Through the Abyss

by Daniel Litchfield

  To minimize recoil from affecting the entire Ship, the weapon platform utilized a hybrid firing mechanism. Behind the blast chamber sat a dampener room with remarkably powerful graviton generators that cushioned the impact as the barrel pushed backwards into the Flagship after detonation. Using a controlled blast to get the heavy projectile moving down the barrel before electromagnetic fields provided the final push, each round fired was completely customized by its RAI. Depending on the target and its location, the RAI altered the strength of the electromagnetic fields’s push on the round as it raced out of the barrel.

  Steadfast and Loyal’s spherical middle had four oversized Combat Bays, each with their own maintenance section to conduct internal repairs. Additionally, three smaller Logistical Support Bays were placed toward the lower middle of the Flagship in order to accommodate all other maintenance needs across the Ship as well as the Armada.

  Each of the four Combat Bays held seven Flight Squadrons, along with fourteen Hunters, seven Stalkers, and three Disrupters for reserves. Along with the reserve ships, fourteen Transports and five Providers also called each Combat Bay home. All in all, the carrying capacity of Steadfast and Loyal rivaled that of standard Flight Carrier Fleet Vessels, only being outnumbered by a total of two squadrons.

  The stairwell Euphretes found himself on ran from the bottommost section of the Ship to the uppermost. Standing at the top and looking down, it had the eerie impression of being a bottomless pit. “I forget how massive this place is.” Euphretes remarked as he peered down the middle while descending three decks to reach the Command Center.

  “And to think, Dawn of Creation is nearly twenty five percent bigger than Steadfast and Loyal.” Neuma added, referring to Emperor Indus’s Flagship.

  “The bigger they are, the harder they fall.”

  “It’s in space. That old adage doesn’t apply!” Neuma said sarcastically.

  “You don’t say? I just might want to challenge that.”

  “That will be one of those times when I’ll be glad that I get a front row seat to watch you make a fool of yourself.” Although she was teasing, Neuma’s tone was that of a sibling. She very much wished her partner success but had to laugh at his audaciousness.

  Stopping at the third platform, Euphretes exited onto the Flagship’s tertiary primary passageway. From there, it was a fifty yard walk to Steadfast and Loyal’s Command Center. Exactly mirroring a Fleet Vessel’s Bridge, except with the capabilities multiplied and its size tripled, the Command Center was essentially the Bridge for the entire Armada. Placed only on Capital Ships or larger, Command Centers acted as the headquarters for a cluster of Fleet Vessels. Able to track, communicate with, and monitor hundreds of thousands of objects within a one million mile radius, they were the heart and brain of large scale operations.

  Euphretes turned into Steadfast and Loyal’s Command Center and saw First Chief Warrant Officer Browder Melright Huron patiently waiting at an empty work station only a few yards away.

  “Chief, good to see you again. Sorry to have you wake up so early. I’m afraid it was the only time that I could guarantee you my undivided attention,” Euphretes honestly expressed walking up to the groggy Warrant.

  While still young in the eyes of the universe at only one hundred and fifty years old, or three hundred Custos Years, Chief Browder’s body had already been through the wringer. When he was a Planetary Vehicle Mechanic as an Enlisted soldier, his unit deployed four times in a six year period to the same conflict Euphretes found himself in as a young Warden Ensign. Although Browder left the deployments with a restructured spine and fourteen surgeries under his belt, he miraculously brought home alive every one of his soldiers. Shortly after, he signed up for the Huron Military’s Warrant Officer Candidate school, where his passion for armaments would develop him into one of the most innovate individuals Euphretes had ever met.

  Chief Browder rose to his feet, still stiff from recently being in REM sleep. “Not a problem at all Sir, I tend to naturally wake up right about now anyway,” The six foot tall, athletically built, and devilishly handsome Warrant Officer replied. Euphretes could feel the sarcasm in Browder’s aura. He didn’t want to admit to his Armada Commander that he too was normally still a hostage to the rack monster at this time.

  “He looks about as tired as he feels too.”

  Wrinkles from his pillow still marked Browder’s face and puffy bags hung under his eyes.

  Thirty hours of hair growth covered his jaw line and upper neck, and his thick hair was matted and splayed in every direction.

  “Naturally up about now?” Euphretes laughed, as he took in Browder’s appearance.

  “For deployments, yeah,” Browder grumbled in response, wiping at his eyes. “At home though, you would never catch me up at this time!” he admitted.

  Euphretes couldn’t help but laugh, “Thank goodness for deployments then, right? They’re what builds all that character!”

  “Let’s spare him the small talk Euphretes. He can still get another hour or two of sleep in if he’s lucky.” Neuma admonished, reminding Euphretes that not everyone had a Bio-Dependent AI that could tell his body not to need sleep for a few days and feel no different in the end.

  While he did not need it as much, Euphretes loved to sleep. Neuma was able to repair so much of his body while he slumbered that by the time he woke up, it felt like he had a whole new body. “Oh yea, forgot what time it was,” he confessed, thankful Neuma was around to keep him on track.

  “Well, they build something, Sir. That’s for sure.” Chief Browder cynically replied as his body ached all over, a constant reminder of why he said goodbye to the Planetary Surface life.

  “That they do,” The Empirical Admiral answered still chuckling.

  Getting the conversation back on track, along with his tone of voice, “Before I kick your upbeat butt back to bed, what can I do for you Chief?”

  After a long drawn out yawn, Browder replied. “Yes. Right. Your Kit designs. So I’ve got good news and bad news.”

  “What’s up with it this time?”

  “Nothing too bad, but my original designs for the electrodes aren’t working as they’re supposed to. I have two alternates that are being worked on now with the original design taken into consideration,” Browder reported.

  “When will he know if they’ll work?” Neuma nervously asked, concerned that her designs were too complicated and more into the realms of theory than actuality.

  “How long until you’ll know on the other two?” The Admiral asked, trying his best to mask his own apprehension.

  “I wouldn’t start to worry just yet,” Browder explained with an optimistic voice. “But with that said, the entire Kit will need at least three hundred working conduits. So, based off our current workloads, it will take my team at least twenty days to finish and test em.”

  “Considering we’ve been waiting on parts for at least sixty days, I’ll gladly take that wait time,” Euphretes said smiling. “So what’s the good news?”

  “You aren’t kidding about those plates. It was getting to the point where I was just going to go to the depot and start fabricating the parts myself.”

  Euphretes shook his head with a chuckle, “And I would’ve gone with you.”

  “That would’ve been a site to see,” Browder declared, rolling his eyes. “But anyway, the good news is that your First Line Protective Body Suit, with the new material and thread design, made it in yesterday; so once we figure out those electrodes and conduits, everything else will be good to go.”

  Speaking to his mind space, “See, the universe wants us to jump today,” Euphretes jabbed at Neuma before responding to Browder. “Good stuff, just what I wanted to hear. Thanks for all of your work on this by the way. I know it’s adding to an already overburdened workload; so everything you and your team are doing is greatly appreciated. It most certainly is not going unnoticed,” the Empirical Admiral said while placing a reassuring hand on Browder’s shoulder.

&n
bsp; Euphretes could see that Browder was encouraged. “Thank you Sir, that means a lot. I’ll be sure to pass that along.”

  “Please do. Now, if there isn’t anything else, go get some more sleep. That’s an order,” The Armada Commander said with a smile.

  “You don’t have to tell me twice Sir.” The Warrant replied with a grin as he started to walk toward the Command Center’s exit.

  “Chief Browder, one last question,” Euphretes shot out.

  “Fire away,” Browder responded after turning around to face his Armada Commander.

  “In your professional opinion, should a mission’s jump time be delayed forty eight hours for a Cyclic Review and Cyclic Update?” Euphretes asked, hoping to use the Chief’s answer as ammunition against Neuma, who remained silent throughout the ordeal as she normally did when Euphretes played these types of games.

  Wary of the politics involved with questions like these, Browder answered with blanket terminology. “Depends on the situation Sir.”

  Understanding the Chief’s dilemma, “Soldier to soldier, not Commander to subordinate Leader,” Euphretes commented.

  Browder closed his eyes and shook his head a few times before looking directly at Euphretes. “To be perfectly honest then, they’re the most stupid mandatory updates that take place around here.”

  “Ha!” Euphretes couldn’t help but burst out with laughter at the Warrant’s brutal honesty.

  “How do you think he really feels?”

  “I’m serious Sir, think about it,” Browder went on. “Our Military has the most advanced RAIs in the known universe. They can literally perform all of the so called updates on the Cyclic Reviews as they come out. In fact, most already do them because it makes sense. But our Military hasn’t caught up with the advances being made in our RAI programs, so it still dictates that all Ships undergo the Review even if they had already completed the process off-line.”

  Puzzled and concerned that he was just now hearing about this, “So what benefit does the Review have for Fleet Vessels that have already undergone the updates?” The Admiral asked, absolutely hating the idea of wasting time unnecessarily, especially on events like these.

  “The Cyclic Reviews still scrub all of the operating systems on a uniform standard, something that is crucial if we want to ensure all of our Military’s equipment is calibrated based off the same thing. But to make it such a structured event is ridiculous.”

  “I’m assuming Demon’s Reckoning has already done the updates?” Euphretes pressed.

  “Oh yeah, for sure, are you kidding me? That sucker is so new that it won’t need any updates for at least six cycles.”

  “So, what’s a scrub time for a Predator look like then?”

  “I’d give it twelve, twenty four hours tops.” Browder estimated.

  “So, back to my original question. In your expert Chief opinion, do you think a mission’s jump time should be delayed twenty four hours for a Predator to complete its Cyclic Review?”

  “Back to my original answer,” Browder sarcastically replied, “Depends on the situation. If said Predator was jumping into a Danger Close Environment, then every update or scrub, no matter how small they may seem, could play a huge difference. On the other hand, if it were to be jumping into a Hostile Zero Environment, the update could wait for a more convenient time,” Browder astutely explained, answering the Empirical Admiral’s question by allowing Euphretes to draw his own conclusion.

  Euphretes remained silent as he thought through the decision, leaving Browder feeling as if he had to continue speaking. “If you want Sir, I can go back to my Shop and check with some contacts I have over at the Tech and Log Readiness Center to see if they can provide a better answer.”

  “No need Chief. You’ve been more than helpful and I’ve taken far too much of your time with dumb questions. Please go get some rest,” Euphretes replied, having heard enough evidence to make a decision.

  “Of course Sir. Have a good one,” Browder replied nonchalantly before walking as fast as he could out of the Command Center.

  “Still can’t hurt to wait Euphretes, especially since it’ll be a shorter wait time, but it’s still your call,” Neuma finally interjected.

  As he turned and started walking toward the center of the enormous room, Euphretes wrestled with the urgency inside of him to get the Armada moving as soon as possible. And even though Neuma had never given him wrong advice in the past, the itch to get moving felt insurmountable. More confident with the Chief’s information in play, Euphretes walked up to Senior Leading Operative Crestone who was sitting in his command chair with a stimulating drink in his hand.

  “Senior Op,” Euphretes announced in order to get the Senior NCO’s attention.

  “Sir?” Crestone answered without getting up, still too tired for the annoyances that came with proper customs and courtesies.

  “Please send down your Chain of Command; we jump at the next change of shift.”

  Chapter 7:

  Demon’s Reckoning

  The 1st Fleet Combat Team’s Expeditionary Armada ripped through interstellar space, eighteen days deep into their twenty six day jump on their way to the marshaling site on the far side of the Natron Empire. Ensuring his leaders and soldiers maintained their “at war” mindset, Euphretes left a laundry list of training for each Fleet Vessel and their crews to accomplish. As a brand new organization, soldiers and leaders were grabbed from all across the Huron Military to fill the empty personnel slots. While Carpathian did his best to shift entire units and Fleet Vessels, having to build unit cohesion from scratch was an unavoidable inevitability. Knowing that his smaller organizational units absolutely needed to have their standard operating procedures set before arriving at the desert regions, while also learning to trust each other, the Armada Commander compiled rigorous training for all Ships to complete during the two extended jumps.

  Euphretes had each of his Fleet Vessels's Captain and Senior Noncommissioned Officer, minus the four Predators, stay on Steadfast and Loyal for training during the outgoing trip to the marshaling site. He made the decision because communications between Fleet Vessels mid jump was often difficult to sustain for any length of time. And, while inter-jump communications was something only the Huron Military could do, the equipment on the Cruisers was sketchy enough to warrant Euphretes’s distrust in their ability to provide uninterrupted connections. Through the Abyss, staying true to its strict stealth nature, did not come equipped with this ability as the equipment interfered with the Ship’s stealth capabilities, even when not in use. The Predators and Steadfast and Loyal, on the other hand, utilized far more reliable technology that offered hours of continuous connection before needing to be powered down to recharge. Leaving their Executive Officers to run the Ships’s training in their place, the Command Teams were placed into hours of simulators. They focused on large scale tactics from Ship vs Ship combat all the way to Combat Team vs Combat Team engagements; all to prepare for the unknown enemy waiting for them beyond.

  Euphretes wanted the Senior Leaders to fail often in the beginning, so he insured each scenario found the teams outmanned and out gunned. By stretching everyone’s limits, Euphretes allowed the Armada’s top leaders to become better acquainted with each other’s character and personality during combat. More importantly, it showed everyone how their peers reacted when tired, angry, and getting destroyed by the enemy. This forced them to solve the inevitable drama issues found among a bunch of failing Type A personalities before the consequences were permanent.

  Simulators were thrown together for the Logistics and Maintenance crews as well. They were intended to prepare them for setting up the massive search grids that they would be using in the desert regions to look for the Natron Cruiser. While Euphretes was still unsure if he was using the same equipment as the missing Natron team, because Admiral Sentago had not released the rest of the information to Carpathian yet, Euphretes had enough data to be confident in his decision to go with bringing Autonomous D
rones to get the job done. Euphretes was also optimistic that his Logistical Support teams were preparing for the correct search grids, but knew they could adjust quickly if they weren’t.

  The process required painstaking precision. In order to find something as small as a missing Fleet Vessel in the empty vastness of space, thousands of Deep Space Sensory Transmitters, or DSSTs, were needed to be accurately placed into a large network of other DSSTs. A class of Autonomous Drones, each DSST monitored shifts in energy transmissions, alterations to gravitational fields, shifts in the overall mass of their designated regions of space, and could pick up even the faintest of energies to find human life. While the Silent Raiders were preparing to set up the most effective Regional Search and Recovery Operation ever created, each mission was tedious and time consuming. They also required hours of behind the scenes support.

  Maintenance teams needed to visually inspect every aspect of the two ton piece of machinery prior to placing them onto a Transport. Going by the Operator’s Manual, performing the required Preventative Maintenance Checks and Services, took forty minutes with a three man team. Once the DSST was cleared by the team, a supervisor conducted a final visual inspection before sending one of the team members to the bay’s Shop Office to sign off on the final dispatch orders for the drone. With the piece of the equipment cleared by maintenance personnel and dispatched, it was then loaded onto a Transport and tied down for its journey through intergalactic space.