After Alyssa's alert had chimed that let them all know that they had just entered Grey space, they left the debriefing room and all assembled on the bridge, taking their usual places. Alyssa darted up to the executive officer's station and brought up the sector map with the territorial line between the Terran Federation and the Ashanath Collective clearly marked.
The Invictus had only crossed over the territorial line for a few minutes when Alyssa noticed an incoming long distance hail.
"It's an Ashanath patrol." she said, looking at the transmitters details. "How did they know we were in their territory so quickly?" she wondered curiously.
"The Greys have embedded sensors in asteroids all throughout these border systems." John explained. "Not much gets into their territory without them knowing about it."
He turned to Alyssa. "Put them up on the vid-feed please honey." he asked the beautiful blonde.
Alyssa nodded energetically, eager to see one of the Ashanath for the first time. She pushed a couple of buttons and then a holo-image of their caller filled the screen.
The Ashanath leader was a thin, grey skinned humanoid with an oversized bulbous head. The alien had huge, unblinking black eyes that stared out from the screen unemotionally. It turned its head slightly to the side as it pressed a button off screen, which clearly revealed that the creature had no visible ears.
"This is Leader Linnaeus." the alien's whispery voice said as it echoed around the bridge. It was all the more strange, because the creature's tiny mouth had not moved when it spoke.
"Please identify yourself and state your business in Ashanath Territory." the alien requested politely.
"This is John Blake on the Invictus." John replied in a friendly tone of voice. "I'm here to trade and I'm looking to purchase an upgraded FTL drive and a new power core."
"The Invictus has been identified as a Terran assault cruiser. That is a military vessel is it not JohnBlake?" the Ashanath patrol leader asked in its eerie whisper of a voice.
"Yes, but I'm a civilian. A trader." John replied. "You should have previous records of me trading with the Ashanath Collective in a freighter called the Fool's Gold. I've recently purchased this ship and I'm here to upgrade its systems and don't want any trouble." he said reassuringly.
"You may proceed to Ashana, JohnBlake." the Grey leader confirmed after a momentary pause. "Please do not deviate from this flight path."
The Grey leader nodded to an off-screen compatriot and a couple of seconds later a flashing light on Alyssa's console indicated the digital transfer of the new flight path to their ship. She accepted the new course and a path in orange was clearly displayed on the sector map, showing their route to the Grey's homeworld.
"Thank you Leader Linnaeus." John said magnanimously. "We'll follow your instructions."
The Ashanath leader ended the call abruptly, not bothering with any more pleasantries.
"What did I say?" John said with a frown. "Creepy..." he said with a shudder.
"His mouth never moved when he was speaking!" Dana said with surprise.
"I don't think he blinked once either!" Calara noted.
"Ah he wasn't so bad." Alyssa said with a smile. "It was a 'he', right John?" she asked curiously.
"Actually I have no idea, I've never been able to tell the male and female Greys apart." he admitted. "You'll see when we meet them in person, they all look very much alike."
"How was he able to talk to us without his mouth moving John?" Dana asked, finding the whole species fascinating.
"The Ashanath are psychic. They managed to make machines that are able to read their thought commands, which is how his speech was transmitted to us. It's different when you speak to them in person, they use translation devices." John said, remembering his last trip to Grey territory.
"How long until we reach Ashana?" he asked Alyssa.
"23 hours." Alyssa stated, reading the projections that their Nav-computer had made from the course that they'd been supplied.
"Are you still not going to tell us anything about their homeworld?" Dana asked him, desperate to know more about the strange aliens.
"We're nearly there now." John said with some amusement. "You can wait just one more day to find out!"
"Ugh! That's going to take forever!" Dana groaned with frustration.
"I'm sure we can come up with something to keep you distracted for a day." John laughed. "You haven't been to the pool yet, do you want to come for a swim?"
"I'll pass." Dana said firmly. "Besides, I have plenty of work that will keep me occupied. I have more of those equipping frames to assemble and I need to modify more of the armour for them, as well as upgrade more of the rifles."
"Do you want a hand?" Alyssa volunteered. "It will be like being back at your old workshop." she said with an affectionate smile at her friend.
Dana grinned at her happily and they stood up to leave the bridge.
"How about you two ladies, can I interest you in joining me for a swim?" John asked Calara and Jade.
"Sure, that sounds like fun." the brunette said with a smile. "I haven't got around to trying out the pool yet."
"This one would love to come swimming with you master!" the green skinned girl beamed at him excitedly.
"Ok, let's go then!" John said enthusiastically.
The swimmers joined up with the engineers and they headed down to the lower decks as a group, chatting animatedly. They parted company as they neared the gym, leaving Alyssa and Dana to head into the engineering bay. Dana walked purposefully over to the podium in the centre of the engineering bay and pressed a number of buttons on one of the consoles. Alyssa followed after her, climbing the illuminated steps up to the podium and looking over her friend's shoulder as she worked.
"What are you up to?" she asked curiously.
"Just setting off another run with the mass fabricators." Dana explained. "Once they have forged all the pieces from the schematics I've supplied them, I can assemble the pieces for the next set of equipping frames."
Alyssa nodded and just watched her friend work. A few moments later two of the intricate machines at the far side of the engineering bay powered up, casting an orange glow over that corner of the vast room. The quiet throbbing of the rotating power couplings contrasted with the sharp intermittent squeals of metal being shaped.
Dana pulled her long thick auburn hair back into a pony tail and then glided down the steps to her workbench. She pressed a button on the dimly glowing panel and the workbench lit up, levitating platforms rising on silent anti-grav trays, providing her a multi levelled workspace. Alyssa walked over to one of the nearby weapon crates, lifted the lid and then handed over a stock XR75 to her friend so that she could begin her work.
"Thanks Alyssa!" Dana said with a grin.
"No problem Sparks!" The beautiful blonde said with a fond smile.