Terran Fleet Command Saga 4: TFS Fugitive

by Tori L. Harris

  Logan had no additional questions, and Prescott found himself feeling a vague sense of disappointment — perhaps even bordering on irritation — at the general lack of reaction around the room.

  “Man, I thought I was getting a little jaded,” he said. “So, I guess we’ve reached the point where the latest technological marvel is just no big deal, right?”

  “No, sir, it’s not that,” Lieutenant Lau replied after a brief period of silence. “It’s obviously a huge advance alright, and I can definitely see where it will provide a number of significant advantages. I just think that after seeing something new like this every few weeks for the past several years, we’ve probably all finally started to get a little ‘tech fatigued,’ that’s all.”

  “‘Tech fatigued,’ huh?” Prescott nodded as he shifted his glance back to the view screen. “Yeah, okay, I get it … I really do. We’re all very much in need of some time off, and I think that’s been made even worse by the fact that we just dropped off nearly two-thirds of our usual crew at Yucca Mountain for extended leave. Admiral Patterson understands that as well and has promised that we’ll all get a long break after this mission.”

  For the first time since the meeting began, Prescott sensed a general uptick in the mood of the room. The change in facial expressions was dramatic to an almost comical degree, and there were general sounds of approval around the table. These people are mentally and emotionally exhausted, he thought, realizing that the same thing certainly applied to himself as well.

  “So, yes, we’ll find a way to get ourselves some time off after this mission — even if we have to commandeer our own ship and go looking for the ultimate in secluded beach planets or something.”

  “It won’t work, sir, they’ll know where we are,” Lau replied with a chuckle as he nodded at the Argus data on the view screen.

  “Oh, we know exactly what they can and can’t see. I’ll get to that in a moment. In all seriousness, though, this is a critically important mission that could have far-reaching implications for Earth’s security. I think we can all agree that removing the Krayleck Empire as a threat in the manner the Guardian just described is a much better option than doing so by force of arms … even if we do appear to have some advantages from a military perspective. It’s important to keep in mind that we come from a relatively small planet. While we do appear to have the Crowned Republic of Graca in our corner, the last thing we want to do is run around creating more enemies out here. So … as usual, I need all of you, and I need you at your best. When we’re done here, finish up your prep work and get some rest before tomorrow morning. By now, we all know that we can count on one other, and that’s all I have to say on that subject.”

  “We’re still first and best, Captain,” Dubashi replied with a broad smile, “and you can always count on us.”

  “I know I can, Lieutenant, thank —”

  “But after this we will be happy to be last and best for a while,” she interrupted.

  “I got it, I got it,” he laughed, holding up both hands in mock surrender. “You have my commitment that we’ll make that happen. Let’s wrap this up, shall we? Commander Reynolds.”

  “Thank you, sir, and thank you, Lieutenant Lau, for the segue. This …” she said, changing the configuration of the view screen via her tablet, “shows the current coverage area for Argus tracking data. Each of the five-hundred-light-year range bubbles displayed here corresponds with the geographic center of a comm beacon array. As you can see, all of the aggressive comm beacon deployment we’ve been doing for the past few months has dramatically increased our ability to see what’s coming our way. We now have almost full coverage out to well over one thousand light years from Earth in every direction, and nearly double that in the direction of the Krayleck sphere of influence.”

  “Wow, okay, this really is incredible,” Lau admitted, “but we can only see ships while they’re in hyperspace, right? So, unless their Guardian is traveling at the moment, we won’t be able to confirm the location Griffin gives us before we make our final C-Jump.”

  “Not without a degree of uncertainty, no, but the system maintains constant tracks on every contact it detects. After a ship has made several transitions, Argus provides an estimate of its current position based on the patterns it has observed. For example, here is every hyperdrive event generated by the Krayleck Guardian since coverage of the area surrounding the planet Legara was established.”

  “I only see three transitions,” Ensign Fisher said. “How long have we had coverage in place?”

  “Less than forty-eight hours,” she replied, shooting him a look, “but before you start jumping to conclusions about our lack of data, I can tell you that the transitions we are seeing this thing make are almost identical to what our own Guardian does. Although we haven’t found one of them yet, the theory is that it broadcasts ETSI data using a constellation of small drones. They broadcast for a few days, then change locations while the next one takes over. Our Science and Engineering folks think that the Guardians make regular visits to their drones — most likely doing some sort of maintenance. We have absolutely no idea how many of them there are … possibly hundreds.”

  “So, won’t the Krayleck continue to get their ETSI data for … how far from Legara are they?”

  “The three transitions we’ve detected so far vary from two to just over three light years.”

  “So, for at least two to three years after their Guardian is no longer in the area, they’ll keep receiving data?”

  “That’s a great question that we definitely plan to ask, but unless we can figure out a way to jam the signals from multiple directions, that may well be the case. Our primary concern is making sure that we can at least stop the flow of data at the source. Hopefully, their Guardian has some means of turning off the drones without the need to visit each one. Anyway, here’s the good news,” she said, zooming in on the planet Legara itself. “Every time it has transitioned in or out, it always ends up at the same location. Argus is currently giving us a better than ninety-five percent chance that it will be located at that same spot when we arrive tomorrow, and we have detected no other ships within three light minutes.”

  “With any luck, that should be more than enough time to conclude our business. Any questions?” Prescott asked in a reassuring, confident tone.

  There was silence around the room, and he was pleased to see the confidence he was attempting to project being mirrored once again in the faces of his crew.

  “Good. As Commander Logan said, let’s go steal ourselves a Guardian.”

  Chapter 18

  TFS Fugitive, Earth Orbit

  (0800 UTC - 1250.3 light years from Legara)

  Not surprisingly, the Pelarans gathered an enormous amount of data when selecting candidate civilizations for the cultivation program. As the Terran Guardian itself had once said, everything from potential rivals, to natural resources, to the intelligence and temperament of prospective member species was taken into account. Perhaps the greatest single consideration, however, was location — not only in relation to Pelara and other established members of the Alliance, but also with respect to other cultivated civilizations. The general idea was simple enough — provide the cultivated civilization with just enough technology and intelligence information to ensure their domination of a five-hundred-light-year sphere of influence centered on their homeworld. As a direct result, rival civilizations within this region were also kept in check and thus prevented from becoming a threat to the Alliance.

  With the steady, powerful influence provided by the Guardian Cultivation System, the so-called Regional Partnership program had proved successful far more often than not, and had allowed the Pelaran Alliance to flourish in relative peace with only minimal external threats to their collective security. When exceptions did occur, they were typically due to the cultivated civilizations either exceeding their predicted rate of technological development, or somehow stumbling across disruptive technology. Either of these situ
ations could produce unpredictable results — in extreme cases leading the cultivated civilization so far astray that they must be terminated for the good of the Alliance. This situation had, unfortunately, occurred twice during the long history of the program. Until now, however, no species had ever been affected by such a wide variety of factors outside the carefully crafted boundaries put into place by its architects — this time with the added complication of an apparently “rogue” Guardian Cultivation System thrown in for good measure.

  So, it was that today, just over fifty years after their first receipt of Pelaran data, TFS Fugitive engaged its hyperdrive for a single, instantaneous C-Jump — immediately transporting the small starship from Earth orbit to the extreme edge of Humanity’s cultivation radius. This fact was by no means lost on the Guardian spacecraft secured within the ship’s hangar bay. Extrapolating based on the Pelaran technology it had provided and taking into account the Terrans’ considerable talents in the engineering disciplines, the journey they had just completed in the blink of an eye should have taken at least a year, even using the most optimistic of projections. Although the Guardian had known for some time that the Humans had somehow managed to develop a hyperdrive similar to that used by the enigmatic race they referred to as the “Greys,” witnessing their technological achievement firsthand caused the sentient machine to have a response that it had never previously experienced — awe.

  Just over fifteen minutes later, the Terrans engaged their hyperdrive once again, this time officially invading the sphere of influence of the Krayleck Empire — a long-established Regional Partner of the Pelaran Alliance.

  TFS Fugitive, Krayleck Empire Space

  (0817 UTC - 297.4 light years from Legara)

  “Second C-Jump complete, Captain,” Fisher reported. “We deployed another comm beacon on the way in, but the pause was barely even detectable during our transition. The beacon is stabilized and transmitting. All systems in the green. C-Jump range down to 6.3 light years but increasing rapidly.”

  “Low-observable systems?”

  “Ah, sorry, sir. LO systems online and currently set to auto-engage after each transition inside Krayleck territory. It’s showing six zero minutes remaining at current power levels.”

  “Very good. Tactical?”

  “No contacts, sir,” Lau replied. “Argus is still projecting the nearest Krayleck warship to be just over four three light years from our current position.”

  “Glad to hear it,” Prescott said absently while double-checking everything he was hearing via his own Command console. “Alright everyone, we’ll be here until we have another full capacitor bank recharge, so count on a dwell time of one five minutes or less once again. This will be your last opportunity to ensure everything is working as expected, so use your time wisely. Engineering, bridge,” he continued, rapidly working through his own last-minute checklist.

  “Logan here. Go ahead, Captain.”

  “Everything holding together down there so far?”

  “We’re in the green down here, sir, but on our second C-Jump, the AI did report a timing anomaly with one of the banks in the capacitor array.”

  “I’ve generally not had a good relationship with the word ‘anomaly,’ Commander. Did you track it down?”

  “Yes and no. When we do a max range C-Jump, all four cap banks shunt most of their available power to the hyperdrive at one time. Once we transition back into normal space, they immediately go through a switching routine that places them back into normal recharge mode. That’s what allows them to start taking power from the reactors again. On the last jump, there was a brief delay with one of the banks switching back to normal mode — and when I say ‘brief,’ I’m talking less than one hundred microseconds. The reading we saw was barely out of spec, it didn’t cause a problem with the hyperdrive or the reactors, and it was probably nothing to worry about.”

  “And yet, you told me about it anyway.”

  “Hey, I always figure it’s your job to sit up there and worry about such things, sir. We’re running diagnostics just in case, but I really don’t think they’ll turn up any problems.”

  “I hope you’re right about that, Cheng. What’s our projected dwell time?”

  “The cap banks will be fully recharged in just under one three minutes.”

  “If I don’t hear from you again, I’ll assume we’re good to go as soon as we’re at full charge. If you see the same anomaly, or any other anomaly for that matter after this next jump, please let me know immediately.”

  “Will do, sir.”

  “Thank you, Commander. Prescott out.”

  TFS Fugitive, Krayleck Empire Space

  (0838 UTC - 4.9 light years from Legara)

  With all of the routine reporting and cross-checking out of the way following TFS Fugitive’s third consecutive C-Jump, the atmosphere on her bridge had taken on a vaguely disquieting air. From Prescott’s perspective, the palpable change in mood seemed to have very little to do with the mission at hand, nor did it seem to be related to any lingering uncertainty regarding the ship. In his mind, at least, he was struggling with an overpowering realization they had just traveled nearly twelve hundred and fifty light years from Humanity’s homeworld in less than forty-five minutes. The idea that such a mind-boggling feat could be accomplished at all, let alone in what felt like an almost routine manner, was truly difficult to comprehend, and they were as isolated and alone as any Human beings had ever been in the history of the species.

  “I realize Commander Logan said he would let us know if he saw the power system anomaly again, but I checked in with him anyway,” Reynolds said without looking up from her touchscreen. “He says there were no problems this time and that Engineering is in the green for the final C-Jump whenever we’re ready.”

  “I did the same thing,” Prescott said with a smile and a wink. “I’m surprised he didn’t say something about it.”

  “I think he knows better than that,” she laughed.

  “By the way, Fleet just denied the request for a hard link from the Guardian to our computing core. They didn’t offer much of an explanation other than the fact that they deemed the security risks too great.”

  “In other words, under the circumstances, it’s preferable to lose this ship and her crew than to risk allowing it to access our most sensitive data.”

  “That’s always the problem with information security, right? It’s the ‘unknowns’ that tend to pose the greatest risks.”

  “I suppose it was probably the right call from a risk management perspective,” she said with a sigh, “but I still don’t have to like it.”

  “Nope. Disliking our orders is still permitted as far as I know,” Prescott said with a forced chuckle as he struggled to remain patient. “Still no contacts, Lieutenant Lau?”

  “Nothing yet, sir, but our passive sensor range bubble has only made it out to around four light minutes. If the Argus data is correct, we shouldn’t be here long enough to detect anything.”

  “Or have anything detect us,” Prescott replied, feeling as if his ship were strangely exposed so close to the Krayleck homeworld and anxious to keep the mission moving along as quickly as possible. “Lieutenant Dubashi, any ETA from the Guardian yet?”

  “No, sir, not yet.”

  “I honestly didn’t expect it to take this long, but I don’t think he gave us a specific estimate on the amount of time it would take.”

  “Which probably means he didn’t know,” Reynolds replied. “He’s rarely short on the details if they are readily available.”

  “True enough. If I remember correctly, he said that he should be able to detect the Krayleck Guardian ‘relatively quickly.’ I suppose I just assumed that in ‘Guardian-speak,’ that would translate into a very short period of time.”

  “I think we’re fine sitting here for a while,” she said, sensing the rising tension in her captain’s voice and replying in as calming a tone as she could manage under the circumstances. “There are no ships
close-by, and even if there were, we should be in good shape for at least as long as the LO systems are masking our presence. But if we get to the point where the system needs to discharge, we might want to consider C-Jumping back out to where we were.”

  “You mean abort the mission?”

  “I don’t think it will happen unless their Guardian simply isn’t here, but yes. If we keep the LO system engaged for, say, an hour or more, it will automatically vent its stored heat energy before we transition. When that happens, we’ll leave a thermal plume so bright that they can hardly miss us if they have any sort of surveillance drones operating in the area … and I think we have to assume they do.”

  “Yes, but the evidence that we were here is limited to the speed of light, so it seems unlikely anyone would notice before we’re gone. I’m honestly more concerned about our outbound hyperdrive signature. We’re a relatively small ship, which works in our favor, and Commander Crispin indicated that they have somehow reduced the range from which our hyperdrive field can be detected, but —”

  “But what we can detect, and what their Guardian can detect are likely to be two very different things.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Captain, the Guardian is asking to speak with you,” Dubashi reported from the Comm/Nav console. “It’s audio only, sir,” she added with a knowing smile.

  “What’s the matter, Dubashi, you don’t enjoy the always smug avatar option that comes standard with our Pelaran GCS package? I guess I’d have to say I agree with you there. Put him through, please.”

  Seconds later, a chime indicated that an active “GCS-comm” connection had been established.

  “Prescott here,” he said by way of a greeting.

  “Good morning, Captain Prescott. I apologize for taking a bit longer than expected, but I have made contact with the Krayleck Guardian, and it is expecting our arrival at the coordinates I just passed to Lieutenant Dubashi.”

  “Hold on there, you say you contacted it? You didn’t say anything about making direct contact before our final C-Jump.”