“Still nothing,” Colonel Amanda Sheen, the executive officer, spoke. She was standing next to the holographic plotting table, which showed the present fleet disposition and the CAP fighters that were flying their routine patrol routes. She was currently checking the large tactical screens above her as well as the information appearing on the table.
“Confirm mission status,” ordered Admiral Streth, letting out a deep breath and shifting his gaze from the viewscreen to his executive officer.
They had picked this system hoping it would be clear of enemy activity. Their mission was extremely sensitive, and the security of the Human Federation of Worlds depended upon its success. Hedon felt the full weight of that responsibility on his shoulders and knew that this mission just had to succeed. Failure was not an option. The entire Federation was in extreme danger, and this mission might well determine the future of humankind in the galaxy.
“Navigation, I want a position status report,” Colonel Sheen barked, her blue eyes turning toward the two officers sitting at the main navigation console.
“We are currently one hundred and eighteen astronomical units out from the target system’s primary. Fleet is currently moving in system at eighteen percent speed of light on sublight engines,” replied the chief navigation officer.
“What do we have on the long-range sensors?” Sheen asked over her mini-com, glancing over at the large scanning and sensor console, which was manned by two fleet officers. She wore a small communications device in her right ear, which allowed her to contact any station on the ship in an instant.
“System has two planets,” Lieutenant Stalls reported smoothly as he checked the latest information coming in on his computer screens. “Both are gas giants in distant orbits. No asteroid fields or moons detected. System is absent of any artificial emissions.”
“System is as we had hoped,” reported Colonel Sheen turning to face the admiral. “There are no signs of any enemy vessels, and the system has no significant resources to attract any type of mining or scientific activity.”
Admiral Streth nodded his head in acknowledgement. He knew that Amanda was a highly qualified officer graduating in the top ten percent of her class at the fleet academy. She was a brunette with a trim figure and thirty-two years of age. She was also a firm disciplinarian. The crew respected her, and she was everything he could ask for in an executive officer.
“Get me the Victory, I think it’s time we get some information about this area of space,” ordered Admiral Streth, reaching a decision. They had been moving steadily deeper into suspected Hocklyn space for the last eight weeks. “It’s time we launch the stealth scouts and find out what’s out there.”
Colonel Sheen nodded. This was their mission and she was ready to get it started. Glancing back at the sensor and scanner screens, she noted that they were clearly empty of any hostile threats. That needed to continue for several more days if they hoped for any chance of success. Looking around the Command Center, she could sense the heightened vibrancy in the crew at the admiral’s announcement to begin the actual mission.
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On board the Victory, Commander Adler listened as the admiral ordered the launch of the stealth scouts. The Victory had six of the highly advanced scout ships on board, which were nearly undetectable to normal methods of scanning. It was hoped that the Hocklyns would have no way to detect the small surveillance vessels. Their entire mission and the safety of their fleet depended on it.
Adler ended the communication with the admiral and turned to his executive officer Major Timmins. “I want all six scout ships ready to launch ASAP. Mission is a go.”
“Finally,” responded Major Timmins letting out a deep breath and then announcing over his mini-com, “All stations stand by for scout ship launch. Mission is a go. Flight bay, begin launch preparations.”
Instantly the tension and excitement in the Command Center notched up. This was what everyone had been waiting for. It was time to find out just how large the Hocklyn Empire was and how big a threat they were to the Federation.
Commander Adler turned toward the lieutenant in charge of Navigation. “I want a list of the twenty nearest stars that are capable of supporting life-bearing planets.”
“Yes, sir,” the young blonde replied as she began entering commands into her computer.
Lieutenant Ashton was rated as one of the top navigators in the entire fleet. She also held an advanced degree in Stellar Cartography. She had written an impressive thesis on deep space navigation her senior year at the fleet academy on Tellus.
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Down below in the main flight bay, the six scout ships were brought up on elevators from their secure hangars beneath. The ships were covered in a layer of dark composite material that the scientists swore would be impervious to Hocklyn scans. Power sources were muffled, and the ships were built to present a minimal profile to enemy ships.
Each scout could carry a six-man crew and were capable of operating independently of the fleet for eight to ten days. They had FTL drives as well as powerful sublight engines. The ships were wedge shaped with gentle curves. Each was twenty-two meters long and twelve meters wide. Weapons consisted of six Hunter anti-fighter missiles hidden inside the wings and two medium lasers in the nose. The nose lasers were a recent development and had been added at the last minute to the scouts. The pilots were still arguing whether the lasers were an improvement over the 30 mm cannons they had replaced.
Technicians quickly checked over all six ships, making sure they were ready for their missions. The ships had been kept on standby for nearly two weeks. A quick check and all the scouts were deemed ready for immediate launch. The deck chief notified flight control that all six scouts were mission ready.
Flight control was at the far end of the massive flight bay. Large reinforced glass windows looked out over the bay allowing the controllers inside to see the activity in the bay. Inside flight control was a hum of busy activity as men and women watched their consoles and kept track of all the activity going on inside the bay as well as outside. The CAG was standing next to the flight operations officer at the main control console. Across the back wall, numerous viewscreens depicted activity inside the bay. Several large scanner screens showed the flight space around the fleet and the current locations of the CAP fighters that were out on patrol.
Activating his mini-com, the CAG gave the order for the flight crews to board their scouts. The technicians were finished, now it would be up to the highly trained crews to begin their mission and bring home the information the Federation so desperately needed.
The waiting crews quickly made their way into their respective vessels. They had been in the pilot’s ready room, hoping this star system would be secure enough so they could start their covert mission. Nerves had been getting on edge and tempers had been flaring as they moved farther away from the Federation and deeper into what was suspected to be Hocklyn controlled space. They all felt relieved and energized that it was finally time to launch the mission.
Captain Karl Arcles settled down into his pilot’s seat in one of the scouts and looked over at his copilot, Lieutenant Lacy Sanders. The young twenty-six-year-old blonde looked slightly pale. It was one thing to train for this type of mission; it was another to actually do it.
“Nothing to be nervous about Lieutenant,” Arcles said with a reassuring smile. “Just treat this as a routine flight. We’ve done this often enough in practice.”
“Yes, sir,” replied Lieutenant Sanders taking a deep breath. Lacy could feel her heart racing. She looked over at Captain Arcles and said nervously. “Only this time it’s for real, and what we find may determine the future of the entire human race. I know they said the Hocklyns shouldn’t be able to detect our scout ships. We all know that the Hocklyn’s technology level is higher than ours. What if the experts are wrong?”
Arcles leaned back in his seat and didn’t reply. The lieutenant was correct. The future of humanity's home system and its four outlying colony world
s rested on what this mission discovered about the Hocklyns. The Hocklyns had attacked the Human Federation of Worlds without provocation. Millions of innocent people had died in the brutal attack.
The mission of this fleet was to find out just how large an empire the Hocklyns controlled, and what could be done to prevent future attacks. Was it just a few worlds as the Federation government hoped, or was it a large galaxy-spanning empire? The Hocklyns held a decisive edge in technology. That had already been determined from the technologies on their ships. Did they also hold a decisive edge in population as well as natural resources? Karl just hoped the experts were right and the scout ships were undetectable.
“Launch at your discretion, Captain Arcles.” The CAG’s voice came over the com system. “Good luck and good hunting.”
“Let’s get the systems powered up,” ordered Arcles glancing over at Lieutenant Sanders. “It’s time to get this show on the road.”
It only took the two a few minutes to finish powering up the small ship and complete their final preflight checks. The techs had already checked everything earlier, so it was mainly a matter of flipping a few switches and powering up the sublight drive.
“Everything shows green,” Lieutenant Sanders reported as she tightened her safety harness. She closed her eyes briefly and said a short prayer. This mission frightened her. They were so far away from home, and if anything happened, they would be on their own. No one would be coming to save them.
Captain Arcles reached forward, taking the scout ship’s controls. A moment later, the little ship darted out from the flight bay and moved away from the majestic battle carrier. “Insert first FTL coordinates,” he ordered, looking over at Sanders. He had flown with the lieutenant often enough that he knew that once the mission began she would calm down. She was a very capable officer; she just needed to learn to control her anxiety.
The lieutenant tapped a few commands into her navigation computer and then nodded as she double-checked the results. “Coordinates locked in.”
Arcles nodded and turned the controls over to the ship’s flight computer. He watched as the FTL timer began counting down and soon neared zero. The other scout ships didn’t show on the small ship’s scanners and sensors, but he knew they were out there.
“Standby for FTL insertion,” Arcles spoke over the com to the other crewmembers. There were two mission specialists in the cockpit behind him who were responsible for the scout’s sensors and stealth systems. Two more technicians were back in the small crew compartment.
Moments later, a spatial vortex of blue-white light appeared directly in front of the curved nose of the scout ship. The scout ship darted into the vortex, which instantly vanished, leaving no sign of the scout. Within a few minutes, the other five scouts had vanished in the same way. Each scout had a different set of destinations to search.
-
Admiral Streth watched as the six scout ships vanished into the blue-white vortexes of light. He let out a deep breath and wondered about what they would find. They were nearly six hundred light years from home, and in what was believed to be enemy territory. The entire outcome of the war might very well rest on what the scouts discovered.
“It’s begun,” Colonel Sheen commented quietly, seeing that the six blips representing the scouts had vanished from her plotting table. They had been tracked by high-resolution cameras as they left the Victory.
In a way, she felt relieved that the mission had finally been launched. Not knowing what the Federation actually faced had been gnawing fearfully in the pit of her stomach for quite some time. Amanda just wanted her parents to be safe back home on Aquaria. Recent events had made her extremely concerned for her parents' safety.
Colonel Sheen pursed her lips, feeling apprehensive at what the scouts might discover. When she had entered the fleet academy, she had never dreamed she would become part of an interstellar war. That was something that only happened on the holo vids or in books. Her parents lived on the colony of Beltran Three, called Aquaria by its inhabitants. The planet was nearly eighty percent water and possessed the most beautiful ocean beaches of any of the four major colonies. Amanda knew that the orbital defenses above her home planet were being heavily strengthened to protect the colony from another Hocklyn attack. She just prayed that it would be enough and that her parents would remain safe.
“Mission counter has started,” she reported as a timer began moving on the plotting table. “First system emergence should occur in twenty-two minutes.”
Admiral Streth nodded. “I want the fleet kept at Condition Two. We don’t know how well the stealth protection on those scouts will hold up. If the Hocklyns detect them, we could have their warships here soon after.”
“Yes, sir,” responded Colonel Sheen, hoping that was not the case. She walked several paces over to a set of consoles manned by two lieutenants and two ensigns. “Keep all weapon systems on standby. If any unknowns are detected, I want firing solutions yesterday!”
Lieutenant Jacobs instantly responded. “All targets will be locked upon FTL emergence until deemed friendly or unfriendly.”
Colonel Sheen nodded and passed the same order over her mini-com to the rest of the fleet after setting her com to fleet-wide so she could communicate the admiral’s orders to the other ship commanders. She then continued to walk from console to console in the Command Center, talking to the men and women who manned them. At the helm control console, she ordered Lieutenant Jenikens to be prepared for emergency maneuvers upon her command if they went to Condition One.
Satisfied that everything was as ready as it could be, she returned to her station at the plotting table. She could have done the same thing over her mini-com, which connected her to all the stations, but she preferred to talk to the individual crewmembers whenever possible. She felt it made a better impression upon them.
Admiral Streth had watched Colonel Sheen move through the Command Center talking to the crew. He leaned back in his seat, thinking about what had brought them to this point. It had all started eight months back when a strange vessel had entered the Stalor System, which contained a small mining operation. The miners had instantly screamed for help when their scanners had detected an alien ship going into orbit above the volcanic moon they were mining. It was the first alien ship ever encountered by the Federation.
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Read the rest of this story in (The Slaver Wars: Alien Contact).
http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00CEQ9KB8/ref=cm_sw_su_dp
Star One: Neutron Star Page 31
