Blue Star Enterprises-Chapter 233 - 4-49

SYSTEM: SOL

DATE: 2403

Alexander had a surreal sense of déjà vu upon returning to a home he only vaguely recalled from half-fragmented memories. He once again wondered how he ended up inside a robot body on the far end of human-controlled space.

While he hadn't pursued that thread very diligently in recent years as other, more important things pulled at his attention, he still planned on uncovering those secrets at some point.

He doubted Earth would have any answers for him after nearly three hundred years, assuming it ever did, but that was another small reason he had chosen to come to the planet of his birth. He hoped to jog a memory by being here, similar to how he had flashes of memories while standing aboard the alien vessel.

Considering he was already reacting simply by seeing Jupiter on the holo-display as the crew marveled at the planets of Sol, he might be on to something.

He let the visual display continue until it invariably stopped on Earth. That wasn't his first time seeing Earth since awakening, and there was no reaction now either.

Alexander had hoped to react to seeing the planet while in the system, but it wasn't any different than experiencing a holo vid of it. Maybe it wasn't so much seeing Jupiter that sparked something within him, but just knowing that he was back in Sol.

"We have a course," the pilot stated, pulling Alexander from his thoughts.

"You're clear to proceed," Alexander replied.

The fleet glided past the small station positioned right at the center edge of the jump point. It was clearly there to direct traffic coming and going from the system, but it was also heavily armed. He noted three STO frigates docked to it as well.

Considering he hadn't seen any other system with such a measure, he wondered if the practice had been dropped at some point. It would make sense if it had. The station was practically useless against anyone who wanted to enter a system with ill intentions. Anyone with half a brain would just jump in at a non-approved jump point, avoiding the deterrent completely. At best, the station was a reminder to guests who followed the rules.

The facility did scan them, but Alexander had left the scan inhibitor active since encountering their shadow. fгee𝑤ebɳoveɭ.cøm

"Incoming call from the station," the communications officer stated.

"Send it to my terminal," Alexander said. He suspected someone might gripe about their inability to scan through his hull, but he'd thought it would come much later.

"BSE Yulia's Grace, you are to stop and pre-" The call cut off abruptly before another person spoke.

"-Apologies, BSE Yulia's Grace, our technician was unfamiliar with your diplomatic status. Please proceed along the course you were provided."

That was weird.

Alexander decided not to question their good luck. He was sure whoever that poor technician was, he was getting an earful at the moment.

With their course set in, there wasn't much to do but follow it. The flow of traffic reminded Alexander of highways. While not nearly as congested as those from back in his time, there were a whole lot of incoming and outgoing ships.

In Grace's light-second tactical scan range, he counted nearly four thousand vessels, and they were still outside of Jupiter's orbit.

There were even STO gunships and corvettes in the mix, acting as policing vessels to ensure everything ran smoothly. He knew that's what they were for because one ship broke down along the outgoing 'lane' and the closest STO ships redirected the flow of traffic around the crippled vessel.

Soon enough, a few tugs arrived and towed the large transport out of the way smoothly and efficiently enough to tell Alexander that they had done the same thing many times before.

Alexander glanced at the disabled ship's ID and noted it belonged to an independent hauler. He also noted that the ship had experienced a drive failure and was running Sinorus thrusters.

Seeing an opportunity to gain a new customer, Alexander sent the ship and their captain a message along with the cost to refit his ship with new thrusters.

He wouldn't be able to do it at Sol, which was a shame, but the price was low enough that the Captain might just agree to fly out to Eden's End.

Alexander realized another way to expand BSE's holdings and make some money. He added a mental note to design a mobile dockyard that could also handle simple construction. Not every stranded captain would be able to make their way to Unokane, and Alexander didn't have the same coverage for spare parts or design schematics as Omni or Sinorus did within the STO. A few ships like that would guarantee sales if he positioned them correctly.

With his automated ships, defending those yards would be easy as well.

The rest of the journey into the system was uneventful, and soon they slid into a temporary parking orbit around the moon.

Earth's sole satellite was nothing like what Alexander remembered. It now glittered with cities larger than Eden's End on the dark side, and four stations orbited the moon. The stations weren't as large as the one in Epsilon Indi, but each was larger than Petrov Station.

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One of them was larger than the others and had numerous warships and dockyards attached to it. It didn't take a genius to figure out that it was an STO Navy fleet yard.

Alexander had no plans to meet with the STO right away. Instead, he responded to one of a hundred messages that were piling up inside his message queue.

Most consisted of invites to dine with self-important people. He dismissed those because anyone who was actually important would have known Alexander couldn't eat, and he had no reason to waste his time pretending to enjoy a meal just so someone could pat themselves on the back for a job well done.

The first message he responded to was the one from the United Earth Council, or UEC, which was their compromise to having a planetary governor since Earth's nations had never been able to put aside their differences and old grudges to agree to a single ruler.

Alexander found the situation rather ridiculous but also quite reassuring since even after three hundred years, not much had changed in that regard.

Once he finished confirming plans to meet with the council, he found the only other invitation he was concerned about.

The one from the central archives congratulated him on his arrival and said they were ready to receive him whenever his schedule allowed.

He had sent them a Qcomm message before leaving Unokane, and they confirmed that he could peruse the archives at his leisure.

The archives would be his first stop. Then he wanted to experience the new Earth with Yulia for a few days before he met with the UEC. After that, it would be time to find out what the Navy wanted from him.

He hadn't forgotten about their shadow either, but the ship had vanished in Epsilon Indi, so there was little Alexander could do about that. He would still take every precaution he could to minimize their risk while on the ground, though.

***

Alexander took advantage of his diplomatic status and landed his shuttle right outside the archives on a convenient landing pad for just such an occasion.

Picturesque didn't do the location justice. The archives were nestled in the Swiss Alps in the country of Switzerland. He was honestly surprised the neutral country was still around. Many of the old countries from back in his day weren't or had merged to form new nations. The buildings certainly looked different, but it was clear the residents had done their best to preserve the natural beauty around them.

There wasn't exactly a red carpet reception at his arrival, but two attendants did wait for him outside the shuttle. Much like with the UEC, Alexander had passed on his likeness to the branch of government that ran the archives. He didn't want to frighten anyone or cause another reaction like what had happened with that uninformed idiot Willard had when they first met.

While amusing back on Eden's End, he needed to avoid misunderstandings while he was on Earth. Whether or not they would look at the image was another matter, but he hoped they did.

There may not be as much riding on a positive outcome as there had been when he first met with the Asgardians, but there were certainly important matters he preferred to succeed while he was on Earth.

The pair of attendants bowed slightly as Alexander stepped off the shuttle.

"My name is Marte, and my companion here is Reto. We are at your disposal during your visit here, Mr. Kane," the female attendant said in mild curiosity. "Is there something specific you are looking for? The old card catalogs can be rather daunting to look through for the uninitiated."

Alexander almost laughed at that. While he had grown up in the age of technology, he still recalled that the library card catalog system had stubbornly stuck around long enough that some of his last memories still held fragments of it.

"I'm curious about old Earth history. Important events that might have happened from the nineteen hundreds up to the Great Expansion."

The woman seemed slightly dejected by that, but the other man perked up.

"A scholar of history?" he asked enthusiastically.

"Something like that," Alexander replied. While he was genuinely interested in that topic, he wasn't here specifically for that. He just didn't want them to know why he was here.

The pair ushered him into the large building, the sound of their footfalls muffled by the rug-covered floor and geometric shapes on the walls, which also acted as sound-dampening.

"Did you have a specific form of content you wished to peruse?" Reto asked. "Some of that later content should be on holo reels, while the older stuff could be digital, analog, or even physical. I would need to get an archivist to bring the physical documents. They are kept in a climate and temperature-controlled vault to protect them from premature wear."

"You're not an archivist?" Alexander asked in confusion.

Marte cut off a bark of laughter as Reto glared at her.

"We are attendants, working our way up to becoming archivists," the man said.

"That's not happening until one of the old archivists passes on or retires," the woman stated. "And even then, I'm the senior attendant."

"By three days," the man muttered in annoyance.

She shrugged. "Senior is senior, and that's how it works in the archives."

The man responded in an even quieter voice, one that wasn't meant to be overheard, yet Alexander had been able to catch it. "You don't even like the archives, Marte. You're only here because you're too lazy to find a real job."

She must have caught sight of the man's lips moving. "I told you to stop muttering to yourself, Reto, you know how annoying I find it."

Alexander was becoming less and less impressed with the woman. Her question outside might have sounded innocent enough, but it was rather pointed. Add in that, along with Reto's comment, and it made him think she might be here to spy on people.

With that in mind, he decided to obscure his intent here as much as possible.

After passing through two sets of airlocks to remove any contaminants, the trio entered a large library-like hall.

"This is the primary data archive," Reto stated in pride while Marte rolled her eyes from slightly behind Alexander.

Reto hurried over to a blank wall and gestured in front of it. A drawer popped out, and inside it were thin plastic or crystal disks with labels along the edge. With practiced hands, Reto thumbed through the catalog, selecting certain disks.

He only stopped when Marte groaned. "I do not think Mr. Kane wishes to spend the next month perusing the content, Reto. Maybe condense it down to the most important documents."

Reto paused and looked over at Alexander rather sheepishly. "Um, how long do you plan on staying?"

Alexander chuckled slightly at the man's enthusiasm. "As much as I would like to do an exhaustive study on Earth's history, I can only remain for a few days. Perhaps I can return when my other work is completed, though," he added when he saw the man's dejected puppy dog look.

Reto seemed mollified by that, and the pair of attendants wandered off into the aisles to locate the content.

As soon as they were out of sight, Alexander perused the catalog himself. It didn't take him long to locate the other content he was here for. There was only one data chip containing the STO's charter and rules involving sovereign entities.

He even managed to find it and transfer the entire volume of data into his pad before the pair returned.

What he was doing was perfectly legal and was exactly what the archive was designed for; he just preferred to keep his interests private.