by Damon Alan
“Good call,” Peter agreed. “Are you refitting it?”
“Him,” Sarah said, correcting him. “I only fly boys.” She laughed. “And no, not for this first mission. We’re headed to Hamor for an overdue demonstration of Emille’s abilities.”
Hours later, after an elaborate dinner in the small officer’s mess of the Sheffaris, Sarah stood by the shuttle bay to see her friends off.
Inez stood in front of her, magnetic boots clanking into place as she rendered a salute. Kuo stood beside the Stennis’s new commander, grinning like a fool.
Sarah grabbed Heinrich’s wrist and pulled her saluting hand down into a handshake. “We’ll have an official ceremony on the Stennis after we complete this first set of missions in our new assignments, Inez. You had better take care of the old boy. He’s been mine for a long time.”
“I’ll treat him like the prize he is, Admiral,” Heinrich answered.
“And treat Kuo the same. He’s been my friend even longer than that ship.”
“If he lets me,” Heinrich said. “He tends to get violent on the zeroball court.”
“In that case,” Sarah advised, “Break something. Just don’t make it a permanent injury.”
“Hey!” Kuo protested.
“Get out of here,” Sarah ordered as she pushed them toward the shuttle hatch.
Peter and Eris greeted her next, Peter’s eyes looked wet. “I think you should bring us along,” he said. “We might be able to replicate whatever she does to kill the stars with technology, and I’ll need to see it.”
“Not this time,” Sarah replied. “Once we have a system worked out, I’ll bring you two along to study the process. Until then, keep Thea in line.”
She put out her hand. Peter stepped closer and hugged her. “Be careful.”
Sarah looked over Peter’s shoulder as she grasped and held him. Eris was staring at her, a bit stunned. “It’s good that he can surprise you,” Sarah said to Peter’s wife as she held him.
As Eris nodded, Peter let her go. “Be safe,” he said as he turned away and pulled himself into the hatch. Eris squeezed Sarah’s hand, then followed Peter, saying nothing.
Was her bottom lip quivering?
Alarin and Emille were next.
“Don’t get emotional,” Alarin said. “We’ll be back up here in a few days after I talk to my father-in-law about running my nation for me again.”
“He won’t mind,” Emille said.
“You should just merge your nations and be done with it,” Sarah suggested. “Then you can concentrate on being the First Adept of Refuge.”
“That’s a good idea,” Emille said. “I like it.” She snuggled her arm into Alarin’s. “But that would be up to Alarin, of course.”
Alarin glared at Sarah. “Let’s go,” he said to his wife as he pulled her toward the hatch.
Sarah looked at Harmeen.
“I’m not going anywhere, Admiral. My XO and I have a ship to get in order.”
“So you do,” she confirmed. She tapped the commlink by the hatch. “Shuttle A1, you’re free to pressurize and detach. Get those people where they need to go then get Alarin and Emille back up here. We have things to do.”
“Aye, Admiral,” the voice on the other end said. “A1 away.”
The hatch closed and hissed as it sealed. Seconds later the clamps detached and A1 drifted gently away on maneuvering jets.
“Come on XO, this ship isn’t going to prep itself,” Harmeen bellowed behind Sarah, scaring the stars out of her.
As she turned around Seto was glaring at Sarah.
“See what you’ve done,” she said, as she pushed off toward the main gangway. “Talk about your powertrip, sir.” She gestured toward her departing husband. “I have to live with that.”
Sarah laughed. Her ribs were sore from laughing so much.
It felt good.
Chapter 56 - Admiral’s Personal Log
AI Lucy82A recording, Admiral's personal log, personal archive: Galactic Standard Date 17:01:08 28 MAI 15332
Personal log entry #1792, Admiral Sarah Dayson, origin Korvand, Pallus Sector.
Current Location: Orbiting Refuge, Oasis System
I just experienced the biggest change in my professional life since I lost command of the Teplo and gained the Seventh Fleet.
I handed the fleet over to Inez Heinrich.
The reasons are many, but the fact is that Heinrich has a talent for hitting a human enemy that I am not sure I share. The combination of her and Kuo, her boldness and his common sense, will take them far against the Komi.
Harmeen, Seto, and I are seeing to the Sheffaris. I won’t be the last admiral to have a flagship that wasn’t a capital vessel, but it’s rare. The advantage is that at a time when many of our ships are mothballed due to lack of crew, and others are running on skeleton crews, this vessel is fully staffed.
The ridiculous thing is we’re practically unarmed. Half a dozen small gatling railguns on each quarter of the ship and two EMP mines to discourage chasers. That’s it.
But we’re a system killer, and without a doubt when we’re on patrol we’ll be the most dangerous ship in the galaxy.
The Fyurigan engineers are removing some of the listening equipment from the ship, we only need the electronic bits that deal with the Hive. In place of the extensive equipment and survey analysis arrays, we’ll have living quarters for the adepts and myself.
The only other modifications are an observation deck forward and a bubble below the central spar, where the adepts can see the stars. The view will be impressive, fore and aft. And the enemy, if we’re engaged, can be seen by the adepts as well. We have optical scanners on the observation deck to provide them the information they need to defend this vessel.
I’ve ordered the ship painted orange on the front with a gradual fade to black toward the fusion drives. How impulsive is that? Maybe we should take that up for all of our ships, the captains painting them as they please. Nobody is going to get it but me, but it’s meant to signify the novas we’ll be setting off, and how close we’ll need to get to our targets to do it.
The larger, more luminous stars will be particularly interesting in that regard. The radiation flux will be high. Fortunately this is a heavily armored little guy.
[A fourteen second pause]
I failed to keep my promise to the Komi about when I would destroy Hamor. But better late than never. I’ll have to go to Mindari to tell them that the event has had a change of schedule.
[A seventeen second pause]
I’m sad to be off the Stennis. But it is a bit joyful to be back on a small ship. I’ll be in a gravcouch much of the time, and I can’t exceed 6Gs, but it’s exhilarating to be here. Capital ships are important, but small ships like this one are the first responders of any battle.
Not that this destroyer is a typical warship anymore.
Great things are going to happen. The me of five years ago would make fun of me for saying this, but I feel it.
I better get back to the bridge. The first of the engineers are arriving in a few minutes. I need to make sure they know what I want.
[A sound AI estimates 98% likely to be a pressure hatch being unsealed]
End the log, Lucy.
Chapter 57 - The Obedi
Sylange dropped into the space of a new universe for the first time. Her sensor appendages flexed to cover every direction for emissions, and she prepared to phase out in order to protect her family
Nothing was nearby and she relaxed.
This was a matter universe, four dimensions, and still young. Too bad it was infected and dying, but now that the Obedi had arrived they’d either save it or end it, depending on the state of instability or decay.
Khalamanthus materialized nearby. It was her mate’s first visit to this universe as well, although their family line had been here for some time. Khala and Sylange had stayed behind at the last nest to breed and finish feeding.
Finally, as the universe they’d
chosen to birth their brood collapsed around them, Sylange had phased out, Khala after her when he’d made sure she was strong enough to get away.
“That was probably closer than we should have cut it,” Sylange said to her partner.
“The end was still several feeding cycles away,” Khala replied. “We could have stayed longer, but you’re right. Sometimes the final stages of decay accelerate.”
“We need to find food.”
“There is intelligence nearby, in that clump of matter,” he said to her.
“I’m talking to mother, she is telling me about this species,” she replied. “They are a machine intelligence that inhabits an organic host. Rare, to be sure.”
He flashed his agreement across his carapace.
“That clump of matter is called a star system,” she continued. “The glowing ball at the center is a star, it provides the energy that forestalls entropy here. Countless others do the same across this universe. Each bright point you see around us is at least one star.”
“I’ve been in this type of universe before, beloved. Are you practicing educating our offspring? Tell me about the intelligence.”
“The machines are damaging this entity, it’s in the early stages,” she answered. “Mother said it’s still possible there is organic intelligence here, with consciousness.”
“Then we may not be too late to save it,” Khala replied.
Sylange ejected her pupae into space from orifices covering the back half of her body.
“Is it safe?” her mate asked.
“We should follow them,” she said as the now freed children raced toward the star system, phasing in and out of the space nearby. “Who knows what sort of weaponry the machines will have created here. This universe’s laws of physics seem particularly friendly to the use of strong force.”
“Let’s go,” Khala bellowed, then phased out. He phased back in hundreds of thousands of body lengths ahead of her, flashing his next message to her with his body lights. “You’re too slow!”
She marveled at his joy, knowing that soon their family would be engaged in combat. Once they destroyed the parasites infecting the system ahead, they’d be feeding on the refined materials of the machine infestation.
Chapter 58 - A New Front
Yz32p41 twisted violently to lose the unknown assailant behind it. The enemy craft, small and nimble seemed to dip in and out of reality in ways that overloaded 41’s processors.
It jinked lower toward the surface of a moon orbiting the gas giant Teralgius VI. The moon, nearly broken by the tidal forces of the gas giant, was jagged and creviced across its entire surface.
The grappler 41 flew dropped down into a canyon it had inspected many times before, where it expected to have a pronounced advantage over any pursuer. It plunged even lower until the basalt rocks on both sides of the canyon flew past at just a few meters. The craft behind it fired a beam weapon, striking though the vacuum just centimeters from 41’s comm dish.
Ahead the canyon narrowed abruptly, narrowing for a few dozen meters. 41 would fit if it turned sideways to the moon surface, and flew a flight path that deviated no more than seven centimeters either above or below the grappler.
There. Ahead. The pinch.
41 dipped its right wing, flipping the grappler into a much narrower profile before it entered the chute.
Behind it the pursuer phased out of space, then reappeared behind 41.
In the wrong aspect. The craft exploded as it phased back in, turning itself and much of the rock around it into plasma. The violence of the event shoved 41 upward slightly, the comm dish struck a small outcrop of basalt and sheared away.
41 had a decision to make.
The grappler was out of ammunition, the two nuclear warheads it had carried seemed to have nearly zero effect on the enemy, although others reported success with a direct hit. 41’s warheads had detonated near the target, not on it.
It could rejoin the fight and provide cover for the other colonies still fighting, or it could remain in the canyon on the possibility that it would remain undetected until after the battle was over. Then it would render assistance to any of the Collective that survived, or, if possible, report the events to the investigators that would come after. If it rejoined the battle, it would do so without guidance. Comms were down.
Other systems near Teralgius had vanished under attack by mystery assailants. None had survived to report the nature of the attacks. Although the odds were small for success, 41 decided to move to silent running, land in the bottom of the canyon, and wait. The Collective needed to know what it was fighting.
As the grappler sat down on the canyon floor, a nuclear weapon detonated two hundred kilometers above, directly over the canyon.
41 concentrated its passive sensors on the area.
A small frigate rolled violently over, diving toward the moon’s surface. Behind it a vessel similar to the one that had pursued 41 phased into reality, extended struts from its underside, and locked onto the frigate.
Both plunged downward together, almost directly at the canyon. As they fell the smaller ship began ripping the frigate open, pulling equipment from inside. As it searched the frigate, it tossed parts it didn’t want aside. The shredding of the Collective vessel continued until the smaller ship, seemingly satisfied with whatever piece of the target vessel it had recovered, phased out.
The small Collective warship continued plummeting toward the surface, where it impacted just outside the confines of the canyon in a massive explosion.
Debris, rock, and small bits of metal rained down from above.
41 recorded the event from the safety of the darkness. It powered down further until only the processors that operated the passive sensors and core awareness remained active.
It pondered how long the wait would be for the battle to be over.
<<<< TO BE CONTINUED >>>>
Important Concepts:
Calendar:
I assume that if galactic civilization arises, a simple calendar with which to plan things across solar systems will arise. Most worlds won’t have a 365 day year. Or even a 24 hour day. So I came up with a calendar for my galactic civilization. Year 1 of the galactic calendar is based on the first year man colonized an extra-solar planet.
10 months, 40 days each. Each month is 4 weeks, weeks are 10 days.
Month Days
Jand 1-40
Febbed 41-80
Mapri 81-120
Mai 121-160
Huni 161-200
Juni 201-240
Gusta 241-280
Seppet 281-320
Ors 321-360
Noder 361-400
Glossary:
ECM/ECCM: Electronic Counter Measures are EM (electromagnetic) signals designed to frustrate sensory equipment from detecting the location of a target. ECCM are EM signals designed to overcome attempts at ECM.
ELINT: Electronic Intelligence.
EMP: Electromagnetic Pulse. By-product of a nuclear detonation, EMPs tend to overwhelm and destroy electronic circuitry. They are unpredictable and vary greatly in strength.
FTL: Faster than light
FTL drive, singularity, drive core, jump drive: All slang for the drive system that contains the singularity that makes FTL travel possible.
FTL Nuke: A nuclear weapon delivered by a missile equipped with a FTL drive.
G: One standard Earth gravity, or 9.80665 m/s2.
G-K: Grappler Killer. See next entry.
Grappler: A small vessel designed to carry a minimal crew and weapons to a target. They never carry FTL drives. Serving on a grappler means travel inside a spacesuit for potentially weeks.
Grappler Engine: A tracked device capable of gripping the very fabric of space in order to accelerate or decelerate a small spacecraft. Only useful on small spacecraft, as large inertia overcomes the gripping ability of the engine. The track grips the quantum foam that is present in all space, vacuum or not.
Grav Couch: A device designed t
o manipulate the human body so that it can most efficiently absorb G forces. The couch rotates on at least two planes, and in some specialized ships three. Grav couches are also called acceleration couches. They are usually outfitted with the means to deliver nutrients, hydration, and medicine to the occupant if necessary.
Hive: A collection of nanite neural nets inhabiting both human bodies and mechanical constructs. Originally created by humans, the nanites that are the Hive turned on humanity almost immediately. Today they occupy a few thousand star systems of what was once human space. They infect humans, replacing the human nervous system with a mechanical/organic replacement.
Inclusion Sphere: a bubble (slang for inclusion sphere) several kilometers in diameter created by a rapidly rotation singularity and lensed gravity waves. Due to depression of space at the leading edge of the bubble and raising of space at the trailing edge, the entire bubble and all contents move forward in three dimensional space faster than light. Everything in the bubble is stationary relative to the space fabric they are embedded in.
Nanobot/Nanites: Microscopic (or at least very small) machines that are designed to accomplish tasks.
Probes, Hounds: Sensor and long range comm probes that can travel to their assigned station with a smaller FTL drive system. This small system damages neural networks within their inclusion sphere, therefore cannot be used on small vessels that contain Human or Hive neural networks.
Quantum Entangler: A radio designed to deliver instantaneous FTL communications by utilizing entangled atoms to deliver digital signals.
Quantum Foam: Particles that are created and destroyed virtually instantaneously in all three dimensional space.
Torch: v. To ignite the fusion engines for acceleration or braking. n. A fusion engine.
Author Notes: I published The Anvil of Dust and Stars 2 years and 5 months ago. So many of you took a chance on a new author and bought that first book. I knew then and there that I had to not only write the entire series that was in my head, I needed to honor your faith by writing books you want to read.
