by Doug Farren
The bridge consoles were situated such that the operators faced in the same direction as the Captain’s chair. The upper section of each station contained a set of displays that duplicated what the console operator saw in front of him. This arrangement allowed the Captain to continuously monitor the status of every station on the bridge.
The tactical viewer was placed inside this parabolic arrangement of consoles with the tactical console located on the right side and the science console on the left as viewed from the Captain’s chair. Both of these stations faced the Captain’s command chair. The tactical viewer was a large globe capable of rendering images in full three dimensions. Special colors and codes were used to indicate velocities, distances, types of ships, etc. A trained bridge officer could interpret the various codes and colors at a glance.
During battle conditions, the tactical station served as the central point of contact between the Captain and CIC. The Combat Information Center, or CIC, served as the primary control center for all weapons and tactical data analysis. The executive officer stationed himself there during battle stations.
In operation, the CIC would gather all available tactical data and condense it down to a manageable amount of information which would then be presented on the tactical station. The operator at this station could access any of the individual data streams. It was this operator’s duty to keep the Captain informed of the ship’s overall tactical situation.
The science station worked hand-in-hand with the tactical station to present a detailed analysis of the data gathered by the cruiser’s vast array of external and internal sensors. It was this station’s duty to report on and analyze anything the Captain needed detailed information about. A separate computer core was dedicated to the analysis of scientific data.
The Captain's command console was a semicircular banked console of displays and computer interfaces. Most of the commonly used functions such as ship-wide address, battle stations initiation, communications, and main viewscreen control were located on a panel to the Captain’s immediate right. The command chair could rotate 360 degrees. The various displays and controls could be connected to any of the individual consoles on the bridge.
This particular arrangement of consoles had been developed over many years of trial and error and had become pretty standard in Human built ships. Other races had developed similar, although not exact, layouts for their bridges. Unlike what many people believed, the Dragon’s bridge was not located at the front or the top of the ship but, instead, was buried near the ship’s core just forward of engineering.
Ken had come out of the head just in time to see the stars on the main viewer shift. “That’s just too freaky,” Ken muttered to himself.
Doug Scarboro appeared on his right and replied, “Twelve hundred light years of compressed space has suddenly been uncompressed. Freaky doesn’t even come close to describing it.”
Captain Sheppard looked at the final display and, in the blink of an eye, performed a series of mental calculations. “Helm, alter course by eight degrees port, declination plus four degrees. Computer, display a countdown until the hyperdimensional field is reestablished and distance traveled since FTL was last engaged.”
“Do you think a course correction is wise?” Doug asked.
Ken had seen the same thing Captain Sheppard had noticed and nodded his head approvingly, “Good call Captain,” he said just loud enough for her to hear him.
Sheppard pointed toward one of the red icons and explained her actions for Doug’s benefit, “That ship is on a direct intercept. I don’t want to give them a chance to send a gravity mine our way. The course correction is small and should not affect our ability to make it into Chroniech space in time.”
Doug looked at the tactical display and frowned. He had never been good at computing trajectories in his head and was forced to accept the statement as fact. Doug understood the Captain’s concern. While under FTL drive a ship was immune to weapons fire because it simply did not exist in normal three dimensional space. Gravity, however, transcended all dimensions and has a profound effect on a ship’s stardrive field.
In order to engage a ship in combat it must first be forced out of stardrive. The gravity mine was the device used to do just that. The mine generates a very powerful, although short-lived, gravitational field. If activated close enough to an operating stardrive the spacetime distortion caused by the gravitational field will collapse the drive fields causing the ship to drop back into normal space.
According to the Kyrra, the Komodo Dragon had to traverse at least a quarter of a light year into Chroniech space before the hyperdimensional field was reestablished or risk being left outside the field’s boundary. Apparently, the exact location of the field could not be accurately predicted. Pushing the Dragon’s stardrive to the max flung them through space at a mind-boggling speed of 11,121 times the speed of light giving them just under twelve minutes to cover the required distance.
“Several Chroniech ships are heading directly toward Alliance space at high speed,” Commander Tobunga reported from CIC. “They appear to be ignoring us.”
The bridge was silent. All eyes watched the main display as the time ticked down and the distance ticked up. There was a release of tension when the distance indicated exactly 0.250. A short time later the timer hit 0.00.
Ken felt a sickening lurch as the drive fields surrounding the ship suddenly collapsed violently throwing the cruiser back into normal space. His insides felt like somebody had twisted them into a tight knot then quickly let go.
Fighting her own nausea, Sheppard ordered, “Helm, reset the drive and get us back underway as soon as engineering can support it.” After glancing at the tactical display she added, “Normal drive initiation Mr. Barnes. As soon as we have a navigational fix on our location set a course for the rendezvous coordinates making any necessary adjustments to avoid contact with the Chroniech.”
“Aye ma’am,” the helm replied in a somewhat shaky voice as he turned to his console. A few minutes later the Dragon was underway again.
Ken turned to Doug noting with satisfaction that the Commodore looked as bad as he felt. The nausea had mostly passed leaving a splitting headache behind. “That thoroughly sucked,” he remarked. “I wish we had been told to expect that.”
Doug swallowed with a visible effort then replied, “I agree. Unfortunately, we don’t know all there is to know about hyperdimensional fields and the effect they have on spacetime.”
Sheppard stood up and stretched. She had not left the bridge since arriving at the edge of the barrier. “Well, we’re here. Cut off from the Alliance in enemy territory. I hope the Kyrra know what they’re doing.”
Doug rubbed his temple hoping to make the headache go away. “Let’s hope the Kyrra made it into Alliance space. They are the ones I think will matter the most.”
“The Kyrra, and no Chroniech,” Captain Sheppard agreed sinking back into the command chair.
She pressed a button on her console and paused as the ship’s announcing system emitted an attention-getting tone. “All hands, this is the Captain. We have successfully entered Chroniech space. At this time there are no enemy ships capable of intercepting us within our detector range. Stand down from general quarters. Maintain the ship at alert status.”
A Problem Arrives
Fleet Commander Chomach tey Tantaga floated God-like above a gigantic three dimensional representation of space. In actuality, he was seated at his command console in the fleet operations center deep inside the Rin’Bak. The total-effect virtual reality helmet on his head provided the illusion of his God-like abilities. With a flick of his hands or a turn of his head he could quickly fly to any location in space, bring up the detailed tactical analysis of any chosen target, or put himself in direct communication with a single ship or an entire fleet.
The Fleet Commander kept a watchful eye on the nearly 200 ships that had been placed under his command. Spread out across a vast area of space, the fleet hung motionles
s with respect to the position of the fold waiting for it to vanish. The Rin’Bak was one of only four Tholtaran juggernauts in existence. She was a titanic warship of almost inconceivable power.
The juggernaut had been designed to bring the power of planetary-scale weaponry directly to the enemy. Prior to the Chroniech war only six had ever been built. One had been destroyed by the Humans and one by the Hess. The Chroniech had managed to destroy two more. The Rin’Bak was the first of several replacements and had taken nine years to build in the highly automated Tholtaran shipyards. A second had recently been completed and was undergoing space trials. Three more replacements were under construction but it would be years before they were completed.
Chomach came from a family with an extensive military background. He could trace his lineage back several hundred years. His great grandfather had fought the Humans in the short-lived war that had erupted shortly after that race had gained the ability to build a stardrive. His father was a renowned scientist developing advanced stardrives for the Alliance.
Chomach had originally tried to follow in his father’s footsteps and had enrolled in the science academy. Science, however, was not something he enjoyed. Instead, he had spent his spare time reading military history and studying battle tactics. He struggled for two years at the academy before dropping out and joining the Tholtaran navy.
His father had been bitter over Chomach’s decision but soon became proud of his son as he graduated at the top of his class then proceeded to advance rapidly up the ranks until he now commanded the most powerful ship ever built by his race. His unique background in both science and military tactics made him a formidable Fleet Commander.
The pre-fold charts showed a star system to be located 1.3 light years from their present position. The validity of this information was verified by the presence of a large mass affecting space at the location specified by the old star charts. The long-range sensors, however, could detect nothing there.
Starships traversing the Kyrra fold were required to have their navigational systems reprogrammed to account for the oddities encountered in this area of space. The Rin’Bak’s navigational and tactical computers both recognized the presence of the fold and ignored what appeared to be large mass anomalies. Instead, the computers substituted the location of the stars according to the travel distance. It took some getting used to.
The current charts showed the nearest system to be located 3.7 light years away. Fifteen years ago that same star would have been unreachable because it was located over 1,200 light years from their current position. The Kyrra hyperdimensional field had altered space in an almost incomprehensible manner.
Nobody, including the infamous Rouldian scientist Falnath, could say for certain what would be seen today when the hyperdimensional field was deactivated. There were plenty of guesses but nobody was willing to go out on a professional limb to predict exactly what would happen.
“Starshift has been detected!” the senior tactical officer announced.
“Acknowledged,” Chomach replied. “Power all weapons and standby.”
The juggernaut’s long-range sensors, operating at faster-than-light speeds, had been locked on the same guide star the Komodo Dragon was watching. The star had suddenly vanished indicating that the hyperdimensional field had been shutdown. For a brief moment the juggernaut’s tactical computer became confused and error messages appeared. A secondary program activated and loaded the old map into the tactical system. The hologram swirled and shifted then stabilized as the tactical computer regained its composure.
A new star had appeared 1.3 light years from their current position. A few seconds passed as the long-range sensors scanned space. The blue icon representing the Komodo Dragon began moving into Chroniech space at a very high speed. Three red icons representing Chroniech ships appeared. A second later a series of numbers and symbols appeared next to each of the enemy icons.
Chomach quickly read the statistics with a practiced eye. One heavy freighter heading away from them at a moderate speed – no threat. One battleship at the edge of their detection range – too far away and therefore no threat. One light cruiser at a distance of 0.12 light years was quickly altering course and speed and could possibly become a threat if it managed to cross into Alliance space before the Kyrra reengaged the hyperdimensional field.
Chomach made a movement with his right hand and a virtual command console appeared. He pressed a nonexistent button to activate a fleet-wide transmission. “All ships are reminded to remain at their assigned position until the field is reestablished,” Chomach ordered then dismissed the keyboard with a wave of his hand.
One Chroniech light cruiser was no threat to the assembled firepower of the Alliance fleet. Chomach, however, knew that in less than fifteen minutes things could quickly change. Twelve hundred light years away there may very well be other Chroniech ships heading beyond the fold. The moment the hyperdimensional field was reactivated all of Chroniech space would suddenly vanish. If the majority of the predictions were true, then virtually all of the Chroniech ships that had managed to make it to Alliance space would suddenly appear on their sensors as space itself shrank. Until then, the fleet would hold their position and wait.
The allotted fifteen minutes seemed to take an eternity to pass. Chomach watched as the icon representing the Dragon made its small course correction. He was pleased to see it pass the line it had to cross to ensure they were in Chroniech space when the hyperdimensional field was reactivated. A few minutes later, the stars again shifted, the hologram swirled, and the blue icon was gone. One by one, as the long-range scans returned their data, fourteen red icons spread out across a huge area of space appeared.
Three yellow icons traveling at over 16,000c had also appeared. Chomach quietly spoke into the microphone inside his helmet giving the tactical computer instructions. The yellow icons turned blue and were identified as Kyrra. As he finished, a flashing icon appeared in his field of view indicating an incoming transmission. He accepted it and the furry face of a Kyrra appeared in the inset virtual screen.
“This is Fleet Commander Chomach. Welcome to Alliance space,” he began. He was interrupted before he could continue.
“We have detected the presence of a Chroniech ship that must be destroyed. It is a large vessel currently located exactly 0.213 light years from our current position.” The Kyrra’s face was completely covered in a polychromatic fur which appeared to be primarily light tan in color. Its large brown eyes stared directly into the screen. The mouth was small and no ears could be seen.
From what Chomach knew of the Kyrra, their instructions were not to be taken lightly. He made some quick hand motions and spoke a command to the tactical computer. The fast-moving Kyrra ships were highlighted and a dim sphere appeared around them A single ship on the surface of the sphere was identified and highlighted. Chomach selected that ship then in quick succession selected three nearby battle groups and four Mispha class interceptors. A virtual console appeared and commands were issued.
Returning his attention to the Kyrra, Chomach said, “Three battle groups have been dispatched. Why is this particular Chroniech ship more important than the others that have made it into Alliance space?”
“We believe the ship to be capable of generating a field that will allow the Chroniech to breach the hyperdimensional field.”
“We shall give priority to its destruction. I have been ordered to request that you proceed directly to Almaranus. My readings indicate that you are already on the correct course. I have no ships capable of matching your current velocity but if you wish to slow down I can assign an escort.”
“We do not require an escort. Time is of the essence,” the Kyrra replied.
“Very well,” Chomach said. “You are to contact Almaranus as soon as you are able.”
“Understood,” came the terse reply and the communications link was closed.
Chomach quickly reviewed the current tactical situation. The Chroniech had managed to react
quicker than anticipated to the disappearance of the hyperdimensional field. The enemy ships consisted of six light cruisers, three heavy cruisers, two battleships, and one of unknown class of considerable tonnage. This last vessel had already been identified as a serious threat by the Kyrra.
The tactical data displayed so far was based on the estimated tonnage and energy signature of the associated ships. Detailed scans were being blocked by interference fields. The unknown ship had mysteriously reversed course as soon as the fold had been reestablished and was now slowing to a halt relative to the fold. As Chomach watched, it dropped out of stardrive.
Chomach scanned the tactical display until the movements of the remaining Chroniech ships began to show a pattern. They’re all running in different directions, he thought. They may be trying to draw the bulk of our ships away from the one the Kyrra warned us about or they may simply be trying to escape so they can regroup later. Chomach quickly split his remaining resources into several groups and issued orders.
Mishpa class interceptors, which had been strategically positioned throughout an enormous volume of space, were soon racing toward their designated targets. Built by the Rouldians, the Mishpa class interceptors were sleek craft designed for but one purpose – to intercept an enemy warship and force it into normal space. Their stardrives were constantly being updated to keep them state of the art. They carried minimal weapons but were protected by the tightest and strongest shield known to Alliance science.
Chomach congratulated himself on the positioning of the interceptors. The Chroniech ships were fast – very fast. If the interceptors had been in formation with the rest of the Alliance fleet they would have been unable to catch the fleeing enemy ships. The Mishpa class ships could achieve a maximum sustained speed of 4,683c. The fastest Chroniech ship was racing away at a speed of 4,884c. But, because of Chomach’s positioning of the interceptors all of the Chroniech ships would be intercepted in a matter of minutes.