“Yes. We’re analysing it to see if we can get an idea what form these beings are. Oh, and I see one of your drones removed some of their hull-emitters. We’re doing the same.”
“Fine. We’ll be calling our drone back soon. I think we’d better have a short meeting before we leave.”
“OK. But only after the Mars shuttle’s taken what it needs.”
Frank sat, quietly pondering an idea in his mind. Then tapped Ned’s icon.
“Hi, Frank. What can I do for you?”
“Ned, would it be possible to modify a drone to enable it to generate an accurate wormhole?”
“Well, yes. But it depends on how far away you want the wormhole exit point to be. We wouldn’t be able to modify the drone, but I reckon Argonaut probably could.”
“Thanks,” he said.
“Andromeda, get Hector back.”
“Right away.”
“Yes, Frank, what is it now?”
“Ned thinks that you could modify a drone to be able to create a wormhole. If you can, we only need the wormhole to make a jump of about two kilometres, but it must be accurate. What do you think?”
“I assume that you think the only way to hit these globe ships is the way you hit this one, through a wormhole that ends inside them?”
“Correct. So, is it possible?”
“I’ll ask my Quantum team.”
“Hector, if I’m right, yesterday would be good.”
“Understood. So, you think they’ll be back for their ship?”
“Wouldn’t you?”
“OK. Urgent is our middle name, just give me ten minutes.”
“Right, but let’s hope that’s enough.”
“Andromeda, how much longer do we need to keep our drone inside the sphere?”
“Eleven minutes.”
Can you configure the drone to activate its own homing transmitter?”
“No need, all drones have auto-homing transmitter activation in case they’re damaged or need retrieving.”
“OK, but enable it manually, now.”
“Done, but why?”
“I’m not sure, just a feeling.”
Ten minutes later, Hector was back.
“Ned’s right Frank. I’ve taken the liberty of instigating the mod for four of our ten drones. Send two of your drones over now and we’ll modify them as well.”
“Excellent Hector. When you’ve done ours, modify two of the drones on each of the other ships before we jump for Delta Pavonis.”
“How long have we got?”
“As long as it takes, no not really, a day perhaps.”
“Now I know you’re joking.”
“Yeah, you’re right. But let me know how long your engineers really need, remembering that time is of the essence.”
“We’ll be as quick as we can, if not faster,” he ended, jokingly.”
“Thanks. I’ll let you get on with it. Out.”
Hector’s image disappeared and was quickly replaced by Susanna’s. “Can we have a quiet night together? I miss you.”
“Sorry Sues, I miss you too. But I need to keep up the pressure for now. Give me a couple of days, then just try to keep me away.”
“I’ll hold you to that,” she said and was gone.
Hector’s formerly intermittent icon, now appeared as firmly off as the rest of them.
“Andromeda make sure you leave the drone inside the sphere until we’re ready to go.”
“I’m glad you told me that now, I was about to bring it back.”
“You mean, you’re not listening to my thoughts?”
“Of course not, Frank. Not all of them. Right now, I’m only listening to your Command thoughts.”
“That’s good to know.”
“The two drones are on the Argonaut already. Argonaut’s engineers say they need two hours to carry out the modifications.”
“Great, that’s a lot quicker than I expected.”
He paused, then said. “Andromeda, when you’ve got the modified drones back from Argonaut, this is what I want you and Susanna to do,” then raised his ‘thought’ level and instructed her.
‘Right. Leave the drones outside our ship. And ensure that the nuclear torpedoes are fully activated and their sensors are set to detect the spheres.
Then as soon as any Solveron ships arrive, immediately enable the drones to create the wormholes that will link them to the Solveron ships. Then launch the Nukes through the wormholes, on our command.’
‘Understood. Susanna and I will start the programming now.’
Frank sat back again. He was more relaxed now, knowing full well that the Andromeda and all the other ships were on alert, and that their computer-controlled weapons systems would react faster than any of their human crew could.
He tapped to bring up Astro department.
“Yes Frank, can I help you?”
“Tim, can you plan an ‘illogical’ route to get us to Delta Pavonis, say with two or three Jumps, max?”
“Why? We can do it in one jump; at least, that’s my understanding.”
“That’s true though it would be disastrous if our jump exits were a tiny bit off.”
“I see that. But wouldn’t it be just what these blue spheres would like us to do, giving them more chances to find us?”
Frank chuckled. “You’re getting too smart my friend.”
“Ah, so you want them to find us?”
“Yes Tim, but only on our terms. We can’t go on looking over our shoulders all the time.”
“I agree, Frank. I can see now why you want more jumps, but why not make the jumps logical?”
“For the same reason, you’re asking. A logical jump sequence would mean we’re confident. Remember, we’ve just knocked one of their ships out.
But an illogical jump sequence would signal that we’re scared of them and so would be easy pickings for them.”
“Geeze, Frank. You’ve got warped mind.”
“Years of practice Tim,” he proudly replied.”
“Yeah. OK, I’ll come back to you,” he said, and his image disappeared.
Frank hit Hector’s icon.
“Yes, Frank?”
“How long before I get my drones back?”
“You’re persistent. I reckon it’ll take about another hour and a quarter,” Hector paused as if expecting Frank to butt in, then continued. “The containment spheres that keep the warp crystals dormant are too large for the drones.”
“I know,” interjected Frank. “I’ve seen them on Pavonis, with all those magnetic nodes to keep the things quiet."
“Right. Then you’ll also know that it can take a lot of time to construct a chamber, and warp generator, both small enough to fit a drone. Then to transfer a crystal in less than 60 seconds, and finally to power everything up.
I told you it would take two hours for each drone. It doesn’t matter how fast you want them. They simply won’t be ready any quicker than we can work.”
“OK, point taken Hector. It’s just that we’re so vulnerable just sitting here.”
“I understand Frank.”
“Does the drone’s fusion reactor have enough power to enable Warp?”
“Yes. Plenty of power for what we need to do. Don’t forget, the drone has already been modified to take the mini-Skippa sub-light drive, so the electronics are all there.
Plus, we’ve more space now that the photon drive is gone. That Skippa’s a beauty,” he finished.
“OK Hector, just make sure you’re ready in time.”
‘Andromeda?’
‘Yes, Frank. So, are we back to thought-mode?’
‘No, just for sensitive items. OK. I want you to power down the drone that’s inside the sphere.
But not entirely, leave just enough power to allow it to pulse the locator beacon.’
‘Are you hoping Argonaut’s sensors will track it?’
‘Yep, there’s just a chance.’
‘OK. Are we going back to using speech again?’<
br />
“Yes,” he replied. Then, looking at the chronometer, saw that an hour had flown by without him noticing.
He tapped Hector’s icon again.
“Yes, Frank?” Hector wearily replied.
“We’ve got a powered down drone inside that sphere. See if you can pick up its pulsed location beacon?”
“One moment,” he said, as he went off-camera for a few seconds, then added, “Yes, we’ve got it.”
“Great. Make sure you don’t lose the lock on it.”
“Don’t worry, if it's transmitting, I’m sure our array will keep picking it up. At least until the end of the first jump.”
“Still no drones ready, Hector?”
“No. maybe in ten minutes or so,” he answered. Then was gone.
Frank went to say something…. just as the contact alarm sounded through all ships.
He looked at his screen and saw that two blue and crackling spheres had dropped into normal space, about 4000 kilometres from the wrecked sphere.
Frank watched nervously, as they drifted slowly towards the wreck. At this stage, they were totally ignoring the Earth ships.
‘Decision time,’ he thought. ‘Chancy, but necessary,’ and pressed the All-Ships transmission button.
“All ships, this is an order. Do Not Engage the spheres. We will lose if we try to fight now. Use your Skippa-drives if you have to get out of their way.”
‘That was the right move Frank,’ came Andromeda’s mental reply.
‘Yes, luckily. We wouldn’t stand a chance without the modified drones.’
As the two blue spheres finally reached the wreck, a purple beam emanated from each of them and focused on it, binding all three of them as a group.
The wreck jerked momentarily as the rays touched. Then the group remained stationary for about three minutes.
He tapped Hector’s Icon again. “Sorry Frank, still another seven minutes,” came the reply.
Frank’s heart was pounding. Will they just go, and then come back for us later? He wondered. Please go, he thought, holding his breath. Have I made a mistake? No, it was the right move, he decided.
As if they had been listening to his thoughts, the three ships suddenly moved fractionally, then disappeared.
Frank breathed again, and a shiver ran down his spine.
“Hector!” he yelled, after hitting his icon. “Are you tracking?”
“Yes, we are. Wow! That’s the second scary moment in two days. I hope it’s not going to be like this all the time.”
“So do I, believe me.”
Chapter 8
Aftermath.
Tripicac’s shuttle ascended rapidly through the atmosphere and kept changing direction as it headed for the space station. The need for the directional changes soon became apparent, as parts of wrecked Battlecruisers that were floating in orbit caused his shuttle to bend around them to reach his ship. He winced as he saw a light, powdery mist just drifting, evidently the remains of the devastated Battlecruisers.
The shuttle finally docked with his ship, the CS13, and he joined it. The shuttle then continued, dropping group commanders off, either at their ship or if their ship hadn’t survived taking them to the space station to await further orders.
Once aboard his vessel, he hurried to the control room where Trenma, his second in command, and Vendron, his pilot, were still checking which of the ships were still ok.
“Trenma, what’s our status?”
“Surprisingly good sir. The Solverons had us. Then, just stopped. Almost as if they had just been given the order to go.”
“Pilot, are the station’s systems operational?”
“Yes, they’re fine sir. The Solverons appear to have concentrated on our ships.”
“OK. Vendron, what’s the situation out there?” He asked as he looked through the window at the carnage outside.
“Twenty-one undamaged ships, plus two that are damaged, but repairable. They have destroyed the rest. Eighteen ships, just dust.”
Tripicac felt sick. The commanders and crews he had grown up with. Most of them gone now.
“Vendron. Tell me what you saw, give me your impressions. I know there will be recordings. But what did you see and feel?”
“They just appeared. Drifting slowly through our ships.”
“Yes-yes,” he said impatiently. But what was the first thing you noticed?”
Vendron thought before answering.
“They seemed to float out of a wormhole. No, out of different wormholes. Yes. When we first saw them, the surfaces of the spheres weren’t swirling.
Then, almost immediately, we saw a swirling and crackling field forming around each of them. Not more than a metre out, that’s my guess. But nothing could touch them. It could only have been a minute, from when they came out of the wormhole until they reached the first ship.”
“What else?”
“Our ships were too tightly packed, and some were tethered to the station. We couldn’t move without firing into each other. It was a nightmare.”
“That’s bad. Go on.”
“I could see ships turning into a mist. The spheres just drifted on through until the ships were either gone or were damaged so much that they weren’t a threat.”
“So, the humans could be right. A molecular co-adhesion disruptor field that causes particles of matter to lose their bond and drift apart.”
“Then how can we fight them sir, when nothing we have stays together long enough to do any good?”
“I don’t know. But why did they break off? Just when they could have destroyed all the ships here, and the space-station.”
“Something must have happened somewhere else, sir. That shocked them, maybe?”
“But what? Humans? Unlikely, but possible I suppose.”
He watched the build-up of activity outside his ship, as several small shuttles moved slowly between the wrecks looking for survival pods. Not that they expected to find any. But it was necessary, just in case.
Several small tug ships began to lock on to large chunks of the wrecked Crillon Battlecruisers that were tumbling slowly in space. Once locked together, they started pulling them out of the way to allow the undamaged ships to manoeuvre away from the station. The broken parts would eventually be salvaged for anything usable.
“I have the Senate Chairman Kasosko, for you Commander,” the comms officer announced.
“Put him through to me.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Commander Tripicac. Our sensors are playing up. Tell me what your situation is, and how many ships you still have up there?”
“I expect your sensors are picking up the stray molecules swamping the area,” Tripicac suggested. Then replied to the question.
“Well, the situation’s not good Senator Kasosko. We only have twenty-three ships here, including two that are damaged.
But that’s all we have left, out of the forty-one that were in our local system,” he added, pausing a moment. “Plus, of course, the six that are being built in the Tapin workshops.”
“I’m not in command of any of our other ships, sir. But you already know about Fleet Twelve’s losses, which were inflicted by the humans.
Add, to this, Commander Kribourg’s squadron of eight ships, including a battleship. All of them gone, destroyed by the Solverons.
We could easily be down to a hundred and eighty ships in total. I wouldn’t know the exact numbers or their locations, or even if they’re still in one piece.
By now, the Solverons could have reduced the numbers dramatically. I really have no idea sir.”
“Yes, thank you. I understand your problem Tripicac. There is some good news, however.
My Senate has agreed that you, together with Commander Arans and Commander Tarcan, will take up the challenge to find a way to rid us once and for all from this Solveron threat.
Even if these humans end up having to help us, assuming you are right about their intentions.”
“Thank you, Senator. I
welcome the opportunity to work with you and the other senators. But, what about the Navy high command? They certainly won’t like it.”
“Don’t worry about that,” Kasosko replied. “There will be no problem with them, I can assure you.”
Kasosko paused then continued. “Oh, and more bad news. For you personally, this time, I’m afraid.
Our monitoring array on Tapin picked up a garbled thread from a collapsed wormhole. It looks like Commander Bovonivo was killed by the Solverons.”
“What, surely that’s not possible inside a wormhole?”
“No, not inside. He dropped into normal space for some reason.”
“I’m sorry to hear that. Thank you, Senator Kasosko for informing me.”
He thought for a moment then continued. “Well, we’re running analyses on the situation now. There has to be a weakness somewhere with the Solverons.”
“I’ll leave you to it, Commander.”
“What do you mean, Commander?”
“You’ve been promoted Tripicac. You are now a Commander. A much-deserved promotion I might add.”
“Thank you for this, sir.”
“You’re welcome. If you need to talk to me, you will see that my name has been added your comms screen.” With that, Kasosko was gone.
“Congratulations, sir,” Both Trenma and Vendron said as one.
“Thanks. Comm’s, instruct the Picket mapping ship to carry out a thorough survey of the wormhole area now, and transmit the results to us.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Trenma, you and all of my crew members, need to see the human’s video recording, and I certainly want to see it again. Play it now,” said Commander Tripicac. Then he and his crew sat back and watched the recording
Afterwards, Tripicac mulled over his options; thinking to himself that he would need to get together with Arans and Tarcan soon.
Chapter 9
To Delta Pavonis.
The Earth ships were still collating the mass of information that had been collected from the wrecked sphere. Plus, the information they had gathered from the two Solveron ships during their retrieval mission.
Frank hit the Argonaut captain’s tab. “Hector, I know we’ve got our two drones, but where are the rest of them?”
The Definitive SpaceFed Trilogy (SpaceFed StarShips Trilogy).: A thrilling, action-packed Sci-fi space adventure. (SpaceFed StarShips Series Book 8) Page 48
