Excalibur's Quest

by Dietmar Wehr

  “Koenig here.”

  “This is the CSO’s office calling. The Admiral has called an emergency briefing in half an hour, and he wants you to attend, Commander. I recommend you head back down right away if you want to be here when it starts.”

  “I’ll do that; thank you. Koenig out.”

  In spite of his best efforts to get to the meeting on time, he was late. Corrigan glared at him as he entered the briefing room, which was filled with COs, and took a seat at the back end of the oval table.

  “Now that we’re all here,” said Corrigan, pausing to emphasize his annoyance, “a situation has come to the TOSF’s attention, and I wanted all of you to hear this from me. First off, keep this briefing to yourself until I say otherwise. Two hours ago, we received an FTL transmission from the Vergon. That by itself is noteworthy. The last time we heard from them was over a year ago, in spite of half a dozen messages sent by us to them during that time which they just ignored. This message was not in response to any of ours. From the way it was worded, we suspect that they weren’t sending it just to us, but rather that it’s a broadcast to multiple races.”

  At this point, the lights dimmed just enough so that a holographic star map could be seen hovering over the center of the table. Visible there were a green dot and a red. From his familiarity with star maps, Koenig was able to tell that the green dot was Earth, and the red dot was a long way away along the spiral arm leading in the direction of the Sagittarius Arm.

  “I’m sure most of you recognize the green dot as Earth’s location. The red dot is where something very strange and—if the information is accurate—very disturbing took place. What seems to have happened is that a VERY large artificial object, one that appears to ingest matter, has shattered a moon that was orbiting the home world of an alien race. That home world was devastated from the impacts of the larger pieces of the moon. I hope this next piece of information is exaggerated or the result of translation error. This object was almost 400 kilometers wide and almost 900 kilometers long.” Corrigan paused to let that sink in before continuing.

  “The identity of who this object belongs to is not known. Because nothing like this has been seen before in our general sector of the spiral arm, the Vergon suspect that this ‘thing’ is coming from further up the Arm or perhaps even from the Sagittarius Arm itself, possibly as a means of getting ahead of the super-wave. It was spotted transiting through another system, which suggests a path leading in our general direction. They say that we should take whatever actions we think are appropriate, and I have a hunch they were referring to actions like evacuation. We may have to contemplate that, but before we take that decision, we’re going to get more intel on this threat, if it really is a threat. A three-ship task force, under Commander Nakatomi, will investigate this contact, try to learn who it belongs to, what it’s mission is and whether it represents a threat to humans. The Task Force will consist of Durendal, Curtana and Sting. Those three ships will have twenty-four hours to make preparations and stock up on supplies. I won’t be taking any questions, because, quite frankly, I don’t know any more than I’ve already told you. As we learn more, you’ll be kept informed. This meeting is adjourned.”

  Koenig expected Corrigan to leave immediately, but he remained seated. The other officers did begin to leave. Koenig noticed Eriko turn to give him a smile as she left the room. He then realized that as Sting’s CO, she would be part of the Task Force. He waited until only he and Corrigan were still in the room.

  “Something on your mind, Commander Koenig?” asked Corrigan.

  “Yes, sir. I’d like to volunteer to lead the Task Force.”

  Corrigan smiled. “I’m not surprised by that. You were considered, you know. You have experience out there with new races and technologies, as well as task force command experience. I decided to go with Nakatomi for the following reasons. First, we need to give other officers task force command experience, so why not start now? Second, if you head out there now, you may not be back here when Caliburn is ready to become operational. Am I supposed to give her to someone else? And if so, on what basis: temporary or permanent? Either one would be unfair to somebody—either you or the other officer. I decided that you need to stay here so that you can take command of Caliburn when she’s ready…unless you want to give up the chance to command a super-heavy cruiser. Do you?”

  “No, sir,” said Koenig. He didn’t even need to think about the question. He really wanted to command a ship like that, and if he passed on Caliburn, Corrigan just might decide that he lacked self-confidence and never offer him another chance.

  “That was the right answer, Koenig. If you have to be talked into taking command of a super-heavy, then you don’t deserve one. Any other questions?”

  “No, sir.”

  “Good! Then I can leave.” Corrigan got up, gave Koenig a friendly nod and headed for the door. Koenig stared at the star map that was still on. The proportional dimensions of the mystery object were not much different from the shape of the atomic manipulation assembly units and they ingested matter too. Was it possible that an alien race had built the Mother of All assembly units? If it was searching for chunks of matter small enough to ingest, was it being piloted by the race that built it or was it operating under computer control? He hoped Eriko would stay safe on this mission. The two of them had spent some time together socially off and on since the war ended. Their relationship was low key but close. He said a prayer to the Gods of War to watch over her as he left room.

  Author’s Comments:

  If you enjoyed this second book in the Swordships Odyssey series, please take a couple of minutes to post a review. They really do help in generating future sales and I appreciate any advice or suggestions on how to become a better writer. The third book in the series, (Caliburn’s War) has not yet been set up for pre-order but if you wish to be notified when it becomes available, join my mailing list (see below). I hope to have it ready for publication by the end of July. You can get updates on my latest books and occasionally a special offer by signing up for my mailing list here. If you’re new to my books, please check out the list at the top. There are two free ebooks, The Synchronicity War Part 1 and Rumors of Glory. You’ll also find the first short story in a dark and gritty series entitled The Tattooed Angel. It’s intended for adults only. The Complete Thunder Series is now also available as an audiobook narrated by Luke Daniels.

  Long Live Space Opera!

  D.A.W.