Countdown by John Walker (feel good fiction books txt) 📗

our scientist friends. The ones who researched the ervas for the Gold Empire.” She tapped at his console. “You’ll need this cypher… and… voila.” The message decoded a moment later. “I do hope you two weren’t working on this for a very long time.”

“About fifteen minutes,” Eliza said. “I’m glad I came to tell you about it.”

“Attention,” Trenik’s voice piped through the speakers, “we have attached the coordinates to where a major ervas battle fleet is heading. Harcourt stated it is the Gold Empire homeworld. We urge you to take immediate action and ensure that there is adequate defense in place. What you are seeing is where they will emerge from hyperspace.

“Check the time stamp on this message. You will have six hours from that point to get into position. Good luck.”

“Holy shit.” Erris turned to Eliza. “That could mean…”

Eliza nodded. “This is huge. We need to move. We’ve got…” She checked the screen. “Just over four hours to get into position. Can we make it?”

“With some good navs and a push, yes.” Erris patted the men on the shoulders. “We’ll talk about that type of thing later, gentlemen. If you get any additional messages like that, let us know right away.” She waved at Eliza to follow her. “We need to get a message to Alden and Northam. Depending on how big the fleet is, we’ll need more firepower.”

“This may be a turning point in the conflict for us, don’t you think?”

“I do.” Erris nodded. “I hope they’re right. If so, Trenik and Harcourt may well have won the war for us. It’s all a matter of getting there in time. If we can do that…” She felt confident but cautiously so. A normal hyperspace jump to that territory would take six hours. She had to cut serious time off of that.

Time to put our navigator to a test and to motivate him properly. The fate of a lot of worlds, and perhaps much of humanity, rested with the results.

***

Noah clenched the arms of his chair as they emerged from hyperspace. The thirty second countdown had been murder, every second making his heartbeat all the harder. All the conflicts he’d been part of, all the battles he commanded never amounted to something so monumental. Not even the rebellion.

We’re on the threshold of saving our entire species. Some might’ve considered his thought hyperbolic. They hadn’t seen the things he did in the frontier. The lives impacted by the ervas, their influence over the various worlds they encountered. Nor the conflicts they faced with the aliens.

No, this is a desperate hour. Only people back home would think otherwise.

“Sensors coming online,” Dorian called. He sounded nervous, speaking louder than was necessary. The whole ship felt tense. Everyone aboard knew what they were getting into and it showed. “When the viewscreen comes up, I’ll put up the system information and what we’re up against.”

“Is it always so slow?” Nina asked. “To come back online, I mean?”

Noah frowned in thought. “Hyperspace has many minor systems hovering in standby. It isn’t slow per se… but I can see why you’d think that if you haven’t seen it before.”

“It was much the same when we met up with the other members of the fleet.” Nina turned to her terminal. “Fighter squadrons report ready to go. They can depart at our command.” She looked around. “Given the fact we haven’t been shot yet, I’m guessing whatever opposition we’re about to meet isn’t near enough for launch.”

“Good call.” Noah turned to Dorian. “How many of our ships have arrived?”

“Com traffic is picking up,” Mac answered the question. “We have all Confed vessels in the area. Ten Gold Empire ships have also emerged. Scout class vessels. In fact, they arrived slightly before we did. They are already spreading out, moving to provide screening for approach to the target.”

“Come on, Dorian,” Erica muttered, “kinda need that information if you want me to move this tub.”

“I’m getting there!” Dorian grumbled. “It’s not like this is different than any other time we’ve flown this thing!” He paused. “Okay! Here we go. Five planets in the system. Three are habitable but due to distance to the star, I’d say that two of them were modified much like we’ve done with terraforming.”

“Ships?” Noah asked. “I’m more interested in opposition than astronomy.”

“I’m getting some readings…” Dorian sighed. “I’m sorry, this shouldn’t be taking so long. We might have some kind of interference. I’ll check for that while I communicate with the scouts. They may know what’s going on.”

“I can answer that,” Mac said. “Satellites around the third world are causing the interference. They are essentially jamming devices. I am sending an adjustment frequency to the console now. If you implement that, our equipment should function again. Be advised this is technology put forth by Lyson, Trenik, and Harcourt.”

“Thanks,” Dorian muttered. “I’m inputting it now and sending it to our allies as well. Give me just a moment to implement.”

“We need to hurry,” Noah said. “Every minute we delay is cutting into the surprise aspect of this attack.” He tapped the comm, reaching directly out to Gaston. “You’re receiving information that should help guide the shuttles with your payload. Are you sending them out right away?”

“I am,” Gaston replied. “They can cut around the main force. Is your viewscreen operational?”

It flickered on just before he could answer. A number of enemy ships mustered some distance off near their homeworld, forming a screen both tall and wide. He didn’t have an accurate number yet… that would come from Dorian or Mac shortly…but they certainly had a reasonable force.

“I’ve got it now,” Noah said. “How will they get around that? We’re going to have hell getting through it.”

“They’re war dogs,” Gaston replied. “They find a way. It’s what they do.”

He’s got a point. “Keep the tactical comm