“Coordinates, you have the coordinates where they will emerge?”
He smiled at her reaction.
“Yes.”
He recited them. As she heard them she smiled and turned. Over the table in the middle of the room a three dimensional hologram that showed the Solar system appeared. The humans gasped as they saw every object in the solar system being depicted. And the biggest surprise came as they noticed the large gas giant at the very edge of the system. The famous x planet that humanity searched for and speculated so much was finally here. And as the planets orbits were shown they all understood why it was never discovered. It was a drifter so far away that it was impossible to be seen with the current technology. As she noticed their reaction she smiled and the planet was zoomed.
“That is the largest object in your solar system. It’s on the very edge and it’s a dark gas giant that is why you can’t see it. But with your current sweeps I guess that it would have been discovered in the next couple of years.”
Dozens of large moons were circling it. And from what they could see they were much larger than any other moon, most of them the size of earth’s moon and Titan.
“So that is Nibiru.”-the comment came from Edward. The young astronomer looked fascinated.
The image disappeared and the solar system was once again visible on the hologram. They noticed as the image of Sedna and their location was indicated as well and then a dot appeared on the indicated coordinates. The position of the object that the ships ejected was shown close to the coordinates.
As she looked at the hologram Anaya smiled. Seeing that they don’t understand she increased the image.
“That there gentleman is what your SF writers described as a warp point. It connects this solar system with another one probably several light years away. And that is the point from which they plan to enter in to this system.”
“You don’t know where it leads?”
The question came from Jennings. He looked at the hologram with fascination. They all did. Only Ellis and Fillip looked professionally, while Edward looked with fascination and curiosity.
The AI looked at the image and smiled.
“While your ancestors were aware of their existence they rarely used them. They used a different way of travel, one you call hyperspace. The dacarians use it as well but they obviously use the warp points as well. And considering that you are still not advanced enough to pose any danger to them it is understandable. An advance race would be able to inflict massive casualties as they exit from the point. But you are far from that.”
Jennings smiled at her comment. She looked at him curiously.
“O i believe that we have several surprises up our sleeve. It will be hard but we will stop them there.”
The AI looked even more surprised as the others nodded.
“Can you tell me what those surprises entail?”
Ellis responded her with another question.
“When they exit the warp point their shields won’t be active?”
“No they won’t. It will take about one of your minutes for the instruments to stabilize. At least that is how it was in the past. And even if they manage to activate them faster and introduce some modern technologies they can only cut some of that time. You will still have a small window.”
Edward scratched his chin.
“Anaya do they come out all at once or do they come one at the time?”
“It depends from the point but most of the warp points allow simultaneous transit.”
When he heard that he smiled. So did Fillip and Ellis. They were all briefed about the plan for fighting them in space with the small amount of ships that would be available in the time of their arrival. And it all depended on the fact that there will be time to place mines that will blow when they come out.
“Well then I guess the plan is a go. That gives us a good chance.”
She looked at them and repeated her question.
Jennings smiled and answered her.
“We plan to mine the exit…to place hundreds of nuclear bombs around it, and when they exit the warp point…BOOM.”
She considered his words for a second.
“Your bombs, they will have to be strong. Without shields they will be able to at least damage them heavily if not destroy them. And the radiation will definitely kill the crews. But from what I saw you will need a lot of them. A five to ten megatons bomb won’t be able to create a great amount of damage unless the ship’s hull is already penetrated.”
Her comments made them all smile. She looked at them with surprise.
“Who said we will use five to ten megatons?”-the comment came from Edward.
She looked at the young scientist.
“What power will the bombs you plan to use be? From what I learned and calculated that is the power that most of your weapons have.”
“Well yes but that doesn’t mean that we can’t make them more powerful. The most powerful bomb tested was a hundred megaton and we can easily make bombs two or three times more powerful. And maybe even more. You can count that the weakest one will be in the range of fifty to hundred megatons.”
When they looked at her they saw that her attitude has changed. She was obviously making some calculations. When she was finished she smiled.
“With that kind of power the battle can be won. It all depends on good coordination and timing. If you catch them with their pants down as your expression goes then…”
“And with the ships that are in this fleet…”
When Edward made that comment she raised her head. It was obvious that she was surprised.
“Considering the age and the damages this ships have, especially this one I can’t guarantee that they will be battle ready for that kind of engagement. And don’t forget these ships are twelve thousand years out of date. The Dacarian fleets at the time were weaker than any we had to offer but not by a very large margin. With the time they had…”
Ellis looked at the hologram and then at the AI.
“Without its shields even our guns and missiles were able to mortally damage the cruiser. And the hulls of our battleships suffered damages but they withstood the fury of their plasma and laser and gravity guns. And the shields of the smaller ships collapsed when they were hit by our rail guns that are I believe much smaller and less powerful than the ones this ships have. So I don’t believe that the tech difference is that big. Yes they might have advanced but I don’t believe that they are that much more advanced. And besides, considering that they think that we have no space ships, no space defense I doubt that they will send their most powerful ships here…don’t you?
And about the damages… well let’s just say that we will try to make sure that by the time they come Argus and its escorts will be ready and repaired.”
As they watched her they noticed the smile that was forming on her face. It was obvious that she liked the plan and its implications.
“Well I think that we might, just might get a chance after all.”
Jennings smiled at her last comment. The others did as well, and it was the first real, relaxed smile that they all had in months. And the reason was simple. They now had hope.
Anaya looked at them and she too smiled. She knew that nothing was still certain but she could see the hope on their faces. And that gave her hope as well.
“Well now that we established the plan we need to contact Earth and inform them. I believe that they will be happy to hear the news. But before that Anaya, I’ll need a list of the ships that are here and their characteristics, their capabilities, and also a report of their damages. And you’ll need to inform the rest of the crew of that as well, and inform them of the damages on this ship, we might be able to make some repairs.”
“You will get them captain.”
“Anaya are the ships capable of traveling through this system. Can they reach Earth?”
The AI didn’t answer immediately. It thought for a second.
“I will have to check the
status of the rest of the ships. I will need several of your hours to establish the link and then to check the status of their engines.”
“And what of the ships in your hangar bays. Are they operative?”
The AI smiled at that question. She looked at Linda.
“Miss Erickson they might need a little work but each one of the vipers and the shuttles should be operative. Tell your pilots that they will receive a manual from me in an hour on how to check their systems and they can do a test flight.”
Linda smiled at her comment.
“They will be happy to hear that.”
Both Ellis and Fillip smiled.
“They sure will.”
That comment made everyone smile. They all knew of the fascination the pilots had for the fighters.
As they started discussing that topic the AI left them alone for a short period of time. As it did that the door slid open. On the bridge the rest of the scientists were discussing the many images that they saw on the consoles and holo projectors that were now active. The soldiers stood silently and observed them. When the door opened Herrick came and took a quick look at the office to check if everyone is ok. When they saluted he saluted back and returned to his post.
The AI came back several minutes later.
“If you allow me captain, I will start my preparations and in several hours I will establish a video link with the planet so that you can report.” Your crew can continue to look around the ship.
Jennings stared at her. So did everyone else.
“You can do that all the way from here.”
She looked a little surprised by his question, but then she remembered that that kind of communication was still far ahead for them.
“Yes captain Jennings. With the technology on this ship that will be easy. A piece of cake like some of you would say.”
She smiled than and disappeared.
After this all of them exited the office. They were still under the impressions from her report so far.
“If we are so stunned now, what will we be later when she gives us the report of the ships capabilities?”
“Don’t know sir but it sure looks like a dream come true. It isn’t perfect, but it will help.”
“Yea, it’ll help colonel. It sure will.”
Jennings turned and took a quick look at the bridge and the office they left behind. He inhaled deeply and yawned.
“Well we have couple of hours. I will retire on the Deadalus and take some rest. I suggest you do the same. I suggest you do the same colonel. And you major.”
After this he saluted and accompanied by his crew members and several scientists he departed the bridge.
The soldiers saluted and went toward the rest of their company.
Herrick smiled as they approached. They both smiled back. The smiles grew wider as they noticed the bump on his head.
“Had a meeting Lt.”
“Yea major she was sure pretty so pretty that i couldn’t resist her.”
They all smiled. As their smiles echoed through the bridge and the smiles of their comrades echoed on other parts of it, Anaya smiled as well, but her smile was a silent one. She did her duty proudly and started checking the rest of the fleet and gathering the needed Intel for the captains briefing. And, at the same time she monitored the movements of the soldiers and the scientists through the ship. It was good not to be alone anymore. It was good to have a crew.
She said a silent prayer for the dead crewmen who stood in the hall and smiled because now she knew that their mission truly was successful. And that they will be avenged.
CHAPTER TEN
30 April 2018 07:50 hours
Sedna Sol System
Jennings looked at the report in his hands. He spent the last hour reading it and then discussing its contents with his officers and with Major Ellis and Colonel Stefanovski. Both he and the two soldiers had smiles on their faces. The reason for that were the two smaller cruisers. The huge battleship was barely operational. It had massive damages to its hull structure, its bow was broken and the hyper engines were damaged beyond repair. Its sub light engines could operate at fifty percent and its shields power was at ten percent. He knew that it would take massive work for the ship to be operational again. But the two smaller ships although they had damages as well were in a far better shape. Their shields and hull also had damages but the damages were almost superficial. Their shields were at fifty percent. And their armor was well preserved. The rest of the fleet was in a different condition. The supply ships were in solid condition and the same could be said about the mining ships and the two repair ships. Besides those ships among the ones in best condition were the four colony ships. They were the largest ones in the entire fleet and combined with the additional armor and weapon systems among the most powerful ones as well.
The civilian ships were in bad shape. Most of them were damaged in the battles and with time those damages spread. None of them had the shield and armor or the strong hull structure that the military ships had. He knew that only about twenty maybe thirty percent could be repaired. But as Anaya said the rest had parts that could be used in the short term.
He also remembered the other report on the files he was about to send. In them was everything that Anaya knew of their enemy up to the moment of their last contact. He knew that although it was twelve thousand years out of date the military will find useful things in it.
He raised his head as he heard the footsteps that signaled the arrival of the two shuttle pilots. He knew that their presence would be required for the evaluation of the shuttles and the space fighters they saw in the hangar. They saluted as they entered on the bridge. He smiled as he noticed their reaction to Anaya and the bridge. It was their first time here.
He knew that Anaya sent a notification to EFN requesting the presence of both Admiral Levin and General Taylor. He wondered how they reacted when the message said that they will make a video call. The answer was that the call will have to go through NASA. That was five hours ago. He looked at the watch.
It was 8 am in Florida. It was time. He turned toward the hologram of the ships AI.
“Anaya are you sure that the Demetrion will be able to make the trip?”
“I’m quite sure commander. The ship has its quirks just the same as every ship in this fleet does but it won’t hamper its journey to Earth and back. And besides we will need those parts and the people if we are to use this fleet.”
He scratched his head ant thought for a second. Then he raised his head and looked at the AI.
“Ok then. Make the call Anaya.”
“Yes sir.”
Few seconds later he could see the faces of several admirals and generals and several scientists as well. He didn’t know how she was able to get a direct link from there but he didn’t care. He was aware of the advantages. So when he saw the surprised faces of everyone at Cape Carnival he just smiled.
“Good evening sirs.”
To their credit they recovered from the shock quickly.
“Good evening captain.”
Admiral Levin and after him general Taylor stepped forward.
“You requested our presence here. If this technology is what we think it is than I guess you found something there. Something we can use.”
Jennings smiled. His smile seemed to relax everyone on the other side, and as the rest of the people on the bridge smiled as well, smiles started appearing on the other side as well.
“You might say that sir. You might say that, and then think of more.”
“What do you mean by that?”
Jennings inhaled.
“Before I begin I would like you to meet someone.”
Before they could respond he called her.
“Anaya you may come out now.”
On those words a blue shimmering light appeared by his left side. A moment later he AI appeared. As she came in to the view he could see the gasps on the video from everyone.
“Gentlemen I would like to intro
duce Anaya Argos of Alteran. She is the AI of the Hyperion class battleship Argos.”
The AI smiled and simply said:
“Hi…”
“She looks like us. She looks human.”
“That will be explained in the report that we are sending you now. That report contains all the information’s about this fleet, its capability, and about our enemy at least everything she has till about twelve thousand years ago. That was the time when her creators arrived on Earth in order to hide from them. And sir, she looks human because her creators and the builders of this fleet were humans.”
He could see the stunned reactions off everyone. Both the admirals and the generals looked at him with faces that showed disbelief.
“Let me put this straight captain. You are saying that the builders of that fleet, a fleet that arrived here twelve thousand years ago were humans.”
Jennings stood from the commander’s chair and looked at his commanding officer on the other side. Levin looked back.
“Yes admiral. And I have thousands of bodies in this ship and on the others that will confirm that. It can also be confirmed by the autopsy report of doctors Dubois and Heller, and the reports from all members of this mission.”
“That will open up a lot of questions commander, questions about which we don’t have time.”
Before Jennings could reply a younger officer stepped forward. Jennings didn’t recognize him.
“You said that the report holds information about our enemies? Are you saying that the Dacarians were a space faring civilization at the time?”
His question brought silence. It was obvious from the expressions of everyone that they could very well understand its meaning. The few smiles disappeared fast. The faces of everyone especially the scientists, fell and showed disappointment and fear.
Anaya watched their reactions with interest. It allowed her a chance to see people outside the small group that came on the mission. And from the information that Jennings gave her during their talk several of the top officers, the ones that were going to make the key decisions were present on the other side of the screen. It was important to know their reactions, and if they would react with fear or rashness to the news. What she saw, was that although they obviously felt fear they didn’t shed away. Instead she saw determination, and even that look of desperation but also preparedness to fight no matter what, a look she knew well from her builders.
The Icarian Legacy Collected Edition: Brave Souls - First Strike (Volume 3) Page 18
