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

  He checked that Captain Stugron’s Star Destroyer had exited warp and that both ships were at the correct point in space. Then contacted his science officer.

  “Griken. Why are there no contacts to shoot at? He asked.

  His science officer had no idea. There should have been some ships here.

  “My companion is checking for system errors,” he replied.

  “Well hurry up then,” Verice ordered.

  “Excellency. The vessels we glimpsed through the Pathfinder’s wormhole thread aren’t here,” Griken said keeping his attention on his tactical screen.

  “I can see that Griken,” Verice sarcastically snapped. “Where’s our Pathfinder ship?”

  “Cratic. What about you. Are we in the right place?”

  Cratic was careful how he answered. Verice’s damn companion would be all over him like a rash if he didn’t give a truthful answer.

  “We seem to have exited further out than expected from our target planet. But that’s not a problem, Excellency.”

  “H’mm. Navigation Officers can be dumped into space just as quickly as Science Officers,” Verice warned.

  On hearing this, both officers struggled even harder to keep their hatred for Verice away from his Companion brain’s attention.

  -Ω-

  Frank checked his main screen, which was now displaying an overlay in real time.

  He was looking to see where his Earth ships were actually located, using the Andromeda as a reference point.

  This was necessary, as the ships were operating in stealth mode. Otherwise, the only method he could employ, at the moment, was by looking at their four named Icons on his screen. The Garoden vessels being marked as scarlet dots, with the adjacent letters A and B.

  The Earth ships, unlike the Crillon and Solveron vessels, could use their Skippa Sublight drives to move out of danger rapidly, without leaving any detectable warp distortions. And, hopefully, without being seen. Frank had therefore requested the Argonaut, and Michigan, to move closer to the two massive Garoden ships, to gather any information on them that might be critical to the Earth ships survival. With all of the information being obtained without the Garodens knowledge.

  The Argonaut had also been specifically charged with the collection of data from scans, and VHD photographic and optical spectrographs.

  While, the Michigan would, in addition to gathering information, give extra weapons support to the Argonaut, if needed.

  The Michigan was one of the Federation’s newest StarShips. However, even though the ship was of the latest design, and had a broad range of weaponry, including an Anti-matter weapon. Captain Terry Campbell knew that the first alien ship would have destroyed them all, had it not been for the help of Andromeda’s Captain Frank Richardson, and of the two strange women that were on board his ship.

  So, the Michigan’s Captain, having no delusions about their survival rating, which in his mind, was practically nil. Was more than willing to let his ‘boyhood hero’ Frank, take center stage, and direct operations against these Garoden ships.

  The Argonaut, although well-equipped was somewhat older than the Michigan, and hadn’t changed much since it was commissioned back in 2302.

  Like Campbell, the Argonaut’s Captain Hector Serrell also looked at Frank as someone special. They had worked well together in the past. And he was only too well aware of Frank and Susanna’s unnatural abilities.

  The two Girls, as Frank called them, could also be damn helpful if what he’d heard was right. Hector knew he’d behaved badly, though, in that he had asked his security section to try and find out more about the girls. But the difficulty they had in even finding anything about their past history caused him not to pursue that quest further.

  Frank knew that the Starcruiser Neutron was about two light-minutes off Andromeda’s bow. And, looking again at his screen, saw the Icons representing his other two ships moving steadily towards the two alien vessels.

  Captain Sherman’s experimental Star Cruiser, the Neutron, had only recently come online and was packed with sophisticated weaponry. However, it didn’t have an Antimatter capability. Nevertheless, its Captain, Chris Sherman, was confident that the Neutron had a few tricks up its sleeve that no one else had. And, in his eyes, even though she lacked the Antimatter weapon, she was still a great fighting vessel.

  “Images coming in from Argonaut and shared with Neutron,” Andromeda announced, as they quickly appeared on Frank’s screen.

  Both he and Susanna felt sick as they saw the size of the Garoden ships, and the enormity of their situation hit home.

  “Large aren’t they?” They heard a voice behind them say, and turned together, to see Charlotte and Cindy standing there.

  “I thought coming to see us here, rather than me coming to you, was a no-no,” Frank stated.

  “Apparently, the Chamber feels it is necessary for Cindy and me to be physically close to you both, at the moment.”

  “For once, I agree with this chamber of yours, Charlotte.”

  “What Chamber?” Susanna asked.

  “Never mind,” Frank said, turning back to look at the images of the two alien ships that the Argonaut’s sensors were sending to the Neutron, as they scrolled across his screen.

  Frank could see that the Garoden ships were on the whole bluish-purple in color. But seemed to have lighter streaks that appeared to drift across the hull as if the ship was alive.

  He noted, that, unlike the other Garoden vessel they had destroyed. These two ships were fully visible.

  If they had a stealth capacity, they certainly weren’t employing it at the moment. That was ominous, he thought to himself.

  Then he saw the ships dimensions appear down the side of his screen, showing him that they were each one-point-six kilometers long and point-eight in width.

  More information could then be seen on the display, indicating that the bulbous shaped rear end of the vessel did, as they had suspected, hold the warp drive system.

  And, at regular intervals along the main hull, several raised and elongated sections could be seen to be bristling with weapon ports and what appeared to be force field emitters, together with the disruptor weapons domes.

  Frank could see that these ships were much bigger, and far more menacing, than the single ship they had obliterated earlier.

  “Frank, listen to the minds on those ships,” Charlotte suddenly urged him.

  Both Frank and Susanna tried but failed to sense anything.

  “Concentrate harder.” Cindy encouraged.

  “We are,” Frank and Susanna said, in unison.

  “Then try even harder,” Charlotte snapped.

  Startled by her tone, Frank and Susanna tried again. Then, little by little, they began to register in Frank’s mind, until he could separate them out individually.

  But, he was puzzled at first, as each one he managed to separate seemed instead to be a double.

  After thinking about it, though, he knew that made sense. As one part of the apparently double mind was really the Garoden’s second brain; the part organic and part synthesized, electronic processors that Charlotte had felt before.

  He tried again and found that his mind could just about mentally touch anyone of the secondary brains now. Then, to his horror, one of the brain’s seemed to sense him. And Frank’s mind beat a hasty retreat.

  “I think one brain may have sensed me,” Frank ventured.

  “It doesn’t matter. It won’t know what it was that it sensed,” Charlotte assured him.

  “Agreed. But could you tell what tasks it performed? And, which Garoden it belonged to?” Cindy asked Frank.

  “How the hell would I know?”

  “Think, Frank. Try to remember, what it was doing,” Cindy urged, still wanting him to work it out for himself.

  He tried once more, “I…uh, I’ve got it. It belongs to the ship’s science officer…Um… Flagship, science officer. How on earth did I get that information?”

  “It’s oka
y Frank,” Charlotte said trying to calm him. “Your mind and Susanna’s will gradually retain more of the information you gain at the moment of contact than you think you can remember,” she told them.

  “You both have to learn to deep-search your memory.”

  “But right now, we must make a plan of action. Now that you’re both as good as you’re going to get,” Cindy pointed out.

  -Ω-

  Griken thought that he’d imagined it. But, if Verice had also felt it, and he didn’t tell him about it. Then he knew that he’d be replaced, in a very bloody manner.

  “Excellency, did your Companion feel anything weird a moment ago?”

  “What are you blabbering about, Griken?”

  So, obviously not, Griken thought to himself, using a technique he’d recently developed to prevent Verice’s companion brain from reading his thoughts.

  Verice studied him for a moment. “Not losing it, eh Griken?” He asked.

  “No, Excellency,” Griken hastily replied, and was relieved to be able to change the subject as a contact alarm sounded.

  “It’s coming from close to the Fourth Planet, Excellency.”

  “At last. Cratic, move us to engage,” Verice ordered.

  “And Captain Stugron’s ship?”

  “Of course. Link with him now, idiot,” Verice snapped.

  -Ω-

  Frank, gasped in horror, as he watched the Earth cargo ship, Victor, leave orbit around Dpav4. Then swing up and out in a wide arc that would take the vessel on towards Dpav5.

  The Victor was carrying a contingent of surveyors, together with their supplies. And enough equipment to enable them to make camp, then carry out their survey, with the intention of setting up a mining camp on the cold and virtually airless planet.

  “Andromeda, warn that ship to return to orbit. Now,” Frank ordered.

  There was a slight pause while the Andromeda relayed the command…Then…

  “Frank, the captain informs me that we have no authority, and he will continue with his assignment.”

  “What… The stupid, arrogant sod. Send the order again.”

  Again a pause. Then…

  “He’s ignoring us,” Andromeda confirmed.

  “Stupid man.” Frank exasperatedly bawled.

  “Frank. It’s too late. The Garoden ships are moving. Don’t forget, he probably can’t see them at that distance,” Cindy pointed out.

  Then Frank saw the Argonaut and the Michigan’s Icons move out of the line of fire and sighed with relief.

  He could see that the two Garoden ships were surging forward at a fast rate. Their speed and apparent maneuverability caused him some concern. Then, suddenly they stopped.

  Meanwhile. The Cargo ship was already accelerating rapidly as it headed for Dpav5, and straight towards the alien ships.

  Frank felt sick. He was unable to do anything to prevent the disaster that was about to happen.

  Then, the cargo ship saw the Garoden ships and tried to change course, as a cylindrically shaped missile erupted from the vessel.

  The cargo ship started its swing, veering to the left. But, the direction the missile was taking suddenly changed to match the cargo ship’s new heading.

  Then came a tremendous flash as it struck home, and the cargo ship came to an abrupt halt, juddering violently as it did so.

  As Frank watched, the Cargo ship appeared to slowly melt, until it finally exploded in a ball of fire.

  Leaving nothing except a slowly dispersing cloud of debris.

  Frank struggled to keep his feelings in check. Then, realizing that the two Garoden ships had already moved well away from their collapsed wormholes instructed the Andromeda to send a message to Captain Sitrea’s, Solveron ship.

  ‘Good Luck Captain.’ was the message he sent.

  Chapter 24

  Disaster

  Viceroy Verice was on his Star Destroyer’s bridge, and studying the scrolling symbols as his companion brain presented its assessment of the vessel they had just destroyed.

  He knew enough of technical symbol language to understand that the other ship hadn’t been armed, and certainly had no stealth capability.

  “Our sensors indicate that there are no other ships here, Excellency,” science officer Griken pointed out.

  “Yes, even I can see that,” Verice snapped.

  Then, Navigation officer Cratic’s companion brain prompted Verice.

  ‘The fourth Planet is our primary target,’ it rasped in his mind.

  ‘We should use our Planet Destructor weapons on it, now.’

  “Silence your companion, Cratic,” Verice ordered, snapping at him again. Causing his other officers to look at him.

  “It's hard to do that these days,” Cratic replied.

  Cratic’s response made Verice realize that he’d also noticed the odd occasion when his own companion brain had almost disobeyed him.

  Then, Verice realized that Captain Stugron had suddenly appeared next to him without having given any warning. This annoyed Verice, too many of his officers had tried to do this.

  “Stop doing that, Stugron… Use your damn companion to tell me that you’re coming.”

  “Sorry, Verice. So, what is your plan now?”

  Verice ignored him, then asked, “Griken, why haven’t you located our Pathfinder ship yet?”

  “It’s not here, Excellency. At least, not where we expected it to be.”

  “I think it’s been destroyed by these aliens, Verice,” Captain Stugron suggested. Feeling confident in his assumption.

  Then Griken’s companion put forward a viable alternative to the senior officers. ‘Perhaps these alien ships have better stealth skins than we do?’ It suggested.

  ‘And, come to that, why was my protocol on stealth deployment ignored?’ Griken’s companion queried.

  “Yes, Verice. Why?” Stugron asked, supporting Griken’s companion.

  Verice didn’t think he had to justify his orders to anyone. But wondered if they were right this time, and he should have employed stealth mode on exit from their wormholes, even though it wasn’t very effective because of their disruptor field.

  However, knowing his decision had been based on the fact that he wanted the aliens to come to him. Rather than having to search them out, one at a time. He decided to ignore their remarks.

  “Verice, do you realize that there could be ships operating in stealth mode out there. That would put us in some danger. Don’t you think?”

  “True Stugron,” he agreed. “But, we know that we are indestructible.”

  “It doesn't seem that way to me,” Griken interjected.

  “It’s obvious, Griken.” Verice rapped.

  “Not to me, Excellency,” Griken said, sticking to his guns.

  “Where’s the Pathfinder?” Griken then asked. He was sick of this pompous ass, now, and couldn’t hold his tongue any longer. “What do you think happened to it, Verice?”

  Verice was furious at Griken s lack of respect.

  “Watch yourself, Griken… How do I know? You’re supposed to be my science officer.”

  “Well. I’ll tell you one thing that I am sure of. The ships we glimpsed through the Pathfinder’s wormhole thread destroyed it,” Griken, said to him, then waited for Verice’s reaction.

  Verice said nothing. He felt sick.

  “I’ll tell you another thing, Verice,” Griken said, all regard for his own safety gone.

  “My companion felt something. Something that mentally touched it. Yet, you could only say. Not losing it, eh Griken.”

  Then Griken’s companion broke in again. ‘We can’t pick up the survival pod on that planet either…So, do we assume it’s been destroyed, as well?’ it asked, but Griken said nothing.

  In the meantime, Verice had decided it was time to start flushing out these alien creatures.

  Then a beep sounded on Griken’s tactical display, and an image of the remains of their lost Pathfinder ship could be seen. Now, just eight-hundred million ki
lometers away from them, and nine hundred and thirty million out from the planet.

  “There, what did I tell you?” Griken said, pointing to the remains of their shattered ship.

  Verice was stunned. ‘Companion. How long before the rest of our ships arrive?’ he asked.

  ‘Five hours, and sixteen minutes.’

  “Stugron. Get back to your ship. Now,” Verice ordered.

  “We’ll start a random spread of particle beams and see if we can flush these creatures out,” he added.

  “About time,” Stugron muttered as he pictured the Bridge on his own ship, and was gone.

  -Ω-

  Frank sensed that Charlotte seemed anxious about something. Something that he couldn’t see or feel.

  “What is it, Charlotte?”

  She remained silent for a moment, before answering.

  “I’m not sure… Did anyone else sense anything?”

  But no one else had.

  “Quickly,” Charlotte urged. “Link as before.”

  After a few moments, their minds Quad-synced, and their mental probe quickly reached out, then penetrated the Garoden vessel’s bridge. But there were too many brains, which made the contact confusing to them.

  However, it was clear that these Garodens were obviously preparing for something.

  “Too much activity to separate any individual,” Cindy said.

  “Frank, try concentrating on the brain that felt your mind’s presence,” Charlotte urged.