The computer’s map had been updated to account for the ‘missing’ space so it knew that the star was actually located where it appeared on the map. But, since gravity was unaffected by the hyperdimensional field, the star’s gravitational influence could not be detected by the
Dragon’s
exquisitely sensitive Hess sensors since it was gravitationally located nearly 1,200 light years away. A large collection of green icons peppered throughout the display indicated the location of the Alliance ships.
“We are being hailed by the
Rin’Bak
,” the communications watch said a moment later. The
Rin’Bak
was a Tholtaran juggernaut, the largest and most powerful ship ever built by an Alliance race. The juggernaut was a truly gargantuan vessel measuring twenty kilometers at its widest point.
“Main screen,” Sheppard directed.
The face of a Tholtaran Fleet Commander appeared on the bridge’s main viewer. The Tholtaran home world was lit by a star rich in ultraviolet light. The Tholtaran’s had evolved a thick leathery skin and sunken eye sockets to protect themselves against the rays of their own sun. Their race had warred among themselves for centuries until they finally achieved planetary unity before joining the Alliance. Their society was still based upon a militaristic structure.
In addition to their leathery skin, Tholtarans were short in stature averaging 150 centimeters in height. They were bipedal and near Human in general shape and construction except for their larger ears. During the Tholtaran – Human war many Humans referred to the Tholtaran’s as Dumbo’s based upon the fact that their skin and ears resembled an ancient animated film version of an elephant.
“Fleet Commander Chomack, this is Captain Francine Sheppard of the
Komodo Dragon
. We will be maneuvering to position ourselves for entry into Chroniech space.”
“Captain Sheppard,” the Tholtaran replied. “The fleet has been assembled and is in position to deal with any Chroniech ships which may cross into our space. I would personally like to convey my hope for a successful mission. Good luck.”
“Thank you Fleet Commander. Just make sure you don’t mistake the Kyrra ships for Chroniech.”
Although Human jokes were, for the most part, a mystery for many Tholtaran’s, this particular individual had worked with Humans long enough to recognize one. His leathery face cracked a smile and replied, “Not to worry Captain. If too many ships appear on our screens we will try to remember which ones are friendly. Chomack out.”
After three hours of maneuvering, the helm reported that the ship was now at the precise position directed by the Kyrra.
“Very well,” Sheppard replied. “Transfer helm control to the ship’s computer and activate the auto drive initiation program.”
The helm made some adjustments on his console then reported, “Helm is now under computer control.”
Sheppard glanced at one her screens then pressed a stud on her console causing an attention tone to sound throughout the ship. “All hands this is the Captain. We have arrived at the coordinates provided to us by the Kyrra. According to their timetable, the hyperdimensional barrier could be altered any time between twelve and thirty-six hours from now. When this happens, the ship will automatically perform an emergency transition to maximum FTL drive.”
“In order to be prepared for this event the ship will be placed at battle stations at the beginning of the next shift and will remain so until we are in Chroniech space and free of any threats. Until then, take this opportunity to get some rest.”
Six hours later, as the next watch rotation began, the ship performed an unusual evolution. Normally, when a warship went to battle stations, it was a quick event characterized by a frantic burst of activity initiated by a loud alarm klaxon. Instead, the
Dragon
went from a normal status to full battle readiness slowly and silently.
Weapon systems were powered up and prepared to deliver death to anything that threatened the ship. Armored, air-tight hatches were closed to segregate the ship into many independent compartments. The electrical system was realigned to provide reliable power even if a portion of the ship’s distribution grid was damaged. Sensitive detectors spread their feelers out into the depths of space. The crew donned spacesuits always keeping their helmets at arms length.
Ready for anything, the crew of the
Komodo Dragon
waited. With electronic patience the ship’s computer kept a watch on two key stars. Hour after hour crept by.
Ken was in the head when the computer detected the shift in the position of the two guide stars. An electronic command was flashed from the main computer to the ship’s drive system initiating a sequence of events. The
Dragon’s
matrix field sprang into existence providing a framework upon which the complex, interlaced, main drive fields were created. While the matrix field formed, the ship’s alarm klaxon sounded warning the crew of what was about to happen. Less than three seconds after detecting the star shift the ship vanished from normal space and raced toward the heart of the Chroniech empire.
An emergency transition to FTL drive was hard on equipment and people. Under normal conditions a ship would take six to eight seconds to make the transition causing only a slight feeling of twisting compression among the crew. Ken felt as if his insides had been first squeezed then quickly released and a wave a nausea and dizziness hit him.
“Damn it to hell!” he muttered to himself as he grabbed the urinal to keep his balance. He had wanted to be on the bridge when the transition occurred and had just left to use the head.
Luckily, the bridge had its own bathroom facility and Ken was only a single closed door away. He quickly finished and was opening the door as the helm made a ship-wide announcement, “All hands, the ship has automatically transited to FTL. We are entering Chroniech space.”
“Resound battle stations,” Sheppard ordered as Ken stepped away from the door and back onto the bridge. “Tactical, report all contacts.”
Ken settled into a corner of the bridge and watched as the ship seemed to come alive. Captain Sheppard activated the ship’s tactical display. The large viewscreen shifted from the standard forward-looking view of space to one more suitable for making combat decisions. The ship’s tactical computer continuously digested the vast amount of information being fed into it from the long-range sensors allowing it to show the location, course, speed, and estimated type of each and every ship detectable.
The instant the stars had shifted, the navigational computer’s star map had been reloaded with the Kyrra updated stellar data. The tactical display now showed the stars that had been revealed by the dropping of the Kyrra fold. The ships of the Alliance battle force appeared as green icons on the huge display. Three red icons suddenly appeared indicating the presence of Chroniech ships.
The data on the main viewscreen was presented in a two dimensional format. To get a better understanding of the tactical situation the Captain could use the three dimensional tactical globe. The consoles on the bridge were laid out in the shape of a large parabola with the Captain’s chair located at the focal point. The chair was raised slightly higher so the Captain could have a clear view of all the consoles.
The bridge consoles were situated such that the operators faced in the same direction as the Captain’s chair. The upper section of each station contained a set of displays that duplicated what the console operator saw in front of him. This arrangement allowed the Captain to continuously monitor the status of every station on the bridge.
The tactical viewer was placed inside this parabolic arrangement of consoles with the tactical console located on the right side and the science console on the left as viewed from the Captain’s chair. Both of these stations faced the Captain’s command chair. The tactical viewer was a large globe capable of rendering images in full three dimensions. Special colors and codes were used to indicate velocities, distances, types of ships, etc. A trained bridge officer could interpret the various codes and colors at a glance.
During battle conditions, the tactical station served as the central point of contact between the Captain and CIC. The Combat Information Center, or CIC, served as the primary control center for all weapons and tactical data analysis. The executive officer stationed himself there during battle stations.
In operation, the CIC would gather all available tactical data and condense it down to a manageable amount of information which would then be presented on the tactical station. The operator at this station could access any of the individual data streams. It was this operator’s duty to keep the Captain informed of the ship’s overall tactical situation.
The science station worked hand-in-hand with the tactical station to present a detailed analysis of the data gathered by the cruiser’s vast array of external and internal sensors. It was this station’s duty to report on and analyze anything the Captain needed detailed information about. A separate computer core was dedicated to the analysis of scientific data.
The Captain's command console was a semicircular banked console of displays and computer interfaces. Most of the commonly used functions such as ship-wide address, battle stations initiation, communications, and main viewscreen control were located on a panel to the Captain’s immediate right. The command chair could rotate 360 degrees. The various displays and controls could be connected to any of the individual consoles on the bridge.
This particular arrangement of consoles had been developed over many years of trial and error and had become pretty standard in Human built ships. Other races had developed similar, although not exact, layouts for their bridges. Unlike what many people believed, the
Dragon’s
bridge was not located at the front or the top of the ship but, instead, was buried near the ship’s core just forward of engineering.
Ken had come out of the head just in time to see the stars on the main viewer shift. “That’s just too freaky,” Ken muttered to himself.
Doug Scarboro appeared on his right and replied, “Twelve hundred light years of compressed space has suddenly been uncompressed. Freaky doesn’t even come close to describing it.”
Captain Sheppard looked at the final display and, in the blink of an eye, performed a series of mental calculations. “Helm, alter course by eight degrees port, declination plus four degrees. Computer, display a countdown until the hyperdimensional field is reestablished and distance traveled since FTL was last engaged.”
“Do you think a course correction is wise?” Doug asked.
Ken had seen the same thing Captain Sheppard had noticed and nodded his head approvingly, “Good call Captain,” he said just loud enough for her to hear him.
Sheppard pointed toward one of the red icons and explained her actions for Doug’s benefit, “That ship is on a direct intercept. I don’t want to give them a chance to send a gravity mine our way. The course correction is small and should not affect our ability to make it into Chroniech space in time.”
Doug looked at the tactical display and frowned. He had never been good at computing trajectories in his head and was forced to accept the statement as fact. Doug understood the Captain’s concern. While under FTL drive a ship was immune to weapons fire because it simply did not exist in normal three dimensional space. Gravity, however, transcended all dimensions and has a profound effect on a ship’s stardrive field.
In order to engage a ship in combat it must first be forced out of stardrive. The gravity mine was the device used to do just that. The mine generates a very powerful, although short-lived, gravitational field. If activated close enough to an operating stardrive the spacetime distortion caused by the gravitational field will collapse the drive fields causing the ship to drop back into normal space.
According to the Kyrra, the
Komodo Dragon
had to traverse at least a quarter of a light year into Chroniech space before the hyperdimensional field was reestablished or risk being left outside the field’s boundary. Apparently, the exact location of the field could not be accurately predicted. Pushing the
Dragon’s
stardrive to the max flung them through space at a mind-boggling speed of 11,121 times the speed of light giving them just under twelve minutes to cover the required distance.
“Several Chroniech ships are heading directly toward Alliance space at high speed,” Commander Tobunga reported from CIC. “They appear to be ignoring us.”
The bridge was silent. All eyes watched the main display as the time ticked down and the distance ticked up. There was a release of tension when the distance indicated exactly 0.250. A short time later the timer hit 0.00.
Ken felt a sickening lurch as the drive fields surrounding the ship suddenly collapsed violently throwing the cruiser back into normal space. His insides felt like somebody had twisted them into a tight knot then quickly let go.
Fighting her own nausea, Sheppard ordered, “Helm, reset the drive and get us back underway as soon as engineering can support it.” After glancing at the tactical display she added, “Normal drive initiation Mr. Barnes. As soon as we have a navigational fix on our location set a course for the rendezvous coordinates making any necessary adjustments to avoid contact with the Chroniech.”
“Aye ma’am,” the helm replied in a somewhat shaky voice as he turned to his console. A few minutes later the
Dragon
was underway again.
Ken turned to Doug noting with satisfaction that the Commodore looked as bad as he felt. The nausea had mostly passed leaving a splitting headache behind. “That thoroughly sucked,” he remarked. “I wish we had been told to expect that.”
Doug swallowed with a visible effort then replied, “I agree. Unfortunately, we don’t know all there is to know about hyperdimensional fields and the effect they have on spacetime.”
Sheppard stood up and stretched. She had not left the bridge since arriving at the edge of the barrier. “Well, we’re here. Cut off from the Alliance in enemy territory. I hope the Kyrra know what they’re doing.”