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Authors: Evan Currie
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out?”
Crow shook his head. “We were on the Hood when she got cut in half, so you could say that. Most of us lived; that’s better than the Skipper got.”
Ton nodded. He’d read the reports of course. That was an ugly situation, but the fact that as many people lived through that battle as did was a testament to Captain MacKay and her crew’s skills. He just hoped no one had to pull anything like that while he was riding their ship. It didn’t sound like a fun time.
*****
USV Terra
Outer Hayden System
“The taskforce has been positioned, sir.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Fairbairn said, not looking up from his desk work. “Do we have an ETA on the enemy fleet’s arrival yet?”
“40 hours, Admiral.”
Fairbairn nodded. “All right, I suppose that there isn’t much more to do but wait.”
“Yes, sir,” Pierce replied. “I’ve stood the ships down from high alert, let the men get some food and rest before action.”
“Very good, Captain, just be sure that we’re back to general quarters in 35.”
“Aye, si—”
Pierce was cut off by an alert, and he turned on his heel.
“Captain?”
“Gravity alert, sir. Something is coming through the jump point.”
Fairbairn jumped to his feet, forgetting his desk work in a hurry. “Are they here early?”
“No way, no possible way they could have cut that much time off transit, sir. This is probably another message from The Sadler,” Pierce said calmly, already walking toward the bridge. He discreetly keyed open his com without pausing and hissed into the device, “This is the captain. I want us back to general quarters.”
“Aye, Captain. Sounding general quarters.”
A second alarm blocked out the first as Pierce hit the main transit corridor, forcing himself to walk and not run around the curving path that led to the bridge. He stepped onto the bridge twenty seconds later and straightened his uniform before speaking.
“Talk to me.”
It was an order, not a request, and everyone knew it.
“We have telemetry from a gravity probe, sir.”
Pierce let out a sigh of relief. “No other signals?”
“No, sir.”
“Excellent. Stand down from general quarters.”
“Yes, sir, standing down general quarters.”
“Get the data from that probe and direct everything marked Priority Three and higher to my workstation.”
“Aye, Captain.”
*****
The replay of The Sadler’s last moments went by again as the admiral stared at the screen, fingers numb as he reflexively rapped them on the desk.
“Do we have a count?” he asked sickly.
“At least another 80 warships, sir,” Pierce said. “We had a chance against 45, given the ambush. Against this? Not even if God was rolling the dice.”
Fairbairn nodded reflexively, though he’d barely heard the response. He already knew that TF7 didn’t stand a chance against a force like that. He was just shocked that the enemy even
had
that many ships to send out this far. The logistics of sending even a force the size of TF7 a few jumps from Earth was formidable; they probably wouldn’t be able to do it at all without the local resupply from Hayden’s orbital habitats and growth.
This was a force many times their size, and it was certainly farther from their home than the Earth was from Hayden. Human ships had explored outward dozens of jumps and found no sign of civilization. That meant that these people, if that was what he should call them, had sent a massive fleet farther out than humans could even consider.
I suppose we’d best test their resolve, then…
Fairbairn thought grimly,
and their range.
“Captain, I think we’d best break out the pulse generators.”
Pierce nodded slowly, hiding his wince. “Yes, sir.”
“Order the Canada to mobilize and bring us to jump readiness,” the admiral said, checking the time. “We’ll go through the jump point in ten minutes.”
“Aye aye, Admiral.” Pierce grimaced, but didn’t hesitate.
“I’ll dispatch new orders to the
Crow shook his head. “We were on the Hood when she got cut in half, so you could say that. Most of us lived; that’s better than the Skipper got.”
Ton nodded. He’d read the reports of course. That was an ugly situation, but the fact that as many people lived through that battle as did was a testament to Captain MacKay and her crew’s skills. He just hoped no one had to pull anything like that while he was riding their ship. It didn’t sound like a fun time.
*****
USV Terra
Outer Hayden System
“The taskforce has been positioned, sir.”
“Thank you, Captain,” Fairbairn said, not looking up from his desk work. “Do we have an ETA on the enemy fleet’s arrival yet?”
“40 hours, Admiral.”
Fairbairn nodded. “All right, I suppose that there isn’t much more to do but wait.”
“Yes, sir,” Pierce replied. “I’ve stood the ships down from high alert, let the men get some food and rest before action.”
“Very good, Captain, just be sure that we’re back to general quarters in 35.”
“Aye, si—”
Pierce was cut off by an alert, and he turned on his heel.
“Captain?”
“Gravity alert, sir. Something is coming through the jump point.”
Fairbairn jumped to his feet, forgetting his desk work in a hurry. “Are they here early?”
“No way, no possible way they could have cut that much time off transit, sir. This is probably another message from The Sadler,” Pierce said calmly, already walking toward the bridge. He discreetly keyed open his com without pausing and hissed into the device, “This is the captain. I want us back to general quarters.”
“Aye, Captain. Sounding general quarters.”
A second alarm blocked out the first as Pierce hit the main transit corridor, forcing himself to walk and not run around the curving path that led to the bridge. He stepped onto the bridge twenty seconds later and straightened his uniform before speaking.
“Talk to me.”
It was an order, not a request, and everyone knew it.
“We have telemetry from a gravity probe, sir.”
Pierce let out a sigh of relief. “No other signals?”
“No, sir.”
“Excellent. Stand down from general quarters.”
“Yes, sir, standing down general quarters.”
“Get the data from that probe and direct everything marked Priority Three and higher to my workstation.”
“Aye, Captain.”
*****
The replay of The Sadler’s last moments went by again as the admiral stared at the screen, fingers numb as he reflexively rapped them on the desk.
“Do we have a count?” he asked sickly.
“At least another 80 warships, sir,” Pierce said. “We had a chance against 45, given the ambush. Against this? Not even if God was rolling the dice.”
Fairbairn nodded reflexively, though he’d barely heard the response. He already knew that TF7 didn’t stand a chance against a force like that. He was just shocked that the enemy even
had
that many ships to send out this far. The logistics of sending even a force the size of TF7 a few jumps from Earth was formidable; they probably wouldn’t be able to do it at all without the local resupply from Hayden’s orbital habitats and growth.
This was a force many times their size, and it was certainly farther from their home than the Earth was from Hayden. Human ships had explored outward dozens of jumps and found no sign of civilization. That meant that these people, if that was what he should call them, had sent a massive fleet farther out than humans could even consider.
I suppose we’d best test their resolve, then…
Fairbairn thought grimly,
and their range.
“Captain, I think we’d best break out the pulse generators.”
Pierce nodded slowly, hiding his wince. “Yes, sir.”
“Order the Canada to mobilize and bring us to jump readiness,” the admiral said, checking the time. “We’ll go through the jump point in ten minutes.”
“Aye aye, Admiral.” Pierce grimaced, but didn’t hesitate.
“I’ll dispatch new orders to the
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