SODIUM:6 Defiance by Stephen Arseneault

planet, but a structure built and manned by an alien species. We observed for another hour before moving in to one sixteenth light years distance. The ships coming to and leaving from the surface of the structure were now easily seen. We held our position for half an hour as Harris scanned the comm frequencies for a common channel. We were soon listening to chatter from the incoming pilots as they approached.
    Harris quickly identified the patterns as a binary language and soon after we were listening to broken streams of speech by the alien captains. Most of the ships landing and departing had a boxy cargo ship appearance. We reasoned that we were gazing upon a massive space station.
    The chatter continued for an hour before we had a clear translation of the language being used. It was also noted that the ships were primarily arriving and departing from three points in nearby systems. Sigma Orionis D was well centered between them.
    I was turning towards Hershen to ask his opinion about our next move when an alien cruiser appeared off our bow. We were quickly held in place by a static field. A voice came over the common channel asking for our identification. All ships in the region were required to carry a transponder.
    As I glanced at Hershen he made mention of the portable static generator and asked if I thought we could use it to escape the static field. I told him to get it set up while I attempted to talk with whoever it was that was holding us captive. He quickly moved towards the ships storage locker with two of the scientists in tow.
    I narrowed the visible field of my holo-camera and then tapped the feed into the common channel. A return holo-image appeared before me. A quick recall of the images from the mountain site on DaCuban told me it was one of the 36 species that lined the door archway. I immediately made the assumption that they were neutral.
    I asked to speak with the science officer on-board the cruiser as we were an exploratory vessel from a far system. We came in peace and if they performed a scan of our ship they would see that it had no weapons. When questioned about our gravity generator I replied that it was used for researching the density of asteroids and planetary rocks.
    The officer on the cruiser gave a skeptical look and then summoned an aid to get the science officer. It was difficult to gage the size of the alien beings as nothing shown on the holo-screen offered anything of known proportions. But the thin upward clamshell appearance of the aliens head identified its species as number 16 on the archway. I asked his species name and he responded with Bwatt. They were the keepers of the station and saw to it that all traffic between the four systems of the Megar Accord remained open and free from pirates.
    I thanked the officer and told him we were Humans, from the planet Earth, in a far system that was part of The Alliance of Major Planets. We were scientists given the mission to explore the stars in and around the area of the Flame Nebula. He chuckled and responded that it was a tall order given the thousands of stars surrounding it. He indicated that we would be exploring for a long time.
    I asked if there was a procedure for us to follow to register our ship while visiting their system. He said there was, but whether or not we would be accepted as guests was not up to him. We would have to take our case before the registrant and the registrant was not fond of ships showing up without warning.
    I again wondered what flaw in our shielding the aliens had used to detect us. It seemed that we were about the only ones that we could fully hide from. I dare not ask how they knew we were there as I did not want it to seem as though we were attempting to hide or spy, which we were.
    The science officer, Bor Fein, then appeared on the holo-screen. She introduced herself and was giddy with excitement over the opportunity to speak with a fellow science officer, especially one who was a different species