Through the Abyss

by Daniel Litchfield

  “Why wouldn’t Sentago tell Emperor Lesos?” Euphretes interrupted.

  “I don’t know why, nor do I know why he is being very limited with his information now. But what I do know is that the Natron Search and Rescue Cruiser mysteriously went dark somewhere within the Drago Cluster roughly two and a half Custos years ago.”

  “What took so long for all of this to come out?” Euphretes asked, wondering if the Huron Emperor had accidentally mixed up his information.

  “Again, I don’t know why it took so long. But when Emperor Indus attacked the Casseopian System, he unknowingly destroyed the missing Team’s home station. Apparently, Sentago decided to tell Lesos the truth in an attempt to safeguard the information found on the planet’s surface. Somehow, Indus found out about the Team disappearing and about the Casseopian System’s secret, which is why he decided to move to intercept Emperor Lesos.”

  Euphretes considered his words carefully before speaking, “Assuming Indus isn’t responsible for the Natron Team’s disappearance, then the only other explanation is that they were attacked by a new enemy.”

  “Or ally,” Carpathian said hopefully.

  “Sir, I can see where this is going. But with all due respect, are you sure you want to send me that far away?” Euphretes tested, knowing his father needed all the help he could get.

  “No, Euphretes, I’m not sure, but I have no choice.”

  “Sir?”

  “Look, we all know this War is humanity’s last chance. Whoever ends up on top at the end of all of this will have the final say as to whether or not the human race fizzles into extinction.”

  Carpathian paused briefly to stare into his son’s eyes before resuming. “I would rather die than see the Galactic Group in the hands of that monster; and I know you feel the same. I also know that you can feel that nightmare becoming a reality more and more every cycle.”

  “Which is exactly why you need me by your side,” Euphretes interjected. He had no idea what he would do if something happened to Emperor Carpathian.

  “That’s not your role in this predicament. Your’s is to take a blind jump into the abyss with fourteen of the very best Fleet Vessels that I have. The sole objective is to find whatever Indus is looking for and keep him from using it against our people.”

  “Sir, I beg of you to reconsider.”

  “You’re an Armada Commander Empirical Admiral Euphretes. I know you want to stay and protect me. You may even feel obligated to do so. However, your job is to find that missing Cruiser or whatever caused it to go missing.”

  “And what if we do find a system harboring human life?”

  “Then start digging your trenches, because even Destiny can’t stop the universe from coming after you!” Carpathian wisely answered, his tone foreboding.

  Neuma could feel the last shards of bitterness shedding off Euphretes’s subconscious. She could see right through him, and understood his reluctance to talk about the dream and the ensuing feelings. She also knew that the darkness around him would cause him to open up eventually. “Well, you know where to find me if you want to talk about it. But for now, you’re needed in the Command Center. Chief Browder has your zero four thirty time slot and I really don’t want to miss it.”

  Euphretes had opened the torturously early time slot because it was the closest window of time he had in-between all of the Armada’s predeployment activities. He perked up at the mention of the Armament Tech’s name and the idea of being one step closer to Neuma’s armor designs. The pair had been working on a new Kit in an attempt to electronically broadcast Neuma throughout Euphretes’s immediate surroundings in order to give him an even greater advantage on the battle field. Despite submitting the schematics months ago in anticipation of being the Commander of the Huron Royal Special Operations Group, the parts had only come in recently. Unfortunately, Browder continued to struggle to find a viable method to get the suit to sync with a human body’s energy supply, the cornerstone of Neuma’s idea.

  The under suit would have to have electrodes and conduits built into it that could also be pushed into the exterior layers of Euphretes’s skin. Once connected to his body, the conduits would transfer energy from the human wearer to the helmet’s tracking and transmitting systems. Disguised as a Kit that ran solely off the energy created by its wearer, Neuma’s theory was that if she could get inside his suit through the conduits’s energy transfer process and into his helmet’s transmitter, then she could reach out to Euphretes’s immediate surroundings.

  With the dream still tugging at his consciousness, Euphretes tapped the right side of his bed side table while pulling up a portable command console. Seconds later, a Personal Assistance Droid, carrying his duty uniform, as well as a tray with a tall glass of water and artificial protein bites, entered the room. Euphretes typed in Lani’s name in a subconscious effort to inform Neuma that his nightmare had involved the Natron Princess. A burning desire to see her alive after such a vivid dream was eating away at him. He watched as the portable command console turned dark as the communications request reached out to Lani.

  Neuma did her best to stem the rising concerns in her partner. She knew that the longer Euphretes’s command console remained stuck in its attempt to reach the woman of his dreams, the greater the urgent panic became.

  Just then, the connection timed out. Lani’s status updated from “In Transport,” meaning that she was in jump and therefore could not be reached, to “Offline.” The new status opened up a pandora’s box of morbid possibilities. “Oh God. She didn’t even leave a message,” He said exasperated.

  “There is nothing worrying can do to help. Just rest in the fact that you DON’T HAVE any new messages,” Neuma commented, trying to alleviate the destructive self-doubt rising inside Euphretes.

  “She’s also knee deep in a War,” Euphretes added in response, only slightly strengthened by Neuma’s confidence.

  “Exactly. There are far too many unknowns to draw any conclusions yet. So, we good?”

  A genuine positive expression finally made its way to Euphretes’s mind space, giving some peace to Neuma. “I’m still concerned, but yeah, thanks for pulling me out of that pit.”

  “And you’d be wrong not to be concerned; it’s when that concern clouds your judgement that it will lead to failure. But enough on that, how’s the Armada looking today?” Neuma asked. She knew that reading through the different status reports would help get Euphretes’s mind off of his fiancé and the nightmare that refused to be forgotten.

  As Euphretes scrolled through the Armada’s daily updates and reports while he was getting dressed, Neuma could feel her partner’s excitement about meeting with Browder. “He hasn’t said whether or not he has made any progress, so I would treat this as just your average cyclic update for now,” She advised, “Just don’t want either of us to get our hopes too high; only to have them come crashing back down.”

  “Good point! But, having hope when it makes no logical sense is just part of being human!” Euphretes jokingly answered.

  “Trust me, I know all about it.” Using his field of vision as her own, Neuma read the information along with Euphretes. “Goodness! Demon’s Reckoning shouldn’t be done with its final update until the next forty-eight hours? That seems a little unnecessarily long.”

  “Yeah, that’s way too long. I’m going to reschedule that update with the Tech and Electronics OIC after we speak to Chief. We need to enter jump today.”

  “Euphretes, what’s the rush? Forty-eight hours of waiting is nothing compared to the eighty-eight days of total jump time we have ahead of us.” Neuma expressed, referring to the twenty six day jump to the marshaling site on the far side of the Natron Empire. From there, it would be a sixty-two day jump into the desert regions.

  At the marshaling site, Euphretes was to wait for Emperor Carpathian to give any final instructions or equipment before he left for the long jump sequence to the desert regions. Carpathian also wanted Euphretes to wait on the edge of the Natr
on Empire in case he needed his son’s Armada to bolster his own forces or conduct another covert mission.

  “We’re already a day behind schedule waiting on repair parts to come in. Besides, I’ll make sure it gets resubmitted for our time at the marshaling site.”

  “Fair enough, just don’t want to rush into this.”

  “I agree. Last thing we need is to blindly dive in, but I’d rather get there and be one step closer,” Euphretes answered. The last few days of seemingly never ending meetings was playing through his mind, giving him even more incentive to jump sooner.

  The 1st Fleet Combat Team’s Expeditionary Armada, otherwise known as “The Silent Raiders,” had finally gathered together and was fully prepared for the long voyage ahead. Minus the routine update to Demon’s Reckoning, the pre-deployment process was complete and Euphretes was itching to get the Expeditionary Armada on the move. Dug up from the archives of ancient Huron units, The Silent Raiders were originally known for their exploits during the Second Great War of the Galaxies.

  The original 1st Fleet Combat Team’s Expeditionary Armada managed to use its peculiar political status to broker a deal with a Yare Territory. The moon’s government provided them with a safe, unseen jump path into the Baikal Empire in return for fewer penalties on their black market goods. While it was a unit acting solely on behalf of the Emperor as a person, and not the Emperor as the Emperor, Armadas still worked within the confines of the Huron Military’s Uniform Code of Military Justice. Due to this relationship, Armada Commanders had the authority to make decisions in the name of their Emperor who otherwise could not legally take such actions as a member of the Huron government’s Royal Family.

  Choosing the 1st Fleet Combat Team’s Expeditionary Armada as a nod to the past, Euphretes’s forces were purposefully composed of powerful, massive Fleet Vessels. In doing so, Emperor Carpathian was buffering Euphretes for the contingency that an unknown enemy attacked the missing Natron Cruiser, and would therefore attack the Armada when it arrived. In total, the Silent Raider Armanda was made up of Euphretes’s Flagship, Steadfast and Loyal, four Predator Class Capital Ships, eight Cruisers, and one Delta Infiltrator, Through the Abyss.

  Even though they were not as big, Predators were Carpathian’s answer to Emperor Indus’s Super Capital Ships. Both were similar in appearance, having spherical middle sections, but the Predators were less than a Custos year old. Their technology and capabilities far outmatched anything produced by the main-line Baikal Military. The front of each Predator was shaped like a cone and was thinner in the middle. This allowed for three cannons to be positioned facing the front. One was placed on the top and bottom of where the base of the middle met the beginning of the protruding front, while the third was positioned in the center of the very front of the Ship. Each cannon was capable of firing numerous deadly munitions, including seven hundred pound titanium rounds with cores made of reinforced depleted uranium.

  All around the Predator were missile turrets capable of hiding underneath the armored shell. This increased efficiency in rearming and maintenance times. Half of the missile turret weapon platforms were designed to protect the Ship from nearby fighters and smaller Fleet Vessels. The other half held long range projectiles for larger targets. Over one hundred Vessel Defense Energy Turrets were placed throughout the armored shell. Designed to fire rounds in excess of one hundred fifty thousand degrees at a rate of three thousand rounds per minute, several were placed next to each missile turret with the left overs protecting the very rear of the Fleet Vessel. Their high velocity shooting was geared toward deterring attacking enemy fighters and to shoot down any incoming missiles or kinetic projectiles. Vessel to Vessel Kinetic Energy turrets, fifty in total, also aided in protecting the Predators from the enemy. Firing fifteen pound Tungsten slugs at a rate of four thousand per minute, the turrets could rip apart Fleet Vessel armor like it was paper. Other available projectiles included proximity explosives and “Shrapnel Rain” slugs that were designed to explode and create a massive bubble of carnage. Each weapon platform utilized their own RAI, which was solely responsible for its section of fire and the operation of the turret.

  What they lacked in the personality and communications departments, the turrets more than compensated with their unmatched targeting and aiming abilities.

  The back of Predators were similar in appearance to the front except a portion of the cone was cut in half to house the primary thrust nozzles. Additional nozzles were located throughout the Ship, giving the Predator quicker and easier maneuvering in space. The round middle of each Predator housed two Combat Bays, one on each side, directly opposite each other. A large Maintenance Bay connected them all together in the middle. Inside the Maintenance Bay, all scheduled and non-scheduled repairs for large machinery took place, along with housing the Headquarters for the Predator’s Maintenance Program. Other than missiles, projectiles, or turrets, anything damaged or needing routine servicing was taken to the Maintenance Bay.

  Each of the two Combat Bays supported five Flight Squadrons and sixteen Personnel Support Class ships, which were twelve Transports and four Providers. The Flight Squadrons were each composed of fifteen Hunters, four Stalkers and one Disruptor. All fighter class vessels were monitored and tracked in the Flight Command Center, where the Senior Aviators could direct their fighters in autonomy. Normally in a central location to the Combat Bays, the Flight Command Center was essentially a miniature Bridge in its tracking and communications abilities. Transports and Providers, on the other hand, fell under the Logistics and Personnel Support Section for their marching orders.

  The dual crewed Disrupter, a new addition to the Huron Military, maintained similar camouflage capabilities as Stalkers, except they were only outfitted with defensive weapon platforms. Instead of missiles and heavy hitting cannons, Disrupters relied on two small RAI controlled turrets and staggering amounts of power and thrust to get them out of danger. Equipped with thrust nozzles twice the standard size and a triple reinforced engine capable of burning large amounts of fuel at once, they were nearly ten times faster in acceleration and seven times faster in sustained flight than Baikal Specters. In place of munitions, each Disrupter was filled to the brim with the most advanced signal jamming and intercepting technology the Galactic Group had ever seen. Their primary role during combat was to safeguard their Flight Squadron and nearby friendly Fleet Vessels by maneuvering in and out of an active battle space and interfering with enemy equipment. Effective within a radius of 200 miles, Disruptors could disarm enemy missiles mid-flight when given enough time and could even severely interfere with enemy tracking, navigating, and communications systems.

  Another state of the art piece of equipment being added to the Huron Military was the Provider platform. Created to bring accelerated logistical support to a Fleet Vessel’s Flight Squadrons mid combat, they were three times the size of the typical Transport. Five Logistical Support Droids were housed with each Provider to allow for up to four friendly fighters to receive resupply or repairs simultaneously. The fifth was held in reserve in case one of the other droids went down. Instead of requiring fighters to go through the arduous process of docking inside a Fleet Vessel to receive resupply, they could now go to a Provider stationed on the outside; expediting the resupply process. They were designed to stay within their home Fleet Vessel’s most protective sphere of influence, roughly five miles from the nearest Fleet Vessel’s turret. With no offensive or defensive capabilities, the single crewed ships relied solely on the protection of nearby friendlies. Two large fuel tanks were fitted to hull, each one capable of completely refueling a squadron. Inside the hull were Battle Damage Quick Repair Kits for the maintenance droids and vast numbers of munitions and multiple missile platforms to refill turrets and cannons.

  “Strictly from a strategic standpoint, I personally wouldn’t wait until the Armada is out in the open to conduct the update, even if it is in guarded space. But it’s your call whether or not to jump today.” Neuma said, rema
ining remarkably unbiased.

  “Let’s find out what the subject matter experts have to say before making the decision.”

  “Probably the wiser choice.”

  “Don’t tempt my rebellious side. I might just order the jump now, purely out of spite!” Euphretes threatened with a guilty grin on his face.

  “You don’t have to remind me.”

  Filled with anticipation about the trip to Steadfast and Loyal’s Command Center to hear from Chief Browder, Euphretes exited his private quarters on the gargantuan Flagship and headed for the nearest stairwell.

  Steadfast and Loyal had a similar shape as Predators, except it was nearly two and a half times bigger. Sitting at 5,750 feet long and 3,100 feet high at the center, it was the third largest Fleet Vessel in the Galactic Group. While the Armada’s power house maintained an overabundance of turrets and other advanced weapon platforms, it was its primary cannon that made it so terrifying. Created out of graphite that had undergone extreme stress and heat, the twenty-five foot thick barrel was made entirely out of lonsdaleite and ran 1,000 feet into the belly of the Ship. The Flagship’s primary cannon was engineered to be able to fire over one hundred different types of projectiles without sacrificing any structural integrity or accuracy. Strong enough to fire 2,500 pound Planetary Defense Slugs at a rate of eight per minute, it was by far the deadliest Fleet Vessel cannon in the known universe.