“Sounds good but let’s hope we don’t need to” responded Warner. “Anyone seen Dan?”
Ivan chimed in “I saw him heading to the brig as I came in. He’s a worried soul.”
Warner nodded and after a moment’s pause of reflection he said “A lot is riding on his abilities. If the truth be known this is a bit of a long shot. Given the stakes, it’s worth taking. But I won’t be surprised if we fail to communicate effectively. If that’s how it pans out I won’t be giving him a hard time about it and neither should any of you.”
“I didn’t mean anything…” started Ivan.
“Of course not Sir” cut in Ella before Ivan could finish his sentence. “You can count on us.”
Dave nodded and catching sight of the lean Cranky Jack, the officers mess steward, he called out “Cranky has LCmd Simon’s been in yet?”
Cranky turned with his trademark tea towel over his arm and a handful of plates held fast. “Earlier Sir, but he weren’t hungry…just pecked at my savoury pancakes…must be worried sick about Lt Chalker Sir.”
“Yes I reckon you’re right. Thanks Cranky.” Warner slurped down his coffee, grabbed the last bit of toast on his plate, stood up and said “I’ll see you all in half an hour”. As he exited he munched on the toast but his thoughts were on Art. He knew Art was hoping for peace and the quick return of Sue Chalker.
Warner found Art in his cabin. He was sitting on his bed with his feet on the floor and the fingers of his big hands digging deep into his scalp.
Art looked up as Dave entered. “This is the pre op chat isn’t it?” queried Art.
“Yeh I guess” replied Dave.
“I suppose you are going to lecture me about remaining detached. Well don’t. I don’t need your sermonising, not now” said Art with a look that said ‘don’t mess with me’.
Warner raised both hands with his opened palms towards Art. “OK, OK there will be no preaching from me” said Dave. “But I just want to make one thing crystal clear. Establishing comms with them is going to be a long shot. It’s worth trying but if it fails I will launch probes and warp to Doban before trying any rescue. I don’t want any antics from you at that stage. Is that understood?”
“Yep I understand” said a resigned Art. “Thanks Dave. I do appreciate what you and everyone here are risking. I’m not ungrateful. I’m just scared shitless for Sue.”
As he looked up at Dave his eyes began watering. ‘Where was the Mr Cool sleuth now’ though Dave. He had never seen Art like this before. Words were no good now. He sat down beside Art and put his arm around his shoulder.
Art was taking in a few deep breaths. He regained his composure. Then he patted Dave’s thigh and started to stand saying “Come on Captain we have an enemy to encounter.”
Dave stood up and looked again at Art. He had that steely resolve in his eye. It was his battle face. Dave had seen that look before and knew that Art would hold it together. “Yes we have.”
Chapter 5. Hermes 0920, 22 June
“Stations everyone” commanded Ella. “We’re coming out of warp in five minutes.”
Of course everyone was already at their stations, certainly in the command centre. Warner scanned the faces. Some were busy but all were concentrated if not tense. They were about to come out of warp into what they believed would be enemy territory.
What forces the enemy had, they did not know. Where they would be located, they did not know. Their attitude would most likely be hostile and belligerent. But there was a slim chance they may be prepared to talk peace after their rebuff on Klaster.
For Sue’s sake Warner prayed they would be open to peace. Since being taken prisoner on Klaster she could have died of her wounds, she could have been killed on one of the enemy capital ships they destroyed over Klaster. Who knows what could have happened to her. But Warner felt certain that she was alive.
He mentally reminded himself that her rescue must remain a secondary task. The prime task was to secure a peace settlement or if that was not possible to recon and harass the enemy in the Chelora belt. ‘Why is it that personnel matters are always secondary tasks and never primary ones’ he caught himself pondering.
“Coming out of warp in one minute” announced Ella.
This brought Dave’s focus back to the tasks at hand. He glanced over at Ivan. Ivan gave him the thumbs up just to reassure his boss. Dave nodded acknowledgement and then turned to Aubrey. She was totally focussed on the battle systems console in front of her. Dan Hoyle was looking directly at Dave. He was obviously nervous, but he too gave the thumbs up.
“Coming out in three, two, one” said Ella. Her eyes were straining to see the big display screen. As the watch officer she was in command of the ship and this was the time at which the Hermes would be most vulnerable. The first priority was situational awareness.
The ship’s vast array of sensors automatically activate on coming out of warp. The full electromagnetic spectrum is searched and analysed. Detections are identified and filtered. The ships Artificial intelligence (AI) automatically records every detection. Then it fuses detections to identify entities. These are filtered according to priority. Space ships are always the highest priority but ground based sensor and missile systems come a close second. These are then displayed on the battle systems throughout the ship. Depending on the operators role certain data is filtered out and thus configured to suit.
The main display in the command centre came to life, first with an update of the physical space. Ella was rapidly digesting the display. She took in the display of the outer asteroid belt. Yes it looked just like the charts predicted. The largest asteroid in the belt was Chelora. It lay some distance from the outer belt. It was highlighted on the display as per Ella’s display configurations.
She glanced at the icon lighting up on their left. “The Washington has just arrived.” It was good to know that their sister ship was on their flank.
But this was not what she was craning to see. It would take several seconds for sensors to detect and more time for the AI to filter, fuse and synthesise the intel data into the common operating picture (COP). There it was…the first artificial detection. The icon on the screen indicated a broad spectrum sensor had just picked them up. It must be close thought Ella.
“They know we’re here” cried out Aubrey. “No ships so far” she added. “Wait…cap bearing 10 degrees right…range 15,000kms…orbiting Chelora. Make that two, three, four caps and 9 lights, all orbiting Chelora. I have another light on the far side over 40,000kms away.”
“Activity?” demanded Ella.
“The light on the far side is cruising. All ships around Chelora are maintaining position” responded Aubrey. “Sensors also detect a good deal of space junk, possible destroyed space ships on the far side of Chelora.”
Ella turned towards Warner. He nodded and she turned to Ivan who was waiting for the signal. He called out “Opening comms channels. Broadcasting message.”
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The story continues.
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Table of Contents
Part 1 Deception
Chapter 1. Josker 0300 hours, 20 April 2512
Chapter 2. Hermes over Josker 0715, 20 April
Chapter 3. Hermes in warp to Alpha Phi 0130, 21 April
Chapter 4. Hermes 0900, 21 April
Chapter 5. Hermes 1200, 21 April
Chapter 6. Hermes 1300, 21 April
Chapter 7. Hermes 1330, 21 April
Chapter 8. Hermes 1430, 21 April
Chapter 9. East of Tindel 1630, 21 April
Chapter 10. Tindel 1800, 21 April
Chapter 11. Tindel 1915, 21 April
Chapter 12. Hermes 2100, 21 April.
Chapter 13. Hermes 2200, 21 April.
Chapter 14. Hermes 0600,
22 April.
Chapter 15. Hermes 0800, 22 April.
Chapter 16. Hermes 0900, 22 April.
Chapter 17. Hermes 1000, 22 April.
Part 2 Attraction
Chapter 1. Hermes 1100, 22 April.
Chapter 2. Klaster 1400, 22 April.
Chapter 3. Klaster 1500, 22 April.
Chapter 4. Hermes 1700, 22 April.
Chapter 5. Klaster 1900, 22 April.
Chapter 6. Shangri La 2000, 22 April.
Chapter 7. Shangri La 0700, 23 April.
Chapter 8. Shangri La 1200, 23 April.
Chapter 9. Hermes 1700, 23 April.
Chapter 10. Shangri La 2200, 23 April.
Chapter 11. Shangri La 0800, 25 April.
Chapter 12. Shangri La 0900, 25 April.
Chapter 13. Hermes 1030, 25 April.
Chapter 14. Hermes 1130, 25 April.
Chapter 15. Hermes 1230, 25 April.
Chapter 16. Shangri La 1405, 25 April.
Chapter 17. Shangri La 2100, 25 April.
Chapter 18. Hermes 0555, 25 April.
Chapter 19. Hermes 0800, 25 April.
Chapter 20. Hermes 1500, 25 April.
Chapter 21. Hermes 1520, 25 April.
Chapter 22. Hermes 1550, 25 April.
Chapter 23. Hermes 1615, 25 April.
Chapter 24. Hermes 1800, 25 April.
Chapter 25. Hermes 1830, 25 April.
Chapter 26. Hermes 1840, 25 April.
Chapter 27. Whiskey 1 1850, 25 April.
Chapter 28. Alpha Phi 1910, 25 April.
Chapter 29. Alpha Phi 1930, 25 April.
Chapter 30. Alpha Phi 2010, 25 April.
Chapter 31. Hermes 2330, 25 April.
Part 3 Union
Chapter 1. Shangri La 0900, 9 May.
Chapter 2. Shangri La 1330, 9 May.
Chapter 3. Shangri La 0905, 10 May.
Chapter 4. Hermes 1130, 10 May.
Chapter 5. Hermes 1300, 10 May.
Chapter 6. Hermes 1800, 10 May.
Chapter 7. Hermes 1900, 10 May.
Chapter 8. Hermes 0400, 11 May.
Chapter 9. Hermes 0420, 11 May.
Chapter 10. Niku 1100, 11 May.
Chapter 11. Niku 1200, 11 May.
Chapter 12. Niku 1515, 11 May.
Chapter 13. Niku 1630, 11 May.
Chapter 14. Niku 1900, 11 May.
Chapter 15. Niku 2045, 11 May.
Chapter 16. Hermes in warp to Klaster 0030, 12 May.
Chapter 17. Hermes in warp to Klaster 0800, 12 May.
Chapter 18. Hermes in warp to Klaster 1000, 12 May
Chapter 19. Niku 1000, 14 May.
Chapter 20. Niku 1000, 17 May.
Part 4 Endeavour
Chapter 1. Shangri La 1400, 20 May.
Chapter 2. Shangri La 1600, 20 May.
Chapter 3. Shangri La 2300, 20 May.
Chapter 4. Shangri La 0600, 21 May.
Chapter 5. Klaster 0800, 21 May.
Chapter 6. Pulton 1 0900, 21 May.
Chapter 7. Klaster 1105, 21 May.
Chapter 8. Klaster Belt 1500, 21 May.
Chapter 9. Shangri La 2100, 21 May.
Chapter 10. Shangri La 0700, 22 May.
Chapter 11. Hermes 1600, 22 May.
Chapter 12. Klaster 2000, 22 May.
Chapter 13. Shangri La 0600, 23 May.
Chapter 14. Klaster 0730, 23 May.
Chapter 15. Hermes 0830, 23 May.
Chapter 16. Klaster 1130, 23 May.
Chapter 17. Klaster 1230, 23 May.
Chapter 18. Klaster 1300, 23 May.
Chapter 19. Hermes 1400, 23 May.
Chapter 20. Hermes 1800, 23 May.
Chapter 21. Klaster 2130, 23 May.
Chapter 22. Klaster 0800, 24 May.
Chapter 23. Hermes 0830, 24 May.
Chapter 24. Klaster 0930, 24 May.
Part 5 Struggle
Chapter 1. Hermes 1100, 24 May.
Chapter 2. Hermes 1420, 24 May.
Chapter 3. Hermes 1620, 24 May.
Chapter 4. Klaster 1630, 24 May.
Chapter 5. Klaster 1640, 24 May.
Chapter 6. Pulton 1 1645, 24 May.
Chapter 7. Pulton 1 1710, 24 May.
Chapter 8. Pulton 1 1800, 24 May.
Chapter 9. Pulton 1 1900, 24 May.
Chapter 10. Pulton 1 2240, 24 May.
Chapter 11. Hermes 0500, 25 May.
Chapter 12. Pulton 1 0600, 25 May.
Chapter 13. Pulton 1 0815, 25 May.
Chapter 14. Hermes 1 0905, 25 May.
Chapter 15. Pulton 1 0920, 25 May.
Chapter 16. Pulton 1 1150, 25 May.
Chapter 17. Pulton 1 1300, 25 May.
Chapter 18. Pulton 1 1350, 25 May.
Chapter 19. Hermes 1425, 25 May.
Chapter 20. Pulton 1 1530, 25 May.
Chapter 21. Hermes 1700, 25 May.
Chapter 22. Pulton 1 1740, 25 May.
Chapter 23. Pulton 1 1800, 25 May.
Chapter 24. Pulton 1 2100, 25 May.
Chapter 25. Pulton 1 0445, 26 May.
Chapter 26. Pulton 1 0610, 26 May.
Chapter 27. Pulton 1 0700, 26 May.
Chapter 28. Pulton 1 0740, 26 May.
Chapter 29. Pulton 1 0820, 26 May.
Part 6 Liberation
Chapter 1. Pulton 1 0930, 26 May.
Chapter 2. Hermes 0935, 26 May.
Chapter 3. Pulton 1 0946, 26 May.
Chapter 4. Hermes 1000, 26 May.
Chapter 5. Pulton 1 1020, 26 May.
Chapter 6. Pulton 1 1040, 26 May.
Chapter 7. Pulton 1 1400, 26 May.
Chapter 8. Shangri La 2200, 26 May.
Chapter 9. Shangri La 0700, 27 May.
Chapter 10. Pulton 1 1100, 27 May.
Chapter 11. Shangri La 0800, 28 May.
Chapter 12. Pulton 1 0900, 28 May.
Chapter 13. Wasp 1400, 28 May.
Before You Go
Acknowledgements
Warner’s World Series
Book 2 of Warner’s World
Warnerpedia
Extract
Prologue. Hermes in warp to Chelora 1430, 20 April 2512
Part 1 Resolve
Chapter 1. Hermes 0955, 21 June 2512
Chapter 2. Hermes 1000, 21 June
Chapter 3. Hermes 0700, 22 June
Chapter 4. Hermes 0800, 22 June
Chapter 5. Hermes 0920, 22 June
The Awakening: Book 1 of Warner's World Page 45