Dalliana, on the other hand, was a miracle herself. The Earth’s Revenge had been stripped of almost all holographic emitters which allowed her to manifest in any location or multiple locations if she wished. The computer core had been stripped down to little more than an assortment of useless parts. Her computer core had to be rebuilt from the ground up, something no one had ever done before. It took Mike and the techs on his team three months of studying the ancient blueprints and documents on Ghost Station to even get started. Most of the parts had to be built on demand in the station’s foundries.
A month later they had a working model and with the data salvaged by her back up systems, that had been remarkably intact, they rebuilt her core programs with the help of Ghost. Two weeks later they had the core in place and all the holo emitters replaced and fired her up for the first time. A week later they had all the bugs worked out of her systems and she was able to take her place among the bridge crew and start her old duties.
Before Mike left for Euthara he had left orders with his team to have several cores on back up and to work on a smaller secondary core that could be fitted to all ships to act as a backup in case something happened to the main core. This was a gap in the original designs of the Eutharan vessels and, unbelievably, it was a gap in all ships. Atlantis was the only ship that had a secondary core that could kick in and run the ship in case the main computer core went down. That little oversight was being remedied on Earth’s Revenge as they patrolled in the Euthara system.
Before Earth’s Revenge departed from Ghost Station and headed to Euthara a second full size core had been delivered and was currently being installed in a totally separate location. Since the ship was huge and had plenty of room they were able to install a second full size core with a backup data storage system. The system, once installed, would work in real time with the main systems so all information was kept up to date. If the main core went down the secondary core, which would be kept waiting in a stand-by mode, would kick in and take over in seconds.
Her main transport rails that ran along each side of her hull were being replaced with the transport tube system the Atlantis had. That would allow the crew to move through the ship at a much faster pace as they didn’t have to wait for the transport to arrive. The ship was a hive of activity as it patrolled. They would jump to a location and then proceed on sub light drives for a day or two while the crew worked on the upgrades. What it meant was the crew would get a full days rest every two days.
Next to the Atlantis, the Earth’s Revenge was the most state of the art ship in the fleet if you didn’t count the Ga’sahde and Drovasian vessels.
Bill’s office was sparsely decorated and he liked it that way, fewer distractions for when he was at work. The conference room that connected his office to the Bridge was even plainer as he wanted people’s attention when they were talking.
Bill sighed as he set the latest reports on the transport tubes down. They were two days behind schedule and Dalliana’s secondary core was about four days behind schedule. The good news was that the new fold engines were in place, powered up and having diagnostics run on them. They should be online in less than half a day.
He had to expect the slow down with half his engineering crew planet side and to be honest things weren’t as bad as he thought it was going to be. He stood up and stretched and popped his neck. He reached down and grabbed the Bridge’s com unit and settled it over his ear.
The Bridge on the Earth’s Revenge was half the size of a standard football field back on Earth. It had two levels to it and you needed to broadcast your voice to be heard. The upper levels are where the science stations and environmental stations were as well as ground communications for troops. The bottom level held the Tactical stations, four to be exact, one for each direction, aft, port, starboard and keel. Each station controlled the guns for that hemisphere of the ship. Dalliana could do it if she needed to but it was easier for her to feed information to the stations and allow the men stationed there to monitor the guns. The ship was so large that only the guns that could fire on a primary target called by the commanding officer were used. All other guns out of the fire arc were free to select other targets of opportunity.
Engineering stations were also contained there as well as space control stations that controlled the fighters that were constantly on patrol when the ship wasn’t folding or entering hyperspace. Helm was seated directly in front of the Captain’s chair and in front of that station were three different communication stations. The communication stations were very important as two of them relayed information from the various stations and one of them was used for any other communications.
Although it seemed confusing, but it ran smoothly and without a hitch. Bill had given orders that all stations beyond the helm had a limited autonomy to do their jobs. Before doing that the Bridge most days was complete chaos as orders or requests seemed to come non-stop.
There was a secondary bridge deep in the middle of the ship. Bill named it the battle bridge due to its heavy armor and location. It had bare minimum in the way of stations at its disposal, helm, communications, flight control, one tactical station and an engineering station that also controlled damage control systems. It took six people to man the stations and of the entire crew there were only twelve people highly trained enough to run that Bridge.
“Sir, incoming transmission for the Euthara Station,” a female voice said.
“Thanks Elisa,” Bill said. He sat back down in his chair. “Put it through to my office please.”
A screen blinked to life in front of him and his wife’s glowing face filled the screen.
“Hi honey, how are you and the kids?” Bill said.
“We’re all doing fine,” Kelly said. A smile crossed her face as she continued. “Andie has cleared me for duty for another week. I’ll be taking a shuttle tomorrow to join you and resume my duties.”
“Great!” Bill said. “Things don’t seem to run so smooth around here without you.”
“That’s because you worry about too much at once you big lug,” Kelly said. “I told you to push some of the duties off on your other officers and let them deal with it.”
“You know now that you mention it work seems to pile up when you’re not here,” Bill said.
“That’s because I don’t let everything pile up on you and I delegate to the other officers to relieve the stress on you,” Kelly said.
“I knew there was a reason I was with you,” Bill said.
“I thought it was because I was sexy,” Kelly said.
“Well that’s a plus,” Bill said. “I had to compete with a lot of guys for your attention.”
“Liar, I wasn’t being pursued and I only had eyes for you,” Kelly said as she giggled.
“Hey, it’s my story and I’m sticking to it,” Bill said.
“You still think I’m sexy?” Kelly said as her hands rubbed her bulging belly.
“I think you’re three times as sexy,” Bill said.
“Oh, right answer,” Kelly said.
“I try,” Bill said. “Kelly when you get back here I was thinking we’d get married.”
Kelly just stared at Bill and blinked.
“I should have waited to ask until you were here,” Bill said as he let out a groan.
“No, it’s ok, you don’t know how long I’ve been waiting for you to say that,” Kelly said.
“Really, you’ll marry me?” Bill said.
“Of course you dope,” Kelly said as she smiled. “On one condition.”
“What condition?” Bill said.
“That Jon performs the ceremony,” Kelly said.
“Right, as if that would ever happen,” Bill said.
“I want him to do it, he’s the main reason we got together,” Kelly said. “We owe it to him to make him marry us. It will be history for the ADF and he has to be a part of it.”
“Why not just appoint him as a god parent to the kids too,” Bill said. “Then while we’re at it we can ask him to stand
on his head in a corner while doing the ceremony.”
“Oh, that’s a great idea,” Kelly said as her face brightened.
“What, Jon standing on his head in a corner?” Bill said with a quizzical look on his face.
“No silly, Jon, Deatra and Nefeit as god parents,” Kelly said.
“Oh, yeah I guess, I was trying to be silly,” Bill said. “I don’t know how well he will take the news of him being a god parent but I can’t see him objecting too hard. I’ll work on him to get him to do the ceremony give me a few days and I’ll have everything set up.”
“Sir, sorry to interrupt but we’ve detected incoming ships,” Elisa said.
“I’ll be right there,” Bill said as he stood up. He looked at Kelly one last time. “Sorry hon we have to cut it short. Will you be ok?”
“Of course, go take care of your emergency and then call me back when you get time so we can finish the plans,” Kelly said. “Just be careful hon.”
“Always,” Bill said.
Bill jogged to the door and stepped through it and as it shut Kelly said, “I love you more than you’ll ever know.” The hologram faded as a tear fell from Kelly’s cheek.
“Status report,” Bill said as he stepped on to the bridge.
“Hope Station reports they’re Invaru class ships commanded by Admiral Breq,” the Com officer said. “They’re all heavily damaged and we’ve been ordered to assist them.”
“Alright, Condition Red,” Bill said as he took his seat. “Bring the fold engine online and plot a jump to their location.”
“Sir, the fold engines haven’t been tested,” an Engineering officer said.
“How long will it take us to reach them by the hyperspace engines?” Bill said.
“Two hours and thirteen minutes best speed,” the Conn officer reported.
“And folding?” Bill said.
“Seconds,” the Conn officer said.
“Recall all fighters and prepare to fold,” Bill said. “This is a good a time as any to test the drives out.”
“Sir, again the engines haven’t been tested yet. I don’t know what will happen if we use them,” the Engineering officer said.
“Noted,” Bill said. “However, I’m not going to sit here while people are dying on those ships. The fold engines have been installed and are warmed up. We’re going to use them.”
“All fighters are recovered,” another of the Com officers reported.
“Course plotted,” the Conn officer said. “Fold engines standing by for your orders.”
“All boards are green Sir,” another Engineering officer said.
“Execute fold,” Bill said.
Nothing happened for a second then the slight tingling and a sharp tug of folding was felt by everyone on the crew. The Earth’s Revenge appeared two thousand meters off the port bow of the Wrath’s Revenge, Admiral Breq’s flagship.
Immediately the various screens around the bridge started showing the massive damage to the vessels. Large rips in the hulls of the ships showed the internal structure of the vessels. Some of the ships had active fires dotting their surface where the internal atmosphere was able to keep them burning. Some of the ships were leaking atmosphere at an astonishing rate and a few of the ships looked dead in space.
Dalliana appeared next to Bill as she spoke, “Admiral Breq’s carrier is the least damaged and two of the ships have had complete power failures. One of the ships has decompressed on almost all decks and the last two seem to be in decent working order. They’re running SAR operations and are trying to get the power back up on the two cruisers.”
“Admiral Breq is hailing us Sir,” one of the Com officers said.
“The Dragasni has joined us, Sir, and are awaiting orders,” the Tactical officer said.
“That’s the Drovasian Combat Cruiser right?” Bill said.
“Aye Sir,” one of the Tactical officers said.
“Admiral Breq on screen,” one of the Com officers said.
“Admiral this is Captain Hawkins,” Bill said. “Can you give us a status report?”
“Captain Hawkins,” Breq said. “My ship is under her own power and we’re conducting SAR operation on the cruisers. Two of them have had complete power failures and we’re attempting to install portable power generators to get them under their own power. We have sixty percent of the crew evacuated from the ship that decompressed. We’re currently trying to get to the remaining crew.”
“Sir, I’m going to order the Dragasni to take that ship in tow and jump back to Hope Station,” Bill said. “We have the teams available there to rescue the remaining crew and to get it partially operational through station umbilical so that those trapped have air.”
“I’ll pull my teams back,” Breq said.
Bill pointed to one of the Com officers who said, “Relaying orders now Sir.”
“Sir, I’m going to ask you to jump to the station, we’ll take over here,” Bill said. “We have other ships in route.”
“I’m sorry but I’m not leaving my people,” Breq said.
“I understand Sir,” Bill said. “However, it isn’t safe here. If whatever attacked you arrives I would rather be worrying about the remaining ships. As our other ships arrive they will tow the ships to the station.”
“I’m sorry but I can’t leave,” Breq said. “The people who attacked us will be here shortly and you’ll need us.”
“I’m sorry, as commander of the Euthara space I’m going to order you to proceed under best power to the station,” Bill said.
“And if I refuse?” Breq said as a smile crossed his face.
“Well, I guess you’re staying then,” Bill said as he shrugged. “I thought it was worth a try.” Bill let a smile cross his face.
“Good now that that’s settled,” Breq said.
On one of the screens the Dragasni maneuvered in front of the disabled cruiser. A beam of light leaped out to the disabled ship. Shortly after that a portal formed in front of the Drovasian vessel and both ships jumped to hyperspace. Bill knew the Drovasian ship had fold and hyperspace capability, though their engines were one unit. It was still something highly classified by the Drovasian government and the last he heard Brad was working on getting access to the information now that the Drovasian people were part of the ADF and Jon was their ruler.
“Sir, the Titan has arrived,” one of the Com officers said. “Captain Gilas is hailing us.”
“Put him through,” Bill said.
Gilas’ face appeared on a different screen. “Captain Hawkins we’re here to lend assistance. What do you need us to do?”
“I need you to set up a perimeter and assist rescue operations,” Bill said.
“Expecting company?” Gilas said.
“Possibly, we don’t know for sure,” Bill said.
“Roger, I’ll coordinate our efforts with yours,” Gilas said.
“Thanks, keep this line open so you can keep up to date on what’s going on,” Bill said.
“Will do,” Gilas said and then turned his attention to away from the screen as it was muted.
“Con, bring us alongside the Wrath’s Revenge in escort position,” Bill said. “She’s our priority if the shit hits the fan. Keep the fold drives spun up.”
“Aye Sir,” the Con officer said.
“Flight control and damage control teams now have available resources,” Bill said. “Use the Titan’s personnel as needed.”
Several minutes’ later power returned to one of the cruisers and a new face popped up on the screen next to Admiral Breq. The Invaru had a bad gash across his forehead and one of his four arms dangled at his side, obviously broken. Where ever he was located the place was in shambles, conduits hung behind him and smoke filled the back ground. Flashes of light reflected off his face from some unseen light source.
“Commander Adja, where is Captain Noase?” Breq said.
“Dead Admiral,” Adja said. “Most of the command crew was killed when the bridge was hit. I’m in engine
ering at the auxiliary controls.”
“Are you able to move under your own power?” Breq asked.
“Yes Sir,” Adja said. “The auxiliary power unit should allow us to do that and engineering crews are working on getting main power back on line. We blew a main power conduit when we exited hyperspace.”
“Do that underway to Hope Station,” Breq said. “I’m transmitting the coordinates now.”
“I have them Sir,” Adja said. “I’m spinning up the hyperspace engines now.”
“Jump as soon as you’re capable,” Breq said.
“Understood Sir,” Adja said. “Sir?”
“Yes Commander?” Breq said.
“Did the rest of the fleet make it?” Adja said.
Breq shook his head as he spoke, “No, we lost twenty three ships during the engagement. All that’s left is us.”
“The home world?” Adja said.
“Burning as we speak,” Breq said. “From all accounts the Emperor is dead and most of the ruling council. I’ve transmitted on our emergency bands that this is our rally point. As of now we’re officially alone and the Empire is in ashes.”
Bill and some of his crew gasped at the news. One thought was in Bill’s mind, who the hell could do such a thing? To cripple a few ships or even smash a fleet is one thing but to destroy an entire world belonging to an Empire the size of the Invaru is another.
“You’re not alone,” Bill said. “You’re now a part of the ADF if you so wish.”
Breq raised an eye brow as he spoke, “You have that authority?”
“Well, I’m sure something will have to be worked out and papers signed. However, I’m second in command of the ADF and I’m sure Captain Hunter would agree,” Bill said.
“Then I guess were unofficially a part of the ADF until all the documents are in order,” Breq said.
“Good, then as second in command of the ADF I’m ordering you to take your ship to the station and dock up for repairs,” Bill said.
“Nice try, but the answer is still no,” Breq said.
“Well you can’t fault a guy for trying,” Bill said as he smiled.
Euthara Page 24
