The Garoden War. (SpaceFed StarShips Series) Book 6. An action-packed follow-on story that sees the Earth's Space Navy in action.: ‘Into the Fire.’

by Gerry A. Saunders

“Don’t patronize me, Griken. Just give me your conclusions,” Verice replied giving him a hard look.

  “Sorry, Excellency,” Griken apologized, realizing that he had overstepped the mark.

  He paused, as he saw new data appearing on his screen, and studied it carefully. Then, having taken this new information into account, revised his conclusions before speaking.

  “Excellency, the latest data burst shows that the survival pod crash-landed on a planet… Then, the pod just managed to transmit its scans and coordinates as the rift was finally closing.

  However, with the latest data, we can now be sure of two things. Surprisingly, the scan shows that there was no one inside. While, its exterior scan indicates there were lifeforms, outside.”

  “Yes. I can see the symbols, Griken.” Verice replied, and paused again before continuing.

  “So, I assume that the lifeforms weren’t from Garoden.”

  “Exactly. Excellency,” Griken said, then paused.

  “This points to the fact that the survival pod transmitted this information some one hundred and thirty, to one hundred and thirty-five cycles ago, referenced to our real-time point,” he finally stated.

  Verice was silent for a moment. “So, a temporal shift in time… Is that as accurate as you can get, Griken?”

  “Yes, Excellency. The gravitational distortions and temporal change over such a vast distance preclude us from obtaining a more stable reading.”

  Viceroy Verice studied Griken’s facial expression, for a moment. Then ‘felt’ Griken’s Companion brain and smiled. Yes, it had confirmed that his science officer was sure of his belief. Griken was the best science officer he’d ever had, and he trusted him and respected his views on most things.

  “Well, Griken. What would you advise?”

  “Extermination of these lifeforms at the very least, your Excellency,” Griken replied without hesitation.

  Viceroy Verice was, at first, taken aback at Griken’s ferocity, then shrugged.

  “Fourteen hundred light-years you say. Well, we’d better find a way of crossing that distance. Then, we’ll mount an expedition and wipe out these beings. Beings that you don’t seem to want around.”

  Griken grinned. “Isn’t that what we were born to do?” he asked.

  “Yes, Griken. That is our lot in life… Work out a transit route and timeline.”

  “Of course, Excellency. How many ships can we have?”

  “Eight Star-Destroyers should be more than enough.”

  “Very well, Excellency.”

  “I’m going back to my pod. Send my Companion the situation when you have everything in place.”

  “Of course, sir.”

  The Viceroy pictured his pod again and was instantly in it. While science officer Griken and navigation officer Cratic started transmitting the Viceroy’s requirements to Garoden Command.

  Both were looking forward to some action, at last. Even if it was six or seven cycles in the future.

  Chapter 4

  The calm before the storm

  Earth, 2311.

  Frank knew that Susanna would soon be sending him a prompt to return home. However, for now, he was just pleased to be able to relax as long as possible in the Spaceport’s remote viewing section. He was enjoying the impression of being in Andromeda’s control room, that the remote viewing facility gave him, and of being able to look at what was going on outside the ship. Then his mind randomly recalled an incident way back in 2303. An incident that, at the time, had been a total mystery, and, thinking about it, still was he realized.

  The Illustrious, Turpin and Repulse, had set off for Earth five days earlier. Leaving the Andromeda in a geostationary orbit, four hundred and fifty kilometers above DPav4.

  At the time, the Argonaut had registered a Temporal glitch in the timeline. The glitch was so large that even their rather outdated Temporal Analysis system had recorded it.

  This glitch had caused the Andromeda to vanish. Only for a few seconds. The strange thing was that this temporal glitch had seemed to involve the Argonaut, and DPav4 as well.

  But the Argonaut’s scientists could see no reason for any of it, and no ships had been lost, so it was dismissed as an anomaly.

  Frank still wondered what they would have discovered if the Solveron’s Temporal analyzer, which they had since taken delivery of, had been available to them at the time.

  The Solveron’s Analyzer had put the Earth’s attempts to measure residual entropic readings to shame. Then Frank, sighed, knowing that it would almost certainly remain a mystery.

  The other thing that stuck in his mind, was the Bird-like Crest on the bow of the Crillon ship. He would have thought that that memory would have been lost through the temporal shift.

  He looked around the control room and sighed again. Although the Andromeda had been upgraded as much as was possible, for a ship of her age. It hadn’t been enough to satisfy the Space Council that she would be able to defend herself well enough, given the advancements in modern weaponry technology that were employed by the latest ships in Earth’s fleets.

  He knew that any one of their current StarShips could wipe the floor with the Andromeda. Apparently, the extra ninety meters in length that the Illustrious and Derringer had would have made all the difference to Andromeda’s upgrade capability.

  So, because of this, she had recently been re-designated, for use as an Ambassadorial ship. To him, that had seemed more like a downgrade.

  He still remembered the time when the fighting was over at Kepler, and they had returned to Dpav4. It felt like yesterday, when Hector had shown them the specifications for Andromeda’s successors, and Andromeda had finally realized that things would never be the same again.

  She had been genuinely distressed, and this had shocked him, as he hadn’t realized how much a self-aware computer could feel. Frank had felt sorry for her, and played those moments back in his mind.

  Andromeda had studied the specifications for the next generation of StarShips, which had left her feeling inadequate.

  He recalled her asking what would become of her when they returned to Earth. With him flippantly replying that she’d be sent off to the scrap heap.

  He’d regretted saying that and wished he’d kept his mouth shut, remembering the feeling of her sadness and despair as it seeped into his mind.

  Then he remembered that, at the time, he hadn’t known what would become of the Andromeda either. And, as he had gone through the options in his mind, he had heard her gasp. Reminding him that she could read his thoughts.

  He smiled to himself, remembering that the specialists had tried to copy Andromeda’s memory, and add it to the memory banks of the fleet’s latest ships. But she had kept blocking their attempts.

  He sighed once more, knowing that the combination of his and Andromeda’s working relationship could never be repeated. It seemed perfect. Like a human relationship. Without the physical side, of course, and exactly right for the job she was now designated to carry out.

  He was brought back to the present, when his comms link beeped, and Susanna’s face showed on his screen. He could see that she was in the process of sealing their vacuum transport cases.

  “I’ve finished. When are you coming back, Frank?”

  “Now. There’s a shuttle leaving within the hour.”

  “Good. We’ve got an early start tomorrow.”

  Later, back home, they sat back and chatted about the forthcoming trip for a while.

  “I miss Alex already, Susie.”

  “Same here.”

  “But, it’ll be good to link up with Andromeda again. It’s just, well, I feel as if she’s a part of me, Sues.”

  “I understand. I feel the same.”

  “M’m, I know you do. I’m still amazed that every time we go on board with her… she feels like family.”

  “Well, we’ve been through a lot together.”

  “Yes, I know. Can you feel her?”

  “Do you mean, from here?” Sus
anna asked, then caught her breath.

  “Yes. I really can ‘feel’ her. That’s got to be a first.”

  “Then your link with her must be almost as intense as mine.”

  “Maybe,” she answered, thinking on. “But, if the Solverons aren’t around. Then, how come we can both still link with her, from so far away?”

  “Well, we used to think it was the effect of the Solveron’s crew-link,” he replied, then paused a moment.

  “But maybe, it’s us who’ve changed,” he suggested.

  “Perhaps, Frank. Or maybe, it’s the inter-relationship between our brains, our transceiver implants, and Andromeda herself, that has changed.”

  He thought about that. “I’m not so sure,” he replied, as another explanation came to mind.

  “Think back to our first mission with Andromeda, Sues. Do you remember?” he asked. Then prompted her, “You know. That strange dream I had about two young women injecting something into my arm.”

  “Oh, the episode of the sore arms?”

  “Yes… And it’s not as if it was simply a one-off,” he replied.

  “I know. Anyway, we’ve both had that dream… So, what do you mean?”

  “I don’t know,” he replied, and sat thinking about it for a while. Then gave up and decided it was time to go to bed.

  The next morning, Frank and Susanna boarded one of the new SpaceFed shuttles and headed up to the Andromeda, which was waiting in a stationary orbit above the Earth.

  The rest of the crew were already on board. Together with a complement of dignitaries from the World Government and representatives from the Space Federation. All of whom were by now settled into their newly refurbished, and luxurious, cabins.

  While on-route, Frank refreshed his tactical pad and checked the Solveron’s new hyperlink. He was amazed at the new link’s connectivity. Now, Earth, Pavonis, Crilla and the Solveron’s homeworld could be contacted with only a short delay.

  He knew that the communication’s improvements could only have happened thanks to the Solveron’s network of orange colored Ovoid’s. With an ovoid being placed at a strategic point close to each of the four planets.

  Each Ovoid then creating a wormhole to form the network that enabled almost instantaneous communication between them.

  With this wormhole system, none of the planets would be more than two hours contact time away from each other, Frank thought. Then shook his head. He would never have believed that something as amazing as this could have been possible in his lifetime.

  He sat back as the automated shuttle swung upwards in a sweeping arc to intercept the Andromeda, which was gleaming like a gold colored cigar, and growing larger by the second.

  As they drew closer to the ship, both Frank and Susanna could feel an increase in Andromeda’s anticipation, of seeing her counterpart again.

  Chapter 5

  Imminent Departure

  Garoden Command - Five cycles later.

  Viceroy Verice, Commander in Chief of the Fleet and Captain of the Star Destroyer Z183, had had enough. He’d been waiting with his Fleet of eight Garoden Star Destroyers, and their Path Finder ship, for confirmation of their route and final departure orders.

  But they’d been stuck here for five cycles now, and he had become increasingly impatient, knowing everyone was edgy, and wanting to get on with the first leg of their journey.

  Only when he had received their orders, could they ready their ships. Then, when the Pathfinder ship had signaled its clearance for them to engage their jump engines, they would simultaneously make their first Jump towards the location of the survival pod’s last transmission.

  The Viceroy had been on this vessel now for more than a hundred and five cycles and was feeling a bit jaded. However, he wanted to command this particular expedition and gain all the kudos it would bring him.

  He knew that even though he was older, he would be okay. His heart and respiratory systems, along with the special eye transplants that enabled him to see in the dark or simply zoom in on an object by thought alone, would all do well for him.

  Admittedly, his Bio parts would need care. But he knew that his Companion brain, an essential addition for him as for all Garodens, was more than able to look after his body.

  Verice, having decided that he could afford to take some rest time, was in his personal pod and dressed in a loose fitting flexi leisure garment. His work uniform, although flexi, was closer fitting, and adorned with the appropriate designations of his rank. His garments also differed from the rest of the crew’s, in that they had a gold crest on one sleeve, denoting that he was a Nobleman.

  At the moment, he was sat in front of his remote command console scanning through his science officer Griken’s recommendations, while soft music played in the background.

  Griken had been thorough as usual. With everything neatly detailed, down to the Temporal divergence information, and the projected time corrections required to ensure that the jumps would still be correct after all this time.

  Verify, he thought, and a scrolling image formed in his mind, as his Companion brain extracted data from the ship’s memory and from Garoden Command itself. Then his Companion compared the data with its own findings.

  It is correct, came the Companion’s mental confirmation.

  He stopped scanning through the data for a few moments, as his mind started thinking back to the time when they had first picked up the signal from the Star-Destroyer Z102’s survival pod, more than five cycles ago.

  The Z102 had somehow been pulled into an unstable rift, from which the ship’s Captain had known his vessel wouldn’t survive. For some unknown reason, the Captain had decided to launch the survival pod anyway. But without anyone inside, presumably knowing that although the pod’s matrix would protect it physically, within the rift. Nevertheless, it would not have been able to protect any life forms.

  However, from the information gained from the pod’s data burst they now realized that, sometime after it had crash-landed on the planet, the pod’s computer had registered life forms outside. Then, knowing that these beings weren’t Garodens, it had managed to transmit a call for help, via the rift.

  Verice sat back, he was sure that his fleet of ships was finally ready to crush these alien beings, regardless of how many there were. After all, no aliens had ever been able to defend themselves from a Garoden Fleet attack. Or, to stop them from obliterating their own homeworlds.

  Then he sensed a mental request as it formed in his mind.

  Yes, what is it, officer Cratic?

  We have the final orders from Garoden Command, Excellency.

  Put them on my remote, he ordered. Then sensed hesitation in Cratic, so his Companion brain automatically searched for the reason.

  Don’t you have all the data, Cratic?

  ‘No, Excellency. It’s complicated. Garoden Command seems reluctant to divulge any new information.

  He mentally pictured a point on the Bridge near Cratic and was instantly teleported there. Standing next to his navigation officer, with Griken close by.

  “Show me,” he instructed out loud.

  “It’s blocked, your Excellency,” Cratic explained, pointing to a set of symbols on his screen.

  “Here’s our fleet code, V23. But, see these strange symbols here,” Cratic said. “I don’t understand why they’re restricting my access. It’s definitely a block, Excellency.”

  “Maybe it’s something scientific, not navigational?” Griken suggested.

  “Even so, we should know what it is,” Verice replied. Then mentally ordered his companion to break the code. Retrieve the blocked information and display it.

  Immediately, Verice’s Companion brain started working through it in a determined, and efficient way.

  The Viceroy was, as usual, impressed with his Companion brain’s abilities. As patterns and symbols continuously rolled through his mind. With occasional pauses while his companion juggled them around, then bye-passed several security blocks until it found
the source data it needed. Finally displaying the blocked data on Cratic’s screen.

  Verice’s science officer, Griken joined them as they studied the prohibited data.

  “I know what the new weapon can do, Excellency. But I still don’t know how we came to have it,” he said while Verice’s companion brain continued to add more information as it extracted it from the Garoden’s top secret Development Centre.

  Although Verice knew that their Star Destroyers were invincible to any known weapon, he hadn’t known exactly why. But now, seeing this new information, he realized that this was because of the capture of a blue globe shaped ship that had apparently been on a deep-space exploration mission, over two-hundred cycles earlier.

  At the time, this blue sphere’s crew had been killed, and the ship’s memory core had unfortunately been destroyed during the vessel’s capture. Nonetheless, the Garoden scientists had been able to copy the design of its molecular co-adhesion disruptor system, then manufacture and install a more advanced system in all of the Garoden ships.

  So, now we know the origin of our Disruptor weapon, Verice thought to himself.

  May I enlighten the other two companions? His Companion finally requested.

  Yes, Verice instructed, and Griken and Cratic’s Companion brains received the updates.

  Verice appreciated the effectiveness of this Disruptor weapon. And surmised that, at the time, the Garoden Command had probably misled these aliens, by being over-friendly at first. Then once the aliens had dropped their guard, managed to trick the Sphere into lowering its defenses.

  After which, the sphere would not have been able to defend itself from their ships. Unlike the blue colored globe vessels, with their seemingly limited weapons and defense arrays. Garoden warships were all about the annihilation of the enemy, in the most effective and efficient manner.