Star Crusades by Michael Thomas (whitelam books txt) 📗

smallerpowerplant. Only by stopping and allowing the system to fullyrecharge could it continue such a long journey. For travel betweenplanets this was rarely necessary, but when travelling between starsystems it was unavoidable. And this journey of a little over tenlight-years would take more than thirty days to complete withoutthe use of a Spacebridge.

“Captain, we’re fully charged and ready to go,” said Chief EngineerLinus, “The fleet is waiting on us.”

Those last words were somethingof an irritation to Captain Regina. Hership had taken a few heavy hits in the fighting, and while theothers had sustained only superficial damage, Nautilus had somehowmanaged to take damage to her main power systems that had almostsent her back to Mars.

“What about the reserve cells? Has the damage beenrepaired?”

“As far as I can manage without a spacedock,” he said with a shrug,“We’ve got enough to get us to our destination with some left inthe tank. I can’t do any more while the IS drive is active, notwithout risking blowing up the entire ship.”

“Good. Then that will have to do.Nautilus has never travelled ten light-years under her own steam before. It is quite avoyage.”

“Aye, Captain. Thirty-six days ismore than even the heavies can manage without atleast one stop.”

“Very good. Start the clock.”

It took another few minutes asthe onboard systems were readied for activation. With the righttiming, they should arrive in the alienstar system in less than a day, and she was becoming as restless asthe rest of the crew to see quite where this trip had takenthem.

“Ready, Captain.”

She activated the intercom andspoke slowly and calmly.

“All hands to your stations.We’re commencing our final jump to the Ski’ligterritory.”

A strange haze surrounded theothers ships of the IAB assault force asthey moved at incredible speeds through space. Captain Piera Reginawatched in fascination as every single kilometre they travelledtook them further into the great unknown. The most distant starsbarely moved, but closer objects flickered and blurred as theywhooshed away. It was always a strange feeling as her shiptravelled through space without moving.

She found her attention drawn to the hulking shapes of theConfederate Class warships. They dwarfed her frigate, though thetechnological advances they had used had since shrunk in size to beusable in some form in her own vessel. What really intrigued herwas the bizarre shape unlike anything else in the fleet.

Only a marine could have pushed forsomething so…functional.

“What do you think ofthem?”

First Lieutenant Meredith lookedin the same direction as one of thenearby ships flickered as though fading in and out ofexistence.

“Confederate Class ships. There’s nothing subtle about them, high speed,automated throughout, and a tiny crew. They’re basically a muchbigger version and with a lot of warriors onboard.”

“Most of the soldiers are Grunts.How do you feel about that?”

Her XO appeared confused.

“They’re no different to fighter drones, computer controlled andreliable. They’re probably just what we need when we get towherever we’re going. I’d rather put a thousand robots on thesurface than risk a battalion of marines.”

“True. They’re tough and expendable. But they lackintelligence.”

“That’sthe last thing they need. Terra Nova would never allow nearsentient machines with weaponry.”

“Quite,” said the Captain,“And in any case, how long will it take once theheavies have cleared the area to establish a Spacebridge back toEpsilon Eridani? After they’ve done that, the slower heavytransports can bring in the reserve infantry, ifneeded.”

“And ifthis operation heads south it will give us a way out.”

Captain Regina tried toimagine what they faced ahead, but shewas no artist, she was a Navy officer, and her imagination waslimited to tactical scenarios. But the mention of failure took herback to the Fall of Epsilon Eridani, and the withdrawal andfighting retreat back to Sol.

“They’ve kicked our asses before, andnow it will be on their home turf.”

“But this time we’re ready. Once that Spacebridge is up we’ll havean edge. Do we know how long it will take to erect?”

“That’s a goodquestion. I asked General Gun that veryquestion. Do you know what he told me?”

The XO shrugged.

“He said we’ll find out!”

First LieutenantMeredith laughed.

“Well, let’s make sure the dock andcomponents are well protected.”

The Captain looked to her officers as the clock continued to countdown. The last phase of the journey was the one that worried herthe most. It would take more than a month to get back home if theywere forced to travel the ten or more light-years to EpsilonEridani. That was a vast distance, with multiple recharging stopsand opportunities for the enemy to attack them. And on top of that,the IS drives and nacelles fitted to the ships were fragile andtemperamental pieces of technology. One failure could see the ISdrive made redundant, and using just the main thrusters would takedecades to get home.

“Status!” she asked for the third time in the last half anhour.

First Lieutenant Meredith nodded and moved towards the displaysalongside the Chief. He looked back at her and pointed to theclusters of data. It took a moment before she looked up from thedisplays and then nodded slowly before the Chief startingspeaking.

“Allsystems normal, Captain. Weapons, defensive polarisation shieldingis on standby.”

“Good. We need to be ready forwhatever they throw at us. The last thing we need is to have adrained powerplant when it comes to combat.”

She turned and lookedahead to the whirling pool of colours growinglarger and larger. In many ways it looked like the entrance to aSpacebridge, yet it was vastly bigger and changed colourcontinually. It wasn’t uniform, and parts were patchy, or extendedout into long trails.

“Have you ever seen anything likethis?”

First Lieutenant Meredith movedcloser and looked on it all with interest. Her eyes darted back and forth from the view to the columnsof data scrolling down in front of her.

“Never. It’s like a nebula, butnot quite. It kind of reminds me of Prometheus and itsstorms.”

“Yes, that is true. But this field ofcolour consumed the entire star system. How have we never seen thisbefore?”

She turned to the Chief who was alsolooking with interest.

“That’s a good question, a very good question. If I had to guess, I’dsay they’ve been masking the area well. Maybe the nebula likeenvironment is itself a form of cover for their territory? I cantell you that nothing discovered