skinned giant's body mass was fat.
Johnson was already working his portable scanner even as the Security man was establishing their perimeter.
"Life signs?" Commander Sylith asked from the doorway of the shuttle.
"That direction," Johnson replied, pointing towards the colony center, "Faint life signs - human or humanoid, it's not clear. Intermittent. If they are survivors, they're in a bad way."
From across the other side of the colony, brightness flashed through the haze.
"An explosion!" the Security man shouted from the edge of the field.
"Not an explosion, Captain," Sylith emphasized as she turned to Kawakami, her expression intense and troubled. "That is a starship launch."
Kawakami threw herself at the console and opened the comm link. "Did you see that, Vanguard?"
"Yes, Captain," came the crisp reply. "We have the ship on our scanners, entering planeto-synchronous orbit roughly 1.5 radians ahead of our current position."
"Identification?"
"The ship design and crew species are unfamiliar, Captain, as are the ship's markings," the bridge officer replied. "And they are maintaining comms silence."
"They must have finished what they came to do," Kawakami muttered to herself. Almost instantly, Kawakami's command training kicked in and she made a decision.
"Johnson!" the Captain shouted as she moved quickly to the doorway, gesturing her First Officer to one side. "Commander Sylith and I are going to return to the ship. On the way, we'll have them send down the other two shuttles with medical people and supplies, and some security officers to do the heavy lifting. I'm putting you officially in charge of the relief effort. Do what you can to help these people. We'll be back when we've dealt with that ship."
"You can count on me, Captain," the large nurse promised as Sylith ducked past the conversing pair and into the shuttle.
"I know," Kawakami said, with a fond but wry expression on her face.
Commander Sylith was already engaging the engines to take off before the Captain could even close and fasten the door.
...
Mere minutes later, Captain Kawakami emerged from the turbolift onto the bridge. "Any change in status, helm?" she asked the very young, dark, intense man at the helm station.
"Negative, Captain. It's unclear if they have detected us at this range with our weapons powered down."
Kawakami studied the tactical tracking on the main viewscreen. "No," she mused. "They're staying ahead of us in orbit and extending the range between us ever so slightly. They know exactly where we are, they just don't know who we are."
"Science officer!" Kawakami barked, turning to face the Science station. "You've scanned their weapons array. Can we confirm that they were responsible for the attack on the colony?"
"They're still using lasers, Captain," the officer at the Science station - a brown-haired male with a trim mustache - replied. "There were no signs of particle beams or grav weapons being used in the colony attack. The damage we were able to scan is consistent with the energy weapons on that ship."
"We've got our probable cause, then," the Captain spoke out loud. "Helm! Increase speed to flank and take us to a higher orbit. I want you to catch up to them slowly, but be ready on the overdrive - if they bolt, we're going to chase them down."
Thirty seconds after the Vanguard changed course, the alien ship responded in kind. "Captain!" the Science Officer exclaimed, "They're firing engines!"
Even as the Science Officer was speaking, the alien ship engaged its overdrive and began to accelerate.
"They're heading directly into unexplored space, Captain," the young Helmsman stated.
"Don't let them get away, Helm," Kawakami ordered.
"They're making point six!" the Helmsman said incredulously. "We didn't think they had that kind of acceleration!"
"Then go to point seven, Lieutenant..."
"Aye, Captain, Point seven roger."
Kawakami turned to the tall man seated at the station next to the helm. "Weapons Officer. Power up particle beams and be ready - but fire only on my command."
"Particle beams aye, Captain," the tall, sandy-haired Lieutenant at the Weapons station replied.
"Do you intend to destroy the aliens, Captain?" First Officer Sylith asked from the Captain's shoulder.
"They destroyed a colony without warning, Commander. They present an unknown threat to the Terran Colonies. My duty is clear," Kawakami spoke decisively.
