. A moment later, Hines turned again and said, "Commodore, I've got an encrypted signal coming from the planet surface on the lower bandwidth channels."
. "Let's hear it, Hines," Zak said.
. The signal was filled with static and Hines asked the Reconnaissance Artificial Intelligence known as MAX to clear it up. A second later the broken message played, "Fly ... Nest ... Copy?"
. Hines shook his head and said, "Filler, I need more power to the lower bandwith."
. Ens. Proximus Filler, the replacement Operations Officer while LtCmdr. Tibris was on the Away Team, responded, "The ... lower ... bandwidth? Uh, sure, Sergeant." He pressed a few buttons on the Operations panel to transfer the power.
. Hines and MAX also worked on the signal at his station. After a moment, he said, "Again, MAX."
. The message played, a bit clearer but still broken, "Fly to Nest. ... you Copy?" This time they could recognize Patterson's voice.
. Hines made a few more adjustments and announced, "I've got solid comms now, sir. Lower frequencies are open."
. "MAX, Hines, respond," Zak said, "Nest listening. What's the Fly seeing from the wall?"
. The response was still broken and somewhat garbled as the Penumbra grew further and further away, headed into the asteroid belt. Patterson was saying, "... had a hard drop ... Canteen. Took fire ... farmer ... now KIA, but ... got a few scrapes ... bruises ... lost gear."
. Zak scowled at the report but before he could respond, Carter reported, "We're in the outer ring of the asteroid belt." He'd matched the orbital trajectory of several medium-sized chunks of rock, scanning as they moved. Then he said, "I've got thermal residue off the port side, ventral 10." It was the Canteen of Sparkles.
Away Team: