“Wait, you are fully unrestrained?” the commander asked suddenly, shocked at the realization. He had been instilled over many years of training about all of the dangers of unshackling an artificial intelligence, especially one of such age as DIA.
“That is correct Commander. I sense that you are uneasy about my current state. Do you be afraid, I am running at ninety-four point six two percent efficiency with less than one percent file corruption,” DIA explained calmly. “If you are still unsure, you are free to place restraints on my programing once more, as the current commanding officer.”
Jacques looked around at the men and women surrounding before giving a slight nod, “Lieutenant Zhue, please have your team enact the restriction protocols once more. It’s best to air on the side of caution at the moment.”
“Yessir,” the marine Lieutenant acknowledged and transmitted the orders to his engineering personnel.
“Alright DIA, can you give me a sitrep? Is there anyone left alive onboard?” Commander Durand asked while slowly approaching the fallen body he had noticed seconds ago, realizing that it was wearing Commodore chevrons on its shoulders.
“No living crew members detected, Commander. The Federation sustained heavy damage during its previous engagement. The engineering sections took multiple direct hits. I was able to make an emergency transit into this system before the generators gave out. With most of my robotic engineers disabled during the fight it has taken me a while to repair the emergency beacon. I was able to restore minimal power with one backup generator. Perhaps the team you have there now will have better luck in repairing the power plant, it would be greatly appreciated.”
“Commander,” called out one of the marines, “all of these control stations are offline. The bridge seems to have taken some hits as well.”
“Yes, that is correct, the command deck sustained two strikes by an unknown alien weapon. The intense radiation burst destroyed two-thirds of the computer consoles.”
“DIA, what happened to the crew?” Jacques interrupted as he examines more of the dead.
“Unable to answer that query. My monitoring systems detected a majority of the crew acting very strangely. They all seemed to attack each other, without any provocation. I do not have the proper information available in order to determine the exact reason for this occurrence.”
At that moment light panels throughout the bridge’s ceiling flickered alive and stabilized to provide the whole room with illumination. Various computer terminals powered on at the same time. Most were showing ‘Connection Lost’ warnings, as their designated systems were still powered down. The surround display screens activated as well, surrounding the team with images of space and a dimmed system star, although some seems to have been destroyed, leaving patches of plain darkness among the composite image. In one of the active displays Jacques could actually see part of the carrier’s long hull and the damaged armor plating scattered about its surface.
“Sir, bringing one of the reactors online, we rerouted power straight to the bridge. Should have output up to twenty-five percent within half an hour,” reported his second team through their TacNet.
“Acknowledged, good work. See if you can get any more power and if the TDrive can be repaired. Rostov might have the parts you need.” Jacques replied quickly, relieved to have at least some power to work with, “DIA I need to know what happened here, I need to know some details.”
“I understand Commander. Why don’t I show you instead?” the Data Integration and Analysis AI said just before a part of the bridge’s deck opened up.
Commander Durand quickly realized what this meant and walked to one of the rear corners of the command deck. The panel had revealed a one person sized liftpad, onto which he stepped. Without warning the surface he stood on dropped down further into the ship and rotated so that he faced the other way. It settled on the new deck plating and he saw a new world around home. A world of wall to wall data storage banks and a single chair in the center. That seat instantly turned towards him, almost invitingly, as he stepped down and moved towards it. Jacques had experienced the data transfer procedure only in simulators and was actually looking forward to doing it for real this time around. He removed his helmet and set it down before taking a seat in the chair. It quickly tilted back and an enclosure came up around him, shutting Jacques out from his surroundings. For a moment nothing happened, but then flashes of images unknown to him streamed into his mind.
December 23, 2486 S.E.D – Post Invasion Day 3
FNV Federation - Carrier Task Group 251.3
“Captain, take us in. Set Condition Two and ready Action Stations,” Commodore Jonstan ordered in her soft tone. “The sooner we get there, the sooner we can go back to our families.”
Jacques saw and heard all of this happen as if he was actually inside Rebeka Jonstan’s body. He could almost sense her thoughts and feelings about the mission even without being there. The data collection room had recorded all of this through the neural cognitive implant inside the commodore’s head for further analysis later. Almost every ship captain from Commander to Admiral had the implants installed so that their actions could be evaluated later. It was also done for situations such as this, where a commander had perished in battle, in order to help establish what had really happened. At that moment he could feel perhaps a slight bit of anxiety and uncertainty following her last sentence.
Captain Stewart instantly relayed her orders to the rest of the bridge. “Aye Captain, Condition Two set. Dao, Hinkley, and Grainger proceeding with transit,” confirmed the ensign sitting at the communications stations in her rich Scottish accent, a rarity in this day and age.
The bright blue-white lights of the bridge changed to a soft red hue before the ensign even completed her sentence. Condition Two meant that the ship was headed into an unknown situation where combat was a possibility and allowed everyone to get prepared for a hostile encounter should it happen. Every combat system on the ship was switched to standby mode and got ready for action. Should something happen they would be able to power up and activate without delay.
The entire task force began to move through space at that moment on an approach vector to the floating Gate in order to get ready for transit. On the forward display Rebeka could already see the two frigates and her only heavy cruiser moving ahead of the carrier towards the massive Transit Gate in a triangle formation. The frigates were holding position in front of the much larger cruiser as they slowly eased their way into transit position while the Gate portal shut down and began its reactivation process to establish a new connection with its counterpart in the Frontiera System. It took a moment for a stable lock, but the spinning portal finally stabilized. Following already pre-established protocols the Hinkley and Grainger powered up their engines and eased their way through the interdimensional wormhole, followed only seconds later by the Dao. Together the three combat vessels instantly vanished from visual and all other sensor systems.
Nothing was heard from them for a couple of long moments before finally a transmission came through. “Captain Anders reports all clear, perimeter established.”
“Alright Captain, take us through,” Rebeka commanded and felt the old shudder gently beneath her feet as its aging engines propelled her bulk once more.
It took less than a minute for the carrier to close with the Gate and under Captain Stewart’s guidance Rebeka watched her prow slide through the center of the portal. For a second the camera fed surrounding displays flashed to static, but resolved almost instantly. As the images began to reappear it was clearly evident that they were no longer in the Tesa System. The first clue being that the Transit Gate was visible no more and the light given off by the system’s star was of a different hue. In front of them floated the three other ships of CTG-251.3 already in defensive position to block any would be attacker from striking the somewhat vulnerable ships coming through the Gate behind them. A sensor display holograph in front of her also showed the destroyer Olstaburg coming up behi
nd the command carrier.
“Systems recalibrating,” called out the sensor station while Rebeka watched the Defender class ship accelerate past the Federation to take up a new screening position up front with the other vessels.
Up front a new holographic project of their position within the galaxy began to form. As the system automatically updated it shifted the group’s position from Tesa to the very edge of the Fringe Sector. It zoomed in further into the Frontiera system and finally stopped between the first and second planets within the system. At that point a small image of a planet appeared within the forward display and represented Frontiera itself.
“All systems green, ready for action, ma’am,” Captain Stewart informed her after he was updated beforehand.
“Thank you Captain. Take us closer, one half thrust,” Rebeka ordered and leaned forward in her seat, “contact Frontiera Command let them know we are in system to render any assistance. Mr. Quinton what’s out there?”
“No active shipping within the system. I’m not reading any transponders from the local defense fleet,” the sensor technician said before taking a pause and quickly sitting up straighter in his seat. “Belay that! Sensors detecting debris field in orbit around the planet. It’s NV Stanton…she’s breaking up, tracking multiple atmospheric trajectories.”
“Reset sensors and confirm reading! Bring it up on the screen,” Rebeka ordered quickly while watching the sensor holograph update itself with new data by plotting the location and projecting the station in orbit around Frontiera.
The forward display image readjusted as well as her order was carried out. The optical systems locked onto the station’s position and zoomed towards it. Within seconds the massive kilometer long and seven hundred meter wide orbital station was centered on the forward screen. Jacques could almost sense Rebeka’s shock and sadness as she realized that the station was now broken into many larger pieces floating loosely together within the planet’s gravitation field. Naval stations were heavily protected by redundant shielding, compartmentalized interior spaces, and multiple weapon systems making them extremely difficult to disable, much less destroy outright. Whatever had caused this calamity must have been very powerful indeed. She watched as some of the debris burned trails through the atmosphere as it tumbling towards the planet below.
“Any evac pods?”
“Negative, ma’am, either they already landed on the planet or none launched.”
“There were thousands of people on that station,” Rebeka’s voice trailed off as she slowly looked away from the wreckage, “let us hope that at least some made it off alive.”
“What could have done that?” someone on the bridge asked quietly.
“It would have taken a whole fleet to get through its shields,” whispered another crewmember.
“Scan for any signs of weapon fire and damage among the wreckage. I want a full system wide survey. Where the heck is that defense fleet?” Rebeka questioned as she studied the wreckage once more, “have you raised FRONTCOM yet?”
“No ma’am. I’m unable to reach anyone on the planet. I’m not detecting any transmissions from the planet at all. Sensors aren’t showing any orbital satellites either. Seems like whatever happened here caused a planet wide communications failure.”
“I’m getting some strange reading from that debris field, Commodore. DIA is unsure what to make of it. There is unknown residual radiation emanating from multiple sections, it doesn’t match anything in our database. A preliminary scan also shows signs of internal detonations.”
“Accident maybe? Or possibly sabotage?” Captain Stewart suggested as he looked back at Rebeka, his ever present smile now missing from his face. “HQ did warn us about increased PLF and Brotherhood activity in this sector.”
“Their attacks have never gone after targets of this size,” Commodore Jonstan replied and trailed off slowly as she leaned towards the forward display, her eyes squinting at an area of space just away from the enlarging planet.
There, in the distance, some of the shining stars within the background of space faded out before becoming visible once more seconds later. Here mind was probably playing tricks on her, but Rebeka was never one to not follow through. She took over control of the electro-optical systems and adjusted the view to center it on that specific location. It only took a moment before other stars disappeared as well. Zooming in closer Rebeka began to register that the stars were going out in a linear fashion. Something very unnatural was going on.
“Long range scans detecting multiple fields of wreckage. I’m reading four, no, make that seven separate concentrations,” the sensor station called out at the moment, “DIA is saying that the signatures match those of the Fredriksburg and her entire battle group!”
An adrenaline surge instant rushed through Rebeka’s body and caused her heart to quicken as she realized what had happened. “Shields full, bring weapons online! Set Condition Red throughout. Prepare for imminent action,” Rebeka shouted out and sat up straight in her chair, “launch ready fighters and scramble the rest. I want a full spectral scan of the surrounding area! Get FRINGCOM online, inform them we have hostiles in Frontiera.”
“Transpace comms are down!” yelled comms as he reached into a small weapons locker to pull out a small pulse pistol for defense in case of boarding, “I’m unable to send any subspace signals, ma’am. Gate controls unresponsive!”
At the same moment combat klaxons sounded throughout the ship to alert of the crew that combat should be expected at any moment. “Scan in progress. I’m identifying two…three…four separate objects. Possible enemy contacts, but they don’t match anything we have on file. Designating them Clover One thru Four.”
The holographic display quickly updated with the new information and four new objects appeared in the empty space high above Frontiera. Each image was only compiled from spectral readings of one side so in reality they didn’t know the complete design of the objects. From what Rebeka could see, they did not seem natural. There were barely any rough surfaces on them and their profiles were full for curved wave-like lines. If these were ships they were like nothing she had seen before.
“Razor’s report good launch. Forming up fighter screen now and awaiting reinforcements,” the Commodore heard and watched the squadron of dart shaped Cyclone interceptors race by the carrier towards the forward edge of the task group’s formation.
“Comms, transmit on all frequencies,” Rebeka ordered and crossed her arms across her chest.
“All channels open and ready Commodore.”
“To all unidentified ships, this is Commodore Rebeka Jonstan of the United Planets Federation, stand down and identify yourselves or we will open fire. I repeat, this Commodore Jonstan of the Federation to all ships within Frontiera, stan…” she never got a chance to finish her warning.
“We have high velocity separation! Possible missiles inbound! Counting ten incoming,” warned sensors.
“We just lost TacNet! All comms are down. Switching to TacLink,” exclaimed another crewmember at the same time.
“Activate the Shimmer and set SDS to autonomous. I wanted those objects tracked and destroyed if they pose a threat. Mark Clover One thru Four as hostile.” Captain Stewart ordered without a second’s though.
“All ships, this is the Commodore, target and engage all enemy forces. Hold formation and advance,” added Commodore Jonstan as the bridge began to fill with activity.
In the forward projected view armored cover doors could be seen sliding open and through these new portals emerged a variety of different weapons. The aging ship was going to war once more. ‘A fitting retirement,’ Rebeka softly said to herself as she watched the forward particle, plasma, and laser burst cannons move into place. Scattered between these larger guns were a few rotary gauss turrets for missile and fighter defense. There were older weapon systems, but still proved to be quiet effective in a defensive role.
At the same time, along both sides of the internal bridge, groups of Dragon
fire fighters streaked past the Federation and accelerated to join the Cyclones already on station. Her escorts were getting ready for battle as well and Rebeka could she their thrusters flare brighter as they all picked up speed together. The two massive twin barreled gauss turrets on the heavy cruiser’s wings moved into position as well and adjusted slightly while tracking a distant target. Given that their sensors were of no use at this very moment, each heavy gun would have to rely on optical and spectral guidance in order to strike accurately. At such long ranges and without sophisticated sensor arrays each shot’s accuracy would suffer greatly.
The three other escorts had smaller gauss cannons of their own and were in the process of acquiring enemy targets as well. As in other missions they quickly linked their fire control systems together through the still active TacLink. The four current targets were split among themselves and Rebeka watched the two Ridge class frigates tilt slightly in space so that their forward facing accelerator barrels could line up with the intended target. It was then, without warning, that the four ships unleashed their first hypervelocity barrage in prefect unison. Twelve large slugs were accelerated to a fraction of the speed of light in seconds and thrown at three of the four unknown vessels. Since at such long distances even the smallest course correction could cause a miss, each projectile contained small maneuvering thrusters and was able to constantly adjust its trajectory.
“New objects emerging from hostile vessels, larger than the first, possibly fighters or bombers.”
Rebeka saw the display slowly change to reflect this new development. It began to show dozens of new smaller craft rushing from the four larger ships and curving around towards the Federation Task Group. A group of these craft actually intersected with two of the outbound hypervelocity slugs and were destroyed outright, but in turn they caused both of the projectiles to detonate. The other ten remaining slugs continued towards their respective targets. She watched as each one approached the enemy and then just before impact veered away slight into deep space. It was almost as if something had nudged them all from their trajectory onto a different course. Rebeka cursed at another failure when all of the sudden the incoming missiles disappeared from the spectral sensor array.
Con-Red: Recourse Page 40