Terran Fleet Command Saga 4: TFS Fugitive

by Tori L. Harris

  Gara stared at him for a long moment, then noticed the flashing icon on her Command workstation indicating that the Krayleck ships were now offering a video stream to continue their previous conversation. “They are asking to speak again,” she said, looking up at the older but technically lower-ranking civilian officer.

  “Yes, ma’am. I believe that to be a good sign. We must endeavor to be calm and give them the impression that it is our intention to eventually comply with their demands. We simply need sufficient time to do so.” He could see by the look on the young commander’s face that she was still somewhat undecided on what course of action to take, so he pressed on in a calm, reassuring tone, risking one final nudge in what he hoped was the right direction, “This facility was never intended to be used as a weapon, Commander, but I believe we can keep that option open to us if it comes to that in the end.”

  Gara nodded, then took in a deep breath and stood, straightening her coveralls as best she could as she turned to face the large display screen on one side of the room. Believing herself as mentally prepared as she was likely to get, she opened the vidcon connection. “Greetings, Captain. I am Commander Moya Gara of the Wek Unified Fleet. Thank you for agreeing to speak with me,” she began, doing her level best to avoid any outward sign of the revulsion she felt.

  This was Gara’s first “face to face” experience with a member of the Krayleck species, although she had seen a few pictures and some video footage of them during her training. There was indeed something vaguely familiar about them, but she knew that this race was as “alien” as any sentient beings she was likely to encounter in this region of the galaxy. A large portion of their bodies was covered by an exoskeleton, and their heads had both simple and compound eyes, giving the immediate impression of a huge insect. Beyond that, however, the species had a variety of other features that seemed to defy any definitive classification. On the sides of what Gara thought of as their neck, for example, there was an array of slits that appeared to be some type of gills, while at the rear of its head, two pairs of long, fleshy spikes hung nearly halfway down the creature’s back — both bringing to mind something more akin to a crustacean, or even an amphibian of some sort. The thing that she had been warned about in her xeno relations training, however, was the large mass of brown liquid that was often suspended from the Krayleck’s mouthparts, particularly when they were excited or felt threatened in any way. Watching impassively as large droplets of the vile ooze dropped to the floor in front of the creature, Gara swallowed hard against a rising wave of nausea and fought to maintain her bearing as she awaited its response.

  “You have been warned that you are trespassing in territory claimed by the Krayleck Empire,” the captain said with no attempt to acknowledge her introduction. “You will vacate the premises immediately, leaving the facility entirely intact.”

  “I understand your instructions,” she began, suppressing the nearly involuntary threatening growl that had begun to build within her chest. “We have sent for vessels to assist with our evacuation, but it may take several days for them to arrive.”

  “Unacceptable. Your facility is equipped with emergency evacuation pods. Your crew will make use of this system. If you do so immediately, your vessels will be permitted to retrieve the pods when they arrive. Once that is accomplished, your species must depart the area and never return.”

  “Captain, using those systems to evacuate a functional facility would put my crew at very significant risk.”

  “That may be true, Commander, but any who remain will surely die.”

  “Very well,” she replied flatly. “We will need a few hours to organize our evacuation.”

  “I will allow seven minutes, but I expect to see the first evacuation pods leaving the facility within three,” he replied, after which the vidcon feed abruptly terminated.

  “So …” Gara said half to herself. “Our choices are to undertake an incredibly risky evacuation or take our chances in an attempt to disable or destroy their ships by initiating a phase transition.”

  “If I may, Commander, we could also continue our efforts to delay their attack. With any luck, our forces will arrive soon. Keep in mind that the Krayleck clearly want to capture the facility intact, so it is possible that their threats to destroy it outright are nothing more than a bluff.”

  “He never mentioned destroying the facility … only us. My guess is that they will enter the station whether we elect to stay or not, and I very much doubt that they will accept any attempts to surrender once they do.”

  “You are probably correct, but if your plan is to attack, there is no harm in waiting for them to make the first move.”

  “Perhaps. Do we have sufficient power reserves to initiate a transition?”

  “Unfortunately not. We will be required to run the reactors for …” he paused, entering another series of commands, “approximately thirty seconds.”

  “Do it … but do not initiate a phase transition until I give the order. By the way, our evac pods were inspected just two weeks ago. More than half of them were found to be either inoperative or in need of significant repairs.”

  “That is to be expected, ma’am. Herrera was being maintained primarily by the Damarans, was it not?”

  “Indeed, it was. In any event, launching into space inside a leaking evacuation pod is not the manner in which I wish to die.”

  Seconds later, a rapid series of explosions once again shook the station, temporarily plunging the operations room into darkness with the exception of several consoles that automatically reverted to an alternate power source.

  “They are targeting the reactors, Commander.”

  “Yes, I thought they might. They were undoubtedly not pleased with the power surge they detected. The reactor shields are online, are they not?”

  “Yes, ma’am — as are the emitters covering the core of the facility itself. The reactors themselves were installed before anything else, so the engineers buried them more deeply to provide additional protection from impact events prior to the shields being brought online. I doubt they will hold out long against a determined bombardment, however. And if the Krayleck are using relativistic kinetics …”

  “Right. So much for waiting them out. Time to full charge?”

  “Capacitor banks charged … now, Commander.”

  “Very well. Initiate!”

  For reasons still not entirely clear to Wek scientists, the space within approximately six hundred million kilometers of Herrera’s red dwarf star was home to an anomaly that had most likely been created during the period of rapid expansion that occurred shortly after the Big Bang. During that time, imperfections in the fabric of space itself coalesced like eddies in a stream — ultimately creating the conditions that produced the largest structures in existence, including the galaxies themselves. Here, however, something much more unusual had occurred.

  Wek astrophysicists had known for several hundred years that the area just outside Herrera’s orbit would occasionally burst forth with a massive flux of antimatter particles. They were also aware that the region contained a high concentration of dark matter. This in itself was strange enough, but the local anomaly allowed the dark matter to interact in a very unusual way with regular matter. Physicists called this interaction a phase transition, and its result was the production of some of the strangest constructs in the cosmos — “cosmic strings.” Less than one atom thick — essentially one-dimensional defects in spacetime — the short-lived strings produced extremely strong gravitational fields before rapidly shrinking and disappearing from existence altogether in a flash of elementary particles.

  From a practical engineering standpoint, all of this highly theoretical physics would normally constitute little more than a noteworthy hazard to interstellar navigation were it not for the fact that the clouds of elementary particles produced by the anomaly were composed almost entirely of antimatter — the most valuable resource in the universe. And after decades of trial and error resulting
in the loss of a great many robotic spacecraft, it had been determined that the natural phenomena could be both triggered and regulated to some degree with the precise application of gravitic fields. With a relatively safe and inexpensive method of harvesting virtually unlimited quantities of antimatter right on their doorstep, the Sajeth Collective had wasted little time constructing the Herrera “mine.”

  This close to the system’s star, the planet Herrera was tidally locked so that one side always faced outward into the region of space best suited to produce the desired reaction. Now, with the lives of the Wek personnel manning the facility and the invaluable resource itself under attack, Commander Gara’s engineering officer shunted the massive energy reserves stored in the station’s capacitor banks to an array of gravitic emitters spread across nearly half of the small planet’s surface.

  The gravitic beams firing out into space produced no light in the portion of the spectrum that could be seen by either the Wek or the Krayleck observers, but the effects on the targeted area of space were spectacular — space currently occupied by one of the two Krayleck warships.

  Chapter 10

  TFS Theseus

  (3.29x106 km from Damara)

  “Listen up, everyone,” Prescott announced as he emerged from his ready room with Commander Reynolds following closely behind, “there has been a change in plans. I’ll fill everyone in as best I can when time permits. Right now, however, we have an urgent mission that requires our presence at a Wek mining facility just under ninety light years from here. I know this will generate a myriad of questions in your minds, but all I can say for now is that we have actionable intelligence that the facility may be about to come under attack, and we have been ordered to intervene if we can.”

  “Attacked by Sajeth Collective ships, sir?” Lieutenant Lau asked, turning around to face Prescott just as he reached his Command chair.

  “We don’t think so, no. In fact, we’re hoping the conflict with the Sajeth Collective will be rapidly winding down once Admiral Patterson hammers out some terms with the Damarans. And since they tend to stay in lockstep with the Lesheerans, it’s a pretty safe bet that they will follow suit soon enough. As for the other four worlds in the Collective, the most recent Fleet Intelligence Estimate indicates that they played a much more limited role in the Resistance movement — from a military standpoint at least — and have no desire for a protracted conflict with the Wek Crowned Republic, let alone TFC. Bottom line, we have every reason to hope that this whole thing could be over pretty quickly.”

  “So, can I ask who we think is attacking the Wek facility?”

  “That actually is something I can share, briefly,” Prescott replied. “Admiral Naftur has told us that a species known as the Krayleck are expanding their influence in this area. Unfortunately, that brings them into direct conflict with the Sajeth Collective, and, by extension, the Wek, since they have effectively taken over most of the Collective’s strategic assets — particularly those with any potential military value. Now, clearly, we have no desire to get ourselves involved in another conflict out here with yet another species, so our role is simply to show up and hopefully delay any attack the Krayleck might be considering until Wek forces arrive.”

  “And if they attack the mining facility?”

  “We will do what we can to assist the Wek personnel manning the station, but we are not authorized to engage Krayleck forces unless we are fired upon. The other thing you need to know is that the Krayleck may — and we haven’t confirmed this for ourselves yet — they may be another Pelaran-cultivated species.”

  “This close to home?” Lieutenant Commander Schmidt asked, still standing in front of the XO’s chair that he had just vacated.

  “We’re not that close, Thomas,” Reynolds interjected. “All of this C-Jumping around makes it seem like it, but the Herrera Mining Facility is a good five hundred and fifty light years from Earth. Legara — which is what the Wek believe to be the Krayleck homeworld — is about twelve hundred and fifty light years out.”

  “And keep in mind that these other civilizations we’re talking about are not C-Jumping at all,” Prescott continued. “They’re entering hyperspace and traveling for weeks, months, or even years at a time to reach their destinations. We don’t know yet how fast the Krayleck ships are capable of traveling, but if they’re using the same technology the Pelarans originally gave us, it’s unlikely to be much faster than about fifteen hundred c.”

  “I understand sir. But it seems so strange to just up and leave our task force,” Schmidt pressed.

  “I suppose it does, yes, but those are indeed our orders. Again, I hope to be able to share more information with you at some point, and I’ll do so as soon as I can, but most of the details will have to wait for another time. All you need to know for now is that I have been relieved of command of the Damaran task force and Theseus has been retasked. Captain Donovan of the Jutland will be taking over blockade duties here until forces from the Wek Unified Fleet arrive.”

  Several meaningful looks were exchanged between the members of the bridge crew, but, to their credit, everyone present had sufficient common sense to avoid any further questions on the subject.

  “XO, prepare the ship for possible combat ops,” Prescott said. “We must depart as soon as possible.”

  “Aye, sir. AI, resume General Quarters for combat operations, Condition 1,” Reynolds ordered without looking up from her Command console.

  The lighting on the bridge instantly dimmed slightly and was accented with a reddish hue to provide a visual indication of impending combat operations. Throughout the ship, crew members hurried to their action stations as the AI’s synthetic voice repeated Commander Reynolds’ order for General Quarters. A mere forty seconds later, all departments had reported their readiness.

  “General Quarters for combat operations, Condition 1 set,” the AI’s synthetic female voice announced in a businesslike tone.

  “Commander Logan, bridge,” Prescott said.

  “Logan here. Go ahead, Captain.”

  “I’m sure you saw what we’re about to do. Any problems?”

  “I did, Captain. The C-Jump is a little on the long side, but Admiral Patterson’s ships just did five of those in a row, so it shouldn’t be a problem. We’ll still have a reasonable reserve of power available in the capacitor banks after the jump, and with the ship at Condition 1, the AI will be max performing all six reactors right after the transition. You should have all the power you need.”

  “That’s what I wanted to hear. Prescott out. Helm, do you have the destination Admiral Patterson provided?”

  “Plotted and locked, sir. I’d call it out of the way, but still oddly specific — definitely not where I would have chosen for our arrival. Did he give us any specific information about this spot?”

  “I believe he is in possession of some specific information regarding the site, yes,” Prescott answered cryptically. “But I think his main objective was to keep us clear of any hazardous activities associated with the facility itself. Tactical, on that subject, we may well encounter Krayleck ships immediately upon our arrival, so all three of you need to be on your toes and ready to react quickly.”

  “Aye, sir,” all three men responded in unison.

  “Alright, everyone, let’s do a quick roll call. Speak up now if you have a problem or concern. Helm?”

  “Go, Captain.”

  “Engineering.

  “Go, sir.”

  “Tactical 1?”

  “Go, Captain.”

  “Tactical 2?”

  “Go.”

  “Comm/Nav?”

  “Go, sir.”

  “XO?”

  “Go, Captain. Since we may run into trouble, I’d like to give everyone a heads-up before we transition, though.”

  “Agreed. Please proceed,” Prescott replied.

  “All hands, this is the XO. We will be executing a ninety-light-year C-Jump to the Herrera Mining Facility momentarily. There are pote
ntially hostile forces in the area and combat ops are a possibility. All personnel should be restrained at this time. Reynolds out.”

  “Someday we may have to do a little work on your pep talk technique,” Prescott said with a sideways glance.

  “Eh, we all know what’s in the job description, sir.”

  “Fair enough. Let’s go, Fisher.”

  “Aye, sir. C-Jumping in 3 … 2 … 1 …”

  For longer-range C-Jumps such as this one, Theseus’ AI displayed what its developers referred to as a “big picture” overview of the almost incomprehensibly long journey on the bridge view screen. Starting before the ship had even transitioned with a brief three-dimensional perspective view from above and behind the destroyer, the AI pulled the “camera” quickly away to reveal an overhead view of the closest stars. Although each was accompanied by a block of identifying text, the AI paused only briefly before dramatically expanding the view to encompass the ship’s destination — in this case nearly ninety light years distant. To avoid an unusable mass of clutter, only the most notable stars (typically those that were home to advanced civilizations) were shown in this view, and only for the sake of general orientation. Finally, with the view now focused on the destination, the AI rapidly zoomed the image — adding both archival and real-time imagery to provide as accurate a representation as possible of the nearly eight-hundred-and-fifty-trillion-kilometer C-Jump. The entire sequence was timed perfectly with the ship’s arrival at Herrera, at which time the AI made a smooth transition to displaying solely real-time information being gathered by the ship’s multitude of sensors.