TFS Ingenuity: The Terran Fleet Command Saga – Book 1

by Tori Harris

  "Seems pretty surreal, doesn’t it? Honestly, I think I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around what we’ve already done, much less what we’re likely to do next. I assume you read the mission brief that Fleet sent up a couple of hours ago?"

  "Yes, sir. Alpha Centauri, which I guess was the obvious choice for our first stop, recharge, then C-Jump all the way out to the Gliese 667 system."

  "C-Jump, huh? Do you think Patterson will let that one slide?"

  "He’s fighting a losing battle, I’m afraid. There has to be a verb of some sort," she laughed. "You can’t say we’re going to ‘capacitive hyperdrive’ out to Alpha Centauri! That doesn’t even make any sense, much less sound cool. Besides, assuming this works like it’s supposed to, can you really see us ever transitioning to hyperspace where we’re not doing a C-Jump?"

  "I was thinking about that last night and, no, I really can’t, other than deploying hyperspace comm beacons or something. Alright, then, let’s go with ‘C-Jump’ until someone tells us we have to call it something else. That actually sounds pretty good now that I say it out loud," Prescott replied, gesturing for Commander Reynolds to lead the way as they continued towards the bridge.

  "So it sounds like they picked Gliese 667 because it’s one of the very few star systems that we’ve actually surveyed with one of our recon probes."

  "Right, just two weeks ago, in fact. They used three of the initial hyperdrive test vehicles Logan told us about yesterday to fashion our first batch of interstellar probes. The problem is that they are only capable of about five hundred times light, so they have only gotten around to some of the most promising systems so far. I expect they’ll be firing off probes equipped with C-Drives pretty quickly, though. It just seems like a good idea to survey each system remotely before we drop in with one of our starships. The last thing we want to do is piss off the neighbors."

  Reynolds laughed. "Well, no neighbors will be home at Gliese 667 – at least none advanced enough to mind if we drop by. The recon probe detected no intelligent life, but it’s a triple star system with twenty-three planets, at least three of which are potentially habitable. We could actually be talking about colonizing planets in the near future. Do we even have any plans for how we’re going to handle any of this?"

  "Fleet hasn’t provided any formal guidance yet beyond the first contact protocols, but I expect to start seeing that kind of thing anytime. The Science and Engineering Directorate actually has an Exobiology and Colonization Section. They have had people planning all of those kinds of things for decades now. I expect we’ll be amazed at how quickly we start putting together exploration and colonization missions."

  "I don’t know about you, Captain, but I’m already getting a little tired of being amazed. I’d be perfectly happy for things to slow down a bit," she sighed as they walked onto Ingenuity’s bridge.

  "Good morning, everyone!" Prescott announced loudly enough to make sure everyone was alert and aware that it was time to get to work. "Sitrep."

  "Good morning, Captain, Commander," Lieutenant Commander Schmidt replied, vacating the captain’s chair and stepping in the direction of the Science and Engineering console. "We are holding position at L1. Commander Logan reports all systems in the green. Hyperspace or C-Drive transition available with five minutes notice. The threat board is clear. No contacts."

  "Very good, Lieutenant Commander Schmidt. It sounds like we are about ready to give this a try."

  "Yes, sir. One additional point of interest, Captain," Schmidt said, gesturing to a window on the view screen once again displaying the Yucca Mountain Shipyard facility. "We got word a few minutes ago that Fleet will be launching a number of ships this morning. TFS Shoshone is coming out of the shipyard now to execute her first climb to orbit."

  "Now that is interesting. I hadn’t heard there were any ship launches scheduled for today, but that cruiser will definitely be worth watching. Let’s go full screen ship-wide and I’ll give everyone a quick heads up."

  "All hands, this is the captain. I wanted to thank each and every one of you once again for your dedication and hard work, particularly over the past couple of weeks. I know I don’t have to tell you that today will be yet another day of historic firsts for Ingenuity and for Humanity. I also don’t think anyone would have ever predicted that our first manned mission to the nearest star system would be followed minutes later by a near instantaneous trip to another star system nearly six times as far away from Earth, but that’s exactly what we have on the agenda for today. Before we get on with our mission, please take a look at a view screen if you can safely do so. Fleet’s first operational heavy cruiser, TFS Shoshone, is just leaving Yucca Mountain for the first time and we just happen to be on the right side of the planet to have the best seat in the house. That’s all for now. Prescott out."

  The view of the Amargosa Valley basking in the bright sunshine of an early spring morning was singularly impressive on Ingenuity’s expansive bridge view screen. This would have been the case even without the spectacle of the enormous warship now slowly exiting the side of Yucca Mountain. TFS Shoshone made her debut in truly dramatic fashion, taking nearly three full minutes for her one-kilometer-long hull to emerge from the facility’s entrance cavern. Shortly after the ship was clear of the mountain, her bow rose to nearly forty-five degrees above the horizon as her colossal sublight engines and gravitic systems defied the planet’s feeble attempts to slow her progress towards the sky. Minutes later, the ship entered a circular orbit roughly four hundred kilometers above the surface. Here, she would spend the next several hours running systems checks to ensure everything was functioning properly before venturing farther from home.

  The view from Ingenuity’s perspective had been truly awe-inspiring; virtually every member of the crew stood transfixed during the entire climb to orbit. Although there was an occasional cheer or round of applause, most who watched did so silently. Many were so overwhelmed with emotion that they struggled to hold back tears. All petty squabbles aside, on this day Humanity stood united as one civilization, ready to take its rightful place among the stars.

  "Captain, we are receiving a Flash priority action message addressed directly to you," Lieutenant Dubashi announced from the Communications console.

  "Thank you, Dubashi, route it to my terminal please," Prescott replied, authenticating his identity as he seated himself at the Command console.

  Within seconds, the Flash traffic appeared on his small screen.

  Z0715

  TOP SECRET - MAGI PRIME

  FM: CINCTFC

  TO: TFS INGENUITY

  INFO: POSSIBLE HOSTILITIES - SAJETH COLLECTIVE FORCES

  1. RECEIVED COMMUNICATION FROM ADMIRAL NAFTUR VIA AMBSDR TURLAKA. SAJETH SPLINTER GROUP MAY ATTEMPT PREEMPTIVE ATTACK ON EARTH.

  2. RENDEVOUS WITH NAFTUR’S FLAGSHIP GRESAV AT SPECIFIED COORDINATES IN GLIESE 667 C SYSTEM TO OBTAIN DETAILED INTELLIGENCE.

  3. SAJETH MUST REMAIN UNAWARE OF C-DRIVE CAPABILITIES.

  4. ASSESS SITUATION AND RETURN ASAP.

  5. AVOID CONTACT WITH HOSTILE FORCES. ADM SEXTON SENDS.

  "Well then, I guess that explains why Fleet is sortying assets this morning," Prescott said, nodding to Commander Reynolds’ console so that she could read the Flash traffic he had just shared. Prescott paused for a moment to collect his thoughts and allow his XO to read the message before continuing. "My first reaction is that this news doesn’t fundamentally change our mission this morning, agree?"

  "I suppose not, although it’s way beyond a hyperdrive test at this point."

  "C-Drive," Prescott corrected, smiling in spite of the gravity of the situation.

  "You’re right, sir, sorry," she laughed, amazed once again how her captain always seemed to find a way to take such jarring news in stride and focus on the task at hand. "Recommend we set General Quarters for combat ops and remain in that state until we return."

  "Agree, but let’s avoid charging weapons since we’re already going to be heavily ta
xing the power systems. Sexton specifically said to avoid contact, so if we run into anyone, our best bet will most likely be to run anyway."

  "Aye, sir. I also want everyone strapped in for this transition, just in case," she replied, issuing the required commands at her terminal. Within seconds, the ship’s AI began announcing the modified General Quarters and the lighting on the bridge once again took on an eerie, red hue.

  "Lieutenant Dubashi, please acknowledge the Flash message and signal Fleet that we will be departing momentarily."

  "Aye, sir."

  "Commander Logan, bridge," Prescott announced.

  "Logan here. Just reading the Flash traffic you sent over, sir. Wow."

  "That about sums it up, Commander. Are we ready to get underway down there?"

  "That’s affirmative, Captain. Just keep in mind that it could take up to two minutes to bring all of the weapon systems online after we transition. You’ll have the missile batteries only. I can prioritize one of the others and have it online within thirty seconds if you are interested."

  "That’s a pretty easy call, Commander, give me the railguns as quickly as possible. We are unlikely to get into a shooting match on this trip, but if we do, we will probably be purely defensive. Having a point defense capability might make all the difference."

  "Done. You can expect them within thirty seconds after you begin charging weapons, but don’t expect anything else for a full two minutes after they come online. The sea-whiz railgun and beam emitter emplacements will stay online the entire time, so you’ll have close range point defense either way."

  "Thanks, Commander. Stand by for our C-Jump out to Alpha Centauri, Prescott out.

  "All hands, this is Prescott. I hadn’t planned on interrupting you again before our first C-Jump out of the system, but we have received an unexpected and troubling message from Admiral Sexton, our Commander in Chief. Fleet has received credible intelligence indicating that a faction of the Sajeth Collective – that’s the group that includes our new friends the Wek – is threatening a preemptive attack on the Earth. I’m not going to try and explain why they might want to do such a thing. Suffice it to say that they see our relationship with the Pelarans as a threat they would prefer to eliminate before we reach the point where they are unable to do so. Now, I’m skirting some highly classified information here, but I want each and every one of you to be confident of one thing: we are already well beyond the point where we can simply be eliminated. Every one of you saw those other ships nearing completion at Yucca Mountain, so that should reassure you that Ingenuity is not leaving Earth undefended while we conduct our C-Drive tests. I hope many of you took a few moments to watch TFS Shoshone’s launch. By the end of the day today, there will be four others just like her in the immediate vicinity of Earth. Three days from now, we will have three full carrier battle groups in space. That’s a total of over fifty starships."

  Prescott paused for effect, hoping the entire crew looked as surprised and gratified by this news as his XO did right now. "As I’ve told you before, Humanity has taken its rightful place as an interstellar species and we are here to stay. With any luck, we’ll be able to convince our neighbors that we are generally a peaceful civilization and we have absolutely no intention of being a pawn for the Pelarans or anyone else. If, on the other hand, they come to the Sol system looking for an easy fight, Fleet is more than prepared to disappoint them. Now let’s get this mission successfully completed and get this game-changing C-Drive technology back to Terran Fleet Command. Prescott out.

  "Lieutenant Dubashi, do we have a course plotted for the C-Jump to Alpha Centauri?"

  "Aye, sir, course locked and transferred to the Helm console."

  "Alright, folks, this is your traditional ‘speak now or forever hold your peace’ opportunity. Speak up if you have a problem or concern. Let’s do a quick rollcall. I need a go or no go from every station starting with Engineering."

  "Go, sir."

  "Tactical?"

  "Go, Captain."

  "Helm?"

  "Go, Captain."

  "Comm/Nav?"

  "We’re go, sir."

  "XO?"

  "Go, sir. I’d like to give a ship-wide final warning before we transition, though."

  "Do it and let’s get the hell out of here," Prescott replied.

  "All hands, this is the XO. We are C-Jumping to Alpha Centauri in thirty seconds. All personnel should be restrained at this time. Reynolds out."

  Prescott took a final look around the bridge, satisfying himself that everyone was indeed ready. "Alright, Ensign Fisher, it’s your show once again. We keep hearing about the slick user interface for the C-Drive, so feel free to put it up in a window on the screen."

  "I would be happy to do that, Captain, but why don’t I show you that separately. I don’t want to take any real estate on the view screen. In the sim, at least, the external view is just about the coolest thing I’ve ever seen."

  "Well, how can I argue with an endorsement like that?" Prescott laughed. "Please proceed when ready."

  The starfield on the enormous, wrap-around bridge view screen slewed to starboard as Fisher oriented the ship in the direction of Alpha Centauri. With the maneuver completed, the view screen was now centered on what appeared to be a single, very bright star, surrounded on the screen by the now familiar set of green brackets used to indicate the ship’s next waypoint.

  "Okay sir, as you know, the view screen combines inputs from a variety of different sensor types to produce a visual representation of the space around the ship. Most of the time, what we are seeing is provided almost exclusively by plain old optical sensors. If you were to stand outside on the hull, you’d see pretty much the same thing we do in here. For the C-Drive, however, the UI designers wanted to keep the bridge view screen displaying a consistent picture rather than an abrupt change from one view to the other. I just wanted to warn everyone that on such a huge screen, it can be a little disorienting if you aren’t expecting it."

  "Understood, Ensign, thank you. Let’s get to it," Prescott replied, trying his level best not to sound impatient with his earnest young helmsman.

  "Alright, sir, here we go," Fisher said, excitedly executing the final set of commands at the Helm console.

  The ship AI’s synthetic voice immediately began a ship-wide countdown. "Capacitive hyperdrive engaged, transition in 3 … 2 … 1 …"

  On the bridge view screen, most of the background stars moved very little, if at all, but the bright star in the center of the screen smoothly transitioned from a single pinpoint of light to two, then three separate stars. The smallest of the three, a reddish star labeled "α Cen C – Proxima" by the AI quickly moved out of view at the bottom of the screen. The brightest, and obviously largest of the three stars remained fixed in the center of the screen, while its smaller companion moved rapidly to the lower right side. The AI labeled these two stars "α Cen A" and "α Cen B," respectively. Each star was also displayed with an accompanying block of text providing additional data including stellar mass, radius, and luminosity relative to Sol.

  "Yup, Fisher, I’ll grant you that was the coolest damn thing I’ve ever seen, by a long shot, actually," Prescott said, exhaling sharply after involuntarily holding his breath during the transition. "Report."

  "Transition complete, Captain. The nav system is a little slow after our first C-Jump, so I don’t have precise coordinates yet, but I can confirm that we have arrived at the Alpha Centauri star system," Lieutenant Dubashi announced. "All systems reporting in the green. No damage or injuries reported. The sublight engines are still offline, pending the next transition. Ah, I have our position now as seven hundred fifty meters from the expected arrival point."

  "Not as accurate as a standard hyperspace transition, but I think we can live with that, for now. I’m assuming the data we bring back will improve the AI’s calculations quite a bit. Tactical?"

  "The threat board is clear, Captain, no contacts," Lieutenant Lau responded.

&nbs
p; "Very good. Until we’re back in the Sol system, I want to hear about anything you detect immediately."

  "Aye, sir, will do."

  "Lieutenant Commander Schmidt, I assume you are pulling in as much data as possible for the Science and Engineering Directorate folks."

  "Yes, sir. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised, but we’ve been here less than five minutes and I’ve already seen at least ten items that are being catalogued as new discoveries. As expected, there are no planets in orbit around the primary star, that’s Alpha Centauri A in the center of the view screen. The secondary, Alpha Centauri B," Schmidt nodded to the smaller star near the lower right edge of the view screen, "has two rocky planets orbiting very close to the star. As expected, no life signs on either one."

  "It’s beautiful, alright," Reynolds observed, "but if I had been on one of those generational starships they always talked about and it took sixty years to get here, I think I’d be pretty pissed off right about now."

  "Ha! I guess you would, considering you’d be long dead before you either gave up and went back to Earth or, worse, continued on to the next star system with a potentially habitable planet. As far as I know, that’s Ross 128, which is still a good six or seven light years from here. There’s a lot of speculation that Earth’s distance from other habitable planets is one of the reasons the Pelarans chose us for cultivation. Security through obscurity, I guess."

  "Bridge, Engineering."

  "Prescott here. Go ahead, Commander."

  "Everything was looking pretty good at first after the C-Jump, Captain, but it turns out that our new capacitor banks didn’t perform up to specs. That short transition used over twenty percent of the power in the dedicated hyperdrive banks. That’s more than double what we expected. The good news is that it should be a relatively straightforward fix back at the shipyard. The bad news is that we are going to be short on power until that happens. You should assume our maximum C-Jump range is only about twenty light years for now."

  "We’re still nearly twenty light years from our next destination, Commander. If we make the next C-Jump, what are the implications for power availability after we arrive?"